There's this thing in worldbuilding where to work out one thing, you have to work out other things. Wich can lead you to haveing to work out complicated things. Like "how would Rikeuninerd make a phylogenetic tree" and "we are back at the question of "how do Rikeuninerd define a vowel"."
One neat worldbuilding trick with Parties are for Losers is that the vast majority of the major problems faced by the characters are predominantly if not entirely social/legal/etc., and the few that aren't are quite vaguely presented
How is this a worldbuilding trick? Well, one of the major elements of PAFL is the Facility, which is a huge research facility that studies anomalies to learn of insights and possibilities that are difficult or impossible to achieve with normal means. It would be natural to wonder what sort of technological/logistical/etc. problems this sort of superphysical study would be able to solve
However, PAFL instead focuses on societal problems, which are not really directly solved by such scientific progress; hence the wonderings about the Facility don't really need to be addressed and can instead be left as considerations for worldbuilding-obsessed weirdos like me
Making different cultures music for my worldbuilding project. Making genres of music for my worldbuilding project. Writing music for my worldbuilding project.
Writing in Scayikra was brought around by nomads, because ſcaaa has always been an imperialistic and oppressive ideology, writing prolly never made it into ſca. I like to think ſcaaa views writing as strange.
I’M DA BIGGEST BIRD 🦅 I’M DA BIGGEST BIRD 🦅 I’M DA BIGGES—
B CELLS these guys are WEIRD. I know they have this really out-there anatomy but that’s not the norm and there’s a reason for it
B cells are the only TRULY flighted cells in the whole Body. As we’ll see, there are a few gliders, but while they dance with gravity, Bs beat up gravity for its lunch money. This is because B cells don’t actually need to be present to do their jobs. They fight by slinging antibodies from their tails, which strike opponents from afar and either kill them or weaken them so other cells can do the job. And when you don’t need to physically be there, why be on that battlefield at all? Bs circle inflamed areas like vultures, flinging antibodies and making their signature Y shapes in the sky, but rarely land unless they have to.
Mature B cells come in two morphs: the memory B cell and the plasma cell. Plasmas make most of the antibodies, and memories act as mentors or secretaries to them.
Also, kind of unrelated but one of the reasons I made them very birdy is because B cells were discovered in birds. Birds have an organ called the bursa of Fabricus, which is like a thymus for B cells. In humans, they mature in the bone marrow, so I bet that was a shock to find them hiding there all along when we thought it was just a bird thing! Thanks to whatever chicken we dissected to dicover these guys
Worldbuilding & Writing: The Basics of Royal Families & Similar
Okay, one way or another, you've ended up with a form of nobility or some sort of classical hierarchy in your worldbuilding, and now you've realized you're low in ideas or don't know where next to take this. Don't worry, I gotchu. I've made one too many of these.
Monarchies
Most around the world are familiar with monarchies, both as an oppressive force or a family of wealth & power to look up to, whether you feel one type of way or another doesn't really matter when it comes to worldbuilding; as we are creating a story and world here, that could veer any type of way. That doesn't mean it isn't important to understand the political undertones that designing a monarchy comes with.
Monarchies come in many different forms, but for the sake of brevity I'm only going to discuss a few popular ones here
Absolute Monarchies: The sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislation, and/or other checks and balances on their authority. (Example: Saudi Arabia)
Constitutional Monarchies: The sovereign's authority is limited through a constitution and/or is not alone in making the decisions, such as working alongside a parliament or religious power. (Example: United Kingdom)
Composite Monarchies: Consists of several countries that are under one rule, often times as a union. (Example: Spanish Empire)
Tetrarchy: A monarchy divided between two emperors, and a group of their designated successors. There's different styles of tetrarchy too. Historically, the tetrarchy originally was lead with two emperors, and their two successor juniors known as caesares. (Example: Roman Empire)
Emirates: Ruled by an Emir, it works similarly to a monarchy, but sometimes has heavy religious ties, of Islamic origin (Example: Afghanistan)
Non-Sovereign Monarchies: A smaller less powerful monarchy that answers to a greater power, such as a union, empire, or colonial power (Example: German Empire's constituent states)
And there's so many others. Now let's talk kings, queens, and royal families. First off, what is the king, queen, or ruler called. Around the world historically and to this present day there are many monarchies, but several are referred to by different names, which are usually gendered.
But gendering even the term king isn't required. Poland itself had a female King known as Jagwida. You could also have to two lead titles that are different due to other factors outside of gender, if you want to get creative.
With various languages and cultures, there's going to be multiple variations of king/queen. I mean just thinking of IRL examples
Kaiser/Kaiserin
Emperor/Empress
Monarch
Sovereign
Archon
Tsar/Tsaritsa
Padishah
Rex/Regina
Koning
Rey/Reina
Sultan/Sultana
Malik/Malikah
Emir/Emira
Archduke/Archduchess
Raja/Rani
Khan/Khanum
Pharaoh
Similar variations can be found for titles for princess and prince, but if I were to list them all, we would be here all day
Finally there's the structure of the family... Depending on how a ruler is given their rule in your monarchy; i.e. god-king, elections, family heirs, could drastically affect the family structure, but more so the people's expectations on those families.
The stereotypical one includes a king, queen, their children usually referred to as princes and princesses, and their queen/king's siblings. But in reality royal families were not only typically quite large, but also often related to other noble families and monarchies (and incest was usually involved).
Also if leadership is passed down through bloodline heirs, there's going to be family members who will backstab and off each other in an attempt to gain that power.
Dynasties vs. Houses vs. Clans
Although the two terms are closely similar, there is major difference between them
A dynasty refers specifically to a sequence/lineage of rulers from the same family. While a house refers to an imperial, noble, or royal family, and can be without ruling. That means the descriptor can of course overlap. Finally there is clans... Now the term clan is much more lenient/ambiguous. A clan be united through kinship or ancestry & descent.
Now there's the complexities of dynast vs. sovereign ruler....
Can a monarchy also be a dynasty? Yes... Can it be a house? Also yes. A clan? Also also yes.
There truly isn't no special distinction aside from their exact specific definitions. Really its all just fancy title stuff that decides whether or not someone holds class value above one another.
Tribal Kingship
But tribes are different....
Tribes are configured similarly to clans, but with higher hierarchal status. They're also typically much large than a clan. Extra factoids about what makes a tribe a tribe is actually fairly disputed, especially among anthropologists; such as how big should a tribe be before its a nation or chiefdom or state, whether or not tribe is even defined by kinship.
Obviously tribes have been put down and oversimplified when it comes to historical and modern examples of tribes due to racism. People still to this day viewing tribal life as primitive, despite tribes being as complex and malleable as monarchies, and examples of civilization.
So what makes a tribe a tribe. Generally speaking, a tribe defined by
A political unit formed from an order of several families
tribal membership can be based off of kinship, ethnicity, dwelling, language, political affiliation, religious belief, traditions, and cultural practices
Now why aren't tribes very common IRL anymore? Mainly due to statedom and federal laws, tribes cannot conduct their own authority and oversee justice within their own community. So if tribes are persisting and very common in your worldbuilding, that means that they have some sort of control over law and other state functions; i.e. taxing, education, military, etc.
This means in most instances the rest of the nation can override whatever dealings are going on inside a tribe.
There are work arounds in the modern day though, whether through giving tribal leaders political power and/or positional seats, or leaving them their own sovereignty and land.
So uhh tribes :D
Aristocracy
Aristocracy is the ruling upper class, such as nobles. They sit right below monarchs and other similar titles on the social ladder. Their power can be political, land-based, found in wealth, or even just social status.
Being a noble doesn't come without responsibility though. The upper class and elite, even of medieval times, had certain expectations, and social taboos only become more and more strict higher up in the class system. This was especially true for women in sexist societies, who were expected to act as a noblewoman would.
Being of aristocrat meant every action, down to your appearance and where you appeared was a social or political statement. That didn't mean that aristocracy didn't use their power to abuse those they viewed below them, which is what they're more infamously known for.
So another thing to think about if you're writing or using any nobles in your worldbuilding is where did their power originate?
Generational wealth, political favor, connections, blood money, it's entirely up to you
Marriage
Everything is political and unfortunately for women, two powerful political families meeting up meant there needed to be some sort of trade/share between the two in order to both lock down and show their loyalty to one another. What greater link than marrying two family members together, so that each could act as leverage in case anyone needed to remind the other the consequences of betrayal.
Dynastic Marriage: Dynastic marriage is when important royal or dynast families marry in an attempt to inherit a throne in the future.
Arranged Marriage: Married where one or more member doesn't get a full say, but instead dictated by their family or some other power.
Dowry: Typically paid by the bride's family to the groom's, a dowry is any form of payment, usually land, property, money, livestock, or commercial for marriage.
Flags, Banners, & Coats
One of my personal favorite parts after designing a royal or noble family is coming up with an insignia to represent them. Whether they are represented by a flag, symbol, banner, or coat of arms, I always enjoy a reason to draw or color something up and call it day.
Flags - The shape of a flag doesn't always have to be the rectangle that most nations IRL use today, and traditionally the colors used are meant to represent something about or important to what is being represented. Taking culture and color theory into consideration, every culture as their connotations tied to the colors of the rainbow.
People in China have somewhat different expectations to the color red compared to people in the United States. The configuration of the flag follows the same rules. Flags also have trends. The reason why most flags came to be tricolor flags was because the Netherlands popularized it with the prince's flag. The simple design made it a popular choice as nations swapped their flags out to be more readable from a distance, especially when accounting for naval travel.
Less complex flags and less expensive colors means easier to reproduce. That doesn't mean there won't be outliers.
Finally there's symbolism on flags; whether an animal, coat of arms, or even carpet pattern, the things represented on flags should stand for something and not just be there to look pretty.
Symbols & Crests - Japan wasn't a big flag country until others countries showed up with their rectangular flags. Instead during the 1800s and before the different regions of japan where represented by their dynasties and a symbol per each known as a crest.
Crests are similar to a coat of arms, but less complicated. There's ton of crests all over the world, many of which you've probably seen without realizing, such as the double-headed black eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to a crests simplicity but iconic appearance it can be placed on flags, shields, armor, coat of arms, banners, and when it comes to knight armor, was adorned on top of the helmet like a plume.
Banners - Banners are like flags, and once were, the common and basic flags of today slowly replacing them. Banners however weren't just to represent royal families or specific estates. They also were used by churches and religious groups alike. At some point they were even used by unions and companies. These banners paved the way for clubs, organizations, and eventual activist groups and minorities to also utilize flags as a form of positive representation.
Banners can be intricate or simple. They can displayed vertically, or on the end of a spear. Their shapes have been historically far more unique than modern flags.
Coats - Finally there's coats. Coats are kinda the opposite of flags in the way, in that people made them ungodly complication just because they could. There's actually a code to making coats IRL. Maybe you want to invent your own code. I could make an entire post about how coats are supposed to work.
Similarly to crests, coats are small and easily displayable. They can be slapped onto anything. Some coats remained simple while became overly complicated.
