Worldbuilding

If a conworlding project persists long enough, I'm sure we've all second-guessed some aspect of our worlds.

I've learned to incorporate my own second thoughts into the universe itself. Don't like how I translated something into English? OK, it was a mistranslation that has now become too ingrained to change. Not sure how to portray a particular religious sect? Now there are two different denominations of that sect. Uncomfortable with how I characterized a controversial historical figure? OK, now there's a historical revisionist movement that seeks to paint him in a different light. Have some idea I like that really doesn’t fit the lore? Now it’s an in-universe urban legend/TV show.

How do you document your worldbuilding? What tools do you use? How do you organize your ideas?

Since the inception of my current conworld I have been using Obsidian. It's great for non-linear note taking. The downside is that the result is less shareable (unless you pay for sync).

I've always wanted to create a publicly viewable wiki. I LOVE digging through fan wikis, even for franchises I'm otherwise unattached to. All my knowledge of D&D and WH40K comes from walking through various fan wikis.

To that end, I've been exploring other options. Mediawiki seems to be the gold standard since it's what Wikipedia uses. However, its designed with a lot of user management and permissions features that work well for a massive user base, but are less relevant to someone who wants a non-linear read-only browseable repository of info.

Dokuwiki looks like a popular alternative. No database to manage, though the fact that a lot of expected features like tags and moving pages have been relegated to 3rd party plugins isn't great. The more plugins, the harder patch management becomes.

Tiddlywiki so far looks the most promising. It assumes only one user is editing pages, so no user permissions to manage. It also runs as a single monolithic HTML file, which has upsides and downsides, but that means I can upload that single file to a simple free web host like Neocities. If the wiki gets very large I anticipate performance issues, as the entire wiki is sent when the page is requested and everything runs client side, so the more I add the worse it will feel. But it's very stable, has been around almost as long as Wikipedia itself, and unlike Obsidian is open source.

For instance, a species with little to no navigable oceans or a fully aquatic species may find it difficult to develop the cultural skills necessary to run a ship because there isn't a tradition of operating a ship the same way there is for humans.

It's common in fantasy and sci-fi to have multiple distinct sapient species (races). How did all of yours come about and survive to the present day without any one species becoming dominant while the rest went the way of archaic humans?

My world doesn't have any moon or stars, so keeping track of seasons is a lot harder. That makes agriculture really hard, so populations are only as big as can be supported by hunting, fishing, and gathering. This means everyone had more time to evolve and develop sapience and cultures. Still, that's only 5 people species for me, one of which is extinct and another of which is a kind of plant.

The attack started between 05:35 and 05:40 CDT yesterday, when the user count jumped from 387 to 909. The attack lasted until around 16:05 CDT (4 PM), when the user count dropped from 787 to 53. For the duration of the attack the user count hovered around 2000, with a maximum of 2591 users at 08:35.

When the attack concluded, I and others were unable to log in, getting a password incorrect error. I received no email notifications after being PMed, and attempts to create new accounts resulted in a blank screen. Some users were still logged in and able to post, but attempts to change passwords were unsuccessful.

The site is back up, but I'd update your passwords.

Greetings once again friends! This is your mayor, Liam Deamhany, here to talk about the great strides our industrious city made in serving as a shipping partner. Since the early 1900s Diston has had two busting shipping ports on our shores. First was the Coposa Harbor founded at our city’s founding. Coposa Harbor has served as a major shipping and in the 1920s as an immigration channel for our great country. While it started life as a family-owned business it was transfer to the stewardship during WWII to allow for quick and efficient deployment of the war effort. Affectionately known as the “South Docks” by us natives, it still serves as a port for goods coming on shore to this day. Second, Tsuris International Harbor came during WWII and was the go-to port for the citizenry of Diston to send and receive goods in a way that would not choke up the logistical needs of the war effort. In conjunction with Diston’s own Estrie Family (who still manage the harbor to this day) to help continue to allow immigrants and refugees fleeing Europe during the early days of the war. This harbor has become known as the North Dock in reference to Coposa Harbor. And finally, we have our most recent harbor; Lobisomem International Harbor. Finished in 2010, this state-of-the-art harbor has taken the “center stage” for the shipping and logistical needs of Diston and the state overall. This harbor sees billions of dollars of commerce and trade cross into and out of our great city. it is a primary employer of a large portion of your friends and neighbors. Often referred to as the “Central Docks” it sits between or two legacy harbors. I hope you have enjoyed this brief overview of some of the amazing businesses and services that our great city has to offer. We look forward to working with you. And remeber; If you lived here, you'd already be home.

http//;hunter-net.net/htr/diston/this-frecking-city Subject: Docks To:Hunterlist/Diston/All From:KindSoul803 Guys, these docks are a rat's nest. In all meanings of the word. The Lucient Company has their hand in all three. They are either the new parent company for the subcompanies that own and operate these harbors or they are the controlling partner on the board of directors for the Central Docks. Everything comes through these docks. People, drugs, guns, creatures. Heck, I’m sure that whackjob who blew up his trailer trying to take out all of those Wolves imported his Tannerite through one of them. I wish I could give you guys better info. But all of them are dirty, and all of them are compromised.

Hopefully nobody minds my spamming. Here's another story. As with the last one, alien speech is indicated with Italian quotes («»).

EDIT: classic typo in the title. Thankfully Lemmy lets you update post titles, unlike Reddit.

I say "flying" instead of "floating" to differentiate what i'm talking about from islands that float on the sea (like Delos).

My world's flying islands are made of a kind of coral that grows up to tens of kilometers in size, usually smooth on the bottoms and with plant life on top, mostly from seeds left there by birds. The polyps excrete a gas lighter than air that keeps the colony afloat.

Islands drift with the wind and bob up and down as the coral gets dehydrated from being above the clouds and some of it dies, reducing lifting gas production and making the island sink until it becomes healthier again.

Today i wondered, what would happen if lightning struck one of these? What little i've read about lightning hitting airplanes and animals leads me to believe it wouldn't be great for the coral, but i'd love to hear what people who might know more about these things think.

Would the strike be less impactful with no ground current? Would the coral have to develop a way to avoid stormy areas? Would these things just being less conductive than air be enough to protect them, or would they need to develop something like a Faraday cage to be safe in a storm?

Some examples are linguistically universal across yinrih languages. All languages colexify various anatomical words related to limbs and extremities thanks to the yinrih being quadrupeds with highly prehensile feet. Their forepaws do just as much walking as their rear paws, and their rear paws do just as much grasping as their forepaws.

Some examples from Commonthroat:

To refer to human body parts, yinrih have to qualify these terms with words like rfbr to walk and CDq to hold, such as rnqCDqg holding paws for hands and rnqrfbrg walking paws for feet.

Yinrih also make distinctions where most human languages do not, such as having distinct words for muzzle (PMqg) and rhinarium, the wet tip of the nose (sPlqg). They also distinguish between the act of lapping (qdBq, meaning to draw liquid into the mouth by submerging the tip of the tongue and drawing it out again in a spoon-shape) and licking (NLr, meaning to drag the body of the tongue across a surface). Since kits lick (NLr) milk from their dams' paws, the word licker (NLrmg) means much the same thing as English sucker, a gullible or unfortunate person.

Like human languages, Commonthroat anatomical terms are used to derive many other words, but they may be used in very different ways thanks to the yinrih's body plan.

Because yinrih rely heavily on pheromones to communicate mood, the word for to smell like (rMP) also means to feel (an emotion).

Yinrih do not have concepts such as marriage or extended family, so they lack words for husband or wife, grandfather or grandmother, and aunt or uncle. A single word (scscg) refers to any adult associated with one's family but isn't one of one's sires or dams. And in yinrih cultures where single parents take charge of specific pups throughout their upbringing, the word scscg can even refer to one's other sires and dams who are not involved directly in one's upbringing. scscg also fills in for most of the human kinship terms mentioned above, and may also refer to older cousins.

As simple as yinrih kinship is, those kin relationships that are recognized are extremely strong. Parent-child and sibling-sibling relationships may require special pronominal forms in some languages. Outlander is the most well-known to use such a system. Second- and third-person pronouns have unique transactional, amicable, and familial forms. Note, however, that these forms indicate reciprocal relationships. Using familial forms with someone doesn't just mean "I think of you as family" but also "I expect you to treat me like family". It is considered rude or even vulgar to address someone with a more familiar pronoun, as it is seen as burdening them with unwelcome obligations or implying a level of closeness that hasn't yet been earned.

Complicating matters are that more pious dialects of Outlander use amicable forms to refer to humans when transactional forms would be used with other yinrih in the same situation.

Micro mechs[^1] started out as medical tools, but their tiny size quickly proved useful in espionage, as they allowed spies to be literal flies on the wall. From there they found their way into the criminal underworld as a favorite tool of pickpockets. Pilots could hop into a victim's wallet[^2] and copy ID or bank card numbers, then slip out undetected, possibly with a valuable trinket or two in paw.

Counter intelligence and law enforcement agencies had to develop strategies to detect, chase, and catch these lilliputian saboteurs. These hunting methods soon grew popular as sports, to the point that most micro mechs manufactured at the time of First Contact are built for recreational use rather than as medical tools. Pickpockets now favor sport mechs rather than those built for use by healers because the sport models are both far less expensive and are designed for speed and maneuverability rather than for safe operation in the delicate environment of a patient's body.

Sport micro mechs are built cheaply as they are designed to be disposable. Each manufacturer has their own proprietary control system--paw gauntlets and tail sheath for input, and a HUD visor for output, and each make and model has its ardent defenders and bitter detractors.

The most popular micro mech sport at the time of First Contact is a hunting game where one or more mechs compete to touch the nose of a participant on foot, who in tern is trying to chase down and smash the mechs. From an external perspective it looks like someone trying to chase down and squash a troublesome insect, so most people watch vid feeds from the mechs. From their perspective it's a Dark Souls style giant boss battle. Since the mechs are piloted remotely the only risk is to the "boss", who has to do a lot of leaping and brachiating. Humans refer to the sport as EXTREME snoot booping (caps and bold text mandatory).

Conventional mechs that are piloted internally are also used in fighting competitions similar to the arena from Armored Core.

[^1]: Commonthroat distinguishes between mechs piloted remotely and those piloted internally. The former are rLMg /chuff, long low strengthening grunt, short low weak growl/ literally mimic, shadow, or avatar and the latter are rGHg /chuff, long low strengthening growl, short low weak growl/ meaning heavy armor. Their pilots are in tern referred to as rLMqg /chuff, long low strengthening grunt, huff, short low weak growl/ and rGHqg /chuff, long low strengthening growl, huff, short low weak growl/. [^2]: A pocketed band worn around the right foreleg.

How would a race of quadrupedal sophonts approach the task of keeping their paws clean in places like hospitals and kitchens?

The yinrih use remotely operated micro mechs[^1] or stationary medical robots for most procedures, meaning the healer doesn't have to worry about her[^2] paws touching the patient.

In situations where such equipment is not available, the healer has a few options. The most straightforward is to avoid moving while working on a patient, making sure that any tools are within reach. The healer may stand on a moving platform that can be driven by tail-actuated controls. In want of even this, a healer will employ an assistant to fetch tools for her. The assistant will carry tools in the tail (which is sheathed much like a hand in a glove) or rest the tools on a back-mounted tray.

Paw washing is done in shallow washing pools. Front feet, back feet, and tail are washed. The palms and soles are scraped against a coarse mat to remove dirt from under the claws and from between the paw pads.

While not related directly to their quadrupedal stance, because yinrih have fur, healers take drugs to shed their coat, becoming completely bald save for the whiskers. Baldness is a sign of the medical profession, much like a human lab coat and stethoscope.

[^1]: zoomorphic drones that can range from cell-sized to the size of a small pill. They are swallowed by, or injected into, the patient to perform internal procedures without the use of incisions. The healer pilots the micro mech using a HUD visor, paw gauntlets, and a tail sheath. [^2]: As a rule, yinrih males may not become healers. Females may not become soldiers. "Men break, women fix" is the common saying about such matters.

Earth was blasted. Ruined. The tensions between nations had boiled over and weapons of unprecedented scale had been tossed in swarms of death. People still survived in fashions, some eking out lives on the surface while others survived in cramped shelters. Eventually disparate people became small groups, those groups became regional factions, and those factions became things to rival old nations. One group following an ideology of single world society and a dream of a post-national humanity rose over the others. It was known as the Shared Prosperity Sphere and it ended up fulfilling the goal of becoming the society of all the earth.

A century after humanity had been reunited under the banner of the SPS, and once again took to space. People went to mars to see what had become of the ancient colony there which had been lost to earth during the upheaval. Mars was a tomb, with the explorers from earth finding ruins and people of the old times long dead, but deep inside the old structures there was something else. Something that forever altered humanity's course. The colonists of the past had discovered buried subterranean alien ruins. This monumental find had been partially excavated and researched by the humans of mars and among the many details of importance, there was one relic of singular importance. A never before seen type of crystal, which was named in the colony records as aeternite. It could not be drilled into, chipped, or cracked with any known tool. It was a mystery, but with research of the alien structure that had housed it, the colonists had begun to uncover its power, and the researchers of the SPS continued to learn that the crystal, if subjected to specific energies, would create a field around itself which could be used as the heart of an engine for instantaneous interstellar travel. The peoples of earth found several more aeternite crystals in more alien structures buried under the martian surface, and with them constructed a fleet of ships capable of traveling truly to the stars. The act of traveling was simply called lightjumping by laypeople. The lightjumping was not completely freeform, there was an underlying set of variables which were sometimes esoteric which had to be learned in order to chart paths. Humanity did learn how to traverse space and there was no shortage of people willing to boldly go out into the void. Some people were naturally adventurous while others had secretly chafed under the society of the SPS and were looking for a chance to create what they thought would be a superior path. As the early small fleet of ships spread out, the explorers would occasionally discover more aeternite crystals. Often the crystals were merely small slivers, often appearing to perplexingly be broken shards of a larger whole, yet humanity had yet discovered a way to crack them. That was a mystery for academics though. On the frontier, what mattered was the leverage that having crystals provided. Ambitious leaders on some colonies revived the ancient concept of private companies. They created their own currencies, backed by reserves of aeternite. Eventually the most successful of these companies came to an agreement with each other and created the Uniform Commercial Council as a way of mediating. A single currency was adopted among them, and contract and territory rules were created and even sometimes followed.

Not all colonies went the way of becoming UCC members, and instead retained independence in some form. Some colonies were only merely above being vassals to a UCC members, others had some resource or location near a lightjump location that allowed them some level of leverage, and others simply found ways to become self sufficient and isolated.

Alien races, both sapient and feral were encountered on the frontier. While a new race was always a change to the social landscape, the people of the frontier were not like the shocked early people finding alien ruins on mars, and instead priding themselves on taking new alien contact in stride.

While the frontier of humanity was expanding and much to the dismay of the central academics of the SPS, growing wildly away from the comfortable social structure found on earth and mars, research into aeternite continued and scienticians eventually discovered a way to tap the field created but aeternite for power generation rather than travel. The amount of energy output from the field was massively higher by many orders of magnitude than what the aeternite was subjected to when creating the field. This curious effect, while baffling, was nevertheless something that changed the thinking of people on earth. While the SPS had up to that point created an improved standard of living, the possibility of functional energy post-scarcity was looked at as way to build a true utopia. Using the crystals for power generation meant they would not longer be installed on starships. The SPS was faced with a choice between continuing to explore into the unknown or the changes that such power generation would provide. They chose to stop exploring. To the people who had stayed inside the solar system, the stories of the frontier had scared them greatly. Many people, and the academic thought leaders agreed. The remaining crystals still inside the solar system were repurposed and the SPS turned inward 200 years after it had first traveled to mars.

On the frontier the UCC barely noticed. The member companies, now all megacorporations were more concerned with their own power and influence over the colonies and each other. The colonies spread and eventually the alien species called the arweli were encountered. Arweli were human sized, and though vaguely humanoid had a strong resemblance to earthy amphibians. The members of the race which were encountered were all part of the main interstellar nation which was highly militarized. Although the arweli territory constantly expanded, often bringing other alien races under their rule, they saw themselves as liberators rather than conquerors. The early encounters with humanity were polite but cold as the arweli tried to gauge if human territory would be possible and advantageous to liberate. That contemplation was cut short by the outbreak of all out war between the arweli and an alien cyborg race which became a struggle that devasated both of them, and drew much of humanity into a fight it wasn't prepared for.

UPDATE: I've shuttered the forum for the time being. I don't really have time to manage it, and I have no idea how to promote it. Oh well. I learned a lot about the admin side of forums though, so I don't consider it a waste of time.

If anyone is interested, I have a NodeBB instance at https://constructed.world/. For now email is not required to sign up.

NodeBB seems to be a spiritual successor to phpBB that aims to modernize the traditional forum experience while keeping the community atmosphere. It has many features that phpBB lacks, such as user mentions, a more modern user status indicator system, real-time chat, markdown formatting, and of course, it uses ActivityPub.

I think the more permanent discussion format of forums is a better fit for this hobby, personally.

Hopefully advertising another online conlanging/conworlding community isn't too crass, but I have no idea how else to let people know it's available.

Flat worlds, toroidal planets, cube planets, etc.

My longest-lasting conworld existed on the inner surface of a sphere with a light source at the center. I briefly considered having Yih (the homeworld of the yinrih) be a toroidal planet, but thought it was too out there and decided to give it a ring instead.

Whether it be meta tools or apps, or literal concepts like a mineral or a race, for example, a must for me is for the world to be built in a believable manner, and at the most simple, following some decent climate rules without much restraint.

my favourite would be drip plume ice worlds with hotspots that allow for rainforests in 80 Celsius steam zones, very exotic, the temperature regulated by these hotspots.

I rambled on too much...

For me, it's the retribution field. Simple concept: a force field that absorbs the kinetic energy of incoming projectiles, then releases that energy back at the attacker in an Imma firin mah lazer style blast of concussive force.

It's silly because I've already established that the yinrih can flout Newton's laws of motion and have access to things like micro fusion reactors that could theoretically generate the energy on its own without having to absorb it externally. At one point I had a weak justification based on Claravian just war doctrine, a quantitatively literal version of the Lex Talionis where you could only use the exact same force as was used against you, but I dropped that in short order and now it's just there because of the rule of cool.

I have a few.

Caerulium: a blue, non reactive metal with a similar cultural role to yinrih as gold has for humans. Claravian sacred objects such as thruibles and aspergillia are often made of caerulium. The Commonthroat word for caerulium is rdfsjHg, which means "sky-metal"

Tailstone: a magenta-colored crystal that's used for FTL communication. Partisan Territory is the largest supplier of tailstone to the rest of Focus. The word tailstone is a somewhat inexact translation of the Commonthroat sKGqrCg, which uses the word rC meaning to flick with the tail. To flick oneself on the side with the tip of the tail, as though shoeing a bothersome insect, is similar to a human dismissively waving the hand.

Polymerite: A material that can be molded or extruded like plastic. After being cured through exposure to gamma rays, it becomes as strong as steel. Polymerite comes in a number of grades, all of which are naturally neon-colored and translucent. This gives a lot of yinrih tech a distinct late 90s aesthetic.

Floatstone: This one's fictional in-universe. It's a substance said to be able to negate the effects of gravity. Many yinrih choose to live permanently in orbital colonies without any artificial gravity in order to free up all four paws for grasping and manipulation. Many dream of having the convenience of living planetside with the freedom of movement afforded by microgravity.

The usual greeting phrase is Light shine upon you, friend. Despite the phrase's religious character it is just as common in secular circles. Refusal to use it marks one as an ideologue even among the religiously indifferent.

In the most common greeting gesture across yinrih cultures, The greeter rears up on his hind feet and pats himself on the belly twice with the left forepaw. Many humans assume this is an invitation for tummy rubs. Acting on this assumption is a quick way to get slapped with an assault charge.

In reality, the gesture indicates trust by exposing the vulnerable underbelly to the person being greeted, trusting they won't take advantage of their weakness.

All Yinrih cultures have very strict proxemics, and interpret human petting as a gross violation of their personal space. Since Wayfarers (followers of the Bright Way) are very eager to befriend humans, they will accept or even offer a human-style handshake, but not without a certain amount of cringing at first.

Yinrih, for their part, hear that a "firm" handshake is considered a good greeting gesture. Unfortunate human recipients of yinrih handshakes get to learn how sharp yinrih claws are.

I am unreasonably annoyed by the trope of races based on animals using ear holes in their clothing and especially armor. The Raison d'etre of a hat is to protect the wearer from sun, rain, cold, wind, or blunt force. Nobody but nobody is going to ignore the most delicate, sticky-outy parts of their head when designing a hat.

With that rant out of the way, here's how I've dealt with this problem for my monkey foxes.

Yinrih ears, like those of Terran canids, are motile, cartilaginous structures that serve a few functions beside the obvious entry point for sound. They help with thermal regulation, and they play a role in communicating emotion visually[^1] in a similar manner to human eyebrows.

The first problem one encounters when developing headgear is that it's uncomfortable to have weight pressing on the ears. One solution, employed by healers' cloaks[^2] is to have a support that keeps the cloth above the ears and allows them to swivel.

The other solution is to have rigid, form-fitting ear guards that protect the ears at the cost of limiting their mobility. This approach is used by powered armor helmets as well as in healers cloaks.

The guards used by healers are usually plastic or cardboard and are worn under the cloak.

Powered armor used by peacekeeping and law enforcement additionally use the ear guards as identifiers. The backs of the guards have colored retro-reflective chevrons that indicate rank or role.

Thoughts? What about other common nonhuman racial features like horns, tails, wings, or trunks?

[^1]: Yinrih primarily rely on pheromones, both through an ambient musk and via their ink, to communicate emotion, but can use ear and eyelid position to convey acute emotional reactions. Since humans cannot detect yinrih pheromones, yinrih who spend time with humans learn to be more expressive with their ears in order to make up the difference. [^2]: Healers take drugs to render themselves hairless save for the whiskers. They are the only yinrih who regularly wear clothes, in order to protect their now furless skin from the sun.

I have things that I can confidently call conworlds going back to my middle school days in the late 90s.

My current Lonely Galaxy setting is a rework of an earlier project I called variously The Last Grand Adventure or En after the in-universe name of the world. It has roots going back to my freshman year of college in the early 2000s.

I conworld mainly as a means of escapism. My current conworld was born out of a time of extreme stress. I couldn't handle the real world, so I retreated into my own. Perhaps not the most healthy way to cope, but eh.

Admittedly my attempt at this isn't too far from the typical "they just eat fish" solution, but I thought it would be interesting to play with how they acknowledge their respective statuses as predators and prey.

The two species have different but complimentary funeral rites. When a prey animal dies, it is ritually butchered and its meat consumed by a predator. When a predator dies, seeds are buried with the body so their remains fertilize crops that are eaten by members of the prey species. Specific individuals or families are chosen by the deceased in their will to carry out this task, and the relationship is treated like being a godparent.

What drives your world? Where do you start?

Are you:

• The Architect, who begins with the setting—crafting landscapes, lore, and systems until the story grows naturally from the world itself (J.R.R. Tolkien)?
• The Storycrafter, who starts with a strong plot—shaping the world and characters to serve a compelling narrative arc (J.K. Rowling)?
• The Psychologist, who builds from the inside out—creating vivid, complex characters whose choices shape the world and drive the story (George R.R. Martin)?
• The Philosopher, who begins with a theme—exploring big ideas and moral questions through a world built to embody and test them (C.S. Lewis)?
• The Engineer, who uses mechanical systems as a world scaffold - building characters, stories, and lore to support and explore those systems (Brandon Sanderson)?

Which one best describes your process? Or do you switch between them depending on the project?

EDIT: Added The Engineer thanks to CaptSatelliteJack