You know how fairies and other similar creatures are like super allergic to iron?
Well I was thinking about blood and how that has iron in it, and like I’d imagine the concentration isn’t enough to cause any noticeable harm.
But what if some people had a much higher concentrations of iron in their blood, that’d probably render them immune to most of the tricks fairies try to pull.
They’d also always have access to a material that they could use to defeat them.
Do you know those characters you sometimes see in fantasy stuff who either have dolls for bodies or who use and command dolls in combat?
Well what if a character like that one day decided “These dolls are too weak, I should improve upon them to allow them to be more flexible and durable”
Then to do this they end up creating the features of modern action figures, with stuff like ball joints, mushroom pegs, and ratchets.
All stuff that could probably contribute massively to the field of engineering, but instead it’s used to make a magically powered sword-wielding army of faceless human-sized gi-joes.
I think it’d be an interesting and potentially funny idea for you to have a group of characters be married to each other (or at least claim to be married to each other) entirely for taxation reasons.
And you could also do the whole “Hahaha we’re just doing it for ulterior motives, but are we really?” romance thing.
But it would be much funnier for an entire close-knit adventuring group to just be like “Yep I sure do love my partner for entirely romantic reasons, and we just love taking massive gold hoards from dungeons with our friends who also got married at the same time”
You don’t need to totally figure out the logistics of it but if you have some fantasy events occur, it could be pretty neat to figure out what the realistic consequences of them occurring could be.
For example, if a dragon attacks a port town could cause there to be a reduction in the amount of trade, meaning there could also be an economic downturn and a reduction in the amount of items available non-basic items available to people.
Another example could be if an evil necromancer takes up residence near a major city, the people there could all of a sudden have to deal with suddenly not being sure of what to do with anyone who dies because if they bury anyone in the usual location they’ll probably end up being turned into a zombie or skeleton.
Final example, If a state with a state religion manages to manifest its diety into the physical realm and said deity was perhaps some kind of giant monster, they could then use the political leverage of having said giant monster diety to help enforce their own interests on other states and peoples they interact with.
I think weapons that turn into other things are cool.
And I’m not just on about weapons that transform into other types of weapons or similar-sized objects (but those are still very cool).
I’m also talking about weapons that shift and reform into little metallic creatures that can scurry about acting independently until their wielder calls upon them, at which point they transform back into their weapon mode.
Or maybe they could turn into pieces of armor so that they can serve a dual purpose.
Or maybe they could do all of the above, it’s up to you :)
It’d be neat I think to have a whole archive full of evil artifacts full of malevolent energies, perhaps a few could even be harbouring sinister entities that were sealed inside long ago.
Oh and as for why they were placed in an archive of evil objects instead of being destroyed? … I’m not totally sure, it might’ve just seemed a bit mean and wasteful to like destroy them.
And as for why they’re all stored together instead of separately which would almost certainly be the safer way of doing things? Well that’s so they can all keep each other company :)
And also because if all the evils are accidentally/deliberately unleashed at the same time they’ll all probably fight each other so there’ll be less evil to deal with overall.
Kings are not exempt from being as evil as their queens. Kings have all of the power in their kingdom and some yield it with cruelty. There are categories of the Evil King.
The Cruel
The Mad
The Cruel
The Incompetent
The Cruel
This king loves to exercise his power over others. He is savage and will torture his people to get all he can from them. He is mostly likely vain and savage and will do anything for power.
Henry VIII: You knew he would be on this list. Henry began his reign as a charismatic and lovable monarch. When his desire and obsession for a son grew, Henry grew more crueler and sadistic. He cast off four wives, killing two of them and abandoning two more. His third and fifth wives are the only ones who experienced a natural separation in death from Henry. While stuffing his face and getting the mediaeval equivalent of catfished, he put thousands to death including the eighty year old Margaret Pole, his mother’s cousin. He was unendingly cruel to his wives and children
Tiberius: The heir of the first Emperor of Rome. He took power after his mother murdered Augustus. He secured his power by killing his popular nephew and two of his grand-nephews while imprisoning his last nephew and grand-nieces. He is rumoured to have built a palace with a pool of young boys to nibble at his genitals whilst he bathed. He was reputedly murdered by his heir, his final grand-nephew Caligula.
Nero: The Roman Emperor who they called the Anti-Christ. Nero kicked his own pregnant wife to death and has his own mother killed. He was fond of sacrificing Christians to lions and making them human candles.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians: You might know this fucker from every show/movie/book made about Queen Victoria. In these adaptations he is presented to be grasping and evil but the truth is far worse. Claiming the Congo as his, he sent in soldiers to force the natives to resource rubber for him making him a wealthy man on the backs of thousands of dead natives.
Genghis Khan, Khan of All Khans: Though he has an awesome back story, the crimes of this Mongolian conqueror are unforgivable. He sacked thousands of towns and cities, burning and destroying as he went. He also allowed his men to rape millions of women some even before their families. He himself has thousands of descendants through these heinous acts.
The Mad
This king is off his rocker. He has lost his marbles and he runs a nation holding thousands of innocent lives. Gods save us.
George III: Mad King George began his reign as a well-liked king but grew worse as he went on. George suffered two periods of illness, one thought to be Alzheimer’s. He was one of the longest reigning British monarchs. Some believe that his madness led to was the cause of his mental instability. He spent his last few years under the Regency of his son.
Henry VI: The son of Henry V. He came to the throne as a baby. In 1453, he became catatonic, unable to speak or do anything. This led to a civil war that lost him the crown in 1461. Henry was reinstated in 1470 but was overthrown within months.
Caligula: The Mad Roman Emperor. Caligula, “Little Boots” was made emperor after the demise of Tiberius. Though popular because of his tragic back story and his hero father, Caligula was as mad as a box of frogs. He tried to make his horse a consul, made the navy build a bridge across a bay so he could ride across it, went to war with the sea and raped his sisters. He was murdered by his bodyguards after a few years in power.
Charles VI of France: Came to the throne at the age of 21 and came to be called “the Beloved”. However, he grew mad and killed four of his knights and attacked his brother. He attacked his wife so much that she employed a mistress so the king could have sex with somebody rather than her. His madness sparked the Hundred Years War.
The Incompetent
This king is useless. He is not fit for the job and he sucks at it so badly, he’s considered a loser.
John I of England: England’s worst king, or so people think. The son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John sh p uld have been a good king. However, he usurped his hero-brother Richard the Lionheart and had his nephew killed. He mistreated his nobles so much, by forcing himself on their wives and taxing them, that they revolted leading to the Magna Carta.
Richard II: This king came to the throne at a young age. He began as a pretty ok, king bravely riding out to meet the peasants who revolted against him. He rebelled against his impressive uncle, John of Gaunt leading to five lords taking him aside, (i.e kidnapping him and holding him prisoner) and having a chat with him. Richard got revenge on these lords later and so incited a coup led by Gaunt’s son, Henry Bolingbroke. He was left starve to death in a cell.
Edward II: the son of Edward I. He came to the throne to relevant peace but then decided to fuck up the applecart. He lost Scotland, the country his father fought bloody wars, at Bannockburn to Robert de Bruce. He lavished titles and honours to his rumoured lover Piers Gaveston and leant on his counsel whilst sidelining his more competent queen. He picked fights with his nobles making them rebel more than once. When Gaveston was murdered, Edward found a new buddy in Hugh Despenser. Edward was such a shitty king that the county supported his wife’s foreign invasion and her regency over their twelve year old son.
George IV: The Prince of Whales, as he was so dubbed. He was more interested in mistresses and extravagance than ruling. He married Catholic to his father’s despair and was bailed out by Parliament frequently due to the massive debts he incurred. George married Princess Caroline and slept with her twice to produce an heir which miraculously he did.
Everytime that Tumblr post about “You can’t use the word bungalow in fantasy worlds!” or whatever and then it’s all the fucking reblogs of all the words that have “specific origins” that you “can’t use” because “those people don’t exist” or “those places” or whatever.
Do you know how many fucking basic words we use to describe the world are derived from very specific people and very specific events? Or are stolen from languages in which those words come from VERY SPECIFIC PEOPLE and events? If you get rid of one, you might as well get rid of them all! Because just because YOU don’t know the VERY SPECIFIC HISTORICAL ORIGINS of this word, doesn’t mean your AUDIENCE doesn’t and wouldn’t that break immersion??
No. No it fucking wouldn’t. Not if you, you know, make it work.
What else would you do? Write in a god damn conlang? Because all I’m hearing is “because I know the origin of this word, therefore it can’t be in fantasy” and honestly fuck off.
I’m gonna go put bungalows in my fantasy now.
This is how you get Uncleftish Beholding, a very clever sci-fi short essay by Poul Anderson, written in English without any loanwords. E.g. you can’t use the word ‘science’, that’s from Latin - so it’s called ‘worldken’. You can’t say ‘atom’, that’s Greek - it’s an ‘uncleft’. You can’t say ‘theory’ because that’s also Greek - so it’s ‘beholding’. The title, therefore, means ‘Atomic Theory’.
There are other books, even novel-length ones, that have taken similar restrictive or highly theoretical approaches to the use of language - Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is one of the more famous, with its opening sentence of, “On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen.”
They can be fascinating but extremely challenging to read, and I can only imagine writing one is an enormous task, simply because you have to think about every single word as you go. It’s not something you do casually on a whim, it’s a huge part of the construction and worldbuilding of the story itself.
So sure, maybe don’t say “French braid” in a world that doesn’t have France, that might throw someone out of the immersion, I guess. But if you start trying to limit words back down to their original meanings and saying you can’t use them because whatever language they originally come from doesn’t exist in [fantasy world], you’re going to end up with a ridiculously limited vocabulary.
Tripping the Write Fantastic, a server by and for writers, is going to be celebrating its second year anniversary this coming June - how exciting! (Keep reading to see why this is important!) For those of you who don’t know, we run a zine full of stories from you guys, and we’re preparing for our next edition!
If you like to write stories with myths and fairy tales, this one’s for you - that’s our theme! Our only topic requirement is that your story somehow relates to a myth or a fairy tale. Other than that, the world is your oyster.
Interested in submitting? Here’s some more information!
- Your story must be below 3,000 words. -Any form of written work is acceptable, including but not limited to poetry, songwriting, and prose. - The submission deadline for this period is July 31st, and we are looking at releasing the edition in full in the middle or end of August. - Due to our theme, you must be prepared to tell us which fairy tale or myth your story relates to.
“But Sunny,” you’re asking (I’m sure), “how does the two year anniversary affect this?” For two years, we’re opening submissions for two stories from each writer! They don’t have to be connected should you choose to write two, but they can be - there’s a space in the form to mark that.
And, if you want to design the cover for this edition, you can send me a message for more information!
Woo, that was a lot. I’ll be boosting this post a few times between now and our deadline. Until then, happy writing!
The worst part about writing fantasy is being keenly aware that you’re writing fantasy, which means that you always have to straddle a thin three-way line between anachronism, cliche, and clunk.
Take money, for example. You can’t just have people in a fictional fantasy world walk around using Euros. You consider something generic, like ‘silver coins,’ but before you know it your world starts sounding like a shitty ren faire.
So you think about the world you’ve built and its needs and its history to come up with some unique and relevant terms. But if your terms are toounique and relevant you wind up writing “yarr, you’ll be ransomed for a hundred Trade League Silver Gyrblonks” and realize your worldbuilding is now getting in the way of basic readability.
The Lesson Of The Day is that all the names are already claimed by IRL, and all the almost-good-names that you could invent to get around that were used by some SFF author in the seventies e.g. I bet you can’t do Suns and Moons for your gold/silver coins, I bet some author did that already.
My fantasy nation uses solid gold coins marked by the dental impressions of the reigning king, as a sign of their purity and authenticity.
They’re called Bitcoins.
oh you can go the fuck to jail that’s what you can do, where you’ll be shackled to a chain gang hitting the blockchain with a pickaxe
nothing will remind you that eating is good and okay like fantasy books will. “and that night in the valley they brought out the best plum cake and sweet cream, trout and turnips roasted over the fire, mead and goatsmilk and fresh cold water from the spring-“ and it’s like yeah dude you’re absolutely right. then sometimes it’s like “as he slept that night in the woods, he sorely missed the valley, where they brought out the best plum cake-“ and it’s like man that sucks i’ll have some seconds in his honor
Redwall is a series so steeped in a rigid and grotesque racial structure that’s it’s a little dizzying when you think about it as an adult and go ‘wait, actually, that’s seriously problematic thinking about it in hindsight: with fifty damn books in the series is Gingivere the only non-Woodlander character who doesn’t end up reverting to evil?’
But it’s hard to hate on it because god damn those OATCAKES, am I right?
Seriously though, there’s a one-to-one correlation between ‘the privations of the Depression and the Second World War’ and ‘an entire generation of post-war authors for whom quality food in satisfying quantities was consistently framed as a reward worthy in and of itself’ and I think modern fiction’s habit of not having that same level of focus withholds from modern works a largely unrecognized but vitally important aspect of their appeal.
in many of these post-war books there are what you might call ‘way stations of comfort’ within the text: things might get hard, things might get tragic, but amidst the hardness and suffering there are moment of reprieve (for both character and reader) signified by the sharing of a meal. Even in Mordor Sam tries to present Frodo with a proper dinner until the ring’s degradation essentially robs him of all appetite—and that loss of appetite is presented as a truly evil thing, not just because Frodo is deprived of nutrients, but because its loss is major severing of an opportunity for him to still experience goodness.
It matters that the White Witch enchants Edmund with Turkish Delight (a rarity in sugar-rationed England). It matters that the terrors of Old Man Willow are washed away with a warm meal at the House of Tom Bombadil. It matters that Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin’s friendship is forged over a dinner of ragoo’d mutton and wild boar’s face, courtesy Jack’s ignorance of Catalan. And I think it matters too that in five Ice and Fire books the only meal I remember offhand is the one where everyone got murdered. Yet eve-though I haven’t read a Redwall book in probably twenty years, off the top of my head I can still remember the hot root soup eating competition, “silver fish whose life we take, only for a meal to make,” the sparrow warrior who was won-over by candied nuts, and the endless importance of opening a rucksack on a long journey and discovering a very fine hard cheese or an oatcake still warm from the ovens, carefully added at the last moment by a loving paw as you stepped out your door. I hated mushrooms my entire childhood until I read the Lord of the Rings and Mrs. Maggot’s mushrooms sounded so heavenly that my life was forever changed.
People sometimes mock the preponderance of food in post-war works, and they miss—here as in so much else—its importance, what exactly it is there to do, and just how meaningful you know food to be when you’ve starved for years and lived in a world where you had to make two ounces of butter stretch for seven days.
I have NO issues in any representation of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I do not care if it is animated, live action, literary or spray painted on the side of a building. Expression is the highest form of flattery.
What I have a problem with is a representation that does not lead back to Tolkien. I purposely created “The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy” and its subsequent standalone books for the sole purpose to lead back to Tolkien’s original works. When someone says to me, “reading your story has made me want to read (or reread Tolkien),” my mission has been fulfilled.
I do not do what I do for money. I do not do it for notoriety which I have gained worldwide. I do it because of the love of reading and out of respect for my literary hero J.R.R. Tolkien. In the early days, when people confused my story with Tolkien, that upset me greatly. First of all, I do not think I sound like Tolkien as my story is told in the first person. Granted, I studied his language patterns and felt the need to take out anything “modern” in order to ensure my stories maintained a certain believability.
I have created characters when necessary but never once have I ever taken the works of Tolkien out of context. I “write around” the original material. I work with the original material. I am always referring back to the material to make sure I am capturing the essence of Middle-Earth as Tolkien created it. I made that promise to my father and Tolkien the very second I decided to write my story. I took the path less traveled at a time when Middle-Earth fan fictions on Tumblr were often filled with vulgarity and graphic sex.
I was on the last rung on a ladder of stories when I began “The Saga of Thranduil”. At any time, I could have turned the tide for more attention, but I refused. I could not bring myself to lessen the work of the man inspired me to write fantasy when I was a child. I knew anything less than my best would have disappointed my dying father. I continued on the path I chose.
When teachers started telling me they liked TKWRT and asked if they could read it to their students during a unit on Tolkien, I was shocked. When soldiers deployed in war zones asked for a copy of TKWRT, I was humbled. When high school students wrote me during Winter Recess about wanting to read TKWRT because they could not get to a library, I realized I had done something wonderful. When other published writers asked if my work was a continuation of Tolkien, I finally allowed myself to accept the reason so many people told me they had written to the Tolkien Estate asking about a “lost” book about Thranduil.
I know what I have done and will continue to do. I do not have any issues with how Tolkien is represented. I know how I represent Tolkien. He is never far from my mind whenever I write sentence. In fact, I am always surrounded by his books when I am working. I am telling histories through the eyes of his characters in his world. I make sure he is always front and center in that moment. From the naming of characters (often mentioned but never named) to new place names, I never am looking to the outside. My guide is Tolkien. Until the very last word, he will be the inspiration. He has to be, otherwise I am disrespecting his legacy, genius and his work. This entire series is dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien. I would not wish to give him anything he would not be proud to read himself.–Jaynaé Marie Miller, from Excerpts, A Memoir.
Here is a large compilation of resources based on what you guys told me you struggle with the most when writing romance. This ranges from creating a healthy romance to inspire other people to seek the right kind of love, finding inspiration to write, writing realistic scenes, and many other topics. I hope that you find this useful!
One of the first things you need to establish in your story is the subgenre of the high fantasy story you’ll be writing. But Azura, high fantasy is already a subgenre?? Yes, it is, but what type of high fantasy?
Different types of high fantasy will require different types of worldbuilding. For instance, dark fantasy needs horror elements and an eerie setting, while steampunk fantasy will have complex machinaries instead.
Here are some examples of high fantasy subgenres :
• Epic fantasy
• Steampunk fantasy
• Dark fantasy
• Medieval fantasy
• Heroic fantasy
• etc!
2. Magic system
Most high fantasy stories will have a magic system, so if you’re planning to include one, you’ll need to do loads of planning.
Who can or cannot use magic, and why is that? Is it inherited, learned, or both? Are there any taboos in using magic? Are magic users praised or feared? What’s the limit of using magic? Are there any incantations or magical tools involved? There are countless questions to tackle while coming up with a magic system, so make sure you plot it in detail.
3. Culture
Where there’s people, there’s culture. Although it won’t be too frequently mentioned, having certain cultures in your world will make your worldbuilding more realistic.
Are there religions? Do people worship God(s)? When are the holidays? Are there any unique traditions? What gestures are considered impolite? It’s little things like these that bring your story to life.
4. Type of government
Naturally, your world will have a government system. Decide what yours will be. Republic? Monarchy? Democracy? Theocracy?
Your government should also reflect your time and location setting - maybe using an emperor or empress to reflect a more medieval timeline, and using a president for a more modern setting. If your world is going through a war, you can use a system governed by the military. I have a post about writing a fictional government, you can refer to it for more info!
5. Language
What language do the people in your WIP speak? Is it fictional or not? If your setting is in a single region, they’ll probably have the same language, but if it’s set in different parts of the world, it’s only natural to have more than one language.
Different languages can also be used to indicate diversity. If you’re wondering how to incorporate multiple languages in a single language book, try reading Six of Crows as a reference - it shows the contrast of people speaking in different languages perfectly, even though the book is only in English.
6. History
Having a history of your world will help you understand it better. Has there been any previous wars between nations or disputes between the government and civilians? Or has the land always been peaceful, for some reason?
A great way to record your world’s history is to make a timeline of main events that affected the plot. I also suggest creating a history for your magic system - how magic was discovered and normalized.
spell or curse ∙ abandoned mansion or haunted cemetery ∙ vampire slayer or ghost hunter ∙ phoenix or griffin ∙ wrist bite or neck bite ∙ fairy godmother or evil stepmother ∙ herbs or potion ∙ ghost or wraith∙dragon scales or werewolf claws ∙ druid or mage∙elf or hobbit ∙ divination or necromancy ∙ wand magic or hand magic∙centaur or unicorn ∙ dark fairytale or disney-style fairytale ∙ sword or bow & arrow∙siren or water nymph ∙ garlic or silver∙talking animal or walking tree ∙ demon trap or crossroads pact∙enchanted fairy forest ormermaid lagoon
Ranking of my characters from most to least likely to sell you to Satan for one corn chip:
Okay this will be the most ridiculous ranking I’ve ever done, but here we go! (Ranked from most likely to least likely)
Isobel (evil faery)
Enya Arati (hungry dragon girl)
Gudrun Siegfrieden (grumpy dwarf wife)
Kairi Kailani (business-minded siren sister)
Saoirse Dearbháil (immoral mage)
Sereia (mysterious nymph)
Talib (proud elafid)
Meara Kailani (clueless siren)
Dietbert Siegfrieden (loyal dwarf)
My protagonist(s)’s vices or bad habits:
Enya tends to ignore her girlfriend Meara completely after they had a fight while Meara wants to talk it out after a fight and will annoy Enya until they had a proper discussion; if necessary, she will annoy her for days to come
Saoirse likes to seduce men and women, but leave them hanging in desperation because she doesn’t want to have sex with them, she just needs to feel wanted and get compliments
Meara bites her nails when she feels anxious
Dietbert laughs really loud about his own jokes and if others don’t join in his laughter, he laughs even louder
Gudrun, Dietbert’s wife, likes to start fights over little things and throws things at her husband when she is really angry
Kairi rats her younger sisters out and immediately tells their parents whenever they did something wrong
Talib secretly smokes herbs that have a hallucinating effect
This is a short story entered into a Vocal Media competition - if you could take the time to follow the link and like or comment on the original, I would be super grateful :D
There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but upon later reflection, Jem would admit that it had been foolish to overlook the sign that there would be one day.
It was not really a valley but a sheltered cup in the mountains, it had contained a handful of hot springs and a collection of rough-hewn boulders that were too smooth to be natural and too old to have been made by human hand. At least that’s what the Elders taught Jemima when she was a girl. Separated from the rest of the thermal waters by a jagged semi-circle of rock that seemed to have been thrust out of the earth by force, the Valley was contained and sheltered. Safe from wind and snow, warm even in the heart of winter, and full of haggard, stunted plants, and flowers that might never grow elsewhere. The Valley, in short, was a gold mine for healers, apothecaries, and poisoners and so it had to be kept secret. The winding path from the village of Heft to the nearest town, Port Keele, passed its entrance yet never bent in its direction. Travelers walked by it every day, remarking on the strange, craggy hill perched at the top of the Sulphur Plains and never seemed to think about whether it had a center of stone. Read More.
there are tons of different types of governments - mostly, as a pattern in fantasy, the government is either in the form of a monarchy or extremely corrupted. so i’ll be sharing some cool methods to write this, again, its just the way I want, do your own research if you want more in-depth info. (also, not a historian, these are things ive studied in history class!)
#1. Totalitarian states
These governments are extremely right-wing (conservative) usually, and impose strict censorship laws and usually have a very active secret police and intelligence systems made up of informants, militants and spies. A lot of the time, they also tend to brainwash their people into believing them using propaganda and silencing dissenters. They often use terror tactics like making the entire population distrust each other, as no-one is sure who is working for the government. Its using systemic terror and the fear of not knowing who to trust that creates very efficient (and terrifying) government systems.
#1a. Revolutions & Freedom of Speech
The reason why a totalitarian states rules in the first place is often because of having a great amount of military power, which subdues the people and is an efficient way to take away rights without having a massive protest or revolution. The only effective way for a totalitarian government to be taken down is if the head of state or an important general is murdered, throwing the lower governmental ranks into chaos. That usually culminates in a breakdown of the economy and politics and the chance for a new government to take power.
#2. Monarchies
A monarchy is a form of government where there is Monarch at the head of it. There are a bunch of different ways it can be organized, but usually there is a council of ministers in charge of different things (i.e Defense, Health, Education, etc) that meets and consults with the monarch, who is in charge of all the ultimate decisions. They monarch also deals with important foreign relations - meeting with monarchs or heads of other governments would be their job with advisory from the Foreign minister. Monarchies are more old-school, and also have no democratic election system.
#2a. Puppet rulers
A lot of monarchs in history - and in fiction, have been puppets controlled by a much more powerful person behind them. Whether this be because they’re old and powerless, or are blackmailed into it, they have no actual autonomy and are overridden by the person controlling them. Puppet rulers are especially useful as plot twists in fantasies, because the person who was built up to be the “big bad enemy” was actually being controlled by AN EVEN WORSE ENEMY⁉️
#3. Some questions to ask yourself about your governmental system
Is it corrupted? To what extent?
What factions exist within it? (eg: conservatives, liberals, etc)
What do the people support/think?
If there was an emergency crisis at the same time as a war was being fought, would the government prioritise its people or its soldiers/territory?
Who was the previous government? How did the current government succeed it?
Not all of these require long answers, even a couple of lines to understand how the government did xyz would be enough context! hope this helped <3
am i using this an excuse to rant about my new fixations? yes.
I genuinely feel like linguistics is SUCH a cool worldbuilding aspect but it just isn’t?? explored enough?? LIKE GODAMNIT do you not understand the possibilities of different dialects and just differences in regions? imagine character a asking a question in dialect A and character B giving a long-winded explanation in dialect B which character A just nods along too, but when asked to explain to the other members of their team they’re just like “bold of you to expect me to understand that”
disclaimer: this is stuff my mom and i talk about while watching gujarati cooking shows im not a linguist and this is my own personal experience!!
#1. If there’s a nationally spoken language, it ORIGINATED from a certain region
so, basically, spoken (and written) language differs over regions. mostly, the region where it originated from will have the most “pure” and “original” version of the language, with a lot of high-level words other people may not understand. this is so useful for comedy because a lot of people may just go ??? like what are you saying man use simpler language.
#2. Vocabulary!! and Accents!! Differ!! Depending!! On!! Where!! You’re!! From!!
if there are multiple languages spoken in your country/world, its ineviable that languages will mix. words from another lanuage may be modified and added to another one. it really annoys me when languages are treated as untouchable “wholes” as if they aren’t growing changing evolving things?? some examples of books where different languages aren’t written that well are the Grishaverse. inej learnt kerch but she NEVER used suli words in it by mistake?? or the fact that ketterdam a motherfucking PORT CITY never had misunderstandings due to different accents and vocabulary?? wild. unrealistic.
#3. the implications of language
okay. lmao. there are studies that show how you literally think differently when using different languages (re: the movie arrival) and ITS SO COOL. maybe a character switches to a different language when bargaining with murderers and talking to their s.o?? or maybe they choose to speak really formally in one language and only knows slang in another. its extremely varied and fun to experiment with!
#4. SOCIOLINGUISTICS and honorific systems
essentially, the way society affects language. when is formal language used? when is informal language used? do women talk differently from men? how many levels of politeness/rudeness are there? additionally, honorific systems are some of my favourite things - an honorific system exists in some languages like Japanese, for example, in which a suffix is added to the name of a person for formalness and is a social norm. there are so many implications of it, and can be used in so many different ways.
#5. an example (last point i swear)
one of my favourite books that incorporates language SO WELL is these violent delights by chloe gong. the incorporation of different Chinese dialects, switching of languages between English to Russian to French, all with diffrent connotations and implications. it was a DREAM reading it, because i have literally never seen a book have so much detail in languages.
anywayyyyy be glad i deleted all my rants of my personal experiences witih the amalgamation of gujarati and marathi, you really dont want to know.
