Worldbuilding Ex 2022

[sincereously]

Hello, creator!

I'm so excited to see what you come up with for this exchange! Hope you have a great time with it. Prompts are here if you want them, but if you have another idea that's inspiring you I'm happy to see that too.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me through the mods. I'm also sincereously on AO3.

General Likes and DNWS

General likes:
Unusual formats, including in-universe documents and maps
Architectural designs, including floorplans and elevations
Clothing and hairstyle designs and in-universe fashion trends
Deep dives into mundane aspects of living in a fictional world
Objects and behaviors with deep symbolic meaning, including complex rituals (also including varying reactions to these symbolic things by the different characters)
Encounters with the supernatural, particularly ghosts and deities
Characters using or attempting to use magic or other supernatural forces
Maybe-magic-maybe-mundane events
Canon divergence
Unreliable narrators
Outsider POV
Dramatic irony
Moments of quiet intimacy during breaks in the action (especially good for missing scenes in between what we see in canon)
Complicated women, and complicated relationships between complicated women
Slowly building intimacy/respect together - slow burn in general
Taking care of injured people
Forced proximity (undercover together, trapped together, accidental/arranged marriage, fake dating, only one bed, etc.)
Elaborate plans that may or may not work out
Improvising new plans as you go along
"That's an extremely bad plan, of course I'm in" type situations and interpersonal dynamics
Getting in way over your head but throwing yourself headfirst into the plan anyway
Repressed characters learning to let go
Struggling against temptation/the Dark Side/inner demons (and giving in)
Mind control/possession (and resisting mind control/possession)
Five + one things structure

General DNWs:
Character bashing
Non-canonical child death
Setting change AUs (ex. coffeeshop, high school, modern AU, etc.)
Time travel AUs
Explicitly stated sexuality labels for characters whose sexuality is not canonically defined
Formalized dom/sub relationships
Ageplay
Raceplay
Omegaverse
Mpreg
Excretory kinks
Rape/noncon (dubcon - sex pollen with both/all characters dosed, sex in arranged marriages, fuck-or-die, etc. - are fine, as are references to canonical rape/noncon)
Underage under 15 and unrequested non-canonical ships with 20+ year age gaps (mentions of canon examples of both are acceptable, but please don't make them the focus of the fic)
Animal abuse
Hopeless endings (endings can be dark, but not without any shred of hope)
For both fic and art, please keep the level of violence at about what it is in canon.

FANDOMS

A Brother's Price

Requested Characters: Any or No Characters, Original Character(s)

Requested Tags and Prompts:
- WB: Queensland arts and culture: We see an opera in canon, in addition to histories, literature, visual arts, and folk music. What other kinds of art exist in Queensland, in high culture and/or in low culture? Who are the most famous artists of the setting, and what kind of work do they do? In-universe documents of any sort - religious or mythological texts, in-universe librettos for the opera (possibly with revision or performance notes) - would also be great.

- WB: Queensland religion: There's some mention of religious laws and strictures, particularly around prohibiting adoptions, but not much else - what does religious practice look like in this world? Were the Prophets cannons named for actual prophets, and how might these figures play into Queensland religion?

- WB: The adoption taboo: As mentioned, the adoption taboo is one of the few religious laws mentioned in the setting, and it's apparently quite strong. How did this taboo develop? What happens to families that break that taboo? How do the families that adopt secretly hide the fact, and how do the adoptees handle that information?

- WB: The War of the False Eldest: What did the soldiers and the civilians think about the dynastic situation that led to the war, or were they just concerned about the common people/their family who got trampled in the war's path? Did these soldiers and civilians know the Whistlers at all, and what was their impression of them if they did? How did different groups - soldiers, nobles, civilians, historians, writers and performers - remember and interpret the war in the aftermath?

A Song of Ice and Fire

Requested Characters: Any Braavosi Character, Any Dornish Character, Any Red Priest, Any Septa, Bellegere Otherys the Courtesan, Melisandre of Asshai, Nymeria of the Rhoyne

Requested Tags and Prompts:
- WB: Courtesans in Braavos: What does day-to-day life look like for a courtesan? How do different courtesans use their influence - for politics, for culture, for love? How do courtesans with a title choose a successor and pass their title on? How often can a new courtesan come to prominence, and what kind of intrigue does she need to do to earn fame in Braavos?

- WB: Braavosi performing arts: Arya's chapters in Braavos give us the names of several plays, including a few based on events in Westeros. What are the plots of some of the plays we don't see> How does the public of Braavos react to the different shows, and how might the different plays influence each other's development? What incidents have happened in the rivalry among the playhouses of Braavos - how do they all compete to bring in their audiences? Phario Forel is positioned as "the bloodiest quill in all of Braavos" - how has his career gone?

- WB: Training of Red Priests: How do the red priests determine which Slaves of R'hllor will become priests in turn? What is an average day like for a red priest training at a temple? How do different priests experience training to see and interpret fire visions, especially as magic begins to return to the world? What kinds of rules and discipline are imposed on red priests in training? What happens to trainee priests who don't make the cut?

- WB: The Faith of the Seven: What kinds of services take place in the sept, and what do they look like? What myths and legends do the Faithful pass on to their followers? How does practice of the Faith and depictions of the gods vary from region to region (I'd imagine there's a lot of syncretization with older myths and legends)? What is life like in the septries and the motherhouses, or among the begging brothers?

- WB: Rhoynish culture and practices in Dorne: How did the original Rhoynish settlers determine what aspects of their culture they most wanted to preserve in Dorne? Which traditions did they insist on maintaining as they were, and which did they blend with the local traditions and religion? How did the different Dornish houses react to these new practices? What methods did Nymeria take to crack down on non-approved Rhoynish practices, and how did the Greenblood orphans evade those methods?

- WB: Unusual succession: Basically, any time inheritance happens other than the usual male-preference legitimate primogeniture rules of the setting. A lord setting a contest among potential heirs for inheritance? Someone invoking a god to claim right to an inheritance? Any of the Great Councils? Any sort of possibility would be great.

Star Wars

Requested Characters: Any Naboo Queen(s), Any Naboo Royal Handmaiden Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Force-Sensitive Character(s), Breha Organa, Leia Organa, Padmé Amidala

I'm familiar with various aspects of the Disney canon expanded universe and the Legends universe, and I'm completely open to any version of canon you prefer, including mixing them together or making up your own lore if that works for what you're creating!

Requested Tags and Prompts:
- WB: Alderaanian hairstyles: I just really love the fanon that Alderaanian hairstyles have a lot of symbolic meaning. What hairstyles are appropriate (or inappropriate) for which situations? How do people communicate through their hairstyles? Are there trends or do styles stay relatively static? Do hairdressers have special significance in Alderaanian culture? I'd also love in-universe instructions for hairstyles that talk about their meanings.

- WB: Alderaanian mourning rituals: What do these rituals entail - offerings, songs, stories? Do they tend to be public events, or contained within families, or very private? Do they invoke the Force, or the ancestors, or any kinds of deities? How do mourning rituals interact with Alderaanian religion, if relevant? I'd also be interested in seeing how mourning rituals play out in the context of memorializing Alderaan's destruction.

- WB: Courting culture of different planets: What kinds of gifts and services do people perform for each other when courting? What do different cultures and planets consider romantic? I also love humorous situations where one person is trying their best to woo another and the other person is Just Not Getting It, or when people get engaged or married completely by accident.

- WB: Lost literature from Alderaan: What kinds of stories were lost in the disaster, and which kinds of stories did people prioritize saving? What methods did different Alderaanians take to reconstruct these stories? How did reconstructionists handle conflicts between different versions of the same story? Literature reviews from in-universe academic articles would also be awesome.

- WB: Monarchy of Naboo: What is a queen's typical duties like? How did the custom of the handmaidens begin, and how often does a queen usually substitute a handmaiden in as a decoy? A monarch will often subsume a lot of her identity into the role, including changing her family name to campaign for election - how do they handle that change in identity during and after their time as monarch? What kind of information does an outgoing monarch pass on to an incoming monarch?

- WB: Myths and Legends about the Force: Do particular people, regions, or planets have their own superstitions on how to gain the favor of the Force, and how well do those superstitions work? How does the Force show up in stories about local heroes and events on different planets? How do beings who believe in other supernatural entities incorporate the Force into their beliefs, if they do at all?

- WB: Naboo queen's outfits and regalia: All the details are great here - the little symbolic touches on each of the outfits, the secret aspects that aren't easily seen but are vital to the queen's work. Who gets the role of designing and making the outfits? What customs govern what outfit the queen wears to which occasions? Who's in charge of maintaining the outfits, and what's their role in the Naboo court like?

- WB: The Alderaan diaspora: Where do the Alderaanians tend to go after the destruction, and where do they end up putting down new roots? What aspects of Alderaanian culture do its citizens try most to preserve in diaspora, and which fall more by the wayside? Do certain customs get blended with the culture that diasporic members find themselves in, or do they only become more stringently observed? How do Alderaanians memorialize the destruction and teach it to their descendants?

Stardew Valley

Requested Characters: Travelling Cart Merchant; Birdie; Dwarf; Harvey; Krobus; Leo; Sandy; Wizard | M. Rasmodius

Requested Tags and Prompts:
- WB: Dwarf and Shadow People's War: What tactics did the dwarves and the Shadow People use in battle? Did any other magical species get involved (and were the humans aware of the war at all)? How do both the dwarves and the Shadow People remember and commemorate events of the war? How did they eventually broker a peace?

- WB: Dwarvish history and culture: What are dwarf underground settlements like? Do different groups of dwarves have different practices and ways of life, like the dwarves on the mainland vs. dwarves on Ginger Island? How would a dwarf feel about experiencing rain, since it's so rare to them? I'd also love anything on the Dwarvish language, including in-universe literature and translation guides.

- WB: Ginger Island: What's Birdie's day-to-day life like on the island? How did Leo first bond with the parrots? Are any other islands in the Fern Islands archipelago inhabited, and if they are how do those residents interact with Ginger Island? Any in-universe articles about the unique flora and fauna of the island would also be great.

- WB: Merchantry: Who buys their wares, besides the farmer? How do the merchants decide what they're going to stock, and how do they acquire their goods? Do they know each other in a professional way (or maybe not so professional) and if so, what do they think about each other? Is there a lot of competition over who's selling what?

- WB: Shadow People history and culture: What are Shadow People settlements like? Do they have their own literary or musical culture? What role do the shadow shamans play in Shadow People society? How do they view their own relationship to magic?

- WB: Treatment of Magical Injuries with Mundane Medicines: Harvey seems to know to restore health at least somewhat no matter how the farmer gets injured - is there an expected treatment regimen for magical injuries, or is he having to use trial and error? What would a in-universe study look like on medicine to treat magical injuries?

- WB: Worship of Yoba: What kinds of theology surround people's conception of Yoba? How is the "sign of the vessel" significant in the worship of Yoba? How do different areas and different sentient species think about Yoba - is Krobus typical of the Shadow People in his beliefs, or did he pick them up somewhere else?

- WB: Zuzu City: What sorts of things do people do while visiting Zuzu City, and what things do the locals do for fun? What do Zuzu City inhabitants take pride in in their city, and what things do they hate? Where is the Queen of Sauce's pink cake served? Who's the big gridball rival?

Tortall

Requested Characters: Any or No Characters, Original Character(s), Graveyard Hag, Dovasary Balitang, Saraiyu Balitang, Sarugani Temaida

Requested Tags and Prompts:
- WB: Non-Tortallan woman warriors: Any warriors, from any place! The K'miri and the raka of the Kyprish Isles have long traditions of women fighters - what qualities do those societies look for in warrior women, and what does their training look like? How does the Yamani armsmistress achieve her position, and what duties and responsibilities does she have? What about the women who choose to join the Shang warriors, like Eda Bell?

- WB: Pre-Conquest Haiming dynasty: I love the idea of feuding warrior queens under the auspices of a trickster god. How did those wars play out, and how did people at the time understand and record them? What did these queens intend to do with the throne's power once they got it? How are the Temaidas connected to the dynasty, and how did they end up becoming so obscure that they could hide their royal connection?

- WB: Raka nobility under luarin rule: Like all raka, they're in a dangerous position - in this case, they have some privileges while still being constantly at risk of losing them. How did they interact with the luarinn overlords? In what ways did (or didn't) individuals or families in the raka nobility help the raka commoners?

- WB: The City of the Gods: How is the city laid out - does each key player (the convents, the magic school, the temples, etc.) have their own district? What about all the trade that has to happen to support the city? What results from having all that magic worked in a single place? To what degree do the gods themselves interact with the city, particularly with their representative(s)? How do those representative(s) come to power in the first place, and what are their duties in the City and in the world more generally?

- WB: Worship of the Graveyard Hag: What kinds of activities would a particularly devout worshipper like Zaimid do earn the goddess' favor? In the days when Ozorne banned her worship, what could a devotee do to honor her in secret? I'd love to see more of what her temples look like, as well.