A Child Goes Missing Late One Night After Investigating A Light Emanating From Their Closet. The Child's

Character A is a bit of a party animal, but has decided to tone it down for this celebration because it’s in character B’s honor/important for B in some way and they are determined to not mess this up for them.

The antagonist spikes A’s drink, and A knows something is wrong and can’t think of a plan further than “Find B, they will know what to do.” However, their motor skills are seriously impaired, so they end up taking out a major decoration/food table/something noticeable. B is mortified, and grabs A’s arm and takes them to the side.

“You told me you wouldn’t do this, I can’t believe you!” B hisses. A tries to explain, but their speech is so slurred that they can’t get it out.

“God, look at you! You know how important this is for me. I do so much for you, and you can’t even be chill for one night.”

The antagonist come up, and offers to take A outside for some air, and A is desperately trying to tell B to not trust the antagonist but they just /can’t/.

B thanks the antagonist and doesn’t even suspect anything is wrong until they can’t get ahold of A the next evening.

song of the summer (via muco_0 on tiktok)

World Building Tips:  Empires and Power Structures

World building is important in any setting. There are places, such as fantasy literature where it can become the difference between a believable world and an unbelievable one. Suspension of disbelief is often a critical part to stories. 

Many fantasy books take place during times of war, or revolution or even a fall of a corrupt empire.  I love reading these sorts of stories, as many people do.  Power structures can be complex.  They can be used to create tension and drama between characters - take for instance the hero versus the corrupt government troupe in fiction such as The Hunger Games, Harry Potter or even more traditional fantasies such as Tigana ( by Guy Gavriel Kay) or The Wheel of Time series (by Robert Jordan).   As a reader it can be compelling to follow these stories.  For writers though, it can seem daunting to go into the details of shaping a believable power structure.  Here are some basic tips for creating one.  

There are four crucial factors to any power structure.  These are as follows:

1. Military - this includes the size of the army, the types of technology used (guns or swords? navy or land army?), the basic structure of the army (is it highly regimented like the Romans? What are the different groups within the army? How are they divided - by technology, skills or social status?). Another important question here is why has the military developed in this way? The Roman military, for example, grew out of competition with other Italian states. The opposition is equally important here - who were/are they within your story? Apply the above questions just as much to them, because empires and other structures are influenced by the world around them. The military can be the reason an empire begins in the first place.  The military should also play a role in sustaining the power structure/empire.  It doesn’t have to be the strongest factor by any means.  It may even become the downfall of the structure in the end.

2. Economy - How is your power structure or empire funded? Does this change over time? Does your empire take part in internal or external trade? Is trade important to the running of the empire? Resources such as crops, fertile land or people are also a part of this and influences the larger actions (such as conquest) your structure takes towards other countries. Trade can be a form of control and influence as well, even outside of the structure’s territory. In terms of story, a lot of decisions that are made involve trade or economic reasons - no one wants to get on the wrong side of someone who controls valuable resources or trade with other entities. The British Empire was based mainly on trade and this insured a global influence even as it declined in actual power.

3. Administration: The system of government and the way it manages itself is important to know. Is it a traditional monarchy or a democracy? How is leadership decided? How is power delegated throughout the larger administration? Hierarchy? One person can’t do or know everything. In terms of empire and conquest this is equally important. Does the empire recruit the local elites from conquered areas to administer to the general public, like the Romans? If your story is set in the outskirts of your empire, this could effect the outcome of the story - local elites might enjoy the power they have gained through an alliance with the larger empire and thus be unwilling to revolt against it. What other ways does your power structure control its territory? Does it use culture, or a set language to spread out into new territory? What kind of empire is your empire? Is it land based (only conquering territories linked by land) or maritime (navy focused with overseas territory)?

4. Culture: How does your power structure interact with its subjects? Even in a small area, different ethnic groups exist, so what unites all of them together? Are they all united, or is there groups of people the power structure leaves out? Have they always been left out deliberately or have these groups formed over time?How does the the government and the people from inside the empire view outsiders and their culture? Does this influence your story or characters? Do negative stereotypes or different language create a barrier between your character and others? In newly conquered areas is the empire’s language, laws and social ideals endorsed to locals or is it forced upon them? Is religion important to how the empire works or interacts? For example, before war do the gods need to show approval for the empire’s commanders? What about clashes of religion with other areas? Where do cultures intersect? Is your empire influenced by an older power or a hard past? What is seen as integral to your structure’s culture - art, literature, music etc? Are allies connected with your structure through culture, a shared distant history?

Most power structures rely on all of these factors - but none are ever equal in importance. Your government will identify one or two of these areas as important and focus on them. This can impact how the structure comes together and eventually falls apart - the greatest strength becomes a weakness, or something is overlooked until it is too late.

This is a long post - so I’m going to leave it here for now. If you guys have any questions, feel free to use the Ask feature to contact me.

Resources For Worldbuilding

Culture & Society

Creating Fictional Holidays

Music For Your Fantasy World

Creating Religions & Belief Systems

How to Design Your Diabolical Cult

Historically Accurate Sexism in Fantasy: Let’s Unpack That

Debate with the Squirrels: Sexism in Fantasy

Feudalism

Using Politics In Fantasy Fiction

Mythic Justice – Crime and Punishment in Your Fantasy World

Government Worldbuilding

Realistic Political Strife

A Politics Of Worldbuilding

Language

Creating a Language

The Language Construction Kit

The International Phonetic Alphabet – Audio Illustrations

Fantasy Name Generator

Geographic Names

Medieval Names Archive 

Squid Name Generator 

Model Languages

Xenolinguistics 

History

Prehistory

Mythos

History

Today

Myths, Creatures, and Folklore

Encyclopedia Mythica

The Ancient History Encyclopedia

Using History as Inspiration for Fantasy

Victorian Era Family Day Life in England

Peasant Life in the Middle Ages

Everyday Life in the Middle Ages

English Monarchs

Feudal Japan

The Story and Structure of the Iroquois Confederacy

Science + Geography

Dimensions

Solar Bodies

Climatology

Planetary Geography

Water Geography

Cartography, Maps, Star Charts, and Writing

Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Dating of Middle-earth events, using Precession of the Equinoxes and Tidal Friction

Orbital Operations in Science Fiction

Planet Designer

Artificial gravity calculator

Natural gravity calculator

Selden’s Catalogs of Objects for Celestia

Medieval Technology

Defining the Source, Effects, and Cost of Magic

How to Create a Rational Magic System

Miscellaneous

/r/worldbuilding

Fantasy World Generator

SciFi World Generator

Focused Ambiguity: Using Metaphor in Fantasy Writing

Space Engine

Terragen

The Five foundations of Worldbuilding

Setting the Fantastic in the Everyday World

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She deserves all the pets

Representative Rashida Tlaib (the only Palestinian member of the US Congress) holds up a sign saying "WAR CRIMINAL" and "GUILTY OF GENOCIDE" as Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress.

Quote Prompt

“My mom thinks that it’s weird that I’ve picked you as a father-figure, but she doesn’t mind. She wants it widely known that you're not my birth father, though. She was very clear about that. She says that under no circumstances would she ever fuck you.”

prompts for two characters moving in together??

yes ofc!!

prompts for characters moving in together

written

 painting the walls together. no talking. just kind of enjoying eachother’s company as they focus and music plays in the background. 

 shopping for furniture together 

 being too lazy to even unpack the rest of the bedding on the first night in, so they camp out in the empty living room with a blanket and some throw pillows. 

 bickering when they realize a lot of small differences while unpacking. (like arguing over where certain things in the kitchen go) 

 lovingly staring at eachother when it all just finally clicks for the two of them. 

 giving them a massage when their shoulders ache after carrying boxes all day. 

dialogue

 “OKAY WAIT PUT IT DOWN IT’S TOO HEAVY.” 

 “there’s no pets allowed in the apartment? how could you have missed that?” 

 “i’m pretty proud of us.”

 “i wouldn’t have done this with anyone else.” 

 “are you ready?” 

 “no way, your mom baked her pie for us as a welcome!”