Worldbuilding 2019

[mechanonymouse]

It's Worldbuilding 2019 and time for my favourite exchange of the year.

Table of Contents

DNWs, Dislikes and Likes
Rivers of London
Original Work - Urban Fantasy
Harry Potter (Books 1-7)
Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)
Harry Potter - Wizarding World (Including Pottermore)
Old Kingdom - Garth Nix

DNWs, Dislikes and Likes

General DNWs

• Underage (sexual activity that would be Explicit/Mature rated under 16, any sexual/romantic interaction under 13)
• Snakes or snake-like creatures
• Facial injuries particularly burns
• Parent/child or sibling incest
• Sexual/romantic relationships between teachers and pupils
• m/f or m/m unless otherwise requested - background canon relationships are fine nor do characters need to spring fully formed from the ground without parents.
• Polyamorous relationships
• Kid fic

Smut DNWs

• Scat
• Watersports
• Bestiality
• Use of safewords or the traffic light system where no/stop have not been established to not mean no/stop or traffic lights do not exist.
• Penetration as necessary for sex to be real or intimate,

General dislikes

Fanfiction

Small amounts of either of these won't ruin a work for me but I don't enjoy works focused on them.

• Fluff
• Infidelity particularly where it is treated as justified or positive

Art

• Noodle limbs in characters who have a skeletal structure particularly in motion e.g Adventure Time
• Pastel colour schemes

General likes

• Genres: Character studies, mystery/procedural, horror - particularly psychological and body horror, sci-fi/fantasy
• Gen, femslash,
• Art: Landscapes, scenes, pen and ink works, black and white, colour palettes the either work with object or are purposefully discordant,
• Unhappy and ambiguous endings
• Major character death
• Works focused on women and their relationships with other women whether those be romantic, antagonistic or friendly
• Similar levels of respect and affection between people in romantic relationships. If they both hate or disrespect each other it’s awesome but when one party respects/likes the other and other party disrespects/dislikes them it’s squicky to me.
• Main or POV characters to be in their late twenties at least.
• Fantasy worlds based on areas other than the USA or medieval Western Europe
• Settings other than the USA
• Lucious descriptions of places that engage with all the senses or paint a vivid picture.

Smut likes

I’m honestly open to any kink that isn’t mentioned in my DNW list including noncon/dubcon but a few things I really like are listed below

• Tentacles (animal, alien or plant)
• Interesting anatomy and detailed descriptions of that anatomy in xeno or monster sex
• Incompatible bodies in xeno or monster sex
• Scars/wrinkles/stretch marks/the evidence of life lived on women’s bodies
• Imperfect bodies
• Sex that is awkward or not perfect but is enjoyable and fun

Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch

Fandom Specific DNWs: Thomas Nightingale/Peter Grant
Fandom Specific DNW Clarification: Lesley or mentions of Lesley's face are fine to include but DNW works about her injury or recovery
Requested Mediums: Fanart, Fanfiction, In-Universe Meta
Requested Characters: Original Character(s) (Rivers of London), Sahra Guleed (Rivers of London), Caroline Linden-Limmer (Rivers of London),Original Genius Loci/Genii Locorum (Rivers of London)
Requested Worldbuilding Elements: WB: Non-Newtonian Magic (Rivers of London), WB: Genius Loci of Islands (Rivers of London), WB: Dead Gods (Rivers of London), WB: Goblin Markets (Rivers of London)

As someone who lives in London, I love how real the London of Rivers of London feels and how well the supernatural elements blend in with the mundane reality of the city. The worldbuilding of the series is probably the biggest draw to me.

Prompts

• Genius Loci of Islands - I would love to see the Genius Loci of places other than rivers explored, either as an in-universe text or artwork or through meeting some of them in fanfiction. We know that islands have Genius Loci, does Great Britain? How small or big does an island need to be have a Genius Loci? Does the Genius Loci of Orkney Mainland go to Island Council Meetings?
• Goblin Markets - These were so interesting to me when introduced especially given the Folly’s seeming lack of interest in them. I’d love to see the influence of the Goblin Markets, especially post-1945, explored. They also have the opportunity for the most amazingly trippy artwork.
• Non-Newtonian Magic - This keeps on being raised as a possibility off the main arc and I would love to see anything about other branches of magical development explored.
• Dead Gods - I loved the concept of Punch being the ghost of god and would love to see this explored. Are all dead gods angry revenants? Can a god be revived?

Original Work - Urban Fantasy

Requested Mediums: Fanart, Fanfiction
Requested Characters: Any or No Characters (Original Work), Original Female Character(s) (Original Work), Original Female Magic User(s) (Original Work), Original Non-Human Character(s) (Original Work)
Requested Worldbuilding Elements:WB: Challenges of interspecies co-existence (Original Work - Urban Fantasy), WB: Challenges of interspecies relationships (Original Work - Urban Fantasy), WB: How Did the Presence of Magic Change Mundane History? (Original Work - Urban Fantasy) ,WB: Magic users in a modern society (Original Work - Urban Fantasy), WB: Mythical Creatures in Modern Society (Original Work - Urban Fantasy), WB: Supposedly Mythical Creatures in Non-Western Nations (Original Work- Urban Fantasy)

Prompts

I love interspecies friendships and relationships. The weirder physiology the better provided both parties are sapient. I would love for any works not to be set in the US or generic Americana.

• Challenges of interspecies co-existence (Original Work - Urban Fantasy) - How do you build a city that accommodates species that range in size from 50cm tall to 10m? How do a sapient apex predator and a prey animal co-exist? How do you build for quadrupedal and bipedal species? Or for flying and non-flying species?
• Challenges of interspecies relationships (Original Work - Urban Fantasy) - Clashes of culture or just plain incompatible physiology is my jam. I would love to see how they overcome those problems both in small interpersonal scale and societally.
• How Did the Presence of Magic Change Mundane History? (Original Work - Urban Fantasy) - I would love to see either on a large impact global scale or the very small changes so that the grand scheme of history is unchanged. Scenarios that I have questioned are if you have reliable golems type constructs prior to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade beginning, does it start and what are the consequences for North America? How does having seers change the ability of nations to act covertly? Does the act of Seeing something set it in stone?
• Magic users in a modern society (Original Work - Urban Fantasy) - How do magic and technology interact? Do disastrous things happen when you take a mobile phone into high magic area or cast a minor spell in a high technology area? If magic is innate, do magic users have to take after school classes or are they sent off to an isolated school where they can’t harm anything as they get the hang of it? If they are sent off how do they reintegrate into society? If magic is not innate, when do you start learning? Is it difficult to get to study or something that everyone had to take a couple of years at school?
• Mythical Creatures in Modern Society (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)/Supposedly Mythical Creatures in Non-Western Nations (Original Work- Urban Fantasy) - Mythical creatures other than the obvious dragons and mermaids would be brilliant. If the creatures are sapient, how do they get along with humans and how are any awkward quirks like eating humans dealt with? If the magical creatures are not sapient, have humans previously hunted them, are they still currently? What are the population pressures? Are they kept as pets?

Harry Potter - Books 1-7

Fandom Specific DNWs: References to the films where the films contradict the books.
Fandom Specific DNW clarification: Characters who are canonically children during the canon or references to canon characters as children are fine but I prefer works focused on adults or at least older teens.
Requested Mediums: Fanart, Fanfiction, In-Universe Meta
Requested Characters: Any or No Character(s) (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), Original Characters(s) (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), Rubeus Hagrid (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), Molly Weasley (Harry Potter (Books 1-7))
Requested Worldbuilding Elements: WB: Creatures in the Forbidden Forest (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), WB: Non-UK Wizarding Education (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), WB: Wizarding UK Primary Education and Childcare (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), WB: Magical Cooking (Harry Potter (Books 1-7))

Prompts

• Creatures in the Forbidden Forest - We met Aragog, unicorns and the centaurs but what else is living the forest? In CoS it was suggested that there were Werewolves living in the forest and that Hagrid was keeping Werewolf cubs under his bed, could that be explored further (complete with the WTF they would have been human most of the time wouldn’t they bit)? I’d love to see either art work of the Forest depicting it’s inhabitants, fanfic following some of their lives, or an excerpt from a text about the Forest and its inhabitants.
• Non-UK Wizarding Education - What does Wizarding education look like outside of the UK? Do some communities have after school classes rather than a specialised school?
• Wizarding UK Primary Education and Childcare - The only examples we see are ones where the parents work at home or one parent is a homemaker but what happens in families where both parents work? Are their Wizarding nurseries? Do families send their children to muggle Primary Schools and if yes how do they prevent the children from breaking the Statute of Secrecy?
• Magical Cooking - What are the differences between magical and muggle cooking? Do they use magical plants and creatures in cooking? What does a magical cookbook look like?

Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)

Fandom Specific DNWs: References to the films where the films contradict the books.
Requested Mediums: Fanart, Fanfiction, In-Universe Meta
Requested Characters:Original Character(s) (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Any or No Character(s) (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Amelia Bones (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Lavender Brown (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Parvati Patil (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Rita Skeeter (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), Molly Weasley (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore))
Requested Worldbuilding Elements:WB: Literature (Fiction and Non-fiction) (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), WB: Newspapers & Magazines (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), WB: Political Workings of the Wizengamot (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), WB: Wizarding Economics (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore)), WB: Evolution of Wizarding Fashion post SoS (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (No Pottermore))

I consider Books 1-7 to be the ur-canon and where there are ambiguities or contradictions between them and the Harry Potter films, Cursed Child or the Fantastic Beasts films prefer to default to the books. While I've read spoiler heavy synopses of both CC and FB1, I'm not familiar with any of the characters unique to either work.

Prompts

• Literature (Fiction and Non-fiction) - What are the great literary works in the Wizarding world? What are the childhood must reads? Does any muggle literature crossover? I would love to see fanfiction from the perspective of a Librarian, a writer or avid reader, or fanart showing some of the books.
• Newspapers & Magazines - Are there other papers available in the UK that the Daily Prophet and Quibbler? How is the UK press seen overseas? I would love to see an editorial or fan work featuring a journalist other than Rita Skeeter
• Political Workings of the Wizengamot - I've split this into two section depending on how you took this WB prompt
  • Political Workings of the Judiciary - We see in the books that there is obviously political disagreements and people vote based on their political alignments. It would be interesting to see the behind the scenes disagreements and what kind of deals people make. The Chief Warlock position seems to be voted for by the members of the Wizengamot. It would be interesting to see one of these elections.
  • Political Working of the Ministry of Magic/Executive - Did the Wizarding Council become the Cabinet and Heads of Departments in the Ministry of Magic? Is the Minister elected by general populous or by the Cabinet? If the Minister is elected by the Cabinet how did the Cabinet gain their positions? I’d love either an in world text discussing Wizarding politics or fanfic following one of these prompts.
• Wizarding Economics - How do shops in Hogsmead aimed primarily at Hogwarts students stay open if their main shop is in Hogsmead and only visited four weekends a year? How do they get around the bans on their products at Hogwarts? Do they have another business that is less seasonal? Where do Wizarding communities source their food? Are there Wizarding farms or do they buy from Muggles? If they do how is Statute of Secrecy maintained? What's the level of taxation? Is there taxation in the Wizarding world? What do their taxes pay for if they pay tax and how are those services funded without taxation if they don't? I’d be interested in other Wizarding economic questions being addressed in with this. Meta or fanfiction would be very welcome but I'm not entirely sure how fanart of this would work.
• Evolution of Wizarding Fashion post SoS - I’m a fashion geek who spends far too long dressmaking and drooling over period fashion. I’m better educated on European fashion and the canon doesn’t give any details of non-British fashion so I would prefer if this focused on British and European fashion. As a result I’m fascinated with how Wizarding fashion evolved after the Statute of Secrecy was enacted given the how poorly they appear be able to pass with Muggles in GoF and the descriptions given of the Hogwarts School Uniforms. A series of sketches through the years, fanfiction from the POV of a dressmaker or fashion historian or an extract from a text on Wizarding Fashion would be awesome.

Harry Potter - Wizarding World (Including Pottermore)

Fandom Specific DNWs:References to the films where the films contradict the books.
Requested Mediums: Fanfiction, In-Universe Meta
Requested Characters: Any or No Character(s) (Harry Potter (Books 1-7)), Original Characters(s) (Harry Potter (Books 1-7))
Requested Worldbuilding Elements: WB: Wizarding Hygiene (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (Including Pottermore))

I consider Books 1-7 to be the ur-canon and where there are ambiguities or contradictions between them and the Harry Potter films, Cursed Child or the Fantastic Beasts films prefer to default to the books. While I've read spoiler heavy synopses of both CC and FB1, I'm not familiar with any of the characters unique to either work.

Prompts

Wizarding Hygiene (Harry Potter - Wizarding World (Including Pottermore)) - According to Pottermore, Wizards used to relieve themselves where they stood and vanished the evidence.

"When first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels. However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom."

Please fanwank this into something that makes sense.

Old Kingdom - Garth Nix

Requested Mediums: Fanfiction, In-Universe Meta
Requested Characters: Yrael | Mogget (Old Kingdom), Kibeth | Disreputable Dog (Old Kingdom), Any or No Characters (Old Kingdom), Original Character(s) (Old Kingdom)
Requested Worldbuilding Elements: WB: Nine Bright Shiners (Old Kingdom), WB: creation of the bloodlines (Old Kingdom)

Prompts

• Nine Bright Shiners (Old Kingdom) - Who is under the Abhorsen's House? Why did Yrael not join the other Seven in creating the Charter? What had changed that made him join them in rebinding Orainne? What other traces of the Nine are there? Do Ranna, Mosrael, Dyrim, Belgaer, and Saraneth have sentinet parts of themselves like Kibeth independent of their bloodline? Or did Kibeth represent the Stonemakers and was only independent because they'd cast their bloodline into the Stones?
• Creation of the bloodlines (Old Kingdom) - Are there more children's learning rhymes about the founding of the charter and creation of the bloodlines? Texts written in earlier times, before Kerrigor broke the Greater Charter Stones or maybe before Clariel, that know more about the process that could be discovered? Could Mogget or the Disreputable Dog be convinced to say more about what they know?