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@merieshenanigans

It’s quite annoying for those of us who still hold love in our hearts for the places we know xD

Exactly! You get me XD

Helllloooo I don’t get to see this often!! Old Testament culture is FASCINATING; I can’t wait to see what you’ll do with it!

Exactly! It’s epic and whenever I lose inspiration I just rip off a specific law from Leviticus XD I actually have a whole concept based off those parts that say “If they do X they must be cast out from amongst my people” and I was thinking what that would entail and therefrom the concept of Tribeless started to exist XD

The Tribeless have been cast out of one of the tribes as a punishment, and it basically means they lose all protection from those tribes, so they’re pretty much completely outlawed. It’s an interesting concept and I use it some. I haven’t expanded on it all that much but I need it for plot reasons XD

Yes, yes, yes, I love this! (Also I totally get what you mean by just the *vibes*–I am such a writer myself xD) It sounds like their culture must be quite influenced by the military and such.

Precisely! There’s a big influence from the military, though I’m not positive why that started. I think during the time before the tribes formed the treaty they were under attack often because they have one of the most fertile parts of the country. That makes sense!

LOL, exactly XD Everything I put in is either for the plot or for the ✨aesthetic✨ XD

That’s new, and it makes sense. It carries across the message of equality in marriage without being too on-the-nose, which I like!

Thanks! It also reinforces how much they value family since the entire tribe is structured as several extended families.

I LOVE IT. Alexandria in the Roman period is one of my favorite historical settings to read about, and anything that draws influence from it has my immediate attention.

I know right??? There aren’t enough settings based on it, it’s just too cool! I was thinking of Carthage, Algiers during the 16th century, and also Alexandria during the time of the great library, so just after the Roman period! (It’s kinda a mixture but I’ve long since given up trying to make one accurate time and setting.) Plus, the vibes are immaculate XD

Ooh that’s interesting?

The first thing that occurs to me (and probably my favorite running joke of the series) is that people in rural Nebatan country don’t knock. It’s in fact considered quite rude to knock since it’s a subtle insult to the host’s hospitality.

So, the Nebatan characters are forever barging into places without knocking and when one of the other characters went to Nebatan country, they of course knocked and the reaction was something like “What kind of idiot is knocking??”

(Fun fact, I took this from the rural regions of the Netherlands where we live now XD It took quite some adjustment that people just came in and waited in the kitchen or called, instead of waiting for someone to open the door XD)

Hahahaha I know how that feels, but I think you’ll probably end up developing them anyway (if you’re anything at all like me, and judging by what I’ve seen we do seem to share some worldbuilding tendencies). There seems a lot of potential in a merchant-led culture…

Oh, there’s definitely potential! I just couldn’t think of a way to incorporate another character into the plotline. I tried, but just didn’t have enough screentime XD

Next I’m gonna want to know about those characters though…

Say no more XD (Also if you’re expecting a serious introduction you’re going to be disappointed, I’m just going to roast my characters for a page straight XD)

I have seven main characters, and they’re all on the spectrum of stupid, it’s great XD

Princess Liorah of the Lehabim- MC. Objectively dumb as dirt. She has a brain cell she just refuses to use it. She thinks all problems can be solved by arson and sets things on fire frequently. She seems very confident and outgoing but is in fact ridiculously insecure. Also sarcastic. It does not mix well. She has kicked every villain in the series and bit the main villain at least once. Every day I regret making that my main character XD

Prince Gavril of the Lehabim- Liorah’s elder brother. He’s everything she’s not, including but not limited to: Popular, responsible, and slightly more mature. (Or at least, he’s better at faking it.)

He’s the classic Hero archetype. It’s surprising how well he gets along with Liorah, they’re really close. He also has just absolutely crippling self-doubt, due to carrying an absolutely ridiculous amount of pressure to keep being perfect.

Aydin- You know those characters you love but you also enjoy making them as miserable as possible? That’s Aydin. He has the w o r s t backstory and I keep getting ideas to make it worse XD He has so many issues, poor dear.

He’s pretty quiet though he can be shockingly sarcastic. He’s probably one of the kindest characters in the whole series and has my favorite arc. He’s a redeemed villain, which gives a lot of room for angst and drama XD

Faye- Emotionally intelligent, but does not understand how to prioritize. Will definitely describe the color of the sunset during a fight scene. She had exactly one (kinda) fight scene and sobbed the entire time. I love Faye dearly, she’s just a sweetheart.

Ferran- Liorah’s unofficial impulse control and love interest. There are three brain cells between all the characters and he and Faye are the only ones who consistently have one. The other one gets bounced between the others, though it somehow seems to skip Liorah with shocking regularity.

Despite that, he can be impressively oblivious. I love him, he’s awesome XD (Also the only one of my characters I have a slight fictional-character crush on XD)

Acyn- *deep sigh* Thinks he’s much smarter than he actually is, bless his heart. An unbelievable know-it-all and unintentionally extremely annoying. He’s trying but he’s also dumb XD

Sahar- Somehow the most popular character in the series though she has practically no important role XD She’s the unproblematic side character who provides moral support and offers to stab people as a solution XD She deserves her popularity though, she’s amazing.

(They barely have a role in the actual series so I copied their dynamic into Athena and Ophelia so I can go into it more. It’s working out beautifully so far. Ophelia and Athena are messier and darker but the essence is the same.)

Liorah and Gavril are Lehabim, Aydin is a Kezbe, Faye is Nebatan, Ferran is Sanat, Acyn is Gitakan, and Sahar is Orme.

And now I want to hear more about your characters! Tell me everything!

It’s no problem lol, I discovered I delight in reading essays about fantasy worldbuilding xD It makes me happy that you’re willing to share about it! But now you’ll have to deal with me always wanting to talk about it hhhhh because worldbuilding is my great weakness, and if the characters are just as good, I’m done for xD

LOL, I’m glad you enjoyed it! “Willing to share”? I am in fact incapable of not talking about it XD

And tell me about your worldbuilding!! What’s your favorite part, what cultures did you start from? What did you have the most trouble with?