burst&decay

Deleted scene of what followed the campfire scene in My Own Private Idaho (1991) directed by Gus Van Sant, where Mike Waters, played by River Phoenix, confesses his love for his best friend Scott Favor, played by Keanu Reeves. The campfire scene was written entirely by River Phoenix himself, and the director Gus Van Sant confirmed it was River who wanted his character to be in love with Keanu’s character, and the scene today is considered to be the first LGBTQ+ love confession scene in cinema.

Cities - go near water!  freshwater lakes and rivers (rivers especially) are the best places for cities because A) source of water and B) travel and trade is much easier cus you can put your boats like right there.  Basically ever relevant city ever was built on a lake or a river.

for rivers in general - because gravity, rivers run from mountains (forming from melting snow and ice (this is why they get fat in spring–more stuff melting)) to lakes/ocean where they can empty out (and even lakes will have rivers leading out that eventually get to the ocean), which can help when mapping out where those start and end.  rivers are also much thinner and faster in steeper elevations and very slow and wide when the land is flat

mountains - i like to think of what the tectonic plates look like because that’s what makes mountains!  mountains are also never standalone they’re always in mountain ranges (archipelagos are really just underwater mountain ranges babey).  a cool trick I like to do is occasionally separate mountain ranges across continents, because over time the tectonic plates shifted and literally split the range in half.  These mountains are really old tho so they’ve eroded and therefore it makes them smaller and rounder (like the appalachians) as opposed to relatively young mountain ranges like the rocky mountains which have taller and sharper peaks

Another mountain trick: if your mountains run along the ocean, the ocean side of the mountains will get a LOT of rain while the other side will be very dry–almost desert-like, in fact.  think of temperate rainforests in British Columbia vs the drier conditions in the canadian prairies

forests - depends on how warm the area might be.  coniferous forests are found further north (before you hit the tree line, and then it’s only tundra onwards) but as you head south you get leafier trees, and the leaves tend to get larger too

If you think about general elevation too, you’ll have places that might be swampy (wet + lower).  if your world has an ice age like we did, then glaciers may have carved the land, leaving piles of soil in the south that was left when the ice receded and places where the bedrock has been bared north of that (like the Canadian Shield in Canada–the reason we see that is because of the glaciers)

You might also have a land that’s dotted in a shitton of freshwater lakes as well because the meltwater filled the holes that the glaciers scraped out (this is why canada has so many goddamn lakes)

and if the ice age was more recent than it was in our world, then you might not even have the forest re-growth and it could be a lot of open plains

Though, for fantasy, you can make the world operate on entirely different principles:

With that done, the actual topic of city placement can be covered by videos like this:

Or

Once you have your places, if you want help naming them in realistic ways, this video can help:

This one is on architecture, which is definitely a subset of cities:

But for a more relevant practical guide on making settlements realistic:

Here’s a quick guide for making demographics:

After three months of labor-conducive love, my silkscreen book is complete! 

Based off of the video game ANATOMY, it tells the story of what it really means to live in a haunted house

Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels. That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.

During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education. The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge. What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.

On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of "Coat of Many Colors" dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.

“Black Sails is best at the kind of love that doesn’t involve character spelling it out. Gestures always speak louder than words: Vane beheading Ned Low; Jack being uncharacteristically brutal slaying Redcoats as Anne lay bleeding on the floor; Max and Anne holding hands in the snow. Idelle slicing bread for Anne; Jack blowing up the fort he’d spent ages rebuilding in Season 3 so that Charles could escape. Just like these actions, Flint shooting Dooley is an act of love.”

Have the party start in the tavern, which is in fact a giant mimic they had just been devoured by moments before and must escape before they are all digested.

Have the party start in tavern, but its a themed tavern; the theme being ‘a tavern you would find in the mortal realm’.  Clearly visible from the windows is not the mortal realm.

Have the party start in a tavern, as it is where the X on their treasure map lies.  Somewhere within is 20,000 gold worth in stolen jewels.

Have the party start in a tavern with a famed magic mirror on the wall that shows the room 5 minutes in the future .  Eventually a party member looks over and sees them-self being murdered by assassins.  The party now has 5 minutes to prepare in order to change their fate.

Have the party start in a tavern.  The lights go out and when they come back on the baroness is dead.  One of the party members is a murderer..  

Have the party start in a, tavern, which is currently on fire.  The fire is wielding great-swords.  Roll initiative.

Have the party start in a tavern.  They were born here, grew up here, and the tavern is all they know.  Today, the front door opens for the first time.

Have the party start in a tavern.  It was the only thing that survived the great flood and is now floating on the surface of a vast ocean.

Have the party start in a tavern.  On the wall is a portrait of one of the taverns founders, one who looks suspiciously like one the party members; the founder was rumored to be an immortal vampire who disappeared long ago.  The serving staff grow suspicious of the party, and try to dispose of them in the night by an angry mob.  

Have the party start in a tavern.  It is a surprise birthday party for one the party members.  Orcs jump out of the cake.