Welcome to the Temple of the Dreamfish. This prompt list is complementary to last year's. Where Safari was physical worldbuilding, Dreamfish is societal worldbuilding.
Floating through space, you and AC find yourselves collected by a traveling ship. You meet individuals of species you've met before, and some you can't identify. They tell you they're the Temple of the Dreamfish, that they're a museum collecting cultural records of as many sapients as they can, the preservation and the good of all.
Wandering around the exhibits, you see artifacts-
-sorry, replicas of artifacts, with small blurbs about the originals' uses in their home societies.
This Fanspecies Week will run from Aug. 17th to Aug. 23rd.
You pass a statue of Her Imperious Condescension. A plaque below reads: "The longest reigning Alternian empress." If this statue is accurate to her form, she looked like quite the imposing figure. Must've had a team dedicated solely to brushing her hair.
Leadership, does your species society have dedicated leaders? How are they chosen? What do they do for the people they lead?
One of the Dreamfish shows you a glass case containing a leather bound tome. They tell you it's a collection of creation myths from various species. While they can't allow you to read the book itself, a tablet next to it can be used for the purpose.
Religion, What do the people of your species worship, if any? Do these entities actually exist or are they invented to cope with reality?
AC drags you over to a hallway full of assorted musical instruments. You didn't know she liked music. It does seem like most societies tend to reinvent the harp, though.
Music, if you can describe your species' musical taste in earth terms, go for it! Do they have any unique instruments? How do they sound?
On the other end of the music hall, you and AC see what appears to be a small food court. The two of your agree that while that's a little weird to be just in the middle of a museum, there are a couple places for washing hands specifically and they seem to be serving a rotation of cultural dishes.
Food, tell me about your species' culinary habits. Do they have any spices they use? Would their food be appetizing to humans?
Deeper into the Temple is a large circular room full of miniature dioramas of various housing units. Descriptions of towns and how the displayed buildings work to make a flourishing... the descriptions say "town" but you feel like not all civilizations use the same words.
Housing, do you species live in anything particularly special? How are living arrangements decided? Zooming out, how does your species arrange it's "towns", or do they even live in social groups like that?
This feels awkward to you. A room of what looks like textbooks on shelves, what floor and wall space not occupied by shelving instead hosts paintings and sculptures of pairs of individuals kissing and hand-holding and other PDA. AC is thrilled, she says it reminds her of where she came from. She was quite the shipper after all. You do you best to not look any of the art in the eyes.
Gender and Romance, trolls have quadrants and leprechauns have charms, do you species have a "romance system"? Related, how do they interact with gender? Does your species have gender roles? How do they work?
The two of you bid farewell to the Temple, off to another journey.
The Free Space. We always have one, you knew it was coming. Any last words or neat trivia regarding your species societies?
