#world builing

where does water come from/how is it transported around the city - aqueducts etc.

what do they export - wood, ivory, spices, wax, gold, silver, silk, wine, olive oil, wool, cloth, etc.

what are they skilled at making - ships, glass, jewellery, furniture, etc.

exportation is important for a thriving economy 

drainage systems are Good

how is the city organised - grid systems or mayhem, etc. 

what are buildings made out of - for hot countries, mud baked bricks are an option. stone and wood are also good.

chariots are a thing

available resources can affect military supremacy - iron is better than bronze in weaponry

what do they consider important enough to teach - university’s teaching theology, philosophy and medicine existed way back when

how is information transmitted - messengers are good with roads between cities and rest stops, early postal systems were a thing

there was a sport that involved jumping over bull horns

natural disasters are common and can ruin early civilisations - earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, etc.

Couple Wips I’m posting free on here and Patreon. I started them for my Wildlife of Nysera stuff, where I draw / design animals to fill my world.

Full size available on my Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/posts/wildlife-wips-33517732

For my prompt challenge, here’s some backstory to my characters. 

In the world of this story, there is a small minority of people who gain superpowers called talents. People who have talents are called Talents themselves. This is not widely known except for a division in the government. Most people gain a talent in their teens, so the government tries to gather them in a boarding school , called the Academy, under their supervision. A group of Talents uncover a plot to use Talents in warfare and such and start a mass break-out in the school. After the break-out they are on the run from the government who chases them with Talents who have sided themselves with the government. 

That's all I have for a general plot. Now onto the characters. 

[12:22:37 AM] Vicky McButts: how do all three countries treat child rearing (like does the village raise the child kind of thing) [12:26:17 AM] Mar: in teyman, children are their parents' responsibilty, and no one feels any obligation to take care of children whose parents can't be present for whatever reason. babysitting is like... not even a thing there. adoption is pretty normal, though. in andare, children are their parents' responsibility, but babysitting when parents can't be present is a norm. in paiela, at least in very small towns, children are kind of adopted by the entirety of the population of that town. sometimes even when parents are home, kids will just go to the other side of town and hang out at someone's house for dinner. sometimes pretty much a complete stranger. it's a very trusting community. [12:26:56 AM] Vicky McButts: neat * O* [12:27:11 AM] Mar: ye [12:27:17 AM] Vicky McButts: yee [12:27:27 AM] Mar: anything elseeee? [12:27:49 AM] Vicky McButts: gimme a moment [12:28:42 AM] Vicky McButts: are all thre countries monarchies?? [12:28:47 AM] Mar: nope! [12:28:54 AM] Vicky McButts: tell me more [12:30:42 AM] Mar: andare has a parliament, and no figure like a president. it's entirely democratic. paiela is a monarchy, obviously, but after the war one of the peace terms would be that they would adopt a parliament that the king or heir or some other royal family member could be the head of. teyman is an oligarchy, where the richest family in the country pretty much runs all affairs, so like about 6 or 7 people are in charge. [12:31:11 AM] Vicky McButts: neat 8) [12:31:19 AM] Mar: ye [12:31:54 AM] Vicky McButts: how widespread or valued is education in the three countries [12:36:05 AM] Mar: paiela has a public schooling system available for rich and poor. andare is beginning a system too, but they used to only have a private schooling system available to relatively wealthy families, so it needs a lot of improvement. teyman actually has a very clear cut and awesome education system, but it's only available to the top 25% of the population because taxes aren't a thing there. [12:36:34 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhhhh O: [12:38:34 AM] Mar: ye [12:39:47 AM] Vicky McButts: what are the eating customs? (like dont slurp your food or dont leave your plate w/ food still on it etc) [12:44:05 AM] Mar: in teyman, it depends on what kind of environment you grew up in. if you're poor and you don't eat all your food, it's seen as rude because food is a little hard to come by and you shouldn't let it go to waste. but if you're rich, if you DO eat all your food, it's seen as rude because that's implying your host didn't give you enough. in andare, it's very rude to lift your bowl to get the last of the soup. you also never have more than one type of food on your plate. for example, if you had a dinner of beef, potatoes, and beans, you would eat a plate of beef, wash your hands and converse, eat your plate of potatoes, wash your hands and converse, then eat your plate of beans. in paiela, you do not eat your food until everyone present is sitting at the table. it's also very custom to have a lot of bread, to clear your palette so you can fully enjoy the flavor of the next course. [12:44:57 AM] Vicky McButts: very cool * v* [12:45:02 AM] Mar: yeee [12:45:12 AM] Vicky McButts: how valued are the arts? [12:45:39 AM] Mar: andare>teyman>>>paiela [12:46:00 AM] Vicky McButts: neat * v* [12:46:01 AM] Mar: art is only ever really used in paiela for memories, like family portraits. that's why their clothes are so simple. [12:46:09 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhhhh O: [12:46:40 AM] Mar: but casey's a loser nerd and he LOVES art which is part of what drew him to john because andarians are known for painting and sculpting and fashion [12:46:54 AM] Vicky McButts: yee * v * [12:47:02 AM] Mar: weaving is a typical teymanese hobby and children of any gender love to make homemade dolls [12:47:14 AM] Vicky McButts: thats so cute [12:48:09 AM] Vicky McButts: are there any gestures that are seen as offensive? (like flipping off someone) [12:53:10 AM] Mar: pressing your thumb to your forehead in paiela is calling someone stupid. [12:53:27 AM] Vicky McButts: beautiful [12:53:42 AM] Mar: B) [12:54:13 AM] Vicky McButts: what are the burial rituals of teyman like? [12:54:33 AM] Mar: same as paiela; bury them in the ground. [12:54:40 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhh O: [12:55:16 AM] Mar: i believe i mentioned that paiela and teyman were one people about 250 years before the events of the book, and morals split them apart. they still share some traditions. [12:55:51 AM] Vicky McButts: i do not remember this what morals split them apart? [12:56:08 AM] Mar: taxes and lgbt issues [12:56:27 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH [12:56:33 AM] Mar: yeeeee [12:57:22 AM] Mar: and then 150 years after the split derek was like "teymanese have it RIGHT" and took away taxes and promoted mass genocide of openly lgbt people [12:57:50 AM] Vicky McButts: no????? D8> [12:57:51 AM] Mar: so when andare got fucking PISSED about the whole genocide thing, paiela suffered a lot when the war started because they didn't have money to defend themselves [12:58:00 AM] Mar: lol [12:58:16 AM] Vicky McButts: ooooomfg [12:58:23 AM] Vicky McButts: amazing [12:58:35 AM] Mar: the irony [12:59:05 AM] Mar: and derek was murdered two years later by his sister who became queen in his place but in that short time about 50,000 citizens died [12:59:13 AM] Mar: 30,000 from genocide, 20,000 from war [12:59:16 AM] Vicky McButts: holy shit???? [12:59:18 AM] Vicky McButts: wow [12:59:22 AM] Vicky McButts: way to go derek [12:59:30 AM] Mar: and the country only had a population of about 120,000 [12:59:31 AM] Mar: so [12:59:44 AM] Vicky McButts: WOW [12:59:49 AM] Vicky McButts: WAY TO GO DEREK [1:00:07 AM] Mar: yeuuuuuuuuup [1:00:59 AM] Mar: and the war cooled down a lot and a lot of people thought it was over but no treatise was signed or anything so there would be random attacks on andarian and paielan cities [1:01:10 AM] Vicky McButts: oh damn [1:01:11 AM] Mar: which is what happened to john and aura and sam's parents [1:01:19 AM] Vicky McButts: e me [1:01:37 AM] Mar: and a few years later sara FINALLY managed to get a treaty signed and it was officially over but tension was still running SUPER high [1:01:59 AM] Vicky McButts: well yeah [1:02:17 AM] Mar: because paielans still had this fear of lgbt (specifically trans) people and andare didn't like that and didn't like the lack of pronouns in their language or the hate crimes [1:02:31 AM] Vicky McButts: ye [1:02:42 AM] Mar: but notice that an andarian ambassador came to speak to the king only a week after his son came out as trans [1:02:47 AM] Mar: it was a huge turning point [1:03:05 AM] Vicky McButts: very nice * v* [1:03:25 AM] Mar: and so john had mad respect for casey before even meeting him and after meeting him he thought he was cute [1:03:41 AM] Vicky McButts: good V uV [1:03:52 AM] Mar: i guess i had more history laid out than i thought lol [1:04:03 AM] Vicky McButts: thats good!! [1:04:20 AM] Mar: ye [1:05:50 AM] Vicky McButts: i kinda wish i had a ton of history laid out for the emppire and the kingdom but ive set it up so that there's rarely any recorded history in either realm and most of the ould souls/demons who lived through history are dead whoOPS [1:06:01 AM] Mar: oopsie [1:06:14 AM] Mar: i don't really have andarian history laid out so [1:06:34 AM] Mar: all i know is that's where the language originated thousands of years ago and then it suddenly disappeared [1:06:47 AM] Vicky McButts: yee [1:06:47 AM] Mar: probably something like the burning of the library of alexandria or something [1:06:56 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhh O: [1:07:06 AM] Mar: i do know one thing for a fact [1:07:12 AM] Mar: of why it disappeared [1:07:15 AM] Vicky McButts: ye??? [1:07:31 AM] Mar: because it was being used to raise an army of the dead B) [1:07:59 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH [1:09:10 AM] Mar: except some people WERE coherent and they could not be easily used and they formed their own nation but a lot of them were used for an army and they were feared so there was an uprising and the army was killed but so was the entire nation of harmless ones [1:09:33 AM] Vicky McButts: D8 [1:10:25 AM] Mar: and like 98% of evidence of the language was destroyed to prevent it from happening again [1:10:41 AM] Vicky McButts: oh dang [1:10:48 AM] Mar: but do u wanna hear a secret [1:10:53 AM] Mar: big plot twist [1:10:59 AM] Vicky McButts: ye [1:11:26 AM] Mar: do you know what happens when a Living has a child after their life host (the one who revived them) dies? [1:11:41 AM] Vicky McButts: no [1:11:48 AM] Mar: the baby is born with green eyes [1:11:52 AM] Mar: B) B) B) B) B) B) B) [1:12:14 AM] Vicky McButts: dang O: [1:12:30 AM] Mar: so what i'm saying is that every single andarian is a descendent of a Living [1:13:04 AM] Vicky McButts: okay i kinda figured it was something like that haha [1:13:42 AM] Mar: and that's why i mentioned VERY briefly (don't even remember where) that andarians believed the language was a tool used by the gods to create humanity [1:13:54 AM] Vicky McButts: ohhhhhhhhhhh [1:14:04 AM] Mar: except they weren't gods they were just humans and it didn't create humanity as a whole it just created andarians [1:14:05 AM] Mar: so ye [1:14:15 AM] Vicky McButts: neat * v* [1:15:27 AM] Mar: ye [1:16:39 AM] Vicky McButts: yeeee * v* hey dont you have class tomorrow? i dont wanna keep you up w/ all my questions V mV [1:16:44 AM] Mar: lol yeah [1:16:51 AM] Mar: i have to be up in 7 hours [1:16:56 AM] Vicky McButts: gdi mar [1:17:07 AM] Mar: but i love worldbuilding and my throat is suffering [1:17:17 AM] Vicky McButts: omfg [1:17:21 AM] Mar: :c [1:17:32 AM] Vicky McButts: ?? [1:19:12 AM] Mar: i don't wanna go to sleep but i know i should [1:19:36 AM] Mar: ask me one more question (either characters or worldbuilding) and then i'll go to bed [1:20:09 AM] Vicky McButts: i was wondering when casey is dying and he sees john is it like /actually/ john's spirit or is he hallucinating [1:20:24 AM] Mar: it's actually john [1:20:27 AM] Mar: well [1:20:30 AM] Mar: part of him [1:20:35 AM] Vicky McButts: neat * v* [1:21:34 AM] Vicky McButts: WAIT ONE MORE QUESTION [1:22:11 AM] Mar: a sould begins degrading immediately after death so like 85% of john went to ian and the rest went to just kinda do stuff [1:22:17 AM] Mar: and that bit is what casey saw [1:22:22 AM] Mar: so yes now ask ur question [1:23:00 AM] Vicky McButts: thats so cool omf how do people usually greet each other??? (like do the bow, kiss each other on the cheek, shake hands, etc??) [1:24:15 AM] Mar: big hug in teyman and paiela, and in andare you kinda grab each other's arms near the elbow and pull each other in a little closer (kinda like a 'bro' handshake lmao) [1:24:39 AM] Vicky McButts: beautiful * v* [1:25:14 AM] Mar: and if you're in a relationship in andare you do the same thing and then boop ur noses together [1:25:33 AM] Vicky McButts: thats so cute omgggg /)///v///(\ [1:26:27 AM] Mar: and so when john and casey are in a relationship but they're keeping it on the down low (so like te first 8 months) that's how they greet each other but the average paielan doesn't notice the difference

[1:39:57 AM] Vicky McButts: what was baby lamont like [1:40:26 AM] Mar: absolutely fucking adorable [1:40:43 AM] Vicky McButts: well of coURSE [1:40:51 AM] Vicky McButts: tell me more tho [1:41:04 AM] Vicky McButts: was he a good baby?? [1:41:11 AM] Vicky McButts: did he keep up everyone at night?? [1:41:27 AM] Vicky McButts: is he one of those babies that put their feet in their mouths?? [1:41:34 AM] Vicky McButts: was he noisy?? [1:41:38 AM] Mar: he worried casey when he was about three months old and not responding to lights turning on [1:41:40 AM] Vicky McButts: these are the questions [1:41:52 AM] Vicky McButts: D8> [1:42:18 AM] Mar: he was only noisy when he crawled into things and whacked his head or stubbed his fingers or w/e [1:42:31 AM] Mar: or when he was hungry deAR LORD that boy could wail when he was hungry [1:42:44 AM] Vicky McButts: beautiful [1:42:46 AM] Vicky McButts: tell me more [1:43:30 AM] Mar: he touched absolutely everything because that's how he explored his environment so casey had baby fingers up his nose and poking his eyes on more than one occasion [1:43:42 AM] Vicky McButts: thats SO CUTE [1:43:53 AM] Vicky McButts: so did he put his feet in his mouth or what [1:43:58 AM] Vicky McButts: this is the real question [1:44:18 AM] Mar: he hated the nurse that was assigned to breastfeed him for whatever reason and she quit when he punched her in the boob [1:44:45 AM] Mar: and he did not put his feet in his mouth because he couldn't see his feet to direct them to his mouth [1:45:04 AM] Vicky McButts: omG thats still cute [1:45:18 AM] Mar: he liked to suck on casey's fingers tho [1:45:24 AM] Vicky McButts: nice [1:45:40 AM] Mar: like instead of sucking his own thumb to go to sleep, he would grab casey's hand and suck HIS thumb [1:45:53 AM] Mar: and that was the only way he would sleep for like the first 9 months of his life [1:46:04 AM] Vicky McButts: lamont is precious [1:46:10 AM] Vicky McButts: i love him [1:46:11 AM] Mar: he was the cutest of babies [1:47:08 AM] Mar: and you remember when casey cried he would squeeze his finger until he stopped crying and kissed his nose [1:47:29 AM] Vicky McButts: awwWWWWWWW THATS SO SWEET