#worldbuilding notes

Because I did something kind of weird with The Academy, which is to make it largely mixed-class. Which is to say, you get students from the very bottom of society all the way up to (almost) the top.

There are reasons why, historically, this isn't the case for elite institutions. There are also (to some degree) usually certain ways of reinforcing class hierarchy from outside the institution inside the institution. This is the Prep Cadets, but as is hopefully clear, that dominance fades as the years go on (gonna fade real fast now that Nika's in full on fuck you mode).

Class is never going to go away, as a factor, but it is overtly discouraged to make it a factor in The Academy (because Keadar-Ainjir was a pissy little bitch from the lower classes (to be clear, he did murder his class-oppressors, like, he very much murdered the shit out of them, down to the infants)).

But this means that The Academy has to have structures to even the imbalances created by class difference - not because they believe in equity or anything like that, but because obvious class-based preferential treatment makes for pissy little bitches (who might murder their oppressors down to the infants)).

So they have REMEDIAL READING AND ARITHMETIC CLASSES.

This was the reading test that Nika went thought on his first day. Yeah, they were being shitty racists to him, too, but they also have to figure out who needs to learn to read, because there is no social structure that aids population-level literacy. They don't even have (anymore) what many early education systems were based on, which is a kind of religious education. Women are still one of the main vectors for early childhood learning, but that's because women inherit property, meaning basic literacy and numeracy are important fundamental skills. But it all depends, and you can get by reasonably well without those being formally acquired skills.

At The Academy, though, these Academic skills evaluation serve a secondary purpose. The technicalities of the Black Powder Ban mean that nobody is formally allowed to develop black powder weapons in the Six Nations, but naturally everyone does, just secretly. The development of these weapons depends at least as much on mathematics and metallurgy as chemistry. And because you can't just go out and be mass-testing your cannons, you need people who are sharp enough to come up with sound theoretical schematics before going through the effort of actually trying to secretly produce test weapons.

This is also one way they maintain and utilize such a relatively large yearly class of military officers. One, Ainjir, like Poland, is just a place people invade all the damn time. There's always plenty of fights for people to die in. Two, the military is the body maintaining many of the basic infrastructure pieces of the nation - postal service (the Relay), roads, large construction projects, etc. Three, a significant chunk of the officers produced AND candidates taken out of the officer path end up in what is essentially R&D. This is also part of why the Nobility, despite thinking the Military should be subordinated again, participates in the theater of The Academy at such respectable numbers. It not only gets rid of extraneous sons but also ensures they have a hand in all of these important aspects of social and national order without having to bankroll it themselves.

there might be more of these? idk

PORTALS

The Reverse Duality Au is set in an altered version of Minecraft! This means that most of Minecraft's rules apply, however, there are a few major differences. One of these is how portals to other dimensions work - or rather, how they don't.

Let me explain:

Interdimensional travel does not exist in Reverse Duality!

Or rather, while the people of this world have memory of it being possible in the past, once a

~certain someone~

showed up, all portals, aside from ones to pocket dimensions, seemed to stop working.

Why?

Did they ever even work in the first place?

Secret :)

let's just say that, at least in this world, you can't have a matryoshka doll of dimensions

What does this mean for a world based on both Minecraft itself and The Steve Saga, both of which are pretty well known for having travel to other dimensions be possible?

Let's start with the Minecraft aspect.

Without access to the nether and the end, the inhabitants of this world are cut off from several useful materials, including:

the means to make potions

netherite

the means to make end crystals

several useful building materials (some of which are more blast-resistant than easy-to-obtain materials of the overworld)

elytras

the means to make beacons

However! Due to the... nature of this world, there will be other ways to access these two dimensions once the need for some of these materials becomes clear. Specifically, by incorporating them into the overworld!

The nether is the easier of the two to access; at some point while mining, someone discovers that the bedrock at the bottom of the overworld is riddled with small holes, some just wide enough for a large person to fit through. When tunneling through the stone covering said holes, they discovered netherrack, and that they had tunneled directly into the nether.

The end, however, is a bit harder to reach, at least without suffocating. It ended up in orbit around the planet, somehow staying within earth's shadow at all times. Its islands are extremely difficult to see unless they happen to pass in front of a star and block out its light.

While the journey there is extremely difficult without teleportation or the technological advancements necessary for space flight, it's more possible to survive once you actually step foot on the islands, as the large amounts of chorus plants and fewer animal life forms allow for the islands to maintain their own thin atmosphere. It has not yet been discovered how the chorus plants are able to create oxygen or energy without contact with sunlight, but some theorize that they are able to feed off of some of the radiating energy of the teleporting creatures that live there. If this is true, it could also explain the properties of the fruit the plants bear.

proposed food chain:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Now, what about the Steve Saga, the series that Reverse Duality is an AU of?

The Steve Saga seems to contain three main flavors of dimension in its world: full-scale dimensions (sometimes called realms) (examples: the steve realm, the spirit realm, the spiritless realm, that one dimension with the purple grass, the nightmare dimension), mirroring dimensions (dimensions that match another dimension and can interact with or view the activity of the dimension they're based on)(examples: where the overseer was trapped, the reverse dimension), and pocket dimensions (dimensions either small in scale or contained within another dimension)(examples: the great library, the end crystal/ore steves dimension, that one pocket that Elemental used to "train" Sabre and Rainbow, the black hole). The in-between and the time dimension are outliers to this, but most closely fit in the pocket dimension category.

Some worlds shout for your attention.

They rattle their armor, wave their dangers, and insist you keep up or be left behind. They demand urgency. They demand loyalty. They demand you hurry along now, please, before everything explodes.

LIGHT was never meant to do that.

This world was built as an invitation.

An open door rather than a summons.

A question rather than a command.

A place where curiosity is trusted to do its job. (It usually does. Curiosity is remarkably persistent.)

Here, stories do not rush you. They wait. They assume you will arrive when you are ready. They believe that wonder lasts longer than shock, and that attention given freely is worth far more than attention taken.

This is why there are spells instead of speeches.

Why music matters as much as words.

Why even the smallest character carries meaning.

The goal was never to create a world that consumes its guests. The goal was to create one that welcomes them — and then steps politely aside.

Some readers arrive quickly.

Others wander for a long while.

Both are correct.

LIGHT does not reward speed. It rewards noticing. And if you ever feel lost here, do not panic. Wandering is not a mistake. It is how discovery begins. (I once wandered for decades. Found a teacup. Excellent teacup.)

You were never meant to be impressed.

You were meant to feel at home.

Palace

luxurious residence for high nobility

symbolical display of wealth and governance

often not or barely fortified

Jaro has an invested interest in the OPHANS Units. He's inwardly near giddy with excitement when he finally gets his hands on Mikail; he's collected blood traces from all of the OPHANS quartet using some of his best spies that have observed battles... because this isn't about the quartet exactly, this is about Sam. And Sam's father.

About why Sam gave the OPHANS Units the ability to survive without their gods if their gods die. About the ability to disobey. What this means.

So for my passion project Epicon Mythos (see pinned post or description for more info), I've made some ideas for different gods'/pantheons' character designs. I plan for the term "gods" to be used as a kind of umbrella term for beings who have any kind of power that allows them to significantly influence the World. Some ideas are:

For human gods who obtain godlike power: I plan for most of them to be regular humans, but maybe some can get odd traits like enlarged stature, random physical traits that result from their power, or maybe even more divine forms. Their clothing will probably depend on their individual culture.

For creator gods who shape Worlds: I plan for them to be vaguely humanoid but have very inhuman traits. I might look into Aztec iconography for inspiration. I plan for the lower forms of life to be sort of predetermined by these creator gods so that the Worlds they made could stay in order.

For celestial gods who live in the Stars: I plan for them to also be vaguely humanoid but have very inhuman traits. I might look into different pantheons that're "heavenly" or "celestial" and their independent iconography for inspiration. Most of the celestial gods I think would fit best in space-core colors like purples, reds, blues, oranges, whites, and yellows.

For psychic gods who are in constant war: I plan for them to be more humanoid, but have some inhuman traits that're most comparable to other animals. I'm taking most inspiration from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, and Greek gods. So psychic gods might be given a fish-like tail, wings, or horns. However, I want these traits to be more naturally harmonized in the design. Think of a dragon for example: it takes traits from birds of prey, snakes, lions, and has fire powers atop all that. All give the presentation of an apex predator, but they're brought together harmoniously in a way that looks like a real animal.