#AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE WORLDBUILDING
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Moon peppers (4)
(1) (2) (3)
Palestine: what can you do
were!Abby x witch!reader
Summary: Abby runs away from her (former) pack and into your forest. You're not happy with your new (woods?)mate.
Tags: fantasy au, sloppy worldbuilding (fuck it we ball), fem!reader, alpha!abby, witch!reader (so not an omega), sentient forest, stubborn idiots in love who annoy each other.
Notes: how do I keep hating the witch after she saved my life asking for a friend
Taglist: @abbysbae @poxismind @sidefanficaccounttohidemyshame @pjmispunk @herdelreydear @lmaoo-spiderman @littletinyladybugs (if you want me to tag/untag you for the whole series dm me please)
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Your morning is.. odd. You expected yourself to forget how to control so much magic, but instead it feels better than the last ten years you spent being weak. You really couldn't live like this: it made you feel vulnerable and helpless, and now that your power is back, you feel like yourself again.
In a way it terrifies you. Because you were a completely different person ten years ago, and now you don't want your old habits back. You don't like seeing your tattoos and runes, especially the ones on your forearms, but you try your best to make peace with it. Your tattoos have almost nothing to do with your power - they're just channels for your magic, a spellbook engraved in your skin. They were faint before yesterday, fading away as your powers grew weaker, but they were still there, and they will not disappear until you die. You have to accept it, and maybe, if you don't make stupid decisions this time, you'll change your heart about them.
You meditate before breakfast to manage your flow of magic exactly like Caitlyn showed you, even though you expect the wolf to wake up at any moment and trash your still room. But the wolf is asleep - you can feel it through the bond, which is annoying: you don't like having your space disturbed like this. You're sure the wolf won't like it too. You concentrate on the bond between you to see how well the healing is happening and it makes you groan - fat chance it will be finished by the evening, with this pace it will take a whole damn week. The thought of spending more than a day with the wolf makes you depressed.
Abby wakes up. This fact alone shakes her to her core: she is not dead. She is supposed to be dead, what the fuck? More than that, she feels almost okay - she is not supposed to feel mostly okay, she fucking died! She knows this, because no way in hell she hallucinated having her throat ripped out.
Then Abby opens her eyes, tries to move - and goes into survival mode. She is in a still room and she is restrained. All her paws are chained and she can't move. This is worse than death. Oh god, this is so much worse.
Abby tugs on her chains with all her power, but they down even bulge. Abby growls and coils and tries again, but she only hits the wall with her back. Abby starts to panic: she can't stay here - the fucking witch bound her! She is in debt to the witch! She needs to leave before you come and order her to do something horrible.
Abby tries again, but this time the door to the still room opens and Abby sees the creepy glowing eyes of yours. Abby starts to move around even more violently - she doesn't want you anywhere near her. You're one of the rare monsters of this world and she needs to either get away from you or to kill you, but she is not staying here. The moment she is free she will rip you to shreds.
At least you look scared when you enter the room and you keep the biggest distance possible from her. Abby growls and snarls, clasping her jaws around the air, eager to kill you.
“It's not what it looks like.” You blurt, your arm in the air as if you want to tell her you came in peace.
Abby growls louder.
“Listen, I'll free you if you calm the fuck down and turn into human form so we can talk.”
Abby is so angry she doesn't even consider the possibility of calming down or pretending to calm down.
“Or I can force you to turn into a human.” You say in a shaky voice, as if you're yourself scared of this possibility.
This actually makes Abby stop. She doesn't want you near her, so she needs to pick the least of two evils. Abby growls and starts to change, her fur disappears and her bones rearrange. The chains tighten around her human wrists and now she is sitting on your floor, glaring at you, her shirt ripped on her sides and her pants dirty.
“Thank you. I will explain everything and then I'll free you, okay?” Abby just growls at you again.
You swallow hard: the wolf is even scarier as a human. The woman is big and strong and her claws are out still, her arms are bulging with muscles, and the way she looks at you doesn't help you calm your nerves. Her shirt is red from blood and it only makes her look scarier. You clear your throat and start speaking.
“Yesterday I found you dead, and the woods wanted me to save you. So I did. Right now you're still in the process of healing and if you go too far away from me, the energy will stop coming and you will die. This is why I brought you here. I also knew you would want to kill me or you'd run away, so I chained you. Now, please make peace with the fact that you're stuck with me for a while and then I will release you. Good? Good.”
Abby growls, humbled. She doesn't want to make peace with it, but you do sound logical. And you're still scared of her, which is a good sign: maybe you won't have the guts to hurt her.
“Am I blood bound to you?” Abby growls and you look offended and angry, which confuses Abby. And also amuses.
“Fuck you.” You spit. “Not all witches are like this, you ungrateful beast. The only bound you have is the energy one that heals you. After that you're free to leave and please don't ever see me again. Jerk.”
You flick your fingers for the chains to disappear and stomp out of the still room. You knew this werewolf was an asshole, but holy fuck!
The wolf stomps after you.
“It would not have happened if you didn't take all the moon peppers!” The woman argues and follows you to the kitchen. You turn around and stare at this ungrateful, entitled shit of a wolf.
“First of all, as if a bunch of moon peppers would have saved you from getting your throat ripped out!” You snap back and get into her face, angry and stubborn. “Second of all, maybe if you didn't fucking attack me and talked to me instead I would have shared some of them!” You flip your arms around in frustration.
“Because witches are famous for being helpful and kind.” The wolf snarls at you and you can't believe the audacity of her.
But she is also right. She did have all the reasons to attack you and not trust you. You calm down a bit and take a step back.
“It's still idiotic to attack a witch. I might've not been so nice.”
“You were shitting your pants in fear.” The wolf deadpans.
“As if I wouldn’t find a way to get my revenge without a direct attack. You're exceptionally stupid.” You huff and the wolf growls. “You took my friend's den, covered it in blood and attacked me. Do you comprehend what I could have done if I wanted to? You know why witches use blood binding? Because it makes us stronger.” You hiss sadistically into the blonde's face.
For a second there's fear in the wolf's eyes, and some part of you feel satisfied. The other part, though, feels disgusted with you. You take a breath.
“I'm sorry. You just really pissed me off being so stubborn about your own safety.” You sigh and rub your face.
The silence falls and you go to the kitchen to cook some breakfast for yourself and for this stupid wolf: after all, you will be stuck together and if someone will be nasty and poison the shared time, it won't be you.
Abby blinks. She feels lost. She expected you to be some kind of creep or a sadist, even if you were afraid of her; and she knew you could've bound her - that's exactly what she thought happened. But she didn't expect you to actually be nice. Well, relatively nice: you chained her for her own good, then threatened her and now you just apologised to her, and Abby feels like a fool if she continues being mean to you. She really doesn't have any ground to mistreat you except some rumours and her awful, but limited experience. She only met one witch before.
Well. She can play nice too.
“I'm Abby.” Abby says grumpily, still not ready to believe you: you just threatened to bind her, for god's sake!
You hum and tell her your name as well while you cut vegetables with aggressive vigour. Abby assumes you're imagining cutting her into pieces.
It's awkward. It is really, really awkward. You're obviously still frustrated and Abby doesn't burn with desire to talk to you either. Plus she is in your home and she definitely doesn't know where to put herself. She settles for a stool near you. Abby stares at your back and your arms silently, and then she is hit with the realisation.
“You didn't have tattoos before.”
You smirk sadly.
“Yeah, well. Before that I didn't have to revive a whole werewolf.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Ask the forest. They made a deal with me.”
How calculating, Abby thinks. Also: how the fuck do you deal with a forest?
“So you still do deals.”
“It's different.” You say sharply. “I don't blood bind.”
“I get it.” Abby huffs and backs off: a witch who doesn't like blood binding, might be a goddamn oxymoron. “So for how long am I stuck with you?”
“Three days, probably. Maybe more, depending how fast you'll heal.”
“I heal fast.”
“Don't compare your usual healing with coming back from the dead. Who knows how much of your brain died. That's why you can't be far away from me. You go away, you break the bond, your brain dies. Got it?”
Abby hums. She has never heard of anyone being able to revive someone. She thinks you know some old forbidden magic if you can bring people back, and it just doesn't match with what she sees: a scaredy cat who lives in the woods and has to spend hours fishing to get three fish. Your home is cosy and warm, with a lot of natural light and Abby doesn't understand how you could have saved her life: you’re soft and weak and live in a house suited for some kind old lady, not a witch who could bring people from the dead. How much fucking power a witch would need to even do that?
“How far is too far?”
“If I stay here and you go beyond my shields, you're dead.”
Abby sighs, annoyed. She doesn't want to stay next to you for three days. She is somewhat grateful for being alive, but it's weird. It's very weird to be in one space with you.
You place two plates and sit opposite of Abby. Abby looks at her plate and wants to hesitate, to think, but she is so fucking hungry she starts eating right away.
It's not…bad. Edible. (God she will have to eat like this for three more days?)
You watch the wolf- Abby's face and can't help your smile. Unfortunately you're very familiar with the fact you can't cook - Cait and Vi tried it once and since then you don't host dinners anymore; sometimes Cait sends you back with food - but you didn't expect the wolf to be so sensitive to your food. You eat it just fine after all.
“It's bad.” You laugh.
“It is.” Abby agrees. “Did you do it on purpose?”
“What? No. My taste senses are just fucked up by a lot of potions.”
You see how Abby tenses and you sigh: it's strange to have your everyday life being seen as some kind of horror story. There's a lot of rumours about witches that are mostly true, but you don't think of Abby as a mindless, uncivilised beast even though she is a were, so there should be room to believe that some witches are not that bad.
(You think of your past and feel ashamed: it's not like you were “not that bad” all your life).
“Don't tell me you've never drunk a potion.” You try to appeal to Abby's own experience, but you know she might have a bad one. “From coughing? Pain killers? Never?”
“Are you saying witches brew them?” Abby smirks like you're ridiculous.
“Well, yes. We sell them for money, that's how everyone gets them.”
Abby is silent as she chews your food that you think is quite edible, actually - but she drinks her flower milk with every spoon and you take a wild guess she can't stomach it.
“Okay, listen. Are you a good cook?”
“Yes, actually. Everyone with enhanced senses makes a good cook.” Abby says with pride and you see her blue eyes sparkle. She also has freckles. Which is kinda cute.
“Then you can cook whatever you want and not suffer.” You offer.
Abby frowns at you like she expects some kind of trickery. You sigh again and raise your hands in defeat. You tried.
“Do you have any meat?”
“...No.”
“And I can't hunt.” Abby explains to you like you're stupid. You roll your eyes.
“There's fish in the freezer. It should be fine.”
That's how Abby spends her afternoon: cooking fish. She has to ask you for other ingredients and you send her to your still room, which makes her shiver. It's creepy - just like you are with your eyes and tattoos and potion drinking or whatever - and Abby thinks of people trapped in these still rooms and being experimented on. She is happy she doesn't see any kind of animal parts on your shelves. You're out of the house for the most part: when Abby looks out of the window, she sees you sitting on the ground, absolutely still. Weirdo.
“At least this weirdo is harmless compared to her kin.” Abby says to herself while she cuts the fish.
You also saved her life and didn't ask for anything in return - not counting leaving you alone after - and Abby really struggles to keep thinking of you as a monster. You don't seem half-bad. And she should make friends here, now that she doesn't have a pack. The thought of being friends with a witch actually makes Abby laugh out loud.
After lunch, which is spent mostly in silence except for your praise on Abby's cooking, you tell her you'll be in the still room and that she can find something to be busy with. You point at books and yarn. Abby rolls her eyes.
She has absolutely nothing to do. Her instincts are going crazy as well: your home looks like it needs an alpha. You're not an omega, and you don't need Abby's help, but she feels like she'll go insane if she doesn't fix something. She fights her urges, but after an hour she gives up and sharpens your knives. It makes her feel easier and she can read in peace now.
You come back in a few hours and sit on the opposite end of your sofa, exhausted. Abby doesn't look at you.
“Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to the village for my check ups. You'll have to come with me.”
Abby frowns. She doesn't want to show her face in the village - what if some of her former packmates are still around and will notice her?
“Can your deals wait?” You sigh loudly, annoyed: can this wolf be nice for one fucking minute or is Abby trying to establish some kind of hierarchy in your house?
“I am a healer.” You deadpan, tired of dealing with Abby’s shit. “People need me.”
“It's not safe for me to show up like this.” Abby scrunches her nose.
“I guess it’s connected to the fact that you were dead yesterday.” You say and Abby can only nod. “I can hide you, if you want. There's a spell that will not let people recognise you if they mean harm.”
Abby coils back. She doesn't want any fucking spells to be put on her! But in a second she clears her head and thinks about it: she clearly doesn’t have a choice if she wants to survive. And you offer her help, so maybe it’s not too bad.
“How can I know you're not fucking with me?” You blink and Abby tries not to look you in the eyes: you look like an owl. And not in a cute way.
“Can't you smell if I lie? I know weres can smell emotions. Also, the bond we have can make you feel awful if I try to harm you.”
Abby hums, thinking it over.
“Okay. But if you try any funny business, you're dead.”
“You'll be dead too, idiot.” You roll your eyes at Abby and she rolls hers in return.
The wolf is kinda annoying. You can understand her distrust, but her threats are getting ridiculous.
The last step of this strange and mostly unpleasant day is getting ready for bed. You look at your small sofa and try to think how Abby will fit, but the other option is the floor, which you assume she won't appreciate. You give her the choice anyway, Abby looks between the sofa and the floor like it's a hard choice, like she thinks the floor is a valid option. Then she agrees to sleep on the sofa. (I'll turn back if I'm uncomfortable, she tells you.) You bring her a pillow and a few blankets: the nights are getting cold and you usually use your magic to keep the hut warm, but you can slip up when you sleep, and wake up to a freezing house.
“Why don't you use wood like normal people?”
“It's too much work. I can find a tree that fell, but you need to chop it, bring it here, chop more, store the logs. Nah. Magic is easier.”
Abby huffs.
“So you rely on your magic all the time.”
“And you rely on your senses and strength.” You deadpan.
Abby doesn't say anything in return, having no valid arguments. You sigh and make a circle with your hand, turning all lights off, and then you show Abby where the candle is in case she needs some light for her reading. Abby nods and you wish each other good night.
You both can’t fall asleep for a long time, too bothered by each other: you don’t like having Abby in your home after she has been so nasty to you for the reason of “the witch”, and Abby doesn’t like being in your home for the reason of, well, “the witch”. She is alive, and she should be happy, but your presence is a constant threat and she can’t let herself fall asleep. You can’t fall asleep because you feel Abby, her life energy like a giant bright light in your living room and it’s hard to ignore it. You try to meditate but it seems to make you even more energised.
You fall asleep when it’s so dark you can’t see anything beyond your windows. Abby falls asleep five minutes later.
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(insert another nothing post abt how good in stars and time is)
#in stars and time#sorry i'm just unable to play it as much as i want to be playin it (due to my broken foot and desk setup)#but MAN I LOVE IT SO MUCH#i love timeloops and i Love the characters more than anything#literally like. i just played omori and i love omori and the characters were a big part of that#but the team in isat is just so so catered to my gay found family dnd party sensibilities#AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE WORLDBUILDING#the different fictional cultures and traditions#just learned abt the tradition of giving kids multiple names for multiple genders in case they ever wanted to change#the bonded earrings thing#crabs#okay but there's a line that implies isa has changed names/genders already and he wants to keep his rest secret in case he changes again#i love choosing snacks on rest breaks waaa#i am worried that i'm underleveled because i avoid most monsters. but so far i haven't had too much trouble with bosses#even though. i just fought the 2nd? major locked door boss (the duo where one kills the other one)#and odile got frozen right at the start. i went to unfreeze her#and realized mirabelle didn't have that ability yet in this loop. and i never equipped the memory#thankfully she unfroze during the phase change where the 2nd half killed the first and healed from it#but i was fighting for my life a little bit
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i'd sell my left big toe to be able to watch the juno steel story as an animated show but specifically in the style of cowboy bebop
#THINK ABOUT IT#the aurinko crime family#buddy and vespa#THEM SPECIFICALLY#i would simply pass away#to see the gay space pirates animated??!?! bro#don't even get me started on the worldbuilding#and of course#jupeter#the penumbra podcast#tpp#juno steel
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What else could transformers find attractive and what kind of beauty standards might they have?
(That are logical and not replicating human ones for humans titillation)
I always HC that biolights can be a good indicator of health and/or attractiveness, but I'm biased because I love them dearly. Because, logically to me, if a mech is sickly or stressed, their biolights and optics will be flickering slightly (or more than slightly) or sometimes / often dim.
Logically speaking having a clear and shiny paintjob would be a sign of attractiveness because it shows both they take care of themself and can afford to maintain a consistent paintjob (though I think this varies greatly, with scars in some areas being considered a badge of honor and a sign of winning, in some areas there are higher paint job requirements than other, some areas just forgo the custom entirely)
Bright colors = conventionally attractive makes sense with a similar psychology, especially with how common it is on earth too. I can see a whole ass THING too among the higher castes / classes about being able to afford all sorts of artificial highlights, temporary like makeup or "permanent" (though it wouldn't be permanent-permanent, simply difficult to remove and long lasting, especially if we believe in paint nanites here)
#maccadam#transformers#I can't come up with any more currently#tf worldbuilding?#though this is me looking at it through like the ornithologist crouching behind the bush sort of perspective here#don't even get me started on how the decepticons are a breeding ground for cybertronian goth culture becoming more diverse and popular#at least for tfp#i will never recover from that time someone called Megatron a goth girl in the asks and i don't want to recover from it
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important to understand that my approach to oc design and characterization depends explicitly on how i'm playing that specific game, like. a thing you should know about ilya is that he is the kind of person who will dive into the middle of a large pull ahead of the tank and pop all of his mitigation while screaming because i get distracted and do that. constantly.
... it's the siren's call of the big aoe damage noises, ok.
#mostly im thinking about these things because they're the easy things to think about#i am. very. very. bad. at like deeplore dives lmao#so bad!!!!!!! i'm here for the emotional complexity do Not ask me where this man lives i don't know#... i do know.#once it starts branching out into history and family lore and godforbid fucking cultural lore i am just#so dumb. i'm so dumb i was not designed for worldbuilding even if it's just the world of one weird little guy#v invested in other people's sandboxes because mine is very small and it's also just full of rocks.#anyway.#my partner: BABY MOOOOOOOOODE#me: it's okay my heal is up it'll be FINE#also increasingly play casters like melee dps so everybody gets to suffer that as well#ilya standing directly under a very large guy in his stupid leylines like MANAWARD'S UP IT'S FINE#.... i dont play blm as much now honestly because to contribute i have to be less stupid. and that's not fun.#i really. REALLY enjoy the big melee dps damage noises#they're across the board better than caster noises. so disappointing because in my heart i am On Fire#sam+pal noises are the best noises in the game#SPINNING#i'm thinking too hard about backstories and it's not going well lmao#grabbing this creature by the shoulders and shaking him violently like WHO ARE YOOOOOOOU#concussed probably his brain is just sloshing around in there#babg mode blogging#this is also why he's canonically A Guy Who Touches Things He Shouldn't#because i'm that guy.#i'm the guy who touches things.#this explains sehren also like she would not be who she is if i didnt play dragona age with wild hubris and abandon#.... it wasnt fun unless i was wildly underleveled in places i didnt belong ok#every if mc ive gotten invested in also
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I love you kudos I love you second kudos I love you keysmash comments I love you ‘<3’ I love you guest accounts I love you worldbuilding questions I love you comment spam from new readers I love you bookmarks with summaries of the plot I love you ‘to read’ I love you ‘fave’ I love you Artists who draw scenes from the fic I love you discord proofreaders I love you beta readers I love you Inbox (1)!!!!! You are the beating heart of the Ao3 community and the world is better with you in it!!!
#my posts#Ao3#Ao3 comment appreciation#fandom#fanfiction#meta posts#fanfic#archive of our own#just leave a comment fest#my favorite compliment I've ever recieved was a bookmark#that just said 'fascinating'.#idk something about the knowledge that a person read my work and liked it so much they felt the need to note that down#not for me not for anyone but themselves... it gets to me man#also this post isn't a dig at lurkers ily too#but if you don't usually engage with the stories you like consider starting to do that#comments are easy to leave and there's nothing quite like the feeling of the author replying to you#next time you read something good leave a comment for me. nothing big if that's scary just like#good fic#or#the worldbuilding is cool#or like#im reading this at 3am and i love it#little things#they make the author's day and it feels really nice to be a part of something
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A DUBIOUSLY ACCURATE HISTORY OF STILWATER (& STEELPORT)
So if it’s not obvious by the obnoxiously long post I’ve made talking about the musical history of Stilwater, I’m fascinated by the worldbuilding of Saints Row. And in my quest of learning more about the setting of the series, I’ve pieced together my own headcanons on the general history of the city…and its cousin, Steelport. I’ve spent the last several days going over canonical histories of both cities, primarily Stilwater as it was my original goal, and put together my own ideas of how I think the cities developed prior to the start of the games in 2006. Some of this is based on actual canon evidence, other stuff is just my own conclusions.
CANON TIMELINE
1783
Knight Plaza is founded, predating the founding of Stilwater itself
1787
Pennsylvania becomes a state
Unspecified year in the 1800s
Stilwater founded
1827
Steelport founded
1837
Michigan becomes a state
1940
Stilwater builds a new sewer system
Post-1940: An earthquake strikes Stilwater
1947
Sunset Park is built in Steelport
1970s
Vice Kings VS Los Carnales. Assumedly mid-to-late 70s into early 80s
1977: Stilwater is voted the most family-friendly city
MAPPING THINGS OUT
So it’s never exactly stated where Stilwater and Steelport are located comparatively. We know they’re in the Rust Belt, and Stilwater is expressly stated to be in Michigan. I’m inclined to say the cities are fairly close to each other (Stilwater in Michigan while Steelport is probably closer to Pennsylvania), probably several hours by car, if only because of similarities in industry, aesthetics, and even a few moments in-game. It can be fairly easily implied that the cities are within several hours driving distance of each other (my guesstimate is 7-8 hours away by car); especially given that in the beginning of SRTT they are able to land in Steelport so quickly despite assumedly not even being in the plane for more than an hour before they blow it up.
TIMING THINGS OUT
The Stilwater Church is a gothic style church, assumedly a product of the gothic revival in the mid-1800s. Given that Steelport was founded in 1827, I’d say Stilwater was founded around this time as well, potentially ~1830. It was an unused territory for several years and did not get further development until after Michigan’s statehood was granted in 1837.
I believe, given the architecture of Old Stilwater and the architecture of older buildings in Steelport, that both cities had a huge economic boom starting in the 1920s and had a period of growth and expansion. I’d say things were looking up for Stilwater going into the 1940s and 50s, but the earthquake sent the city into a really bad place economically. Worth noting that Steelport did not seem to be affected by the earthquake or tremors, which allowed it to continue to prosper while Stilwater tried to pick up its broken pieces.
Let’s go back a little into the 1800s, after Stilwater’s founding. I believe some time in the late 1830s/early 1840s, private railways were laid nearby to Stilwater, but the area itself would not get connected to the mainland of Michigan by rails until around the 1850s. Initially it was being used as a place for manufacturing, but wealthy people with railroad money saw the potential for a resort area. We’ll get into that in a moment.
Stilwater clearly had some manufacturing business as evidenced by the factories and boatyards, but I don’t think it ever reached the level of industry as Steelport did. Steelport also had the advantage of being founded a few years earlier. We know canonically that Stilwater has a steel factory and an oil refinery. I believe the steel factory is a minimill specifically, given its small size and the junkyard nearby; this means it uses scrap metal in its steel production. I’d date the mill around the 1890s but with several updates through the years until it was ultimately shut down. The oil refinery was probably built around the 1950s or 60s given its look, though it still appears to be somewhat operational? You can still see plumes coming out of the towers.
I know the Carnales own it, but I don't think they're necessarily refining oil or even using it as a cover for something; I think they’re getting profits from it and protecting it. From what I can tell the oil refinery may be the only factory still in actual operation, as the steel mill is just being used for the Carnales’ arms dealing.
So where does that leave Old Stilwater’s actual primary industry? If it’s not steel factories like Steelport, and the oil refinery didn’t come into being until around the mid-20th century, what did the city do? All throughout Stilwater there’s old, decommissioned railway tracks.
Parts of them were obviously meant for more general transportation of products, as evidenced by the tracks near the factories, but others follow the slightly newer, raised tracks of the transit system. This implies that at one point, Stilwater had a need for moving people into and out of the city. Given that the tracks also led to a nice hotel at one point (the hotel underground in SR2), there was clearly a market for people getting around to some sort of entertainment and/or hospitality.
Which leads me to my theory/headcanon/whatever that Stilwater, starting in the late 1800s and into the early 20th century, had a nice trolley park and was known mostly for its entertainment. This became its primary source of revenue.
For starters, all throughout SR2, there is talk about returning Stilwater to former glory, and tourism is obviously its most booming industry at that point in the series, so this seems to imply that it was known for tourism at one point. Stilwater itself has such a heavy emphasis on pleasure in the first two games, so it feels as if that’s always been a part of itself. Even just the fact that a record label was able to start and flourish there says that there is an entertainment scene in Stilwater and it’s a core part of its identity. Not to mention it being voted a family-friendly city in the late 70s, a point where it looked as if it might’ve started to recover from its post-earthquake troubles, further implies that there was a family-friendly image it kinda had. I think the idea of it being a trolley park in the late 1800s and into the 1900s makes a lot of sense. Stilwater itself is quite picturesque, and trolley parks began because of the rise in popularity of picnics. Families and friends went out to the nice waterside area of Stilwater, and suddenly there’s a need for more direct lines into and out of the area; next thing you know there’s new entertainment being constructed so more and more people want to come in. This all follows a pretty clear line in terms of what’s in Stilwater.
Trolley parks went out of fashion with the rise of amusement parks in the 1920s, and though Stilwater doesn’t have an amusement park, I believe Stilwater went in the direction of building venues for things like cabaret, bars, and brothels. It ended up leaning more heavily on adult entertainment, which makes sense given how it looks at the start of the series. Stilwater became synonymous with pleasure, even if it was starting to shy away from the more all-ages entertainment it had in the 19th century.
So by the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Stilwater was an extremely popular destination. It had great entertainment, beautiful hotels, and easy access to sex, drugs, and alcohol. All of this caught the attention of the Carnales, probably around the late 40s, and by the 1950s they began to have a hand in many of the institutions of Stilwater.
One thing that caught my attention was a radio ad in SR1 in which Hughes says that his parents moved to Stilwater 50 years ago (so around 1956) and that, at the time, Stilwater was still a lively place. If we’re to assume the earthquake was the beginning of the end of Stilwater, we can easily guess that the earthquake either happened later that same year, or a year afterwards. With that in mind, around 1956-57, a huge earthquake hits Stilwater, razing most of the city. The place is in shambles, both physically and economically. That said, the Carnales are still expecting things like payments for their business, but now many people are unable to comply, having lost their means of income. In turn, the Carnales became a much larger, even more intimidating presence in Stilwater all throughout the rest of the 50s and 60s.
Presumably at some point in the 1960s, a cult begins to form. People were seeking guidance and safety in the wake of such a huge natural disaster, and thus Philosotology began to take form. It stays relatively in the background for most of its life, but throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s more and more people join, especially those in places of power. I won’t get too into the development of Philosotology, as this is about the more general history of Stilwater, but I would be remiss to not mention it. The point being, by the 80s and 90s, they’re running things from behind the scenes, to the point they’re just a staple of Stilwater come modern day.
As we move through the 20th century, the progression of the canon story takes form. In the 70s, Julius Little and Benjamin King—sick of the Carnales presence in Stilwater—decide to take back the city. So throughout the 70s, the Vice Kings and the Carnales fight, with the Vice Kings ultimately coming out on top. In the late 70s and early 80s, it seems as if Stilwater might return to former glory, as the birth of Kingdom Come Records helped revitalize the arts and music scene of the city.
However, the economy of Stilwater does not recover. Generations of Stilwaterians have been hurt by decades of poverty, of negligence by those in power, and it is not the thriving coastal city it was in the early-to-mid 20th century. Obviously, these factors (and many more) contribute to how the events of the first game begin.
A QUICK TANGENT ABOUT STEELPORT
So where does Steelport fit into all of this? I mentioned it at the start, so surely I must have something to say.
Steelport was founded in 1827 in Pennsylvania. It was an industrial city, full of steel factories, and it stayed that way for many years. The city steadily grew over several decades, and around the turn of the century, a large number of people from Europe moved to Steelport for work. And it was around this time that the organized crime syndicates of Europe were beginning to take hold in Steelport.
Fast forward to the 1970s. Phillipe Loren, a high-ranking member of the Syndicate in Belgium, had ties to several of the gangs that were now in Steelport, so he goes to the city himself to see if it’s worth a US expansion. Seemingly pleased, Loren uses his status to begin doing more work with the gangs in Steelport. By the late 80s, Loren had become head of the Syndicate.
It was also around this time in the 70s that I believe Steelport began to essentially fill the hole that was left after Stilwater was destroyed by the earthquake. There was a need for places like hotels, brothels, and casinos in this area of the Rust Belt—and Steelport, being flush with cash, was able to fill that demand. In Steelport’s later years, it became more of an icon of sin and pleasure, perhaps even more than Stilwater was. It was bigger and flashier. But despite its hedonistic charm, Steelport was not exactly heading in a great direction by the 90s.
Similarly to Stilwater, it fell on hard times economically, with many areas falling into disrepair. Many of these areas are still like this even into the modern day as poverty is still a very large issue within Steelport, though as usual is not a topic of concern for those in charge. Thus, the Syndicate very easily continues to spread its control. By the 2000s, Loren and the Syndicate are running the city.
Getting a little ahead of my timeline, but worth talking about real quick: in 2011, Loren gets into contact with Maero about arms deals and potential expansion into Stilwater. At this point, Loren was already in bed with Ultor so to speak, but this was his first contact with one of the other gangs. Obviously this deal is hurt by the Saints, but that will only come back to bite them in a few years.
CONCLUSION
I wanted to write some grand conclusion about all this, but to be honest my eyes are starting to glaze over from hours of running around in the first two games, reading documents on my computer, and scribbling four pages of written notes. I read some official Michigan documents on the history of the railway system in the state. I’ve never even been. What am I going to do with this knowledge now.
Stilwater is interesting and was worth a deep dive into the potential history of the area. I used to be the teaching assistant for a class on worldbuilding in college, so this type of shit is just super fascinating to me. And Stilwater has so many bits of scattered information that I really wanted to try to piece everything together in a mostly coherent way. It’s just a setting I really love for some personal reasons, and I just thought I’d give writing its history a shot. Perhaps in some ways like a love letter to the fictional city, or maybe just as a way to fill my long weekend. Who knows.
#saints row#all this work......i’m gonna go get a drink and close my eyes for a minute lmfao#hope y'all enjoy tho! and of course like i said at the start this is all just my headcanons#so if you have your own ideas i think that's great and i'd love to hear them#please don't feel as if this is me saying this as indisputable fact bc it's not#the great thing about worldbuilding is that you can interpret things so many different ways
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I’d argue villages DO have some level of hierarchy but unlike most cultures real or fictional, farmers are at the top because without farmers no more children are born which pins them at being the most important members of villager society even above Clerics and the various Weapon/Tool/Armorsmiths just on the basis that no food = no more babies
so true bestie, we should all respect farmers
#ask#anon#minecraft worldbuilding#ngl I kinda would like to avoid villager discussion because the game treats them like.. mobs.. and that feels kinda wrong#I'd prefer if the player had no involvement in how they reproduce or what they trade#Imagine if trades where already locked per villager and you had to explore multiple villages to get the things you want to trade#and that they stop trading if they don't have anywhere to pathfind#and don't get me started in the antisemitic implications of their design#seriously mojang fix that what the heck
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look at them.
they haven't learnt how to make statues yet.
they don't have time for it. all their energy is being used to survive in their cruel world where the ground has been burnt centuries ago.
and yet they venerate their gods with a passionate devotion, crawling on their knees in front of the plain wood altars.
despite everything, they're convinced their gods exist. of course they are, they're right. their gods really do exist, and they know that because the gods have shaped their world as it is now and given them the powers that allow them to survive. so of course they're convinced they exist, it couldn't be otherwise.
really? looking at their story, we know their gods exist and ours might not. but they don't have more knowledge about their gods that we have about ours. we, too, have scriptures that tell us how god created and changed the world and how the abilities that make us human come from him.
are we any different from them? are they any different from us? neither of us know the things that we're worshipping.
#okay listen#these are just worldbuilding ramblings#and also an introduction to the story i'll start writing soon#christians please don't get mad at me#writeblr#writing#writers on tumblr#worldbuilding#writing ramblings#religion#fictional religion#yeah the world i'm creating makes me think about religion quite a lot#because i thought “oh their gods gave them powers so they know the gods are real - i have to consider that when writing religious trauma”#but... do they?#also sorry if any of this is phrased weirdly i should probably have mentioned in my intro that english is not my first language
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What version of the DSM does Terra use? It can't be the DSM-5, because Nightmare is still listed as having Multiple Personality Disorder instead of Dissociative Identity Disorder, but it can't be any other edition, because PRTS mentions ASD in optional Ch.7 dialogue, and ASD was only given that name instead of being split up across Autism, Aspergers, etc. in the DSM-5
Logically this concludes that there's a disjointed unique Terra DSM or other manual of mental disorders. I wonder if symptoms caused by Oripathy, like what Lappland suffers from, would be in it.
#arknights#just something that always made me curious#you know some stuff in the worldbuilding is just brought over from earth but this is an interesting inconsistency#don't get me started on the fact that chiave aosta and broca have that scene where they start singing copyright infringement#free versions of ed sheeran#but then in mostimas operator record Guns N' Roses is just mentioned. literally by name#whats going on there. why is axl rose in arknights. what race is he#bets on perro
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I'm watching the 2022 live action Monster High movie and it's making me go insane
#monster high#don't get me started on the throwaway line implying saint joan of arc is undead in this universe#like is it just my catholic upbringing or are the sheer theological implications staggering#see this deep worldbuilding is why I always come back to the MH universe
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Should I let the response to my posts decide what I focus on writing and posting?
#on the one hand is nebulous 'artistic integrity' and 'doing what I enjoy'#and on the other is actually feeling joy at the idea that someone cares about what I do#hell I'd have fun with basically anything in the 12 Worlds#but it's obvious that some topics generate enjoyable interactions with people and others don't#I mean I'm probably cutting down activity in general once school starts#so either way; less of everything. It's just a matter of relative degree...#feck#[or I could be reading too much into the dead silence that met my dining worldbuilding post. Fuck I had fun with that and no one cared#enough to say anything]#[I keep doing this whole thing but everytime I wind back in the same 'routine' anyhow. Guess it's just getting it off me chest.]
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I love and loathe writing magic research because genuinely, what is the current state of scientific understanding of the universe in Exandria. In the Dynasty. Is biomedical research still in medieval stages but the Marble Tomes teaches a theory of everything as part of eighth grade physics class.
I just. I need to know. I am writing wizards and need to come up with fantasy research projects and I don't even know what the existing literature entails. RULE ONE OF RESEARCH IS KNOW WHAT THE EXISTING LITERATURE ENTAILS
#essek can do calculations related to quantum gravity in his head but has never heard of a hormone#no but seriously do you understand how maddening it is to write#there is simply no way to guess what level of knowledge they have and it drives me NUTS#anyway yes i have been overthinking fantasy worldbuilding since c. 2008 when i started writing. do not @ me.#I'm well aware i am an overthinker and a nerd. you will never guess what prescription medication i take I'm sure.#but seriously you know what haunts me?#the fact that when caleb is pointing out celestial bodies nott goes 'that's not a planet. WE'RE on the planet'#is she fucking with him. did exandria somehow put together that theyre on a planet due to advanced magical flight capacities#before they figured out that there are other planets and as such the existence of other planets is a higher level concept?#these are the things that haunt me.#don't even get me STARTED on how magic would negate the need for certain theory and how it would completely fuck up others.#im thinking about it. it's a Problem that i am thinking about it because that rabbit hole does not end folks.
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that said, you know when you're starting to get attached to a thing when 1) you start thinking of fanfic ideas and/or, more importantly, 2) you start thinking of crossover ideas with other stuff you are or have been attached to.
aka: i really want to a thing where junko and dottie underwood are together. for whatever reason. because. there's some crossover thoughts there.
aka: my who framed roger rabbit tumblr background that someone keeps bringing up is now giving me what would junko be like in toontown tokyo aka if junko is a toon portraying a role, what is junko outside of the role as a separate entity and also i really want to throw her at haruhara haruko from that expanded universe because they would hate each other so much but also.
....
i really want to play with wfrr!junko. so much. i have no reason or place to do that right now because the jess & agatha thing is very firmly early 2000's (and because dr1 didn't come out until 2010, that would be when roger died if i was playing with timeline canon, and then jess would be in that year of default, and right now i'm writing jess gets a happy ending for once).
so really that depends on if i return to the greater wfrr universe for other shenanigans.
mostly i want to play with a wfrr concept of junko.
#musings#bandit brainstorms#prompts#bandit#look the great thing about wfrr concepts and versions of characters#and deciding how much of their self is tied to the character they portray#and also if junko is the first role that junko portrayed - otherwise she's going to potentially have more character traits of whomever she#may have played first#but also because of how i structured toontown tokyo to function differently than toontown usa (the toontown we see in wfrr)#junko as a villain would be top of the toon hierarchy and also own herself vs. someone like jess who is bottom of the toon hierarchy#and also has her copyright owned by someone else#(although by the time we get to 2010 eleanor would be dead and she left jess's copyright specifically to jess so i guess by that time jess#would own herself. maybe. i think there was a variant where eleanor left jess to one of her granddaughters - anna - but that's deep lore#and most of the time when i wrote jess in that time period it was timeline canon and she was human so eleanor would have left her to her)#...i apologize i know this doesn't make sense to a lot of you and i'm sorry#remember when i had a fanfic vs. profic soapbox#please don't tell me the amount of effort i put into my worldbuilding is lesser just because bits of it are fanfic or rp#or because it may have started there#a n y w a y#ramble in the tags woo!#but also the idea of who MUKURO would be in ttt#is fascinating#because she's much more easily other characters too
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my brain went on a tangent because i realized that Cybertronians have CNA.
do you kNOW HOW FUCKING COMPLICATED DNA IS??? ohhhh how different CNA and sentio metallico has to work, the fact that I'm betting energon is the cybertron equivalent of an amino acid soup just fuckin crystalized and directly pumped into their robo-veins and arteries after being liquefied. How do splitspark twins work, and how do they know they are twins? If they have CNA, are bots who are made in the same batch genetically related?
How in the EVERLOVING FUCK DOES SARI WORK?????? she's like a tootsie pop, except instead of a soft chocolate center with a hard candy shell she's an enigma of organic tissues and cybernetic parts. It is canon that she's a fusion between some of Megatron's machinery, Isaac's DNA, and the protoform, but we don't really get any indication of what is even going on there.
Plus, in most continuities you have bots being made in a VARIETY of different methods and? That's definitely gotta cause some integral differences of major structures. If you look at earth creatures, you generally have the same structures such as most tetrapods being different configurations of the same organs and bones. Transformers though?
You can't do that for cybertronian life.
I am going Fucking Nuts over the absolute implications of having so many methods of reproduction, and that's just canon! I'm not even factoring in fanon methods of reproduction, which complicate this already complex system far more.
#transformers#tf worldbuilding?#genetics#I'm going nuts over here#you can tell tfa sari confuses me so much. Cylas makes sense because he's just a human wired into breaky. but sari is so much different#the cna stuff i remember isss from tfp but we've seen cloning occur more than a few times in the franchise#plus with the movies introducing a whole ass new element... do you know what makes the periodic elements different?#i wanna know how many protons and neutrons ''transformium'' has. i wanna know the atomic weight and properties—where it goes on the table#don't even get me started on the bayverse allspark bebes versus the hatchlings we saw on the nemesis.#riot rambles#aaaand i'm rambling in the tags again
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You know how when books are Too Good you don't really crave fanfic of it bc the author has satisfied you? I feel with you on that for murderbot. That said Murderbot Makes A Friend by Froggimus_Rex is the perfect short oneshot. That is all, have a good day ~LexiLopezi
This is such a mood, but with a side order of The Narrative Voice is So Intrinsic To the Work That I Will Accept No Substitute. There was another book that I love that I realized would make an incredible Murderbot crossover and I looked it up on ao3 and there were about three and one even had a funny title and I tried to read it and it wasn't right and I had to close it (I am being purposely vague because I mean all of this with absolutely no offense to the author)
The one you recommended was cute and pretty close, thank you! If other people have specific fic recs, I will gladly read them, but I am just not strong enough to wade in those rivers myself.
#it's funny because i will read the absolute *worst* renruki fanfic you have ever read#standards at the bottom of the mariana trench#don't even get me started on *writing* fanfic for books i adore#i COULD NEVER#i mean i actually have the proper technical background that I *could* dabble in murderbot#but what could i possibly add?#a media property has to be just a lil bit shitty so i can properly get in there y'know?#bleach isn't shitty but their worldbuilding is bananas and full of loose ends and there are 6 billion underdeveloped side characters
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