Oh, right, that's how it works.
Been a very long time since I did major world-creating. Most of it I did over years, beginning when I was a teenager and a college student, and I could dick around as much as I liked. I had plenty of contradictory stuff, and straightened it out later. Last year's novel was in that same world, different time period and country, but the major worldbuilding aspects were already done, so no heavy lifting needed, just tweaking and arranging.
Nuns needs to be built from the ground up. I have raw materials for scaffolding, but I have to get the foundations poured.
I used to do this by writing random scenes and discovering what was interesting about the world. But this is a parallel universe, not a wholly created one. Also, I want to finish this book in 14 months, not 14 years.
I started a list of characters. Always a good place to keep track of who's doing what.
Now I need a map. Geography is important here. I wondered if drawing a map would be a way of not-writing, but I've had to refer to that historical atlas so many times in the last two days that it's clear I need a map.