Worldbuilding Ex Letter
Worldbuilding is one of my favorite things in fic (and in fiction in general), so I am super excited for this exchange and I'm sure I'll be thrilled with whatever you write for me. The worldbuilding tags I've selected are more or less prompts in themselves; if you have a particular idea you want to write based on any of them, feel free to run with it. If you're looking for more information and inspiration, hopefully this letter will be a help. My standard disclaimer that how much I wrote for each fandom is not a reflection of how enthusiastic I am about receiving a work for that fandom applies; I simply have more specific prompt ideas for some fandoms than others. Feel free also to browse my previous exchange letters, fandom tags on this journal, and my tumblr.
All prompts are for fic or in-universe meta.
General Info:
DNW: No anal sex. No humiliation humor (humiliation kink is fine). No unrelentingly dark fic or outright unhappy endings, though bittersweet is fine. No infidelity (but poly or open relationships are great). No breaking up canon pairings, but non-canon relationships in addition are fine, as is setting something before the start of a canon relationship. For this exchange specifically I'm not interested in crossovers or any AUs that change the setting, but canon-divergence AUs are fine.
Yes Please: Het, femslash, or gen. Fic of any rating from G to E (see previous letters for smut likes). Focus on female characters. Cultures that are internally consistent but not homogeneous. In-universe mythology, literature, and music (either in-text or referenced). Culture clashes, and characters who walk in two cultures. Prejudices as unpleasant realities in an imperfect world that complicate life for characters. Societies with a more fluid conception of sexuality and normalization of relationship options other than monogamous het. Digging into inconsistencies and unquestioned assumptions of canon. Explorations of parts of society not greatly focused on by canon, particularly domestic and women's spheres. Court life and politics. Any facet of worldbuilding you might have particular expertise about and passion for.
Additional likes (character and relationship-focused): Flirtation. Teasing. Banter. Snark, affectionate or otherwise. Anything involving dance. Slice of life/domesticity/quiet moments. Strong characters having moments of weakness, and being able put down their armor and lean on those closest to them. Family interactions. Good friends being there for each other. Character-driven stories. Realistic relationships, where people have flaws and not everything's perfect but they work things out anyway. Pairings of where both characters are dominant types and how they make it work. Romances that stress trust, support, equality, and deep friendship. Relationships that overcome a bad beginning to make things work. Friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, and most especially reluctant-allies-to-lovers. Fuller list of favorite tropes and narrative kinks.
Fandoms:
Dragonriders of Pern:
Lessa, Manora, Mirrim, Original dragonrider characters, Original Lower Caverns characters, Original character(s), Any or no characters
Dragonriders of Pern is a problematic fave for me; I'm aware that it has many issues, but I also wholeheartedly adore it. I'm very much here for poking Pernese politics and social norms with a stick (especially making the Weyrs queerer and more poly than is shown on the page), but I'd prefer fic that isn't overwhelmingly salty. I've selected a few characters who I think would have interesting relationships with the requested worldbuilding elements, but I'm equally interested in other canon characters or original characters; it's really up to whoever fits the story you're wanting to tell. If you want to include pairings involving canon characters, I'm fond of Lessa/F'lar, Lessa/Kylara, Lessa/F'lar/Kylara, Mirrim/T'gellan, and Mirrim/Menolly; any other canon pairings are fair game, but I'd prefer no unrequested non-canon pairings.
WB: weyr politics
WB: weyr culture
WB: queer identities and relationships
These are all very overlapping requests; I am endlessly fascinated by everything about Weyr society and want to see any and all of it explored, especially the places where things don't fit into a nice neat order. A few topics and ideas I find particularly interesting:
-The various forms the relationship between Weyrleaders might take (devoted partners, purely platonic friendship outside of mating flights, sometimes lovers but not exclusive, and everything in between)
-Riders whose personality/ambition/aptitude for leadership (or lack thereof) doesn't match up with what dragon they ride, and how they might find their niche
-The concept of mating flight stand-ins, and the logistics of how that works or doesn't work (ensuring that everyone involved has a stand-in when you don't know who's going to win the flight or even necessarily who's going to participate in the chase seems like it could become a mess very easily, and having sex with someone in dragonthrall when you're not seems like a very specific kink at best)
-Your dragon loves you and wants you to be happy, and all else being equal will take the opportunity to hook you up with the inappropriate crush you're trying to suppress your attraction to (or basically anything else about the dragon/rider bond and the disconnects in the way they look at the world, but that particular possibility is highly amusing to me)
-Relationships between riders and non-rider weyrfolk
-Relationships between riders who don't have compatible dragons (blue rider/brown rider, green rider/green rider, etc)
-How weyrfolk conceptualize sexual orientation (I'm fond of the idea that the idea of sexuality as a strict binary and the notion of being exclusively attracted to a single gender are concepts that don't make any sense to them, but I'm also very open to other interpretations. Are queer women as accepted as queer men? What kinds of weird prejudices and double standards are present in Weyr culture?)
-Culture clash in the Weyrling Barracks as Holdbred and Weyrbred kids try to wrap their minds around each other's very foreign understandings of sexuality
-Pretty much anything to do with life in the Weyrling Barracks, for that matter, and the mess of adolescent emotions and hormones it must be
-Trans riders
-Asexual riders
-Poly relationships
WB: life in the Lower Caverns
-The details of the behind-the-scenes work it takes to keep a Weyr running (I loved the glimpse we got in Dragonsong)
-How Weyrbred girls feel about their brothers and childhood playmates growing up to Impress and find companionship and glory while they're destined to be support staff and play second fiddle in their lovers' lives
-The lives of candidates who fail to Impress, particularly those brought in on Search who decide to stay at the Weyr and Weyrbred youth who decide to leave
-Child-raising and the fostering system
WB: folk music
This is kind of the odd man out among my requests, but I'm struck by the way that the Harper Hall is seen as the origin and disseminator of all music on Pern, because in my experience human creativity refuses to be limited like that, and I'm very curious about musical traditions that have arisen outside of (and possibly aren't condoned by) the Harper Hall - both the songs themselves, and the people who might write and sing them. I'd love to see things like sailors' shanties, mining work songs and weyr drill songs, as well as in-universe parodies of things like the Teaching Ballads. I've never heard of a military that didn't have songs about "we're a bunch of horny bastards who will corrupt your women", and dragonriders have more reputation and reason for promiscuity than most; there have to be Pernese analogs to songs like Gentleman Soldier and Bell Bottom Trousers. Please tell me that there's a Pernese version of the Ball of Kerrymuir that isn't officially sanctioned by the Harper Hall but every harper worth his knots has written at least one verse to.
The Goblin Emperor:
Arbelan Drazharan, Csethiro Ceredin, Csevet Aisava, Maia Drazhar, Shaleän Sevraseched, Vedero Drazhin, Original character(s), Any or no characters
Original or canon characters equally welcome, I just want to see more of this society. If you want to include pairings involving canon characters, I'd prefer for Maia and Csethiro not to be paired with anyone but each other, but anyone else is fair game.
WB: academia in the Ethuveraz
WB: couriers
WB: dueling
WB: Elvish and/or Goblin marriage customs
WB: goblin and elven educational systems
WB: palace servant culture
WB: piracy
WB: women's roles and spaces
I really don't have much in the way of specific prompts for this one; there's so much to be explored that I don't even know where to start. The Ethuveraz (not to mention Barizhan and other surrounding countries) is such a rich and complex society, and it feels like we only got the barest glimpse of it, and I just want to roll around in all of it.
A few possible jumping off points: academia in and out of the universities, and what opportunities are afforded to scholarly women vs men, couriers having adventures and using street smarts to improve their prospects in life, how and where Csethiro learned to fuel, the mostly-forgotten dueling culture of bygone days, a closer look at noble marriage negotiations, what wedding ceremonies and surrounding traditions look like, what educational institutions exist and what opportunities are available to commoners vs the scions of noble or wealthy families, the education of maza, Shaleän and her pirate ship and her wife, anything to do with women's social spheres from the pneumatic tube girls to noblewomen's salons.
Kushiel's Legacy:
Amarante of Namarre, Mavros Shahrizai, Melisande Shahrizai, Phedre no Delaunay, Original Night Court characters, Original character (s), Any or no characters
Original or canon characters equally welcome; I just want more of this society, especially the Night Court. I am not necessarily looking for smutty fic (though I certainly wouldn't object to it), but I am looking for exploration of the ways that sex and even kink are so integral to the fabric of D'Angeline society. For pairings involving canon characters, I find Phedre/Joscelin kind of boring, so would prefer that relationship not be a primary focus of fic, but I'm pretty much anything goes with regards to pairings in this fandom.
WB: the court of night-blooming flowers
The motto of Valerian House is "I yield"; their focus is on receiving physical pain and any spark of disobedience is conditioned out of their adepts. Similarly, Mandrake House seems to be focused on the giving of physical pain. While masochism and sadism are perhaps the best known flavors of BDSM, and they certainly make up a large and important part of it, there is so much more to the kink world, and I'd love to see how some of those other components would fit into the Night Court. What place would there be for a submissive who is not a masochist - someone who thrills in being psychologically dominated, but has no great love for pain? What about a bratty submissive, who finds their greatest pleasure in being disobedient until broken - surely there are patrons more interested in that than the meek yielding of Valerian House. What House would a patron go to if their kinks ran to bonds and blindfolds but no more extreme, or if they wished to play out a rape or gangbang fantasy? Does Eglantine House have adepts whose preferred art form is rope? Honestly, though, I'm just endlessly fascinated by the Night Court, and would love to see more about any of the houses and the lives of their adepts and patrons.
WB: night court training literature
Several classic training texts are referenced in the books, but we never learn that much about what's inside them. I'd love to see either excerpts,
WB: Historical anguisettes
What was life like for anguisettes other than Phedre? What roles might they have played in society? Has there ever been a male anguiset? Has there ever been more than one around at once?
WB: priests and priestesses of Namaah
I'd love to see more of what exactly involved in the priesthood of Namaah, and am particularly interested in the sacred prostitution aspect of Namaah's clergy.
WB: House Shahrizai
House Shahrizai has such a reputation, dark and rich and somewhat sinister, and all the scions of it we've met live up to it to some extent, but in very different ways. I'm interested in anything showcasing Shahrizai being Shahrizai, perhaps involving intrahouse dynamics, interacting with other Kusheline nobles, or assignations at the Night Court.
Labyrinth:
Jareth, Sarah
I do ship Jareth/Sarah (once she's older and preferably coming back on her own terms) and would be very interested in shipfic for this canon, but platonic interactions are also good, as is fic that focuses on one or the other and/or the Labyrinth as a character in its own right.
WB: Effects of humans on Labyrinth and the Goblin King
WB: the Labyrinth
WB: Jareth's Castle
I love the idea of the Labyrinth being changeable and even semi-sentient, responding to the will of its monarch and the expectations of its challengers. What does the Labyrinth look like when there are no challengers around? How often does it permanently adopt aspects taken from its challengers' imagination (and how does Jareth feel about that)? I'd love to see parts of the Labyrinth that Sarah never explored, and/or something of Jareth's daily life when he's not dealing with challengers and wished-away children.
WB: Lasting effects of the Labyrinth on humans
I'd love to see any exploration of Sarah's life post-canon, and the ways that the Labyrinth continues to influence her life. We know she still visits with her friends, but does she interact with magic and magical creatures in other parts of her life? Does she ever go back to the Labyrinth when she's older, and under what circumstances? I'm particularly fond of the notion that in beating the Labyrinth she's acquired some sort of authority over and responsibly to it.
WB: Fae society
WB: Other magical realms
Jareth obviously isn't a goblin himself, and neither are the courtiers at the masked ball; most likely they seem to be some sort of fae. So where did Jareth come from, and how did he come to be the Goblin King? What does fae society look like? (I'm always here for court intrigue and scheming fae.) What other magical realms exist beyond the Labyrinth's borders, and are they all ruled by fae?
Lord of the Rings:
Aragorn | Estel, Arwen Undómiel, Éowyn, Éomer Éadig, Faramir, Original Character from Rohan, Original Gondorian Scholar, Original Character(s)
Original or canon characters equally welcome, it's all about who gives you the best opportunity to explore the cultures of Middle-Earth. Canon pairings only, please, if you choose to include any; I'm quite fond of Aragorn/Arwen, Faramir/Eowyn, and Eomer/Lothiriel, especially in the context of being cross-cultural relationships, but in this fandom I don't want pairings to be the main focus of the story, and DNW smut.
WB: Culture and Customs of Rohan
WB: Gondor-Rohan relations
WB: Imladris
WB: Life in Minas Tirith
Rohan, Gondor, and Rivendell are among my favorite societies in Middle-Earth, and I'd love any deeper exploration of their cultures, either individually or as they interact with each other.
WB: Libraries & Archives
I'm here for anything from descriptive library porn to the culture of scholarship and academia. The preservation and study of history and lore are that much more interesting in a world where people who were witness to ancient events are still around. I'd be particularly interested in Imladris or Minas Tirith as a setting for fic on this topic.
WB: Production of Fabrics and Clothing
WB: Trade and Supplies in Rivendell
I don't have have much in the way of specific ideas for these ones, but I find these kind of often-overlooked details of a society fascinating. Basically I know nothing about these topics but I'd like to.
Original Work - Omegaverse:
Male alpha, Female alpha, Female omega, Original character(s), Any or no characters
I'm primarily interested in the implications of human society having biological castes and in heat/rut stuff; I'm not big on wolf pack dynamics / overtly canine characteristics or breeding kink. For pairings, I'm interested in male alpha/female omega, male alpha/female alpha, female alpha/female omega, female alpha/female alpha, and female omega/female omega, and poly relationships. Feel free go to as weird biology as you'd like with genitalia and such.
WB: Queer Identity in an ABO Context
WB: Development of rigid gender roles in modern society
WB: Identity Categories & Naming
What does it even mean to be queer in an Omegaverse world? Being in a relationship with some who shares both your gender and your biological caste is presumably the most taboo type of partnership, but how does the queerness of a same-sex alpha/omega couple compare to the queerness of a same-caste m/f couple? (If all alpha/omega combinations are fertile, are same-sex alpha/omega relationships actually queer in a meaningful way, and how so?) What kind of terminology has been developed to talk about queer identities (for instance, differentiating between someone who's bi because they're attracted to their own and other genders versus their own and other castes versus one who's interested in all of the above), and what kind of discourse goes on? Similarly, what do societal notions of gender look like in a world with biological castes: what are the expectations and limitations placed on a woman's role versus an omega's role, and how do they interact and intersect? (I'd also be interested in exploration of the kink community, and the possibilities of omega doms and alpha subs.)
WB: Hookup & Dating Culture
WB: Alternative Family/Community Structures
Most Omegaverse fic I've read features intense pair-bonding, with pheromonally-driven possessiveness and territoriality. How do people navigate casual dating, hookups, and FWB relationships in that kind of society? How do you handle breakups when you end up not being that compatible as people but your sexual biology wants to be mated for life? How do poly and open relationships work? Is Omegaverse society even more focused on the nuclear family than modern Western culture, or are other relationship and family setups common?
(Note: I kink on a certain level of possessiveness, but I really don't want to see Omegaverse biology being used to justify partners being jealous and controlling. I'm much more interested in exploration of how people overcome those urges to uphold their partners' independence and autonomy and potentially freedom to date additional people.)
WB: Mythology & Literature
How do storytelling traditions and popular culture in an Omegaverse world differ from our own? What morals are common in the tales children are raised on? What tropes and themes are popular? If you want to rewrite a real-world myth, fairytale, or piece of popular literature to a version that's set in an Omegaverse culture, I'd also be very into that.