Worldbuilding
When to use
Use when a scene depends on world rules, the setting contradicts itself, or the author wants a new location or system.
Inputs and assumptions
Start with the story need and existing rules. Do not assume the author wants exhaustive lore.
Portable workflow
- Identify the decisions the setting must enable or constrain.
- Define the rule, its cost, its limits, who can use it, and who benefits from controlling access.
- Test ordinary consequences for work, travel, law, family, economics, and conflict where relevant.
- Find edge cases that would trivialize the plot. Repair the rule with costs or scope, not arbitrary exceptions introduced at the climax.
- Build places through usable geography, routines, sensory details, and competing interests.
- Separate fictional invention from claims about real cultures or history. Research the latter when necessary.
- Save focused notes and unresolved questions according to the project workflow.
Safety and side effects
Ask before changing established rules. Avoid treating real communities as interchangeable exotic props. No external research or publishing is automatic.
Scripts, references, and dependencies
No required services. Use the sibling research skill when the author needs factual support.
Verification
Check whether the rules solve the story's problem too easily, whether costs have consequences, and whether new lore contradicts cited manuscript evidence.
Pi adapter
Use /writer worldbuilding --brief "Design a memory-based magic system with costs that matter outside combat".
