# World Building

## What is Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is the difference between telling someone a character is in a forest and making them feel the damp moss under their boots, smell the decaying pine needles, and hear that something is following them. 

Worldbuilding in writing is the process of creating the setting, rules, and cultures that define a story’s universe. Writers build geography, history, societies, and magic systems to make their worlds believable. Effective worldbuilding gives readers context for why characters act as they do and how events unfold. Authors often draw maps, invent languages, or design political systems to keep their worlds consistent. 

In Fortelling, worldbuilding tools let you store these details in one place and connect them directly to your chapters and characters.

## General

See the page linked below for a general overview and explanation of creating and using a story element.

{% content-ref url="story-elements" %}
[story-elements](https://wiki.fortelling.app/story-elements/story-elements)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Locations

Besides your characters, an essential story element are the locations your characters experience their story line in. Fortelling allows you to create any virtual world using a sublocation system. You can add an infinite amount of story element underneath eachother.

> Example: World > Countries > Cities > Streets > Houses > Floor of a house > Room

### Attributes

<details>

<summary>Location</summary>

* Dimensions
* Objects
* Condition
* Feeling
* Noises
* Smell

</details>

<details>

<summary>Biology &#x26; Environment</summary>

* Climate
* Landmarks
* Flora
* Fauna
* Bodies of Water
* Pollution

</details>

<details>

<summary>Culture</summary>

* Inhabitants
* Language
* Rituals
* General Ethics
* Art & Music
* Views on Life
* Views on Death
* Gender/Race Equality

</details>

<details>

<summary>Politics</summary>

* Government System
* Political Parties
* Important Political Figures
* Opinion of the Public
* Laws
* Punishments
* Law Enforcement&#x20;
* Opposing Forces

</details>

<details>

<summary>Magic &#x26; Technology</summary>

* Magic
* Technological Level
* Unique Technologies
* Medicine & Healthcare
* Ethical Controversies

</details>

<details>

<summary>History</summary>

* Date Founded
* Founder
* Major Events

</details>

<details>

<summary>Religion</summary>

* Deities
* Religious Groups
* Religious Leaders & Prophets
* Religion Founding
* Religious Values Commandments
* Government View
* Freedom of Religion

</details>

<details>

<summary>Trade &#x26;  Public Relations</summary>

* Currency
* War
* Trade Partners
* Major Imports
* Major Exports

</details>

## Species

Come up with completely new species and keep an overview. Who, what, and how do they behave? What's their background? Use our attributes to order your thoughts.

### Attributes

<details>

<summary>Species</summary>

* Lifespan
* Height
* Weight
* Diet
* Skills & Abilities
* Weakness
* View on Mortals

</details>

<details>

<summary>Appearance</summary>

* Physical Description
* Mental Description

</details>

<details>

<summary>Lifestyle</summary>

* Common Locations
* Habitats
* Reproduction
* Growth Stages
* Major Stages
* Major Ethnic Groups

</details>

<details>

<summary>Background</summary>

* Origin
* History
* Religious Connections
* Common Cultural Influences

</details>

## Items

Have a unique item in your story? Like a magical sword or a ring that holds immense power? What about its history? Describe them in the items tool.

### Attributes

<details>

<summary>Item</summary>

* Purpose
* Special Abilities & Properties
* Collection
* Production
* Composition
* Value
* Rarity
* Occurence
* Detection Methods
* Armaments
* Defense
* Other equipment

</details>

<details>

<summary>History</summary>

* History
* Origin
* Notable Owners

</details>

## Languages

If you're a hardcore worldbuilder, you've probably come up with a few fictional languages and some words. Use this tool to create background lore for this language and a lexicon with existing words. No more looking at prior chapters to see what word you came up with.

### Attributes

<details>

<summary>Language</summary>

* History
* Commonness
* Writing System
* Writing Direction
* Number System

</details>

<details>

<summary>Speech</summary>

* Sound Production
* Spoken By
* Religions
* Dialects & Slang

</details>

<details>

<summary>Grammar</summary>

* Nouns
* Verbs
* Sentence Structure
* Derivations

</details>

### Lexicon

Every language you create has its own lexicon. Your lexicon is displayed as a table with the following properties for you to fill in:

* **Word**: the fictional word
* **Definition**: describe the meaning of the word, or provide a translation of the word
* **Type**: you can choose from nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverb, prepositions, postpositions, determiners, demonstratives
* **Pronunciation**: how do you imagine the word to be pronounced?

## Q\&A

<details>

<summary>Is there a limit to how much I story elements I can create in Fortelling?</summary>

Unlike many plotting apps that charges per story element or force your private drafts to be public, Fortelling gives you the tools to build an entire universe (unlimited characters, groups, locations and lore) completely free on our mobile app. We do this because we want to incentivize you to never stop expanding your stories.

</details>