When to use
Use this when a setting needs internal logic — magic, technology, politics, or ecology that behaves consistently and creates story pressure. Fits fantasy, sci-fi, alt-history, and grounded fiction with an unfamiliar milieu.
Not for: plotting events (use cw-story-outline), individual characters (use cw-character), a scene's on-page detail (use cw-scene), or prose editing (use cw-edit-pass).
Method
- Pick the premise question the world exists to explore ("What if debt were inherited as memory?"). Decision point: if the world doesn't pressure a theme, you're decorating, not building.
- Set the core rule and its hard cost. Every power/tech must take something (time, sanity, resource) — cost is what makes it dramatic, not the power itself.
- Derive second-order consequences: if the rule is true, who gets rich, who's oppressed, what jobs exist, what's illegal? Follow the rule three steps out.
- Build culture from constraint, not flavor — customs, taboos, and language should be downstream of the world's material facts (scarcity, danger, the core rule).
- Draw the constraint that limits the plot's easy outs. Decision point: if magic/tech could solve the climax offhand, add a limit now (range, price, taboo).
- Sketch the power map: who rules, who resists, what they trade. Conflict lives in the gaps between factions.
- Decide the iceberg ratio — build deep, reveal shallow. Show rules through consequence in scene, never as a lecture.
Example
Premise: "What if water could store memory and be drunk?" Core rule: drinking someone's saved water gives you their memories — but overwrites a day of your own (hard cost). Second-order: memory-water is currency; the poor sell their childhoods; forgetting is a luxury of the rich. Culture: marriages sealed by exchanging a vial; lying is "pouring clean water." Constraint: you can't re-drink a memory you've overwritten (no undo). Power map: the Cistern Guild hoards archives; smugglers sell stolen lives.
Pitfalls
- Powers with no cost — they flatten tension and invite plot holes.
- Culture bolted on as flavor instead of derived from the world's material facts.
- Info-dumping lore in narration instead of revealing it through consequence.
- No limiting constraint, so readers ask "why didn't they just use the magic?"
Output format
PREMISE QUESTION: <what if ...>
CORE RULE: <...> HARD COST: <...>
SECOND-ORDER (×3): who profits <...> | who suffers <...> | what's illegal <...>
CULTURE (from constraint): custom <...> | taboo <...> | idiom <...>
PLOT-LIMITING CONSTRAINT: <...>
POWER MAP: rulers <...> | resistance <...> | the trade between <...>
ICEBERG: built <deep> / revealed <shallow, via ...>
1---2name: cw-worldbuilding3description: Build a coherent world with consistent rules, culture, and story-driving constraints.4---56## When to use78Use this when a setting needs internal logic — magic, technology, politics, or ecology that behaves consistently and creates story pressure. Fits fantasy, sci-fi, alt-history, and grounded fiction with an unfamiliar milieu.910**Not for:** plotting events (use cw-story-outline), individual characters (use cw-character), a scene's on-page detail (use cw-scene), or prose editing (use cw-edit-pass).1112## Method13141. Pick the premise question the world exists to explore ("What if debt were inherited as memory?"). Decision point: if the world doesn't pressure a theme, you're decorating, not building.152. Set the core rule and its hard cost. Every power/tech must take something (time, sanity, resource) — cost is what makes it dramatic, not the power itself.163. Derive second-order consequences: if the rule is true, who gets rich, who's oppressed, what jobs exist, what's illegal? Follow the rule three steps out.174. Build culture from constraint, not flavor — customs, taboos, and language should be downstream of the world's material facts (scarcity, danger, the core rule).185. Draw the constraint that limits the plot's easy outs. Decision point: if magic/tech could solve the climax offhand, add a limit now (range, price, taboo).196. Sketch the power map: who rules, who resists, what they trade. Conflict lives in the gaps between factions.207. Decide the iceberg ratio — build deep, reveal shallow. Show rules through consequence in scene, never as a lecture.2122## Example2324Premise: "What if water could store memory and be drunk?" Core rule: drinking someone's saved water gives you their memories — but overwrites a day of your own (hard cost). Second-order: memory-water is currency; the poor sell their childhoods; forgetting is a luxury of the rich. Culture: marriages sealed by exchanging a vial; lying is "pouring clean water." Constraint: you can't re-drink a memory you've overwritten (no undo). Power map: the Cistern Guild hoards archives; smugglers sell stolen lives.2526## Pitfalls2728- Powers with no cost — they flatten tension and invite plot holes.29- Culture bolted on as flavor instead of derived from the world's material facts.30- Info-dumping lore in narration instead of revealing it through consequence.31- No limiting constraint, so readers ask "why didn't they just use the magic?"3233## Output format3435```36PREMISE QUESTION: <what if ...>37CORE RULE: <...> HARD COST: <...>38SECOND-ORDER (×3): who profits <...> | who suffers <...> | what's illegal <...>39CULTURE (from constraint): custom <...> | taboo <...> | idiom <...>40PLOT-LIMITING CONSTRAINT: <...>41POWER MAP: rulers <...> | resistance <...> | the trade between <...>42ICEBERG: built <deep> / revealed <shallow, via ...>43```
Matrixx0070