What kind of world is this?
If it is an A-H, what is the specific historical point of departure (POD) where this world split off from the history of the primary world?
How long ago did this happen; how much has changed and will continue to change as a result?
If this planet is not Earth, how does it differ physically from Earth? -- is it of comparable size and composition or quite different?
Comparable density, gravity, ratio of land to water, atmosphere, etc.?
Are there any satellites, rings, unsuspected alien satellites or the like?
How many suns are there?
How many other planets in the system?
Are there spectacular constellations, comets, nebulae or other astronomical phenomena visible at night or even by day?
What kinds of natural disasters has this society gotten used to?
How geologically active is this planet?
How are the continents laid out?
How much land is there, and how much of it is habitable?
How much land is in each of the equatorial, temperate, and polar zones?
How have peoples' activities affected climate & landscape in various regions?
Where are major mountain ranges, rivers and lakes, deserts, forests, jungles, grasslands and plains?
What is this region's most abundant resource?
What is its most valuable resource?
What resource is it most lacking?
Which natural resources, if any, have been depleted over time?
Is there usually enough food and water for the population?
What water resources available, and for what uses are they put?
Where are mineral resources located?
Flora, the Plants, Fungi and Similar
What are the most common domesticated plants here?
And what are they used for?
For how long a period of time have people been domesticating and propagating plantlife?
Are people actively seeking to breed plants for specific traits or purposes?
How hardy or fragile are the domesticated plants considering their yield in food or other useful materials?
What are the most common wild plants here and what are they used for?
Do any of the plantlife pose serious threats to people, animals or other plants?
The ruling United Pacifist League denies humans the right to uproot any plant unless another animal has damaged it beyond repair. This means that thorny plants of many varieties grow throughout the city, and humans must simply walk around them or leave a trail of blood everywhere they go. While thorns and spines are painful, they are not dangerous; what humans fear is the infection that often follows when a parasite crawls into one of their wounds.
Outside the city of Blop, the terrain is even more overgrown, and humans are simply unable to cross through many areas of woods without suffering severe injuries. On the other hand, in the wilderness there are many more paths available to a given location, including by water, and all in all transportation is thus easier in the wilderness than in Blop.
Fauna, the Beasts and AnimalsWhich animals, birds, fish, and other wildlife are commonly found in which areas?
What are the most common domesticated animals here and what are they domesticated for?
There are no true domesticated animals on this planet, but many wild animals are naturally tame. Thus, humans in Blop accept animals who live in their city and are not worried that the animals will eat them, but neither can they control the animals.
What are the most common wild beasts?How are wild animals treated?
If there are animals such as dragons or unicorns or megafauna such as sivatherium or mastadon or deinotherium, where do they live and how do they fit into the ecology?
What do they eat and how much habitat do they require?
Can they live nearly anywhere, or do they prefer or need specific kinds of climate or terrain?
Are there intelligent animals, perhaps nearing the threshold of awareness and personhood?
Sophonts: Races of People, Spirit Beings, Angelic and Divine Beings
Are there different races of sophonts on this planet or only one and has this always been the case?
How are living beings that are persons differentiated from living beings that are not persons?
Can one's status change: .i. from non-person to person or vice versa?
What are the other races called?
How long have there been people on this world?
Did they evolve here, or were they created here or did they arrive in some manner from elsewhere?
If there are several sophont races, how numerous are they and in what proportions are they to each other?
How openly present are they? -- do some hide themselves away from others, or do they not care whether their existence is known by others?
What regions do they prefer to occupy?
The city of Blop is located near the geographical center of the continent of Rilola, at about 35°N and 40°N. Its climate is similar to that of northern Japan or parts of northern Europe, though with less seasonal amplitude and longer seasons. It is also colder than any lowland location on Earth at 35°N; these are all traits common on planet Teppala, which has more ocean than Earth and a slightly colder climate overall.
Despite its considerable distance from the ocean, Blop is one of the rainiest major cities on the planet because Teppala has a five-cell atmosphere, putting the 35th parallel in the line of storms all throughout the year. In summer, Blop attracts lee-side lows from the prevailing westerly winds, meaning that an air mass that is relatively dry as it crosses the prairies to the west can be raining heavily by the time it reaches Blop, even if it has not crossed over any water in the meantime. This does not happen often in winter because such airmasses are usually scooped upward by underlying cold air from the north. However, this cold air is also moist and therefore Blop is also rainy in winter, and receives significant snowfall as well.
What importance, spiritual or cultural, do people ascribe to the geography?How do people feel about local landscapes being altered or used for a purpose other than what is traditional or natural?
Humans are allowed to grow any plants they wish, but they cannot uproot or trim a wild plant for any reason. This means that the human side of Blop is overflowing with plant life, the only bare ground being areas of rock where no soil has been deposited. It is difficult for humans to walk from one end of the city to another, and when they attempt to do so, they often emerge at the other end with many bites and scratches.
Where in this land do they congregate?What parts of this place do they avoid?
Where did civilisation begin and how long ago?
Into what directions did civilisation spread?
How has its development been affected by the presence of magic, different sophont races, and the direct or indirect action of the gods or other great powers?
What is the population of this city and what percentage of world population does this represent?
The population of Blop is a bit over 50,000.
How many people live in a small village, large town, or city?What natural features mark the borders?
Who are the neighboring countries & peoples and what are they like?
Why did people settle in this country in the first place -- strategic location, trade route, water transport, minerals, good farmland?
How much has their situation changed since their first immigration, or has life changed little for them?
Are the migrants being affected by war or plague or economic opportunity?
What effects has this had on the places being left behind and also by the places gaining people?
V. Questions on Time
Is there a single, generally accepted calendar and system of reckoning time, or do different countries or peoples or races have different calendars?
How is the day divided into smaller time units?
What are the names of the various units of time and how are they named?
Is the length of an hour fixed, or does it vary depending on changes in the length of the day as the seasons change?
What are the names of days, fortnights, months, years, decades, centuries and how many days or other subdivisions are in each?
How well in synch is the calendar with astronomical reality?
Are there leap years, and if so, who keeps track of them?
Which days are holidays or festival times?
What do people celebrate and what holidays are there that are only celebrated in particular countries, cities, or regions?
From what point of origin does the calendar begin?
Do they use a singular event such as the creation of the world, the beginning of a great dynasty or recurring events such as the terms in office of a ruler or consul or the numbered year of a dynasty or republic?
How do people tell what time it is?
Are there mechanical clocks, pocket watches, sundials, sand or water clocks or thaumological timepieces?
Do people simply listen for bells from the palace or church, or just eyeball the location of the sun?
Are there any extracalendrical periods of time?
How did these originate and how are these times customarily observed?
VJ. Questions on History
How far back does this society's written and oral history go?
How far back do its people believe it goes?
How widely known are these stories?
Do average people believe the old tales, or do they dismiss even some that have a basis in fact?
How was this society founded; who founded it and under what circumstances?
What were the chief powers in the time when this society was founded?
If it originated far away from its present location, how did it get here?
What is the worst disaster they believe they've faced?
What are the major events in this culture's past?
What was the best thing that ever happened to them; what was their greatest moment?
What in their past makes them feel ashamed and do they speak of it or hide it?
What are they afraid might happen again?
What are they hoping will happen in the future and do they think it likely to happen?
How strongly are people attached or connected to their heritage?
Who in the past are the greatest heroes and the worst villains?
Do people think the present better or worse than the past?
Do people believe the future will be better or worse than the present or past?
Which peoples are considered the most and least civilized?
Which are most and least technologically or thaumologically advanced?
Races of People
What do they look like and what are their most distinguishing features and characteristics?
What is their range of appearance: e.g., colour of hair or eyes or skin, height, build, and the like?
How are they related to one another?
Do they acknowledge any kinship or do they see one another as enemies or rivals?
Are there any physical, psychic or magical powers particular to this race?
What are the chief ethnic groups of each race in the city?
Blopoms identify as humans first and consider tribal affiliation unimportant, but nearly everyone nonetheless identifies with a particular tribe. Blop is a city without an ethnic identity; its population consists almost entirely of immigrants and the children of recent immigrants. Most Blopoms are Poswobs, but consider this a culture rather than a tribe. The Poswobs in turn are divided into the Lenian tribes mostly from the west and south and the Tarwasta tribes to the north and east.
How are they distributed in place?There are no segregated neighborhoods; Tarwastas have a slight majority in the city but both groups live side by side.
How do they differ by language, appearance or ancestry?The Tarwasta tribes are tall, and their women are consistently taller than their men. They have very broad figures, and thus are among the heaviest people on the planet. They have light skin but dark hair. They physically resemble the Moonshine people to their north, and indeed many Tarwastas have Moonshine ancestry, but some of their distinctive physical traits arose natively, and the Moonshines refuse to consider the Tarwastas as kin.
The Lenian tribes are considerably shorter, and although their women are still usually taller than their men, they are more diverse internally and one often sees couples in which the male partner is taller. They almost always have blonde hair, usually with blue eyes. They have light skin just like the Tarwastas but with a more pronounced pink hue. Their figures are narrower measured axially; their hip circumference in particular is narrower than that of the Tarwasta tribes; this means that Lenian women often suffer pain during childbirth and are more at risk of complications.
The Tarwasta tribes, led by their women, consider themselves anatomically superior to the Lenians and to all other human tribes on the planet except the Moonshines, who they greatly admire. Feminine power is very important to them and they consider the Lenian women too physically fragile to be beautiful.
Lenian women for their part are jealous of the Tarwasta women's adaptations for childbirth but also take pride in their own anatomy, and the greater intimacy possible with a male partner who is similar in height.
What jobs do the majority ethnicities primarily occupy?There is a longstanding tendency in the Poswob Empire for positions of power to go more commonly to members of the taller, darker Tarwasta tribes, and less desirable jobs to the smaller, lighter Lenians. This is despite the fact that the Lenians outnumber the Tarwastas. This power struggle exists within Blop as well, but in Blop the Tarwastas have usually maintained a slight majority, and there are many intermediate people as well, so the gap is not as visible.
Are any groups of people denied work because of racial or ethnic heritage?What are typical attitudes of the native (or majority) ethnos to immigrants or travellers of other ethnicities?
How has the variety of ethnicities in the region altered social structure and culture of the country?
How are native minority ethnicities treated by the majority?
How are foreign ethnicities treated by the locals?
Constitution
What is the average life expectancy?
The capital city of Blop is a population sink. More than half of the population at any one time consists of immigrants who come to Blop to earn a high salary. Their family line will often end right there, as many people who move in never reproduce, or move out when they do. Those who do not reproduce are then replaced by more immigrants.
The result of this is that the population of Blop consists primarily of two different tribal groups, with only a relatively small mixed population. Both groups are known for having women taller than their men, but they differ in many other ways.
Immigrants from the west and south are of the Lenian group, characterized by small to medium stature and nearly always having blonde hair. They usually also have blue eyes and light skin, better described as pink than as white. Their skin flushes just from being exposed to the wind, as their blood vessels dilate. Lenians sunburn easily even in their homelands, but Blop's rainy climate makes severe sunburns rare. They are not well adapted to either hot or cold climates, preferring temperate weather overall.
Meanwhile, immigrants from the north and east belong to the Tarwasta tribes, characterized by tall stature and dark hair. Their skin color ranges from slightly darker than the Lenians to the lightest in the world, with the lightest individuals being thus equivalent to the Moonshines living yet further north. Those with the lightest skin also sunburn easily, but all in all their skin is more resistant to sunburn than that of the Lenians. They are well-adapted for cold weather but tire easily in summer even when the heat is relatively mild. Their eye color is variable, though shades of brown are the most common. Red hair is more common in this group than in the Lenians, because although the Tarwastas are darker than the Lenians, they are also more variable than the Lenians. Blonde hair is comparatively rare.
Tarwastas are more muscular than Lenians and in particular have broader chests even relative to their height. Tarwasta men are also often hairy and have well-developed male anatomy, whereas Lenian men are much more humbly built.
Women of both groups are known for having large breasts relative to their body size, and are proud of their feminine shape, but the Lenians' narrower chest circumference makes their breasts much more prominent and they readily attract male attention. Likewise both groups have wide hips, but the Tarwastas' are considerably more so, even relative to their height. This also attracts male attention. It is rare for a woman to have both unusually large breasts and unusually wide hips, however.
Women of both groups are typically taller than their men. But the female-male height gap is greater among the Tarwastas than among the Lenians, so while Tarwastas are the taller group in general, their men are not always taller than the Lenian men.
There are many other ethnic groups in the Poswob Empire, but these tribes move to Blop only rarely, and typically marry into one of the larger groups. Thus, there are very few people in Blop with dark skin at any one time.
Would a blonde, redhead or brunette stand out in a crowd?
Red hair is not very common, but it does appear at low frequencies in various tribes.
Would a very tall or very short person stand out?
How healthy, generally speaking, are members of a particular race or ethnicity -- hearty, sickly, prone falling prey to some disease or malady?
How many languages are there and which ones are related?
Poswa is the official language of the city of Blop. It is the language of the United Pacifist League, and immigrants must learn the language before they are allowed to move to Blop.
Are some or all people multilingual?
Is there a common language many people of different backgrounds use?
Is it a creole or is it the native language of a dominant group or even the language of an imperial overlord?
Are there "secret" languages or codes known only by priests, soldiers, wizards, guild members, street urchins?
What are they like and how did they develop?
Poswa famously lacks speech registers entirely. Everyone whether rich or poor, young or old, male or female, and so on speaks in precisely the same way.
Describe some local slang, colorful turns of phrase and curse words that people use.There are no inherently obscene words, and it is very difficult for a word to become offensive even when used in a derogatory way. To sound aggressive, people instead use insults or wish harm on the other party.
What things in this culture would their language have many specific words for?
What do the people in this culture consider important enough to name and what does this say about the way they look at the world?
What things would people of this culture not have specific names for, or else have one word that covers numerous variations?
What do they consider too unimportant to name and how does this affect the way they see the world?
Are there words that must never be spoken except at particular times, in ceremonies, or under particular circumstances?
Are there words that must not be spoken before guests?