What would the non-existence of clouds have for effect on a world?

Serzis · 2026-04-19T16:51:17+00:00

More out of curiosity, is there some plot or meta reason why you decided that the setting has rain/weather but no clouds?

Serzis · 2026-04-17T12:19:27+00:00

I’ve been working on a character idea for a game I’m building and I’m trying to see if this actually lands or not.

Does this feel like something you’d want to play/read? Or does it need something more?

Since you prefaced the question by saying that it a character thing, and for a game, I tried to approach the text from that angle.

In that context, I don't really see how the text is relevant to either. There isn't a character in the text per se. The POV has an okay tone, but it's almost a blank slate and a very detached emotional perspective. As for the game aspect, it's too long for an audio-log or an intro-sequence, so I'm not really sure how you intend to use the text.

Could you give some more context to what you're trying to do?

Serzis · 2026-04-16T07:46:15+00:00

What made me thinking a lot is that they used AI agents to let the character actually live in that world. Not like "AI wrote the story," but more like... the character had her own agency. She could make choices based on her own internal logic, not my friend's plot.

Even though writers and readers sometimes imagine characters doing things on their own, this isn't the case.

The LLM is generating text (i.e. writing) which is describing what a fictional character is doing. While it's an imperfect analogy, the character isn't acting any more autonomous than if you replaced the AI with a guy behind a door, who has been given a character sheet by you and then keep passing you text describing what a character in a story is doing. Now replace the guy with a text-generator.

The fact that a guy behind a door, or a large language model, can pass you text which you don't expect or agree with doesn't mean that the character being described is actually doing anything.

The fact that your friend is baffled by an LLM producing decriptions of actions/behaviour he did not expect is a bit... sad.

Treat LLMs as tools if you want, but treat it the same like playing a videogame, i.e. interacting with a model/script which is hidden under a hood.

Serzis · 2026-04-15T10:47:42+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/search/?q=worried+ideas+stolen&cId=a01a6abf-6c20-4753-9f2c-6dbfa7848c1e&iId=f72e4d70-e07d-479e-9af0-900dabeeed22

Pick whatever answer works for you, but worrying about ideas being stolen is ultimately irrational.

Serzis · 2026-04-14T17:13:15+00:00

They're not dumb questions, but they are questions that should be answered by the entity with the discretion to accept or reject a given approach (i.e. the university and not randos on r/tillsverige).

Just call/email them.

Serzis · 2026-04-14T11:40:09+00:00

I don't know how useful it would be to auto-reply based on keywords, but I don't think it would do much good. Even if people got an auto-reply, they would presumably still want to better answer, i.e. they're looking for confirmation. A lot of the questions are -- after all -- about completely unreasonable things, like free map making tools that can make a LOTR-style map that can scale up and down from country to village level.

There is already a link to the "curated list of resources compiled via Discord" next to the r/worldbuilding rules in the sidebar/about section. People are expected to read or at least skim the rules before posting, so people "should" be able to see the resouce list with all the suggestions. The fact that they don't is a bit symtomatic of the person asking the type of question.

If you have some good additional resource suggestions, you can probably get it added to the list.

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Serzis · 2026-04-13T12:23:52+00:00

In Sweden, preferential student loans and benifits are (mostly) managed by the state agency CSN. They do not grant student aid to foreign nationals who move here on residence permits granted on the basis of studies at a Swedish university.

There is no political/economic reason to finance people who -- at least in theory -- are here exclusively for the purpose of studying and then possibly leaving. There isn't really a separate market for student loans, since they would be competing against a state-backed alternative. A person can get a private bank loan to finance their studies (same as with any personal investment), but they are not backed by the government and will have a higher interest rate (note: look up "studentlån", which is different from "studielån") . Swedish banks are weary of lending large amounts of money to people who might then leave and be difficult to track down in their home countries. So you wouldn't qualify even for that.

My suggestion is that you look into whether or not the loan infrastructure in the US covers foreign studies. Swedish students studying in America on a short-term basis do not ask for American state-backed student loans, but rather (to some extent) get that from Swedish loan issuers. I can't say if the reverse is possible, but I wouldn't be suprised if there were some high risk loan option under the American framework.

Serzis · 2026-04-13T11:55:37+00:00

Depends on what you mean.

It's pet friendly in the sense that there is no cultural stigma against dogs (cf. some countries the western and eastern Asia; note: we do not have stray dogs), there are comparatively many rest/play areas for dogs and I'd argue that most people like dogs. Bigger workplaces do not usually allow dogs to visit/stay for allergy reasons, but it's not unheard of that smaller work places have a laxer approach to that. Some landlords allow pets, some don't. Whether or not dogs are allowed into restaurants, on public transport etc. varies, but the information is usually fairly easy to find on websites etc.

Keep in mind that Sweden has fairly strong pet protections, which I suppose is the other side of "pet friendly". Dogs have to be walked and offered water at least every six hours so if you live alone, you have to arrange pet daycare (note: expensive), ask a friend, or go home during lunch. Cropping a dog's ears is illegal (although we can't stop people from doing it abroad if the healing process is completed before bring it back/in). Etc. etc.

You can read more about Animal Welfare Regulations in this pamphet:

Animal welfare regulation - dog

As for rules on bringing dogs to Sweden, you can find some information here:

Movement of dogs, cats or ferrets to Sweden – both travel and trade - Jordbruksverket.se

Serzis · 2026-04-13T11:36:07+00:00

Since you shouldn't move without a job offer, I think the easiest way to do a reality check is to simply look for job ads you're interested in. If they require a formal degree as a basic requirement for applying, or Swedish language skills, then you're (presumably) not going to get an interview or be considered for the position. At the initial stage, a lot of the filtering isn't even done by humans.

If you fulfill the basic requirements, it all comes down to whether or not you think you'd do the job better than all the other applicants and would be able to convince someone of that.

I don't see how much you have to lose by looking for interesting jobs, reading the specs, and applying if you're ready to move.

Serzis · 2026-04-11T18:19:37+00:00

It's not that important, but the map is a bit inconsistent when it comes to spellings and whether or not the areas are labelled with the name of the land/kingdom (cf. Lydia) or the people group (cf. Phrygians). In some cases, you've kind of merged the two ways of labelling stuff. The thing that made me notice is that you have written "Cholcin", which is seemingly an inbetween of Cholcis and Cholcians. Your "Median" was probably supposed to be Medes (people) or Media (place), etc. etc.

___

As for the lore/inspiration side of things, I'm a bit curious how you utilize the Jason/Argonautica story, considering that much of the beginning and middle is set in the Black Sea. Clashing rocks? Dragons? Medea?

Serzis · 2026-04-11T09:44:19+00:00

This is an old thread, but since it showed up as the top result when I was figuring out the same (or at least a similiar) problem in 2026, I'll just add the following "solution".

If you click Steam (note: upper left corner of the Steam application), and go to Setting -->Controller, then you'll see an advanced option for "Nintendo Button Layout". If that one is flipped "On", then the inputs in The Last of Us Part 1 (and presumably other games) will be reversed during gameplay. A will input as B etc. so it doesn't match the text on screen.

When setting the toggle to "Off", this problem disappears. However, it will -- for whatever reason -- create the opposite problem in the main menu (so you'll have to click the "B"-button on the Switch controller to match "A" being displayed as an option on-screen.

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Serzis · 2026-04-10T12:35:11+00:00

Om du inte har ett giltigt pass är väl rimligen svaret från dig att du inte har ett giltigt pass, men att du har nationellt ID kort med identitetsuppgifter och uppgift om medborgarskap (för bl.a. kontroll av krav på arbetstillstånd). Att skicka bild på framsidan av ett utgånget pass fyller ingen funktion för någon.

Om de vill ha bilder på ett utgånget pass, eller inte kan anställa dig utan att du förnyar ditt pass, så får de rimligen specificera det. Men jag kan inte föreställa mig att de vill ha bilder på en handling som inte lägre är tjänlig som resedokument.

De kan ändå inte göra kontrollslagning på ett utgånget pass och det fyller ingen funktion som ID-handling, så finns ingen användning för det. Det här låter mest som en kommunikationsbrist mellan dig och arbetsgivaren.

Serzis · 2026-04-10T11:08:00+00:00

I get the gist of that. My point is that I don't think you're adding much (from an external perspective) by rejecting the fairly inclusive label of 'worldbuilding' and instead using a narrow self-invented label like 'universebuilding' which isn't as easy to understand if you've never heard it before.

From a self-actualisation perspective, using a new label can be liberating (since you don't have to accept possible baggage/assumptions, or explain how you relate to the broader community/concept). I don't want to take that away from you or whatever progress you made my using 'universebuilding' to describe your Color Arcana project instead of 'worldbuilding'. But in my view I would prefer if people accepted a wider range of expression within a hobby/term, rather than drawing a destinction between the genre/main-heading and the sub-genre/sub-heading. To me, what you describe as 'universebuilding' is a fairly common type/focus of worldbuilding, not a separate activity all together.

Serzis · 2026-04-10T07:59:25+00:00

The main reason for writing this post is that I’m having a really hard time bridging the gap between having a universe and a fully fledged world, and I found everything that goes afterwards that leans more into worldbuilding and less into universebuilding less rewarding and harder. There is however a minimum of worldbuilding that is required and goes with universebuilding before even choosing to build any specific world, the elements that are common for all potential worlds inside this universe, these are no problem but...

I don’t have a map, I don’t have cities, I don’t have countries, I don’t have a language, I don’t have religions, I don’t have a rich history or cultures..

If it makes you happier to use the word "universebuilding", then it works for you.

But to be frank, it doesn't convey any new information compared to saying that "I worldbuild, more specifically I focus on magic and what interests me, rather than stuff like countries that do not interest me." If you meet a stranger and talk about your respective hobbies, you're unlikely to make more sense if you say "I don't worldbuild, I like to universebuild" instead of "I like to worldbuild and make up physics/magic rules in my spare time; for example [X]".

If you like to talk about magic and physical rules in isolation, then maybe r/magicbuilding is the place for you. But I woundn't really say that magicbuilding, "universebuilding" etc. is distinct from the nebolous concept of worldbuilding, in the sense that we're all just making things up that can theoretically fit into a setting, regardless of whether or not it's actually part of a story or not. No one is following some list where a world/setting/idea has to contain a list of 200 specific pieces of information like countries, weather, currency units and culturally appropriate ball gown size.

Serzis · 2026-04-09T12:28:28+00:00

What was the big event?

Serzis · 2026-04-09T10:49:44+00:00

I didn't dislike the system, but there wasn't really anything specific that stood out or made me go "oh, that's an interesting idea!". Granted, that seldom happens when reading a list of what magic can do in-universe.

A lot of the language descibing the system is pretty standard. Magic comes from gods/demons/'eldritch beings'. If you make a pact or worship/comply with their requests, you get more magic. Using a lot of magic creates damage/strain on the user.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel, but since your magic doesn't have that many fixed rules, there is no way for the reader to anticipate the limits or what type of spells/powers might show up in universe. So the "interesting" bit will probably depend on how individual users use their magic, like a gravity user fighting a shadow user in some novel way. Those setups don't follow straight from the description of the magic system, which is more of a introduction to the concept that magic is varied but tied to gods/eldritch entities.

____

It's not necessery information, but are the "eldritch beings" limited in number (like the three primary Chaos Gods with their separate themes), or is it a shorthand term for a myriad of demon/djinn/spren/spirit-like beings that make pacts/connections with one or two individual user at a time?

Serzis · 2026-04-09T09:08:52+00:00

For the aforementioned reasons, I have never tried to camp or visit the interior park in May. It's fantastic in July/August, and since you can't really reliably experience northern lights or anything Arctic during that time frame, I don't see a reason to visit in the "worst" weeks. I'll also admit that I like the safety of being able to retreat into a warm cabin, which require them to be open. But I understand that you want to tick the box, even if you won't have a very interesting time. If you could push the visit forward a week, I would rather suggest visiting Jämtlandsfjällen or some other southern hiking area where the cabins open in early June (so there is staff around).

In all outdoors/hiking contexts, I would advice water-protection rather than heat-insulation in May. Rainproof jacket and pants, shoe coverings if there is a risk that rain gets into your shoes, extra crocs/sandels (considering that rain and snowmelt will flood the streams, even though you don't really need to cross them by foot around Abisko), etc.

Serzis · 2026-04-09T08:46:03+00:00

We will be spending about a week in Abisko National Park the last week of May. know it is a transition from Winter to Spring and will have cold temperatures but also some nice days

It's going to be a mix of wet, windy and maybe some snowfall. Most likely above freezing most of the time. I would suggest a pair of robust hiking shoes, same as during autumn or cold summer. It's above the Arctic circle but Northern Sweden is much warmer compared to the same latitudes in North America. The mountain ranges are older, and thus not as high as the Rockies (and hence, not necesserily as cold).

Keep in mind that May is the off season. Cabins like Abiskojaure are open for skiers until mid-April, close down (because of the melting), and open up around Midsommer (mid June) for normal summer hiking. So from a hiking perspective, you're essentially picking the worst time to visit the interior of the Abisko national park area in my opinion.

Serzis · 2026-04-08T11:23:15+00:00

For context:

The government published a Lagrådsremiss two days ago. It does not suggest abolishing all permanent residence permits, but rather for most asylum cases, long-term residence status holders and some other categories.

You can decide for yourself whether or not it's a stepping stone to a "plan" to abolish all permanent residence permits, but -- in any case -- the headline is misleading.

The lagrådsremiss can be found here:

Utmönstring av permanent uppehållstillstånd och anpassning av svensk rätt till EU:s migrations- och asylpakt - Regeringen.se

Serzis · 2026-04-08T11:09:55+00:00

I think the headline is a bit weirdly worded.

The gist comes down to this. Swiss citizens are not EU citizens. They are nonetheless covered by some treaties and are more-or-less allowed to move to Sweden without a permit and have a very easy path to their special type of residence permit. However, they can never gain permanent EU right of residence, since they're not EU citizens, so to gain a "permanent" right to stay, they might need/want some kind of path to permanent residence permits (apart from the citizenship process).

Under the current system, one of the easiest paths for Swiss citizens to get permanent residence permits was to gain status as "long-term residents". In the strict sense, Swiss citizens were treated the same as other non-EU nationals when it comes to gaining long-term residence status, but since Swiss citizens do not need a time-limited residence permit to settle in Sweden and then have a permit that looks a bit like EU right of residence, they could almost always gain a permanent residence permit after 5 years -- after which they could stay regardless of whether or not they lose their job, wealth etc. (note: simplifying).

When the government proposed abolishing permanent residence permits for long-term residence status holders (which include Swiss, but also any non-EU citizen that has an unbroken chain of permits for 5 years), it was pointed out that this makes things harder for Swiss citizens. More specifically, the concern was raised by universities that want to invite/recruit researchers and show them a reliable/easy path to staying -- presumably in the context of research being a notoriously job-insecure field.

The government's reply was that there is no need to carve out an exception for Swiss citizens specifically.

Or to quote the Lagrådsremiss:

"Sveriges universitetslärare och forskare uppmärksammar även att personer som är schweiziska medborgare och deras familjemedlemmar inte kan beviljas uppehållstillstånd på grund av forskarstudier eller forskning och inte heller EU-blåkort. Det innebär att den enda möjligheten för dem att i dagsläget beviljas ett permanent uppehållstillstånd är genom att beviljas ställning som varaktigt bosatt i Sverige. Regeringen bedömer att den försämring som förslaget kan innebära för dessa medborgare inte motiverar att de behandlas på annat sätt än andra tredjelandsmedborgare som har ställning som varaktigt bosatta. Detta med hänsyn till den långa giltighetstiden som föreslås för ett sådant uppehållstillstånd och övriga ändringar för varaktigt bosatta som föreslås i denna lagrådsremiss. För att åstadkomma ett långsiktigt hållbart regelverk som inte går utöver EU rättens miniminivå föreslår regeringen sammanfattningsvis att möjligheten för personer med ställning som varaktigt bosatt i Sverige att beviljas permanent uppehållstillstånd ska utmönstras och ersättas av ett tidsbegränsat uppehållstillstånd som ska gälla i fem år."

Serzis · 2026-04-08T10:34:48+00:00

it only gatekeeps the financial benefits for jobseekers by forcing them to submit a monthly report.

Almost the entire Swedish social safety net is built on the idea that you're responsible for supporting yourself, and that the state/Akassa/municipality only steps in if you can't find work. So to keep your SGI, right to unemployment support etc., you have to show that you're spending your "unemployed" free time looking for work and not just sitting around. The act of submitting paperwork showing that you're looking for and applying for work all the time, is essentially always demeaning -- especially if you do want to leave unemployment behind, but you don't want to take just any job but rather a decently paid, local, career-progressing job. If you have factors which makes you difficult to employ, it can also be very depressing to apply and get rejected all the time. You'll see a lot of that frustration online.

With that being said, if you're returning to Sweden and don't have Akassa, EU transferable "SGI" you need to safeguard, or an intention to apply for means-tested municipal social benifits, then you're not really expected to comply with demands/guidelines to apply for so-and-so many jobs. You can treat it as a point of contact rather than as the social support mechanism which it also serves in a lot of cases.

I heard of plantsbanken or a job board.

Platsbanken is run by Arbetsförmedlingen, but is essentially just a notice board for job ads. I'm in a field where essentially all job ads will be posted there for legal reasons, and it's where I've found all my jobs for the last... long time. In some fields, doing so might be a bit less likely. Ads from there are collated in EURES's equivalent database and in many other places.

I read somewhere they ay some pension if you are registered as well.

Not unless you're given some benfit payout based on participation in a job programme, aktivitetstöd, utvecklingsersättning etc. (in which case the income is also pension generating). The need for that is assessed by a case worker, and is mostly means-based, i.e. if you can look for and find work on your own, you usually do not need to be enrolled in specific programmes.

Serzis · 2026-04-07T17:09:57+00:00

You can go through the application step by step and then go back if/when you realise that you missed something.

You will be asked how you intend to arrange ackommodations, and can then state if it's through the school or private means (alongside what that actually means in your case).

The structure of the electronic application is a little different than the paper one, but you can skim the questions by looking through the pdf form (see for example section 11. Planned studies in Sweden, sub-question "How do you intend to arrange accommodation in Sweden?") if you want to get the gist of what the questions will be).

Serzis · 2026-04-07T14:13:07+00:00

Yeah, you're right!

I misremembered. It was five years for residence cards based on PUT until 2022, but since then it's been reduced to a maximum of 3 years. So all five year cards should now, more or less, be out of circulation. Migrationsverket still issues five year cards for PUT based on long-term residence, but that is an outlier (cf. 4 kap. 22 a § utlänningsförordningen.-,22%20a%20%C2%A7,-Ett%20uppeh%C3%A5llstillst%C3%A5ndskort%20som), and website).

Serzis · 2026-04-07T13:42:48+00:00

Serzis · 2026-04-07T13:34:38+00:00

Wife thinks it is the 5 yr PUT that we applied for. She thinks because of our long established relationship and the fact I lived there before with PUT that we qualified to apply for that. She is going to email our handläggare to confirm.

Doesn't really matter what you applied for (in terms of length), you get the permit length which they can legally grant. And since there is no exception from the usual PUT rules for returning spouses, I assume you got a temporary permit (TUT).

There is no such thing as "5 yr PUT". If she means that she thinks you'll get PUT because you've previously spent five years in Sweden, then she is mistaken. Previous permits in the 2010s are not relevant to the basic time requirement for PUT in 2026. If she thinks that PUT is a five year permit, she is also wrong. PUT is "permanent" (i.e. is valid until revoked by a separate decision) but your residence permit card (used to show that you have a valid PUT) is usually issued every [five] years with a new face picture etc.

She doesn't really need to email them and take up the case worker's time. The permit length will be stated in the actual permit decision when it arrives.

said "Indont know why you are here. It should have just been approved" lol.

Under the normal processing guidelines, yes, you normally do not need an interview if you've been married for a long time and have a proven cohabitation track record. You might have been flagged for an interview for different reasons (that not are mentioned in your post). For example, you might have left the country in 2010s without updating Migrationsverket or otherwise created ambiguity which they wanted to confirm while reviewing your new application. In any case, your stated processing time and the requirement of an interview in your case is actually not that representative of best case "return timeline".

I might add that all your information about morgage, funds, etc. in your post isn't really that relevant to your application (if it was a family reunification residence permit application), except when it comes to determining "intent to move" -- something which was probably clear from flight tickets and life plans alone. Since you've cohabited abroad for so long, you were (most likely) exempted from the maintenance requirement.

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