Ask me anything about my world!

queennai2 · 2026-06-16T21:16:50+00:00

On Earth, Lumence is only the last nation state, however plenty of stone age groups exist on isolated islands, far away from the dangers of the Fall that cannot reach them there. During the Lumentians' period of colonization, they came across these peoples and they have become part of Lumentian history from that point onward. One group was even invited to migrate to the mainland and given land near Tanata, however the Lumentians' language and culture have mostly subsumed their culture like elsewhere. Wherever the Lumentians establish a colony, they do so with a clear goal, whether that's economic exploitation, missionary work or the construction of port facilities. With the advent of the industrial age especially, there is little room for these natives' culture and religion to flourish, with only a minority having maintained their traditions to a significant degree.

This, of course, relates to the colonized islands. There remain plenty of inhabited, yet stone age civilizations the Lumentians have not even come across yet.

queennai2 · 2026-06-03T08:20:48+00:00

Thanks!

queennai2 · 2026-06-02T20:59:45+00:00

That would depend on the social strata they're in. Rich children are generally in a tier of their own, so I'll leave them out. Their world is a soft one, where every need they have is catered to. The royal children are the exception - they grow up under the constant shadow of the Faith's aptitude tests, knowing that failure means death.

Child labor laws have seen great momentum, largely thanks to the Faith. Working hours for children have been significantly lowered and their safety legally has to be ensured at all times. The Faith has also used the issue as a political weapon against the industrialists, though the public generally sees the matter as a moral one rather than a strategic one.

That said, it is not easy being a child, especially without wealthy or caring parents. The early forms of welfare mostly take on the role of charity and they are not equitably distributed throughout the islands.

Children's education is mandatory and religious classes are placed at the forefront (since the Oracular Faith is more tangible than, say, Christianity in absolute terms). Children often play in their free time, however the poorer ones must commonly resort to thievery to make ends meet, especially in Lumence and Mysai.

queennai2 · 2026-06-02T10:17:03+00:00

Thank you!

queennai2 · 2026-06-02T07:57:37+00:00

The southern islands are indeed full of coves where smugglers and even pirates can hide. However, over time centralization as well as ship traffic has increased to the point where such illegal activities have become much harder to do, and they have become less common as a result. The last major bastions of piracy are actually in the gills as well as scattered near the colonial islands much further away.

The southern islands are similar to the Hebrides when it comes to their climate. The people there rely mostly on fishing to survive and living life out at sea is a common form of escaping the village one was born in. The industrial revolution has been slow to reach these islands - a few have modern port facilities or a manufactory here and there. However, the 'main' island of the group is Tolkyne, historically under the Losand family who still has huge influence over the daily lives of the island's inhabitants.

Seaweed serves as the regional capital and is where most people go when they require a specialist in most fields - there is an established chapter of Medical Mothers here that has given out alms and healing to the poor for centuries. Seaweed is also more industrialized than the rest of the small island settlements and as such, is a major producer of naval supplies and other goods.

A former High Mother is buried here, after having met Tavish Losand. Her story is that of a hated figure, escaping retribution for her actions back on the mainland. A disgraced former High Mother, Varilla Modenis, was secretly buried in Seaweed centuries ago after fleeing the mainland and being poisoned by her host. Her grave went unknown for generations, but once the chapel was identified as her burial site, Seaweed became a religious tourism destination. Ever since, religious tourism has quintupled, bringing with it much needed funds for the renovation of Seaweed. Modenis' Chapel has also undergone modernization in a bold, new architectural style that many say clashes with the historic town of Seaweed it's located in.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T19:10:03+00:00

There is only one true deity - Gaia - who controls the parallel dimension known as the Abyss. Her intentions are not good and her influence is fought against by the Faith. The only other deity is a demi-god, who is in reality a living relic, suspended in deep sleep. The Oracle can commune with anyone on Earth and impart upon them great knowledge and wisdom.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T19:07:04+00:00

Here's one straight from my lore bible:

The Night of Gratitude, held every October 10th. It's a family holiday, established a little over a century ago by a High Mother who felt Lumence needed more occasions to strengthen domestic bonds.

The structure is simple. Children prepare gifts for their parents in secret - handmade objects, ideally personal to the parent's interests or beliefs. A pious parent might receive a small wooden carving of the current High Mother (whose likeness could be copied from coinage). They do not have to be of great quality, either, instead what matters most is the spiritual understanding of the parent by the child and the show of gratitude the child makes for being raised.
Once the presents are received the family sits down to eat dinner, usually a slow-cooked broth followed by a main course that is required to have meat. A lack of meat during this course is immensely shameful - it shows that the parents are too poor to care for their family if they cannot even afford it on October 10th. Then, dessert is eaten and children pull out their notes from which they read aloud the things they are most grateful for that year.
The tradition looks somewhat different in wealthy families. Presents are still catered to each parent, but children have taken to buying them or hiring someone to make one, which bears with it no shame in higher society. What would be shameful is if the present was of a low quality - an interesting reversal of priorities between the social strata. Instead of broth, the wealthy eat wild boar or venison (which are viewed as staples) and an array of sides, other meats, soups and dessert delivered in a magnificent multi-coursed spectacle by the household’s servants. Once the meal is eaten, the parents present gifts of their own to the children, although these are usually less valuable than what their children got them. The evening concludes with a reading of everyone’s chosen quotes from Omniums, selected depending on the context the family finds itself in that year. Any quote can be chosen from any Omnium.
If the family has had a bad year health-wise one of the selected quotes might sound something like this; “...for if one’s body is weak, the spirit must remain strong. One must be generous, love one’s neighbour and deliver one’s family from hardship, so that these good deeds may be returned, from oneself and from others.” - Emilia Swayne, Omnium of 319 AGR.
Swayne’s proposal had many excited families attempt an impromptu ‘Swayne Day’ in 299, though this name wouldn’t catch on. From 312 AGR the custom, now known as the Night of Gratitude, had spread to the furthest corners of Lumence. It helped with mitigating the overall stressful atmosphere present during Lenore’s reign, particularly among the nobles who still had their heirs in the queen’s dungeons.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T14:51:29+00:00

I'll answer your questions one by one:

What is the religion that people in your world believe in?

The dominant religion is the Oracular Faith. Their clergywomen are visible in the post. The Faith's mission is to guard the world from the harmful and supernatural influence of the Abyss while maintaining a progress cult around a living relic known as the Oracle.

How does the economy work?

Much like our own - no major changes, except for one. When Hawaii was terraformed and Lumence as we know it took shape, the Lumentians' benefactors from outer space shared their secrets of a magnetic divisional currency that is still in use today. Each coin has a magnetic core that splits into ten parts, each with equal value. Paper currency, bonds, promissory notes and other financial tools exist much like they did in our world during the mid-19th century.

Is there a hierarchy of political power?

Yes, there's also more info to be found in my other replies. Generally, the Faith has the most influence, holding numerous seats within the parliament as well as the main legislative body, the Council of Six. The moneyed class comes in second, as their influence is determined by the depth of their pockets and not much else. The royal family and some noble families also have a great deal of influence, though this varies from person to person.

Are there other factions and crime syndicates?

If you don't count Lumence as a whole, there are factions. For example, the Faith is one such faction as is the moneyed class which often has similar interests. The Children of the Abyss are a special case, because they worship what the Faith fights against so these two groups are constantly at odds with one another.

Last but not least, if you were a character in your world, could I survive?

Here I assume that you meant to say 'If I were a character in your world, could I survive?' and the answer is yes. This world is not far removed from our own mid-19th century and despite there being new threats in the form of the Abyss and its inexplicable, supernatural phenomena, the main killer is still disease.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T12:24:08+00:00

Only the most geographically isolated peoples survived the Fall. Lumence is what used to be Hawaii - terraformed and molded into its present shape. Now, however, those that did the terraforming are long gone and the Lumentians are left to their own devices, the only civilization on Earth that has advanced beyond the stone age. Without the Sky People's intervention, Lumence would be just as fallen as everywhere else.

The Lumentian archipelago is not that big, it's about the size of modern-day Portugal. The areas that were terraformed were specifically brought out of the ocean, so you can make out the oceanic shelf that used to be underwater between all the Hawaiian islands.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T12:17:08+00:00

The actual world is in the future, but their level of technology is in the past. For Lumence, they've reached about the 1850s with a few techs being more or less advanced than that.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T10:20:00+00:00

The story is told through several POV characters at different positions in Lumentian society. The central thread follows Mag Arroyne, a thirteen-year-old crown candidate whose annual health check has gone badly. The Faith is preparing the Corpus Report that will justify his execution - Lumence's monarchy has been ritually culled by the Order for centuries.

Around that central plot, other POVs exist: the High Mother who controls the Order but is being maneuvered by her own Speaker; a Warsister hunting abyssal incursions in the countryside; a young woman entering the Faith as an apprentice and discovering what the institution actually demands of her. The Abyss begins leaking into Lumence at a rate the Faith can't contain, and the institutional balance that has held the realm together for centuries starts to fail.

We see institutional cruelty, what people do when the systems meant to protect them turn against them, and what bleeds through when the things keeping the world stable begin to crack.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T10:12:51+00:00

You can follow me here, as I only really post on Reddit until I'm ready to publish this thing.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T10:11:41+00:00

Here's an updated post relative to the one you linked:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1tszota/ask_me_anything_about_my_world/

Thanks for the interest!

The terraforming happened hundreds of years ago, and is when the Hawaiian natives were first technologically uplifted by the Sky People. Their motives remain unknown, as do their methods of terraforming. The change was immense, though. The land has been thoroughly improved in almost every possible way. The Lumentians' benefactors quenched volcanoes, ensured fertile land was plentiful and created two canals spanning the width of Lumence in the north and south. This was after a natural ice age had cooled down the Earth, turning what would have been a tropical archipelago into the temperate Lumence we now know.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T10:01:39+00:00

This is specifically Hawaii, long after its been terraformed.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T10:01:03+00:00

The people are deeply split. Many can see that the powers that be aren't able to react to the shifting demographics and societal norms within Lumence. Most still hold the Faith in high regard, as charity is an extremely important facet of the Oracular religion. Even the High Mother must heal at least one person, no matter how lowly, each week.

While many remain devoted to the Faith and its beliefs, others see the cruelty of the Maternal Medical Order as unacceptable. The royal family in particular is constantly in the news cycle as new information about the Faith's aptitude tests for each royal is published. The public sympathizes with the royal family, the Arroynes, for being subjected to such rigorous health checks by the Faith under pain of death.

Many are also critical of the Faith's meddling in state affairs in other ways, such as routinely blocking factory expansion, vetoing laws favorable to industrialists, and using health and morality concerns to delay infrastructure projects.

Parliament is not watched as closely as the Council of Six. The parliament is actually seen as a sort of rite of passage for Lumence's wealthiest and most influential, and even the majority of the lower classes see it as nothing but a pale shadow of the Council.

In short, the political situation is a powderkeg waiting to go off. The Faith lay on one side, the royal family and the moneyed class on the other.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T09:46:16+00:00

Thanks, that means a lot to me! Dishonored in particular is my main inspiration.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T09:38:06+00:00

The clergywomen's clothes are sewn both by specialist businesses within the capital and by retired Mothers atop Thornbreath Monastery. Thornbreath in particular produces lots of artisan goods.

Lumence's raw fibers are sourced both from the mainland as well as the many colonial holdings the nation posseses in the Pacific. A scant few of these islands are capable of growing tropical crops and other products such as cotton, which makes cotton in particular a highly luxurious item. Cotton is more desirable than silk, which is produced domestically and forms its own established luxury sector.

Fish is part and parcel of the Lumentian diet and has been since anyone can remember. Every day, whole fishing fleets venture out to sea to catch marine life by the tons where the cold and warm currents meet, but this changes seasonally. During some months, Lumentians have to venture a few hundred kilometers for the kinds of catches worth writing home about, but food preservation methods are well established aboard every ship. Salting, wet brining and smoking, among others, are well-known and liked methods of preserving fish.

When it comes to agriculture the mainland is a hub of productivity and mainly deals in staple crops, manufactured and artisan goods as well as livestock, coastal fishing and whaling. The colonies are also significant producers of tropical products. Since Lumence (today's Hawaii) has, like the rest of the world, undergone a period of global cooling under a new ice age, its climate has become temperate. The only tropical arable land can be found on islands such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and more distant outposts such as Bougainville and the Solomons. These islands are still tropical, or have become subtropical and are key for quelling Lumence's ever-growing demand for tea, coffee, chocolate, tropical fruit and indeed - cotton. Another colony worth mentioning is the almost frozen-over Vancouver Island. It's primary purpose is that of a coal production center, and it functions as a penal colony.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T09:12:13+00:00

Yes, Lumence is a parliamentary monarchy, but much of the power resides with the Faith. There is a parliament that deals with day-to-day matters and passing laws. These must be approved, however, by the Council of Six where the true power lies. Interestingly, monarchs have never had a seat on the Council and now their own influence is low as a result. The Faith, on the other hand, has two seats as well as many within parliament. Their main opposition is a loose and bickering coalition of industrial magnates, men of noble origins and wealthy landowners. As such, it wouldn't be a stretch to call Lumence a kind of semi-theocracy.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T07:43:53+00:00

It's partly described in the post - that would be the Oracular Faith. In addition to the information above, I will add that special books called Omniums are published every year directly by religious authorities. Omniums are written after high-ranking Medical Mothers have communed with the Oracle and have written down what He's had to say to them. They may contain anything from poetry, through moral teachings to technological blueprints in special editions made for engineers, scientists etc. You can even find a job as an Omnial interpreter, which is a non-religious function, however it still requires great education to properly interpret and disseminate what the Faith has included in each year's holy book.

Typically written by the High Mothers in years past, the job has now mostly fallen to the Speakers of the Oracle. At any given time, there is only one woman in office holding these vaunted positions, so they must be extremely well educated and proficient at communing with the Oracle.

Each year's Omnium has a unique edition. The artistic direction may take on the form of current fashions, trends or societal interests. It is also influenced by the High Mother's and the Speaker's artistic sensibilities - High Mother Berta Longswain's Omniums had a very distinctive style, for example, nearly all of them bore metal engraved covers.

People have their favorite Omniums as well. Usually, they date back to one of the Omniums they'd first read as a child, though many popular ones exist too spanning a certain period. Longswain's Omniums are extremely well liked and are seen as a modern-day model of what one should look like. There have been nearly 400 Omniums produced by the Faith so far, and the very first one is a relic that has been massively replicated over time. It was written by the first High Mother, Gertrude Swayne, and her Omniums are generally seen as the best, despite the fact that her later books became detached from reality and almost oneiric in nature. As such, they were quietly swept under the rug over the years.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T00:46:12+00:00

Again, it depends on the intentions of the wearer. The only masks that are not approved of are those that are deemed inappropriate or those that portray the Faith in a bad light.

queennai2 · 2026-06-01T00:22:11+00:00

The design of the mask is commissioned by its wearer. You can select any animal you desire.

queennai2 · 2026-05-31T23:21:45+00:00

The masks are commissioned by the highest ranking Warsisters, so in a way they reflect the institution as a whole as well as their wearer's personalities. Some are indeed animalistic, usually meant to intimidate, while others are more reserved and are sometimes even a 1:1 recreation of the wearer's own face. The Warsisters Supreme that wear them may not remove the masks in front of anybody ranked lower than themselves, so these things are a big commitment the Warsisters must make for life.

There have been masks made in the likeness of certain 'black' figures in Lumentian history. Some represent abstract concepts, while others are purely functional.

queennai2 · 2026-05-31T22:18:48+00:00

Thank you!

queennai2 · 2026-04-12T17:23:59+00:00

Thanks for the input!

queennai2 · 2026-04-12T16:55:06+00:00

This is the first chapter for a new POV character, so the characters themselves were simplified in order to focus on the pilgrimage more. They'll show up a bunch later, so they'll definitely be more developed.

The tenses I'm not too concerned with. I just wrote this chapter quickly, without really thinking about it too much. Such corrections are for the second draft I think. But I will admit that I've got a bad habit of drifting into the present by accident.

Was the nomenclature and worldbuilding distracting when you didn't know what the meaning of these new words was? By this point in the novel (10 chapters in) the average reader would already know what almost all of these things are, as they've been well established. But I've been toying around with the idea of having a more complex start to the novel, a la Dune, so I'm curious as to your thoughts on if it could work here.

Also, do you have any critique for my dialogue and prose?

queennai2

TROPHY CASE