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coaldustcanaryHi prospective worldbuilder!
Thanks for taking a look at my letter. As a fan who spends far too much time thinking about worldbuilding questions and inconsistencies, I'm extremely excited about this exchange and what you might want to expand upon in some of my favorite fandom 'verses. I am open to either Fic or In-Universe Meta for all requested fandoms.
I would be equally happy to match on any of these fandoms - Once Upon a Time is only considerably larger than the others because I'm requesting nearly the entire tagset. :)
I've listed each fandom separately below, and at the very bottom of the letter is a list of tropes/plot elements I tend to like, as well as a list of general DNWs.
Fandom: John Wick (Movies)
Characters: Gianna D'Antonio (John Wick), John Wick (John Wick), Original Character(s) (John Wick), Sommelier (John Wick), Cassian (John Wick), Charon (John Wick), Winston (John Wick)
Worldbuilding: WB: Continental Hotel (John Wick), WB: Gold Coins (John Wick), WB: The High Table (John Wick)
The John Wick films are minimalist masterpieces of worldbuilding, but with so much to explore and explain that it makes me giddy just to think about. I am very open to Original Characters in this verse, including outside perspectives, and I don't mind the inclusion of any canonical character, but I'd prefer that the primary focus of the work be on either one of the characters I've nominated or the OC and any other canonical characters play supporting roles.
General thoughts about the setting:
Likes: The use of metaphor/code, such as the exchange between John and the Sommelier in Rome about wine that was not at all about wine. The very blurry line between the "hidden world" and the "real world" - at no time during either film any of the more public acts of violence particularly shocking to onlookers - they certainly try to get out of the way, and there are muffled shrieks a time or two, but how is it that all of this happens with absolutely no intervention by the authorities? (Certainly Jimmy is in the know, but are all law enforcement? Are the films set in a verse where there's general awareness and acceptance that conflict between the powers that be are handled via assassination? Could there be magic involved? Sometimes I wonder when watching the films if there's some kind of power inherent in being an assassin who's a member of the underground world that allows them to hide in plain sight...
Specific Worldbuilding Prompts:
The Continental: The idea of "holy ground" or "sanctuary" is an intriguing one in a world as blood-soaked and inherently violent as the one in the films. How does the existence of this hotel (either New York, Rome, or another location of your choosing) function? How integrated are its employees in the world of assassins? Do all members of this world kill, or do some only facilitate it? Characters like Charon or the Sommelier - what are their lives like when they're not "on shift"? Do they live at the Continental? (The hotel staff at the Continental Rome certainly seemed to imply that the Sommelier did with the "I have never known him not to be" reply to John's inquiry regarding whether the Sommelier was "in".) Related - what was Charon's time with The Dog like? What did they do while Charon was working? Alternately - are there non-assassin guests? What are their experiences like?
Gold Coins: Who makes the coins? Where do they come from? Are they "just" currency, or do they have a deeper meaning? What exactly is their value? In what ways are they earned? We see hit contracts offered in dollar values - how might a successful contract killer turn a million dollars into gold coins, and why would they? What benefit do they have over cash or other forms of barter?
The High Table: How are seats on it earned? Implied textual evidence in the films suggests that only major organized crime institutions/families have claim to a seat at it - how did they get them in the first place, and how did those disparate families/groups ever agree to such a thing? There's a subtle implication, too, that the High Table is a very "old world" institution and that the "new world" doesn't have much power - why not, when so much organized crime came to the Americas alongside immigrants?
*****
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Characters: Alice | Tilly (Once Upon a Time). Any or No Characters (Once Upon a Time). Captain Hook | Killian Jones (Once Upon a Time). Evil Queen | Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time), Wishverse Captain Hook | Detective Rogers (Once Upon a Time), Emma Swan (Once Upon A Time), Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time),
Worldbuilding: WB: Curse Memories (Once Upon a Time), WB: Curses and Timelines (Once Upon a Time), WB: Enchanted Forest Multiverses (Once Upon a Time), WB: Heroes and Villains Universe (Once Upon a Time), WB: Land of Untold Stories (Once Upon a Time), WB: True Love (Once Upon a Time)
General thoughts about the setting:
I'm open to any canonical character in this fandom, as well as any "Alternate" version of a canonical character from any multiverse - cursed versions of canonical characters, Wishverse versions of canonical characters, 'Heroes and Villains-verse' versions of canonical characters, etc. I'm also open to reading about canonical Enchanted Forest 2.0/Season 7 Enchanted Forest characters not in the tag-set - Tiana | Sabine, Cinderella | Jacinda, Rapunzel Tremaine | Victoria Belfrey, Drizella Tremaine | Ivy Belfrey, Anastasia Tremaine, etc. I would prefer no original characters in this fandom be the focus, though children of canonical characters are generally fine to include.
I love this cracky show, but there are so. many. plotholes. Or, if I'm being generous, just a lot of open-ended plot that could use explanation. I recognize that a lot of fans of this show have strong opinions about parts of it, so I'm asking: no bashing of characters or ships in this fandom. If you don't like a character or relationship, just don't include it.
Worldbuilding prompts:
Curse Memories: How "fake" curse memories work? Are they formed with the conscious crafting of the curse-caster? (This seemed to be true to an extent with the original Dark Curse as well as the Black Fairy's curse and the S7 Dark Curse 2.0.) Or do they come together happenstance? And when the curse is broken, how do curse memories "fit" in with "real" memories? Characters in Storybrooke have multiple sets of fake memories all overlaying one another - for most S1 characters from the Enchanted Forest besides Regina and Rumple, they have their real EF memories and their curse memories. They all have Heroes and Villains-verse memories, too, as does Hook. Emma and Henry have their fake New York memories, and then there's the Black Fairy's curse, and now the S7 Dark Curse... Yikes. What's it like? What's it like to remember how it felt to be someone else, sometimes several someones, and someone who perhaps was very different than you and did things you regret? Feel free to go dark with this, it's where my thoughts inevitably go...
Curses and Timelines: Frozen time during the original Dark Curse continues to creep me out - nobody except Henry aged in Storybrooke for 28 years! Any kind of speculation about what it's like to have stayed the same age for several decades would be interesting. The show lampshades the absurdly weird timelines to the max in the most recent season - care to speculate as to the causes, whether they're canonical or not? Is time getting...fuzzy for the characters as a result of all the curses, perhaps? What about the mid-S3 "Missing Year" - what didn't we see happen?
Enchanted Forest Multiverses: So S7 has proven Henry was right - there are many different magical fairy tale worlds out there. Multiple Cinderellas, Snow Whites, etc - why? Do they all have Authors? Dark Ones? How do they connect with real world folklore and/or media or even specifically Disney stories?
Heroes and Villains Universe: I'm a sucker for the "in-universe AU" idea and I loved these episodes, even though I side eye some of the anti-fandom tone of Isaac Heller's autograph session scenes. I also wish there'd been a moment's respite from plot and the hurried dive into Dark Swan Arc to appreciate the aftermath all the trauma of the AU verse, because that was a Traumatic Experience for basically everyone. Regina and Killian both died. Emma spent what felt like years chained up in a tower prison. Snow and David were murderous tyrants. Robin was engaged to Zelena, the woman who'd killed and then masqueraded as his wife. That's some grim stuff - how did they deal with it, after? Maybe even after the Dark Swan and Underworld Arcs, that kind of thing would linger. Or what if it had gone on for much longer, or gone differently? How might that world have played out if Henry hadn't been able to write them out of it, or if he'd written them out of it differently?
Land of Untold Stories: This whole concept was woefully underexplored in S6, which I found to be frustratingly uneven. In canon we seem to be presented with the idea that the Land of Untold Stories is a hodge-podge of narratives, a place where people go to escape their own stories, or at least put them on pause. How did it function as a land essentially all of runaways? How did the rest of Storybrooke deal with all these newcomers? (Note: I'm open to receiving fic or meta involving Original Characters if you end up matching with me on this prompt, but I'd still prefer canonical OUAT characters, even minor/supporting characters, to feature heavily, even if you choose to invent some OCs from this world to flesh out your worldbuilding.)
True Love: The "rules" of True Love are murky, to say the least. What does it mean to experience True Love, and can those who have experienced it recognize it in others? Are Emma's unique abilities (implied at some level to be due to her existence as the product of True Love) ones that, say, her baby brother might share? What about Emma and Hook's future offspring, or Lucy, or even Gideon? What about parental/platonic True Love? What *powers* or empowers True Love? (Considering we've seen "bad" characters (Hades & Zelena) experience it, True Love seems to be a neutral kind of magic, and that's interesting in a world of generally Light and Dark magic otherwise.) What drawbacks might it have? How is it valued (or not) across the multiverse?
*****
Fandom: American Gods (TV)
Characters: Any or No Characters (American Gods TV), Bilquis (American Gods TV), Easter (American Gods TV), Media (American Gods TV), Mr. World (American Gods TV), Original Character(s) (American Gods TV)
Worldbuilding: WB: Alliances between Old and New Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Birth of New Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Deity Diaspora (American Gods TV), WB: Modern Worship and Offerings to the Old Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Worship and Offerings to the New Gods (American Gods TV)
General thoughts on the setting:
I'm crushed that this show is not likely to ever be the same even if it does continue, what with the creative team moving on, as well as Gillian Anderson. (Media is my favorite by a significant margin.) I'm here for the gods, to be honest. Not that Shadow and Laura aren't fascinating characters, and I have no problem if they feature, even heavily, in your fic, but I'm primarily interested in how the gods function in this world. I would prefer Original Characters to be gods themselves or created to explore the roles of the gods, not what it means to be a human among them.
Worldbuilding prompts:
Alliances between Old and New Gods: Tell me how and why Bilquis, Easter, or any other "old god" you might choose came to an understanding with the new kids, particularly Media and/or Mr. World. The New Gods seem to need and use the symbolism of old gods, especially Media - they can market and commercialize for Bilquis (sex, romance, lust, love) or Easter (eggs, bunnies, Jesus, faith) or any other god, but what would they be without the content? Is Media a message in and of itself, or does it need something else to work with?
Birth of New Gods: How do the New Gods come to be? What is their process of Becoming?
Deity Diaspora: The show depicts gods migrating alongside their believers (in Viking longships, in slave ships, through Ellis Island, etc) but where do gods "dwell"? What makes them call a new place home? Do they go back to where they came from to visit? Can they? Even for the new gods, do they have a "home", a place they came into being and belief?
Modern Worship and Offerings to the Old Gods: We see that the "old gods" can experience worship in new ways via technology and in ways that fit with modern culture - are there other options besides through the filter that the new gods offer?
Worship and Offerings to the New Gods: How do New Gods experience worship? How do they exercise their power? What human actions is their power built from?
*****
Notes
General Notes:
Plot elements/tropes/stuff I dig in no particular order, but which you have no obligation to include:
Future fic (including with child characters or children of canonical characters grown to adults), hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional), whump, sex pollen, fuck or die, dubcon (especially when both/all parties are consenting only under duress or when impaired due to alcohol or drugs), bondage, werewolves (just not a/b/o type), canon divergence, first time (both first time sex ever and first time for a particular pairing), sex magic, pegging, praise kink, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth, falling asleep on someone, cuddling, spooning, competitive sex games (who can make the other orgasm the fastest, who can resist orgasm the longest, who can successfully finish a task while the other partner tries to get them off or tries to entice them into sex, etc), begging, sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy, battle couples, alternate magical system AUs, sex between platonic friends
Do Not Want:
A/B/O dynamics (Werewolves are great, but the A/B/O trope doesn't work for me), mpreg, bestiality (weres and shifters are great, but no boning in animal form please), excessive focus on bodily fluids/bodily fluid-focused kinks, age regression in romantic pairing fics (I'm OK with it for platonic pairings!), high school AUs, childhood friends-to-lovers (unless canonical), teacher/student romantic relationships (even when both are adults)
Thanks for taking a look at my letter. As a fan who spends far too much time thinking about worldbuilding questions and inconsistencies, I'm extremely excited about this exchange and what you might want to expand upon in some of my favorite fandom 'verses. I am open to either Fic or In-Universe Meta for all requested fandoms.
I would be equally happy to match on any of these fandoms - Once Upon a Time is only considerably larger than the others because I'm requesting nearly the entire tagset. :)
I've listed each fandom separately below, and at the very bottom of the letter is a list of tropes/plot elements I tend to like, as well as a list of general DNWs.
Fandom: John Wick (Movies)
Characters: Gianna D'Antonio (John Wick), John Wick (John Wick), Original Character(s) (John Wick), Sommelier (John Wick), Cassian (John Wick), Charon (John Wick), Winston (John Wick)
Worldbuilding: WB: Continental Hotel (John Wick), WB: Gold Coins (John Wick), WB: The High Table (John Wick)
The John Wick films are minimalist masterpieces of worldbuilding, but with so much to explore and explain that it makes me giddy just to think about. I am very open to Original Characters in this verse, including outside perspectives, and I don't mind the inclusion of any canonical character, but I'd prefer that the primary focus of the work be on either one of the characters I've nominated or the OC and any other canonical characters play supporting roles.
General thoughts about the setting:
Likes: The use of metaphor/code, such as the exchange between John and the Sommelier in Rome about wine that was not at all about wine. The very blurry line between the "hidden world" and the "real world" - at no time during either film any of the more public acts of violence particularly shocking to onlookers - they certainly try to get out of the way, and there are muffled shrieks a time or two, but how is it that all of this happens with absolutely no intervention by the authorities? (Certainly Jimmy is in the know, but are all law enforcement? Are the films set in a verse where there's general awareness and acceptance that conflict between the powers that be are handled via assassination? Could there be magic involved? Sometimes I wonder when watching the films if there's some kind of power inherent in being an assassin who's a member of the underground world that allows them to hide in plain sight...
Specific Worldbuilding Prompts:
The Continental: The idea of "holy ground" or "sanctuary" is an intriguing one in a world as blood-soaked and inherently violent as the one in the films. How does the existence of this hotel (either New York, Rome, or another location of your choosing) function? How integrated are its employees in the world of assassins? Do all members of this world kill, or do some only facilitate it? Characters like Charon or the Sommelier - what are their lives like when they're not "on shift"? Do they live at the Continental? (The hotel staff at the Continental Rome certainly seemed to imply that the Sommelier did with the "I have never known him not to be" reply to John's inquiry regarding whether the Sommelier was "in".) Related - what was Charon's time with The Dog like? What did they do while Charon was working? Alternately - are there non-assassin guests? What are their experiences like?
Gold Coins: Who makes the coins? Where do they come from? Are they "just" currency, or do they have a deeper meaning? What exactly is their value? In what ways are they earned? We see hit contracts offered in dollar values - how might a successful contract killer turn a million dollars into gold coins, and why would they? What benefit do they have over cash or other forms of barter?
The High Table: How are seats on it earned? Implied textual evidence in the films suggests that only major organized crime institutions/families have claim to a seat at it - how did they get them in the first place, and how did those disparate families/groups ever agree to such a thing? There's a subtle implication, too, that the High Table is a very "old world" institution and that the "new world" doesn't have much power - why not, when so much organized crime came to the Americas alongside immigrants?
*****
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Characters: Alice | Tilly (Once Upon a Time). Any or No Characters (Once Upon a Time). Captain Hook | Killian Jones (Once Upon a Time). Evil Queen | Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time), Wishverse Captain Hook | Detective Rogers (Once Upon a Time), Emma Swan (Once Upon A Time), Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time),
Worldbuilding: WB: Curse Memories (Once Upon a Time), WB: Curses and Timelines (Once Upon a Time), WB: Enchanted Forest Multiverses (Once Upon a Time), WB: Heroes and Villains Universe (Once Upon a Time), WB: Land of Untold Stories (Once Upon a Time), WB: True Love (Once Upon a Time)
General thoughts about the setting:
I'm open to any canonical character in this fandom, as well as any "Alternate" version of a canonical character from any multiverse - cursed versions of canonical characters, Wishverse versions of canonical characters, 'Heroes and Villains-verse' versions of canonical characters, etc. I'm also open to reading about canonical Enchanted Forest 2.0/Season 7 Enchanted Forest characters not in the tag-set - Tiana | Sabine, Cinderella | Jacinda, Rapunzel Tremaine | Victoria Belfrey, Drizella Tremaine | Ivy Belfrey, Anastasia Tremaine, etc. I would prefer no original characters in this fandom be the focus, though children of canonical characters are generally fine to include.
I love this cracky show, but there are so. many. plotholes. Or, if I'm being generous, just a lot of open-ended plot that could use explanation. I recognize that a lot of fans of this show have strong opinions about parts of it, so I'm asking: no bashing of characters or ships in this fandom. If you don't like a character or relationship, just don't include it.
Worldbuilding prompts:
Curse Memories: How "fake" curse memories work? Are they formed with the conscious crafting of the curse-caster? (This seemed to be true to an extent with the original Dark Curse as well as the Black Fairy's curse and the S7 Dark Curse 2.0.) Or do they come together happenstance? And when the curse is broken, how do curse memories "fit" in with "real" memories? Characters in Storybrooke have multiple sets of fake memories all overlaying one another - for most S1 characters from the Enchanted Forest besides Regina and Rumple, they have their real EF memories and their curse memories. They all have Heroes and Villains-verse memories, too, as does Hook. Emma and Henry have their fake New York memories, and then there's the Black Fairy's curse, and now the S7 Dark Curse... Yikes. What's it like? What's it like to remember how it felt to be someone else, sometimes several someones, and someone who perhaps was very different than you and did things you regret? Feel free to go dark with this, it's where my thoughts inevitably go...
Curses and Timelines: Frozen time during the original Dark Curse continues to creep me out - nobody except Henry aged in Storybrooke for 28 years! Any kind of speculation about what it's like to have stayed the same age for several decades would be interesting. The show lampshades the absurdly weird timelines to the max in the most recent season - care to speculate as to the causes, whether they're canonical or not? Is time getting...fuzzy for the characters as a result of all the curses, perhaps? What about the mid-S3 "Missing Year" - what didn't we see happen?
Enchanted Forest Multiverses: So S7 has proven Henry was right - there are many different magical fairy tale worlds out there. Multiple Cinderellas, Snow Whites, etc - why? Do they all have Authors? Dark Ones? How do they connect with real world folklore and/or media or even specifically Disney stories?
Heroes and Villains Universe: I'm a sucker for the "in-universe AU" idea and I loved these episodes, even though I side eye some of the anti-fandom tone of Isaac Heller's autograph session scenes. I also wish there'd been a moment's respite from plot and the hurried dive into Dark Swan Arc to appreciate the aftermath all the trauma of the AU verse, because that was a Traumatic Experience for basically everyone. Regina and Killian both died. Emma spent what felt like years chained up in a tower prison. Snow and David were murderous tyrants. Robin was engaged to Zelena, the woman who'd killed and then masqueraded as his wife. That's some grim stuff - how did they deal with it, after? Maybe even after the Dark Swan and Underworld Arcs, that kind of thing would linger. Or what if it had gone on for much longer, or gone differently? How might that world have played out if Henry hadn't been able to write them out of it, or if he'd written them out of it differently?
Land of Untold Stories: This whole concept was woefully underexplored in S6, which I found to be frustratingly uneven. In canon we seem to be presented with the idea that the Land of Untold Stories is a hodge-podge of narratives, a place where people go to escape their own stories, or at least put them on pause. How did it function as a land essentially all of runaways? How did the rest of Storybrooke deal with all these newcomers? (Note: I'm open to receiving fic or meta involving Original Characters if you end up matching with me on this prompt, but I'd still prefer canonical OUAT characters, even minor/supporting characters, to feature heavily, even if you choose to invent some OCs from this world to flesh out your worldbuilding.)
True Love: The "rules" of True Love are murky, to say the least. What does it mean to experience True Love, and can those who have experienced it recognize it in others? Are Emma's unique abilities (implied at some level to be due to her existence as the product of True Love) ones that, say, her baby brother might share? What about Emma and Hook's future offspring, or Lucy, or even Gideon? What about parental/platonic True Love? What *powers* or empowers True Love? (Considering we've seen "bad" characters (Hades & Zelena) experience it, True Love seems to be a neutral kind of magic, and that's interesting in a world of generally Light and Dark magic otherwise.) What drawbacks might it have? How is it valued (or not) across the multiverse?
*****
Fandom: American Gods (TV)
Characters: Any or No Characters (American Gods TV), Bilquis (American Gods TV), Easter (American Gods TV), Media (American Gods TV), Mr. World (American Gods TV), Original Character(s) (American Gods TV)
Worldbuilding: WB: Alliances between Old and New Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Birth of New Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Deity Diaspora (American Gods TV), WB: Modern Worship and Offerings to the Old Gods (American Gods TV), WB: Worship and Offerings to the New Gods (American Gods TV)
General thoughts on the setting:
I'm crushed that this show is not likely to ever be the same even if it does continue, what with the creative team moving on, as well as Gillian Anderson. (Media is my favorite by a significant margin.) I'm here for the gods, to be honest. Not that Shadow and Laura aren't fascinating characters, and I have no problem if they feature, even heavily, in your fic, but I'm primarily interested in how the gods function in this world. I would prefer Original Characters to be gods themselves or created to explore the roles of the gods, not what it means to be a human among them.
Worldbuilding prompts:
Alliances between Old and New Gods: Tell me how and why Bilquis, Easter, or any other "old god" you might choose came to an understanding with the new kids, particularly Media and/or Mr. World. The New Gods seem to need and use the symbolism of old gods, especially Media - they can market and commercialize for Bilquis (sex, romance, lust, love) or Easter (eggs, bunnies, Jesus, faith) or any other god, but what would they be without the content? Is Media a message in and of itself, or does it need something else to work with?
Birth of New Gods: How do the New Gods come to be? What is their process of Becoming?
Deity Diaspora: The show depicts gods migrating alongside their believers (in Viking longships, in slave ships, through Ellis Island, etc) but where do gods "dwell"? What makes them call a new place home? Do they go back to where they came from to visit? Can they? Even for the new gods, do they have a "home", a place they came into being and belief?
Modern Worship and Offerings to the Old Gods: We see that the "old gods" can experience worship in new ways via technology and in ways that fit with modern culture - are there other options besides through the filter that the new gods offer?
Worship and Offerings to the New Gods: How do New Gods experience worship? How do they exercise their power? What human actions is their power built from?
*****
Notes
General Notes:
Plot elements/tropes/stuff I dig in no particular order, but which you have no obligation to include:
Future fic (including with child characters or children of canonical characters grown to adults), hurt/comfort (physical and/or emotional), whump, sex pollen, fuck or die, dubcon (especially when both/all parties are consenting only under duress or when impaired due to alcohol or drugs), bondage, werewolves (just not a/b/o type), canon divergence, first time (both first time sex ever and first time for a particular pairing), sex magic, pegging, praise kink, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth, falling asleep on someone, cuddling, spooning, competitive sex games (who can make the other orgasm the fastest, who can resist orgasm the longest, who can successfully finish a task while the other partner tries to get them off or tries to entice them into sex, etc), begging, sex as an emotional outlet in the wake of tragedy, battle couples, alternate magical system AUs, sex between platonic friends
Do Not Want:
A/B/O dynamics (Werewolves are great, but the A/B/O trope doesn't work for me), mpreg, bestiality (weres and shifters are great, but no boning in animal form please), excessive focus on bodily fluids/bodily fluid-focused kinks, age regression in romantic pairing fics (I'm OK with it for platonic pairings!), high school AUs, childhood friends-to-lovers (unless canonical), teacher/student romantic relationships (even when both are adults)