November 6, 2022 - The Main Locations

Hi!

So, let’s get into the actual physical world-building, shall we? I’m gonna start with the basics:

The center island is pretty big and is split into three parts. Imagine a large island shaped like a slightly rectangular potato. Got it? Good. Now cut the potato in half - the left/western half is all dense forest, called the Forest of Beyond. The other half of our potato island is split in half horizontally. Does everyone have three pieces of potato, basically divided into one half and two quarters? Spectacular. You all are very good at this. 

The top/northern quarter of our rectangular potato feathers out into the dense forest on the left. Note that the trees around the border to the top quarter look particularly unhealthy. This top potato corner is where the basic, normal people live. It’s called the Capetol (cap eh tol) , and the Capetol’s inhabitants are called Apets (Capetol, ah pet). Please note that magic doesn’t work here.

The bottom/southern quarter of our rectangular potato is called the Mainland (mane lend) , and it’s the centerpiece of our story - (almost) all of our Main Characters (✨) live here. It borders the forest in a slightly terrifyingly straight line, and the trees on the border seem to be the healthiest in the forest, the brightest green and densest foliage. The inhabitants of the Mainland are called, you’ll never guess, Mainlanders. Some particularly surly Apets call them Goddess Girls (I’ll explain the Goddess later, and yeah, you’re gonna have to get used to the half explanations) as a oh-look-at-the-hoity-toity-annoying-beans insult kinda thing.

There is a thick wall separating the Capetol (top potato quarter) and the Mainland (bottom potato quarter). The wall is made of rust-colored bricks and enforced with layers of steel on each side. It stops at the edge of the forest. There is one opening in the wall, with big metal buildings on both sides and tons of security protecting the border. To cross from the Mainland into the Capetol or vice versa (the latter is mostly traveled by returning Mainlanders, Apets don’t really come to the Mainland), you need a Gatebook, which is sort of like a passport and contains your home potato quarter as well as basic information and biometrics, and your ROT (Reason of Travel) papers, which also have some basic information and a short description as to why you’re crossing the border. On your first crossing, the other side gives you a large black stamp on your ROT papers. That stamp is verified for your trip home. If you’re a Mainlander, getting ROT papers isn’t hard - you just have to fill out a simple form, drop it off at their nearest Official Office/O.O (yes that is an NMIXX reference),  and wait the maximum of three days to get the papers mailed back to you with a signature of approval. For Apets, the process is nearly identical, except you have to drop your application at the Central Building, a large, imposing, and disappointed-chartreuse-colored concrete box in the middle of the Capetol. The return time from the Central Building processors is more to three to four weeks - last-minute trips are pretty much impossible. The good news is that there’s not much crossing. Everyone has whatever they need in their own potato quarter. No reason to leave.