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Idletry: Worldbuilding Roundup
🕑 Added 2025-09-02 17:22:07 +0000 UTCHi everyone. I've done a lot of worldbuilding for Idletry over the last 2 years. I've posted about it over time on Tumblr, but not everyone uses that site, and not everyone sees every post. I decided to gather up all the worldbuilding elements I could think of and condense them into a post.
Some of these things, such as the map of Centrus's single continent and the exact placement of its water sources, are more concept than set in stone.
Let me start by putting a glossary I've written up elsewhere:
species-related lingo
outie -- an arthropod, referring to their "skeletons" being on the "outside" of their bodies.
exo -- an arthropod, referring to their exoskeletons.
chitter -- an arthropod, referring to their chitin. pronounced phonetically, rather than like "chitin." positive, affectionate connotation.
leg -- an arthropod, referring to the fact that most have more than 4 legs.
arthro -- an arthropod. can be used as an adjective, eg. "She's arthro," meaning, "she's an arthropod."
invert -- an invertebrate.
chitinoid -- a more formal term for arthropods used by arthropods. “invertebrate” inherently centers vertebrae as the default, which is not intuitive to invertebrates. vertebrates still refer to chitinoids as invertebrates.
cryptochitinoid -- a more formal term for vertebrates used by arthropods. much like how "invertebrate" and "exoskeleton" assume interior vertebrae are the default, "cryptochitinoid" assumes chitinous exoskeletons are the default, and refer to vertebrates by their "hidden" chitin skeletons.
tocho -- a vertebrate, shortened from "cryptochitinoid." pronounced "toe-koe."
backie -- a vertebrate, referring to their spines.
spino -- a vertebrate, referring to their spines.
softie -- a vertebrate, referring to their lack of a hard exoskeleton. positive, affectionate connotation.
skella -- a vertebrate, referring to their skeletons. arthropods do not view their exoskeletons as skeletons or analogous to skeletons. often used like "fella."
innie -- a vertebrate, referring to their "chitin" being on the "inside."
vertas -- vertebrates. never used as a singular.
hemo - arthropod "blood." arthropods use a fluid called hemolymph in open circulatory systems to transfer nutrients. they will also refer to hemolymph as blood sometimes. pronounced "hee-moe."
clinging to [their] chorion -- chorion is the outermost layer of an insect egg. essentially, clinging to the eggshell, refusing to be an adult independent of your parents.
touch tens -- an idiom stemming from "touch antennae." over time, through the process of deletion, it has been reduced to “touch tens,” which was then interpreted as, literally, touch the number tens. ants (and some other social insects, but especially ants) communicate through touching antennae. idiomatically means initiating communication with someone. equivalent to get in touch, touch base, drop a line. any animal can use this idiom, but it is infinitely more common for insects to use it. when animals without antennae use it, it’s sort of like someone who says “it’s a doggy dog world.” sometimes it will also be said as “touch tennies,” as the “ae” in “antennae” mutated into “ie.” however, because ten is a widely recognized word, and it kinda-sorta makes sense to the general population as The Number Ten, “touch tens” is the common form of this idiom.
tiff -- literally, touch-sniff. the way arthropods refer to smelling someone. used as a verb.
pup -- a child insect or crustacean. shortened from "pupa." Idletry insects do not pupate, but slowly grow into their imago forms through instars. a pupa, therefore, does not refer to a chrysalis, but a preadolescent child. "larva" refers to a baby or very young toddler. pronounced like "pup" usually is. mammals may also refer to their children as pups or puppies in the more traditional sense. the insect usage of "pup" was partially adapted from the mammalian usage of "pup."
eggnant -- pregnant with eggs. used by all animals besides eutherians and metaeutherians (mammals that don't lay eggs). eggnancy refers to the portion of pregnancy after the eggshells have formed completely.
depouching -- the weaning process for an infant marsupial, wherein they either naturally lose the desire to be in the pouch, or are no longer allowed to enter the pouch by their parent, depending on the personalities of the infant and parent.
cracked -- shed one's exoskeleton, referring to cracking the chitin. usually negative connotation, referring to an unexpected or undesirable moult.
sunk teeth fallacy -- equivalent to sunk-cost fallacy. refusing to abandon an investment after "biting" into it. often alludes to an unwillingness to acknowledge or speak about the failure of the investment because their "mouth is full."worldbuilding-related lingo
crent -- currency unit, phonetically shortened from "currency." equivalent to "dollars." represented by a capital C with 2 lines through it. crents are a global, standardized currency used by all people in Idletry. crents come in 1 C, 5 C, 10 C, 50 C, 100 C, and 1,000 C increments in the form of paper bills of different colors. bills show a large colored oval with the value of the bill on one side, known as the "blank" side of the bill due to its mostly white appearance, and the province and date of origin on the other side in a white silhouette of the province of origin on the other side, known as the "brat" side of the bill, corrupted from "bureaucratic." while the value is stated to the side of the brat face of a bill, the blank side has been emphasized as important. colors for money can vary in the world and are usually differentiated through value (pastel-to-dark), but what values represent which increment can vary by province. some people may try to trick others by using the brat side of a bill and obscuring the side to pretend it's a higher value bill from another province, which can't be done with the blank side. "crent" can be used as an uncountable singular like "money" or "cash," eg. "I needed some quick crent."
cent -- 1/100th of a crent. equivalent to real-world cent. cents come in 1/100th, 1/10th, 1/4th, and 1/2 incrimental metal coins. they were originally represented by different types of seeds, but they rolled away too easily, and became flattened discs over time. coins have their value embossed clearly on one side, sometimes with an outline of their province of origin, known as the "tails" side of the coin, and a blank side showing an embossed area representing their province of origin, with the name of the province depressed into the middle. it is very important for diplomatic relations to be able to track how much crent is circulating from which nations. cents are represented by a small c with 1 line through it.
show blanks -- an idiom meaning to be honest, often with the connotation that the person has already been dishonest and is now being forced to reveal the truth unwillingly.
province -- a soveriegn nation-state. while the term "province" refers to subnational territories in our world, this concept doesn't really exist in Idletry's world. there are larger administrative territories, decided over time by warring or trade boundaries -- provinces -- and local territories -- cities, towns, or villages. the shape of provinces are decided by the locations of various resources. the shape of cities are decided by the locations of its citizens and infrastructure.
ogg, oggie -- a Jessie resistance militant. shortened from Boglia, which has had its name changed repeatedly to slight variations, such as Poglia, Doglia, Coglia, etc. "ogg" has a more negative connotation and usually refers to a peace officer, equivalent to "cop." "oggie" has a more neutral connotation and may be used to refer to peace officers, or someone's political positions about Jessie, ie. "Aren't you an oggie?" means "Aren't you anti-Jessie?"
123 -- the emergency telephone number of Idletry, standardized across all of Centrus. every province has their own call centers, but they can reroute a call for help to a more appropriate province if needed.
Twiddler -- a popular social media site where users write short posts called "twiddle dees," or "twiddles." reposts of these posts are called "twiddle doos."
TTZ -- Theological Tracking & Zoning. a news entity that tracks and publicly reports Jessie's whereabouts. started as a Twiddler account that would post Jessie's recent location while flying by monitoring CTAF communications. founded and owned by Samwich Antrewson.
dicker -- many "interspecies" couples are genetically incompatible and cannot have children. a bird and a bee may not be able to have children together, but may find another couple with a bird and a bee, and "swap genes" with them. the act of swapping genes is called dickering, and both the exchange itself and the participants in the exchange can also be referred to as dickers. usually, genes are swapped through having sex, rather than going through the efforts of extracting sperm and seeking a practitioner to inseminate participants. most dickers are brief, and they do not stay in touch afterwards, nor do they share any custody over the children birthed by the other couple. dickers are named after the verb "to dicker," meaning to argue during a trade in a petty way, or to fuss and quarrel. many dickers are known for causing drama between and within couples, usually due to one dicker becoming pregnant before the other and both dickers of the couple withdrawing because they've gotten what they wanted, cross-couple dickers developing feelings for one another after having sex repeatedly to achieve a pregnancy, or dickers fighting over custody of children they were expected to not interact with after they are born. some dickers voluntarily share custody, co-parent, or just remain friends who keep in touch -- these people are generally referred to as "dickies" across couples to avoid the negative connotations of the word dicker; ie. "my dicky stopped by to take the kid to school."
emmy emms -- a recreational drug taken in the form of candy-like pills, with effects similar to MDMA. often exchanged in tubes made for candies that look like said pills.
midmad -- same as emmy emms. uncountable, singular noun.
furpes -- a generally harmless STI that affects mammals. equivalent to herpes. also rhymes with herpes.
benzomins -- a group of narcotic drugs traditionally prescribed for anxiety. equivalent to benzodiazepines.
benji -- slang for a benzomin pill. never used as an uncountable singular, eg. "Do you have any benji?"
aldoxamine -- a second-generation antipsychotic medication.
pollinator dog -- specially bred, tiny dogs with 6 legs and wings used to pollinate flowers as a replacement for the anthropomorphization of pollinator animals.
lepidog -- a butterfly dog. portmanteau of "lepidopteran" and "dog."
butterdog -- another term for butterfly dogs.
vespidog -- a bee or wasp dog. a portmanteu of of "vespidae" and "dog," despite the fact that most vespidogs are bees. vespidogs cannot sting, but they are prone to biting.
Centrus -- the planet Idletry's characters live on.
Subradus -- a planet in Centrus's solar system. it is closer to their sun than Centrus.
Biggun, the -- the larger of Centrus's two oceans, to the west.
Smallun, the -- the smaller of Centrus's two oceans, to the east.
Nuthpen -- the curled upper peninsula forming the northmost edge of Centrus's supercontinent; shortened from "north peninsula."
Suthpen -- the large lower peninsula forming the southmost edge of Centrus's supercontinent; shortened from "south peninsula."
Sea, the -- the only sea on Centrus, fed from the Smallun's saltwater.
Canal, the -- the only naturally formed canal, connecting the Sea to the Smallun. highly valued territory that was frequently fought over.
Uppen -- the peninsula forming the north side of the Canal; shortened from "upper peninsula."
Lopen -- the peninsula forming the south side of the Canal; shortened from "lower peninsula."
Infinitest, Mount -- the tallest mountain on Centrus, forming Nuthpen.
Pentacost -- a coastal conurbation which was previously 5 separate territories fighting over resources. this is the city Shiloh lives in.
tinctures -- fundamental particles of Idletry's universe, often referred to as "inks" colloquially. commonly known fundamental particles include C-charged particles, M-charged particles, Y-charged particles, and K-charged particles. lesser known, more complex particles, which may only be observed in theory, are R-particles, G-particles, B-particles, O-particles, V-particles, and F-particles.
inkling -- an atom, formed from tinctures, also referred to as "inks" colloquially.
chroma -- a molecule, formed of inklings.
chromatic table, the -- equivalent to the periodic table, organizing the elements of Idletry's universe.
Big Rip, the -- an accepted theory of how Idletry's universe will end, when the fabric of their universe reaches maximum saturation and collapses.
Printer Running Out [of ink], the -- an alternate accepted theory of how Idletry's universe will end, where the source of tinctures will run out and all forces in the universe will simply cease to exist. based erroneously on observations of ink fading over time.
drying out, drying up -- another way to refer to the Printer Running Out.
Standing Up -- a prehistorical event where most animals capable of doing so became anthropomorphic in a Covenant.
Covenant, the -- a set of biological imperatives and standardizations animals underwent in exchange for sapience, such as the ability to stand upright and speak, a shared measurement system and language, boneless external penises and 9-month internal pregnancies, omnivorous metabolisms, and the capacity to understand and commit evil.
Sitting Down -- a contemporary event where certain animals rejected the Covenant to Stand Up by complying with a separate Covenant wherein they are subordinate to Stood Up animals, but are incapable of committing evil or feeling any of the social moral compulsions that Stood Up animals do. Sat Down animals are domesticated animals, such as livestock and pets. they are sapient like Stood Up animals, but have an entirely different set of instincts and priorities to anthropomorphized animals. wild, non-domesticated animals do not exist and are a foreign concept to characters in Idletry. Stood Up animals are compelled to care and provide for Sat Down animals.
Oneday -- the first day of Idletry's 5-day week.
Twosday -- the second day of Idletry's 5-day week.
Threesday -- the third day of Idletry's 5-day week.
Foursday -- the fourth day of Idletry's 5-day week.
Fivesday -- the last day of Idletry's 5-day week, treated by most as a day off.
Oneruary -- the first month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year. the first 6 months of the year end in -[br]uary. pronounced "wun-you-air-ee."
Twobruary -- the second month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
Threebruary -- the third month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
Tetruary -- the fourth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year. pronounced "tet-you-air-ee."
Pentembruary -- the fifth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
Sixuary -- the sixth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
September -- the seventh month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year. the last 6 months of the year end in -ember.
Octember -- the eighth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
November -- the ninth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
December -- the tenth month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
Elevember -- the eleventh month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.
Dozember -- the twelfth and last month of Idletry's 12-month calendar year.other lingo
kit -- stuff, or things. can be used like how one might use "shit," eg. "what is all this kit," but never used as a PG way to say "shit." commonly but not always in reference to physical objects.
parky -- a place to park a personal vehicle. equivalent to "parking lot," "parking space," or "car park."
roundo -- a fruit commonly referred to in the real world as an orange.
Fivo -- Fivesday.
Fiver -- Fivesday.
Fiffy -- Fivesday.
curos -- slang for money, phonetically shortened from "currency." equivalent of "bucks."
Trying to think of other qualities of this world:
Evolution didn't occur (see: Standing Up). Spontaneous generation is a widely accepted scientific fact in their universe. Extinction also is not really a thing.
Colors change constantly in their world. Objects also vary slightly in size, shape, etc. This is considered normal. Some special inks can stay one color permanently.
Their universe canonically exists on the paper of the book, not just as a vehicle for the narrative.
Speech bubbles are visible to the characters and they can both see and hear them. Not all sounds are visible without a microscope, such as the sound of footsteps. Characters can still hear these.
Their universe has different fundamental particles and different chemicals from our own, but many may have similar names and similar functions.
Their years are 360 days long. Their months are all 30 days long. Their weeks are, obviously, 5 days long. Their days are 24 hours long as usual.
Magnetism doesn't really exist the same way it does to us because the fundamental particles involved in electromagnetic forces don't exist in their universe. North, South, East, and West are based on the position of the planet as it exists in relation to the sun. Centrus preserves its atmosphere through exogenous "color charge" (not like our quantum color charge) from their sun. "Charge" and light are subtractive in their universe. Their sun goes through a cycle of producing more inks, which, at its peak, results in summer. More inks cause the space around the sun and planets to become more saturated over time, to the point where it resists more inks, creating a barrier that reduces the amount of inks the sun creates (you can think of it like smothering a flame), which results in winter. This process is rarely visible, because inks become visibly "black" when added together, in addition to the K particle tincture. Ink over time dissipates by seeping through interstices in the universe's medium -- the paper -- through capillary action, as the sun's reduced output stops feeding into the total saturation of the (relatively) local area of outer space. As the inks are allowed to dissipate, the resistance to more ink wanes, and the sun begins to radiate more again, and the cycle starts over. The exogenously charged upper atmosphere of Centrus functions in a similar, smaller-scale manner as it meets more saturated mid-atmosphere gases, causing a day/night cycle. The lowest, breathable portion of the atmosphere is practically invisible (very low saturation), and does not try to dissipate past the middle atmosphere because the lower saturation of the lower atmosphere won't try to move to a higher saturation area if left to its own devices. Black outlines are, similarly, very important for maintaining the composition of most objects. At night, these outlines become lighter to avoid merging inks with the black sky.
Auroras are still sometimes visible at night, but they are caused by interstitial cascades which temporarily allow particles of various sizes to move through a weakness in the paper medium to a lower saturation area. The inks eventually saturate these areas enough to become black again.
Stars, including the sun, are not the white of the blank paper medium, but composed of F-particles, which are poorly understood by the characters. Like black, white can be produced multiple ways -- by blank space or by F-particles. F-particles have additive properties which degrade themselves and subtractive ink they come in contact with to produce a lighter, usually more saturated color by mixing. In large aggregations, the F-particles stay unmixed with each other, creating a light source that will eventually go dark.
Some children are assigned "they" pronouns and a non-binary gender at birth. Not really because of any physical characteristics. The presiding physician usually just says the baby has "they" vibes. This leads to some cisgender non-binary characters in Idletry. They are about as common as "he" or "she" birth genders.
Ability to interbreed is usually decided by phenotypic similarity rather than genetic similarity -- meaning that if two people's body plans look similar, they're more likely able to have offspring together. They do have genes, but genes may spontaneously generate or disappear in offspring. Characters tend to identify with specific phenotype categories which are not totally accurate, but close enough to be useful for the characters for characters looking for a reproductive partner (or a partner who could not possibly get them pregnant).
Comments
Morghann Patterson
Also is the continent shaped like Jesse’s snap hand
Oleander Oxenfree
Good Fucking Soup!!!
