Idea #75 Part 2: The Why of Worldbuilding

A companion piece to Idea #75: Thesis on the flexibility of G4. This is more musings, and not expected to be very long, nor some big revelation. Thanks to Aquaman for the discussion.

1) Introduction

While I pondered at length about what makes a setting easier to create new things with, I didn’t consider why someone would want to. Creating a setting that has hidden breadth isn’t much use if nobody gets the itch to try something, and are satisfied with the final product.

So, what makes someone get that itch? What makes someone speculate, and what is more likely to have someone nod and leave?

Inconsistencies.

2) Inconsistencies

What do I mean by inconsistencies? As a counter example, a story with a well set up world, logical progression of plot and fulfilling character growth is generally a good package deal. There isn’t really any pressing need to go further.

In comparison, a story that makes choices that don’t seem to have the most logical set up, yet refuses, or is incapable of answering why, tends to result in more rampant speculation. This can be easily seen in shows, media, etc, that haven’t ended yet, like the Wild Mass Guessing page on TVTropes.

Usually, as the show progresses, questions are crossed off one by one. What happened to the kid’s parents? Why is there a giant robot in the basement? What bridge troll did they piss off to be cursed for generations?

A story that answers these questions has a single plot thread. A story that doesn’t forces people to sift through the remaining episodes to find clues to an answer that likely varies wildly from person to person, and yet are all equally valid choices due to canon being silent on it.

3) The Unanswered Questions of MLP

As MrNumber’s essay posits, the first two seasons make a bunch of statements about their world that don't really get touched upon. The existence of an aristocracy, where do the rest of the sapient species live, how did Equestria get and keep its Superpower status without seemingly much of a standing army, how did the 3 pony tribes attain equal standing when it seemed they all have vastly differing magical power levels.

Before the show started (sorta) answering those types of questions from S4 and onwards, people had a giant box of things they could extrapolate out of, and many did. Changelings were, for a time, stupidly popular. An insectoid, shapeshifting vampire species that came out of nowhere, yet due to their magic, could have also been there for years under the radar? And concerning we had almost nothing about how their society worked? This was ripe for fanfic fuel, especially since we got almost nothing else about them for the next half a decade.

Many aspects of the pony society were used by stories to become famous specifically for delving into these unexplored avenues of lore, giving readers possible answers to the strange world we’re all invested in. Equestria’s history is both vast, theoretically fraught with diversity, strife, and conflict, and yet also never truly investigated with much depth.

Their magic and culture should be vastly different when compared to a bipedal omnivorous species, yet they’re still similar for reasons that don’t exist when removed from their former human context. Was there something similar in the past, or something completely different that coincidentally brought these similarities into being?

Equestria is possibly a rarity in a mature, well developed setting, but forced to keep a simple viewpoint. Kids shows generally aren’t placed in a heavily developed setting, usually simplistic or in a very limited area and don’t include anything that might make you start thinking about how it might connect with the rest of the planet. MLPFIM tries very hard to pretend to be a simple world, but its such a well functioning one that any hints of a wider world become hard to ignore.

4) Conclusion

The annoying conclusion to all this is that prime fanfic fuel is kinda based upon poor worldbuilding, open ended plot threads, statements about reality that aren’t properly explained. Something like FMA is a lot harder to explore the world with since frankly, the story wraps up really well, and pretty much ties up the story threads of every important character. While Amestris has history, its not really deemed important by the plot, plus it is roughly summarized anyways. The only truly piece of history not looked into is Hohenhiem’s past in the lost kingdom, but there isn’t really a foundation wide enough to stand and speculate without resorting to AUs.

You need a minimum seed to crystalize the spark of imagination, but not one that results in a perfect crystal.

IPeople are more likely to analyze the themes of FMA than go digging for plot holes.

In contrast, RWBY sucks in people trying to remix the plot every few months. There’s plenty of interesting ideas that one can try executing in different ways the writer would’ve preferred the actual show did.

This makes the purposeful design of a world that draws speculation a bit difficult. Trying to show too much is a thing to be actively avoided, to my eternal consternation. Outside of the main setting, imply the existence of things outside, but minimize elaboration. Let mysterious things stay (mostly) mysterious, and let the audience come up with their own multiple-choice pasts.

So. Build a unique world, according to the rough guidelines I outlined in the previous Post, but leave a bunch of gaps in the edges of the setting. 

5) Musings of unanswered worldbuilding threads in MLP, several used in fanfic

What purpose does the aristocracy serve?
What prevents other nations from invading Equestria?
When and how did Equestria gain its superpower status?
Was Celestia born an alicorn? Did more of them exist in the past? If not, what caused her to become an alicorn?
What were Celestia and Luna’s childhoods?
What was Discord like in the past?
The hell did Changelings come from and how do they work?
What actually happens in the School for Gifted Unicorns? Are non-unicorn equivalent schools a thing? Can non-unicorns apply?
How did Earth ponies gain respect from those who can bully them physically with ease? Do Gifted Earth Ponies exist?
What limits exist for pony magic?
Where did Spike come from?
Where do griffons come from? How similar are they to their mythological pony-eating counterparts?
Minotaurs?
How common are forests like the Everfree? A single patch, or anywhere ponies don’t touch?
Why do ponies seem to use tools designed for hands? How do ponies use tools made for hands?
What is the Ponyville Dam used for?
Who’s paying Fluttershy?
What do Cutie Marks do? Magical effect, or Affirmation?
How old is Granny Smith, anyways?
What killed Applejack’s parents?
What the hell is rock farming?