The hottest Worldbuilding Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Art & Illustration Topics

Tulubaikaporia

The Lifeboat • 447 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
âš” Fiction Worldbuilding
  1. A new immersive book called Tulubaikaporia will be released on March 1 and spans about 400 pages across 23 varied chapters set in a fading Russian village.
  2. The book is presented as a ritual-like, participatory experience that asks readers to wander, feel, and inhabit Tulubaika rather than just read about it.
  3. You can get early access by signing up for an ARC or, if you’re a paid subscriber, by downloading it from the Digital Library, with full release and pre-order details coming soon.

In Defense of Fanfic

David Friedman’s Substack • 233 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
đź“š Literature Worldbuilding
  1. Most fanfiction is low quality, but that’s true of most fiction, so readers should focus on finding the fan authors they like.
  2. Using someone else’s world or characters isn’t automatically less creative, because many respected works build on earlier worlds and fan authors often must invent missing details themselves.
  3. Fanfiction raises legal and moral questions when it uses characters against their creator’s wishes, but it also helps new writers get started and lets readers continue enjoying beloved stories.

Vampire the Masquerade story hooks

Philosophy bear • 14 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
âš” Fiction Worldbuilding
  1. A wide toolbox of short rumours and scenarios is provided to drop into a chronicle, from small local mysteries to plots that threaten the whole world.
  2. The piece offers alternate vampire lore that can reshape power and history, like automatic falling generations, composite Antediluvians, and rituals that change generation or resurrect the dead.
  3. Many hooks mix modern technology and moral horror—biotech experiments, weaponised vitae, fusion-powered rituals, and mundane apocalypses that force brutal, complicated choices.

Arcadia ego: An urban fantasy setting for everything

Philosophy bear • 50 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26
âš” Fiction Worldbuilding
  1. Arcadia Ego is an endless, liminal city where people from many worlds arrive after near-death experiences, feeling like an afterlife that’s impossibly close to life yet utterly separate.
  2. Even though the inhabitants are (presumably) dead, they must participate in a functioning society with an economy, governments, courts and many religions, but those institutions are inconsistent, strange and often unjust.
  3. The city is a crossroads for all kinds of supernatural beings and settings, its suburbs vary wildly, navigation is conceptual rather than geographic, and everyone is driven by a restless search to escape or understand their soul.

Dune Names Are Good, Actually

Counter Craft • 849 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
🎭️ Culture Worldbuilding
  1. Dune's worldbuilding strikes a balance between the familiar and the strange, making it unique and engaging.
  2. Language in worldbuilding should reflect a balance of otherness and familiarity to enhance themes and characters.
  3. Worldbuilding language should evoke reader imagination while still maintaining readability and evocativeness.
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On building cathedrals of thought

storyvoyager • 10 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
đź“š Literature Worldbuilding
  1. Our shared beliefs shape the world, so changing them is necessary to create a better future. This work must be collective and long-term, built by many people over generations like a cathedral of thought.
  2. Individual reflection and unique worldviews matter because a clear mind can challenge collective reality and imagine new possibilities. Expressing ideas as concise, poetic insights and stories helps synthesize facts into human meaning.
  3. Storytelling and archives preserve human memory and help future generations grieve, learn, and imagine alternatives after loss. Fiction can both document a broken world and hold hope that inspires reflection and change.

I'm hosting four literary salons this year

The Novelleist • 358 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
đź“š Literature Worldbuilding
  1. Join the Salon Series at the Collector tier to discuss utopian texts through deep-dive discussions on Zoom
  2. Explore themes such as techno-futurism in 'Lathe of Heaven' and humanity from the perspective of robots in 'Psalm for the Wild Built'
  3. Delve into utopian worldbuilding in 'Terra Ignota' and the balance between dystopia and utopia in Aldous Huxley's works

Sayings of the First Emperor

PashaNomics • 1 implied HN point • 10 Feb 26
âš” Fiction Worldbuilding
  1. Military power and technology are the core of political survival, with valor, manufactories, and weapons deciding which beings get to exist and rule.
  2. Stable societies require strict economic rules in his view: low peacetime taxes, limits on money printing tied to population growth, and clear property rights to prevent collapse.
  3. He deeply distrusts machines and perceived internal threats, endorsing fear, an Imperial Inquisition, and strong centralized authority to purge enemies and protect humanity.

Strong worlds, weak worlds, SaaS worlds, link worlds

Data People Etc. • 71 implied HN points • 19 Feb 25
đź•ą Technology Worldbuilding
  1. Strong worlds offer structure and meaning, helping people feel like they belong and know what's expected of them. This creates a sense of purpose and connection.
  2. The Internet helps create many weak worlds where it's easy to join or leave. These worlds often lack strong narratives but can have a big impact on our daily lives.
  3. Platforms are tools for building worlds online, but strong systems matter more than just good stories. Companies must ensure their systems work well to keep their teams functioning smoothly.

We need a new mythos

PashaNomics • 1 implied HN point • 06 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Worldbuilding
  1. Fiction and popular myths shape how generations see the future and influence real-world politics and policy.
  2. The steady diet of dystopian stories has been harmful: it desensitizes people, narrows how we think about power, and can spur unrealistic or destructive political behavior.
  3. We need a new, realistic but optimistic mythos that shows competent, good leaders and collective projects—portraying how to responsibly build technology and long-term institutions like space colonization.

The economy of controlling women

storyvoyager • 10 implied HN points • 08 Nov 24
đź“š Literature Worldbuilding
  1. Stories help us understand the world better, and writing can be a way to figure out our own thoughts and feelings. It's all about being fascinated by ideas and emotions.
  2. Historically, women's roles have been controlled in many ways, and it's important to think about how society might impose new forms of control in the future. We can see echoes of past practices in today's world.
  3. The idea of merging human minds with technology, called mindbinding, shows how humans could interact deeply with tech in the future. This blend could bring empathy and intuition into powerful new roles.

into the void

alice maz • 41 implied HN points • 20 Feb 23
🎭️ Culture Worldbuilding
  1. The future depicted in sci-fi can range from harsh and plausible like 'Void Star' to sophisticated and refined like 'A Memory Called Empire'.
  2. Technology influences society by changing constraints and rewriting rules - it's not always good, but it matters.
  3. Fiction, like 'To the Stars', offers a fantasy world where incredible feats are possible through suffering and teamwork, depicting an ideal that reality often falls short of.

Worldbuilding is creative resilience

The Ideaspace • 21 implied HN points • 16 Feb 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Worldbuilding
  1. Worldbuilding is the act of designing a self-contained universe, creating a safe creative space separate from the earthly realm.
  2. Creating from your world means work inspired and strengthened by an intentional inner world, allowing you to immerse yourself and lose touch with the shared world.
  3. Worldbuilding prioritizes the symbolic and inspirational over the practical and rational, creating a source of inner confidence and resilience.

Seeds of Resistance

storyvoyager • 8 implied HN points • 03 Sep 23
đź“š Literature Worldbuilding
  1. Access to and control of seeds can determine social class and power in the future.
  2. Efforts are being made to restore Earth's ecosystem and food sources through seed growing despite challenges.
  3. Resistance movements are forming to reclaim ownership of seeds and ensure a sustainable future for the planet.

OPUS: Echo of Starsong

Have You Played? • 0 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Worldbuilding
  1. OPUS: Echo of Starsong is an adventure game set in the Thousand Peaks planetary system.
  2. The game features simple gameplay mechanics but offers a deep worldbuilding experience.
  3. Echo of Starsong implements Asian storytelling traditions, focusing on unresolved character traumas and emotional expressions.