Wondering if we could not use language to describe worlds. Cause worlds don’t feel like they can be bottled up into a succinct narrative. They’re expansive environments. You need a whole book to paint a world.
So instead of trying to use words to describe materials that make up a world, we would use the textures that make up the materials. Sounds, sights, smells, feels, tastes. They can still have a name that’s a pointer to it all, like “Earth”.
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Sounds: Music, Tools in use, Animals, Weather
Sights: Objects in a certain quantity, Habiliment, Lighting
Smells: Seasons and Activities may change aromas
Feels: What things are we touching and why
Tastes: Cuisine (also taste is defined by smells too right?)
Are worldbuilders fictional phenomenologists?
Now curious about the difference between cultures and worlds. My flight’s taking off now. Into the clouds I go. Oh! Last thing — what may be truly universal are the base metaphors of up and down (from gravity). E.g. the Ground and the Sky.