world-building-logic

Overview

World-building logic is the engineering of "internal consistency." It moves beyond mere imagination to create a setting that feels "lived-in" and logical. By applying Brand's Pace Layers to social and physical structures and Sanderson's Laws of Magic to the world's limitations, the builder creates a "controlled hallucination" that supports rather than distracts from the plot.

Guiding Principles

Principle 1: The Six Pace Layers (Source: Brand, How Buildings Learn)

A world is not a static monolith; it is a stack of layers moving at different speeds:

1. Site: The eternal (geography, climate).
2. Structure: The centuries (foundations, deep traditions).
3. Skin: The decades (exterior appearances, fashion).
4. Services: The years (infrastructure, technology, systems).
5. Space Plan: The months (interior layouts, social groups).
6. Stuff: The daily (ephemera, personal belongings). Friction (Shearing) occurs where a fast layer (Technology) tries to override a slow layer (Geography).

Principle 2: Limitations > Powers (Source: Sanderson, magic lectures)

Internal consistency is defined by what characters cannot do. A character with unlimited power has no story. Drama is found in the clever application of a world's specific limitations. The more powerful the tool (magic/tech), the more restrictive the rules must be.