This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a location", "add a location", "magic system", "political system", "build the world", "add culture", "world history", "technology system", "religion", "economy", or wants to develop any aspect of a story's world and setting.

Worldbuilding Overview Create and manage world elements for a story project. Locations, systems (magic, politics, technology, etc.), factions, and artifacts are stored as markdown files in the worldbuilding/ directory with YAML frontmatter, and glossary terms for the world's invented words in glossary/terms/ . All elements cross reference characters and other story elements. Prerequisites A story project must already exist (created via the story init skill). Verify by checking for story.md in the project root. Creating a Location 1. Read story.md for genre, era, and tone context 2. Read worldbuilding/ index.md for existing locations and systems 3. Ask for the location's name and type (city, fortress, wilderness, etc.) 4. Build the location through conversation, covering: Physical description and atmosphere History relevant to the story Culture and customs of inhabitants Notable features characters will interact with Current state at story's timeline Routes to other locations: travel time in hours and mode (see references/maps and routes.md ) Pronunciation, if the name is invented or easily misread ( pronunciation: "KEL ah mar" ) 5. Before settling an invented name, run story names '{Candidate}' to catch clashes and look alikes (see references/naming languages.md ) 6. Create it with story add location '{Location Name}' type '{type}' when the CLI is available (add region , population , controlled by , and character as known); it writes worldbuilding/locations/{name kebab}.md and lists it in worldbuilding/ index.md . Then fill the body from references/location template.md 7. Without the CLI, write the file from references/location template.md to worldbuilding/locations/{name kebab}.md 8. Leave the locations table in worldbuilding/ index.md to story reindex . , even without the CLI; never add a row by hand 9. If notable characters are listed, verify those character files exist and add this location's kebab case identifier to each character file's locations frontmatter list 10. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . Maps, Routes, and Travel Record travel between locations as routes on the location file, not in prose notes, so the CLI can check it: to is a location id; story links . checks it exists. A route is two way unless the other location declares its own route back (for example, uphill slower than down). story continuity . errors when a character appears in two dated scenes at locations joined by a route and the story time between them is shorter than the route's hours . story diagram locations prints the route network as a Mermaid map graph with edges labelled in hours; add out dist/locations.mmd to save it. Use it to spot unreachable places and implausible shortcuts. Use the travel speeds table in references/economy logistics.md to set plausible hours, and references/maps and routes.md for the full workflow. Creating a System 1. Read story.md for genre and themes context 2. Read worldbuilding/ index.md for existing systems 3. Identify the system type and consult references/world element types.md for the relevant prompts. For calendars, naming languages, economies, and magic costs, also use references/calendars.md , references/naming languages.md , and references/economy logistics.md 4. Build the system through conversation, addressing the key questions for that type 5. Create it with story add system '{System Name}' type '{type}' prevalence '{prevalence}' when the CLI is available (the type and prevalence values are in references/system template.md ); it writes worldbuilding/systems/{name kebab}.md and lists it in worldbuilding/ index.md . Then fill the body from references/system template.md 6. Without the CLI, write the file from references/system template.md to worldbuilding/systems/{name kebab}.md 7. Leave the systems table in worldbuilding/ index.md to story reindex . ; never add a row by hand 8. Cross reference with characters who interact with the system (e.g., magic users for a magic system) 9. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . Creating A Faction Use story add faction '{Faction Name}' type '{family guild government military religion company community criminal other}' when the CLI is available. Otherwise create worldbuilding/factions/{name kebab}.md with frontmatter fields name , type , status , members , locations , and tags . Cover: Purpose and ideology Power base, resources, and territory Important members Conflicts and pressure points Then: 1. Save to worldbuilding/factions/{name kebab}.md 2. Leave the Factions table in worldbuilding/ index.md to story reindex . ; never add a row by hand 3. If members are listed, verify those character files exist 4. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . Creating An Artifact Use story add artifact '{Artifact Name}' type '{object weapon document technology relic symbol resource other}' when the CLI is available. Otherwise create worldbuilding/artifacts/{name kebab}.md with frontmatter fields name , type , status , owner , location , and tags . Cover: Description and recognition details Function, constraints, and costs History and prior owners Current owner/location state Then: 1. Save to worldbuilding/artifacts/{name kebab}.md 2. Leave the Artifacts table in worldbuilding/ index.md to story reindex . ; never add a row by hand 3. If an owner or location is listed, verify those files exist and cross reference back 4. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . Adding A Glossary Term Record an invented word, title, rank, or concept that the prose must spell and use the same way every time as a glossary term in glossary/terms/ . 1. Read glossary/ index.md for the existing terms, then run story names '{Term}' to catch a clash with another name or term 2. Use story add term '{Term}' category '{person place faction artifact concept term other}' when the CLI is available, with alias '{Variant}' once for each accepted variant; it writes glossary/terms/{term kebab}.md and lists it in glossary/ index.md . Otherwise create the file with frontmatter fields term , category , and aliases , and leave the glossary/ index.md table to story reindex . 3. Fill Definition (what it means in the story) and Usage Notes (spelling, capitalisation, who uses it, and what it never means). Add a pronunciation when the term is invented or easily misread 4. When the term's capitalisation or hyphenation is a house style decision, record it in style sheet.md too (see the voice style skill) 5. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . A glossary for translators belongs to the adaptation skill, which adds a Translations section to these term files. Updating World Elements 1. Read the existing file 2. Make the requested changes. If a location or faction changes partway through the story (a city falls, a guild disbands), add a progression instead of editing the opening value (see Changes Over the Story) 3. If cross references changed, update the linked files 4. Rename an element with story rename (see references/naming languages.md ). Change its type or status in its own file only: the worldbuilding/ index.md tables pick it up at the next story reindex . , so never edit their rows 5. When CLI access is available, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . Changes Over the Story Location and faction files describe the world as the story opens. Record a later change as a progression, so drafting an early chapter does not see what happens in a late one: from is the first chapter where the new value holds. It may be a planned chapter NN with no file yet field is a kebab case single value field, existing ( status , controlled by , region ) or new ( ruler , population note ). List fields ( notable characters , routes , members , locations , tags ) cannot change this way value is one value. A faction's type and status must stay within their allowed values Keep entries in story order, and read the progressions up to the chapter being drafted before describing the place or faction in it Artifacts and systems do not take progressions; track an artifact's changes with object state and scene state changes (see the revision continuity skill) The body of the file is prose for the writer. Describe a change in story terms ("from Festival night the city is occupied"), and do not name progressions or other frontmatter fields there After adding or editing progressions, run story reindex . , story wordcount . write , and story check . . Cross Referencing Locations reference characters via notable characters in frontmatter Characters reference locations via locations in frontmatter Factions reference character members and locations Artifacts reference an owner character or faction and a current location Systems reference practitioners via character tags Location routes reference other locations by id Invented names across characters, locations, systems, factions, artifacts, and glossary terms may carry a pronunciation ; story build format narration gathers them into a pronunciation guide for audiobook narrators When a location is used in a chapter, the chapter's frontmatter locations field links back Keep the worldbuilding/ index.md world overview section current as elements are added CLI Maintenance Use the Story CLI when it is available. If story is not installed, use the bundled fallback node ../story maintenance/scripts/story.js with the same arguments. Use node <checkout /bin/story.js instead only when the user names a Story Skills repository checkout or you are working in one. Write the script as an absolute path (resolve the fallback relative to this skill folder) and run it from the folder you would run story from, so . and other relative paths keep their meaning. Use Node, not Bun or a package script: Bun would load that folder's bunfig.toml (which can run code) and .env , and a package script runs from the checkout's root. If no CLI is available, perform the registry, backlink, and word count checks manually. Reference Files references/location template.md Template for location files references/system template.md Template for system files references/faction template.md Template for faction files references/artifact template.md Template for artifact/object files references/world element types.md Detailed prompts for each system type (magic, political, technology, religion, economic, military, social) references/maps and routes.md Recording routes , the story diagram locations map graph, and the continuity travel check references/calendars.md Adding a custom calendar to story.md , dating scenes in it, and recording seasons and moons as a system file references/naming languages.md Phonology sketches, naming rules per culture, pronunciation, and the story names collision check references/economy logistics.md Prices and wages, supply lines, magic and technology costs, and a travel speeds table by mode Shared Conventions Every story skill follows the shared conventions in [ ../story maintenance/references/conventions.md ](../story maintenance/references/conventions.md), resolved relative to this skill folder. Read it before creating, renaming, or linking story files. If that file is missing because this skill was installed without story maintenance , the essentials are: kebab case ids and filenames, YAML frontmatter on e