Zompist Bboard Again

My apologies if this is indecorous: I would like to ask our boardlord and his collaborator about the creative process behind Almea—how the sausage is made, as it were. I’m aware there is some discussion in the books (both the fiction and the general educational materials) about some of these, but I figure you might be able to go on more at length or include some further nuance here on the board.

• How do you decide what aspects of the world to work on?
• When inspiration flags, what do you do?
• How different is the world from what you’d anticipated when starting out? Was anything in particular surprisingly positive or negative about it?
• How much, and what sorts of work, is predetermined (to whatever extent) versus created anew versus randomly determined?
• Have you ever faced difficult, critical decisions or bottlenecks in the process, and if so how do you resolve these?
• Is there anything too “baked in” that you’d change, were it not for having to radically reshape things?
• Do you have any regrets?
• How has Patreon affected the creative process? Were these effects positive or negative? Or both? Or neither?
• How does the zompist/sasaha working relationship, well, work?
• What unexpected aspects of worldbuilding surprised you?
• Is there any finer point or background detail that might easily be missed by the reader that you’re especially happy or proud of?
• What pitfalls, obvious or otherwise, would you caution against and what would you recommend regarding resolving or avoiding them?

Just for the record (I hope that I'm allowed to mention that here), in addition to the zompist/sasasha working relationship, there's now also a zompist/HM working relationship.

It feels right to let zomp answer this first. But just want to mention that in addition to the collaboration with HM that Raphael mentions (which there is an interesting recent post about on the Patreon), Almeopedia seems to have been a highly collaborative process. Many articles say ‘Originally created for Almeopedia by [user]’. I wasn’t really around in that era, though I lurked. ZBB’s Pedant has created some really cool stuff for Almea too.

I will answer more directly but I just wanted to add these examples of other working collaborations at play.

There's a lot here, and I may not get to it in one post. I'll see what I can answer before dinner.

How do you decide what aspects of the world to work on?

For the collabs, Robin is focused on music and HM on war, but they've both gone beyond these areas. They both have expertise I simply don't, so it's worked out very well. Both have greatly enriched the world, and they are both very compatible with the sort of insane fractality that I'm after.

For Almea+400 (i.e. the 400 years past the "old now" of 3480), I work on a master document that outlines the entire history. Then I keep fleshing it out until it's ready to post.

When inspiration flags, what do you do?

Change gears. The great thing about a conworld is that everything in the world is relevant somehow. If I'm tired of politics I can work on a language, or a religion, or cultural things like books.

Or, you know, do something else. E.g. I spent a lot of last year writing the Religion Construction Kit.

How different is the world from what you’d anticipated when starting out? Was anything in particular surprisingly positive or negative about it?

As I'm sure you know, it started out as a D&D world, then got out of hand. I would say I surprise myself with developments as much as readers are.

I like dizzying amounts of detail, at a fractal level, so it's a pleasure to feel that the planet is now full of details, stories, and oddities, and a lot of things are done that were once only dreamed of. Of course, it's taken forty years...

How much, and what sorts of work, is predetermined (to whatever extent) versus created anew versus randomly determined?


I've redone stuff extensively, but mostly before I started making it publicly available. After that I prefer to add nuances or details rather than simply redo things. Some of the earlier stuff (before Almea+400) depicts what I'd now call a simplistic view of things— e.g. the absolute benignity of the iliu, or the view of certain nations as overall Good or Evil. But I don't mind that— it parallels the evolution of Almeans' own understanding as they modernize.

Have you ever faced difficult, critical decisions or bottlenecks in the process, and if so how do you resolve these?

Put them aside till they solve themselves, maybe.

E.g. I still don't have a good plot for the Prose Wars book. I still intend to come back to that!

Is there anything too “baked in” that you’d change, were it not for having to radically reshape things?

Oh sure. Everyone's first conlangs are probably worse than their later ones; I don't like some of the Verdurian lexicon, and that's after one major rewrite. But eh, I'm used to it and there's a metanarrative justification.

I often learn new things that should have affected the world more. Sometimes I can throw them in as I detail the history. E.g. I didn't contemplate epidemics and ecological disasters at first. The timing worked out to add some of these, though you may notice they're more central to Arcél than to Ereláe.

I used to somewhat regret the Elenicoi— they're kind of clumsy— but the solution was to make more, not less, use of otherworlds.

Do you have any regrets?

Covered in the last question, I think.

How has Patreon affected the creative process? Were these effects positive or negative? Or both? Or neither?

It's very helpful, because a) it's extra income, b) provides focus— gotta create content!, and c) provides feedback and encouragement.

More later, dinnertime now.

How does the zompist/sasaha working relationship, well, work?

Mostly, sasasha comes up with stuff and we work it out by e-mail. Sometimes I have to point out some stuff about the Almeology, sometimes he asks questions that make me think more about how things work. I wrote a big long document for Almea+400 on travel in classical Eretald largely to provide more background for things he was working on.

With HM, more of it goes the other way: I come up with something and run it by him. Then the same e-mail back-and-forth.

I wouldn't have been so open to this years ago-- I felt like Almea was a very personal project. But again, they both brought things I couldn't do, and also they know so much about Almea that it's a pleasure to work with them.

Partnerships can work all sorts of ways, so I don't at all say this is how every one should work.

What unexpected aspects of worldbuilding surprised you?

Hmm. I've reinterpreted some things in Almea that might surprise my earlier self. On the other hand, I generally go out of my way to use rather than rework what's already established. I think it adds depth to the project. Most conworlds are too uniform and don't have the wild diversity of Earth. It's hard enough to build that diversity; I don't want to throw something out just because I now disagree with it.

It's maybe easier to point out, with other authors, what pitfalls can occur. E.g. I think it was a mistake for Asimov to combine psychohistory with robots. It basically spoils psychohistory as a concept. On the other side, though I admire Iain Banks's Culture novels, I think he fell in love with his conculture too much, and chickened out on giving it a real challenge or something that actually questioned its basic beliefs.

Is there any finer point or background detail that might easily be missed by the reader that you’re especially happy or proud of?

Hmm, it's kind of a pet peeve when people assume that concultures "are" one nation or another, like (say) Ismahi is just France with the serial numbers filed off. I try to use multiple models, plus derive things from the local geography, history, neighbors, etc.

With Almea+400, if there is a choice of how to go, I try to take all the paths. So there's not just one type of government or politics or culture that everyone adopts. Both the nicer and the nastier regimes come in multiple variants, including some never tested much on our world.

What pitfalls, obvious or otherwise, would you caution against and what would you recommend regarding resolving or avoiding them?

This is kind of tempting me to rewrite or restate the PCK. I guess I'd offer a few good lessons from my own development:

1. Keep reading and learning. Read more history and other nonfiction than fantasy.
2. Don't endlessly rework a project. Finish it, get it into a nice form, publish it. You can always rework it later.
3. Re-evaluate who are the good guys and the bad guys. You don't have to invert everything, but a good guy without flaws is boring, and a villain should always have something to say for himself. And sometimes a very small change of perspective turns one into the other.

If you're asking about collaborations in particular, I wouldn't say we've run into any real pitfalls. I could probably talk about creative partnerships in general (outside Almea), if that would be helpful.

I’m just going to add a couple of points from my perspective.

The exchange on the general questions about Almea thread is basically indicative of how ‘my part of the sausage’ is made. I come up with something I want to explore. Usually it is rooted in thinking about Almean music. But that can be quite a loose motivation. "Everything is relevant to composition," we used to say in music college. That’s true: music has social, cultural, material dimensions (I could add more categories) that mean questions about it rove into every field.

For instance, I’m still writing (musician) Kaidan Žambey’s diary (to explore music-making in Eretald, though it also has other artistic aims, in that I want to present the setting as vividly as possible). He will pass through several settlements about which we know a little before reaching Verduria-city, about which we know a lot.

I want to write about them in a way that fits zomp’s worldbuilding to date and vision, otherwise there’s no point. (I could say more about this, but it would be getting off-topic. Basically the data that exists about Almea is the cornerstone of my compositional parameters and thus paramount to uphold; also, I love Almea’s existing fractal detail and want to work with it respectfully.)

This brings a lot of questions.

In the end I’ve literally drawn the towns. (Well, one in particular - Ulian - and one in a lot less detail - Anaseri.) We emailed a lot for months about the details. I’m still not happy Ulian is right, otherwise I’d have shared it. Sometimes zomp helps me let little things go that I’m obsessed over: you can’t get everything perfect all the time. That’s one of his points of advice for worldbuilding above.

Another example is with music notation. To explore this I ended up exploring scribal history across Eretald. As an upshot I created several historical/regional scribal hands which I sent to zomp. Zomp happened to be doing parallel work on this and he developed what I’d done. If you follow the Patreon you’ll see some of it in action. (We had a good discussion on the board about this with bradrn too.)

Over the years there have been many such areas where my exploration of music has brought worldbuilding questions: I’ve had lots of questions about rivers and boats, for instance! (Because musicians are usually a mobile, if frequently dejected, category.) This led to me writing excerpts from a riverboat captain’s guide to the waterways of Eretald...

Sometimes I have a minor existential crisis and worry that I’m a nuisance. Zomp repeats that he enjoys what I bring because I know Almea well, and because addressing questions ultimately deepens the worldbuilding. Of course, there’s no compunction on him to accept the stuff I come up with, so I tend to throw a lot in the pot and wait to see what bubbles up to the top.

When I bring new ideas I try to make sure I have researched what he has already put out about it as comprehensively as I can. There are 3.5 million published words about Almea and god knows how much board/email correspondence. So this is my way of showing respect. I think respect (in general) is the cornerstone of creative collaboration.

Btw, my involvement began when I wrote a piece of music that seemed to me redolent of the vibe of Eretald somehow. I ummed and ahhed about whether to email it to zomp ‒ surely he wouldn’t be interested in my frippery, etc. His response was very warm, full of questions and encouragement ‒ again, respectful. That became the music for the Almea+400 video. It’s gone from there. I’m very glad I sent the email!

sasasha wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 3:21 am There are 3.5 million published words about Almea

Wow.

I cannot reply in depth at the moment but I want to acknowledge everyone and the information they’ve provided. It is a treasure trove of illumination. I want to address some of the specific points but I don’t have the time right now to craft a proper response.

…wait, who’s ‘HM’?

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 10:15 am …wait, who’s ‘HM’?

Initially a subscriber to zompist's Patreon who got very active in the comments section there. Apparently a military background. Eventually he ended up advising zompist on all kinds of military aspects of the fictional history that the Patreon is focused on.

I wonder if Zompist has a background in canvas painting, there's a painting-like quality to his work. I am particularly in love with the picture of Eretald (drill 3) on the Drilldown page. I've always wondered what the process was behind creating that specific image (the only physical painting for an Almea-related project that I'm aware of). It'd be nice to see the rest of Almea in this style

On another note I've been curious recently of what program he's used to create his 3D representations of Almea's moons.

(Hope it's okay asking here, this is my first post and figured it was more appropriate here.)

RAscorpion wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 8:25 pm I wonder if Zompist has a background in canvas painting, there's a painting-like quality to his work. I am particularly in love with the picture of Eretald (drill 3) on the Drilldown page. I've always wondered what the process was behind creating that specific image (the only physical painting for an Almea-related project that I'm aware of). It'd be nice to see the rest of Almea in this style

I like that pic too, but you don't get more because it's so much work. I painted it on my dorm room wall in college; you can see it here:

https://www.zompist.com/secreth.htm

It's done in acrylic paint. First the background was painted in flat white. Then the coast and rivers in blue. Then the mountains, in dark gray. Then, the clever bit: the terrain colors are all diluted down-- I think with water, I forget now-- so the mountains can be seen under them.

It took almost two years. Fortunately I got some good photos of it, and those were used to make the map.

On another note I've been curious recently of what program he's used to create his 3D representations of Almea's moons.

All done in Photoshop Elements.

(Hope it's okay asking here, this is my first post and figured it was more appropriate here.)

Absolutely OK!

zompist wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 11:22 pm
I like that pic too, but you don't get more because it's so much work. I painted it on my dorm room wall in college; you can see it here:

https://www.zompist.com/secreth.htm

Ah yes I remember. and I figured there weren't more because of how much work was put into it. My memory is famous for serving me wrong but I could've sworn you had it on canvas in a frame.

It's done in acrylic paint. First the background was painted in flat white. Then the coast and rivers in blue. Then the mountains, in dark gray. Then, the clever bit: the terrain colors are all diluted down-- I think with water, I forget now-- so the mountains can be seen under them.

Ah, I remember the process, but I've always wondered if you had studied geology. Again, my memory not serving me. I know you said you were not a geologist on your "How to Draw Nice Maps" tutorial, but the mountains in the painting of Eretald and the tutorial map of Arcél fooled me, and of course you get two different views of the mountains: on a regional level (Eretald), and on a continental level (Arcél), and they match their respective levels. I can get a feel of Eretald's size from looking at the details of the mountains, and same with Arcél. I've tried taking reference and learning from those and other maps and find it to be quite challenging (particularly up-close top-down views of mountains) and wondered how you pulled it off. Did you study a lot of geology, used reference, just wing it, or a combination of all three?

All done in Photoshop Elements.

Ah okay. Always been fascinated with the moons and how they're described in various cultures. I wonder if I can cheat and ask about the planets and their relevance in Almean cultures, but that's probably another topic entirely. Thank you for the answers!

RAscorpion wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2026 8:39 am I wonder if I can cheat and ask about the planets and their relevance in Almean cultures, but that's probably another topic entirely. Thank you for the answers!

Hm. I see that you're new to this forum, and I remember that I've seen other forums elsewhere on the web where only moderators, or administrators, or some special groups of users were allowed to start new threads.

So, just in case that there might have been a misunderstanding: Here on the ZBB, every member can start a new thread. If you have a question, and there's no existing thread where you think it would fit, you can start your own. (It's just better to start it in the most fitting one of the forums.)

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2026 9:43 am Hm. I see that you're new to this forum, and I remember that I've seen other forums elsewhere on the web where only moderators, or administrators, or some special groups of users were allowed to start new threads.

So, just in case that there might have been a misunderstanding: Here on the ZBB, every member can start a new thread. If you have a question, and there's no existing thread where you think it would fit, you can start your own. (It's just better to start it in the most fitting one of the forums.)

Yeah I'm new, I've never used a forum before (ironic given my age and interests). I triple-checked all the rules and tried to read the room as much as I could before I said anything that could get myself embarrassed. I was rather intimidated and didn't want to start a topic of my own. I saw this topic so I was eager to get an inside look into the creative process. Thank you for the answer!