agentsclimarketplace

Worldbuilding

Skill danjdewhurst/story-skills/skills/worldbuilding

Agent Skills for end-to-end story writing in markdown, packaged as Codex and Claude Code plugins.

Install
npx -y skills add danjdewhurst/story-skills --skill worldbuilding

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What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

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.

SKILL.md

4.8 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

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. 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
  5. Write the file using references/location-template.md
  6. Save to worldbuilding/locations/{name-kebab}.md
  7. Update worldbuilding/_index.md locations table
  8. 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
  9. When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story links ., and story validate .

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
  4. Build the system through conversation, addressing the key questions for that type
  5. Write the file using references/system-template.md
  6. Save to worldbuilding/systems/{name-kebab}.md
  7. Update worldbuilding/_index.md systems table
  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 links ., and story validate .

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

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

Updating World Elements

  1. Read the existing file
  2. Make the requested changes
  3. If cross-references changed, update the linked files
  4. Update worldbuilding/_index.md if name, type, or status changed
  5. When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story links ., and story validate .

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
  • 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 but the story-maintenance skill is present, use node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js with the same arguments, resolving the path relative to this skill folder. If no CLI is available, perform the registry and backlink 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)

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