An open book with a fantasy world emerging from its pages, the work of a worldbuilding consultant.

No items found.

What is a Worldbuilding Consultant & Do You Need One?

The best creative partnerships push your vision further than you could take it alone. When you're deep inside your own creation, it can be hard to see the gaps or untapped potential. A worldbuilding consultant provides that essential fresh perspective, acting as your first audience member and a dedicated collaborator. Their role is to listen to your core ideas, ask the tough questions, and help you build upon your foundation in ways that feel both surprising and authentic. They are your partner in creation, helping you refine your world’s rules and enrich its lore to build a more compelling and expansive universe for your story.

Key Takeaways

Think of a consultant as an architect for your IP's future: They build the essential framework—the rules, history, and logic—that ensures your world is strong enough to support a transmedia franchise across games, film, and beyond.
Find a partner who strengthens your vision, not replaces it: The right consultant acts as an extension of your team, asking tough questions and stress-testing your ideas to make your world more cohesive, all while keeping your original concept at the center.
A solid foundation saves you time and money in the long run: Working with a consultant early in the process helps prevent narrative dead ends and inconsistencies that can lead to expensive rewrites later, ensuring your world is ready for a smooth expansion across multiple platforms.

What is a Worldbuilding Consultant?

Think of a worldbuilding consultant as the architect for your fictional universe. They are creative professionals who help IP holders, writers, and developers create detailed, believable, and internally consistent worlds for their stories. Whether you’re starting with a single character idea or a sprawling map, a consultant can step in at any stage to help you build a solid foundation. Their job is to ensure every element—from the laws of physics to cultural norms—feels authentic and cohesive.

This process is about more than just dreaming up cool concepts. It’s a strategic discipline that underpins compelling storytelling across any medium. A well-constructed world invites audiences to immerse themselves fully, making the narrative more impactful and memorable. For properties intended to span multiple platforms, this foundational work is essential. A consultant helps establish the canon and the core logic that will guide every future game, film, or series, ensuring a seamless experience for your audience. This is a core part of the strategic services that turn a good idea into a lasting franchise.

What a Worldbuilding Consultant Does

A worldbuilding consultant acts as your dedicated creative partner. Their primary role is to collaborate with you to refine your vision, brainstorm new ideas, and solve narrative puzzles. They are your first audience member, stress-testing the logic of your world to find what works and what doesn’t. They’ll ask the tough questions you might not have thought of: What does your world’s economy run on? How does its history influence its politics? What are the social consequences of its magic or technology? By probing these details, they help you build a world that is not only imaginative but also functional and believable, ensuring it can support the stories you want to tell.

How They Develop Your World

Consultants help you flesh out the specific details that make a world feel real. They can open your eyes to different facets of worldbuilding, from creating detailed maps and geographies to developing complex cultures, social systems, and even unique languages. If you have a vision but lack the time or specific expertise to build out every corner of your universe, a consultant can step in to fill those gaps. They can provide original content that enriches your world and keeps your audience engaged. This detailed groundwork is what allows a universe like the Star Wars galaxy to feel so expansive yet consistent across films, series, and games, providing a reliable framework for every new story.

Why Hire a Worldbuilding Consultant?

Bringing a new world to life is an immense creative challenge. Even with a brilliant concept, the sheer scale of building a believable universe—from its history and cultures to its physical laws—can be overwhelming for any creative team. This is where a worldbuilding consultant comes in. They aren't there to take over your project, but to act as a strategic partner who can help you flesh out your ideas, ensure consistency, and build a solid foundation for your story to grow. Think of them as an architect for your fictional reality, ensuring the groundwork is solid before you start building the narrative.

Hiring a consultant is about investing in the longevity and depth of your intellectual property. They provide the specialized expertise needed to transform a good idea into a rich, immersive world that can captivate audiences across games, films, and beyond. By handling the intricate details of world construction, they free you up to focus on what you do best: telling a great story. This collaboration can save you time, sharpen your creative focus, and ensure your world is robust enough to support a sprawling transmedia franchise. It's a strategic move that pays off by creating a more believable, engaging, and expandable IP.

Save Time and Resources

Building a world from scratch is a time-intensive process that involves extensive research, planning, and creative problem-solving. A worldbuilding consultant can significantly shorten this timeline. They step in with a framework and a process, helping you avoid common pitfalls and dead ends. Whether you’re starting with a single character or a detailed outline, a consultant can meet you where you are and help build out the necessary elements efficiently.

Instead of spending months researching ancient political systems or theoretical physics, you can lean on their expertise. They can quickly develop the lore, history, and societal structures that make your world feel lived-in. This allows your team to concentrate on the core narrative and character development, keeping your project on schedule and within budget.

Strengthen Your Creative Vision

Sometimes, you’re so close to a project that it’s hard to see it clearly. A worldbuilding consultant provides a fresh, expert perspective that can help refine and strengthen your original vision. They act as a dedicated sounding board, asking the tough questions that push your ideas further and help identify potential inconsistencies or untapped opportunities within your world. Their goal is to help you build a more cohesive and compelling universe.

This collaborative process often leads to a richer, more layered world than you might have created alone. A consultant can help you brainstorm new concepts or expand on existing ones, ensuring every element—from the geography to the social customs—serves the story. By challenging your assumptions and offering new possibilities, they help you create a world that feels truly authentic and is ready for expansion, much like the intricate Star Wars universe.

Get Expert Help with Complex Systems

Every believable world is built on a set of underlying systems, whether it’s a unique magic system, a futuristic economy, or the intricate politics of warring kingdoms. Developing these systems requires a specific skill set that goes beyond storytelling. Worldbuilding consultants are experts in creating these complex, interlocking rules that govern a fictional reality. They ensure the internal logic of your world is sound, which is critical for audience immersion.

They can also create tangible assets that are invaluable for your entire creative team. This includes detailed maps, historical timelines, and comprehensive "world bibles" that document everything from language to technology. These documents become the single source of truth for writers, artists, and developers, ensuring consistency as your IP expands across different platforms. This level of detail provides the solid foundation needed for complex projects like Marvel's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

What Services Do Worldbuilding Consultants Offer?

A worldbuilding consultant does more than just dream up cool names for cities and sketch out a map. They are architects of entire universes, offering a suite of services designed to build a solid foundation for your story, no matter the medium. Their work is about creating a cohesive, believable, and expandable world where your narrative can thrive. Think of them as the master planners who ensure the plumbing, electricity, and structural integrity of your fictional reality are all in place before you start decorating the rooms.

From the grand sweep of a galaxy's history to the minute details of a local dialect, their services are tailored to your project's specific needs. Whether you're developing a new video game, a film franchise, or a multi-platform story, a consultant provides the strategic and creative support to make your world feel real. They help build the internal logic that allows your IP to grow and adapt, ensuring every new story feels like a natural extension of the original vision. This foundational work is what turns a good idea into a lasting, interconnected entertainment ecosystem.

Crafting Maps and Geography

The ground beneath your characters' feet is the literal foundation of your world. A consultant helps you shape this foundation by crafting the geography that will define your story. This isn't just about drawing continents; it's about understanding how a mountain range might isolate a culture, how a river system could become a major trade route, or how a desolate wasteland could forge a hardy, resourceful people.

They work with you to create custom maps that serve the narrative, whether it's a high-level world map for an epic fantasy, a detailed city map for a detective story, or a tactical battle map for a game. These maps are more than just pretty pictures; they are storytelling tools that add depth, establish scale, and create a tangible sense of place for your audience.

Developing Cultures and Social Systems

A world is only as believable as the people who inhabit it. A worldbuilding consultant helps breathe life into your societies by developing their unique cultures and social systems. This involves designing everything from government structures and legal codes to religious beliefs, social etiquette, and daily traditions. They help answer the big questions: What do these people value? How is power distributed? What are their foundational myths and holidays?

To make these cultures feel authentic, many consultants draw inspiration from human history, using past civilizations as a starting point to create something new and compelling. This process ensures your world's societies are rich, complex, and internally consistent, providing a vibrant backdrop for character development and conflict.

Creating Characters and Languages

While you are the ultimate creator of your main characters, a consultant can help populate the rest of your world with a cast that feels just as real. They assist in establishing naming conventions that are consistent with your world's cultures and can help develop extensive lists of non-player characters (NPCs), complete with their own backstories, motivations, and connections.

This service can extend to creating detailed family trees for noble houses, outlining the pantheon of gods and their domains, or even developing the basics of a constructed language. By fleshing out the network of individuals surrounding your protagonists, they help make your world feel inhabited and dynamic, giving your story a deeper sense of community and history.

Supporting Your Transmedia Story

In today's entertainment landscape, a strong world is one that can live beyond a single medium. A key service a worldbuilding consultant offers is ensuring your world is robust enough to support a transmedia strategy. They build a world with a solid, consistent core of lore, rules, and history that can be explored across games, films, books, and more without creating contradictions.

This is where worldbuilding becomes a true narrative and systems design practice. The consultant creates a comprehensive "world bible" that acts as a single source of truth for all creative teams, ensuring that a detail mentioned in a comic book aligns with the events of a video game. This foundational work is essential for expanding your IP and building a lasting franchise.

How to Choose the Right Worldbuilding Consultant

Finding the right worldbuilding consultant is less like hiring a contractor and more like choosing a key creative partner. This person or team will become a guardian of your world's logic and a champion for its potential. The goal is to find someone who not only understands your vision but can also build upon it in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable. A great consultant doesn't just answer your questions; they help you ask better ones, pushing the boundaries of your world while respecting its core truths. They are the architects who ensure your creative foundation is strong enough to support stories across games, films, and beyond.

When you start your search, think about three main areas: their specific expertise, the work they’ve done before, and how they approach collaboration. Do they have a track record of building the kinds of complex systems your world needs? Does their portfolio show a deep understanding of your genre and its audience? And, just as importantly, does their working style fit with your team’s creative process? Answering these questions will help you move beyond a simple resume and find a partner who can help your IP thrive across every new story and platform you explore. The right fit will make your world feel more real, consistent, and ready for expansion.

Look for Key Skills and Experience

A worldbuilding consultant should be more than just a creative thinker; they need a specific skill set to build a world that can stand up to scrutiny. Look for experience in creating detailed systems, whether that’s for magic, technology, politics, or economies. They should be able to help you define the rules of your universe and ensure they are applied consistently. A great consultant works with you at any stage, from a simple idea to a fully developed world needing a critical eye. This often requires a partner with a range of creative and technical services to handle everything from narrative design to environmental art.

Review Their Portfolio and Genre Focus

A consultant’s portfolio is your best window into their capabilities. As you review their past projects, look for evidence that they can create the specific tone and atmosphere your world requires. If you’re building a sprawling sci-fi universe, you need a partner who understands the nuances of the genre, from speculative physics to interstellar politics. Their work should show an ability to make a world feel authentic and lived-in, which is crucial for audience immersion. For example, our work on projects within the Star Wars universe required a deep respect for existing lore while carving out new, believable spaces within it. Find a consultant whose past work aligns with your project’s DNA.

Find the Right Collaboration Style

The best consultant-creator relationships are true partnerships. Before you commit, have an open conversation about how you’ll work together. Some creators need a hands-on collaborator for brainstorming sessions, while others prefer to hand off a brief and receive a detailed world bible. Neither approach is wrong, but it’s vital to find a consultant whose process matches your team’s workflow. Do they ask thoughtful questions? Do they listen to your core ideas before offering their own? You’re looking for a partner who can both challenge and support your vision. The right consultant feels like an extension of your own creative team, dedicated to making your world as rich and compelling as it can be.

How Much Does a Worldbuilding Consultant Cost?

Let's talk about the bottom line. The cost of hiring a worldbuilding consultant isn't a simple, one-size-fits-all number. It varies widely based on who you hire, what you need, and how you structure your collaboration. Think of it less like buying a product off the shelf and more like commissioning a custom piece of art for your intellectual property.

Understanding the different ways consultants structure their fees and what factors drive the price will help you find a partner that fits your budget and your project's ambitions. This knowledge allows you to have a more productive conversation about your needs and ensures you're making a smart investment in your world's foundation.

Understanding Their Pricing Models

Worldbuilding consultants use a few common pricing structures to charge for their services. The most straightforward is an hourly rate, where you pay for the time they spend on your project. Another popular approach is value-based pricing, which ties the fee to the impact the work has on your IP's success. This model is great when the consultant's contribution can significantly increase your project's value. You might also encounter fixed-price agreements for well-defined projects with a clear scope, or retainer agreements for ongoing support throughout a long development cycle. Each model has its place, and the best one depends on your project's needs and timeline.

What Influences the Final Cost

Several key factors will shape the final quote you receive. The biggest one is the scope of the project. Are you looking for a basic cultural outline, or are you building an entire galaxy for a new game franchise? The more complex and detailed the world, the more it will cost. A consultant's experience and expertise also play a huge role. A veteran worldbuilder with credits on major films or games will naturally charge more than a newcomer. Finally, a clear statement of work (SOW) that details every deliverable is crucial. It ensures everyone is on the same page and helps determine the most appropriate pricing for the job.

Challenges a Worldbuilding Consultant Helps You Solve

Even the most imaginative creators hit roadblocks. Building a world from scratch is a massive undertaking, and it’s easy to get lost in the details or stuck on a particular problem. A worldbuilding consultant acts as your strategic partner, providing the structure, expertise, and fresh perspective needed to push past these common hurdles. They help you refine your vision and ensure the foundation of your world is solid enough to support any story you want to tell.

Break Through Creative Blocks

It happens to everyone: you’re staring at a blank page, and the ideas just aren’t flowing. Or maybe you have a great core concept but can’t figure out how to flesh it out. A worldbuilding consultant is an expert brainstormer and problem-solver. They act as a sounding board, asking the right questions to help you see your world from new angles. By collaborating with you, they can help identify what’s working, what isn’t, and where the most exciting opportunities are hidden. This partnership helps you develop your IP by turning a creative spark into a fully realized universe.

Fill Knowledge and Research Gaps

You don’t have to be an expert in astrophysics, medieval politics, and theoretical magic to create a compelling world—but your world needs to feel like it was designed by one. Consultants bring specialized knowledge to the table, filling in the gaps in your own research. Whether you need to design a believable economic system for a galactic empire or ensure the cultural traditions of a fantasy race are coherent and meaningful, an expert can provide the necessary details. This research and expertise make your world feel authentic and lived-in, allowing your audience to suspend their disbelief and fully immerse themselves in the story.

Maintain Consistency in Your World

As your world grows, so does its complexity. Keeping track of all the rules, history, and character relationships can be a monumental task, especially when expanding across different media. A consultant helps establish and maintain internal consistency, ensuring your world follows its own logic. This is crucial for creating a believable experience for your audience. They help you build a "world bible" that documents everything from the laws of physics to the lineage of a royal family, ensuring that every new story, whether a game or a series, feels like a true part of the same universe.

Expand on Existing Ideas

Sometimes, a great idea just needs a little push to become something truly special. A worldbuilding consultant can take your existing concepts and help you explore their full potential. They are skilled at seeing the bigger picture and can identify opportunities to add depth and nuance you might have missed. This could mean developing a simple magic system into a complex social institution or turning a minor character’s backstory into a compelling new storyline. Their goal is to help you build a world that is not only detailed but also rich with possibilities for future transmedia storytelling.

How Do Worldbuilding Consultants Collaborate with Creators?

Bringing a worldbuilding consultant onto your team isn’t about handing over the reins. It’s about finding a dedicated partner who can help you map out, pressure-test, and enrich your creative vision. The process is a true collaboration, designed to build upon your foundation and make your world feel as real to your audience as it does to you. From the first conversation to ongoing support, a consultant works alongside you to ensure every element of your world is cohesive, compelling, and ready for any story you want to tell within it. This partnership is flexible and adapts to your specific needs, whether you're just starting with a concept or expanding a well-established universe into new formats.

The Initial Consultation and Plan

Your collaboration starts with an initial consultation where the consultant gets to know you and your project. You’ll discuss your core idea, the current state of your world, your goals, and any specific challenges you’re facing. This isn't a test; it's a deep-dive conversation to align on the vision. A great consultant can jump in at any stage, from a simple premise to a detailed draft. Based on this discussion, they will develop a strategic plan outlining the scope of work, key areas of focus, and a timeline. This roadmap ensures everyone is on the same page and provides a clear path forward for developing your world’s lore, systems, and stories.

The Collaborative Development Process

Once the plan is in place, the real work begins. This phase is a dynamic, hands-on partnership. You and the consultant will brainstorm ideas, ask critical questions, and flesh out the details of your world together. They act as a sounding board, helping you explore possibilities you might not have considered while ensuring new ideas align with your established rules. This process often involves regular meetings, shared documents, and feedback loops. For example, if you're building a universe for a new game, a consultant can help you develop the factions, history, and environments that will shape the player experience, much like the creative strategy development required for major transmedia properties.

How They Provide Ongoing Support

A worldbuilding consultant’s value often extends far beyond the initial development phase. As your project grows, they can provide ongoing support to maintain consistency and help you expand on your ideas. Need to create a new region for a sequel or adapt your story for a different medium? Your consultant can step in to ensure the new content feels like a natural extension of the original world. They can fill in details you don't have time to create yourself or provide fresh content to keep your audience engaged. This long-term support is crucial for building interconnected entertainment ecosystems, like the one seen in the Star Wars universe, where every new story adds to a larger, cohesive whole.

Common Myths About Worldbuilding Consultants

When you're considering bringing in an expert, it's natural for a few questions—and misconceptions—to pop up. You might worry about losing control of your vision or stretching your budget too thin. Let's clear the air and address some of the most common myths about working with a worldbuilding consultant so you can make a confident decision for your project.

Myth: They Take Over Your Project

One of the biggest fears creators have is that a consultant will steamroll their ideas and take over the creative direction. In reality, a good consultant does the exact opposite. Think of them as a collaborative partner, not a director. Their job is to help you refine and expand your vision, not replace it. They act as a sounding board, asking the right questions to fill in gaps and stress-test your concepts. The goal is always to make your world more cohesive and believable while ensuring it remains fundamentally yours. The best partnerships feel like an extension of your own team, dedicated to bringing your unique story to life.

Myth: They're Too Expensive

The word "consultant" can sometimes sound expensive, but it's more helpful to think of it as an investment in your IP's foundation. Getting expert feedback early on can save you significant time and money down the line by preventing costly rewrites, redesigns, or narrative dead ends. A solid world is the bedrock of any successful transmedia expansion. Many consultants and studios offer flexible services that can be scaled to your project's specific needs and budget. Instead of viewing it as a cost, consider it a strategic step toward building a durable and profitable franchise.

Myth: They Offer a Cookie-Cutter Solution

It's easy to assume a consultant might apply a generic template to your world, especially if it fits a popular genre like fantasy or sci-fi. However, a true expert's value lies in their ability to craft bespoke solutions. They draw on deep knowledge of history, culture, science, and storytelling to add layers of unique detail that make your world feel real and distinct. A consultant’s role is to help you discover what makes your world different, not the same. They can open your eyes to new possibilities and ensure every element, from social structures to technology, serves your core narrative, as seen in unique projects like Lollipop Racing.

Where to Find a Worldbuilding Consultant

Once you’ve decided to bring in an expert, the next step is finding the right one for your project. A great worldbuilding consultant acts as a true creative partner, so it’s worth taking the time to find someone who understands your vision and can help you execute it. The search isn’t just about finding talent; it’s about finding the right collaborator who can integrate seamlessly with your team and elevate your IP. Think of this process as casting a key role for your creative team. You’re looking for a specific set of skills, a compatible working style, and a genuine passion for the world you’re trying to build.

Whether you’re expanding a beloved universe or creating one from scratch, the right consultant will feel like a natural extension of your team, helping you solve complex narrative challenges and build a world that resonates with audiences for years to come. The good news is that there are many places to find these experts, from broad freelance marketplaces to specialized agencies and individual consultants with deep industry experience. The key is to know what you need and how to spot the right talent when you see it. This involves looking beyond a flashy portfolio and digging into their process, their communication style, and their ability to solve the specific creative problems you're facing. Let's walk through where to look and what to look for.

Find Them on Online Platforms

Your search for a worldbuilding consultant can start right from your desk. Online platforms are full of talented freelancers and specialized agencies ready to jump into new projects. Websites like Fiverr and Upwork host a wide range of creatives offering freelance worldbuilding services, from map-making to developing entire magic systems. These platforms are great for finding specialists for specific, well-defined tasks.

Beyond general freelance sites, look for consultants in professional communities and niche networks. Many experienced worldbuilders are active on LinkedIn or have personal websites showcasing their portfolios. You can also find them in writers' communities or specialized groups where they offer coaching and workshops. These experts often bring a deep understanding of narrative structure and can offer more strategic, long-term support for your project.

How to Evaluate Candidates

When you start reviewing potential consultants, it’s about more than just their portfolio. You need to assess if they are the right fit to solve your specific challenges. Are you feeling overwhelmed with the sheer scale of your world? A good consultant can provide structure and a clear path forward. Do you need help making your world’s economy or political systems feel authentic? Look for someone with a proven track record of building a cohesive and engaging world with that kind of depth.

Ask candidates about their process. How do they collaborate with creators? How do they handle creative differences? Look for someone who asks thoughtful questions about your IP and shows genuine curiosity. The best consultants don’t just provide answers; they help you ask the right questions to strengthen your vision and ensure every element of your world serves the story you want to tell.

How to Maximize Your Investment

Hiring a worldbuilding consultant is a significant step, and you want to make sure every moment and dollar counts. The key to a successful partnership lies in your preparation and your long-term vision. By thinking strategically from the start, you can transform a helpful collaboration into a foundational asset for your intellectual property. It’s not just about getting unstuck; it’s about building a world with the structural integrity to grow in any direction you choose. Let’s walk through how you can set yourself and your consultant up for success and ensure the world you build together has limitless potential.

Prepare for Your First Meeting

Your first meeting with a worldbuilding consultant sets the tone for the entire project. To make it as productive as possible, come prepared. A consultant works with creators at every stage, whether you have a single idea or a nearly finished manuscript, but knowing where you stand is crucial. Before the meeting, take some time to gather all your existing materials—notes, sketches, outlines, and drafts. Think about the specific areas where you feel stuck or overwhelmed. Are you struggling with the political system, the rules of magic, or the planet's geography? Pinpointing these challenges gives your consultant a clear place to start. Having a list of questions and goals will also help focus the conversation and ensure you both leave with a shared understanding of the project's scope and your creative vision.

Extend Your World Across Media

A truly great world is bigger than a single story. When you work with a worldbuilding consultant, you’re not just fixing plot holes; you’re laying the groundwork for a potential transmedia universe. Think beyond the pages of your book or the scenes in your film. A well-developed world has the depth to support video games, spin-off series, comics, and more. This is where worldbuilding becomes a practice that combines story and experience, creating new entry points for your audience. Discuss these long-term ambitions with your consultant. They can help you build foundational elements—like flexible magic systems, detailed historical timelines, and rich cultural lore—that can be explored across different platforms, turning your single IP into an interconnected entertainment ecosystem like the Star Wars universe.

Frequently Asked Questions

At what stage should I bring in a worldbuilding consultant? There really is no wrong time, as a consultant can add value at any point in your process. Some creators bring them in at the very beginning with just a core concept to build a solid foundation from day one. Others hire a consultant when they have a nearly finished world but need help untangling inconsistencies or expanding the lore for a new project. The best time is simply when you feel you need a strategic partner to help you see your world more clearly.

Will I lose creative control of my world? Absolutely not. This is a common fear, but a professional consultant’s role is to be a collaborator, not a director. They are there to support and strengthen your vision by asking tough questions, offering new perspectives, and filling in gaps you might have missed. Think of them as an architect who helps you design a stronger, more interesting building, but you always own the blueprint and make the final calls.

What does a consultant actually deliver? Is it just a document? The final deliverables are always tailored to what your project needs most. While a comprehensive "world bible" is a common and incredibly useful asset, it's just one possibility. You might receive detailed maps, historical timelines, cultural guides, outlines for political or economic systems, or even lists of naming conventions. The goal is to provide tangible, practical tools that your entire creative team can use to keep the world consistent as it grows.

Is a worldbuilding consultant only for big fantasy or sci-fi projects? While they are certainly essential for creating sprawling fantasy and sci-fi universes, their skills are valuable for any story that depends on a believable setting. A consultant can help map out the intricate social dynamics of a historical drama, design the unique subcultures of a modern city for a crime thriller, or establish the rules of a near-future society. If your story needs a consistent and immersive world for its characters to inhabit, a consultant can help build it.

How is a worldbuilding consultant different from a developmental editor or a co-writer? That’s a great question, as the roles can seem to overlap. A developmental editor focuses on the story itself—the plot, pacing, and character arcs—within the world you've already created. A co-writer shares the responsibility of writing the actual narrative. A worldbuilding consultant, on the other hand, focuses on the world as a whole. They are the architects of the setting, designing the underlying systems, history, and cultures that make your story possible and believable.