Worldbuilding FAQ

Short answers to the questions that come up once you've built a world or two. For how each tool works, see World Bible, Time Weaver, Relationship Web, Lexicon Engine, and Consistency Sentinel.

Do I need Pro for the worldbuilding tools?

Yes. The World Bible, Time Weaver, Relationship Web, Lexicon Engine, and Consistency Sentinel are Pro tools. You can read more under Free vs. Pro.

What happens when I delete an entry that's used in relationships?

Deleting an entry moves it to trash rather than erasing it. While it's trashed, its relationships and timeline appearances drop out of the graph and the canvas, so you won't see edges pointing at a missing character. Restore the entry from trash within your plan's recovery window and everything comes back exactly as it was. Nothing is truly gone until the recovery window closes.

How do I delete a whole world, system, timeline, or relationship graph?

Each one lives in that tool's settings, and each goes to Trash so you can change your mind:

• A world: World Bible, Settings tab, Danger zone sub-tab. It takes its entries, timelines, relationships, and systems with it. Your written pieces stay.
• A system: open the system, then its Settings tab and Danger zone. Its rules and members go with it.
• A timeline: the settings gear in the Time Weaver header. Its events go with it.
• A relationship graph: the settings gear in the Relationship Web header, then Clear all relationships. The entries stay; only the connections clear.

All four ask you to confirm first, and all four are recoverable from Manage, then Trash, until your plan's recovery window closes. For the window length and how restore works, see Saving and recovering your work.

Can two entries have the same name?

Names are scoped to a world, so the same name in two different worlds is no problem. Within a single world the tools work best when each entry has a distinct name, since the Consistency Sentinel and the Lexicon Engine reason about names. If you need two characters who share a name, give them different entry titles and note the in-world name in a field.

Do I have to set up a timeline before I can track how a relationship changes?

No. A relationship's history stands on its own. In the Relationship Web you can record a change with just a date label and a sort number, no timeline required. If you do want to anchor a change to a moment, you can link an existing timeline event or create a new one (and even name a new timeline) without leaving the panel. The tools never depend on each other being set up first.

Can a world have more than one timeline?

Yes. Most projects keep a single main history, but a world can hold several: an earlier age, a parallel realm, or a subplot you want to reason about on its own. The Time Weaver lets you switch between them and compare two on a shared scale.

Do I have to switch tools to edit a character or fix the timeline?

Less and less. The worldbuilding tools read the same world, so a lot of the work now comes to you. In the Relationship Web, clicking a character opens a Details tab where you can edit their full record, the same fields as the World Bible, and a Manage timeline button beside the scrubber lets you add and edit events without opening the Time Weaver. When you do need another tool, the Tools menu in the header of every worldbuilding tool jumps you there for the same world, in a new tab, so you never lose your place.

How do I see the relationship map on a small screen?

Use the expand button in the corner of the graph to make it fill the screen, then Exit fullscreen (or the Escape key) to come back. You can pinch or scroll to zoom and drag to pan at any size. On a phone, panels like a character's details open as a full-screen sheet with a clear close button, so nothing hides behind the top bar.

If I rename a character, will the Sentinel flag it as an error?

No. The Consistency Sentinel reads your draft against the World Bible and reports where the prose and the canon disagree. Renaming an entry updates the canon; it doesn't rewrite your drafts. If your prose still uses the old name, that's exactly the kind of name drift the Sentinel will point out, which is the help you want.

Can I merge two worlds into one?

There isn't a one-click merge today. The practical path is to pick the world you want to keep and add the entries you need into it, then retire the other. If you're consolidating a lot, importing worldbuilding material into the world you're keeping can save some retyping.

Why can't I edit the demo world?

The sample world is read-only for everyone, so it stays a clean reference. Make your own world (it takes a moment) and you'll have full edit access to everything in it.

See also: World Bible, Relationship Web, Entity Templates.