: Find ways to weave the actions of the plot into the more specific aspects of the world. In the universe I'm writing, a certain country's noble houses mark their illegitimate children with

Find ways to weave the actions of the plot into the more specific aspects of the world. In the universe I'm writing, a certain country's noble houses mark their illegitimate children with a corrupted version of the actual house name. Do I ever have to sit the reader down and tell them this?

No, instead I have the main character (an illegitimate daughter) exist while her mother is evidently unmarried and promiscuous, and while her mother is referred to from her POV as 'Marissa Gemfire' (another case of showing rather than telling; her distant relationship is made clear simply by the fact she doesn't think of her as 'mother'/'mum') while the MC is called 'Amerei Gemcutter'.

I trust the reader to notice the discrepancy and conclude that illegitimate children don't get to have a proper noble surname. Another example is 'the Parakosi system' - in this same country, a single city-state called Parakos is democratic. Do I have to sit the reader down and tell them that? No, instead I occasionally have feudal nobles mock 'the Parakosi system' as mob rule, and have the current Parakosi lady allude to being voted in as part of her dialogue.

There are many ways to do it, but it's always better to weave worldbuilding with plot and action rather than sit down and say 'this is how things work, take notes'.

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