: Re: Should I include an appendix for inessential, yet related worldbuilding to my story? I'm of the opinion that a story should stand on its own; any worldbuilding that is necessary for the plot

@LarsenBagley300

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I have a technique I call the "Scruffy Nerf Herder Test". If I'm using something totally not real, I need to make sure that the context in the dialog makes the meaning of the word perfectly clear. The name of course comes from the dialog between Princess Leia and Han Solo in Star Wars where Leia hurls the line "Why you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking Nerf Herder!" and storms out of the room, with Han responding by repeating what he perceives to be the worst insult: "Scruffy Looking?!"

The gag is an excellent example as to how to world build without needing to detail. From Leia's dialog, it's clear that she's throwing together insults haphazardly and whatever a Nerf is, it's a gross animal. I know the author has described a Nerf outside of the film, I do not care... whatever a Nerf is, I know shepherding a herd of them means somewhere in my past, I should have listened to that hooded fellow who was telling me I should go home and rethink my life.

Not knowing what Nerf is also does not hurt the joke: Of the three insults I do know, Han is taking offense at the tamest one of them all, Scruffy looking. This is a typical comedy gag where the least offensive insult is the one that gets the most protests from the person on the receiving end. It's as if Han was saying, "Yeah, I maybe stuck up and half-witted... and yeah, I smuggled some live stock back in the day, who hasn't? But Scruffy Looking?! Why, I never?!"

Alternatively, we know Han has just moments earlier, hit on Leia and now she is flummoxed and put in an awkward situation... So she comes up with a insults that are lacking for punch and Han is reacting in this way to mock her use of the weak Scruffy-looking as a cutting insult. Either way, Han and Leia are bickering despite having resisted feelings for each other, playing the "Fighting like and Old Married Couple" trope common in romantic fictions.

Either way, the test is that, if the implication of the dialog can carry all that is needed by the dialog, even with some of the concepts not being known to the reader. For example, your Godswater discussion can be easily carried by refering to it as the "City of Godswater" and maybe speaking to it's characterization in the Universe (A wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy? A shining beacon on a hill? Have the character give a passing nod to the outsider's perspective and move along... save it for the sequel. Alternatively, as this is a Fantasy, the Fantasy world map is a pretty common occurrence, you can mark Godswater on the map and move on. Even in Avatar the entire World Map is revealed in the first Episode so one can see locations with respect to their journey... there are even maps that trace the Journey around the world.

The crown or royal electorate automatically reek of government offices (especially a distant one as there is no mention of the Monarch by name. There are even some countries that still exist in current year that use terms like this. For example, England often uses "The Crown" to speak of the generic Monarch or something belonging to her.

For the politics between families of note, you can have a little blurb of antagonism that hints there's a past history of unpleasantness but not a necessary overt or espoused reason for the antagonism. Or have the character say something like "Last time that happened, you nearly died" and when the Protagonists new friend asks why the guy almost died the last time that happen, have the protagonist casually drop "Cause I stabbed him." The Goblin family can easily be discussed by mentioning it's "The Goblin Clan/Family/Whatever group goblins live in [Family Name]" to indicate that they are a family and they are goblins.

Even if you do have a lot of world building concepts, you shouldn't need an appendex on your book to get the point across. Show, don't tell, remember? Keep in mind that in Harry Potter, we waited for seven books to learn that Dumbledoor's light dampening "Put Outer" was really called a "Dilluminator".

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