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It\u2019s Not Easy Being Green - a 100 word story\n\n\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t like your kind here\u201d said the elf to the orc. \u201cYour kind?\u201d asked the orc, bewildered. \u201cGreen skinned, orcs\u201d the elf retorted. \u201cI\u2019m not an orc\u201d said the orc. \u201cWhat are you then\u201d asked the elf, scratching his head. The orc answered \u201cIsn\u2019t it obvious? I\u2019m an elf.'' The bar exploded in laughter. A ball of arcane energy appeared at the orc\u2019s hand. A few minutes later, everyone at the bar was either scorched or electrified. \u201cMy name is Viridi, I\u2019m an elf and a mage, and no one laughs at me\u201d the orc said as he left.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nHi there and thanks for stopping by. I\u2019m Guy, and you\u2019re listening to my surreal sketchbook of reality.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nEpisode 6, A Ball of Arcane Energy\n\n\n\nFiction is often held together by what is commonly known as world lore. This episode Is a semi-philosophical look at the lore of fictional worlds and what it is made of. I\u2019m not a professional philosopher by any means and my approach can be quite absurd, illogical and not at all that serious, so - you've been warned. Do not take this podcast too seriously. If you tend to take things too seriously, this might not be the podcast for you. Seriously. I mean it. Find another podcast to listen to.\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re still here? Good. Let\u2019s talk about lore. The word lore might be a derivative of the word folklore, but it is far removed from it. If you want to immerse yourself in a fictional world, it has to be a believable one and there has to be some amount of suspension of disbelief. That\u2019s where the lore of the story comes into play. It\u2019s there to help your suspension of disbelief by making fictional worlds more believable. Lore gives you a background for the story and can include everything that surrounds the story, giving it a unique setting like stage decor. Lore is most common in the fictional worlds of fantasy and science fiction, though not exclusive to them. It would include the history of the fictional world, it\u2019s mythology and even the geography of that world. It would include everything that would make it a living, breathing world. If it\u2019s a fantasy world, the lore of that story might include things like the science of magic, how magic scientifically operates in that world. I have an experiment running in the other room. I\u2019m trying to discover how magic works in our world. Let me check out how it\u2019s going. I\u2019ll be right back.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nGolbins - a 100 word story\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Golbins are coming.\u201d I looked at the man with the unwashed hair and seven day beard and was sorry I sat next to him at the bar. I had to correct his mistake though. \u201cDon\u2019t you mean Goblins\u201d I retorted. \u201cNo, those are completely different creatures. Goblins are little and green and they are only after your money. Golbins are furry and cute looking until they go for your throat.\u201d I gave up and went home. Later that night, when I went to bed a little furry creature attacked me and gave me a good bite at the neck.\n\n\n\n-----\n\n\n\nWelcome back. Apparently we live in the real world and magic doesn\u2019t really work here. If we were living in a fictional world though, part of making that world believable might be an account of how magic scientifically works at that world. That would be only a part of the lore of that world. There might be, for example, a political counterpart of the lore. That\u2019s where factions in video games come from.\n\n\n\nSome games and stories, such as the worlds of Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft, have such developed lore that they have entire encyclopedia volumes devoted to that lore. Such volumes can include things like maps of the fictional world, information about it\u2019s politics and the races evolving there and even things like studies of the languages spoken on those fictional worlds, including professional looking essays on linguistics. In fact, you could put anything that makes up that world into that encyclopedia, and if it\u2019s a well constructed fictional world you would probably need several volumes to cover just a sma