Story Realms are not named for their geography, rulers, species, or technology.
They are named for what their story is about.
In Tales Unending, a world’s name is not a label—it is a thesis. It expresses the central tension, unresolved truth, or emotional state that defines the realm’s existence within the Storywake.
To name a world is to state what kind of ending it is approaching—or refusing.
A Story Realm’s name serves three functions simultaneously:
Narrative Orientation
It tells Anchors what kind of story they are entering.
Thematic Constraint
It guides how events, NPCs, and conflicts should feel.
Cosmological Placement
It implies how the world relates to Homeward, the Verge, and the Unwritten.
A properly named world makes its conflict legible before the first scene begins.
Story Realms are not named like nations, cities, or planets.
Avoid names that are:
Purely geographic (“The Iron Continent”)
Purely cultural (“The Kingdom of X”)
Proper nouns without context (“Eldoria”)
Genre descriptors (“The Cyber World”)
These may exist within a Story Realm—but they are not the realm’s true name.
A Story Realm’s name should answer one of the following questions:
What has this world lost?
What does this world refuse to accept?
What hope still persists here?
What ending is this world approaching?
What truth has this world learned—or failed to learn?
If the name cannot be read as a sentence fragment describing a story’s state, it is likely incomplete.
While no single format is required, most Story Realm names fall into recognizable patterns.
Used for realms defined by a defining action, refusal, or anomaly.
Examples:
The World That Time Forgot
The World That Never Spoke Again
The World That Refused to End
These names emphasize persistence or denial.
Used for realms centered on an emotional or thematic core.
Examples:
The Fields of Hope
The Sea of Borrowed Stars
The City of Quiet Promises
These names emphasize emotional atmosphere.
Used for worlds living in the aftermath of a defining moment.
Examples:
The Silence After the War
The World After the Bells Fell
The Kingdom After the Crown Broke
These names emphasize aftermath and consequence.
Used sparingly for worlds with strong symbolic weight.
Examples:
Nothing Here Is Finished
All Things Eventually Return
This Is Not the Ending
These names often indicate high narrative instability.
A Story Realm’s name does not dictate its ending—but it reveals its trajectory.
Worlds drifting toward Homeward tend to have names implying acceptance, rest, or gentle closure.
Worlds drifting toward the Unwritten often have names implying refusal, repetition, or unresolved tension.
Worlds near the Verge frequently have names that imply uncertainty, transition, or hesitation.
If a world’s story changes meaningfully, its name may subtly change as well.
This is rare—but significant.
Anchors do not always know a world’s true name upon arrival.
Sometimes it is:
Learned gradually
Spoken by a local
Revealed by a Storyforged Arm
Understood only at the end
A world that cannot be named is often in danger of becoming Unwritten.
When creating a new Story Realm:
Identify the central unresolved theme
Phrase it as a descriptive or poetic truth
Avoid proper nouns unless paired with meaning
Ensure the name implies a story state, not a setting type
If uncertain, ask:
What would this world be called after its story is over?
That answer is usually correct.
A Story Realm’s name is not a title given by its inhabitants.
It is the name the Storywake uses
to remember what the world was about.
Names persist even when worlds do not.
And when a world finally reaches Homeward,
its name is not erased—
it is understood.