u/Extreme-Audience-318

Ok so i recently read about a experiement with birds where the darker color of the chest hair was correlated with attractiveness and how after coloring a specific male a darker color most of the children born in that flock of birds were his, this made me wonder what mating behaviors of non-human entities would be? and what is considered peak attractiveness? what do you think?

Edit: sorry about mispelling the title it seems autocorrect didnt work.

I'm just asking because I got some advice from a veteran DM that has given me a lot to think about. that advice being "Don't add to your world or setting instead take away something important and make a story about the fall out" (DM friend as he explains why Demogorgon and juiblex are sacking icewindale after the nine hells go poof)

taking this to heart i've decided to challenge myself and make it so that metal never existed in my world. and after some thought I've come up with some things to really flesh out my world. Most of it is not clear yet, I've thought more about weapons than anything else so far but ive thought about some other things.

For example: instead of metal swords in my world obsidian blades are quite common and used for protection or in cooking equipment like knives due to its relative abundance and the relatively low crafting skill needed to shape the blades and sharpen them. special fire giant blow glass is considered the standard for combat equipment and the stuff you'll see used by guards and knights, resistant to damage and able to hold magic it can last long years of battle with many enemies without a single scratch while maintaining an edge that can cut through rock like butter, there is few things more deadly than these weapons in the hands of a trained soldier. Elven wood is common in weapons that are used in ceremonies or passed down through generations. ornate and magical elven wood catches all eyes with its unique water like patterns and ability to absorb color from dyes and the dried vines can be molded in many ways to hold gems and more.

Gnomish wood, merfolk dried sea vines and Ahnkan sand stone are common building materials for houses due to their ease of production and harvesting, sturdiness and ease of weaving or molding.

Some stone molders such as stone dwarves and stone giants use rune magic and golemancy to create vehicles that run on mana. Cars are giant boxes powered by unique ruby fire crystals that push them forward and sometimes have to go to an artificer who changes the fire crystal. planes are made from aerodynamic stone roughly modeled off of birds and wyverns with air producing runes that generate lift and direct the craft.

what do you think?

have you done similar challenges in your world building?

Ok so i (21m) just had a talk with my parents about my own desire to have sex. My parents gave me the usual parental encouragement and pump up that parents' due but my mom fixated on my lack of confidence, during which she asked me "how is anyone supposed to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself?" To which i answered "They dont." which annoyed my mom. During a talk with my dad she made a comment about how I was "going for low hanging fruit" and "didn't want anything of substance" because I didn't have confidence, something that pissed off my dad and really upset me because I've put in work to come out of my shell and make friends.

This whole thing has me asking why do people tie in everything to confidence and pride to the point that it's treated almost as a sin to doubt yourself and hold a level of scepticism of your capabilities as a young person? particularly in the dating and romantic sphere? Like im young, i dont know what i want, much less what im capable of doing! why is it bad to acknowledge that?