Will the Glorious 'Setting Nerd' Become the God of a New World?

Previously on 'Chuunibyou'...

A self-deprecating series digging into Chuunibyou [4]

Late one night, an account with a three-digit follower count posted a hand-drawn image titled 'Relationship Chart Between Races (ver. 7)'.
The relationship between the Spirit race and the Demon race, the weekly structure of the Moonlight Calendar, vowel shifts in the spell system—the details were so granular that it looked like a fantasy dictionary never intended for public release, and the reply section was split between 'Amazing...' and 'I don't feel like reading this.' (*1)

Setting nerd.
This term carries a mix of awe, contempt, and a faint sense of longing. People who apply more background setting to a story than is necessary, sometimes piling up 'world-building notes' more detailed than the main story itself. If asked, 'Why go that far?', they probably couldn't answer. Because it was something they “couldn't help but do”.

Where does that impulse come from?

A story is something that is only established when there is both what is told and what is left untold. Backgrounds not explicitly stated in the work, untold history, unexplained technical systems—these give depth to the story world.
And setting nerds believe that this 'untold' aspect is the core of the work. The origin of a name the character never speaks, the circumstances of a war that never appears, the legal basis for a system. It is only by designing the 'underwater part of the iceberg' that spreads behind the surface of the story that they finally feel they have 'created' something.

It is, in a sense, a 'desire to become a god'.

Children disappointed in the existing world design a universe that exists nowhere else, and entrust their 'ideal of how things should be' to it.
Ethics ignored in reality become the dominant values in the fantasy world, and history unfolds exactly as intended.
An order only they know, a system only they can understand—it is an escape from pain, and at the same time, a defensive wall to protect the self.

However, there is a pitfall in this endeavor.
The settings become so bloated that the story never begins.

The plot cannot be written. The characters do not move. The scenario is buried in mere background material. Before they know it, their creation has been reclaimed by 'history that remains untold.' Even if a 'world' in the name of settings exists, there are no characters living in it.

This trap is fatal for a creator.
Because a story is something dynamic, developed through the emotions and conflicts of the characters. Static settings have no meaning on their own.

Even so, people end up creating settings.
That is probably because it is easier to build the structure of a world than to look directly at one's own inner self. It is painful to stare at one's emotions and desires. So, they try to project them onto an external system to keep their distance.

But ironically, that constructed 'worldview' faithfully reflects the author's desires and wounds.

Why is that setting so strict?
Why is that race being discriminated against?
Why is the protagonist the only one who can transcend that system?
—There, 'their true self' is certainly seeping through.

Setting nerds are people who try to retell the untold parts of reality within their fantasies. When their stories begin to move, it becomes more than just a creation; it becomes another 'self-story'.

Next time, we will explore the theme of 'people who get too emotionally attached to characters' and why we are so moved by fictional beings. Please look forward to it.

*1 This is a fictional example. It is an example to support the phenomenon of 'excessive setting sharing' or 'backgrounds being more detailed than the main story' seen in otaku culture, and has nothing to do with any existing race relationship chart. Even if a 'Relationship Chart Between Races (ver. 7)' is posted somewhere, it is completely unrelated and I am not dissing it.

Chuunibyou... why did I start writing about this theme?
I write while squirming, and my mouth goes dry from an indescribable feeling 💦
If you can, please actively press the ♡ button. To finish writing this to the end, I need even a little of your strength... please!!