"... but I want you to be having a fun story too, without unpleasant surprises when something doesn't work out the way you wanted it to!  So please at least talk with me about the worldbuilding?"

Smile. "I have a lot of fun worldbuilding ideas, but a lot of them I'd like to be outside Villarosa. As for Villarosa itself, can I ask your help with something?"

Oh, that's good!  Someone whose vision sweeps beyond just one country, across the world!

"Oh!  Most people are happy with just looking at Villarosa itself; I'm be glad to see what you're doing with a broader sweep!  And - of course!"

Either most people around the universe lack a functioning sense of responsibility, or the organization happens to filter for people who would make terrible gods.

"You've mentioned that social rank needs to be important in Villarosa. I want to design a world where everyone has enough, so how would that work? Could the only difference between a noble and a commoner be that nobles can afford gold and silks, while commoners can't?"

"Yes!  At least if you're taking that by synecdoche - gold and silks, and caviar and the best veal, and human servants or fancier AI servants, and things like that.  It's normal in the Space Age for everyone to have enough to live on, and for most people to have enough for comfort.  You can certainly go farther and give everyone enough for at least some level of comfort!

"Silks specifically get a lot cheaper to make in the Industrial Age let alone the Space Age, because the worms producing them can be kept anywhere... though artificial silks are usually even cheaper, so rich people sometimes choose to wear real natural-made silk as a status symbol?"

She smooths her own skirts.  "I made these to duplicate natural fabric, but that's just because of my own backstory, and because I can make any sort of clothes by magic.  In most worlds in the Global Age or later, most people are wearing artificial fabrics... unless they have magic that doesn't play well with artificial fabrics.  That does sometimes happen."  For a moment, she grins knowingly.

"Are people usually happy, in a Space Age world?"

That's a big question.  She needs to think about it a bit.

"... Usually yes.  Much more often than in the Dawn of Progress or either sort of Archaic world.

"At least, usually yes you asked them if their lives as a whole were happy... there're certainly people who'd say they really aren't by other standards, like because they live with the constraints of biological bodies, or because some of them don't have biological bodies..."

That's good! If people weren't happy then he'd want to switch settings!

"What does that mean, to suffer because you live with the constraints of biological bodies, or because you don't have one? And what does it mean to be noble in a world like that?"

"Oh -"  She runs her hands down her sides and legs.  "Bodies get aches and pains, of course, let alone sicknesses and the sort of pains that might not heal, or that come back every month or so, and the risk of worse -"

She can smile about it a lot more now that her body works by magic at least as much as biology.

"A lot of that, you can help with magic or technology.  But you can't totally take away all of it, even in a Space Opera, unless you get to the point where a lot of people will say that it's interfering with your happiness all in itself by detaching you all too much from your body."

"I thought that maybe people could still grow old, but not suffer too many health problems from growing old, then die suddenly, usually in their sleep. And maybe they could have a birthmark, or something, that slowly fills in over the course of their life, and when it fills completely they die of old age."

"Yes!  Though if the birthmark is reliably and steadily filling in, everyone would know almost exactly how long they have to live, and..."  She spreads her hands.  "That would have so many consequences!"

"Like what?" Lila has experience with making worlds so he really ought to be getting her help, insofar as he can.

"Like... people knowing when to set their affairs in order, people making longer-term plans or not, other people seeing the birthmark and knowing when to gather like vultures..."  She spreads her hands.  "You're going to be the Duke's Daughter betrothed to the Prince; would everyone know exactly how long your fathers have to live?

"And can people still die by illness or misadventure without it prophesying that?  If not, things would be even more different!"

"I'd have to think about it. Those are good points. Maybe it could be something invisible to other people, like a vision of an hourglass."

"Yes!  Perhaps a vision you get when casting a magical spell, or when eating some magical plant... And perhaps it could move mostly constantly but sometimes speed up or slow down?  Say, if someone starts treating their health better or worse?"

"Maybe! I was thinking that health could just not be a limiting factor on lifespan at all. I like your plant idea." Giving people a constant reminder of their own mortality might not actually be a good thing.

"Separate health from lifespan?  But then what happens if the body is too injured?  It isn't impossible if you integrate magic into people's souls and bodies strongly enough... but no, that would just redefine health...  Or are you thinking of people surviving apart from their physical bodies?"

"More that people don't suffer from health issues, save from death by old age. I was thinking of diseases; I don't know what it would do if people were immune to injuries as well." Would people just not fight each other?

She lets out a slow breath.

"That's more complicated than you might think.  You can certainly do away with germs - things that infect people from outside and cause disease - that would fit rather well in a Space Opera!  But aside from that, the body's system for defending against germs can go wrong and start causing diseases itself.  And that's usually more likely when there aren't any germs from outside..."

"... But we can still fix that with enough healing spells!

"And that could fix most injuries too!"

Grin. "I don't see why not! I wasn't sure if people should have a better physiology, or just easy access to healing magic." Cantrip that casts Restoration, Heal, Remove Disease, and Neutralize Poison, all in one?

"I'll tell the Worldbuilding Department to feel free to include all their ideas for better physiology!  But let's assume some healing magic will be involved.  And probably some technology too - I've seen some really inventive ideas with modifying people's cell instructions!"

(She's thinking about both "gene therapy" and "RNA theraputics," but those words don't translate to Taldane.)

"I'm not sure what that means and would appreciate an overview, but maybe we should return to the list of perks? I think I'd like to take Abhorrent Admirer in exchange for Unearthly Insight.