OnWorld

Onworld is a term used in worldbuilding, speculative fiction, and game design to denote the inhabited world where events unfold. It functions as a neutral label that contrasts with offworld settings such as space stations, colonies on other planets, or virtual environments. The term is not part of formal scientific vocabulary; rather, it appears in writing guides, design documents, and fan glossaries as a practical shorthand for the primary setting of a story or game.

Usage generally centers on locating narrative action on the home planet or base world, rather than on distant or abstract spaces. In role-playing games and narrative design, onworld can help authors keep track of cultural, political, and ecological features tied to a planet’s surface, atmosphere, and geography. It may be used to distinguish resources, laws, or factions that exist on the world from those operating off-world. Variants include on-world or onworld as a compound or stylized label. Because it is not standardized, its exact meaning can vary between works or teams; writers may define onworld explicitly in a glossary to avoid confusion with in-world or meta-narrative terms.

Compared with related ideas such as in-world, offworld, or worldbuilding, onworld specifically foregrounds physical location and presence within a planetary setting rather than abstract narrative layers. It remains a largely informal term whose meaning depends on the context of a given work or design project.