SANJIESAN LORE / Fictional quantities
Keep an invented measure consistent across three scenes
An invented unit can give a setting texture and quietly change size from scene to scene. Choose one recurring quantity and write what the current draft means by it. Then compare only a few uses. You do not need a complete measurement system to make one market, kitchen or workshop scene coherent.
Define a small fictional equivalence
For a purely invented supply scene, state that one marked jar holds three small cups in this draft. Keep the terms local to the exercise; do not attach real millilitres or claim historical authenticity. World Anvil’s template reference includes technology and culture records, which can hold quantity notes, but it does not choose these invented values for you. Record whether the container is a physical object or simply the name of the unit.
Compare three uses of the same term
Find an inventory note, a line of dialogue and an illustration where the quantity matters. Check whether they use the same meaning or deliberately different local meanings. Mark a rough conversational amount as rough instead of forcing exact arithmetic into it. If a character says a jar is enough for a group, inspect the group and scene assumptions rather than turning that statement into a real dietary or engineering recommendation.
Repair the local inconsistency first
Choose whether to revise a quantity, clarify a local usage or leave a character’s mistaken statement as intentional. Save the small equivalence and affected passages together. Avoid expanding the unit into a global system until another scene needs the connection. For shared-world work, established approved measures take priority over an exercise. The result is a narrow continuity aid, with invented values clearly distinguished from real facts and unanswered questions left for the author.