My WorldEmber Pledge 2022

What would this be, three years now? Three years I've stood at the forge with nary a proper world to call my own? The first imploded and the second was merely a variant of a published setting for my friends to track their shenanigans. However, that has finally changed. Thanks to the wild imagination of my two oldest daughters a proper thought has held firmly within my mind. Just in time for this year's WorldEmber, although I am a touch late for the homework. Some habits never fade even after a dozen years of being out of high school haha. Alright, lets light up the forge and get to work!
— Retry (Nov '22)

Week 1-

Taking my first steps into this mountain of prepwork I waited until last minute to tackle. Let's see what's in store.

Question 1:

If you have more than one world setting, which one is the most important to you right now? Why? I will be focusing on the world of Caeloc. This one has been sitting on the back-burner of my mind over the past year as I've studied up on worldbuilding and how to properly go about things. I made the mistake of letting my friends know I was working on something a handful of months back and they immediately inquired "So, when are we playing?"
Question 2:
Which area of that world setting will allow you to achieve your goals? Politics. We all hate 'em, but their decisions shape the world. In this case its no different. Even in the roughest of worlds there is are political bodies of power, pulling the strings, making moves. By focusing in on the politics of Caeloc I'll be able to set a foundation that can lead to further off-shoots and explain more minute details and cultural aspects. Hopefully.
Question 3:
How will it help you achieve those goals? In what is left of the world of Caeloc there are four major powers:
Divine Empire of Barbahlia

Cresian Federation

Kingdom of Weskia

Republic of Thori
That is four major categories, each filled with their own drama, desires, quirks, etc.. That is more than enough to reach 10k words, I believe.

Week 2-
Welcome to the meta-week.
Task 1:
If you haven't filled in the meta, or haven't checked it for a while, make sure you fill it in! Done
Task 2:
Check out the inspirations for the meta I do this by default haha. Outside of here I GM for a pbp forum and very frequently interface with my inspirations songs and imagery.
Task 3:
Create a mini-meta and link it to your pledge document Why. Why? Why?! Ughhh! Making a meta is already annoying enough for me, now I have to make a smaller version?... I'm coming back to this. I just have no motivation to do that at this point.

Week 3-
Organizing! Something that is so vital yet so difficult haha.
Task 1:
Create or review your category tree. Check that all articles are in a category. I must really pause and appreciate the work that the WA team has done. When I created my first world on this site it was more or less just a wiki and organizing was a chore. When I created Caeloc they gave me a template for categories that organized things better than I ever could have. I am quite content with things for the early stages of this world - but that will surely change.
Task 2:
Create a tag system to better organize your articles. I think I have one in place, its not very extensive since I don't have many articles at this time. Something that I'll just have to grow as I go along.
Question 3:
Let us know if the homework has been helpful so far! Its been motivating. That is for sure. I feel more in control of completing this than in prior years. Has it helped me with actual article ideas? Not so much.

Week 4-

Task 1:
Look at your world's style and layout and tweak it (or decide that it already looks amazing!). No! I am sorry but no! I am not falling into that pitfall this early on haha! I will stick with one of the template themes for now until my world is bigger. I am not going to lose hours of tinkering with CSS to make it sparkle and shine but lose valuable time for writing.
Task 2:
Collect visual resources for your world. You can add them to your Pledge Document to give the community a taste of what you'll be working on!
by Retry (via Midjourney)
by Retry (via Midjourney)
by Retry (via Midjourney)

by Retry (via Midjourney)