WorldEmber 2022 Prep

Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze I deserve a break, coach!

What? WorldEmber Prep? But it's August! I just got my diamond prompts done for SummerCamp and everything! WorldEmber is like, three months away from starting, I deserve a break!

Alright alright alright, let's get this started.

The WorldEmber Homework 2022 Prep responses:

Week 1 - 1, 2, 3,
Week 2 - Mini-Meta

Week 3 - Categories/World Organization
Week 4 - Already part of my Mini-Meta (artwork)

— Lyraine

I, Lyraine, vow to write at least 10K words during the month of December, 2022

Alright, let's get this heist started.

The Plan

Jack in to the terminal port - wait, wrong setting, wrong time period, heck, wrong author. Step one, light the forge, catalogue the stub articles, sort them out between Core, Deep, and Campaign Lore.

I already have most of my articles sorted out that way (thanks to tags and a loooooong time spent on trying to tag articles around).

Then identify my stub articles in Core Lore. Now I have to go through those stubs and decide which of the Core Lore articles are High Priority, Mid Priority, or Low Priority.

Mini-Meta Scope

My WorldEmber scope is basically to focus on my High Priority articles as defined below in the High Priority section. I chose this scope because they are the broad topics of my world that I have stub articles for - I have other Core Lore articles that are stubs and empty, but have nothing to do with where my players are, so I'm setting those to the side.

Mini-Meta Themes

Theme is and always will be a difficult thing for me to define in my world. I have the Found/Chosen Family theme in my world in general, I have Right/Wrong Person, Right Place trope in use (usually because those are my players), War is Always About Resources is an idea that I follow as well (If fighting to save souls, then souls are the resource. If fighting to gain control of a forest, again, resource). I also have themes of events in the past have repercussions for the future (See my On The Shoulders Of Giants Challenge entry that won the Regular League - Adrakians to get an idea of the legacy the empire left before Soplas' current political bodies were running aorund and doing things).

Mini-Meta Mood

Corive has a lot of moods within it. I'm still workshopping the overall pitch description, but I feel like this is a pretty good start here:

As Corive crawls from its medieval era with the construction of living machines and cannons, traditions of who rules society have shifted. Where the beacon of magical education shines, the corrupt politicians trade deals in its shadows. The ancient ruins of the eradicated dragon cultists are plundered to fuel wars and shift policies to the whims of the explorer's patron.
Will you be the Dwarven mage leading troops to war, the charismatic Catfolk tying poltical knots, the Orc scholar finding the cracks within the world? Or maybe you are the Elven magictechnician building the machines of progress, the Human archeologist looking for the lost treasures, or the Dragonbloods hiding from those who would hunt you down?

I don't know, but I like how that pitch sounds. It needs a little smoothing still, but it's pretty moody, yeah?

Mini-Meta Goals

Like I said in the Scope spoiler, my goal is to work on my High Priority articles. as I said from the start, I've pledged to write at least 10 000 words in the month of December. From my math way down below, I should hit that goal pretty well - if I keep myself on track and to my article ranges. Every year for WorldEmber, I try to work my way through my stub articles and make them at least a framework of a description so people have an idea about what I am talking about.

Mini-Meta Inspiration
Alert, some AI Generated Art is used here

I already have the Meta of Corive and the Corive Inspiration Board which is still accurate to my inspiration source - though the article is in desperate need of a revamp (and I'll likely get to it later, but before WorldEmber).

Music

Books

• DragonLance - can't swing a dead rat without hitting *something* inspired by the DragonLance setting, even if Corive is an ex-D&D setting (or I guess, an ex-5e setting since this setting is more inspired by older edition versions and WOTC has taken their sweet (censored) time getting the 5e version out since they're busy grabbing up money or OneD&D)
• The Great GM's Guide To Making Epic Campaigns
• MCDM Production's Kingdoms and Warfare, and the book Strongholds and Followers
• The Art of the Lord of the Rings
• various folklore books

Movies/Shows/Videos

• The Rise And Fall of Civilizations Podcast
• Fudgemuppet's Elder Scrolls Lore videos, and Drewmora's videos
• My Watch Later playlist is full of videos about worldbuilding, world history, and the lore of video games, and it is always growing, and I like to save playlists of channels I like

Images

The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dragonborn DLC Promotional Art by Bethesda

Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Promotional Art by Nintendo

by Lyraine Alei, Artbreeder

by Lyraine Alei, Midjourney

by Lyraine Alei, using Midjourney

by Lyraine Alei, Midjourney

The World Dreamer by Oscar

High Priority

Anything my players will be dealing with

Soplas Broad Topics

Corive Broad Topics that are also on Soplas

Mid Priority

Stuff within Theydim but not stuff my players will be dealing with

Adrakian stuff that my players won't be dealing with.

Topics about stuff *within* Tormyra, Goltheris, The Five Cities, or Contested Lands

Corive Broad Topics not on Soplas

Low Priority

Topics about stuff on Corive not on Soplas

Anything super specific about stuff in Mid Priority or anything that is two paragraphs long on almost any article

Repeat for Campaign and Deep Lore, though Deep Lore is most likely to be Low Priority.

Other than the articles I will sort out and plan about writing, I have figured from last year and my most successful WorldEmber, about how many words per template type I should set myself up to write in a low-bar expected word count and a "If I am really on a roll writing, might be up here or higher" count. Between these, I can plan out which articles I should write about, and then determine the BBCode formatting word count in order to remove those from consideration (I would hate to artificially bloat my word count with excessive BBCode for layout sections I don't wind up using unless I need them to hold up the layout)

Alright, I've got my expect word count range per template, my BBCode layout "word count" to remove from my consideration, now what?

I want to paint in what's missing for my players and myself to find what I need to help them for their campaign. Ten thousand words will go a long way towards helping me fill those empty spaces in. And remove these containers:

This is a stub article.

The Selected Articles

Core Lore

High Priority

• Orc Species
• Half-Elf Species
• Forged of Theydim Ethnicity
• Forged of the Five Cities Ethnicity
• Historical and Present Events of Theydim Directory/Generic
• Oestopti City Settlement
• The Bard Character/Deity
• The Bold Character/Deity
• The Five Cities Organization
• The Gods of Theydim Pantheon
• The Lady Character/Deity
• The Negotiator Character/Deity
• Theydim Royal Family Family
• Theydim, nation thing Organization
• Thydian Pantheon Realm Location
• World Spine Mountains Location

Mid Priority

• Light/negotiation/records Character/Deity
• Orc boss deity Character/Deity
• Green Moon Location
• Goltheris City Settlement
• Factory City 5 Settlement
• Historical and Present Events of the Contested Lands Generic/Directory
• Historical and Present Events of the Five Cities Generic/Director
• Historical and Present Events of Goltheris Generic/Director
• Historical and Present Events of Soplas Generic/Director
• Historical and Present Events of Tormyra Generic/Director
• Historical and Present Events of the Undermountains Generic/Director
• Oshrar Location
• People of the Five Cities Ethnicity
• Placeholder name for a god Character/Deity
• Red Moon Location
• Saints of Light Organization
• Saints of Time Organization
• Saints of Water Organization
• Secretary of Records Rank
• Shadow/Mischief/Loyalty Character/Deity
• Shey Who Watches And Guards Character/Deity
• Spirit/Oaths/Fortitude Character/Deity
• Supercontinent A Location
• The Fourth of the Five Cities Settlement
• The Hydme Family Organization
• The Kingdom of Tormyra Organization
• Tormian Pantheon Realm Location
• Tormyra Royal Family Family

Low Priority

• Crow-Folk Species

Campaign Lore

High Priority

• Dukedom of Stenskog Organization
• Life Forging Runes Language
• Lord of Flachfeld Person
• Logtown Raudrstein Settlement
• Raudrstein Settlement
• Raudrstein BaronyOrganization
• Skoldstad Settlement
• The Duchy of Felkhath Location
• Theydim Royal Family Family

Mid Priority

• Lake Feriss Location
• Legendary Species Directory/Generic
• Lognefjalls Location
• Mine Guardian Species
• Mound Dweller Ethnicity
• New Old Road Landmark
• Plainsview Settlement
• Rifre of Felkhath Character
• Shield Matron Rank
• Sleeping Draught Item
• Valeska's Mother Person
• Yusdrayal Person

Low Priority

• The North Ice Myth
• Wipedout Orc City of myth Location

Deep Lore

High Priority

• Thydian Courtship Tradition
• Thydian Final Rites of the Undead Tradition
• Thydian Funerary Traditions Tradition
• Thydian Laws Tradition
• Thydian Traditions Tradition/Director
• Thydian, language Language
• Valinde Person
• Vetheriss Ancestor Person
• Zimaskogsk Ethnicity

Mid Priority

• The Keep of Feroian Keep Landmark
• Thief Profession
• Thorn Halfelven Person
• Throat Scar Location
• Tormyra Ruins Mountain Peak Settlement
• Train Vehicle
• Triad Item
• Upkeep Organizaton
• Warforged Cannons Technology
• Weaver Profession
• YetHigherRankPriest Rank

Low Priority

• The Osiaric Navy Military formation
• Southard Heirs Crisis Conflict
• The Sinkhole Incident Report Document
• The Turning of the Glass Tradition
• University of Tormyra - Goltharine branch Landmark
• Unserving Rank
• Winze Person
• Worker Rank
• Zircon Southard Person
• Zisen Southard Person

Total Articles by Priority

• 35 High Priority
• 52 Mid Priority
• 13 Low Priority

Low Word Count Total

If every article is completed to the expected minimum word count, I will have written 18400 words not counting BBCode.

High Word Count Total

If every article is completed to the expected maximum-ish word count, I will have written 58050 words not counting BBCode.

Breakdown of Article Types by Priority

High

Core

• 4 Character
• 2 Ethnicity
• 2 Geographic Location
• 4 Organization
• 1 Title
• 1 Settlement
• 2 Species
• 1 Generic

Low Words

3700

High Words

12450

Campaign

• 1 Character
• 1 Condition
• 1 Geographic Location
• 1 Language
• 1 Settlement

Low Words

900

High Words

2850

Deep

• 2 Characters
• 1 Ethnicity
• 1 Language
• 5 Traditions

Low Words

1550

High Words

4650

Mid

Core

• 6 Characters
• 1 Ethnicity
• 5 Geography
• 6 Organizations
• 3 Settlements
• 6 Generic

Low Words

5250

High Words

16200

Campaign

• 1 Building
• 3 Characters
• 1 Ethnicity
• 2 Geography
• 1 Item
• 1 Title
• 1 Settlement
• 1 Species
• 1 Generic

Low Words

2850

High Words

8700

Deep

• 1 Building
• 1 Character
• 1 Geography
• 1 Item
• 1 Organization
• 2 Professions
• 1 Title
• 1 Settlement
• 1 Tech
• 1 Vehicle

Low Words

1650

High Words

5049

Low

Core

• 1 Species

Low Words

100

High Words

900

Campaign

• 1 Geography
• 1 Myth

Low Words

450

High Words

1350

Deep

• 1 Building
• 3 Characters
• 1 Conflict
• 1 Document
• 1 Military Unit
• 2 Titles
• 1 Tradition

Low Words

2000

High Words

6000

Artwork and CSS

Artwork and additional CSS stuff is almost always a low priority during SummerCamp and it is during WorldEmber by a lot more. It is simply the nature of how I worldbuild, and I prefer to be the one doing my own art, with one major exception that suggests I could be talked into more - The World Dreamer is freaking gorgeous and I recommend looking at her article to see the glorious piece of art she, thanks to the amazing Oscar, has, XD

Other than that, the ever classic Artbreeder and this new Midjourney thing everyone loves. But I will also be checking out other AI art generators for the placeholder images I'll use until I get around to making art for myself. Or commissioning more stuff.

Categories

I have three "meta" categories for articles - Core Lore, Campaign Lore, Deep Lore, but that method is not effective for people wanting to know where to go to find the article they need or are looking for. This is why those three categories are actually used as tags.

During this preparation time for WorldEmber, I will be working to add content to my Categories pages because I generally use Article Redirects. However, when on the main page for Corive, the Codex does not preview the redirected article, so potentially, readers could be uncertain by what certain categories are for.

And I'm obnoxiously vain enough to not like how the preview version looks anyway. It's also going to help me generate ideas for stuff like the articles I've listed as priorities.

Honestly, I am not going to overhaul my category arrangement because doing so would cause navigational disaster for myself, but I am happy to provide a listing of my tags, my three meta categories, and then my World Anvil Articles page view of every category opened as much as possible all ... somewhere around 171 at the time of writing.

Directory of Tags Here

Core Lore articles here

Campaign Lore articles here

Deep Lore articles here

How the Categories of Corive Appear for Me

How the Categories of Corive Appear in Corive