WorldEmber 2023

The Fires Rise Again

As the air grows cooler and the snows begin to gather, the call of the flame rises, drawing all to its warmth and the stories that the inferno can hold. All gather to share their travels across worlds and universes, the creatures they have found and the friends they have made. The warmth of the ember is sought out as all join in the honored tradition around the fires of Winter's Evening.

The WorldEmber

After so many years of tradition, there are few that remain that do not know of the inferno that rages in the deepest parts of the year, the stories that strive to be shared of places and people and things that abound across universes and places that some have never seen. For a moment, we all come together to share the storeis that warm our hearts with those that warm our souls.

Focus

Mini-Meta

Organization

Homepage

Last Prep!

This year's inspiration for WorldEmber and what I want to focus on was spurred on the first day of Summer Camp. The first organization prompt caused me to dive into the world of military organizations and write an amazing article that is my proudest piece from this year. The comments I received on it made my cry tears of happiness and made me so excited to continue writing more articles.
Military history has always been a great love of mine. Early in my life I became interested in it because my grandmother wanted to know more about the submarine my grandfather had served on during World War II. Since then, I have found a great interest and love of this topic that has been ignited by more recent life events.
Writing the Royal Dwarven Military during Summer Camp this year and the Bauxatehn during Summer Camp last year has led me down a rabbit hole of fantasy logistics that I didn't think I would enjoy this much. Figuring out why certain groups have certain numbers or how their military functions based on their cultures is fasinating and has fleshed out the world in ways I don't yet fully understand.
As my husband has been working on the countries of the world for the greater part of the last year, writing militaries and their various pieces goes hand in hand with what he has been working on and helps flesh out more of the world that players and others would interact with.

Scope

There are tons of military organizations throughout Isekai and as my husband works through writing the countries, more pop up. With only a month at my disposal and holiday plan as well, I will focus my attention towards the Dwarven and Elven militaries, the Royal Dwarven Military and the Bauxatehn respectively. This two organizations are possibly the most complex of the world's militaries so far and I would like to dedicate my time to finishing the various corps and groups that make up these militaries.

Royal Dwarven Military

Hammerfalls
Scriptwroughts
Stoneshapers
First Furnace
Golden Anvil

Bauxatehn

Allanar
Ayvelon
Thayalin
Thanylin
Arsarius

Theme

Isekai is a world that has been ravaged by a number of wars, the most recent being the Eldritch War that occurred only 300 years ago. Militaries, in whatever strength and capacity, have been key to the survival of various countries throughout the millennia. I feel that these organizations are central to how the world works as the military defines lifestyles, education, and more about a given area.

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from many places, from the museum that I work at, the military history that I've studied, real-life militaries, and much more. This knowledge and inspiration drives me to make realistic and interesting militaries that define the world they live in.
As for people in the WA community, the Cookie Cottage is full of amazing people that love to share ideas and lift each other up. And of course I can't forget Mochi :)

The Great Organization

Back in 2021, I spent a great deal of time reorganizing Isekai using inspiration from TJ Trewin and Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull to build what I would hope to be the final heirarchy of the world. Two years later, this category listing is going strong with some new additions as Isekai slowly creeps toward 2000 articles and 900,000 words.
While I won't have much time in November to dive into updating categories and such, I will make sure to clean up those categories that I will be writing in during December as some of those categories will be visible to the public for the first time.
Here you can see the current behind the scenes category listing for Isekai. Every category that still has the folder icon needs work, but those will get worked on as time allows and articles in those categories are finished and published.

Homepage Revamp

Something that is constantly talked about amongst the Sages is the idea of an elevator pitch for our worlds. At some point in the last year, I was driven to create that pitch for Isekai and to revamp the homepage, especially to include the subscriber groups that would allow others to see our work in progress TTRPG system.
Since that huge revamp, I have seen little reason to change anything else on the homepage. Those that view Isekai for the first time are greeted with the elevator pitch to draw them in and then a longer explanation of the world and the link to the world primer. Scrolling further gives information about Storybook, our TTRPG system, and the ability to join subscriber groups to view the rules.
For how I've seen others move through our world and what our players have said, I'm pretty happy with the state of the homepage right now and how clean it is overall in terms of content and layout.

The Final Countdown

I can't say if I'm more or less prepped for WorldEmber than I have been in past years, but either way, we are in the final countdown to an absolute writing frenzy.
Prep over the last month has been difficult with travel, work, and life, but I think this last minute prep is enough to rocket me to success in a little over 24 hours as the beginning of WE comes on Friday.
Going into WE, a great deal of my writing will more than likely be done at work in a notebook unless for some reason I can write on my laptop. This is going to make everything take a bit longer, especially as I enter everything into WA and start formatting, but I don't want to waste a single minute of writing time.

Checklist

Support Group

The Cookie Cottage is amazing :)

Workspace

My desk is clean for once but I will also be writing at work

Plans/Notes

New WE notebook ready to go :)

Images

In the works

Writing Schedule

I've given up on this one. There is no schedule ever

Snacks/Sips/Songs/More

All the things are ready to help me rock this out

Han's Spreadsheet

Mine is all ready. If you haven't checked out Han's awesome sheet, you definitely should.

WE Pledge

This year will be my fifth WorldEmber and I have learned a thing or two over the years. Some years I went into the event with a huge plan and others I have waited to see what happens. This year, I have a loose plan to fill in what I think are some of the most interesting and difficult parts of the world to write.

by World Anvil

WorldEmber Homework Squad by World Anvil

WorldEmber Pledge

I pledge to complete WorldEmber and the articles and ideas listed here to the best of my abilities, but not by sacrificing time for family and self-care during the holidays.
I adore WorldEmber for so many reasons. The community, the stories, and the ability to just write what my heart desires brings so much joy.
While I've noted in my pledge that I would like to hit 25,000 words during WorldEmber, I have a much bigger goal in mind. I would love for Isekai to reach 900,000 words before the end of the year, but only time will tell.

Completed Articles