New Year, New Me, 2023

Worldbuilding Resolutions

I have a lot of things I want to accomplish this year, but I've managed to narrow it down to six key priorities. In addition to these resolutions, I would also like to dedicate more time to exploring the many worlds that exist on WA. Conveniently the second part of this resolution challenge will give me the chance to start on that!

The Provincial Life

It's long past time for me to finish the basic information about the Lelandic provinces. Irocra, Deamei, and Cesland, while not yet published, have been somewhat developed simply due to being the homelands of characters from novels or being used as settings. Further modern-era worldbuilding will be much easier if I can flesh out what the provinces are like.

Make it Pretty!

I've reached a point where I'm willing to show my work to people I know IRL, so I want to give them something aesthetically pleasing to look at. I've never paid much attention to the main page of my world, so I'll be putting some time into that. I also want to go through and standardize the layout of my articles, something that has taken a back seat during large-scale challenges when I care more about quantity than quality.

Map Refresh

Now that I have finally gotten around to building a computer that can better handle map building software, I would like to redo some of the maps I've made. I've been unhappy with the main Leland map for some time now and am looking forward to giving it an upgrade. There are also some smaller maps I'd like to make for provinces and cities.

Write a Freaking Novel!

This worldbuilding project began as a way to better ground a NaNovel I wrote a few years ago. I've since gotten away from my original passion, distracted by all the shiny new things, but I'd very much like to take what I've built and either rewrite (aka finish) the original novel or write something completely new.

Adventuring in Overtime

I've been meaning to write the full version of my Adventure April entry (Follow the Squirrels -- Abridged) for months now. I even went so far as to make it my focus for NaNoWriMo in 2022. Spoiler Alert: it didn't get written. By golly, I'm going to get it done! I've already begun a new playthrough of the Danganronpa series (from which two characters in the adventure take heavy influence), so hopefully that will provide renewed inspiration.

Energy Manipulation Rewrites

Some of the first articles I wrote were the ones on the different kinds of energy manipulation abilities (enmanities). Since they were written, my understanding of energy manipulation has changed and some of the information is outdated or incomplete. I would like to do a rewrite of each one and then take it one step further and do separate articles for each of the disciplines of each enmanity.

Article Reviews

As I glanced through the Worldember special category pages, I wanted to focus on showing some love to the works of worldbuilders who had few views and likes on their articles, the diamonds in the rough, so to speak.

What I love about this condition is the idea that it may not even be a condition at all. Do human actions have any impact on the future or is everything already determined by fate? Is seeing the future merely a look into what is to come or have you just cemented what had previously been one of a million possibilities? It's also interesting to see how this condition can have an impact on both the subject of the vision and the seer/diviner who saw the future.

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Maybe I'm just biased, having been born and raised in dairy country, but a tradition involving two feuding towns coming together for a one night truce that celebrates cheese is something I'm here for. It really underpins this idea that these two communities are connected even if they can't acknowledge it the rest of the year. I'm also intrigued by this concept of "curdology" which uses the supernatural to affect cheese quality.

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The opening quote describing a victim of The Weeping captured my interest from the beginning. To be overcome by a supernatural version of depression that you could pass to someone else seems a terrible fate. I wonder how often people choose to simply put victims out of their misery rather than allow them to waste away?

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I've always had an interest in the macabre, which probably drew me to The Order of Quietus originally. Considered vile death worshippers in their time, recent archeological research has indicated there may have been more to The Order. The most interesting part of the article is the poem recovered from an ancient scroll that really cements the reverence they had for the dead.

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House Marnise is a noble house known for being blood arcanists that met a gruesome end. The account of the final patriarch's mutilation of his former friend's son punctuated that end, but I would be interested to know more about the family's history after coming into nobility to justify the execution of the entire family for one man's crime. I appreciate the aesthetic of this article and the world as a whole. The wall of text is nicely broken up, something I need to work on in my articles.

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Good luck reading Zyxu's Manifesto--it's written in a difficult to translate language and, to make matters worse, is completely out of order. The story of its discovery is interesting, though I wonder if the student is fondly remembered for his discovery or if he is cursed for getting lost, therefore requiring rescue, and messing up the pages in the process.

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The Bower Bog Harpies is a harpy clan that, unlike others of their species, actually engages with outsiders. You'd do best to bring them a gift, though, lest you disrespect them. I don't know much about harpies, so giving this article a read led me to also read the harpy species article in this world, and I find myself very intrigued by the world in general. I like how thorough the article is, and I find the writing style compelling and easy to read.

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The name of the People-With-Teeth easily paints the picture of what to expect, at least aesthetically, from this ethnic group. Traditionally adorned in teeth from the dangerous creatures roaming their desert home, they had little interest in trading with outsiders despite the demand for parts from the creatures. Given how long it must have taken to learn to survive in such a hostile area and evidently not wanting to be found, I wonder what would have made them so peacefully give up their lives and their culture to merge with another group?

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The Kinmet is a simple tool that can be used for the measure of both weight and length in Sudland. I like the mix of practical information about the creation of and use of the physical Kinmet in society and the historical significance of it. This article made me reconsider measurements in my own world, something I've never thought about before.

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The Ark is a mysterious space station of unknown origins that possesses advanced technological defenses and houses a myriad of species seen nowhere else. A spaceport orbits the station, allowing for the launch of expeditions from which explorers may or may not return. Only the outermost region of the station has been breached. Just like those trying to discover the Ark's secrets, I wonder what lies within its depths and how it came to be in the state it currently is.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Last year was a year of progress.
I succeeded in my goal to take part in as many challenges as possible (Challenge Entries), even eking out an entry for Adventure April in less than a week.

My Summer Camp performance was less impressive than 2021, only reaching gold. This was my goal, so given the circumstances I was dealing with during that time, I'm choosing to practice self-compassion and be happy with what I accomplished.

Worldember 2022 was far more useful to me than 2021. In 2021, I hit 10k solely by writing bios for characters I had already written a novel about. In 2022, I was able to hit 10k by churning out articles on a variety of topics. I didn't even come close to my goal of 25k, but I have a dozen new concepts to continue building on.

I made my first foray into conlanging by creating not one, but two languages. Irocran was always going to have Spanish influences, but defining Cesan took a little more effort and required tweaking some names in Cesland to fit the language. I look forward to further developing them and maybe writing something of significance in them.

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At the end of the year I decided to prioritize my mental and physical health which resulted in quitting my job. As I look forward to 2023, I'm hoping being able to rest will recharge my creativity and allow the words to flow more easily than they have in the last few years.

Some favorites from my
own articles of 2022