NaNoWriMo & Mapvember 2021
Introduction
Greetings fellow Manifold explorers! November 2021 is a time for both National Novel Writing Month and the new Mapvember challenge here on WorldAnvil, so I've decided that I'll take the 'scenic route' and tackle both in parallel. I actually have several stories in the works for this month, and while I'm not reasonably expecting either the (as-of-yet untitled) Garbage Man arc or the Fortress of Salt to get finished in the time alloted, I am dedicated to making significant headway on both this year. For those of you who need a primer on who these people are and where we're going, read on:Setting & Story Primers
The Garbage Man Arc
Who: The Garbage Man vs. the members of the Ghostleaf Foundation, Parasol Private Holdings, and, eventually The White-Haired Gentleman himself.What: The Garbage Man steals the Menger Catalyst from the cyclotron Vianne Tributaries, hoping to use the supernaturally powerful catalyst to destroy the world.
When: The Garbage Man Arc takes place in the present day - the year 10,000 AR.
Where: The Garbage Man Arc spans the whole of the Manifold Sky setting, a five-dimensional dieselpunk world where advanced internal combustion engines have enabled robotics, computers, long-distance travel, and powered armor.
Why: The garbage collector Cyrus A. Vinge's hometown was destroyed in the War of Reunification, taking most everyone he knew and loved with it. In his despair, he awoke to a power wholly unique in the otherwise scientifically grounded world of the Manifold: dimensional shifting, the power to see and interract with the hidden additional spatial dimensions. So empowered, Cyrus took the title of The Garbage Man and decided to use his ability to 'summon' and 'teleport' to wreak havoc on those responsible - they destroyed his world, so by the Gods, he would destroy theirs!
How: The quest involves The Garbage Man taking the Menger Catalyst to the spatial anomaly at the bottom of the Glass-Block Fortress and using it to set off a powerful enough explosion to open the Manifold to the Celestial Realms, either destroying the world or radically altering it enough to allow for a new creation. Instead, he opens the door to Oxo, the seat of The White Haired Man: the true creator, warden, and gaoler of the Manifold Sky.
The Fortress of Salt
Who: Knight-Airman Enzo Salt and the crew of the ESCI Revelation vs. Aniki Labs commerce raiders, the traitorous crew of the ESCI Dewhollow, and the existential dangers of the starry void itself.What: The Revelation is a colony vessel created in response to the Armoa Incident, and act of starship barratry and human brood parasitism that sparked the Armoa Conflict.
When: The journey of the Revelation begins in 1987 CE and takes place over the course of roughly 14 years - or around 13 years shipboard time due to relativistic time dilation.
Where: The Revelation travels from Planet Evermorn in the Evermorn-Armoa binary system to the distant world of Ibren in the Falconer's Eye system, encountering both man-made and natural dangers along the way.
Why: The Revelation, as part of the Evermorn Strategic Colony Initiative, is designed to create an interplanetary diaspora population of Evermornan, Lepidosian, Feldean, human-like artificial intelligence, and other human-adjacent sentient beings as a hedge against extinction-level threats (alien attack, natural disasters, pandemics, etc).
How: The Fortress of Salt takes place in a 'hard' science fiction setting, meaning that all the action is rooted as much as possible in scientific reality (or, at least, possibility). The characters must survive the trials of long-duration space travel during a time of war by wit, force, determination, and endurance if they wish to make landfall on their new homeworld.
I'll be keeping tabs on my wordcount - both in and out of WorldAnvil - in the sidebar, along with a list of any articles which don't neatly fall into either the Mapvember or NaNoWriMo mold. Below, you will find a list of the Mapvember prompts with associated block links for any articles I manage to get done in the time alloted. Lastly, in the "Timeline" tab at the bottom of the page, you will find a timeline detailing all of my work as the month progresses. Onwards!
Mapvember Prompts
Somewhere in your setting, describe...
1. A bridge that connects two important places:
2. A throne room, palace, or seat of power:
3. A tradition that takes place behind a screen:
4. A cupola or dome-roofed building:
5. A building known for its stained-glass art:
6. A building or landmark infamous for its locks:
7. A building known for its number of ladders or steps:
8. An important material, item, or trade good stored in barrels:
9. An important military base defended by cannon:
10. A famous library:
11. A laboratory or place of science and academic pursuit:
12. An inn or hotel famous for an excellent night's slumber:
13. A prison or zoo filled with cages:
14. A workshop that creates an important common item:
15. A royal or municipal garden or arboretum:
16. A communal hall of gathering and lively conversation:
17. A military mess or organization's cafeteria:
18. A cemetary or a mausoleum where coffins are buried:
19. A hospital or other place of medicine:
20. A famous public room or chamber:
21. A (super)natural source of radiation, light, or heat:
22. A dock, trade port, or naval base:
23. An insectoid species known for its "drone" behavior:
24. A famous body of water - ocean, sea, or river:
25. A machine or mechanism important to daily life:
26. A plant species which grows seeds in a pod:
27. An altar for a religion in your world:
28. A dangerous location difficult to escape:
29. A large cliffside or dangerous drop:
30. A bay known as a place of hospitality and entertainment:
Guild Compass Rose by BCGR_Wurth
Current Word Count
TGMA: 0
TFoS: 2,005
Articles: 22,4219
Total: 24,426
Existing Overworld Maps Connected To Entries
The ESCI Revelation
