Worldember 2021 Pledge

by World Anvil

I pledge to write (at least) 50,000 words of worldbuilding in December 2021.

— The Notebook Wizard

The Homework

by World Anvil

The Pledge Assignment
Homework. A terrifying word to a bad student. Or to a student who has other things on their mind than school.
Like building DnD campaign worlds. Or writing stories.
I'm supposed to tell you how I'm going to write 50,000 words of world building in December 2021. The snarky (distracted) former student in says 'I'm just going to write it. How else do you write 50,000 words?'
Except I know better than that. I make a terrible pantser and a confused plantser. But I'm good at planning.

Goals

So. Here I am. Yet again, hip deep in the joyful creative calamity that is NaNoWriMo. Yet again, an ML and I am diving headfirst into one of my two most ambitious projects.
And as a newbie to WA, I am planning from leaping directly from NaNo to Worldember.
Of course, the prep for this event is concurrent with NaNo.
All in all, not my worst plan: NaNo gives me a huge creative charge every year, and I rarely have anywhere to direct it. I also have more than a few worlds I would love to build out and transmutate from general ideas with a few concrete detais into settings I can write in.
And I haven't had a toolkit like this before. Not even my short (and glorious) stint of having wikis.
But I'm going to call this what it is: Quantum Disentanglement
So many stories and worlds are in my brain, they are entangled with my creativity, tripping me up, and sucking up mental bandwidth like a bad cloud backup.

Goal the First: Create all my worlds, and set up the meta for them. Because I know as soon as I start building out the worlds I'm starting with, I'll get ideas for everything else.

(I mean, my first goal should be to figure out how to use World Anvil, but nothing like figuring out as I go, right? Right!)
Assuming my familiar ever lets me get back into my notebooks.

Guardian of the Notebooks by TheNotebookWizard

Goal the Second: Organize. Figure out just what, exactly, I need that I don't have, and collate what I do have into a usable form.

Years of notes to sort through on (all) of these worlds, and a lot of what I want to do is going to be figuring out what want to keep and what's been replaced by new, better ideas.
And which of the newer ideas really aren't better, and quietly run them down the garbage disposal.

Goal the Third: Get all the clutter out of my brain. Get it onto the page (screen) and somewhere I can reference it.

Note to self: Do not get overwhelmed. Remember that I can edit, add to, and subtract from anything and everything I write here. It is not set in stone. It is also time to stop mourning your wiki. It is dead.

Fanfic! Because I can

The Magic of Intention & Circumstance

"Draco dormiens nunquam titllandus."

Aka: the never ending fanfic. Harry Potter & the Unforgiven. I will do the impossible, and it will make me mighty.
I am going to write the longest fanfic, usurping the current record holder. (Not inconsequentially, this will also mean I will have written the longest contiguous written work in history.)
Ambitious? Yes. Arrogant? Probably. Fun? Absolutely.

All the things?

Collate all notes, ideas, scribblings, concepts, bits, peices, parts, parcels, and particulars from the many sundry notebooks, post-its, pads of paper, notes to self, and files I have tucked away in various places. And put them on World Anvil. Research and create the coterie of Dark Wizards who are going to create murder and mayhem. Create and define more of the Dueling Societies Define the nature of Lore and define all the different kinds Create and define rules for Abjuration Build out the non-canon locations I know I will need. Especially the Grand Library of the Wizengamot Create more about the gnomes. They will play a very small, background role in the world, but I really like them. Winged Snake.

Note to Self: It has been more than a quarter century. You have tried in so many games. You will never get to play with this creature in a tabletop game. Or an online RP. It's just not going to happen. So, because you can't use it in your original stuff (because D&D owns the critter), there's nothing wrong with it being in fanfic.

Space Opera - Because Awesome

You know what I want?
Space mythology.
Saints of the starship and angels that take their true form as nebulae, great and fiery amorphous beings that speak the will of the Universe
Nymphs of asteroid fields and planetary rings, sylphs that fly in the tails of comets and solar wind, the gods of the galactic core
Demons that dwell in black holes and eat the hearts of dying stars, spirits of galactic battles that cause engines and shields to fail when you get too close to their graves
Ghost ships, long MIA, drifting in dark space, an inaccessible monument to those lost
Demigods, Herculean beings forged in solar fire surviving alone and unshielded in the vacuum, on an icy rock so far from a star as to never see its light
Heroes and saints ascending to their gods by dissolving into starlight and void
Just…Space mythology.

~ Attractthecrows

(Also. I cannot forget Operatice Maximalism
Note to self: start finding better names for these universes. I mean, really? I can do better than that.

The Starfire Quest

"Ad astra per aspera. Ad eternum."

For as much as I have thought about Starfire Quest for so many years, there is so much of it that is a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

I need to:

solidify the nature of the syndicates the nobility the stellar nations the technology the Unions the Guilds various space wizard and space priest organizations Full cast list - both characters I am going to use, and those who have gone away since I first concieved the idea Build out The Ship (Zodiac-class). Maybe even give The Ship a name. Cultures for each stellar nation. Create company cultures. Locations. Locations. Locations. There will be so many of them. Too many. And maybe not enough. Note to self: Yanno, just maybe - I shuold define the actual plot. It might, just maybe, help me actually write the story.

Space Wizards and Assorted Other Cosmic Mages

Religious Orders	Techomagic Orders	Unaligned
Starfire Priests Tal Masters Aquarians Disciples of the Old Paths	Adepts of Thoth Cyphers [Enhancers] [Artificers]	Physion [Courtesans] Pathfinders

Other Organizations

Stellar Nations	Guilds	Companies
Accord of Independent Syndicates Terran Hegemony Freestar Alliance [Pirates. Yes. Space pirates.] Coalition of Free Spacers	Shipwrights' Guild Explorers' Corps Crafters' Guild Contract Security Starpilots' Guild	Eridani Corps [unnamed] [unnamed]

the Katheryn story

The prophecy is a lie - and she knows it.

Talk about quantum disentanglement - the story I just cannot figure out how to write. So much of it is twisted in on itself, and the plot is too broad. But the world - the world will need to be torn from my head, dug out of boxes and scraps of paper and glued back together after all these year.
I have the history. I have a the plot(s).
This was (originall) a Star Trek fanfic I submitted to a short story contest in 1995 and it grew its own universe and plot and I have only just (started to) become a good enough writer to tell this story.

Short list isn't that short
Species: define them. Create culture. Create history. Explore their place in the New Order Explain the Space Magic Create space mythology for the space gods Write. The. Prophecy. Find a better word than 'house' Technology Katheryn's ship Stellar nations Immortals The Disinherited Animal Companion (baby dragon) All the other things I've forgotten and will find when I go digging

Stellar Nations of the Known Worlds	Sworn Orders
(thus far, anyway) Empire of Terran Worlds Republic of Lost Stars Outworld Alliance Eridani Combine Coalition of High Worlds Diasporan Confederation The Remnant Disinherited]	(space wizards. some space priests.) Mystic Lords Aurora Knights Blackguard Void Walkers Wardens of the Edge Pact of the Forgotten

Immortals	Species
Riani Ashari Impranu Remnant	Elaasian Antarian Eltoan Ttysrien Sahde

Prompts

The Prompts Assignment
Admission: I almost never use prompts. For - well, much of anything. I (almost) always have more ideas than I know what to do with. They are usually a tangled mess of things, so I kinda went throught the prompts looking for ones that matched up with things I already knew I wanted to write.
Except.
When I went through the prompts, got new ideas. More ideas. Or I saw things I had never considered using, and suddenly, knew I kinda needed. Or really wanted. Unexpected, but fun.

The Starfire Quests

• Prompt: "Write about an old ship that's still in use. Why is it still active?"
  
  

• Prompt: "Write about a ship (or a spaceship) that is used for leisure purposes. How does owning one change how someone is perceived?"
  
  In-system pleasure craft not capable of inter-system travel.

• Prompt: "Describe a bustling market settlement in your world. What can I find for sale?"
  
  The main marketplace of Eridani Station - the largest and most active station and shipyard on the border between settled space and wild space.

• Prompt: "Write a popular fairy tale told to children in your world."
  
  How the Starfire Priests were given their magic.

• Prompt: "In your world, who is treating the sick? Are they successful or are they just charlatans?"
  
  

• Prompt: "Describe the most dangerous apex predator in your world."
  
  Extra-dimensional beings lurking on the edge of the reality horizon, waiting to enter our dimension. Summoned by the Aquarians.

The Katheryn Story

• Prompt: "Item passed down through generations"
  
  

• Prompt: "Write about a huge building in your world. Who built it and why?"
  
  Crown City of the Empire of Terran Worlds - the only true city still remaining on Terra.

• Prompt: "Write about a delicious nut in your world. Does it have other special properties?"
  
  A small nut causing bliss, arousal, and (in sufficient quantities) hallucinations. (Favored by the twins.)

• Prompt: "Describe a cult in your world. How did they form and what do they believe in?"
  
  Once, they were the keepers and interpreters of the Prophecy - until they learned the truth. Now, they exist to find a way to save the universe.

• Prompt: "Write about a special item used to keep track of time."
  
  In every Temple and Citadel, every place of worship or power, there is a clock that has never shown time - for when the time comes, they will all ignite and every being will know the Return has begun.

• Prompt: "Describe a religious monument (built or natural) which people of your world wish to visit at least once in their lifetime"
  
  The First Temple of Alystrial, the Lady of the Stars on the world of Haven

Notebook Wizard Logo by Leah Joy Roberts

Table of Contents

Worlds to Create

The Katheryn story

"The prohecy is a lie - and she knows it."

Starfire Quests

"Ad astra per aspera. Ad eternum."

Cell Phone Sorcery
Chiaroscuro
Semper Fidelis
Office of Reality Intervention & Immortal Affairs
The Secret History of the Solar System

Fanfic Worlds

Magic of Intention & Circumstance (Harry Potter)

"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."

From Beyond Our Stars (Star Trek)
Unnamed Star Wars the Old Republic Universe

Campaign Settings

Silver Gryphons
City Guards of Meridia
The Goblin Wars
"Oops!"
Starflight

From the Notebook

"May the Gods always stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk."

— ancient Egyptian blessing
(for Babylon 5 by Harlan Ellison)

"I improvise. Suddenly. Violently. And all over the place.

— Simon R Green (paraphrased)

"We walk in the dark places where no one else will go. We stand at the gates and none may pass. So no one else has to."

— The Order of Bablyon (me)