WorldEmber '23 Pledge

~ It's the most wonderful time of the year! ~

Once again, WorldEmber is upon us. The time of year where I am my most productive self when it comes to worldbuilding. I typically average twelve articles across this twelfth month of the year. Something extraordinary considering I set myself the New Year's Resolution of one article per month! So, to cram all this content into the final month of the year, you'd best bet I'll be joining the homework club and preparing.

...WorldEmber is coming!

— Fall, Author

Reflections

Last year, I brought you the AESIR and more specifically, the AESIR Mk.II - humanity's most versatile and effective tool against the Naranor and Myrkild. Additionally, you all learnt about the Cavea stations - grand stations bordering the Degel System that were once thought to merely be stars in the sky above Errack.
The year before last, and my first ever WorldEmber, the 7 Nadirs of Sin came to life. A momentous moment for VISCERIUM and something that helped shaped almost every article since. Perhaps this WorldEmber will be equally as defining?

Lessons from WorldEmber '22

Community Engagement

The WorldAnvil community thrives off of interactions with each other. I find I'm constantly learning from my peers and finding new ways to best utilise WorldAnvil to its fullest. One of the ways I still need to improve on though, is engaging with said community. For this reason, I have opted to join Nnie's wonderful Comment Carolers!



Lessons from WorldEmber '21

Be Rational
I need to be reasonable with myself and not over-stretch what I can do in one month. This year, work is going to be rather busy for me and will take up a lot of my 'spoons'. So, I need to adjust plans accordingly and not overburden myself with unrealistic goals that distract from my main targets.

---

WorldEmber '23 homework: Week one

This WorldEmber, I'm choosing to focus on Powers, People, Places & Peculiarities.
These are foundations of worldbuilding and each is an area that has ample room to grow within VISCERIUM.
I've chosen these four areas specifically as there is a particularly 'aethereal' portion of VISCERIUM that requires some love and attention. Gold star if you can guess what that might be!
Additionally, I believe that these areas will allow me to flex to the prompts and work on other matters when I need a break from working on the heavy hitters of this season's worldbuilding.

---

WorldEmber '23 homework: Week Two

WorldEmber '23 Mini-meta

The scope for this year's WorldEmber has far reaching implications on VISCERIUM as a whole. However, my main focus will remain on a singular faction and how they interact with the world.
Their themeing is similar to that of the 7 Nadirs of Sin in that it will continue the horror aspect of my worldbuilding. However, there are differences too, for this faction are more otherworldly, alien, and advanced. This faction should feel imposing rather than primal - like the Nadirs.
I feel particularly inspired by the quote "Be not affraid" (Matthew 14:27). And the foreboading presence that biblically accurate angels emit. Now, for those reading this, I wish to reaffirm that this is merely an inspiration of 'mood' and not an intended comparison for the final result. VISCERIUM as a whole is intended to amplify norse mythology, vodou, wicca, druidism, and shamanism as primary themings. Avoiding gothic motifs and traditionally Judeo-Christian themes - The Nadirs and Zeniths are a slight exception to this rule as they are antagonistic to humanity's survival, though they should still avoid the themes in general.
I am currently still researching inspirations and reference content for the Naranor visual styles to ensure that each is different and unique, quickly recognisable, but also shows some relation to the existing Myrkild. Ontop of this, I need the Nararanor to also play on the various phobias and fears we develop in our lives, in the same manner as I have done for the Myrkild.

---

WorldEmber '23 homework: Week Three

This week I've been reflecting on my 'elevator pitch' for VISCERIUM. My homepage, whilst evocative, is currently too word-heavy and as such I'll look to refine this ahead of next week's homework being set. As such, my first port of call was WorldAnvil's blog post: "How to write an elevator pitch for your world!", to begin researching what I could improve upon. I also looked for other IPs with a similar brief, or atleast theme, to see what they were doing to stand out amongst the crowd of Dark Fiction media.

Searching for Similar

As part of this exploration of media in the same space, I stumbled across this wonderful world, with not nearly enough followers, by the duo of Alexej_Axis and Volty, with writing support from Gekko.

EDEN Undone [...] is a table top role playing game in the making; a passion project developed by two souls enamored with the magic storytelling and games of all kind bring to our world, enabled by equally passionate and loving people who are in for the ride.

Discovering EDEN Undone came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise. The writing throughout is great, but the art truly makes it stand-out and is where I came to realise our similarities. Though I do not have as much art to show for it, VISCERIUM shares two similar traits. My Myrkild and Naranor share a striking resemblance to EDEN Undone's Daimon, though our similarities are mostly visual. And, we are both using occult imagery/symbolism. It was great to find commonality on WorldAnvil and see that there are other worldbuilders out there with similar interests.

Putting VISCERIUM's best foot first

After this, I looked at another WorldAnvil blog post, this time "5 tips to create the best World Anvil homepage!" was my first stop.
Whilst I've not yet implemented any changes to VISCERIUM's homepage, I have been collecting ideas and can see that the page is too text heavy. I'll need to look at culling the text and re-sizing it as well as making sure I'm answering the readers questions in an order they'd expect. This is esepecially important when it comes to providing jumping-off points to potential new readers, I need to not overwhelm but also provide intrigue.

---

WorldEmber '23 homework: Week Four

So, here we are, the fourth and final week before WorldEmber '23 is upon us!
This year, I'll have some conflicting priorities throughout December so managing my time in an effective manner is going to be really important. Equally, I need to keep WorldEmber fun. The last thing I want to do is add to my stress and burn-out over a creative project that I use as an escape.
Because of these priorities, I don't want to create a strict calendar for myself as this will feel too much like work and will likely stifle my creation (I get my best ideas at the most random times). Instead, I'm going to look at each week as a whole and set my priorities by their importance, with a deadline of Friday. Then, any additional time during the week and any free-time at the weekends can be spent worldbuilding or just relaxing with my friends.
With all of that in mind, I am going to spend the remainder of this week visiting my fellow community members, making sure to leave lots of comments and just hyping everyone up for this awesome community event full of wonderful beans as Janet likes to say!