WorldEmber Prep 2025: The Magic of the World

This will be my second WorldEmber, and this time around I am going to challenge myself more than I did for my first. I'm going for a bigger number of words, and I'm planning on tackling a part of the world that I haven't really touched on properly before! Last year I managed 12,074 words. This time, I want to go for the 25k milestone!

My Pledge

Area of Focus

I think, this year, I want to focus on magic, magical professions, and magical beasts. All things to do with magic in my world, basically! Considering that magic is a very important part of the world, I really haven't done all that much with getting the lore down on paper!

I think the reason behind this is that magic is very complex in A'arde, with lots of moving parts. I have always been averse to mentioning specifics in my games because I don't want to end up rewriting things and ret-conning lore later.

Writing Goal

I am going to aim for the 25k milestone this year, and I intend to enter into at least one of the special categories, though I haven't decided yet what kind of categories I would be willing to enter.

Pledge Document

Prep Bingo

Review or Set Up Your World Homepage

I'm relatively happy with my homepage as it is right now, though I may go back and see if I have anything new to add to it because of Blue Fairy's mission. I haven't made any major updates to the mission since I received it, as I have been collecting bits and pieces together, so I should probably fix that...

Find An Accountability Buddy

LollyBeau is going to be my Accountability Buddy, as she always is! I couldn't do what I do without her!

You can view Lolly's world, Tordronnen, here!

Rae is also going to be Accountability Buddy number two! They play the character of Doya in one of my games, and have created a little world that features Doya's thoughts and observations that they hope to fill!

Prepare Visual Elements for Your Articles

I don't often create visuals, and as it's currently NovelEmber, I hadn't really thought about such a thing previously. However, I am planning on creating a special banner for the articles on magic to replace the global banner that I currently use. Eventually I want to create a special banner for all the different types of articles, but that will take some time to finish. I think, therefore I will focus on the "Magic" one and see how that turns out.

I've also had an idea for some sketches that I could do, which use orchestral conductors as a model for spellcasters. I've been taking a look through some stock and news photographs of performances, specifically close-ups of the conductors, to see if any poses catch my eye. Honestly, just look at Alondra de la Parra in the image below; totally Mage material! Even the sheet music in front of her is giving me old tome vibes!

Image by Zoe Douglas-Kinghorn from the article "7 Conductors You Should Know About" in Cut Common magazine.

What Kind of People Can You Find in Your Worldbuilding Area?

This one is a little tricky, as my theme is about the magic of the world, rather than anything involving people. I suppose then, the most appropriate answer for this particular Bingo square is "magic nerds"! Oddly enough, I was thinking about that very concept earlier today (Nov 1st) when writing some background information about the main character of the "side story" I'm writing for NovelEmber, Neyon Vihan. Magic nerd would absolutely describe him, and I think it's quite amusing that there will be folks in A'arde that will be geeking out over magic in the same way that we do tech, games, or Pokemon!

Go For A Walk

Well, this one's easy, because I walk my dog twice a day! Bramble is a demanding little princess beast, but taking her out over the farmland and across the old coalmine is always a great time to do some thinking. There's even a weird tree in the middle of one of the fields that I'm certain must have a story to it...

I also have the Crags near me, which is a place full of ancient history and folklore.

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Bonus Bingo Squares

Make a List of Articles You Want to Write

• The Basics of Magic
• Categories of Magic
• Classes of Magic
• Divisions of Magic
• Tiers of Magic Spells
• Arcane Weave
• Sylvan Weave
• Divine Gratuity
• Aura
• Mana Pool
• Weave Channel
• Vocation: Witch
• Vocation: Mage
• Vocation: Sorcerer
• Vocation: Cleric

Bonus Articles Created

• Arcania, Goddess of Arcane Magic
• Confidant Bonding Rite

Define the Scope of Your Worldbuilding

I think I already answered this above, in the pledge section about Area of Focus, but here it is again: I want to focus on magic, magical professions, and magical beasts. The article list above is predominantly focused on the core lore surrounding how magic works within my world, and why things act the way they do. I would like to go reasonably deep into the lore and "mechanics" surrounding it, especially as there are some fun tidbits about magic in A'arde that are particularly relevant to one of my gaming groups.

You may note that I haven't actually listed any magical beasts within that list. That's because I want to give myself at least a little bit of freedom within the area of focus to play around with something fun and off-the-cuff if I find myself lacking motivation. I always love to research and write about magical animals, so it acts as a form of palate cleanser when I find myself struggling with what to write.

Update Your Author Profile

I've had some basic information in my author profile for a while now, but never really added any details of any of my hobbies or favourite books, films, TV, etc. I decided to change that and have added some of those. The choices might surprise a few folks!

I'm planning on creating a video of some kind, introducing myself, though I'm not 100% sure what it will contain yet.

Join the Community

I've been in the Community for a year now., and have tried to be more active within!

Plan Your Worldbuilding Playlist

See my Writing Playlist here

Do Some Pre-Writing Research

I have mostly been researching medical terms.

Yes, I know, that sounds weird. Magical and medical right?! But it makes sense!

For me, the way magic works is very much like another bodily organ, so I figured it would be worth looking into various medical terms, and perhaps even some nasty illnesses. Giving these aspects of magic "technical" terms grounded in actual terminology makes them feel more real, in my opinion, and it's always fun to throw the technical terms around to scare my players a little!

Tidy Up Your Writing Space

I needed to do this anyway, as I have a new monitor that I need to set up. I have managed to get rid of most of the crap that was on the desk, and am now in the process of sorting out my notebooks so that I have the most important ones accessible.

Read a Book

I re-read an old book called "Fleabag and the Ring Fire". It's one that I always enjoy and I wanted to look at it from a slightly different perspective. I like the subtleties of the magic it uses, and it's quite refreshing.

I don't know if it counts, but I've also read a lot of manga/manhua this month. I've also been reading some textbooks on British myths and legends; mainly for inspiration on how magic might work in different contexts.

Plan Your Writing Schedule

My writing schedule is generally timed around when I do my chores, because I don't have a job at the moment. This means there's nothing that I necessarily need to work around, other than Yule and Christmas things. I do a lot of my best work in the morning after walking my dog, so I'll probably make sure to set aside an hour or two around then each day.

Check back to see my updates for this homework!