Janfeb 2025 - Courageous

Can you believe that Worldember was already two months ago? Time has flown by and the first Anvils are already talking about preparations for the next one ;). My Inzisana-article was awarded first prize in December and I really didn't expect it at all: but for the first time, two of my articles won during the award ceremony for Worldember, and they couldn't be more different. While I just wanted to do something funny when I invented the game Dragon's Hoard, the article about the Aschmaster was really close to my heart and dealt with a topic that very few people like to talk about. I would like to thank Imagica, CoolG, Tillerz and Jaime Buckley once again for their awards and the whole community for the likes and comments during the reading challenge.   To give something back to the community, in January I wrote another article for my little WA craft studio on the topic of Background & Banner and launched "Blue's Missions. The first 15 places were taken within the first 5 days, which I really didn't think would happen. For anyone who is interested but hasn't been able to take on a mission yet: there will be another chance in the summer, so stay alert!   In addition to the Reading Challenge and new resolutions, January was also the time to polish my articles for my first participation in the World Anvil Worldbuilding Awards. Even if I didn't get nominated, I'm very proud of the five articles I submitted.

I hope you all voted for the 1st round of WAWAs and chose your favorites. I did and I'm very excited to see which articles, worlds, maps and timelines end up being nominated. Good luck everyone!   Then in February there was another lucky twist of fate when I came across an article by Myth Cross who had written a few tips for the community for the Demongrey's 31-Day Challenge, and I responded to it. It didn't take long before Myth-X wrote to me and invited me to join the Story Tellers Circle. I felt very honored and of course couldn't refuse. I'm very happy to be a part of it and hope not to disappoint this great little group.

Despite all the articles that were more focused on WordAnvil and the community in January, I still managed to write two shorter articles for the Midvinterdraken's Cozy-Challenge and the 12in12 Transition Challenge hosted by H.B. Bacon with Alan Byers as guest judge, which I haven't sent to my followers yet as both are still in the WIP stage. I will finish them and present them later this year.   In February I wrote my first subplot for my novel project for the 12in12 Love Challenge with Mochi as guest judge. Of course the story is not new and perhaps partly predictable, but remember that the target group of the novel is in puberty. I therefore don't want to make it too complicated so that younger readers can understand it and "fall in love" with this little love story. Whether there will be a happy ending at the end remains my little secret, of course.

Additionally, I took part in the Lady Wynter's Ink & Essence-Challenge and was able to develop another important character for the novel project. It was particularly interesting to write the antagonist villain's backstory, which actually explains all her motivations for her actions and makes her less hateable, but is barely mentioned in the project. Maybe she can change herself. But at this point, I don't know!

Oh, and then there was the little challenge from Imagica, for which I was able to contribute a few sentences. I'm really excited to see how the story begins and ends, as my part is somewhere in the middle. This challenge was really fun, even though I had a few small problems at the beginning to follow up on Tyrdal's passage. But that's exactly the appeal of this challenge and you shouldn't miss out on reading the article, which so many great Anvils contributed to.

Could you imagine living in a world where no one dies and you want to find out what would happen after life? Alikzander Wulfe wrote a beautiful myth about how death came to the world of Tanaria and how since then the inhabitants have reached the world of the dead.

If you are looking for an interesting story that will hopefully enchant you for each 12in12 challenge, then you should start reading here. Sorianna Choate tells a wonderful story from the perspective of two "souls", which begins here with the death of one soul that has been connected to the other soul for years.

In this charming article by Leijona, you'll be taken on a festive ritual that celebrates the transition from child to adult. I love the many meanings of the individual "ingredients" that make this celebration special.

Before sparks fly between lovers, sometimes a little help is needed. Here in Demongrey's article, various regional anima cause some chaos in the Million Islands, which could lead to many interesting stories.

We know that elves live forever, which means that "until death do you part" is hardly ever a common occurrence. In his article, Nightone has put some thought into engagement and marriage, which gives a really interesting insight into a culture that most people probably don't know about.

A heart-melting, emotional story that is a mixture of "The Snow Queen" and "Beauty and the Beast" draws you into a world of ice and snow in this article from Imagica that will surely warm your heart.

When Tyrdal writes articles, it doesn't feel fantastic, but rather magnificently realistic. Here he weaves silk fabrics in his unmistakably wonderful style that connect lovers and hide little messages. Let yourself be enchanted.

What would happen if you could use your thoughts to conjure up epic battles? Midvinterdraken created a character who is unaware of his power, but is used as a weapon by others. An interesting concept that fits wonderfully in fantasy worlds when there are no robots or AIs that those in power can use for their own purposes.

CrazyEddie introduces us to a mystical witches' circle that worships a rose bush. The author developed a very inspiring organization around the theme. I particularly liked the "translation" of the components of a rose for the structure of the organization and the fact that the corrupting flower adapts the appearance of the witches to their appearance.