Worldember 2025 Prep

My Pledge:

I have decided to use this challenge to write about an underdeveloped world of mine. Though this world is very much still in its early stages (I don't even have a definitive name for it yet), I hope to one day write a book in it. So a huge amount of historical worldbuilding this December is the perfect jumping off point!

Prep Bingo:

I chose to fill out the fourth row of the bingo, and I have completed all five assignments: 'Plan your worldbuilding playlist,' 'Make a list of articles you want to write,' 'Plan your writing schedule,' 'What kind of people can you find in your worldbuilding area?,' and 'Do some research about the topics you'll write about.'

The Playlist:

Here are the highlights of the worldbuilding playlist I have compiled in preparation for Worldember:

• Mythical Axiom by HOYO-Mix
• NAME == Entelechy by HOYO-Mix
• Slow Shock by Vanguard Sound & 赛博传媒-2064
• Beloplechii by Vanguard Sound & 赛博传媒-2064
• Guns for Hire by Woodkid
• notre dame by Paris Paloma
• Memory Reboot by VØJ & Narvent
• bc she cares by Bupin
• Concertina Ballerina by Alternative Radio
• Noel's Lament by Kholby Wardell, Schott Remond & Ride the Cyclone! World Premiere Cast Recording Ensemble
• Infinite Concourse by Mike Klubnika
• Before Every Load by Mike Klubnika
• VORTEX by BaishaJAWS
• memento by TK from Ling tosite sigure
• RELOAD! by BaishaJAWS
• The TIDES by Frankly Speaking & BaishaJAWS
• Hometown by twenty one pilots
• Wasteland (from the series Arcane League of Legends) by Royal & the Serpent, Arcane & League of Legends Music
• listen before i go by Billie Eilish
• the warmth by Paris Paloma
• Katharsis by TK from Ling tosite sigure
• Sakayume by King Gnu
• Avant by EVE
• Hiraeth by Soma Saito
• Vengeance by coldrain
• BLESSLESS by Tielle
• propose by 9Lana
• DARK ARIA <LV2> (feat. XAI) by SawanaHiroyukinZk
• FightSong by EVE
• The Real Folk Blues by Mai Yamane

The List of Articles I Want to Write:

• The Unreal Plane: about the (primarily) human-created, digital space that exists alongside reality
• The creators of the Unreal: possibly a character article for each
• The revolution itself: similar to the Industrial Revolution, but much farther into the future. The Unreal Revolution is also much more violent, involving an actual global uprising.
• The old and new regimes
• The old and new social hierarchies and societal norms
• Economic impacts
• The way the city itself has been changed by the Unreal Revolution
• Specific places and features of the Unreal and their historical significance

Writing Schedule for Worldember:

Schedule 1: at least half an hour of writing time in the morning, at least another half hour in the evening.

Days that fall into Schedule 1: 1st, 5th, 9th, 15th

Schedule 2: at least an hour of writing in the evening

Days that fall into Schedule 2: 2nd, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th

Schedule 3 (Wednesday schedule): Either at least a half hour in the morning, or at least a half hour in the evening

Days that fall into Schedule 3: 3rd, 10th

Schedule 4 (finals schedule): At least an hour of writing time in the morning, at least a half hour in the evening

Days that fall into Schedule 4: 17th, 18th, 19th

Schedule 5: 1-2 hours of writing every day

Days that fall into Schedule 5: 6th, 7th, 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th. 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st

The Kind of People Involved in the Unreal Revolution:

• Academics, most of which hold strong opinions about the emerging digital space. There are many who wholeheartedly support the innovation (and many who personally work on it), and just as many who vehemently oppose the new technology.
• Politicians, nearly all of which are attempting to turn the new tech to their advantage, no matter the cost.
• Other rich investors who are basically gambling on which technologies and companies will become successful in the new era.
• Protestors who are displeased with the government and are speaking up about it in the way they are able. Paris in particular has a culture of frequent strikes and demonstrations, so that would influence this group of people in that particular city.
• Revolutionaries who are displeased with the government to a more extreme scale. These are the people who are willing to lead the population in more violent rebellions against the regime.
• People losing their jobs to the newly emerging technology, which may cause unrest in the society. These people could definitely begin to gravitate towards the two categories above due to societal change.
• In some sci-fi worlds, people succumb to extreme escapism within virtual reality and refuse to accept reality, instead choosing to live in that other world. It's an interesting idea, so I might include people like that in the Unreal.

Research:

The Industrial Revolution:

The Industrial Revolution was primarily caused by the use of new materials such as iron and steel, which though used before were not as common or as easy to manipulate. The use of new energy sources also bolstered technological growth with not only coal but also steam technology, petroleum, and electricity. These new developments allowed new machines to be invented, which in turn caused the factory system of manufacturing to become effective. All these new inventions and more easily created factory goods caused standard of living to increase, and more jobs were created. This economic shift expanded the working middle class, leading to workers' unions to become common.

The technological developments did diminish the job market in some spheres, however. Hand-crafted goods were far more expensive to make and therefore to buy, so those who were skilled in crafts began to struggle. With agricultural technology being created, fewer workers were needed to maintain larger amounts of land. The population's percentage of agricultural workers began to decrease.

When the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, the government of the time kept their new technology and techniques from being exported out to other countries. They wanted to use this at-the-time unique power to control other countries more easily, and to keep their technological head start. However, some British mechanics did jump-start the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Belgium when they set up shops there.

In the early stages of this huge societal change, the lower income classes were given increasing difficulty. The new way of life brought about by mass-production had made goods difficult to afford for workers, and with so much rapid change job security was lacking. People were being replaced by machines in many jobs, which caused great distress among the working class. Factory work was so new that there were little to no regulations. People were working far more hours than their health demanded and receiving unfairly low wages.

In summary: The Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid change brought about by technological advancements. It quickly began to rid the working class of jobs, and though it created new ones as well, regulations and workers' rights were practically nonexistent. To deal with this, unions and ethical rules had to be set up to protect workers and ensure they were being paid enough.

Sources: Industrial Revolution - Technology, Factories, Change | Britannica

Revolutions in Paris's History:

Three true revolutions have occurred in France's history. The first overthrew the monarchy, the church, and established the 'First Republic.' It was widely condemned because of the new regime's habit of executing anyone and everyone who stood against them. It is an example of a revolution gone awry, and one terrible government being replaced by an arguably worse one.

The second revolution also overthrew the king, and but in this case they replaced the previous ruler with a 'Citizen King' or Roi Citoyen. This effectively replaced one monarch with another, more popular one. The new king was still overthrown soon (eighteen years, which is a pretty short time for a government to exist) by the next revolution.

After revolts outside the palace, the 'Citizen King' abdicated, though his descendant did not take the throne as he'd decreed. A president was chosen, and he ruled the new republic until he decided to stage a coup to take control as the emperor. Under his rule, the poorer social classes were oppressed greatly.

In summary: Revolutions usually occur for a number of reasons piling up, not just one (although political figures and revolutionary leaders of the time often claim one or two motivations in particular). They can easily (and often do) go wrong, and the new governments become corrupt only to be overthrown once again. It is a vicious cycle that cannot necessarily be broken by a good and just leader, though that raises the chances of the regime sticking around. Some people will always be unhappy with the ruler, so revolutions are possible at any time. Morally justified rebellions are common, but so are revolts brought about by lies and conspiracy. Even without an organized rebellion, good leaders can easily meet their ends and be replaced by tyrants. In the end, power either corrupts, kills, or lets the occasional leader get off lucky (though never unscathed).

Sources: Revolutions in France: 1789, 1830, 1848 - France: Women in the Revolution - Research Guides at Library of Congress

Virtual Reality Technology:

Virtual reality technology has a long history in movie-viewing and screen technology, but once it really started becoming sophisticated, it was sponsored in the United States by not only technology-funding areas of the government, but also the military and NASA. The simulations were used (and still are, though they are now even better) for military training. At its core, the technology is screens and cameras that coordinate to create a complete, interactive field of vision that is accurate to what a human would really be able to see. A typical VR headset would have sensors and cameras tracking the movements of the head, the eyes, and the body itself. The screens inside then adapt to change the images visible to make it appear that one is moving through an artificial world. Other similar devices exist, like gloves that have pressure-inducing parts within that make one feel as if they're touching things they can see in the headset's screens.

Sources: Virtual reality (VR) | Definition, Development, Technology, Examples, & Facts | Britannica