WE 2025 -— History of Solaris
We're on the last leg of 2025, which means it's time for WorldEmber. Every december World Anvil hosts perhaps its biggest community challenge: 10k words worth of new worldbuilding in a month. Or more! In November, we have the opportunity to prepare together. Check out what World Anvil recommends here.
I've been participating since 2021. My first year I participated with the Morning Realm, a world I was building for my ttrpg campaign. 2022 was my worldember here in Solaris, and 2023 was the year where we started comment carolling, and my then girlfriend, now fiancée, joined me to write and we won Best Body of Work. 2024 was my first year not writing 10K, but I got a solid 5K.
This year, I'm hoping for 10K, anything more is a bonus! My first bit of WorldEmber preparation was to make a spreadsheet to list down all my article ideas. Now I'm organizing my thoughts here in this document, and collecting what I have already made and can work with. I'm very happy with this start, but right now my body is telling me it's time to pause and rest. I decided to share what I have thus far and come back and write the rest later.
220 022 could suggest that Solaris is 218 000 years into our future. A nice parallel; two hundred thousand years ago, modern humans emerged, and two hundred thousand years later, we have humans and nymphs across the Sol System. On the other hand, it could also mean they went with something more ancient to begin their calendar.
Because our own way of counting years begins a very key event for Christianity, fictional calendars also tend to start with a big historical event. Something like the rise of an empire or the collapse of one, or some big disaster that shook the world. When an event starts a whole new way of counting time, it shows how pivotal and how important it was to the people in the world. Characters in the universe are also aware of this, and organizations that are powerful enough might want to make sure everyone else sees history the way they do.
Still, I like to think that if we'd picked a year zero today, we'd try to find something more neutral. Maybe we'd pick an astrological event, since we're all under the same celestial skies. After all, we've used astrological events like comets and eclipses to figure out exact dates for ancient events. Even in Solaris, although the planets might tilt at somewhat different angles, they share the same celestial directions. The Sol Standard in Solaris is new, and I like the idea of them picking something like a really ancient artefact, or important celestial event as the beginning of their time.
Articles we already have:
Article IdeasMemorial Molars (Neptune)
Cliff People (Uranus)
Articles we already have:
Article IdeasMirror (Neptune)
Orb (Pluto)
More artefacts (everywhere)
Articles we already have:
Articles we already have:
I've been participating since 2021. My first year I participated with the Morning Realm, a world I was building for my ttrpg campaign. 2022 was my worldember here in Solaris, and 2023 was the year where we started comment carolling, and my then girlfriend, now fiancée, joined me to write and we won Best Body of Work. 2024 was my first year not writing 10K, but I got a solid 5K.
This year, I'm hoping for 10K, anything more is a bonus! My first bit of WorldEmber preparation was to make a spreadsheet to list down all my article ideas. Now I'm organizing my thoughts here in this document, and collecting what I have already made and can work with. I'm very happy with this start, but right now my body is telling me it's time to pause and rest. I decided to share what I have thus far and come back and write the rest later.
Preparation
Are you looking for inspiration? Why not look back to past events for prompts. Earlier this month the World of Worlds and I helped the Unofficial Summer Camp Rewind create a way to share articles inspired by Summer Camp 2018 prompts. The World of Worlds is a place where you can share your world, and find new worlds to follow. It's really easy, all you have to do is comment and it'll already be listed!
Prep that I've done:
- Review or collect your world inspirations -— I've revisited by commonplace journals & sketchbook, and organizing my images in xnview. Xnview is free software that helps you view your images and add metadata like tags to images.
- Refresh my author profile -—I did this not too long ago, and added my community projects like World of Worlds, camp chill and comment caroling.
- Make a list of articles you want to write -— I made a spreadsheet with the articles I'd like to make, and noted down some keywords for what I want to include.
- Review or set up homepage -— Add worldember badge to the sidebar
- Review my category tree -— I've restyled it, and emphasized the main article. I also used some css to make the stubs show up in the breadcrumbs again, but not on the homepage world navigation.
What is comment caroling?
Copy the badge: [img:5026772]
Mini Version: [img:5026791]
Want to join me in spreading some joy? Comment caroling is regular commenting, except you can put a cute badge in your signature or on your profile. Lets let people know we see and appreciate what they're sharing with us!
by Bill Melendez Productions
Area of Focus: History
My goal for the next Worldbuilding Awards is to submit the The History of Solaris. I've been working on this timeline for a while, and during Worldember I hope to flesh out the historical periods of Solaris. I want to write about the different eras, make stubs for important locations, figures and organizations. I think it will all come together really beautifully.Year 220022
Solaris is set in the year of 220 022, because I started this setting in 2022. I think it's a cool looking number, and I like the questions you ask immediately after seeing it. What does a number like that mean?220 022 could suggest that Solaris is 218 000 years into our future. A nice parallel; two hundred thousand years ago, modern humans emerged, and two hundred thousand years later, we have humans and nymphs across the Sol System. On the other hand, it could also mean they went with something more ancient to begin their calendar.
Because our own way of counting years begins a very key event for Christianity, fictional calendars also tend to start with a big historical event. Something like the rise of an empire or the collapse of one, or some big disaster that shook the world. When an event starts a whole new way of counting time, it shows how pivotal and how important it was to the people in the world. Characters in the universe are also aware of this, and organizations that are powerful enough might want to make sure everyone else sees history the way they do.
Still, I like to think that if we'd picked a year zero today, we'd try to find something more neutral. Maybe we'd pick an astrological event, since we're all under the same celestial skies. After all, we've used astrological events like comets and eclipses to figure out exact dates for ancient events. Even in Solaris, although the planets might tilt at somewhat different angles, they share the same celestial directions. The Sol Standard in Solaris is new, and I like the idea of them picking something like a really ancient artefact, or important celestial event as the beginning of their time.
If we were to go back two hundred thousand years from our time, we'd end up roughly in the middle paleolithic. The oldest remains we've found of homo sapiens date back to around this time, between three hundred thousand to two hundred thousand years.
220 022 is roughly as old as modern humanity, so where does that leave Solaris?
220 022 is roughly as old as modern humanity, so where does that leave Solaris?
“220 022 could suggest that Solaris is 218 000 years into our future. A nice parallel; two hundred thousand years ago, modern humans emerged, and two hundred thousand years later, we have humans and nymphs across the Sol System.
Prehistoric Solaris
Prehistoric Solaris is mysterious and improbable. Art and archeological findings suggests travel between planets before travel was possible. It's a time of myths and legends. This also makes room to explore some theories: Are the nymphs and other peoples of Solaris distant descendants of humans, or are we distant descendents of them?Articles we already have:
Article Ideas
Ancient History
The historical record has begun, but there's still that element of mystery and myth. The historical figures are larger than life. This is the first crystal era, where crystals are rare and used for powerful artefacts. This would also be when the Jovian Senate first takes shape.Articles we already have:
Article Ideas
Spacefaring
This is a long era, and often divided into early spacefaring and late spacefaring. Early spacefaring is a time of exploration, discovering new planets and using tech more like what we're used to. The early spacefaring age ends when all the planets are capable of spaceflight. At some point the crystal revolution happens, and people transition to using crystal engines. The late spacefaring age is when travel starts to become so common people are going on recreational travels to other planets, and the process of establishing a sort of interplanetary order. Spacefaring eras might overlap with other areas.Articles we already have:
Imperial Era
The Imperial Era is the height of the Mercurian and Neptunian empires. The Mercurians spread from Mercury all the way out to Pluto by the strength of their merchant fleets, while Neptune's Trident Empire staked out their claim through the Kuiper Belt until they encircled the entire system. The Imperial Era is considered the last hurrah of the God Queens, and was foundational for interplanetary societyArticles we already have:
Notice: This article is a stub. It may be expanded later!
Good luck with WorldEmber! I'll be cheering you on. I like the sound of your potential articles!
Thank you Mochi!Good luck to you too! Fun fact, this is also the thousandth comment on Solaris, which feels really fitting. I don't think anyone else has liked and commented as much as you have. I really appreciate it <3
Solaris -— a sapphic space opera
Creator of World of Worlds | Camp Chill | Comment Carolers
I'm so honoured to be the thousandth comment! What an achievement for both of us! mostly you though :D