Fiery Smithing aka World Ember 2023 Homework

Overview

It is this time of the year again, the Event which got me into World Anvil, the Discord and the glorious community. And again and again after the last Eddies World Ember 2022 Pledge, Papers and Nachos! with Nachos and Cheese and everything, we are preparing for a bit bigger chunk of stories here.
What, Eddie, what are you talking about?! Well, dear Reader, I am talking about stories. The whole theme of Koria, the whole reason this world is there. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Shall we proceed?

Goal for World Ember (Homework 1)

My goal for World Ember is to plot my next planned two novels in Koria. One is evolving around the Pastwalkers and the bloodmages of the Longardir in their city of Oldrir. Characters are Gavín and Thormar, sometimes accompanied by Gavíns wife Daena. We explore the haunted city, try to not get eaten by vicious magical defenses and maybe try to decipher why the city itself is alive to an extend...
The second novel evolves around the University of Hulwar, a few years after the ground-shattering events which lead to the death of Orwan Ulera. We are an elf who is attempting the University and discovering a darker, more direct world-ending danger as just a mage with a knack for dark powers.

Novel Mini-Meta (Homework 2)

Holy crap... okay, breathe, Eddie, breathe, damnit! Phew, I did it.

Okay, Mini-Metas. Lemme see... two novels... without a name in three parts in a mini-meta. Well, there ya go! Scope, Theme, Mood, Goals, Inspiration, for your eyes and maybe it sparks a bit of curiosity! :)

Magical University Novel

Scope

Theme

Mood

Goals

Inspiration

The scope for this novel is set around, but not exclusively bound, to the premises of the University of Hulwar a few years after the events of the dark sorcerer and Orwan Ulera. Plotting for this novel begins in World Ember of course.

The theme of this novel is having the main character going through their early stages in life after completing their basic training for magic. This includes getting to know more species (they are an elf), diving deep into their own soul, exploring their feelings and try not to get killed by the events happening during their stay at the university. Basically a bit of coming-of-age and good vs. evil.

Think of a love-hate-relationship between the Harry-Potter-series and Scholomance, mix a bit of Elric of Melnibone into it and serve it with ice-cold brandy.

My goal with this novel is to satisfy the need of my readers, my own needs and our shared curiosity how the University works, how it is to live, love and die there and how it changes the people inside and outside of it.

Inspiration struck me after reading the first Scholomance series. I found it a bit more focused than the Harry Potter series and I needed a magical school of my own. And in Koria people are learning things not only by doing, but also by attending school, if you believe it or not.

Pastwalker Novel

Scope

Theme

Mood

Goals

Inspiration

The scope of this novel is probably the whole continent, but more focused on the area surrounding Oldrir and the Longardir, featuring my three characters Gavín, his wife Daena and their dear friend Thormar, which I introduced during Summercamp 2023 and the Treasured Companion Challenge.

For this novel we are going for the themes of love (in more than one way), we have good vs. evil (on a more... not so clear level), mustering courage and a bit of coming of age, even when our characters are a bit older than the normal young adult.

In this novel I am aiming to nudge the reader to be curious. It has an eerie atmosphere because we are visiting a ghost town (maybe literally?), we are diving deep into old, still lingering bloodmagic and we will read about the last Longardir, including the forbidden and bloodline-dooming relationship between the last princess and the Selkie. Yes, there will be a story about them in the Tales of Koria once it is finished.

My goal for this novel is to give the reader an entertaining ride through old ruins, darker magic, personal insights of my characters including their polyamorous relationships, their friendships with other people and their huge knowledge. I want the reader to weep, to love, to hate and to go on an exploration with me, them and everyone who is going to visit. Because we need a lot of folks. The Longardir protected us. But against what? Lets find out, shall we?

This one is pretty unspecified. I think a mix of Indiana Jones, Elric of Melnibone, John Carter and Nathan Drake/Uncharted? I love archaeology, even when I am not one of them (on paper), so I wanted to have a few characters who go on adventures together through ruins, dig through the earth and mountains and discover skeletons, buried secrets or just a really pretty amberstone.

Inspiration

This World Ember I am aiming to create the plots for two novels, as said above. So I am drawing inspiration from people who can worldbuild like gods, but also tell stories like gods and bards. There are a lot of other folks like Satrium with his world Lothrea, Mr. Chimera with his Ikwento or Nincho her with Ayonerra, but I can't list them all, because there are so, so many inspiring worlds, so I just list my main influences for this plotting World Ember.

Organisation & Homepage

In terms of categories and organisation I am in the process of setting up a new structure for my organisation, including tags, categories and so on. This is not a goal for World Ember per se, but an ongoing task on my side, so it is not a dedicated part of World Ember.

The same goes for my homepage. It is... okay-ish right now, but I am in the process of writing my primer in the background and still need a few supporting articles like small breakdowns of how my magic works (without the details) or the believe-system. So ongoing progress here, not a dedicated World-Ember-Task.

Preps, peppers & nachos

I am all set since NaNoWriMo started back at the beginning of November, so the only thing I have to do is to refill ALL THE SNACKS!

Pledge

Comment Carolers!

because why not?

Image and inspiration by the glorious Annie Stein, read her stuff here!