School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy

Original article by WriterGreg. IRL, WriterGreg is a writing and life coach who shared some of his knowledge on his Twitch channel. He was one of the founders of the idea of "mercenaries" in the Game of Tomes as a way to raise money for charity, and has been a constant force of good, both in our community and in the world. He offered writing classes professionally in this "school" in real life, and the link at the bottom of the page will take you to his website.

This article contains both IRL and "in-universe" elements for the Game of Tomes. When information appears in boxes like this, it applies to the real world, and not our Lore.

The School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy was a school that was converted from its original, typical academic purpose by WriterGreg during the Second Word War. It also ran a Literomantic-focused internet newscast that became quite popular in 2022. Following the death of WriterGreg in the Third Word War, the school was officially disbanded, and reopened as the World Literomantic Academy under new leadership.

Structure

The School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy was divided into departments. Every writer has their own process. Some creative efforts occur before the first draft (outliners) or afterwards (discoverers). Classes focusing on plot, world building, and large scale revisions were in the Worldcraft Department. Smaller scale revisions and editing were in the Wordmancy Department.

Worldcraft

The Worldcraft Department helped students and residents of the school to create the worlds where their stories resided. These classes focused on any activities that happened before the first draft of the fiction. The fields of study within the department included:

Worldbuilding

Plot Structure and Outlining

Wordmancy

The Wordmancy Department helped students and residents after their fiction's first draft was completed. The fields of study within the department included:

Development Editing

Line Editing

Administrative Offices

The School's administration offices were located near the main entrance of the school. The offices were open during regular school hours. WriterGreg could usually be found in the offices, except when leading the Study Hall. The Administration could be reached virtually through the School's Discord Server.

Public Agenda

The goal of the School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy was to train a new generation of Literomancers, so that the world was prepared for the return of The Undead Horde. As part of that work, the School supported Kids Need to Read, a charitable organization that gifts books to underfunded schools and underprivileged kids. They also offered classes on various aspects of the literomantic arts, from the proper use of grammar to instruction in advanced worldbuilding, to writing subtext.

The School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy ran charity drives during the Game of Tomes: Tourney of Tales competitions and any Word War that came up. These charity drives benefitted the real-world charity, Kids Need to Read. Any bits collected during the Game of Tomes streams were donated to this 501(c)(3) charity. Sadly, we can no longer run charity drives in this way because Twitch has changed its fundraising policies and procedures.

Study Halls

Students, alumni, and the general public were welcome to join WriterGreg's daily Study Hall, which was held in the Library and virtually Monday-Saturday at, or Erin Righ's Study Hall, which were held in the afternoons/evenings on Tuesdays and Fridays.

History

During the First Word War, WriterGreg supplemented his work as an anchor for the ASC News Network by selling his services as a Mercenary literomancer for hire, to raise money for literacy charities. He sought shelter in a school building abandoned during the undead outbreak. He quickly took charge of the school and all who sheltered there. All who were willing to contribute to the new community were welcomed. The 1930's art deco design and solid construction of the building made it a perfect location to establish a school of worldcraft and wordmancy amongst the continuing undead threat. He was so inspired by the cooperation of the new community that he sought to gave up his mercenary ways. Any funds from his old mercenary activities went to help the school and its inhabitants. Others joined the School to help keep the magic of Worldcraft and Wordmancy alive. They sought to help others with their new magics during the Word Wars. They were willing to perform worldcraft and wordmancy magics in exchange for money and supplies for the school. Former The Nite Qing Erin Righ joined the faculty of the School, which created some controversy, as might be expected, and there was some concern over what effect this might have had on the educational facility. However, Erin turned out to be as dedicated to the SWW as WriterGreg himself, even partnering with him to launch SWW News, a literomantic news broadcast, when Greg quit working for the GOT News Network. He soon opened an SWW Campus within The Warren when he reunited with his wife, Queen Sable Aradia. After Greg's passing, Erin and several of Greg's former students retired the School of Worldcraft and Wordmancy out of respect for Greg, but continued his work by relaunching as the World Literomantic Academy, which seeks to continue the education of would-be Literomancers throughout the Protectorates. The original building now serves as a shelter for the homeless and as a safe house during the Word Wars.