WorldEmber 2023
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Fri Dec 1st - Sun Dec 31st
WorldEmber 2023
10,000 words, 31 Days, $1000+ in Prizes!
Number of Entries
41334
Number of Competitors
6643
Do you want to get your worldbuilding skills up to scratch? Join the fun!
CREATE YOUR FREE ACCOUNTThis event has ended!
Scroll down to see the leaderboards!
Scroll down to see the leaderboards!
Get ready for THE ULTIMATE WORLDBUILDING CHALLENGE!
Finish 2023 with an achievement — Start 2024 with a bang
We challenge you to write 10,000 words of original worldbuilding content this December. Check out the prizes and rules below!
All you need is a free World Anvil account, grab your hammer, and GO WORLDBUILD!
Worldember Special Categories
Click on a prompt to write your response.
Let the games begin!
Ethnicity
Ethnicity special category
Technology
Technology special category
Sponsored by Tillerz
Prize: $50 USD (or equivalent) voucher for World Anvil Shop, Cantrip Candles, Hero Forge, Paizo, and more (winner's choice)
Spell
Spell special category
Sponsored by Sapha Burnell
Prize: The entire digital catalogue of Vraeyda Literary, House of Hallowes and Blade & Banter books
Rank
Title special category
Prose
Prose special category
Profession
Profession special category
Sponsored by Haly the Moonlight Bard
Prize: Winner's Choice of Disney Villainous, Star Wars Villainous or Marvel Villainous board games
Plot
Plot special category
Law
Natural law special category
Ritual
Tradition special category
Formation
Military formation special category
Material
Material special category
Condition
Condition special category
Document
Document special category
Militaryconflict
Military conflict special category
Vehicle
Vehicle special category
Settlement
Settlement special category
Item
Item special category
Sponsored by Clementine Dehning
Prize: Illustration of the winning prompt (check their ArtStation and Instagram for examples).
Person
Character special category
Article
Generic article special category
Species
Species special category
Organization
Organization special category
Location
Geography special category
Sponsored by Michael Chandra
Prize: $100 USD in gift cards from a variety of online shops, including the World Anvil Shop, Cantrip Candles, Hero Forge, Paizo, and more (winner's choice)
Building
Building special category
Sponsored by Absinthe
Prize: Surprise sweet treats basket selected by Absinthe (or gift card), valued at $100 USD
Myth
Myth/legend special category
Sponsored by E. Christopher Clark
Prize: Full set of paperback copies of The Stains of Time, plus a custom illustration of the winning article
Language
Language special category
Sponsored by Zannazook læ Gnom
Prize: L'enlèvement d'Iuléé, either in French or English (the English version only exists in e-book format) and a custom map.
Join the Race!
Do you want to get your worldbuilding skills up to scratch? Join the fun!
CREATE YOUR FREE ACCOUNTHow it works
Participating on WorldEmber is super easy!- Write 10,000 words of worldbuilding in new articles before December ends to get the winner badge. There are also 25k and 50k goals if you're up for the challenge.
- Optionally submit articles to the special categories listed above. With Competitor mode enabled, your submissions will be judged and the winners will get a prize.
Prizes
Here are the physical prizes that will be raffled among Competitors with 10,000 words or more!
Note: to be eligible for this prize, you must be 21 years old or older and have all the required documentation to travel. The prize includes one Ocean View cabin for 2 and access to the D20 at Sea activities on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
$50 gift cards
(sponsored by Tillerz)
(sponsored by Tillerz)
Gift cards valid for: World Anvil Shop, Cantrip Candles, Hero Forge, Paizo, and more (winner's choice)
There are three types of badge you can win on WorldEmber. First of all, we have the three word completion badges:
Write 10,000 words and will have successfully completed WorldEmber!
Write 25,000 words to earn the Award of Verbosity!
Win 50,000 words (a full novel!) to earn the Award of Loquacity!
Additionally, these four unique badges are awarded either by Janet and Dimitris or based on a community vote:
Awarded to the user who wrote the best article during WorldEmber.
Awarded to the user with the best overall work this month.
Awarded to the user who has written the most words during WorldEmber
Awarded by World Anvil to an all-around good spirit of WorldEmber — we see you!
Finally, each special category has their own badge too. These badges are also unique and will be awarded to each winner chosen by a community sponsor.
10,000 Words
25,000 Words
50,000 Words
Best Article
Best Body of Work
Most Words Written
Human of the Match
Join the community!
One of the best things about WorldEmber is the community support - everyone rallies together on multiple platforms! You can find our community on Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and our community stream. Use the hashtag #WorldEmber to share ideas and find one another!Rules
Timescale
Challenge begins: 1st December 2023, 7pm UK time/11am Pacific timeChallenge ends: 31st December 2023, 7pm UK time/11am Pacific time
Goal
The goal of WorldEmber is to write 10,000 of original worldbuilding during December—the site will automatically track your wordcount. Valid words are:- Written in articles only.
- Written in articles that are new (i.e. created after WorldEmber launched), public (i.e. not private) and published (i.e. not drafts).
- Written in articles with over 50 words.
Detailed rules
- All worldbuilding should be new and original. Previously written content or placeholder text is not allowed.
- Anything that is not worldbuilding does not count. This includes content like project updates.
N.B. 14th Dec, 2023: This is a small edit made to clarify what counts as eligible submission, following community questions. Short stories have been removed from the "explicitly forbidden" content types, but must still be strongly related to worldbuilding and setting development. - Only articles are counted. Any words written in timelines, statblocks, secrets, or other non-article elements don't count.
- Articles must be at least 50 words long to be counted (or 300 for a special category). There is no maximum word count.
- If you submit your article and subsequently remove it from the challenge, make it private, or make it a draft, it will no longer be eligible for the challenge!
- No art theft. You must have permission to use any art you post publicly on World Anvil, and all art must be credited using the artist credit fields or in the article footer.
- Only one account per person may enter WorldEmber. Note that the use of multiple accounts is against the World Anvil Terms of Service. Multiple users can write in the same world (for collaborative projects) and you can write in multiple worlds.
- As always, World Anvil claims no ownership over your original work.
Questions & Feedback
If you've read through all the rules, checked the FAQ section on the right, and still have questions or feedback, here are some ways you can reach us!- [email protected] - send us an email!
- Twitter - drop us a DM!
- Discord - hop into the help or WorldEmber channels and ping or DM the @Community Team!
- Facebook Group and Subreddit - ask your questions there if you prefer these platforms!
The Awards Ceremony
In January 27th, we'll throw an AWARDS CEREMONY! If you've won a prize, this is where you'll hear about it. The event will also feature raffles and the traditional Beautiful People event! Follow us on Twitch so you never miss an update!Resources & Guides
Feeling stuck and need some inspiration? We've got you covered:- World Anvil's Twitch channel - for the latest streams giving ideas on the prompts!
- World Anvil's YouTube channel - for inspirational videos, and more tutorials!
- The World Anvil Codex - for how to use all the features of World Anvil!
- Article BBCode Guide - how to make your articles look amazing!
- The World Anvil blog - for inspiration and the latest news on development!
- 5 best character portrait resources
- 5 best city map image resources
- 5 best landscape resources
- More free art resources for worldbuilding
How to submit to special categories
Uncollapse the Community Challenge panel on the right side of the edit screen to reveal the WorldEmber panel, which includes buttons with eligible prompts for your article. Click your chosen prompt to submit your article!
FAQ
Can old stubs be counted?
The leaderboard doesn't seem to be up to date. Why?
Can I copy in my old work or stuff I did in NaNoWriMo?
Do I have to pick a single world to work on for my wordcount?
What about co-authors?
How can I see which articles are being counted for WorldEmber?
Yes! A stub is an article under 50 words, and it will be counted for WorldEmber if you follow these instructions:
- Open the article for editing.
- Click on Avanced Tools & Options on the right hand side.
- Click the SPECIAL ACTIONS panel on the right hand side.
- Click the Reset Date button. This process will update the creation date of the article to the current date.
The leaderboard information refreshes periodically to prevent it from creating lag on the website. Check back later and it will have updated! In the meantime, why don't you grab your hammer and GO WORLDBUILD?!
Verbatim copying of previously done work (even your own!) is not in the spirit of the competition, but expanding on previous work — for example, creating a book bible extrapolated from the first draft of a novel — is just fine.
Nope! Wordcount is per author, so you can write across as many worlds as you like!
Multiple co-authors can write in a single world; their word counts are accumulated based on individual user, not the world they write in.
Use the button at the top of this page to check your personal progress, including every article that is being counted for WorldEmber. You can also view other user's progress pages by appending their username to the URL of this page (https://www.worldanvil.com/community/challenge/worldember-2023/homepage/).
How do I opt in to get prizes?
When will the winners be announced?
When will badges and prizes be delivered?
Can I make my articles private, or delete or edit things after the event?
How do I enter an article for a Special Category?
In order to get any prizes on WorldEmber you will need to enable Competitor mode. To do so, go to your Account Features settings and make sure "Competitor mode" is enabled.
This affects both raffle prizes and special category prizes. If you want to have a chance to win a special category prize, you will need to submit to that category. But if you submit without Competitor mode enabled, your article will not be judged!
All users who get to 10,000 words or more will receive the completion badge regardless of the Competitor status.
The winners will be announced at the WorldEmber 2023 Awards Ceremony stream, a special live-streamed Awards Ceremony on our Twitch on January 27th. If you can't tune in live, we'll release a post in our blog with the winners, as well as in our social channels (@WorldAnvil everywhere!). Stay tuned on our social media for updates!
Once the Awards Ceremony has taken place (on January 27th) and all the winners have been announced, we will start the process of giving out the badges and delivering the prizes. World Anvil has over 2,000,000 users though, so this might take a minute. Please be patient!
After the Awards Ceremony (on January 27th), yes! If you make your articles private or delete them before the ceremony has taken place, you may forfeit your digital badge or your prize, as our team will be unable to check your work for cheating.
This restriction applies to articles submitted in Competitor mode. If you don't have Competitor mode enabled (and, therefore, are not opting in to get any prizes), you're free to edit your articles at any point.
To take part, simply write an article using the specified template. If you have Competitor Mode enabled, the judge of that category will choose the winner at their own discretion, by their own means. We recommend to keep special category articles below 2,000 words so that the judges aren't overwhelmed!
If you submit to a special category without Competitor Mode enabled, your article will not be judged.
Statistics
Authors by Words
(WE Winners+ only)
Top Authors by Total Likes
Top Entries By Likes
- 1 43 Monster Hunting in Yonderverse
- 2 40 Nomads of Mercury in Solaris
- 3 36 Savelan Geography Lesson in Malkora
- 4 34 SANT in Vertinall
- 5 32 Goldbrook Annual Guild Fair in Journals of Yesteryear
- 6 30 Barbas in Yonderverse
- 7 29 Cosmic Bloom in Solaris
- 8 28 Influence of the Shards in Istralar
- 9 27 Daglaci in Yonderverse
- 10 25 Conservation in A To Zoo
- 11 25 Titania in Solaris
- 12 24 Bronze Sloth in Yonderverse
- 13 24 Palace of Delights in Solaris
- 14 24 Alexandros III in Terra Occidentalis
- 15 24 Astroplankton in Solaris
- 16 24 Boria on the Delta in Yeia
- 17 23 Human in Solaris
- 18 23 Isadore Ravenswood in Dark-Fall
- 19 23 Corralum Scales in Ethnis
- 20 22 Orbit Kitty in Yonderverse
Top Authors by number of Entries
- 1 320
- 2 251
- 3 226
- 4 170
- 5 168
- 6 155
- 7 136
- 8 134
- 9 131
- 10 129
Condition
Important Document
Ethnicity
Formation
Item
Language
(Super)Natural Law
Building / Landmark
Geographic Location
Material
Military Conflict
Myth / Legend
Organization
Person / Character
Plot
Profession
Ritual / Tradition
Rank / Title
Settlement
Species
Spell / Ability
Technology / Science
Vehicle
Last update: 2023-12-31 18:59:28.636887 GMT
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