Hello once again, lovely people and welcome back to the Community Newsletter! As always, we answered some of your burning questions asked during the stream about our new feature developments, community news & events, and other Anvil News. If you want more updates like this, consider following us on Twitter! Without further ado, let’s get into what’s happening in our community right now!

Feature Update Teaser

We have a big update coming soon to an anvil near you! We can’t get into the nitty-gritty, but here is what the team is readying for launch: Our new Intern Katerina is working on a fun (and super-secret, right now) project that will give Anvillites a fun new tool to show off how awesome they are! As well, Jay & Stephan are working on Chronos – and a launch date is fast approaching~!  – Watch this space for updates folks.

Challenges

Here are some updates regarding our latest and ongoing challenges:

  • World Ember Challenge award ceremony is happening February 5th 11am PT / 7pm UK. Come join us on the stream so you can participate in our raffles, learn who our WorldEmber winners are, and be in the Beautiful People Challenge~! This year, our costume theme is “in a galaxy far far away” – but this can be ANY galaxy far far away (even pokemon! Pika pika!). Go crazy with it~! 
  • The Reading Challenge is almost over! You can participate, but you have until the end of January to earn yourself a dapper owl badge.
  • The Bard Challenge is ongoing! Need a little inspiration to spark your forge? You can check out the Bard Challenge inspirational blog post here, and you can also read about our Interview with Satine Phoenix, who also happens to be the judge of our contest (so take some notes!). We  will have AWESOME prizes and badges you can win, so don’t miss out!

Community Questions

Below, you will find all of the paraphrased questions asked during the stream. Categories include: General Help, Challenges & Events, Feature, and CSS questions. Any questions regarding Janet and Dimitris will be answered in our Lore section below!

General Help

What was ancient Greek bread like by the fifth and sixth centuries BCE? Is it the same as what it is now?

—Dimi notes that ancient Greek bread was very different – as most bread was. Bread that we get in Scot had oats while the bread in England & France is grainy. For ancient Greek bread, it was a sourdough made with zea – a grain that died out and came back. Zea is husky, fibrous but is also salty and sweet. It would have made the bread then puffy, thick, and grainy as it was not as finely milled as present-day.

I have been having a hard time recently with writing motivation. Do you have any advice for maintaining your writing motivation?

—It can help to take it easy and to write even when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you are too tired or too stressed, so let go of expectations you have for your writing for that day. Use this time instead to build a habit. Maybe you will generate ideas, and it will pique your own interest.

—You can also toy with your ideas and writing when you have a free-brain-moment™ – when you are folding the laundry, when you are washing the dishes, play with the idea in your mind to tease out your own interest. Next, going back and reading a bit of your own work can help bring up what inspired you to start with. And last but not least, you could even try talking to yourself. You are not a crazy person, just having a conversation with yourself, which is a neat cognitive hack you could try.

Challenges & Events

When does the Beautiful People Challenge go live?

—When the Beautiful People event starts (usually 48 hours before the live-streamed event its associated with), we’ll tell you through Discord, and a new channel will be open with detailed instructions!

How is Dimitris’s podcast about settlements coming?

—With our team having doubled in size, Dimitris has not yet have time to work on the podcast. When everything is set up with the team, he will start it up again~!

Are there going to be further world anvil podcast episodes? The last episode on my podcast is episode 16, is there more to come?

—You will be very happy to know – we have been working on the podcast~. Updates soon!

Feature

When are the lifetime memberships coming back? I want to buy one!

First and foremost, we have never spoken in code and we never will – not soon and not later. Currently, we are not offering lifetime memberships. Only time will tell…

Anvilite Spotlight

Time for our favorite thing! Let’s shout out some amazing members of our community! Today, we’re spotlighting Kitoypoy, Neriakpanther, and Authorgoddess!

Kitoypoy‘s: Shards of Thaya

The first article we read on stream was by the lovely Kitoypoy! The Shards of Thaya is a worldbuilder’s paradise with its SPECTACULAR biomes as separate shards of the world! Do you want a portal fantasy, “Monster of the Week”? Doable with these pockets of adventure, written for World Ember – fresh from the forge!

Neriakpanther‘s: Tilor O Irath Miesdys

The second article we read was a dazzling article by the illustrious Neriakpanther~! They have written their first military organization with all the art you see created by themselves! This INCREDIBLE article has an amazing hierarchy that plays off the naming conventions of its ranks. 

Stream Raffle!

The winner of our latest community stream’s raffle was Authorgoddess! They have won a mini from Eldritch Foundry (Shiny~). Congratulations! If you would like to participate in these community raffles as well, you are always welcome to join our Twitch Streams. By chance, if you aren’t able to make it, you can always participate in our challenges for a chance to earn prizes and/or community recognition!

Lore

We alluded to a lot of features coming out on stream, but we couldn’t talk about any of them. GAH! Instead, learn about cheap wine, board game shenanigans, and where Dimitris and Janet will be visiting for summer camp!

What did you do with the Terrible Wine?

First! We begin with a tale of terrible wine! And then, due to a WONDERFUL community suggestion, the wine was turned into Sangria; it was GREAT – it was filled with sugar, cinnamon, and apples and oranges. Dimitris comments that it was more like eating a fruit salad than wine, but it was still good – and certainly not wasted.

Dimitris is Boosted

Dimitris received his third covid shot this week. Apparently, they don’t make clinics like they do in Greece, as he was in and out of the doctor’s office in less than four minutes!

Of Board Games and House Parties

Back in 2020, when Janet and Dimitris moved house, they lost one particular box of memorabilia and board games. Their favorite of the latter, RoboRally was no where to be found – Until! They reaquired the game via purchase from America. 

Just this last week, Janet & Dimitris played RoboRally with friends – as Janet phrased it “There was Robot on Robot action!”  with friends shoving other robots off the board, robots shooting at each other! The Carnage! The Mayhem! The absolute joy of being able to play your favorite board game again!
Hey, psst. Do you have a favorite board game? Tell us about it in the comments – we’d love recommendations!

The Flavor Profile of the Retsina

And finally, we will end with a tale of pretty decent cheap wine. – One humorous miscommunication lead to Dimitris dissecting the profile of the wine of the night: This particular Retsina was considered a cheap wine – not bad but fresh, chilled, and unique in that it has resin in it! We drink wine during these streams for our weekly drinking game! 

Janet must drink when she says the words amazing and awesome, and Dimitris when he says in fact and actually. If you want to take part in our drinking game, be sure to join us!

Live Next Week

Trash my Map Stream

Want a chance to win a raffle and learn about map making!? Come and talk all things mapmaking with Dimitris and a special guest in our Trash My Map Stream on Friday 4th February at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK~! Get your map trashed, get feedback, and get answers to your questions about Worldbuilding and Map-ing!

The WorldEmber Awards Ceremony Stream

World Anvil has ended, and now it is time to celebrate your amazing worldbuilding and creativity in our WorldEmber Awards Ceremony! We will have more raffles, the Beautiful People challenge, and announcing our AMAZING Worldember winners. You don’t want to miss this stream, happening on Saturday February 5th at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK. Save the date!

Next Community Stream

Tune in Saturday, 12th February at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK for our next community stream! Expect development updates, community news, RAFFLES and more, plus your questions answered by Dimitris and Janet (and transcribed here for all to view~!).

World Anvil Stage

Look forward to a World Anvil Discord Stage next Thursday at 10:00AM PT / 6:00PM UK! we will be discussing the newest and the flashiest of flash challenges in a question of the week format soon, and so much more! You can find us in the World Anvil Radio on Discord under the Ongoing Events category.

This Summer, World Anvil is headed to the USA

Folks on the east coast of the USA can look forward to World Anvil Meet-Ups for Summercamp 2022! Whoooo~! – Please make sure to bring your masks for the meet up. We will give more details and dates soon.

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