#erasde weekly logs

[erasde]

[Weekly Log] - #4 : January 2025

Last log for January ! This week was also kind of intense at work, so I didn't have that much time to give to my project. I still jotted down some quick notes during my shifts, but I wasn't able to do much more than that.

As I said the previous week, I focused my attention on Omrys, despite not having the possibility to touch the maps as I intended to. Omrys is actually one of the countries for which I have the more lore, whether it is at the level of culture, climate or political organization. This week, I focused on two main subjects of interest regarding this country : education and immigration.

Since I'm focusing on worldbuilding rather than creating a narrative like a novel would, I have a fair amount of freedom in how I can and want to present said worldbuilding. In fact, I've started to imagine a few loose scenarios following yet undeveloped characters, whose journey would allow me to show extremely specific lore details :

A young noble heir from Morandia who, after separating from their family, seeks to join the Thousand Flowers District's highly selective ranks of courtesans. This perspective from an outsider trying to fit into this very specific culture will be a great complement to Toska's own perspective, since she's a native from said district.

A paper pusher from the Academy of Terenta Mari, whose job is basically to act as a carrier pigeon between a meddlesome administration and researchers despising said administration. Administrative agents have interesting points of view, being right in the middle of the system's inner workings.

A teenage mother, her baby, and a hardened criminal, both seeking political asylum in the remote country of Omrys and who find themselves stuck together throughout the proceedings. I had a lot of fun creating the Omrys immigration system so having these two very different characters to show its inner workings will definitely be interesting to develop.

Like the previous weeks, I participated again in Flash Fiction Friday, this week's prompt being "Blinding Gaze". While browsing the privated posts of this blog, I also found my first participation in the challenge and decided to put it back on public mode, in addition to integrating it to the AO3 work. It was FFF#228 - A Form of Distraction, all the way back in November 2023.

Today, I took the time to make an index post of my writings for Erasde, in addition to updating the AO3 work containing all the writings related to the FFF. And since I was clearly on a menial task streak, I set about filling out my encyclopedia document, which is a long and boring process consisting of retrieving the many terms and other vocabulary words (and if possible their etymology for future work on my languages) born of worldbuilding Erasde for four years, and listing everything as neatly as possible in my Google Doc.

I'll probably continue this tonight after dinner. Maybe not the encyclopedia, before I'm fed up with it, but maybe I'll start the transfer and reorganization of my notes, from my old Discord and dozens of notebooks to my newly organized Google Docs. Maybe I'll finally make a list compiling all my characters, even with just one line to determine who they are, to finally have them all in one place...

Since I'm trying to get into learning how to draw, I think I'll use the next week to brainstorm and list some ideas of things I'd like to draw for Erasde. I already know I'll start with a portrait of Senna, but it'd be great to have a list of different projects and ideas, together with visual references and such...

[erasde]

[Weekly Log] - #1 : January 2025

First log of the year !

This week, I had more time to work on my worldbuilding than usual, especially because Wednesday was a holiday and also because I spent today working on Erasde.

The most notable progress this week was the relaunch of this blog, neglected since last April. I wasn't happy with the content I had previously uploaded or even the way I had approached the project. Putting sharing information on hold to focus on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it felt necessary. I now have a good idea of ​​how I want to proceed, how I want to organize what I present and above all, it gave me the opportunity to revamp my theme.

Another big achievement this week, achieved today after at least five hours of work : I finally took the time to make my hydrological map. I'll probably go into my process surrounding how I created my maps in more detail another time, but this map is the first (except for the blank one) to be fully completed.

I've made some progress on the topographic map as well, especially by focusing on one island in particular, but it's taking much, much longer. Like, really fucking long. Luckily, I find it reposing to do because otherwise, it would be a pain in the ass.

Finally, I caved a bit and indulged in my current subject of interest : food history. I've been quite obsessed with the history of food and table manners for some time now, and I put my work as a librarian to good use and got myself some fascinating books. The one I read Wednesday was Histoires de l'alimentation by Jacques Attali. I took a bunch of notes that I'll cross with the one I'm going to read tomorrow, Une histoire politique de l'alimentation by Paul Ariès.

In addition to reading this book, I also started taking notes related to food in a more relaxed manner, using mostly Wikipedia. Honestly, with the amount of information I need, when I'm only searching for general information rather than really specific facts, I tend to use Wikipedia as it's usually well organized and clear enough. My current topic of interest, about food obviously, is staple foods. And more precisely, I'm currently researching cereals and pseudocereal.

And that's it for the first week ! For next week, I'll put to good use my Monday off as well as my full weekend to work a bit more on the maps. Now that I have most of the mountains and bodies of water, I'll probably start making the political map. I'll probably keep searching stuff about food, since I have three more books waiting for me.

[erasde]

[Weekly Log] - #6 : February 2025

There is no progress log for week 5, since I did a Monthly Log on Saturday 1rst. However, here we are for the first of our three February Logs !

As usual, I participated in the last Flash Fiction Friday, the #291 - Stuff of Legends. I'll update the AO3 work tomorrow, as I'm not even sure I added last week's prompt to it.

As stated in the monthly log, one of February's main goal is to gather all my scattered notes in one place, i.e. my online Drive, so I can access everything from everywhere and on any device. It's going well for now, as I managed to clear four categories of my old Discord server into their corresponding documents.

However, I had the terrible realization that in addition to the server, I'll need to go through the private messages with my brother @kanraandchrome, starting from October 2020, as I probably dumped a novella worth of lore in there.

Other than that, I started going through my probably overdue library books and managed to skim through three of them, one about natural plant dyes and two herbalism books on how to prepare natural plant remedies.

Finally, I managed to complete Omry's height and administrative regions maps. The height map was almost finished and only needed a bit of cleanup, but the administrative map was done in one setting, as having a first administrative layout will help me plan for the positioning of my cities and roads for everything related to trade network.

For the upcoming week, I'll try to complete the transfer between my server and my documents, as well as start to color code said transferred notes according to a system to see what I need to complete, rework or simply discard.

[erasde]

[Weekly Log] - #3 : January 2025

As I thought last week, I had a hard time getting real work done this week, due to previous obligations which resulted in a lack of time. However, I have most of my Monday free, which mean I'll be able to get some stuff done tomorrow.

This week I mostly focused on background work. Meaning notes. A fuckton of them even, thanks to my handy little notebook that I carry with me at all time, especially at work.

The subjects of interest this week were quite diverse as I switched between :

possible correspondences between places that actually exist and places that I imagine in Erasde, in order to be able to plan climate, fauna and flora

research into nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples in order to be able to study and cross-reference different cultures and ways of life in order to be able to construct plausible peoples for Saari

A listing of the places and themes associated with each of my character, with what nuances and possible crossings of narration

a list of terms and resources to consult in order to determine exactly the level of technological progress at Erasde in a way that makes sense (I'm currently going with proto-industry)

I also jotted down some fairly extensive notes on some fairly specific lore concerning Saari and Omrys, mainly related to the organization of cities and communities, the relationship between governance and the governed, and immigration policy.

I also participated in the FFF again, although this week's excerpt was particularly short, barely 150 words.

For next week, I think I'd like to focus on Omrys. I'm thinking of trying to finish the height map and work on placing the different cities, as well as naming the different regions, rivers, mountains etc.

[erasde]

[Weekly Log] - #2 : January 2025

This week was a little quieter than the last in terms of time spent worldbuilding, but good progress was made. Most of it was made on Monday and polished during the weekend.

I started on Monday by making some posts for this blog. Two of them, the Resources post and the Bibliography post, were made with the intent of being updated with my readings and discoveries of useful websites. But I also took some time (more than I thought) to put together my first Worldbuilding post, where I talk about maps, their uses and their usefulness.

On Wednesday, I received my first ask for Worldbuilding Wednesday, which is a great weekly event. However, I think my participation in it will be quite limited to the persons stumbling upon this blog by accident since this blog is only for my own content (as in, I do not reblog other people stuff). It was a decision I had to make, but I intend this blog to be where I centralize and share my project. I'm already having a hard time staying organized and clear, so drowning my posts in the middle of other stuff would make it even more difficult.

On Friday, I participated for the second time in the Flash Fiction Friday challenge hosted by @flashfictionfridayofficial. I've been following them for quite a while now, but I was too busy reworking my project to participate on a regular basis. However, the weekly prompt and short wordcount is a nice challenge, as well as a way for me to flesh out my characters on the side of all the worldbuilding stuff.

In fact, the first thing I did on Saturday was to connect to Erasde's AO3 and format the first work to be published there, a collection dedicated to the snippets made for the FFF and, later perhaps, other writing challenges.

I have another work in progress, a one-shot centered around the characters mentioned in this week's FFF, which is already at 4k2 words and will probably double in size. I'm taking my time with it though, because it's as much a work of style as it is a work of characterization. My writing style is very heavily influenced by the fact that I've been writing fanfiction for years and the tricky thing is that, this time, my "fandom" is an original work that currently exists only in my mind.

Otherwise, I took advantage of my two-day weekend to work intensively on my maps. In addition to slightly reworking my base map to add the bodies of water present within the land, I also added the borders. It will allow me a better visualization of some information, without having to activate a bunch of different layers each time. These borders were determined by the realization, admittedly long and painful, of the first political map on which I placed my territorial and political entities, as well as the names of the main countries.

Otherwise, I borrowed a few new books from the library but haven't had time to look into them too much yet. But I did see a very good book on the history of medicine that will be a good complement to my current interest in herbalism.

I also bought three books, which I should pick up soon: the new edition of the previously mentioned book by Paul Ariès, as well as two books by Alain Corbin, a renowned French historian and one of the world's leading specialists in the history of sensibilities. I got his book on smell and the social imagination linked to it, as well as the one on prostitution. I'll have to pick them up tomorrow after work.

For the upcoming week, I'm working all day tomorrow and I have a shift on Sunday afternoon. I'll also go to a show on Thursday with my mother, so I won't be home before a little while. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do, so let's stay realistic : if I manage to polish the relief map of Omrys and start naming the bodies of water, it'll already be really nice.

[erasde]

The Project

Erasde is a somewhat grandiose, reckless and undoubtedly slightly crazy project of worldbuilding a world in its entirety, from its broadest lines to its most insignificant details.

This project is a worldbuilding project, not a novel project. The world does not exist to showcase the characters and their stories. Rather, the characters exist for the sole benefit of the world. Therefore, this blog will mainly focus on presenting the world itself, as well as how I went about building it.

To learn more about the project in itself :

↪ [Worldbuilding] - Genesis of Erasde

↪ [Erasde] - Preambule [TBA]

The Author

Aiden, He/They, +21

I speak French and English

I have a degree in History, as well as another in Library Studies

I'm a librarian

I like cats, learning random facts, walking in the woods, daydreaming about fandoms and worldbuilding Erasde

Content Of This Blog

I prohibit any use of my content to feed AIs or create NFTs.

Progress Logs

The Weekly Logs, posted on Sundays and numbered by week, are a summary of what I worked on during the week.

The Monthly Logs, posted on the last day of each month, are an analysis of what was accomplished during the month as well as planning elements for the following month.

Worldbuilding Process

Posts about my creative process will always start with [Worldbuilding]. They will be divided into different categories :

History

Geography

Language

Magic

Denizens

Culture

Erasde

Posts about the world in itself, they will be recognizable due to the [Erasde] in the title. They will follow the same categories used by Worldbuilding posts, but will also be divided into their own subcategories. Indexes will be provided for easier navigation.

Writings & Artworks

I write as a hobby, and I am in the process of learning digital drawing, with the goal of drawing my own illustrations. I also sometimes commission artists to draw my OCs.

Writing challenges, snippets and prompts will be tagged accordingly, as well as backed up on the AO3 linked below.

Asks

I will only answer questions regarding Erasde or my worldbuilding process.

The Askbox is open, unless otherwise indicated. Anonymous questions are welcome. I reserve the right not to answer some questions.

Useful Links

You can find snippets set in Erasde on AO3 :

Navigation Aid

↪ Bibliography

↪ Resources

↪ Writings