WorldEmber 2024 Scrapbook

This is a place for all of the substantive worldbuilding I’ve added to articles that are themselves not eligible for inclusion in my WorldEmber 2024 wordcount.

Arthur Pendragon

He was born to Marnie Miller in the year 139 and was his mother’s third child overall. That said, because the first two children were from Miller’s marriage to Gorlois le Fay, Arthur was the only one of his siblings who could inherit the throne of Promiseland. And inherit he did, at the ripe old age of 2.

While Marnie ruled Promiseland as regent, Arthur studied under Merlin in the faroff City of Hearts. Then, in the year 157, after pulling his sword from the stone it’d been stuck in since the First Age, he returned home to the city of Covenant, crafted himself a castle out of rocky island in the nearby river, and got to work doing the things that we all know King Arthur to have done.

Alexey II

Alexey II, King of Motherland, was a charismatic monarch who ushered in a period of relative peace for his people. He was much more his mother’s son than his father’s and was much beloved by Motherlanders because of this. Having spent his youth prowling the rooftops of Watersmeet as a crimefighter, helping his mother to clean up his father’s messes, Alexey II was unafraid to get his hands dirty. He was also keenly aware of the plight of his poorest subjects and worked to level the playing field for all Motherlanders—accomplishing all that his grandfather had set out to accomplish with this country in the first place, and then some.

Born Alexey Alexeyevich Ivanov in 141, he was the first and only child of Alexey I and Gretel der Jäger. And while he spent his fair share of time inside the castle at Watersmeet, both of his parents were adamant that he not be sheltered as his father was. Because of this, from a young age, the kind young prince was a darling of the people. He took an keen and true interest in the lives of the people he encountered while walking the streets with his parents, and he began advocating for them as soon as he was old enough to do so.

Unfortunately, Alexey II came of age during a period when his father wasn’t really listening. This was what led, eventually, to Alexey II and his mother donning adventuring gear each night and patrolling the city like the crimefighters of far-off Kirbyville.

It was during one of these adventures that Alexey first met his future wife, the princess Marta of neighboring Fatherland. The victim of a kidnapping plot, Marta proved every bit as capable as Alexey and his mother in a fight, and that won over the young prince quite quickly indeed—even if the prince and princess did butt heads from time to time during their early correspondence.

When he became king in 180, he was not yet 40 years old. But with his popularity and his wealth of experience, he was welcomed by the people as a fresh start after the often frustrating reign of his father. It was a mandate that Alexey II and his equally capable wife would never abuse.