So, I said I wasn't going to make a blog post every time we post a new article to the Central Wongery mainspace (as unfortunately infrequent as that event has lately been), but there has just been an article about a whole new world posted, and I think that merits a little more magnification. (Only a little, though). So... introducing the world of Meliauth, an alternate Earth where strange beings from other worlds work in secret to harvest numen, with potentially disastrous consequences for the world's native inhabitants.
Of course, when I say it's an article about a whole new world, I mean, well, just that; it's one article. It gives a general overview of the world, but doesn't flesh it out in detail. That will come with other articles. Eventually. But... I'm afraid it's going to be a while.
I do plan somewhat ahead the order of articles we're going to post; the Meliauth article is mainspace article number 345 (not counting redirects, stubs, and disambiguation pages), and unless our plans change (which is not entirely impossible) the next article about Meliauth won't be till... number 483. So, yeah, it'll be some time before this world has much more development. (Exactly how much time depends on how well I succeed in getting off my keister and accelerating the rate at which new articles are posted.) Of course, that's because other worlds will be further developed in the meanwhile; among other things, between the just-posted article on Meliauth and the next one in the projected schedule (which will, for the record, be titled "Endumate" (and yes, that's a redlink at the time I'm writing this blog post, but it won't be one once that article finally goes up)) there will (again, unless our plans change) be seven articles on the currently rather neglected world of Diddu (the main article of which really needs a rewrite and heavy expansion, but that's... something else we'll get to eventually), seven more on Interlife Earth, and six each on Nuclearth and Gallerra (huh... that's quite a few articles on alternate Earths (about one in six); hadn't really noticed that focus), plus of course more articles on what are currently the two most developed worlds, Dadauar and Vlastach (seven and ten articles, respectively). Still... with our work split between that many worlds, progress on developing any one of the worlds of the Wongery is slow.
And yes, there are plans for still more worlds (even though there arguably shouldn't be). Also scheduled in the interval between the Meliauth article and the upcoming Endumate article are articles on four new worlds: a world of Zien divided into distinct pales; another alternate Earth (designed by Alarcus), this one influenced by strange gods worshipped in secret; a godworld of Loge the inhabitants of which make heavy use of a strain of theders called natias; and a veigur of Lothenmydhe where the nights are beset by horrors, tentatively called Dvoenstat (the world, not the horrors—the other three worlds in this list don't have even tentative names yet).
Would we have been better off sticking to a smaller number of worlds and developing them more thoroughly (or rather, more quickly, since we can still develop the worlds arbitrarily thoroughly given enough time)? This isn't the first time I've (rhetorically) asked this question, and the answer may very well be yes. Maybe splitting our focus between so many worlds is... not the wisest of plans, especially given the limited amount of time I currently have to work on the Wongery. But then, that seems to be in line with my general modus operandi. Not only do I tend to try to work on too many things within a project, but I tend to take on too many projects at once as well. I've also mentioned several times before that the Wongery isn't the only creative endeavor I'm working on, and... honestly I'd probably get more done on the Wongery were my attention not split between so many other projects. For that matter, I'd get more done on those other projects if my attention weren't split between so many of them. Maybe it's an ADHD thing; maybe it's a dysfunctional coping strategy to distract myself from the stress I'm under; maybe I'm just stupid. Maybe all of the above. Anyway, there are too many things I want to get done, and while to some extent I am aware that it would probably be more prudent for me to lay most of my projects aside and focus on just one or two at a time, it seems very unlikely that that's ever going to happen.
Of course, I'll have more time if I succeed in... getting one of my potentially profitable creative ventures off the ground. Right now, far too much of my time goes into just trying to make enough money to pay rent and buy food and try to keep on top of my debts. (Which of course is not something unique just to me; that is, alas, true of most people in our current society.) If I manage to start making money with my creative pursuits... well, okay, a lot of my time would still go into making money, but at least it would be making money doing something that gives me more of a sense of fulfillment. And honestly, those creative ventures are things I'd be working on whether I was making any money from them or not, so really this would end up giving me more free time; it's not that I'd be taking on more projects (though yes, I obviously would be spending more time on the ones I'm actually making money from); it's that ideally I'd be potentially making a living from projects I'm already working on. Anyway, I have been spending some time working on those aforementioned ventures, but admittedly perhaps not so much as I should. Today I actually have a bit more free time than usual; I'm going to be sure to spend a good part of it on... actually trying to get some of what I need to do to get these things going done. The last clause of that last sentence was extremely awkward; I'm pretty sure it was grammatically correct, but it may be difficult to parse. Sorry.
Still, whatever. Enjoy the article on the world of Meliauth. There'll be more details coming about this world... eventually.