Mochi's New Year 2026!
2025 has... been a year, that's for sure! Feels like that meme what's-his-name sat up a table with the entire room on fire - THIS IS FINE. 2025 was a really weird year for me, lots happened. Started out rough... then just got worse from then on!
I've had some amazing achievements here on World Anvil though, I really can't discredit those. But to find out what those are, you gotta read 2025 in the Yonderverse! This article will be split into three distinct sections: Mochi's Top Picks, Mochi's Resolutions, and then of course, 2025 in the Yonderverse.
Buckle in, first we're going on a tour round the Anvilspace!
I've picked out four worlds that I've really enjoyed this WorldEmber. Some I'm very familiar with, some I've found recently!
Solaris, Annie Stein & skairunner
Nnie has been focusing on the history of Solaris this WorldEmber, and I think that's a really cool focus. Solaris timekeeping is really interesting, and I love how much time (ha) and attention to detail has gone into worldbuilding this important part of Solaris.
Time is a river, and like a river it does not flow smoothly nor evenly. The planets, as divine celestial bodies, warp time around them. People, divine in their own way, do too. Time pools around movement, and flows quicker when still. Yet a minute spent in activity is little more than a moment, while in boredom it drags on forever.
One thing I really love about Solaris are stubs. Stubs in this world are so well crafted and fun to read, it makes every article in Solaris, no matter the size, a joy to stumble across.
Enceladus was really memorable for me. I love the handful of articles on the moons of Saturn and other planets. It really open up this world beyond the planets we are so familiar with.
The last article I want to shout out from Solaris is the origin myths of the people of the world.
I had never considered this for my own world, but for Solaris, it feels natural and it feels right. My favourite of these origins are the ones from Jupiter, it leaves me with questions, and it gets me really excited for the future article on the Daphnae of Jupiter.
The woodlike Daphnae of Jupiter claim to have originated much like the Fei of Venus do to this day, stepping out of trees the way Fei spring out from flowers. The stonelike and metallic Daphnae are instead said to have been statues that came to life, begging the question of who carved them.
Ink & Ivy Apothecary, Daeni
Daeni knocked it out of the park with a bunch of awesome articles this year. With me starting a brand new apothecary world, Ink & Ivy Apothecary was naturally great inspiration to me.
I particularly love the art in all of Daeni's articles. They feel so authentic to the world, and the writing style really feels as if it's written by someone in this world.
I'm not quite sure of the geographic scale of this world, but I kind of love that. I love that with each of these ingredient articles, I learn about new areas, new creatures, and it makes the world truly feel endless.
A golden porcelain mask decorated with fine and delicate golden inlay. Under bright light, its as if the porcelain is alive and pulsing with thick, black veins of some unknown origin. No matter how many times I clean it, it always smells of old, expired incense and dust. When worn, a ghostly eye comes out from behind the hollow eye sockets, tracing the movement of everything withing its line of vision.
I rarely write fantasy, but a world like this is a my weakness. This world feels like one big adventure, yet it also reminds me of a cozy evening at home, tucked in bed with a hot chocolate. That in itself is magical.
Also, fantastic descriptions in articles and it makes everything so vivid in my imagination!
Elaqitan, Blue Fairy 74
Y'all I LOVE this world so so much. I was super excited to see what Blue writes this WorldEmber, knowing she was planning on focusing on the water continent Ulűri̋qi̋. Blue is fantastic at creating interesting cultures, and there's just so many to explore in Elaqitan.
"As the Guardian of currents spoke in front of the Council of Many Drops, a deep hum emanated from within him, suddenly shifting into a fluting whistle, punctuated by sharp clicks. His skin color changed, pulsing subtly from green to orange. When the listeners repeated the final high note, I knew they were going into battle."
If it's not obvious by now I LOVE when people make art for their articles. I know this is a writing site, and a writing event, but I actually prefer worldbuilding through art, and Blue's art style is one of my favourites.
The article on Qírīrī showcases Blue's art the best, I think. It is a wonderful article about the people of this continent, a great read as all of Blue's articles are!
Blue's article on this water language absolutely blue blew me away. Blue clearly went to great lengths when researching for this article, and it has produced an insanely amazing article.
And here's a couple bonus articles I loved!
wow that's a lot of stars, Rin Garnett
Rin is an exceptional writer, no question about it. Talos is a phenomenal world too, I'm not-so-secretly hoping it takes home the Best World Award in WAWA eventually, because it deserves it.
The people of talos are what make it special. I focus on ecosystems, and talos shows me what you can do when you focus on cultures, relationships between communities, and things like that.
The focus on politics in talos is something I love. Again, it's not something I feel I'm particularly good with, but this world fills me with inspiration.
While I previously said I love worlds that have art, talos defies all of my expectations by captivating me on the writing alone. Rin uses gorgeous CSS and article layouts to draw me in, then leaves me in awe at the content itself. After I read each new article I sit patiently waiting for the next.
Psionic Quarantine Zones only exist on Livonia, where psionics is banned planet-wide. Any psions born on the planet are taken from their families and forced to live in these zones for the rest of their lives. The zones reportedly serve every need the psions would have, but evidence makes it clear the truth is far bleaker.
Now, what am I learning from these worlds, and what would I like to accomplish with all this inspiration I have gathered?
Solaris taught me that you can tell a whole other story in the same world by exploring history. My world looks completely different if you look far enough into the past, and I'd love to explore that some more this year.
Ink & Ivy Apothecary really makes me want to work on the Spaceway Apothecary, my new world. It's a sub-world of the Yonderverse, so it fits right in with my goals. Daeni's world has taught me to have a bit of fun when writing articles <3
Elaqitan teaches me that time and research pays off. Spend time coming up with solid concepts, then research these ideas to make my worldbuilding as rich and detailed as I can.
wow that's a lot of stars teaches me the importance of worldbuilding peoples, cultures, and politics. It is what makes a world feel so real and so engaging. It also shows me the power of an article with good styling and layout, without art.
Here is my article, inspired by the works of the four worlds above! It isn't directly inspired by any in particular, but I really took my time with this and I'm proud of the end result.
Mochi's Resolutions!
Let's look at last year's resolutions first, shall we?
... so I literally took a break from WorldEmber because I was about dead. Definitely didn't avoid a bit of burnout! I think I'm lucky, any kind of exhaustion from writing never lasts that long with me. That being said, I need to learn to properly rest more. Because sure, right now I don't ever get hit hard with burnout or anything similar, but who can say I'll keep that up? Maybe one year I'm hit with a horrible burnout and it wipes me out for months, or years on end.
I definitely did this! Not sure when, but at some point this year I added a few more stickers to my stickerbook. I'm quite proud of this concept, I wasn't the first person to utilise subscriber groups in such a cool way but I've certainly made it a wonderful part of my world.
I don't even recall touching this article which is kind of a shame, but there's always 2026!
HUZZAH! I am so incredibly proud of myself for accomplishing this. And to make this even better, the World Anvil Team put together a million words badge that is now proudly displayed on my profile. I think there are about 4 other people with this badge, which I think is really cool. I'm so proud of myself for this.
You know what, looking at my goals I set myself (that I completely forgot about), not too shabby! Hitting a million words during Summer Camp was huge for me. Might even be the highlight of my year, honestly. But now I've got to whip up some goals for 2026!
I've been thinking about this for a while. Certain months I naturally get much less done. Whether that's to do with seasonal changes, work getting busier in certain times of year, whatever it is, this year I want to give myself entire months where I have no goals, no plans, I can relax. If I get a bit of writing done, great! But there won't be any pressure to. January, April, June, August, and November will be my break months. Hopefully if I go into those months with no expectations, I can be pleased with whatever I acoomplish, and it leaves me with more energy for the other months!
I'm specifying in the Yonderverse because just below you'll see plans for other worlds. In 2025 I didn't quite achieve 200,000 words (I was 30k off, so not bad), but that wasn't in my list of goals so that doesn't matter. I'd like to push for it this year, though!
I have quite a few worlds in addition to the Yonderverse, which is my main project. However I think most of them go under the radar, which at this point I'm happy with because none of them are up to the standard I hold for my worlds now. Aside from the A to Zoo and Ava Admira, my other worlds need a custom CSS theme and a complete overhaul from top to bottom.
The reason why all of these worlds are on my list to overhaul is because I don't think a single one will take that long to overhaul. A simple CSS theme can take me a single day to make, and most of these worlds have very few articles in. But once they are overhauled, I'm hoping I'll feel more inclined to work on them more often!
Oh my daaaaays why is this one so hard!! Ever damn time I enter Summer Camp I come up with silly little rules for myself to follow to make my life harder, and then I complain about being too tired! It was a huge issue in Summer Camp 2025. I said to myself each article is going to be more than a thousand words AND they must all take place on a different planet. Literally why, why can't I just have a bit of fun without any strings attached? How hard is that Mochi??
So yes I am setting myself a clear goal to RELAX during the two biggest events on World Anvil this year. I want no expections of myself, so I cannot set myself up for failure. I'm going to be real, I could hit Diamond in Summer Camp, or 10k in WorldEmber, in my sleep, but if I give myself elaborate goals and stupid rules then that just makes the journey uncomfortable and I'm sad the entire time, which I don't need!
I feel guilty, having not done much for my Ko-Fi supporters in a while. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with providing secret content for subscribers as it really conflicted with how I want to go about writing this world, so this year I'd like to overhaul my page, fill up that gallery with all of my art from the last few months, and refresh my membership pages!
January
January saw the beginning of the Yonderverse Overhaul, a large-scale project to completely transform this world. Most of my articles made during January were these nifty little template index articles, which are just lists of articles by template!
As for worldbuilding, I took great care crafting a handful of bigger articles, then supplementing them with stubs. Whalefall Winter and Whitewing are some of my personal standouts!
January Articles
I want to go, this sounds delightful and hits the spot for cozy and comfy! I do think I'll pass on the slime cuisine from the menu. (But oh, to be stricken with a toxic desire for cuddles lol) XD Adore the way your world invites so much exploration with all of its connected articles!
May
Continuing with the Yonderverse Overhaul, I focused on planet Hothiri next. I truly believe this is the best planet I've ever made. Everything from the artwork, the concept (which is a gazillion times better than the shit it originally was omg), to the articles, it's all so good and I love it so much.
I don't think I have an article highlight, it might actually just be the art I made. It's all so pretty and I love it and aaaa <3
While I do love the lore, I really have to mention how cool the artwork for the page is. I really think you outdid yourself this time.
August
August Articles
Looking at my list of August articles stings a little, because I see all of the ones I sped through during that last day of Summer Camp. I was so exhausted for much of August, it wasn't fun!
Though, it was nice to begin overhauling another planet, this time Venviri. This was also the month I found out I won a Summer Camp prompt, and that felt really good!
What a shit hole! Great work as always!
September
It's actually crazy to me that the list of articles I wrote during September is smaller than the box the list is on.
That being said, the few things I wrote were pretty neat. I really liked the concept of the Silent Halls and the Liminal Walkers, and I'd love to return to this realm and flesh it out a bit more!
And my Mirehorn article got featured on World Anvil, which is really neat too!
The thought of them starving to death when their horns get too long is utterly chilling. Such cute-looking critters and utterly terrifying in reality.
October
October Articles
I managed to turn things around during October, for one of my favourite events of the year, Spooktober. This year I set out determined to populate my world with fun flowers, and references to some of my beloved friends. The highlight of October were these flowers, and the gorgeous art that came along with them!
I think I only wrote two or three full-sized articles, though. Would've been nice to have done more!
Another very cool article I love when cute animals are in face very dangerous, the quote got me to smile
November
I think if you ignore WorldEmber articles that I wrote during November, you're left with about half of my articles left. November is one of those months I'd rather write off as "didn't happen". The only significant thing I accomplished this month was the re-write of my world introduction, which was actually a very important thing and I am very happy to have that done. I finally feel content with my world's introduction!
iiiiiin conclusion, the first half of the year? Great! Superb, wonderful. The second half? ...
2025 Statistics
Hover to see!
Likes: 10,561
Comments: 1,692
Followers: 328
Articles: 1,606
JANUARY 1ST 2026
Likes: 15,173
Comments: 2,436
Followers: 404
Articles: 1886
Stats Related Goals
Hover to see!
Only 150,000 words to go!
Hit 1 million views on author profile
There isn't much I can do to make this happen, but I'm getting close! I think there's potential I hit this, but we will see.
Previous NYR Articles
| Atlas | Ash Field · Atigeo Sea · Chrihaia Lake · Endless Tower
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Biota | Atigean Clam · Clam-Eyed Fish · Fire Frog · Fire Noodle · Firepede · Firewood Beetle · Frogfish · Helsaurus · Mayhem Fish · Sawshark · Thermal Carp · Thorn-backed Thrasher | ||
| Cultures | Hell's Holiday | ||
| Misc | Hell · Hell Notes |
You had quite a year my friend, and I think your goals for next year, especially the breaks, are a good idea, as well as the idea of just relaxing for the two big challenges. So good I shall be watching O.O during the big events and will 'get chu' if you start trying to come up with elaborate silly and unnecessarily self-rude rules to the challenges besides 'writing ideas I think are cool'. Cause I'm an aggressively caring friend :P
Thank you Keon, you're such a lovely friend <333 PLEASE hold me back during the events I BEG