Summer Camp 2025 Homework and pledge

OOOOH BOY! Folks, Its finaly here! Summer Camp! I've been not-so-patiently waiting for its return since last july, and now i can't wait to sink my teeth into some juicy worldbuilding competition again! You might notice that i may be feeling feral this year, but i'm not commiting to Camp Feral just yet. And so, this year, just like last year's and 2023's summer Camp, i'm pledging to write at least 32 prompts and obtain that beautifully shiny diamond badge!

Themes

Week 1: Nourishement

Nourishement. Seems like an easy and straightfoward theme at first glance, but its much deeper than it looks. My mind goes to a scene from the GOT tv show, where Tyrion talks to Jon Snow, telling him that books are to the mind what a whet stone is to a sword. Or something like that, i might be butchering the quote a bit lol. Point is that books sharpen, or in our case, nourish the brain/mind just like an apple does for the body. So, normal food is easy. Books are a bit more complicated. Libraries come to mind of course, but so do schools, universities, and Magic Academies! Even the dusty archive of some lost temple could nourish not only the mind, but the soul as well...

Week 2: Roots

Roots is a very interesting theme. Obviously, when it was announced, most people probably though about different types of plants. Trees came to my mind immediatly of course. However, the assignements WA gave us this week makes me think plants are probably not going to be the focus of the prompts. Instead, i think the focus will be on culture and mythology. Specificaly, the root of certain cultural beliefs. What historical event shaped the current understanding of a culture. Very curious to see what the prompts are for week 2...

Week 3: Metamorphosis

What a good theme for my world. I immediaty though about my shapeshifters, and while that's good, it a bit too easy and on the nose, right?. I wouldn't mind writing about another shifter species, but i do hope this theme has some prompts about other stuff, like geography! The land goes through a lot of changes over time, especially when humans are around! Speaking of people, their settlements also change a lot with time, as do their culture and religion. Even the appearance of people themselves can change when many ethnicities interact with each other over a long period of time! Again, very interested to see what prompts WA comes up with...

Week 4: Tomorrow

Yet another banger of a theme! Now i can combine Roots (The past) and Tomorrow (The future) and greatly expand Hysal History and Lore. When thinking about tomorrow, a few questions come to mind. What is the difference between what people expect in the future, versus reality? What about religions? What's their view on the world's future? Do they predict it will end? How and why? Is there a time limit? Can it be averted? What about Geography? Is a volcano expected to blow up soon? Does a meteror shower shows up every year? Hurricanes? Monsoons? How do they prepare for those? What about wars? Who is excited about it, versus who's dreading it? What about all of the oppressed peoples in Hysal? What are their dreams regarding the future. Do they resign themselves to their fates, or do they keep dreaming of a better tomorrow? Man, so many ideas... such little time...

Assignments

Week 1

Area of focus:

This year, my goal is to focus on the continent of Arros when possible. In preparation, i'll revisit and probably expand the continent's article. However, if during Summer Camp, a prompt comes up, and it gives me a really good idea that fits a different region of Hysal, then it'll take priority, since the goal is to make 32 Articles, and have fun doing it! I'll also consider touching up the maps i made for the continent, since they are more than a year old now, and some details have been bothering me...

Revisit your world:

Well, this is akward. I've been kind of doing that since the end of January. After world Ember last year, i realised that some of my older articles were horribly out of place with my new stuff. So, in the past 4 months, i've rewriten a large portion of my "Core" Articles, and like i mentioned for the article on the continent of Arros, i'll continue to do so until the competition starts. Also, i don't have a meta! I can't revisit something that doesn't exist! So stop asking!!! /j

Week 2

The affects of the past:

There's a concept out there called Collective Cultural Memory, and it describes a memory that forms a core part of a culture and shared by members of that culture, either by stories like mythology, cultural practices and even something like ancient ruins, etc. In Hysal, one of the most important historical event is called The Long Winter, and cultures that survived it all have that memory embeded into their mythos, religion, and collective identity. Some cultures that came after still have some cultural memory associated with it, like for example, a migration they had to undertake to find a better home.

Homepage Changes:

Again, one step ahead of WA's Summer Camp homework as i did change my homepage quite a lot in May. Changes include a complete rewrite of the intro text, hopefully making it easier for readers to get immersed and want to know more. I also reconfigurated the page to look a little "cleaner" and so it can be easier to navigate. I added a section for various primers for the most important aspects of Hysal (Most of which i have yet to write unfortunatly), another section for my most liked articles, and finaly, one for some of the best worlds that my friends in WA created.

Earliest WorldBuilding Project:

So, i can't really say much for this assignment, as it would kinda completly spoil the other Non-Hysal project i'm working on right now, since it is basicaly a 2.0 version of the same thing. What i can say is that i made a lot of mistakes that i hopefully have not replicated in CoH and in this new version i'm cooking up.

Week 3

The changes affecting my world:

My world is currently at the start of its very own industrial revolution. The changes are fueled by advancement in magical tech, which had to be developed thanks to a recent war. Since the threat is now supposedly gone, the industrial revolution has stalled, and its effects are not felt equaly across the world. Some have fairly advanced magical technology, while other do not.

Finding inspiration in other Art:

Music, cartoon/Anime, Webtoons. So much inspiration, such little time. For this week's assignment, i'll try to listen, watch and read one of each of those, from a genre i'm not used to, and see what inspiration comes from it.

Finding inspiration on WA:

I love reading everyone's articles on here. Its basicaly an infinite pool of creativity and inspiration. (It does have the side effect of sometimes making me feel a bit laking, but that's a skill issue on my part.) I'll take a look at the community tab, something i unfortunatly very rarely do, and pick a couple of articles to read.

Week 4

What does tomorrow hold for Hysal?

Tomorrow is a mystery, but living in the present means you still have to prepare for it. How do the people of Hysal do such a thing. What can they realisticaly expect for their own future? What about the future of their people, their country? A lot of changes are happening in Hysal, and many aren't good

Preparing my workplace

While most of my bedroom (My wrtting space) is clean and semi-organised, my desk truly is a warzone. Frankly, its quite embarassing that 24 year old me is seemingly incapable of maintaining a clean desk for more than a few weeks lol. I blame the ADHD and/or laziness! But yeah, i definetly plan to clean and reorganise my workspace into something that drives more productivity!

Connecting with the community

While i stay in the World Anvil discord server mainly as a lurker, i do read a lot of what goes on there, especialy the questions people ask, and what others answer. I did join a more private discord server back in October(shoutout to the Story-Teller's circle!), and i am much more active there. I plan on posting some, if not most of my entries there. I will also try to use my bluesky account a bit more. The site is still pretty active, and i go on there regularly (great pallet clenser from Twitter tbh) so it shouldn't be too hard to post at least a few of my best entries over there.

Dewy Diamonds Badge by Strixxline

My participation last year
During last year's summer camp, i managed to win the diamond badge by completing a total of 37 prompts, which was 4 more than in 2023. This year, i will try to match, and even surpass last year's record. To do this, i will try to limit the word count of each article. This will both make them easier to read, and faster to write. However, don't esxpect any 300 word article. I basicaly have a degree in yappanese, and i intend to use it, hopefuly with moderation;)

Feral Camper Badge by Strixxline

I've become Feral!

My excitement for summer camp has been growing throughout the month, and as i watched the livestream on saturday, i realised from Strixxline's descriptions that, at some point in the month, i had actualy become Feral. Now, someone else may have denied their true nature or something, but i decided to embrace the prompt destrying monster living inside me. And so, i've officialy join World Anvil's feral pack this year! I do be prowling, bearing my fangs and claws, ready to tear into any and all prompts i see!