Summer Camp Prep 2024
What a time this last year has been. It barely feels like anytime at all has passed since I was doing this for last year!
This world hasn't been updated too much in the interem, a lot of my time and effort has been in a million other directions, but I've been wanting to get back into it, and hopefully this years Summercamp will be the chance to do just that! So, let's get into the homework!
Week 1: Change
Change has been an interesting point in my meta of Edda so far. It started as a campaign setting that i've run a handful of games in, but those have all been stopped and wheeled back at various points. Of course, there's also the fact that as of a couple years ago I decided to change up the whole dang thing, facilitating this Revised worldanvil page. In the world itself, Change has been a key fact as well, as changing times and changing minds have been pushing an envelope of innovation that various older minds want to keep firmly shut. In Edda's "present" Change is the hot new idea, a generation after a worldwide war with new technologies, new ideals, and new discoveries waiting to be made. But it's an awkward and unruly change, as various nations reach different levels of technological advancement, or some people swear it off entirely. Socially too, there is a desire to change for various marginalized groups since, even as many decades post-war as it is, there's still sediment settling in the proverbial waters. I feel thematically the subject of change, of challenging status quo and making changes, fits in perfectly whether it's applied to ideas or literal things. I think Genre wise that fantasy, especially so divorced from reality, is the perfect ground to really make a story about meaningful change. The systems, practices, and traditions of our own world can seem so ironclad and omnipresent, that it's hard to realistically think about what life could or should be past the broken systems we suffer under, but in a world of fantasy you can let those big sweeping systemic changes act out, simply because you decide how ironclad things really are and what is and isn't possible.Assignment 1
Consider what kind of changes would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
I've been working more lately, and resting more as a result, but I hope to get back into the full swing of things. Last year I ended up getting the Diamond Badge, and I would love to reach that high again. However, to be considerate of my own mental health and the distractions of the ADHD-ridden mind, I'm setting my primary goal at the Silver Badge level. This was my primary goal last year, as the two years previous I had gotten Bronze, so whether I reach what I need or knock it out of the park again, I'm going to be satisfied.Assignment 2
Based on this, decide how many prompts you'll go for during Summer Camp. Then, download the pledge document and fill it accordingly!
As far as Categories go, they haven't gone too unchanged since last Summercamp, so hopefully they're in top shape, but I do plan on making sure they are sorted and stylized properly. Tags are gonna be a different beast, as it's something newer for me, and I'm awful at keeping phrasing consistent. But, as I am looking through my articles, making a shortlist of tags should be easy enough to do!Assignment 3
Get your categories and tags organized!
My Meta currently is pretty bare bones, as I've often struggled to define what I intentionally make to be pretty broad and all-encompassing, but after being gone for so long without another article made, going back not just to revisit but to refine is going to be an essential step. An essential step that, as of today (6/11), I have accomplished for the time being! Check out the Meta Page at <-- That Link!Assignment 4
Take a look at your meta, primer, and any other high-level document and update it according to the current state of your world.
Week 2: Refuge
Refuge, that's an interesting one to tackle. Thinking in broad terms, many of Edda's governments have some form of welfare and protective resources in place, the most comprehensive and humane being Magnum Opus' with Hippolyta or Atalanta being the lower end. Obviously places of Faith with be refuges as well, and medical buildings are an obvious one especially following a world-wide war. But there's a bit of a twinge in that idea, in that Edda is a magically sealed off portion of the world by way of a wall of wild magic. People who are suffering in Edda, like during that aforementioned world war, can't really leave it. They can go to different nations, sure, but when everything is interconnected and in a large yet confined space, that still isn't really refuge, it's just a new hidey hole. The idea of seeking refuge, who provides it and who needs it, and where it can potentially even be truly found, is that that I feel will be interesting to tackle either in this Summercamp and/or in my writing overall.Assignment 1
Consider what kinds of refuge would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
Week 3: Belief
OHOHOHO NOW THIS IS ONE I CAN GET BEHIND! I mean, I can get behind all of them, but this is one that has already been a key point in my brain. Edda has a lot of divinity and higher powers going about, so much more than i've put down in articles here or in my original Edda Worldanvil. Essentially, each nation has their own faith that ties into some cultural principles. This part might get lengthy, but in summary:Assignment 1
Consider what kind of beliefs would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
- Magnum Opus has The True Giants Faith, a pantheon of titanic creatures and their offspring that represent the vastness of nature and the inflexibility of natural cycles.
- Afallon has The Cabal of the Night Sky, gods defined by astral events and who represent not only the skills necessary for survival in the harsh lands but also the importance of knowledge and education.
- Atalanta has The Ascendants, mortals from a bygone era given the gift of divinity by a divine judge, representing not only many walks of life for Atalantans past and present, but also tenacity and the virtue of self-betterment.
- Laputa is one of two oddities with The Great Blue, a technically monotheistic faith where the titular Great Blue is the personification of eternal progress, as vast and free as the blue sky. I say technically monotheistic because while they aren't seen on the same level as Gods they do have venerated Saints that take the place of worshipped idols although in less overt ways.
- The 'Oki Islands have Gaia's Totems, a pantheon similar to the True Giants in that they represent nature, but while the Giants often represent larger cycles or cyclical concepts, the Totems represent specific environments or forces of nature. For example, while the True Giants have Tiefsee who represents Storms as a repeating, seasonal event, the Totems have Holokikī, who represents the sudden force and strength of the Storm.
- Boncly Is the second nation to have a mostly monotheistic faith, as they worship a figure known as The Lone God. Some writings and worship among the devout claim that there was once a pantheon, but some disaster befell it, hence why he is the Lone God. As a figure, The Lone God represents goodwill and benevolence towards all, appearing as either a kind and caring child, a calm and dutiful adult, or a learned and quiet elder.
- Agartha has the faith of The Mother Dragons, massive creatures that, according to their faith, gave their physical bodies to protect and create the land while their divine souls live on throughout all things. Aside from their individual roles in worship, they embody qualities of generosity and benevolence.
- The Kaguyan Federation is a bit of an interesting case. The main faith follows The Astral Court, a pantheon of deities themed off of specific stars, constellations, and astral bodies. However, the three people groups of Kaguya, being the titular Kaguyans, The Yueyue, and the Dalsup have different older versions of this pantheon. In the modern melting pot state of the Federation, it largely follows along Kaguyan definitions, with an emphasis placed on the ideals of Order, Justice, and the act of Divination.
- Hippolyta has the faith of The God-Fae, a pantheon of Fae and other literal spirits of Nature and Natural Magic that ascended beyond the levels of Archfae. It is the broadest pantheon in Edda, and has been consistently recorded the longest, although the major deities represent equally nature, natural concepts such as hierarchies or survival, and emotional responses.
- Alongside these, which have gotten enough cultural cache to become state religions (Although not state mandated religions), I've also put some thought into cultural religions as well as the national, but I haven't developed that too far aside from Dark Elves with The Shades, a varied and ancient pantheon.
- There's also sort of an anti-pantheon of gods called the Antitheos, divine monsters that are formed and empowered by what the aforementioned faiths consider sacreligious and the fears of their followers.
Misc. Comments This Week
The other assignments for this week talked about Inspirations as well as images and art like Maps. While I won't include too much art aside from the headers, I do have some maps available, such as my Map of Edda as a whole, Map of Magnum Opus, and very specifically my Map of Wind. For inspirations, I think it's hard to list because I take a little bit of everything I see, but a lot also just sort of pops up naturally. But in my imagination space where this all is chaotically formed like primordial soup, I suppose the stylings begin based off of bombastic action anime like Fairy Tail or One Piece with wide imaginative worlds. Although specific locations and plots will have different motivations. For example, Paris within Atalanta is very Roaring 20's America in styling and technology, taking from shows like Baccano, or all the random classic movies my mother and I watch. Meanwhile, Eris within the same nation is a more gothic darkstone city, something you'd see more in Penny Dreadful or various british period dramas.Week 4: Decay
This is certainly an interesting prompt to think of. Edda is currently in a state of growth and prosperity overall, but let's think about what kind of Decay might be at play: Obviously there is a magical side to things, as Necromancy and its withering effects is one of the many types of magic in Edda as an intially DnD-inspired setting, and even narratively once I start writing that one of the main villains is going to be a prolific necromancer. There are also various monsters and threats that cause an actual literal decay to immaterial and/or material objects. One could say there is a decay of old ideals occuring, as in the wake of the known-world-spanning Border Wars much of the old institutions and ways of thinking have been broken, tarnished, or otherwise questioned and altered. There could be a point to say about the balance between holding ones past and cultural icons true to their heart without rigidly holding onto outdated ways of thinking. Of course, there's always the decay of knowledge and history at the same time, and that feels like it'll be the most apt form of Decay in the current state of Edda. While the existance of long-lived species like Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings, as well as long-standing institutions such as Afallon and The Cabal of the Night Sky all ensure that much history has been preserved, there's always things that slip through the cracks or are just unknown. Even in Afallon they have records of a pre-cabal society that fell, and they have very little knowledge about how that happened, so that's a society that's already been under intense decay. There's also forces at work that intentionally obfuscate past knowledge, either censoring it or fully magically destroying memories. On a larger scale, there's alsoAssignment 1
Consider what kind of decay would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
Show spoiler
All in all, there are many ways literal and otherwise to take this theme, and I'm interested and curious about how this is going to shake out in the actual prompts. I'm excited to spread some decay and ruin to the otherwise vibe of growth and progress the narrative has~!
The literal manifestation of the laws of reality known as The LAW of Magic that has at least once before destroyed an entire massive civilization for pushing reality too far to the brink
I really enjoyed reading that overview of the different religions. It even sparked with another thought I had floating around to give me a new idea for my own world, so thanks! I hope you have lots of fun this summer camp <3
Oh wow, I'm glad I could help inspire new ideas! And yeah, the faiths are my worldbuilding babies for sure, but I haven't gone too in depth with them on this revised world yet because I wanted to keep myself at least a little ordered XD