Summer Camp Pledge 2024

Hello out there! This will be my very first summer camp, and I'm excited to join in the fun! Silver may seem like a high bar to set for summer camp number one, but I feel confident I'll be able to set a good pace and keep up with my goals.  

Theme: Change

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The story of Eldara explores what happens to a society when it experiences a sudden, massive change. When the status quo stands to be disrupted, who is the most invested in keeping it? What is the cost of change, and who bears the heaviest brunt of it? Is it possible to prevent change at such a massive scale when it has already been set in motion?   Six hundred years ago, the continent of Amara underwent such an upheaval. Already embroiled in war, the fundamental nature of society on the continent was shaken up when roughly ten percent of the population of mammals, reptiles, and avians were gifted with sapient intelligence and the ability to shapeshift - to take on an anthropomorphic form with an upright habitus and forelimbs with opposable thumbs. This sudden addition of hundreds of new intelligent species led to a rapid explosion of culture, artistic expression, new ways of describing spiritual beliefs, and even new forms of magical practice. It also greatly re-shaped the political landscape of the continent, forming the Kingdom of Aētheli where our story takes place.   Now, a second event of similar magnitude threatens to shake the foundations of the kingdom. Propaganda that was accepted as a proud truth is revealed to be a revisionist lie, and the protagonists are faced with complicated decisions about truth, peace, and the right to rule.  

Theme: Refuge

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The citizens of Kingdom of Aētheli, and indeed all denizens of the continent of Amara and, more broadly, of the world of Eldara understand that safety is a relative concept. One can ensure one's safety from bandits on the road and still fall victim to a landslide or a severe blizzard. Amara is a hard country, and respect for the fury of nature is a concept ingrained in the many cultures of the beast shifters who inhabit the kingdom.   Refuge, therefore, can often be found just as someone needs it most. The rule of hard country is a kingdom-wide cultural tradition, where a safe haven can be requested by any traveler in danger from severe weather or natural disaster. Noble houses that control territories often construct and maintain wayhouses for use by travelers. These are unstaffed, but stand as protective structures along the trade roads in case of need. Temples are a refuge for those undergoing hard times, or who are struggling in their spiritual journey. Shrines, if they are large enough, can be emergency refuges for those being pursued by robbers - even the most hardened criminal won't risk the wrath of the spirits by invading a shrine with ill intent.   In war, however, safe places begin to disappear and lines of loyalty are drawn, excluding those that have made a different choice. When the unity of the kingdom begins to fracture, how will customs like the rule of hard country be effected? Is any refuge truly safe from a massive paradigm shift?  

Theme: Belief

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How are the beliefs of a people or culture effected if they receive them from another source? What happens when that they are told is the truth turns out to be a lie? How can preconceived beliefs interfere with the discovery of real truth?   The characters of our story grapple with these questions and more as they uncover the secrets of the kingdom's founding. For hundreds of years, the beast shifter citizens of Aētheli have been told one story about why they were raised up from simple animals into thinking, shapeshifting beings. King Llyn and the other dragons of the Royal House of Goldfire created a tale of gryphons, horsefolk and finfolk hunting animals to extinction, slaughtering them and leaving them to rot, destroying the natural environment, and so disrupting the cycle of nature that the spirits themselves cried out for a champion to save them.   The truth is much more sinister: King Llyn's war started out of a desire for territory and resources, and the beast shifters were elevated because the dragons were in need of more disposable foot soldiers, being outnumbered by their enemies. The violent chaos of the time that followed in the immediate aftermath of the Ritual of the Gift was a period of confusion and fear on the part of the beast shifters. Species grouped together according to physical or behavioral similarities, and were either approached directly by the dragons so the situation could be explained to them, or contacted by other groups of beast shifters later who passed the word along.   If the response of the other divine beasts to the sudden presence of the beast shifters had not been a nearly unanimous reaction of revulsion and rejection, one or more of these groups of shifters may have learned the truth. As it was, the war created a unique environment of information isolation, allowing the dragons to cement the beast shifters' belief in the Goldfire crown as their saviors and liberators.   When fundamental beliefs like this are challenged, how does a society react? History tells us that the response to having propaganda dismantled is typically violent and often regressive, as people try to reconcile the truth with their own past behavior and arrive at a state of cognitive dissonance. The characters of Eldara will have to grapple with these questions as the story unfolds.  

Theme: Decay

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For a people that lives in hard country, where most folk eke out their living under what mercy is offered them by the forces of nature, decay is an acknowledged part of the natural cycle. Scavengers and decomposers are as vital as the blood and bones they break down, renewing the earth and ensuring the cycle of life continues. But decay can also be a sign of sickness, of a wound left to fester without healing properly.   Some might see the continuing stability of the Kingdom of Aētheli as a sign of health, that its body and organs are in a state of vitality, that it might continue for hundreds of years more, but its continuance is one of stasis. It has not been permitted to change, to adapt, to evolve to suit the increasingly diverse needs of its inhabitants and root out the festering lies that dwell at its heart.   When the body finally succumbs to infection, it is ugly and violent. There is no dignity in that decay, no cleanliness in the scouring away of rot, only collapse. What can grow anew out of something that has been twisted and pushed beyond its natural life until it simply could not be sustained? What scraps of honor, dignity, and comfort can be clawed from the wreckage of so profound a death? Or is it better to continue animating the shambling corpse of the kingdom, knowing the inevitability of it falling apart around them?