2025 Summer Camp Pledge & Homework

  Praying for the nights here to stop going down to 0.5ºC (32.9ºF) when the days are nearing 30ºC (86ºF)! X3 Mid-June can't get here soon enough (I hate our sub-alpine, 3a/b growing zone) lol.   While I'm not looking forward to 30ºC+ days, I simply can't wait to see beautiful flowers on my deck and the miriad of squashes I'm growing this year (praying for a 70-ish day long growing season this year!). I'm as excited for that (or maybe even more than, lol) Summer Camp. Thing to remember, don't plant different squash plants too close together—I got a Franken-spaghetti-zucchini a few years ago haha.   When it comes to Summer Camp this year, I'm going to try for diamond again. Maybe I'll be able to do all of the prompts, because that would be cool. But I'm not going to stress about it. I pray that my inspiration will come back and won't continue to abandon me like it has been for the last month and a bit *sighs*

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Week 1: Nourishment

Talking about my veggie garden in real life kind of fits into the Week 1 homework when I think about it. I haven't thought very much about cuisine in my world, though I know I need to eventually. Faith and spirituality is something I have touched upon, regarding The Faith (the main religion of Eldûra followed by those who worship the actual Creator of Eldûra: the Creator, Avva'ai). There are cults, as it is natural for cults to pop up (one actually popped up surrounding The Obsidian King, though he's not aware of it and he wouldn't be pleased if he knew).   I find it hard to think about what would happen if there was food shortages. It's something that I know I need to address when it comes to the 300 years when the Epoch of Snow smothered the world in an endless winter. There is only so much food that can be grown in a cave, even if there are greenhouse-like skylights in the roof. Mushrooms can be grown, but humans can't live off of mushrooms alone...  

Week 2: Roots

Eldûra is a very old world. Not as old as Arda or others that can be found in fantasy fiction nowadays, but considerably older than human civilization is believed to be on Earth—like how some believe Earth is only 6000~ years old with human civilization being around the same amount of time or 12,000~ years old that others believe. Right now I have around 8000 years stretched over epochs in my world, but I'm hoping on making it a bit longer if I can figure out where to stuff more years without screwing up my timelines (eras on the Chronicles when? lol).   Time in Eldûra flows a little quicker than it does here on Earth. Sort of like in Narnia—but not that quickly. Starting after Earth began, Eldûra's history has been racing along and is woefully... empty. I need to work on filling in the history of this world, and it feels like that requires a whole bunch of ruins and fallen civilizations. Gotta get to work on it.   For which place I would like to focus on... I don't want to confine myself to just one kingdom or area, even though I know that some structure sometimes helps my ADHD-addled brain—but I also know that that can sometimes stifle me to the point that all I can do is stare at the computer screen. I would like to say that maybe I'll work on Talnor some more, or maybe even Eldondi. Eldondi is a jewel that has been waiting for my brain to cooperate (*throttles brain in frustration*).   I really think I've come a long way from when I started writing and what amounted to misunderstood worldbuilding when I was a young teenager. I barely remember what that world was like and what I do remember is that those stories were simply retellings of movies I really enjoyed watching haha. I've been working on Eldûra since 2015, and man were those messy and unorganized. I was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis all the way back then, though I was also trying to worldbuild a science fantasy world too. Posts on Pinterest pointed me in the right direction, but I sure felt like I was floundering, lol. World Anvil has really saved me in that regard. Eldûra has truly begun to flourish thanks to this site.    

Week 3: Metamorphosis

In Talnor, the concept of "metamorphosis" is best (at this time) represented by the rising phoenix, which represents the concept of incinerating the past so that the kingdom and its people could rise in a new, freer form. Change hasn't been so kind to places like Eldondi, the once-free and independent kingdom that was forced into the form of a duchy by the conquering Sorcerer Queen—a fact that has not been rectified by Talnor's newest ruler, King Rymhûl, who has been quite focused on learning everything there is to know about Talnor's sprawling and complicated lands whilst trying to heal the evils inflicted upon the people as a whole by the usurper queen.   But he knows he will have to deal with the Eldondi-situation eventually, before the people there grow to hate Talnor instead of just resenting it... I feel like that situation is close to teetering on a knife's edge.   With how busy I'll probably be in July... my best source of inspiration for an unused source like is mentioned in the Summer Camp assignment is my Pinterest 'Inspiration' board, lol. One thing I've been wanting to write about is the "Wulver", a creature from Scottish Folklore that I've heard is the opposite of what is normally expected for a "werewolf". I have to do more research, but the last time I tried, I didn't get much success (though perhaps I'll have more success now).   These are the badges I've found that I feel represent how I'm going to go about summer camp. I'm not going to freak out too much about it <3 (watch as I freak out anyway, lol)    

Week 4: Tomorrow

Update on the nighttime temps: Last night got down to 6ºC (42.8ºF) with a lot of fog (the property has a dug out/pond, so it creates a lot of fog when the sun goes down—tho not to what I saw at around 6am this morn), but we have been holding out at 10ºC (50ºF) at night (with an aggrivating period of a few days where we went almost all the way back down to 0ºC (32ºF) when temps flipped after the last estimated day of frost—so we have like 50 days of growing instead of 60 or even 70 like I hoped.   When it comes to tomorrows in Eldûra, and in Talnor specifically, King Rymhûl is looking ahead, trying to ensure a lasting and peaceful future for his kingdom—and by extension all the kingdoms that border it. Unfortunately, at the same time, undercurrents of rebellion dating back to when the Sorcerer Queen reigned still exist. They wait for chances to overthrow the king and restore the queen to her place on the throne, even if it requires the act of fully siding with the Undoer (its all lies, she can't come back, and the Undoer is sucking them in in order to damn them forever).   I'm looking forward to the inspiration that comes from the prompts, and I can only hope that I won't get too distracted by Lord of the Rings Online (the lore of the "Legacy of Morgoth" expansion is delicious and I'm actively trying to save up in-game points in order to afford the quest pack that comes after it). *sighs* I look forward to the days my world's lore is as delicious as that...