Summer Camp 2025: Reading Challenge

 

Did you think I'd forgotten to do one?

— Han

  Me? Leave a reading challenge to some of the last possible moments? Never. It's not like this is tradition at this point or anything.   Welcome to the post-SC roundup! This July was quite wild for me. In addition to writing a total of 74161 words on WorldAnvil over the course of my 40 articles, I also had a surprising amount of life events happen. In positive news, I enjoyed a ski holiday with my family, and got engaged on the trip to my partner of 10 years! I'm still thrilled by that - the snow was beautiful, and when Austin proposed to me, we were stood under a tree with a lake glistening in the background, rain pitter-pattering around us, birds and Australian wildlife hanging out. We'd been on a walk to see all of the metal sculptures around the resort, and it was just a lovely, perfect time. The ring has two pearls and is from his grandmother!   (We're going to get a second ring for daily wear, because pearls and antiques are both very delicate things. The real ring will come out for special occasions.)   In less-great news, my party decided July was when we had to deal with a pretty bad situation we'd been putting off for a while, so I lost a couple of weekends to dealing with the fallout of that. While it was a kindness to finally be free of a situation that had long been emotionally abusive, the timing really wasn't great! We're now down a player, but this has been a universally fantastic thing: it turns out that continually pushing our own thoughts and feelings into a box to avoid hurting someone else out of fear of their reaction was a terrible idea. It sucked to deal with all of that, but the outcome was that I now feel a lot happier working on my campaign and on Istralar in general.  

Summer Camp Outcomes

When playing with spirits and nature, it is all too easy for something to go wrong.

— sidebar of the Senthien

  In my pledge, I swore to write 40 articles, and 40 did I write. We have everything from angry horse-fey monsters (the Irlascen, and Caranoch as one specifically) to monuments to grief (Trisyl Fan and their guards, the Far'einuivis) and some very strange things to eat and drink (like the glowy Mirastelai or the origins of Elven Ale in By Leaf and Beard).   We also got a few world state updates! We took a few glimpses at the oddities Elias has in play with leywarping and leyships, along with the dirinnium that helps fuel his bullshit. We explored Jinne's past in her home of the Chandrasma Archipelago, the prophecy of Star-daughter that falls on her shoulders, and the mystery of Reflection that haunts said homeland and beyond.   There's also a fair bit of setup for future campaign incidents. As my current campaign draws to its end - slowly, ever slowly - I begin to need to sow seeds for what comes next. Llithirhos and Medellwyn now sprawl across the First World, tempting adventurers to explore their fey depths. Scalestewards, who serve draconic power, now travel the world to spice up the already-intricate web of political power even further. Enlai continues his uprising in Yulan Sheng, having now published Summer's Bite, and Yuànlán now stands here as a twisted goal for any party to attempt to explore. And the League of Xenoi remind everyone that Vexua is still hanging out. Plus - runewakening now Just Exists. Perhaps we'll see a runewakened player character in the future, or an antagonist whose life was changed against their will?   We also created a new nation in Day of Amonost! I found the name Amonost in some old notes, wherein it was listed as being a noble family of the Aletheian Empire that were in attendance at a ball my party enjoyed. The Day changes that to give them a small nation in the bowels of Valathe, and then we expanded on that by giving them some ever-expanding tourism in the Ameder Vaults and a booming security industry with the Amonostic Securimancers. Similarly, we give any future adventurers a potential starting location by building out the Radfrijan, who take in orphans, and we set up the Half-light as drifters clinging to the edge of the world. Woo, lore options!   Overall, the Senthien are probably one of my favourite outcomes of SC2025. Mental health is a significant topic for me, and with some of the darker things that my friends and I have all been through, it felt like a kindness to pour that into Istralar in the form of people that could help in some way. I'm also proud of Frigá Carabor, who came into existence following Burdyr Donderiall's discussions with the oracle Nazhla, and whose tale I promptly fell in love with. Here, Istralar's past reveals, there was a woman who could have a family and friends, whose life was bright in a time of darkness, and who died on her own terms seeking peace. She was not lesser in any way for those she loved existing, and indeed, she was held up proud in history for it!   So - summer camp was a rather resounding success, I think!