Summer Camp 2025

We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body.

— Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

Think about ways the theme of Nourishment affects your world. Do people generally have what they need? What happens when they don’t?

The level of physical, emotional, and spiritual nourishment is different for each continent in Ostyria. Duankh is a land protected by the gods, divinely sequestered from the rest of the world, its the most diverse land but also the most divisive. The spiritual nourishment is there for those who are religious or those who attune themselves to the nature world. Physical nourishment is present in most of the nations of Duankh, but some have less food, or no access to self-care mechanisms, others are flushed with wealth allowing them to have whatever they need. This coincides with emotional nourishment, where some nations are governed by harsh rulers and others are more free to self-govern. The other continents, Lanfe, Zoan, and Iya have their own intricacies that make the scale of physical, emotional, and spiritual more extreme for some than others.

My hope is to do more than just copper but I have to be realistic with myself. I plan to tackle one area of this world, but if I find it difficult I will expand to my other world.

The name of this world is only temporary as I do a bit of a "remaster" of my first original world. When I first made Ostyria it was for the express purpose of playing D&D, however after world-building so much and creating other worlds that were not for that express purpose I decided I wanted to redo Ostyria. Many things are the same but I am trying to break away from this world being "A D&D world" and it being a "high fantasy world" with influences from many amazing sources of fantasy. I still plan to GM using this world but the games I run will be informed by the world-building not the other way around (for the most part).

Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.

— Victor Hugo

My plan is to focus on the continent of Duankh. The Planar Convergence is the largest significant world event and as a result Duankh is the way it is. But Duankh was plagued by another event, the Dragon Strife. Which shaped current religious dominance and I want to highlight this. Both events are very important, but the shift in dominant religions shaped the nations of Philae and Kuu'land heavily. Certain factions were birthed during the Planar Convergence with missions that they continue to fulfill currently.

The homepage for the old version of this world is bland, there is nothing exciting about it. I need to make sure the new version has links, to a primer (coming soon) and other important things. Possibly a map or timeline or other media to draw people into the world. I think its a fun world with lots of interesting lore but unless someone is coming for a specific article I post, I don't think anyone with the current bland homepage is going to stick around. If I can get better at CSS I will also try to implement some of that. I have plans for a new banner and adding personal color themes that will show up on the homepage first.

When I first started world building I made the mistake of being way to broad and writing way to much. I believe I should've focused in more and worked my way out. However that cat is out of the bag now, so my hope is to improve the lore that I've already had and as stated for last week's assignment, decouple from D&D. I am proud of the world I have created and now I want to improve it and make the best version that it can be.

I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.

— Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

This world's main premise is transformation. During the Planar Convergence the world, the people, the flora and fauna all had some level of transformation. Adapt or die became a necessity especially during the years after the Convergence. Even societal transformations happened such as factions that arose to combat the planar rifts that plague Duankh. Current changes include invasion from aberrant creatures that spawned out of the fallen body of the World Serpent.

Country music is a music genre I do not listen too often but using it for a form of inspiration is interesting. Common themes in country music is love, family, rural life, and military. I want to try to integrate some of these themes into my world building. Getting to the common folk and their lives and how its effected by what is happening around them. Learning about the villages of the world, the small groups, how they form community etc. will bring life to the world.

I read 3 articles and looked for different types in order to broaden my perspective. 1st was Dreammoss Draught which I found to be a unique way to explain items and in my world one way to get information about certain areas is via their daily items or things they can buy in shops. Doing this will allow more insight into my world. 2nd was Mustaia by my fellow Tomie. The ancestries in my world are very important, some are classic fantasy but others are ones I think are pretty unique to the world (at least why they exist), so I want to adopt this article's method of explanation. Art as well is very important, I have no artist ability in that way so its a little harder but I plan to include art where I can to depict the different ancestries best I can. 3rd article Elaqitan Primer this links to week 2 a bit, but this Primer is beautiful and truly gives a good breadth of information and makes one want to invest in the world. I want to make sure that my Primer as I work on it does the same.

Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.

— David Bowie

Focusing on the main continent that I will be spotlighting this Summer Camp, Duankh is currently in the middle of a ceasefire in the long war known as the Cycle War. The queen of the Heh'n Empire plans to take over all of Duankh but she is stopped from full takeover by the other nations. However she is rumored to be a god and therefore it is only a matter of time before something shifts. There is also the Circle, a group of powerful mages that have tasked themselves with solving world problems. They want to ensure the Planar Convergence never happens again but they also theorize that there is more outside the world than they know...their studies into the nature of the Divine Seal that locks away the gods or the outer world can lead to some world changing epiphanies.

My writing area is set, I have a plan for setting aside time to write and once the prompts drop I have my note taking app to brainstorm. Given this is a refreshing of an old world, I do not have stubs but I do have old articles that I may re-write making sure they are not just copy and paste. Everything should feel new.

I am apart of the Seven Tomes chapter and plan to use their progress and excitement as fuel for my progress and excitement. My progress will be captured in our shared spreadsheet as well as in the discord chat. I also plan to post in my gaming discord, social media and in the community every article once its in a sharable state even if there is still more work to be done.