Summer Camp 2025 Prep - Metamorphosis

Two major transformations/adaptations that the people in my world have gone through would involve the moon elves and the dwarves. Before the Undoing, though the moon elves largely existed in the night, they would trade with those that lived in the day and were more social than they are now. After the plague of the Burning Light however, they became extremely reclusive. They hid from the sun's harsh rays and became suspicious of outsiders. Even now they struggle to trust that the light won't make them sick and that outsiders to their cities aren't seeking to harm them.

For the dwarves, the Undoing saw them sieged in their great city hidden in the mountains. After resisting the attacks of the demons and their hellbeasts for a time, the city was breached and many died. Although the tide was eventually turned and the hellbeasts driven back, the damage had been done. Many dwarves chose to move away from their ancestral home and the Flaming Maw. Of those many, some chose to never stop moving, afraid of being put in the same situation again. These endlessly roving groups of dwarves would come to be known as wandering dwarves. The ripple effects of the Sectors siege on the world are still felt keenly across continents.

Now nations seek to become stronger and establish themselves as players on the world's stage. Miasys Urizana seeks revenge against her once friend as she builds her city and her reach across the lands. Yldres Worziros works to amass even more knowledge in his walled city and to enrich the lives of his people. He also guards an ancient secret that few know of and even fewer know the truth. All the while the Sectors plot another attack, still seeking to conquer Oxerune for their own sinister desires. On a smaller scale, adolescents seek to leave home and discover the world for themselves, while their parents attempt to keep them safe at home.

I recently started reading The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman and it's really good so far! I haven't finished it yet, I'm maybe 3/4 of the way through but I'm really enjoying it. I like the slight grittiness of it all as the main character struggles to achieve his goals. I'm also absolutely in love with all of the detail and worldbuilding that's gone into it. The magic is interesting, I love all the snippets of the different cultures that are shown, and I love the languages he's written. Buehlman has also created his own calendar system which is helpfully included at the beginning of the book for reference. Additionally, there's an audibook version that he personally narrates. I listened to the first dozen or so chapters as an audiobook before getting the physical copy and it was a delight hearing everything as he intended it to be heard. I don't want to spoil anything in case anyone starts reading it but it is genuinely one of my favorite books this year.

Freedom of Love Festival by Hatwolf was a delight to read and had me teary-eyed. I am so inspired by it. I loved the three different founding stories for the festival and seeing the similarities and differences in how different regions receive and celebrate it was really interesting. I'm rather envious of how well it's written and how much detail is in it. Even though I understand that worlds can be years in the making and some have writing/creating as a fulltime job it's hard to not feel like I'm behind in my worldbuilding. It's no contest though and it's much more productive to simply admire the talent and decide what parts I want to try and emulate in my own writing. For Hatwolf I think I want to emulate the festival and find an aspect of my world where I can go into more depth on the festivals and traditions that could be held there. I've had a couple ideas for holidays celebrating natural events or aspects of a god's divinity. More cultural celebrations would be fun too so maybe something along the lines of a port city having a race or fishing competition.

The second article I looked at was Ink Splattered People by Shewstone Publishing. I liked this one because it offers a lot of detail on a particular group and offers insight into their culture. I was particularly inspired by the idea of the bones of ancestors being used for ritual/important ink. It could perhaps be interesting to have ancestors more incorporated into my peoples beyond just generational trauma and passed on skill. I'm not sure what I want to do with this idea but it'll be an engaging one to sit on and consider how to incorporate it.