Summer Camp 2025
Spots of summer sun, bumblebees bumbling between blooms, it's time to chill with Camp Chill, and answer the call of copper!
It's summer, the sun is streaming in through my windows, and I'm getting excited for the big worldbuilding event of the summer: Summer Camp! Summer Camp is a month-long event in July hosted by World Anvil where we get four waves of worldbuilding prompts. Depending on how many prompts you complete, you get different badges. My goal this year is the copper badge, awarded after writing about eight of the prompts.
In the lead up to Summer Camp, World Anvil reveals the four themes and gives some good advice to help get your world in order. Check out the Summer camp prep page for more information!
Summercamp in Solaris
This time last year, my then-girlfriend (now fiancée!) and I moved into our new apartment. It was a busy time with no room for making pledges and prep documents. Despite this, Summer Camp 2024 went well. Fourteen articles were written, a near-silver!
2025 becomes the fourth year that I'm writing in Solaris, and the fifth year I participate in Summer Camp.
Click here to see what I wrote
Camp Chill
Since I first created Camp Chill in 2022, I've been encouraging people to focus on their fun! It can be easy for the desire for shiny badges and completitionist instinct to run amok, and make a fun event into something that's stressful. Camp Chill is about checking those instincts and reminding us what it's all for! Everyone is invited to join in Camp Chill, or to sit by the metaphorical campfire when you need a bit of rest.
Rin Garnett made this lovely badge for Camp Chill! Use it in your world with the code [imgblock:4574878] or [img:4574878]
Camp Chill Guidelines
Remember the prompts are suggestions, not requirements. Write what you're passionate about, leave what you aren't. Relax when you feel tired. Fight off any pesky brain-squitos trying to make you doubt your work. Don't abandon your non-summer camp goals! Write that article you're itching to write, even if it doesn't fit any prompts.
Homework
Nourishment
I was so excited to hear this theme! It fits in perfectly with what I've been working on for Saturn lately. Earlier this year I asked the lovely people in the Solaris discord which planet they want to know more about. Saturn won the vote handily. I'll tell you a bit about the work I did, and how it all ties back into nourishment.
When I first made Solaris, I wrote down a bullet point for each planet. For Saturn I wrote "Merchant planet, trade hub Merchant Princes", and I quickly envisioned Saturn as an ecumenopolis, a planet-wide city that was verging on lawless. The sort that makes for some good planetside sci fi with flying vehicles. One of the things I love most about working with our own Solar system is diving into astronomy and mythology for inspiration. I knew what I wanted, and now it was time to give it depth by learning more.
The planet Saturn is best known for its prominent rings. It also has hundreds of moons, although most of these resemble asteroids more than the moon we see in our heavens. I found it especially interesting that some of Saturn's moons are known as shepherd moons. They're called that because they clear gaps in the rings of Saturn.
In greek and roman mythology, Cronos, or Saturn, has been told that his fate is to be defeated by his offspring. To prevent this fate, he devours his own children. He is also a god of agriculture, and his symbol is the sickle (or scythe). He feeds, in all senses of the word. In Chinese astronomy, Saturn is called the Earth Star. The planet is associated with the element of earth, and the spleen (associated with digestion in Chinese medicine) and the stomach.
As I read, the pieces fell into place. There was a clear theme of consumption, and I wanted to lean into it. I wanted to explore how a highly populated Saturn was fed, I named the moons the Scythe, and I wrote about how the Saturnian Salvage industry functioned a digestive system for the world. I hope to continue that work during Summer Camp, and I'm sure we'll get some prompts that'll be perfect for Saturn.
Saturnian Stubs
- Merchant Prince
- Moons of Saturn
- Titan
- Rhea
- Iapteus
- Enceladus
- Thetys
- Dione
- Mimas
- Bladderbird
Roots
Our second theme for Summer Camp is Roots. This theme also ties into things I have been working on lately. There comes a time for every setting when it becomes crucial to ask about its history. I'm of the opinion that characters bring a world to life, and the history makes it feel real. During the last events we have explored the recent history of Solaris, like the Scorching of Mercury and the Catamite Wars. It's time to dive deeper.
After this theme was announced, Skye and I sat down together with a notebook and a cup of coffee. We talked about the overarching eras of Solaris, and drafted an outline. It felt like an echo of december, when we discussed the history of crystal tech and spacecraft. I think the Roots theme will have some excellent prompts to take what we have and weave it together into a more complete picture.
My Worldbuilding Roots
It's hard to say when I first started worldbuilding, but I first started sharing it online about ten years ago. Inspired by the teslore communities loose definition of canon, and a blog dedicated to reimagining a popular setting, I started to develop an in-world theory of magic, explore new kinds of linguistic genders, and gender identities that weren't based in sex. As Critical Role made tabletop mainstream, I found myself trying out tabletop roleplaying, and eventually messing around with building my own settings for campaigns. One of those campaigns led me to World Anvil, where I shared my work for the Morning Realm. I had a lot of fun with the Morning Realm, but eventually I felt the constraints of working with Dungeons and Dragons chafing. I wanted to work on something on my own premises, where I could have more fun with the lore. That lead to the world you're on right now, Solaris, which I have been happily working on since 2022.
Metamorphosis
I have to say I'm loving the plantlike vibe to the themes so far. The first place my brain goes is the ability the Fei have called Metamorphosis, but when I think of evolution, of purposeful transformation, it reminds me about how Mars transformed themselves from a mostly rural planet to the leading star when it comes to technology. I think I will have even more ideas when the prompts are live, because right now it seems like such an expansive topic that it could be about any part of Solaris.Inspiration
I've spent a lot of time lately seeking out more inspiration, learning about astronomy, astrology, greek myth and comics. Last week I finished reading How to Fit all of Ancient Greece in an Elevator, and recieved my copy of World Heist. The shortbox comic fair was a plenty of gorgeous and inspiring comics. I also recently read Memorial, a beautiful book-long poem about the people who die in the Iliad. I remembered the red and black deaths in those pages, so many that the names melded into a simpler "more", my brain not able to hold all these individuals, not to mention the many more who must've died off page. Memorial invited me to revisit them, sit with them and their death for a bit. I'm already the sort who likes to reread the stories I admire. The first time to enjoy, the second time to digest it. I love how media changes and opens up as you revisit it, like we are going through our own metamorphosis. The story and the reader, becoming familiar. I have time now to sit down with my notebook and take extracts and digest what I've read lately. If people are interested, I might be able to share a few pages on my discord and on my kofi.Taking Extracts
Writing down your favourite passages from the things you read is a very old practice. This is often called taking an extract or excerpting. I keep mine in a small journal I call my commonplace books. I find it helps me be more intentional in how I weave my inspirations into my work.
There's no right or wrong way to make a commonplace book. I divide the page into a thin column and a wide one, and in the thin column I write in the source, medium, author, and any notes. Sometimes I'll note down the page. In the large column I write the lines I was inspired by, and underline what I found particularly beautiful.Tomorrow
Our final theme, Tomorrow. Lets think about the factions and people moving and shaking Solaris. The Lunar Independence rebellion only gained a partial victory on Ganymede, although Jupiter is confident it has pacified the movement. Which of the three heiresses will become the new Empress of Neptune? Will the new sentinel, a living weapon raised to fight extrasolar threats, be what Penumbra needs to turn the tide of the Solar Invasion? The Keepers of the Chain search for the next Keystone of Mercury, and so do strange robed figures. And now, as I think about tomorrow, I realize that Summer Camp itself starts tomorrow! I'm very excited to get started. Lets make this a good one!
Notice: This article is a stub. It may be expanded later!
Oooh I'm super hyped about Saturn!! Hope you enjoy SC!
Thank you so much!
Solaris -— a sapphic space opera
Creator of World of Worlds | Camp Chill | Comment Carolers