Summer Camp 2025 - Prep

The sun is climbing higher again as the scents of saltwater and sweet melted ice cream hang in the air. Once again, Summer Camp is here!   Though my "official" World Anvil anniversary dates back to spring 2023, with Terramora only being created in March of 2024, Summer Camp 2024 was the spark point that set this project off running. Between the prompts and the incredible work of so many other worldbuilders, Terramora witnessed an expansive growth through much of 2025 thanks to the stoking of the fire during Summer Camp 2024. And returning for another year is super exciting.  

What's New Since Summer Camp 2024?

  Post Summer Camp, 2024 saw continued expansion of the continent of Dendralis, ancestral home of the Wood Elves, and the great Greenwood - the Lungs of Terramora. My favorite highlight of this post-camp season is by far The Longest Journey - the journal of Delvin Faroe. Written for Tyrdal's five month long community challenge, this work lit up a fire to write more narrative works that you'll soon see was very important.   Despite this growth, the great continent of Dendralis is still relatively unexplored to readers, admittedly. Approximately 2/3 of the continent has yet to be revealed, let alone the rest of the world... A fact that was pointed out to me - and a challenge offered - by Blue Fairy 74 in their year long community challenge.   Since, Terramora has essentially gone quiet. At least externally.   But, fear not! Big things are in the works!   First and foremost, life happens. New ventures and activities in life have come up, tearing me away from Terrmora. And that is something I am content with. New friends, new hikes, and most importantly, I have returned to working on narrative fiction for the first time in years with a local writer's group. I'm hoping this get a chance to shine through a bit as further exploration occurs in this land.   Secondly, with the challenge given by to create a world map for Terramora, I have dropped myself into a pit, in which I am constantly working on hand drawing new lands. I'm a person who doesn't like anyone to see their work before it's done, so you'll ust have to take my word for it - a world map is coming no later than January 2026, and I am stoked for it!   Thirdly, while Dendralis is in need of expansion, the creation of new maps has sparked the development of an entire new continent. No, not the landmass, but everything on it. The ecology, biology, peoples and cultures. The process in building out this new land is being done entirely differently from Dendralis. Dendralis has been a sprawling messy web, one in which I publish as I go, and things don't always line up. This new land is taking an entirely different tract. Instead, I am focusing on developing the framework for the entirety of this continent, and populating a large number of articles before anything about this place is published. It is intensive and thorough, but the hope is to bring a new land online that holds a completely different vibe than what you have seen to date in Dendralis. Ideally this new land will be revealed in early 2026, shortly after the world map arrives, starting with a large publication of big picture articles for the land, followed by a series of smaller releases that will allow readers to continually dive into this continent further with time.    

So, what about Summer Camp 2025?

  As you can likely tell, there is a lot going on in life right now, both in and out of Terramora, and the random nature of prompts can make that difficult to maintain. As such, this year I will be joining the ranks of Camp Chill. Volume is not a goal this year. Instead I'll be diving into prompts as they best fit what exists in Dendralis right now, while also fitting into my schedule. The goal is small, but I am hopeful that my continually improving writing skills show out in these articles.   Now that all of that is out of the way, its time to prep for Summer Camp 2025!  

Prepwork

Week 1: Nourishment

Assignment 1: Think about ways the theme of Nourishment affects your world. Do people generally have what they need? What happens when they don’t?

Shrinking the scope down to Dendralis, the subject of nourishment is as varied across the continent as it is across Terramora. Those residing in the Greenwood and the Fertile Valley have maintained sustainability for millennia and centuries respectively, supporting peace and prosperity for generations. Those in the coastal regions struggle more to maintain their nourishment. The west coast peoples have their fair share of challenges, but generally have found ways to meet their needs, while rumors from the Dreadwood in the east suggest that the concept of nourishment is as corrupt as the souls of the regions dark elf inhabitants.  

Assignment 2: Download the pledge document and fill it out with your goal for Summer Camp!

  The goal for Summer Camp 2025 is a modest, yet earnest, 8 new articles. The focus is on exploration, fit, and fun.   Explore new aspects of Dendralis.   Fit the subjects into the existing world of Terramora while fitting the effort into my schedule.   Have fun and see where things go.

Assignment 3: If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.

Well this feels like I'm back in school doing the bare minimum again.   Simply put, this is a task for another day. Based on the goals and standards I want to hold this project to, the effort to clean up Dendralis is a large undertaking that will commence after the release of the next continent. (Target rerelease of Dendralis is slated for fall/winter 2026).    

Week 2: Roots

Assignment 1: Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.

The peoples of Dendralis carry the weight of their individual and shared histories with them everywhere. Woven like a fine thread into a heavy blanket, the past damns some while inspiring others.   The Olosse of the Greenwood, for instance, are haunted by the damage of the Separation, yet they still hold onto the traditions and beliefs that originated long ago with their Aéldelin ancestors.   Meanwhile, Dendralins live with a freedom found only after leaving the Olde World and settling in the Land of Trees. Daily life is typically modest, but with a subtle hopefulness that resides under the surface as the opportunities in this land are certainly better than what they'd left behind.

Assignment 2: Go to your world’s homepage and imagine you’re a new reader discovering the setting for the first time. What should you change to make the experience more engaging?

A lot. I think my homepage is a mess, but I need to spend some time with some css in order to be able to create a landing page that I enjoy, and that ideally grabs readers.

Assignment 3: Find your earliest worldbuilding project. What mistakes did you make that you want to avoid? What good ideas from those early days can you integrate into your current project? Remember to take a moment to be proud of how far you've come!

Terramora is my first true worldbuilding project, so the mistakes are on full display! Ultimately I find it a bit messy, but more than that, I feel that Terramora is lacking in narratives that readers and players can use to navigate the world. At this time, it feels like a jumbled, unorganized encyclopedia, and long term that's unsustainable. This is absolutely informing the way in which I build the next continent, with the goal of creating a far more cohesive land before returning to clean Dendralis up.    

Week 3: Metamorphosis

Assignment 1:What transformations and adaptations have the people in your world gone through? What changes are going on right now… and who is trying to stop them?

Much has been covered regarding the Olosse people, and how they have adapted from the misfortunes of the Separation, destroying much of their Aéldelin ancestral home of the Elderwood, leaving them to adapt to the remaining Greenwood. Other cultures descended from the Aéldelin do call Dendralis home, though their stories have yet to be told...   As for current events? We'll worry about those once the world settles more.

Assignment 2: Choose a new genre, style, or author, and take a look at their art! Write what you learned from them and what inspired you.

I spent some time diving into some solarpunk artwork as inspiration for the Greenwood. While the technologies available to the characters in the different settings are quite different, they both share an interconnectedness with the natural world. In this case, studying the methods suggested in the solarpunk genre helps inform ways that the Olosse people might live intertwined with the Greenwood.

Assignment 3:Read a couple of articles from the community, give them a like (and why not a sticker!), and write about what inspired you.

I am always amazed by the creative depth of the World Anvil community and their work. Over and over again I am drawn to the detailed, nuanced creations of the new places and the way the folk their fight to live in these circumstances different from our earth.  

Week 4: Tomorrow

Assignment 1:Think about current events that will have an impact the on the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?

There is much going on beneath the surface in the southern lands of Dendralis. Despite that, there is much yet to establish about past and present Dendralis, so we won't be writing checks about the future that we can't cash.

Assignment 2:Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—for action before Summer Camp begins!

Done and done!

Assignment 3:Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?

Seeing as my goal is fairly modest I should have no problem completing it by riding off the energy of everyone on the World Anvil Discord. It is through the showcase channel on the server, as well as notifications being sent to world subscribers that will be the primary sharing methods again this camp.         And with that, we are ready for camp to begin! I am very excited to kick back and enjoy the flow this year, and to see what everyone else creates. Best of luck to all in their endeavors!