SummerCamp 2025 Pledge
Preparing for my seventh Summer Camp! What an adventure it's been!
"That itch... it's coming back."Homework is dropping a little early, and June is on the morrow... my goodness, how time flies! I've got ferality in my heart and a backlog of work to trudge through, but nothing is keeping me from getting a jump on Summer Camp homework! Last year was my first Summer Camp with two worlds, so now I'm basically a pro at balancing! That's how that works, right?
Holy BLUE ANVIL! This is my seventh year of Summer Camp!
We're managing this diamond streak with finesse! Can we go for four years in a row?
Week One: 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?
Malkora
Much of Malkora's recurring themes revolve around change and adaptability in the face of upheaval. Catastrophic events tend to leave folks without the means to nourish themselves without expending great effort to do so. Those who succeed, thrive, and those who do not, pay the price. Those who fail to find nourishment in common human terms, may find it in the form of the arcane or divine, being pushed forward onto life-altering paths in pursuit of survival — though they may lose everything they knew along the way. As magic ebbs and flows, those who seek it for nourishment may find themselves on a perilous journey through life.Ayun Sovos
Nourishment isn't something most folks in Ayun Sovos really need to think about — except when considering what they'll be cooking for dinner that day! There is always some adventure to be had, or some denizen in need, who will be more than happy to reward adventurers with all manner of treats and meals, and the shops are lined with delights across the world. It might play a factor, however, when adventurers are out on their quests far from home. What will they pack with them? What will they prepare while they're on the road? Do they have the tools to cook, or are they stuck munching on raw veggies in the wild?Assignment 2
Download the pledge document and fill it out with your goal for Summer Camp!
Camp Feral Badge by Strixxline
Dewy Diamonds Badge by Strixxline
Camp Feral and the Dewy Diamonds never die — they just hibernate until next summer. I'm maintaining my diamond goals, while keeping an eye on my energy levels, mental health, and ability to work!
Assignment 3
If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.
Malkora
For Malkora, my priority is going through every article in my primer and making sure the lore is all up to code. One of those articles is from WorldEmber 2020! Plenty of room to review and update. I'd love to flesh out these primer-adjacent articles to make sure that my world's foundations are fleshed out well enough to support my many Summer Camp adventures!Ayun Sovos
Ayun Sovos is still a baby world, so there's not too much that can be considered "outdated," but I do have a collection of articles that are effectively brief explorations of potential concepts for the world. A lot of these were produced during SummerCamp last year — so searching through those articles could be a great jump towards organizing this world before things get too tangled and out of hand.SummerCamp Creations!
I make SO much random stuff during SummerCamp, I think it's simply for the best that it gets quarantined to its own category until they get sorted and edited into full articles!
Week Two: Roots
Assignment 1
Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.
Malkora: The Autumn Kingdom
The Kingdom of Arsavela boasts numerous different populations, including several that I've written articles about throughout the years that are in desperate need of a rework, some featuring old names, retconned information, and reworked concepts that don't apply here anymore. Peoples on the record currently include the Savelan Faithless, the Danicians, the Beltsteaders, and the Ilogari. I want to get to know these folks better, and get to know more about their other neighbors that stand with and against them as modern history unfolds. Looking back on these older pieces of writing has actually filled me with several new ideas for plot points and storytelling elements I can incorporate into Fleeting Harvest, and the different people its main characters can meet or become.Ayun Sovos: Fields of Adventure
Brightfield is the perfect little combination of roots and nourishment, and it's a region I want to develop a lot more over the course of Summer Camp! There are so many families to meet, like that of Farmer Emrys and Nana Liliwen, and more from characters we've yet to meet! Likewise, the folks who run Ringtale Elementary School have roots that spread far and wide! Some, through Brightfield itself, and others from far abroad. Getting to know these characters some more, who they are, and what they are, will be a real treat. Getting back to the root of Ayun Sovos as a whole: what about Ebi? She's traveled long and far to make it to her first stop on the Path to Adventure, but where exactly did she come from? What was her home and family like? We know she hails from Nahuara and was raised by her Gram-Nana, but what's pushed her into the life of an adventurer? We'll find out one of these days!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?
Malkora
I thought about the layout of my homepage a little bit after reading this assignment, and one thing did stick out to me — there were no real links on that homepage leading to the world's content. Links were mostly tucked away in the sidebar, which is handy, but might not be the first thing a new visitor thinks to look for. With that in mind, I added some buttons to Malkora's meta and the first chapter of Fleeting Harvest, as well as a new follow button for those who haven't jumped on yet. I set my primer to be front and center beneath the introduction, and now I like to think that new folks have a few fun things to click through before they get lost.Ayun Sovos
I took a lot of my notes on Malkora's homepage adjustments from Ayun Sovos's existing setup, so I don't have much I want to change about this world's homepage at this time. Something to consider, however, is setting up a primer for this world. I don't know if that's going to be a today thing, or even a prep month thing, but it is on the radar as I develop more concepts over time. I do want to work on more of my categories and setting them up so that it is pretty easy to navigate from the world's homepage.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!
I've dabbled in a lot of not-so-memorable projects in my youth that I'd pick up, experiment with, then proceed to abandon when I couldn't figure things out with efficiency. Whether that's a statement on the mind of a child, or the basic function of the ADHD brain, I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you, is that Malkora may just be the oldest worldbuilding project I have. With seven or more years in its development history, this world has been through the trenches. Between its ancient foundations sitting atop stories told by a dark space in my personal history, the endless retcons of transforming it from a D&D homebrew to its own independent universe, to my own indecisiveness on what I want magic to mean, I've learned lesson after lesson just from my continued work on this project. I've learned lessons in perseverance, managing burnout, keeping the spark of creation alive, and embracing the weirdness of my ideas. Articles I'm looking back on for this year's Summer Camp are half a decade old, or more — plenty of space for me to reflect on my old work and where I am now. I can't be anything but proud of how far I've come.
Week Three: 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?
Malkora
Ohohooo yes. This is the theme I'm excited for in this world in particular, because the transformation of the Kingdom of Arsavela is the primary plot point for the region as I'm presently writing it. This once prosperous, fertile, and thriving land is quickly becoming hostile, barren, and further isolated from the rest of the world. I don't know that, in this case, the question is who is trying to stop them, but who isn't. I think I might have the answer to that question, but it might also shift as the land's story progresses! My goal for this year is to find more ways to really push this theme in Malkora. It's a major one, and makes tons of sense in my own head, but I feel like I haven't managed to put many examples into concrete writing yet. That needs to change!Ayun Sovos
I'm still getting to know the main stories being told in Ayun Sovos, but one is certain: Iverra is transforming into quite the city of its own! With the growing popularity of Ringtale Elementary, folks from all walks of life are journeying to the once-small town at the heart of Brightfield and contributing to its rapid growth. This transformation is set to bring many folks together, just as it might cause others to drift apart. Everyone knows everyone in a small town, but in the big city, there's a lot left to the unknown! How will these folks keep connected with all the buzz about? Likewise, Ebi is seeing a transformation of her own, from a fledgling fresh out of the nest to an aspiring adventurer out on her first journey! Soon she'll even start learning the basics she'll need to go out on her very first REAL adventure! How fun!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.
This might not necessarily be a "new" pick for me, but I don't think I've taken time to sit with the artwork and really appreciate it: Fellow Anvilite, EvanBlairArt! I'm a regular in his Twitch streams, but I always wanted to sit down and get to know his world and art some more.
Art examples shown here were created by EvanBlairArt and featured in his world Eldara!
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 can't pull inspiration from Evan's art without shouting out his articles as well. I love his Astral Sage article, which includes another great character sketch! It's giving me an itch to flesh out more of my magic systems, especially in Ayun Sovos, as it's a blank slate still!
The examples I pulled for assignment two this week came from the Geminos article, and I remember that concept coming to life on stream!
Hatwolf is an incredible storyteller and artist, and I'm quickly learning that I need to catch up on the entirety of After Silence! With this latest hit, Freedom of Love Festival, it's a great time to wish everyone a happy Pride!
And you can't drop a line like "poetry gone feral" without me slapping a like on your article. Moravathian Cant is a fantastic language article — a template that gets so much slander!
My favorite thing in worldbuilding is getting back-to-back hits of the author's personality behind every line, and Jon consistently nails that with Oniran. I've already read about his Kobolds, but they were referenced in his homework article, and they're too delightful not to share.
I also never got the chance to read much from Rituals of Renewal, but The Edene Cycle is a read I wish I put the months on pause for.
Week Four: Tomorrow
Assignment 1
Think about current events that will impact the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?
Malkora
Looking back on older articles for the previous themes has reminded me of so many pieces of content I can revisit here. The Danicians are facing ruin on many fronts as they flee their homeland and enter a land with hostility they never expected — what does tomorrow look like for these refugees? If it's bleak, why is that the case? Who is driving that to be so? Some parts we know the answers to; The Alabaster Hand isn't an order known for keeping the hearts of the people in mind, but there simply has to be more behind the scenes, and I'm eager to unpack that with this theme. I want to explore more of what the leylines are capable of and the capacity they have in shifting lands and creatures. Any corner of Malkora has the potential to become something entirely new at the whim of a shifting leyline — the Malkora you see today, may not be the one you see tomorrow. Something of this sort may be ocurring in Arsavela's own storyline, but even I haven't figured to what extent and its root cause.Ayun Sovos
The metamorphosis theme already touched on this subject, but the tomorrow of Iverra is rapidly shifting with its growth! What will this small town look like tomorrow? In a few weeks? In a few years? Who is moving in, and who is leaving? So many puzzle pieces are shifting around, and we might have to grab another box to start mixing and matching pieces. At the very least, that's what it feels like when this type of civic chaos unfolds in a tiny little town. Ayun Sovos is a world of big dreams, and that's something we see in our sweet Ebi. She dreams of being an adventurer, great and mighty, taking on incredible quests... but you don't just suddenly wake up on a fresh day as that great and mighty adventurer. It's something you work towards! I hope I get to write what that can look like, what challenges stand in the way, and what there is to learn about along the way.Assignment 2
Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—before Summer Camp begins!
I work through most of my weekday time, so it's very likely that I'll be doing the vast majority of my writing during the weekend! I'll need to take some time to make sure my workspace is nice and clean, and I'm all set to roll.
Owlworks SummerCamp Stream Schedule
My writing streams are going to make up a huge chunk of the progress I make overall, and I invite you to join me each week! Follow me on Twitch!
Join the Owlworks server!
Join the Discord server to get notified for my streams and other Summer Camp updates!
Game Night!
Fridays 2pm EDT (-4 GMT)We just spent a whole week feverishly writing and creating — it's time for some games at the campsite! Tune in for a mix of sprints and game time so we can end the week with a bang while taking it easy along the way.
Feral Yapper Gathering
Saturdays 2pm EDT (-4 GMT)The gathering of the feral souls! No sprint timers, just new prompt hype, idea sharing, and theorycrafting for our worlds and potential articles. This is our time to pretend we're being productive but we're mostly just excited to be here.
Sunday Sprints
Sundays 2pm EDT (-4 GMT)We did enough talking yesterday; it's time to lock in. We'll be running timed writing sprints and taking some massive chunks out of these new prompts! Be sure to arrive with your sippy of choice so we can all stay hydrated, productive, and pumped to write!
Pop-Up Sprints
Some Weeknights 7pm EDT (-4 GMT)If you need some late night inspiration, I'll be appearing on select week nights to squeeze in some extra sprints. Expect Tuesdays and Thursdays, mostly!
I've been put on the path of IRON GORGE, so you can expect WAY more streams from me this month! Rest assured, however, that once August comes around, I'll be crawling back into my den with my cozy 2-day streaming schedules!
Assignment 3
Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?
Summer Camp is an exceptionally community-first event, and so I'm holding my lovely Anvilites close all throughout the month! Sharing hype with the masses, hosting productive stream spaces, and reminding folks that their creations are amazing and I need more of them! I positively swear that I won't forget to hit the notification button when I make new articles, like I do every single event. This time it's different!
Amazing Tomies!
My chapter-mates in Seven Tomes are a huge source of inspiration for me, and I'm making sure we get the group chatting again so we can continue to uplift each other day by day! Having a circle of fantasic fantasy writers around is going to be a huge help for the brain. There's going to be so much cool stuff to read, wonderful friends to lean on, and peers to share my own work with, as it gets done!The Owlworks Community!
You wonderful folks in the Owlworks help keep me moving forward every day with your enthusiasm, support, and loving bullying whenever I stray off task too much. There is a quest board on my Discord server that acts as an accountability space, where you can define your goals and request periodic bullying and check-ins to make sure you get to where you need to be! It's been a lot of help for me, and I love seeing other friends using it!The Best Accountabuddy!
There are a lot of amazing worldbuilders on WA, but few inspire me just as much as my spectacular friend, Mochi! I mean, have you seen their work ethic? I'm hoping even a shred of it rubs off on me as we partner together to make this Summer Camp run absolutely standout! We've both grown a ton since we first started following each other, as worldbuilders and artists both, so it's a joy to combine our efforts and brain cells and be feral beans together! At every step, we're going to be each other's biggest cheerleaders, toughest brain-weasel exterminators, and most loving bullies, all so we can stay productive and inspired, and perform at our absolute best no matter what tries to get in the way. You're the best friend a feral creature could ask for!
Councilor of the Inner Sanctum Mochimanoban
Mochi
I hope you have a great day!
Explore the endless planets brimming with life of the Yonderverse! Go after creatures, discover new places, and learn about the people you find along the way.
Come prep for Summer Camp with me!
RAWR. You go!
The ferality spreads!! RAAAAAAAAAAAA
Ferality spreads in the Owlworks!
Seek a new dawn, in Malkora!
Craft a bright new world, in Ayun Sovos!