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?
"Nourishment" has a couple different possible interpretations! Below is a list of potential ideas:
Food
- What kind of foods do people typically eat?
- What kind of drinks to people drinks?
- What do they eat/drink when they're sick?
- What do they eat/drink when they're celebrating?
- How has the Kinetic Engine changed how food/drink is made or served?
Peace/Relaxation/Spiritual Healing
- Where can people go to relax (bath, spa, etc)
- What activities do people get together for?
- How do people find solace in religion?
- How has the Kinetic Engine provided opportunities to relax?
Validation and Achievement
- What jobs or accomplishments make someone feel validated/proud?
Assignment 2
Download the pledge document and fill it out with your goal for Summer Camp!
Assignment 3
If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.
Sorry, but I don't want to update my Meta...
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.
So "Roots" has two interesting interpretations for Wyrring. One interpretation is as suggested by the above, regarding how ones origins and histories shape them. I spent much of last year's summer camp creating a world timeline/history, however, many of the events focus on
Estalia. Some potential ideas include:
Another interpretation is a bit more meta. When creating many of the nation's in the world, I had started by establishing a foundation ethos for each. Although Estalia's ethos of "Order" has been baked into much of its world building, most other locations have very little. This is something that I will try to including throughout summer camp. As a reminder, the list of Ethics have been provided below.
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?
No major changes, but I've updated the map!
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!
Not my oldest project on World Anvil, but my oldest world building was the entirety of the
Air Caravansary, which was created over a decade ago. One of my first tasks when joining World Anvil was to pull together many of my old collections of notes and digitize the setting. There are a couple important lessons one can learn from this work!
- Keep it consistent! Going back through the old notes, I felt at several times that certain areas were just put in because I thought they were cool ideas, not because they made sense for the setting. The juxtaposition of these specific areas with the overall area have a detracting effect, pulling readers and players out of their immersion. I've since improved a bit - both because of skill development and expanding the setting's scope - but it should always be slightly considered how new pieces of world building impact what currently exists.
- Keep just enough notes! For a bit of context, the Air Caravansary - similarly to the entirety of Wyrring - was created as a setting for D&D games that I've run for a group of friends. As a personal preference, I tend to lean towards improvisation, and my DM notes tend to be somewhat broad/vague (I.e. Important people and places, vibes). That being said, although vague notes help during games, they make it substantially harder to remember what I had intended them to mean after a decade has passed. I've gotten a bit better since then, but even just a simple description would have made a world of difference when I was digitizing the notes, as I spent a lot of time wracking my brains.
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?
This prompt ties both into the Week 2 work, as well as a very similar prompt from last year's Summer Camp. I shall take this opportunity to flesh out some ideas for the history of other areas as well as to fill in some of the work from last year that I didn't end up getting to.
Aedan
- How did Aedan transition from a province of Estalia to it's own unique nation? Who fought against it? Who fought for it?
- Since Aedan puts a large emphasis on personal freedoms, how has that impacted the stability of the nation? Revolutions? Splinter state's?
Summer Shores
- Rise in soft power of the Group of Nine, transfering from The Magister. How did the Magister become so insular and ambivalent to the governing of the rest of the Shore? Were they always like this?
From Summer Camp 2024
1. How do people use
Kinetic Engines? What organizations have been formed surrounding them?
2. How do religious and magical groups stay relevant in this new age? Have they adopted the new technology, or are they fighting against it? What new areas of study have they opened up?
3. How has an increased ease of travel changed the populations? How has wealth been increased?
- Increased travel could have concentrated populations in major population centers, potentially leading to overcrowded condtions, civil unrest, and a changing culture (Such as the Arrivals Quarter) [From Last Year]
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.
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.
Week 4: Tomorrow
Assignment 1
Think about current events that will impact the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?
I've already kinda touched on the main current event impacting the future of Wyrring (
the creation of the Kinetic Engine). So, this week, I'm going to list several extreme views of how various factions think the future of Wyrring should be. Keep in mind that these are extremes, and most people (and the future itself) will fall somewhere between these.
- Estalia's Silverism - Estalia controls the entirety of Wyrring, and now everything and everyone has their place. Order and bureaucracy has been enforced everywhere, and Estalia prospers. (House of Order, The Silver Legion, Senate, Estalian Governors)/li]
- Peace - Everyone is allowed to follow their interests and their work, without the trappings of a government, and without fear of war (Aedan, Summer Shores, Lapu, Kraggenhammen)
- Technocracy - Kinetic Engines are adopted in all facets of life, making the lives of everyone substantially easier. Innovation and invention is widespread. (The Trades Houses of Estalia, some members of The Grand College)
- Magocracy - Magic is regulated and it's study continues at the safe pace it has followed for thousands of years. Mages across the world help society prosper. (The Magister, some members a of The Grand College).
- Theocracy - Various religious groups imagine futures where the entire continent is dominated by their diety's domain. This has a wide array of outcomes, as these vary substantially, including War, Freedom, Order, Pain, and Wealth. (House of Order)
- Naturalist - Wyrring is returned to the wild, and all the trappings of society is removed. (Clarenware Woods elves, Devil's Teeth, The Barrens)
Assignment 2
Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—before Summer Camp begins!
So I tend to do much of my writing during my commute to and from work, so there's no space that I need to prepare. However, I there's 25 working days and I've pledged to write 24 articles, so that's basically one article a day... Definitely need to keep that in mind...
Assignment 3
Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?
Kinda contrary to the above, but I gotta make sure that I don't get burnt out! Sometimes it's okay to have breaks, and it's better to come at this with inspiration rather than hitting my head against the wall. Fleshing out some of the above ideas this last week will hopefully make it much easier to fill it out during Summer Camp.
Summer Camp Prompts
A myth about a legendary food or drink
A substance known for its unique smell
A profession related to spirituality or philosophy - Priests of the Broken
A charity dedicated to helping those in need
A ritual related to agriculture
A species that feeds through a symbiotic relationship
A condition you can get from eating specific foods - Bear Fever
A delicious staple found on every dinner table - Carlis Mead
A city many people want to visit - Jine and the Valley of Light
A place people aren't supposed to go - Dark Rock
An organization rooted in controversial principles - Scourgelaws
A myth surrounding the birth of an important person in your world
A character known for their numerous progeny - Mak'Gor of his Thousand Sons
A foundational document for a country, religion, or other organization
A garment traditionally associated with a culture
The place of origin of a people in your world - Origin Grove
An ancient tongue from which many common idioms spring
A war that resulted in the creation of something new - The Unity War
A symbolic building - Tower of the Stars
A diaspora spread around the world - The Retreat from Ostrangard
A settlement that has been rebuilt several times - Plantis
An ever-changing location that requires its inhabitants to adapt - Valley of Many Seasons
A subculture that appeared due to social changes - Vagari
A transformation caused by a celestial body - Caedesthropy
A formation known for its adaptability - 17th Regiment - The Bridges
A technology invented to prevent or delay a transformation - Ambourd Spiked Collar
A ritual that's changed meaning throughout the years
A species that undergoes a metamorphosis - Swallowtail Dragonfly
An animal celebrity
A job many people aspire to but few achieve
A recently created title or honor - Enginist
A building that hasn't been finished yet - Parliament House
A visionary that changed the course of history - Savarin Polity
A new condition unknown in olden times - Crackle Cough
A cutting edge technology expected to change the future
An idealist manifesto published by a movement, political party, or other organization
An organization seen as the next superpower
A vehicle hailed as the transport of tomorrow - Autocarts
A resource with an alternative or secret application
A tool used by a nomadic culture - Longpole
Best of luck getting that gold badge - you got this!