SummerCamp Reading 2023

Ready for the best damn summer of your life?

(Thankfully WA doesn't have crazy counselors!)
Alas, SummerCamp 2023 is over...but now it's time to read some articles! And for me to continue including sometimes vague media references as titles/subtitles for sections as is apparently about to become a trend if only for my own amusement.
So, despite being on WA since 2019, this was my first SummerCamp. If you want to check out my articles from this year, you can find them over here. I went in with the goal of only hitting Copper for my first time and ended up banging out enough articles for Silver, which I'm rather proud of. While my first WorldEmber this past year was more focused on just trying to finish out planets and other items, the prompts for SummerCamp allowed for a lot more filling out of my universe. I had a lot of fun coming up with the articles that I did and I still have some ideas for prompts that I didn't end up writing for during the challenge that I may still end up writing something for.
Already looking forward to doing this again next year!

Want Something to Read?

(We've got a leaflet about famous Jewish sports legends.)
Time to pick from categories! One of the ones that I wrote for that I had I think the most interesting time with was A HISTORICAL FIGURE STILL VENERATED TODAY, AND WHY, so I think I shall see what some other folks wrote about for that one. Another one that I had a lot of fun writing was A LETTER SENT IN SECRET BY A WELL-KNOWN PERSON IN YOUR WORLD, so I'll take a look at those too. One that I considered writing for but didn't was A SYSTEM TO SEND MESSAGES BETWEEN DISTANT PLACES, so I'll go into those for my third.

We've Got Historical Figures to Rescue!

(Get ready for the air guitar solo.)

First off, I love the description of their appearance. It sounds like they would not only be very cool looking but also rather intimidating. Also crimson fungus in the hair? Very cool.
I had a little confusion where it starts talking about their abilities because it drifts to reading more like it is about other Bloody Prophets rather than the First. However, despite that mild moment of confusion, their abilities sound both fascinating and terrifying! Blood having extreme levels of power is always a fun concept in media to me and seeing all the different ways that people explore it is always great.

Oooh, a rebel! I wrote about a rebel myself for this, so this feels like it'll be a fun time.
I like how the magic just sounds kind of...natural...at first? As if it just ebbs and flows around him without effort, showing off seemingly without him clearly knowing such. It shows how powerful he is. And then you have the storm post his mother's killin and just...excellent. Deserved and such a show of power.
"Castellian heard word of their approach, a whisper on the wind and the scent of blood in the water." I love this line? Is it hyperbole? Is it literal? It really doesn't matter, because it's a good line and just frames the oncoming of their foe just so nicely.
And what an ending! Going out breaking the enemy but dying himself in feat of violent magic. Not surprising that he is still venerated.

What a woman and what a sword. Wielding a blade as tall as your shoulder as if it's one-handed is a terrifying concept.
She sounds like a fine person, one who never gave more to one side or another. Definitely a center point in things (which I can see why the gods called on her). It's a shame that she ended up betrayed.
Things I'm curious about: did they know at the time that corruption was a thing that could happen from the fiends they were fighting? Was it accidental corruption by the blood or deliberate? What sort of things were they promised? Oh, and what happened to the traitors?
The sword and the single crimson flower in the middle of a region dubbed the Forsaken Desert is such a bleak but lovely piece of imagery also.

Secret Letter! Secret Letter!

(Through the lines of communication! Secret, secret, secret letter!)

Oh.
OH.
That took a turn very quickly that I did not expect. I see why these are called the Blood Letters now. Like...wow.
And the fact that she delivered them all HERSELF? Impressive and very hardcore.

I was a little confused at first as to where the document was but I see why it's under the button. And you aren't lying, it is all of those things.
Ah, the fighter/soldier who's damned good at the job but hates it for one reason or another. It's such a good character type to explore because it gives you so much good and bad and so much emotion to explore as well. "Even the cheers of victory and the praise I receive is poison in my ears," is a great summation for the character type.
The letter gives just enough to make me curious for more. Who is HER? Who is 'Lev and what happened that put them in the grave? Why is Willowdrift the only one of the three lights in their life that the writer can talk to? What horrors have they done that haunt them? So many questions!
The pain in the letter writer is frankly obvious. Racked With Guilt is definitely an accurate title for this article.

Lady of Blades? Lady of Pain? My first question is who IS this woman with such titles. The second is a further who is she to gain the attention and affection of such a letter from someone who's traveled a multiverse.
I like the description of what it's written on and in. It definitely adds, I think, to the admiration and longing factors to have this rare parchment and ethereal ink.
You can definitely tell all of the emotions in the letter. And the Traveler certainly does wax poetic about her in a way that makes her seem...otherworldly. They both seems fascinating characters from this letter and I'm curious to know more.

Computer, When Was That Message Sent?

(What do you mean it was sent 700 years ago?)

Oh, what a fascinating little item. Do they only ever connect one envelop to another, so only ever a two way street? Or could you connect multiple envelopes together?

What a spooky descriptor the quote is. And a fascinating communication system - an eldritch message board. Love it. And it does translation all on its own too? Now that's a damned good system.
The graveyard banner and the general vibe reminds me very much of the base loading area for the Hunter in Bloodborne.

Ooh, interesting way to do mirror communication. Usually, it's something moveable or an incantation but a gem keyed to the specific mirror is an interesting touch.
So did all of the rulers have sets of gemstones to call all of the other rulers? What's the way to differentiate these gems from other gems? Is there something particularly special about them or could they still be hiding in plain sight?
I like that they were potentially a security breach if given the right circumstances. I think lots of times mirror communication is pretty solid and unbreakable, but I feel like giving things flaws makes them more interesting.

What is the Primary Goal?

(To win the game. Shall we play?)
What's next for Nebula Burning? Well, there's a good couple of things already going on.

• First, going through what's currently written and making sure that everything is in line with itself. I know there's already a few things out of line and I'd rather get them back into order before I push further into the world building.
• Second, MAPS. I've been using my Remarkable2 tablet to do a lot of art, including layout for city maps for some of cities (one being an ecumenopolis and several others being close to that). I'm also planning to do a full custom drawn map of the entire Cluster. (If you're in the WA Discord, I've been posting glimpses of the latter in the mapmaking channel.)
• Third, make some notes to where all of the new stuff connects in to the current and where it will need to be sorted after all of the SummerCamp voting is over.
• Fourth, those other SC prompts that I mentioned I had ideas for but didn't write! Time to flesh 'em out.