Age of Defiance Summercamp 2023 Homework

Week 1

1. Well hard to believe its summer again.

Dive in!

I had a late start to Summer Camp last year since got pushed in by close friend like the awkward kid standing on the edge of a swimming pool. My primary creative focus has always been Age of Defiance, my ongoing ficverse, so I hope to expand upon that as well as utilize old artwork and new software to bring vision to my world. Goal is all 32 prompts so it will be interesting to delve into since last year was such a surprise.

2.Pledge Time!

Certificate

Summercamp 2023 Pledge by World Anvil

3. Copper Wave

POWER

When starting with a core cast involving mystical Armors, there's power to go around, but much the way a flitting dragonfly attracts the attention of a hungry fish, so too do our heroes draw the attention of new enemies, allies, and factions terrestrial, extraterrestrial, and extradimensional. Power can come in all forms from new specialized Armors, alien warlords, or the clash/synergy between science and sorcery. It can come from the barrel of a Sharps buffalo gun in the face of a demon, a cosmic superbeing, or a dragon that eats enemy fighter craft for breakfast.
I'm a fan of the old-school style where wyverns have two legs and wings, lindorms have two legs and no wings, wurms have no wings or legs period, dragons have four legs and a pair of wings and are colossal majestic juggernuts that don't die like a BITCH from being shot in the center of the CHEST at a PERPENDICULAR ANGLE from a BOAT behind a CLIFF!

Inferno AnimArmor by Mardrena

4. Tracking relationships

Tools

I've seen this feature and would like to make use of it but I simply do not have enough material to plug things together just yet. I can count on one hand how many character pages I have completed and when I wrote out a "to-do list" I ended up with something along the lines of 150+ subjects, the vast majority of which are characters. I've only recently gotten the chance to work on artwork for characters from last years Summer Camp, and because I'm incredibly picky and prefer to do artwork personally, it takes time.

5. Meta

Can of worms

It's on my to-do list but somewhat on the back-burner for now until I get things to a specific point. I actually have the first "season" of Age of Defiance ready to post, I just need to do final proofreads and actually upload, but I wanted to draw a completely new cover image that ties in the old with the new. At the same time I don't want to get so immersed in World Anvil that I don't keep the current story flowing, so I've been juggling my time between special events and drawing/writing in between.

Week 2

1. Silver Wave

Frontiers

The original animated series saw our heroes venture to remote, scenic landmarks, ruined city streets, and into the depths of a Realm both sinister and surreal. In Age of Defiance, they get to journey to new Realms, verdant planets, and visions of possible futures. New locations feature mist-shrouded cliffs where dragons dwell, swirling celestial monuments to hubris, or the desolate graveyards of gods. Frontiers can also pertain to relationships such as embracing exotic new allies or welcoming civilians strong of heart into the fold. Situations can be encountered where a computer program can divine what magic cannot, or magic can alleviate illnesses science can scarcely comprehend. As our heroes enter the Stellar Stage, the curtain draws back on ever stranger backdrops.

2. Maps

Settings

Throughout SC22 and community challenges of the past year, I've been able to make use of wonderful programs such as Flowscape, BlackInk, and more recently Dungeon Alchemist to bring locations to life. Eventually I would like to redo alot of scenes in Blender but that's a whole bucketload of worms right there.

by Unknown Memesmith

The trick will be how to pack in as much detail as possible into fleshing out the setting without punching my desktop in the nads....

3. Organization

there is no such thing as spring cleaning in retail, just endless sales...

Another thing on my to-do list would be to set up article blocks and sidebars for everything, and there is alot of meat and potatoes in the fridge, the dish just needs assembling and cooking. I had articles organized linearly then that got changed recently. Ideally I would prefer to have specific artwork for each article before I start plugging things together. I actually have a ton of old sketches I dug out of storage and put together in a little binder but would require a great deal of cleaning up before I'd feel comfortable posting them. I had two "pillar" articles I made before SC22 concerning the two major superpowers in AoD. Those would need tidying up as well as adding links for supplemental lore.

Week 3

1. Gold Wave

Relics

The original animated series is chock full of relics ranging from the Nine Armors to the Holy Treasures (Inferno, Soul Swords, and Jewel of Life). In some respects, individuals can themselves be relics in the situation of Kayura and the former Dark Warlords who've had their lifespans altered as a result of their exposure to the Nether Realm. As our heroes encounter new perils, they must look to the past to protect the future and embark on missions to recover lost legacies before their enemies beat them to it.
Relics can come in any form from the mystical to the mundane such as an ancient Mayan diskette engraved with an advanced computer program, a magical pendant that can morph into a huge claymore, or an extensive collection of antique firearms. They can range from the terrestrial from ancient cultures in both Japan and abroad, or the desolate ruins of failed spacefaring races. The chin pearl of an ancient lung or a painted vase depicting a nightmarish plague. Treasures and artifacts abound in Age of Defiance!

Oracle 3d by Mardrena

2. Timelines

Barrel full of worms right there...

That is a rabbit hole that would take more time than I'd dare to spend trying to iron out, since there are events that span farther back before the creation of the Nine and events that have yet to unfold. There are specific events that are canonical relating to the original animated series, but as far as AoD specific events such as Ander's arrival, the creation of the AnimArmors, the Totalitary invasion etc would need much more refinement before I'd feel comfortable creating a concrete timeline.

3. Images

Do I have images!

In addition to newer artwork I have DECADES of sketches, thumbnails, and doodles. As long as I can remember I've made doodles in the margins of homework, labels, textbook covers, and odd bits of paper scrap. I have over a dozen sketchbooks of varying sizes stretching all the way back to highschool, chief of which is what I nickname my "black book": a pocket-size sketchbook that has a huge stockpile of raw thumbnails and concept sketches. Everyone starts with a thumbnail that goes through varying stages of iterations before you settle on a suitable design. Because my scanner is complete crap, I've taken to redoing alot of sketches digitally or coloring in drawings then importing them using the tablet.
Most of my older drawings are combinations of color pencil and/or gel pen while newer digital drawings are done in either BlackInk for environments or quick concepts or Inkscape for that neat, clean, crisp look. Paint.net is good for adding supplemental effects and tweaking. Recently I added Realistic Paint Studio to my arsenal. I'm always on the look out for good programs and new sketchbooks! Most of what I post has never been posted before online because either compression or resolution was complete ASS or I never had a solid foundation to stick with. The only previous site I posted artwork shut down years ago sadly. Hopefully now with World Anvil I can make the most of all the image space!

Week 4

1. Diamond Wave

Communication

Language barriers are nothing new to the original series. Mia had to rely on magical expertise from Anubis when searching for the Jewel of Life, and famously in the Inferno Saga, a fractured team had to journey to the other side of the world to track down their captured friends with only clues from an African tribal chant to go by. Early on in Aftermath, things get lost in translation when a stranger from the Vault of Stars literally gets dumped in their back yard. This chance encounter, seemingly directed by divine intervention, leads to an alliance with an entirely new civilization with language and customs drastically different from Earth/the Mortal Realm.

Audience With The King by Mardrena

Things turn up a notch in Foes From Another World when Rowen cobbles together prototype wrist-coms capable of long-range communication for emergencies. This coincides with the arrival of a new threat and their first major extraterrestrial antagonist. New allies soon arrive to offer their technological expertise, enabling the team to keep in touch in the thick of battle and coordinate in real time. In Fight Alone, the ArmSig system is deployed, utilizing the energy inherent in the Armors as a frequency to transmit signals.
There is a scene from Data Raven's Ronin Summer fanverse I remember fondly where Sage/Seiji asks Rowen/Touma how come they don't have communicators like the Sailor Scouts/Senshi. When Rowen politely explains that they have a psychic bond, Sage argues that he wants a "cool-ass communicator".

2. Dictionaries

Languages

I have scraps of paper from old school assignments and crossword puzzles where arrangements of letters jump out at me and those sound like cool alien languages and I'll save them and jot them down. There are several pages in my old blue folder full of notes with Thangien and Thunthen words/phrases. Assembling everything would be a huge endeavor and one I might need to do if anyone ever wants to cuss out someone in Thangien or mete out "yo' momma" slurs in Thunthen.

3. Re-reading

Consistency is Key!

I'm always re-reading older chapters, mostly to keep details fresh and consistent but also to catch pesky typos that just for whatever reason seem to fly under the radar. I might forget the color of someone's hair or what clothes they wear and need to search through for their debut chapter to refresh my mental image. Not all of my character sketches are fully rendered and some I only ever had a vague idea of what they looked like before ironing out a concrete image. There might be past events that need to be referenced in future chapters as well, such as someone reminiscing about a previous battle or a off-hand remark coming into play down the road. A seemingly one-off character might make an unexpected return.