Summer Camp 2024 Pledge

Happy Pride!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, theys and gays, those in between and the as-yet-undecided: You are valid, you are beautiful and if you're reading this, you are here!

I love this time of year, because I get to celebrate my two favourite things - Queerness and Writing - over two months, and my little corner of the world is fortunate enough to have beautiful beaches and lush countryside within a 20min drive from my house (totally not a distraction from writing!) so lots of places to absorb the sunshine and the inspiration.

This year I'm feeling fabulously energised, and am determined to get that Diamond Badge (though I will quietly be quite content with just improving on last years' Copper Badge!).

Prep Week 1: Spare any Change?

The first weeks' challenge is to consider changes that could happen in our world; I've been planning to develop the economic systems of my world (designing different currencies, exploring their value and links to items (such a pound stirling being linked to silver value, or dollars being backed by gold), and the implications on trade, wealth and power. In the context of 'change', I will cross refer this with the other workstream in my world around world histories, and explore how the world changed with the advent of currency for each culture.
 

Prep Week 2: Sanctuary, Sanctuary!

In the immortal words of Quasimodo: "Today is a good day to try"; so I will be embracing that spirit of adventure as I tinker with CSS for the first time! The last challenge I took part in (Cabinet of Curiosities) was the furthest I'd ever gone towards customised articles (making use of sidebar content, footnotes, and header images). Now I want to experiment with CSS so that the articles in Belerion actually look like articles in Belerion; whether they be entries in the great books of The College of the Masters of the Scroll , or letters, maps and charts used by the characters to communicate and navigate across the world.

I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, so I won't commit to having an accountability buddy per se - this article will provide that drive - but I do follow several worlds now that I discovered during some challenges last year (I tagged them all in The Three R's: Reading, Writing and Reflection?) to which I am still subscribed, and often check out the updates from them, to know that I am not doing this alone, that there really are others out there doing this too. I also find their worlds so incredibly inspiring that I know if ever I'm stuck, or frustrated, or just need to escape reality, I have an abundance of imaginations to lose myself in, which is the absolute best feature of World Anvil, no matter what guild you belong to.

Prep Week 3: What a Wonder-full World

This week is my favourite week so far: getting to go window shopping for examples of what is in my head, and what parts of our world are so inspirational that they've earnt a place in Belerion. I've already got a well-referred to bank of inspo-notes, so firstly this will be getting a refresh and tidy up (which will inevitably lead to multiple rabbit-hole journeys looking for more examples!). Distratctions notwithstanding, some of those inspirations are from quite a while ago (some even predate my use of World Anvil) so I'll also be reflecting on whether I have outgrown their inspiration, or whether they are still something I admire but would no longer fit into how Belerion now looks.

I'll finally get my world and regional maps uploaded as part of this challenge, as I keep promising myself that this will happen, and get increasingly frustrated when I miss another opportunity to do so - particularly as the maps are a key part in keeping track of the comings and goings of the peoples of Belerion.

Prep Week 4: The end is only the beginning

The prompt for this week has been difficult to write something about. Death has been a key part of my career (and sadly, my personal life) but is something I'm only recently started to realise I've never took time to understand, which is perhaps why I'nm struggling to conceive any ideas and inspiration that relate to the theme of 'decay': my worldbuilding thusfar has centred on creation, not destruction, beginnings not endings. 
Perhaps, then, the key to this weeks' theme is to consider things not ending, but changing and evolving. As I create new concepts and ideas, I'll lend more thought to what has had to 'end' in order to create space in Belerion. Which dynasty crashed out before a new order is ushered in? Which changes in the world benefit one group, but at a loss for another? 

I have, however, tidied my desk space ready for #WASC24 and have a tidy list of snagging tasks to get through; I'm not going to hold myself to getting through it all before Summer Camp starts though - I'll do what I can when I can each day, and if it means developing some of the homework prompts as part of exploring the Summer Camp prompts, well, that can only make for a more integrated and hollistic worldview right? 


Happy Summer Camp everyone, good luck, and go world build!
Lady Evilyn

Our dog Cocoa, on a walk on her favourite beach (because she runs full-pelt down the sand dunes getting absolutely caked in sand!)

Areas of Focus:

Each week of homework, I will add to this list to keep track of the areas I will be working on:

1. Economic Systems
2. Cultural Histories
3. Article CSS Themes

Be Safe to Be You

I am incredibly lucky to live where I do, as it allows me the relative safety to be my authentic self (though there is still work to be done.) I recognise that some of you reading this may not be so fortunate, either through your local laws, societal norms, cultural expectations or even family customs and expectations. Here in the UK we have the LGBT Foundation website for resources, information and support for anyone who does not feel safe to be their authentic self. They have a quick-exit button on the page in case you need to leave their website quickly.

The world of Belerion will always be a safe space for my LGBTQ+ siblings to escape their real world troubles, and maybe even identify enough with my characters that they can find new ways to survive thrive in the real world.

Stay safe,
Belerion_Bard