Summercamp 2024 Pledge

4th Summercamp this time around! Time for more prompts to work with!

Goals

Camp Chill for me once again! The last 2 years I've gotten bronze due to a varying array of life factors and it will be the same again, most likely. I've got birthdays galore and an anniversary to celebrate! So why stress myself writing 40 prompts when my July should be spent with the people I love most?
Also, 8 prompts seems to be the sweet spot for my mental health sans burnout. It makes me a lot happier to write 8 (or 10) prompts I really like to a high standard and word count. So, I'm not pushing for a diamond set. If I get silver, wonderful. Quality over quantity and picking prompts I genuinely want to write about (not just for a prize) is my goal!

(I'm proud of the handwritten font!)

Focus: the Asfye

New big challenge means a new culture to showcase. Since around Feburary or so I've been plugging away at the Asfye, so called people of the sun, and their homeland, Homeland in the background. It's been very fun fleshing out a very legalistic religion and culture - and there's always weddings!

Meet Oskeru Froya

A diary, a dictionary and an old manuscript are not exactly the first packing choices one should make

— Oskeru Froya

Oskeru Froya has lost everything in his own homeland - his wife, his job and his home. So what does he do? Pitch a boat and travel somewhere new. Finally unearthing an old manuscript he wrote when he was a young man, his "summer with the Asfye" would be good research.

Organisation

Categories

I've reorganised the Asfye's category - renaming it to reflect the reworked form of Shémfañéz. I also have my #sc2024 tag prepared. I need to get around to properly tagging my articles but Summercamp is not the time for it

Meta

I find metas very hard to write but I've been trying to plug away at it just a little. It's nowhere near complete but it gives a better picture of my goals these days.

CSS?

No

Acountability Buddies

There's not much to say about it except to mention the World Anvil discord. My erratic schedule and productivity doesn't tend to lend well to staying on track - with accountablity or not. The WA discord helps quite a bit, and especially my chapter, Travelling Without Moving.

Inspiration

I get inspiration for Kalan from a lot of places - literature and art mainly. I don't often worldbuild from music, though I get story ideas from my ecclectic taste in music. For the Asfye, at least for grasping aesthetics, I have a pintrest board and some links in a google doc I come back to periodically for more in-depth matters. Literature is useful, both non-fiction and fiction for coming up with random things (and sometimes Easter Eggs for no one inparticular). Sometimes, just going outside helps too

Art

So far I only have my map.

Gómakshzó

Open full size

Themes

Batch 1: Change

God sends prophets in interesting times, and these sure as hell are interesting times, boy

— An Asfye priest

In the twin capitals of Shinjlekho and Bisafdjra, change is on its way. The latest Asafa, undisputed king of the homeland, shepherd of a faith and heir to the role of Bisagsav is on his deathbed. So, the Election of a new king lies close and so with it all the scheming and hyjinks that come with being so close to asolute power in a land that views you as a prophet, a figment of the divine.
The merchants of Postmar are also making their bids for power. In recent years, there's been a marked change in their influence what with industrialisation and all the new inventions that follow. Will this overthrow the strict Ranks of Society? Who knows? Asfye people like money as much as they love their traditions.
Speaking of traditions, the Asfye love to mark times of change in their lives (or not lives). Asfye Weddings, Funnerals and Coming of Age are all quite the spectacal, believe me.

Batch 2: Refuge

God is my refuge. God is my escape. His words fill me and I become a calm man, a wise man, an honest man. Law is my refuge and Law is God.

— Goz Gozav Ragshúj Azon, foremost religious scholar

Refuge can mean a lot of things. Of course it's me, I'm going to pray for more prompts I can meld into my religious and cultural ramblings (like A Workman's Breakfast from last year).
Many take refuge in religion. Prayer, tying Gegekh Rope or visiting the Gekhshína more often can all be comfort to any Asfye.
But Asfye culture too can be very cruel to those who don't fit within it's neatly defined boxes, especially for women. While becoming Clanless can occur to anyone, unmarried mothers are particularly at risk, hence organisations like Tojín ge Ñazmala Nakha.
The religious authorities condemn alcohol and any substances that alter one's mind, yet taverns and bars are still common place. These places serve as the refuge of the working man (mostly). Many establishments are as wholesome as you can, but it is hard to tell these places apart from Yellow Houses.
And why do so many flee this so-called land of hope? The Asfye are 8 people groups in truth, the Onsfye being the largest. If your not Onsfye, good luck, violence lurks at your doorstep, especially if you are Tafyegzekhav.

Batch 3: Belief

There are two things you need in this foriegn land: belief in God and a proper good dictionary

— Oskeru Froya

Cults of Personality Cults, religions, folk tales, urban legends...
My perfect theme! The amount I can talk about relating to the Ñaz Gegkh Áñílóv and Hóge ge Amjlóv, or the Asfye faith, is immense.

Batch 4: TBA

TBA