Summer Camp 2024 Homework

So, it's hot outside.

week 1

Assignment 1

Consider what kind of changes would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

Mutania is a world in flux.
At the present, there are three major forces that are effecting change in the primary setting.

• the growth and expansion of the Yalisi Empire
  • religious expansionist goals
  • cultural exchange
  • body mutations
• recovery of the Kingdom of Raro
  • social hierarchy
  • economic development
  • personal relationship with gods
• psychological disease from the Kugma Mountains
  • expectations of the self
  • healthcare and disability
  • interpersonal relationships

Assignment 2

Based on this, decide how many prompts you'll go for during Summer Camp. Then, download the pledge document and fill it accordingly!

I plan on going for Copper, or 8 articles. I want to focus on writing quality articles that connect disparate pieces of my world that I created spontaneously for Worldember. My peoples are meeting; the content describing them should meet, too.

Assignment 3

Get your categories and tags organized!

While generally satisfied with my categories, none of my articles had tags. Now, all published articles have at least one tag.

Assignment 4

Take a look at your meta, primer, and any other high-level document and update it according to the current state of your world.

I updated my meta a little. I still want to dedicate some time to putting more in the inspiration sections, but the rest of the content I'm happy with. I'm going to write a world primer at some point...

week 2

assignment 1

Consider what kinds of refuge would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

There is no refuge against the inevitability of change, but there are plenty of spaces of respite for those who embrace the chaos of the future.

• Najibu, the God rock, and the foundation of the Vopa, the Yalisi Priesthood
• Schools in Yoozii, for those interested in studying how to shape the future
• New towns along the southern Zige coast, newly created outposts of the Yalisi Empire
• the few stable Veinlords and their territories

assignment 2

Find a community—whether that’s our Discord server, Facebook Group, your RPG or friend group, or something else.

I'm a part of Strixxline's Discord server. I haven't been very active there, but I'd be excited to participate more. It depends on the status of my system and my own ability to keep up.

assignment 3

Find ways to improve styling and layout in your world!

I'm going to add some generic placeholder images to add images to break up walls of text without having to create bespoke illustrations. I have one for the Yalisi and Raro articles. I've made color palettes for a bunch of my cultures along with the main Mutania palette.

assignment 4

If you’re a CSS wizard, maybe take the time now to give it a polish!

I made a couple of tweaks, mostly just header colors and block quotes. I'm proud of my world's styling, especially my color palette. I love the fonts I use and the articles that have the best illustrations have really good ones that I also tried to match with the palette.
I want to add subthemes for my different cultures, but that's a project I'll need to devote time to that I'd rather spend writing.

week 3

assignment 1

Consider what kind of beliefs would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

I've written a lot about different religions in this world, and I'd like to expand on the ways that they connect and interact with each other. However, I want my cultures to maintain peace with each other and not go to harmful lengths to convert one to their case. Not too much, anyway. Enough for some tension, but not enough to result in full scale conflict.
Beside expanding what currently exists, I'd like to develop other areas of the world with less religious traditions.

• folk beliefs of Paban and Kaloran peoples
• explore spiritualism among Iwati people
• churches in Yoozii, a city of learning
• the relationship between religion and magic

assignment 2

Create a bank of inspirations! Quotes, music, description of experiences and shower thoughts, etc.

quotes

I'm very inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's writing. I have a whole shrine on my website (which is pretty cool, if I say so myself) dedicated to his Southern Reach trilogy (soon to be four-part series! Absolution if coming!). Here's some quotes from his works that I really enjoy.
"The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats." ― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation
"Bodies were one thing; no amount of training could prepare you for encountering a monster." ― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation
“But minds find ways to protect themselves, build fortifications, and some of those walls become traps.” ― Jeff VanderMeer, Borne
“It was what my mother said sometimes-to be mindful that the universe beyond still existed, that we did not know what lived there, and it might be terrible to reconcile ourselves to knowing so little of it, but that didn't mean it stopped existing. There was something else beyond all of this, that would never know us or our struggles, never care, and that it would go on without us.” ― Jeff VanderMeer, Borne
""What kind of contamination?" Although he thought he knew.
"The kind that cleanses everything. The kind you can't see until it's too late."" ― Jeff VanderMeer, Authority
“Everything added to her and everything taken away had led to that moment and from her perch she had radiated love for every animal she could not help, with nothing left over for any human being.” ― Jeff VanderMeer, The Strange Bird: A Borne Story

music

I usually listen to pop music, but in order to write I need to listen to music without lyrics (or, occasionally I can listen to Carly Rae Jepsen, because we know all of her songs so well). Right now the defining track in my Mutania playlist is Space Magic by meganeko, but I've been adding to it and will continue to do so.

assignment 3

Find art and pictures that inspire you, and grab a map if you don't have one (and need one).

I've been creating art using generative AI for images that inspire me and are inspired by Mutania and will be including them in my meta. I like the design of my maps, even if they're currently rather empty.
I actually went through my Yalisi Empire map and added names for all of the settlements that make up the Empire. That took two hours and a lot of dedicated time with Azgaar's, many wiki articles about biomes, and my beloved Ipabi naming language.

assignment 4

Check your inspirations again. Are they still relevant? Can you find any that better represent the current state of your project?

My world is on the newer side, and my inspiration sections in the meta were empty until now.

week 4

assignment 1

Consider what kind of decay would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

On Mutania now, there is a lot of change, but most of it is good. Quality of life is improving for people as the structural supports from larger organizations are filling in the gaps of the most needy. There are a few sources that could be useful for discussing decay on Mutania, though.

• facing the past of the Kingdom of Raro
• the changing of river magic as the rivers change course
• the Najibu temple, which is breaking with the power of the wormstone

assignment 2

If you like special tea when you write, stock up for a month. Tidy your office, make a “do not disturb” sign, and think about any other last-minute strategies to optimize your writing space and time!

I have to carefully plan my time with my system members, who also have projects and interests they are working on. Maddy, AJ, and Martin/Michel will each have claim to at least one day of the week, but Maddy may take more. We've been sort of playing it loose with weekly sign up sheets, but maybe we should make a standard calendar instead... Something to discuss. Summer Camp is important to me, but not everyone shares the same enthusiasm.

assignment 3

Review your world homepage to hook potential readers!

I did! I added a few more links, but I was surprised at just how happy I am with it right now. I think it's a shame that I haven't put as much time into the species as I'd like, but some are stubs and maybe I could write about them for camp! I would just love more art for them, but I'm a very slow artist and AI can't make the kinds of wacky animals I need.

assignment 4

Take a look at your author profile and pillar articles on your world and polish them!

My author profile is ready to go. I made a few edits to some of my inspirations and rearranged my projects list in order of priority. At some point, I will have an introduction article in place for Mutania, but I still feel like I don't have enough material to warrant it yet. I've dug deep into a scant few areas of the world, and I hope with Summer Camp I'll be able to fill in gaps.

goal

Copper badge: 8 prompts

stretch goal

Copper page: 10 prompts