World Anvil Summer Camp 2024 Prep
It's that time again! Summer Camp 2024 is upon us, and after some umming and ahhing about whether I'll be able to pull it off effectively given a few major changes going on in my life in July, I've decided it's time to crack on again and see how much I can churn out. I've been doing a lot of quiet in the background work for the Calinan Sea since last year's Summer Camp, most of which is still hidden for now (it's not quite in publishable quality and is quite piecemeal).
As with previous Summer Camps, I will be developing and expanding my Bronze Age fantasy world, the Calinan Sea (a sea between three continents and the lands surrounding it, loosely inspired by the ancient Mediterranean).
Assignment 1: Belief
Week 1 Theme - Change
Assignment 1: Change
Consider what kind of changes would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.So we were asked to consider what kind of changes would fit in with our world's themes, genre, and foundational points. This is a big one - the Calinan Sea is going through a lot of changes, particularly during the time period in question - two of the biggest conflicts circle around the power dynamics in the Calinan Sea and the continent of Arikanda being completely thrown up in the air. Kingdoms are falling, empires are rising and at loggerheads, and power dynamics, belief systems and societal systems that have been in place for thousands of years are suddenly in upheaval. Some will evolve, some will lock down hard, and some will crash and burn. I'm looking forward to expanding upon that. Ultimately most of the Calinan Sea stories are built upon the idea of change, so I expect to have a lot to work on this! Some more specific examples of change I can work with would be:
- Regime change- the city of Mayoka's transition from monarchy to oligarchy in the aftermath of the Mayokati Civil War
- Geopolitical change - The expansion of the Kalriv Empire down the Sapphire Coast, towards the borders of the Arikandan Heartlands and Helikan League territory. The expansion of the Kjoqvist-Calinan Trading Company into the Calinan Sea, traditionally dominated by the Avadian Sovereignty.
- Cultural change - The Free City of Kas' change over time from three towns from two different cultures across the meeting point of two continents into a consolidated megapolis, unified culture and one of the largest cities in the world.
Assignment 2: The Pledge
Based on this, decide how many prompts you'll go for during Summer Camp. Then, download the pledge document and fill it accordingly!From a look at my history, you'll see I have quite a varying performance on Summer Camp - two Diamonds, one Copper and one Silver, so I've pretty much run the gamut. In terms of the question of how much time/effort will I have to write - it will really depend on my energy levels, my attention span and my workload as to how well I do this year. I have a bit of a stumbling block in that I'm moving halfway through the month, but I also had a stroke of genius and gave myself the first half of the month off to prepare for that and recharge from work (which will hopefully allow for time and energy for creative endeavours), so hopefully those will balance out! It'll also be the first Summer Camp I've attempted after knowing and developing strategies for my ADHD traits, so it will be interesting to see how that goes in terms of tackling executive function issues. I'd like to qualify for Silver again if I can, I felt that was a really good achievement- that said if I'm so tied up Copper is the best I can land, so be it, and if I go Gold, I'll be really pleased! Attached below is the pledge document.
Assignment 3: Tags and Categories
Get your categories and tags organized!This is something I really need to get better at doing, and perhaps this is the catalyst I need to do it! I've used Summer Camp tags before and I will continue to use those, but given the sheer scope of the Calinan Sea in recent years, I've probably not really done the correct amount of tagging and using proper category arrangement. I think I'll look at that for sure - as I go, I'll mark how I have expanded upon this. 15/06/2024: Whoo! So I took this to heart and assorted all my articles into relevant categories, subcategories, and in some cases containing them within articles. It's been a few hours of work and about 75% of it won't be visible just yet, but it's looking amazing! I'd like to look at tagging articles too, but that may be significantly more work than I can do while juggling Summer Camp work. We will see!
Assignment 4: Meta/primer updates
Take a look at your meta, primer, and any other high-level document and update it according to the current state of your world.Fortunately I tend to be fairly up to speed when it comes to my core documents for the Calinan Sea. That said, the meta could do with a bit of a refresh as it has been a little while, and the world has expanded sufficiently that the main splash page and introductions could use some tweaks. I'll definitely be working on those. Similarly to Assignment 3, I'll be expanding upon this as I go.
Week 2 Theme - Refuge
Assignment 1: Refuge
Consider what kinds of refuge would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.Refuge is going to be a fun theme to play with! I have a ton of ideas for refuges that would fit the Calinan Sea - Wayfarers need safe ports for their ships and shelter from storms, escaped slaves in the Kalriv Empire need places to escape pursuit, anyone in the Marai Desert is going to need to be taking refuge from the heat constantly. That's not even getting into things that might need deeper thought - raiders, bandits and pirates need refuge too so there's plenty to work with there. There are already fledgling ideas I have for organisations and people and cultures who provide (or require) refuge as well. Depending on the prompts, some ideas I have could be:
- Locations dedicated to refuge: storm ports, pirate coves/islands/bases, safehouses (assassin guilds/ranger stations/underground shelters/escaped slave hideouts)
- Organisations/people providing refuge: Religious orders, secular societies, liberation organisations, rangers
- Organisations/people needing refuge: Escaped slaves, Dhar nomads, Wayfarer companies, raiders/pirates, spies/scouts, people from a collapsed/conquered state
- Organisations/people people need refuge from: Slave hunters, raiders/pirates, conquerors/pirates, assassins, enemy armies
Assignment 2: Community
Find a community—whether that’s our Discord server, Facebook Group, your RPG or friend group, or something else.Fortunately I have a bit of this in place already! I've picked up a few followers along the way already on World Anvil, but I also post a bit on the WA Facebook page, and there are some friends I discuss my progress vaguely with. I'm on the Discord group but haven't really used it much - perhaps I should look at changing that!
Assignment 3: Styling
Find ways to improve styling and layout in your world!This is probably one of my weaker areas. I am quite prone to being a somewhat text-heavy worldbuilder - although I do practice regular breaking up into sections, interspersing with quotes and images where appropriate. I have always admired the works of art some of the more design-savvy worldbuilders have been able to whip up with their articles! It's a matter of getting time to really sit down and sink into it. I may do similar to what I've been doing in Week 1 Assignment 3 and kind of chip away at this as I progress.
Assignment 4: CSS
If you’re a CSS wizard, maybe take the time now to give it a polish!I am no CSS wizard, so this one will have to be a pass for me. Perhaps one day I'll dig deeper into it!
Good luck! I feel you about being a more text-heavy worldbuilder. I think your styling looks great! :)