Summer Camp 2023 Pledge & Homework

Summer Camp 2023 is right around the corner and I'm SO excited! I've been participating in World Anvil's annual Summer Camp since the pandemic in 2020 when we all needed to get a hobby that we could do from home. I enjoyed it so much, that I've kept it up every year since.

I cannot shout loud enough about the growth in my world building, my personal progress as a writer, and the friends I've made in the helpful and friendly World Anvil community. I mostly use World Anvil as a foundation for the RPG world that I've been running games in since I was 12 or 13 years old. I've been playing weekly games that rely heavily on WA since 2019 when I started my account. Summer Camp in 2020 gave me an INCREDIBLE boost to my world building that has resulted in me writing... 405,000 words to date!

I'm keeping my writing and world building as a hobby for now. I like to think that once I'm retired, I'll be happily creating worlds and running games for the rest of my life.

Homework Week 1: Making a Pledge

Summer Camp 2023 Pledge

As I have in previous years, I'm pledging to achieve the Diamond Badge by completing 32 prompts (if not more). I'll definitely try to pace myself this year and not try to force it! (Fingers crossed!)

I'll be writing in my "World of Wizard's Peak" which consists of the world Erathia, its moons, and adjacent dimensions. As always, I'll focus in particular on the Kirinal Pit and the Kirinal Concordance Zone that surrounds it.

Kitoypoy Summer Camp 2023 Pledge by World Anvil

Theme Preparation: Power

The theme of the first ten prompts involves power in all its forms. I'm thinking about magical power, especially the power that the Pit grants to those who live around it, harness it, and are overwhelmed by it. Along with political power, the Pit grants enormous political power in the world of Erathia. I'm starting to explore the goals and motives of those from that world who have been left out of the abundance of the Zone. What are they willing to do to take a seat at the table, or flip the table itself over?

I'm also interested in the power of stories and language and history. How does the past lift us up? How does it hold us back? Which traditions are actually good for us and which ones are poisoning our souls? My own children are growing up, so what does it mean to leave a legacy in this world I've created?

Camp Feral Badge by strixxline

Past Summer Camps

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Summer Camp Wins

These are articles of mine that were winners of their category in past Summer Camps.

2020 Category Winner

2020 Category Winner

2022 Category Winner

Homework Week 2: Frontier

I had the honor and privilege of being Dimi & Janet's guest on their stream announcing this week's homework. I got to sit with them live and unpack the Frontier Theme with them. I'm super grateful that they chose to spend that time with me!

Summer Camp 2022 Homework Week 2 Stream by Chris L

My world is mostly a setting for me to play RPG's with my friends and family. I run D&D 5E (for now) and allow my players a lot of agency in my world. As a result of their in-game decisions, they have opened up several new frontiers in my game.

New Moons

For most of history there was only one moon, but mythology said that there were originally seven moons. Two new moons have recently appeared in the sky as I've run games the past few years.

• The Hidden Moon is a magitech "Death Star" raised by a cult devoted to the God of Lies and the Dark Patron of the Soulforged.
• The Silversong Moon is shaped like a silver icosahedron and the domain of the newborn god Jenevieve. So far, only two of its facets show signs of life.

Monstrous by Chris L

The Space Between Dreams and Wakening

The title Exalted of Dreams has recently passed to another. The "Elf That Dreams" has great power over the Realm of Dreams and lives in the space between the Asleep and the Woke. The new Exalted is a teenage boy who doesn't quite know what he's doing. Unfortunately, this untested youth holds the desting of elvenkind in his hands.

Socio-economic Frontiers

Those in power are loath to share it and those without power seek ways to claim it. These are the frontiers of wealth, status, and law. The poor seek to become rich. The unpopular seek fame. Outlaws may seek to return to civilization. You knonw the stories: the peasant boy who wants to marry a princess, the invader falling in love with the native, and the merchant seeking to buy his way into nobility. These are all people breaching the frontiers of their society.

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Homework Week 3: Relics

I'm very excited for the week 3 theme! Relics are such an important part of my world, the weapons of the Order of Tridensers, the regalia of the Lich-King, and the various artifacts and magical items from my world's long past.

Reliquary of 1000 Worlds

I'm also very excited about the possibility of my "Museum of 1000 Worlds" that I came up with during this week's stream. Thousands of different worlds have appeared in the Kirinal Pit and there's a whole economy around salvaging through the ruins of other worlds. My mind is full of fun things that I can put in the museum: strange fossils, broken obelisks, malfunctioning tech, cursed items, maybe a broken lightsaber!

Chadimus Plunder the Relic Hunter

Another idea I had during the stream was for an anti-Indiana Jones entitled colonizer relic hunter. I'm playing around with variations of the name. I'm really considering making him a tertiary P.O.V. guy in my world. I'm getting these suggestions from our super helpful Discord:

• Chadimus Peevtun Liberimus Under
• Chadimus Plunder Liberius Under
• Chadimus Plunder Loot Under
• Chadimus Pete Larry Under
• Chadimus Paul Under
• Five time winner of the Sir Archibald Gimmeweather Prize for Ouutstanding Achievements in the Field of Top Archeaology
• Prof. Dr. Chadimus P.L. Ünder IV, Esq. First of His Name

Thank you to nnie, Verti, Owen, Rin, and M.H. Biscup.

Article Ideas

I have somehow gotten this far into the homework without listing out my actual article ideas! With that in mind, here we go:

Power

• Internal politics in the KCZ
• Power of souls and hedrons in the Zone
• Great powers outside the KCZ
• Struggle between ZA and the members
• Elves lost exclusive access to the moons

• Dragon Empire bursting the Boundary
• Infernal, Kaneyaman, and Hobgoblins
• Magical economy of hex crystals
• Knowledge, culture, and tradition
• Gods withdrew, who answers prayers?

Frontiers

• Kirinal Waste outlaw numbers increasing
• Out-shards of the Shattered Moon
• Pirate lords of Zabar
• Borders of the Thayan Slice
• Silent Safara's borders

• Unpopulated Facets of Silversong
• Dreams, Wakening, and Elves
• KCZ as frontier between worlds
• What's on the Hidden Moon
• Those who guard the Frontiers

Relics

• The missing Tridensers
• Pre-colonization Talino jewelry
• Dragon Empire runes and obelisks
• Relics of the Lich King
• Fetishes of the Seven Gluttons

• Pieces of the Crown of Sun & Moon
• Psionic relics of blues and flayers
• Construction of the Orrery
• Ghost trappers of the Soul Forge
• Agimat and apotropaic practices

Communications

• Ident-a-hedrons outside the Zone
• Inter-continental Post System
• Postman, what are they called

• The Clacks Moon Comm
• Tech of the Clacks
• Clacks Organizatoin

Helpful Campers

The World Anvil community always bursts with helpful Anvilites willing to help newcomers and veterans alike. As always, a few of us really go above and beyond (not me!) and this year is no different!

Graylion's Summer Camp Sheet

The incredible Graylion has provided a Summer Camp tracking sheet along with detailed instructions. Those of you looking for a solid template to use for your Summer Camp page would do well to start here!

Strixxline's Badges

The fabulous Strixxline has created two of my favorite unofficial Summer Camp badges. I'm using the "Camp Feral" badge for myself. They also made a "Dewy Diamonds" badge and has links to some other fun ones on their pledge page here:

nnie's SC Pledge and Gifts

Incredible world builder and all around good bean, nnie has interspersed her Summer Camp pledge and Homework with general worldbuilding and audience building advice. She has lots of tips, information, and prompt breakdowns here:

Best of Camps Past!

Here are some articles that I wrote for SC that have become building blocks of my world.They wouldn't have existed without Summer Camp! I'm also including the prompt that inspired me!

Ident-a-hedron

Describe a commonly found document in your world - what's in it and what is it for?

I had no plans to create soul-linked identification that look like RPG dice, but here we are. They've become a cornerstone item in my world and are SO useful! I treat them like magical cell phones. They give me so many story-telling role playing opportunities.

Myconid Mother & Oak Father

A brave hero, who hides a secret past." & "A Romancer, Paramour, or other amorous individual."

I remember when we got these prompts, I had two characters that I had just created for a one-shot for The Great GM just a few weeks earlier. The Myconid Mother is the sentient and benevolent part of a larger more insidious mycelial civilization. The Oak Father was in the prompt that Guy gave me for my adventure.

As I ran the adventure, they became a romantic couple as the plot progressed. I had no idea when I began that this was the case, but it came out in play. They have since become a fixture in my campaign world and I loved being able to "flesh" them out that year.

Homework Week 4: Communications

I have so many ideas about how communication works in and between the Worlds of Wizard's Peak. My area of focus is very cosmopolitan and very "maharlitech" advanced. They have magical devices for communication between people, large Hex Crystal powered speakers for announcements, and a full range of newspapers, bulletins and magazines.

The rest of the worlds are significantly behind in technological development. They're at the equivalent of the Rennaissance to the Napoleonic era of technology relying on a combination of magic, relay towers, and train/skyship/ship post. The rich, governments, and organizations would have access to near-instantaneous communications. The middle class and the less wealthy have access to relatively expensive "telegraphs" and a post system.

Ident-a-hedrons

The number one thing that jumps to mind is the Ident-a-hedrons that everyone who visits the Zone must carry. In the Zone and amongst those who visit they're ubiquitous. But everyone else in the world has no reason to have them. For most of my players and NPCs, they're a daily part of life. But once they leave the Zone, they're fascinating objects of curiosity.

The Post System

I have put almost no thought into how non-hedron communications work in my world. I haven't had to before now, and this is why I love these challenges so much!

I'm thinking of an intercontinental system who's reliability is completely dependent on where the mail is going through. Just like our own world! The pieces of the system available for use are:

• A rail system connecting all the nations that participate in the Concordance for Survival.
• Teleport circles for far-flung nations that are activated on a daily-weekly schedule of some sort. Kiris is the main user of these.
• Skyship transportation
• Traditional ships and pack caravans.

The Clacks

I'm SUPER tempted to include an optical semaphore system strictly based on my love of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. It would be good for communications between non-Concordant nations. It would be super cool as the primary comm between the world and the Moons! Much less expensive than magic, and they have to generate a light source bright enough to be seen! Ok, I'm loving this one.

The News

I have several ways that news gets around my worlds. I've written articles for two newspapers: Aleph Zero Revelations and The Beacon. But I need some others to balance them out.

I'm also thinking of the "Hedron Network" that sends news to those with ident-a-hedrons. There's also the Diver's Cypher that's used to announce the status of the Manifest in the Zone every day.