I pledge to write 16 articles, with media included where appropriate, for the part of Amalgama known as Perpetua—without stressing myself out. Additionally, I pledge to participate more in the World Anvil Discord community, reviewing at least 5 other authors' work per week.— holyflpncows
Goals
Creative Goal
I'm ready to start expanding my world. I think I can get away with this in "public" as my players have already dipped into the part of the world I'll be expanding. This half of the world has steampunk and noir vibes, and Time is a stagnant and unstoppable cycle. Compact cities sparsely spread across the land, crops that just grow with the cycling of Time, and the god of Time directly runs the government. So my goal is to get a broad variety of articles completed to build up the way mechanical technology, Time magic, and a strong theocracy has influenced how people build their cities and go about their daily lives.
Motivation
I am so excited about
finally getting to this part of my world. I've always shied away from any mention of this half of Amalgama for fear of spoiling surprises for my players (since this world is the setting for the D&D 5E campaign I DM). I'm stoked to start working through how the differences between technology in daily life, a different magical force (Time), and a single deity instead of many will differ from what players have gotten used to. I've got years of built up excitement to be fleshing out the half of the world I've been keeping secret.
Challenge Goal
My goal will be
Silver (16 prompts). I want to get more than just words on the articles I write (if it makes sense for respective articles), which will cut into my very limited time for writing. And that is why I probably won't be able to do more than approximately 16 articles completed within the time span of Summer Camp.
Additionally, I'm challenging myself to be more active in the community, particularly in Discord but especially in reading others' work and giving feedback. I'm aiming for
5 articles each week from another author to be read and feedback given, and no hard numbers for chatting in Discord—just actually participating in some conversations.
Themes
Expanse (Copper Theme)
- Ocean
- Sprawling city
- Religion
This part of the world is largely ocean with only small continents. I can explore how technological advances have made crossing the expansive ocean easier, but perhaps incredibly dangerous, something like an underwater tunnel that could be under threat of being attacked by a leviathan. And the maze of urban city streets also pose threats as much as they exude grandeur. This area of Amalgama all follows the same religion, which is quite the expansive reach. Such a far-reaching organization means lots of hierarchy and sects.
Leadership (Silver Theme)
- Perpetua
- Church
- Engineers
The obvious ideas here is the deity of the area (Perpetua) and their church organization. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not important, though; Perpetua is a
huge part of the world and how it works. And just as important to how life has been affected are engineers of varying disciplines that have pioneered new technologies.
Discovery (Gold Theme)
- Local magics (Time, Blood)
- Steam, mechanical technology
- Foreign magics (elemental)
- The Amalgamation
- Rifts
While it was easy to learn about Time and Blood magic, there are many restrictions and limitations that were found. Since those topics were basically a closed case, scholars and researchers turned their attention to tinkering with other things and found success and less limitations with steam and metals. And more recently, theories about different kinds of magics from another plane are being seriously considered after a rather strange occurrence that seems to have validated the claims of some said to be insane.
This theme excites me the most as it ties together plot threads I've already given to players.
Monstrous (Diamond Theme)
- Sea creatures
- Corrupt government
- Insane/power-hungry magicians/engineers
- Rift creatures
The ocean will likely play a huge part in the world, so it would make since if there were monsters from it, or even the ocean itself (it
is scary enough in real life without monsters). Corrupt government is pretty cliché, especially when it's a singular governing body, but it still makes sense to have—and who knows, maybe something neat spun around it will come to me as I'm working on things. Crazy engineers and magicians fits very nicely with the discovery theme, and has nice call backs and tie-ins with previous world building as well. And speaking of previous world building, the rift creatures will be exciting to expand upon—especially since this part of the world hasn't had to deal with them before.
Perpetua Mini-meta
Focus: A focus on developing the capital city, its politics (which includes religion), and technologies.
Scene: Tight, compact city filled with baroque-style architecture that towers overhead.
Themes: tradition vs change, grey morals, isolationism, hard choices (but at what cost?)
Peoples: humans, orcs, dwarves, goliaths, gnomes, and warforged are the majority
Dramas:
- A prophecy from the god about the death of the sun, rumored to be false
- Experiments combining Blood and Time magic may have finally opened the gates for eternal life
- An unknown benefactor has hired a group of investigators to look into an "alien" incursion covered up by the church
- Rifts of strange magics have started appearing, bringing monsters and odd effects with them
Self Prep
The hardest part for me will be setting aside the time. So, I've worked out with my fiancé and friends my goals so not only will they be mindful of my plans but will also be able to hold me accountable.
World Building Schedule
- Mondays: 7pm-10pm reserved for artistic works needed
- Tuesdays: 7pm-10pm reserved for miscellaneous world building tasks
- Thursdays: 7pm-10 reserved for article writing
- Saturdays: 8am-11am reserved for article writing
- Sundays: 8am-10am reserved for reviewing other authors' work
Of course, what I do in each time slot might end up changing, but currently I feel this outline should be sufficient.
Since one of my goals is to be more active in the community—particularly Discord—I'll be sharing my progress in the #summercamp-2022 channel on the days listed in my schedule.
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