Summer Camp 2022 Pledge

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Oh, oh, it's that time again!

It's that glorious time of year again: SUMMER CAMP!
I haven't been very active so far during 2022 since everything has been messy and chaotic. What better way to get back on track than with my by far favorite WorldAnvil event of all? It's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to it a great deal.
Before getting to the three pledges I have for this Summer Camp, I wanted to start with...

My Goals

1. To get back into the habit of writing
2. To remember how to share my work
3. Diamond badge!
4. To read more articles!
5. To do more community stuff like the Imaginaerium
6. To have a great time!

These things I pledge, bound in iron and signed with blood - or maybe it's just some of that summer cocktail I spilled on a napkin.

by DustyTelescope & Exalted Mirage

SummerCamp & Me

Summer Camp will always be special for me. It was how I first discovered WorldAnvil all the way back in 2018, when I saw that it had started a few days in, and decided to participate on a whim. It was supposed to be a challenge for myself, to see if I still knew how to do this writin' thing, and I never really expected anyone to read anything I wrote.
About half a million words later, I'm still going. Summer Camp was an epiphany that helped me break through years of writer's block and feel creative again - not to mention that it introduced me to one of the kindest, most welcoming communities on the internet. I'll always be grateful for WorldAnvil and Summer Camp for setting me back on a journey I thought had ended forever, and I can't wait to help others have that same revelation.

Imaginaerium Pledge

I pledge to run the Imaginaerium this year too! Daily posts of inspiration and community highlights for the weary writer!

The Imaginaerium was something I started a couple of years ago and ran as daily posts containing articles from cool anvilities, sources of inspiration, artwork, and so on. Something fun to boost people during the Summer Camp and some interesting sources of information to spur the imagination. Last year, it also included interviews from various anvilities (including the Father of the Forge himself). I want to do that again this year.

OI!
And I want to include more community stuff this year! If you are interested in participating in some way, either by making a post of your own with interesting sources, doing an interview, or something along those lines... Leave a message here or on Discord!

Writing Pledge

I pledge to write and have a great time. That's it. That's the pledge.

I love doing summer camp. I love the challenge of the prompts and the way you can subvert them to fit any strange settings, especially. I want to fall in love with writing and get back on the writing train. That's my pledge as far as writing goes: to write for my enjoyment and to have fun with it.
Oh, and I'm going for the Diamond Badge, but I'm not going to sweat it.

Community Pledge

Guys, I'm back! Probably!

I kind of fell off the face of the world for a while in 2022, only really coming back with1 the Copenhagen picnic. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the community side of things with all the talented and friendly creators who make WorldAnvil such a fantastic place to be. So come hang out with us in the Discords. There might be a stream at some point to replicate the glorious disaster that was the Dark Souls 1 stream, but no promises there!

And I can't wait to read all the awesome stuff I know people are going to write!

Summer Camp Tracker-o-matic

Expanse

Leadership

Discovery

Monstrous

Extras!

Week 2 Homework

With Summer Camp comes the time to decide: what world am I going to write for?
As a general rule, I like to try and connect the prompts to each other as much as possible. It provides a wonderful base to build from whenever you get stuck and lets you continually grow a story and narrative. Some really cool, organic things have come from this approach, and in 2019, I even had all the prompts set in a specific region in Araea. It worked super well, so I recommend trying it!
I think I've narrowed my choices down to two worlds. But there are still like 20 days left as of this writing, so the chances of me changing my mind again are pretty good!

Araea

This world! It's my first and most established setting, with almost 300k words written for it. Despite that, there's a lot of meat left on this human femur bone...

Expanse

There are a lot of places I could go with the Expanse. The Surface has many places that fit the bill, from radiation blasted wastelands to wind-carved plains. Under the Surface, there are places like the Abyss, a vast and deadly underground ocean. There are tunnels that reach for miles, expansive caverns that could swallow entire cities, forests of mushrooms, deserts of quartz, and of course the the Far Deep.
Most of Araea is unexplored and shrouded in the dark, with "here be dragons" on the map - and they are hungry.

Leadership

This is probably the one I have the fewest immediate ideas for, but that kind of makes me excited too. It'll be a cool place to insert personalities who are coping, dealing, influencing, directing, or dying in the other themes. I don't know exactly what I'll do here, but I have some fun things to build off. Back in SC 2019, I ended up creating a couple of fun characters, my favorite being Ramaður-shi, Iron Hag of Dhanû. She became a pivotal personality for where that part of the world may or may not head and set the stage for many stories and conflicts.
Right now, I think it'll depend a lot on the other themes. The leaders will be connected to them, being explorers, villains, monster-slayers, or monsters themselves. It's almost too bad that this theme is in the middle since I don't know what else I can tie them to. I'm not sure I have a solution for that, but we'll see!

Discovery

With most of Araea still shrouded in hungry darkness, there are so many places I can go with this one. I'll probably tie it to the Expanse and the Leaders related to that, and it'll more likely than not relate to a place rather than scientific or technological discovery - but it might be both. Something in that new places that is finding a use - like the creepy melting crystals in the Atharkam Region. It's a frontier region already, along with The Far End and basically any region of the Far Deep. There are several there I've not yet worked on, too... So this is going to be a lot of fun.
Thinking about it, I think it'll depend a lot on what the expanse (and perhaps Monstrous) prompts are!

Monstrous

I have two different ideas for how I want to go with the Monstrous theme, and perhaps I'll be able to have both of them co-exist (or not, for more conflicts, but you know what I mean!). One is to have it be something innate to the expanse being explored or the discoveries made - a monster or threat or even just the way the place/thing is. Second, and I'll almost certainly go with this anyway, is to explore the horrible things humans do to each other in the background. If there's a way to scam people or make some industrial process quicker or cheaper, humanity is creative in ways that make any monster in the world pause in terror.
As always, I do like to subvert prompts and expectations and explore these things from unexpected angles, so that's something I'm always going to look at doing. That's how the 'most valuable item' prompt two years ago ended up being a gilded nuke. It'll be great fun.

Chronotopia

Chronotopia is my almost empty, time-travel-themed world, where time itself has been slain, and humanity lives in a timeless eternity of contradictions, loops, paradoxes, and... Of course... Time travel! It's a complicated setting, but it's a lot of fun.

Expanse

Without doubt, the expanse in question for Chronotopia will be the time-streams, the web of when's and where's that reach every point in time that has ever been. It's one of the foundational pillars of the setting and explores how a post-scarcity society might treat its own past and how entire 'eras' become resources, entertainment, and more. Other fun things to explore might be how a single point in space can be several points in time simultaneously, how that interacts, and how people navigate all these confusing ways to exist.

Leadership

Like with Araea, I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with this. At a hunch, I'd say it'll once again be connected a lot to the explorers of the setting, but it will depend greatly on the prompts. There is a lot of interesting question a theme like this raises in a setting like Chronotopia: how does a post-scarcity, time-traveling society look like? What groups have arisen, how are they organized, and how are they led? When everyone is (theoretically but certainly not in practice) equal, why does one follow and one lead? How does religion or spirituality look in a world where time, death, immortality, and the end of things have been conquered?
And so on. I have nothing written but a lot of notes about it. I'm leaning towards people gravitating towards sort of.. Self-growth philosophies as more of a foundation, though I'm sure a few will just be dedicated to partying for eternity.

Discovery

In a world where every single "when" is available to explorers, there are a lot of discoveries to make, ranging from profound to petty. In Chronotopia, those discoveries are bound to lead to new ones too. A discovery of what Mars really looked like in the time before it dried will inevitably lead to the discovery of some sort of monster trying to eat the discoverers. Besides that, I'm also going to be thinking about how they have started to make discoveries about time-manipulating technology. Everything from scrying into the past (for entertainment) to creating simulacra of past personalities for all kinds of reasons. The time-warped sky is the limit for this one.

Monstrous

Much like the Leadership theme, this one raises questions about what conflict might look like in this setting. It might be post-scarcity, and people might be pseudo-immortal, but it's not idyllic, and there's no lack of people who still aren't satisfied. As with most of my settings, the Monstrous here will probably deal a lot with social and economic divisions, how the powerful wield their influence to stay that way and how even near-infinite resources can end up unevenly distributed.
Oh, and there's also time-wraiths too. Beware the Tomb of Eternities.

Week 3 - Inspiration

Here's what'll serve as my mini-meta for Summer Camp!

Araea

Images

Geography, Landscapes, & Buildings

Show spoiler

0635d518e7da90c47cb839546a6c5429.jpg

0a1c3ea50d35c733f2417e6caefa19c4.jpg

1236df8af6b6fcd86a56128fb667f5c3.jpg

15ef44acc3f6a7e8df8068bc8ef9425a.jpg

24601fad3220b1c0715d9507b0233da0.jpg

35aab43f0cd36f76a3062d0e0bd545eb.jpg

3c38feb04ccf280061a8705b3fe85489.jpg

43b833a0eb5f2fcf4407bdb190d2dbe0.jpg

464756072642301990f9322c5e1c9ad4.jpg

4a80e25b580885d4d696141c6136005a - kopia.jpg

4a80e25b580885d4d696141c6136005a.jpg

4ed638303664e4a6a041b7ea7b03714a.jpg

5339e47e15dd21ae2f78a4c3bcf44366.jpg

53c9ad24fb53ef56a7f6a0de1f07fafb.jpg

5f402fcc5c239d075a5ffb45b7a2ca08.jpg

65b7e5001f3108a194e65c965b5c0870.jpg

69e2e6d7ceb51f2496fbf313f630270c (1).jpg

6b40dd5a17ef5fc1c127f4ae198eca15.jpg

6e1d3a61be4d85e5c6e9a32d9533276a.jpg

6fb64302b8610677a20a438df71671fc.jpg

7146fe8152bba7d910dc6bc626f32a96.jpg

7aac6de246b15c9663afe15238a8b08f.jpg

80a72b3217a6ad86b56f896f59840fc6.jpg

81abc5480812aee026dcf71f4f33959b.jpg

847f862e5fd7a995c38438b87d8b8563.jpg

88d637135a7b9b43174ad144711b0516_NASA.jpg

8a249fb00ad32fc700ba706c605ed6b6.jpg

8e2a803fc17107a3798329affc98c3df.jpg

95d133a693e32d5623e7cc10857f8cc6.jpg

95d133a693e32d5623e7cc10857f8cc6.jpg

968_Underground_Sea.jpg

998c962879f3ffb5fe13dd0f885ebdc2.jpg

a9feac9fbf144d3850dd18035be9644c.jpg

Abyss_1

Abyss_12

Abyss_4

Abyss_5

Abyss_6

Abyss_8

ademir-alves-y9K5K1B-guw-unsplash.jpg

Ahumahi - the City Center cover

Ahumahi - the Fief Lands cover

Ahumahi - the Fief Lands cover

Ahumahi cover

Atharkam Region cover

Atharkam_1

Atharkam_2

Atharkam_4

Atharkam_5

Atharkam_8

b4e8a54c88e41aaad18d880f77e0437b.jpg

Banking cover

barringer-meteorite-crater.jpg

Beyond the Deep cover

bio_cave_by_josheiten-d5w5lne.jpg

Bones_1

Bones_3

Bones_4

Borderlands.jpg

c193ccdd9053b157a195a7f6fdfc9087.jpg

c2c364714fd25b5b585e9db6664d56f8.jpg

c37ecfe63b7b124fa087e0afeb33172b-d6khcvw.jpg

cad933e1b95825db16f3f55385e7c4e4.jpg

california-death-valley-sand-dunes-with-people.jpg

Cave-Capped Hatter cover

Chaoim Cover

crossrail_3008113b.jpg

Crown.jpg

CultOfZhotori_Cover

d47260e6b0a05c20e059e7e46141bf87.jpg

d4741465603f0e77c145d531a0bef8b4.jpg

d542496bc9a99713cab0eb91c43d0fd4.jpg

d6jynpl-5aa21fdc-99e3-4b80-8551-f10921810c3c.jpg

d8laila-5325c3c1-a613-450b-bab0-1502ec88e43d.jpg

Darek_Zabrocki_-_Passing_by.jpg

Dark_City2

dark_frontier___into_the_fungal_jungle_by_spiralmagus_d7vles7-fullview.jpg

DarkCity_1

DarkCity_3

DarkCity_4

DarkCity_Cover

dd3aq1r-a335764c-5e83-4286-8df2-e136d22ebf2e.png

dddad49a44f733e49c2c4cc0ad6d5bc7.jpg

desert_ruins

Dhanu_1

Dhanu_11

Dhanu_2

Dhanu_3

Dhanu_5

DhanuFeastHall_1

DhanuFeastHall_2

DhanuFeastHall_3

DhanuFeastHall_4

DhanuFeastHall_5

DhanuFeastHall_6

DhanuFeastHall_7

DhanuFeastHall_Cover

Dūbavum - the Drowning City cover

dumac_palace__dagoth_ur____council_chamber_by_lukkar-d8zzyj9.jpg

e106580e47cee1b1b354f71e59f39466.jpg

e8056ce34dd1c579573468f72129ffe0.jpg

Early Settlement.jpg

eba760059b75f33b0df300cf1a0e6ea2.jpg

ef4ce73ab709df8841968c6ccfaa20ef.jpg

embers_web_by_alynspiller-dbo0swv.jpg

empty-battlefield-fantasy-hd-wallpaper-1920x1080-7509.jpg

Everyday Life In Araea cover

explorer_by_randis.jpg

ezgif-1-b6fcc28b8417.jpg

f53d04db3129cc5c629c58fa2a539d36.jpg

fantasy-landscape-rocks-magicians-rune-fantasy-7081-resized.jpg

Feeding Entrance to the Gorge

firefall_conceptart_oNjGX.jpg

Forbidden Zone cover

Forge.jpg

From the Heavens, to the Far Deep cover

gabriel-yeganyan-riot-warwickpromo-chasm-v04-091916.jpg

Harorao Region cover

Hkata cover

Hkata_1

Hkata_2

Hkata_3

Hkata_4

Hkata_5

Hkata_6

Hkata_7

Hkata_7

Hkata_8

HowlingPlains_1

HowlingPlains_2

john-fowler-7Ym9rpYtSdA-unsplash.jpg

Joseph-Michael_LM50065_16x9.jpg

Journey to Netehiri cover

juli-kosolapova-gKn3GCu55W4-unsplash.jpg

juli-kosolapova-pZ-XFIrJMtE-unsplash.jpg

Kagarai_1

Kagarai_1

Kagarai_10

Kagarai_11

Kagarai_16

Kagarai_17

Kagarai_18

Kagarai_19

Kagarai_2

Kagarai_20

Kagarai_21

Kagarai_3

Kagarai_4

Kagarai_5

Kagarai_6

Kagarai_7

Kagarai_9

Kaia - The Explorers of the Deep cover

Kaia-Kotiro, the Seeker's Lord cover

KaiaEnd.jpg

Khālī Region cover

Kharkorp - Central Caverns cover

Kharkorp - City of Ancestors cover

Kharkorp - Slum-City cover

Kharpkorp - the Tomb City cover

Kimberley-formation-on-Mars-taken-by-NASAs-Curiosity-rover.png

Labyinth_1

Labyinth_2

landscape_of_the_desert_by_vennom07-d5e42mp.jpg

mushroom_forest_by_r_vospercarey.jpg

mushroom_forest.jpg

Mycopolis cover

mystical_woods_by_ferdinandladera-d6q2wbb.jpg

Netehiri1.png

old_city_by_wanbao.jpg

omer-salom-JhC50KreY_I-unsplash.jpg

osmadth___bancur_slums_by_nurkhular-d50g0gr.jpg

Our Mother of Mercy cover

p02vbltl.jpg

Pavilion.jpg

Phrōjhana Region cover

Phrojhana_1

Phrojhana_11

Phrojhana_3

Phrojhana_4

Phrojhana_5

Phrojhana_6

Phrojhana_7

Phrojhana_7

qurilion_Atmospheric_art_of_the_Gel-Geysers_located_in_the_subt_ed1299c5-961e-45bd-a70f-6bfeaeb2612b.png

Retak - Crater Town cover

Retak2.jpg

robert-thiemann-v8iCC7lS_ws-unsplash.jpg

SaenKaw.jpg

san-bernardino-alle-ossa.jpg

Senjō Region cover

Senjo_1

Senjo_2

Senjo_3

Sheoin Cover

Sheoin_1

Sheoin_3

Sheoin_4

Sheoin_5

Sheoin_6

Sheoin_7

Sheoin_8

Shrouded Lands cover

Shrouded Lands cover

Sparklights cover

Spirits cover

steppingstones_05_by_niltrace-d8ain4d.jpg

sulfur-fumarole-kawah-ijen-volcano-lg.jpg

Surface_Geo_5

SurfaceGeo_1

SurfaceGeo_2

Tah'loh cover

Thanonorok Desert cover

Thawke cover

The Abyss 1

The Abyss cover

The Dunes

The Far End cover

The Howling Plains cover

The Inner Shell cover

The Outer Shell cover

The Seed-Spire cover

The Shattered Jewel of Netehiri cover

The Shattering of Netehiri cover

The Sprawl cover

The Surface cover

The Unknown cover

Tibei cover

Tibei cover

Trade in Araea cover

Tuiwas - cover

Tuiwas - The Hole cover

Tundra.jpg

Ucurum_1

Ucurum_11

Ucurum_12

Ucurum_2

Ucurum_3

Ucurum_5

Ucurum_6

Ucurum_7

Ucurum_8

Ucurum_Cover

Umoto Cover

underworld_sidescroller_concept_art_by_domen_art-d872sj6.jpg

WallOfGlories_1

WallOfGlories_2

WallOfGlories_Cover

WaypointCover

yeonji-rhee-yeonji-rhee-mood01-2014.jpg

ZaveruIce_Cover

Beasts, Monsters, Spirits, & Flora

Show spoiler

0010.jpg

059a4e4763ca62fa0481855dbf2d626fTARMO_JUHOLA.jpg

0aec6a1366c7cbbb581600a822363c72.jpg

0IBjNmOs_2204160917011sbpi.jpg

10e63f3c7ec223555ed1c01e9066b96c.jpg

15afaaf08b0ed0982ac268f75adb2b7e.jpg

24ba6e3e5e06e4c9eabf9a1ff30a77c8.jpg

3_31.jpg

412e7f198b4588450ec5c78c04f64def.jpg

47f0166ad92eddfd11e707d154cdb8d6.jpg

4837d15fc200f153fec990de721c220d.jpg

4883a5dafef44cdbfa8492b22674eab9.jpg

60c9e9c98f56025620008638f58a52d5.jpg

695fe566604222a2fe44d6fbb1c9bbf7.jpg

6d19cff7025a228b88f16602dc7f8615.jpg

821fc0cbe92b770a27bc2d6978a516ac.jpg

86b99e31631d6d49352571da3df4fc09.jpg

8899f7ac3f13418868c0a9828bcef05e.jpg

8cfefc879d30c03a5ac88c38b4d41276.jpg

90456.hq.jpg

953bb37c4fdefc5a4203640bd46f4ff0.jpg

A Mature Rik'thei without its wings

A Rik'thei grub

A Rik'thei Juvenile

a2057b20956c828fcf1537aac385c29b.jpg

Abyss_10

Abyss_11

Abyss_9

Amara2

Amara3.jpg

Amara4

AmaraCocoon.jpg

Ārmara cover

article-1391074-0C42F01800000578-998_468x286.jpg

b805a923901bc3d28d9ea04a7ee2861c.jpg

Blood Bugs cover

BloodBugs_2

c8f1b67f38476553b7c59bcc3c3fbd5a - kopia - kopia.jpg

c8f1b67f38476553b7c59bcc3c3fbd5a - kopia (2).jpg

c8f1b67f38476553b7c59bcc3c3fbd5a.jpg

c9d4ab1a3942dd98eba63c77477624a4.jpg

Chiwara cover

Chiware2.jpg

Chudos

Chūduk cover

Chuduk2.jpg

chuduklifecycle.jpg

Corpse-Walker Council

Corpse-Walkers 1

Creature_Spirit_1

d8a04c6232a7c61d589878c01d75f37b.jpg

daa7697d9dac8156c8640b4363bceb71.jpg

DavidSzilagyi.jpg

Dragon Tooth Cover

e3734bab6664d33ae3db3607b39fb8dd.jpg

eb119edf549de5c975d41e564f1ddf61.jpg

eb96b20e31395e1e8dab1dfc71d47b5f.jpg

ee64cb17fe418d580ca3728874e212e8.jpg

ef44e4bb4fb17a068d52bdcd3ffa8113.jpg

Exotic Pet Article cover

f67d9c2aeb5fd5d42c71e5f486bf748c.jpg

FarmingMushroom.jpg

FungiEel_1

FungiEel_2

FungiEel_Cover

Goa Strider cover

Heza, Plague-Eating Parasites cover

Heza.jpg

HorrorPage_1

jia-hao-2018-snowspider-illustrationcomp-01.jpg

Kagarai_14

Kagarai_15

Khtam cover

kurt-papstein-hellcrab-mount-front.jpg

Labyinth_3

Labyinth_4

Labyinth_5

lapidaria-margaretae-8451b7df-162b-41c7-8d03-223f9c4de9e-resize-750.jpeg

Mahu'ca

Mahu'ca cover

Meteorite Tick cover

Meteorite_tick__Jump.png

Meteorite_tick_Low.png

mm117_bolt.jpg

Nebiri-Shi, the Devil-Shrimp cover

Oathbreaker Cover

Onthophagus taurus large male.jpg

Pahü Worm cover

Phrojhana_10

Phrojhana_8

Raiders of Śaba cover

reiko-gross-1.jpg

Rik-thei Luck-Bug cover

rolliepollie.jpg

Senjo_4

ShroomCrawlerTemp

skewer.jpg

Skimmers cover

Species4_14.jpg

Spirits cover

Suryō Spider, the Horned Hunters cover

The Dreadnought Gang cover

thomas-milus-ice-hound-003.jpg

Trade-Crawler

Ucurum_10

Ucurum_4

Ucurum_8

Ucurum_9

unnamed.jpg

Vile Mold Hive cover

VileMold_1

VileMold_2

VileMold_3

VileMold_5

Viralisk.png

Waste Watchers cover

Welcome_2

what-does-pill-bug-look-like.jpg

WtWf-WtO_WraiththeOblivion(2nd).pdf (SECURED) - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC_2.jpg

Zaveru_1

Zaveru_2

Zaveru, the Blizzard-Spawn cover

Music

Inspiring World

Week 4 - Homework of.. The Damned!

Now, it’s time to plan for success!

With so little time left, I am filled with excited anticipation and just enough panic to make it interesting. Lets see if this homework stuff can help with that.

Schedule!

I'm going to divide my writing schedule into two parts, since July is going to be a little complicate. Between the prompts, the cheerleading, and the Imaginaerium, there's no lack of stuff to do!

Week 1

I'm still off on vacation on the first week of July, and I'm going to use that to maximize how much writing I can.
Since I expect my energy to be at the highest level here, I want to front-load as much reading and commenting as I can muster here.
Writing will happen whenever it happens: My plan is one prompt per day, or more.

Week 2, 3 & 4

After that first week, I sadly am forced to return to the corporate hellscape of gainful employment. But I still work from home, which reduces the timesink from commuting!
My plan is to start writing at 6 PM, post the Imaginaerium article around 2 PM, and maybe stream some Elden Ring at 9 PM

Support!

I have lots of support to rely on for the Summer Camp. My primary hanging out place will be the World Anvil discord, my own personal discord (the secretive Lodge), and perhaps my streaming audience as I beat my head bloody against Elden Ring.

Other Awesome Anvilities

While you're here, why not check out the Pledges of some of these other awesome anvilities?