Summer Camp 2023 Pledge

I, Aethera, hereby pledge to achieve the SILVER summer camp worldbuilding badge in July 2023 to expand my world of "Fantasy Novel Setting WIP". I make this promise to myself, my readers, the World Anvil community, and the world, which is made better by my creative spirit.
As an author, I already have a particular story line in mind when it comes to my world, rather than a more open sandbox such as the worlds I game in. I believe this makes prompts such as these easier for me, since I already have a direction planned instead of "expound upon everything".

Theme Brainstorming (Week 1): POWER

Which are the powerful organizations within your world setting? Who are the powerful individuals? What kinds of power do they wield and what are their weaknesses and needs?
This is an approximately Iron Age setting with two forms of magic (which complicate the era definition). The first form of magic is nature-based, Druidry (fix the article stub, Aeth!), tapping into the power and forces of the world. The second form of magic, arcane (another stub!), rose out of the first, but is more concerned with making the magic work for the user, instead of the druidic way of working with nature. The second form of magic can go against nature if the user chooses.
Magi, whether arcane or druidic, all have a certain amount of power to throw around, but most are using it to better themselves and/or their world. The Magus who controls all the arcane power in Chailara is still considered "less" than the royal family, though if he were to object to their rule, he likely would have the power to seize control and rule, himself. He has other subjects that take up his time, and I haven't gone into detail with what arcane quests he might be on, nor any of the other magi in the novel. The druids are even less likely to use their magic to wield power over others—that's just not their creed. Living well is more important to them.
Arcane power has shaped the continent Eikeozoa and the clan-based territories therein. Now considered royal houses, the royalty of the Eikeo nations wield considerable power, both political and arcane. Druidic magic does not usually equate to personal power gained, which leaves most of the royal families with little desire for or access to druidry until pre-novel events are set in motion, including the King of Feshaesia marrying a druid noblewoman and crowning himself High King over the Lowlands.
The plot hinges around a legend or prophecy that, if true, would generally wield the figurative monkey wrench against every nation on the continent. Perhaps more importantly, it hinges on poor communication and so those few who believe are the minority, leaving them with a definite need to fulfill—if they can't convince the other nations to believe in the prophecy, they'll have to do something drastic.
Agency + Need = Action

Theme Brainstorming (Week 2): FRONTIERS

Where are the frontiers in your setting? And why would anyone want to go there?!
In this setting, the continent of Eikeozoa is fairly well explored, but only the southern part is settled and mapped clearly. (This is the Iron Age, and only those civilizations which have achieved a certain level of comfort are able to "waste" citizens exploring outside their boundaries.) The Lowlands are settled fully, farmlands notwithstanding, and the civilization level has increased enough for there to be scholarship and a noble caste which doesn't need to do anything related to their survival.
The Midlands have similar nations, but only the royal family is truly above doing work related to their survival. Nobles in the Midlands may have administrative functions, but they also take part in bringing in harvest/supplies, or at least organizing it. They are not so high above their citizenry that they can avoid getting their hands dirty, and the Midlands' civilization hasn't progressed to the point where the idea of being personally involved is abhorrent (to any but the laziest).
The Highlands are settled by nomadic clans, which has been a barrier to detailed maps or even exploration by the southerners (ie. anyone not of the clans). This makes it a frontier on some levels, because the characters (all southerners by clan standards) don't have accurate information about where certain things might be located, and when seeking a secret place based on landmarks they've never seen before, they can't rely on maps or any documentation.
And that's not even considering the impassible mountain range that divides Eikeozoa from the rest of the large landmass.
What about metaphorical frontiers, like the “frontier of medicine” or space, the “final frontier”?
Since I've set my story in the Pre-Roman Iron Age (albeit with magic that skews the technology level), the frontiers of technology and science are considerable. Architecture stands at a primarily drystone or wattle and daub level, only two stories truly available without magical assistance. Armament is approximately at a Roman-era level—short swords, spears, bows and arrows, leather armor with or without metal plates affixed and chainmail. Magic alters this, being able to create better iron and early steel without the hindrances of physics. Magic also aids in keeping crops from being beset by pests, rotting in storage, and so forth, which has begun to expand the per capita stores and thus releasing more of the common folk to pursue other avenues—this is the beginning of creating additional castes that can study or invent. The Lowlands are somewhat ahead of their northern neighbors, but not so much so that the military clashes are completely one-sided. (Battle magic, on the other hand, does tend to disproportionally favor those Lowlanders who have had the time and energy to study it.)
Medicine is limited to herbal remedies and magical aid of both druidic and arcane varieties, though the druids have far better medical magic with their ties to nature and long memories. Druidic magic is not as flashy as arcane magic, but it is far more appropriate for natural tasks, including medicine. Druids also have rituals which have stood the test of time and permitted them to achieve certain feats which until recently, arcane magic (which is instantaneous, never lingering or functioning over a period of time) could not match.

Arcanum Crystal

The newest "frontier" has only been explored in a tiny part over the last century since the discovery of arcanum crystal. The rock crystal variant can maintain arcane magic over time, allowing for an entirely new avenue of magical study. This magical engineering can create structures with ongoing magical support—instead of the instantaneous magics prior to the arcanum discovery which for instance could lift a massive stone into place but not support it past that point—ongoing wards or protections, ongoing enchantments, and so forth.

Theme Brainstorming (Week 3): RELICS

What aspects of the past are revered today in your world setting? Which peoples are remembered? And which are forgotten, and why?
What parts of the past are important varies by population. Recent past is generally important to everyone, but the scope of "ancient" is different depending on what people is being considered.
The past is preserved mostly as oral history by the Druids, who came from another continent seeking to explore and find new lands to settle in. Some of it has since been written down, but the traditions are taught verbally by one priest to the next, and their litanies are memorized as much by rote as by learning about the times that came before and the knowledge each era brought them. This oral tradition includes eras before they reached this continent, and though much of the knowledge of their homeland isn't useful here, there is information about natural disasters, stars crashing to earth, and other meteorological data that is considered relevant as potential unknowns in their current setting.
The native peoples of Eikeozoa rose as clans in the stone age, and those clans have more or less remained until the present, barring major conflicts (which have wiped out or assimilated a few former clans). Instead of nomadic clans with a rough territory, the clans have settled into those territories, changing the methods of their agriculture to fit their new status.

The Reelcana River Flood was the impetus for the Midland clans settling down, though their neighbors to north and south had other ideas. WIth the Reelcana River Valley washed out in such a wide, devastating way, the Midland clans (the Grodr, Clan Ilara, and Clan Ecrya) were all forced to set up more stable settlements from which to manage the efforts to retake their land, recover their people, and return their valley territories to some variety of "normal". By the time they had completed such efforts, the settlements they'd created were flourishing, and a return to nomadic lifestyle neither realistic nor appealing.

Theme Brainstorming (Week 4): COMMUNICATION

How do people and organizations from different backgrounds or cultures communicate with each other?
There are a number of ethnic languages that have developed in parallel on the continent of Eikeozoa. Some are similar (such as Laranian and Ecrian, neighboring clans/countries), but they have progressed far enough apart that there was cause to create a lingua franca, or Common Tongue, some hundreds of years ago. Most children grow up learning at least two languages, their ethnic language and the Common Tongue. Very rural areas may not waste time on the Common Tongue, as they only really need their ethnic language within the same settlement, but these are becoming more rare. These were the same settlements that felt teaching reading and writing was only necessary for those going into businesses that would need such, but that opinion, too, has faded.
How does communication happen over short and long distances?
Since long-distance communication is limited to physically going to meet or having someone take a written or oral message the intervening distance, those distant rural areas have grown into the need to fully teach reading, writing, and the Common Tongue, which is used most in long distance communication, just in case local dialects of the ethnic language have varied enough to cause confusion.
Most countries have messenger routes by this point, some with magical aids to speed or against misfortunes (natural or artificial). There are not strict postal routes (yet), but the potential is becoming known. The established messenger routes are usually royal, or through the oversight of the [semi-]local authority, whatever that might be.
Short distance communication is done by traveling to meet whomever you wish to have a conversation with, or, like long-distance communication, sending a written or oral message. Oral messages are more common within short distances (within a settlement), and less common over greater distance or with specialized information that might be mistaken at the far end through no fault of the messenger for not knowing enough to explain.
There are new, magical methods of transmitting messages being discovered at/during the time of the novel, but they're still mostly secret or being created in niche magical spaces. The limited number of magi of a level to truly invent new magical workings means that they must work together, even across borders. As such, it was a surprise for the Midlanders when the Lowlands' ruler, the High King of Feshaesia, suddenly had a method he was able to use that was undetectable to the magi who were at the forefront of magical communication efforts. A breakthrough like that would normally have been shared among them, but Feshaesia chose to use it to their advantage first.
Who in your setting communicates secretly or carefully, and how?
Most secret communication is with regards to niche communities (such as the druids), or with regard to secret movements of groups (martial or otherwise).

The Attack on Epraisia was a three-front attack by the Feshaesians that was triggered by a magical message which bypassed all Epraisian magical wards and did not trigger any warning for the embattled country.