Summercamp Pledge - A whole reworked world

— Hey, Summercamp's around the corner, do you know in which world you'll do it?
— Nope. I'll have a hard time with the prompt in my current one so... Hold up, now I know.

— It kind of came like that

So summer is coming again. Last year's Summercamp was the very first event I did on WA, and even then I poorly engaged with the community. I had little time to write and a tiring job as a waiter, but I still earned my diamond badge with poor, very short french articles. Since then I've grown, and my writing with it. So I'm aware of what goals I can set up for this month of July.

Writing goals

I've always been a "Diamond or die" kind of person, though the slogan this year seems to be "Diamond or live", which I like best. So 31 prompts it will be, especially with the new mode of releasing prompts. While I would love to expand this much The Spheres of Oblogga, this world only has 20-ish articles in 8 months. I really take my time with them to have the best quality I can. Although I hope to write 1-2 articles there, my main summercamp world will be this one - the I.D.E.A. It is empty at the moment, but not really. It is a translation and rework of the very first world I created on WA, the A.I.D.E.. This summer, I will be translating some articles from the french version alongside answers to the prompts. Hope you'll have as much fun reading about a multi-dimensional exploration journey as I will have writing it!

Motivation

I'm a big big fan of multiverse stories, and I am disappointed in the sorry state this world is currently. It's always been one of my favorites, and this is a good opportunity to write some of the countless ideas I have for it. Furthermore, it will allow me to explore various themes such as the unknown, the conflicts of powers which are each convinced they are the righteous ones, and not apocalyptical near future. I also have crumbs of a roleplaying system that needs a solid basis of a world to be further developed. Finally, simply writing and creating things is a motivation on its own.

Preparation

I don't have much to prepare since most ideas are there, except maybe a primer article. However, I want to release more articles in another project, Real-Life Worldbuilding, hoping to provide hints of inspiration to aid my fellow anvilites with their Summercamp! I'm very excited about this new adventure, see you there!

Four perfect themes

Expanse

This is a multi-dimensional world. We have all manners of expanses here, be it endless deserts, waterworlds or urban hells. Even one dimension is made entirely out of energy, stretching as far as its universe goes. I have many dimensions to write about, and the Expanse theme might just give me the perfect prompts to flesh out the Dominium.

Leadership

It is not only about the place, but also about the people who inhabit it. Sure, every dimension has its own government, the Dominium is ruled by political and corporatist leaders and the I.D.E.A. has a tentacular hierarchy. However, it is not devoid of conflicts, and charismatic warlords emerge regularly in contested dimensions.

Discovery

Now that's a perfect fit for this world! This world is currently in a new Age of Exploration, and dozens of new dimensions are explored each month. New worlds, new cultures, and even new materials are brought into the ever-growing Dominium endlessly. Beyond that, the technological race between gigantic corporations leads to frequent technological revolutions and medical prowess. Explorers spearhead this exploration, vanguards of the novelty. As a central theme of the I.D.E.A., discovery will probably be the easiest to work with (and I will probably regret writing that).

Monstrous

Now this one is not as straightforward as the others. Some dimensions harbor dangerous critters, some threatening to even the almighty Explorers. The greatest act as guardians of their homeland, blocking the road for the Exploration. Humans are not left out on the topic. Under the appearances, the I.D.E.A. is bleak and corrupt, actively suppressing any invention that may eventually break their monopole over interdimensional travel. Against them, the savage supremacists of the Eclipse kill humans on a whim and terrorist groups wreak havoc wherever they have a foothold, the Ordeal being amongst the most violent.

Inspirations

Now, that's a difficult one. I don't get inspiration from a particular place or artwork. Rather it often comes to me when I'm thinking about it or at random, really. So instead I'm just going to throw in things I like, or that helped me find ideas at times.

A youtube playlist

While I make a proper playlist of everything I might listen to while writing, here's a pretty good mix of awesome Steampunk music :

The Kagerou Project

That was super random, but when I learned the story I absolutely loved it and it immediately gave me an idea for a story that did not survive the draft phase. My favorite by far is Outer Science, though I'm very biased as it was this song that introduced me to the series.

O.B.N.N.

Such a monumental shame that this group was disbanded after only nine songs! Each is a masterpiece with an art style I love and amazing singers! I have a special relation to some of them: I love from the bottom of my heart El Tango Egoista, Amaterasu System was one of the things that really got me into Shinto mythology and Dakini was the original idea for a world related to Qurilion's Anti Divinity League (now erased to make room for the I.D.E.A.).

Hollow Knight OST

And with the final song playlist, let's give a shoutout to the genius of Christopher Larkin. I may have listened to thousands of times to Hollow Knight's OST, and it never gets boring. Whatever I am doing it fits.

Sunless sea/Sunless skies

I have not been invested as much in the other Failbetter game, Fallen London (which is a blast too!). But these too are some of the best I have ever played, be it narration, music or ambiance-wise. Amazing worldbuilding, countless stories, and a changing world, there is all the thought food you could wish for there.

See all games.

The Magnus Archives

I'm not being completely fair there, because another podcast of Rustyquill, We're Alive, inspired me to go back to write about zombies. But TMA is way better in my opinion, especially in the writing, and is an awesome urban fantasy fictional podcast.

Get to the podcast homepage.

The Web by Dylonishere

It's becoming hard to miss that I am an absolute fan of Dylon's work. Above being the first world I read that really got me into WA, The Web was also a major drive for Après la Brume and some parts of the original I.D.E.A.

Shameless plug-in and pictures

A little while ago, I made an experience review of a personal challenge, and at the end, I made a list of artists I find extraordinary. Instead of listing them again here, better to go see by yourselves (it is at the end of the article).

Come join us!

I am most likely to write an article each day, or two articles if I happen to miss a day. In the meantime, I'm hanging in the Discord with amazing anvilites, don't hesitate to drop by and say hello in #challenge-discussion or #summercamp-2022!