Summer Camp 2023

Article list

I've tried to do some fun presentations for all of my articles: briefing from the rune guilds on proper behaviour and safety, Alina's plans to seduce the Dark Lord, ads, newspaper articles gossiping about people...
My favourite have been: terrible devastating runaway ritual magic and the children song made about it, an ad about the wonderful old neighborhood of Esteille (the capital), the Dark Lord's evil lair, a symbolic animal to represent the Dark Lord (terror bird) and the ridiculous chicken the Dark mages choose to represent the Light Lords as a revenge, a gossip rag presentation of Miss Royenne, an ad about the fantastic semaphore network.

Theme 1: power

Prompt 1: a powerful organisation in your world

Prompt 2: A seat of power (of any kind)

Prompt 3: A resource that provides fuel or power

Prompt 4: An animal associated with, or symbolising, power

Prompt 5: A culture that has suffered under the rule of a stronger nation

Prompt 6: A conflict between two unequal powers in your world

Prompt 7: The title and responsabilities of an important person in your world

Prompt 8: A destructive natural or supernatural event

Prompt 9 bonus: A species known for its mischievous personality

Prompt 10 bonus: A popular summer tradition that involves art and creativity

Theme 2: frontiers

Prompt 11: An unclaimed, unregulated, or lawless region

Prompt 12: A settlement at the limits of the "known" or "civilized" world

Prompt 13: A job that takes its practitioners to remote or faraway places

Prompt 14: An animal found in non-populated area

Prompt 15: A useful plant found in a wild area of your world

Prompt 16: A material or natural resource that comes from a dangerous location

Prompt 17: A character driven by wanderlust or the desire to explore

Prompt 18: A cuisine from a sparse, barren or remote region

Prompt 19 bonus: An iconic building or landmark representing a location

Prompt 20 bonus: A letter sent in secret by a well-known person

Theme 3: relics

Prompt 21: A tradition or behaviour considered old fashioned

Prompt 22: An item of great cultural or religious significance to people

Prompt 23: An ancient city that is still inhabited today

Prompt 24: A historical figure still venerated today, and why

Prompt 25: A profession that has been rendered obsolete

Prompt 26: A children's tale or song based on a real event

Prompt 27: A species new considered extinct

Prompt 28: A historical culture whose influence is still felt today

Prompt 29 bonus: A ceremony that represents a transition or transfer

Prompt 30 bonus: A rare natural phenomenon that most people look forward to

Theme 4: communication

Prompt 31: A method used to carry goods over long distances

Prompt 32: A system to send messages between distant places

Prompt 33: A form of silent communication

Prompt 34: An organisation for which recruiting or proselytising is important

Prompt 35: A species with an unusual form of communication

Prompt 36: A character who excels at manipulating others

Prompt 37: An important public announcement that one person addressed to many

Prompt 38: A building or landmark useful or associated with communication

Prompt 39 bonus: A character who prefer to lurk in the shadows

Prompt 40 bonus: A negative condition with hidden advantages

Prompt 41 bonus bonus: An organisation dedicated to keeping a major secret from the public

Prompt 42 bonus bonus: A myth of truth about the meaning of the universe

Pledge

Badge: diamond as usual.
Backup plan: if I get overwhelmed, I'll stop making fully polished articles; in the worst case I'll just write notes.
Time: I have 1 week of holidays at the start of July + all the weekends of the month just for writing.
Worlds: I'll jump between my worlds depending on inspiration like I did ast year as it's less stressful & I like my articles best that way.

Main world: Dark Lord Seduction Plan (my wold from WE 2022) - its articles are short and easier to write + I'll probably write the novel in November.
Secondary world: Imperial Soulmates - the scifi-fantasy world I've been working on in a relaxed manner since January, so I have lots of notes for future articles.
Backup world: Divine Tyranny (my world from SC 2022) - the world is well developped already but I might be inspired to write more, especially more gods.

I'm very excited about SC and I'm planning my whole month of July around it :D

Camp Feral Badge by Strixxline

Worlds

In a world on the brink of a civil war between the Light and Dark political parties, Alina doesn't care much about what's going on beyond wishing well on the Dark. Far more pressing is her unwanted upcoming marriage arranged by her parents. But she has a plan. If marriage is inevitable for her, she will snatch the most desirable match of all: the Dark Lord himself.

Hélène is happy with her anonymous life, hiding her status as one of the emperor's soulmates. Yet, when he is kidnapped, she cannot resist using their magical connection to save him to have him lift the legal curse on her friend as a reward. Unfortunately, this exposes her secret, making the emperor highly suspicious of her, a dangerous thing while being forced to live in a palace full of intrigues...

Gods are all powerful and play with mortals’ lives, sacrificing them to their petty fights. Even those like Master Archivist Cécile who do not wish to participate are forced to suffer the consequences of the gods’ temper. Unfortunately, a new royal heir selection is coming, and the quarrelling water and forging gods are going to use it as a proxy to settle their conflict. And this time, it seems that they are interested in the archives...

Themes

Theme 1: power

Common to my 3 worlds

Nobles vs commoners (risk: being forced to serve them),

Skilled talented mages vs people who don't know how to use their power (risk: being forced to do things),

Source of magic and the powering of magical technology,

Status in personnal relationships (how political, social, magical power and personal skills and experience influence them).

Dark Lord Seduction Plan:

Light vs Dark societies (Dark mages have been branded illegal and forced into hiding).

Imperial Soulmates:

The empire vs the rest of the world (being technologically behind threatens them with cultural erasure or worse, conquests),

The emperor and those with his favour vs everyone else (risk: being politically and socially disfavoured, maybe even submitted to a legal curse).

Divine Tyranny:

Gods vs mortals (risk: becoming possessed puppets or cursed),

The empire vs foreign countries (risk: losing the technological race and losing prestige),

Archivists vs people without knowledge (risk: being manipulated),

Eldritch Horror vs everyone else (risk: becoming food).

Theme 2: frontiers

I'm really not a fan of anything linked to geography, as I already wrote the few articles that interested me on the subject and the rest will be useless for me. So I plan to twist the prompts to focus on other aspects:

frontiers of science and technology - relevant to all of my settings, with all my MCs being scientists/researchers,

socioeconomics frontiers - with nobles vs commoners, poor vs rich, magically powerful vs weak.

Theme 3: relics

Dark Lord Seduction Plans

The past was when the Dark was not yet illegal and was treated with respect, an idyllic past the Dark society looks at foundly and wants to bring back.

There are no ancient wonderful magical artefacts because technology has evolved and improved and old item do not compare.

Imperial Soulmates

The past is not really that important when the present is so much focused on technological development and the extension of the empire.

Traitors try to spread propaganda about teh time their region was independent from the empire, but this is veyr underground and not very interesting.

I have one article planned about leisure that mentions how people enjoy stories (novels, theatre) about the past and that there are a few old buildings like castles kept around as museums.

Divine Tyranny

The past is the domain of the archivists like my MC. Information is power.

The past is filled with the gods' secrets: info about themselves that they shared with mortals or let escaped, secrets of magic they shared with their favourites...

The past is also filled with forbidden knolwedge: things the gods have decided the mortals don't need to know anymore, info about the Eldritch Horrors from the time they were still worshipped...

Theme 4: communication

Dark Lord Seduction Plans

Semaphore communication system with light magic.

Courtship rituals.

Examples of small political conflicts between Light and Dark started by willful misinterpretation and blown out of proportion.

People communicating in code: the Dark Lord has lots of spies + constant risk of having spies for the Light around them and you can never trust anyone.

Imperial Soulmates

Fungi network that anchors the communication network.

Flying vehicles.

Courtship rituals.

Divine Tyranny

Need to determine what's the cmmunication level in that world. Probably not very fast communication unless someone can convince a god to carry a message.

Famous orator character: can use the occasion to talk about a king candidate or a chief priest.