SummerCamp 2023 Pledge
I am beyond feral for this event season, and I plan on bringing that hype to anyone and everyone and I'm making it everyone else's problem.SummerCamp has rolled around once more, and this year the hype cannot be contained. I will be working on my world Malkora, once again, and this year we are looking to start a diamond streak! Too long have I been bouncing between silver and diamond. Last year was a diamond win, and we're shooting for that again!
Want Secrets?
Certain articles may have additional secrets for GMs — pick the role that suits you!Seeker — Player Knowledge
Dawnbringer — GM Secrets
Community Goals
Streaming
I regularly stream my worldbuilding and creative ventures, but with SummerCamp here it's time to start planning for it!
Tune in over on Twitch for co-working streams, article reads, and a bit of gaming to relax after a productive week!
My Schedule for July:
- Tuesday - 7PM EST
Writing sprints, co-working! - Friday - TIME TBD
Article reads from the week! - Saturday - 2PM EST
New prompts! Co-working, brainstorming! - Sunday - 2PM EST
Gaming day! Chill hangout, taking a break!
Plans out in the real world, and all.
My Tomies!
I'm excited to share this year's SummerCamp with some excellent beans over in my chapter! The homepage is just getting off the ground, but I'm looking forward to the adventures we'll share together!Seven Tomes is a chapter dedicated to fantasy, and is home to writers, artists, and other creators of the fantastical variety. Bring with you your swords and spells, your gods and legends, or even the cute little plants you found on the road to the next village. Our goal is to maintain hype for worldbuilding and sharing work, especially during community events, and will be planning collaborative projects in the near future.
Summer Camp 2023 Pledge
SummerCamp 2023 Pledge
My pledge for SummerCamp 2023! My goal this year is to spread hype and posi vibes and make the most of this season that is my absolute favorite of every single year. We're aiming for Diamond!
My main focus will be on building up my "starter region" of Malkora, but we all know journeys can take all sorts of turns.
Theme Preparation
Power
Different forms of power is a staple theme to Malkora, but is one that I have not taken very much time to develop in a meaningful way. The dynamics at play result in a constant battle between the natural forces of magic, and the warring gods and elementals. The latter two are comprised of entities of varying degrees of power and influence, while the former is an unliving natural law of the world.
Within Malkora, the people have come to adapt to their ever-changing landscape, and kingdoms have been built, expanded, destroyed, and rebuilt time and time again. The oldest of these kingdoms, set in a region of the world which appears almost divorced from these warring powers, has the unique benefit of maintaining a stable landscape for millennia.
This kingdom, the Kingdom of Arsavela, is home to a number of organizations which govern the kingdom and surrounding lands. Some are naturally at odds with one another, whether it be openly or in secret, and some have more power than others. Certain powers are beginning to infringe on the livelihoods of the people living in this region, and so new powers are forming which would seek to fight this.
More questions to ponder!
I posed some extra questions for power over on tiktok that may be fun to consider:
1) What do people in your world associate with power?
Could be entities, people, objects, etc. What they think about when they hear power. Answering the follow-up question of why do they have that association can lead to more fun writing! 2) What has more (or less) power than people think?
Could be about leaders, artifacts, technology, etc. More fun with perceptions in your world! Likewise, this can be followed up with a similar why do they think that? as well as why are they wrong? 3) How does one obtain power?
Wielding magic, gaining political power, evolving technologically, and more. This can help you identify what people in your world strive for, and add extra structure to some societies and systems!
Could be entities, people, objects, etc. What they think about when they hear power. Answering the follow-up question of why do they have that association can lead to more fun writing! 2) What has more (or less) power than people think?
Could be about leaders, artifacts, technology, etc. More fun with perceptions in your world! Likewise, this can be followed up with a similar why do they think that? as well as why are they wrong? 3) How does one obtain power?
Wielding magic, gaining political power, evolving technologically, and more. This can help you identify what people in your world strive for, and add extra structure to some societies and systems!
Frontier
Malkora is a world full of unexplored and uninhabited places, largely due to its unstable shifting nature. Regions of the world change, often with disastrous results for the environment, which makes them difficult or impossible to explore for most.
Though several civilizations have survived these radical changes, many fall away to ruin. It is these ruins that pose both an exciting opportunity for discovery, and great challenges as adventurers attempt to brave precarious environments and magical dangers to explore them.
Much of Malkora on a meta level is yet to be developed, and remains a frontier even to me, as its creator. This is showcased beautifully in the map I created over the course of WorldEmber this past year, and you can see that map linked below under the spoiler.
Map of Malkora
Relics
The relics theme ties in beautifully with the previous two, especially in the context of Malkora and its history. Ruins and relics abound throughout the world, as it is one that regularly makes and breaks empires — in a literal sense. Magical shifts in the world and its landscapes often necessitates the evacuation or rebuilding of long-standing settlements, some of which residents never properly return to.
Countless relics of abandoned civilizations can be found throughout Malkora, as though waiting for adventurers to stumble upon them. During the On the Shoulders of Giants challenge last year, I wrote about the Antecedents, who were the ancient ancestors of humanity.
Their empire is the most ancient known to Malkora, but historians yet know little of these long-lost people or how they lived. Whether the information is lost or jealously guarded, we have yet to see. The best map they have is shown below, under the spoiler!
Map of the Empire of Aether
Restored Map of the Empire of Aether by Strixxline
Communication
Tying back to the previous week's theme, relics of Malkora's ancient past suggest that global communications were once available to the people. Looking now at a world that is largely cut off from communications with distant lands, it is a great technological and magical mystery that historians labor to understand.
Because so many of Malkora's people have been forced to develop their communication styles almost entirely isolated from outside influences, they have ended up with many different forms of language and approaches to communicating.
It is with great trepidation and excitement that I anticipate at least one language prompt. With that thought, I am reminded of older languages that I began developing ages ago, but never really got into the meat of. These include Nimai, which would be spoken primarily in Nimavi, and Golderune, a more secretive cipher.
Old Concepts to Build Upon
As soon as the communication theme dropped, I thought of a very particular set of older articles that I had written years ago! Since our extra credit is to have a look at our older work, I thought this would be the perfect place to reacquaint myself with it and the organization behind it.
Golderune is one form of language, a cipher, that appears in my world and is quite different from what may exist in other parts of the world. How might I push this? What topics might I cover surrounding this cipher and those who use it?
Camp Feral Badge by Strixxline
Camp Feral
Can you relate to the following image?
Feral Moment by Strixxline
[img:4568705]
Dewy Diamonds Badge by Strixxline
Dewy Diamonds
Do you get a little stressed out by the mantra of "DIAMOND OR DIE!"? Do you have some big goals for SummerCamp, but want to be cool and casual about reaching them? If you're shooting for that extra shiny, delectably crunchable Diamond badge this year, but you're doing your best to take the Camp Chill approach, you might consider yourself a dewdrop! You can read more about Dewy Diamonds by clicking on the badge! You are more than welcome to snag the badge you see above by popping this image block into your articles![img:4576815]
Starting a Badge Collection?
I'll share a few more of the badges that I've seen floating around the community! If there are more out there, please let me know!
Grace Gittel Lewis's Bronze Buddies, for busy people setting achievable goals!
by Rin Garnett
Annie Stein's Camp Chill, for self care and a chill approach to SummerCamp!
Sailing Ocelot's Anvil Sailors, for those who aim to spread cheer and encouragement!
Spooky Shenanigans by Haly, the Moonlight Bard
Haly the Moonlight Bard's Spooky Shenanigans, a CHALLENGE for the spooky writers of SummerCamp!
Best of luckkk!! Can't wait to see what you write and I am ABSOLUTELY in camp feral! xD
Hehe likewise!!! I'm excited for your articles! Can't wait to be feral creatures together!
Seek a new dawn, in Malkora!
The Feral Sovereign sleeps peacefully, but will return...