Summer Camp 2024 Progress Report
Introduction
by WorldAnvil
Homework Assignments
by Chris Lawton
A major (if somewhat hidden) theme of the Manifold Sky setting is that it is a purgatory of sorts - an artificial samsara - for people whose actions have prevented them from joining the Substrate in the Matrioshka Multiverse setting. Large-scale change in the Manifold Sky is the exception, rather than the rule, because there's a recurrent trend of people being dragged down by their own vices and the flawed systems they have built around themselves; 'main characters' are the ones who change by overcoming these difficulties to strive for something greater. That said, this means that the parts of the Manifold Sky setting that probably need to be more explored over the course of this challenge are the ones that pertain to history and the development of the large scale organizations that define the somewhat rigid structure under which seekers of the higher purpose might struggle. In the Sealed Kingdoms, the opposite is true. The region is constantly moving under the force of cosmological events and geopolitical conflicts that drive change. Meanwhile, people and cultures struggle to define what makes them unique and, having done so, to preserve that uniqueness in some way in the face of change. While I do intend for characters in the Sealed Kingdoms setting to have strong arcs, much of the character drama between them comes from a place of being exemplary products of their respective backgrounds, organizations, and philosophies forced by circumstances into situations where those traits are at cross-purposes. Thus, for the purposes of this challenge, I'm thinking about focussing on building out these characters, the organizations they come from, and the circumstances that make them clash. Assignment 2: Based on this, decide how many prompts you'll go for during Summer Camp. Then, download the pledge document and fill it accordingly!
As mentioned above, I fully expect to complete all 32 prompts before the end of this challenge. Actually, I intend to go further and complete all prompts, including the wild cards and, as we saw last year, any surprise prompts which might be sent our way over the course of the challenge. Nevertheless, I will still be satisified if I manage to complete 32. I posted a screen capture of my pledge document (see above) in keeping with this homework assignment. Assignment 3: Get your categories and tags organized!
The Manifold Sky world is already pretty well-organized, but the Sealed Kingdoms world (and definitely my smaller worlds) need more work. I will be working on those as the challenge goes forward. Assignment 4: Take a look at your meta, primer, and any other high-level document and update it according to the current state of your world.
I was actually in the process of doing this when the challenge dropped, especially for the Sealed Kingdoms meta :D
by Yann Allegre
In the Manifold Sky setting, refuge from some events is more easily achieved than others. Because of the additional spatial dimensions inherent to the structure of the Manifold Sky, it is hard to determine what qualifies as a 'rear' or 'flank' when it comes to geopolitical conflict. The Northern Tesseract and Southern Tesseract also feature seasonal radiation storms, while the life of the Distal Tesseract is utterly alien from the perspective of sentient, terrestrial species like the ones we follow in stories. For this setting, refuge articles will likely come in the form of expansions on the lore of skystation, the tactics involved in the War of Reunification, specific sets of protective equipment, and the organizations that people have built up amongst themselves for mutual protection. For the Sealed Kingdoms setting, refuge comes in the form of strongly fortified space stations, asteroid colonies, large vehicles, and terrestrial settlements, but also in the form of long-standing social institutions and traditions which serve to keep people gounded in a constantly shifting universe. For the purposes of this challenge, I would like to focus on specific vehicles and settlements to lend the world a greater sense of place. Assignment 2: Find a community—whether that’s our Discord server, Facebook Group, your RPG or friend group, or something else.
I'm already active on discord and have Discord chats for both BCGR development and the Manifold Sky setting. I may establish one for the Sealed Kingdoms setting, but I get the sense that it wouldn't garner as much attention as the one for the Manifold Sky. I'm not complaining, but the Manifold seems to have a much more interesting hook for readers and, as such, gets a lot more attention on social media. I do intend to prod my brother, SpaceSuitIan, to match my participation this year as an accountability partner. Assignment 3: Find ways to improve styling and layout in your world!
I plan to take some time in the near future to create a new set of header images for the Manifold Sky setting. I'm open to suggestions on what kind of aesthetic would fit the best! Assignment 4: If you’re a CSS wizard, maybe take the time now to give it a polish!
I'm decidedly not a 'CSS wizard,' though I find I can muddle through simple things with the help of the Codex and the occasional question put to the members of the Discord chat. I've been considering taking a CSS course in the near future to improve my presentation further, but, for now, templates and one-off tweaks will have to suffice.
The theme for Week 2 is Belief. The homework for Week 2 was broken up into four sub-assignments. These were as follows:
Assignment 1: Consider what kind of beliefs would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
This is an interesting assignment because, when you really get down to it, every setting I've worked on so far touches on the subject of religious belief in some shape or form. Both the Manifold Sky and Sealed Kingdoms settings feature systems of religious belief grounded in cultural memories of actual historical events filtered and distorted over time by the perceptions of the faithful. With the Sealed Kingdoms setting, in particular, I've sought to break with a commonly-held convention of modern science fiction by having religious belief remain an active part of cultural life even in a time and place where advanced technologies might otherwise be thought to squeeze the wonder and mystery out of the natural world. In my Matrioshka Multiverse setting - a subset of the Sealed Kingdoms - faith takes on a different dimension as an expression of the vast gulfs of technology, where the workings of the Matrioshka are indistinguishable from magic for many residents therein. Assignment 2: Create a bank of inspirations! Quotes, music, description of experiences and shower thoughts, etc.
I've been listening to a lot of atmospheric drum & bass and riding my bicycle through the desert a lot lately to get into the right mindset for working on science fiction. In terms of inspiration for my Manifold Sky and Matrioshka Multiverse settings, I've been revisiting the lore of the Myst games to see if I can capture some of their immaculate 'vibes'. It's hard to explain why, but those games' hard magic system (ages, linking books, retro-futuristic artifice, etc.) has had a strong influence on my creative output of late. Assignment 3: Find art and pictures that inspire you, and grab a map if you don't have one (and need one).
I'm looking into more landscape shots that might work for the Manifold Sky setting and, as I perhaps mentioned before, am considering changing up the theming for the setting to make it a little brighter and/or deco-inspired. Primarily, I'm held back by my own (relative lack of) traditional artistic talents in this regard. Assignment 4: Check your inspirations again. Are they still relevant? Can you find any that better represent the current state of your project?
Yes, most of my inspirations for the settings I'm going to be working on are still relevant. As for maps, the Manifold Sky setting has one of the most intricate maps I've ever constructed. You can find an explanation of how this map works starting here. Though it isn't much to look at, I feel that there's a lot to be gleaned here:
Assignment 1: Consider what kind of beliefs would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
This is an interesting assignment because, when you really get down to it, every setting I've worked on so far touches on the subject of religious belief in some shape or form. Both the Manifold Sky and Sealed Kingdoms settings feature systems of religious belief grounded in cultural memories of actual historical events filtered and distorted over time by the perceptions of the faithful. With the Sealed Kingdoms setting, in particular, I've sought to break with a commonly-held convention of modern science fiction by having religious belief remain an active part of cultural life even in a time and place where advanced technologies might otherwise be thought to squeeze the wonder and mystery out of the natural world. In my Matrioshka Multiverse setting - a subset of the Sealed Kingdoms - faith takes on a different dimension as an expression of the vast gulfs of technology, where the workings of the Matrioshka are indistinguishable from magic for many residents therein. Assignment 2: Create a bank of inspirations! Quotes, music, description of experiences and shower thoughts, etc.
I've been listening to a lot of atmospheric drum & bass and riding my bicycle through the desert a lot lately to get into the right mindset for working on science fiction. In terms of inspiration for my Manifold Sky and Matrioshka Multiverse settings, I've been revisiting the lore of the Myst games to see if I can capture some of their immaculate 'vibes'. It's hard to explain why, but those games' hard magic system (ages, linking books, retro-futuristic artifice, etc.) has had a strong influence on my creative output of late. Assignment 3: Find art and pictures that inspire you, and grab a map if you don't have one (and need one).
I'm looking into more landscape shots that might work for the Manifold Sky setting and, as I perhaps mentioned before, am considering changing up the theming for the setting to make it a little brighter and/or deco-inspired. Primarily, I'm held back by my own (relative lack of) traditional artistic talents in this regard. Assignment 4: Check your inspirations again. Are they still relevant? Can you find any that better represent the current state of your project?
Yes, most of my inspirations for the settings I'm going to be working on are still relevant. As for maps, the Manifold Sky setting has one of the most intricate maps I've ever constructed. You can find an explanation of how this map works starting here. Though it isn't much to look at, I feel that there's a lot to be gleaned here:
The theme of Week 4 is Decay. The homework for Week 4 was broken up into four sub-assignments. These were as follows:
Assignment 1: Consider what kind of decay would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
In the Sealed Kingdoms setting, the eldest spacefaring species is nearly extinct after millenia of moral and social decay in the aftermath of an event called the Mind Cataclysm. The Manifold Sky seetting is riddled with the ruins and fragmentary diaspora of the so-called Lost Tribes: groups of sentient peoples who faded into myth in the long eras before recorded history. The deicidal philosophy of The Garbage Man, certain Luddic strains of the Way of the Biocosm, and the smug self-righteousness of the Manifold Conservation Society are all side-affects of the forces of sociopolitical entropy at play in the Manifold in the era of dieseltech and the War of Reunification. Assignment 2: If you like special tea when you write, stock up for a month. Tidy your office, make a “do not disturb” sign, and think about any other last-minute strategies to optimize your writing space and time!
I've been generating quite a few stubs in case a few of them happen to match up with prompts we will recieve in the course of this challenge. (Un)fortunately, there's little I can do in terms of optimizing for time because of contemporary events; business is booming in my real-life profession because of the change in weather, and I have a few trips planned in the near-term which may cut into my challenge participation. I do plan to acquire an extension cord so I can plug in my laptop and get writing done during lunch breaks. As for writing space, I could see cleaning up my office a bit! Assignment 3: Review your world homepage to hook potential readers!
I've gone over the homepage of these worlds more than once as a result of prior challenges, so I'm relatively confident in terms of their phrasing and layout. I will take another look, but I don't expect them to change much. Assignment 4: Take a look at your author profile and pillar articles on your world and polish them!
The Manifold Sky setting has a couple pretty clear jumping-in points, such as the the meta, The Manifold Sky Primer, The Geometries of the Manifold Sky - A History, and the Manifold Sky articles, but the Sealed Kingdoms setting is a bit more impenetrable. I will be constructing a world primer in the coming months, but for now, the meta is probably the best place to start. Other settings I might be working on, such as Ten Sword Tales or New Generica, are based on TTRPG settings and, as such, are better entered by way of their respective rules documents.
Assignment 1: Consider what kind of decay would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.
In the Sealed Kingdoms setting, the eldest spacefaring species is nearly extinct after millenia of moral and social decay in the aftermath of an event called the Mind Cataclysm. The Manifold Sky seetting is riddled with the ruins and fragmentary diaspora of the so-called Lost Tribes: groups of sentient peoples who faded into myth in the long eras before recorded history. The deicidal philosophy of The Garbage Man, certain Luddic strains of the Way of the Biocosm, and the smug self-righteousness of the Manifold Conservation Society are all side-affects of the forces of sociopolitical entropy at play in the Manifold in the era of dieseltech and the War of Reunification. Assignment 2: If you like special tea when you write, stock up for a month. Tidy your office, make a “do not disturb” sign, and think about any other last-minute strategies to optimize your writing space and time!
I've been generating quite a few stubs in case a few of them happen to match up with prompts we will recieve in the course of this challenge. (Un)fortunately, there's little I can do in terms of optimizing for time because of contemporary events; business is booming in my real-life profession because of the change in weather, and I have a few trips planned in the near-term which may cut into my challenge participation. I do plan to acquire an extension cord so I can plug in my laptop and get writing done during lunch breaks. As for writing space, I could see cleaning up my office a bit! Assignment 3: Review your world homepage to hook potential readers!
I've gone over the homepage of these worlds more than once as a result of prior challenges, so I'm relatively confident in terms of their phrasing and layout. I will take another look, but I don't expect them to change much. Assignment 4: Take a look at your author profile and pillar articles on your world and polish them!
The Manifold Sky setting has a couple pretty clear jumping-in points, such as the the meta, The Manifold Sky Primer, The Geometries of the Manifold Sky - A History, and the Manifold Sky articles, but the Sealed Kingdoms setting is a bit more impenetrable. I will be constructing a world primer in the coming months, but for now, the meta is probably the best place to start. Other settings I might be working on, such as Ten Sword Tales or New Generica, are based on TTRPG settings and, as such, are better entered by way of their respective rules documents.
The Prompts
Bronze Prompts: Change (8/8)
Silver Prompts: Refuge (8/8)
Gold Prompts: Belief (8/8)
Diamond Prompts: Decay (7/8)
Wild Card Prompts (8/8)
Surprise Wild Card Prompts (2/?)
Surprise Bonus 1
Food often eaten by travelers:
Surprise Bonus 2
A building that was meant to be temporary:
Current Completion Status
Homework: 4/4Prompts: 42/32
Yaaaay, more Manifold Sky! :D Best of luck getting Diamond! <3