Blacksite: Summer Camp 2026
This is the anything <3
Fun in the Sun!
Today Summer Camp 2026 finally begins, and I can't be more excited... well, I guess I could be considering the fact that I'm writing this before I write any of my actually articles for Summer Camp. But the reason I'm doing so is for a very good reason I think."I'm going to do what I can, and be happy I've done anything at all"
If you happened to see the my prep article, then you'll know I ended turning that thing into essentially a journal full of my thoughts and progress. And while I don't imagine it made for very interesting reading, it helped me tremendously to figure out my next move. It really kept me sane and kept me writing even outside of the articles.
So I decided to do the same thing with Summer Camp proper. At first, I thought about attaching this to the previous one, just making one big ass Summer Camp document. But let's be honest, that one's big enough as-is and making it longer isn't going to be too useful. So it made sense to me to start over and give Summer Camp proper its own progress piece.
So if anyone besides me is reading this now, stick around and listen to me ramble as I take part in my very first Summer Camp!
Week One Prompts - Love
Here's the prompts that stuck out to me. I'm not going to commit to finishing all of them, but here they are along with my initial idea for what the article could be.
Addendum: I ended up actually thinking of ideas for the other prompts, so I'll add them to this list after the fact. I really gotta get a better system down to future proof these kinds of sections :p
A Celebrity Loved by All: When I saw this prompt, I immediately thought about Alejandra Jiménez. In the city of Agua Verde, she's a sort of freedom fighter people hear about but almost never see. Agua Verde is full of a lot of corruption and abuses of power, so people like Alejandra make it their mission to put a stop to the cruelty in any way they can. She's become a bit of a folk hero in that sense, well loved by the people she tries to uplift while being hated by those she pushes back against. Kinda like a Robin Hood sorta figure.
A Tradition That Celebrates Love: This is the prompt I'm maybe most excited by, and I promise it's only slightly motivated by the reward if I win the competition for it. I mean, a custom CSS theme is pretty cool, and I mean have you seen what Crux Umbra looks like? Now, I'm not doing this just for the potential reward, I promise I had an idea the moment I read the prompt, but I won't lie and say I won't be giving this particular prompt my all. Speaking of which, my idea is that since cybernetics are fairly common in Agua Verde, people have a way of linking their nervous systems together and it's seen as the ultimate closeness.
An Item Associated With a Common Hobby: This idea didn't immediately come to me, but when I remembered a little throwaway detail from a past article I wrote I got the rest instantly. It's really fitting since the throwaway detail came from an article I wrote for Summer Camp prep, so it really did end up preparing me. So anyways, in the Finding the Black Market article, I had a breif mention of a cybernetic that let people travel the city's monorail lines by themselves. It was honestly just there as a joke, but it was the detail I needed for this prompt. Like in a lot of cities, graffiti is everywhere, and you know how sometimes you see graffiti in a high up place and think, "How'd they get up there?". Well in Agua Verde, sometimes it's because of this cyberware.
A Tradition That Celebrates Love: This is the prompt I'm maybe most excited by, and I promise it's only slightly motivated by the reward if I win the competition for it. I mean, a custom CSS theme is pretty cool, and I mean have you seen what Crux Umbra looks like? Now, I'm not doing this just for the potential reward, I promise I had an idea the moment I read the prompt, but I won't lie and say I won't be giving this particular prompt my all. Speaking of which, my idea is that since cybernetics are fairly common in Agua Verde, people have a way of linking their nervous systems together and it's seen as the ultimate closeness.
An Item Associated With a Common Hobby: This idea didn't immediately come to me, but when I remembered a little throwaway detail from a past article I wrote I got the rest instantly. It's really fitting since the throwaway detail came from an article I wrote for Summer Camp prep, so it really did end up preparing me. So anyways, in the Finding the Black Market article, I had a breif mention of a cybernetic that let people travel the city's monorail lines by themselves. It was honestly just there as a joke, but it was the detail I needed for this prompt. Like in a lot of cities, graffiti is everywhere, and you know how sometimes you see graffiti in a high up place and think, "How'd they get up there?". Well in Agua Verde, sometimes it's because of this cyberware.
A Famous Love Story: This idea came to me after a while, once I started to think more about my idea for the "A Tradition That Celebrates Love" prompt. For that prompt, there's a special cybernetic implant called the "Luvlynk" that lets people connect their nervous systems together. Freaky stuff that basically lets you experience everything the other person does at the same time. Well, as I was thinking about what the article I write may be about exactly, I thought about what might happen if someone who was linked to another died. Obviously, the other person would feel the death somehow, and that's what solved everything for me. A famous love story would be one where someone helped sove the murder of their loved one due to what they felt as their partner was killed.
A Natural Phenomenon Associated With Fertility: For this one, I want to elaborate some more on the Pacific Reaper. It's the name for the hurricane that regularly hits Agua Verde. While ironically I don't have an article for it yet, this one will elaborate on it somewhat. The idea is pretty simple, and that's how just like in the real world, after the storm leaves, the city sees increased growth in its plant life. And considering how often the Reaper shows up, this frequent growth can become a problem at times.
A Faction That Employs Questionable Methods for the Love of Their People: This one might end up being a lengthy article. The first faction that comes to mind is Sahara, the biggest megacorp in Blacksite. Now, at the end of the day it is a corporation and those rarely have our backs, but there's a few key people within the corp that do, and the article would highlight them as well as the shady stuff they do at times. But I'm not entirely sold on Sahara being the subject of the article though. Sahara is not exclusive to Agua Verde, even if they are important to it. Maybe I'll pick a smaller faction, I've yet to fully make up my mind.
A Natural Phenomenon Associated With Fertility: For this one, I want to elaborate some more on the Pacific Reaper. It's the name for the hurricane that regularly hits Agua Verde. While ironically I don't have an article for it yet, this one will elaborate on it somewhat. The idea is pretty simple, and that's how just like in the real world, after the storm leaves, the city sees increased growth in its plant life. And considering how often the Reaper shows up, this frequent growth can become a problem at times.
A Faction That Employs Questionable Methods for the Love of Their People: This one might end up being a lengthy article. The first faction that comes to mind is Sahara, the biggest megacorp in Blacksite. Now, at the end of the day it is a corporation and those rarely have our backs, but there's a few key people within the corp that do, and the article would highlight them as well as the shady stuff they do at times. But I'm not entirely sold on Sahara being the subject of the article though. Sahara is not exclusive to Agua Verde, even if they are important to it. Maybe I'll pick a smaller faction, I've yet to fully make up my mind.
A Job Many Children Aspire To: This idea came to me when I was thinking more about the Pacific Reaper, the thing I've been talking about a lot that still doesn't have an article... Now I might still not have an article for it as of the time of writing this, but what I do have is more ideas! This idea stems from the Pacific Reaper being a cognito hazard. Essentially, it doesn't exist for you if you don't know it's a thing. Now, not knowing its thing is very hard to maintain, but those with strong enough willpower have managed to do some interesting things with the Pacific Reaper. Since Agua Verde is a coastal city, shipping and fishing is an important part of its economy, something the Pacific Reaper messes with a lot due to it being a supernatural hurricane. That's where Storm Breakers come in. They're people with strong wills and clear minds who can LOCK IN so hard that the Reaper stops existing around them momentarily. Needless to say, that's a cool ass job kids would love to do, kinda like a firefighter but with a hurricane.
The language of love in a culture of your world: This idea came about when I was listening to music that reminds me of Agua Verde, specifically Gimme Tha Power by Molotov. It's a great protest song that feels like it would exist in Agua Verde, playing on street corners or at protests. It made me think about how language would be treated in Agua Verde, how it mirrors racism in the real world and how I could weave that into my world. Agua Verde itself is one big criticism of capitalism, that's pretty clear, but what isn't clear just yet is how that also ties into themese of racism. Agua Verde is located in Mexico, but while the majority of the population speaks Spanish as their primary language, I feel like there's a strong divide between that and the English the upper class in the city speaks. Just like how in England's past there was a time where English was a 'low class' language while French was spoken by the nobility, the same is true in Agua Verde. So my idea is for the article to shine a light on how language and the words we use can be a vehicle for oppression.
The language of love in a culture of your world: This idea came about when I was listening to music that reminds me of Agua Verde, specifically Gimme Tha Power by Molotov. It's a great protest song that feels like it would exist in Agua Verde, playing on street corners or at protests. It made me think about how language would be treated in Agua Verde, how it mirrors racism in the real world and how I could weave that into my world. Agua Verde itself is one big criticism of capitalism, that's pretty clear, but what isn't clear just yet is how that also ties into themese of racism. Agua Verde is located in Mexico, but while the majority of the population speaks Spanish as their primary language, I feel like there's a strong divide between that and the English the upper class in the city speaks. Just like how in England's past there was a time where English was a 'low class' language while French was spoken by the nobility, the same is true in Agua Verde. So my idea is for the article to shine a light on how language and the words we use can be a vehicle for oppression.
A Useful Substance Known for Its Sticky Properties: The first of the two wildcard prompts, both of which stuck out to me. While the idea didn't form instantly, it was a no-brainer when it did come to me - vampire blood! With vamps being in control of Agua Verde, their culture and functions are present within the city as well. Their blood literally and figuratively shapes the city. In the world of Blacksite, vampire blood is the special sauce that makes them what they are. And if someone gets a hold of it, they can get vampiric abilities without even being a vampire themselves!
A Mysterious Work of Fiction That’s Spawned Conspiracy Theories: Just like the previous wildcard prompt, the idea for this one wasn't instant until I thought about it for a moment. What I did end up landing on was something fun though, and just like one of the other prompts it fleshes out the Pacific Reaper some more as well. The idea for this prompt is some kind of book that details the origins of the Reaper in some way, or maybe deals with exploring the part of the water it chills at while not obliterating Agua Verde. I don't have a concrete idea yet, but this is my starting point.
This prompt is written, read it here!
A Mysterious Work of Fiction That’s Spawned Conspiracy Theories: Just like the previous wildcard prompt, the idea for this one wasn't instant until I thought about it for a moment. What I did end up landing on was something fun though, and just like one of the other prompts it fleshes out the Pacific Reaper some more as well. The idea for this prompt is some kind of book that details the origins of the Reaper in some way, or maybe deals with exploring the part of the water it chills at while not obliterating Agua Verde. I don't have a concrete idea yet, but this is my starting point.
This prompt is written, read it here!
Burial at Sea
My first article of Summer Camp 2026 is ready to go! When it came time to pick a prompt and write, I just rolled a die to figure out what to write. The result got me a six, so I wrote for the prompt "A Mysterious Work of Fiction That’s Spawned Conspiracy Theories". This ended up being a very time consuming prompt to write, but a very fulfilling one at the same time. And to be completely honest, the end result only took so long to write because I insisted on doing something silly with it.
To begin, I decided since the article was about a work of in-world fiction, I might as well write a part of that work of fiction. All of my articles are in-universe writings already, so including a page of a fictional book just made sense. I had a lot of fun writing that excerpt, although I'm not sure if it can be considered and excerpt if it's the only part of the book that exists, but you know what I'm trying to say. However, since I had to figure out what the book was about, and now that I have a small sliver of it done to set the tone, I could literally write the book at some point. I'm not sure if I ever actually world, but it's always an option I suppose~
After writing the page, I went to work adding some other in-world documents to paint a picture of the notoriety the book has garnered over the years. A bit of conspiracy about a hidden message, some skepticism thrown in, and in the end I got something that I'm pretty proud of. Now, I say that but I can already think of a few more things I want to add to that page. Perhaps the blurb on the on the back of the book or a more detailed conspiracy theory about the book itself.
If you're reading this and that stuff is already on that article, then I guess I did go back and write it then. Either way, for the maybe one or two people besides me who read this, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
Gaze into the Horror
Either way, check out the article here!
To begin, I decided since the article was about a work of in-world fiction, I might as well write a part of that work of fiction. All of my articles are in-universe writings already, so including a page of a fictional book just made sense. I had a lot of fun writing that excerpt, although I'm not sure if it can be considered and excerpt if it's the only part of the book that exists, but you know what I'm trying to say. However, since I had to figure out what the book was about, and now that I have a small sliver of it done to set the tone, I could literally write the book at some point. I'm not sure if I ever actually world, but it's always an option I suppose~
After writing the page, I went to work adding some other in-world documents to paint a picture of the notoriety the book has garnered over the years. A bit of conspiracy about a hidden message, some skepticism thrown in, and in the end I got something that I'm pretty proud of. Now, I say that but I can already think of a few more things I want to add to that page. Perhaps the blurb on the on the back of the book or a more detailed conspiracy theory about the book itself.
If you're reading this and that stuff is already on that article, then I guess I did go back and write it then. Either way, for the maybe one or two people besides me who read this, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
Gaze into the Horror
Pay close attention to the "Obituary of Virgil G. Martínez" section. The guy who wrote all that stuff about an encoded message might just be onto something...
Either way, check out the article here!
Week One Conclusion
Okay, so week one was no where near as productive in terms of worldbuilding as I wanted it to be, but I'm okay with that. In truth, a few weeks back going pretty much an entire week without writing something would've made me feel bad. But thanks to the lessons I learned near the end of Summer Camp prep, I was able to take it in stride. I'm going to say this until it has zero meaning, I'm going to do what I can, and be happy I've done anything at all. I've already written one article, so that's my anything, we can only go up from here.
Honestly, I was just too busy this last week. Having two jobs means sometimes your schedule is full, and those little slivers of free time end up being used to relax and recover rather than being creative. I did have time to write some days, but I chose to do something else because I wanted to save my creative energy for when I had more than an hour or two to be creative. Because it wasn't just one busy day, it was a whole week of busy and I knew if I tried to squeeze out every second of worldbuilding I'd get drained, so I decided to take it easy.
Thankfully, this next week I have much more free time to cook something up, and the week after that I should have even more free time. So I'm treating week one as a warm up, it's time to get to work!
Honestly, I was just too busy this last week. Having two jobs means sometimes your schedule is full, and those little slivers of free time end up being used to relax and recover rather than being creative. I did have time to write some days, but I chose to do something else because I wanted to save my creative energy for when I had more than an hour or two to be creative. Because it wasn't just one busy day, it was a whole week of busy and I knew if I tried to squeeze out every second of worldbuilding I'd get drained, so I decided to take it easy.
Thankfully, this next week I have much more free time to cook something up, and the week after that I should have even more free time. So I'm treating week one as a warm up, it's time to get to work!
Week Two Prompts - Growth
Here's the warm-up article if you wanna check it out. And here are my initial ideas for each of the week two prompts!
A City That Grew Out of the Ashes of a Ruin: Now initially this did make me think of Agua Verde itself, considering how its main form emerged after the Pacific Reaper nearly wiped it out on its first appearance. But since I've already written that article during Summer Camp prep, I needed to cook up something else. That something else came to me as I was reading the other prompts, but it's The Murkin Warrens. Murkin are rat-human hybrids and due to their appearance are often victims of persecution. For that reason, the Murkin in Agua Verde have set up their own mini-city in a section of Agua Verde's sewer system that has since been decommissioned. This prompt is a good time to look into this little slice of Agua Verde and how it connects to the others.
A Fruit That Grows in an Unlikely Environment: This is one of the prompts that I want to tie into the warm-up article. I've set up the Brezhnev Aleksei Park & Botanical Gardens to be a freaky place where weird stuff goes down. So having a funky fruit that only grows there, and has some strange supernatural properties makes a lot of sense to me. I have some underlying secret lore about the location right now, and this fruit will be a fun way to hint at that stuff as I develop it. I like this prompt, it's simple but holds a lot of narrative weight, at least to the world of Blacksite.
A War That Resulted in the Expansion of a Territory: I have two potential options for this one. One in Agua Verde's past, and another in its future. The time period I'm fleshing out falls between these two points, so I'll need to decide which one I shine a light on first. Idea one is to look into the way Agua Verde became occupied by the NCAE, the eight year long occupation, and the way it was freed and joined the FBC. Idea two is to look at how Agua Verde was nearly overthrown by a popular uprising, and how by the end of it the city had lost some territory to the Sahara corporation which created its own mini-Blacksite within Agua Verde. I'm not sure which one I'll write about yet, but both would be interesting to cook up.
A Fruit That Grows in an Unlikely Environment: This is one of the prompts that I want to tie into the warm-up article. I've set up the Brezhnev Aleksei Park & Botanical Gardens to be a freaky place where weird stuff goes down. So having a funky fruit that only grows there, and has some strange supernatural properties makes a lot of sense to me. I have some underlying secret lore about the location right now, and this fruit will be a fun way to hint at that stuff as I develop it. I like this prompt, it's simple but holds a lot of narrative weight, at least to the world of Blacksite.
A War That Resulted in the Expansion of a Territory: I have two potential options for this one. One in Agua Verde's past, and another in its future. The time period I'm fleshing out falls between these two points, so I'll need to decide which one I shine a light on first. Idea one is to look into the way Agua Verde became occupied by the NCAE, the eight year long occupation, and the way it was freed and joined the FBC. Idea two is to look at how Agua Verde was nearly overthrown by a popular uprising, and how by the end of it the city had lost some territory to the Sahara corporation which created its own mini-Blacksite within Agua Verde. I'm not sure which one I'll write about yet, but both would be interesting to cook up.
Write About the Development of a Vehicle: This is the one that felt the least interesting to me at first glance, but I can still think of something interesting to write about I think. Agua Verde does have a suspended monorail, flying cars, and lots of other modes of transportation after all. Hell, I think you could consider some sort of high tech mech suit a vehicle as well. So while I don't have something too specific in mind for this one at the time of writing this, there's no doubt I can write something interesting. And even if the vehicle isn't crazy interesting, the development might be. After all, this is a cyberpunk hellscape where stuff like corporate kidnaping and murder take place all the time.
A Disease That Quickly Becomes an Epidemic: This one's pretty easy, mostly because it's a prompt you could do a million things with. I have two ideas for this one that I might write about. The first one ties into the Park & Botanical Gardens again, with maybe people who come back from it bringing some sort of disease that causes a lot of problems for the city. This one would likely be some sort of magical or otherwise supernatural illness, making curing it especially difficult. The other idea I had was a mundane disease that begins to spread without a clear origin, one that gets blamed on the Murkin who did nothing wrong. Perhaps their hybrid nature made them resistant or immune to the disease and that cast suspicion onto them. It would be a interesting way to shine some more light on the Murkin, as well as to soapbox a little.
A Prized Fabric Based on a Plant Fibre: This is yet another article I want to tie into the warm-up article from before. With how strange and supernatural the Park & Botanical Gardens are, just like how there's a funny fruit that does weird stuff, there might be a funny plant that can be made into some weird fabric. Perhaps they can come from the same plant, maybe it's a completely different but equally paranormal thing. I'm not quite sure yet, I think this is one of the prompts I have the least amount of immediate inspiration for yet. But it's still something I think I can make work if I lock in and think it over some more.
A Disease That Quickly Becomes an Epidemic: This one's pretty easy, mostly because it's a prompt you could do a million things with. I have two ideas for this one that I might write about. The first one ties into the Park & Botanical Gardens again, with maybe people who come back from it bringing some sort of disease that causes a lot of problems for the city. This one would likely be some sort of magical or otherwise supernatural illness, making curing it especially difficult. The other idea I had was a mundane disease that begins to spread without a clear origin, one that gets blamed on the Murkin who did nothing wrong. Perhaps their hybrid nature made them resistant or immune to the disease and that cast suspicion onto them. It would be a interesting way to shine some more light on the Murkin, as well as to soapbox a little.
A Prized Fabric Based on a Plant Fibre: This is yet another article I want to tie into the warm-up article from before. With how strange and supernatural the Park & Botanical Gardens are, just like how there's a funny fruit that does weird stuff, there might be a funny plant that can be made into some weird fabric. Perhaps they can come from the same plant, maybe it's a completely different but equally paranormal thing. I'm not quite sure yet, I think this is one of the prompts I have the least amount of immediate inspiration for yet. But it's still something I think I can make work if I lock in and think it over some more.
A Profession That Helps Others Develop: I was also unsure about this prompt, just like the one about vehicles, I wasn't immediately sure what I wanted to write about for this prompt. But as I was writing, literally just now, I thought of something. "Helps Others Develop" is kinda vague, and it can mean a lot of different things. So what about someone who designs or manufactures cyberware? Cooking up a new model of cybernetic arms or eyes is certainly developing others if you think about it. So if I write this prompt, that's likely what I'll make it about. If there's something I'm realizing now, it's that you gotta be creative with how you interpret Summer Camp prompts sometimes.
A Building That Keeps Being Expanded Over Time: For this one, thankfully I had an instant idea for what to write about. Concord Tower, a building that ends up being very important to the rise and fall of Agua Verde. In lore, this is a building made to represent unity between Agua Verde, its people, and the FBC alliance. As the city grew, Concord Tower did as well, eventually becoming the largest skyscraper in the city and a symbol for its success. Naturally however, that symbol was not always a good one to everyone. Lots of people see Concord Tower as a symbol of oppression and corporate greed instead of unity and hope. This lead to one of the biggest events in the city, the Sinclair Firebomb Incident, where Concord Tower was the target of a terrorist attack that lead to an uprising within and below the city.
A Fictional Character Some Believe to Be Real: My idea for this prompt is to tie it into Burial at Sea, the article I wrote for a week one prompt. Since the prompt for that one was "A Mysterious Work of Fiction That’s Spawned Conspiracy Theories", it would be fun if one of those conspiracy theories was that the main characters were real people. I think this would be a lot of fun to write, and maybe like I did with the Burial at Sea article, I'd hide something there as well. Either way, I fell in love with the Burial at Sea concept and want an excuse to expand upon it. I know I really want to run an rpg surround it now too, already have a hook cooked up for it and everything.
A Building That Keeps Being Expanded Over Time: For this one, thankfully I had an instant idea for what to write about. Concord Tower, a building that ends up being very important to the rise and fall of Agua Verde. In lore, this is a building made to represent unity between Agua Verde, its people, and the FBC alliance. As the city grew, Concord Tower did as well, eventually becoming the largest skyscraper in the city and a symbol for its success. Naturally however, that symbol was not always a good one to everyone. Lots of people see Concord Tower as a symbol of oppression and corporate greed instead of unity and hope. This lead to one of the biggest events in the city, the Sinclair Firebomb Incident, where Concord Tower was the target of a terrorist attack that lead to an uprising within and below the city.
A Fictional Character Some Believe to Be Real: My idea for this prompt is to tie it into Burial at Sea, the article I wrote for a week one prompt. Since the prompt for that one was "A Mysterious Work of Fiction That’s Spawned Conspiracy Theories", it would be fun if one of those conspiracy theories was that the main characters were real people. I think this would be a lot of fun to write, and maybe like I did with the Burial at Sea article, I'd hide something there as well. Either way, I fell in love with the Burial at Sea concept and want an excuse to expand upon it. I know I really want to run an rpg surround it now too, already have a hook cooked up for it and everything.
A Body of Water That Hides a Secret in Its Depths: Would you look at that, another prompt I can tie into Burial at Sea, funny how that works huh? Well, it doesn't technically need to be tied into Burial at Sea, but I can see the connection there already. In a lot of ways this is a perfect prompt for Agua Verde, it is a costa city after all. So the body in question would either be the Gulf of California, along which Agua Verde is based. Or it would be the Pacific Ocean, where the Pacific Reaper gets its name and where it originates from. The secret could be the origins of the Pacific Reaper, or it could be related to the perceived secret hidden within the pages of Burial at Sea. I have a few options with this one so I'm not completely sure what I want to do with it yet. But I'm sure I'll figure something out.
Mimic Fruit
Now that I finally have a good amount of time to write, unlike last week, I managed to get something out. It ended up taking longer than I'd like, but I'm okay with that. Besides, the main reason it took a little longer is because I ended up getting lost in the sauce and writing about something else. That something else is an interesting topic in its own right, and I just plopped it into another aritcle for me to expand later.
But I should talk about what I wrote, huh? When I was going through my ideas for the week two prompts, prompt twelve stuck out to me. "A Fruit That Grows in an Unlikely Environment", it wasn't the one I thought I'd write first, but it just sorta kinda called out to me. This article was so much fun to work on, mostly because it helped me flesh out some stuff behind the scenes that can serve as writing material later.
I already spun off part of the initial article into another one, and I'm already cooking up a potential addition to this article as well. But I'm in no rush to do so just yet. If I learned anything from Summer Camp prep, it's that articles don't need to be fully complete to put them out there for people to read. This one's in a good position and mucking around with it isn't necessary. I'll save that for later, and in the meantime I'll cook up something else for people to read.
Anyway, check out the article here!
But I should talk about what I wrote, huh? When I was going through my ideas for the week two prompts, prompt twelve stuck out to me. "A Fruit That Grows in an Unlikely Environment", it wasn't the one I thought I'd write first, but it just sorta kinda called out to me. This article was so much fun to work on, mostly because it helped me flesh out some stuff behind the scenes that can serve as writing material later.
I already spun off part of the initial article into another one, and I'm already cooking up a potential addition to this article as well. But I'm in no rush to do so just yet. If I learned anything from Summer Camp prep, it's that articles don't need to be fully complete to put them out there for people to read. This one's in a good position and mucking around with it isn't necessary. I'll save that for later, and in the meantime I'll cook up something else for people to read.
Anyway, check out the article here!
Week Two Conclusion
Oh boy do I love getting very little done! Just like last week, this week I only managed to write a single article. To be completely honest I'm disappointed with my extremely low output. It's hard not to think about that last week of Summer Camp prep where I knocked out three articles during a week I was pretty busy. Compare that to this last week where I only really had two days I couldn't write, and even then there was certainly an hour or two of free time that I just didn't dedicate to writing.
I'm trying not to be hard on myself, but it's hard not to look back on the last few days and know I could've done better. I could've done better even while still taking the time I needed to relax and do stuff with friends like I did. There were just plenty of opportunities to write, and I simply didn't take them. The most I did was make some stub articles really.
Why didn't I take them? I think it's because I went too hard too fast on Summer Camp prep honestly. I burned the candle at both ends while still having a lot on my plate in my personal life. So when it came to this week where I had more free time than most, my mind wandered and I let it. I'm trying to look at that as a good thing, that I took a break. Because even when week four of Summer Camp prep told me to take a break, even when I learned it would be a good thing to do during week three, I just didn't. Now I'm lacking in motivation and at this pace I won't even get bronze, let alone the silver I was aiming for.
I'm going to take this as a humbling experience. That even though we get good advice at times and know what to do, actually doing the thing is much harder than the words alone. I told myself I'd take a break before Summer Camp proper began, but I didn't. I told myself I'd be okay with simple small articles that could be expanded later, but I didn't. Instead I ran away from my work and got super fixated on local AI image generation, a creative dead end since I don't plan on using AI on my page to begin with.
So consider me humbled, this next week I have the most free time yet. Will I write more than one article? I don't know, I'm past the point of promising myself anything. I'm just going to do what I can, and be happy I've done anything at all <3
I'm trying not to be hard on myself, but it's hard not to look back on the last few days and know I could've done better. I could've done better even while still taking the time I needed to relax and do stuff with friends like I did. There were just plenty of opportunities to write, and I simply didn't take them. The most I did was make some stub articles really.
Why didn't I take them? I think it's because I went too hard too fast on Summer Camp prep honestly. I burned the candle at both ends while still having a lot on my plate in my personal life. So when it came to this week where I had more free time than most, my mind wandered and I let it. I'm trying to look at that as a good thing, that I took a break. Because even when week four of Summer Camp prep told me to take a break, even when I learned it would be a good thing to do during week three, I just didn't. Now I'm lacking in motivation and at this pace I won't even get bronze, let alone the silver I was aiming for.
I'm going to take this as a humbling experience. That even though we get good advice at times and know what to do, actually doing the thing is much harder than the words alone. I told myself I'd take a break before Summer Camp proper began, but I didn't. I told myself I'd be okay with simple small articles that could be expanded later, but I didn't. Instead I ran away from my work and got super fixated on local AI image generation, a creative dead end since I don't plan on using AI on my page to begin with.
So consider me humbled, this next week I have the most free time yet. Will I write more than one article? I don't know, I'm past the point of promising myself anything. I'm just going to do what I can, and be happy I've done anything at all <3
Week Three Prompts - Loss :̶.̶|̶ ̶:̶;̶
A Religion That No Longer Exists:This prompt is very flexible in the world of Blacksite, and when I think about this prompt in the context of my setting I think of one thing, cults. In fact, a cult was the initial inspiration behind my world, a fictional one anyways.
If you're familiar with the V/H/S movies, you might remember the short horror film Safe Haven, from the second movie. This specific short horror film was the seed of inspiration behind the world of Blacksite. It began with the simple question the short did, 'what if one of these crazy cults was right?'
So the world of Blacksite is crawling with fringe religions that aren't completely crazy, and Agua Verde is bound to have a few of them. So coming up with something in this space doesn't seem too hard, and I do have a fun little idea to shed some light on a major group that probably won't see a lot of writing right now, the Sovereign.
A Myth That Inspired Modern Funerary Traditions: For this one, I want to get a bit New Orleans with it. If you're not familiar with the city of New Orleans, it's famous for its above ground mausoleums. Because it's a place that gets a lot of flooding, people have to get entombed above ground so that bones and bodies don't get flushed up from underground graves.
And since Agua Verde is subject to seasonal storms in the form of the ever present Pacific Reaper, it most certainly doesn't have underground burials either. So I'm thinking the myth involves corpses coming back to life, or their spirits being taken by the storm in some way. Either way, it will be a sort of myth that not many people believe in, but one that reinforces the city's tradition of alternative burial methods.
An Ancient Technology Lost to Time: This is another prompt that I think works well with my setting. Because since technological advancements are so guarded, it's not at all uncommon for some of these to just up and vanish because they were well protected. And since Agua Verde is a place of constant development at the hands of the biggest megacorps in the world, this probably happens here constantly. Think of all the stuff a corp might even just make behind the scenes and never put out to market because of financial projections?
Another potential angle to this one would be tech that doesn't come from our world. In the world of Blacksite, there are other forms of life in other places that you can't just up and walk to. One of these is Aphara, better known as literally Hell. And the tech in some parts of Hell put Agua Verde to shame, even some of the stuff that would be considered 'ancient' by their standards.
Occasionally, some of this tech makes its way to Earth. But since it was never designed to work outside of Aphara, things usually aren't plug and play. I think this would be an opportunity to explore some Apharan tech that maybe wasn't useful in its home, but invaluable in Agua Verde. But since it's from another dimension, when it broke down it was effectively lost, and people can now only try to recreate it in some form.
If you're familiar with the V/H/S movies, you might remember the short horror film Safe Haven, from the second movie. This specific short horror film was the seed of inspiration behind the world of Blacksite. It began with the simple question the short did, 'what if one of these crazy cults was right?'
So the world of Blacksite is crawling with fringe religions that aren't completely crazy, and Agua Verde is bound to have a few of them. So coming up with something in this space doesn't seem too hard, and I do have a fun little idea to shed some light on a major group that probably won't see a lot of writing right now, the Sovereign.
A Myth That Inspired Modern Funerary Traditions: For this one, I want to get a bit New Orleans with it. If you're not familiar with the city of New Orleans, it's famous for its above ground mausoleums. Because it's a place that gets a lot of flooding, people have to get entombed above ground so that bones and bodies don't get flushed up from underground graves.
And since Agua Verde is subject to seasonal storms in the form of the ever present Pacific Reaper, it most certainly doesn't have underground burials either. So I'm thinking the myth involves corpses coming back to life, or their spirits being taken by the storm in some way. Either way, it will be a sort of myth that not many people believe in, but one that reinforces the city's tradition of alternative burial methods.
An Ancient Technology Lost to Time: This is another prompt that I think works well with my setting. Because since technological advancements are so guarded, it's not at all uncommon for some of these to just up and vanish because they were well protected. And since Agua Verde is a place of constant development at the hands of the biggest megacorps in the world, this probably happens here constantly. Think of all the stuff a corp might even just make behind the scenes and never put out to market because of financial projections?
Another potential angle to this one would be tech that doesn't come from our world. In the world of Blacksite, there are other forms of life in other places that you can't just up and walk to. One of these is Aphara, better known as literally Hell. And the tech in some parts of Hell put Agua Verde to shame, even some of the stuff that would be considered 'ancient' by their standards.
Occasionally, some of this tech makes its way to Earth. But since it was never designed to work outside of Aphara, things usually aren't plug and play. I think this would be an opportunity to explore some Apharan tech that maybe wasn't useful in its home, but invaluable in Agua Verde. But since it's from another dimension, when it broke down it was effectively lost, and people can now only try to recreate it in some form.
A Subculture Seen as Outdated by Modern Generations: This is one of the prompts for this week that I just get nothing coming to mind. Sometimes I get a solid idea, sometimes a vague one, other times at least see somewhere I could mine for ideas. But this one? Nothin, at least not right off the bat.
But there has to be something I can cook up if I try hard enough. For instance, the city of Agua Verde, like any other city, is going to have its own cultural niches and movements. So it wouldn't be crazy to think that somewhere along the way one of these groups fell out of fashion or something. I'm really not sure with this one, but maybe I can figure something out.
A Military Unit Known for Its Incompetence: While I definetely could come up with something for this prompt, Agua Verde is home to plenty of PMCs for example, this might be a prompt I actively decide not to persue. It might just be me, but this one just seems sorta 'comedy' coded and that's not really something I'm going for with my world.
But on the other hand, I shouldn't... judge a prompt by its cover? You know what I mean. So maybe I could get a little flexible with the prompt and do something a bit more serious than I'm judging the prompt for being. Perhaps instead of some PMC unit that's constantly caught up in comedic hijinks, maybe they instead have some kind of curse placed onto them which brings about their misfortune.
Or maybe it's a unit specifically given dangerous missions, one that you're assigned to when the PMC doesn't care if you live or die. I'm reminded of Silent Hill's development team in a way. That was a group of devs Konami put together because they had no use for them elsewhere, then Team Silent went ahead and made one of the most iconic suvivial horror games ever made. So perhaps it's something like that?
And now I'm looking at all this brainstorming and realizing that yeah, I really shouldn't write off any of these prompts. There's always something in there that can serve as an idea if you take the time to search for it.
A Controversial Will That Changed the Course of History: For this prompt I have just the thing in mind. This heavily involves The Family, the vampiric cabal that controls Agua Verde from the shadows. They were the one's who set the place up really, or at least they were the one's to transform it into what it looks like today. Well, the family at one point lost their patriarch. The big boss himself was no more and those that remained opened up some kind of will.
So perhaps this will had some clause or stipulation in there that shook the foundation in a way. I'm not sure on the details just yet, but this is certainly an avenue of exploration. I didn't expect to get a prompt that made me think about The Family until the week four prompts, since that week will revolve around family, but hey what's one more, or maybe a preview in this case? That's honestly why I love Summer Camp, because I'm not sure I'd have come up with this topic myself.
But there has to be something I can cook up if I try hard enough. For instance, the city of Agua Verde, like any other city, is going to have its own cultural niches and movements. So it wouldn't be crazy to think that somewhere along the way one of these groups fell out of fashion or something. I'm really not sure with this one, but maybe I can figure something out.
A Military Unit Known for Its Incompetence: While I definetely could come up with something for this prompt, Agua Verde is home to plenty of PMCs for example, this might be a prompt I actively decide not to persue. It might just be me, but this one just seems sorta 'comedy' coded and that's not really something I'm going for with my world.
But on the other hand, I shouldn't... judge a prompt by its cover? You know what I mean. So maybe I could get a little flexible with the prompt and do something a bit more serious than I'm judging the prompt for being. Perhaps instead of some PMC unit that's constantly caught up in comedic hijinks, maybe they instead have some kind of curse placed onto them which brings about their misfortune.
Or maybe it's a unit specifically given dangerous missions, one that you're assigned to when the PMC doesn't care if you live or die. I'm reminded of Silent Hill's development team in a way. That was a group of devs Konami put together because they had no use for them elsewhere, then Team Silent went ahead and made one of the most iconic suvivial horror games ever made. So perhaps it's something like that?
And now I'm looking at all this brainstorming and realizing that yeah, I really shouldn't write off any of these prompts. There's always something in there that can serve as an idea if you take the time to search for it.
A Controversial Will That Changed the Course of History: For this prompt I have just the thing in mind. This heavily involves The Family, the vampiric cabal that controls Agua Verde from the shadows. They were the one's who set the place up really, or at least they were the one's to transform it into what it looks like today. Well, the family at one point lost their patriarch. The big boss himself was no more and those that remained opened up some kind of will.
So perhaps this will had some clause or stipulation in there that shook the foundation in a way. I'm not sure on the details just yet, but this is certainly an avenue of exploration. I didn't expect to get a prompt that made me think about The Family until the week four prompts, since that week will revolve around family, but hey what's one more, or maybe a preview in this case? That's honestly why I love Summer Camp, because I'm not sure I'd have come up with this topic myself.
A Collector of “Lost” Things: Thankfully for this one I had an idea right away. Since my articles are all written by in-universe authors, I have to make those authors. This involves lots of things, determining how reliable they are, identifying their biases, and of course giving them some kind of background.
One of these authors is Nathaniel Pierson, an academic whose a member of The Order of the New Dawn. It's a secret society most concerned with the gathering and archival of secret knowledge and adjacent endeavors. While the order hasn't gotten too much development, even in my head, I know enough about it that I feel like this would be a great prompt to highlight them.
I don't have a specific idea just yet, but I know I want this to be about the order. Perhaps this role is for those who go out and collect the secret knowledge in physical form, such as a book. Or maybe this rank describes the person who archives it and cares for it once it's within the order's hands.
And the fact that the prompt has the word "Lost" in quotes pretty much gives blanket permission to get silly with the premise. Because of course what may be lost to one person may not be lost to another. So some form of theft probably occurs when it comes to the order gathering things up that they want to archive. I'll figure something out I'm sure.
An Abandoned Building Shrouded in Mystery: I am very glad this prompt came up, because I already have it partially written. Back in my section about Mimic Fruit, I mentioned that I ended up getting a bit lost in the sauce and writing about an adjacent topic that got spun off into its own article. The thing I got distracted by was the building the tree the fruit grew on was located in.
Originally I had considered making this building use the building prompt from week two, "A Building That Keeps Being Expanded Over Time", or to just have it be a stand alone article not tied to a Summer Camp prompt. But then this one fell onto my lap, and it all worked out... or does it? Because to be completely honest, I do still think the idea for this building could be the week two building prompt. I had already workshopped an idea that made it fit that prompt.
Of course, doing that would mean Concord Tower would be promptless. I am okay with that though, it's an article I plan on writing anyways, so it's not a big deal to me if I just write it independently of Summer Camp. But it would be nice if it had a prompt. Maybe I'll get lucky again and there will be a building prompt in week four that would work for Concord Tower.
So what am I going to do with this prompt? Honestly no idea just yet. Either it will be tied to that spun off article I mentioned before, or it will be its own thing. I have plenty of other articles to chase right now, so I'm thinking I may actually wait to see what week four has before committing to anything.
One of these authors is Nathaniel Pierson, an academic whose a member of The Order of the New Dawn. It's a secret society most concerned with the gathering and archival of secret knowledge and adjacent endeavors. While the order hasn't gotten too much development, even in my head, I know enough about it that I feel like this would be a great prompt to highlight them.
I don't have a specific idea just yet, but I know I want this to be about the order. Perhaps this role is for those who go out and collect the secret knowledge in physical form, such as a book. Or maybe this rank describes the person who archives it and cares for it once it's within the order's hands.
And the fact that the prompt has the word "Lost" in quotes pretty much gives blanket permission to get silly with the premise. Because of course what may be lost to one person may not be lost to another. So some form of theft probably occurs when it comes to the order gathering things up that they want to archive. I'll figure something out I'm sure.
An Abandoned Building Shrouded in Mystery: I am very glad this prompt came up, because I already have it partially written. Back in my section about Mimic Fruit, I mentioned that I ended up getting a bit lost in the sauce and writing about an adjacent topic that got spun off into its own article. The thing I got distracted by was the building the tree the fruit grew on was located in.
Originally I had considered making this building use the building prompt from week two, "A Building That Keeps Being Expanded Over Time", or to just have it be a stand alone article not tied to a Summer Camp prompt. But then this one fell onto my lap, and it all worked out... or does it? Because to be completely honest, I do still think the idea for this building could be the week two building prompt. I had already workshopped an idea that made it fit that prompt.
Of course, doing that would mean Concord Tower would be promptless. I am okay with that though, it's an article I plan on writing anyways, so it's not a big deal to me if I just write it independently of Summer Camp. But it would be nice if it had a prompt. Maybe I'll get lucky again and there will be a building prompt in week four that would work for Concord Tower.
So what am I going to do with this prompt? Honestly no idea just yet. Either it will be tied to that spun off article I mentioned before, or it will be its own thing. I have plenty of other articles to chase right now, so I'm thinking I may actually wait to see what week four has before committing to anything.
An Object That Looks Edible but Isn’t: This is another prompt that's got me stumped, but there's a few places I could maybe go with this. My first thought was one of those TV shows where people try to guess what object in a room is cake or chocolate or something, but that's probably too silly.
My second thought was some kind of synthetic food. That one is a lot easier to fit into my setting. Agua Verde has several megacorps that specialize into a variety of different niches. Fresh Harvest is one of them, which is convenient since just like The Order of the New Dawn, Fresh Harvest is a concept I've already been playing with behind the scenes. It's the company another of my in-universe authors, Courtney Weaver, works for. Fresh Harvest makes a lot of synth food, and I imaging not all of their products have been... safe for consumption.
Or I could just make up some kind of anomalous item that takes on the form of a delicious pizza or something. Who knows?
A Fundamental Law of the Universe That Most People Misunderstand: This one is certainly the grounds for a large article. It kinda has the opposite problem that other prompts do. Because instead of a lack of ideas for what to write, when it comes to this one I have too many ideas for what this article could potentially be about.
For example, there's Abyssal Corruption. It's basically a funny little process that turns things into monsters. It's not something very well understood by your average joe, so I can imagine discussion about it would be filled to the brim with misinformation or myths that people just take to be true. Another idea could be magic, either one of the varieties of it or magic as a whole. Or perhaps something adjacent to it such as Spellburn.
Those are just two concepts, but there's honestly so many that listing them out here would double the length of this or something. I'm not sure what I'd pick if I choose to write this prompt, because I'm getting analysis paralysis when thinking about the possibilities. But I guess there's worse problems to have, huh?
My second thought was some kind of synthetic food. That one is a lot easier to fit into my setting. Agua Verde has several megacorps that specialize into a variety of different niches. Fresh Harvest is one of them, which is convenient since just like The Order of the New Dawn, Fresh Harvest is a concept I've already been playing with behind the scenes. It's the company another of my in-universe authors, Courtney Weaver, works for. Fresh Harvest makes a lot of synth food, and I imaging not all of their products have been... safe for consumption.
Or I could just make up some kind of anomalous item that takes on the form of a delicious pizza or something. Who knows?
A Fundamental Law of the Universe That Most People Misunderstand: This one is certainly the grounds for a large article. It kinda has the opposite problem that other prompts do. Because instead of a lack of ideas for what to write, when it comes to this one I have too many ideas for what this article could potentially be about.
For example, there's Abyssal Corruption. It's basically a funny little process that turns things into monsters. It's not something very well understood by your average joe, so I can imagine discussion about it would be filled to the brim with misinformation or myths that people just take to be true. Another idea could be magic, either one of the varieties of it or magic as a whole. Or perhaps something adjacent to it such as Spellburn.
Those are just two concepts, but there's honestly so many that listing them out here would double the length of this or something. I'm not sure what I'd pick if I choose to write this prompt, because I'm getting analysis paralysis when thinking about the possibilities. But I guess there's worse problems to have, huh?
A Better Workflow
An issue I've had when it comes to my writing, is that I would do very little planning about what to write outside of the brainstorming that I did for whatever article I was cooking up at the time. I'd think about it, have a general vibe as to what I was going to write, but I didn't have anything beyond that before I sat down and started typing. This isn't completely a bad thing mind you. For one, it lets me be as creative as possible. I get to be unrestrained and let what comes to my mind flow right onto the page. But the biggest issue is that I pretty much need to be inspired to write. I can't just put my hands on the keyboard and will something cool into being. That big con is largely why I fell into the slump I have for the last two weeks. When my motivation run dry, so did my inspiration, and getting it back has become an uphill battle.
So what have I done to fix it? A better workflow for my writing. This was largely inspired by the very useful Summer Camp multiplayer google spreadsheet. Each article has a little drop down menu that you can use to mark its status from idea, to stub, to draft, to written, to submitted, and finally to complete. With my first two articles, I went from idea straight to submitted due to my previous style of writing. This new workflow I'm trying out though will hopefully be more gradual and guided.
I started by writing out my initial ideas for the Summer Camp prompts on this page. After doing that, I've taken the idea's I'm most sure of and creating stub articles for them. These stub articles are super short and just put my idea for the article into very basic words so I don't forget the idea down the line. Step three is taking the stubs that interest me the most, or that I have a more solid idea for what the article will look like, and then make an outline for it. I'll go through and assign primary and secondary sections for the article. Primary sections are for things that I feel are required for the article to work, while secondary ones are for less important things I can add after the article is made public when I have time to circle back. Then the next step is picking one of the outlines and actually start writing.
What this does is allow me to conceptualize multiple articles at once, and then sorta filter them down to the ones that interest me the most. I also have multiple articles to bounce around, in case I get stuck on one. This is very unlike my previous workflow where I would work on one article at a time essentially.
At the time of writing this, I have five stub articles and eleven with outlines. The current plan is to wait until the final wave of prompts is released, then stub and outline those as well. Finally, by next Sunday I should be fully locked in and ready to get some writing done. It's a slow pace, but one that I feel like I really need right now. Hopefully this new workflow will allow me to keep on track, and limit future instances of motivation drop or writers block.
Week Four Conclusion
By now, I've also sorta shifted my goal. I set out hoping to get silver, but with the limited time remaining and my current pace, that doesn't seem very likely. So right now, I'm aiming for bronze instead. Big ups to the people who have already gotten their goal, some already got gold. But if you happen to be reading this and only made it to part of the way to bronze, me too. One more time (that's a lie I'll probably say it a million times more): I'm going to do what I can, and be happy I did anything at all. And with the two articles I've written, that's the anything, even this silly meta doc is the anything <3
Week Four Prompts - Family
A Species With a Intriguing Symbiotic Relationship: We're starting off with a fun one, and one that could take me to a million different places really. Fitting this into the world of Blacksite makes me think of some unique relationship between two different anomalous creatures. It's pretty open ended, but either way it once again makes me think about my article on the Brezhnev Aleksei Park & Botanical Gardens. That place is crawling with strange beings that probably found some way to work together. Don't have a specific idea right out the gate but I'm sure I could think of something.
A Character Known as the Font of a Bloodline: This one is easy. I mentioned before in my Summer Camp prep article that the week four theme of family made me think of 'The Family'. In Agua Verde, The Family is the vampire family that runs the city from the shadows. Every vampiric family needs an original vampire to let it loose onto the world, and so this article is most certainly going to be about that man. In the world of Blacksite, there was an event that created vampires, with these original vamps setting out to create unique bloodlines. The OG vamp is certainly worthy of an article all to himself.
An Influential Family or Dynasty: This is somehow easier than the last one. Hmm, an influential family within Agua Verde? I wonder who could possibly fit that bill??? Yeah, this is the excuse I needed to write an article about The Family itself. There's really nothing else to write here, because up until this point I've already written about them enough that you already know what their deal is. Next prompt! Okay maybe wait just a moment... because while the obvious choice for this prompt is The Family, it could also be something else. In a place like Agua Verde, full of megacorps and the ultra-rich, there's a few other families I can think of who could work here. But yeah I'll probably write about The Family.
A Character Known as the Font of a Bloodline: This one is easy. I mentioned before in my Summer Camp prep article that the week four theme of family made me think of 'The Family'. In Agua Verde, The Family is the vampire family that runs the city from the shadows. Every vampiric family needs an original vampire to let it loose onto the world, and so this article is most certainly going to be about that man. In the world of Blacksite, there was an event that created vampires, with these original vamps setting out to create unique bloodlines. The OG vamp is certainly worthy of an article all to himself.
An Influential Family or Dynasty: This is somehow easier than the last one. Hmm, an influential family within Agua Verde? I wonder who could possibly fit that bill??? Yeah, this is the excuse I needed to write an article about The Family itself. There's really nothing else to write here, because up until this point I've already written about them enough that you already know what their deal is. Next prompt! Okay maybe wait just a moment... because while the obvious choice for this prompt is The Family, it could also be something else. In a place like Agua Verde, full of megacorps and the ultra-rich, there's a few other families I can think of who could work here. But yeah I'll probably write about The Family.
A Celebration Involving Non-Blood Family: This one is hard, which is fair considering how free the ideas were for the last two. It's one of those prompts that upon reading it I just get nothing. Not the end of the world though, some dedicated time and I could figure something out. Maybe some sort of celebration among a group of disenfranchised people perhaps? I imagine there's some kind of festival or celebration in the Murkin Warrens to celebrate their culture. There's an idea already, but I'll have to think it over some more.
An Instrument Used in Family Celebrations: The word "instrument" is carrying a lot of weight with this prompt. Now obviously I imagine most people immediately think of some kind of musical instrument, I know I did. But an instrument doesn't have to be musical, so right now I'm thinking of two possible routes to take this prompt. Firstly, since I was just thinking about the murkin, maybe there's a murkin specific instrument I could cook up? Since they have different bodies compared to humans, it wouldn't be crazy for there to be an instrument only they can play. The other idea I had was some kind of instrument used by The Family for some kind of special ritual. Becoming a vampire is celebration of sorts, and maybe The Family has or does something special with a unique item that I could highlight.
A Small Town That Keeps to Itself: For this prompt, I want to shift my focus back onto the Sonoran Desert. The desert surrounding Agua Verde has no shortage of mystery, and while it is dangerous, there are small pockets of people who have managed to survive out there. So for this prompt, my main idea is to create some kind of town out in the Sonoran that's full of people that specifically chose to stay out there. Not sure exactly what the deal with it is, but that's my starting point.
An Instrument Used in Family Celebrations: The word "instrument" is carrying a lot of weight with this prompt. Now obviously I imagine most people immediately think of some kind of musical instrument, I know I did. But an instrument doesn't have to be musical, so right now I'm thinking of two possible routes to take this prompt. Firstly, since I was just thinking about the murkin, maybe there's a murkin specific instrument I could cook up? Since they have different bodies compared to humans, it wouldn't be crazy for there to be an instrument only they can play. The other idea I had was some kind of instrument used by The Family for some kind of special ritual. Becoming a vampire is celebration of sorts, and maybe The Family has or does something special with a unique item that I could highlight.
A Small Town That Keeps to Itself: For this prompt, I want to shift my focus back onto the Sonoran Desert. The desert surrounding Agua Verde has no shortage of mystery, and while it is dangerous, there are small pockets of people who have managed to survive out there. So for this prompt, my main idea is to create some kind of town out in the Sonoran that's full of people that specifically chose to stay out there. Not sure exactly what the deal with it is, but that's my starting point.
An Archipelago Considered a “Family” of Islands: For this prompt, I also have two options. Since Agua Verde sits atop the Gulf of California, I can do something with the islands in the gulf. Perhaps Agua Verde has done something silly goofy there, or maybe the Reaper did something to them. Either way those islands being there is free fodder for something spooky. The other option is to make up some islands in the region. I could tie this back to Burial at Sea maybe, or just do something new. I think I'll end up going with the first option, but for now I want to keep my doors open.
A Congenital Condition: Not gonna lie, before I looked up what "congenital" meant I thought it was talking about an STI. But now that I know what it actually means, I have a few ideas. My first thought went back to the murkin. These people are essentially human-rat hybrids, and there was a sort of inciting incident that caused them to appear. You could say that being a murkin is a condition, some people in the lore would certainly say that. The next idea I had was something to do with the various megacorps in Agua Verde. With how destructive corporations can be in the real world, these guys are even worse due to the lack of restrictions on them. The free market has most certainly created more than a handful of horrific conditions due to toxic chemicals or waste. My third idea is to literally just make an STI that can be passed down similarly to HIV. I may now know what congenital means, but STIs never left my brain after I read it.
A Public Front Used by a Criminal Organization: This is another one that's hard to cook up an idea for since it could lead anywhere. While Agua Verde has a lot of criminal activity, it isn't something I've fleshed out too much in my mind yet. The closest thing I can think of right now is the black market. Maybe something to do with the people who run the show, it is a physical location in Agua Verde after all.
A Congenital Condition: Not gonna lie, before I looked up what "congenital" meant I thought it was talking about an STI. But now that I know what it actually means, I have a few ideas. My first thought went back to the murkin. These people are essentially human-rat hybrids, and there was a sort of inciting incident that caused them to appear. You could say that being a murkin is a condition, some people in the lore would certainly say that. The next idea I had was something to do with the various megacorps in Agua Verde. With how destructive corporations can be in the real world, these guys are even worse due to the lack of restrictions on them. The free market has most certainly created more than a handful of horrific conditions due to toxic chemicals or waste. My third idea is to literally just make an STI that can be passed down similarly to HIV. I may now know what congenital means, but STIs never left my brain after I read it.
A Public Front Used by a Criminal Organization: This is another one that's hard to cook up an idea for since it could lead anywhere. While Agua Verde has a lot of criminal activity, it isn't something I've fleshed out too much in my mind yet. The closest thing I can think of right now is the black market. Maybe something to do with the people who run the show, it is a physical location in Agua Verde after all.
An Invention That Connected Distant Lands: This last prompt is only loosely tied to Agua Verde. I can certainly see it being used in a few instances, but it's not extremely relevant. However it is tied to an important moment in the lore of Blacksite, and it all has to do with what I'm calling Hell Gates. That's a working title, I'm sure I'll think of something more interesting to call them. Until then however, I'm sure you can guess what they do. In the world of Blacksite, Earth and Hell are different dimensions really, so travel between them is really hard to do. Hell Gates were developed to make that traversal a lot easier. Of course however, having a literal gateway to literal Hell may not always be what you want.
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