Summer Camp 2026

Week 1: Love

Assignment: Pledge your goal

Unfortunately I won't be making a pledge for a specific amount this year. I am planning on camping for the 1st week of July, and then will be working on-site for the 3rd and 4th weeks. As such, I'm uncertain how much time or energy I'll have for writing, and I'd rather focus on the short stories I've been gradually working on.

Week 1 Hopscotch

I'm also going to (kinda) skip the hopscotch this week.

1. I updated the primer and welcome pages for Worldember, and haven't completed much world building since then, so I don't feel another update is necessary.
2. I still like the CSS, and the maps have been continuously been updated (plus I recently made another one for the Merchant Map)
3. See #1
4. Honestly, I'm just too tired to update older articles at the moment. I'll try to recover for next month!

Optional: Warm-up prompt

Write a Settlement that's associated with love.

Welcome one and all to the neighbourhood of Seafoam!

Week 2: Growth

Assignment: Choose your Area of Focus

Although it would be nice to assign a specific focus for Summer Camp, doing so would be "at odds" with my concerns of time and energy discussed above. My usual preference for writing is to allow for inspiration to strike me, and then fitting it into the world. The setting is fairly compartmentalized, with each region of the world having its own "ethos"/fundamental principles, which provide a wide enough spread that I can usually find an appropriate place to slot the various ideas in.

As well - to be honest - at the moment is seems too early to pick a specific focus, as the themes of "Love" and "Growth" are almost too broad for just one topic.

I may revisit this in future weeks, but for the moment I'm planning on not one specific focus.

Week 2 Hopscotch

See above

Optional: Warm-up prompt

Write a Geographical Location boasting different kinds of ecosystems.

There are already a fairly wide variety of ecosystems across Wyrring:

• Tundra: North Estalia and the Northern Isles
• Deep Forest: Sylvia
• Canadian Shield-esque: Estalia and Lapu
• Forest: Clarenware Woods, Aedan, and Estalia
• Plains: Aedan and Ostrangard
• Savannah: The Barrens
• Mediterranean: Summer Shores
• Desert: The Great Expanse
• Mountains: Devil's Teeth Range
• Shallow Sea: The Brightwater
• Deep Sea: The Roil

On top of that, there are also a couple of areas which haven't been formally fleshed out, such as the Dwemni Empire, or the area north of Berak Hakar, which I've currently imagined as mountain passes and cliffsides, respectively.

Week 3: Loss

Assignment: Plan your Writing Time

As I've kinda mentioned, my time is a bit limited for Summer Camp this year... I imagine that most of my writing will be during Week 3, during my commutes to and from work

Week 3 Hopscotch

1. I've sometimes described Wyrring as "an amalgamation of every book I've enjoyed, every movie I've watched, and every fun fact I've learned". As such, a lot of my world building comes from a place of "this is a cool thing I've found, how can I tweek it and fit it in?" It often relies on strikes of inspiration - which is also probably why the world is growing at a glacial pace. But I really like doing it this way! I don't have any deadlines or goals for the world, and this slow pace allows for me to work on it when I feel like it without burning out.
2. I went for a walk!
3. No thank you
4. I recently finished the audiobook for "The Way of Kings" and started "Words of Radiance" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm really enjoying it so far!

Optional: Warm-up Prompt

Write a Language lost to time.

Proto-Elvish

Week 4: Family

Assignment: What's your goal as a worldbuilder?

...

... Why does it feel like I keep inadvertently answering these assignments just a week too early? ...

To me, world building is a creative outlet where I can create a kind of escapist daydream. It is true that I use the same setting for D&D (on the currently rare chance I run a game), but those sessions barely touch on the expansive world, and I usually end up creating something specific for them.

Week 4 Hopscotch

1. Cool stuff
2. No thank you
3. My "break" is allowing myself to be a bit curt this week and skipping the optional prompt
4. Playlist and public transit are ready to go!

Optional: Warm-up prompt

Write a Myth that reveals the "true" meaning of family

See above.

Summer Camp Entries

• A celebrity loved by all (Person): Lady Pearl
• A tradition that celebrates love (Ritual):
• An item associated with a common hobby (Item): Quilter's Weight
• A famous love story (Myth): The Fisherman and the Prostitute
• A natural phenomenon associated with fertility (Law):
• A faction that employs questionable methods for the love of their people (Organization):
• A job many children aspire to (Profession):
• The language of love in a culture of your world (Language):
• A useful substance known for its sticky properties (Material):
• A mysterious work of fiction that's spawned conspiracy theories (Document):
• A city that grew out of the ashes of a ruin (Settlement):
• A fruit that grows in an unlikely environment (Species):
• A war that resulted in the expansion of a territory (Military Conflict):
• Write about the development of a vehicle (Vehicle):
• A disease that quickly becomes an epidemic (Condition):
• A prized fabric based on a plant fibre (Material):
• A profession that helps others develop (Profession):
• A building that keeps being expanded over time (Building):
• A fictional character some believe to be real (Person):
• A body of water that hides a secret in its depths (Location): Under the Bay of Streams
• A religion that no longer exists (Organization): Sun Worship
• A myth that inspired modern funerary traditions (Myth):
• An ancient technology lost to time (Technology):
• A subculture seen as outdated by modern generations (Ethnicity):
• A military unit known for its incompetence (Formation):
• A controversial will that changed the course of history (Document):
• A collector of "Lost" things (Rank):
• An abandoned building shrouded in mystery (Building): House Freetrapper
• An object that looks edible but isn't (Item):
• A fundamental law of the universe hat most people misunderstand (Law):
• A species with an intriguing symbiotic relationship (Species):
• A character known as the font of a bloodline (Person):
• An influential family or dynasty (Organization):
• A celebration involving non-blood family (Ritual):
• An instrument used in family celebrations (Item):
• A small town that keeps to itself (Settlement):
• An archipelago considered a "Family" of islands (Location):
• A congenital condition (Condition):
• A public front used by a criminal organization (Building):
• An invention that connected distant lands (Technology):