My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

World Anvil Summer Camp 2021 is live. Let the frenzied writing begin. There are 10 prompts up. I thought there would be daily prompts, but this batch system is better.

I'm going to focus on Scaraqua over Scarterra because Scaraqua needs more focus. If the muses inspire me to write something in Westhammer I will do so, but I'm not going to bend over backwards to write for it.

I'm probably not going to bend over backwards finding or making art either unless the muses tell me otherwise (or I can trick @pendrake or @Warden into making something for me to free).

Most of my Scaraquan articles are going to use this as this generic creative commons picture.



And most of the Scarterran are going to use the symbol of the Nine drawn by Pendrake as my generic picture.




Prompt: An extraordinary writing tool (or type of writing tool)

bright squid ink
For quite some time, the creature named as the bright squid was viewed as a ultimately harmless but mildly annoying small cephalopod. Roughly two feet in diameter when they spread all their tentacles to the max, they are only a little larger than a human fist when coiled up.

Bright squid are not very physically threatening, but their very vibrant ink can stain the skin a very long time, often taking longer than a month to disappear entirely, but otherwise they are near defenseless.A somewhat bumbling Ogean alchemist was experimenting with new substances and then happened to accidentally get sprayed by a bright squid. The ink stain lasted much longer than a month. After three years, the alchemist consigned himself that the stain would never go away and decided to make the best of this and try to figure out a useful byproduct from this accident.

It was later discovered after his natural death that Purification magic can remove stains from alchemically enhanced bright squid ink.

After some more experimented he found that if he took the vellum made from almost any sea creature's hid a sharp pen tipped with alchemically treated bright squid ink could create ink that could be used to write underwater and hold up many decades before needing to be re-penned.

This technology quickly spread through Scaraqua and led to a surge in literacy as using bright squid ink and vellum is a lot more practical than using a clay tablet and stylus.

Once viewed as a pest, now bright squid are actively cultivated. Some cultures even use selective breeding to create bright squid ink of specific colors though for the most part only artists bother with this. Most pragmatic record keepers and writers will take the in in whatever color they can get (reddish brown is the most common variant).

Significance
Bright squid ink makes writing and by extension reading and general literacy much more practical in Scaraqua.

(sidebar)
Item type
Miscellaneous
Current Location
Scaraqua
Raw materials & Components
Bright squid ink is mixed with some grainy substance dubbed "ink sand" to make the ink. The ink sand is made from literal sand plus a small extract of some cultivated underwater herbs.

 

Prompt: A species of working animal




Go to Scarterra Homepage
Bonecrackers
Despite their scary nickname, bonecrackers are not very formidable. They are perhaps the last sad remnant of the mighty dinosaurs that once roamed Scarterra.

They are the main, if not the only, domesticated animal that dragons kept in the First Age that were continuously kept throughout the Second Age and the Third Age.

Bonecrackers lay giant tasty eggs. They don't taste that different from chicken eggs, and they actually are a far less efficient means of producing food than keeping chickens but a great many Scarterrans are willing to pay extra for the novelty of serving their guests very large eggs at banquets.

Bonecrackers are not picky eaters, but they eat a lot. In many cases they are fed a large portion of their feed via table scraps. Most bonecrackers are owned as part of a large castle or a butcher shop in a large town or city because these places create a lot of viable scraps and they have large crowds of people nearby to feed them.

It is rare to have more than one or two bonecracker hens in one place. Even fewer Scarterrans keep a bonecracker rooster on hand all the time. Most male bonecrackers chicks are culled early, there are only about one adult rooster for every eight adult hens.

Professional traveling bonecracker keepers will often haul roosters around to fertilize bonecracker hens in a large geographic area.
Basic Information
Dietary Needs And Habits
Bone crackers are truly omnivorous and can eat and digest almost any part of any plant or animal.

Their favorite food is bone marrow. Bone crackers got their name because of the aggressiveness the loud noisy way they will chomp on bones.

They have prodigious livers and can handle a great many ingested poisons and toxins with no effect or very minimal effect.
Additional Information
Domestication
Selective breeding made their claws smaller, their aggressiveness diminished, they lost their ability to fly (though can flap to make long hops), and they were bred to lay larger and more eggs.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The eggs are edible and tasty, they taste very similar to chicken eggs.

Given that bonecrackers can eat and digest a lot of things considered poisonous to other creatures, this means that bone crackers tend to accumulate toxins over their lives.

The meat of the bonecrackers, especially older bonecrackers does not taste remotely like chicken. They cannot be consumed at all without magical purification, alchemical treatment or extremely thorough cooking (unless the person eating them has a dragon's amazing digestive tract). Even then, the meat doesn't taste very good. The meat of dead bonecrackers is often simply tossed away (or even fed to younger bonecrackers).

Their droppings make adequate fertilizer for most crops.
Geographic Origin And Distribution
Bonecrackers can be found through Scarterra, but they dragon's share of them are in the land of Swynfaredia.

Since the Swynfaredian nobles heard that dragons liked to eat bone cracker eggs, that's reason enough that they should eat them too.
Civilization And Culture
History
The bonecrackers ancestors were pterodactyl-like flying aggressive scavengers but thousands of years of selective breeding has domesticated them making them flightless, fat, and docile.

The dragons domesticate bone crackers as living garbage disposals and a source of fertilizer, but most important of all, they frequently lay large tasty eggs. At the peak of the First Age bonecrackers were kept in almost every dragon settlement throughout all of Scarterra.

During the First Unmaking, they were one of the few species that dragons tried to save besides themselves.

During the Second Age, some dragons continued to keep farming bonecrackers for their eggs and many elves took up the practice.

A lot of bonecrackers died during the Second Unmaking, but enough survived that with careful management, the species was able to recover in the Third Age though not in nearly the same numbers they had before.

 

Here's what I got for prompts from the first batch.

To get my badges, I only have to finish these by August 1st, but since I'm shooting to get all 31 prompts, I don't want to try to do 20 prompts in one day, so I'll try to knock out as many of the first ten as I can in one week.

2.5 prompts done isn't a bad way to start my first day, the hard part is it's leading me to want to tangent articles which won't help me in this writing challenge. For instance with bonecrackers I made a short article about dinsoaurs and with the prophecy one I'm working on I'm making a short article about oracles.

To tamp down on my tangental writing urge, I will keep the related articles as stubs.

Building
A building associated with healing the sick
I wanted to repurpose my hospital article but that would be cheating, so I'm still pondering this one. Maybe a therapeutic spa from a natural hot springs.

Condition
A medical condition which is feared by some
I'm really proud of elemental fever, but I cannot reuse it, so I might create a rarer more lethal variant of elemental fever.

Technology
A new medical cure, treatment or breakthrough
This one is tough because most of Scarterras/Scaraqua's medicine is from magic spells, not technology.

I have been contemplating including birth control in my world somewhere (perhaps in the form of a plant with heart shaped stems or leaves), but that is a complicated issue because it as major sweeping societal issues and segues into real world controversial issues.

Species
A species of working animal
Bonecrackers of course

Ethnicity
An ethnicity whose cultural exports are highly sought after
This one is tough because it's against the rules to repurpose an old article and most of my main areas are chock full of ethnicity articles already. I'd probably need to create a subethnicity like how taiga elves are a sub ethnicity of wood elves.

Item
An extraordinary writing tool (or type of writing tool)
already done

Location
An area or geographical landmark wrapped in myth, legend or superstition


Myth
A myth about a mountain, lake, cave or other landmark


Myth
A myth or fairytale about a prophecy, oracle, fortune-telling or other revelation
Working on this one but I need to go to bed and pick up finishing this one up tomorrow.

Ritual
A festival associated with a celestial body
The only celestial bodies I really have are the moon and the sun. I haven't started typing out any drafts yet, but I'm thinking I'll do something with how Scaraquans think of the sun and the moon.

 

Myth
A myth or fairytale about a prophecy, oracle, fortune-telling or other revelation

The prophecy of Vralic's Destruction
For The Eternally Dying Hunter To Find Peace, He Must Be Defeated By A Great Warrior In Single Combat
Vralic the Hunter is one of five known surviving true vampires. While far less famous than his sibling in blood, Vladimir the Conqueror, he is probably the second most famous vampire in Scarterra. Of the five known true vampires, Vralic is arguably the vampire that least enjoys being a vampire the least and yearns for a true death.

Vralic was a barbarian of a now extinct ethnicity of elves before becoming a vampire. The central point of their religion is that to secure a positive afterlife, a person must die an honorable death which usually means a death in battle.

After trying for decades to find an honorable death by picking fights with large groups of powerful enemies and failing to find an honorable death, he sought the wisdom of several oracles. Many oracles would not or could not tell Vralic how he could find an honorable death and as a consequence, Vralic slew a great many uncooperative oracles, a grave taboo against the Nine.

Eventually an oracle of Maylar told Vralic that the only way he could find an honorable death was to fight a powerful warrior in single combat.Maylar's Testers promised a great reward for any warrior who could defeat Vralic in such a way.

After Vralic had slain dozens of challengers, challengers stopped coming. Vralic also found himself beseeched by warriors who wanted to become vampires. It's not clear how Vralic advertised this, but Vralic instituted a new policy that if a challenger does not defeat, but fights well all things considered, Vralic will turn him or her into a vampire.Thus, the vampire lineage of Vralic was born.

Centuries later, Vralic is wondering if maybe the prophecy was a lie and he is being manipulated by Maylar because most of the Vralic vampire spawn running around Scarterra are Maylar affiliated, but Vralic is too stubborn to admit that he is wrong, so he is continuing with his practice of accepting challenges from all comers and bestowing vamprism on the worthy.

 

Building
A building associated with healing the sick


Go to Scarterra Homepage
Temple of the Dragon Waters
The Temple of the Dragon Waters is a rare site in Scarterra, it is a place of healing consecrated to Greymoria.

One of the many relics of the First Unmaking is a lot of sites of geothermal activity, often marking spots where fire elementals and water elementals battled.

One valley in what is now in the borders of Swynfaredia is famous for having several hot springs that are consistently warm but never dangerously hot.

There are many hot springs pools around the grounds, but the largest has a temple built around it.

For centuries, maybe millennia, mortals enjoyed bathing in the therapeutic waters. The site has passed through many owners over the centuries. The current owners are the Children of Swynfaredia.

The site has no significant magical healing properties though a small but steady supply of potions Rules for Acquiring, Cultivating, or Creating Reagents can be harvested here. Visitors to the hot springs find them a relaxing relief to stress.

Most visitors just want to relax and destress but some visitors are actually sick or injured so the Children keep magical healers on the site to offer their services to visitors for money or political favors.

The temple grounds house an ancillary building that is an alchemists laboratory. While the Children are famous poisoners they tend to make their more nefarious concoctions off site and focus on healing potions and non-magical herbal remedies here.
History
Before the Feudal Era, the history of this site is largely unknown.

Vladimir the Conqueror awarded this land to a human vassal who pleased him, but the vassal ended up murdered on this land by one of Vladimir's many enemies fairly shortly after receiving the land.

After Vladimir's death, the newly appointed king of the area ceded the land to the Tenders as a bishopric who built a temple to Mera here called the Hearth Water's Temple.

Centuries later the kingdom was annexed by Swynfaredia. The king of Swynfaredia dissolved the Mera bishopric and claimed the temple and land as part of his personal demesne using it as a luxury site for him and his favored agents remaining a royal perk for a great many years.

The Hearth Water's Temple was rechristened the Dragon Water's Manor and given a lot of renovation and redecorating.

Later a different king ceded the land to the Children as a Greymoria bishopric in exchange for services rendered. The Children were naturally thrilled to have a bishopric that was for all intents and purposes stolen from Mera.

The site was renamed the Dragon Waters Temple and faced more redecorating and renovation.

As a condition for creating the bishopric, the Children were required to let Swynfaredian nobles continue to use the hot springs in exchange for fairly modest monetary donations to Greymoria.

At first the Children balked at having their actions restricted in their own temple in exchange for pittance donations, but later they realized they had something better than coins, they now had secrets.

The site is heavily warded against magical eavesdropping but more than a few Swynfaredian sorcerers are fairly lax about guarding themselves against mundane eaves dropping. The acolytes that tend to the spa goers are trained to keep their ears open and not draw attention to themselves.

More than a few of the guests of their hot springs like to talk politics while relaxing and the Children can overhear all sorts of interesting information.



I only need 300 words to qualify for the Summer Camp challenge and I'm over 700 but I feel like I should write more here.

One neat thing about World Anvil templates is that there are sub article headers but if I leave them blank, they don't show up.

There is a blank slot for Tourism. I could cover visitors but that might be redundant because I already mentioned that rich Swynfaredians like to visit here.

There is a blank spot for Purpose but I think I covered that in the overview.

There is a blank spot for alterations and architecture. I think this could be interesting, but I don't know much about architecture. The site used to be a luxury via for vampire collaborators, then it was a Mera temple of healing, then it was a luxury villa for Swynfaredians, and then it became a Greymoria temple that doubles as luxury villa for Swynfaredians. The temple could have some interesting stuff.

 

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "an area or geographical landmark wrapped in myth, legend or superstition"


Go to Scarterra Homepage
The Desert of Tears
All Void demons turn into a pile of salt when they die. Many times during the Second Unmaking, enough demons died in a single location for the influx of salt to change the terrain, so there are many salt flats created by the Second Unmaking but the most famous is the Desert of Tears.

The area is desolate and empty except for the occasional undead remnant but it does have one major draw and that is gem stones.

In fact, it is the presence of gems that gives the Desert of Tears its name because gems are widely believed to be the physical representation of the Nine's own tears.

Fauna & Flora
The area has very little moisture and is not very hospitable to life, even without the supernatural taint. Only a few hardy plants exist here and even fewer animals.

Natural Resources
The Desert of Tears is also called the Great Salt Wastes, so obviously the region has lots of salt. Very few salt miners are tempted. Salt is not exactly a rare resource in Scarterra and there are many other less remote, less dangerous places to gather salt.

The Desert of Tears has a fair amount of gem stones that give the region its namesake if one is brave and patient enough to sift through the salt and the dust.

History
The Demon Lord known as the Annihilator was slain here, but at great cost.

Unlike the other Demon Lords, the Annihilator did not focus on the largest population center, the Annihilator gave special target to the less populous races with the goal of eradicating them to the last individual.

By the time the Annihilator's army was cornered, many species were already wiped out and more than a few were not literally exterminated but there were too few survivors for the race to recover. A great many of the warriors battling the Annihilators were the last of their kind.

Supplementing these battle hardened orphans of lost races were a great many kobolds, a small number of elves, and a great many spirits.

It is believed that no single day every saw more spirits manifest in the material plane at once and a great many faced oblivion as destruction by a demon is one of the few ways a spirit can truly die.

Tourism
A few adventurers go into the desert to try to look for gems or make a name for themselves fighting undead, but not many.

While there are still many gems to be found here, the area has had infrequent prospectors for many centuries so most of the gems closest to surface have already been gathered.

In addition to the danger of fighting undead, the danger of running out of food and water is very real here.

 

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "a medical condition which is feared by some"


Go to Scarterra Homepage
Trench Fever
Trench fever, also known as "the deeps" among many other colorful nicknames, refers to a common psychological condition that afflicts many Scaraquans.

The condition is most common among Ojiongo, occasionally seen among Merfolk, and rare but not unheard of among Karakhai.

Astalakians seem curiously immune to this. A few have claimed that the blessings of the Sons of the Sea Floor keep theme safe from this. Others point out that Astalakians tend to prefer to live in shallow, sunny waters and this could be the source of their seeming good health.

It's not known whether some/most/all deep trench dwelling dragons have contracted this condition or whether they just appear to be afflicted because their normal activities mimic the symptoms of this condition.

If one of the less populous mortal Scaraquan races has contracted this condition, it has not been recorded. It is has been speculated that such an individual could easily contract the condition and look like he or she is experiencing a unique bout of madness by those who have never heard the term "trench fever."
Transmission & Vectors
Since the specific cause(s) are not known, it is not clear whether this condition is contagious or entirely due to the actions of the individual.
Causes
There are clearly other factors involved but Scaraquans that frequent deep dark waters seem more prone to develop the condition though many Scaraquans who barely ever see the sun never acquire the condition and some Scaraquans get the condition while spending barely any time in dark waters.

Because it afflicts Ojiongo more commonly some think the cause may be connected to them or cephalopods in general.

Others speculate that Ojiongo are not more prone to the disease than anyone else, they just are less likely to get early treatment because it is more likely to remain undetected in early stages.
Symptoms
Those afflicted with trench fever develop a phobia against light, especially bright light. Also individuals with the deeps tend to develop paranoid delusions.

Given that they are paranoid in general and instinctually avoid bright light, it is common that those with trench fever will retreat into deep dark places and slowly spiral into self destruction.

It has been stated, half in jest, that since Ojiongo are paranoid in general and tend to like to swim in dark places that it's very hard to tell a healthy Ojiongo from an Ojiongo that is "off in the deeps."
Treatment
Healing magic alleviates symptoms temporarily but does not cure the condition. The best long term cure seems to be aversion therapy where the subject exposes herself to a small amount of light and social interaction then increases the contact with people and light gradually.
Prognosis
A small percentage, estimated one in ten individuals manage to overcome their affliction by itself with no obvious impetus. They just wake up one day no longer afraid of the light and with their paranoia diminished.

For those who are not among the lucky few, the likely prognosis is that the individual will waste away and starve or freeze to death in a dark hole or the paranoid individual will strike at her perceived enemies and eventually be brought down by someone in self defense.
Prevention
Periodic visits to sunny waters seems to be the best prevention but it doesn't seem to work 100% of the time.

There are a great many superstitions around this illness and much arguing about what prevention remedies do and do not work.
History
Trench fever, through a wide variety of names, seems to have existed as long as Scaraquans have existed though ancient written records are sparse in general and no one seemed to have bothered to write about ancient afflictions of madness.

Given a cultural bias to quietly change the subject when a friend or family member's past or present madness is brought up in conversation, this is hardly surprising.

Speculation runs rampant for what causes this condition. Some think it's a natural disease, some think it came from this deity or that deity, others think it stems from the the Void, some think it stems from Scarterra somehow.

Cultural Reception
The wide variety of supposed causes leads to a wide variety of conflicting superstitions on what items or actions increase or decrease the chances of contracting this condition.

 

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "an ethnicity whose cultural exports are highly sought after"

(Also note, I built this ethnicity around Aranil the elf since we haven't figure out where his family holds sway).


Go to Scarterra Homepage
volcanic wood elves
Properly called bykan elves, the colloquial name of "volcanic elves" or "fiery elves" is used more often in ordinary conversation.

This ethnicity hails from a region in Codenya dotted with semi-active volcanoes. The soil is extremely fertile but the locals understand that nothing will last forever here.

By the Third Age, the bykans are rarely surprised by volcanic activity and when they are surprised it's more of an inconvenience than a deadly threat. Magical divination helps predict major Geothermal activity before it becomes a severe danger, and even without magic most bykan elders can read minor changes in the landscape to make accurate prediction for volcanic eruptions and dangerous geyser eruptions days in advance if not weeks in advance.

Unsurprisingly, given that their homelands are saturated with fire elemental energy, bykan elves have a lot of fiery elemental ethnicity in addition to a fair amount of earthy traits, making them stand out from the airy and watery primary traits most other wood elves manifest.

Culture
Culture And Cultural Heritage
Propelled by their fiery heritage and their general piety towards Zarthus, the bykans value artistic achievements greatly.

Music and storytelling is prized (because it cannot be destroyed by lava), but all forms of art are promoted. Most of the time, art can be evacuated before a seismic events and if not, the bykans accept that art, like most things in life, are transitory.
Shared Customary Codes And Values
While bykans are usually able to avoid volcanic related mishaps, the fact that they live, work, and love near ever present danger has influenced their psychology and culture. They are noticeably more prone to risk taking and living for the moment than the more slower paced wood elves in the rest of Codenya.
Average Technological Level
Bykans are fully integrated with other wood elves and have all the same access to the cultural achievements of the nation of Codenya that wood elves enjoy.

Relative to other wood elves, bykans encourage the study of wizardry and professions related to wizardry such as alchemy and herbalism. This helps bykans avoid the dangers of living in a geothermally active region while also taking advantage of the rare resources and opportunities this avails them.
Common Dress Code
Like most wood elves, the bykan dress pragmatically more often than not, dressing for comfort and often dressing to blend in with the forests.While this is not universal, bykans are more likely to dress flamboyantly than other wood elves favoring vibrant colors, at least some times. A bykan in the forest is not going to wear bright colors if he is hunting or on patrol.
Art & Architecture
They have a few citadels made of magically fortified volcanic rock that they can seek shelter from nature or enemies in, but most bykans live in easily constructed simple wooden and thatch huts.Even compared to other wood elves, bykans are not picky where they seek shelter and sleep. While the bykans value artistic expression in almost everything they do, they do not waste effort on sprucing up the buildings instead favoring more portable forms of art, their jewelry is especially renown and prized throughout Codenya.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
During a bykan's name day, the infant is generally anointed with a small amount of volcanic ash in a small formal ceremony.The volcanic ash symbolizes fertility, health, vitality, but ultimately that life is short and needs to be lived to the fullest.
Coming Of Age Rites
Boy boys and girls will typically have a coming of age rite which involves a climb up a volcano with minimal food and water. Upon reaching the summon, the climber will throw a symbolic trinket from their early childhood into a volcano. After descending the volcano, the young man or woman is given a piece of jewelry to recognize their new adult status, this jewelry is often but not always fashioned from obsidian.

Mostly this is a test of endurance, but if young elf gets a vision or is physically met by a spirit, this is considered a good omen.
Funerary And Memorial Customs
Bykans, not too surprisingly favor cremation. The family of the bereaved has a lot of leeway into deciding what to do with the ashes. Typically the ashes are kept in an urn for one year or nine years, and then spread over an area of significance to the individual such as the family home, one of the central volcanoes nearest their home or a place associated with happy memories during that person's life.
Ideals
Gender Ideals
Like most wood elves, bykans are very egalitarian rarely pushes either gender into specific roles letting boys and girls pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they help the community.
Courtship Ideals
Relative to other wood elves, Bykans are more emotionally driven and less pragmatic when selecting mates. Bykans don't differ much from wood elves as a whole. In fact, a great many bykans end marrying non-bykans, the bykans are hardly a homogenous group, either culturally or genetically.

Traditionally, while an elf born out the volcanic region of Codenya could display many traits commonly associated with bykans and be proud of her bykan heritage, for most, to be considered a bykan, one must grow up in the volcanic regions.

 

Finally was inspired to tackle this prompt

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "a new medical cure, treatment or breakthrough"

I wasn't sure I could write 300 words about something that changes color when it detects bad things, but apparently I never have a problem racking up a high word count.


Go to Scarterra Homepage
Alchemical Poison Detection
Alchemy ultimately boils down to being the science of transformation.

One common effect from alchemical reactions is color changing. This is usually used to teach apprentice alchemists basic reactions in a safe way or to entertain children, but eventually an alchemist who was also a doctor and herbalist came up with the idea of using alchemical color changing as a diagnostic tool.

Certain alchemical mixtures change colors in the presence of certain poisons. This has been used by many nobles to protect themselves against food or drink based poisons.

Certain alchemical mixtures change colors in the presence of certain diseases but this is uncommonly used because each disease requires a specific concoction whereas one alchemical concoction can detect many kinds of poisons.

Disease detectors are often used to control specific plagues or to test communal water supplies.

Certain substances can react with blood samples to cause color changes in the presence of certain conditions but at this is mostly used for autopsies rather than in a diagnosis/prevention manner.

With advanced training (and expensive ingredients) alchemists can concoct mixtures that cause color changes when exposed to supernatural curses.
Utility
Normally a sample of the food or drink being tested is separated to it's own container and a drop or pinch of the appropriate alchemical mixture is put in. If the color changes, the sample is tainted.

Sidebar
Inventor(s)
Fragments of surviving ancient writings shows that this science existed at least via elven inventors during the the Second Age but the knowledge was lost during the Second Unmaking .This process had to be re-invented during the Third Age by a wide variety of alchemists across Scarterra. Each disease, toxin, poison or curse needs a different mixture to detect, so there are many different inventors for many different related applications.
Access & Availability
The lore to use color changing diagnostic alchemical mixtures is wide spread, but the cost is fairly prohibitive (as it is for most alchemical creations), so these substances are mostly used by the upper classes and those who work for them as well as the various priesthoods.
Discovery
A great many alchemical reactions cause color changes. This was normally viewed as inconsequential byproduct of alchemy until some alchemists theorized that the color change itself could be useful.

 

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "a festival associated with a celestial body"


Go to Scarterra Homepage
Moonrise Tidal Rites
Dalgari is not an important deity in the daily lives of most Scaraquans but he does put the tides into motion and the tides are important in the daily lives of most Scaraquans.

Every full moon rise, at various places throughout Scaraqua, Dalgari's small priesthood will stage ceremonial plays chronicling major Scaraquan events that Dalgari was apart of.

Usually these locations are very near the surface or even just above the surface of the water, leading many Scarterrans to tell tales of Scaraquans rising from the sea during the full moon.

There are a tiny number of temples dedicated to Dalgari deep under the sea, and these locations have deep water reenactments similar to those above.
Components And Tools
Usually the performers wear ceremonial masks to play the role of Dalgari and other divine figures but if the local priesthood is larger and/or better funded than usual, they might have full costumes with multiple performers in them (like a Chinese parade dragon costume in the real world).
Participants
Very few lay people attend these plays regularly but most Scaraquans make it a point to go to at least one such play at least once a year, or perhaps once every other year. While these observances occur every lunar month, in some places it is traditional for members the upper class to attend these ceremonies at a specific point each year. On these nights, the priests and priestesses facilitating these plays often up their game and bring more actors, props, and musicians which only serves to draw even larger crowds.
Observance
The rights are observed every lunar month, starting at dusk on the night of the full moon.


So, that's all ten of the first set of World Anvil summer camp prompts. The next batch of prompts should be coming soon.

 

@pendrake @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, have either of you considered shooting for a badge for World Anvil Summer Camp 2021?

 

This is not connected to contest, but World Anvil has a bunch of random prompts, and this came up.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED A RUDE GESTURE IN YOUR WORLD? WHY IS IT OFFENSIVE?

Nine finger rude gesture
Holding up nine fingers and then sweeping them downwards, or mimicking wiping one's butt with the nine fingers, or biting the nine fingers is the Scarterran equivalent of the middle finger extended.

It represents the Nine collectively cursing, smiting, or simply shunning the targeted individual. It some ways it is the equivalent of "go to Hell" in real world Earth or "Go to the Void !" in Scarterra because if none of the Nine take your soul after death, there's a good chance a soul will go to the Void.

It's all I got, but if I want it publicly listed with the other responses to this prompt then I need to pad this to 300 words.

Not sure how much I can add to this without making it boring and clunky.

 

You can easily get it to 300, just name all the gods and which fingers is which god, and I'd like to hear why biting the fingers is as insulting as wiping your butt with them. You could also add which races/peoples use which variant of the insult and why.
Are there some who value one of the Nine so much that they use only eight fingers? So many questions!

 

Here is the revised article incorporating Aginor's suggestions.
Nine finger cursing gesture
Holding up nine fingers and then sweeping them downwards. An even harsher form of this is to use the fingers to mimic wiping one's butt with the nine fingers or biting the nine fingers is the Scarterran equivalent of the middle finger extended.

The nine fingers presented represent the Nine collectively, so this insult gesture implies that the whole of the Nine is cursing, smiting, and/or simply shunning the targeted individual. It some ways it is the equivalent of "go to Hell" in real world Earth or "Go to the Void !" in Scarterra because if none of the Nine take your soul after death, there's a good chance a soul will go to the Void.
History
The rude gesture cursing someone in the name of all the Nine is actually an inversion of blessing on behalf of all the Nine that was once popular with the Cult of the Compact. As the rude gesture became far more widely seen than the original blessing, most the Cult of the Compact because the blessing and the curse look very similar. Now all but the most orthodox of the Cult of the Compact has largely abandoned their old traditional blessing.
Execution
Maylar is traditionally the left pinky, Mera the left ring finger, Korus the middle finger, Nami the pointer, Greymoria the thumb.

The right thumb is tucked in, Khemra is the right pointer, Zarthus the right middle finger, Hallisan the right ring finger, and Phidas the pinky.

Sometimes this gesture is done without all fingers extended. For instance, Stahlheimer dwarves commonly tuck in Maylar's finger and Mondarian dwarves commonly tuck in Greymoria's thumb.
Participants
By the dawn of the The Feudal Era, this rude hand gesture had spread to every human culture in Scarterra as well as gnomes, dwarves, and elves though humans are far more likely to casually bring out this gesture than demihumans.




The thumb biting is a reference to the play Romeo and Juliet. When that play was written, biting your thumb was a secular rude gesture in parts of Europe.

Though I might cut out that Easter egg, an internet search suggests a gross origin to that.

Prisoners taken by local armies would be offered the chance to earn their freedom by eating a fig from a mule's anus. As the captors taunted their captive, offering them this degrading method of escape, they would bite their thumbs.

Most people don't know that part, just the Shakespeare part. Other places on the Internet put a more innocent spin on the origin of the thumb biting being the equivalent of sticky your tongue out.

 

Nice! I really like the added history.

There seems to be something wrong with this sentence though:

I left out a few words.

As the rude gesture became far more widely seen than the original blessing, most the Cult of the Compact became uncomfortable using the original because the blessing and the curse look very similar.

I make a lot of typos. I can easily spend hours combing through my old articles fixing typos and I never get them all.

 

I would give you a like for the correction, but you edited it into my post for some reason and even I cannot like my own posts.

 

Oops, not the first time I hit edit instead of reply. I am mad with power.

 

There are ten new prompts. I'm going to start with the harder prompts and work my way forward. Language is hard for me because the Summer Camp requires I write something new and I've pretty much covered Scarterran and Scaraquan languages in a comprehensive fashion because I want to keep the roster of languages fairly small.

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2021
Answering: "a lost or ancient language"


Go to Scarterra Homepage
the tengku's lost language
The tengku are very good at assimilating into other cultures and can learn new languages very fast. They will adapt to any culture but during the the Second Age they mostly attached themselves to elven nations and communities and during the the Third Age they have mostly attached themselves to human nations and communities.

In some ways, they were too good at assimilating to other cultures. During the Second Age, most tengku spoke Elven more often than their own tongue only speaking their own tongue in private. While tengku are highly literate compared to most other races, they almost never wrote in their own language.

Tengku made a point to teach their language to their young to keep it alive, but the language still declined over the Second Age. Overtime from disuse the tengku probably lost 10-20% of their languages words via lack of use.

During the Second Unmaking, most tengku that survived only managed to survive by closely tying themselves to enclaves other other races. When survival was the prime concern during the Second Unmaking and the Red Era, it was less of a priority to teach tengku chicks their mother tongue when teaching them Elven and Common will help keep them alive.

During the current Feudal Era, the tengku work fiercely to teach their young their native language but by this point, only about 30% of their original words are left in their collective memory.

Their grammar is pretty much forgotten too, most tengku will splice their own language into the framework of Elven or Common grammar.
Geographical Distribution
The tengku have no true homeland and are spread throughout all of Scarterra, so their language (what is left of it) is spread throughout Scarterra.

The tengku still rarely put their language to writing, but after losing over half their language during the Second Unmaking, they have created books containing all the words they know and entrusting it to Masks and Keepers to preserve what is left of their language for posterity.
Phonetics
The tengku language, to an untrained observer is not especially different from a raven squawking.

Common Phrases
The most common words that remain include things that are both important and personal to the tengku:
-Terms of endearment for family and friends.
-Commercial and business terms
-Curse words and profanity
-Geographic descriptors and travel conditions
-Terms to describe non-tengku

 

Semi-related note, I can write a World Anvil prompt pretty easily, but I have been in a long dry spell for writing stories.

I didn't enter the last short story contest, I have no ideas for the current one. I have three Warhammer fluff pieces that have been stuck in WIP mode a very long time and are essentially rotting on the vine.

More importantly, I have been able to trudge forward writing my hypothetical Scarterran novel.

Two things are holding me up (but they are probably just excuses).

1) I cannot decide where on the spectrum between realistic action and cinematic action.

2) I know I want Nilen to have a motley crew of sidekicks but I'm not sure who the sidekicks should be.



I need to cut back on streaming videos and video games (especially video games), but I have been saying that over and over again to no avail. It's not enough to stop doing unproductive things, but I need to fill that time with productive things.

Now that the libraries in my area are no longer severely restricted due to the CCP virus, I'm going to read more fantasy novels other people have written to see if this shakes anything loose.

I'm open to suggestions but I think I'm actually going to start reading A Song of Ice and Fire. I was avoiding starting this because I hate to leave something unfished and I'm 99% certain George R. Martin is not going to complete his series before he dies, so I should stop making excuses not to read the most influential fantasy author of the 21st century even though I'm 70% he is not going to finish book 6 and 99% sure he is not going to finish book 7.

I'm also going to read the original Conan the Cimmerian series, the inspiration for the Conan the Barbarian franchise.

Conan and A Song of Ice and Fire are two very different styles. Conan is very high on cinematic action. Conan can routinely fight 20 men and win. George R. Martin is very big on realistic action. Even the best warriors in his world cannot take on 5 men and win.