Fa'e Writing Contest! WINNERS POSTED (see 1st post) | First Page | Forum

Gaia Forums » GAIA Gaming » Mini Shops » Breedable/Changing Pets

Report ad

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Post: 4910381_1 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:52:16 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:52:16 +0000

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_2 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:54:20 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:54:20 +0000

RULES:

You have until midnight, Sunday night, December 19th to get your entries in.
There is an entry fee: 1,000 gold. This is to cover the cost of both Fa'e that will be chosen. Please send the trade to the FAE HQ account.
There are some limitations this time around. To save our judges' sanities, we have instituted a word limit:

-700 word limit for the Personality section
-1000 word limit for the History section

Please, keep within these limits! We will allow you some leniency, but if you are grossly over the limit, your entry will be disqualified.
There are no edits allowed once you've turned your entry in - once it's in, that's it, you can't change it or edit it any further! So make sure it's perfect before you send it in.
This is not a custom Fa'e. The appearance of your Fa'e will be based on the legend. Please chose three main things that identify your Fa'e. This includes eye/hair/skin color. So, when describing their appearance, be sure that you chose only three things that you really cannot part with.
In this contest, a Fa'e concept can be based on the following: mythological characters (such as heroes, gods, demons, etc.), as well as places, creatures and objects. Make sure you have a link to a website somewhere that refers to the actuall legend. Also, make sure that the thing you are basing your Fa'e off is dead/has been destroyed (thus can be brought back as a Fa'e). Please refrain from basing your Fa'e idea on an original character of yours, as well as giving it multiple personalities/incarnae.
If you send your entry to the wrong account (i.e one of the judges or the FAE HQ account) then your entry will be disqualified and your gold will not be refunded, as you have broken a rule. Send your entrees to 'Fae Contest Staff' and your trade to 'FAE HQ.'
Please, BE NICE! If we see any cruelty, or rudeness, within this thread, your entry will be disqualified.

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_3 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:55:22 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:55:22 +0000

<center>SAMPLE ENTRY FORM:</center>

Name: Nyoka

Gender: Female

Personality: I won't get into this. Just describe their personality. Are they an introvert, or an extrovert? Are they laid back, or do they have a short fuse? Are they likely to fight their own battles, or find a weaker personality to manipulate to their own whims? Are they respectful, or do they loathe authority? Are they anything like their past life, or are they completely different? This is where all of this goes. Just be sure to keep it to the max of 700 words.

History: This is where you go in-depth on their past life. In Nyoka's case, she was Medusa. If you find things, like where/who this certain mythological being could have been derived from, you can use that in here as well, as Lenore did with Nyoka. Again, be sure to keep it to the max of 1000 words. ALSO, the link to information about the legend your concept is based on should be placed her as well.

Appearance: Please keep this as brief as possible. Remember, only three custom things can go here.

Tips

Spell check! It is hard for some people to concentrate if the entry they are reading is full of errors.
Research. You can never do too much research on your concept. Find out as much as you can about the mythological being/event/legend that your Fa'e is based on. It makes it far more interesting if you actually know what you are talking about.
No chat-speak. Think of this in terms of a term paper, or a employment application (although, it should be a bit more fun). Would you use chat-speak on either of those?
Make sure the link to your legend that you post in your entry works.

More to come!

____________

SUGGESTED APPLICATION FORMAT
Name:
Meaning of Name: (Optional, but if you've got a name that relates to your character, bloody awesome, XD.)
History: (Remember the word limit!)
Personality: (See above.)
Appearance: (Only three things, and any three things you want.)
Powers: (Don't go crazy.)
How do the powers and your character relate back to your mythos?
Why do you want a Fa'e?:

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_4 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:56:28 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:56:28 +0000

<center>ENTRIES:</center>

((Name // Link to Entry ))

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_5 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:59:28 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 09:59:28 +0000

FAQ

Q: I want my concept to be confidential! Where do I send it?

A: You can send your concept idea to Fae Contest Staff account. PLEASE understand that you can only send it ONCE. So make sure to revise it, spell check it and think about it before you click the send button.

Q: Is co-owning okay? Can two people work on one entry? Could I give the Fa'e to someone else if I won?

A: While there are some Fa'e who have co-Guardians, this was done because the Fa'e's original Guardian had some pressing RL reasons to be away from Gaia or the Fa'e game, and so they chose someone to care for their Fa'e in their absence. Co-Guardianship is very much the exception, not the norm, and it makes things complex - two people both RPing one character can get very messy very quickly. So no, no co-owning is allowed for this contest. One Guardian, one Fa'e.

As for two people working on one concept - whoever will be the Fa'e's Guardian, should they win, needs to do the most work. The prompts are not only to test your concept, they are to test your roleplaying and writing skill. YOUR being the operative word. We don't care how well someone who won't be RPing can write - we care about how well YOU can write.

In that same vein, if you win you cannot give the Fa'e to someone else. If you can write brilliantly, that's great - but we need to know how the Guardian operates.

Q: My concept, while rooted in actual mythos, is an original character. A sort of "what if" spin on a facet of a legend. Would this be considered appropriate or would only having roots in a legend make the concept fall short of eligibility?

A: Spin offs and "what if" situations are eligible, as long as at least part of your story is based on the actual legend. If you are simply using a mythos as a setting and place your own random character in it, then it's not eligible.

Q: The rules say that your concept character has to be destroyed so it can be reborn - is something simply being defeated and falling into obscurity in the legend, with the entrant making up the death, okay?

A: Sure, you can make up the death/destruction. It doesn't need to be stated anywhere in the legend as long as it had, in fact, occured. The reason for this restriction is to make sure that the fa'e is a "reincarnation", not a clone.

Q: Is using a fictional mythology base (i.e. from something like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc) acceptable?

A: Not for the purposes of this contest, no. Although there are some Fa'e that aren't based on real-world mythology, they are based on ORIGINAL mythology that the Guardians made up themselves. For this contest, the mythology base you use has to be a real one from an actual human culture.

Q: I wanted to know how old the mythology had to be - if something as
relatively recent (in religious terms) as Discordianism could be used."

A: As long as the thing you are basing it off is dead, then we think it's okey.

Q: My myth is really obscure and the only reference I've found is in a description of a book being sold online. It's got some of the main points of the story in it. Is that enough for a reference? How long/complete does the legend have to be?

A: Sure. But we'd suggest going to the library and find out more about your legend, if you want to write a decent description for the judges. Your reference should be at least a paragraph long. Hopefully more. Being thorough is good. And frankly - if you can barely find information on the appearance and history of that one particullar creature - why do you bother? There is no shortage in fairy tales, legends and gods out there. You got lots to choose from.

Q: How strict will you be with the word-limit?

A: The word limit is in place so that we can read all of the entries in a semi-timely fashion. We will be enforcing it, but if you go a few words over, that is understandable. Some sentences just cannot be shortened without sounding funny.

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_6 created on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 10:00:31 +0000
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 10:00:31 +0000

<center>JUDGES' SUGGESTIONS</center>

Anya!

Hey guys, I just wanted to say that we have 7 judges, including me, so, while you should take into consideration what people say here, please do not be too intimidated by it. We are looking for two fresh, well thought out, interesting ideas here. We are also looking for people who sound like they are able to write a great story. GOOD LUCK!

Puchiko

1) Use proper grammar and spelling. I'm not asking you to be a master of syntax, but please don't mess up your "to", "too", and "two"s.
2) Competent writing. I don't care how good a concept is - if the writing isn't good enough to back it up, it might as well be moot.
3) Lesser used mythos. Or, better yet, an interesting spin on a mythos. We have two angel Fa'e but neither of them are actually based on real Christianity - I'd be very impressed if I saw a Fa'e based on, say, Jewish Mysticism or actual Angels.
4) Formatting. Do NOT make your application one long, ugly paragraph.
5) Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, make your character a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. I will immediately disregard any applications that I feel makes their character uber-powerful and popular and ever-so amazing, etc.
6) I appreciate realism in a character more than I do amazing powers and background. If your character has a personality that pops out at me, I'm more likely to consider it than an interesting history.
7) JAPANESE NAMES. If I see a non-Japanese character with a Japanese name, I WILL SCREAM. Don't. Do. It.

Fae HQ

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_7 created on Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:10:24 +0000
Posted: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:10:24 +0000

Uhm. . . . snags first post. . . . sweatdrop

Jiora

(?)Community Member

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_8 created on Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:46:46 +0000
Posted: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:46:46 +0000

biggrin I was wondering if one of these would be held again. Good luck to everyone who enters! whee I can't to see what concepts get chosen.

Edit: After noticing the rule about concepts having to be based in existing mythology, I feel it's appropriate to drop some helpful links here, so here's a list of links to online mythology databases. :3 If anyone has more they'd like to be added here, just drop me a PM or something.

~God Checker Contributed by Fauve. :3
~Encyoclopedia Mythica
~Myths and Legends
~Mystica
~Loggia Contributed by Xaria. :3

~Behind the Name This one is simply a database of names that you can look through to come up with a name for your concept. It doesn't deal with myths at all.

Jiora

D: DUDE. PEOPLE. It's perfectly FINE to have an entry based on a myth that's already being used by another contest entrant. The only thing you cannot do is use a myth that one of the existing fa'e is based on.

For example: You may not base a fa'e on the Native American thunder bird. That's Taima's myth. However, two contest entrants may both base their concept on the Jersery Devil or some other myth that isn't used by any of the current fa'e.

~flopgrumble~

Sosiqui

(?)Community Member

Frigoris's Partner

Enduring Muse

Offline

Report Post
Post: 4910381_9 created on Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:48:35 +0000
Posted: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:48:35 +0000

Quick Fa'e Reference List
(incomplete)

Aadil - Norse Mythology (the Ragnarok)
Amilu - Faerie Legend? (Satyr)
Anen - Greek Mythology (the Moirae/Fates) | Powers: Mild precognition, affinity with the 'web' of Fate and possibility.
Arakel - Atlantis Legend (Unicorn) | Powers: Weather control/water affinity. Healing.
Astaroth - Chinese Mythology (Yan Lao, the King of Hell) | Powers: Teleportation, hellfire control.
Aurora - Original?
Aylana - Greek Mythology (Nyx, Goddess of Night)
Dawna - Siren
Devmani - Greek Mythology (Chiron; the constellation Saggitarius)
Faye - Original? | Powers: Commands ebil bunnehs.
Ghlyssa - Original (the Earthkeeper) | Powers: Plant affinity/control.
Hoshi - Original (the Starkeeper) | Powers: Celestial/star affinity.
Keir - Unknown? (Witch)
Kia - Egyptian/Original (a Bennu or Egyptian Phoenix)
Laylana - Unknown/Original?
Mordath - Faerie Legend (Unseelie Lord) | Powers: Shadow Magic affinity.
Morion - Original (Last of his Dragonkind)
Mortimer - Babylonian Mythology
Naia - Unknown? (Mermaid)
Nyoka - Greek Mythology (Medusa) | Powers: Stone Gaze.
Onuris - Egyptian Mythology (Isis)
Purr-Purr - Faerie Legend (Queen Titania)
Raeith - Chinese Mythology (Kirin/Ki-lin)
Rei - Original (Angel of Death)
Riven - Original (Spiritkeeper) | Powers: Non-Organic spirit control, summoning.
Rune - Atlantis Legend (Unicorn) | Powers: Weather control.
Sati - Indian Mythology (Kali)
Silver - Original (Protector)
Sire - ??? | Powers: Fire affinity/control.
Shina - Original (Angel of Rebirth) | Powers: Empathy, affinity to living souls, healing via spirit power.
Solo - ??? (kitsune?)
Taima - Native American (Thunderbird) | Powers: Lightning/electricity affinity.
Taka - ???
Yanisin - Native American (various legends) | Powers: Animal communication/affinity.
Yin - Original? (Concept of Yin/Yang) | Powers: Holy Magic (Yin), Shadow Magic (Yan).
Zevulon - ???

Ideas that wouldn't be a good idea: We already have unicorns, and dragons, and angels... so unless you have a really really original take on it, I wouldn't advise using those as bases. n_n

Here's some ideas for largely untapped cultures that could be interesting:
- African (there's more to the continent than Egypt, folks XD)
- Russian (the Firebird, the witch Baba Yaga?)
- American Folklore (the Jersey Devil, etc)
- Australian/Aboriginal
- Pacific Islands/Carribean
- Mexican (Mayan, general folklore)
- South American (Incan, Aztec, etc)
- Alaskan/Inuit
- More Native American/First People cultures - there's SO MANY that Yanisin and Taima hardly have a monopoly
- Germanic Folklore/Fairytale
- ... and loads and loads more. XD