((This is a contest! A writing contest. An RP writing contest. And an experiment.There is a boat on fire, caught in ever burning flames above the waters of the Howling Fjord, beneath which Alliance passenger and supply ships pass. The Grim have seen it, stood upon it.
I want to know why it is there. What caught it there? Why does it burn? What is its story?
Can the Grim use it? If so, how? If not, why?
While the Grim may apply violence in almost every situation, sometimes the steps towards the most effective methods of annihilation are hidden within the more thoughtful realms of history, discovery, and magic.
Tell me what you have learned before I gather us together once again, and we will see if any good comes of this.
~Qabian Amberlight, Keeper of the Mandate
There will be a prize at the end. At the moment, I'm probably looking at a [wowitem]Glacial Bag[/wowitem] for the winner and possible monetary incentive for runners up, but if anything, it won't be a huge amount, a couple dailies worth at most. The biggest prize should be the fun you have coming up with your entries!
Judging will be done essentially entirely on creativity, some on ability to link back to the Grim and the Grim's motives, and maybe a little on effort. Spelling and grammar are definitely not required, provided the final outcome is comprehensible. Bribes are acceptable, although I prefer bribes in the form of good stories. For the moment, I'm the only judge because I don't want to limit the participation of anyone in the guild, but I may bring in additional judging or open the judging to the guild if I feel it's appropriate based on the entries.
If you want to do research into what happened in the Howling Fjord according to canon lore, go ahead. I have some of my own ideas about why it's there, but Blizzard's incentive for putting it there is not really necessary for the contest because this is an exercise in creativity! It's one of those mostly blanks. Invent something fun or interesting! Doesn't match what other players come up with? Great! Add more mystery to the mystery!
Possible starting point ideas:
- You can write up your character's adventures or misadventures in trying to discover the nature of the ship and submit that either as a pure story perhaps recounted to Qabian verbally after the fact or some sort of written report, or just a simple story. If your character isn't particularly an intellectual, that doesn't have to prevent them from going out and looking for information in an attempt to win a prize.
- You can have your character discover (or forge!) a document about the ship itself, and submit the "found" document.
- You can have your character commune with spirits in an attempt to discover the nature or story of the ship, perhaps resulting in some sort of vision or maybe a song that can be shared.
- You can have your character beat the bloody pulp out of Alliance (not player characters unless with their permission) or servants of the Lich King in attempts to learn about the ship, and end up with nothing but blood on their hands and the story of how it got there.
- Pretty much anything you can think up!
Other than the subject matter itself, there are generally no restrictions. It can be as long or as short as you like, and if you want to make multiple contributions, go ahead, although I won't give more than one prize to any individual participant.
Rules and limitations:
1. You may work together and present something collaborative along with other Grim, but you may need to split the prize between you if you decide to do so.
2. Any form will do -- text, art (if you would rather draw than write), verse, some combination thereof, whatever.
3. Make sure whatever you come up with somehow relates back to the Grim or your character's place in the Grim, as well as has some relation back to the subject matter: the burning ship.
4. Keep it to an R rating. As long as its acceptable in a public movie theater, it should be fine. If you're at all unsure if what you have is inappropriate or possibly offensive, send it to me first and I'll decide.
5. Submissions can be made either through a post in the Gallow's End or by PM to me sometime over the next month (by mid-March). I'll specify a precise deadline as it comes closer and based on how much interest there is. If you want to post anything you do for this at TNG or the official forums, feel free, but make sure it also goes into the Gallow's End or a private message to me so that I don't miss it.
Map of the ship's location for those who missed the meeting:
Questions or comments?))
