Contest October-November Short Story Contest Voting Thread (Votes Close December 7th)

Hmm... I have a suspicion on the why that is the case. And it isn't just because of the Meme-bringer dancing about Chaos Dwarfs in the background

I'll likely give more in-depth thoughts on the stories that aren't mine after identities have been revealed.

 

Yes, I thought so

 

I was thinking about adding a small encounter with Chaos Dwarves in mine but it felt so forced. I was haunted by that someone saying that every story that mentioned them won. I should have heeded the lessons of the ancients!

 

Oh, and I forgot to say, first, congratulations to @Killer Angel. Secondly, thanks for the cameo @J.Logan

 

Congratulations to @Killer Angel with the win! I liked the story, it was a brief glimpse in the lore of the Chaos dwarfs. Totally new for me.

My votes went to the Never-Histories, great piece of writing.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

I was very tempted to have a Dawi-Zhaar image, but I was already at the low end of the word limit so I nixed the idea.

No problem. I thought the Guns were a good way of emphasizing an alternate timeline that felt wildly unusual for those within Age of Sigmar's setting to behold. Even moreso than @Warden's Saurmurai of the Dragon Isles.

Also included were two of @Mr.Crocodile's works. The elf girl hugging a Kroxigor is one of my favourite oneshots in his Lustria Unleashes series, just because of how cute it is, and I imagine that the image was just the exact same picture included in that short. The other, the human with gold ringed eyes, is meant to be a reference to this "Herald of the Old Ones" though after the fact I was uncertain how well I remembered the titular herald's description and whether I wad remembering correctly the gold rings in his eyes.

Archaon getting booted in the nads by Grimgor Ironhide (not that anybody knew Grimgor's name, that being a detail lost to history) is a reference to the canonical ending of the Storm of Chaos event, before GeeDubs retconed it for the End Times. According to the Warhammer RPG of the day, that was the move that win Grimgor the battle. Or I am once again misremembering details. But I just wanted to go out on a moment of levity, remembered that there was at one time a canonical event that ended with the most feared man of the setting being booted in the gentleman's sausage and thought "why not".

Not alternate histories or references to any fan stories, but Thorgrim Grudgebearer and Karl Franz had cameos, but like Grimgor, the name is lost to most of those of the Realms.

Why set it in Age of Sigmar? Because I had a feeling that AoS wouldn't get much representation, and I felt like experimenting. AoS is one of those settings where you can be far more open for exploration in strange and unusual details, it's basically Warhammer planescape. The Sanctum of Divergent Histories felt like the kind of unusual discovery that would be found in the Realms, with a lingering mystery as to its origins.

I didn't include a reference to my Outland Legion, because I felt it would have been the marker that made it too obviously me, and it would have felt needlessly self indulgent besides. And this way, I left it open for myself to say that this was part of the same timeline as the Legion exists (the original plan always included them getting to survive into Age of Sigmar).

Tobias Greymantle is a character I might explore again later down the line. The idea in my head is that in his youth he was an Indiana Jones type character, a glorified tomb raider, but not for wealth but a legitimate passion for uncovering history and helping the Realms to learn that history.

Elmyra was something of a thought experiment of "so skink is living along the warmbloods as a peer, how did that shape her?" And in her case, having a name that was warmbloodified to a feminine name feels like as good a reason as any for her to shrug and say "ok, guess I'm officially a female then. Anything I need to know specifically as a female? No? Then let's just move on."

Alternate idea for my entry included an Oceans 11 styled art heist. Would have included teeth clenched teamwork as a member of the team would have been a skaven who was hired as a consultant, a wood elf who is finding the while thing so absurd that he's going along with it just because it's so hilarious to him, and a Dawi who insists he is the Old World's greatest gymnast, which he isn't, but everybody is too afraid to tell him because they aren't sure if he'll put them in the book for insulting him. And the skink and saurus who would have been the Lustrian representation.

Shelved that idea, because I knew after ten minutes of consideration that I could never condense that into the word limit.

 

It's a tale as old as time...

When it comes to Hashut, you should expect the unexpected. The extraordinary becomes ordinary. Nothing is impossible.

... but for the vote too. Especially with such a razor close victory.

The perils of overconfidence. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

They've won nearly every contest (at least since I've been tracking it).
There was a contest with two Chaos Dwarf entries, one of which won, so therefore the other Chaos Dwarf entry lost. Discounting that one, I can only remember a single time where a Chaos Dwarf entry lost in a field of non-Chaos Dwarf stories.

So while they may not have a perfect win rate, a 90%+ win rate is not too shabby.

There is always next time! It's never too late to accept the blessings of Hashut.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Then you've got a good starting point for your next contest entry. Embrace the dark side!

Funny enough, it wasn't the case until I read this post of yours. I simply hadn't prepared my Slann ascension celebratory picture so I was waiting around. Once I read your post though, I knew I had to save my post for this momentous occasion.



Congratulations to @Killer Angel on yet another victory. He is statistically the greatest LO Short Story contest author of all time. No one has won as many LO short story contests as he has (and in the ultimate mic drop moment, he somehow managed to do all this with English as his second language ... truly he is blessed by Hashut). And his lead only continues to grow.

 

Ok... some thoughts on the stories that weren't written by me.

Story One "A Critique"

I hate to say it, but I don't feel surprised at that outcome. Not because it was badly written, because it wasn't. But as entertaining as it was to read a satirical take on an art review using a golden plaque as the art in question, it didn't scratch my itch for a story. Well, it didn't for for me at any rate, it clearly did for @Killer Angel.

I don't say this to take away from @thedarkfourth, it was still amusing to read. And the image of a skink scribe writing articles for a weekly magazine will linger within. But again, as it wasn't a story, it wasn't the itch scratcher.

Story Two, "The Warrior's Art"

This was my vote.

I enjoyed seeing the life of Xi-Boc, from a youngling all the way to an experienced Oldblood. I felt absolute sympathy for him when he tried to make a contribution to the painting only to have it dismissed and covered over. I've been there, I've wanted to make contributions only for any attempt to do so be ignored at best and treated like a bother at worst. I wanted to shake that one skink and say "talk to him, he clearly has an interest in your craft, even if he can't learn, at least engage!".

But then time passed, we have Xi-Boc growing into the warrior that his race has declared shall be his station in life. He grows, he learns. He masters his pre-ordained craft. And the story ends with his realisation that he did in fact learn an art and contribute, in the way that is natural for Saurus; through writing a book called the Art of War--KIDDING, I couldn't resist, considering his realisation used that very wording choice.

Xi-Boc's growth wasn't without its losses, he felt sadness at the pointless deaths that came from two Slann disagreeing with interpretations. There was nothing to suggest in the narrative that either was right or wrong, but this disagreement was big enough that a civil war was fought. The deaths that would have come would be pointless, they fell serving the Great Plan faithfully.

Like I said, this was my vote.

Story Four "Like Father, Like Son"

Ok... this was an amazing work. And not just because we had mecha-Dread Saurian. The Dawi-Zhaar are an oft ignored subset of Warhammer Fantasy, most people I've spoken with aren't even aware of their lore, just assume them to be "Dwarfs who were mutated and thus serve Chaos" rather than realise that they have a full on culture and lore that can be explored. They have their own versions of Slayers (who ironically go the opposite direction of their baseline cousins and clad themselves in MORE armour) and they have sorcerers who slowly pay a toll for their power.

So, what we get here, is the son of a sorcerer, tasked with building one of the greatest weapons that the Dawi-Zhaar have to their roster, and he decides that he's going to go one step beyond. How to improve on a K'daai? Well let's just hybridise it with one of the biggest and meanest predators of the world. I'm sure it won't backfire down the line, after the final punctuation point of the story has been placed.

We also get some entertainment as Drazhoath negotiates with a skaven, and the two know each other to be evil bastards and just accept that they're both going to be bastards. Kill a few minions? Bah, it's fine-fine, they weren't me-me! So anyway, surcharge is 50%.

 

Yes, let me know soon so that I might create a story and bask in the glory and euphoria of a story written.

 

Yes yes. I wish to know what the next story-tale might be about

 

God, that has GoS all over it. But that would give me away imediately!