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Contest January-February 2017 Short Story Contest

Scalenex
Slann

Scalenex

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It is with great pride that I announce this next contest. This is our ninth Contest representing our third year of unbroken (though not always punctual) seasonal short story contests.

Per our recent tradition, the last contest winner got to pick the Short Story Contest. @Y'ttar Scaletail's contest theme doesn't translate to English well, closest is "vengeance-hope." I have modified this to "Vengeance and/or Hope"

It's only fitting that Y'ttar is providing us with the theme since I steal-acquired the contest format from him three years ago.

The Rules

-We would like you to try to keep your story between 500 and 2000 words. I am requiring that entries do not exceed 2400 words. This is counting title, poems, quotes, any add-ons. If I get a submission that exceeds 2400 words, I will trim it till it meets the limit, and you may not like what I choose to cut.
-Your name must appear nowhere with the story. There is no point in having an anonymous competition based on skill if we know whose entry is whose.
-You must send your story via private message to Scalenex before the end of Ground Hog Day midnight (US Central time) on Feb 3rd .
-The story must be new. No dragging up a story you wrote months or years ago.
-No plagiarism. This means no stealing a story verbatim. You are free to use characters or settings from other works.
-The story must involve Lizardmen (or Seraphon or Salamanders) to some extent
-The story must stick roughly within the theme, at least a little.
-No comics or illustrations. This is a short story contest. Visuals are limited to fonts and text colors. We have regular contests for visual art.
-Only one entry allowed per person.
I will do my best to providing proofreading and general advise to writers who ask for it. Keep in mind there is usually a flood of entries coming in the last week, so the earlier you submit your piece to me, the easier it will be for me to help you. You are welcome to ask anyone else you wish for help or advice.

Once again, the winner of this contest has the honor of choosing the next contest theme. Unless they don't want to it which I case I'll have to steal it from Slanputin or Bob come with something myself.

If you want to talk about the theme, your eagerness to write or read something. Please do so below!
 
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Am I allowed to make a sequel to my previous story (with actual characters this time)?
 
It's a pity I've hit a brick wall with my Fireblade sequel. I reckon it'd fit well into this competition's theme. Also, sorry for being so quiet lately. Must remember that I've got this account more often.

P.S. Though it's quite unlikely, if you want to write your own follow-up to Fireblade's Challenge, I'd love to see it. Might help get the gears unstuck. I'm still very flattered there was an Art Contest entry based on FC.
 
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Vengeance and/or Hope

Cool theme... brings up a few ideas:

The Lizardmen decide to chastise some warmbloods for overstepping their bounds/not being where they were supposed to. The ultimate example being Mazdamundi leveling an entire city of Estalians to get them off his lawn. Or they could launch some expeditions into the Old World to bring back artifacts? Or kill off a generation of soft-skins in retribution for despoiling their ancestral lands in Lustria? Maybe they are taking vengeance against the daemons who ravaged their lost temple cities, but ultimately are loosing hope because they know daemons can only be banished and never truly defeated?

Hope is also interesting. Do reptiles feel hope? I am guessing the skinks "hope" the Old Ones will come back, do the Slann? Do they KNOW the Old Ones are dead, and are just keeping up the religion to maintain the loyalty of their followers? Maybe they KNOW the Old One wont come back, but like the power they have, and keep up a fascade of pretending to try to communicate and find them and discover the Great Plan, which looks like gibberish to the skinks, just to lead them on?

I feel like the arrival of the serpent-god Sotek is a great example of "hope" for the Lizardmen; a hope that the gods would return manifesting itself in the warp as a new Lizardmen god, reborn in their image, to carry out their vengeance on the rest of the world through his chosen prophet Tehenuhuanin.

So yup, lots of good ideas from this prompt. I HOPE everyone comes up with some good stuff!
 
Warden said:
Vengeance and/or Hope

Cool theme... brings up a few ideas:
Click to expand...
So, I may have completely forgotten about choosing a theme-thing or two until a decaying lizard-thing kicked my door down and began poking me with a sharpened stick. He then declared in a voice filled with more death and decay than a Pestilens brotherhood's undergarments that I had better pick something or else.

Not wishing to wait and see what this 'else' was, I asked for ten minutes and frantically wracked my brain-meat for themes to satisfy this servant-thing of Nagash. Vengeance...yes-yes, that's a strong emotion. Lizard-things like vengeance on things. But vengeance couldn't work on its own, no-no. I was close to the second part being 'the price of magic' but you lizard-things don't generally explode from using magic. As the final seconds ticked away, I quickly scribbled down something as powerful in feeling as this vengeance-thing. Hope.

Scalenex seems at least pleased with this effort and I need to invest in better locks.
 
Y'ttar Scaletail said:
'the price of magic'
Click to expand...

I could actually see this as a really good promp. Lizards may not have many consequences, but there is always a price. The slann themselves slept for so long because Choas muddled the winds and the world, their deep connection with magic and the whole state of the world that was able to affect them because of it. And then, now, in the Age of Sigmar, they are masters of magic, but completely alone and alien to the Realms, harnessing the stars. No telling what kind of price that might have.
 
Y'ttar Scaletail said:
you lizard-things
Click to expand...

I'm always intrigued by your queer turns of phrase, old chap. What an eccentric breath of fresh air your are! I'd love to visit the temple city where you grew up one day.

As for our dear leader, I'm afraid we just have to put up with his unholy powers of pursuit and his feverish devotion to maintaining proper order. They may have been fostered by the Supreme Lord of the Undead but we find they are perfectly suited to Lustrian temperament. You'll learn to love it some time around the fourth or fifth time you have to buy new hinges.
 
Carnikang said:
I could actually see this as a really good promp. Lizards may not have many consequences, but there is always a price. The slann themselves slept for so long because Choas muddled the winds and the world, their deep connection with magic and the whole state of the world that was able to affect them because of it. And then, now, in the Age of Sigmar, they are masters of magic, but completely alone and alien to the Realms, harnessing the stars. No telling what kind of price that might have.
Click to expand...
Heh, now I kinda wish I had gone with that theme. It was a theme in a UE story comp a few years back, but didn't have a great showing or number of votes cast. I remember my entry being a fight between two Verminlords, with the victor about to strike when...actually, not going to spoil it. :P

Oh well, @Scalenex you can prolly add the theme I didn't use to your hat o' themes. :P

thedarkfourth said:
I'm always intrigued by your queer turns of phrase, old chap. What an eccentric breath of fresh air your are! I'd love to visit the temple city where you grew up one day.

As for our dear leader, I'm afraid we just have to put up with his unholy powers of pursuit and his feverish devotion to maintaining proper order. They may have been fostered by the Supreme Lord of the Undead but we find they are perfectly suited to Lustrian temperament. You'll learn to love it some time around the fourth or fifth time you have to buy new hinges.
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Er yes-yes, eccentric...that's it. As for my home-warren...I mean...temple-warren, it's Skav...er...Skav-il-t'ik? Very far-far off, not-not worth the journey really.
 
Warden said:
I feel like the arrival of the serpent-god Sotek is a great example of "hope" for the Lizardmen; a hope that the gods would return manifesting itself in the warp as a new Lizardmen god, reborn in their image, to carry out their vengeance on the rest of the world through his chosen prophet Tehenuhuanin.
Click to expand...

Sotek is especially appropriate because the Skinks were all hoping for vengeance.

Besides hoping for vengeance, one can want vengeance against someone who destroyed hope.

I guess my piece "In Pursuit of Freedom" last contest had someone hoping for vengeance, a lot.
 
Some unsatisfying ideas that don't go nowhere, 'til now. And life doesn't help. :confused:
Can I excange those ideas with just one good?
 
Finally got my story done! I have been struggling for time this month. But it is in, Vengeance and or Hope is a great story hook, unfortunately it pulls your imagination a lot of different ways. It's tough to keep a cohesive story in your head before you start writing. So many elements you want to add in.
 
17 days to go and we have three excellent and very distinctive entries so far.

Fun Data

1st Contest Jan-Feb 2015, 6 first time entrants.
2nd Contest April-May 2015, 1 first time entrants
3rd Contest July-August 2015, 3 first time entrants
4th Contest October-November 2015, 6 first time entrants
5th Contest January-February 2016, 6 first time entrants
6th Contest April-May 2016, 5 first time entrants
7th Contest July-August 2016, 0 first time entrants.
8th Contest October-November 2016, 1 first time entrant
9th Contest January-February 2017, 1 first time entrant so far.
 
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Typically i've been struggling to come up with any ideas. Maybe it's picking the theme(s), though i'm going to blame Moulder Pitfighters' campaign for draining all my writing juices. :P

Think i'm getting there now, slowly but surely...
 
thedarkfourth said:
As for our dear leader, I'm afraid we just have to put up with his unholy powers of pursuit and his feverish devotion to maintaining proper order. They may have been fostered by the Supreme Lord of the Undead but we find they are perfectly suited to Lustrian temperament. You'll learn to love it some time around the fourth or fifth time you have to buy new hinges.
Click to expand...

I've known the Supreme One for longest. I suggest you just put up a curtain.
 
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*looks stunned* Oh my god. B-....Bob? Bob, is that you? *puts claw up to eggshell to check that it's real*

*runs into corridor* It's Bob! Hey everyone, come see! BOB HAS RETURNED TO US!!!!! *whispers start spreading up and down corridor and out into all parts of the city*

...basically where I'm going with this is that you can't leave again Bob, now that you're back. Tell us of your travels. Tell us of the world Beyond. Write us a contest entry for old one's sake.
 
nope, I must accept the truth. This round I wont be able to join the competition. :(

Hopefully, the pause will be useful to recharge my "writer battery"
 
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