Jump to content

Sovereign States


FeatherWriter

Recommended Posts

So, I mentioned this on the Creators Corner board, but I figure you all are more the target audience.

Basically, there's this really awesome writing competition called Sovereign States on DeviantArt. And it needs more participants.

Badly.

Like if they don't get some more people on board by July, it might not happen. And this competition looks like a ton of fun, so it'd be great if a bunch of people competed.

Here's the gist. I'm not sure how familiar you all are with Original Character tournaments, but for the most part, you submit a character to the competition, your character gets matched up with another character, you and the other person each make a write-up of how the match would go (usually a fight of some sort), and the person with the best write-up moves on to the next round, with their write-up becoming canon. Rinse and repeat until you've got a winner.

Now, OCTs are fun. But Sovereign States is even cooler. Instead of being an Original Character Tournament, SS is an Original Civilization Tournament. You create a race of people (humanoid for the most part, but adaptations are allowed) and you follow them through history as they meet and fight against the other civilizations on the planet. Each round is a different era; moving from the tribal phase to medieval to rennaisance to present day. Victory doesn't necessarily have to be conquest, it can be mercantile or peaceful or some other kind, but by the end of each round, there will be a winner, and that Civ moves on to becoming the world power.

It's "the winner writes the history books" taken up to eleven!

If you like worldbuilding or creating races and societies whatsoever, please consider joining! I think this OCT will be a ton of fun, and it'd be so cool if 17th Shard kinda took over. The link is at the top of this post and you can read about the world and the requirements. Some of the auditions are already up and you can look through those to get a feel for the races.

If you want to read mine (or what I have finished of it so far), it's over herein the Creator's Corner.

And seriously. Do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This seems mighty interesting, and creating the Leyari made me fall in love with civilization creation, haha.

Questions: From what I've read on site, this world is non-magic. Is this correct? Also, how many civilizations usually participate?

EDIT: Nevermind that first question. Just read your post in the Creator's Corner.

EDIT: As for biome selection, if we are beginning with a tribal people, what is the policy for nomadic groups?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea, but I tend not to stick with forums and such if they are already established for a while or have a lot of members (There wasn't a lot of members when I joined 17th shard).

Also, I am kinda busy at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

You should do it anyway! And Emeralis, Deviantart is the host site, not a forum. The actual SovStates group is fairly small at the moment if you're worried about it being "too established." There's actually very little that is established at all.

And as for the no magic policy, it's really not that hard. I took one of my fantasy races and just came up with some sciencey-sounding explanation for their powers (they get stronger in the sunlight). I think the reason we all love Brandon's magic systems is because they're so scientific.

That, and because they really need more applicants, the judges have toned down the hard science aspect a bit. Plausible is more what they're looking for now. They just don't want waving wands and sorcery. I'm fairly sure something like the Ley Lines (for you EC Rpers) could be tweaked and reworked to fit the universe without too many problems. And it wouldn't be impossible to justify systems like Allomancy with a little creativity. (Heck, I'm sure Brandon already has. Spiritual DNA and ratios of Preservation to Ruin and all that) It's not like the magic of Harry Potter where there is no other explanation than just magic; that's the kind of thing that wouldn't work.

(Obviously I'm not saying you should try to pass off a race of mistborn, but the things we think of as "magic" might not have to be seen that way if you tweaked them a bit.)

If you love race building, don't let the magic thing stop you. That's a minor speedbump in this whole thing.

EDIT: Totally meant to mention this, but Comatose, as to the nomadic thing, I think they just want you to pick a biome to roam through, not necessarily a specific place within that Biome. I'd talk to the judges to be sure though.

Edited by FeatherWriter
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, you'll need a deviantart account if you don't already have one. Then go to the SovStates page HERE, read through the rules, regulations, blah blah blah.

Your audition needs three things:

A race reference: basically an outline of your race as creatures. This is where you mention any attributes or enhancements that they have. If they're completely human, this is fairly easy but you should still put a few things about the way your race looks that can differentiate them.

An Attitudes and Beliefs outline, (here's an explanation): This is the bare bones of your race's culture. Religion, relationships, government, all that. (Mine's HERE if you'd like to see what I did)

Lastly, the audition itself. Give us a snapshot of your race in their tribal phase. Mine is on my deviantart as well as the Creator's Corner. Yours doesn't have to be nearly as long as mine; most are only about a page long. But the storyteller in me gets carried away.

That's it really. If you're looking for ideas, check out some of the already submitted auditions, references, and attitudes. Mine's not the be-all-end-all; be creative!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...