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

[Killer Angel]

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

Someone could say it's perfect for chaos dwarfs...

 

[J.Logan]

...let's just say that @Scalenex hasn't yet approved my idea for the next theme, but it could be "A long journey".

Hmm.. time to troubleshoot some ideas for viability and potential. Even if it doesn't turn out to be the final prompt, would still be a good exercise and practice run.

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

I felt that way about the Legion with the prompt of the first short contest I was involved in. The downside of having a unique faction that is automatically associated with you, makes it tricky to include them outside of cameos, and even cameos have to weigh the risk of whether it comes across as a self-reference or an easter egg than another author might have thrown in if they were writing a similar story.

I think it's telling that last time, I made references to three other peoples' works but not my own; granted because my own was the hardest to be descriptively vague about. Identifying the GoS was a matter of working out what I meant by tanks that were not steamtanks, while also using unusual (for Age of Sigmar) guns. Whereas, my Legion would be instantly identifiable the moment I described the lizardmen as "wearing dapper red coats".

Actually, while we're on the subject, what part of my work was it that had you clock onto it being me that wrote it? Need to know if it's something I can cover up next time.

Someone could say it's perfect for chaos dwarfs...

Well, yea, but someone would say that about any and all prompts. Unless the prompt was "Chaos humiliated" and even then someone might comment that "nothing says the Chaos dwarfs aren't the ones humiliating the other Chaos factions".

 

[pyro-dragon]

Actually, while we're on the subject, what part of my work was it that had you clock onto it being me that wrote it? Need to know if it's something I can cover up next time.

It was both the reference to GoS and the writing style. You write a lot and I have been slowly getting through it.

I do have a bunch of characters that did some from The World That Was including the star of the last tale so I might see about giving some snippets of their life before the end times.

 

[Scalenex]

...let's just say that @Scalenex hasn't yet approved my idea for the next theme, but it could be "A long journey".

I have a goldfish attention span in December, so I didn't announce the next contest yet.

Also I didn't realize there was such a high demand for early announcements. I thought people liked taking off time. I don't see anything wrong with that theme. I thought for a second we used that theme before but I misremembered, we never had a theme like that but I, Scalenex, once wrote a story called "A Long Journey".

 

[J.Logan]

Also I didn't realize there was such a high demand for early announcements. I thought people liked taking off time. I don't see anything wrong with that theme.

Sometimes it is nice to consider ideas before committing to them under the one-month time limit. I'd still use the month beforehand to take the time off - especially given which month we're in, but spit-balling ideas from an early announcement of the theme doesn't hurt.

So, by the wording, we'll full steam ahead for that theme? Unless @Killer Angel trolls us at the last second

 

[Killer Angel]

So, by the wording, we'll full steam ahead for that theme? Unless @Killer Angel trolls us at the last second

I'm not that kind of troll.

"A long journey" it is.

 

[J.Logan]

It was both the reference to GoS and the writing style. You write a lot and I have been slowly getting through it.

So, my writing "voice" then. Hmm, not something easily changed for the sake of disguise. XD And I'm not about to run it through ChatGPT with the request of "rewrite as if written by somebody else so that it looks less like my style. That feels too close to cheating.

"A long journey" it is.

Wunderbar. I'll brainstorm ideas that fit the theme. But for the interest of the spirit of the contest, I won't actually write any potential entries until the contest is officially announced in January. Mind you, if the speed at which I got the entry for this contest is any indication, it will probably feel as though I had it prepared in advance when @Scalenex receives the PM.

And yes, I was the one that he commented on the speed of the entry being submitted. What can I say, if I have an idea that takes root, I don't rest until that idea has been exorcised to the written word.

 

[pyro-dragon]

And yes, I was the one that he commented on the speed of the entry being submitted. What can I say, if I have an idea that takes root, I don't rest until that idea has been exorcised to the written word.

Mine tool ages because I had to research the timeline of events for my guy to take part in, figure out which ones I needed to cut and make sure the maths added up.

I'll give five Pyro Points to anyone who can name all the lizardmen timeline events I put Xi-Boc through.

 

[Killer Angel]

But for the interest of the spirit of the contest, I won't actually write any potential entries until the contest is officially announced in January.

ATM i have absolutely no idea about my possible entry.
But sometime i struggle with the "one month" schedule, so at least this round everyone will have some extra time

 

[Mr.Crocodile]

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.

Oh hey! Can't believe I missed this, I was literally just logging in to share the news that the story is just about to end its hiatus perioid. Thanks for the callout!

 

[J.Logan]

Oh hey! Can't believe I missed this, I was literally just logging in to share the news that the story is just about to end its hiatus perioid. Thanks for the callout!

It was my pleasure. XD

But sometime i struggle with the "one month" schedule

That certainly hasn't stopped you from consistently winning

 

[Killer Angel]

That certainly hasn't stopped you from consistently winning

 

[Karak Norn Clansman]

What greatness was packed into all four stories for this contest! Each had its own take on the theme. Strange to say, my vote was cast not for the glorious Chaos Dwarf story, but for the Warrior's Art. I guess it talked to me as a person who has worked with his hands and dabbled in arts and crafts all life long. Needless to say, all four entries were worthy of a vote, and so I cast mine with the one that made the strongest impression.

Wonderful humour all throughout, folks. And that Dread K'daii is just too bonkers of an idea! Wonderfully evocative writing, too, a delight for Chaos Dwarf eyes for sure. I have shared Like Father, Like Son over on Chaos Dwarfs Online here, duly linked and credited.

A Critique was fun, as was the unexpected ending of the Never-Histories. The latter was also a clever play on the World-That-Was in Age of Sigmar.

Also, I'd better start to keep an eye out for Lustria Online's writing competitions. Maybe I'll get to join one sometime soon. Some of my recent forays into history and archaeology has been in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (how crazy of a concept are Maya cacao bean counterfeits made out of clay, for instance?), and Dinosaurs are one of my lifelong passions from a very early age. I've already written plenty of unlikely stories about everyday stuff turned insane for Chaos Dwarfs and the Imperium of Man, so it's a challenge to see if I can come up with something for the Skink barios as well.

Cheers