Seeing as I was honored with not only 2 Chaos Dwarf stories but also 2 Nightbringer stories, perhaps I can have a go at a short review.
Story One: "Administer"
A good take on the contest theme. The story reads really well; very clear, descriptive and easy to follow. The author is able to take what is a mundane task, paperwork, and weave an engaging tale from it. A pleasant read that teaches us that sometimes it's best to just keep your head down and do no more than what is asked of you.
Story Two: "Food for Thought"
Food for Thought has to be given credit for being the most risky take on the contest theme. It's a bold move and it must be said that completely forgoing an in-universe story in a short story contest is the greatest example of non-conformity from among all the entries. The inclusion of both a Chaos Dwarfs AND Nightbringer mention of course automatically puts it in my top 2; I am a man of my word. If I am to be honest though, despite the admirable risk taking, I did miss having an actual in-universe story. That said, it was a truly unique and unexpected take on the theme. My favourite part of the story is the bit a the end about sleeping on it and finishing it tomorrow... but never doing so. Procrastination to the highest order; I can appreciate that.
Story Three: "The Quest!"
It's probably obvious by now, but this story, also doubling down on CD and Nightbringer mentions, was the one to capture my vote. The idea of satisfying the contest theme through a fourth wall breaking character versus narrator interaction was very clever. The format reminds me of a couple of old Looney Tunes cartoons I watched as a child where the characters of Daffy Duck in one episode and Bugs Bunny in another are endless tormented by the animator of the cartoon (turning out in the end to be Bugs and Elmer Fudd respectively). Good memories, and this time around that experience is presented uniquely through a written format. While I found it a bit jarring at first, it quickly accreted interest as it got rolling. A small aside on execution, bolding text for the narrator's speech was a fine touch, ensuring that source of the dialogue remained clear. The fourth wall breaking went a bit further though, pulling off an Inception-esque second level break by mentioning... well... me. So the author of this story is working with characters across three levels; the in story characters, the in story narrator and a person outside the story entirely. Sounds like non-conformity to me. And to top it off, our poor little skink protagonist finally got to enact some revenge on his tormentor. Who doesn't love a happy ending?
Story Four: "Oaxtep"
Another fine story. In terms of writing style, it was an exceptionally pleasant read, perhaps the only story to exceed story number one in that regard. Very polished. Upon completing the story, I instantly recognized it to be the single greatest threat to hand a CD story an uncharacteristic loss. In general, this is the type of story that I like most. It takes a hole in the lore (in this case the cause of the polar gate collapse and the coming of Chaos), and fills it with an interesting and believable explanation. A Slaan inadvertently causing the great catastrophe is not only completely plausible but extremely satisfying from a lore perspective. You could drop it straight into the army book and it would never feel out of place. Using this tale to teach our well intentioned skink the error of his ways, doubly good. Looking at the situation from his perspective, a well meaning deviation was undeniably demonstrated as potentially dangerous, and something to be avoided. If a Slann, with otherworldly judgement could error so grievously, then what hope would a skink have in navigating non-conformity to the great plan, even if that non-conformity was seemingly trivial. Magnus did nothing wrong? Without doubt the little skink was fully resolved to never repeat his error and would diligently stay on the preordained path. A resolution he would ultimately never get to enact. From our perspective a cruel end for a well intentioned break of protocol, but a reminder of the cold otherworldly nature of the children of the old ones. While (in my humble opinion) the SS contest stories generally run the risk of humanizing the Lizardmen too much, this one draws a very cold and clear distinction between the species. Well balanced in all regards.
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