Tada!—It’s time for another fantastic Kings or Pawns contest! This is one I’m especially excited about! World-building has always been one of my absolute favorite reasons to write fantasy, and now it’s your chance to dive into the world yourself as an epic (or not-so-epic) character of your making!
Contest: If You Lived in Aersadore Start Date: August 8 End Date: August 29
Winner Drawn on August 29
Prize: Your choice of a poster, three bookmarks, or a scene (yes, anything: i.e. battle, conversation, meeting, smut) of your choice between two or three Kings or Pawns characters of your choice.
Posters 11 x 17 (left to right) Gods or Men, The Assassin, Kings or Pawns, Princes or Paupers
x3 Bookmarks
An original scene (yes, anything: i.e. battle, conversation, meeting, smut) of your choice between two or three Kings or Pawns characters of your choice
Judges: J. J. Sherwood (author). Alexandra Birr (editor). Michael Broering (web designer/manager).
Details:Using this map if you want to expand your world-view, (not mobile friendly) if you were a character from Aersadore, who would you be? SKY IS THE LIMIT HERE, PEOPLE--if you can imagine it in the fantasy genre, it can exist! For example, where would you be from? What skills and weaknesses would you have? Which of the characters would you want to journey with and why? Who in Aersadore would you not want to journey with and why? What adventures (and trouble) do you see yourself and your companions getting in to?
The entries will be judged on the overall awesomeness (can be epic / hilarious / so terrible it’s awesome / unique / other (so yes, basically anything—we are certain we’re going to love every single entry). In the event of a tie, the top contestants shall be thrown into a sweaty sock and winner drawn at random.
POST YOUR ENTRY IN THE COMMENTS BELOW BEFORE AUGUST 29
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Brian S Gardner
Yantiir, son of an elf and a yislaval. My mother, Yael, was less beast than her yislaval counterparts and managed to taunt my father, whose name she never told me, while he was traveling through the Yislaval Mountains. She came with child, but her brethren found the elf and killed him, feasting on his bones. I was fortunate that I was born looking more like yislaval than elves, otherwise my cousins would have killed me too. However, my elven blood tamed the typical yislaval bloodlust. I wanted to escape the mountain range and travel about Ryekarayn. Then Jikun passed through the mountains. With Jerah in tow, the other yislaval gave the group a wide berth. With my superior intelligence, I was able to get their attention and convince them to take me with them because I knew the quickest way through the mountains. Since then, we have been getting into all kinds of hijinks around Ryekarayn. Sometimes my anger bubbles over with Jikun (he is so stubborn!) and we get into fights. It usually devolves into Jerah restraining me and Navon or Darcarus restraining Jikun until cooler heads prevail. If I wanted to, I could rip his throat out before even Jerah could stop me (was that out loud?). My strength is only matched by Jerah, but my intellect is unmatched by any of these lesser elves. I don't flaunt it, though. I don't want them to throw me out. The fistfights are bad enough. I can't go back to the mountains and anywhere else I would be killed for what I look like.
Jikun's mission to overthrow this Saebellus character sounds like great fun. My yislaval community taught me how to kill elves and men alike so I should be a great help to Jikun and the others in the battles to come. Maybe then I'll be able to find a home in Eraydon City or even *gasp* Elvorium. What adventures could come to me then?
Ah, this was also my first thought of species, but you have written it much better than I ever could. I vote you win because this was a great essay, and your character wants to kick Jikun's ass.
Note: I started writing this before I read Brian S. Gardner's post. GMTA.
I am Skywyn, winged daughter of a Noc'olari healer and a yislaval warrior. My mother, Ilryiana, found my father injured and unconscious while gathering herbs in a secluded glade several miles from the great tree of Galadorium. She healed his wounds, and her healing touch so soothed his beast that he wished to mate her rather than eat her. She counted herself lucky that she was still alive when he flew away. Her luck soon ran out and she found herself pregnant with me. She told her family that she was going to the Temple of Ilra to serve the goddess, and might be out of touch for years.
With the aid of Myrhha, a loyal family servant, Ilryiana hid until she gave birth to me inside a huge tree deep in the forest. I learned to fly by watching the owls swooping around our tree, terrifying my mother when I leapt from her arms to glide through the forest with them at age two. She stayed with me until I was ten, when loneliness drove her back to her family. I visited her often, slipping unseen into her bedroom high in the branches of Galadorium on wings the deep blue violet of the Noco'larian night. With Ilryiana's purple hair and eyes, my wings and birdlike bone structure were the only physical manifestations of my yislaval heritage. My mother taught me the ways of the Noco'lari and I struggled to reconcile them with my hunter's nature. For many years I lived in my tree, hunting like the owls, a nocturnal predator with a healer's heart, until the night Saebellus' army attacked my mother's home and took her prisoner. By the time I learned of this, the army had withdrawn. Frantic as I flew over the bodies of my mother's people, I found Myrhha lying in the hall outside Ilryiana's room in a pool of her own blood. She looked dead, but as I touched her with a trembling hand, she moaned and opened her eyes. "Sky..." she whispered. "What happened?" I demanded with growing rage,"Where is my mother?"
"Took her", Myrhha gasped softly, clutching her abdomen with a bloody hand. "You must go, Skywyn...to my kinsman. Help you...find...mother..." Her voice weakened with each word and her eyes slipped shut. Gripping her shoulders, I gently shook her. "Who took her? Who is your kinsman? Where is he?" I asked urgently. For a moment I thought she was gone,and the grief nearly overwhelmed me. Then her eyes slit open, and I had to lean close to hear her breathy words. "Army...Itirel..." Her speech trailed off. "Myrhha! Who did this to you?" My voice rang with the anguished anger that consumed me. Myrhha took a shuddering breath, and I nearly missed her last word. Her chest fell and rose no more. I released her body and slowly stood, my wing tips dripping crimson, clenching my bloody fists. I made myself two vows. First, I would find this Itirel, and get my mother back. And when I found the murdering bastard elf called Vale, his ass would be MINE.
As to your story, I quite enjoy it. Your knowledge and use of the Noc'olari are admirable. And the fact that Skywyn wants to kill Vale, especially in the way he expresses it, is fist-clenchingly satisfying. Great imagery and description. I feel you have the better piece.
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Jikun's mission to overthrow this Saebellus character sounds like great fun. My yislaval community taught me how to kill elves and men alike so I should be a great help to Jikun and the others in the battles to come. Maybe then I'll be able to find a home in Eraydon City or even *gasp* Elvorium. What adventures could come to me then?
I am Skywyn, winged daughter of a Noc'olari healer and a yislaval warrior. My mother, Ilryiana, found my father injured and unconscious while gathering herbs in a secluded glade several miles from the great tree of Galadorium. She healed his wounds, and her healing touch so soothed his beast that he wished to mate her rather than eat her. She counted herself lucky that she was still alive when he flew away. Her luck soon ran out and she found herself pregnant with me. She told her family that she was going to the Temple of Ilra to serve the goddess, and might be out of touch for years.
With the aid of Myrhha, a loyal family servant, Ilryiana hid until she gave birth to me inside a huge tree deep in the forest. I learned to fly by watching the owls swooping around our tree, terrifying my mother when I leapt from her arms to glide through the forest with them at age two. She stayed with me until I was ten, when loneliness drove her back to her family. I visited her often, slipping unseen into her bedroom high in the branches of Galadorium on wings the deep blue violet of the Noco'larian night. With Ilryiana's purple hair and eyes, my wings and birdlike bone structure were the only physical manifestations of my yislaval heritage. My mother taught me the ways of the Noco'lari and I struggled to reconcile them with my hunter's nature. For many years I lived in my tree, hunting like the owls, a nocturnal predator with a healer's heart, until the night Saebellus' army attacked my mother's home and took her prisoner. By the time I learned of this, the army had withdrawn. Frantic as I flew over the bodies of my mother's people, I found Myrhha lying in the hall outside Ilryiana's room in a pool of her own blood. She looked dead, but as I touched her with a trembling hand, she moaned and opened her eyes. "Sky..." she whispered. "What happened?" I demanded with growing rage,"Where is my mother?"
"Took her", Myrhha gasped softly, clutching her abdomen with a bloody hand. "You must go, Skywyn...to my kinsman. Help you...find...mother..." Her voice weakened with each word and her eyes slipped shut. Gripping her shoulders, I gently shook her. "Who took her? Who is your kinsman? Where is he?" I asked urgently. For a moment I thought she was gone,and the grief nearly overwhelmed me. Then her eyes slit open, and I had to lean close to hear her breathy words. "Army...Itirel..." Her speech trailed off. "Myrhha! Who did this to you?" My voice rang with the anguished anger that consumed me. Myrhha took a shuddering breath, and I nearly missed her last word. Her chest fell and rose no more. I released her body and slowly stood, my wing tips dripping crimson, clenching my bloody fists. I made myself two vows. First, I would find this Itirel, and get my mother back. And when I found the murdering bastard elf called Vale, his ass would be MINE.