Specifics

Mal'ari'carun's Character Development Extravaganza

What:A three month competition consisting of twelve phases, each one exploring a different period in the contestant's character's life and designed to answer important questions about that character to assist in in further writing and roleplay. Each submission should be a minimum of two pages at 12 point font, single-spaced. Alternately, a contestant may write poetry in lieu of submitting a story, but said-poetry must be a minimum of eight stanzas (four couplets each) or equivalent (32 lines total).

Why: The competition aims to force people to invest more emotion in theircharacter. By doing so, it will increase participation in other competitions (to defend their “honor”) and decrease AWOLs and Rogues (people will be less likely to quite on a fully-developed character).

Rewards: Each phase will include a first, second, and third place winner. In addition, halfway through the competition competitors will be ranked first, second and third place thus far. In addition, at the half-way mark, all those who compete in each phase to that point will receive a reward. At the end, rewards will be given for all those who participate in every phrase, as well as for the top five participants. There is also the option for honorable mention (perhaps a given participant did exceptionally well over-all, however did not compete in several of the phases).

Phase Rewards: Fifth Level Crescents for placement 1st Place: Crescent with Emerald Star 2nd Place: Crescent with Topaz Star 3rd Place: Crescent with Quartz Star

Half-way Home: Third Level Crescents for placement 1st Place: Crescent with Amethyst Star 2nd Place: Crescent with Sapphire Star 3rd Place: Crescent with Emerald Star Participation:Crescent with Quartz Star

Final Rewards: Various Rewards for placement 1st Place: Crescent with Ruby Star 2nd Place: Crescent with Amethyst Star 3rd Place: Crescent with Sapphire Star 4th Place: Crescent with Emerald Star 5th Place: Crescent with Topaz Star Honorable: Crescent with Quartz Star Participation: Anteian Cross

Grading:As in all writing, spelling & grammar count. However, more important are the plot and continuity, as well as the originality. The breakdown on percentages follows the Examples below. All entries will be graded on a 10.00 point scale and winners determined by highest point value. Overall winners will be determined by averaging their scores from each phase. To prevent winners who only participate in part of the competition, all contestants without an entry for a given phase will have a “5” substituted instead for their overall score. Contestants who transfer to Naga Sadow during the competition or notify the judges in advance that they will not be able to participate in a given portion (assuming they will participate in all later portions) will not be averaged a “5” for missed portions of the event. Instead the averaging for them will occur only for the portions of the competition for which they were present. This will hopefully put all contestants on equal footing. Any exceptions to this policy (such a person missing just Phases 2 and 7) will be handled on a case-by-case basis by consensus among the judges.

Example #1: Darth Jake transfers to NagaSadow between Phase 4 and Phase 5. Starting with Phase 6, they compete in all events. Their final score will be their point values from Phases 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 averaged (totaled then divided by seven).

Example #2: Darth Lazy is in CNS for the entire competition. He competes in the first two phases, then skips four. After that, he competes in the remaining phases. For Phases 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 his point value is whatever his submission was worth. For phases 3, 4, 5, and 6 his point value is “5”. His total point value will be averaged including the “5”'s (totaled, then divided by twelve).

Example #3: Darth N00B joins CNS during Phase 3.