Duelyst Lore Contest May 2017

[mmf]

Hello everyone and welcome to the reiteration of the Duelyst Lore Contest (which I’ve hinted at in the meme thread 3 days ago)! Based off of the Original Card Contest ( of which you can find here) this iteration of the Lore Contest has a few details that differ from the Original Contest so please read the details carefully! With that being said, let’s move onto the actual contest!

May’s Prompt: Myths and Legends

Create a myth regarding any Legendary card.

Contest rules and information:

• 200-600 words per submission text (Flavor text not included)
• 1-2 sentences of flavor text
• Submission must be on a Legendary card
• Only submissions are allowed on this thread and only one per user(you may edit as required however)
• From May 1st till May 31st 11:59 pm PST we are taking submissions in this thread for Duelyst card lore.
• The top ten entries from jury scoring will go to a community voting round from June 10 until June 13 11:59 pm PST

##Formatting of your post should be as follows:
Name of card
Flavor text in Italics
Submission text

##Tips

• Use strong active verbs
• Be concrete, specific, and tangible
• Leverage the senses (sight, smell, sound, touch)
• Use proper formatting and grammar. This helps us (the judges) understand your submission more easily.
• When referencing a location, make sure that it makes sense with the in-game world map (Maagari is to the west of the monolith, Vetruvia to the East, etc…)
• Keep the Point of View constant throughout the text. (Who is telling the legend? Audience? What is their relationship to the Legendary in question? Etc…)

##Prompts to help you get started

• What are unique aspects of the Legendary?
• What is the Legendary’s origin?
• What makes the Legendary legendary?
• How has it effected it’s environment/those around it?

##Prizing
1st- 2 Spirit Orbs + Loremaster title + place in jury for next Lore contest
2nd- 2 Spirit Orbs + place in jury for next Lore contest
3rd- 1 Spirit Orb + place in jury for next Lore contest

If you have any questions or would like to discuss yours or others entries please go here:

Feedback Thread for the Duelyst Lore Contest

Making a new discussion/feedback thread for the Lore Contest. Feel free to ask questions, discuss post ideas, etc.

Best of luck to all participants, and I hope that we see some interesting submissions out there!

[galaxydueler]

Are we creating lore for already existing legends?

If so I have a nice one for sarlac

[oranos]

Ghost Azalea

even in the darkest of places, life finds a way.

Deep in the darkest pits of the abyss where all but the crawlers fear to tread. Once every hundred years, in the tangled mess of creep where even the violet light of the shadow crystals does not reach, a single flower blooms.

For a single day, the stench of death, blood, and poison heralds the dawn of a new era. And for a single day, the roles of predator and prey reverse as the weak trample each other to obtain their prize and the strong run scared from the one thing they cannot fight. For in the abyss, the deadliest poison is more tempting than the sweetest nectar.

The eagerness of the weak to exact revenge on the strong drives this single flowers trip throughout the underground without pause. Even a single soft touch of the pale petals spells certain death, but those who have nothing to lose are eager to make that sacrifice.

Horrific pain that soon subsides to numbness is the harbinger of the end. The poison eats the victim from the inside out, leaving nothing but a husk of skin and a knot of shadow creep.

In the wake of a single azalea lies nothing but ghosts.

exactly 200 words

[galaxydueler]

Sarlac

A single warrior, with the might of a thousand

The wraithlings that survived from the last bloody battle gathered around lilithe. "Tell us about him, " as they pointed to Sarlac sleeping under the broken shards of a golem. Lilithe’s face lit up, which it didn’t do often. Lilithe begun telling the tale.

“Once upon a time, when conjuring wraithlings was more difficult than it is now, each wraithling was made with care, and even had a name. One such wraithling was named Sarlac.” Upon hearing this, the wraithlings growled with anticipation. “Sarlac had recieved the strength of the souls of his fallen comrades, using the power of death itself. He was stronger than any ironcliffe, more powerful than even a Mechazor. He had reached his full potential. He was going in, about to end the battle with Faie, the vanar commander. He felt a chill going down his spine. Faie was chanting a spell, but he knew he couldn’t die here. He had to do it, for his friends. Ice crystals surrounded him, and his lifeforce shattered. But he didn’t want to go just yet. He reappeared, just as a wraithling, one single wraithling, with only the strength of himself. But he had a newfound strength, not physically, but in his soul. Golden energy flowed around him. He was still here. He attacked faie. She took him out, but he didn’t leave the battlefield. He continued punching at faie, being reborn with every blow.” “That’s how we defeated the vanar,” Lilithe said with a cold, but genuine smile.

[thefirstgokun]

Inquisitor Kron

Since time immemorial, criminals of the aether face the jailor’s scorn.

The city of Kaero wheels unapologetically beneath the sun, unprotected by clouds of any substance. As the amber rooftops glitter and gleam, citizens go about their business in whatever shaded overhanging they can find. A single alabaster falcon siestas on a windowsill. The heat is suffocating, but hopeful eyes look towards an approaching cumulonimbus flock, anticipating the cool relief of consistent cloud cover.

Despite the clear skies, a crackle like thunder echoes through the muted sidestreets. Blue lightning tears a gash in the stuffy Vetruvian heat, and through the rift leaps a masked figure in red silks with golden trim. The interloper is wet and heavy with rainwater, and as the portal shuts itself another burst of thunder thrusts the sleepy alleyway into a panic. White birds scatter everywhere, and a merchant turns from his spices just in time to glimpse the turbulent waters of a naval storm through the portal. Already the interloper is vaulting over the guardrail that separates Kaero’s balconies from the multi kilometer drop to the terrestrial surface.

Once more, time and space comes apart, tearing open an electric seam along some unseen ley line. The interloper falls through and disappears entirely from sleepy Kaero, tumbling now through alien underbrush. The organic cacophony of the jungle creeps in around him, shrouding him in a dense animal atmosphere. Perhaps he is hoping the thick Shim’Zar foliage will shake the pursuer from his physical trail.

Hope, however, had abandoned the runaway. Before his eyes, a seafoam green glow pierces the deep emerald of the jungle. A massive gauntlet emerges from the darkness and snatches him, enclosing the poor man in an inescapable grip. Slowly, deliberately, the jailor steps out of nothingness, drawing its quarry close to its single, soulless eye. In one arm, it swings a hammer, bejeweled with a green crystal that burns without heat.

The red silks with golden trim erupt in a blaze, and the lithe figure of the runaway crumples and curls. His mask is bleached white by the flame, and his cloak transforms into a mantle of brown ash. The jailor’s eye is reflected in his own as he shrinks into himself, falling into a husk of his own twisted form. Chains of fire form about his wrists, and the runaway screams in agony. In spite of the soothing touch of the flame, the mere existence of this wretched form is agony.

The jailor releases its quarry. Without a face, without a self, the prisoner kneels before his captor. Together, Inquisitor Kron and its minion return to the aether and vanish from the physical world.

---

did this kind of quick so its not my best, but i love inquisitor kron so i knew i wanted to make one for him

[phayze]

The cards of fate are only wielded by those who are worthy of incinerating souls, those who bear the title of Nimbus

The sun blazes down, scorching the golden sands of Vetruvia as it watches over the city of Pyrae. Cards flip up and down as crystal blues gaze at them from behind a pale white mask. The sun-bleached mask shakes its head as it sees a dark future to come. It turns as it sees another Vetruvian walking up behind it.

‘Greetings Captain Pyris’
'Afternoon, Nimbus Sahia, what are you up to?'
The nimbus goes still as she considers the answer she’ll give her superior officer.
‘Nothing in particular, why, do you require my aid?’
‘There seems to be a band of mercenaries camped outside the city walls and before they try something foolish, it seems to be our job to stop them’
‘Understood Captain, I will meet you at the gates in 30 ticks’

She walks up to the gates, her armour shining in the sun as her cards levitate above her hand. Nodding to the Captain as shes joins her comrades in arms in the ranks of the small garrison being sent out to deal with the issue. They walked out and met with the leader of the bandits. Sahia standing silently as Pyris spoke to their leader. Her eyes narrowed as she saw her Captain draw his blade and clash with the enemy leader. Her arms raised as the cards of fate flipped over each other in her hands. An arrow from one of the bandits came her way and a card zipped out, intercepting the arrow. She let out a growl as her other hand pointed at the sand between her forces and the bandits. A grim looking obelysk formed out of silicon dust. The bandit that had fired the arrow at her attempted to destroy the obelysk by loosing an arrow at it. The obelysk cracked slightly as the bandit archer screamed in agony, dropping his bow as his eyes glowed blue. His soul evaporated as his body crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain. Her narrowed eyes glared at his fallen corpse. “Never, EVER, challenge a Nimbus”.

[mmf]

We’re almost halfway through the submission period folks! If you have any submissions or improvements to make on your posts, make sure to get them in before the deadline (which is May 31st 11:59 pm PST)!

Good luck!

[mmf]

Hello folks, with a little more than a week left for the submissions deadline, make sure to get your entries in before May 31st 11:59pm PST! The topic for the contest remains unchanged as of yet and if you haven’t yet read the Prompt rules and information, feel free to do so now. I urge you to take this chance at earning the Loremaster title and the pride that comes with it.

I (and the other judges) look forward to seeing what you have in store ,

-MMF

[galaxydueler]

Why’d you bump it?

I wanted to win by default because almost nobody posted

[phayze]

You wouldn’t have won anyway. I already submitted.

[edward4244]

Time maelstrom

Time is not for fools

"Everyone sees, talks, writes about time as a line in which we are located.

Fools,
Talking about Time like a static phenomenon.

Time in his more accurate form is a wave.
We are caught in it.
We are dragged by this immense, relentless, unstoppable flow.

Fools,
Weaving utopistic theories in which time can be stopped, reversed, controlled.

There is only one way to feel a glimpse of such magnificent power, and that is not by altering the wave himself.
But the fragments around it, the reality which holds it and it’s caressed by it.

Fools,
Every one of them.

There is not such thing as controlling the flow in his pure form.

We can not change the flow of water through a pipe, but we can change the pipe, modifying the course of the flow.
This theory applies to time,
But beware, we are not controlling the wave,
instead we are channeling it trough another course.

What course? You ask.
The most favorable one, the only tangible form we can hope to shape by our will.

Take your instruments and follow me,
we’ll revert time to chaos.

Hold tight,

today
you’ll see a time maelstrom"

-City of kaero, Ostracon
Aestari sage to his students

[Jaded_Kronos]

Storm Kage

Do not presume to find peace at the eye of the storm

The pair of Kaido trainees hacked and slashed their way through the sentient bamboo, heedless of the eerie cries of the Whistling Blades. They had been stationed in Khara’kum, but needed to arrive at Three Crossings by nightfall to await further instructions. However, the trainees were wary of the open fields to the east of their destination. The assassins, their mentors, had heard whispers of a strange, shadowy thundercloud that roamed the Ang’mar glades, an entity of unknown allegiance that could pose a threat to their order.

Cutting away the last swaths of undergrowth, the acolytes hurried towards the Sanpo river to refill their dwindling water supplies. To the West, the Jade Gardens beckoned, the Monks no doubt meditating inside. To the North, they could just discern the glow of the Twilight Spring. They were never given the chance to gaze eastward as the clouds were suddenly, violently upon them. Lightning sheared through the storm with terifying speed, faster than the eye could follow. Lightning with direction, pummeling the trainees with an almost single-minded intensity . Back to back, the pair raised their blades, desperately trying to defend themselves against the onslaught. Their efforts bore fruit as they fought their way towards the center of the howling chaos.

An imposing figure awaited them, adorned in pulsating red armor with a massive glowing sword in hand. The fiery golden ring circling his head seemed to writhe with unbridled fury. The trainees split in unison, low to the ground, and charged the samurai from opposite sides-

It was over in seconds. Two charred husks fell to the ground, and the Kage sheathed his sword.

The swirling clouds faded instantly, leaving nothing behind but the bodies of the Kaido and a grieving warrior, bowing solemnly to the Whistling Blades as he mourned the forest’s loss.

[isgopet]

Death Knell

“One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought…” - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Deep in the bowels of a decrepit manor, an Aestari scientist sat hunched over reams of paper. Acid marked hands running through greasy hair, they went over the calculations. If even one digit was incorrect, this particular experiment would go dreadfully wrong. With a self-satisfactory nod and a grin, the Aestari pronounced their calculations to be sound. Chuckling quietly the scientist snatched the final page of their life’s work with ink stained hands. All those professors and supposed betters who’d scorned and laughed at them would be licking their boots. Of course, they thought, this path is not for the weak of heart. Sacrifices have to be made.

Walking the halls filled with the stench of sulfur and worse, the Aestari ran through what was to occur that night. Cracked and pale lips split open to reveal yellow teeth. The scientist had lost everything in pursuit of this night. The respect of the public, the love of their family, as well as their fortune. However, everything they had done, they would do again in a single heartbeat. The Aestari climbed the staircase, trailing long, dirty nails over the marble handrail.

Tonight, the fallen genius would bargain with the Reaper. However, the Reaper was not one inclined to charity. Payment must be given. When the former Alcuin Librarian reached the door to the uppermost room, they steeled themselves for what they must do next. The death of a few, the Aestari repeated to themselves, is a small price to pay for knowledge that would benefit millions. The scientist strode over to the table at the far end of the room, hardening their heart to the pleas for mercy from the cage to the right. To steel themselves, they looked to their left at the eight coffins that contained the bones of great sorcerers from ages long past. They would be empty soon. Swallowing their doubts, Xedkiel Armena gently lifted the jagged dagger off the table. It was stained red not shortly after.

[mmf]

Less than three hours to get your submissions in folks! May last minute edits or submissions must be made before 11:59 am PST today or else they will be invalid. Good luck folks!

[mmf]

Alright, time’s up! Thank you to those who have made a submission and may the best writer win!

Being that there are less than 10 entries in the contest, we will be moving straight onto the community poll! It will be up by 12:20PM PST today so make sure to vote for your favorite entry! You may vote for yourself.