1. The Contest
2. Characters
3. Chroniclers
4. Plot
5. Enter
6. Rules
7. Formats
8. Judging
9. Submission
10. Prizes
11. The Ladybird
12. World
13. Arbiters
14. Chat
15. FAQ

1.
Do not be discouraged by yet another 'Original Character Battle Contest,' as termed by the . It is a fun way to test one's own skills in art and story-telling, and improve them by competing with other artists. If you are new to this sort of competition, the basic premise is to take one's Character and create an entry showing them defeating the other artist's Character.
This contest alters the basic premise, taking the characters out of IC and into OOC, where they 'break the fourth wall' and can interact directly with their Chroniclers through the storyline, meaning you, the artist. This kind of contest would require that you actually enter two characters, a Character and a Chronicler.

2.
Characters are fairly simple to explain. If you have an account on dA and participate in battles like these, then it's fairly possible that you have people running around your head. Some of these people may have been tailored over time to have complete backgrounds and described appearances. Others may have formed over a single dream to have complex stories. And then there are always the hordes of characters without names, without worlds, yet you draw/write/talk about them anyway. For this contest, you must simply choose one of these characters to enter, as long as they have a name and background. (Please note that they must also be mortal and subscribe to mortal limits, and must be original, but they do not need to be based in logic or fact)

3.
The Chronicler may be a new concept for some people. The Chronicler is you, the artist. No Character can exist without a Chronicler. They in some way create and record the stories of their Characters. In the case of this contest, Chroniclers must submit themselves as if they were a character as well, so that other Chroniclers may choose to include them in their entries. Chroniclers are god-like in all aspects while in the OOC, so that they can change the OOC at will, but that does not mean they are allowed to God-mode. If one Chronicler has the power to create an ultrauniversedestroyingdemonicforcepenguin, the other has the ability to dodge it. The best settings to choose are those that suit both Characters involved, and do not lean towards one.

4.
Now that the basics are out of the way, it may be useful to know what is actually going on in this world of OOC.
The Bee has recently discovered the existence of an anti-muse known as the Ladybird. In order to combat this threat to creativity, she has sent out a call to all deviants in order to help. However, not all are worthy; some face certain deletion if they were to go up against the Ladybird alone. To lessen the casualties of the upcoming war, the Bee has taken it upon herself to assemble a team of Chroniclers who have the best chance of defeating this shadowy creature that afflicts all story-tellers.
Those who are accepted are allowed to bring one Character each to aid them. But all is not good.
For as soon as the Ladybird finds out about each Chronicler who sides themselves against the soul-sucking force, she scatters them with their respective Character to the far reaches of OOC; however, the Ladybird must reveal a part of itself to make such a manifestation of power, and each Chronicler learns a vital clue on how to destroy her, thought it is entirely worthless on its own.
Every Chronicler must keep this clue tight to themself, for they know intuitively that to speak the clue aloud is to incur the wrath of the Ladybird. The penalty is to have the Ladybird single them out and enter them into a realm of dullness, where their Character is soon forgotten, and thus erased from every realm.
The only option left to the Chroniclers is to force the others to give up their clues, so that the last one standing will know what they need to do to remove the anti-muse from dA. As stated before, Chroniclers have no power over each other, and so it is left to their Characters to somehow convince or coerce the other to give up the clue at the cost of their life. With the prize being the final defeat of the Ladybird, it is likely that there will not be many arguments against such an act.


5.
Although it is not hard to enter the contest, it will require you to show that you are willing to follow through with the promise you make when you submit your Character and Chronicler.
All that is required is for you to make some sort of introduction in the medium of Short Story, Comic, or Animation, and will provide enough background information on your Character and Chronicler for other artists to know what they are up against. The introduction will show the Chronicler bringing the Character into dA-OOC for the purpose of the contest. A reference, detailing your Character's backstory, appearance, and personality, as well as a simple reference for your Chronicler's appearance and personality, must also be provided, totaling three works of art, or links.
Entries will be sent to this account via the note system as such:
Subject: CC
(link to intro)
(link to Character's sheet)
(link to Chronicler's sheet)
Successful entries will be given a number, and a clue will be sent back. You may share the clue with other artists if you feel it will enhance the story. In the story, however, to speak the clue is for your Character to die.

6.
There are a few rules that one must follow if they are to participate, one of them being that you must follow the rules (of course). Another rule is that you must have an understanding of the contest and what is required of you. The others are listed:
- Profanity not used by characters with personalities that call for profanity is discouraged
- Nudity is discouraged (violence is all right)
- Every entry must be on time. Late entries will not be judged. There may be cases where some are exempt as events where out of the artist's control, in which case it must be noted to this account with an explanation for why it is late (if even by a few minutes).
- Entries are based on entertainment and originality, so even though Chroniclers are godlike, autodefeats are severely disliked. Use creativity whenever you can.
- Don't be a sore loser, and do not argue with the Arbiters. If there is a problem, try to discuss it with them instead, via the means listed in the Arbiter's bio. If this does not work, send a polite note to this account, with the headline CONUNDRUM.

7.
Just to be absolutely clear, the allowed mediums to submit one's entry are Short Story, Comic, and Animation. One need not do all three, nor do they have to do the same one throughout, unless they wish to. To be sure that one understands what these formats mean:
Short Story - A written piece of art. If writing is not your strong point, then it is preferred that you do a comic or animation, as it's easier on the eyes to see sketches than try to decipher a code of spelling errors. A short story must be exactly that - short. It is not fair for every round to be a novella.
Comic - A form of storytelling that uses both words and pictures. Although black and white may be considered equal to colour as long as the quality is the same, it is likely that personal preference will judge colour as better. Pictures are pretty, but keep it from becoming a graphic novel every turn.
Animation - Moving pictures with words and/or sound. As it would be a feat for anyone to create something good within the time allowed, there won't be many restrictions on this, unless someone feels like exporting theirs at 1fps.

8.
When it comes to actually judging, your entry will be examined by three Arbiters. These three Arbiters will then judge based on the categories of Effort, Quality, Originality, and Entertainment. The values of Effort and Quality are self-explanatory; Originality means that something like a generic anime rip-off will be disregarded, and a spoof on generic anime will be judged as less than a completely original entry. References will be seen as okay, and if done right can be quite intelligent. Still, complete originality is preferred. The category of Entertainment (Drama, Comedy/Tragedy) will vary per the Arbiter's personal preferences.
After every round, the Arbiters will submit a list of their choices and ratings for each pair. A rating of less than three in any category is an automatic failure, so it is encouraged to try your best. This is how it will look for each 1v1 battle:
(Chronicler and Character) (Link to entry) vs. (Chronicler and Character) (Link to entry)
-Rating-
Effort: #/10
Quality: #/10
Originality: #/10
Entertainment: #/10
-Notes-
(Here goes the Arbiter's comments on how s/he judged and/or felt)

9.
For each round, two numbers will randomly be paired up - the artists for these numbers will then have to create an entry that in some way ends with them defeating the other CC pair, and furthers a story of their own creation. Each round will also be given a theme, as the Ladybird will be trying to hinder the players. You will have two weeks to complete and submit your entry for judging. After each winner is declared, they will be given the clue that belonged to the loser.
Remember, every entry must be submitted before the deadline, so the note must be dated before the time specified. Oh, and they'll be submitted via the note system. Each note must adhere to the following:
Subject: LADYBIRD
(Character's number)
(Working link to entry)
If the link is not working, then it will count as not being submitted. However, you are allowed to edit your entry up until the deadline, if you wish to make it better or fix the link. Entries edited after the deadline will be disqualified, as it counts as cheating. Though, once an entry has been judged, feel free to fix it all you like. (Editing, in these cases, refer to the art itself and not the comments. The comments don't matter.)
When an entry is successfully received, it will be put up in the journal for that round, so that you can see who is doing what.

10.
If you've read this far, you can probably see that the contest will be a bit of work. So there must be some reward at the end of this (aside from having created an awesome story), right?
You'd think so, and you'd be right. The prizes will mostly be donations from people who feel like donating. Here are the prizes as they are right at this second.
First: A possibly coloured picture of the winning Character and Avilyn. Chroniclers optional. - Draconis-Wyrm
Second: A black and white sketch of the Character and Chronicler. - Draconis-Wyrm
Third: Something random. Most likely a drawing. - Draconis-Wyrm

11.
For those who are curious, you likely want to know who the Bee is, and why she wants to destroy the Ladybird. The first answer is easy; she is Draconis-Wyrm's internet-ersona, and she is the one managing the contest.
The second one is not so easy to answer. The Ladybird is perhaps best described as an anti-muse, and the Bee has come to know of its existence only recently. Every Chronicler has been affected by her at some point; she causes writer's and artist's block, and her influence usually results in a mass of spelling errors and frustration. If one were to attribute a dream to it, it would not be a nightmare, for those are generally a good source of inspiration. The Ladybird's dream would be the kind that you can't wake up from because you know you need to sleep, but you can not rest because the same redundant thing happens again and again with no change except in your levels of stress and impatience.
The Ladybird is worse on Characters than on Chroniclers. To them, it means certain death, for the anti-muse erases them from their Chroniclers' memory.

12.
There are a few confusing acronyms used in this journal. Here, they are explained.
IRL, meaning In Real Life, refers to the realm that Chroniclers live in. In IRL, Chroniclers are normal humans and Characters exist only as ideas. IRL will not be explored in this contest.
OOC means Out Of Character, and refers to the realm where Characters from all sorts of universes can mingle and converse. OOC is non-canon. Here, Chroniclers can shape the world at will, but Characters are still limited as mortals. The world exists entirely in OOC. This means that Chroniclers can change it at will; however, if one Chronicler has the power to create an ultrauniversedestroyingdemonicforcepenguin, the other has the ability to dodge it. Godmoding is frowned upon. The best settings are those that suit both Characters involved, and do not lean towards one. Being in OOC, other Characters may show up as the story requires. For example, Foehn has a crush on Avilyn, though they will never meet in IC.
IC is In Character. It refers to the world where the Characters themselves reside. Characters in IC have no idea of OOC or IRL, despite knowing spoilers and such that may happen to them while in OOC. This realm will only be explored in passing, as is required to set up the background of a Character.

13.
These people, neither Chronicler nor Character, are very important to the contest. They judge the entries and decide who goes on and who doesn't. They may be used in entries if their bios say they may. Their bios will be structured as such and will be posted in the next journal:
Name: (dA screen name and internet-ersona name) (icon will also be displayed)
Appearance: (link, otherwise N/A)
Entry Friendly: (If the Arbiter does not wish to be cameo'd, then No. In this case, appearance and alternate name are not necessary.)
Contact: (This is where the Arbiter describes how to contact them; if they choose not to be contacted, then this section is N/A and queries are to be directed to either another Arbiter or this account.)

14.
[link]

15.
If you have a question that is not answered here, then be sure to ask it!


And there you have it. I hope I wasn't too confusing. You may begin designing your reference sheets, now. (Or use an old one. It doesn't matter.)