In-Game Help Files

6.20 BARDIC AND ARTISANAL CONTESTS

Note: Bardic/Artisanal winners can be seen and entries submitted at:
https://www.lusternia.com/contests/

People of Lusternia! The Lusternian Council of Vesteran Honours do invite you all to share the power of your creativity and imagination throughout the land! To honour and acclaim your wisdom and artistry, we have decided to encourage the fine arts by holding monthly writing and visual arts contests. The winners of each competition will be ascribed rank within one of the two orders in our Laureates, as well as receiving a healthy reward of the currency known as Credits.

As mentioned, two orders are there: the Bardic and the Artisanal. The Bardic sponsors the written word contests, and the Artisan puts forth the funds to sponsor the visual arts contests.

RULES
-----
Written Contest entries must
1 - be original works (literature, history, poetry, or philosophy.)
2 - be distinctly Lusternian*, within the proper mythology, culture and worldview.

Artistic/Artisanal entries must
1 - be completely original artistic works, done by you only.
2 - be distinctly Lusternian*.
3 - not be collages.
4 - cover any subject within that framework (history, portrait, map, etc)

We look for excellence, in writing or artistry.

NOTE: You may submit one entry each in both the Artisanal and Bardic categories in any given month. However, if you do submit in both categories, you will only be eligible for one award for that month. Both entries will be judged but if you qualify for awards in both categories, you will only be given one award (the highest award of the two or one chosen at the discretion of the judges in the case of a tie).

You may not submit the same piece twice, even if it did not place when entered before.

[*] DISTINCTLY LUSTERNIAN
-------------------------
- naming a city or guild does not make a work distinctly Lusternian.
- using the name of an Lusternian race is not enough either.

We ask - "Could this entry be anywhere else?" If the answer is yes, then it's not distinctly Lusternian. This is _very_ important.

Just any old warrior will probably not make it. Just adding the name of a city or guild doesn't make it uniquely Lusternian. Bewinged Viscanti with runes on their armour and weapons opening a portal to another plane, or acting out any Lusternian abilities - this is more likely to be convincing.

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT AN ARTISANAL OR BARDIC TO MULTIPLE IRE GAMES. THIS WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION.

ORIGINALITY
-----------
Every bit of your piece must be original to qualify. In the case of a visual piece, an accompanying written explanation of it may be beneficial.

You may not submit the same piece of work twice, even if it did not place in a previous contest window.

Works generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are not permitted.

ENTRY SUBMISSION
----------------
All contest entries for the Bardic (written) and Artisanal (visual) contests must be submitted through the online forms available from https://www.lusternia.com/contests/. You must be logged in on a character in order to submit. This character will be the one to receive any reward.

The contests will be held once an OOC month. The closing date for each contest will be midnight GMT on the last day of the month (judged according to the time the submission is received). Contest results will be announced during the following month under normal circumstances.

FORMATS
-------
To submit a Bardic work, you must use the online bardics submission upload page. You will be given a form in which to paste your work, in which you may make any required formatting changes.

https://www.lusternia.com/bardics-upload/

To submit an Artisanal work, you need to use the online artisanals submission upload page. You may submit in JPG or PNG. The file size limit is 8MB.

https://www.lusternia.com/artisanals-upload/

In either case, submitting an entry is a very serious step. When you submit an entry, you are saying:
- that you were the original creator of the material, and
- that there is no material in your submission that is copyrighted by
anyone else.

If you submit material that you didn't create yourself, or that has been copyrighted by someone else, your character or characters will be shrubbed. You will also have BROKEN THE LAW: submitting someone else's copyrighted material (or any intellectual property) is a violation of US and International law.

ORIGINAL WORKS ONLY!

REWARDS
-------
There are 3 levels of success in each contest. One winner, up to three creditable runners up, and any number of minor merit awards. A character may only enter once per contest. Success in a bardic contest brings with it the following rewards:

Winner : 4 points and 200 credits
Runners up : 2 points and 100 credits
Merit : 1 point and 50 credits

The winning (and runner up) stories will be displayed on the Lusternia website shortly after the prizes have been allocated to the characters who won.

Each time you hit increments of 4 points in the Bardic or Artisanal contests, you will gain a new rank in that Order, as well as some credits. That is in addition to the credits you get for being the winner, runner-up, or merit contestant (see above).

There are 7 ranks. Your current rank is displayed in your HONOURS. The rank titles are as follows:

Bardic:
1 - Storyteller - 100 credits
2 - Troubadour - 200 credits
3 - Minstrel - 300 credits
4 - Maestro - 400 credits
5 - Laureate - 500 credits
6 - Master Bard - 600 credits
7 - High Bard - 700 credits

Artisanal:
1 - Sketcher - 100 credits
2 - Engraver - 200 credits
3 - Illustrator - 300 credits
4 - Sculptor - 400 credits
5 - Painter - 500 credits
6 - Artisanal Master - 600 credits
7 - High Master - 700 credits

If you reach the maximum rank, you will start over (skipping apprentice) so you are able to continue to receive credit rewards for ranks. Each cycle through the ranks will add a different prefix to your rank title:

First Cycle: No prefix.
Second Cycle: Superior
Third Cycle: Exalted
Fourth Cycle: Supreme
Fifth Cycle: Divine

Thus, for example, someone on their second cycle would start as a "Superior Sketcher", then the third cycle would be "Exalted Sketcher", then "Supreme Sketcher", then "Divine Sketcher".

All submitted works of whatever nature become the sole property of Iron Realms Entertainment, LLC, with all copyright assigned to Iron Realms Entertainment, LLC.

NOTE: The reason for this is that we wish to be eternally free to display winning works on our website. If you still have a problem with this, consider that the only works that will win are ones that have something to do with Lusternia, and you couldn't sell those anyway. We don't mind you also posting the art or stories on your website however.