Nanomancer
First allow me to say that I could not have asked for a more marvelous collection of entries to this competition. I was absolutely thrilled to read all the incredible additions to the Nanomancer's world and to witness it's growth in vibrancy and depth through your words. I wanted to write so much more in the comments I left in your entry posts but felt that it was important for me to remain relatively neutral until the end of the competition. You all did the most fantastic job and unquestionably nailed the brief! :)
Many of you expressed interest in developing your characters and story elements further and if so inspired, you should go right ahead! If you add to your Nanomancer work, just remember to include Nanomancer in your post headings and in the tags so we can all find it!
Naturally, given the format of this undertaking, we will all have a slightly different take on Gethyra and it's inhabitants. To my mind, this is one of the wonderful features of our collaboration. Anyone contributing to this adventure should go ahead and harvest whatever makes sense or inspires them from what has already been produced and merge it with any new piece. In order to retain some cohesion I think the most important aid will be a chronology of key events to act as the spine for any future contributions. I intend to submit another post where we can hopefully all contribute towards the formation of these key events. What would also help is a list of key names, places and objects. I'm thinking of offering a bounty for anyone who can produce and post such a list.
The next competition will be both for artwork and creative writing. Keep an eye out for the announcement post that will be coming soon!
**NEW ADDITION - The Dragons
The majestic Dragons were the oldest of Gethyra's inhabitants and were not in fact native to Gethyra. Eons ago that had fled a cataclysm on the world from which they had originated, coming as refugees to Gethyra after a long search for their new home. They had chosen Gethyra specifically because of their affinity with the energy field that pervaded the entire system and it's similarity with that of their original home.
The Dragons were capable of changing form to the extent that they could literally merge with the land and appear as almost any being or living creature. No Dragon had been seen on Gethyra for a thousand years even before the coming of The Nanomancer. Given their strength, the remaining free races sought desperately for them, hoping to harness their extraordinary power and influence, to hopefully turn the tide against their nemesis.
Creative Writing Results
https://steemit.com/nanomancer/@generikat/nanomancer-creative-writing-competition-entry
https://steemit.com/nanomancer/@horrorguyian/nanomancer-creative-writing-competition-entry-mined
Remaining highly worthy entries
https://steemit.com/nanomancer/@gmuxx/nanomancer-creative-writing-competition-entry-troll-tears
https://steemit.com/nanomancer/@rhondak/nanomancer-creative-writing-competition-entry-amalynde
https://steemit.com/nanomancer/@miniature-tiger/nanomancer-creative-writing-competition-entry
Feedback
I've decided in this case to keep the feedback general. The truth is, I found it extremely difficult to judge the entries because they all added so much and every single one was a pleasure to read and inspired my imagination. I loved the new creatures and characters that were introduced and in every case, I wanted to hear more about them and more of the thread being explored.
Those that were awarded prizes, I've done so on my best interpretation of quality but I felt I was splitting hairs. Nonetheless, congratulations to the winner and the runner ups! From my subjective position, your stories best captured the horror of a world in the throes of a desperate and unrelenting struggle against corruption and dominion, exemplified by the often brutal merger of nature with technology. The ideas around identity and control, beauty and function are more relevant today than ever before. It was fascinating to read the beginnings of how you might address these issues within the world of Gethyra.
In future, I hope to incorporate a panel of judges for competitions to enable a richer set of perspectives and minimise the potential for subjective bias. More on that later.
Once again, thank you so much for taking part. I couldn't have hoped for a better response.
Happy Steeming