[AU Contest] February 2017: Soulmates

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Polaris

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May 30, 2014
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Welcome to the Alternate Universe contest, a relatively new kind of contest for us. Because the AU contest is in it's infancy, please don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have about it, or suggest changes to the format.
What Kind of Contest is This?
This is a contest to create a character draft for a specified AU or theme. Essentially, you'll be making an app outline (not necessarily a fully written app, but it could be, if it's short). You don't have to follow the format posted, but the app should be original, and should be a version of one of your existing (accepted) characters. Applications will be judged on creativity, faithfulness to the original character app, and the overall general concept.

For example, if the example was 'werewolf AU', and you made your half-wolf character into a werewolf, that would be faithful, but not terribly creative. If you had a character who had been attacked by an animal in the past as a significant part of their character history, and rewrote it so it was a werewolf attacking them (leading them into their career as a werewolf hunter), that would be both creative and faithful.
How Do I Enter?

To enter, grab the form in the second post, decide your idea, fill it out, and then PM IT TO ROMI. Please do not post it here, but instead send it via the conversations function. All entries will be publically posted after the entry period is over. Anyone can enter as long as they have at least one accepted character (if you're accepted during the contest period, that's fine), but since staff will be doing the judging, staff cannot win.
Any Other Restrictions?

In order to give everyone time to enter, the contest period will take ten days of entries. The winners will be announced (and all entries posted publically) on the 1st of the following month.
Other Rules:

There is a word count limit of two thousand words for the entire application. Remember that it doesn't have to be a full app - it could easily be considered a rough draft. As long as you get the firm idea through, that's enough.

There's only one entry allowed per person. Entries must be either in plain text or bbcode - no HTML.
February Alternate Universe Contest: Soulmate
Entries Close 23:59 PST on February 11th

Soulmate AUs are the bread and butter of fanfiction, and we're bringing them to Starlight Academy. The basis of a soulmate AU is that in a given universe, soulmates exist, and there's some way to connect you and your soulmate. Common themes include tattoos with your soulmates name appearing on your body, only being able to see color when you meet your soulmate, having a mark on your body that only matches your soulmate, being told at birth the exact date and time you'll meet your soulmate, etcetc. There's literally hundreds of variations, and you're free to pick any one of them. Don't be afraid to add complications, either - just because there's soulmates doesn't mean things go smoothly.

Keep in mind that these are not paired apps - you can have apps that are two parts of a matched set, but your app should stand on their own. If you're referencing someone else's OC, make sure to have permission to do so! Also consider coming up with a unique or interesting twist on the dynamic. For example: Characters who reject their soul marks, characters who don't have soulmarks and how they react to it, characters who can't tell if they have a soul mark, characters who are in love with someone who isn't their soul mate, etc.

If you're not familiar, the Fanlore Wiki has a lovely page running down some examples. Please take care to explain the basis of your given universe to avoid any confusion.​
 

Polaris

For official threads only. Do not PM.
Staff Account
May 30, 2014
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ENTRY FORMAT

A quick reminder: You are not required to follow this exactly, but at the very least, you should have the following information somewhere in the application. Remember, please PRIVATE MESSAGE ROMI YOUR ENTRY.

Code:
[b]Character being adapted:[/b] name
[b]Link to original character application:[/b] link
[b]Notes:[/b] Any other notes you have about the type of Soulmates AU you've picked.
 
[b]Name:[/b] first last
[b]Age:[/b] in years
[b]Gender:[/b] gender
[b]Species:[/b] put human if human
[b]Profession:[/b] If student, just put student
 
[b]Appearance Description:[/b] keep it brief
 
[b]Personality Description:[/b] keep it brief
 
[b]Powers:[/b] If you've got any weapons or other skills, put them here!
 
[b]Species Abilities:[/b] remove if fully human
 
[b]Biography:[/b] feel free to summarize
 

Polaris

For official threads only. Do not PM.
Staff Account
May 30, 2014
2,002
And the AU contest has come to a close!

I'd like to congratulate both @Nightstripe (The winner!) and @HyperHurricane (The runner up) for their great entries! All three entries are listed below.

Character being adapted: Diam
Link to original character application:http://159.65.241.122/index.php?threads/diam.10154/
Notes: The name of your soulmate appears somewhere on your body at a young age. In addition, you are curtain whether or not someone is your soulmate upon associating them with that name.

Name: Diam (Just Diam)
Age: ~2500
Species: Vampire
Profession: Doll Maker

Appearance Description: The name "Mary" appears darkly on the back of his left hand. There appears to have once been a last name as well, but that section has been carved off. No other changes

Personality Description: He is decidedly more melancholy, as well as tired. He refuses to advise or involve himself in any circumstances involving love or soulmates. He can often be found conducting research on strange rituals, desperately searching for something

Powers: He can perceive ghosts very faintly while awake. When sleeping he can sometimes make out their face or a few words as well.

Species Abilities: No changes.

Biography: Diam knew Mary, his soulmate, when they were children and before he had become a vampire. She was killed in the same accident that resulted in his turning. While not malevolent, Her spirit has haunted him this entire time. He is constantly aware of how close they are, but also how large the distance between them is.

Character being adapted: Hal Dionne
Link to original character application: LINK
Notes: Legend has it that a person can dream their soulmates' memories, replaying them through their eyes as if they live through them. If the person sees looks at reflective surface, they will only see themselves and not their soulmate so it's like this puzzle that you have to figure out yourself. Though these particular dreams are supposed to be relatively lucid for most — that is, the dreamer is aware, problems about this is some few people who have difficulty recalling dreams or they seem to have a hard time telling apart their soulmate's memories from their own creative ones. Some people don't believe in this phenomenon.

Name: Hal Dionne
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Profession: Student

Appearance Description: Hal looks 5 years younger than he should be, no taller than 5ft that most people think he's just a random elementary student lost in the high school department. He keeps his brown hair short and neatly swept to the side, and his electric blue eyes are wide and rounded giving him that baby face look. His glasses are pretty sharp-looking, and his usual attire is nothing short of presentable with a sprinkle of Nice Fashion Choices in dark to cool tones with some neutrals.

Personality Description: Hal's on the grouchy side of the scale, all frowny, usually immature, and a wee bit impulsive at times. He's really rude to most people and it takes him time to tone down the sarcasm towards every other person he meets. Though once people get to know him, he has a sensitive side to him, and he has this childish wonder that makes him so much in awe of the things that fascinate him. He tends to gravitate to people who are on the wild side--adventurous and fun-loving sort especially with this crowd of magical creatures. He doesn't like people who are stiff, even though it reminds him of home, and all the more he dislikes people who are too insistent of their own philosophy enough to tell him off for believing in the things he does--the soulmate legend included.

Powers:
Astral Projection - Hal can project an astral body that's relatively intangible, impossibly light, and invisible to most. That's pretty much it. It's a vulnerable power and he's more likely to die when using it. Leaving his body for too long would kill him, and getting his cord cut will make him fully lose his connection with his body and also kill him. His body also has no defenses as its left in some sort of vegetative state until he comes back.

Biography:
Hal was born to a rather stiff household, raised to be a proper child, never really exposed to superstitions and the like. The books he was ever allowed to read were either factual, or pure literature, none of those that talked about "the unknown" and such. It was... boring if Hal had anything to say about it. Sciences and fiction were nice and all but sometimes it's hard when you're constantly told to "focus on the real world".

None of those really stopped Hal from learning about superstitions and urban legends. Hal picked a strange group of friends and some of them liked sharing stories. He heard the legend about the Soulmate Dreams when he was about 8, from a friend. While this friend of his seemed to make fun of it, Hal couldn't help but be curious. Though without anyone else to ask, he had to figure it out himself. He tried asking his parents, but they only dismissed it, saying it was just old wives' tales.

By the time he was 11, he started dreaming of things out of the ordinary: werewolves, dragons, vampires, shapeshifters--everything! It seemed like he was reliving a life among things that were beyond reality. As the dreams went on, he started to think these were his soulmate's life he was dreaming of. This eventually kickstarted Hal's interest in paranormal and supernatural, even though he always considered himself a bit of a coward.

After moving to Manta Carlos, he thinks it makes him closer to finding his soulmate. He hasn't found them yet, but he's still hoping they're out there, so he hasn't stopped searching for the strange things, just waiting for the day to maybe find them while he's still in the island. Who knows? Maybe he'll run into them along the way.

Character being adapted: Nicolas Thibault
Link to original character application: app
Notes: Nicolas's world is almost identical to canon, save one important difference: Everyone has a small circle on the back of the palm of their offhand, known as a soulmark. If a person’s soulmark is pressed to their soulmates soulmark, the two circles will light up, signalling that they have found their soulmate. It’s extremely common for people to greet by pressing the back of their palms together, simply to test for soulmate compatibility. Speed dating is effectively just going through a lot of people at once, testing for compatibility.

Name: Nicolas Thibault
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Profession: Bodyguard

Appearance Description: Nicolas is 6’1”, muscular, and has short cropped red hair. His eyes are dark brown, and his expression is usually best described as foul. He keeps his movements small and subtle, and wears a large jacket over his shoulders, hiding his missing arm.

The missing arm is, of course, his left one. His soulmark is simply gone, and it’s impossible for anyone to test anything with him. Unfortunately, the normality of the soulmate greeting makes Nicolas’s missing arm significantly more obvious than it would be otherwise.

Personality Description: Nicolas went from ‘composed and serious’ to ‘downright furious’ when he lost his arm. It was bad enough losing his career and his brothers in arms, but the nature of the loss means that he’ll never, ever find his soulmate. He simply can’t, and the idea that he might find them another way has never occurred to him. He’s too jaded for that, too bitter and angry at the world. His heart is as cold and dead as it is possible to be, and he cares for money, and absolutely nothing else.

Biography: Nicolas entered the French Foreign Legion at the age of twenty-four, leaving behind an unhappy life. He chose a new name, chose a new life, and never spoke of what he’d left behind. He saw action overseas, and eventually settled in with the FFL’s Mayotte detachment, fighting off Somali pirates as they moved closer to the small island.

When he was 31, Nicolas was involved in what should have been a totally normal boat hijacking. Unfortunately, a giant monster had other plans, devouring not only the entire boat, but damaging Nicolas’s own boat. Nicolas severely damaged his arm rescuing the rest of his crew from the water, and when he returned to land he was forced to have it amputated.

Life was hard for Nicolas. There was no more work. Nicolas had never liked pity, but the pity he gained when people realized his arm was missing--as they inevitably always did--was like a poison to him. He hated it, and he turned to drinking.

If not for the very sea monster that had eaten half his boat recruiting him for a job, Nicolas very likely would have drank himself to death.

Even so, it’s a constant danger.
 
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