The Official Unofficial Lore of Elements

[Naesala]

The Official Unofficial Lore of Elements!
Idea By: Naesala | Art By: Ostillac

It has always been wondered how the world of Elements has come to be.
Now YOU, the elementalist, have the power to define the lore of this amazing world!



The time has come for the chroniclers to step forward. As the world changes and the wars rage on, it becomes ever more important for those elementalists who have dedicated their lives to history to put their quills to parchment and write of the past. We must document this lore of monsters and weapons, duels and arenas, and the very world in which we live so that the young may learn from whence their powers came. So come now and write a grand epic for us, and place your name by theirs in the annals of history.

What is it:
The Official Unofficial Lore of Elements is a perpetual competition that people may compete in whenever they like. The goal of the competition will be to come up with pieces of lore based on the cards and mechanics of the Elements the game universe as constructed by the community, which will give rise to new discussions and events based around this shared lore. Each piece of lore will build off those of the past to create a common world for the game.

Rules and Requirements:

• Submissions must be at least 250 words long.
• You must be a Junior Member or higher to submit an entry.
• You must respect all previous Lore from the event.

Phases:
Phase 1:Submissions Anyone may submit an entry so long as they follow the above posted rules. Submissions will be sent via private message  to Naesala. There will be two weeks after the reveal of the new topic for anyone to write up their entry. So long as at least 3 entries are submitted, the event moves on the phase 2. Otherwise, Phase 1 repeats with a new topic, and the old topic will be saved for later.
Phase 2:Voting Submissions wil be posted in a voting thread. Anyone in the community can then vote for these ideas. The voting phase will last two weeks. The idea with the most votes at the end of the week will be declared the winner.
Phase 3:Adding to the Lore The winning piece of lore each round will be added to "The Official Unofficial Lore of Elements". It will then be accepted as part of the Lore of Elements both in all future submissions and as a general point of the community. So long as there is constant participation, the event will run as such: Week 1 First topic, Week 2 Second topic, Week 3 First topic voting and Third topic, Week 4 First topic chronicled Second topic voting Fourth topic, etc.

This Weeks Topic: Voodoo Doll

Spoiler for Hidden:

Past Topics:
Submissions: What is a Card?
Voting Phase: Lava Golem
Chronicled:

FAQ
Q: Why?
A: Because this will allow for a constant running competition that will allow writers of all levels to input their say. Additionally, this competition will let us develop plenty of fresh new ideas for other competitions and events off the lore.
Q: What does "respect the previous lore" mean?
A: It means that you don't go directly against something established in the previous winners' lore. THis isn't to say you need to read and memorize everything everyone has written so far, just don't go trying to intentionally break things. Since I will be reading submissions, I will catch and warn if there is a huge conflict.
Q: Isn't the 1.4 patch going to establish lore with the NPCs?
A: Sure it is, but we aren't taking the same angle. Most NPCs will have limited amounts of lore to them, and will also be there to give hints. This gives a broader range for the lore of the world. Plus, it's unofficial, our own continuity to explore and develop!
Q: I don't like how the lore for X turned out.
A: This is just a big running list of community selected winning pieces. You're free to have your own ideas about how things turned out, and I encourage you to write your own entries in future rounds!
Q: Word count tool?
A: Boom

[Naesala]

New Topic: What is a Card?

We're still accepting lore for Lava Golem for one more week! If we don't get at least three entries, Lava Golem will be put back on the pile.

[Keolino]

As for now, this will never work.

I really love to write stories about different fantasy worlds. I don´t think that writing about something is difficult once you know how to do it. But what you are trying to do lacks something really important. I know that, because I already wanted to write a story about elements myself.

The problem is, we know nothing about the world of elements.

The world seed.

1. The Time
We know that at least. It´s a time of swords and shields, technological things aren´t well known (The most advanced things are steam machines.)

2. Magic
Yeah, of course there is magic. How does this magic work? Does somebody need "cards" to cast spells? Or what does this magic look like (Well, there are 12 elements in this world, so most of this question is already solved)

3. Inhabitants
What the hell are elementals? Are they humans or some sort of spirits which can cast spells? Or are they some card gamers like in the manga/anime Yugioh? Or aren´t they not only humans, but, for examples elfes, vampires, dwarfs and whatever as well...? Can everybody use spells, or are there only a few who are actually able to cast spells? How many different races live in this world anyway?

4. The world
How does it look like? Is it only a little island or is it a whole continent? Or are there more planets, and elementals can travel between them? Are there cities in this world? How big are these cities...? Or aren´t there any cities at all, and the whole world is "wild"? Or are these cities "tower-cities"? Who lives in these different cities...? Outside of this cities, are there also "people" living (small villages?), or are there only monsters outside?
Or is the world somewhat like the "real world", with some crazy card gamers (look at yugioh again)



It is stupid and difficult to write a story about something, if there isn´t even a world which you can understand. There are too many things which aren´t clear enough, so it will be impossible to find people who actually want to write stories about this "world".
That aside, without any guideline, it´s difficult to "make" a complete world, so i have written down the most important questions of my "world seed" (Well, the original is several pages large, the language is german, and the guide isn't even finished jet)

[ARTHANASIOS]

Dear Keolino,
These are exactly the reasons we need an unofficial official Lore of Elements. People imagine the world, cosmology, elementals or spells in an entire different way than other people. Though this is fine while playing EtG, it makes story-based and lore-based competitions quite difficult. That's why we need a competition like this, to settle things down a little bit.
If there's a reason for this competition to fail, that is the new EtG patch which have drawn all the community members' attention to it, leaving them with no desire of free time to spend at writing down any kind of lore...

[Naesala]

If there's a reason for this competition to fail, that is the new EtG patch which have drawn all the community members' attention to it, leaving them with no desire of free time to spend at writing down any kind of lore...

Which makes me sad. I've only received two entries for Lava golem thus far.


As to the "seed" comment: no we don't need a common seed. Each piece of lore adds it's own bit. If you read the entire competition, you would notice I specifically pointed out we will address every part of lore. That includes every part you brought up. If each piece builds off the others (another rule of the competition) then it will all work just fine.

[Rutarete]

There is a little (old) unofficial lore here: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,30315.0.html

[Naesala]

There is a little (old) unofficial lore here: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,30315.0.html

I have seen that (in fact, Kam linked me to it prior to me releasing the event). It's a good way for people to see what might be a good example of writing, but we will not be having it chronicled at this time (nor any other bits of floating around lore). I do encourage people to give it a look over though

[Keolino]

As to the "seed" comment: no we don't need a common seed. Each piece of lore adds it's own bit. If you read the entire competition, you would notice I specifically pointed out we will address every part of lore. That includes every part you brought up. If each piece builds off the others (another rule of the competition) then it will all work just fine.

I didn´t say you need a seed. I said it would be easier for many different people (or at least me) to write about something, if they already know how the world looks like. (And if it´s easier, it's only common sense that more people will try to write about it.)

But maybe it will work out with that competition. (Even so, First I would try to focus the competition at the essential questions.)

Dear Keolino,
These are exactly the reasons we need an unofficial official Lore of Elements. People imagine the world, cosmology, elementals or spells in an entire different way than other people. Though this is fine while playing EtG, it makes story-based and lore-based competitions quite difficult. That's why we need a competition like this, to settle things down a little bit.
If there's a reason for this competition to fail, that is the new EtG patch which have drawn all the community members' attention to it, leaving them with no desire of free time to spend at writing down any kind of lore...

I wouldn't be so sure. My attention is on the 1.4 Patch as well, but hey, because of that Patch I am in this forum every day, and really bored because nothing has happend up there for the last few days. So at least my "desire of free time to spend" in whatever part of this forum is pretty big.

[Naesala]

For reference: I made the first round a creature to ease people in with something easy, and the second round a big part of the core to give much more basis. I have a rotational plan set up around this, have faith in me ^+^

[Jyiber]

Is this new? No established lore? Can I write anything?

[ARTHANASIOS]

Is this new? No established lore? Can I write anything?

Yes, of course you can, as long as it fits with Lava Golem and/or What is a Card? themes!!!

[Naesala]

Is this new? No established lore? Can I write anything?

Yep. Yep. So long as it is within the constraints of the event and the current 2 rounds topics (new rounds every week)