Writing Competition: H.E.A.T. [VOTING]

[Aves]

H.E.A.T.
Historical Elements Aptitude Test

Marking

• At the end of the examination period (after the deadline), a poll will be held for each question, with each answer listed as an option.
• Examiners (voters) will have 2 votes per question to pick the best answers.
• At the end of the voting period, each student will have their answers' vote totals added up. If a student wrote more than 3 answers, only their best 3 will be counted.
• The student with the most votes will pass the examination. The rest will have to re-take! Sorry! Our educational system makes perfect sense.

Question Responses

• The Great Fire of 282 was caused by which unlikely trio of creatures? How would you prevent a reoccurence?
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#2:

  The Great Fire of 282 was caused by which unlikely trio of creatures? How would you prevent a reoccurence?
  
  The Great Fire of 282 was caused by an Elite Firefly Queen, an Elite Firefly, and a Damselfly. The Damselfly emitted hydrogen gas, which is dangerous when near a source of flames. The Queen used the Life quanta produced by a nearby forest to give birth to an Elite Firefly. Unlike a regular Firefly, Elite Fireflies produce tiny embers instead of light. One of these embers came into contact with the gas, which burst into flames. I would try to keep Damselflies and Elite Fireflies in check, mainly by preventing them from producing embers and/or hydrogen gas.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#3:

  The Great Fire of 282 was caused by which unlikely trio of creatures? How would you prevent a reoccurence?
  
  A reincarnating Minor Phoenix that was startled by, and startling, a Brimstone Eater. The event started a reinforcing loop that was exacerbated by the quake following a Colossal Dragon's crash landing.
  The simplest way of avoiding the reoccurence would be making sure a Phoenix, particularly a minor one, is not startled within around 48 hours from its reincarnation.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#4:

  The Great Fire of 282 was caused by which unlikely trio of creatures? How would you prevent a reoccurence?
  
  A trio of Nymphs got drunk by great amounts of beer and started farting. Their farts had the destructive, well-known result of the Great Fire of 282. The way to prevent of this happening once again is simple; do not let Nymphs to drink beer or any other alcoholic drink. It just causes a lot of farts, dude! I always said that drinking is a man's sport. Do NOT let ladies get drunk again. Unlike what most people believe, women CAN fart, with disastrous results! Myth Busters have proven that! I know I am using impolite language right now, but please let me pass this test, dear examiner. I have failed this test 3 times in a row already...
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• What was the name of the 13th discovered element? Explain why it is no longer used today. Be sure to include a thorough accounting of the strengths and weaknesses that led to its demise. Compare with two other elements in terms of spell composition, creature durability, and artifact utility.
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#1:

  What was the name of the 13th discovered element? Explain why it is no longer used today. Be sure to include a thorough accounting of the strengths and weaknesses that led to its demise. Compare with two other elements in terms of spell composition, creature durability, and artifact utility.
  
  There have been quite a few proposals for the 13th element, but one that is pointed out to be truer than the rest is Knowledge. Knowledge has been crafted by a deceased member of the Zodiac Council, Ophiucus, during the Great War against Divinity. Ophiucus used his element, coupled with Life and Aether to fight against the False Gods, including his brothers Gemini and Scorpio. Knowledge was lost due to Ophiucus' by hands of Decay and his libraries flooded by Neptune.
  
  Knowledge was a powerful element, which made its users aware of their opponent's opponent's actions through works of scouting creatures and spells, which revealed opponent's hand and prevented Cloaks from being active.
  
  Another advantage was a rare material called Orichalcum - a metal that dealt large quantities of damage whilst being literally weightless. Few accounts even show that weapons made of Orichalcum could be floating with no additional spells. Orichalcum also could be used to buff soldiers, lending them additional armor for a small price.
  
  A very helpful part of Knowledge's caster were barracks, structures used to spawn Spearweilders. Now, Spearweilders were available as separate purchasable fighters, much like Graviton Mercenary, but a lot of the times it was more efficient to train soldiers on the field. Spearweilders constructed the majority of Knowledge elemental's army due to relatively high attack and cheap cost.
  
  A pinnacle of Knowledge as an element was legendary Celestial Essence - an alchemic substance that granted any targeted creature in the game power of a giant, multiplying their attack tremendously for a short period of time. Celestial Nymphs, or Lampades, are presumed to grant powers of Giants to Knowledge creatures as well, however, no records have been found of Lampades actually partaking in battles. Celestial Nymphs are theorized to extinct during the flood of Ophiucus' city.
  
  All of the technology aside, there were quite a lot substantial flaws in Knowledge. Namely, lack of power needed for sieges: Often, Knowledge Elementals would struggle to destroy certain structures, even despite being able to take down massive enemy troops. Another issue is the speed of Knowledge. It takes a while to set up, which can be crucial in a fight against hordes of creatures. It is theorized that these two reasons were the cause of Knowledge's Downfall during the massive flood of Ophiucus' city.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#4:

  What was the name of the 13th discovered element? Explain why it is no longer used today. Be sure to include a thorough accounting of the strengths and weaknesses that led to its demise. Compare with two other elements in terms of spell composition, creature durability, and artifact utility.
  
  Unlike what most people believe, the 13th element wasn't just a single element but a combination of two opposing elements; Wood and Metal. Unlike the rest of the elements that were creature-based, Wood and Metal were permanent-based ones, having cheap and strong permanents but weak and expensive creatures and spells. In order to overcome their weakness, they had lots of permanents with the ability to transform into creatures and vice-versa. They also had permanent-based winning conditions in the form of spell cards, like winning the game after having all their permanent slots filled with permanents, including the weapon and shield slots (the infamous Industrial Win spell card of Metal) or dealing damage equal to the total number of pillars/pends you AND your opponent controls (the famous Root Harvest spell of Wood) which could kill the opponent in one turn when spammed. However, unlike who had strong healing cards and who had strong rushing potential, both Wood and Metal lacked any in-element cards to support either a rush-based or a stall-based deck, leading them to their demise. They were like Antlion; interesting but just too ineffective for what they did...
  
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• Which is the mightiest False God? Give a poetic account of their feats to accompany their glorious victory in the Wars of Supremacy.
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#1:

  Which is the mightiest False God? Give a poetic account of their feats to accompany their glorious victory in the Wars of Supremacy.
  
  Contrary to popular belief, most of the False Gods are really easy to defeat even by a mortal, as seen in the ancient Mosaic Hall, in which an unnamed physician depicted the entire pantheon of False Gods as he defeated them in the Great Arenas in seventeen different points all over the Elementia. That said, however, newer research has shown that through a blessing of the Lord of Time (or maybe a curse), a certain General has been forever immortalized, essentially becoming invincible to spears or swords. Not only that, but the entire army of said General was turned immortal as well, quite literally becoming an unstoppable force, that never gets tired, hungry or weary. General himself is known as Lionheart nowadays, and although his warriors possess no more power than an elite human soldier, the simple fact of his infantry being unable to die makes Lionheart a formidable foe.
  
  Well taught in the art of War and strategizing massive crusades, Lionheart was amongst the most prepared for military action between the False Gods, even including those who used to be amongst the truer deities. Lionheart's infantry quickly took over many of the gods who chose to bring a small or poorly trained army, like Octane or Ferox. Fighting against some of the other deities lasted quite a lot longer, however, most notably, a battle between Osiris' and Lionheart's lasted weeks, mainly due to Osiris using highly damaging siege weaponry. Lionheart did prevail, however, winning a battle between unaging commanders by bribing some of Osiris' own infantry units with promises of immortality. The imbalance created by bribing just a couple of soldiers led to a huge strategic loss for Osiris, leaving him with no choice but to concede his loss and flee the battlefield.
  
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• The Oracle gives many prophecies. Pick two seemingly incompatible ones, and give an example of a time when they did not conflict.
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#2:

  The Oracle gives many prophecies. Pick two seemingly incompatible ones, and give an example of a time when they did not conflict.
  
  The Oracle gives prophecies and fortunes alike, some of which seem to be incompatible. Two of which are a fortune advising one to "Take your time today. Use it to gather like-minded people around you." and a prophecy stating that "A man wearing a blue top hat will assault your best friend if she rides the subway." These two seemed incompatable because one fortune talked about a crowd of people while another talked about a very specific event between at least two people. However, one incident in a Graviton SubwayTM train shows aspects of both fortunes in play. The incident happened when a group of five men with differing physiques and appearances attacked a woman in the train after striking an extravagant group pose. The victim, Daniella Caries, testified that one man, who was speculated to be the leader of the group, was wearing a cape and a top hat with a blue ribbon. She also noted that his skin was purple. Another eyewitness noted that the man in the top hat ordered the group to retreat when a Horned Frog was let loose onto the train. The five attackers haven't been seen since.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#3:

  The Oracle gives many prophecies. Pick two seemingly incompatible ones, and give an example of a time when they did not conflict.
  
  'Your big worries will slide right off your back, but ignore that advice about not sweating the small stuff.' and 'Small nuisances can be safely ignored, but if big problems come, you'd better have Gratitude.'
  In fact, these two apparently-incompatible prophecies does not contradict each other surpisingly frequently: assaults involving the Air Tribe or Fire Nation, for example, often involved lean creatures that nonetheless easily makes even the strong, generic defensive enchantments of Earth Kingdom court magi a joke, either by overwhelming it (particularly the latter, although the former also have a charm to have practically all their soldiers strike harder without so much a warning) or making it a nonfactor altogether (the former is notorious for enchantments to make their soldiers strike hard and hard to strike, to the extent that even the fabled protective enchantments of Principality of Aetheling is as good as no protection; the latter is well known for its penchant for sabotaging other nation's enchantments as well as powerful offensive charms that simply bypass almost all sorts of defensive enchantments with only slightly less warning than Air Tribe's strike-hard charm).
  
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• During the Seventh Crusade, which dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army? (Hint: it involves feeding)
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#1:

  During the Seventh Crusade, which dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army? (Hint: it involves feeding)
  
  Easily, the "Immortal One". Not to be confused with Phase Dragons, the "Immortal One" is one-of-a-kind dragon that possesses incredible ability to regenerate its own body parts, can digest practically anything, making itself invulnerable to poison, and evolve to adapt to any threat it would face in a matter of seconds.
  
  Multiple accounts were recorded about trying to tame the "Immortal One", nearly all of which resulted in the death of the tamer. The same outcome met every attempt to kill the indestructible "dragon". There is a record, however, that during the Seventh Crusade, life elementals managed to lure the "dragon" on their side by promising it a feast on whatever bodies of crusaders the "Immortal One" could kill. Unfortunately, the beast itself had other plans - both sides were almost completely devoured, with only a few survivors, reporting the "Immortal One" rampaging and slaughtering everything on its path.
  
  A bit of trivia, the "Immortal One", contrary to its name, is theorized to be killable. Despite no attempts at killing the beast being successful, there still are theories on how one could kill the "dragon", most notable ones involving starvation, incineration using so-called "Pure Fire" and placement beyond the event horizon of a black hole. Another bit of trivia - The "Immortal One" isn't technically classified as a dragon, which is a common misconception born through the "Immortal One" taking a shape of a massive dragon during the aforementioned Seventh Crusade.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#2:

  During the Seventh Crusade, which dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army? (Hint: it involves feeding)
  
  During the Seventh Crusade, an ally Colossal Dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army. One of the issues was that in order to get the dragon to fight, it had to be bribed with large amounts of food. The long term effects caused by this dragon's appetite included a lack of food, smaller rations, and weaker soldiers due to starvation. Another one of the issues was the dragon's speed in combat. Due to its large mass, the dragon moved and attacked slowly. The main reason this was a problem was that the army's main goal was to attack quickly, and the dragon's slow attacks conflicted with this strategy. Another thing to note is that the dragon takes a long amount of time to enter the battlefield, while most of the soldiers in the army charged into the battle fairly quickly.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#3:

  During the Seventh Crusade, which dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army? (Hint: it involves feeding)
  
  Phase Dragons.
  The problem was not that finding feed was difficult; you can literally feed it mundane hay to survive, if barely. However, persons with the skill to cure that hay into something that it can consume to thrive (colloquially known as 'haymakers' in the Principality of Aetheling), especially during times of hostility, is always in a short supply. This is without factoring the fact that some rivaling factions like Earth Kingdom or County of Noctis often makes a point to assasinate the haymakers before Phase Dragon starts to be a problem.
  
  
  
  Spoiler for Examinee#4:

  During the Seventh Crusade, which dragon caused the most logistical issues for their army? (Hint: it involves feeding)
  
  The Jade Dragons caused the most logistical issues for their army. The problem had to do with their feeding habits. They just couldn't resist to eat the small and delicious-looking Leaf Dragons of their own army and, as a result, their commander couldn't spam more of their own kind. They even used the power of Mitosis onto Leaf Dragons in order to supply Jade Dragons with plenty of food, hoping that at least a single Leaf Dragon would survive their nasty appetite, but in the end the Jade Dragons just ate any one of them...
  
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Grading has begun!
You have no time remaining.

[InsignificantWeeaboo]

Are there two Examinee #1s in the 3rd question on the poll for a reason?

[Aves]

Are there two Examinee #1s in the 3rd question on the poll for a reason?

Can't set only one option, and there's only one submission for that question. The alternative is that we could just set the vote count for that to be some arbitrary number, say, the lowest total vote # in another question, for the purposes of scoring.

[Aves]

Congratulations, InsignificantWeeaboo, on passing the H.E.A.T.! Your award icon has been granted! (For those of you waiting on previous icons not yet granted, SOON™)

[ARTHANASIOS]

Congratulations, InsignificantWeeaboo, on passing the H.E.A.T.!

gratz!