Wanderers Depths Contest

A NEW SEA ENGULFS YOU…

YOUR PRESSURE GAUGE REACHES UNFATHOMABLE LEVELS AS THE DEPTHS CRUMPLE YOU AND YOUR DREAMS OF ADVENTURE…

YOU ARE LEFT WITH NO CHOICE BUT…

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To participate in the Wanderers' Depths writing contest!

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Introduction

Imagine yourself floating on an open sea…There's no land on the horizon, only the endless lapping of blue-green waves upon your buoyant self.

There's a ship approaching. On it, there is a band of pirates. For a moment, you're worried they'll make you walk the plank, but what's that going to do—put you back on the water? No big worry.

Passing you by, the ship seems to be full of merry seamen. You're happy for them. They seem to be having a good time between raiding and pillaging. You wish them well as they go along their way.

Now, as they shrink on the horizon, there's a seagull circling you. It wants food. Shaking your head, you direct it to the ship of pirates. Maybe they can be friends.

Beneath you, a shark emerges from the depths. It's a nurse shark, and she wants to take your temperature. You allow it. The reading shows that you're very chill. Now that's something everybody can enjoy.

This is all on the surface, but there are endless stories to be told on or below the high seas.

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Rules and Friendly Guidelines

Ahoy, me hearty Wanderers! The Library Crew has noticed an ever-increasing and mildly distressing amount of land-based articles: Whether it entails sneaking through the shelves or runnin' through the streets, plenty o' recent stories have been drained of any waterlogged potential. Well the end is nigh fer this! The 2020 Maritime Contest—The Wanderers' Depths—is an individual writing contest based on works that take place on or under the Seven Seas (or anything related to the Maritime). Anyone can participate, as long as you promise to have fun!

Write about it with the help of the prompts below, and tag your story with 'wd2020'. You can post starting today, April 10, until a few weeks from now, on May 7.

Once the posting period is over, we'll let people read and let you know how they feel with votes and comments until May 7. The winner is whoever has the most upvotes on their entry by May 7, and their prize is to pick the article featured on the front page for the month. The winner will be announced May 8.

Contest Rules

Rules

First time at the Library? Make sure to hit up the Orientation!

1. Before writing an entry, select one of the prompts below to use as inspiration. Any of these can be used by any number of people. The limit is that you can only use each prompt once, and while you can write multiple entries, only the highest-rated one will be counted and compared against your competitors. Every entry must use one of the prompts!

2. After selecting a prompt, you be tasked with writing yer entry! Your story must be related to the prompt you choose and to the broader theme of water and maritime activity. If you have an idea and would like to see if it'll pass as proper, feel free to send a message in a bottle to either Avelon21 or Rounderhouse, through either Wikidot or Discord. You can also get as much review as you want on your articles, to ensure their survival in the open sea.

3. No collaborations are allowed. This is an individual writing contest to see what ye can dredge up on yer own.

4. Once you've written your story, post it as normal. Unlike usual, you must include this line at the top of your page to import the Maritime theme created by Rounderhouse: [[include :wanderers-library:component:wanderers-depths]] . Also, take care to tag your page with "wd2020". As usual, if you are not sure how to tag your story with other tags, just wait for a staffer to come along and do it for you.

5. Make an author post in the discussion declaring what prompt you used when you post an entry. Staff reserve the right to disqualify articles if they have no relation to the contest at all, break the rules, or are troll pages.

6. After posting an entry, simply wait for votes to collect up until the end. You may write another entry if you wish, but remember that only the highest-rated one will be counted. The winner is the contestant who has the highest-rated article. This is also how runner-ups are decided.

7. Self-voting will be counted for the sake of simplicity. Normal rules for deletion, however, still apply. If your article gets deleted, you can still re-enter as many times as you want, as long as you make sure that you only have one story for every prompt.

8. After you post an article, you can only edit it and not change it. If you have to add a paragraph, don't. If you have to fix yer verb tenses because it'll flounder completely otherwise, do. As a general rule from the SCP wiki:

If you wouldn't do it to other people's pages, don't do it to yours.

9. We expect all contestants to be good sports and play fair. Any attempt to tilt the contest in your favor through illicit or unfair means will result in your entries being disqualified and possible further disciplinary actions. Plagiarism is also not allowed, and will be punished accordingly.

10. You can post anywhere from now until May 7th, EST. Any entries after May 7th will not be counted.

11. If you have any questions, contact staff or leave a comment in the discussion of this page.

Now, pick yer prompt!

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Prompts

Prompts

1. Deep below the surface, in caverns that run for hundreds of miles, a strange civilization has been born.

2. Drip, drip, drip—the cave is dark.

3. The seafloor isn't as solid as people think it is.

4. Our ship had been stuck in the harbor for two weeks.

5. Mermaid teeth fetch high prices on black markets.

6. One night, beneath the waves, the fish began to sing.

7. Everybody knows that when the mist rises, ships should not be on the sea.

8. A submarine is stranded in the bottom of the ocean, and two crewmen have gone missing.

9. Many ancient cultures worshiped gods and goddesses of the sea. Nowadays, without devotees, they spend their days yachting in the Mediterranean.

10. .RED IS WATER THE WHEN DIVE NOT DO

11. A Kraken's not a Kraken, 'till ships it be crackin'

12. A woman dances in the sea, and she is burning.

13. Listen not to the voices from the deep, for they are tainted by malice.

14. The land rejected me, so I became one with the waves.

15. On the bottom of the ocean, a forest blooms, where exotic fish swim amidst the flowering trees, their branches slowly swaying in the current.

16. The ship sailed to the edge of the world, and found corpses.

17. The plunder was strange this time. In the depths of the ruined ship, they found a glowing, pitch black statue shaped like a half-human god.

18. Some pirate ships don't even need pirates. The ships themselves are bloodthirsty scoundrels always looking for a score.

19. Evolution has strange outcomes — these creatures fished from the Abyssal Zone seem to have hands.

20. Some sea creatures exist in ways we can't quite see; majestic things, all shimmering waves and countless weeping eyes.

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Entries

Entries, Ranked

Ranking	Entry	Rating	Author
👑1	Cave Story	+29	Lt Flops
🎀2	How the Ocean Came to Burn	+17	Tufto
💎3	Quiet, Uneventful Affairs	+17	UncertaintyCrossing
4	Deeper	+16	Communism will win
5	Mermaid Teeth	+16	Henzoid
6	Bladefish	+15	Zero_Consistency
7	Unseen Things	+15	Almarduk
8	Stuck	+13	stop1010
9	Calypso Rides Her Catamaran	+12	Luvview
10	An Ode to Babashe	+12	Zebby Fresh
11	A Deeper Truth	+11	Hexick
12	Pontus Euxinus	+11	Akhlys
13	A Tale of Taniwha	+10	OriCat
14	The Kraken's Crackin'	+9	Reasonably Psychotic
15	A Rising Wave	+9	GuesssWho
16	Prodigal	+8	OriCat
17	Marigold Sailors	+7	BIRDCHURCH
18	Children of Nergul, Volume IX	+6	Trar
19	Palaemon	+6	Din-Bidor
20	Tâmtu-me-šara	+6	OriCat
21	The Sea Sings of Hunger	+6	Percevale
22	Ten Billion Sushi Dinners	+6	Thick Soup
23	The Mist is Hostile	+5	Marcelles_Raynes does not match any existing user name
24	Twelfth of Ater	+3	Akhlys
25	Survival	+3	Kothardarastrix
26	At the End o' the Sea	+3	Its a Bad Idea
27	Sailing Through The Cursed Forest	+3	Joll
28	Apate	+2	morrel
29	Seeing Stars	+2	Sudough Nimm
30	The Inlet at Aulis	+1	OriCat
31	The Forsaken Gods' Vacation	+1	TheFrigidBagel does not match any existing user name
32	All Aboard the Cyclops	+1	Doorhandle

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Entries, Randomized

↬At the End o' the Sea, told by Its a Bad Idea

↬The Sea Sings of Hunger, told by Percevale

↬A Rising Wave, told by GuesssWho

↬Survival, told by Kothardarastrix

↬Cave Story, told by Lt Flops

↬Prodigal, told by (user deleted)

↬Unseen Things, told by Almarduk

↬An Ode to Babashe, told by Zebby Fresh

↬How the Ocean Came to Burn, told by Tufto

↬Apate, told by morrel

↬Pontus Euxinus, told by Akhlys

↬Children of Nergul, Volume IX, told by Trar

↬The Inlet at Aulis, told by (user deleted)

↬Deeper, told by Communism will win

↬All Aboard the Cyclops, told by Doorhandle

↬The Kraken's Crackin', told by Reasonably Psychotic

↬Ten Billion Sushi Dinners, told by Thick Soup

↬Stuck, told by stop1010

↬Tâmtu-me-šara, told by (user deleted)

↬Twelfth of Ater, told by Akhlys

↬A Tale of Taniwha, told by (user deleted)

↬Sailing Through The Cursed Forest, told by Joll

↬Bladefish, told by Zero_Consistency

↬Mermaid Teeth, told by Henzoid

↬The Mist is Hostile, told by Marceline_Raynes

↬A Deeper Truth, told by Hexick

↬Quiet, Uneventful Affairs, told by UncertaintyCrossing

↬Marigold Sailors, told by BIRDCHURCH

↬Calypso Rides Her Catamaran, told by Luvview

↬Palaemon, told by Din-Bidor

↬Seeing Stars, told by Sudough Nimm

+Translations