UPDATE:

Voting Time! We will tally the votes and announce the winners in 3 days!

Art Category: www.strawpoll.me/14286218
Text Category: www.strawpoll.me/14286223


Welcome to the first contest for The Many Hearts of The World. So for this particular contest, I asked you guys to vote on my strawpoll what the theme of this contest should be. Out of twenty votes, 30% wanted to describe a new species. So that is what the theme this time around will be.

The Challenge

The contest will be set in Palkragar, as it is the most developed of the hearts to date. Check out this Biota Summary to gather additional information. Your task is to create a new species from one of the following locations on the map.

Icowya Bay: A shallow, warm water reef, the largest in Palkragar. It is home to a massive abundance of coastal, brackish and marine organisms. The reef also has a unique feature, containing some of the tallest corals on record. This reef borders the waters of the south eastern side of the archeological site Hallow Island, home to an abandoned Magish fort built during the first Palkragrian War. The island has beautiful sandy beaches along the coast, but it’s core is mostly swamp.

Impartial Island: The largest of the four islands in the middle of the sea of Dialitus, Impartial Island is the base for one of the gigantic sky pillars, giant structures that connect the roof of the cave to the floor. Apart from a few forest pockets along the outer rim, the environment is little more than masses of exposed rock. There aren’t very many large mammals, or even dinosaurs here, as the island is quite difficult to reach. But there are a lot of birds, including flightless ones on the island.

Tsuni Prairie: This prairie rests on the border between two orders of the natural world. Separated by forest, it’s one of the few places not occupied by large tyrannosaurs, like Neotyrannus. As a result, this place has been at the center of a 20 Million year battle between large predatory mammals, and medium sized theropod dinosaurs for the spot of top predator. All the while, this prairie has also become home to the Kiro, a tribe of ancient Unchakan’s who live out their lives on the open plains as opposed to in major cities.

The Rules

To enter, you need only declare it in the comments below. This contest will be divided into 2 categories. Submissions will be separated by Works of Art, and Works of Literature. Not only will your submission be judged based on how well your concept fits within the established lore of TMHOTW, but it will also be judged based on the artistic or literary merits of the piece itself. Also, the work will be judged based on how well your concept aligns with scientific accuracy. That is to say your subject must demonstrate a proper application of the rules of biology, and natural selection in order to create a practical member of the ecosystem you have selected. If you need to take some extra time to think about how your creature will function, take that time, and push yourself to do the absolute best you can do. The following are some further bullet points to illustrate my point.

Art Submissions Must...

• Follow the fundamentals of art

• Maintain scientific and historical accuracy

• Have its basic info conform to the setting of the world

Text Submissions Must…

• Demonstrate good grammar, and have as few typos or spelling mistakes as possible

• Maintain scientific and historical accuracy

• Have its basic info conform to the setting of the world

The contest starts on 9/22/17. To submit, simply upload your submission to deviantart with #TMHOTW in the title, and vcubestudios in the description, and it will be collected for the final verdict later on. If the piece fits the lore of the world, you’ll receive a special stamp indicating that this is canon, which will be valid regardless if you win or not. And if you don’t receive the stamp, the piece was either disqualified, or I forgot and you can just message me. So be sure to look out for that. The contest will go on until 10/31/17. At which point, I will post a journal entry containing a strawpoll with all of the submissions listed. I doubt we’ll get a lot of submissions, so I’ll just put them all on. After a brief voting period, the winner will be decided.

Prizes

Winners of both categories will receive the following prizes.

• 3rd Place: $15 in Commission Value, and your submission will be officially part of the lore of TMHOTW.
  
  

• 2nd Place: $45 in Commission Value, a special shoutout in my next Journal entry, and your submission will be officially part of the lore of TMHOTW.
  
  

• 1st Place: $65 in Commission Value, a special shoutout in my next Journal entry, and your submission will be officially part of the lore of TMHOTW.
  
  

Use science, and the biota summary, as your guide, and let the tournament of discovery begin!