What is the format of Wrath of the Sun?
Wrath Of The Sun is an adventure storytelling competition OCT (Original Character Tournament). Your character explores the world, interact with opponents and find sun crystals as the Dark Sun looms overhead.
How the crystals are used is up to you. A character can use their power for themselves, destroy them, or bring them to the Central Temple to help purify the Dark Sun. It's a battle between light and shadow!
Can I enter a fan character?
Not in this OCT. You can have characters that are inspired by existing media, but your characters must be original! You cannot enter Legend of Zelda's Link as your character.
(You can rework a fandom character to be distinct from its original series. You want to make sure that every competitor can understand your character without understanding a bunch of deep lore or intricate knowledge of a story)
❗ IMPORTANT❗
How much effort should I put into my entries?
Simply put...Do not strain yourself!
At the end of the day, OCTs are a place to have fun with OCs and the community. People will often overexert themselves by trying to make bigger and bigger stories. You should not do this, it can be bad for your physical and mental health, leading to burnout.
Focus on something that is readable and finished.
We have not got specific minimums or maximums for numbers of comic pages or video length. A good goal to aim for is a 10 page uncoloured comic or a 4 minute video.
Can I join in a team?
A team of two artists (or an artist and writer) is allowed! You are only allowed 2 characters total in a group.
Will my round work be critiqued?
Unfortunately due to the short turnaround time between rounds, it is unlikely that the judging team will be able to give critiques. Feel free to ask others in the community for critiques but make sure to be constructive when giving out suggestions.
What is considered canon?
As this is a collaborative storytelling competition, every competitor will have their own canon which may differ slightly or massively depending on events, lore, history and character motivations at play.
Make sure to integrate your opponent character into the story. This doesn't mean you need to include every bit of your opponent's lore, but planning how you want to your characters to interact with your opponents is incredibly important. Use what can benefit your narrative and collaborate with your opponent!
What is canon to the setting?
The lore we've provided is a sandbox of soft canon we expect people to play around with, add onto and twist for their own stories! If you want to focus on some elements whilst leaving others out, that's totally cool.
How will you decide the ending of the tournament?
The tournament's winning entry will be the "canon" ending for Wrath of the Sun's overarching story between the Divine Sun and Dark Sun. This is not to invalidate the other entries but to provide a way to bookend the tournament's narrative by the time we reach it's end!
Everything else will remain a loose multiverse of stories even if they aren't considered "canon".
Are spectator entries allowed?
Absolutely!
What ARE spectator entries?
Spectator Entries can be made by those who didn’t move on to the roster, or otherwise have their own story to tell in the setting that’s not a part of the official round bracket.
Making NPCs as a competitor:
Encouraged! Just be sure not to take away from your main character's narrative within the tournament.
Do my characters have to be in line with the setting?
Only if you want to! You can have a N64 Zelda inspired OC - or you can have a setting totally different to Tasucan (steampunk, modern day, sci-fi). We don't want to bottle your creativity! The only limit is your imagination!
Do we have to use the prompts given with the rounds?
The only requirements we have is that you use one of the location options we provide. Everything else is optional and used to help spark the imagination!
The main idea of the tournament is that your OCs are exploring Tasucan as the main setting for your stories. Maybe they want to save the world or bring about its ruin.
Your character can come from elsewhere but the focus of the tournament narrative needs to stay within the land of Tasucan.
What is an outlander?
An outlander can be anyone. But especially those who are foreigners to Tasucan, strangers or a force of change in the world. It is used as a collective term for the competitors.
Does the Dark Sun/Fake Sun appear across the entire world?
This has been left deliberately vague so this is up to your own interpretation. Is this a curse that only effects Tasucan? Or has the entire world been cursed too?
Can my character purify the Sun without the sun crystals?
Maybe! However there is no shortcut or easy cheat to solve the problem of the Dark Sun. This is a mysterious phenomena and it cannot be easily solved.
[Plus an easy solution would be no fun to read about!]
Does my character need to be a fantasy based character?
No not necessarily!
Can my character live in/be from Tasucan?
Of course! Life in Tasucan is sparse, but new creatures are still born and raised. Others like Yak and Kalimba seem to have been given the ability to never die from old age.
Does my character have to arrive at Tasucan from the Sea of the Damned?
They do not need to. If they are from Tasucan, they simply need to end the audition at either the Sea of the Damned or the Central Temple. If they are from outside Tasucan's borders they can also come in from the east or south from lands past the Blinding Canyon or Howling Mountains.
[If the character is from a setting other than Tasucan's world: magic, wormholes and portals are a great way to transport them to this other world]
What are the specific changes the Dark Sun caused?
The sun was stolen, replaced by the Dark Sun / Fake Sun which is a black void spewing unnatural coloured sinister light
The sky became eternally darkened. Daylight is when the Dark Sun is out. At night, the sky is pitch black with no moon or sun to illuminate the land.
Monsters, death and decay filled the void left by the Sun disappearing.
The Death Curse: Most beings are unable to die of old age. If you are killed, your body will transform into a Shambler or other monster. The only way to kill these undead is with holy magic or divine light.
Any other impacts the Dark Sun had is up to your interpretation.
SHOULD we purify the Sun? What will happen if we do?
That's up to you :)
This is a battle between light and dark, not necessarily good and evil.
Can I make my own character-specific settings/NPCs/monsters/concepts for me and others to use?
Of course! We encourage that! Tasucan is a land of magic, mystery and marvels. We can hardly document all of its discoveries alone!
Just make sure that anything put in the resource channel is based within Tasucan's borders.
Is there a time period for the story?
Nope! We've left this vague 😈
Can we use the judge characters?
Of course! You don't need to wait until their specific round. The specifics of their characters, history, motive and roles are up to your interpretation!
Can we ship the judge characters?
You will need to ask permission from whichever artist the judge character belongs to - as everyone may have different boundaries!
[This applies to all characters of course]
Can we KILL the judge characters?
Probably! We haven't tried.
More specific questions about judge characters/environments/Tasucan
A lot of the more specific questions about Tasucan, the judge characters, environments, etc have all been left intentionally vague. We want to allow for the maximum amount of creative freedom whilst providing a setting to ground your stories in!
Often times it'll be up to you to decide how things about this world work.
You have the power to make a narrative spring from these roots! Go wild! Have fun!
Can I sell my work (comics, prints etc) involving Wrath of the Sun?
Yes but there are some rules you need to follow:
The setting, NPCs (Kalimba, Yak, Morrigan etc), lore and Wrath of the Sun OCT name can be used under a limited license. These characters and concepts can only be sold in work based on/about Wrath of the Sun OCT.
This means you cannot entirely rip one of the judge characters or a concept in Wrath of the Sun's setting into an unrelated story and claim them as your own ideas.
You can publish works based on the world of Wrath of the Sun such as stories, prints or comics, however your own characters must be the main focus, and if you include other people's characters, you need to ask for their permission first. Make it clear you're selling this work for money. Credit for the character's creators is required.
If a creator does not want their characters to be monetised then respect their wishes.
Competitor/Spectator Rounds can be published under this same agreement. If a judge NPC is prominent in your story that is fine to publish.
We encourage the community to protect their characters and work.
The Wrath of the Sun Judge and Moderation Team will never profit off your characters and ideas. We will not redistribute your work without consent. Any discussions around profit fall on you and the individual creators whose characters are included. We will not involve ourselves in these discussions.
Wrath of the Sun will remain a non-profit, for fun event. We have no interest in making it a for-profit event or involving monetary prizes.
The setting is free to be explored in your works so long as you follow these rules
Can I use Wrath of the Sun content in my art portfolio?
Of course! Double check with characters' creators to ensure they are okay with their characters appearing.
A great part of OCTs is that you can showcase your storytelling and artistic skills with a tangible example.
Has any Generative AI been used to make Wrath of the Sun?
No. We have a zero tolerance for generative AI. No AI has been utilised in developing the setting, art, characters or writing of Wrath of the Sun.
Will there be prizes?
We are undecided on if there will be prizes for the winner.