Step One

[Aeoshattr 679]

Describe yourself, drawing one or two arrows on the provided diagram, starting from the centre pointing outwards.

Keep in mind, I'm expecting to receive:

• Diagram solved by you, with the arrows
• Explanation or reasoning for the solution you found
• (optional) what you think this diagram means

Please refer to the "Scoring" section to see what I'm looking for.

 

To Begin - DEADLINE: 23rd March 2016
Contact me via forum PM as follows, and I will provide you with the diagram¹. My reply to this marks the beginning of your quest time:
Name:
ID:
Citizenship:
Date Character was Created:

The answer is not the same for each participant. I will explain how the answer is determined at the end of the quest, for transparency. Currently, this is to be known by myself and the judges.

 

Hints

I will post hints every week. Each hint posted after the first one will decrease the score of participants who send their answer after the date it was posted on by 5/100. A total of 5 hints will be posted (in separate posts in this topic, to keep a clear track of date/time), including the first one, after which no further hints will be added.

Spoiler

 

• The black dots and the images are the 'keywords' you are aiming for.

 

Scoring (x out of 100)

Spoiler

• 20pts (0, 10 or 20): Correct answer (your arrow(s) must match with the one(s) I determine).
• 10pts (all or none): What does the diagram represent? What are the 'keywords'?
• 0 to 40pts Reasoning + Details of correct answer (how you obtained it - note: 'guessing' will score 0).
• 0 to 30pts Quest Time (calculated as linear scale of all quest times: shortest quest time receives 30 pts, longest time receives 0 pts).
• -0 to -20 pts (increments of -5) Negative hint score, based on how many hints were posted by the date on which the participant submitted their solution

The quest ends when the diagram storing time expires on storenow.net: 92 days from today. Rankings will be determined based on total points for each participant.

Rewards - DEADLINE: 23rd May 2016

Spoiler

1st place - 1 WP + 1 Choice of:

• 1 hour Nightmode
• Attacklock Stone
• Movelock Stone
• MirrorRitual Stone
• Locate Stone

2nd place - 2x Root Warriors + 1 Choice of:

• Leftovers from 1st place

3rd place - 5 SC + 1 Choice of:

• Leftovers from 2nd place

 

Sponsors welcome.


^{1 - the diagram is shared with each participant individually. I reserve the right to reward 0 quest time points to any individual who shared the diagram with other participants, or any participant who acquired the diagram from sources other than myself, if substantial proof is provided.}

 

EDIT LOG:

Spoiler

1. 1 Judge Slot filled, edited post to reflect this.
2. Added clarification about what your entry should contain when you send it to me at the top.
3. Second Judge slot filled. Edited post to reflect this.
4. Edited rewards for them to make a bit more sense. Main rewards remain, just 'choice of' have been restructured slightly.
5. Added deadlines.
6. Broke down the 20 points for the arrows into 0, 10 or 20, depending on how many arrows you got correctly. 
7. Added Mirrorritual stone to reward pool

 

Edited May 13, 2016 by Aeoshattr

[Aeoshattr 679]

Second hint:

Spoiler

The diagram only uses a total of 4 adjectives and 4 nouns as 'keywords'.

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aeoshattr
Borked spoiler

[MRWander 204]

Where's the first hint D:

[Blackwoodforest 41]

Where's the first hint D:

The black dots and the images are the 'keywords' you are aiming for.

[Aeoshattr 679]

Resolved.

Spoiler

 

2 other things, for which feedback would be appreciated:

1. I am thinking about reserving the right to reward 1x Imprinted Dark to the entry I like best, regardless of score. This would be based purely on originality or just a new way of thinking, or having an extremely solid argument, etc. I'm not sure whether this is wise or not - would anyone object to this?
2. "deadline" for quest - initially set for 92 days since the first post. Would anyone object to this being shortened to 31-ish days? I think 92 days might be a long time for judges and participants to wait. 

If any of the participants (or anyone else) objects strongly to either of these, please let me know.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aeoshattr

[sirixtheblackrobot 9]

I agree with your plan on changing those rules.

 

I do not see any downsides for these, except for the people that would want to submit an answer after the 31-ish days as it would be impossible. 

Edited March 4, 2016 by sirixtheblackrobot

[Sunfire 310]

 

 

1. I am thinking about reserving the right to reward 1x Imprinted Dark to the entry I like best, regardless of score. This would be based purely on originality or just a new way of thinking, or having an extremely solid argument, etc. I'm not sure whether this is wise or not - would anyone object to this?

always double check with subjective judging, it could be seen as favouring one person if the motivation is lacking

[Aeoshattr 679]

I will only put an early deadline on beginning the quest. For the finish, I'll leave the old deadline. Therefore:

 

Last Possible Quest Start day: 23rd of March 2016

Last Possible Quest finish day: 23rd of May 2016

[Aeoshattr 679]

On hold until further notice.

[Aeoshattr 679]

Third hint:

Spoiler

The information I request as a sign-up is important for you too. Seasons are to be calculated calendaristically, not astronomically - just because I love you all and don't want to over complicate things...(Winter: 1 Dec - 28/29Feb; Spring: 1 March - 31 May; Summer: 1 June - 31 Aug; Autumn: 1 -Sept - 30 Nov)

Deadlines mentioned above remain valid.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aeoshattr
Borked spoiler

[Aeoshattr 679]

Fourth (and last) hint:

Spoiler

The inner and outer parts only differ in orientation.

 

1 week left to start the quest. All those who have not submitted their entries so far have had points deducted, as mentioned in the initial post, since all hints have now been posted.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Aeoshattr
Borked spoiler

[Aeoshattr 679]

Reminder: 20 days left to submit your entries.

If you have not submitted your entry but have started the quest, may I kindly ask that you confirm whether you want to continue or not? I will not begin the judging process (which involves sending the entries to the judges) until the quest is officially over, which is either the 23rd of May or if those who have not said anything since beginning the quest forfeit their participation.

I am only asking because my exams begin on the 24th of May, which is likely to cause delays in judging and reward distribution.

[Aeoshattr 679]

Quest Ended. 

Judging in progress. Keep in mind, it might take a little while since I've got an exam hell-week coming up.

Also: question for participants:
Would you object to your submission being made public, if you rank in the top 3? 
This is an opt-out! I will post your submissions (top 3), unless you specifically ask otherwise.

[Aeoshattr 679]

After a long time, the results are finally here! Rejoice! Do the drum rolls, spray confetti and champagne! The following are the results (in order, score out of 100 in brackets):

1. Jubaris (57.7) - WP (from TKs) + pool reward (from me)
2. AmberRune (40) - 2 Root Warriors (from me) + pool reward (from me)
3. dst (37) - 5 SC (from me) + pool reward (from me)
4. Blackwood Forest (26)
5. Sirix The Black Robot (24)
6. FireStarter (8.3)
7. *Nimrodel* (0)
8. Wideberth (0)
9. klawdees (0)
10. Maebius (0)

Participants 7-10 either forfeited willingly or never submitted an entry, in spite of reminders. The score breakdowns can be found on this Google Spreadsheet. This was done with the help of 2 judges, Assira the Black and MaGoHi, who to my surprise were considerably harsher than me.

Top 3 entries:

Jubaris - sent in a whopping 30 minutes total quest time!

Spoiler

 

Reasoning:

- Barren soul was obviously one of my first creatures, if not the first. Its description connects it with fallen berserkers of Marind Bell, slain by Necrovion. So my homeland + my beginning, the choice was two fold.

That arrow ends up in Raven's peace - convenient, I was once of Loreroot.

The next arrow goes towards Necro scene, fitting because of the taint effect the circumstances of me leaving Loreroot were.

It is also the scene where I am recruiting UPs for my tutorial campaign quest 

Necro is sort of a counter-part of MB - well, of all lands, but it's conflict with MB has a special weight.

People of MB are defined by their (inner) conflict with Necrovion, because only by defeating its influence can we strive to heights.

So my arrow leads me to my ultimate goal - combat my spiritual corruption.

Diagram Meaning:

- The creatures and the scenes are associate-able with parts of our personality. I'm in a dilemma on whether it is supposed to represent our course of actions in MD or an approximation of our identity (by you), both might turn out to be the same thing though.

 

AmberRune - very personal and insightful, looking at symbolism a lot.

Spoiler

Reasoning:

At first I tried to connect the inner square to the different seasons or personality. The elemental egg was a summer or was passion with loyalty; the barren soul was fall or a loss of purpose; the water being as winter or gaining surety; the toxidendrite seed being spring or zeal in using abilities. These have the easiest visible connection to a season but are on the inside where personality and inner self would be described. So instead I looked at them as left (the elemental and barren soul) and right (the seed or water being) learning to prioritize of the improvement of a group instead of personal growth, with up and down as offensively/passionately pursuing goals to slowly/passively having them. With those considerations, I know that I am fairly passively having goals but have lost my overall sense of purpose. In the inner square, I am solidly the barren soul.

I was not able to really find a sense of time or season in the outer square but found a separation between halves like I had with the inner square. In this case, I found the top scenes to be showing an isolation of person in different environments: alone, hiding, and away from people with the armor in the cellar or alone, inviting, and in the open with Bob at the Path of Loneliness. The bottom scenes show a sense of togetherness, be it in a peaceful companionship at Raven’s Peace or in a tumultuous gathering at the Way of Cleansing. Left in the outer square favors the quiet where right favors the lively. My reality of MD is that of an unallied person in a land other than No Man’s Land. I am not actively part of a group of people but usually enjoy company. This fairly alone but with good company situation seems to point to the openness of Bob at the Path of Loneliness.

In short: I am somebody who has lost some sense of purpose, living together but alone in a chosen land. A barren soul at the Path of Loneliness.

Diagram Meaning:

From mandala construction, I found that by starting the center and working outward we are presenting an exchange between the inner self and the experienced outside world. With only the two distinct levels, we are not concerning ourselves with our awareness or the voidness with mental activity.

Since the shape of the mandala is in the form of squares, it seems to indicate the interaction of the foundations of me as a person against the foundations of the world that I reside in. Not in the nebulous way of belief, but in the simple and basic sense of structure and balancing yourself in your environment

 

 

dst - best, most clear reasoning, in my opinion.

Spoiler

Reasoning:

Inner self image has 4 small images: air scout, seed, water being, barren soul which I matched like:

D - barren soul

I - air scout

S - water being

C - seed

 

Outer self has also 4 images which I matched like this (don't know names of the locations by heart but if needed I will look for them):

D - Fire from the Necro scene (down - right image) - Way-of-Cleansing  --- fire

I - Bob the tree (upper right)  ----air

S - Recruiting place from Loreroot (down left)  ----water

C - MDA Basement (Cellar upper left)  ----earth

 

My MD personality is D (outer) C (inner) - so fire on the outer border and seed in the inner one.

That's what my 2 arrows show.

Diagram Meaning:

The 2 squares are the inner and outer self. Outer self is the image you show voluntarily to the others. It's a mask. The inner self is the "true" you, the person you become for example under stress.

 

There are 4 types of "personalities": Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientious (in short DISC).

They are matched with nature's elements:

D - Fire

I - Air

S  - Water

C - Earth

Rewards in the first post. Jubaris, Amber and dst please post what reward you pick from the reward pool here, in order. Find me in-game (usually with the Travelling Training Camp, currently at Ash arch) for all rewards except the WP, for which either contact Eara or wait for me to contact her.

[Jubaris 1,037]

My quick blabla-bery on forums has finally produced results...  

Yupee! And now a bit of politically correct (but honest) phrases: Thanks! Intriguing quest! Congrats to the rest!

[Aeoshattr 679]

Pool rewards:

Jubaris - Imprinted Dark (Nightmode)
AmberRune - Mirrorritual stone
dst - Movelock stone

All other rewards have also been distributed. Thanks all for participating

Edited May 31, 2016 by Aeoshattr