Welcome one and all to another edition of the Critic’s Quill!
With quite some buffer time between updates, and the article oriented issue which the last one was, we have a wealth of information to cover in this issue’s ‘Catching up with the Study’! When we left you last, we’re we gearing up for the 200th Tale of the Week. Now, at the beginning of June, we’ve just seen the completion of the 218th Tale! A frightening amount of yarns have been spun by the folks over at the study since October, but never fear, we shall be covering all of them here. Furthermore, we have coverage of not one, not two, but three MAARC’s, plus two MCWC’s! So sit tight, grab a snack or two, and get ready to catch up with the Study!
For the 200th TotW, a special event was hosted. The more participants, the more prizes! With a total of 17 entrants (!), the winner was guaranteed three points towards their shiny Writer’s Study medals, with the second and third runner’s up earning two and one points respectively. The reason for the incredible giveaway and even more incredible turnout was owed to Rome II’s then imminent release. Whilst we might look back at those days and laugh at our optimism for the game, we nevertheless had a fantastic turnout for our special Rome-themed competition. Sweeping up the swag was the one and only The Thin Red Line, whose portrayal of a Carthaginian soldier at the battle of Cannae was both original and moving. In such a titanic battle between writers, wherein 47 people cast their votes, it would be remiss not to mention the runners up; each of whom crafted wonderful tales in their own right. Our own Maximinus Thrax narrowly missed first place himself, whilst William the Marshall and ImperialAquila rounded off the winners in third and fourth place respectively.
‘The Merchant’ was the title of the 201st TotW. Despite losing out on first place in the previous competition, ImperialAquila came back swinging with a new tale, taking first place. Putting us in the boots of a down-on-his-luck merchant, Aquila took us on a journey to the New World in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth. Whilst the merchant might have been disappointed with what he found, we were certainly not disappointed by the tale!
In the 202nd TotW, Aquila emerged victorious in a closely fought race to take first place once again; his second consecutive victory in the competition! Playing on the theme of Megas Alexandros, Aquila recounted a touching narration of Alexander the Great’s life through one who fought with, and ultimately against the ‘god in all but name’.
Aquila’s reign of glory was finally put to an end by Rex Anglorvm in the 203rd TotW, entitled Black Flag. With rapturous prose, Rex delivered a clever tale of lust, longing and lethality amongst a pirate crew, earning yet another accolade to add to his collection.
The 204th TotW went by the title of ‘Who’s a Fool Now?’ and was thus quite open to interpretation by the intrepid writers residing in the Study. However, with a tale that was steeped in an irony that was nigh-on humorous, we found a winner in Scipi…Danc…Scipio Africanus? (Are we sure? Can we double check his name again?) Detailing a scribe recording the life of Caesar in the latter’s very presence, Scipio delivered a cunning tale most deserved of victory.
Cohors_Evocata took home first place in the 205th TotW. Writing on ‘The End of an Era’, Cohors’ tale eventually came out ahead after three tie-break votes! (That’s right, three!) Taking his tale into the post-apocalyptic future, Cohors graced us with a poignant story, rich in both character and imagery.
The week of the 206th TotW saw the return of a very familiar face, as Rex Anglorvm cast his hat back into the arena and seized first place once again. With the title ‘Jesse James’, Rex refused to go down the obvious route, instead turning the theme on its head and crafting a wonderfully funny story about a fellow with a very unfortunate name.
With The Hobbit smashing box offices worldwide, it was only fitting for Smaug to play host to the 207th TotW. This time, veteran writer and duellist Dude with the Food won out against the rest with a very rare poetic entry. Donning his dwarf beard and raising his mighty axe, Dude took us on a journey to Khazad-Dum with his master crafted rhymes.
The 208th TotW paid tribute to the late Paul Walker. Audacia himself took this solemn victory for himself, with a tale I’m sure many of us can relate to: just another poor unfortunate soul trying to get through the working day, made bearable only by the flash of a smile from that certain someone.
Entitled Welc…Into the Jungle, the 209th TotW saw victory snatched away from the grizzled veterans of the competition by the newcomer ProtoBo! Undaunted, Proto sailed to victory with his first ever entry, proving that anyone can beat those useless buffoo…those esteemed and honoured regulars of this competition. Ahem. Steeped in complex, yet beautiful metaphor, Proto’s tale is as poignant as it is ethereal.
For the World of Warcraft fans amongst us – what are you doing? There are far better MMO’s out there! (What’s that?) My editor has just informed me that this segment isn’t too be used for relaying my personal video game biases. Huh, you learn something new every day. Anyway, the title of ‘Night Elves’ defined the 210th TotW. Sailing to victory this time was the one and only Adamat. The tale of a traitorous assassin, Adamat’s story is simple, but powerful, evoking the emotion and tragedy of slaying one’s kin for a greater cause.
Returning that next week with an Egyptian theme, the 211th TotW went by the moniker of ‘The Ankh of Life’. With a clever play on the theme of Ankhs, Mhaedros takes us to the Discworld with a tale to rival Pratchett’s very works themselves! As humorous as you’d expect Cut-My-Own-Throat-Dibbler to be, we find the wily merchant getting into a spot of bother in this rare display on fan fiction.
Continuing in the vein of the mighty ImperialAquila, Mhaedros was to win his own consecutive victory in the 212th TotW. Working with the theme ‘Endless Seas’, Mhaedros lured us in with an old man’s tale of the sea and leaving us both enthralled and mortified at the end – in a good way of course!
Whereas we saw a wealth of wonderful writers and stories from the 200th TotW onwards, the 213th TotW was an unfortunate travesty. Presented with the title of ‘Panzers!’, some young upstart writer penned a laughably horrible tale, which somehow managed to win despite it’s terrible prose and worse storytelling! I know, I’m a disgusted as you are! I think we should all go and lobby for a revote, because someone must surely have rigged the competition that week.
Things returned to their usual standard of high quality with the 214th TotW. Strengelicher, veteran writer of all things Crusade-y, put his skills and knowledge to use to sweep the ‘Krak de Chevaliers’ themed competition. A story both haunting and touching at the same time, Strenge recounts the tale of two soldiers; divided by battle lines and religion, but united in death.
Just when everyone was beginning to feel confident in themselves and their writing, the buffalo himself returned to show everyone just how things were done. After a long absence from the competition, Ybbon’s mighty hooves carried him to victory in the 215th TotW (nope, I don’t know how he grips that quill either). With a story where one can’t tell which is richer, the prose or the imagination, Ybbon showed his skill once again by recounting the actions of a duo of sci-fi janitors in the Roman Senate. Yeah it sounds weird, but it works!
Following in the footsteps of ProtoBo (and well, I guess everyone at one point or another!), Disappoint Ed claimed his first ever competition victory in the 216th TotW. Playing on the theme of ‘Murky Woods’, Ed definitely took the story to murky depths with one of the few horror entries we’ve seen. With a wickedly crafted tale of a young boy’s adventurer gone wrong, Ed’s tale is definitely not for the faint of heart!
What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a Mhaedros? Why yes it is! Come on, you should have guessed that! Yup, that’s right, Mhaedros wins another victory in the ‘Vitamin Water’ inspired 217th TotW. With a tale about a coven of witches with ‘warts as colourful as the rainbow’, Mhaedros’ delivers a vivid, yet funny story, putting him half way towards a shiny new medal!
To celebrate the 50th MAARC, the Study decided to run two tie-in special TotW’s, which gave us regulars a chance to take on the staff themselves! Whilst the second is still concluding the voting at time of writing, the 218th TotW recently saw a winner. With a whole bunch of rep prizes up for grabs, the veterans of the Study came out of their hidey-holes to test their mettle against their overlords. After some fierce voting, the mighty Ybbon once again claimed victory with his fabulously spun tale about the embattled rear-guard of a Roman legion.
Well, we’ve certainly caught up with a lot of what’s been happening in the Study since October! We’re not finished yet however! Whilst we’ve seen some exquisite stories win the Tale of the Week competition, so too have we seen some great wins in the MAARC and MCWC.
MAARC XLVI concluded shortly after our last ‘Catching up with the Quill’. In first place, and carrying the torch for the Shogun 2 sub-forum, was Merchant of Venice, with his AAR: ‘Way of the Bow’! A well-crafted story by one of our resident staff here, ‘Way of the Bow’ sailed to victory despite stiff competition. The story of a young Japanese bowman in his quest for glory, love and survival, ‘Way of the Bow’ is fast becoming a titan in the Shogun 2 arena. Not only that, but victory finally afforded Merch the prestigious Bronze Medal! Here’s to many more!
Biting at Merchant’s heels was another of our resident staffers: General Retreat. Sweeping second place in a tie-break vote, Retreat’s Medieval 2 AAR ‘Swords of the Sea’ delves into post-Hastings England with a host of familiar and not-so familiar (yet still of course enthralling!) characters. A well-deserved three points!
Narrowly losing out on second place was the veteran Chirugeon, with his Skyrim AAR: ‘The Nascent Ranger’. A worthy tale with a considerable following, I’m sure Chirugeon will take pride in standing third on the podium.
After an intense season of both writing and voting, MAARC XLVII finally came to a close in late January. First place was seized by the dark horse of the competition, as IneptCmdr’s then-new Empire AAR soared to victory. Entitled ‘For King and Country’, it follows the expansion of the British Empire in true history book format. With Empire AAR’s few and far between, Inept’s victory came as a pleasant (although nonetheless well deserved!) surprise. However, with fluid prose and beautiful screenshots, IneptCmdr can say his story earned his four points well.
Second place for MAARC XLVII was as hotly contested as its predecessor, and one of the combatants was no stranger to these tie-break battles! Indeed, General Retreat once again triumphed with ‘Swords of the Sea.’ Despite missing out on first place, Retreat nonetheless earned himself his Bronze Medal for two consecutive second place finishes! Congratulations!
A Rome II AAR finally graced the annals of the MAARC, with sbroadbent’s AAR ‘Epistolas de in Ante’ taking third place. A history of the House of Junia, ‘Epistolas de in Ante’ earns a hard fought victory and provides inspiration to the budding Rome II AAR community.
Easter kicked off to a great start as the results for MAARC XLVIII arrived in early April. Strengelicher’s long-standing AAR ‘In The Holy Land’ once again claimed a victory, this time seizing first place in a landslide! A well-deserved victory for a veteran author and a proven story.
Second place was snapped up by none other than sbroadbent, as ‘Epistolas de in Ante’ once again returned to the competition. He’s now teetering on the verge of his first medal, so keep up the good work!
Third place was fought over by AquilaPraefortis’ RTW:BI ‘The Conquests of Constantinople’ and the Quill’s own Axis Sunsoar and his Medieval 2 AAR: ‘Raiders across the Sea.’ In the end, Axis triumphed and ‘Raiders across the Sea’ swept into port and grabbed third place.
Whilst MAARC XLVIX has concluded the first two rounds of voting, at the time of writing Scipio and Chirugeon are still battling it out for second place. So keep your eyes peeled for our coverage of that next issue!
Meanwhile, whilst the AARtist’s fervently scribble away, the MCWC has also seen much activity since our last ‘Catching up with the Study.’ MCWC III concluded in mid-November. In first place came General Retreat! Unfortunately failing to take first place in the MAARC, Retreat turned his hand instead to creative writing, and by gosh are we glad he did! With his thrilling sci-fi tale ‘Pax Anglia’, Retreat earns himself that much coveted first place.
Just trailing him was the Study’s own Scottish King, who brought his own flavour of sci-fi to the table. With his Acamar short stories, SK earned himself some well-deserved points towards a shiny new medal.
Rounding off the winner’s podium for the third MCWC was HunterKYA. Despite having a sci-fi story of his own, Hunter decided to enter his Roman historical fiction ‘Tales from a Past Life’ instead. There must be something in the rules that puts a limit on the amount of sci-fi allowed in any one contest! Nevertheless, Hunter proves himself equally adept at weaving a story set in the past and places respectably in third.
With only one other sci-fi story competing against him this time, Hunter decided to try his luck with ‘Titanium Core; in MCWC IV. With a large portion of the vote, Hunter’s skill in sci-fi writing and imagination was once again proven and he placed first.
Following on his heels was Gen. Chris’ Jericho fan fiction ‘A House Divided.’ A long-standing story which began in October 2012(!), ‘A House Divided’ earned the respect it was due with a second place win, after narrowly defeating Magister Militum Flavius Aetius’ ‘Starscape’ in a tie-break, which itself would take a comfortable third place.
Currently, both MAARC L and MCWC V are in need of more entries, so get submitting for those! MAARC L in particular has some tasty rep prizes. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring you coverage of both in the next issue.
Phew! Did we really just get through a backlog of eight months’ worth of competition news? That we did! What a rollercoaster of a few months it’s been! So, I guess that’s all from the Study…
(Huh? Really? I have to talk about that as well? Fine.) Okay, so it looks as if there’s even more news from the Study to cover! Wow, folks really have been busy over there lately haven’t they!
This is something we haven’t touched upon much in previous ‘Catching up with the Study’ segments, because, quite frankly, they just weren’t happening. Recently however, we have seen an unprecedented rise in duels! Those swashbuckling, party mouths of the Study are back fighting each other once again, with humorously sly witticisms and wonderful tales. So let’s take a look at what’s happened!
Our first duel since January 2013(!) took place in late April. The grizzled writing warriors drew their quills at dawn and the battle was a tough one indeed! It pitted the wily Lyra of ‘Voices of Ataname’ fame against recent MAARC victor Axis Sunsoar. The battle was a close one, with the duo fighting to best describe a fine picture of a misty pathway through a forest. The duellists squared up to each other, quills inked, blood boiling and fires burning beneath their eyes. The result of the first duel in over a year? A draw! A first in the history of Study duels and an entirely deserved result! Both stories were excellent and incredibly tough to choose between. Both Lyra and Axis have set a precedent for quality that will be hard to match!
Next in line to tug at each other’s hair were Maximinus Thrax and our editor himself, the esteemed m_1512! Deigning to join us from up on his throne over in the content forums (Ow! Sorry m, it was a joke!) m decided throw his hat into the ring for the second duel of 2014. However, a proven veteran of Tale of the Week and an incredible writer in his own right, Maximinus Thrax was more than ready to rise to the challenge. Presented with a picture of a Viking longboat in a storm, these two talented writers squared off against each other. Quills were raised and bam! One would look down at his tattered tunic to see ink spilling down from his wound. Collapsing to the ground in shock, m gasped as he saw the votes come in. In a landslide victory, Maximinus skilfully out-duelled his opponent. However, that’s not to say our venerable editor didn’t craft a superb tale himself. However, that Maximinus is feared as one of the toughest opponents in the entire Study. I’m sure m feels lucky to have walked away with his life! Better luck next time my friend and congratulations to Maximinus Thrax!
However, as Maximinus began to gloat over his victory, a shadow was cast over him. His eyes, which had been alive with joy, suddenly grew wide. His jaw slackened as he looked up at the beast above him. The buffalo had arrived. Locking horns with the beast, Maximinus did do battle with the mighty Ybbon in a clash of titanic proportions. However, the dust has yet to settle on that duel, so you’ll just have to wait until the next issue to find out… (or you could just pop over to the Study in due course and check for yourself!)
With more duels on the horizon, it’s looking like a very lively and exciting time for the Study. Not only that, but the mammoth MAARC L is in full swing, alongside MCWC V. And as always, the Tale of the Week rolls on, always looking for fresh faces. So there’s plenty to be getting on with in the Study and plenty to keep me occupied writing this segment in the next issue I’m sure! Keep reading, keep writing and I’ll see you guys later.
The Critic's Quill: Issue 42
Centenarius
The Way of the Buffalo
Originally Posted by Ybbon
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