[Xanth]

[d=auto]DESIGN A HERO[/d]

Ever wondered whose face is on the change in your character's pocket or who they idolise? Well, now's the time to find out!

[d=auto]SUBMISSIONS[/d]

The gist of this contest is that you're creating heroes from Elysia's past, and by heroes I don't mean just the good guys so much as the legends. Think Nixon, think Ghandi, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Mark Twain - they're all people marked by history as something special, or as people who've made an impact on the world somehow. Your job is to design an Elysian hero, taking into account the world's history and cultures.

And who knows, maybe that hero is still alive somewhere.

• Be original. No reference or source material for this one.
  
• Please PM your entries to [d=black]XANTH[/d].

[d=auto]DISCLAIMERS[/d]

• Even if you win, we may not be able to use your hero. Sometimes things just don't fit into the mythology of Elysia so while we will do our best to introduce them, we may simply decide it's not possible. We apologise if that's the case, but don't worry! You'll still keep your prize. ^^
  
• We may use entries that haven't actually won the contest if we feel they fit well enough or they inspire us but we no longer give awards for those entries, only the entries which win the contest. ^^
  
• Please note that in entering this contest you are agreeing to let Elysian Fields use your creation, in whole or in part, whether or not you remain an active member. You are also granting us permission to edit your submission to fit into Elysia's background as much as we need to.

[d=auto]AWARDS[/d]

The winning entry will be featured in the newsbox for a month and hopefully entered into a new page on the website (or, if still living, into the NPC Database), ζ200, and a trophy I haven't yet made.

[d=auto]DEADLINES[/d]

[d=maroon]TO ENTER:[/d] 22nd of March
[d=maroon]TO VOTE:[/d] 29th of March
[d=maroon]AWARDS GIVEN:[/d] 1st of April

[Xanth]

Just to remind everyone that there's only two weeks left to the deadline!

Also, if anyone wants to run their ideas past me to check on background or setting, I'm happy to read them through.

[Xanth]

The legend of Galen the battlefield healer

Name: Galen Duva
Race: Anyeli
Faction: Apali
Caste: Peace Keeper
Physical Description: He is old, around 900 years old. Light brown hair that was kept short. White wings which have several scars. Sharp features but a kind face. 5’10”height; 11’10” wingspan. When not wearing his military uniform/armor he wore simple clothes of mostly earthy shades.


Summary of character (mostly character traits)
• He was an amazing negotiator but not many wanted to talk during the time that he was alive.
• Even though he was an apali he never saw the Skotadi as enemies.
• As a Peacekeeper he never lifted a hand against another but he was always found on the battlefield.
• He was a field healer
• Eventually died on the battle field. (He was around 900 year old)
• Although nobody knows it, a man who had witnessed Galen’s last moments is still alive (although the man was just a boy back then)
• Was the inspiring force behind a pledge that many peacekeepers take pledging that they will heal all anyeli nomatter who they are.

His Final Moment
The battle field was strewn with dead bodies. Both sides had suffered severe casualties. Galen was badly injured but he was tending to the injuries of a younger anyeli, first. It was a young boy, one of the tragic child soldiers that had been a product of one of the fiercest times in the war. “Run, you must run.” He said to the boy. “It’s alright, my times up. It’s time for you to live on, just remember what I have done today and I’ll be fine.” He said as he urged the boy too leave, knowing all too well that the young boy wanted fight on.
A few meters away a skotadi warrior, who was mortally wounded, raised his bow to fire it at the fleeing child. “The skotadi will be victorious, he said as he let the arrow fly.” Galen saw this and used his power over light to blind the warrior. In a knee jerk reaction the warrior aimed his bow in the direction of Galen and fired his arrow. Galen was struck and mortally wounded. The boy was able to escape to a nearby forested area.
Galen stumbled over to the skotadi warrior, “brother, the arrow flew true and I don’t have much time. I cannot heal my own mortal wounds but I can heal yours.” “You are not my brother,” the warrior spat in his face. Galen wiped the bloody saliva from his face and calmly said “We are all anyeli,” before coughing up blood and dying. The warrior’s stern face melted away as he began to weep over Galen’s dead body. “I have murdered my brother.” He said, and then collapsed dead onto Galen’s body.
---------------------------------------This part is not included in the official legend----------------------------------------
Hiding in the bushes the young boy had witnessed the entire thing, and now knew that he had to remember what Galen did that day.
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[Xanth]

Doctor Taliba Salvadore
Dracovari Scientist

Early Life
Unlike other Viridis Taliba’s healing gift never quite manifested. She could feel the pain of others and it drained her but she had no ability to heal. Feeling out of place in the world she spent much of her early life travelling across the various worlds looking for answers. At first she wondered if it was environmental but as she travelled and saw great sickness in the world she wondered if she had some unknown disease.

With no healing gift Taliba turned to science learning everything she could about the various viruses and diseases that plagued the different worlds. She wanted to unlock their secrets, to understand their history so that she might find an answer for what happened to her.

Instead she discovered an affinity for science far beyond that displayed in the worlds she travelled. Fearing that her knowledge as a scientific doctor would lead to the people, of Earth in particular, claiming her to be a new messiah she finally returned from her self imposed exile to Elysia.


The Jarvian Plague
On Elysia the Jarvian Plague had been breaking out in small villages for the last century. For the most part it was easily contained, though only fifty percent of the victims recovered. No one had any answers for what caused it, or how to cure it, only that its symptoms caused large boils along the spine, deafening awareness of every sound, and mild paralysis. The boils were so hot the victims often died of a form of heat stroke. They were the lucky ones, those that had to endure the deafening sounds all around usually took much longer to die.

Soon after Taliba returned to Elysia the Jarvian plague broke out once again. The outbreaks of the preceding decade had become harder to contain, but this was the worst. It consumed entire villages, lying dormant in victims for days or weeks it travelled via traders to nearby villages and towns, and through portals to larger centres. Nowhere was safe. To prevent the plague from spreading the portals to other worlds were closed.

At first Taliba found herself trying her best to look after victims but their pain was too great for her to bear, and with no gift for healing she couldn’t even ease that. So she retreated with some precious samples of the plague and began her research. As the population of Elysia fell one by one to the plague Taliba worked tirelessly trying to understand it, where it had come from and how it had mutated. She eventually discovered its roots in a seemingly malign plant, part of the plants pollen producing phase. She could never figure out how it mutated enough to affect the various Elysian species, but she was able to use her knowledge to produce a cure.


Legacy
With the cure in hand Elysia was able to breathe once again, but many had died and the wound carved through the land was deep. Taliba felt the pain but could do nothing more to ease it. That job would be left to her fellow Viridis. Instead she retreated into exile once more determined to continue her quest to find why she alone among the Viridis could not heal. In the year to come however, many would claim she was the greatest Dracovari healer of them all.

[Xanth]

Name: Melina, daughter of Canderis
Species: Nymph
Class: Nyad

Name: Alydia, daughter of Canderis
Species: Nymph
Class: Dryad


Many, many centuries ago Alydia and Melina were born to Canderis, a simple Nymph groved to a plot of land somewhere along the base of where the Fae Forest and the Dusky Mountains meet. The exact dates of their births are unknown, but what is known is they were twins. Born from the pure days, long before the burning of fuels like coal and oil became common place in both Elysia and Earth, the twins grew together to be the epitome of what a nymph should be. As the story goes, they never felt the curse of modern urbanitis, but there are more important things to know about them that that for they are the saviors of the Fae Forest.
Many years into their lives, long after their rituals to bind them to their elements, the fallen Aide Dimitri began to fight against Xanth. In his struggle against her, many of his hordes sought out to destroy the honoured Xanth’s shrines and temples, many of which were in the then vast Fae Forest. In their rage and fighting, many lives were lost and many lands were burned. The worst attack, however, was the destruction of the great statue that stood before the Fae Tree, in the very heart of the forest.
Frightened, sad and enraged, both Nymphs and Therianthropes fought to defend their homes, but in the end once all was said and done, the forest was burning faster than they could put out. There had been a great drought over most of the forest, and there was no water to extinguish the flames that were easily destroying the dry forest due to the lack of very many Nereids living in such a temperate area.
Alydia and Melina were not dissuaded by the situation, however, and quickly formed a plan. They would divert the water from the nearby sea, which was then call the Sea of Chandric, by using the powers of the many Dryads to create streams, and the powers of the many Nyads living near the waters to create vast storms. They army of nymphs worked long into the night, and eventually were able to save most of the forest, including the Sequoia village and the entrance to the Rowan Caverns.
Sadly not all of the forest was saved, and what was burned irreparably became known as the Chandric forest, in honour of the great body of water that was drained so much to try and save it, and to this day it is allowed to remain how it was then in order to remind all people the destruction caused by hate and anger. Still, to this day the names of Alydia and Melina are told to every young nymph, exalted as two of the greatest heroes in Elysia’s history, and a medallion bearing the face of Alydia on one side, and Melina on the other is a common gift to young Nymphs as they set out for their seclusion into the forest to remind them that from great trials come great triumphs.

[Xanth]

The entries are up and it's time to cast your vote!

[Xanth]

[d=auto]THE WINNER IS[/d]

Yep, time to announce the winner of our first Design a Hero contest! And the winner is - drumroll please! - [d=maroon]JARRATT[/d] with his entry [d=maroon]TALIBA SALVADORE[/d], the healer who couldn't but did anyway. :D Congratulations, Jarratt! You've won the a new trophy for your cabinet, ζ200 (as well as the extra ζ65 from the prize shop) and a newsbox feature. ^__^

Thank you to Russ and Grey for entering, both of whom have earned their ζ15 for entering, and to everyone who voted!

[Eivyonydd]

That is a pretty sword. Also - *jumps and dances*