Choose your Stair

[Guillak]

Here is a little "research" quest for MD birthday:[list]
[*]Choose a stair in the realm (from any scene), and describe why you chose it, why you like it or not, etc. It can be a couple words, sentences, or even pages if you feel like it.
[*]Entries will be evaluated by 3 judges (Princ Rhaegar, Lashtal, and myself), and sorted according to their pertinence and originality.
[/list]
Rewards:[list]
[*]level 5 weaken stone offered my Marvolo;
[*]a protector spell stone offered by Maebius;
[*]a mirror ritual spell stone offered by Lashtal;
[*]a heat stone from the Fusioneers;
[*]a simple (? I don't know. Surprise) weaken stone;
[*]Fyrd Argentus will provide pickles as well;
[*]now I have a nice load of candies donated by Rex Umbrae Killer;
[*]one tea cup and some silver coins (Marvolo ++).
[/list]
Every entry will receive a little something! The big stones will be for the best entries though.

To enter, just send an in-game message to Guillak with your entry. Entries are welcome until the end of the birthday! I will try to write a summary when it's over.


Edit: updated rewards and judges

Edited April 23, 2012 by Guillak

[Inv1ctuS]

Hope you check my entry. HEHEHE

[Guillak]

Bump!

Rewards updated! All participants will receive a little (or big) something!

Three days left!

Come on it's easy!

[Eagle Eye]

nice idea, im looking forward

Edited April 19, 2012 by SkyArmy

[Guillak]

I have received 11 entries so far. As for "what creature of you", I'll extend the deadline: entries are welcome until Sunday, 12:00 server time.

[Guillak]

12 entries received. Thank you all for your participation!

As for reward:[list]
[*]everybody will receive 1 pickle + 1 candy + 1 silver coin
[*]in addition, top five will receive a spell stone (best one chooses first, then second, etc.)
[*]in addition, top three will receive an additional candy
[*]and in addition, the best one will receive a bonus cup of tea
[/list]

Results "soon".

[Eagle Eye]

Congratz to all participant

[Inv1ctuS]

Will the items be given out when the results come?

[Guillak]

[quote name='Inv1ctuS' timestamp='1335187827' post='109483']
Will the items be given out when the results come?
[/quote]

Yes!

[Guillak]

Council sponsors the quest with a special creature! … My bet is an Anniversary Aramor.

So, first place will not receive a bonus cup of tea, but the creature instead.

[Guillak]

[i][b]~ Results ~[/b][/i]

We've received various answers, of various length and content. Which is all for the best!

[i]Top entries:[/i]
1st: Maebius
2nd: Soothing Sands
3rd: Kris Summers
4th: Change
5th: Isabella Finch
6th: Darkraptor


[i][b]~ Rewards ~[/b][/i]

Sorry for the change again, but it's a good change (+1 angien offered by Maebius). So:[list]
[*]1 pickle + 1 silver + 1 candy for everyone
[*]Top 6 will choose amongst the following rewards one after each other (top entry chooses first, etc.): Council creature (most probably Anniversary Aramor), Angien, Heat Stone, Mirrorritual Stone, Prot Movelock Stone, a pack of two Weaken Stones (because I can't distinguish between the level 5 and the other one in my inventory >.>)
[/list]
Find me, or let me find you, in order to get your prize!
Note: I don't have the pickles yet.


[i][b]~ A summary ~[/b][/i]

I won't write an essay here, but just a list various aspects that have been observed by participants, and some questions it could raise.
(Note: you didn't have to write something like in order to score, this is just [i]my[/i] vision. Some entries adopted a more MD-symbol approach, which was welcome of course.)

[i]Shape:[/i] is it a straight path? Does it contain bends? Or is it continuous? Curved? Twinned? Some shapes might be monotonous to walk on, others allow one to look back at the distance covered so far, etc.

[i]Size:[/i] How long is the stair? Is it wide or narrow? Will it tolerate any misstep?

[i]Slope:[/i] given two ends to join, the steeper, the shorter, but the more difficult as well.

[i]Artificiality:[/i] most stairs are artificial, and make you follow a path designed by someone else, but natural stairs exist too.

[i]Grandness:[/i] majestic or rustic, designed for the kings or the common run of people?

[i]Environment:[/i] where is it located? Is it related to other places? Depending on the location, different people will pass. Some are lonely, others can be crowded. What are the surroundings, and would they affect the stairs themselves? Or the ones walking the path, who could get distracted?

[i]Direction:[/i] as evident as it seems, you can climb the stairs … or take them down. Some are designed to reach higher places, others to reach lower ones.

[i]End:[/i] what's at the end? Can you even see the end? Will you get a reward for climbing the stairs, or will you only find disappointment?

[i]Purpose:[/i] why are the stairs here in the first place? Most probably they allow communication between the two ends. Some are just shortcuts over longer paths.

[i]Use:[/i] what will [i]you[/i] use the stairs for? Gain height to stand on top of others? Sit down and rest on them? One can distort their initial use.

[i]Memories and expectations:[/i] whether it reminds you of something, or it inspires you some feeling/dream/etc., you'll find a good reason to come back on the same path … or not.



Now: what's a stair, or what does it represent?
(No answer needed )

[Maebius]

Since I loved the idea of the quest and did it more "[i]for fun[/i]" than anything else, I wonder if I could simply have a pickle, and shift my reward down to the next person, so I am effectively "number 7" in the winning (because it's a !7! sort of quest anyway! ), instead of where you list me up there?
I feel a it uneasy in freely sponsoring it, then actually seeing my name on the list.
However, it is your quest, so if you insist, I'll take a silver and a fresh Pickle as my reward.

[Guillak]

… and a candy! No problem!