The Void is Coming - Claimants of Reality Enclave Lore Contest

🤗 Welcome One and All 🤗

Before we get to the meat and potatoes we should probably announce the winners of last week's Invitational. Are we changing it up this week, Grock? Indeed we are! We have an exciting switch-up for this week's contest. But more on that in just a second. 😉

🥳 Invitational Winners 🥳

🥇 Gold: 2 HSBI, 300 Ecency points, 50 SCHOLAR, 3 SCRIBE
@alonicus - A Bride for Prince Boris

“The poster showed an engraved print of a couple - a man and woman - standing before a priest. Under it, the words read "The wedding of Prince Boris and Lady Sophia of Karmond. The Ides of the Month of Fogs. All citizens are warmly invited to the wedding and feast."

---

🥈 Silver: 1 HSBI, 200 Ecency points4, 40 SCHOLAR, 2 SCRIBE
@elisaday7 - The curse of Ilena

It is the seventeenth century, the night is still cloudy, an intense cold sneaks through the windows of the houses of the Inhospitable town, everything seems so calm as if it were a ghost town, along its streets you can only hear the creaking whistle of the wind blowing strongly, so calm hides a terrible truth, the story of a curse and a being that lurks in the darkness

---

🥉 Bronze: 100 Ecency points, 30 SCHOLAR, 1 SCRIBE
@rdsmas - The Scarlet Enigma

The journalist, obsessed with the story and justice for his party comrade, as false accusations, the local newspaper published old documents linking Sadie to an alleged secret society, a brotherhood of beings of the night that had existed since time immemorial. The articles were circumstantial, but enough to fuel the flames of paranoia.

🕺 Introducing the Claimants of Reality Enclave 🕺

For this week, we are excited to partner with some close friends of the community to bring a unique and interesting challenge! We always look to broaden the opportunities of our members, and this unique lore contest is something we think you will all enjoy. 😇 So what's it all about?

Continue the story from the new Claimed One's point of view. Guide him through his adventures in the Outskirts and even further. Develop his personality if you wish, the only requirement is that he has a minimum of at least three of the actual in-game encounters found in the Outskirts. Doing more is definitely a plus! You may also help him learn the in-game crafting process.

Obviously doing these things will require that you play the game first. You can do that by joining this Discord server and going to a playroom. Begin with !claimcharacter and follow the prompts from there. If you need help, just tag Weegel in general chat. Either he or one of the players will be happy to help you.

🧐 Rules of Engagement 🧐

• Entries must adhere to the genre AND thematic prompt;
• Entries must be above 500 words.
  Note: this does not include any intro/footer text.
• You must post your entry in Scholar and Scribe and use the #scholarandscribe tag;
• Deadline for submission is Monday, 28th of October (23.59, GMT + 01);
• All languages are welcome but MUST include an English translation;
• Link your entry in the comment section below; ⏬

🤑 Prizes and Goodies 🤑

The winners will be announced in two weeks. Winners of what? An astute question. The prizes are as follows:

1st: 30,000 FAVOR and 3 HSBI
2nd: 15,000 FAVOR and 2 HSBI
3rd: 10,000 FAVOR and 1 HSBI
For all who submit a valid entry: 3,000 FAVOR

Please note that at least at the moment FAVOR is purely an in-game currency. This may or may not change in the future. The dev is working very hard on this project, but I was told multiple times by him that he doesn't want to make any promises about the future.

Either way, you are sure to have fun using your prize in the exciting and deadly world of Claimants of Reality Enclave

🤺 Lore Primer 🤺

"I'm scared, Mama. The darkness is getting closer every day."

Mama sighed, then smiled stiffly. "Well it's not here right now, is it Nina? So let's enjoy our breakfast out in the nice sunshine."

Nina's eyes brightened. "Can we have porridge and milk today, Mama? Please?"

Mama dabbed her eyes with a worn but clean handkerchief. "I'm sorry, Honey. We don't have either, but we do have a potato. Papa and I had been saving it to plant, but we've agreed to eat it instead. To celebrate."

Nina frowned. "What is there to celebrate? The darkness is coming. You're always sad, and Papa is always so worried. And we only get to eat once a day."

Mama hugged the small child. "Yes, those things are true. But Papa saw something a few days ago while he was in the old cow pasture. There's a tall building that doesn't look like anything he's ever seen before. It wasn't there before. He's been watching it every day. It seems to be keeping the Void, or the darkness as you call it, away from itself. I wanted to surprise you by telling you at breakfast. I guess waiting isn't my strong suit."

Nina gasped. Maybe it's part of a city! Cities have all kinds of food! Maybe we can even get some hard candy. Please, can we look?"

Mama nodded. "I don't know anything about it, but we will explore it if we are allowed to. We will try to make a good life there."

Nina jumped up and down, then settled into hopping on her tiptoes. "When can we go?"

Mama gave her a small smile. "First thing in the morning, if nothing has changed."

Nina nodded. "I hope the people there are nice. I was excited, but now I'm a little scared."

Mama walked over and hugged the small child. "I'm scared too, but we can't stay here. Whatever is there has to be better than being overtaken by the Void."

Nina climbed into Mama's arms, and was carried out into the warm light of the new day.

The next morning the family of three trudged away from everything they had ever known. Towards a strange, perhaps even supernatural spire shaped structure.

Close to dusk Papa set his heavy pack on the dry, hardpacked earth. "We can only rest for a moment. We don't want to run into a giant molerat. There's a moon tonight, but I don't want to take chances."

Nina sat on the pack. "How much longer until we get there, Papa?"

Papa rubbed his chin. "I thought we'd be there before now, Honey. I guess it's further away than it looks."

Nina looked at the ground. "I hope we aren't all imagining it..."

Mama and Papa looked at each other, and their shoulders sagged.

Hours later, they arrived close to the spire. The full moon illuminated it like a beacon of hope. In the flat area a short distance from the spire stood a small group of people, their few possessions sitting at their feet.

"It is real. And it's even bigger than a city," whispered Nina.

A man stood in the street of a makeshift town, talking to an elderly man whose rags barely clung to his thin frame. Afterwards he pounced on a shadow beside an abandoned shack. A strange creature not much bigger than a rat jumped out.

Nina screamed as she watched the man and creature battle. When it was over, she buried her head in Mama's skirt. "What was that thing, and how did it disappear after the man killed it?" she asked, whimpering.

Mama patted her shoulders, calming her. "I don't know, but I'm glad it's gone."

The man noticed the family staring in shock. He walked over and smiled at Nina. "Well hello, I'm a Claimed One. My name is Sapara. You're the first young one I've ever seen. But I've heard a lot about your kind. Is it true that you chase each other just for fun?"

She studied him, then smiled back. "That's what my friend Renee and I called tag. We played it every day when she lived on the farm next to ours. Why are your eyes yellow, Sapara?"

Mama clamped her hand tightly on the child's arm, causing her to yelp in surprise. "Nina! Don't be rude, mind your manners!"

Sapara shook his head. "It's fine. I'm the first Claimed One she's ever seen, there's no harm done."

Mama relaxed her grip a little, but kept a firm hold.

Sapara stood in front of the family, still smiling. "Let me welcome you to the Citadel. As I mentioned a few seconds ago, I'm a Claimed One. Our eyes do look a little different, don't they? You will learn more about us later, but for now just know that we're here to fight the Void."

The family continued towards the spire as Sapara stood to the side.

They walked down a wide street. Its sides were lined with roughly made shacks, large cardboard boxes, and several men and women sitting on the bare ground.

As if a timer had gone off, people started walking towards the mighty spire-shaped building known as the Citadel.

Papa stopped a young man, by stepping in front of him. "Excuse me, what's going on?"

The young man looked at the family. "You must be new here. Follow me and I'll explain."

They followed, listening carefully.

"The name's Roy. In the Citadel we get fed three square meals a day."

Nina interrupted with a squeal of delight at that news, earning herself a stern look from Mama.

Roy chuckled. "Don't get excited yet, child. The food is called goo. It'll give you energy, but it tastes as bad as it sounds."

Nina shook her head. "I don't care how it tastes. We are out of food. We ate our last potato this morning."

Mama nodded. "Any food will be most welcome."

Roy became serious. "I know how you feel. There's one thing that we are required to do, as citizens of the Citadel. We have to spend some time each day meditating in the Claiming Hall. I'm pretty sure your daughter won't have to, but you will. Perhaps at different times of the day, so one of you can be watching her."

Mama frowned. "What a strange rule. But it's a small thing to do, in exchange for food."

Roy looked at his shoes. "There's a little more to it than just sitting around. Those who are Claimed become different. They forget their family and friends, and seem to become stronger and more adventurous."

Nina stopped in her tracks, a fold of Mama's skirt in one hand, and a handful of Papa's shirt in the other. "I don't want you to go. Please! Let's stay here, I'm not hungry anymore."

Mama knelt, and gently pried her hands loose. "Don't worry Honey, everything is going to be alright."

Roy nodded. "Not many people are Claimed. And we really don't even know what that means yet. This place has saved our lives, I say let's just take it a day at a time."

Nina sniffled. "I just don't want either of you to go away, or forget me."

Papa smiled, and lifted her high into the air. "I could never forget my silly little Nina!"

The family then resumed their journey towards the Citadel, and their first full meal in recent memory.

Four months later, Nina played alone with a stick. She formed a little round head on it from the mud, and used pieces of Papa's old bandana for clothes. Mama sat nearby, mending one of her socks.

She looked up just in time to see Papa striding down the street, looking around as if he'd never seen their new home. She waited for him to greet her as usual, but he simply kept walking...

Check out our 2023 Scribe of the Year

▶️ | Post | Profile | ◀️

Read The 2023 Scribe Spotlights

SCRIBE	SPOTLIGHT
esther-emmanuel	READ
whywhy	READ
rak7	READ
gracepro	READ
justclickindiva	READ
jhymi	READ
mellindor	READ

About the Scholar and Scribe Community

Scholar and Scribe is a creative writing community founded in the forges of Hive's passionate Pizza Guild. It sets itself apart from some of the other writing groups on Hive with its unique dual-token system.

The Scholar and Scribe banner icons were designed by trashyomen. Cover image made in Canva using their AI image generator by @wrestlingdesires.