Trademasters from all across the Basin of Life submitted their finest designs, vying to provide the most creative, most aesthetically appealing, and most attractive creation in order to claim the Seal of Beauty! Numerous designs of outstanding quality were submitted, but the Seal ultimately went to Maellio Onz'Verheu of Hallifax!

1st: Maellio (a mandala of the planar realms) - Medallion of Beauty.
2nd: Anita (a snow-swept cup cake of chilling doom) - 700 credits
3rd: Aldani (a glass and silver double helix lyre) - 500 credits
4th: Kylsiu (a well-worn blanket of wyrden heritage) - 250 credits
5th: Eliron (platinum ice devil full plate armour) - 100 credits


Congratulations Maellio!

I'd like to see the winning/other placing designs, so here's mine:

appearance: platinum ice devil full plate armour
dropped: Icy blue full plate has been piled in a heap here, the empty eye sockets of the skull across its breast staring upwards.
commodities: platinum 155 leather 65 bluetint 20 cloudessence 10
examined: An ice devil's permanent leer brands the breast of this plate, the bones of its jaw, crown and face embossed in the platinum in shades of frosty blue and stark black. In the devil's empty eye sockets a trick of the embossing creates the illusion of shadows and fathomless depth while at the edges of the skull the outline blurs into the black as if seen through a heavy sheet of ice. Long, feathery fingers of platinum frost entwine about the image, cradling it as they cradle the pale markings of twisted and malformed ribs along the belly of the armour. The frost melts away into unbroken black along the rerebraces and the cuisses of the arms and the legs. With the breastplate framed in their darkness, the definition between the wearer's body and limbs becomes obscured, drawing the eye to the skull and ribs that seem to stand on their own. Writhing masses of ice demons claw their way up the gauntlets and the boots, the strongest already nearing the top of the vambraces and the greaves. Glittering frost fiends trample ice lemures beneath their four feet in their rush, only to be pulled down by a freezing eyebane's whip-like tentacles. Another eyebane shrieks in agony as a frost mane punctures its eye, and the ice skulls grin madly as they float above them all. Soft black doeskin backs the platinum and separates the wearer from the scenes of carnage on the armour, though it must offer little comfort as an unnatural chill clings to the piece.

Commodities: silver 190 gems 185
Appearance:
a glass and silver double helix lyre
Dropped:
Its twin glass and silver arms spiralling gradually apart, a double helix lyre sparkles and curls upon the ground.
Examined:
Twin arms curve up from a seamless joining of silver and glass, the
entirety of the lyre's body perfectly smooth, polished, and rounded. The
branches spiral away from their angled meeting, forming a gradually
widening double helix of slender, shimmering sceptres. The instrument's
crossbar takes the form of the two boughs bending back towards each
other and executing a brief, tight spiral in the centre without quite
touching. The unjoined ends of the arms taper to rounded tips atop the
lyre, silver leaning towards glass and glass leaning towards silver.
Delicate threads of drawn argent wire stretch from base to tip,
vanishing at either end into the flawless surface of the encasing
material. The twisted frame shelters and skews the strings such that the
musician's hand must stretch and twist to produce notes that hum and
reverberate strangely.

as a fellow applicant, i would also like to see the winning designs

This is the second place design. Only Raeri can make these cakes!

Appearance:
a snow-swept cup cake of chilling doom
Dropped:
Resting on the ground here is a white cup cake topped with blueberries and whipped cream.
Examined:
This large cup cake has been made from a thick, rich vanilla spice batter, and the outside has been covered entirely in a light dusting of
crumbling white frosting to resemble snow, whereas the moist and spongy inside has been hollowed out and filled with pale-blue honey and big, cold blueberries. Peaks upon peaks of frozen whipped cream sit high atop the cup cake with icy, yet soft blueberries pressed into the cream in random places, some caught in small clusters. One of the whipped cream crests seems to be disturbed, giving way to a little hole that goes down out of sight. At the edge of the oddly-placed hole is a small black boot, made of icing sugar. The same pale-blue honey from the inside of the cake has been drizzled all over the icy cream and blueberries, weeping down the sides of the crumbling-coated base and napkin that covers the bottom half of this delicious looking cup cake. Upon closer inspection of the dark, ice-blue napkin you notice that several icediggers and a queen icedigger have been crudely drawn - faces caught in a feral snarl.
Consume:
Taking a big bite from the cup cake, your mouth is filled with frozen whipped cream that is hard in texture, yet melts and softens when it touches your tongue. Then the sweet flavours of the thick honey and the blueberries mix together, your mouth tingling slightly as the iciness of the fruit sets in. Pushing the scarily imaged napkin out of the way and covering your fingertips in honey, you take another bite and finally get to the actual cake. Your senses are indulged yet again by the different flavours of the vanilla spice mixed with crumbling frosting, and then invaded once more by chilled, tart blueberries and the nectarous taste of blue-tinged honey. You finish off the cake, licking honey, blueberry juice and crumbs from your fingers, and lastly popping the small black boot into your mouth where it melts away to nothing and leaves behind a sweet taste of sugar.
Smell:
Taking a sniff of this cup cake, your sense of smell is invaded by the tartness of fresh blueberries mixed with the cloying air of thick honey and vanilla spice.
Taste:
You take a small bite of this honey-drizzled cup cake and taste the tart freshness of blueberries and the sweetness of the frosting.

I was really proud of what I submitted, but alas, not good enough I guess. Hiriako thinks it's beautiful, so that's all that matters!

Appearance:
a primal weddingband crusted with hoarfrost
Dropped:
A slight chill pervades the air as frost slowly encroaches upon this ring.
Examined:
Harvested from an ancient hartwood, this chunk of wood has been carved into a thick, heavy ring boasting a silvered bark exterior that ruggedly contrasts the finely polished lumber of its interior band. Age has darkened the wood to a sombre charcoal and rendered it hard with partial petrification, glimmers of a brilliant silver swirling throughout its grain. The ring exudes a slight chill, freezing the bark and splintering it with minor cracks from which hoarfrost creeps forth. Shards from shattered gemstones have been carefully inlaid along the gaps in the bark. These create glints of indigo and viridian light which refract among the frost and surrounding shards, causing the entire outer band to glisten with dusky, glacial hues. The crystallised frost takes shape as slender needles, overlapping each other like a hedgehog's spines until they converge at the apex of the band around a roughly-cut, ovoid obsidian gemstone. Flashes of vivid violet and subtle viridescent undertones shimmer over the rugged surfaces of the caliginous stone, echoing the tenebrous, wintry shades that surround it. A tenuous heat emanates from the gem, causing the air around it to waver and condensing the surrounding hoarfrost into frozen dewdrops.

This is the fourth place design from Kylsiu Stormcrow:
NAME: a well-worn blanket of wyrden heritage

DROPPED: A well-worn mauve blanket is spread out here.

EXAMINED: Paavikian linen is doubled over and stitched together to form the base of this well-worn wyrden blanket. The length of the blanket makes it perfect for swaddling infants or faeling children, and even provides enough fabric to create a makeshift papoose. The linen is dyed a deep mauve, though the colour is fading to a paler purple in various spots due to multiple washings and long-term use. The centre of the blanket bares a large, twisted ravenwood tree, its trunk dominated by a gaping hole. Violet thread outlines the tree to add depth to the embroidery, each stitch reflecting the various scratches and talon marks found throughout the tree. Coal black shapes swirl about the base of the tree and spread out along the bottom of the blanket, taking form as shadowy crows with motes of crimson fibres for eyes. Set on either side of the large ravenwood are two humanoid shapes: to the right, an elfen man with eyes as black as midnight stands with cudgel brandished menacingly while to the left, a graceful elfen woman with flowing ebony tresses stares implacably out from the blanket. The edges of the blanket are trimmed with crow's feathers, though here and there a feather is lost to the blanket's age.

Name: a mandala of the planar realms
Location: Gut
Examined:
Encompassing the whole of the gut, this labyrinthine mandala illustrates the primary layers of planar structure in interlocking harmony. At its centre rests the Basin of Life in rough miniature - a stain of blue around the navel bleeding into golden sands and blackened swamps, encircled by a winding highway boarded by abstractions of civilisation and nature. It sprawls out beneath mountainous teeth, silhouetted against a twilight sky alight with stars - constellations rendered out in golden calligraphy betwixt them. At their apex, astrology blends into the arboreal as the symbols bend and branch into ethereal roots and trunks, the deep blues and purples beneath them shifting to a cornucopia of greens - pale above blending to penumbra below. Fae dance and revel in relief amidst tessellating leaves and bark, the black inks bounding their forms breaking into elemental simplicity - leaving the emeralds and jades behind for quartered fields of stark white, brown, red, and blue. Austere lines trace out cloud banks that shift into angular peaks, their crags cracking into flickering tongues that crash down along azure shores, feeding rivers that drift back into mist to spiral round again. As they radiate outward, these childlike renditions compound and collude into a complex menagerie of cosmic tableau - cumulonimbi crystallise into geometric figures ensconced in jagged helices, mountains crumble and bleed beneath silver spikes and snarling teeth, flames flower into contorted fleshy flora, and seas bathe beneath radiant winged figures. At their outermost, these scenes begin to decay, inks and outlines blending together to form sickly, colourless tendrils - eldritch strands projecting haphazardly outwards to wrap hungrily around twelve discs of marbled grey.

That is pretty dang awesome, Maellio.

Must agree, that design is brilliant.

That's a greeeeeat tattoo! (Now get it inked with something that helps you survive kethbits).

I'll be able to make those cupcakes too next week!