People of the Basin,

A contest, sponsored by House D'Cente, has been called with all welcome
to participate. In the upcoming years calls for designs will be made,
pitted against each other to earn three judge's favour. The winner will
receive a prize of between one (1) million and five (5) million gold
sovereigns!

The contest will run the length of one year, from the first of Estar to
the first of Estar, beginning in CE 403. Submissions to this contest are
to be made by letter in a specific format, to be listed later in this
same post, and mailed to myself. Within two days, you will receive a
message that your design has been received and submitted.

To keep the contest fair, a points system has been instituted as
follows:

o Theme - Does your design fit the theme of this year's design? (Three
[3] points possible)

o Quality - While we can and will fix minor mistakes made in the design
whilst we work with the Charites to have the winner crafted, less work
for us means more points for you. (Seven [7] points possible.)

o Originality - If you can impress us, your score will rise. Show us
something that has never been seen before, wow us! (Ten points [10]
points possible.)

The three designs with the highest scores will be entered into a final
judgement, the winner hand-picked by nothing less than a unanimous
decision by the three judges.

With this in mind, allow me to give a background on the project in
place:
A large, self-sustaining aethership, appropriately nicknamed the
Aetherbasin, is being made - the end result easily large enough to hold
every Lusternian in the case that the Basin of Life no longer is
inhabitable. Seven districts are present, to represent Magnagora, New
Celest, Serenwilde, Glomdoring, Gaudiguch, Hallifax, and Ackleberry.

These districts surround neutral land, designated as the Grey Castle. In
this castle are seven throne rooms, designated for leaders of each
organisation to take audience with their citizens. At the very top of
the structure there sits circular room inhabited by a large, round table
and seven chairs.

These chairs are made to sit the rulers of each organisation, though one
may remain forever empty, at a place where no one man sits higher than
another, and the petty differences we carry through everyday life are
set aside in the interest of the greater good.

This is where you come in. While any could serve to design this
furniture, we look to the people of the Basin to bring their own
artistic eyes to the front. These chairs, and later thrones, serve to
represent each organisation as a whole, encompassing qualities both good
and bad, light and dark, known and unknown.

With this in mind, any easily recognisable disparaging designs, jokes,
or otherwise ridiculous designs will likely be instantly dismissed. This
is a representation of Lusternia past, present, and future, and your
designs should show a sense of respect and decorum for those who have
been and those that will be.

To begin this competition, we will begin with a show of good faith to
those who sit directly across us in views and is often on the other side
of every open conflict. A chair for New Celest is the design requested,
and all that is left is your creative input.

These chairs MUST be able to be submitted to a cartel. Read HELP
TRADEMASTER and HELP DESIGNS to inspect your design and make sure it is
up to snuff with the guidelines set forth by the Charites, and be sure
that these are original ideas. These will be private designs, to be used
once and then safely stowed away, so they should not exist in any other
cartel already.

The following format is to be used to submit your designs to me:

*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-*~-
Name: (Example) Tremula n'Lochli

What Design is for: (Example) Celest Chair

Design: Note that this design will need to follow proper design protocol
including suggested commodities, appearance, dropped and examined
categories.

(Example) Commodities Marble 16 Cloth 4 Seashell 1 Bluetint 1 Gem 5
Appearance: a leader's chair of Celestian values
Dropped: Standing tall, a high-backed chair with Celestian design stands
here.
Appearance: Crafted from marble and dyed a light blue colour, this
high-backed chair is an imposing force to behold. A soft, cloth cushion
has been spread over the seat to provide comfort for the user, and a
large seashell surrounded by spiralling, crushed gems is on proud
display on the rear of the backrest.

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Final notes:

While these contests will run an entire year, they may not run
year-to-year. It may take time for the Charites to approve designs, and
any other number of complications may come up that prevent us from
starting when we would wish.

Should you not receive a message from me within two days, please make an
attempt to contact me to make sure you were not accidentally overlooked.
I will be doing my best to keep this from happening, but there is always
a slight chance.

I am the only person who will know whose design is whose. I will not be
sitting on the panel of judges, and will in no way attempt to sway the
judges in any sort of fashion towards a designer of my choosing. Our
judges enter the table free of outside influence, and any attempting to
contact them to bribe or tempt them will be immediately disqualified.

Future contests will include thrones, the table itself, and possibly
tapestries!

Any questions you may have may be posed to myself, Arimisia, or Munsia.

(in place of a signature there is an insignia of eight Taint-warped,
pink lightning bolts striking a barren wasteland)


Penned by my hand on the 7th of Shanthin, in the year 402 CE.