Dear future Wulins,

It is competition time again! Over the next two weeks we would like you to write a short Wuxia story – about your future character in Age of Wulin! We have great prizes for you to win – lots of beta keys and 3 x 1000gP per language community! And the best thing is, you all can vote for the winners!

“Inspired by the travel writings of Marco Polo, a young merchant from Venice sets out to follow in Polo’s footsteps and travels to China. In 1505, after 4 long, strenuous and dangerous years on the road, he finally arrives in Central China. In a tavern in Chengdu, he overhears three people talking about a great martial arts master who has been seen in the area. Curious, he moves over to their table and is told an astonishing tale…”

Now it’s your turn! This martial arts master is your future Age of Wulin character; describe one dramatic event in his/her career as a Wulin. Who did he/she meet? Did he/she save some people from death? Did he/she need to fight? What skills, weapons or fighting styles did your hero use? What were the consequences? Think about the tale this merchant hears in the tavern.

How to participate:
 You need a gPotato account. Send your story with a ticket through the Helpdesk. Go to the HelpDesk and select “Age of Wulin – Event” as category. You can attach a file to your ticket, e.g. Word, RTF or plain text.
 Your entry should be around 500 words long. They can be shorter or longer, however length will not be the deciding factor.
 The competition runs until Tuesday 15.11.2011, 8am GMT/9am CET.
 Judges from the Age of Wulin team will review all entries and publish the 10 best stories per language on our Facebook page. Every published story will win a European Closed Beta key!
 Fans are invited to give out Likes on these 10 pre-selected entries. The 3 stories with the highest votes per language will win 1000gP!

So get your ideas flowing and put your fingers to the keys, we’re very excited about what you all will come up with! And don’t forget, if you have any questions or comments, let us know via our Facebook page!

Tips:
You can give your character a cool Chinese name – google it if necessary. If you need help translating a good name, post this on FB and others will help you! Other than that, here are some pointers:
 Use Google Translator to translate certain phrases, like “fire dragon” = “Huǒ Lóng” 火龙
 http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/chinese
 http://www.20000-names.com/female_chinese_names.htm
 http://www.20000-names.com/male_chinese_names.htm
 http://www.kunigunde.ch/chinesische.htm

If you are stuck for ideas, think about Wuxia concepts such as Honour, Vengeance, Romance, Righteousness, Betrayal, Wisdom… and Wushu weapons such as swords, sabres, staffs, spears, axes, and fighting styles such as crane, monkey, tiger… More info on Wuxia can be found on these sites:
 http://www.wu-jing.org/News/M03/2003-01-Wuxia-03-Glossary.php
 http://csc.ziyi.org/filmography/cthd/wuxiafiction/jianghu.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jianghu
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia

Contest Rules:
1. Participants must have a gPotato account to be able to submit their stories via the HelpDesk (select “Age of Wulin – Event” as category). Participants can attach files to their tickets, e.g. Word, RTF or plain text documents are welcome.
2. The competition runs from now (Thursday 3.11.2011) until Tuesday 15.11.2011, 8am GMT/9am CET.
3. Contributions should be around 500 words long. They can be shorter or longer, however length will not be the deciding factor when determining winners.
4. Participants can send in multiple entries if they so wish, however prizes are limited to one per participant.
5. By sending in their stories, participants warrant that contributions are their own work and free of copyrighted material. Submitted stories may be published online, and participants grant Gala Networks Europe authorisation to publish submitted material.
6. After the competition is closed, judges from the Age of Wulin team will review all entries and publish the 10 best stories per language online. The verdict of the judges is final.
7. Fans are invited to vote on the 10 pre-selected entries for a period of time, after which the 3 stories with the highest votes per language will be declared the winners.
8. Every participant whose entry is pre-selected by the Age of Wulin judges will win an Age of Wulin European Closed Beta key (a total of 10 per language). The 3 winners per language will receive 1000gP each in addition to their European Closed Beta key (a total of 3000gP per language). Additional Closed Beta keys may be given out on merit.

Good luck everyone!

Kind regards,
Your Age of Wulin Team