Winners of the Under the Sea Challenge
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
Honorable Mentions
Crashed Sky Citadel by Rain
A deep dive that slowly reveals its mystery. I thought it was clever to write about something that wasn't supposed to be in the water, a crashed citadel, and I was intrigued to see how it was handled. This was my early favourite!
- by Chris L
I really enjoyed the mythological kaiju aspect, and the prose around the "celestial gluttons" and star-eating is evocative. The idea of a giant, hungering crab sitting in the depths of the ocean and craving the stars is great.
Qimiori - Water Forests by Blue Fairy 74
Qimori takes us through a unique, strange biome. Like above-ground subnautica, we get to learn about this alien biome and its cornerstone plant: the Knot Trees. I love how the map feature is used to showcase the trees and the life around them.
Tsuthar'Chor by JudasBrennan
Most articles about these kind of creatures are scant on the detail of their inner workings, so it was a fresh take on getting one that provided insight into their actual society and how it functions. Colossal, psychic minds locked in an internal cold war is some wonderful imagery, as is the miles of neural tendrils and fleshy blobby city architecture. Lovely!
Runner-Ups
Creative
Thalatta by hughpierre
An hostile globe of ancient sea-water locked in by perpetual motion, Thalatta was just such an inventive concept!
Versimilitude
Descent of Íde by SapphireSong
Worldbuilding and storytelling work together in this lovely character-driven piece. What a great way to introduce us to StarSea!
Presentation
Sea Hollowed by mirescosmo
A beautiful article with beautiful art! Mirescosmo's article is tastefully laid out and cleverly uses articleblocks to invite you to explore further.
Winners
Third Place
The Merpeople by Amélie I. S. Debruyne
You have to read this for the art, if nothing else! Amélie weaves stories around her worldbuilding, and with it introduces us to all kinds of aspects of her new Mer people. It's very smart in how it gets across a lot of information fast.
Second Place
Chok Swam by The Big G
This late entry was worth waiting for! Strange interlocked beings are cool enough on their own, but what really pulls this article into excellence is the strong perspective, that of vastlander Haftera Djuur, who once was allowed to travel with the strange aquatic species. I really loved the art too!
First Place
The Joining by Rin Garnett
There was no doubt who the winner was for this challenge. Not only did Qurilion and I both give this our top scores for creativity and versimilitude, but it was the highest scoring for both of us. I love travelling cities, but what Rin does with the joining blew me away. A masterful blend of biology and festivals comes together to make some really, really, good worldbuilding.
Congrats to the winners! Proud to make it into the decision making process!
Take a look at my Institutions of Learning challenge article.
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!
It was a solid entry! Congratulations on the honourable mention, it was well earned!