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peroxidepirate7-11 February 2010
Fight B
Faleron of King's Reach
v
Rikash Moonsword
Fight G
Sabine of Macayhill
v
Yukimi noh Daiomoru
Fight B
For a couple of reasons, the intensity of this fight is several orders of magnitude less than that of last week's Dom v. Wyldon fight.
One reason is that the novelty is beginning to wear off, and the reality of a two-month long fanfic drabble tournament is setting in. We're remembering that the two finalists will have four rounds of fic written about them.
The other reason is the competitors, themselves. In this set of fights, we have one member vote-in, only one default contestant, and two wildcards – people chosen by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
treanz and ubiquitous_girl Isha (does she have an LJ?), including “odd-ball competitors, to make the competition a little more fun and exciting.” Wildcards are a lot of fun, but don't (for the most part) have the obsessive fans that some of the default and vote-in contestants do.
Rikash is the first wildcard. He's a stormwing: a part human, part bird, metal-winged creature created to desecrate the bodies of fallen soldiers and, theoretically, convince humans that war is bad. Human nature being what it is, the existance of stormwings hasn't stopped war at all; it's mostly just convinced humans that stormwings are bad. Out of respect for her fellow warriors, Kel loathes stormwings.
Rikash is also dead; he died when Kel was about eight years old.
(He's also smelly – but that's sort of the default for stormwings.)
Technically, Rikash is a monster. But he fell in with some humans, including Daine (heroine of the Immortals Quartet), and ended up trying to be good in spite of his baser nature. The right human could see the man instead of the monster and love him for that. It's a pretty common trope, being the basis for every vampire romance ever written, and it could definitely be the basis for Rikash/Daine.
Rikash/Kel is a little harder, though. Beyond just making a human/stormwing relationship work, you also have to get past Kel's particular stormwing aversion and the fact that Rikash is dead before Kel's old enough for romance. However, fics written about any kind of relationship are eligible for the Smackdown. So far, there's been little or no overt Kel/Rikash romance, but there have been a handful of interesting and very creative stories about the two of them.
The next competitor, Faleron of King's Reach, is one of those voted in by the Goldenlake membership. Of all the male contestants, I know/remember the least about Faleron -- he's not really in the last two Protector of the Small books, and those are the ones I read until I practically had them memorized. He has a larger role in the first two, though, and it's not hard to build that into potential romance.
Faleron is one of Kel's friends from her days as a page. He's noble, polite, handsome, and not very good at math. He's willing to let Kel take the lead in combat situations, which is nothing but good from someone looking to romance a lady knight. There's no canon evidence that Faleron is already betrothed to or in love with somebody else, so there isn't really anything to get in the way of a Kel/Faleron romance.
I don't actually see Kel having the kind of chemistry with Faleron that she has with Neal, Raoul and Uline (to pick some of my favorites). But, of course, shipping is in the eye of the beholder. It looks like most of the people who've written for this fight are backing Faleron. He has a lot of supporters right now, but they're not fanatical like the Wyldon and Dom fans.
I'm not really backing either competitor here. I had wanted to write a couple of Rikash fics, for the novelty, but I just haven't had the time. Anyway, unless somebody comes out of the woodwork with a mass of last-minute Rikash fics, I expect Faleron to win this one. And unless there are some really obsessive Faleron fans who've been holding back, I expect him to then lose in Round 2.
Fight G
This fight is between a default contestant and another wildcard. As in the guys' fight, there's much less intensity than in last week's fight. Like I said above, the novelty is wearing off and we're realizing that it might be best not to burn out completely in the first round. And neither of this week's competitors has Alanna's fame and popularity.
The default contestant is Yukimi noh Daiomoru, better known as Yuki. She's probably Kel's best female friend, although she only appears in the last two Protector of the Small books. She and Kel were friends during their childhood in the Yamani Islands. They lost touch when Kel returned to Tortall and began training for knighthood, but reconnected a few years later, when Yuki came to Tortall as a lady-in-waiting/bodygaurd for the Yamani princess who is betrothed to Tortall's crown prince.
I tend to think that Kel and Yuki like, respect and understand each other, in addition to sharing a frame of reference from growing up surrounded by a combination of Yamani and Tortallan cultures. For these reasons, they'd be very easy to ship. But there's just not a huge amount of chemistry between them; on further consideration, I see their canon relationship as sisterly more than anything else. YMMV, of course.
The other thing that comes between Kel and Yuki is Kel's best friend, Neal: at the end of Squire, he and Yuki are betrothed. This makes it easy to write Kel/Yuki as a torrid affair, or Kel/Yuki/Neal as an OT3, but harder to write just Kel and Yuki. Fortunately, again, the Smackdown is forgiving: as long as Kel and Yuki are in it, and you tag it “Yuki,” it counts. But so far, no one is pumping out Kel/Yuki fics by the dozen.
The last competitor this week is Sabine of Macayhill, another wildcard. Also a lady knight, Sabine is a minor character in the Provost's Dog series, which is set about 200 years before before Protector of the Small.
Sabine is interesting because, personality-wise, I think she and Kel could be great together. They're alike in some ways, but different enough to be an interesting couple. Sabine is just a bit more adventurous than steady, both-feet-on-the-ground Kel, but not so hotheaded that Kel would look down on her for it.
The 200 year age difference is a big thing, of course. There are basically four options: magical time travel, immortal!Sabine (including zombie!Sabine), it's all Kel's fantasy, or an AU in which they live at the same time. All of these have been used in Smackdown fics this round; once Sabine and Kel get together, there seems to be nothing to keep them apart.
Sabine is the only competitor from the Provost's Dog series, and the Tortall!historical setting of those books is fantastically fun to write, so I expect Sabine to get a bit of a boost because of this. Also, unlike some of the other female contestants, I don't see Sabine being “in the closet” – at all – if she was in a homosexual relationship.
I'm backing Sabine, mostly for the reasons in the above paragraph (although I haven't gotten to anything Tortall!historical in my fics yet). While I was writing Kel and Uline dancing in the garden instead of the ballroom, I realized, for my own mental health, I need to not spend the next seven weeks writing a clandestine f/f relationship. My guess is that Sabine will win this one, but there's a good chance she'll get knocked out of competition in Round 2.
Fight B
Faleron of King's Reach
v
Rikash Moonsword
Fight G
Sabine of Macayhill
v
Yukimi noh Daiomoru
Fight B
For a couple of reasons, the intensity of this fight is several orders of magnitude less than that of last week's Dom v. Wyldon fight.
One reason is that the novelty is beginning to wear off, and the reality of a two-month long fanfic drabble tournament is setting in. We're remembering that the two finalists will have four rounds of fic written about them.
The other reason is the competitors, themselves. In this set of fights, we have one member vote-in, only one default contestant, and two wildcards – people chosen by
treanz and ubiquitous_girl Rikash is the first wildcard. He's a stormwing: a part human, part bird, metal-winged creature created to desecrate the bodies of fallen soldiers and, theoretically, convince humans that war is bad. Human nature being what it is, the existance of stormwings hasn't stopped war at all; it's mostly just convinced humans that stormwings are bad. Out of respect for her fellow warriors, Kel loathes stormwings.
Rikash is also dead; he died when Kel was about eight years old.
(He's also smelly – but that's sort of the default for stormwings.)
Technically, Rikash is a monster. But he fell in with some humans, including Daine (heroine of the Immortals Quartet), and ended up trying to be good in spite of his baser nature. The right human could see the man instead of the monster and love him for that. It's a pretty common trope, being the basis for every vampire romance ever written, and it could definitely be the basis for Rikash/Daine.
Rikash/Kel is a little harder, though. Beyond just making a human/stormwing relationship work, you also have to get past Kel's particular stormwing aversion and the fact that Rikash is dead before Kel's old enough for romance. However, fics written about any kind of relationship are eligible for the Smackdown. So far, there's been little or no overt Kel/Rikash romance, but there have been a handful of interesting and very creative stories about the two of them.
The next competitor, Faleron of King's Reach, is one of those voted in by the Goldenlake membership. Of all the male contestants, I know/remember the least about Faleron -- he's not really in the last two Protector of the Small books, and those are the ones I read until I practically had them memorized. He has a larger role in the first two, though, and it's not hard to build that into potential romance.
Faleron is one of Kel's friends from her days as a page. He's noble, polite, handsome, and not very good at math. He's willing to let Kel take the lead in combat situations, which is nothing but good from someone looking to romance a lady knight. There's no canon evidence that Faleron is already betrothed to or in love with somebody else, so there isn't really anything to get in the way of a Kel/Faleron romance.
I don't actually see Kel having the kind of chemistry with Faleron that she has with Neal, Raoul and Uline (to pick some of my favorites). But, of course, shipping is in the eye of the beholder. It looks like most of the people who've written for this fight are backing Faleron. He has a lot of supporters right now, but they're not fanatical like the Wyldon and Dom fans.
I'm not really backing either competitor here. I had wanted to write a couple of Rikash fics, for the novelty, but I just haven't had the time. Anyway, unless somebody comes out of the woodwork with a mass of last-minute Rikash fics, I expect Faleron to win this one. And unless there are some really obsessive Faleron fans who've been holding back, I expect him to then lose in Round 2.
Fight G
This fight is between a default contestant and another wildcard. As in the guys' fight, there's much less intensity than in last week's fight. Like I said above, the novelty is wearing off and we're realizing that it might be best not to burn out completely in the first round. And neither of this week's competitors has Alanna's fame and popularity.
The default contestant is Yukimi noh Daiomoru, better known as Yuki. She's probably Kel's best female friend, although she only appears in the last two Protector of the Small books. She and Kel were friends during their childhood in the Yamani Islands. They lost touch when Kel returned to Tortall and began training for knighthood, but reconnected a few years later, when Yuki came to Tortall as a lady-in-waiting/bodygaurd for the Yamani princess who is betrothed to Tortall's crown prince.
I tend to think that Kel and Yuki like, respect and understand each other, in addition to sharing a frame of reference from growing up surrounded by a combination of Yamani and Tortallan cultures. For these reasons, they'd be very easy to ship. But there's just not a huge amount of chemistry between them; on further consideration, I see their canon relationship as sisterly more than anything else. YMMV, of course.
The other thing that comes between Kel and Yuki is Kel's best friend, Neal: at the end of Squire, he and Yuki are betrothed. This makes it easy to write Kel/Yuki as a torrid affair, or Kel/Yuki/Neal as an OT3, but harder to write just Kel and Yuki. Fortunately, again, the Smackdown is forgiving: as long as Kel and Yuki are in it, and you tag it “Yuki,” it counts. But so far, no one is pumping out Kel/Yuki fics by the dozen.
The last competitor this week is Sabine of Macayhill, another wildcard. Also a lady knight, Sabine is a minor character in the Provost's Dog series, which is set about 200 years before before Protector of the Small.
Sabine is interesting because, personality-wise, I think she and Kel could be great together. They're alike in some ways, but different enough to be an interesting couple. Sabine is just a bit more adventurous than steady, both-feet-on-the-ground Kel, but not so hotheaded that Kel would look down on her for it.
The 200 year age difference is a big thing, of course. There are basically four options: magical time travel, immortal!Sabine (including zombie!Sabine), it's all Kel's fantasy, or an AU in which they live at the same time. All of these have been used in Smackdown fics this round; once Sabine and Kel get together, there seems to be nothing to keep them apart.
Sabine is the only competitor from the Provost's Dog series, and the Tortall!historical setting of those books is fantastically fun to write, so I expect Sabine to get a bit of a boost because of this. Also, unlike some of the other female contestants, I don't see Sabine being “in the closet” – at all – if she was in a homosexual relationship.
I'm backing Sabine, mostly for the reasons in the above paragraph (although I haven't gotten to anything Tortall!historical in my fics yet). While I was writing Kel and Uline dancing in the garden instead of the ballroom, I realized, for my own mental health, I need to not spend the next seven weeks writing a clandestine f/f relationship. My guess is that Sabine will win this one, but there's a good chance she'll get knocked out of competition in Round 2.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-10 10:25 pm (UTC)I just realised the other day that if everyone I like keeps on winning these first fights, they'll be up against each other in the next round. Which is awesome because there's lots of fic for each of them, but sort of heartbreaking at the same time. It's looking likely that Sabine will win this one (*touch wood*), but I agree that she'd get knocked out next round, unless maybe she's up against the winner of Lalasa vs Vania.
Isha does have an lj, it's ubiquitous_girl. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-10 10:40 pm (UTC)D'oh, thank you, I knew that! I'm not good at keeping track of who's who...
if everyone I like keeps on winning these first fights, they'll be up against each other in the next round. Which is awesome ... but sort of heartbreaking
Yeah, I feel you. We'll all have to make some interesting decisions, I think.
For a minute earlier today, I was like, "hmm, maybe I'll sit out the Lalasa v. Vania fight to give myself a break." But then I realized that's also Neal v. Raoul week so I'm gonna be writing as much as I possibly can, regardless.
My head might explode. But... this is kinda stupid, but it's been a long time since I had so much fun. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-10 10:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 04:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 01:34 am (UTC)^ This. Its a marathon, not a sprint >_
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 04:24 am (UTC)I thought of it that way, too... and yet I've posted 17 fics this time. Wait, I forgot I wrote one for Yuki, so that makes 18. I just got started and couldn't stop.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 03:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-12 04:30 am (UTC)