The first Theonosis novel is here!
Solitudes and Silence, by Conrad Baines Talbot. Buy it for $9.99 or download the pdf for free (other formats).

Current Projects: Content Contests with prizes up to $300; a god-based world-building and role-playing game, Collabor, and collaborative Open Setting novels needing contributors.

February 2011 = Generation 25 = 11,250-11,300

From Theonosis

Solitudes and Silence, available for free

Theonosis is offering cash prizes for original contributions to this project (see Theonosis:About for more on what this site is). You must register an account on this wiki (or if you are on reddit, you may submit to the /r/theonosis subreddit) and upload your work here. You must dual license with the Creative Commons and Open Setting Licenses (see Theonosis:Copyrights). Each prize has requirements and a deadline by which you must either pm me on reddit or send me a message on the wiki, linking to your submission. I will select a winner on or soon after the deadline. Whether you win or not your content will remain available on theonosis.com, and, since it is both CC and OSL, may be re-used in a variety of contexts. Understand the consequences of dual-licensing your work in this way before participating, and feel free to ask me questions. Theonosis will probably publish your work, regardless of whether or not you win; Theonosis may also edit or otherwise change your work; others might do the same.

You will have to email me your address, and I will mail you a check in US$. No other options for payment are available right now. You must own the copyrights to all elements of your work, which must not be derived from any work copyrighted by someone else.

You may submit to multiple contests. Theonosis is headquartered in the United States and Maryland, so you may be required to submit appropriate tax forms in order to collect your winnings. You are responsible for following all applicable laws in your jurisdiction.

When you upload your submission to this website (just use the "Upload file" function on the left side of the screen), make sure you have enabled an email address in your preferences. I will email you if you have won.

Authors and illustrators: Theonosis is looking for publishable work. See Theonosis:Theonosis Publishing for more details.

General Illustration Prizes: $25 each (Ongoing)

Greg Paul Sharits' winning submission from September 16, 2011

This contest is closed, and will not be re-opened for the time being.

1. September 2: A rainid of any kind: Winner: Rachel J. Corey, with File:Rainids.jpg
2. September 16: An elf of any kind: Winner: Greg Paul Sharits, with File:Elf_and_spirit.png
3. September 23: A dwarf of any kind: Winner: Greg Paul Sharits, with File:Dwarf Final.png

Hidden Criteria Art Prizes: $100 each (Ongoing)

Hidden Contests are won by the first person who uploads artwork to this website meeting the criteria. The catch is that the criteria are mostly secret. Each contest is listed below with one facet of that contest's criteria. I (Modrobene and the owner of this website) have a list of all of the criteria, and I will check to see if you have won.

For example, if one of the hints was "has a dragon", then the additional criteria might be that it's a blue-scaled dragon attacking humans. All of the criteria will be fairly normal fantasy artwork - it won't be "dragon in a maid's uniform", for example. The criteria will only specify one or two elements of the illustration, and you may include any other content you like. So if the requirement is "gnome smoking a pipe", you will win even if you draw a gnomish marketplace in which the smoking gnome is barely visible at all.

Mass submissions of low quality and other attempts to game the system will not be considered. Each image must be significantly unique, though you may share themes and elements across multiple images. You may use any medium (including sculpture). If you flood the website with hurried sketches, I will bar you and all of your submissions. Each one must be a significant work. I reserve the right to bar any submission if it is not in the spirit of the contest (which is to create a large body of freely licensed fantasy artwork that others might want to use in a variety of contexts). None of the criteria will be erotic in nature, nor will they include nudity or gore. Erotica, nudity and gore are allowed, however, and don't disqualify you.

For the record, I have written down the criteria on a piece of paper. They do not exist digitally. No shenanigans.

Please make sure you send a message to User:Modrobene when you submit something. I do look at everything uploaded to the site, but I don't have all the criteria totally memorized, so I might not realize you've won if you don't point out you're eligible.

Hints are listed below. New hints may be added at any time.

1. Features at least one ship
2. Features at least one goblin
3. Features at least one dwarf
4. Features at least one elf (Category:Images_with_elves contains all possible entrants that have not won.)
5. Features at least one gnome
6. Features at least one dragon
7. Features at least one troll
8. Features at least one orc
9. Features at least one unicorn
10. Features at least one structure on fire
11. Features a large scale battle with participants of more than one recognizable sentient species
12. Features at least five archers
13. Features at least one female vampire
14. Features at least one tower
15. Features at least one sword (Category:Images_of_weapons contains all possible entrants that have not won.)
16. Features a swamp, marsh or bog
17. Features at least one minotaur
18. Features at least one pagoda
19. Features some amount of snow on the ground or falling
20. Features a monstrous hybrid between a humanoid and an animal (something like a werewolf, though ftr it's not a wolf hybrid)
21. Features a scene evocative of Africa (obviously this is a fantasy setting so it won't be "African", but for this image, there needs to be some recognizable element of real world African cultures)
22. Features at least one rainid (Category:Images_with_rainids contains all possible entrants that have not won.)
23. Features at least one dragon
24. Features at least one dragon
25. Features at least one bird (Category:Images_with_birds contains all possible entrants that have not won.)

Solitudes and Silence Illustration Prizes: $30 each (October 2011)

There are 10 subjects in this contest. Your submission must be applied to just one subject, though you may submit multiple pieces of art. Your artwork may be in any medium. You will have to read the book Solitudes and Silence to totally understand what these are supposed to look like. Don't worry, it's a short book, a novella really, and it's free (email cbtalbot(AT)theonosis.com with your address for a free copy, or go here for an ebook). Remember also that Theonosis.com is a fictional Wikipedia that's not so concerned about neutrality and sourcing. This means there can and should be inaccuracies; there is also no guarantee that Solitudes and Silence is accurate. So don't feel like you have to scrupulously follow every detail in the novel and on the relevant site pages. This also means that it's okay to have more going on than just the subject being illustrated - if you want to draw a tribe of bofro attacking a troll, for example, that's perfectly fine, just like Wikipedia pictures are sometimes not just plain images of the subject. While the primary criterion this category will be judged on is artistic quality, I will also take into consideration any extra content you provide, so if you draw a bofro-troll battle and then write a brief summary, placing it in some sort of context in an article like Crikland to explain what the battle is a picture of, this will significantly help your cause.

You may, but do not have to, illustrate a scene from the novel; at least 3-4 of the winners will probably be scenes from the novel. (Remember that somebody could use your picture in an illustrated edition of the novel, without your permission or giving you credit by name; if Theonosis Publishing does it, I promise I will credit you by name, but the OSL allows for someone not to) You are also free to design a whole new part of the world, and depict something there. The more content you add, the better your chances of winning. This is a collaborative website though, so I'd rather not see a bunch of people each creating their own little nooks of the world - working together with other creators is strongly encouraged. At the moment the website is new, so there's not much to collaborate on - Crikland and the Deepdark are the only parts of the world significantly detailed, but you are encouraged to work with any content that anybody might add.

1. olmians
2. vagramine
3. derrador
4. rainids (must include cave, snow and pond rainids, at least)
5. Velteris
6. Petromyza (no article, you have to read the book)
7. bofro
8. Delverton
9. Hapcort (no article, you have to read the book)
10. meroven (referred to as merolvids in Solitudes and Silence)

(Note: You are encouraged, but not required, to depict more than 1 member of the races listed)

Deadline: October 1, 2011

Short story prizes: $100 (December 2011)

Between 5,000 and 20,000 words. You may submit something you have already written (remember any fantasy story can be set in Theonosis). Fairy tales adapted for this world are also acceptable. No scripts or poetry collections please, just prose. You may make or contribute to a series (see Theonosis:Authorship).

Three winners from this category will be selected.

Deadline: December 1, 2011

Dragon Artwork: $200 prize (January 2012)

Any artwork of a dragon (or more than one), any sort. I am expecting something either:

1. A single large, complex and detailed image
2. A series of thematically connected images that may be less complex
3. Any other image or set of images that are part of well-detailed content on Theonosis.com. For example, if you want to describe a dragon city on this website, and include a few sketches of that, you will have a chance to win even if the sketches are not extraordinarily complex. You must include artwork, however, and its quality will be a very important factor.

Note that there are a list of dragon species at list of races. Those were created as a basis for others to expand or make changes, so that I could be confident that whatever kinds of dragon species people come up with for Theonosis, they would be derived from my copyrighted work here. Feel free to make any number of dragon species with any characteristics you like, though for the purposes of this contest, they must be recognizably dragon-like (Eastern or Western style dragons are both fine).

Deadline: January 1, 2012

The ShudderLance Contest: $200 prize (January 2012)

Rewrite one of Shakespeare's plays, setting it in Theonosis (remember that any fantasy story can be set here, and you can design a region to suit your remake). You may make reasonable alterations to the play, but it should be distinctly recognizable as a remake. You may submit a novella, novel or theatrical play. No screenplays.

Deadline: January 1, 2012 (this will be an ongoing contest, so if you miss the deadline you can get the next one)

Novella or novel: $300 prize (May 2012)

At least 20,000 words. This can be a sequel or prequel to Solitudes and Silence, but doesn't have to be. If you are entering it into this contest, you may market it as such. It must be principally about one or more of the following characters: Jaxoll, Zendra, Alaurea, Helga, Egglebrod, Gelvid, Sir Esterhund, Lady Ballardrine (and/or her husband or daughter), Milo, Shezanne, Sharradrir, Lord Porthos, the olmian bookie or the vagramine bandits. You may not kill off or drastically change one of the other named characters - Sendralya, Waimbrill or Terredor. Deities and monsters can be used freely. You will need to read Solitudes and Silence, but don't worry, it is short and free (email cbtalbot(AT)theonosis.com with your address for a free copy, or go here for an ebook).

This setting is collaborative, so feel free to provide information that changes the reader's understanding of the events of Solitudes and Silence. Please note that C. B. Talbot is also writing a sequel that will be published sometime in the next few months, before this contest's deadline. You are not required to be consistent with that work.

You may make or contribute to a series (see Theonosis:Authorship). Theonosis Publishing is also looking for novelists. See Theonosis:Theonosis Publishing for more.

Deadline: May 1, 2012