Law of talos was a Character Tournament held by DeviantArt's Sins-of-Angels. Started in 2008 and taking place in an abandoned steampunk city with a machine that can grant one person's wish. Unlike most OCTs, Law of Talos bypassed the audition process and only invited artists who had made a name for themselves in previous OCTs. As a result, it became one of the most popular OCTs on DeviantArt and is the Trope Codifier for many tournament conventions.
HISTORY[]
The grand city of Taitle, once bustling with life and thought and steam-powered inventions, stands deserted save for the stray passing inventor salvaging scrap metal from its workings and a stubborn old man who has lived on the same plot of land his ancestors have all his life. He didn’t mind the old abandoned buildings, the winding Victorian architecture that was crumbling in places, or the almost rhythmic release of steam from street vents. No one knew where the vents went, or why they were there, or even how to properly begin to repair the city’s maze of architecture to make it living again, but the vents are there, leading to nowhere, and the city is there, and had, at one point, worked for the people in it. All it works for now, other than the old man, were the little robots, left behind by careless people passing through and repaired by the old man, set free to wander the city and make their own homes for themselves. The city itself is like a time capsule, fallen into disrepair but stuck in this era of steam-powered technology, stuck in the same culture it has been since it was last bustling with signs of the lives of its citizens because of the influence of a strange new physical law, dubbed Law of Talos by its discoverer, the old man. The city functions only on steam power, despite its neighbors having modern technology already. Said technology stops working within the city grounds, and there is a presence that is nothign short of magical in the air. The Law of Talos has been around ever since the first person had set foot in the city, it seemed, even while it was bustling with the life of its inhabitants, before it was abandoned. Since then, the city has been unpopulated. That is, until now. Now the town is overrun by people scouring every inch of the city for all the broilers and gas tanks and engine parts that have been left lying around, and building high glass domes on metal stilts. All in preparation. The town was going to be alive again, but not for its usual purpose. It would live for a tournament. The stubborn old man had finally done it. In his workshop stood the world’s first, and, indeed, only wishing machine. Steam and smoke poured out of the contraption, and things spun at seemingly random times, and a small gauge on the front, going from 1 to 10, was now pointing at 1. Whatever it was that was making the machine work (for the old man wasn’t sure of it himself. When pressed, he'd simply answer "Oh, it must simply be a use of the Law of Talos, but of course," but never expands on said law.) was allowing for one more wish. And the stubborn, but nice and friendly old man, had decided that now since he had hair again and had his fun wishing, it was time to give the last wish, however big or small it may be, to someone who is willing to go to any length to prove he/she deserves it. And it was his nephew, hanging around the shop one day, who suggested the idea of a tournament. So the city had become alive once again, bustling with the sound of workers preparing for said tournament, ready to welcome the competitors and building observation domes for the spectators at either end of the city. Because, as the nephew pointed out, a little monetary profit never hurt anyone. The idea was simple. People who heard of this machine, be it by technology like the internet or carrier pigeons, were told to gather in the city if they were interested. Bring yourselves, it said. Bring courage and the will to win. And bring your greatest desire, because fulfilling it is your prize. Once it starts, step outside Taitle, and you’re out. Be defeated by your set opponent and you’re out. And when you’re out, you forfeit everything you have collected over the course of the tournament to the winner of your match. Since it wouldn’t be a proper tournament in the old man’s eyes if it didn’t allow for some inventiveness, he will give each contestant a set of tools, the most unique and important of these being the boiler, the gas tank, and the engine parts. Metal, pipes, chimneys, everything else could be scavenged. But those parts you could only get by defeating your opponent, and it is with those parts that you can build bigger things, or many small things, whichever you prefer. And it is those parts you forfeit when you lose a match. Do you have to use the kit? No, of course not. The old man simply wanted to give everyone the fair option to. Just keep those vital parts close, because even if you don’t want them, leaving them would give a huge advantage to whoever finds them. The goal is to be the last one standing, brought in front of the wishing machine and given the chance to make your deepest desire come true.
The Process[]
Your OC will arrive in the city, at which point they will discover that any technology they may have that isn't steam-based (or, at least, after the steam era) does not work in the city itself, due to the Law of Talos's influence. Therefore, they must enter city grounds on foot in designated areas, passing the ring of tournament officials around it making sure that the contestants stay inside the city. Once your OC is entering the city, they will be handed a basic kit by a tournament official. The kit will contain a decently-sized boiler, a full gas tank and several sturdy pipes needed to link the two cylindrical objects. Those are the most important pieces, because they cannot be found anywhere else in the city - except in the hands of another contestant. The rest of the kit is rudimentary engine supplies, governors, water tanks, valves, insulation, gears, pieces of metal and bolts, safety goggles and basic tools. Everything, aside from the boiler and the gas tank, can be dug up in various places in the city. Old factories that would make metal still have scraps of it lying around. Gears are in no short supply, big or small. There are several big pieces of machinery abandoned, no fuel supplies to speak of, but working pipes and wheels/treads. Even the buildings themselves can serve as supplies as needed, with their high ledges and tall spires, working chimneys and wooden planks. Once the kit is received, regardless if you want it or not, you are officially a contestant, and are to assume that anyone you meet in the city wandering freely is also a contestant. You are not required to use the kits, but you are required to keep the boiler and gas tanks safe (be it with you in a machine or in a safe hiding place), which you only part with if you lose a match, and surrender them to the winner. If you are defeated, you will be escorted to the modernized and out-of-place observation deck, from which you are not technically allowed to move for your and other's safety, as freely wandering people are assumed to be contestants (though if you listen to the rules or not is entirely up to you).
Each round, the artist will be required to depict their character defeating their opponent's in some way. It does not necessarily have to be a death match of pure strenght, of course. It is, often times, more impressive to find a different route to defeat your opponent than the ol' hack-n-slash. At the end of the round, the winner gets all of the loser's gathered supplies, most importantly, the gas tanks and boilers. More of these allow you to build bigger things, or simply more thing than you currently have. The intro comic/image should show your character arriving and receiving the kit, which makes them officially a competitor. The matches will be randomized each time, and will go up a day after the judging has been announced.
Summary[]
Host and judges[]
- The hostess in charge of this OCT is Sins-Of-Angels from Deviantart
- Judge - Wixed001 from Deviantart
- Judge - Skylord from Deviantart
- Judge - Pinumbra from Deviantart
- Judge - LabrysWaltz from Deviantart
Who is the host and what do they do? The host is basically the person in charge. This person is the one who first came up with the idea for the OCT. They have a lot of responsibilities, including creating and updating the tournament account, coming up with a set of rules, selecting judges for the tournament, posting the tournament roster, matchups, and winners, offering the prizes or finding other artists willing to offer prizes, setting deadlines for the rounds, and settling any disputes over the tournament rules. Be nice to your host, they work hard for you.
Who are the judges and what do they do? The host is in charge of finding a panel of judges to choose the winners of each round. The judges review all the auditions and choose the final roster for the tournament. They also see all the battles after the deadline for each round has passed and decide which character won which battle. Entries are judged based on many things, including plot, humor, artistic ability, character characterization and interaction, creativity, and the all-important "heart" factor.
Contestants[]
- Karl owned by Unknown-person
- Mizuno owned by Cirihtt
- Annie & Professor owned by terriblenerd
- Chimbley Sweep owned by ConcentrationMoon (Currently on Twitter as @irisjaycomics)
- Eric Pockets owned by cailencrow
- Spoiler/Black Ace owned by Since Zeurel
- Steffi and Benzene owned by CubeWatermelon
- Rellik and Del owned by Del-Borovic
- Lilith owned by Endling The Arting Starvist
- Joshua Bell owned by auryn
- Clairvoire owned by Clairvoire
- Thomberry Gange owned by Rikyo
- Lester Mole owned by TheJohnsonDesign
- Lucia Albatross owned by Izuma Hobbyist
- Murphy owned by CyrilTheWizard
- Dembe & Yan Qian owned by Iris-Zeible
- Kato Kuromizu owned by RoninsUltramix
- Moth owned by ZombieBunnyPro
- Jinam Vinalli owned by Rockaaa
- Ayshia & Todd owned by Kilo-Monster
- Ko-omote owned by mikiko-art
- Greg & Renfield owned by lan-kun
- Mikah & Ramy owned by lanhao
- Morrow Stone owned by conmandamned
- Faust owned by HaveConquest
- Euria owned by Marcks
- Kit Bates owned by manic-pixie
- Nerida Hayle owned by Lunacat-chan
- Antonius, Eli, and Kieth owned by Garagos
- Saph owned by Gottschalk
- Femke & Marion owned by DevilChicka
Gallery[]
