I knocked on the door to the meeting room hoping the quiet would mean that the “fight” that was going on between Blackswann and Ysabel was over... or at least on hold.

Hearing a terse “Come in!” made me pause, but knowing I had to bring this issue to their attention, I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

Just as Subliminal had warned me, I found my two bosses sitting at opposite ends of the table. It seemed the quiet I had interrupted was just an intermission in preparation for a new round.

Taking another deep breath and unsure whom to address, I blurted out my issue. “I was reviewing the list for the NECon vendors and noticed there were some mounts left off the list. I was thinking …”

“I think we already have enough mounts,” Ysabel interrupted.

“Let her talk!” Blackswann thundered.

Oh no! I thought to myself, look what I have started now.

“Go on please,” Ysabel muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest in what appeared to be a defensive move.

Looking from Ysabel to Bobby and back I wondered if I should have just kept my mouth shut.

“Well?” Blackswann asked impatiently.

“I had put on the mount list the [Reins of the Black War Bear] / [Reins of the Black War Bear], you know, the ones you get for the achievement ‘For the Horde/Alliance’. I was thinking such a choice would allow the players to show support... for their chosen... side.” I rushed, faltering a bit.

“Will the players be able to make the correct choice at the vendors and not get the wrong one?” Ysabel sneered.

“Of course they will. Besides there is only one side… mine. The best and only side. Alliance all the way!” Blackswann said with a huge smile and almost shouting by the end. “I like this idea. Maybe after we are done with NECon Development Team should do a tally to show you that more Alliance mounts were bought, to prove to you that Alliance is the best side.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Ysabel muttered just loudly enough that I could hear it. I turned to look at her just as Blackswann continued, “That idea is really good, what other good ideas do you have, Jem?”

I tossed Ysabel an apologetic glance before turning back to Blackswann and gave him my other, spontaneously devised idea.

“I was thinking that we should have a story contest on the forums. We should have them write a short story about whether they support the Horde or Alliance side and why. What do you think?”

“I love it!” Blackswann declared, glaring at Ysabel. “We will get more proof of people’s love of my Alliance.” Pushing back his chair he approached the door, “Come on Jem, you’re with me.”

I eyed Ysabel carefully, knowing I was being forced to make a choice. She gestured at me to go but still I hesitated.

“Are you coming or not?” bellowed Blackswann.

Why did I get into this type of mess? I thought, I like them both but Blackswann is the big boss, so I will choose him.

“Sorry,” I whispered to Ysabel as I turned and followed Blackswann out of the room. “Coming Bobby!”

Where the Loyalty Lies (Story Contest)

• Dates:
  • Start Date: January 7
  • Close Date: January 12
  • Judging: January 13
  • Prize Distribution: January 14
• Details:
  • Write a creative story about the side you support (Horde/Alliance) and why; any theme or tone is acceptable (action, drama, comedy, romance, horror, etc!). You can include fellow players, Guilds or the Mobs. It doesn't matter; show us how creative you can be! Make sure we know which side you have choosen.
  • Remember that a story needs a beginning, middle, and end. Please make sure to give us a complete story.
  • Minimum 1000 words, but not more than 3000 words.
  • Must adhere to the Global Forum Rules.
  • Submit entries by forum PM to Jembella, no later than January 12.
    • Prizes:
      • 1st Place: 10,000 gold, 100x [Ticket Voucher], [NECon 2013 Participation Shirt], 50 chips
      • 2nd Place: 5,000 gold, 75x [Ticket Voucher], [NECon 2013 Participation Shirt], 25 chips
      • 3rd Place: 2,500 gold, 50x [Ticket Voucher], [NECon 2013 Participation Shirt], 15 chips
      • All Other Participants: 25x [Ticket Voucher], [NECon 2013 Participation Shirt]

Awsome,good luck to everyone.
I was just wondering,does it have to be a story with characters and a them,or can we just describe why we love our faction ?

Can i write the story in spanish?
i am latin :(

Can I please just be a neutral faction in all this!?!

@ turbocow - it needs to be in story format but as you see you can include players or guilds, so you can tell about real things that have happened to you. We are looking for you to be descriptive - so think of describing things like your home cities, special quests, races, guilds etc that make your chosen faction special to you and the best faction in your opinion - others need to see and understand your choice so be convincing

@ Hartxen - unfortunately we ask that you write the story in english (although names or an occasional phase or word is okay - but the bulk of the story must be in english) as the top ones will be posted for all to read. The stories also need to be judged and sometimes translator programs do not do the best job of translating things literally. Remember there are many spanish people at NE so they can help you with making the english version flow properly so the story will make sense. So consider having someone proof read your story for you if you are concerned

@ Sabthenoob - unfortunately in WoW players are forced to choose from the two sides (Alliance and Horde) in Wrath. While blizzard now allows you to play a panda which is neutral when you create it you have to make a choice around lvl 10-12 from the two existing sides

Jazuz: mmm... what side to choose... Ysabel or Blackswann...
Jazuz: well, blackswann is the server owner so he may have more power and i like more the color blue...
Mirror Image: Hey! once you kill ppl blood will be on that blue uniform and those blood stains are difficult to remove
Jazuz: yeah you are right, i choose red for the laziness!!

(feel free to use it i'm making a better one)

hmm if i have time i will write one:)

1000 word's or 1000 characters? :)

can we write a fantasy story where our characters in game are the main characters of the story too? obviously saying our faction

I have another question, is 1000 words, or 1000 characters?

I have 2 more questions:
1.Can we write several storys ?
2.Can we write example some fun pvp stuff and like that,and incluse in that players and etc.

"any theme or tone is acceptable" what does it mean? do we have to write just texts or is there any program to write story which has sound in background or animation on it?

A story about NE's lore? Sounds fun. I done tons of essays at school, this should be a piece of cake ;)

^
ctrl-c, ctrl-v

Yeah totally, cause giving Jem my history essays will do the trick =="

this is kind of hard ^^

nc one

Can we submit more than 1 story ?

@ Turbocow, l2read

Does it really have to have a minimum of 1000 words? xD

I submitted already my essay as a PM to Jem. How will I know if she received it?

This is incredible. I made a story of 2600 words, and now i can't send it to Jembella because there are too many characthers! I can send only 10000 characters, while i wrote near 15k ...damn, what can i do? Answer me Jem T.T

Little problem here Jembella. NE forum says we can only post 10000 characters.
Following quote:
"The text that you have entered is too long (16519 characters). Please shorten it to 10000 characters long.
"

What should we do? (I have respected the 3000 word limit).
Is there a way to bypass this?

Thank you
-Bus-

Ehrgeiz I guess we have to shorten our stories since we have to
"adhere to the Global Forum Rules."

Horrible thing to do now, but we're going to need some big trims ^^
Good luck

AHHHH 400 characters left

Finally managed 9987 characters
Wow that was tough