What is Elsewhere University?
Elsewhere University is a university on a fairy hill, as first depicted in this comic I drew a year ago! People began asking questions about the world, and then writing stories and drawing art set within it, and then building on each other’s stories and on my answers about the world, and it’s become a big lovely sandbox (the second comic‘s entire purpose is to celebrate some of my favorite things that have grown exclusively out of the fandom). The various submitted stories aren’t necessarily compatible with each other, because there are currently well over 2k stories and asks building this world and expecting anyone to know all of that is absolutely mad. But they’re all built on the same base mythology of folklore+college weirdness outlined in the first comic.
Where can I find the original comic?
As part of my Tapastic series, or on my main blog.
My ask/fortune/submission hasn’t shown up yet.
At the time of this writing, my inbox is around 2500, and roughly ¾ of those are student asks. There’s going to be a bit of a wait before anything you submit sees the light of day (although stories will show up before fortunes do). I know it’s not ideal, but I will reach it eventually, I promise!
That said (given that this is tumblr) message me privately, off anon, if you’d like to make sure it hasn’t been eaten by the website. If you can give me a username or an exact phrase to ctrl+f, I’d be happy to check that it made it safely to my inbox! But if you send a find-it ask on anon, I won’t answer it - I get enough of those that it would clutter up the blog pretty badly.
Are there any guidelines for Elsewhere U fanworks?
The bare minimum - it should be readable with regards to grammar/spelling, it should be related to Elsewhere University, and, you know, don’t be an asshole. Don’t worry too much about continuity! Due to the sandbox nature of the project, that’s all a bit fuzzy anyway.
Fortunes should be about the size of a single ask.
Nothing made or sold for profit.
How should I get my submission to you?
One option is to submit a story through tumblr
Another is to publish it on your own blog, or on AO3 (there’s an official tag!) or somewhere else
If you opt for something other than submitting it through this blog, send me a link through messaging or an ask if you’d like to see it shared here!
You can try @’ing me but I’m not great at checking that.
And lastly if you do post it somewhere else, please credit this blog or the original comic specifically. Thank you!
Stories - written prose submissions
Art - comics and illustrations of the world
Students and Charms - fortunes and futures
Vignettes - very short stories
Podcast - episodes of Elsewhere University Student News, a fan podcast
Recs - Reader-submitted books/games/etc in the vein of this blog
Love letters to majors - submissions specifically regarding the ups and downs of a major
Newsletter - Elsewhere U newsletters and notices
Prophecies - vague, ominous, regarding the future
Original - my contributions to Elsewhere
Changelings - what the Fair Folk leave when they steal your roommate
The Forbidden Major - the (banned) study of the Fair Folk
Knights - students keeping the campus safe. Crusaders, mercenaries, and idealists.
Stolen Away - so you’ve gotten yourself kidnapped into a weird magical summer world
Deals - striking bargains
The Aftermath - Graduation and afterwards
Courtesies - the politics of please and thank you
Legacies - people who fit in better than they expected
The Treaty - Posts touching on the delicate agreement between the university and the Elsewhere
Belief - reality gets malleable here
Names - Names and their power. Full FAQ below.
Location - where the fuck is this school, anyway (and a masterpost of the borders)
The Theatre (and The Play)
The Dorms (dorm list/summary here)
Student Life - anything to do with day to day Elsewhere U existence
Majors - a full alphabetized list of majors and their standing with the Gentry at the end of this page
Prospective Students - why people come to EU
International Students - how they deal with this bullshit
Sports - what sports, where, and why they’re Off
Food - “We must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry thirsty roots?”
Electronics - how that works out (or rather, doesn’t)
School Spirit, and on a related note the Mascot and the school Motto (full list of mottoes below)
Clubs and Secret Societies
Professors - who in their right minds would work here (list and summary of notable professors here)
RAs - Resident Advisors and their responsibilities
Groundskeepers - nonacademic staff. A statistically unlikely number own swords.
NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS AND PHENOMENA
The Wyrm -the dragon sleeping under the condemned building in the western corner of the campus
The Washer at the Ford - she will tell you the time of your death, but only if you’re into that
Courts - here the year turns on Spring and Autumn
Royalty - don’t speak of them
Cat-Eyes - purveyor of Seeing glasses
Protection - including iron, salt, and running water
The Sight - including modified glasses, silver, and mirrors
The Crows - Do Not Wrong The Crows
Wildlife - Birds, Insects
School Mottos thus far (translations may be incorrect - I haven’t personaly checked them)
Cauti, Cordati, Auspicati - Wary, Wise, and Lucky
Cum Gladio Et Sale - With Sword and Salt
Fainiciúil, Ciallmhar, Ámhar - Wary, Wise, and Lucky
yn dilyn y seren - Following The Star
BLOOD AND BONES BLOOD AND BONES BLOOD AND BONES
Tine Agus Airgead - Fire and Silver
כבדו את העורבים - Respect The Crows
Tha Iad Ag Innse Gun Bhreaug - They Tell No Lies
Carpe Nihil - Seize Nothing
Iron and Salt - a warning
Aspectum, Dolorem, Sacrificium - Sight, Sorrow, Sacrifice
Scientia Defendit Fideles - Knowledge protects the faithful
What Doesn’t Bend Will Break
What’s a true name? The name that you consider to be truly yours; it’s highly personal and subjective.
Does the legal status of the name matter? No.
Can nicknames be true names? Yes.
Can you have more than one true name? How would that work? Yes. Depending on what each name meant to you, each true name might have power over you in its entirety, or each be part of a larger whole.
If I pronounce or spell my name differently/use a derivative or variation of my true name as a safe name, would that be safe? No. It wouldn’t have power over you, but it wouldn’t be hard to discover your true name.
What happens if someone speaks my true name? If you are given a command with your true name, you are compelled to obey it. This is only true in the Elsewhere and areas affected by it.
Can safe names influence a person over time? It’s unusual, but it’s happened.
Can a safe name become your true name? Yes; if you feel yourself becoming too attached to a safe name, it’s time to change it (not an uncommon event).
How does the school deal with safe names? Student IDs and role call lists for professors include the student number and the preferred name of a student. There’s a hard ban on obscenity, at least as far as the safe names in the school system go, but even so, they range from mundane to pop culture to total nonsense.
Would a name with negative associations be a good safe name? Yes, in the sense you’d never have to worry about growing too attached too it.
Is it possible to be nameless? Yes, which renders you invulnerable to this particular hazard. There are still plenty of other pitfalls, so overall the nameless don’t attract too much malice from the Gentry.
Is my last name part of my true name? It depends on the importance it holds for you. But even if it doesn’t signify anything, it’s recommended you keep all parts of your legal name secret in order to make it more difficult for anyone to find personal information on you.
How does the school protect true names? The administration offices are heavily guarded against both human and Elsewhere intruders, including but not limited to 24/7 guards, iron in all the walls, heavily password-protected computers, and formidable custom iron filing cabinets that hold all the paperwork they couldn’t avoid printing out.
Does everyone on campus go by a safe name? Almost everyone. There’s always a few skeptic freshman who don’t buy into what is presented as Elsewhere university’s ‘unique traditions’. The lucky ones are given nicknames by other students who persist until the skeptic has stopped protesting. The unlucky ones find out the hard way why you don’t want anyone to know your true name.
environmental studies majors
forestry and wildlife majors
pre-med majors - any medicine-related fields
smiths - the tag for shop class and metalworking
Elsewhere University © 2017 Samantha Dow
