CLICK HERE TO READ AND/OR LOOK UPON THE WORKS, YE MIGHTIES, AND ENJOY!
Please remember that htese are rare pairs for Dragon Age, and as such, they need some love! Please take time to comment on your gifts, and others in the collection as well!
If you would like a commenting bingo card to help seek out treasure, please let us know by sending us a private message on tumblr! We’ve compiled a bunch of tags, characters, settings, and prompts to help you find fic in the exchange you might have missed otherwise! If you win, we’ll give you a silly picture, a write-up, and a little bit of promotion! If you don’t win, well, tis for fun anyway. :)
If you have a gift and there’s an issue with it: Please message us privately or email us at [email protected] so that we can take action on it decisively and with a minimum of fuss.
Authors/Artists: Please remember to re-date your works so that they will not be revealed on page 6/7 of the Dragon Age tag. To do this, please edit your work and scroll down to “Set a different publication date” and set it for today.
Congratulations, WolffyLuna! WolffyLuna is the second bingo in our cavalcade of commenting bingo winners, and as usual, WolffyLuna is hella impressive. Not only was WolffyLuna a Black Emporium all-star last year, with five different treats made, but this year they nearly matched their output (four treats!) while commenting up a storm. We're so happy WolffyLuna came back for a second year, and we're hoping next year, the third time will be the charm for all of Wolffy’s fans!
If you're a new or returning WolffyLuna fan - and we're sure you are, we know we are! - you can find their works on Ao3, where they have a wide variety of work, focusing not only on the complicated relationships between characters and language somehow artisanally flowing into delightful fluff (see Floriography [Josephine Montilyet/Cassandra Pentaghast]), or the deep comfort that comes with honest talks in an established relationship (see To Shine On All, [Leliana/Female Tabris]), or tracing the complications that bind characters when duty interferes with love (See Whiskey in a Jar, [Female Hawke/Aveline Vallen]).
Works that WolffyLuna produced this round are:
Boop! [Male Adaar/Dorian Pavus, G]: Adaar leaned back in his chair, hands steepled, and smiled. “All’s fair in love and war, and chess is both.”
Bedtime[Female Adaar/Josephine Montilyet, G - Fanart]: Adaar and Josephine getting ready for bed.
Pine Needles and Poetry [Female Adaar/Cassandra Pentaghast, T]: Adaar got her breath under control, and held out her staff at Cassandra’s foot. “This isn’t my strong suit, but I can try—”
Warmth, like that from holding a candle next to skin, ran through her ankle. The heat faded, and with it, a portion of the pain. But only a portion. Adaar looked up at her. “Better?”
“Somewhat.” Cassandra levered herself up, and tried to put weight on the ankle—and immediately collapsed.
“It could be better.” She admitted.
Cassandra injures her ankle fighting the Carta. Adaar helps.
A Successful Failure [Zevran Arainai/Tentacles, E, warning: consenticles]: After a failed mission, Zevran Arainai is bored and left alone with an equally bored tentacle creature. Of course something ensues.
All, Works have been revealed! Please check out the works in this years collection - just because the anonymous period is over doesn't mean that the fun is done! Please give a hand to our amazing writers and artists in the 2019 collection!
People who have not commented on their assigned gifts will be getting an email reminding them there are works waiting for them within the next 24 hours. Please take the time to give people at least a quick thank you for writing for you if possible! (As a reminder, if there was a problem with a gift, please don't hesitate to reach out to the mods!)
I'm pleased to say we have had several bingo winners; they will be posted during the next week and a half or so, at a rate of one per day to try to avoid spamming the comm. It's been a wonderful year, BE! And we can't wait til next year. <3
Sweet nuglets and nugerinos, the deadline is fast approaching! The sky here at Skyhold has taken on a green tint, and we’re all anxiously awaiting the
As a reminder, assignments are due in one week at 10:00PM Eastern Standard Time (Click here for a countdown!).
If this is sending panic bells off in your mind: remember, be cool be calm. If you need an extension or need to default, please reach out to us at our inbox here, on the post on DW (comments are screened so only mods and you can see any responses), or emailing us at [email protected] .
If you feel like you might need to make mroe edits after the 23rd, you can do so until fic goes live on September 30, but remember that your fic must be roughly complete (defined as having a beginning, middle, and end) by the due date ( September 23).
If you’ve finished your fic or are just relishing the thought of writing some more rare pair works, then the following links might be of interest to you:
Write some Treats! - Thanks to discord member firebird, we have an amazing searchable request list! Please look up some requests, and remember to save a copy for yourself if you want to modify it!
Discord - Want to chat about Dragon Age with fellow shippers caught in rare pair hell? Need someone to beta or help finding that awesome gif set you saw on tumblr a day ago and can’t find now? The Black Emporium discord is here to help!
We are almost at the finish line! Let’s go! We can do it!
Yes sweet nuglets, it's that time of year again:Time to sign up for Black Emporium!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!
Helpful Links:
How to Guide || Requests on Ao3 || Tagset || Nominations Spreadsheet
Signups end: August 11, 2019 @ 10:00PM EDT || Countdown
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SIGN-UPS
1. Sign in to Ao3
If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!
2. Go to the Black Emporium signup field (link)
3. Scroll to the “Requests” field
There are several different components of this field:
Fandom: Please select Dragon Age - All Media Types.
Relationship:
Enter one or two approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset . You also have the option to select any relationship.
This means that you are willing to receive fanwork for, literally, any of the approved pairings.
The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what sort of relationship you want: eg, any f/f, any m/m, any f/m, or any multi. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Alistair pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is what you want.
Additional Tags: You can request fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.
Letter: If you have written a letter on an external website (such as Tumblr/Wordpress/Dreamwidth/Google Docs), you may link it here.
Description: Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you would like to see in a fanwork, both in general and for specific pairings. Good things to include (in this box, a letter, or both) are general likes and dislikes, preferred content rating, and Do Not Wants. Please remember to put your DNW's (do not wants) in the Ao3 sign up form - we can only take action if you put your DNW in your Ao3 sign-up form because it is the only thing we can absolutely guarantee that your creator will be able to access.
Remember that anyone who creates fanwork for you must respect your Do Not Wants. If you do not enter anything into this box, and you do not have a link to a letter, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s). If you have any preferences or things you do not want, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved.
Here are some things commonly put in the description box:
Likes/Wants:
- Frequently it can be considered helpful to your author or artist if they have some idea of what you like to see, and what you don't. For example:
I love F!Adaar/Sera because I think the idea of them merrily pranking they way around Skyhold is so much fun. Please don't write me something sad about them.
Do Not Wants:
- stuff that makes you uncomfortable, or just plain stuff that is Not Your Thing. While the Black Emporium does not believe in kink shaming or otherwise insulting people for their own personal taste, we do want people to let their artists or authors know what their limits are. You don't have to give any reasons for this;"no x/y/z" gives your creator plenty of info to discern where your limits are.
We can only take action if someone writes you something against your DNWs if it is in your sign-up.
Prompts -
Prompts can be just about anything, but they're meant to be ideas that you'd like to see that can help give your artist or author something to work off of. Sometimes this can be a prompt or a question you'd like explored (for example:
What if Solas found himself falling for M! Trevelyan? How would he feel about potentially falling for a human?) or an idea you'd love to see (Josie and M!Cadash snuggled up in front of a fire, please!) or just a few words of inspiration (Leliana/Josephine - secrets, lies, ravens).
Details about your character(s):
It is fairly common for people to give basic descriptions of their characters if it is a character where their appearance or personality may vary (ex: Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors), particularly if fanart is requested. These descriptions can be very basic indeed (ex: purple hawke), or extremely detailed (ex: This is Celeste Trevelyan, she loves her squad more than life itself, pink hair, dusky-rose skin, built like she could bench press you six ways from sunday).
You may also use the description field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to receive. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing that have been nominated. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Please fill out the form entirely before resulting as filling in pairings manually in the description; those that you fill in in the relationship field (the first 20) will take priority.
Things you should not put in the description field:
“I would like anything but nasty [kink]. I think people write that are gross and nasty.”
Please do not insult people who like something you dislike. It’s Not For You, and That’s Okay. “No [kink]” expresses this much better than a long explanation of why you don’t like [kink].
“I’m only choosing this to get to three nominations. Please don’t write it.”
While we know someone who signs up for a,b and z may want a and/or b more than z, but please don’t scream to your author or artist that what you may well match on is something you don’t want as much as other pairings. Writing something like this also reduces your chance at treats as well.
“Even though I said I wanted M! Solavellan, I’m fine with F! Solavellan too if you like that better.”
Please don’t tell people that you’d be alright with non-nominated pairings, as fics with only non-nominated pairings cannot be added to the collection.
Minimums and Maximums in Requests:
You are required to fill out a minimum of three request fields (Required: Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Letter, Description). Remember that you may put in one OR two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is twenty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 request fields, so if you fill 2 out with 2 requests in each "request box", Ao3 will still want you to add two more -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three out with one request, then double up as you wish.
4. Continue to the “Offers” field
There are several different components of this field:
Fandom: Please select Dragon Age - All Media Types.
Relationship: Enter one or two approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset. If it continues to give an error, please drop us a comment with the pairing so we can figure out what's going on. You also have the option to select any relationship.
This means that you are willing to write or draw fanwork for, literally, any of the approved pairings.
The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what sort of relationship you want to create for: eg, any f/f, any m/m, any f/m, or any multi. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Cullen pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is what you want.
Additional Tags:
You can offer to create fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.
Comments for mods:
Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you will and won’t create. As with your requests, you can provide general likes and dislikes as well as things that you absolutely will not do. If there is someone signed up you absolutely cannot stand, please write "don't match me to x" here; we won't ask details, we just won't match and this will be a fully confidential field. If you hate nugs, put it here, and we'll make sure you get at least one nug-free prompt and, ideally, a nug-free sign-up. We want you to have an assignment you'll be happy about, so if you've got something that would be triggering for you to create for, let us know. We can only take action based on our own knowledge, so the more information we have the better we can try to match you with what you really want. If you do not enter anything into this box, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s) selected. If you have any preferences or do not wants, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved. Neither Mod K nor Mod A will blab over whatever you write; we just want you to have the best time possible with your assignment.
Minimums and Maximums in Offers:
You are required to fill out a minimum of three offer fields (Required: Fandom, Relationship, Additional Tags;Optional: Comments to mods). Remember that you may put in one or two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is twenty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 offer fields, so if you fill 2 offer fields out with 2 offers in each "box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more offer field even though you have one over the minimum required amount of offers -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three offer fields, each with one request, then go back and double up or not, as you wish.
Bucket Offers:
You may also use the comments to mod field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to write if you have already filled twenty slots. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Once again, those filled in the actual relationship: tags will take priority over those written in, so choose which pairing goes where carefully!
A Note on Matching
Black Emporium runs on OR matching, which means that you will match on one relationship out of the ones that you offer and request. You are guaranteed to match on ONE relationship; you may match on more, you may not. For your assignment, you can write what you matched on OR you can write any other couple on their sign-up form. You will only have to write or draw for ONE request, not all of them. The minimums will be one piece of artwork or one 1,000 word fic.
This is Artemis1000's first year coming to Black Emporium, but fans of Star Wars need no introduction to Artemis1000. This is Artemis1000's first year actually playing through the Dragon Age games, and the thoughtful approach she gives to her playthroughs are echoed through their carefully plotted and well-characterized fanfiction. Artemis1000 has a long tradition of commenting thoughtfully in exchanges and this BE was no exception. Congrats on the bingo, Artemis!
If you're a fan of Artemis' works, we advise you to keep a close watch on their profile as we're sure she'll be bringing up quality fiction. Those eager to sample some of Artemis' works should consider trying What We Are (Nathaniel Howe/Velanna, G), where UST becomes an art form, or perhaps Second Love (Leliana/Morrigan, T), which examines the conflict Leliana's prior relationship with Marjoline brings to her newest relationship.
Works Artemis1000 produced this year for BE are:
against all evidence to the contrary, not an essay on the care and feeding of templars [Lysette/Minaeve, T]: Knowing what she knew about her love for all creatures dangerous and widely feared, hindsight told Minaeve she really should have seen it coming. If she was going to fall in love at all, it figured she would fall for the people counterpart of a poisonous giant spider. Knowing what she knew about herself, Minaeve still couldn’t explain how or when exactly she had fallen for Ser Lysette. Nor did she know what to do about Ser Lysette or her feelings for her, which was just her luck, really. She would have been better off sticking to giant spiders.
not far from you [Female Couslan/Anora Mac Tir, M]: Far less is known about our queen’s mysterious disappearance. For two years, Elissa Cousland vanished from Ferelden. There was many a lurid rumor about the circumstances of her death or betrayal, yet Queen Anora insisted that she was away on Warden business and would speak no more on the matter.
A Tale of Cautious Women [Anora Mac Tir/Vivienne, T]: Sentimentality is no way to make politics but every now and then the stars align just right to give you a chance at both. Anora, Vivienne and the cautious discovery that love can be found where you least expect it.
Everyone, assignments have gone out! Right now, an email should be winging its way to the inbox you used to sign up for Ao3. We hope you're excited -- we're excited! It’s an exciting time! You’ve just received the email telling you that you’re assigned to create a fanwork for somebody else, and someone else has just received one for you.
** **
But wait -- there’s a lot there! There are pairings that you didn’t offer! There are details about plots and ideas that aren’t what you usually work with! What are you going to do?!
First, remember the first page of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:** Don’t Panic.** Your recipient has different tastes and preferences from you, and that’s to be expected. You are not obligated to incorporate everything your recipient asked for -- in fact, given the length of many letters out there, it would be impossible to do everything.
Second, remember that you were matched to this person. That means there was at least one pairing they wanted to see that _you _put in your offers. Maybe it’s not your OTP. Maybe it’s something you’ve never done before. The mods don’t know any of that. The mods were just trying to give everyone a good match.
The pairing is the ninth or tenth instead of the first? **Don’t read anything into that. **It’s a pairing that they took the time to confirm they wanted to see brought to life. Let’s shorten that: it’s a pairing they wanted.
Third, remember that you are only obligated to respect their DNWs. This is the only thing that the mods will enforce when reviewing assignments. Likes, preferences, story ideas? Well, they’re really more of … guidelines. You are, of course, encouraged to give them consideration, but in the end, this is your story.
You might be thinking -- wait, isn’t it the other way around? Isn’t it supposed to be theirs? The answer is no. If they create it, it’s theirs. You are creating it, therefore it is yours. Everyone who signed up for this exchange knew they were going to be getting something different from what they would create themselves. Maybe it’s in style. Maybe it’s in focus, or details, or any number of things. That’s the point of a fanwork exchange.
Fourth, remember that you only have to create one fic of 1000 words or one complete piece of fanart, featuring one of the pairings requested by your recipient. You have until September 23rd to do this. That’s six weeks (42 days) from today, August 11, 2019. That’s it. Anything more that is a bonus, not a requirement. The rest, as they say, is gravy.
Take a deep breath. And another. You’ll be fine. You’ve got this. We’re here for you. The mods, and the community as a whole. We’re excited to see what you come up with. We know it will be great. Because you’re great.
In the first two days of nominations, there have been nearly 300 tagset nominations, our sweet nuglets! Would you like to nominate? The Nominations platform is HERE! Any rarepair is eligible, provided they have less than 300 completed works on Ao3!
We have some tagset nominations we would love to see in the tagset, but we need more information. If this is one of your nominations, please send us a message on Tumblr or comment on the Dreamwidth post (anon is on!) or send us an email at [email protected].
Needs Further Clarification:
Isabela/Leliana/Female Warden: Which Background for Warden is preferred?
Female Inquisitor/Bram Kenric: What Background for Inquisitor is preferred?
Female Inquisitor/Threnn (Dragon Age): What Background for Inquisitor is preferred?
Corypheus & Inquisitor (Dragon Age): What Background for Inquisitor is preferred?
Inquisitor/Vivienne: What Background and Gender for Inquisitor is preferred?
Anders/Female Warden (Dragon Age): Which Background for Warden is preferred?
Loghain Mac Tir/Female Warden: Which Background for Warden is preferred?
Ser Cauthrien/Original Character: What kind of Original Character does the Requester wish? (ex: Original Female Knight, Original Male Qunari, Original Female Assassins)
Sergeant Kylon (Dragon Age) Original Character(s): What kind of Original Character does the Requester wish? (ex: Original Female Knight, Original Male Qunari, Original Female Assassins)
If we do not have further clarification, we will have to reject them, and no one here wants that. Please let us know ASAP on these nominations!
