Critter Genfic Events is a blog dedicated to increasing the number and types of genfic within the Critical Role fandom.
Currently the blog has three on-going projects: Weekly Genfic Rec Lists, Critter Gen Week, and Genfic Bingo.
The Weekly Genfic Rec Lists will be generated based of submissions sent in through our form. Each week will be centered around a new character, platonic relationship or genfic trope.
Critter Gen Week is currently to be hosted the week of Jul 7th - 13th. This event will be open to all types of creators beyond just fic so long as the work is centered on gen content. The prompts will be submitted and voted on by participants in the next few weeks.
Critter Genfic Bingo Will start on August 24th and be a rolling event. Request a bingo card with a couple of parameters - maybe you want something whump heavy or including the gen week prompts, and we’ll provide a randomly assigned set of tropes for you. Then get to writing - try to use enough of the tropes to get bingo! You can write a series, disconnected stories, or all in one story - if you’re feeling particularily ambitious. Getting bingo means you win an image and bragging rights!
Our first Rec list is set to be released today (22 May 2023), with Prompt Submissions for Critter Gen Week opening on 01 June 2023. Rules for the event will also be posted on that day. Genfic Bingo cards will be released starting on August 24th.
Mods are: @devil-seabird-king, @operafloozy, and @professor-rye
I'm thinking I'm going to try to post a WIP related to Gen week until the week rolls around (August 17-23rd!) - mostly to make sure I keep the momentum going while also finishing up my wildflowers fic.
(If you're interested in what I'm talking about, check it out here: Critter Gen Week!)
Anyway, starting with day 6: Hair Care. And Ashton.
All of the children at Greymoore were expected to have shaven heads to avoid lice. Ashton was pretty sure lice weren't a problem for him, what with their stone skin, but the administrators weren't about to let a little thing like 'logic' or 'reason' get in the way.
The issue was that shears and razors weren't about to cut crystals. So instead the administrators borrowed some masonry tools from a nearby quarry - a chisel, a hammer, and a wedge, and made do.
It's not like it hurt, not much. But it was jarring and long and tedious and they had to sit still for what felt like hours until it was complete. It was the sound he remembered the most; traveling through his skull, inescapable.
(they remembered, ever so faintly, back when they were soft - someone brushing their hair back, coming fingers through it lightly. At some point he had been in a body capable of being loved. That was a long time ago)
Anyway, they left, Ashton and the other Nobodies. None of them ever had to cut their hair ever again, and Ashton hadn't been planning on it. It got to be thick and large and if the crystals would sometimes grow into each other and crack off? So be it.
Until one day, there was a girl (there often was, unless there was a boy or some other type of person). She was a jeweler's apprentice turned fence - she was good at assessing value. She just sat behind them, asked permission and Ashton had been so smitten and curious that he'd said yes.
"Thanks. I hate to see potential wasted," she said, and got to work.
It was different than with the orphanage. Her tools were finer, made for more delicate work. She touched him lightly, as if they were soft. As if they were valuable. It wasn't so jarring against his head, and she'd hum in time with every removed piece.
When she was done, she made them go into the front room of the hideout - the only one that got any light - with a mirror. Ashton stared. They almost seemed to have a halo, the way their hair held then refracted the light.
Critter Gen Week will run from August 17th to August 23rd. This gives seven weeks to work on prompt fills.
Any form of content may be created for this event using the prompts submitted and voted on below:
[Image ID: Green background with white texts reads: Critter Gen Week Prompts 2023. Day 1 (17 Aug): Inconvenient Sendings. Day 2 (18 Aug) Long Rest/Night Watch. Day 3 (19 Aug): Sharing Culture. Day 4 (20Aug): Zone of Truth (or Dare). Day 5 (21Aug): Hurt/Comfort. Day 6 (22Aug): Hair Care. Day 7 (23Aug): Family or Modern AU. /End ID]
Note: Day 4 prompt can be either the full prompt of Zone of Truth or Dare, or just Zone of Truth. Day 6 prompt is Hair Braiding/Care but as braiding is a form of hair care it was shortened to just hair care. Day 7 is either or, you can fill either the family prompt or the Modern AU prompt. You don’t need to fill both to participate on that day unless you want to.
From now until June 14th, we will be taking submissions for prompts. After there will be a vote for which prompts will be chosen for the event.
You can submit multiple prompts but try to make sure the prompts submitted are prompts that can be made across various medias. Keep them short and sweet as well since these are short prompts and not fic requests.
You can submit prompts here: Gen Week Submissions
Feel free to send an ask or message @devil-seabird-king for more information or clarification.
Hey, critters! Just wanted to do an interest check on how many people might be interested in a gen week for Critical Role.
The event will be hosted regardless, but I just want an estimate of how many might participate. Please reblog if you vote!
I would:
be interested in creating content
be interested in the content created
be interested in both of the above
not be interested at all
Voting ended onApr 21, 2023
In addition to running the event I hope to do fic recs for each week leading up to the event with particular themes that will be listed out as well as deep dives into favorite characters or relationships but more details on that will come later.
After going through all the submissions, of which there were a total of 35, and combining duplicates and similar themes (ex: playing video games together was put with game night and should the prompts get the vote they would be listed as Game Night) we ended up with 29 different prompts.
The 7 prompts with the most votes by the 21st will be released as the prompts for the event. In the case of a tie that day will have two prompts to choose from.
I've obviously finished my Wildflowers fic (you can read them all here), but I'm still trying to keep my momentum going by posting a WIP related to Gen Week until the week rolls around.
Critter Gen Week is August 17-23rd, you can check out more info here.
This one is for Day 4: Zone of Truth. It's still pretty sketchy, but I like it:
“Will you state your name for the record?”
“Taskhand Verin Thelyss, youngest child of the Umavi Deirta Theylss, current commander of the forces at Bazzoxan and protector from the Deeps. But you can call me Verin.”
The subject is young. Charming. Obviously rich in the way that those who are Den-born are.
“Now, can you try to say that your name is Leylas Kryn?”
The subject tries. He cannot. The Zone of Truth is apparently in effect.
“Good. We can begin.” My partner nods to me to watch closely. “What is your relation to the former Shadowhand Essek, formerly of Den Thelyss?”
“He was my brother.”
“Not is?”
“He was reported dead six months ago, after a failed expedition to Aeor with Caleb Widogast.”
“What do you believe he was doing during that expedition?”
“It was reported that he was investigating the ruins to bring back holy relics that had been discovered within.”
“That was not the question. Do you believe that he was bringing back holy relics?”
He sighs. “No. He probably saw something weird and dangerous and decided to poke at it with a stick so he could study its reactions.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“Essek had always been easily sidetracked. Dangle a problem in front of him and he’d want to dissect it until it was completely flayed. Chances are he was investigating something and forgot that he was in a wizard-killing wasteland.”
“The person he was with. Caleb Widogast, was an Empire mage, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think that any research he might have had would have passed to the Empire through Mr. Widogast?”
“From what I’ve heard, since returning the beacon, Mr. Widogast has killed one member of the Cerberus Assembly, imprisoned another, and is angling to take down a third. It’s amazing that they’re allowing him to walk freely, but I doubt that they’ll be going to him for advice any time soon.”
“Fair enough. You said that his death was reported. Do you believe that your brother is dead?”
“Who put you up to this? Is this Den Tasithar? Are they angry that they got busted and need to take it out on the whole Den?”
“Please answer the question or specify that you are refusing to answer.”
“Look - ask anyone, I’m not the politics guy in the family. If I was, I’d probably shut up and know the best way to answer your questions. But even I can tell this is a hit job. And you know why?”
“Please tell us.” My partner says, dryly.
“If this is true, there is no win condition for the Umavi. Either she distances herself from her son and looks heartless or she defends her son and looks like either a fool or a traitor. And the Umavi is a perfect soul, one who chose Essek to be part of her Den. Who approved of all of the responsibilities he was given. How can a perfect soul react to such a situation? The only correct course of action would have been to anticipate such an occurrence in the first place - not given him access to do such a thing.”
“Nobody is denying that this looks bad for your family. However, this doesn’t answer the question. Any further stalling will be noted as a refusal to answer.”
“Yes, I believe that my brother is dead, because he is. He took a sabbatical right next to a deadly evil mystery city, and this was the man who spent his breaks trying to solve Novych’s theorem. That was unsolvable. Until he solved it. I believe someone is using his death as a convenient weapon to harm my Den, in part because Essek would have known what the outcome would have been, and I do not believe him capable of wishing so much harm on all of us.”
We had reports of Essek Thelyss's movements in Uthodurn that were less than a week old.
All content submitted must be gen content. This means any romantic or sexual pairings are incidental to the story and their removal will not affect the coherency of the content.
NSFW is allowed but only if it meets the expectations of the other rules.
Please be respectful. Try to be mindful when handling sensitive topics and don’t harass other content creators.
Submissions must be new works. While the blog is willing to reblog old art and make rec lists with older fics, anything submitted for the actual event should be content not posted before.
If posting on Tumblr, any explicit or gory works should be placed below a read more cut. All explicit content must have some indication of what’s below the cut even if it’s just a general “violence” or “view/read at own risk” label.
If posting on AO3 (Archive of Our Own), please use the Gen tag when tagging fics. This can be found under the categories sections when posting a new work. You can check multiple boxes within this category.
