Tuesday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
everysecondtuesday) wrote2016-10-02 08:08 pm
everysecondtuesday) wrote2016-10-02 08:08 pm
Dear Yuletide Writer
I love all of the fandoms and characters I'm requesting, so if one section seems longer or shorter than another, it's due to how much I had to say, not how much I love the request. They're ordered in reverse alphabetical order, and there's a fair amount of copy-pasting from previous letters. They are all fandoms of my heart, and I'm excited at the possibility of receiving any of them.
Also, this letter is super long, so please don't feel obligated to read it all. If you already have an idea of what you want to do from just the AO3 requests, go for it! This is all to (I hope) make it easier on you, and I am a big believer in optional details being optional. There being fic for my fandoms will make me happy. Everything else is icing for delicious, delicious cake.
This year I'm requesting a video game fandom, a quest game, and a machinomic: Dwarf Fortress (Any), Rubyquest (Red, Ruby), and The Scumthorpe Files (any). If you're really not feeling the request you matched on, here's hoping you know one of the others! I'm including links for where you can find and/or acquire them all.
A note: If we matched on Dwarf Fortress, you may notice I've received Dwarf Fortress fic in Yuletides past. Please don't feel like you have to compete with them! I love DF a lot, and there is not a lot out there for it, so while I love everything I've received so far, I'm sure whatever you write me will be a delight to me, too!
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you haven't played or read something and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr
General Likes:
I'm happy with gen or romance. If you go the romance route, I'm good with f/f, f/m, m/m, poly, and ace.
I like both long and short fic, so go where the story leads you!
A list of some tropes and themes I adore, the gen version:
AUs (modern, regency, historic, magic, college, cyberpunk, steampunk, canon divergence, everyone lives, end of the world, all the AUs)
worldbuilding
IN SPACE
friendship & found family
political machinations, negotiations, intrigue, & alliances of convenience
time travel, time loops, & character has the chance to re-do/relive events
mysteries & case fic
prank wars
slice of life & character study
aliens, robots, mermaids, & monsters
ghosts, magic, & dragons
reincarnation
comedy of errors
competence & communication
codas & future fic
crossovers & fusions
A list of some shippy tropes and themes I adore (in addition to all of the above):
arranged marriage & marriage of convenience
soulbonds & soulmates
pining
first times
friends to lovers
didn't know they're dating
woke up married
wooing, extended courtships, & whirlwind romance
plot & pwp
developing relationships/friendships
matchmaking
trapped together
Feel free to go as dark or fluffy or creepy or cracked out as your heart desires. I'd prefer a happy, hopeful, bittersweet, or ray of light in the distance ending, even if it's just a where there's life there's hope situation.
DNWs:
Literally the only things that could keep me from reading a gift fic are non-con and rapeplay.
Because I listed AUs above, I feel like I should mention there are AUs I'm just not into anymore (though I have enjoyed some fic with them in the past) - slavery, serial killer, mafia, prison, and sex worker AUs.
I'm not really into infidelity (poly or marriage only as an arrangement is fine! I just prefer everyone involved to know and be okay with what's going on), underage, incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma.
As said above, I usually like even my unhappy endings to come with a grain of hope, so please no permanent major character death unless otherwise indicated. I'll go into this more (including talk of canon character deaths) in each fandom section, though I'll note here that there are options for where I'll happily roll with some or a lot character death in several fandoms.
The Scumthorpe Files (Nathan Bajek, Nikki Danton, Carrie Scumthorpe, Lolita Scumthorpe):
Short Summary/Promotion: Its TV Tropes page describes it best: "Having begun as a collection of comedic short stories posted on the Mod The Sims forums by a user named MinghamSmith in 2012, the series has since evolved into a much more complex narrative centred around the lives of Lester, Carrie and Lolita Scumthorpe- a long-suffering set of triplets trying to grow up vaguely sane in a bizarre, twisted version of SimNation where Finagle's Law reigns supreme."
Links:
TV Tropes Page
TV Tropes Character Page
The Scumthorpe Files (I would suggest making liberal use of ctrl+f for MinghamSmith after the first couple pages. I've been trying to compile a list of links to easily skip the fan reactions and discussion, but I don't know that I'll actually complete it by assignments; it may just become a project for next year.)
General Talk: If you want to bring in additional characters from those I nominated/requested, I really love the Scrap Row boys and Class 6F (. . . except Billy, but if you're writing a scene set during school/on a class trip, it would make sense to include him). I'm not really into most of the rest of the extended Scumthorpe family, though some of them make great foils. While I'll mention unrequested characters in my prompts, I am truly not expecting anyone but the characters I requested.
Also, this is your official permission to not include all of the characters I've requested. If you'd rather focus on the Scumthorpe sisters, write a date between Nikki and Carrie, or tell me about an adventure Nathan Bajek goes on with the other Scrap Row boys, I will be happy so long as at least one of the four is the focus. . . . Why yes, I did consider requesting Any until I realized I did not want to write out four character-specific sections. But seriously, feel free to treat this like I requested Any!
Additional DNWs: Please no adult Sprog. Specific to Nathan Bajek, this may be a weird request, but please don't have a focus on the dog attack. For personal reasons, a fic centered on that would be . . . not ideal. Acknowledgment of his disability and the cause is fine. A focus on the consequences is, um, dicier? Like. A fic in which Nathan gets covered in puppies who just want to lick his face as part of immersion therapy? Totally okay! A fic about the attack/having to cope with seeing that dog/dogs owned by that person? Nope nope nope, I will have to nope right out.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs: For this fandom, I don't have a "Something explicit" prompt section and am opting out of yuleporn (assuming that is happening this year). Dates and ship fic? Sure! Explicit fic? Thank you, but no. Wrt character death, I am okay with secondary character death, just please not anyone of Class 6F or their contemporaries/generation.
Ships: Nikki/Rhett, Nikki/Davina, Nikki/Carrie, Nikki/Abigail, Nikki/Tara, Nathan/Trent, Nathan/Carrie, Nathan/Carrot, Lily/Lester
Prompts:
Something gen: Class 6F's class camping trip was amazing, and I would happily read all the fic about future class trips, be it to a museum, a state park, a laboratory, or someplace else entirely. Or maybe another Scrap Row boys adventure a la The Hardy Boys meets Cthulhu. Or Scumthorpe triplet sibling bonding. Or Nikki solving mysteries. I especially love the strange lore of the Scumthorpe Files, so anything you would like to add to or explicate from it, creepy or not, I would be all over that.
Something shippy: I listed my favorite ships above in no particular order, so slash, femslash, het, dates with a psychic alien horror--I am excited for any and all of the possibilities. I don't have any preferences wrt Lolita, though Carrie and Lester, protective siblings extraordinaire, is something I would love to see in reaction to Lolita dating, whether it's just for fun, practice dating, or she finally finds someone she's serious about. Tell me about a sweet first date, or a date gone horribly wrong (these teens just wanted somewhere to make out, but the Playground Lurker snacking on that toddler is seriously cramping their style), or falling in love with someone they never expected to. Maybe future fic in which they all meet up for their ten year reunion, and they discover oh, hey, [other person] is seriously attractive, how did I forget/never realize this?
Something dark: Omgggg, any new or old lore. Give me Lovecraftian horrors! Creepy aliens! Ghosts and monsters! Urban legends that are unfortunately true! References to kid!Sprog are totally fine here, because man, even in a world of monsters, the biggest danger was a childhood serial killer.
Rubyquest (Red, Ruby):
Short summary/promotion: Rubyquest is a quest game that follows the eponymous Ruby, an anthropomorphic bunny with a mean right hook and no memories of life before she wakes up in a metal coffin in an underwater facility overrun by eldritch abominations. Though the game is finished, the glory of /tg/'s run lives on.
Links:
Rubyquest (the entire comic/game on one page)
Wiki (includes links to the original archived threads)
General talk: I love Weaver's work so, so much (still disappointed that he seems to have disappeared in the middle of a new quest) and watching Rubyquest unfold was amazing. I loved all the characters, so anyone you want to include, I will be all over. Ship-wise, canon was everything I wanted for Ruby/Tom; what I would really like from fandom is Red/Ruby. If you don't ship it, that's okay! I am good with Ruby & Red gen adventures, or ensemble fic, or whatever it is that catches your interest.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs:
If you're going with canon, obviously Red dies, and I'm okay with that. Of course, if you want to do something with reviving Red via means of his severed hand/cell regrowth via the whole eldritch abomination thing, I would also be delighted. Same if you want to go canon-divergent branch AU. Point is, canon permanent character death is perfectly fine with me! As is canon (or otherwise) non-permanent character death.
Prompts:
Something gen: What was the Glen like before everything went pear-shaped? Were Red and Ruby friends? Did the company have doctor-patient group picnics? Or maybe something post-game, in which a fourth survivor appears via hand-growth resurrection. How would Ruby et al deal with that?
Something shippy: I am not sure I can be coherent here, but pretty much anything Red/Ruby would make me clap my hands in excitement. Canon-divergent AU in which there is a Red/Ruby romance instead of/in addition to a Tom/Ruby one? (See my note about being down with poly.) Post-canon resurrection scenario, but with additional Red/Ruby? Pre-canon fic in which Red and Ruby had a thing before she gave him that Glasgow smile? Complete AU? This is me making grabby hands and not being picky in the least.
Something dark: Eldritch abominations! Body horror! Unethical medical experimentation! Murder! Glasgow smiles! Rubyquest is full of the dark and disturbing, and it is delightful. Whether you want to document the Glen's (and Ruby's) slow slide into madness, to tell me about a much less successful Rubyquest run, five ways Red and Ruby die, or something else entirely, I am here for it.
Something explicit: If you want to write me Red/Ruby porn, I'd prefer it to be a human AU. Of course, feel free to keep the third eye/pointy smile that never ends/assorted body horror stuff . . . unless you don't want to, in which case, yes, sure, humans without horrifying extras.
Dwarf Fortress (Any of Cat, Dwarf, Necromancer, Overseer):
Short summary/promotion: Dwarf Fortress is a (free!) simulation game with a steep learning curve, but a huge pay-off in highly entertaining emergent story-telling and weird dwarven decisions. This can include anything from new mothers in the military taking their babies into battle to use as shields to tantrum-throwing dwarves (upset that their babies are now full of arrows) destroying the whole fortress and killing everyone in it by hitting the lever to your "magma solves everything" doomsday device.
I'm including in the links several comics that illustrate many of the best things about DF.
Links:
Dev site (includes download)
DF Wiki
Tim Denee's illustrated tale of Bronzemurder (includes transcript of comic's text)
Tim Denee's Oilfurnace (no transcript, spoilers for hidden fun stuff)
Three Panel Soul, "Bug Fix" (Illustrated patch notes, e.g. "Stopped vampires from pinning their crimes on children.")
Losing is fun!
General talk: I will never not love this game. When I first started playing it, it was a very different game than it is now, but it has only gotten better. I have embraced the mantra that losing is fun, discovered all the hidden fun stuff, and even managed attempts at mega projects and tried my hand at silly dwarf tricks. (Few survived the first several attempts at a magma-fall through the main dining room, but those few left were delighted at how neat it looked! . . . For however long they lived after the ensuing grief stricken tantrum spiral. Apparently a magma fountain can only do so much.)
Whether you want to write about one of the races and their civilizations, a fortress, a lone adventurer, what a Forgotten Beast does when not ravaging fortresses, a necromancer's attempts at self-publishing, an anthropomorphic representation of an evil biome . . . whatever I nominated (or even something else entirely!), I am excited for fic in this fandom.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs:
Death, death and despair! Feel free to kill any and everything (or re-kill, in the case of any undead you wish to include) by any means. I have an exception to this exception, that being cats, as I'd prefer dwarves not to be the direct cause of cat death. (Indirect, okay, because KITTEN MINES.)
Prompts (by character, then category):
Dwarf (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a fortress! Is it well-run, with plenty of booze and food, peaceful surroundings, and a highly competent military to take care of any problems? Is it located in a hellscape (perhaps even literally if they colonized hell), with no beds, saltwater, and rampaging undead elephant skeletons clambering at the gates?
Or for a single dwarf, maybe something with the last dwarf of the fortress, walled in without escape? Or for another single dwarf prompt, tell me about a dwarf crafting their masterpiece, whether they're finally delighted to make that metallic cheese figurine that came to them in a dream, or have been struck by a fell mood, and they know just the perfect dwarf for that femur throne that haunts their darkest nightmares.
Overseer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a good, bad, or incompetent overseer! Why have they made the decisions they have? What decisions have they made? Do they grow frustrated with their population and the creative interpretation of orders, or do the various and unexpected consequences amuse them? What mega-project are they determined to create, and why?
Necromancer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a necromancer and their books and tower! Do they keep all those undead around to protect their libraries? Maybe that invasion of undead is simply because they're unhappy with their new dwarven neighbors and they're just trying to protect their peace, quiet, and property values. Feel free to go as creepy or cracky as you like. Necromancers.
Cat (Dwarf Fortress): Two cat. Two cat. Um.
I would like to note that while I recognize solving the two cat problem by means of meat, leather, and soap industry is definitely a thing, I could never do that. Usually, the only way a cat would die would be by brave military action (their hatred of goblins was legendary), including the occasional kitten landmine - in which all of the extra kittens were loaded into one cage that had been constructed in a building destroyer's path, and when it inevitably destroyed that, dozens of kittens with tiny bodies and small hit boxes would strike at once, leading to high casualties, but also adorable, fuzzy victory - or by old age. As female cats in cages can't breed, I usually put all but the breeding female(s) in a cat zoo, where my dwarves would throw parties and delight in all the fuzzy kitties. What I am saying is - if you want to include cat death, please don't let dwarves murdering them be the cause.
Anyway, tell me about cat adventures! Maybe a cat adopts a dwarf? Maybe a cat recognizes that none of these dwarves are worthy and simply wanders the map, murdering every fluffy wambler unfortunate enough to cross its path. Maybe a cat adopts a necromancer dwarf, who keeps it alive - or "alive" - through darkest magic and the deep desire to never let Sir Fluffington go. Maybe something about a squad of cats and their determination to take down bigger game, like that goblin that blundered through the traps and is making their bleeding way directly into the cats' path.
Something gen: Someone (the overseer, the dwarves, a necromancer, a particularly eccentric cat) is determined that no longer will unicorns be limited to the steed of elves. Whether they have to buy it, catch it, breed it, or just jump on top of it (or order others to do so for them), they will ride a unicorn, and it will be glorious. Whether this ends in actual glory or just gory death is entirely up to you.
Something shippy: The necromancer grows lonely in her tower, but fortunately, just the next tower over is another necromancer. They can share books and tips for raising the undead and razing fortresses! The overseer has assigned a mega-project to build a glass tower, but only they know that it's because their crush mentioned she dreamed about sleeping among the stars. When it's done, they'll confess their love by giving said crush the whole top floor as her bedroom. Two dwarves find love on the battlefield, bonding over the severed arm of that bronze colossus they just took down. . . . I've got nothing for cats, sorry.
Something dark: Experiments in necromancy! Evil biomes! Tantrum spirals! Traps and invasions! Mining and mega-projects gone wrong! Kitten mines! There's no food, so they're forced to eat vermin! Worse, they're out of booze!
Something explicit: How does sex work in a world where everything apparently reproduces by means of spores? What is dwarven (or whatever race you wish to go with if you're writing a necromancer) anatomy even like? These are questions that haunt me. Maybe you can answer them.
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Yuletide. This is my favorite yearly challenge, and I am ridiculously excited for and about it.
My number one hope for my gift fic is that my writer has a good time with it, so let me emphasize again that I'm just happy that there will be more fic for one of these fandoms. This monster of a letter was mostly an excuse to enthuse about tiny fandoms, and I truly hope it doesn't put you off or make you worry about whether you can make any of the prompts work. Whatever you end up writing, I'm hoping it's something you enjoy about the fandom and have fun writing.
Have a happy Yuletide! ♥
Also, this letter is super long, so please don't feel obligated to read it all. If you already have an idea of what you want to do from just the AO3 requests, go for it! This is all to (I hope) make it easier on you, and I am a big believer in optional details being optional. There being fic for my fandoms will make me happy. Everything else is icing for delicious, delicious cake.
This year I'm requesting a video game fandom, a quest game, and a machinomic: Dwarf Fortress (Any), Rubyquest (Red, Ruby), and The Scumthorpe Files (any). If you're really not feeling the request you matched on, here's hoping you know one of the others! I'm including links for where you can find and/or acquire them all.
A note: If we matched on Dwarf Fortress, you may notice I've received Dwarf Fortress fic in Yuletides past. Please don't feel like you have to compete with them! I love DF a lot, and there is not a lot out there for it, so while I love everything I've received so far, I'm sure whatever you write me will be a delight to me, too!
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you haven't played or read something and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr
General Likes:
I'm happy with gen or romance. If you go the romance route, I'm good with f/f, f/m, m/m, poly, and ace.
I like both long and short fic, so go where the story leads you!
A list of some tropes and themes I adore, the gen version:
A list of some shippy tropes and themes I adore (in addition to all of the above):
Feel free to go as dark or fluffy or creepy or cracked out as your heart desires. I'd prefer a happy, hopeful, bittersweet, or ray of light in the distance ending, even if it's just a where there's life there's hope situation.
DNWs:
Literally the only things that could keep me from reading a gift fic are non-con and rapeplay.
Because I listed AUs above, I feel like I should mention there are AUs I'm just not into anymore (though I have enjoyed some fic with them in the past) - slavery, serial killer, mafia, prison, and sex worker AUs.
I'm not really into infidelity (poly or marriage only as an arrangement is fine! I just prefer everyone involved to know and be okay with what's going on), underage, incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma.
As said above, I usually like even my unhappy endings to come with a grain of hope, so please no permanent major character death unless otherwise indicated. I'll go into this more (including talk of canon character deaths) in each fandom section, though I'll note here that there are options for where I'll happily roll with some or a lot character death in several fandoms.
The Scumthorpe Files (Nathan Bajek, Nikki Danton, Carrie Scumthorpe, Lolita Scumthorpe):
Short Summary/Promotion: Its TV Tropes page describes it best: "Having begun as a collection of comedic short stories posted on the Mod The Sims forums by a user named MinghamSmith in 2012, the series has since evolved into a much more complex narrative centred around the lives of Lester, Carrie and Lolita Scumthorpe- a long-suffering set of triplets trying to grow up vaguely sane in a bizarre, twisted version of SimNation where Finagle's Law reigns supreme."
Links:
TV Tropes Page
TV Tropes Character Page
The Scumthorpe Files (I would suggest making liberal use of ctrl+f for MinghamSmith after the first couple pages. I've been trying to compile a list of links to easily skip the fan reactions and discussion, but I don't know that I'll actually complete it by assignments; it may just become a project for next year.)
General Talk: If you want to bring in additional characters from those I nominated/requested, I really love the Scrap Row boys and Class 6F (. . . except Billy, but if you're writing a scene set during school/on a class trip, it would make sense to include him). I'm not really into most of the rest of the extended Scumthorpe family, though some of them make great foils. While I'll mention unrequested characters in my prompts, I am truly not expecting anyone but the characters I requested.
Also, this is your official permission to not include all of the characters I've requested. If you'd rather focus on the Scumthorpe sisters, write a date between Nikki and Carrie, or tell me about an adventure Nathan Bajek goes on with the other Scrap Row boys, I will be happy so long as at least one of the four is the focus. . . . Why yes, I did consider requesting Any until I realized I did not want to write out four character-specific sections. But seriously, feel free to treat this like I requested Any!
Additional DNWs: Please no adult Sprog. Specific to Nathan Bajek, this may be a weird request, but please don't have a focus on the dog attack. For personal reasons, a fic centered on that would be . . . not ideal. Acknowledgment of his disability and the cause is fine. A focus on the consequences is, um, dicier? Like. A fic in which Nathan gets covered in puppies who just want to lick his face as part of immersion therapy? Totally okay! A fic about the attack/having to cope with seeing that dog/dogs owned by that person? Nope nope nope, I will have to nope right out.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs: For this fandom, I don't have a "Something explicit" prompt section and am opting out of yuleporn (assuming that is happening this year). Dates and ship fic? Sure! Explicit fic? Thank you, but no. Wrt character death, I am okay with secondary character death, just please not anyone of Class 6F or their contemporaries/generation.
Ships: Nikki/Rhett, Nikki/Davina, Nikki/Carrie, Nikki/Abigail, Nikki/Tara, Nathan/Trent, Nathan/Carrie, Nathan/Carrot, Lily/Lester
Prompts:
Something gen: Class 6F's class camping trip was amazing, and I would happily read all the fic about future class trips, be it to a museum, a state park, a laboratory, or someplace else entirely. Or maybe another Scrap Row boys adventure a la The Hardy Boys meets Cthulhu. Or Scumthorpe triplet sibling bonding. Or Nikki solving mysteries. I especially love the strange lore of the Scumthorpe Files, so anything you would like to add to or explicate from it, creepy or not, I would be all over that.
Something shippy: I listed my favorite ships above in no particular order, so slash, femslash, het, dates with a psychic alien horror--I am excited for any and all of the possibilities. I don't have any preferences wrt Lolita, though Carrie and Lester, protective siblings extraordinaire, is something I would love to see in reaction to Lolita dating, whether it's just for fun, practice dating, or she finally finds someone she's serious about. Tell me about a sweet first date, or a date gone horribly wrong (these teens just wanted somewhere to make out, but the Playground Lurker snacking on that toddler is seriously cramping their style), or falling in love with someone they never expected to. Maybe future fic in which they all meet up for their ten year reunion, and they discover oh, hey, [other person] is seriously attractive, how did I forget/never realize this?
Something dark: Omgggg, any new or old lore. Give me Lovecraftian horrors! Creepy aliens! Ghosts and monsters! Urban legends that are unfortunately true! References to kid!Sprog are totally fine here, because man, even in a world of monsters, the biggest danger was a childhood serial killer.
Rubyquest (Red, Ruby):
Short summary/promotion: Rubyquest is a quest game that follows the eponymous Ruby, an anthropomorphic bunny with a mean right hook and no memories of life before she wakes up in a metal coffin in an underwater facility overrun by eldritch abominations. Though the game is finished, the glory of /tg/'s run lives on.
Links:
Rubyquest (the entire comic/game on one page)
Wiki (includes links to the original archived threads)
General talk: I love Weaver's work so, so much (still disappointed that he seems to have disappeared in the middle of a new quest) and watching Rubyquest unfold was amazing. I loved all the characters, so anyone you want to include, I will be all over. Ship-wise, canon was everything I wanted for Ruby/Tom; what I would really like from fandom is Red/Ruby. If you don't ship it, that's okay! I am good with Ruby & Red gen adventures, or ensemble fic, or whatever it is that catches your interest.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs:
If you're going with canon, obviously Red dies, and I'm okay with that. Of course, if you want to do something with reviving Red via means of his severed hand/cell regrowth via the whole eldritch abomination thing, I would also be delighted. Same if you want to go canon-divergent branch AU. Point is, canon permanent character death is perfectly fine with me! As is canon (or otherwise) non-permanent character death.
Prompts:
Something gen: What was the Glen like before everything went pear-shaped? Were Red and Ruby friends? Did the company have doctor-patient group picnics? Or maybe something post-game, in which a fourth survivor appears via hand-growth resurrection. How would Ruby et al deal with that?
Something shippy: I am not sure I can be coherent here, but pretty much anything Red/Ruby would make me clap my hands in excitement. Canon-divergent AU in which there is a Red/Ruby romance instead of/in addition to a Tom/Ruby one? (See my note about being down with poly.) Post-canon resurrection scenario, but with additional Red/Ruby? Pre-canon fic in which Red and Ruby had a thing before she gave him that Glasgow smile? Complete AU? This is me making grabby hands and not being picky in the least.
Something dark: Eldritch abominations! Body horror! Unethical medical experimentation! Murder! Glasgow smiles! Rubyquest is full of the dark and disturbing, and it is delightful. Whether you want to document the Glen's (and Ruby's) slow slide into madness, to tell me about a much less successful Rubyquest run, five ways Red and Ruby die, or something else entirely, I am here for it.
Something explicit: If you want to write me Red/Ruby porn, I'd prefer it to be a human AU. Of course, feel free to keep the third eye/pointy smile that never ends/assorted body horror stuff . . . unless you don't want to, in which case, yes, sure, humans without horrifying extras.
Dwarf Fortress (Any of Cat, Dwarf, Necromancer, Overseer):
Short summary/promotion: Dwarf Fortress is a (free!) simulation game with a steep learning curve, but a huge pay-off in highly entertaining emergent story-telling and weird dwarven decisions. This can include anything from new mothers in the military taking their babies into battle to use as shields to tantrum-throwing dwarves (upset that their babies are now full of arrows) destroying the whole fortress and killing everyone in it by hitting the lever to your "magma solves everything" doomsday device.
I'm including in the links several comics that illustrate many of the best things about DF.
Links:
Dev site (includes download)
DF Wiki
Tim Denee's illustrated tale of Bronzemurder (includes transcript of comic's text)
Tim Denee's Oilfurnace (no transcript, spoilers for hidden fun stuff)
Three Panel Soul, "Bug Fix" (Illustrated patch notes, e.g. "Stopped vampires from pinning their crimes on children.")
Losing is fun!
General talk: I will never not love this game. When I first started playing it, it was a very different game than it is now, but it has only gotten better. I have embraced the mantra that losing is fun, discovered all the hidden fun stuff, and even managed attempts at mega projects and tried my hand at silly dwarf tricks. (Few survived the first several attempts at a magma-fall through the main dining room, but those few left were delighted at how neat it looked! . . . For however long they lived after the ensuing grief stricken tantrum spiral. Apparently a magma fountain can only do so much.)
Whether you want to write about one of the races and their civilizations, a fortress, a lone adventurer, what a Forgotten Beast does when not ravaging fortresses, a necromancer's attempts at self-publishing, an anthropomorphic representation of an evil biome . . . whatever I nominated (or even something else entirely!), I am excited for fic in this fandom.
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs:
Death, death and despair! Feel free to kill any and everything (or re-kill, in the case of any undead you wish to include) by any means. I have an exception to this exception, that being cats, as I'd prefer dwarves not to be the direct cause of cat death. (Indirect, okay, because KITTEN MINES.)
Prompts (by character, then category):
Dwarf (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a fortress! Is it well-run, with plenty of booze and food, peaceful surroundings, and a highly competent military to take care of any problems? Is it located in a hellscape (perhaps even literally if they colonized hell), with no beds, saltwater, and rampaging undead elephant skeletons clambering at the gates?
Or for a single dwarf, maybe something with the last dwarf of the fortress, walled in without escape? Or for another single dwarf prompt, tell me about a dwarf crafting their masterpiece, whether they're finally delighted to make that metallic cheese figurine that came to them in a dream, or have been struck by a fell mood, and they know just the perfect dwarf for that femur throne that haunts their darkest nightmares.
Overseer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a good, bad, or incompetent overseer! Why have they made the decisions they have? What decisions have they made? Do they grow frustrated with their population and the creative interpretation of orders, or do the various and unexpected consequences amuse them? What mega-project are they determined to create, and why?
Necromancer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a necromancer and their books and tower! Do they keep all those undead around to protect their libraries? Maybe that invasion of undead is simply because they're unhappy with their new dwarven neighbors and they're just trying to protect their peace, quiet, and property values. Feel free to go as creepy or cracky as you like. Necromancers.
Cat (Dwarf Fortress): Two cat. Two cat. Um.
I would like to note that while I recognize solving the two cat problem by means of meat, leather, and soap industry is definitely a thing, I could never do that. Usually, the only way a cat would die would be by brave military action (their hatred of goblins was legendary), including the occasional kitten landmine - in which all of the extra kittens were loaded into one cage that had been constructed in a building destroyer's path, and when it inevitably destroyed that, dozens of kittens with tiny bodies and small hit boxes would strike at once, leading to high casualties, but also adorable, fuzzy victory - or by old age. As female cats in cages can't breed, I usually put all but the breeding female(s) in a cat zoo, where my dwarves would throw parties and delight in all the fuzzy kitties. What I am saying is - if you want to include cat death, please don't let dwarves murdering them be the cause.
Anyway, tell me about cat adventures! Maybe a cat adopts a dwarf? Maybe a cat recognizes that none of these dwarves are worthy and simply wanders the map, murdering every fluffy wambler unfortunate enough to cross its path. Maybe a cat adopts a necromancer dwarf, who keeps it alive - or "alive" - through darkest magic and the deep desire to never let Sir Fluffington go. Maybe something about a squad of cats and their determination to take down bigger game, like that goblin that blundered through the traps and is making their bleeding way directly into the cats' path.
Something gen: Someone (the overseer, the dwarves, a necromancer, a particularly eccentric cat) is determined that no longer will unicorns be limited to the steed of elves. Whether they have to buy it, catch it, breed it, or just jump on top of it (or order others to do so for them), they will ride a unicorn, and it will be glorious. Whether this ends in actual glory or just gory death is entirely up to you.
Something shippy: The necromancer grows lonely in her tower, but fortunately, just the next tower over is another necromancer. They can share books and tips for raising the undead and razing fortresses! The overseer has assigned a mega-project to build a glass tower, but only they know that it's because their crush mentioned she dreamed about sleeping among the stars. When it's done, they'll confess their love by giving said crush the whole top floor as her bedroom. Two dwarves find love on the battlefield, bonding over the severed arm of that bronze colossus they just took down. . . . I've got nothing for cats, sorry.
Something dark: Experiments in necromancy! Evil biomes! Tantrum spirals! Traps and invasions! Mining and mega-projects gone wrong! Kitten mines! There's no food, so they're forced to eat vermin! Worse, they're out of booze!
Something explicit: How does sex work in a world where everything apparently reproduces by means of spores? What is dwarven (or whatever race you wish to go with if you're writing a necromancer) anatomy even like? These are questions that haunt me. Maybe you can answer them.
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Yuletide. This is my favorite yearly challenge, and I am ridiculously excited for and about it.
My number one hope for my gift fic is that my writer has a good time with it, so let me emphasize again that I'm just happy that there will be more fic for one of these fandoms. This monster of a letter was mostly an excuse to enthuse about tiny fandoms, and I truly hope it doesn't put you off or make you worry about whether you can make any of the prompts work. Whatever you end up writing, I'm hoping it's something you enjoy about the fandom and have fun writing.
Have a happy Yuletide! ♥