TL;DR?
These are two files containing Redwall survivor writing contests held by Terrouge.
What’s in these files?
The file for Questors Bold contains:
Contests
Questors Bold III: Cloak of Darkness (235, 352 words)
Questors Bold IV: Blackened Past (225, 616 words)
Questors Bold V: The First War (239, 614 words)
Bonus
QBIII Character Applications
QBIV Character Applications
Questors Bold I (Weeks 1 and 2 only)
QBI Character Applications
QBI Character Portraits (by Kelly Hamilton, aka Fernblossom)
QBIII Character Portraits (By Gloria Pike)
The file for The Emperor’s Decree contains:
Contests
The Emperor’s Decree I ((192, 160 words) (Weekly PDFs pulled from Archive.org)
The Emperor’s Decree II: No Surrender (271, 669 words) (Pulled from fanfiction.net)
Bonus
TED1 Character Applications
TED1 Character Portraits
My thanks to Sycamore, The Grey Coincidence, and Airan for these files! Also thank you to Highwing, Vitora, other ROC alumni, and everyone else for responding to my messages and putting up with my mad search.
What is this?!
Questors Bold and the Emperor’s Decree were a series of writing contests hosted by the Redwall fan website Terrouge circa 2001-2010.
Throughout the 2000s, starting with the ‘Redwall Online Community: Survivor’ contest, writing competitions were hosted by various Redwall fan communities. Early contests were much like typical forum RPs, with short posts interacting in an improvisational way between characters. Later contests evolved into a more strict and co-ordinated format, turning RPs into pass-along stories.
A typical contest format looked something like this:
The contest organiser writes an opening prompt for a story. Potential contestants submit one or more applications to show off a concept for a character (often there would be specific categories, like ‘Male Otter’ or ‘Good Weasel’ or ‘Surly’). Forum members review, discuss, and vote in the top ten applicants, whose identities are kept anonymous. The contestants confer on where to take the story, and begin writing their first story posts. After the first week, with forum members reviewing posts, voting begins to start eliminating contestants. It’s convention, but not rule that the eliminated character be killed off. The top 3 contestants eventually left standing are the winners, and write the story’s ending.
So, each contest is a full-length novel written by several authors, writing from their characters’ perspectives. The story has to develop around the fact that every week, one of the main characters dies (or leaves) by the vote of the readers. It is therefore incumbent on the contestants to write engaging characters that are important to the plot.
Questors Bold III, IV and V? Aren’t we missing I and II?
Despite my efforts to locate them, QBI and QBII appear to be lost media at this point. I have found the first two weeks of QBI on Archive.org on the Terrouge domain, which itself seems to be an archive from Terrouge’s old host at redwall.vr9.com. QBII’s first week is available on redwallsurvivor.com, but there are only a few posts archived on Archive.org. Should you have any information or complete files for either contest, I would be very interested! As a ‘bonus’ I have included the first two weeks of QBI taken from Archive.org, as well as the character applications and portraits.
Though contestants could be fond of making reference to other contests, they are all standalone stories with no direct connection to each other, and can be enjoyed individually.
Has this anything to do with the VI?!
Yes! The VI began with Terrouge, and there have been two survivor writing contests based on the VI directly, The Emperor’s Decree (TED1) (2007), and The Emperor’s Decree II (TED2) (2010). I haven’t read either in approximately 14 years, so I could not tell you how much of those stories relate to the VI as we know it today. I have uploaded the weekly PDF files for TED1 and TED2 in a separate file, though TED2 is already available on fanfiction.net, which is probably easier to read post-by-post.
More generally, these contests are a part of the Redwall Online Community, of which the VI is one of the few survivors. I feel it’s important to keep these stories accessible. They represent a lot of effort and talent by their creators, and hold a lot of fond memories for those that participated, whether as readers or contestants.
Questors Bold III
The Premise: Ten beasts disappear from their regular homes and occupations, summoned by something mysterious and malevolent. This is the story of the ten other beasts in hot pursuit of them, motivated by revenge, curiosity, love, and hatred!
I would describe QBIII as a rough-cut diamond - flawed, but beautiful. It is (by necessity, really!) a very character-driven story, with development, personal stories and relationships as the main focus. I feel like the mystery plot mainly exists to keep the ball rolling, as the intrigues of the antagonists really do have to play second-fiddle. It’s understandable given that every contestant had a strong motivation to make their posts primarily about their characters.
The early weeks can feel a little disjointed, and often the same scene plays out from two or even more perspectives. Also there are some posts in the PDF that seem to be out-of-order with events, which unfortunately I cannot edit.
It is also worth noting that, at least according to an old review by Geo Holms, the first two eliminations in this contest were the results of the contestants having to forfeit due to other life commitments. This is, of course, all done as a hobby!
Having said all that, I adore this story, flaws and all. The characters become eminently engaging and likable, and their deaths become ever more heartbreaking as the story progresses. There’s dark moments, but uplifting ones as well. There’s some great writing, that’s for sure. I want to quote so many of my favourite parts, but I’m avoiding spoilers. The ending made me cry actual tears for fictional talking animals. It’s that good. Or I just cry easily.
Throughout my life, it has always given me a peculiar joy to wander into second-hand book shops (the larger, dimmer and dustier the better), and browse rows of fantasy books all brown-paged and crease-spined, until I find something utterly obscure, catering to incredibly niche interests, that captures my curiosity. If you ever have a similar impulse, and your local book shop is too far for a rainy day, then I heartily recommend reading Questors Bold III!
Questors Bold IV
I haven’t read Questor’s Bold IV in 14 years, and given that it isn’t complete, It’s fairly low on my re-reading list. My short note on it from an earlier article reads thus:
After an underground collapse during a public execution, ten survivors must travel together to escape an subterranean labyrinth. On the way they face danger on all sides and discover a secret weapon that could decide the war between the woodlander colony of Mikau and the vermin kingdom of Kereval.
The story is reasonably paced and the characters quite diverse. Even the first few to die make a memorable impression. The dynamics between characters can be quite engaging. The plot is fairly simple, but well executed. There are some oddities in the narrative, but otherwise Questor’s Bold IV is a decent read. Unfortunately, it does not have an ending, leaving the fate of the character undetermined.
Questors Bold V
The Premise: The story of the First War of Redwall Abbey, set after the fall of Kotir. The goodbeasts of Redwall have problems enough with the local vermin, but if tribes of toads, Flitchaye and a mad rook in the attic weren’t enough, a corsair ship sets sail upriver, her crew set on conquest, their slaves desperate to escape!
I am currently in the midst of re-reading Questors Bold V, so it isn’t fair for me to give it a full retrospective just yet. However, from what I’ve read so far? You absolutely should read Questors Bold V. It feels like by this stage there is a level of ‘polish’ between posts that avoids retreading scenes, and makes this feel much more like one consistent narrative. The writing across the board is excellent, a lot of it could be excerpts from a published novel.
The Emperor’s Decree I and II
I haven’t read either of these in 14 years either, and my notes suggest to me I was burned out on contests after reading way too many of them at once. Definitely a priority for me to read these soon, given their connection to the VI!
I will update this post should I get ahold of any more files, and hopefully give QBV and the two TEDs more extended write-ups when I can finish reading them all. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these classics!
These are two files containing Redwall survivor writing contests held by Terrouge.
~~~
What’s in these files?
The file for Questors Bold contains:
Contests
Questors Bold III: Cloak of Darkness (235, 352 words)
Questors Bold IV: Blackened Past (225, 616 words)
Questors Bold V: The First War (239, 614 words)
Bonus
QBIII Character Applications
QBIV Character Applications
Questors Bold I (Weeks 1 and 2 only)
QBI Character Applications
QBI Character Portraits (by Kelly Hamilton, aka Fernblossom)
QBIII Character Portraits (By Gloria Pike)
The file for The Emperor’s Decree contains:
Contests
The Emperor’s Decree I ((192, 160 words) (Weekly PDFs pulled from Archive.org)
The Emperor’s Decree II: No Surrender (271, 669 words) (Pulled from fanfiction.net)
Bonus
TED1 Character Applications
TED1 Character Portraits
My thanks to Sycamore, The Grey Coincidence, and Airan for these files! Also thank you to Highwing, Vitora, other ROC alumni, and everyone else for responding to my messages and putting up with my mad search.
~~~
What is this?!
Questors Bold and the Emperor’s Decree were a series of writing contests hosted by the Redwall fan website Terrouge circa 2001-2010.
Throughout the 2000s, starting with the ‘Redwall Online Community: Survivor’ contest, writing competitions were hosted by various Redwall fan communities. Early contests were much like typical forum RPs, with short posts interacting in an improvisational way between characters. Later contests evolved into a more strict and co-ordinated format, turning RPs into pass-along stories.
A typical contest format looked something like this:
The contest organiser writes an opening prompt for a story. Potential contestants submit one or more applications to show off a concept for a character (often there would be specific categories, like ‘Male Otter’ or ‘Good Weasel’ or ‘Surly’). Forum members review, discuss, and vote in the top ten applicants, whose identities are kept anonymous. The contestants confer on where to take the story, and begin writing their first story posts. After the first week, with forum members reviewing posts, voting begins to start eliminating contestants. It’s convention, but not rule that the eliminated character be killed off. The top 3 contestants eventually left standing are the winners, and write the story’s ending.
So, each contest is a full-length novel written by several authors, writing from their characters’ perspectives. The story has to develop around the fact that every week, one of the main characters dies (or leaves) by the vote of the readers. It is therefore incumbent on the contestants to write engaging characters that are important to the plot.
~~~
Questors Bold III, IV and V? Aren’t we missing I and II?
Despite my efforts to locate them, QBI and QBII appear to be lost media at this point. I have found the first two weeks of QBI on Archive.org on the Terrouge domain, which itself seems to be an archive from Terrouge’s old host at redwall.vr9.com. QBII’s first week is available on redwallsurvivor.com, but there are only a few posts archived on Archive.org. Should you have any information or complete files for either contest, I would be very interested! As a ‘bonus’ I have included the first two weeks of QBI taken from Archive.org, as well as the character applications and portraits.
Though contestants could be fond of making reference to other contests, they are all standalone stories with no direct connection to each other, and can be enjoyed individually.
~~~
Has this anything to do with the VI?!
Yes! The VI began with Terrouge, and there have been two survivor writing contests based on the VI directly, The Emperor’s Decree (TED1) (2007), and The Emperor’s Decree II (TED2) (2010). I haven’t read either in approximately 14 years, so I could not tell you how much of those stories relate to the VI as we know it today. I have uploaded the weekly PDF files for TED1 and TED2 in a separate file, though TED2 is already available on fanfiction.net, which is probably easier to read post-by-post.
More generally, these contests are a part of the Redwall Online Community, of which the VI is one of the few survivors. I feel it’s important to keep these stories accessible. They represent a lot of effort and talent by their creators, and hold a lot of fond memories for those that participated, whether as readers or contestants.
~~~
Questors Bold III
The Premise: Ten beasts disappear from their regular homes and occupations, summoned by something mysterious and malevolent. This is the story of the ten other beasts in hot pursuit of them, motivated by revenge, curiosity, love, and hatred!
I would describe QBIII as a rough-cut diamond - flawed, but beautiful. It is (by necessity, really!) a very character-driven story, with development, personal stories and relationships as the main focus. I feel like the mystery plot mainly exists to keep the ball rolling, as the intrigues of the antagonists really do have to play second-fiddle. It’s understandable given that every contestant had a strong motivation to make their posts primarily about their characters.
The early weeks can feel a little disjointed, and often the same scene plays out from two or even more perspectives. Also there are some posts in the PDF that seem to be out-of-order with events, which unfortunately I cannot edit.
It is also worth noting that, at least according to an old review by Geo Holms, the first two eliminations in this contest were the results of the contestants having to forfeit due to other life commitments. This is, of course, all done as a hobby!
Having said all that, I adore this story, flaws and all. The characters become eminently engaging and likable, and their deaths become ever more heartbreaking as the story progresses. There’s dark moments, but uplifting ones as well. There’s some great writing, that’s for sure. I want to quote so many of my favourite parts, but I’m avoiding spoilers. The ending made me cry actual tears for fictional talking animals. It’s that good. Or I just cry easily.
Throughout my life, it has always given me a peculiar joy to wander into second-hand book shops (the larger, dimmer and dustier the better), and browse rows of fantasy books all brown-paged and crease-spined, until I find something utterly obscure, catering to incredibly niche interests, that captures my curiosity. If you ever have a similar impulse, and your local book shop is too far for a rainy day, then I heartily recommend reading Questors Bold III!
~~~
Questors Bold IV
I haven’t read Questor’s Bold IV in 14 years, and given that it isn’t complete, It’s fairly low on my re-reading list. My short note on it from an earlier article reads thus:
After an underground collapse during a public execution, ten survivors must travel together to escape an subterranean labyrinth. On the way they face danger on all sides and discover a secret weapon that could decide the war between the woodlander colony of Mikau and the vermin kingdom of Kereval.
The story is reasonably paced and the characters quite diverse. Even the first few to die make a memorable impression. The dynamics between characters can be quite engaging. The plot is fairly simple, but well executed. There are some oddities in the narrative, but otherwise Questor’s Bold IV is a decent read. Unfortunately, it does not have an ending, leaving the fate of the character undetermined.
~~~
Questors Bold V
The Premise: The story of the First War of Redwall Abbey, set after the fall of Kotir. The goodbeasts of Redwall have problems enough with the local vermin, but if tribes of toads, Flitchaye and a mad rook in the attic weren’t enough, a corsair ship sets sail upriver, her crew set on conquest, their slaves desperate to escape!
I am currently in the midst of re-reading Questors Bold V, so it isn’t fair for me to give it a full retrospective just yet. However, from what I’ve read so far? You absolutely should read Questors Bold V. It feels like by this stage there is a level of ‘polish’ between posts that avoids retreading scenes, and makes this feel much more like one consistent narrative. The writing across the board is excellent, a lot of it could be excerpts from a published novel.
~~~
The Emperor’s Decree I and II
I haven’t read either of these in 14 years either, and my notes suggest to me I was burned out on contests after reading way too many of them at once. Definitely a priority for me to read these soon, given their connection to the VI!
~~~
I will update this post should I get ahold of any more files, and hopefully give QBV and the two TEDs more extended write-ups when I can finish reading them all. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these classics!
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