I, Britt the Writer, am holding a competition for all of my students that I teach here in China. The competition? They must create a character for the NeS. I will select the best from each class and then post up the profiles of the best characters for the Writers of the NeS to judge which is best. The prize is that that character will be an important or main character for the NeS!

There will need to be two of them, for each major age group; Junior and Senior.

I will announce the class winner every night after classes and keep students up-to-date on who is winning!

Note for the Writers: Remember, these are school kids so be nice!

Update: All entries are now listed. Just choose the character you find the most interesting or feel would work for the NeS. No need to judge the English level, I did that already.

Juniors
Jing Wei

Junior 3, Class 2 - N/A - Did something else.
Junior 2, Class 1 - N/A - Did something else.
Junior 2, Class 2 - Mr D.

83 Middle School

Junior 1, Class 3 - Carrol
Junior 1, Class 10 - N/A - Class were very, very bad so class was stalled.
Junior 1, Class 1 - Frank Smith
Junior 1, Class 8 - No Name. NOTE ~ Class 8 were very naughty at the beginning of the lesson, so their submission is very short.
Junior 1, Class 6 - N/A - Children's Day, no class.
Junior 1, Class 5 - N/A - Children's Day, no class.

23 Middle School

Junior 1, Class 2 - Unknown: Angel-vampire
Junior 1, Class 1 - Unknown: White Hat Girl
Junior 1, Class 3 - Unknown: Zombie tiger

Xi'an ZunDe Middle School

Junior 1, Class 7 - Unknown: Zombie-nerd
Junior 1, Class 8 - Banana-Boy
Junior 1, Class 5 - Unknown: Fairy
Junior 1, Class 10 - N/A - Did something else.

Seniors

Xi'an High School

Senior 2, Class 1 - Long Xiang
Senior 2, Class 4 - Little Little (LL)
Senior 2, Class 3 - Green
Senior 1, Class 6 - Unknown: Robot Girl

Senior 2, Class 10 - Ada
Senior 1, Class 5 - Unknown: Dealer
Senior 2, Class 2 - Gamma Pans
Senior 2, Class 6 - N/A - Did something else.

Written by: Lisa

Name: Mr D.
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown, guessed at 1000 years old!
Height: 182 cm

Species/Race: Human (maybe with some fox/kitsune characteristics)
Physical Description: Fox-like, handsome.
Colouration: White hair, purple eyes.

Clothing: Black and white school uniform.
Jewellery: Ring on his left hand, bracelet on his left wrist.
Weapons: None.
Magic Items: Magical book.
Minor Accessories: None.
Vehicles: Can ride in clouds (with clouds he can take other people).

Talents: Magical powers, especially with ice. Can also fly, with or without the clouds.

Personality: Very clever, good, brave.
Voice: "Special" (Britt: I would guess this means a unique kind of voice, probably very deliberate and likely British by Western ideas).
Sexuality: Straight.
Ambition: Wants to be a great king.

Written by: No pinyin name given. I will get it.

Character Name: Carrol

BODY
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Species/Race: Blue
Height: Medium-height
Physical Description: Small mouth and long, beautiful hair.
Colouration: Brown hair and black eyes.

GEAR
Clothing: Blue T-shirt, black jeans
Jewellery: None.
Weapons: Baseball bat.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: Bag.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: None.
Talents: Can do fung fu.

CHARACTER
Personality: Nice.
Voice: Low, quiet.
Sexuality: Straight.
Ambition: Unknown.

Written By: Unknown, name is not in pinyin; I will get it though.

Character Name: Frank

BODY
Age: 40
Species/Race: Human / White (American)
Height: Very tall.
Physical Description: Thin and good-looking.
Colouration: Blonde hair, black eyes.

GEAR
Clothing: Jacket and jeans
Jewellery: None.
Weapons: Has a small knife.
Magic Items: Magical watch.

SKILLS
Magic: Knows everyone's hearts (Britt: desires; possibly using the watch).
Talents: He can speak many languages.

CHARACTER
Full Name: Frank Smith.
Personality: Outgoing and friendly.
Voice: He sounds nice.
Sexuality: Gay.
Ambition: He wants to be a great policeman.

Written by: Huang Jian Min

Character Name: No Name.

BODY
Age: 12
Gender: Male
Race: Chinese
Height: 164cm
Physical Description: He has very short and very straight hair. He has two big eyes.
Colouration: He has black hair.

Am I the only one who doesn't understand any part of this

Britt, can you please provide which standards you would like the judges to base their decisions on (presumably including the rules you set for your students) so that we may be as fair as possible? Also, a date for when you would like us to judge by would be good. Background information would be good as well: how old your students are, at what equivalent age level do they know their English, that sort of thing. More information, please!

I look forward to this and will certainly judge myself when all the entries are up! I'd like to call as many current and former writers to this so they may give it a shot as well.

It's reeeeeeeally not that complicated or formal. The level of English isn't an issue for the NeS Writers, I have to type the bloody things up and often wind up editing bits here and there anyway. The level of English is the part I judge when selecting the best for the class. The only criteria for judging is whether you like the character or not; simple. Which characters are the most interesting/fun for the NeS. As for age groups, Juniors and Seniors; I assumed it was like American schools. Juniors are around 11-16 and Seniors are around 16-18.

Oy! Britt, you're either extremely brilliant or extremely fiendish to do this! Either way, I like it!

Of the ones you have posted thus far, I like Frank Smith the best - mainly because of the ability to know people's hearts. That could be a VERY interesting character hook.

Mr. D's name and physical description are intrigueing to me, but nothing about the character stands out particularly.

Edit: Also, in America, juniors and seniors typically refer to two individual grades. I.e. juniors are 11th grade, ages 16-17; whereas seniors are 12th grade, 17-18.

It can also refer to junior high school and [regular] high school, where the ages/grades are 11-14/6th-8th and 14-18/9th-12th, respectively. Further complicating things is that in some areas junior high can refer to 7th-9th instead of 6th-8th.

So, that was probably far more information than you really cared to know, but... it amused me.

Written by: Li Wenhan & Li Rufei

Character name: Long Xiang

BODY
Gender: Male
Age: 31655
Species: Chinese Dragon
Height: 300 metres long.
Physical Description: Very long dragon (similar to a snake). Typical Chinese dragon design.
Colouration: Gold skin, silver hair.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: No clothing.
Jewellery: No jewellery.
Weapons: Only weapons are his claws and teeth.
Magic Items: None.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: He can create the traditional elements, earth, fire, water and air, using his mouth.
Talents: He is very strong and he can fight really well. His skin is the strongest substance on Earth.

CHARACTER
Name: Long Xiang
Personality: He is arrogant but to his lover he is very caring and affectionate.
Voice: He speaks in dragon tongue.
Sexuality: Straight.
Ambition: He is the strongest dragon but he doesn't want to be a king of dragons, he just wants to find and live with his lover.

Written by: Ezio, Zhou Ziling

Character name: Gamma Pans

BODY
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Species: X-Krypton from Saturn
Height: Tall
Physical Description: He has a giant body, but has very thin legs. His hands are small and he has long nails.
Colouration: His eyes are orange and has grey hair. His skin is completely black.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: He is coated in a mercury-like metal as clothing.
Jewellery: A ring on his right finger made of uranium.
Weapons: A rifle of neutrino and a laser sword.
Magic Items: A magic necklace of thunder.
Other Accessories: He has a helmet.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: He can cure people with the power of light.
Talents: Socialising and building things.

CHARACTER
Name: Gamma Pans
Personality: He is outgoing, friendly, brave and smart.
Voice: Deep but loud.
Sexuality: Straight

Written by: Joe

Character name: Green

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 1900
Species: Chinese human (but supernatural being)
Height: Short
Physical Description: She looks much younger than her age, just like a young girl. She has long straight hair and she looks very cute.
Colouration: Her hair is coloured green, her eyes are also green.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: She wears a white dress with green bamboo pattern and white boots with gold cloud pattern. She has a long, green hair ribbon.
Jewellery: None.
Weapons: A long willow twig.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: She has two pet phoenixes.

SKILLS
Magic: She can make plants grow and use them to attack people. With plants she can also read people's minds.
Talents: None.

CHARACTER
Name: Green.
Personality: Kind and gentle to her friends but grim towards her enemies.
Voice: She cannot speak.
Sexuality: Lesbian.
Ambition: Make the world become green, everywhere.

Written by: MuHang, Wang Zhaoxin

Character name: LL

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Species: Human
Height: 178
Physical Description: She has a 'good body shape', so attractive and fit.
Colouration: Blue eyes and white hair like snow.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: A black bra (presumably she'll wear something lower down too).
Jewellery: One ring.
Weapons: Nothing.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: She a pet white tiger that she can ride.

SKILLS
Magic: She can create snacks from thin air.
Talents: She has the talent to eat a whole load of food and not get fat or full.

CHARACTER
Name: Little Little (LL)
Personality: Gentle, always hungry.
Voice: A low, soft voice.
Sexuality: Lesbian.
Ambition: Her ambition is to "eat to die".

Written by: Zheng Ruirong

Character name: Unknown.

BODY
Gender: Male.
Age: 1753
Species: Demon
Height: 183
Physical Description: Thin, tall, long hair, handsome.
Colouration: Black hair and blue eyes.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: Black suit, black shoes, white gloves.
Jewellery: Necklace (silver chain).
Weapons: None.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: Contracts.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: He can do anything, however he can only perform so long as there is a "deal", a contract. He must do whatever the contract requests of him and those that sign the contract must also obey the contract.
Talents: He can do anything, see above.

Written by: Liang Rui Yuan

Character name: Unknown

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Species: Robot (though she appears human).
Height: Unknown
Physical Description: She is a cute girl.
Colouration: She has long pink hair.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: She wears a white dress and has no shoes.
Jewellery: In her forehead she has a star. With this star she can use magic to glamour people.
Weapons: Nothing.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: None.
Talents: She can fly and she can talk to clouds.

Written by: Wang Yao & Yang Jingni

Character name: Ada

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Species: Giant
Height: 20 miles high.
Physical Description: She has a huge body and long hair.
Colouration: Her hair is brown, her skin is white.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: She wears a pure white dress.
Jewellery: She has a necklace which is a ring.
Weapons: She uses a magical staff.
Magic Items: The magical staff.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

SKILLS
Magic: She can teleport and know what other people are thinking by talking to their souls.
Talents: She can sing and dance really well.

CHARACTER
Name: Ada
Personality: Outgoing and kind.
Voice: Sweet.
Sexuality: Straight.

Written by: Zhang Yan

Character name: Unknown

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 13
Species: Was an angel, turned vampire.
Height: Medium height
Physical Description: Thin, beautiful, long curly hair.
Colouration: Brown hair, black eyes.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: Blue jeans, black T-shirt and a brown hat.
Jewellery: Watch and ring.
Weapons: Nothing.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

Written by: Yuan Jia Hui

Character name: Unknown

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Species: Human
Height: Medium height
Physical Description: Beautiful, cute, long hair.
Colouration: Black hair.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: Blue dress, pink shoes and a white hat.
Jewellery: Black watch and a white ring.
Weapons: Nothing.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

Written by: Katy

Character name: Unknown

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 130,000
Species: Tiger zombie
Height: Big
Physical Description: Very big and strong, fur is a little curly.
Colouration: Brown fur, brown eyes and a blue body (Britt: beneath the fur).

Okay, my two favorites thus far are:

1. Zheng Ruirong's Unnamed character with the pact magic thing. That could provide some very interesting hooks, especially insofar as either a rival to Hell/Mr Eight/Al Ciao/Jim Seven, or as a subordinate.

2. Zhang Yan's Unnamed character. Vampire angel? Brilliant! Another NeSferatu that Nyneve knew nothing about! Tie in with the angels already in the story, High Imp nee Angel and Seraphim, and who knows what terror we can unleash, bwahahahahaha!

Not sure which of those I like better, but 3rd, behind them, is the guy I mentioned in my previous post, the one who can read people's hearts.

I also find Gamma Pans a bit intrigueing, as well as Mr D's name and description, as previously stated.

Written by: Wang Ruihua

Character name: Banana Boy

BODY
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Species: Banana-Man
Height: Short
Physical Description: He looks just like a fat, ugly banana with a face.
Colouration: Yellow.

GEAR
Clothing: Banana peel.
Jewellery: None.
Weapons: None.
Magic Items: None.
Minor Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

Talents: He can go swimming and perform other functions with apparently invisible arms or legs. He can also eat and drink. He likes to drink chlorine.

Ambition: He wants to eat all of the apples in the world.

Written by: Unknown, Chinese writing. Will fill in if needed.

Character Name: No Name.

BODY
Age: 13
Gender: Male
Race: Zombie
Height: Short
Physical Description: He is very ugly, has short hair and wears big, round glasses and a big nose. (Britt: possibly a nerd-character)
Colouration: He has red hair.

Written by: Emily

Character name: Unknown

BODY
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Species: Fairy
Height: 1 metre
Physical Description: She is very beautiful, has long wavy blonde hair and has two thin, big wings (for her height). She has long elf-like ears.
Colouration: Blue eyes, white skin.

GEAR
Clothing/Armour: She wears a beautiful blue dress, but she doesn't wear shoes. She has a hat with flowers in it.
Jewellery: None.
Weapons: Nothing.
Magic Items: None.
Other Accessories: None.
Vehicles: None.

I had hoped to do a video, and in the interest of time and other factors, I'll have to just do a written response instead.

First, to all the students, thank you! All the ideas had something to offer, and they could all be a part of the story.

Among the junior students, if I had to pick just one, I would pick Frank. A name, a physical description, an ambition... these all go help a lot to identify him as someone a reader can understand. Also, the details are both believable and memorable, which make both reading and writing such a character more fun. Why does he want to be a great policeman? What does he do to help himself become a great policeman? Where did he get the watch from? How does seeing into the hearts of others make him feel? Is living as a gay man difficult for him? These are all great questions that a story can explore. Mr. D. would be a second choice for me for similar reasons.

Among the senior students, if I had to pick just one, I would pick Long Xiang. Besides the reasons given for the junior students, I also feel this sort of character fits well within the story's world, and its the sort of character not yet really seen. The dealer, Gamma Pans, Ada, LL, and the robot cloud-talking girl were all close seconds since they shared many of the same qualities, and it was a difficult decision to have to pick just one as the 'best' of them.

As my three favorite characters still are, for reasons previously listed, the two unnamed characters and Frank Smith, I will second Geb's nomination for Frank Smith from the junior class.

From the senior class, Long Xiang and Gamma Pans and the others are well described and detailed, which is good. I still like the unnamed pact-magic guy; but Geb has a point about using something not yet seen in the NeS world.

I don't really even know. Among the seniors, it'd be one of those three... Just so we don't have a split-decision, I'll second Long Xiang too.

I would vote for Mr D. for juniors, but I am biased on grounds of the English talent involved, and for seniors I would actually choose Green. My reasoning for Green is that she would be interesting and entertaining because she can't speak. The Chinese dragon would be very cool but I'd be concerned about how he could play a "major" role in the NeS cast as he's like... a lot bigger than any of them.

So that's three votes, are we likely to get any more?

I am a fan of Zheng Ruirong's contract character. GREAT concept. I can imagine story lines involving him using or attempting to use others for his goals, but he must be clever about it, because he is not capable of anything without another individual to "sign off" on it. His magic is limited perfectly, in that he has incredible power but must act in a way that will encourage others to sign the contract. Another way this could be good is to add a "magic pen" that must be used to sign the contract, and judges those who sign. It will not allow contracts to bind unless the signers are strong willed, and truly believe that they are benefiting from the contract. Either the pen becomes impossible to use in some way (ie gets very heavy, or refuses to put down ink), or the pen works, but there is somehow no "sealing" of the contract.

Woo! Someone else likes Zheng Ruirong's character. I thought just Geb and I were voting, so I'll switch my senior vote to Zheng Ruirong's character. ^-^

I vote for Ada and Frank.