I'll happily offer to do a morph based on a the winning story or something else of the author's choosing as a prize.

I throw in a clean sketch as prize but won't be able to compete.

I'd suggest a rough target length, so that stories are better comparable.
Also I think they should be posted roughly at the same time. So somebody may want to collect and present them once its deadline.

Yeah, i would suggest LoB-Stories - since this is the primary theme of this forum.

Since Halloween's origin is not Christian and can easily aplied to a non-religous (only superstitous) background, it could even keep its name as a holiday. Otherwise I'd say Demon's Eve, a tradition to scare off demons and half-demons, as well as evil spirits and other beings born from superstition at the time. Over the centuries it then evolved into a holiday similar to modern Halloween.

I have an idea to set the stage, for the "Holiday," your mileage may vary.

Demon's Eve in Assaiah has two fascets, a public one, and one that holds meaning to the few learned or lunatic enough to study demons and their habits.

The public understanding of "Demon's Eve" is, of course, flawed.  It is believed that like the real world's Samhain, and All Hallows Eve supernatural creatures such as fae, demons and worse walk masked among mortals to cause mischief, and havoc.  It is believed that Demons walked masked that night, driven by instinct to hide amongst mortals, masked and watching to cause mischief.  The masks of mortals induce caution amongst the demons, for how would one know if the person behind the mask is a mortal toy, or another demon who can fight back, or worse absorb them into themselves, and thereby become more powerful.  So in a sense, the mortals believe the masks protect them.

The reality is more interesting.  Demons DO hunt that night masked, driven by an unknown urge, but they aren't fooled by anything so mundane.  They can sense each other, but Demon's Eve is the night when an Avatar of Freya might pass shoulder to shoulder with an Avatar or half-demon of Karma... and they would ignore each other.  Each one is hunting for that special someone, that spark of creativity, malice or whatever it is that drives them represented in the costumes and masks of mortals.

Demon's Eve is the night most Half-Demons and even many Avatars trace their origins to.  Until they find that indefinable something, the demons slip through the mortal world, bestowing their gifts or torments at a more frantic pace until they find someone who fits.  the ones who don't find their mark leave a trail of changed lives in their wake almost by reflex.  The ones who do leave a newborn half-demon or avatar in their wake.  And the choice, seemingly random, never is.  It's always guided by the subconscious and instincts of the demon.

Even half-demons feel the urge on the night of Demon's Eve, though they aren't hunting for progeny, but indulging in the spread of their gifts around.  Demon's Eve marks the anniversary of their lives and power.  So long as they remain alive and not absorbed by a more powerful demon/half-demon, Demon's Eve is the night their Mana essence surges and they become more potent in their own right.  Some become very slightly more powerful, some surge greatly.  But even the weakest among them has a hard time holding back their instincts.

Demon's Eve is a night where anything can happen, seeming miracles or horrors.  A person with a frightening or sensual mask might remove it only to discover that their face matches the mask.  They might become the creature represented by their costume.  Or they might see some poor schlub transformed publically without a mask and everyone in costume unscathed.

I believe a feeling of "quiet chaos" would be an appropriate theme.  There is a lot happening, but most of Assaiah's mortals never see it.  Those that do...  Well, even in the Empire, a transformation marked on Demon's Eve is less frowned upon, and represents somewhat of a "Badge of honor" or "badge of courage" to the ones who might hear the story, especially if the story is a good one.

I really like LamiaWoman's idea but unsure why there would be a natural urge for demons to do so.

So I got a few ideas to add to the concept:
- Karma and Freya are not at war with each other but not friends either, same with their avatars. So what if the day was meant as a kind of truce or a celebration of kinship if not friendship. Could even have started as an invitation to look for humans worthy to become new demons together.
- Its the day when the flow of Mana all over Assiah surges. That's why demons feel so invigorated. It could also cause other unnatural phenomena which enforced the old superstition of spirits and ghosts.

Honestly I would assume most of the friction between karma and freya would be between their avatars and potentially the occasional argument (bystanders should run now).  I figure most of the perceived hostility would be people mistaking the actions of avatars for attitudes of the great demons.

And the mana surge would be kinda what I had in mind when I suggested it.

If you  like I can do a story to "set the stage" as it were.  I'm big on writing for fun, never was much for competitive writing, so I'm more than happy to bow out of actual competition.

I have a few ideas that would just be fun.

How's everyone's stories coming? I just polished off a draft of my entry.

I had trouble settling on an idea and finally knocked together an outline a day or so ago.  The day after I came up with a second.  I tried the one I thought was going to be shorter first.  As of now I'm halfway through and already at 3.5k words.  If we're serious about a word count I might need yet another outline.

On another note, do you think it's worthwhile putting up a poll to see how many people are going to participate?  They could vote up top for the number and reply to we know all the different authors.  Maybe a second poll for prizes, to see what's available?

Eh, word limits feel somewhat stifling.

Good to hear, as i just finished my first draft and the story clocks in at 7.5k words.  A bit longer than the last one I did of this type, and it might gain another 500 or so with editing.  I hope to crank out my other one in the next few days, to give me the chance to figure out which one I actually want to submit (unless you guys are willing to let me use both).  Hopefully the writing is going as well for everyone else.

Am bumping into real life time constraints.  I am a "maybe"

So it's finally the 24th (how time flies).  Do we want to post the stories today and set up the poll tomorrow after we see who has a story?  Or do we need to push it back to the 31st for posting and vote after that?