World Building Contest
Deadline Januari 2th 2026

Describe, in an NARRATIVE SCENE, what is the first thing explorers will seen once they stepped through the rift! 

This scene must be under 750 words.

 

Your submissions will be judged on:

• Concept

• Immersion 

• Descriptions

• Grammar

 

• The world must be described from a point of view character.

• The world MUST have a NARRATIVE purpose. The Association of Ishtar franchise started and still is a storytelling franchise and for this purpose, the worlds you create will require a narrative purpose. In lore, many people travel the rifts for REASONS, please give your world a good reason to travel there and why.

• The world must, to some degree, have a link to the STEAMPUNK genre, meaning “Cyberpunk in the Past”. The Association of Ishtar / Nighwatch is, of course, a steampunk-centric franchise, and though it is acceptable to branch out into different genres for worlds, steampunk is still the core of the franchise, so please, to some degree, bend it in that direction.

• Finally, tell a story with your world, or at least hint at one. This doesn't need to be a long, drawn-out, Tolkien-esque novel, but a short snippet, showing proof of your world's narrative capabilities. 

• World and its concept must be able to stand on its own without any interference from other worlds or multiverse shenanigans.

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Three winners will be picked for this contest. If you wish to increase your chances, you may post multiple submissions if you have multiple ideas. Though please only post one word per one submission, do NOT use the same word in two different submissions to increase your word count. 

Finally, please feel free to attach any extras you wish, e.g., promotional artwork, sketches, etc. We will look at them, and it will be counted as part of the final vote. 

*Submissions must be sent to info@associationofishtar.com*

Thank you all and enjoy!!!