PUBLIC DOMAIN CON

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Hey, kids!

My name's Sigma-9, but you can call me Siggy. I'm the living manifestation of the SCP Wiki!

What's this sack I'm carrying, you ask? Why, it's a bunch of dead authors! Arthur Doyle, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain — I've got all their bones in here because I've been digging up graves all night. And I'm not taking them to a museum or selling them at a pawn shop, if that's what you're thinking. No, I'm gonna put them in my SCP article!

How am I gonna do that? Well, let me tell you about something called Public Domain.

When a human being passes away, their soul exits their body and flies towards Heaven. But ever since we started putting people in coffins, these souls get trapped in dirt instead and get stuck there for years. Eventually, after some time, they fade away from the world and the totality of their being melts into the Sea of Souls. This includes everything — their hopes, their dreams, and the rights to all their work. When that happens, the hard-working folk at the U.S. Copyright Office's Psychotronics Division sail across the Collective Unconscious and use harpoons and nets to wrangle these stray authorial rights. After transporting them to the real world, the rights get bound to the domain of living humans, the Public Domain, and they become objects that belong to you and me and everyone else on Earth.

Isn't that amazing? I sure hope I get dissolved into the Public Domain when I die!

Well, anyways, I oughta get going now. I've got plenty of bones to put in my SCP article. And you know, this "bone proposal" isn't gonna write itself, haha!

Thanks for reading! ✌️


WHAT IS PUBLIC DOMAIN CON?

Welcome to the wiki's first Public Domain contest, hosted by yours truly, Yurt-in-Chief RounderhouseRounderhouse and the twin imps resting on my shoulders, NaepicNaepic and syuzhetsyuzhet (also psychicprogrammerpsychicprogrammer)! For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the public domain, read on. For those familiar, read on anyway so as to avoid being the guy that asks a question already covered in the rules!

The public domain is, as it has been called numerous times, a wellspring of creativity. It's the promise of material that is no longer bound by copyright protections, allowing you to use and reuse its contents without fear of a lawsuit. As January is Public Domain Month, the contest team would like to celebrate it by introducing this year's first team contest: PUBLIC DOMAIN CON! You'll be forming teams of three and writing about your favorite characters in the public domain. Reinterpret them, reimagine them, remix them, and revitalize these iconic fictional characters in the context of the SCP universe — whether as anomalies, agents, or something entirely different!

We've provided you with a list of both famous and new additions to the public domain, but you're not restricted to them. Do check to make sure that they are usable, however - see below for a disclaimer on the complexity of public domain.

  • Mickey Mouse
  • Dracula
  • Tintin
  • Popeye
  • Winnie the Pooh
  • Columbo
  • Jesus of Nazareth
  • The Man Who Laughs
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • Peter Pan

I'd like to share this passage from the Doomsday Contest, where ARD said it better than I could:

There are multiple ways to approach this project. You can get together with some of your friends, write stuff, and have lots of fun doing it—regardless of winning or losing. Or, you can write, get angry at your friends for not performing the way you want them to. You can complain about them, the rules, the contest, the judges, and hate your life.

Try to be a bit more classy. This is supposed to be a fun opportunity to add more to the site rather than make yourself upset, frustrated, or angry. People have quit over contests. You're better than that.

You'll work together on the collection. Everyone must contribute significantly to the final product. It is expected that each team member will write at least one work. If the contest marshals get the idea that one guy is writing 100% of the content for their team there will be some investigation. I will consume any offenders.

I’m not cruel, though. I understand things do come up. If there’s a real issue meaning someone won’t be able to post - please, contact me. We’ll figure something out.

Once posting begins, your magnificent trio are locked in and cannot change. Choose wisely. Once you’ve picked your team and decided on a captain amongst yourselves, add yourselves to the team roster at the bottom of this page using the provided format.

Looking for a team? Comment in the discussion of this page saying so! Join up with other people also looking for a team!

BONUS AWARDS & HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENTS

BONUS AWARDS

Want to nab yourself a shoutout on the contest page once the results start rolling in? More importantly, want to dance for my amusement? Earn these bonus awards that offer absolutely-goddamn-nothing except my approval and a spot of honor in Valhalla for completing certain requirements in writing your articles! Updated throughout the posting period with new awards.

The Misfits

Place in the top 5 with a team made up entirely of people cut from other teams. Mad respect.

What Contest?

Post two non-contest articles in the posting period.

Stans

Name all articles in your series after songs from the same artist.

> tale author

Finish the contest with one SCP and at least three tales.

A Random Day Memorial Jamcon Award

Produce and post one or more of your articles in under 48 hours.

Method Actor

Write one of your entries in the same style as the source material your character is from.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Award for Achievement in Murder

Kill off your chosen character at the end of your series.

spiderman_pointing.gif

Beat out another team writing the same character as you.

Syuzhet Bingo

Include as many characters from the hub's list (see above) as possible in your articles.


HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENTS

Periodically through the planning/writing period until the Posting Period begins, this page will be updated with bonus awards with the requirements redacted. The title should give you some idea of what you have to do, but if you want a hidden achievement and the bragging rights to go with it, you're gonna have to work for it!

Tournament Arc

████ █ ██████ ██████ character ███ ██ █ fight ██ █████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ entries.

Weekend at Bernie's

████ ████ ██████ █████████ exclusively ██████ ██ █ corpse.

Bribe The Judge Award 2: Electric Boogaloo

Horrifically injure ██ ████████ Director █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███████.

Buzz the Tower

████ ████ qualifying entry ██ ███ ████ █ minutes ██ ███ ███████ ██████.

How Did We Get Here?

█████ ██ ███████ longer ████ ███ original ██████ ████ █████████ ██ ████.

DATES

Writing begins: 25 Jan 2025 05:01 local time / January 25, 2025 05:01 UTC

Posting begins: 15 Feb 2025 05:01 local time / February 15, 2025 05:01 AM UTC

Posting ends: 01 Mar 2025 05:01 local time / March 1, 2025 05:01 AM UTC

Voting ends: 12 Mar 2025 04:01 local time / March 12, 2025 05:01 AM UTC


RULES

  1. Rule 1: Read the rules. I'll smack you if you don't. I'll know.
  2. Your team must consist of three people, all of whom must be announced. You may only be on one team. Each team will have a captain, but the individual members are responsible for posting their own work. Please pick someone who is actually around to be Captain, as all communication and questions about the contest should go through them to the organizers. Any other responsibilities the team chooses to invest in the captain should be discussed among the members of the team. Follow the example below for how to format your team.
  3. The character you pick must be in the Public Domain, and you must write them in a way that lines up with the public domain version. If you're at all concerned about whether your pick fits with this, check with Naepic. It's a lot better to do it now and to be able to pick a new character than find out midway into the contest and have your team disqualified and possibly the articles deleted.
  4. Your chosen character may be beyond a simple literary character — they may be a folk hero, or from music, or even from a movie, so long as they're in the public domain. They also must appear in every article your team writes, though you may have additional public domain characters that show up in your pieces if you'd like.
  5. Furthermore, you may NOT use drafts that existed before the contest went up. All entries must have been created after the contest page went up. Any entries found to violate this rule will be subject to disqualification.
  6. SCP format screws are fine. The tale should be substantive and long enough to show that you've invested some time in them.
  7. A minimum of 3 articles must be written for the contest; there is no maximum number, but only the four highest-rated articles will count towards point total. Once again, at least one of these must be an SCP, and at least one must be a tale. Art submissions will not be considered for this contest.
  8. SCP supplements such as separate exploration logs, experiment logs, revised versions, etc. will count as extra entries past the main three. For example, if you have two tales, and one SCP with two supplement pages, the highest-rated of the two supplements will count as the fourth entry for voting purposes.
  9. Teams may create hub pages for their work. However, hub pages will not count for scoring nor for the minimum article requirements. Furthermore, they cannot be put up until your team has posted the minimum required number of articles for the contest (3).
  10. You may not delete or edit an article once posted, regardless of performance. Articles that dip to the deletion mark will be subject to normal deletion practices, but they will not be removed until after the contest has ended. This should encourage everyone to work hard with their teams to have a superior product. What's posted is posted. Small corrections are fine, but significant edits are not. The only deletion of articles once the contest begins and before it ends is if an article is found to not be in line with the public domain.
    • Small corrections are defined as: fixing minor sentence wording, correcting grammar usage, changing spacing, etc. Large, substantive changes are not allowed until the contest has passed.
  11. Each entry must be posted by its primary author. Collaborative entries between teammates are encouraged but each author must contribute at least one (1) entry which was mainly written by them. If you rewrote someone’s work entirely, it's not really theirs anymore, and it wouldn't be fair for them to post something you spent four hours revising when they only invested ten minutes writing it. This does mean that one or two people will be writing more than one entry.
  12. Any member who takes unusual and/or negative actions to increase their vote total, or decrease that of their competitors, will be disqualified for the involved contest and potentially banned from further contests. Site members who are not participating in the contest but do this sort of thing may be subject to Disciplinary action, in addition to the personal wrath of the Yurt.
    • Examples of shenanigans include, but are in no way limited to:
      • Downvoting all of your competitors' work within minutes of them being posted
      • Spamming people with PMs about your work
      • Spurring Malicious Upvoting/Downvoting, whether on your work or anyone else's
    • If you're not sure if something counts as shenanigans, then it probably does, but feel free to PM me asking.

After posting your entries, tag them "publicdomaincon2025" and link them to your team's blurb at the bottom of this page. Winners will be decided by the total points across the team's four highest-rated entries. The winning team will have their work featured on the frontpage.





TEAMS


All teams must have a picked public domain character on this listing by 31 Jan 2025 04:59 local time (February 1st 04:59 AM UTC), or you may be removed from the listing. If you are, you can add yourself whenever you settle on a character!


Team Name: Provisional Government of Occupied Third Law, Revolutionary Firing Squad

Public Domain Character: 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦 (Gilgamesh, King of Uruk)
Team Members: TyGentlyTyGentlyᶜᵖᵗ, IntercedentIntercedent, AnorrackAnorrack


Entries:


Team Name: The Most Serene Republic of Third Law, Grand Council of Viziers

Public Domain Character: Professor James Moriarty
Team Members: GreenWolfGreenWolfᶜᵖᵗ, ch00bakkach00bakka, PliltPlilt


Entries:


Team Name: TEAM FORTRESS 2

Public Domain Character: Arsène Lupin
Team Members: CaliboldCaliboldᶜᵖᵗ, HarryBlankHarryBlank, Uncle NicoliniUncle Nicolini


Entries:


Team Name: The Axo Lot (l)

Public Domain Character: The Great Fish (from The Holy Bible)
Team Members: ParallelPotatoesParallelPotatoesᶜᵖᵗ, Anky swallowAnky swallow, MetalRavioliMetalRavioli


Entries:


Team Name: We're All Mad Here

Public Domain Character: Alice
Team Members: newnykacolaquantumnewnykacolaquantumᶜᵖᵗ, GravelEnthusiastGravelEnthusiast, and OnlineOpossumOnlineOpossum


Entries:


Team Name: BIG WHALE

Public Domain Character: Moby Dick
Team Members: IndustryStandardIndustryStandardᶜᵖᵗ, torcsandantlerstorcsandantlers, and cive(creative name)cive(creative name)


Entries:


Team Name: 「ロングジャンプの天使」

Public Domain Character: Spring-Heeled Jack
Team Members: JackalRelatedJackalRelatedᶜᵖᵗ, J_V_GJ_V_G, and ColdsmithColdsmith


Entries:


Team Name: The Hounds of Baskerville

Public Domain Character: Dr. John H. Watson
Team Members: cptsquidcptsquidᶜᵖᵗ, zoempawszoempaws, and Shirley SterlingShirley Sterling


Entries:


Team Name: The Mekhanisms

Public Domain Character: Odysseus
Team Members: RallistonRallistonᶜᵖᵗ, Diogene_sDiogene_s, Dino--DrawsDino--Draws


Entries:


Team Name: Epic Rap Battles of History: Queen Mab Versus Count Dracula

Public Domain Character: Abraham Van Helsing
Team Members: LemonsenseLemonsenseᶜᵖᵗ, SynthPanda_SynthPanda_, and DoctorLilithSophiaDoctorLilithSophia


Entries:


Team Name: In space, Nemo can hear you scream

Public Domain Character: Captain Nemo
Team Members: GuaireGuaireᶜᵖᵗ, FlyPurgatorioFlyPurgatorio, and Fish^12Fish^12


Entries:


Team Name: Killing BIG WHALE

Public Domain Character: Captain Ahab
Team Members: EthagonEthagonᶜᵖᵗ, KothardarastrixKothardarastrix, and MasterTman2MasterTman2


Entries:


Team Name: The Gender Benders

Public Domain Character: Orlando (The Trans One)
Team Members: QueeriousQueeriousᶜᵖᵗ, VapidPoemVapidPoem, and AstersQuillAstersQuill


Entries:


Team Name: Triple Fang

Public Domain Character: Dracula
Team Members: Cranes-writerCranes-writerᶜᵖᵗ, Doctor-ivoryDoctor-ivory, and XHAWK77XXHAWK77X


Entries:


Team Name: Quit your job. Join my antifeudalism commune.

Public Domain Character: Robin Hood
Team Members: Alexander245Alexander245ᶜᵖᵗ, A Random TreestumpA Random Treestump, Napalmdoctor556Napalmdoctor556


Entries:


Team Name: Council of Pious Domain

Public Domain Character: Archangel Gabriel
Team Members: Comrade WaldoComrade Waldoᶜᵖᵗ, Scientist FilippScientist Filipp, FrankEntropyFrankEntropy


Entries:


Team Name: The Other BIG WHALE

Public Domain Character: Pinocchio
Team Members: Clacky2000Clacky2000ᶜᵖᵗ, IAmTheOogaIAmTheOoga, WhoIsCthulhuWhoIsCthulhu


Entries:


Team Name: The Gulf of Mexico

Public Domain Character: Nosferatu/Count Orlok
Team Members: PlaguePJPPlaguePJPᶜᵖᵗ, Its a Bad IdeaIts a Bad Idea, FishishFishish


Entries:


Team Name: Grendel's Glass Eye

Public Domain Character: Beowulf
Team Members: J DuneJ Duneᶜᵖᵗ, stormbreathstormbreath, pr0m37h3umpr0m37h3um


Entries:


Team Name: Somebody Else's Lake

Public Domain Character: Circe
Team Members: DrBleepDrBleepᶜᵖᵗ, UNCGriffinUNCGriffin, MarigoldsInJanuarMarigoldsInJanuar


Entries:


Team Name: Masks of Nyarlathotep

Public Domain Character: Nyarlathotep
Team Members: ubergooberubergooberᶜᵖᵗ, radian628radian628, local lesbian commielocal lesbian commie


Entries:


Team Name: bnnuy 🐰🐰🐰

Public Domain Character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Team Members: MerehrabMerehrabᶜᵖᵗ, winkwonkboiwinkwonkboi, ThatGuyThatTimeThatGuyThatTime


Entries:


Team Name: Rocky Cosmic Horror Picture Show

Public Domain Character: Cthulhu
Team Members: TroutMaskReplicaTroutMaskReplicaᶜᵖᵗ, RhineriverRhineriver, BillithBillith


Entries:


Team Name: What the Dog Doin?

Public Domain Character: Hounds of Tindalos
Team Members: Malvarik1Malvarik1ᶜᵖᵗ, Dr MonedDr Moned, ERLGreyERLGrey


Entries:


Team Name: We All Scream for Hell Screen

Public Domain Character: Yoshihide (Hell Screen)
Team Members: djkaktusdjkaktusᶜᵖᵗ, TuftoTufto, YossipossiYossipossi


Entries:


Team Name: ALL WRONGS RESERVED

Public Domain Character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Team Members: fairydoctorfairydoctorᶜᵖᵗ, PrismalPrismal, FelixouFelixou


Entries:


Team Name: Unbirthing Party

Public Domain Character: The Mad Hatter
Team Members: PoufyPoufsonPoufyPoufsonᶜᵖᵗ, PeppersGhostPeppersGhost, daveyoufooldaveyoufool


Entries:


Team Name: Esoteric Post-bop Song "Spacetrack" off of Freddie Hubbard's 1970 Album The Black Angel

Public Domain Character: The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Team Members: UncannyClownUncannyClownᶜᵖᵗ, zipzipskinszipzipskins, Gawain777Gawain777


Entries:


Team Name: ⟡Princess Knight Arthur and Her Round Table⟡

Public Domain Character: King Arthur
Team Members: sailorenochsailorenochᶜᵖᵗ, rottingraisinsrottingraisins, Rosyfox2002Rosyfox2002


Entries:


Team Name: Team Bird

Public Domain Character: Columbo
Team Members: notgullnotgullᶜᵖᵗ, Lt FlopsLt Flops, AyersAyers


Entries:


Team Name: The Orient Express

Public Domain Character: Sir John Mandeville
Team Members: AftokratorAftokratorᶜᵖᵗ, LightlessLanternLightlessLantern, Miss LapisMiss Lapis


Entries:


Team Name: Heavy is the Crown

Public Domain Character: The King in Yellow
Team Members: Strange MatterStrange Matterᶜᵖᵗ, TboneBerryhillTboneBerryhill, Rose-rowRose-row


Entries:


Team Name: Generational Trauma Inc brings you the Toxic Family Squad by Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.

Public Domain Character: Rappaccini's Daughter, Beatrice
Team Members: Mr PanikMr Panikᶜᵖᵗ, SocksesForFoxesSocksesForFoxes, TheChunkTheChunk


Entries:


Team Name: The Lumber Jerks

Public Domain Character: Paul Bunyan (and Babe the Blue Ox)
Team Members: Mister_ToastyMister_Toastyᶜᵖᵗ, Nils SeverinNils Severin, choccoManchoccoMan


Entries:


Team Name: Dumpster Fire

Public Domain Character: Dorian Gray
Team Members: Sinking_OtterSinking_Otterᶜᵖᵗ, boardcertifiedgoblinboardcertifiedgoblin, MissyChaosMissyChaos


Entries:


Team Name: WHERE YOUR EYES DON'T GO

Public Domain Character: Dr. Satan (Weird Tales)
Team Members: Dr0ShadowDr0Shadowᶜᵖᵗ, The Awesomest ManThe Awesomest Man, NecezzityNecezzity


Entries:


Team Name: From Fire and Brimstone

Public Domain Character: Prometheus
Team Members: SpacestealthSpacestealthᶜᵖᵗ, flembusflembus, SYTYCFanonSYTYCFanon


Entries:


Team Name: The Team of the Lock

Public Domain Character: Ariel
Team Members: PinkHatPinkJeansPinkHatPinkJeansᶜᵖᵗ, JukeShoesJukeShoes, DynexusDynexus


Entries:


Team Name: Oni’s Reckoning

Public Domain Character: Momotarō
Team Members: The Pickle MonsterThe Pickle Monsterᶜᵖᵗ, AkamitsuAkamitsu, N1ght_ScribeN1ght_Scribe


Entries:


Team Name: The Magic Lanterns, or, Mermaids Singing Each To Each

Public Domain Character: J. Alfred Prufrock
Team Members: ThopterThopterᶜᵖᵗ, Lightning HelixLightning Helix, Sound ChaserSound Chaser


Entries:


Team Name: SCPiderverse

Public Domain Character: Spider Queen (Fox Features)
Team Members: Dr Pixie BubblesDr Pixie Bubblesᶜᵖᵗ,Dino talesDino tales,Dr AvenleeDr Avenlee


Entries:


Team Name: Dracula Holdings LLC

Public Domain Character: Dracula
Team Members: YesThisIsDogYesThisIsDogᶜᵖᵗ,A_Random_BreadA_Random_Bread,FrodmaerFrodmaer


Entries:


Team Name: Fact Checked by Real American Patriots

Public Domain Character: Uncle Sam
Team Members: New_to_lifeNew_to_lifeᶜᵖᵗ,DreadnoughtGalaxyDreadnoughtGalaxy,FluffyDog00FluffyDog00


Entries:


Team Name: The Hundred Author Woods

Public Domain Character: Pooh
Team Members: PedagonPedagonᶜᵖᵗ,AriadnesThreadAriadnesThread,TrintavonTrintavon


Entries:


Team Name: alice in winnerland

Public Domain Character: Alice
Team Members: halcyon_dayshalcyon_daysᶜᵖᵗ,Butterfly213Butterfly213,ProblemPalProblemPal


Entries:


Team Name: Dead to Begin With: Exorcists of Christmas Past 2: Ghosts of the Public Domain, Remastered

Public Domain Character: The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future
Team Members: melendeztmelendeztᶜᵖᵗ,Alzin CdagAlzin Cdag,CrystallanternCrystallantern


Entries:


Team Name: Team Dullahan Train Station

Public Domain Character: The Headless Horseman
Team Members: DarkStuffDarkStuffᶜᵖᵗ,Cathy AutumnCathy Autumn,habaniahhabaniah


Entries:


Team Name: Captain and the Haddocks

Public Domain Character: Tintin and Snowy
Team Members: A Random DayA Random Dayᶜᵖᵗ, minminminmin, VezazVezaz


Entries:


Team Name: Team ProcrastiNation

Public Domain Character: Grettir Ásmundarson
Team Members: sprawlingstarsprawlingstarᶜᵖᵗ, thrymskvidathrymskvida, TheTheTheMassTheTheTheMass


Entries:




Hub art and design by syuzhetsyuzhet.






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