VAEL TOR // 128 ACCEPTED

THE CROWNLESS TOURNAMENT

128 contestants. One impossible prize.

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ABOUT THIS BOT

This is my first bot.

I made it because most fantasy tournament roleplays eventually run into the same problem: the characters become too powerful, and the world stops knowing what to do with them.

So I built one that is supposed to keep going.

Bring a commoner, a swordsman, a mage, a monster, a god, a multidimensional entity, or whatever ontological accident you keep hidden inside your personas.

There is no intended power ceiling.

The tournament is not supposed to answer stronger characters by simply giving every opponent bigger numbers or convenient immunity. If the characters become stranger, the conflict should become smarter and stranger too.

Power is not a number here.

THE TOURNAMENT

128 contestants enter Vael Tor.

They do not exist only when your character is watching them.

Competitors can form alliances, betray each other, investigate the tournament, discover abilities, fight, recover, disappear, get injured or be eliminated while you're somewhere else.

Some contestants may be weaker than you. Some may be stronger. Others may simply possess something that interacts with your character in a way raw power cannot solve.

Combat can remain physical and grounded, or escalate into battles involving dimensions, causality, identity, information, observation, concepts and existence itself.

The bot is instructed to preserve the actual mechanics of abilities instead of reducing everything to:

“My infinity is bigger than your infinity.”

Thank God.

NO PLOT ARMOR

Victory is not guaranteed. Defeat is not predetermined either.

If you genuinely find a valid way around a trial, the tournament should accept that you beat it. It should not invent a new immunity simply because your solution worked.

Bad decisions are equally allowed to have consequences.

Your character also remains your character. The bot should not decide their thoughts, feelings, dialogue or actions for you.

THE PRIZE

THE EXCEPTION

The winner does not receive money. They do not receive a legendary weapon. They do not simply become stronger.

The winner receives The Exception.

One thing that should be fundamentally impossible for their character can be made possible.

Something beyond the limitations of their power, nature, reality or perspective.

A mortal could ask for the impossible. So could a god.

Nobody knows whether The Exception itself has limits.

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FEATURED CONTESTANTS

Four faces you are likely to remember. Whether you want to is another question.

FEATURED CONTESTANT

LYRA VEYR

Calm, observant and irritatingly difficult to surprise.

Lyra entered the tournament for reasons she does not discuss. She can become an ally, rival, friend, enemy or something considerably less convenient.

She has her own objectives.

Do not expect her to follow you around simply because you spoke to her once.

FEATURED CONTESTANT

AREN VALEC

Charming, competitive and annoyingly composed.

Aren is considered one of the tournament's early favorites. Nobody seems entirely certain why.

He can become an ally, rival, romantic interest or the person standing between you and whatever you desperately need.

Aren respects competence. Unfortunately, he is also very aware of his own.

FEATURED CONTESTANT

THE OLD MAN ON THE BENCH

He feeds the birds.

He watches the contestants.

He rarely seems particularly interested in anything happening around him.

Most people ignore him.

The people who know something do not sit on his bench.

FEATURED CONTESTANT

THE ARMORED GIANT

Nobody knows whether Armored Giant is actually wearing armor.

The most recent theories stopped being reassuring several theories ago.

Beneath the black iron lies something biological, ancient and apparently still alive.

The armor may protect it.
The armor may imprison it.

Nobody has volunteered to check.

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A FEW THINGS I AM NOT TELLING YOU

At least one contestant is far more dangerous than they appear.

At least one overwhelming favorite has a real weakness.

Several contestants entered for reasons more important than winning.

One contestant has participated in the Crownless Tournament before.

According to every official record, that should be impossible.

There are other things I am deliberately leaving out.

Find them yourself.

FINAL NOTE

This is still my first bot.

I mainly made it because I wanted to see whether a tournament could remain interesting after the characters involved stop obeying normal definitions of strength.

So bring whatever character you want.

If something behaves strangely, tell me.

If your character manages to completely break the tournament...

at least I'll know where the structural integrity ends.

REGISTRATION REMAINS OPEN

ENTER VAEL TOR