IkeSoren Big Bang

A collaborative fandom event centered around the relationship of Ike and Soren from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Writers and artists will be paired together to work on a long fic and accompanying artwork both celebrating IkeSoren.

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Rules

General Rules

- All works must center around IkeSoren. Fic and art must center IkeSoren as a ship, but you are free to include other pairings and characters as long as the focus is on IkeSoren. We are not allowing OT3-or-mores involving IkeSoren in this, our inaugural year, for ease of matching.✅ The main body of your fic and art focuses on IkeSoren; their relationship is the focal point of the work. Having Oscar and Kieran as a side couple in you IkeSoren modern AU, having a secondary storyline exploring Ike and Mist's relationship, drawing a second piece focused on Jill because she had an impactful role on the fic, or having Ike and Soren be the center of a piece while surrounded by others, are all good.
❌ Fic where Ike and Soren are secondary to other pairings or having no art that features Ike and Soren at all are not acceptable. For example, the main body of your fic focuses on Oscar and Kieran opening a restaurant in Melior. Ike and Soren stop by to eat there in one scene and are never seen again or featured in the art. The epilogue says they got divorced. This would go against the rules and point of the IkeSoren Big Bang.- All participants must join the official event Discord.- Communication is key! Communicate with your team members. Communicate with the mod team. If you have any questions or concerns, let the mods know as soon as possible so we have time to resolve things. If your partner is out of communication for a long period of time, or otherwise ghosting you, please let the mod team know immediately.- Do not post your work for the IkeSoren Big Bang online before the posting period. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification.- Keep NSFW content in NSFW channels. Any participants under the age of 18 are not allowed to join the NSFW channels, create NSFW works for this Big Bang, or claim works containing NSFW content. Thank you.- Credit your team members! A Big Bang is a team effort. Writers, credit your artists and link to their art. If you use a beta’s services, credit them for their work. Artists, link to your author’s fic.- Generative AI is not allowed in the creation of your works, writing or art.- Polish your work to the best of your ability. Writers, this can mean reading over your work to catch any typos or using spell check or other editing software. While having your work beta read is not a requirement for this event, we will do our best to match you with a beta if you want to have your work beta read. Artists, this can mean making sure your work is presented to the best of your ability. For example, if you’re working with traditional art, please have it cleanly scanned or photographed, don’t use lined notebook paper, etc.- Be polite. Harassment of fellow participants or the mods will not be tolerated.

Artist Rules

- Artists must complete at least one full work to complement their author’s fic to be posted April 2025. There is no maximum amount of art you can create.- Works must be posted on a platform of the artist’s choice and must link back to the author’s fic.- Do not create explicit illustrations for SFW fic unless your author is an adult (over the age of 18) and in agreement with it.- Once you and your author have agreed upon an illustration, do not make big changes to the agreed upon piece - such as changing the scene you'll be drawing, or altering the base concept - without speaking with your author first. We understand that some details will change as you draw, and that is fine, it's a part of the creative process! But communication is key when concerning larger changes.✅ You and your author discussed an illustration of the scene in their Western AU where Sheriff Ike rescues Deputy Soren from bandits! But you decide later you'd rather draw the scene where they kiss in Calill's saloon. You talk it over with your author and everyone agrees they're happy with this.
❌ You decide you'd rather draw the scene where they kiss in Calill's saloon. You don't discuss it with your author and they have no idea you've changed your idea until just before posting.Communication is key!

Writer Rules

- Authors must create a work of at least 20,000 words to be posted in full in April 2025. There is no maximum word count.- Works must be posted to Ao3 (archiveofourown.org) and link back to the artist’s work. Authors must have an Ao3 account. If you do not have an Ao3 account at signups, you must get one before posting. Works will be posted to the IkeSoren Big Bang collection. There will be instructions on posting to the collection closer to the posting period.- Works must be in English. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate matching in other languages. This does not mean that authors’ first language must be English, only that the writer must write in English.- Writers cannot change the rating of their work without first informing their artist after they have been assigned a partner.- Writers must warn on their summaries about any NSFW content or possible content warnings. We encourage authors to be as thorough as possible when it comes to content warnings. If you’re unsure whether your finished work will have NSFW content, please warn for potential adult, mature, or otherwise sensitive content. If in doubt, warn – it’s better for your artist to have too much information rather than too little.

Beta Rules

- Be respectful of your author’s wishes. Some authors might want a hardcore beta who doesn’t hold back, while others might want a gentle touch. Some may want feedback on characterization, while others are only concerned about spelling and grammar.- If your author is giving you an unrealistic amount of work (for example, expecting a detailed beta on 100k fic a month before the deadline) or if your author has requested a beta but is refusing to share the fic with you or being otherwise uncommunicative, please contact the mod team and we will work to resolve the issues.

Schedule

Signups: July 20th-August 1st
Summary submissions: August 7th-14th
Claims: August 17th-24th
Second Claims: August 29th-31st
Check-in 1: October 27th-November 2nd
Check-in 2: January 11th-18th
Check-in 3: March 10th-16th
Posting: April 13th-19th

faq

WHAT IS A BIG BANG?A Big Bang ("Bang" or “bb” for short) is a type of fandom challenge usually involving long fics and accompanying artwork. One of the goals of a Big Bang is the collaboration between writers and artists. Writers will sign up to write a fic of a particular length and artists will pick fics to illustrate based on anonymous summaries. Artists and writers will then work together as teams to complete their works!HOW LONG WILL THE EVENT RUN?The IkeSoren Big Bang will have a long creative period. Signups open on July 20th, 2024, and end on August 1st, 2024. Posting will begin in April of 2025 in time for Path of Radiance’s 20th anniversary.LONG FIC? HOW LONG ARE WE TALKING?Fics will have a minimum of at least 20k words. While this might seem daunting, our teams will have over half a year to work on their Big Bangs.WHAT ABOUT ART? HOW MANY PIECES ARE REQUIRED?Artists will illustrate at a minimum one completed piece for their claimed fic(s), although you are of course welcome to draw more.CAN I JOIN AS A BETA?Yes! You are welcome to join as a beta if you’re interested in helping authors and artists with their fanworks.CAN I JOIN WITH A PARTNER?Yes. If you are a writer and artist team who prefer to work together, there will be a space to signup together on the signup summary.I’M A WRITER. CAN I USE A FIC I’VE ALREADY STARTED?Yes, with caveats. While you can use a story you’ve already started writing, you cannot use a fic that you’ve already begun posting anywhere. Sequels to already published fics are also not allowed. If you have any questions, please let us know.I’M AN ARTIST. DOES MY ART HAVE TO BE DIGITAL?We allow traditional as well as digital art. If you have specific questions about what is and isn’t allowed with art, please contact us.DOES MY PIECE HAVE TO BE ABOUT IKESOREN?Yes. This is an IkeSoren Big Bang, after all! Fic and art must center IkeSoren as a ship, but you are free to include other pairings and characters as long as the focus is on IkeSoren. (We are not allowing OT3-or-mores involving IkeSoren in this, our inaugural year, for ease of matching.)IS ANGST ALLOWED? WHAT ABOUT UNHAPPY ENDINGS?Yes, properly tagged fics with angst and/or unhappy endings are allowed. However, the writer must be upfront about the fic's ending in the artist claims summary, and the pairing and focus point of the fic must still be IkeSoren and their relationship, as with the other works in the big bang. Essentially, your fic has to be an IkeSoren fic, not a fic that uses IkeSoren as trappings for a different pairing.For example, you can write a fic with a tragic ending. You cannot write a fic where the twist ending is that Soren discovers the love of his life is actually Makalov and they ride off into the sunset to start their own gambling hall, leaving Ike to ponder his mistakes for the rest of his days. If you have a specific question about whether or not something qualifies, please feel free to ask us.CAN I WRITE AN AU? WHAT ABOUT A CROSSOVER?We welcome AUs and fusion fics! For ease of matching, we will not be allowing crossovers.ARE THERE ANY OTHER REQUIREMENTS?Writers are required to have an Ao3 account with which to post their fic. Writers and artists are required to join our Discord server after signing up. Writers and artists must have a valid email.The event is NOT 18+, but anyone under the age of 18 will not be allowed in any NSFW spaces and cannot write, claim, or illustrate NSFW projects. Thank you.WHEN ARE SIGN UPS? HOW DO I SIGN UP?
Signups will open on July 20th and run until August 5th. We look forward to seeing you then!I HAVE A DIFFERENT QUESTION THAT’S NOT COVERED HERE. WHAT DO I DO?There is a spot on the interest check form to ask us any other questions! Or you can contact us directly. Send us an ask at our tumblr or email us [email protected].