Innumerable Stars

Hear ye, hear ye, throughout all the land! Let it be known and proclaimed that the day has come when signups shall be opened!

Go ye forth to the signup form and sign up!

Due to an AO3 bug, the tagset may not fully copy across to the signup form. Please just copy and paste from the tagset itself and it should work.

You may select up to 20 worldbuilding tags; they are optional, for information for your writer/artist about the sort of thing you might like to receive.

You may also choose to fill in the details field, or write a letter, which you can link to on the form. It's generally considered a good idea to give your creator some prompts for what you'd like to see and also some idea of anything you particularly wish not to see. Please be aware that your writer/artist is not required to follow your prompts, but they should avoid giving you anything you've asked not to receive.

Signups close on the 25th of August, 8pm British Summer Time (7pm UTC), so please have your signup finalised by then.

This is the 2019 version of the Rules and FAQ. Not much has changed, but I've clarified a few things, and added two fandoms.

Rules:

- Fic needs to be a minimum of 500 words.
- Fanart needs to be at least a nice sketch on unlined paper.
- The gift needs to meet the request with regards to at least one character or group of characters the requester has asked for.
- Treats are highly encouraged!
- Please comment on your gift(s).

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FAQ

What fandoms are eligible to nominate characters in?

Born of Hope (2009)
The Fall of Arthur - J. R. R. Tolkien
Farmer Giles of Ham - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Father Christmas Letters - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hunt for Gollum (2009)
Leaf by Niggle - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings Online
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Video Game)
Mr. Bliss - J. R. R. Tolkien
Roverandom - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Smith of Wootton Major - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Story of Kullervo - J. R. R. Tolkien
Tolkien (2019 Movie)
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun - J. R. R. Tolkien

If you would like a crossover between any of these fandoms, you have the option to pick 'Crossover Fandom.'

How do I nominate?

You can nominate up to 20 characters or groups of characters per fandom, and up to 20 worldbuilding tags.

Go to the nomination form, then enter your first fandom (from the list above), and below, enter the character. In the character field you can enter any of the below types of characters or groups of characters, for example:

Group: Fëanor/Nerdanel & Maedhros
Group: Fëanor & Maedhros
Group: The Istari (if you nominate all members of a group by the group name, please be sure it is made up of named characters only -- don't nominate 'The Noldor' or 'Residents of Doriath').
Original Avari Character
Fëanor

If you are nominating the same character or group of characters in different fandoms, i.e., Group: Elrond & Maglor in both LOTR and Silmarillion, please differentiate them by putting an abbreviation for the fandom after the name, as in Group: Elrond & Maglor (Silm) and Group: Elrond & Maglor (LOTR books). AO3 will not let you nominate characters under two different fandoms if you have not differentiated them.

You do not need to abide by the piped tags. Nominations will be approved in the clearest, easiest to read format, so just nominate the name the character is most commonly known by.

Once you have filled in all the characters or groups of characters that you want to nominate, you also have the option to nominate worldbuilding tags, under the relationships field.

Enter any worldbuilding tag you'd like to see, for example:

Trade in First Age Beleriand
Avarin Culture
Laws and Customs of the Eldar

See the Worldbuilding exchange tag set for more examples of worldbuilding tags.

Can I nominate original characters?

Absolutely!

You can nominate them like this:

Original Character (LOTR)
Original Female Character (Hobbit)
Original Hobbit Farmer
Original Noldorin Character
Group: Original Noldorin Blacksmith/Original Sindarin Blacksmith
Group: Original Elf Character & Original Dwarf Character

How do offers and requests work for this exchange?

Once nominations are complete, when you go to the signup form, you will be able to pick the fandom you want your characters/character groups to come from, then the characters themselves.

You will also be able to choose up to 20 worldbuilding tags. These are optional and will not be matched on.

You'll be able to have a minimum of 3 requests and a maximum of 10. You can request the same fandom more than once, however, you must request different characters or groups. 

For requests, you can also fill in a URL to a letter elsewhere, or add optional details, including any prompts.

For offers, just, again, add the fandom you want and then the characters. Make sure to choose if you are offering fic or art or both.

Again, you can offer the same fandom more than once, but with different characters. You must make a minimum of 4 offers.

The matching will be done on an OR basis, meaning that if you are assigned to someone, you need only write about one character or character group for your assignment, not all of them.

Can I fill a request with art?

Yes! Art is welcome and you can request or offer it at signup.

Do I have to write a letter/fill in request details?

No, but if you do not, your author will not know what you would prefer to receive about the characters or groups you've chosen and will have to write or draw based only on what you've picked. If you have particular preferences or prompts, please be sure you've given your writer/artist some indication of what you like.

Your writer/artist should do their best to fulfil your request as stated in optional details or your letter, particularly as regards to avoiding your Do Not Wants (DNWs), but the only parts they have to fulfil are that they have to write/draw about the characters in the fandom(s) you've chosen. Writing a fic that is clearly based on the movies when book fic only has been requested (or vice versa) or writing a category of fic that wasn't requested (writing a friendship fic (&) when a romantic fic (/)was requested, for instance), is against the rules.

Writing a letter or adding request details is strongly encouraged.

Anything else?

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have!