Schedule

Nominations: June 29-July 5
Signup: July 6-16
Assignments: July 17
Assignments Due: August 29
Works Revealed: September 5
Creators Revealed: September 12

Important Links

:
Tumblr: one of our two official pages; we have an askbox here for questions!
Dreamwidth: one of our two official pages; we allow comments and inbox questions here!
Discord invite: We have a discord community organized around the exchange, come here to get questions answered if you'd like!
A firebase of the BE2022 requests. Searchable!

Rules

1. All of the nominated pairings on our list are absolutely beholden to these stipulations:
   • No extreme underage sexual content (i.e. depicting children of pre-pubescent age in sexual activities)
   • No heterosexual couples where one of the participants is explicitly homosexual in canon (nonbinary characters can be paired with homosexual characters)

Aside from these rules, we are not in the habit of policing fan creativity, or otherwise prohibiting transformative works that deal with sensitive issues like abuse, rape, and other potentially problematic adult themes. We believe that these works absolutely have merit in their own right, and we will not project real-world judgment on fictional scenarios. We hope our participants can hold the same maturity.

2. That being said, we understand that not everyone wants to read stories with this kind of content. This is why we have several rules in place that hopefully protect both author/artist and audience from interacting with fan content they do not want to:
   • Participants are to write down their do-not-wants (DNWS) in the optional details box on their Sign Up Form. Their assigned author or artist are absolutely forbidden to cross these lines.
   • Participants who are under 18 are not allowed to request or create M- or E-rated works.
   • Authors and artists will not be forced to create content they do not want to. The only thing they are unequivocally beholden to write/draw is one of their recipient’s requested pairings. If their recipient asks for a scenario they do not feel comfortable with creating, they are free to ignore their prompt. If an author/artist absolutely feels like they cannot create a fanwork for their assigned recipient, they may contact the mods and we will come up with a solution together.
   • Our participants are required to tag their work(s) appropriately, and otherwise ask us if they are unsure. This means that they are to warn for any adult themes and scenarios. As such, it is your personal responsibility as a reader to check the tags and rating of a fanwork you are about to access. We’d also like to point out that the ‘back’ button is there for a reason, and that the old axiom of “don’t like, don’t read” still holds water. We highly disapprove of flaming fanworks that do not pertain to your particular tastes and will take action to ban anyone who makes it a pastime to harass other members of our exchange community.
3. Be respectful of all members of the community. Please realize that everyone has different likes and dislikes and that these may vary. Remember that everyone here is a person who is putting time and effort into making you something to enjoy. Please make sure you let them know you appreciate that.
4. Betas/proofreading/making sure your art displays properly are all strongly encouraged. If you need help finding a beta or help uploading your artwork, please ask either of the mods for help. If your story contains excessive spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors, it will be rejected and you will need to resubmit it with the errors corrected.
5. This is an anonymous exchange. Please do not post (about) your story anywhere else or reveal it until authors have been revealed). Please do not reveal your recipient. Post-artist/author reveals you are welcome to repost your story/picture wherever you like.
6. Stories/art should be written specifically for this challenge. Stories/art cannot have been previously posted somewhere. Stories/art cannot be part of a previously posted series. Stories/art must be standalone and complete upon their time of posting. Stories/art should not be placed in another series or collection until after author/artist reveals.
7. Don’t be an asshole. Seriously. Don’t.

FAQ:

What’s a AO3 gift exchange?

A gift exchange is where a group of authors and artists sign up to write and draw art for one another. Everyone that has signed up will create at least one fanwork and receive at least one fanwork.

So what’s this exchange about?

This exchange is meant to celebrate all rare pairs in the Dragon Age fandom, whether the pairing is canon, non-canon, or "it happened once, in a dream, a very bizarre dream."

Well then, what’s a rare pairing?

For the purpose of this exchange, a rare pair is a pairing with less than 300 completed works on Ao3. Pairings can also include threesomes/moresomes or non-romantic relationships.

So let’s say I’m interested. What would be required of me, if I decided to participate?

You will sign up to either write one fanfic or draw one piece of fanart. This exchange will be run entirely through Ao3, so you must have an Ao3 account to participate. If you don’t have an account, contact a mod for assistance via the email address.

All fanfics written for the exchange have to be a minimum of 1,000 words. There is no maximum word count. Fics must be able to stand alone; they cannot be part 6 of an 8 part series.

Art can be made digitally or hand-drawn and must be complete.

Manips (computer generated images that are generally made using model posing software and/or photoshop) are allowed as art, but must be new work and not simply an in-game screenshot with a filter on it.

Both fanart and fanfic may be explicit works provided that they are tagged appropriately as explicit works. For more guidance on explicit works and tagging, you can check the Ao3 FAQ.

Okay, so how does this exchange work, exactly?

The exchange runs through several different parts:

Nominations:

During nominations, you can nominate different pairings that you would like to offer or request (or just would like to see) in the exchange. Pairings must be nominated in order to be requested during the next phase of the exchange, sign-ups.

Pairings may be:

• slash (two male characters in a romantic relationship, ex: Solas/Iron Bull) 
• femslash (two female-identified characters in a romantic relationship, ex: Isabella/Female Tabris) 
• heterosexual (a male-identifying and female-identifying character in a romantic relationship, ex Cullen/Female Adaar)
• threesome (three character of any gender identification in a relationship containing three people; includes both V-poly threesomes (one character shared by two others) and more traditional threesomes (three characters in a relationship together); ex, Morrigan/Merrill/Vivienne) 
• moresome (four or more characters of any gender identification in a relationship of any sort of romantic construction, ex: Allister/Duncan/Carver Hawke/Ser Barras)
• general/friendship (a relationship that is familial, friendship, or otherwise non-sexual; ex: Anora & Loghain Mac Tir, Nathaniel Howe & Anders & Sigrun, Ogrhen & Varric)

For romantic relationships, please nominate the characters you wish to nominate with a / character between each character. For general/friendship requests, please use a &. You may combine them if you want a relationship that involves both romantic and general pairings, ex: Female Tabris/Female Llavellan & Sera.

The moderators will go through the requested pairings to check how many completed works there are on Ao3 – any pairing over 300 completed works on Ao3 will be rejected.

For the purposes of this challenge, the Dragon Age protagonists will be considered different characters based on their gender and surname. The three genders we utilize for this exchange are: Male [Warden Background/Hawke/Inquisitor Background], Female [Warden Background/Hawke/Inquisitor Background], or Nonbinary [Warden Background/Hawke/Inquisitor Background].

For trans characters, please nominate them under the gender they identify as. The inquisitor/Warden backgrounds are considered different characters, so please nominate with the background included.

Examples:

• Female Amell
• Male Trevelyan
• Nonbinary Adaar

Please nominate your protagonist of preference with these two criteria in mind. So, for example: MaleTrevelyan/Male Cousland will be accepted as a nomination; Inquisitor/Warden will not.

If you have any specific class, appearance or background preferences you are free to request them in your prompt.

Since protagonists are considered different characters based on these criteria, you can nominate pairings where one version of the pairing is over the limit as long as the version you nominate qualify. For example, you can request Male Lavellan/Solas or Nonbinary Lavellan/Solas, even if Female Lavellan/Solas is over the limit.

Please note that we do review nonbinary works for mega-pairings to ensure that they embody the spirit of the exchange; in this example, we would look at any art or fic turned in to make sure that Llavellan is indeed nonbinary and is not referred to with male or female pronouns through out the work.

You may request threesomes or moresomes that include part of a couple that is too large for the exchange. For example, you could request Solas/Female Llavellan/Iron Bull even though Solas/Female Lavellan is ineligible. However, we do review works turned in to try to make sure everything that is in the exchange embodies the ideal of the exchange, and for these pairings it is to make sure that a work is a threesome/moresome work for the pairing rather than being the mega pairing, but the third character is there for one line and leaves at the beginning and is otherwise never brought up again.

While not every partner needs to have equal participation in the work, we expect any triad/moresome relationship to have some participation from all parties (e.g., even in a V-triad, if character A is the shared point between A/B and A/C, we expect both A/B and A/C to be present in the work to some degree).

Please note that customized/individualized Warden/Hawke/Inquisitors are not valid nominations. For example, Mary Trevelyan/Cullen would be ineligible; the requestor would need to use Female Trevelyan/Cullen (or whatever other gender Mary identifies as).

In your prompts in your sign-up, you can give preferred details, such as a name/looks/face-claims/etc, in your requests, and creators may choose to incorporate those elements into their works. However, creators are not required to use a recip's OCs for their Inquisitor/Hawkes/Wardens, and works will not be checked for that.

Original Characters who are NOT Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors are allowed, provided they follow the following guidelines:

1. a) The OC is listed in the relationship in such a way as to give someone freedom in how to write them (e.g. "Orlesian Noble" or "Original Templar Character" instead of "my OC Gerald D'Vivir") - a good rule of thumb here is whether the character idea can be summed up in 3 or less words; if you can, it is probably a good option. If you cannot, it probably is too complex for this kind of exchange.

If gender is considered important to your request, please include it. If you are fine with any gender option, gender does not need to be added.

1. b) The OC is not listed in such a way that would, essentially, reflect the spirit of a canon character that is otherwise not permitted in a relationship. See again: "Mary Trevelyan, a modern girl who fell through the rift and became inquisitor/Cullen" is still ineligible, even if there are only 5 fics with that tag. Once nominations are approved, we then proceed to the next stage: Signups.

Signups:

After nominations are complete, you will be allowed to fill out a form of requested approved pairings that you would like to create and receive fic/art for. (They do not necessarily have to be the same!)

You must fill out at least three requests and three offers. You may only select each pairing once, but may give multiple ideas per pairing in your prompt.

You will have to fill out several fields on the sign-up form:

Character: We had to use character as the tag title due to Ao3 limitations, but this question is actually about your openness to treats. 'Treats are works that are created for you other than the assigned work. Treats don't have the same length/etc restrictions that assignments do. You may consent to: Art Treats or Fic Treats that are just for you, Multi-Recip treats of either flavor (fic and/or art works created for you and others; generally a mix-match of requests for a certain pairing), or opt to receive No Treats (only get gift(s) from your assigned creator(s)).

Relationships: Here you can write in the relationships that you wish to request. As long as it is part of the tag set, it should be able to be selected here. If your chosen relationship is in the tag-set but isn't auto-completing, this is unfortunately a bug on Ao3's end that we cannot fix -- but if you copy and paste your relationship from the tag-set into this field, you should be able to submit it through. (Please contact moderators via email if you get an error and let us know what the error was.)

Additional Tags: This field is to mark whether you'd rather receive fanfiction, fanart, or both (check both boxes), for this request.

Ratings: For this field, you can mark which levels of ratings you're comfortable with. We use the Ao3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails. 

Please choose carefully! Works created will also be matched on rating, so we expect works to meet that as one of the requirements.

Any participant under 18 should NOT request or offer to create M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences. On the other side, our over-18 participants should not feel expected to create or request M or E works if they do not want them or feel they cannot create them.

Letter: This is a place to put a link to a letter, if you have one. A letter is a longer version of the description field generally, and might include more details you'd like your creator to know or things like pictures that are hard to paste into the description box.

Description: Please feel free to use this field to go into some detail about what you would like; this helps give the creator of your work some different ideas about what they could make for you.

Good things to list:

• general likes
• world state options you favor that are relevant to your prompt (ex: Anora is Queen/Alistair is King, etc)
• rating restriction clarifications (ex: opting into E rated smut, not E rated violence)
• prompt ideas for fic
• squicks/triggers/do-not-wants

(please include these in your sign-up as well!)

• anything else you’d like the writer to know.

Make sure you list things you do not want DNW that are not in sign-ups cannot be addressed by the mod team.

Authors and artists creating for a giftee are absolutely forbidden to ignore squicks/DNWS/triggers. Otherwise, the only guideline of the giftee's prompt they are unequivocally beholden to is a requested pairing being the focus of their gift, though the artists and authors are encouraged to take their giftee's preferences into consideration. However, we may check-in with artists or writers if we find a reason for concern or need clarification. A check-in should not been as a rejection or warning your work will be rejected.  

Matching:

After sign-ups are completed, the mods will begin to match people based on their interests.

You are guaranteed to have a match by the end of the date listed under "Assignments" in the schedule. If you do not have a match by then, please contact the mods via email. 

Once matching is complete, you will receive an email with your assignment. You will be assigned to write or draw for someone who requested at least one of the pairings that you offered to write or draw for. Since everyone must put in at least three requests, it is likely that your assignment will include pairings that you did not request along with at least one that you did.

Creating a fanwork:

After you receive your assignment, you should select one of the pairings in your assignment that interests you and start working on your fanwork. The pairing does not have to be the one you signed up with – if there’s something else that catches your eye, you’re most welcome to run with it! You will have several weeks to complete your assignment.

Again, you must honor any squicks/triggers/do-not-wants listed by your recipient.

Your gift must be at least 1,000 words or be a clean sketch (digital or hand-drawn).

You must remain anonymous (e.g., not let your recipient know who is creating for them) during this period. If you have any questions to pose to your recipient and are not sure how to go about it, you can ask a mod for help.

Writers are encouraged to make use of a beta reader. If you don’t know where to find a beta, contact the mods or ask in the discord.

Posting:

All stories and art must be posted by the assignments due date.

You may continue to edit your fanwork until assignments are revealed, but it is imperative that you have a complete work submitted on the assignment due date (ie: the fic has a beginning, middle, and end).

If you need an extension, please email us.

After works are turned in, the mods will then go through posted fanworks to make sure that they are not placeholders (eg garbage text, incomplete stories, un-altered screenshots, etc.) and are rendering correctly (ex: pictures are loading, stories aren't one huge paragraph).

You may post your story or art in the comm earlier than the assignment due date (Ao3 will not reveal it until the due date), but please do not reveal it on other platforms before the creator reveal date (which is a week after the assignment's reveal date).

We may also reach out once a wokr is turned in to authors or artists if we notice something we are concerned about in a story, for example:

• if there was a work in the queue that has an unrequested cross-over with another game/fandom and the person hadn't requested to receive a crossover (ex: someone only requested a pairing where both chracters only appear in DA:O, but a gif for them is focused on their pairing in a Mass Effect universe or they recieve an AU focusing on their characters being thrust into the world of Dragon Age: The Last Court)
• works that deal with sensitive/potentially triggering issues (ex: fic/art about a character's eating disorder/suicide/murder, or such) that their recipient has given no indication of their willingness to receive
• if we had a work that was requested for a pairing, but but the gift that was given did not match that pairing
• if a person requested A/B but C was a prominent part of the gift and A/B appeared less prominent when the moderator was glancing through
• If one requested character had a radically different identity than they had in canon (for example: Morrigan is not a mage/Fenris is a willing slave to Denarius/Flemeth is male)
• Significant canon AUs in works that radically would alter the world-state of a Dragon Age universe (eg "Varric Tethras is the inquisitor!" or "The chantry doesn't exist")

We may check in with the creator for those things or other situations and ask if they're okay with us asking their recipient ahead of time about those characters or those issues or ask about the work as it is presented. This should not be taken as a rejection; often, it is a request for clarification or a request that we ask your intended recipient about how they may feel about these elements. Rarely, we may request a person make changes to their fic if what they match does not match what they were assigned.

If you have a question for the person you are creating for (whether for an assigned gift or for a treat), please contact the moderators via email. We will ask for you and relay back an answer.

Works Revealed

All stories and art will be revealed anonymously on the works revealed date. You must have your final draft up by this time as the collection will be going live. Please note if you turned in your work early, AO3 does not update your "published date" automatically. You can do this manually to ensure people see it here (and/or when creators identities are revealed).

You should have at least one gift waiting for you for one of the relationships you signed up to receive. If you do not have a gift, please contact the moderators via email.

We encourage people to comment on gifts produced for you. Your comments do not have to be very long - "Thank you! I liked this gift" is fine, though longer comments are of course also encouraged. Creators' identities will be revealed a week after the works themselves are; after this point, you may post your fic or art on your own website, blog or other third-party websites.

And that's it for the year! Happy exchange!

After that, the Black Emporium closes until the next year.

I'm under 18, but I want to participate. Do I have to tell people my age?

Absolutely not. The only requirement is that you request, offer, and create only G- and T-rated works. You don't need to say why, and you won't stand out as there are plenty of people over 18 who prefer those ratings anyway.

Can I request more than one rating in my sign-up?

Yes. You're required to select at least one rating for each request and offer, but that's the only requirement. You can select as many or as few as you want, and you can select different ratings for different offers and requests.

You could request only G-rated works for one ship and also request G-, T-, or M-rated works for another, etc.

Uh…crap. So it looks like I bit off more than I can chew. Uh…can I just…not post anything?

The purpose of a fic/art exchange is for everyone to have a present. If you know you cannot finish your assignment by the due date, it is imperative that you contact the mods as soon as possible Defaults will be sent out to pinch hitters in order to ensure that recipients do not go giftless.

The archive won’t open until everyone who signed up for that year has something.

I’m not sure I can commit to the full challenge, but I’d like to write/draw something. Is there anything I can do?

Yes! You may claim pinch hits if they are posted and write fics or draw art for people who default.

You may also volunteer as a Beta reader/artist beta, and help others refine their gifts.

You may also create treats where you create a new work just 'cuz you wanted to do something nice.

What exactly is a treat? Who can create treats?

A treat is any fanwork created for this exchange that is not a participant’s assignment.

You can create treats for anyone who is participating – you don’t even have to have signed up to create a treat!

You can even create a treat for your recipient if there are two prompts that really grabbed your attention.

We do feel treats for multiple recipients should be treated with extreme caution, even for those who have opted into receiving them. It is allowed, but please keep all of the following in mind as a creator:

• Does the treat hit anything on any recipients’ DNW list?
• Are all recipients open to receiving multi-recipient treats?
• Does the treat fit requests for all recipients?

It’s better to create a treat for fewer people that closely fits all recipients’ requests and preferences than to create a treat for many people that only fits one person’s requests.

When you create a new work on Ao3, in the field to gift to an individual, you can add all the recipients you wish to gift to. Treats have no minimum word count or art limitations but must follow the same rules about do-not-wants. 

The sign-up form is asking me about treats, but the field says "Characters." What does that mean?

Ao3 has a limited number of fields we can use for sign-ups, so we've re-purposed one we don't use. We don't use this information when matching creators and recipients, but it lets people know whether you're open to receiving treats.

The options are:

• No Treats: you do not want to have a treat created for you, for this relationship
• Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat for this relationship
• Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat for this relationship
• Multi-Recip Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship
•  Multi-Recip Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship

You do not have to select the same treat option for all your requests, but keep in mind that whatever option you select will go for all the relationships in that request field (if you are entering more than one).

A friend of mine is participating in the exchange, and I want to create a treat for them. The ship is a nominated pairing for the exchange, and I know my friend loves it, but they didn't include it in their requests. Can I create the treat anyway?

We ask that gifts respect the requests and DNWs of the recipient, but you're welcome to message a mod and we can ask the recipient if they're open to receiving a treat for a specific pairing they didn't request.

You can also simply gift the work to them outside the exchange.

I have an idea for a treat that I could gift to more than one participant. Is it OK to gift it to all of them? 

Maybe. Treats for multiple recipients should be treated with extreme caution. It is allowed, but please keep all of the following in mind:

1. Does the treat hit anything on any recipients' DNW list?
2. Are all recipients open to receiving multi-recipient treats?
3. Does the treat fit requests for all recipients? It's better to create a treat for fewer people that closely fits all recipients' requests and preferences than to create a treat for many people that only fits one person's requests.

Hey I keep seeing people in the discord with different roles, what's that all about!

The discord has several roles.

There are two roles that cannot be auto-selected from the #roles-roles-roles channel:

• Moderators: People involved in running the exchange who have some moderation powers on discord.
• Advisors: People involved in prior rounds of the exchange who are able to answer questions quickly. Since not all moderators are online all the time, advisors help fill in the gaps in the Q and A channel. They do not have any moderation powers for the discord.

Self-Selectable roles in the roles channel include:

• NSFW channel opt in: You must be eighteen plus to choose this option, it grants access to the NSFW channel for all NSFW discussion. (optional)
• Writing sprints opt-in: Allows you to be alerted to any writing sprints that occur. (optional)
• Artist opt-in: Allows you to gain access to the artists' channel. (optional)
• pronoun roles: allows you tell others what pronouns you wish to be referred to with (optional)
• colour roles:allows you to pick out a colour for your username to be displayed as (optional)