Competition: [RoS: Escalation Phase II] Fiction - Space Shanties and Pirate Songs

Finished

[RoS: Escalation Phase II] Fiction - Space Shanties and Pirate Songs

This competition is in the [RoS: Escalation Phase II] Fiction Bin. Participating in a competition in this bin for the first time awards 5 points for your Clan. Cumulatively, the placements in this competition are worth 5.0% of placement points in this Phase. See the parent competition for detailed rules.

Objective

With the rise of the Tenixir Revenants, curious tunes have begun to echo down the halls of starships and ring from casino pubs, lifting the spirits of workers and marking every conflict between the pirates and imperials with a memorable rhythm.

Write the words of one of these space shanties or pirate songs in the context of the conflict between the Tenixir Revenants and Severian Principate. You may write from any perspective, regardless of your pledged faction, but you must do so using one of the following formats:

Space Shanty

Traditional sea shanties were crude, rhythmic, call-and-response songs invented to help sailors complete tasks that required precise teamwork - like hoisting a sail or raising anchor by pulling a line at the same time. The leader, or shantyman, would call out new verses and the crew would respond with a simple, repetitive chorus, pulling in time with the task, e.g:

I thought I heard the Old Man say,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her!
Tomorrow, you will get your pay
And it’s time for us to leave her!

In the age of space-faring, technology has largely eliminated the need for such songs, but why spoil the fun? Your task is to invent a space shanty in a similar style that could be used to complete any task as a team.

Write a short scene where your sea shanty is being sung. You can write this as set-up context with the full shanty lyrics following immediately beneath, or you can intersperse your shanty lyrics into the scene as dialogue. This should collectively be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 2000 words.
Your sea shanty must use a call-and-response format as described above.
Rhythm is crucial! Your entry must include a link to a song that matches the rhythm of your sea shanty. If you invented your own tune, feel free to record it and include a link to that, instead, but a YouTube link to an existing song with a matching rhythm is just as acceptable!

Pirate Song

Where sea shanties were designed around work at sea, sea songs might be sung anywhere for a variety of reasons (or moods!) and took a variety of forms. More often than not, however, they told a story. Your task is to write a pirate song (or general “space” song) that tells a story from the events of the conflict between the Tenixir Revenants and the Severian Principate.

Write a song in the style of the old sea and pirate songs following the guidelines described above. Your entry should be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 2000 words. You may include a short introductory scene as part of the word count, but the majority of your story must be told by your song in order to qualify.
Your pirate song does not need to follow any specific format, but it should have some rhythm or rhyme that allows it to be sung.
Your entry must include a link to a song that matches the tune of your song. If you invented your own, feel free to record it and include a link to that, instead, but a YouTube link to an existing song with a matching tune is just as acceptable!

Submission

Submissions will be accepted within the competition text field or via PDF. Song sample links should be provided as links somewhere within the text of the entry.

Grading Criteria

Adherence to the structure of your chosen form (sea shanties must use call-and-response and pirate songs must tell a story in verse form, but particularly appropriate or well-composed rhythms, tunes and structure will score higher).
How well the shanty or song fits within the context of the Tenixir and Principate conflict.
Mechanics of spelling and grammar (within the realm of poetic license).
Overall creativity and story-telling.

Examples / Inspiration

49 Sea Shanties
Wellerman – Sea Song
Captain Ward & The Rainbow – Sea Song
Moby Duck – Sea Song
Compilation of Sea Shanties & Folk Music – Songs and Shanties

Competition Information

Parent Competition: Rite of Supremacy: Escalation
Organized by: Ciara Tearnan Rothwell Tarentae, General Zxyl Bes'uliik
Running time: 2021-06-20 until 2021-07-06 (17 days)
Target Unit: Entire DJB
Competition Type: Fiction
Awards: Novae and regular and bonus Clusters of Ice as per VOICE guidelines
Participants: 35 subscribers, of which 16 have participated.

Results

1st place

Benevolent Taldrya Whiner

Member: Benevolent Taldrya Whiner
File submission: 2706 - Space Shanties and Pirate Songs - The First Retributionist Pirate.pdf
Placement: 1st place

2nd place

Aedile Tali Sroka

Member: Aedile Tali Sroka
File submission: RoS Sea Shanty(1).pdf
Textual submission: Tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItFqjjLPjcA
Placement: 2nd place

3rd place

Dr. Aru Law

Member: Dr. Aru Law
File submission: Revenants Hymn.pdf
Placement: 3rd place

4th place

Qyreia Arronen

Member: Qyreia Arronen
File submission: RoS Escalation Ph2, Space Shanties & Pirate Songs (Shanty!).pdf
Textual submission: To the tune of 'Santiana', as in the embedded link in the doc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laY4TcWEbSA
Placement: 4th place

5th place

Aurora "Aura" Ta'var

Member: Aurora "Aura" Ta'var
File submission: Sea Shanty_Aura10388 (1).pdf
Textual submission: Song source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lWs5g8YTaI (Moby Duck)
Placement: 5th place

6th place

Master Selika Roh di Plagia

Member: Master Selika Roh di Plagia
File submission: The Death of the Interdictor Geta.pdf
Placement: 6th place

7th place

Proconsul Diyrian "Diy" Grivna

Member: Proconsul Diyrian "Diy" Grivna
File submission: [RoS_ Escalation] Space Shanties_Diyrian.pdf
Textual submission: Based on the [Rattle Them Winches tune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmj7HxZBL3U).
Placement: 7th place

8th place

Nightsister Sinya Ani

Member

Nightsister Sinya Ani

Textual submission

The Tenixir Revenant’s CR70 pushed its way through the Doran star system. Soon it would arrive at Dondoran and thrust into a battle no one thought they could win. The Principate fleet had already been spotted setting up a blockade around the neural Hutt world. The Retributionists were outgunned and outnumbered, and they knew it.

The dour mood saturated the bridge as Rasha entered. She looked around at the scared faces and saw death. If they went into battle like this, it would be a short engagement indeed.

“What’s with the long faces? Soon we will have the opportunity to take the fight to the enemy. What we do here today matters. It matters more than you could possibly realize.” Rasha’s speech did little to raise their spirits. But she wasn’t done. She knew a defeated spirit was a defeated army. “For too long have we run. Too long has the Severian Principate enslaved the galaxy. It’s time to stand and fight! It’s time we freed ourselves of tyranny!”

“What do we do with a Principate soldier?”
she queried. “Hmm? Anyone?” She paused…”We kill that tyrant!”

She began to sing a shanty that had been heard around their base over the last few months. Soon everyone had joined in and spirits began to lift and pirates manned their battle stations with gusto!

“What will we do with a Principate soldier?
What will we do with a Principate soldier?
What will we do with a Principate soldier?
When e’er you see them!