Chapter 1: Beautiful Fear

Prince Alexandre Schreave of Illéa paced nervously as the camera crew finished setting up for the weekly Illéa Capital Report. Sure, being on live national television in front of millions of people was pretty normal for him, but this day was not like all of the other Fridays. In less than two weeks, he would turn nineteen. Meaning that in less two weeks, he would meet his future wife.

Of course, she would show up with thirty four other girls and he had absolutely no idea how to tell which one he was supposed to marry. Which one he would fall in love with. If any of them! Granted, she didn't know that she was going to be his wife either, but at least once the girls were Selected, they only had one heart to win over. As long as they stayed in the Selection, they only had one option for a husband. Lucky them.

"Alec, stop pacing or you will wear a hole in the carpet." the Queen said with an understanding smile as she entered the broadcast room. She made her way over to the royal family's seats, and sat down by the King, who was reading through some notes for his weekly address.

Alec started, brought out of his fretful reverie by a hand being clapped on his back. He whirled around to see Prince Aidan smirking up at him. He was four years younger but four times as cocky.

"Seriously man, what are you so worried about? There are about to be thirty five girls knocking down our door, and you get the pick of the lot!" Alec rolled his eyes as Aidan pushed past him and flopped into a chair by the King and Queen. Alec thought he could hear Aidan mutter something under his breath, something like, "four years couldn't go fast enough."

Taking a deep breath, Alexandre moved over to the seat on his father's right hand. His Majesty finally looked up from his notes as a crewman announced a 30 second warning.

King Tristan took his place at the podium as the national anthem played. He set his notes to the side and pasted on a charming smile. As the final notes played, he looked Alec in the eyes and gave him a subtle nod. It's time.

"Good evening Illéa! We have an important announcement later, so we'll get right into it. I have some brief news first, and there will be a quick report by the Financial Team, after which I have asked my son, Prince Alexandre, to speak to you."

Alec could only imagine the excitement at the studios of the national news stations. They weren't idiots - they knew that he was almost nineteen, so an 'important announcement' could only mean one thing. The Selection.

"We are still working on finding the exact source of the attack on the capital last week. However, we have determined that there was sorcery involved, and we are attempting to track down the rebels involved. As we told you last week, there was fortunately only one fatality. The five others that were wounded in the attack are making a gradual recovery, and we ask that you pray for them and their families. If there is any one of you who has any information that could aid our search, I urge you to come forward. We are doing all that we can to find the despicable sorcerers responsible. In the mean time, we caution you to stay safe."

The King stood back from the stand as the Head Royal Financial Advisor stepped forward. He sat down next to Alec with a sigh, his mouth a grim line.

Alec couldn't focus on what the Financial Advisor was saying. He was already stressed about the announcement that he was supposed to making in just a few minutes, and now he was thinking about magic. The topic in general had a knack for throwing a damper in his mood. Were they idiots for announcing the Selection when there were obviously more important things to be worrying about? His father had been involving Alec into the running of the country more and more lately, pressuring him to learn how to follow in his father's footsteps. There were rebels out there with dark magic on their side, relations with New Asia were on the rocks, and now he was supposed to date thirty five girls? At once? The rebels were getting more violent and attacking the capital and even the palace.

Would the girls even be safe here?

He was brought back to reality when the Financial Advisor finished speaking and his father gently nudged him forward. Time to put on a show.

A/N: I know the chapter was short, and this is long, but It would be lovely if you read this before submitting… please? :D

Hi there!

So… plot twist! There's magic in Illéa! Only one problem though…. It's against the law. Which means, of course, that the rebels have no problem using it for their own purposes. I'll get more into the whole magic thing as the story goes along, reveal more about why it's outlawed and all that. This is an AU, so it would be at about the same time as Maxon's, but with Tristan and Alec and all of them instead of Clarkson, Amberly, and Maxon. (also, I'm not having there be a war in New Asia yet, in order to focus more the rebel plot line)

This is an SYOC! I've had so much fun creating characters for all of the other great SYOCs out there, so I thought it was finally time for me to write my own. I apologize if updates are inconsistent though, I just started college a few weeks ago, so I'm trying to focus on How to Survive College Freshmanhood 101. But I've been wanting to do this for a while now, and I though I'd give it a go!

The form for your characters is below, but I will also post it on my profile so that you can copy/paste if you want. I will also post the characters there as I get them. I'm thinking I'll probably go to 20-25 submissions before I cut it off, and then just make up the rest of the characters and eliminate them. But I will take up to 35! We'll see how it goes. Oh, and I prefer PM for submissions, but reviews are okay too if you really must.

A few more notes on submissions. I'm looking for variety, like every SYOC out there, but I'm also looking for realistic characters. I mean, avoid the whole "professional athlete who is also an amazing artist and singer-songwriter and speaks ten languages and has a tragic past, oh, and green hair" if you can. Not to scare you off though! I have no problem with a well-rounded girl. And I won't reject any characters. Don't be afraid to be creative! But also, please don't be offended if I ask if I can make a minor adjustment and make it three languages instead of ten :)

Thanks so much, I'm so excited for this! :) :D xD

Disclaimer: All rights for the Selection belong to Kiera Cass, pas moi. Also, I'm just going to say now that the magic part of this was inspired by/based off of BBC Merlin, my favorite TV show of all time, which I also do not own any rights to. You don't need to have seen it to read this, but Merlin has a tendency to seep into any story that I think up.

SYOC form:

Full name:

Nickname:

Age:

Caste:

Province:

Occupation:

Languages:

Appearance: (please include face, hair, height and weight. if you have any preferences for post-makeover looks, include that too. links on your bio are welcome)

Personality: (please include both good and bad traits)

Family: (names are good, occupation better, little about their personality awesome!)

History/Background: (including any romantic history)

Hobbies:

Reason For Joining the Selection: (love? crown? family?)

Opinion on magic: (Okay, so here's the thing. My OC - who won't necessarily marry the prince, but will still be a main character - has magic. Spoiler alert. We'll meet her in a few chapters. Unfortunately, it doesn't really seem practical to have another character to have magic as well, unless you convince me with an EXTREMELY good reason for it. (EDIT 9/20: 4Love4Love4 submitted a character with magic, with a good reason, and I sadly cannot take anymore. I wish I could!) But, I would like to know how your character feels about magic, whether she is sympathetic, curious, apathetic, very much against it, etc.)

Anything Else:

Optional:Maids and how she treats them, post selection hair & makeup & wardrobe (links welcome and encouraged!), signature scent (credit to shadeslayerprincess111 for the idea ;D ), first date ideas, etc.