Hi all! This is going to be a single-season SYOC, just something to work on alongside the re-write. You might be asking, "Aren't you going to be too busy to do two stories?" Great question, and the answer is yes, I would be normally. But the re-write is well into the merge in terms of drafting, so by the time planning for this is done, that should be wrapped up. Anyway, enjoy the prologue!

Prologue: A Heated Discovery

Chris and Chef emerged from a rather large and expensive cabin. "I'm telling you, Chris, this isn't gonna work," the cook told the host with certainty as they stared out into the wilderness. "Alaska is literally the least dense state in this country. There's a reason for that." His stern tone seemed to go right through Chris's ears. "Plus, it's summer. This is barely the Alaskan wilderness. It's not even that cold."

Meanwhile, Chris had a sour look on his face. Maybe some of the words the cook was telling him were actually resonating well enough. "Maybe," Chris said. "I guess this one's on me." He sighed. "Maybe Global Warming is actually doing a number up here. We're crazy close to the arctic right now, but I'm not feeling it as much as I should be." The two had light jackets on, but other than that, they seemed to be warm in the weather. "Fine," Chris said eventually, stepping off the porch. "We can rule this one out, but I want you to look at Indiana with this same scrutiny, Chef." He beckoned the cook over. "Come on, let's do one final scope of this location before we call it quits." Chef sighed and stepped off the porch. "Plus, we have this cabin booking for the rest of the night, we might as well use it."

The two walked around the area. Lots of things were just as boring as they had been seeing. The same wildlife, the same trees, the same animals, the same rocks. Eventually, the two made it to a cliff, where the saw a river and a bunch more land at the bottom across that river. "This one's a shame," Chris said with a sigh as he gazed off the cliff. "Imagine a challenge where we make kids throw themselves off this cliff."

Chef tried to picture the challenge the host brought up, a smile coming to his face as he thought of what chaos it might cause. He picked up a rock and hurled it as far as he could, counting the seconds it took to fall. "Mighty high cliff," he pointed out. The two then noticed the rock landing on the ground, or rather, the wood it fell onto. "Is that...a staircase?" Chef asked as he saw a small path at the bottom of the cliff.

"Looks like we weren't even the first ones here," Chris pointed out. "We should probably make sure we didn't kill anyone with that rock of yours, since that's a lawsuit waiting to happen if you did." The two began looking for a way down the cliff, but things got more complicated as there was no path down. "Okay, any ideas? I told you I should have brought my helicopter here."

Chef groaned as he pulled out two sets of rope. "We can repel down the cliff, that's our best bet." The cook set up two spots on the rocks to slide down the mountain safely. Once they were all set up, the cook got on instantly, while Chris looked apprehensive a bit. "Come on, you make children do this without harnesses all the time, this is nothing." That seemed to be enough to convince Chris to go down.

Once they made it to the bottom, Chef made it over to the staircase they saw. "This goes down into a valley," the cook mentioned. He gasped when he saw something odd at it. "And...there's still ice here." Chris, interested, crossed the river to Chef and took a look at it. "This place looks like it gets no sunlight directly, so it's much colder here than before."

Chris stared out to all the ice. "All this is so weird...ice in the middle of summer? Why is-" the host paused as something caught his eye. "This isn't just a valley," he pointed out. "It's a civilization. There's houses here." He grinned. "Suddenly, this place isn't so boring after all. Nice throw." He stepped closer to the icy village. "Come on, maybe we can find something neat here."

The two explored around for quite some time, seeing all the old structures completely frozen in ice. "Global Warming is probably finally hitting down here," Chef pointed out. "Whatever has been under this ice has been under here for a really long time." He noticed an odd building with an altar inside. "Hey, Chris, I found something!" Chef turned around to see Chris was missing. "Chris?" As Chef looked, a figure appeared near the altar. Chef backed up for a second, but in doing so, he slipped on ice. "Ah!" he yelled out, his yell echoing through the valley. This got the figure's attention. It ran over to Chef, who tried to pull himself back. "What are you? Stay back!" Chef finally gained his footing to see the figure, who was wearing a fur cloak, take off the hood. "A...woman?"

The woman had long dark black hair and blue eyes that were piercing at the cook. She couldn't have looked older than 23. "Your dress is so odd..." she said slowly as she pulled out a spear and held it to Chef. "Identify yourself. I have to protect Crevice! I, Thea, swore to protect it." Chef was too stunned to even speak. "Outsider, we have not seen anyone in weeks, but you appear in dress we have never seen. You must explain yourself before I take action against you." Her voice seemed threatening, but fearful at the same time.

Chef tried to say something as Thea threw her cloak off. Without the cloak, she seemed much more battle ready, wearing tight brown fabric that enabled her to move freely without much restriction. "Thea," someone else said, stepping close to the warrior without fear. "Do not act so hastily. Perhaps we can get an explanation about the two outsiders that have arrived here." Thea looked terrified that someone else was here.

The second person wore a long green cloak and walked with a wood cane, despite not looking very old. He had short grey hair with a beard. Thea instantly stepped back upon his order. "Apologies," the man said to Chef. "We are a bit on edge. All of our surroundings feel off. We fear that were not in the ice for a few weeks, but rather much longer than that. What year is it?"

Chef hesitated. "It's...2023, well, I'm not sure how well that translates for you all. Our calendar starts that many years ago. I'm not even sure if that helps that much. Are you all okay? What happened down here?" Despite his initial engagement with Thea, Chef's tone instantly switched to one who wanted to assist with helping them out. They looked fearful.

"Your new calendar was a thing around year 24 when we were hit," the bearded man said with wonder. "Apologies again," he said with a chuckle. "We are still figuring things out. I am Zenthus. Our village was subject to a devastating avalanche that destroyed us and put us under the ice for quite some time. From there, we only have had a few survivors. Thea, myself, Rodin, and Croshia have been stuck to manage what is left. We have accounted for everyone else...one way or another, with only one missing, which we find success in."

Zenthus continued. "It sounds like you had some business nearby and stumbled upon us. We are gracious, since we no longer believe that this place is suitable to inhabit." He sighed. "It is unfortunate. We have numerous cultural histories and artifacts here, but we fear leaving them behind is the best way to save Crevice...the people at least. All four of us."

It was in that moment Chris made it over. "Wow," he said, overhearing just the last part. "We have quite the offer for you then." He laughed as Chef fearfully stayed silent at Chris's offer. "We can help you. We have the tools and technology to keep you all stable, and even restore this village to former glory or whatever you said." Zenthus and Thea looked happy to hear that. "But, we have people who will need to be here to help you. Let's call it...sixteen of them? Plus the two of us. We will assist with anything you need so long as we can live here during that time."

Zenthus looked elated to hear that, but Thea looked skeptical. "That seems odd..." she said skeptically. "Leader Zenthus, I truly would love to see Crevice saved, you know more than anyone that my parents would have wanted that too. But I won't stand here idly and let you trust these outsiders. We know nothing of them. I wish to interrogate them further."

Thea held her spear up to Chris this time, who was more unfazed. "Thea," Zenthus assured her in a calming tone. "We have time to analyze that later. Right now, we need help. We have newly uninhabited homes and a few more under the ice that can be thawed out. It would be fine." He turned to Chris. "We can permit you to stay here in exhange for your help. How will these helpers be arriving?"

Chris thought for a second. "You wouldn't get it," he said, thinking about the way to get the kids down. "But, something to add. As work gets done, as a way of assuring you that we will not intrude longer than we need to, we can remove some additional helpers off of the area. That way, it'll only be a few people left by the time we finish helping you out." Zenthus looked happy to hear that, and even Thea seemed like she was willing to hear that out.

As Chris and Chef left to inspect the surroundings further, Chef turned to Chris. "Are you seriously not going to tell them we're running a game show here?" he asked the host with a stern tone. "That is something they need to know about. We are going to bring technology here that they don't understand. While we could get away with it, I don't think it's such a good plan to-"

Chef's argument was cut off by Chris. "It's fine," the host said with a smirk. "Plus, you said it yourself. We can get away with it, and we will." Chef had an uneasy feeling about him as he heard Chris be content with his lie to Zenthus. "Now, come on, we need to get back and figure out how we're going to find some kids who will be willing to die in the Alaskan wilderness."

Alright, that's our prologue! The four village members will be important throughout the story and serve with the same kind of role that the additional staff members in Power Peak did (if you're familiar with the Karonverse). We've met their over-trusting leader, Zenthus, and their aggressive and skeptical huntress, Thea. Rodin and Croshia will be introduced on the first episode, but each of them have distinct personalities and roles.

Anyway, the application will be on my profile for copy-pasting purposes. I do have some additional rules for this application that I will put here, and also on my profile for viewing convenience. They're pretty wordy, but they're important, and some of these aren't rules as much as statements:

1) Please use this application and complete it all the way. Anything incomplete or with the wrong app will not be considered. I'll have season-specific questions on here that need answers (That means reading the prologue might be important). All applications need to go through PMs. Review Applications will not be considered.

2) To avoid clutter in my PM box, please title the application "Ancient Abodes Application: [Character Name]". This will help me sort out applications from other questions/things I get.

3) As per usual, keep your characters interesting. Interesting does not mean a godlike character, or someone who is only tragedy (this is possible, but must be done extremely eloquently). Try to avoid overly-sexual or gruesome characters, I steer clear of those anyway.

4) Please keep characters grounded to reality (I see the irony considering the season). No superpowers or any of that.

5) Because of the anticipated large amount of submissions, I will not be responding unless your character makes it in. If your character does not, feel free to ask why! I might have really liked them, but they didn't vibe with the season/other cast members. A rejection does not mean I hate them. But, what you shouldn't do is rage and complain. That's immature.

I will be accepting 16 characters in total, and hoping to keep a solid guy/girl balance. Non-binary characters are absolutely welcome, and if they are accepted, I will subtract a slot from somewhere else to make sure they have room. With that, I wish you all luck!

Total Drama Ancient Abodes Application:
(If you need more character space, anything in parentheses can be removed)
General
Name:
Nicknames (optional):
Gender:
Stereotype:
Age(16-20):
Sexuality:

Ethnicity:
Nationality:
Birthplace:

Appearance
Height:
Weight:
Build/Body Type:
Skin Tone:
Hair Style/Color:
Eye Shape/Color:

Primary Outfit:
Secondary Outfit (optional):
Sleep Outfit:
Cold Weather Outfit:

Any Piercings/Tattoos/etc.?:
Do they carry any accessories with them?(i.e. a good luck charm, a backpack):

Personality/Bio
Personality (This is one of the most important parts of the application, be as thorough as you can.):

Backstory (This is just as important, be specific):

Family:

Good, Neutral, or Evil?: (You can select a hybrid):

Likes:
Dislikes:
Talents:
Fears:

Gameplay
Strengths (3-4):
Weaknesses(3-4):

For the following, please rate your character at these skills from 1-10: (This should be balanced. Explanations welcome, but not necessary.)
Running:
Climbing:
Swimming:
Intelligence:
Wisdom (Common sense rather than smarts):
Social/Making Friends:
Manipulation/Persuasion:
Adaptability:

Overall Strategy:

Would they manipulate/betray others?:
How susceptible are they to manipulation themselves?:

Are they an alliance person?:
If yes, would they create or join?:
Would they betray an alliance?:

Plans for the money?:
Reason for joining?:

Interactions
How would they treat the following people?:
Chris:
Chef:
Zenthus:
Thea:
Post-acceptance, you will be reached out to again for how they would treat Rodin/Croshia
Friends:
Enemies:

Are they looking for a relationship?:
Can I put them in one if it works out? (Obviously not many people are looking but stuff happens you know? This is a permission question for me)
If yes, what is their ideal partner?:
Would they betray someone they were close to?:

Other
Audition tape:

Have they appeared in other SYOC's or stories you've written? If so, please share where: (This can help me get a solid dialogue example and see more of their personality)

Anything else you would like to add?: