We noticed some frustration regarding the standards of the Celebration's judging. I just wanted to point out and emphasize one portion of the post which outlined the rules, so that our players don't feel as if we've got a grudge against them. And yes, this is from the cultural exchange post, but it was clear that as a whole 'culture' applied to both:

"
- Appropriateness
* This is a contest where your city is submitting a culture exhibit intended
to impress a foreign city council, and should be appropriate for such.
- Gaudy things like torture and slavery won't go over too well!
"

In other words, these competitions are not to look cool for yourself and your friends, but to look cool to someone else. In this case, the Free City of Delve. This was what we felt to be one of the most important and challenging aspects of these, and as such we couldn't be too lenient on our judging regarding it. Multiple judges (a mix of paid and volunteer) voted and had their scores averaged, no single party disqualified anything.

There are some things that more morally flexible characters and cultures would prefer that a city, which stands as a bastion of defiance for freedom in the midst of a hazardous land claimed by oppression, would not. This is a bit of a recurring problem when dealing with neutral parties, like when Wereravens were released. To be explicit so there is no confusion nor room for assumption, here are some relevant examples of things a neutral untethered party would not think is radically awesome:

- Duiran emphasizing its savage roots; killing the weak, etc.
- Enorian pushing a 'purge the wicked' agenda.
- Spinesreach going too far in pursuing knowledge; live dissection.
- Bloodloch supporting cannibalism and slavery.
- In general, threatening to kill or othewise harm them

I know that some feel we were not thorough on ensuring it was known your efforts would be judged through an in-character lens, and we will try to do better at clarifying this in the future. I hope this clears things up.

Penned by my hand on Tisday, the 23rd of Ios, in the year 470 MA.