Sirenilily

Here are the gifts for this year's Secret Santa exchange! (will update as they are posted)

GoldLinaric -> Azura-Mermaid-Arts

Azura-Mermaid-Arts -> CentaurWorks

CentaurWorks -> Sirenilily

Sirenilily -> femullets

Thank you to everyone that joined this year's Secret Santa! I hope you had/are having fun working on your gifts!

Happy holidays!

Dear Secret Santa,

First of all, thank you for taking your time to participate on my event and making a gift for me ~

For this year, I'd like you to draw one of the character suggestions below (if you don't feel like drawing any of them, feel free to draw any of my other characters or anything you feel like I might like c: ).

I'll add some info about them to help but feel free to draw them however you like ~

They are in no particular order c:

1) MerJu

• MerJu is my mersona, so she represents me.

• She has a pet pufferfish named Winter (fish version of my pet cockatiel)

• She is a freshwater waterfall mermaid and lives in the mountains.

• She likes reading, drinking tea, playing videogames and gathering shells.

• She can turn her tail into legs at will and has a little cabin near the waterfall where she sometimes goes to. That’s where she goes to draw.

• She dislikes sand and mayonnaise.

References: https://toyhou.se/4360314.merju/gallery

2) Aria

• Aria is a student at the Guardian Academy

• Aria was born to one of the noble houses that are part of the Global Alliance. As she was born after the Demon Empire's invasion of the headquarters, her parents sheltered her in order to keep any harm from coming her way. As a result, Aria only came into contact with other noble children and mainly the Skyfield family and was followed by security guards until it was time for her to join the Academy. The hairpin she wears on her head symbolises her family status.

• She currently is attending the bow and sword speciality classes, despite her teachers telling her that she would likely do better at magic classes due to her family's abilities.

• She is a very carefree and cheerful person, who usually has a very positive perspective on life (think "airhead", lol). She can be very expressive at times, especially when eating something she likes.

• When faced with hardships and difficulties, she tries her best to keep herself optimistic and brighten the mood for others. She prefers to keep her emotions to herself and to put a happy façade in order to not "bother" people.

• She is really naive and sometimes is taken advantage of because of that. She has a hard time thinking that people would do things with ill intent and tries to see the best in people.

• She joined the academy hoping to become one of the heroes she read about in her family's library (it's why she decided to wear a cape), despite being very clumsy sometimes getting hurt during missions or classes.

• Despite her clumsiness on the ground, she excels at flying and can do so well even if she is distracted.

• She has a cat plushie that has wings and a bowtie from when she was little and still sleeps with it every night.

• Aria’s wings are separate from her body and float behind her. She has her hair on a braid.

• She is a great singer and really enjoys music as a whole

• Likes: Cats, music, cotton candy (because it looks like clouds), butterflies (she finds them pretty).

• Dislikes: Bugs (thinks they are gross and is afraid of most of them, with the exception of butterflies), bitter food.

References: https://toyhou.se/5928230.aria/gallery

3) Elise

• Elise is one of the candidates for the Kemonomimi land's throne. She is currently the youngest candidate.

• She is cheerful and kind, usually seeming childish to the other candidates. She thinks that Charlotte takes the selection way too seriously and usually tries to lighten up the mood when she is around her.

• Most candidates believe that she doesn't take the selection seriously and some have even suggested that she should quit it altogether and "leave it to those who want to rule"

• She is usually seen walking around, helping around in the Kemonomimi land and is well liked by the capital's common folk.

• She believes that kindness is essential for a ruler and that without talking to people, a ruler will never understand the pressing issues around the land. With that in mind, she often travels through the different regions, although she isn't always welcome.

• Some consider her a pushover and that she is "like the other people in the capital" and is "pretending to care" to gather support for her claim.

• While her sponsors and close supporters tried to keep that information from reaching Elise, she is aware of it and considered quitting the selection.

References: https://toyhou.se/4781507.elise/gallery

4) Charlotte

• Charlotte is one of the candidates for the Kemonomimi land's throne.

• She carries herself in an "elegant and proper" manner and is very serious. She usually gets annoyed by how Elise (another candidate) seems to not care much about the selection.

• She takes her candidacy very seriously and works hard towards it. She often worries about not being "good enough" to be the representative of her region and that she was just picked out of luck, instead of being the best for the position.

• For that reason, she tends to overwork herself to try to make up for what she considers "flaws unfit for a ruler".

• She really enjoys reading and learning about new things, as she believes learning about different subjects will help her become more reliable for when and if she becomes the next ruler.

• When she is in her room, she usually likes to sit by the window and enjoy a warm cup of tea while she reads one of the many books from the library.

• She believes education is key for the development of the Kemonomimi's land and usually supports initiatives towards improving the learning conditions of the Kemonomimi regions.

References: https://toyhou.se/7497647.charlotte/

5) Lynne

• Lynne is a High Guardian of the Global Alliance Council and is an instructor at the Guardian Academy

• She is usually a calm and collected person. She can at times be seem as "too serious" but smiles from time to time, specially when enjoying some tea.

• Lynne comes from a family of powerful sorcerers, who traditionally served under the Skyfield family. However, she is the only one that whereabouts are known.

• Lynne's family served the Skyfield family and protected the realms for millennia. They are known for how powerful they are, feared by many for the same reason

• Lynne is one of the most powerful members of the High Guardian Council.

• She can control her powers quite well, due to the harsh training she went through in her household and her training under the Skyfields.

• She can lose control over her powers if she isn’t careful and lets her emotions take over or if she is overly stressed or irritated. For that reason, while Lynne is known for her calmness, most Guardians and students do their best not to disturb or irritate her out of fear she might go on a rampage.

• There are tons of urban legends about her and her family.

• One of the most spread out rumors is that Lynne's family was attacked and only Lynne and the Skyfield sisters know what really happened. Some seem to suggest Lynne was involved somehow. There are also rumors that Lynne started living with the Skyfield family at age 8.

• While Lynne usually prefers to enjoy her tea in silence and in a quiet place, she likes having friends over for tea and chatting. One of her "tea buddies" is her fellow High Guardian, Nerissa.

• The powers Lynne inherited from her family are related to the spiritual realm. Since joining the Global Alliance, she has learned and prefers to use wind magic as it's "safer" for her to use and she doesn't have to worry about losing control over it, like she does with her powers.

• When she uses her spiritual powers, Lynne’s eyes turn from grey to bright red. She avoids using them and some people believe she wishes she never had them to start with. References:

6) Katie

• Katie is a student at the Guardian academy

• She is a goofball and likes to prank other people

• She has a really sweet tooth and enjoys eating sweets, specially berries cake.

• She is Kayla's best friend. She is the same species as Kayla and Aria but was born wingless and had to prove herself a lot in the academy because she was seen as unfit to be a guardian.

• She was a bit of an outcast until she became friends with Kayla.

• She is great at stealthy missions and sometimes uses her abilities to spy on people

• Her weapon of choice is a sword

References: https://toyhou.se/5163736.katie/gallery

EDIT: Signs ups are now closed! I'll send the notes shortly! Hello, everyone! How are you doing?

Sorry I haven't posted this earlier. I've been a quite busy with work x.x

This year, I've decided to host (again) a Secret Santa event.

In order to give everyone plenty of time to work on their gift to their giftee, I'll keep sign ups open until November 4th and, after that, I'll close the list and send everyone that joined a note with the person they should be gifting.

However, this event will only happen if there are at least 5 people taking part, myself included. I'll update the journal when and if we reach this minimum participant number. EDIT: We got enough people so we are good to go

Feel free to share the event if you want to c:

--- Rules:

(by joining the event, you agree to follow these rules)

1) The deadline for completing your gift is the 25th of December 2022. Please only enter the event if you are sure that you can finish your gift by the deadline.

You will be blacklisted from participating in future events if you don't finish your gift by then (don't worry, I'll consider time zones - until it's the 26th worldwide, it's still valid) and don't provide a valid excuse in a timely manner (see rule 3)

2) You are required to write a wishlist to help your Secret Santa (please include said wishlist on the comments of this journal, so those participating have easy access to it).

Please complete said wishlist by 5th November 2022

In said wishlist, please include at least 3 characters/prompts as alternatives for the gift. You may ask for fanart or art of your characters. Please include references of the characters in the wishlist to help your Santa (view rule 8)

Please be considerate with your Santa's time and avoid asking for drawings with multiple characters or characters that are really detailed.

Please keep the wishes SFW (safe for work) as not everyone is comfortable/draws NSFW stuff and within deviantart rules.

If the person you are working on a gift for didn't post their wishlist by November 6th, please send me a note and I'll contact them about it.

3) If you are unable to finish your gift before the deadline, please inform me as soon as possible so I can prepare a gift for the person you were supposed to gift.

Please know that this might result in you getting blacklisted from the event unless you have a valid excuse and inform me about it up to 1 month after the end of the event (for cases such as hospitalization, accidents, deaths in the family, etc.)

4) Please DO NOT contact the person you are gifting about being their Secret Santa or about their gift until it's uploaded. It's called SECRET Santa for a reason.

5) Please don't post your gift until the 1st of December, even if you finish it before then.

I'll be making another journal to keep track of all the gifts that have been posted, in case anyone misses theirs.

6) In the spirit of the event, please be nice to whoever makes you a gift! The whole point of the event is to have fun, trade gifts and possibly meet new friends!

If you are overly rude to participants of the event, you will be blacklisted.

7) The gift should be in digital form - be it digital art or a scan of traditional art - as the gift exchange will happen online and you will be posting it on deviantart, after all.

Please don't make any gifts that would need to be sent physically to the giftee, for the sake of privacy.

The gift may be a drawing/illustration, small animation, pixel art or any related media. (Unfortunately, due to previous issues in another year, I won't be allowing written media - such as stories)

8) As it has happened before: the gift is supposed to be FOR YOU and it's not a request/commission.

Don't ask for gifts to other people in your wishlist. It would be like regifting something before you even got the gift and it's honestly really rude to whoever is your Secret Santa.

You may give general directions to what you'd like to be drawn (such as a theme - ex: I'd like my character Kayla shooting with her bow/I'd like my character Katie in a christmas scene/I'd like Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as a mermaid) but the Secret Santa will have creative freedom when creating your gift, so do not be overly specific with what you want.

---

FAQ

1) What is a Secret Santa Event?

It's a gift-exchanging event between multiple people, in which the people involved don't know who they are getting their gift from until said gift is uploaded.

2) How do I join it?

Just leave a comment below saying you want to join it! (You don't have to be my watcher, even though I do recommend it at least for the duration of the event so you don't miss any updates.)

Make sure to read the rules before you do!

You have until the 2nd of November 2022, 11:59 pm BRT to join.

Please ONLY JOIN if you are SURE you can finish your gift by the 25TH OF DECEMBER.

3) When is the deadline for the gift?

25th of December 2022 (yes, I'll consider it until the last minute of the 25th worldwide)

Please don't post it until the 1st of December, though!

4) Who will I be gifting?

After the sign up period ends, I'll use random.org to shuffle all the participants names. After that, you'll receive a note informing who you will be making a gift for.

5) Can I tell the person I'm going to gift that I'm their Secret Santa?

No. Please don't reveal to the person you are gifting that you are their Secret Santa until the gift is posted. It will just spoil the event to them.

6) But...what should I draw/make for the person I'm gifting? Please refer to the person's wishlist for ideas on what to draw for them. They should be in the comments below after November 5th. If you read up to this point, add "sparkles" to your comment to validate your entry.

If there are any issues, please contact me about them. I'll try to help you as much as I can.

7) What will happen if I don't get my gift on the deadline?

I'll be drawing a gift for you myself, based on your wishlist.

Don't worry, if you follow the rules and finish your gift on time, I'll make sure you get a gift. It would be unfair for you to not get one when it wasn't your fault.

I'll do my best to finish your gift by January, but please understand that depending on the number of participants and how many of those don't get a gift on time, it might take a bit longer.

8) I don't get it. Could you explain again?

In summary:

Person A is Person B's Secret Santa

Person B does not know A is their Santa until the gift is given.

Person B may be Person C's Secret Santa

Person C doesn't know who it is until THEY get their gift.

Each person has to do 1 gift to a specific person.

Each person should receive 1 gift from someone else in return.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments c:

--- Participants: Sirenilily CentaurWorks GoldLinaric Azura-Mermaid-Arts femullets

~~not me forgetting to do a collection point~~

Here are all the gifts for this year's Secret Santa exchange!

Sirenilily-> Irthemael

Irthemael -> GoldLinaric

GoldLinaric -> TheGamingCentaur

TheGamingCentaur -> Azure-wolf96

Azure-wolf96 -> femullets

femullets -> Sirenilily

Thank you to everyone that participated on it! I hope you had fun working on your gifts!

Happy holidays!

Dear Secret Santa,

First of all, thank you for taking your time to participate on my event and making a gift for me ~

For this year, I'd like you to draw one of the character suggestions below (if you don't feel like drawing any of them, feel free to draw any of my other characters or anything you feel like I might like c: ).

I'll add some info about them to help but feel free to draw them however you like ~

They are in no particular order c:

1) MerJu

• MerJu is my mersona, so she represents me.

• She has a pet pufferfish named Winter (fish version of my pet cockatiel)

• She is a freshwater waterfall mermaid and lives in the mountains.

• She likes reading, drinking tea, playing videogames and gathering shells.

• She can turn her tail into legs at will and has a little cabin near the waterfall where she sometimes goes to. That’s where she goes to draw.

• She dislikes sand and mayonnaise.

References: https://toyhou.se/4360314.merju/gallery

2) Aria

• Aria is a student at the Guardian Academy, specialising in wind magic and bow.

• She is a very carefree and cheerful person, who usually has a very positive perspective on life.

• When faced with hardships and difficulties, she tries her best to keep herself optimistic and brighten the mood for others. She prefers to keep her emotions to herself and to put a happy façade in order to not "bother" people.

• She can be very clumsy and sometimes gets hurt during missions or classes.

• She has a cat plushie that has wings and a bowtie from when she was little and still sleeps with it every night.

• Aria’s wings are separate from her body and float behind her. She has her hair on a braid.

References: https://toyhou.se/5928230.aria/gallery

3) Charlotte

• Charlotte is one of the candidates for the Kemonomimi land's throne.

• She carries herself in an "elegant and proper" manner and is very serious. She usually gets annoyed by how Elise (another candidate) seems to not care much about the selection.

• She takes her candidacy very seriously and works hard towards it. She often worries about not being "good enough" to be the representative of her region and that she was just picked out of luck, instead of being the best for the position.

• For that reason, she tends to overwork herself to try to make up for what she considers "flaws unfit for a ruler".

• She really enjoys reading and learning about new things, as she believes learning about different subjects will help her become more reliable for when and if she becomes the next ruler.

• When she is in her room, she usually likes to sit by the window and enjoy a warm cup of tea while she reads one of the many books from the library.

• She believes education is key for the development of the Kemonomimi's land and usually supports initiatives towards improving the learning conditions of the Kemonomimi regions.

References: https://toyhou.se/7497647.charlotte

4) Edaine

• Edaine is a noble from the human lands in the south. She currently works as a magical instructor in the Guardian Academy.

• She specialises in wind magic, being able to control the air around her to create small breezes to large gusts of wind.

• She is able to fly by using the wind to lift herself up.

• She is unable to use long-distance attacks, as she can only use the air around her to a certain extent. For that reason, she can only attack an enemy that is up to 5 meters away from her.

• She cannot use her powers underwater unless she finds an air pocket or is inside a magic bubble (in this case, she can only use a limited amount of spells). For that reason, she usually doesn't participate in missions near large bodies of water or to mermaid lands.

• She is quite proud of her homeland and usually visits it whenever she can.

• Lately, she has been learning earth magic, with a special focus on plants.

5) Lynne

• Lynne is a High Guardian of the Global Alliance Council and is an instructor at the Guardian Academy

• She is usually a calm and collected person. She can at times be seem as "too serious" but smiles from time to time, specially when enjoying some tea.

• Lynne comes from a family of powerful sorcerers, who traditionally served under the Skyfield family. However, she is the only one that whereabouts are known.

• Lynne's family served the Skyfield family and protected the realms for millennia. They are known for how powerful they are, feared by many for the same reason

• Lynne is one of the most powerful members of the High Guardian Council.

• She can control her powers quite well, due to the harsh training she went through in her household and her training under the Skyfields.

• She can lose control over her powers if she isn’t careful and lets her emotions take over or if she is overly stressed or irritated. For that reason, while Lynne is known for her calmness, most Guardians and students do their best not to disturb or irritate her out of fear she might go on a rampage.

• There are tons of urban legends about her and her family.

• One of the most spread out rumors is that Lynne's family was attacked and only Lynne and the Skyfield sisters know what really happened. Some seem to suggest Lynne was involved somehow. There are also rumors that Lynne started living with the Skyfield family at age 8.

• While Lynne usually prefers to enjoy her tea in silence and in a quiet place, she likes having friends over for tea and chatting. One of her "tea buddies" is her fellow High Guardian, Nerissa.

• The powers Lynne inherited from her family are related to the spiritual realm. Since joining the Global Alliance, she has learned and prefers to use wind magic as it's "safer" for her to use and she doesn't have to worry about losing control over it, like she does with her powers.

• When she uses her spiritual powers, Lynne’s eyes turn from grey to bright red. She avoids using them and some people believe she wishes she never had them to start with. References:

6) Elina

• Elina is an elf from the south elven lands (Formely ruled by Lynne's family)

• When she was a little girl, Elina found an ornate small chest in an abandoned house while she was playing hide and seek with her friends. Curious about the chest's contents but wanting to keep it to herself, she hid the chest and came back the next day to open it. After struggling a bit, she managed to open the lock only to find the chest seemingly empty. She then returned to her house with the chest, thinking about repurposing it somehow.

• Years passed until the events that led to the downfall of the ruling family of the lands and the destruction that came from the civil war that broke through as other prominent families tried to take control of the land for themselves.

• As she ran from the conflict and lost family members and friends to greed or to violence, she started noticing that something that resembled shards started growing on her body. Together with it, grew her wish to find the people responsible for the destruction that fell on the land and exact her revenge on them. As the shards grew in number - as if they were feeding off her wish for revenge - her once golden hair started slowly darkening to black, strand by strand.

• Now all alone, she walks through the elven lands, hunting and striking anyone she considers to be a foe, as she searches for more information on what happened.

References: https://toyhou.se/7326317.elina-wip-/gallery