#be_rules

1. SIGN IN TO AO3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. GO TO THE BLACK EMPORIUM SIGNUP FIELD (LINK)

3. SCROLL TO THE “REQUESTS” FIELD

Once nominations are finished, you'll be able to sign up. In your sign-up, you'll specify the works you'd like to receive and the works you're willing to create. (They do not necessarily have to be the same!)

You must fill out at least three requests and three offers. You may only select each pairing once, but may give multiple ideas per pairing in your prompt.

If you are interested in receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, you must be at least 18 years old and opt-in by checking the appropriate box ("E"); this is not a guarantee you will receive a higher level.

You will have to fill out several fields on the sign-up form:

↳ Relationships

Here you can write in the relationships that you wish to request. As long as it is part of the tag set/eligible nominated pairings, it should be able to be selected here.

If your chosen relationship is in the tag-set but isn't auto-completing, this is unfortunately a bug on AO3's end that we cannot fix -- but if you copy and paste your relationship from the tag-set into this field, you should be able to submit. (Please contact moderators via email at [email protected] if you get an error and let us know what the error was.)

You may list between 1-3 pairings in the same Request field. That does not (necessarily) mean you want all three ships in the same fanwork. We allow multiple pairings in the same Request Field because it allows participants to request up to 30 unique pairings, rather than just 10. Some people group thematically, or by character.

Example of someone requesting three, non-connected pairings. The participant here loosely grouped their "platonic" ships together into one Request Field.

Example of someone requesting a pairing.

↳ Additional Tags

This field is to mark if you're open to receiving fanfiction, fanart, or both (check both boxes), for this request.

Example of someone requesting ONLY fanart for any pairings listed in this Request field.

↳ Ratings (Requests)

If you are open to receiving Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.

Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate interest in M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.

Please choose your ratings carefully! Indicating interest in receiving higher rating works does not mean you are guaranteed to receive them, just that other people will be allowed to gift them to you in this exchange. If you're not comfortable with that possibility, do not check this box.

This recipient did not check the "Explicit" box; they will not receive any Mature or Explicit level works.

↳ Letter

This is a place to put a link to a letter, if you have one. A letter generally is a completely optional, longer version of the description field, and might include more details you'd like your creator to know, or things like pictures that are hard to paste into the description box.

Letters are commonly hosted on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Google docs, or other such freely accessible websites.

Please note that the moderators cannot enforce any DNWs you put only in your letter.

Completely optional field. Leave blank if you don't have a letter.

↳ Description

Please feel free to use this field to go into some detail about what you would like; this helps give the creator of your work some different ideas about what they could make for you.

If you are open to treats, please indicate interest. See "Treats" for more.

Examples of prompts or helpful information you could share with your recipient (reminder, your creator is not required to follow your prompts/likes):

General trope likes, e.g., Fluff, First Kiss, Dwarven lore, There Was Only One Bed, Enemies to Lovers, etc.

Stylistic likes, e.g., 2nd person writing, Tarot Card art, chat-fic, etc.

World state options you favor that are relevant to your prompt, e.g., Anora is Queen/Alistair is King, Canon Divergent - Multiple Wardens, Modern AUs, etc.

A sentence or two about why you like the pairing, e.g., "I love Cassandra being flustered around people she likes!"

"What If?" prompts, especially open ended ones, e.g., "What if Blackwall did the Joining ceremony with the Hero of Ferelden in DAO? Or met HoF in the Deep Roads during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC in DAI? Would they have similar perspectives, or different?"

Rating restriction clarifications, e.g., interested in E rated smut, but not E rated violence

Be sure to list your Do Not Wants (DNWs) -- if they're not listed in the Description box of your sign up, then the mods cannot enforce your DNWs. If your DNWs are poorly worded or go against exchange rules, they will also be considered unenforceable.

Example Description. This person has NOT opt into treats and cannot receive any. Please see here for more help formulating your DNWs.

4. CONTINUE TO THE “OFFERS” FIELD

The process to Offers is similar to Requests when it comes to pairings and denoting interest in creating fanart and/or fanfic. However, there are a couple differences one should make note of:

↳ Ratings (Offers)

If you are interested in creating Mature- or Explicit-rated works, please check the box to indicate your interest. We use the AO3 ratings guide as far as judging what each rating entails.

Any participant under 18 should NOT indicate in creating M or E works, as those are intended for 18+ audiences only.

Please choose your ratings carefully! You will be matched on this field; if you're not comfortable with receiving prompts that may include NSFW or "E" elements, do not check this box.

↳ "Notes to mods" Field

If you want, you can write notes to the mods, but this isn't required. Some things you might want to include:

If you are under 18 or do not want to receive any "E" requests/prompts from your recipient, please put a simple "No 'E' requests" or in your sign up. This will not disclose your age as we have adult participants who have asked this of mods over the years.

The AO3 username of any individual(s) you don't want to be matched with. You don't have to provide a reason as to why you don't want to be matched with someone, but we will rely entirely on the name(s) you enter; if you ask not to be matched with FanficWriter69 but you meant FanficWriter96, we can't guarantee you won't get matched. For the sake of everyone's stress level, triple check any names and make sure you're giving us their AO3 username.

Please do not use this field to ask to be matched with a specific person.

↳ "Any Relationship" Box

If you would like, you can offer to create a work for "Any Relationship."

PLEASE ONLY CHECK THIS BOX IF YOU TRULY MEAN ANY RELATIONSHIP.

The only qualifications you can make are the category of pairings (i.e. F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, Gen, or Multi) or by DA game (i.e. DAO, DA2, DAI). You cannot differentiate by any other qualification or request.

An example of someone offering to draw fanart for any F/F pairing.

An example of someone offering to create fanart and/or fanfiction for the pairing "Fenris & Donnic Hendyr," but requesting not to be matched with a specific user.

5. A NOTE ON MATCHING

After sign-ups are completed, creators and recipients are matched based on their sign-ups. Matches are one-way; that is, while it is possible A may write for B and B may write for A, you are more likely to have A writing for B, and B writing for C, and C writing for A.

You will be assigned to someone who has at least one request that matches at least one of your offers for the below two fields: relationship pairing and type of fanwork.

You will be matched with someone who requested:

at least one of the pairings for which you offered to write or draw ("Relationship" field), and

at least one type of fanwork you offered ("Additional Tags" field aka fanfic, fanart, or both — if both, you can create an assignment in either format; you are not obligated to create two assignments), and

whether or not you've both indicated interest in Mature- or Explicit-rated content ("E" checkbox)

1. Sign in to Ao3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. Go to the Black Emporium signup field (link)

3. Scroll to the “Requests” field

There are several different components of this field:

Characters: This is really the TREATS field! Select between one and four of the options to indicate what types of treats (if any) you would like to receive for your relationship(s). 

No Treats: you do not want to have a treat created for you, for this relationship

Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat for this relationship

Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat for this relationship

Multi-Recip Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship

Multi-Recip Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship

You do not have to select the same treat option for all your requests, but keep in mind that whatever option you select will go for all the relationships in that request field (if you are entering more than one).

Relationships: Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your relationship does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein relationships in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset.

Additional Tags: You can request fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Ratings: Select between one and four ratings that you would like to have for your gift. 

The four ratings are:

General Audiences - suitable for someone of any age. no violence and/or sexual content (The “G/PG” of ratings)

Teen and Up Audiences - some adult language, and referenced adult themes such as sex and violence is okay. (the “PG-13” of ratings)

Mature - More inclusion of onscreen implicit violence & sex, and adult/darker subject matter. But not explicit gore nor sexual content. (The “R” of ratings)

Explicit - Explicit, on screen heavy violence & gore, and explicitly written sexual acts or nudity in art (The “NC-17” of ratings)

If you’re not sure where your boundary lies, we would encourage you to err on the side of caution. You may also browse past Black Emporium works to see what past participants have done.

Letter: If you have written a letter on an external website (such as Tumblr/Wordpress/Dreamwidth/Google Docs), you may link it here.

Description: Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you would like to see in a fanwork, both in general and for specific pairings. Good things to include (in this box, a letter, or both) are general likes and dislikes and Do Not Wants. Please remember to put your DNW's (do not wants) in the Ao3 sign up form - we can only take action if you put your DNW in your Ao3 sign-up form because it is the only thing we can absolutely guarantee that your creator will be able to access.

Remember that anyone who creates fanwork for you must respect your Do Not Wants. If you do not enter anything into this box, and you do not have a link to a letter, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s). If you have any preferences or things you do not want, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved.

Here are some things commonly put in the description box:

Likes/Wants:

- Frequently it can be considered helpful to your author or artist if they have some idea of what you like to see, and what you don't. For example:

I love F!Adaar/Sera because I think the idea of them merrily pranking their way around Skyhold is so much fun. Please don't write me something sad about them.

Do Not Wants:

- Stuff that makes you uncomfortable, or just plain stuff that is Not Your Thing. While the Black Emporium does not believe in kink shaming or otherwise insulting people for their own personal taste, we do want people to let their artists or authors know what their limits are. You don't have to give any reasons for this; "no x/y/z" gives your creator plenty of info to discern where your limits are.

We can only take action if someone writes you something against your DNWs if it is in your sign-up.

Prompts:

Prompts can be just about anything, but they're meant to be ideas that you'd like to see that can help give your artist or author something to work off of. Sometimes this can be a prompt or a question you'd like explored (for example: What if Solas found himself falling for M!Trevelyan? How would he feel about potentially falling for a human?) or an idea you'd love to see (Josie and M!Cadash snuggled up in front of a fire, please!) or just a few words of inspiration (Leliana/Josephine - secrets, lies, ravens).

Details about your character(s):

It is fairly common for people to give basic descriptions of their characters if it is a character where their appearance or personality may vary (ex: Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors), particularly if fanart is requested. These descriptions can be very basic indeed (ex: purple hawke), or extremely detailed (ex: This is Celeste Trevelyan, she loves her squad more than life itself, pink hair, dusky-rose skin, built like she could bench press you six ways from sunday).

Things you should not put in the description field:

“I would like anything but nasty [kink]. I think people who write that are gross and nasty.”

Please do not insult people who like something you dislike. It’s Not For You, and That’s Okay. “No [kink]” expresses this much better than a long explanation of why you don’t like [kink].

“I’m only choosing this to get to three nominations. Please don’t write it.”

While we know someone who signs up for a, b and z may want a and/or b more than z, but please don’t scream to your author or artist that what you may well match on is something you don’t want as much as other pairings. Writing something like this also reduces your chance at treats as well.

“Even though I said I wanted M!Solavellan, I’m fine with F!Solavellan too if you like that better.”

Please don’t tell people that you’d be alright with non-nominated pairings, as fics with only non-nominated pairings cannot be added to the collection.

Minimums and Maximums in Requests:

You are required to fill out a minimum of four request fields (Required: Characters, Relationships, Additional Tags, Ratings; Optional: Letter, Description). Remember that you may put between ONE and THREE relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is thirty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 request fields, so if you fill 2 out with 3 requests in each "request box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three out with one request, then double up as you wish.

4. Continue to the “Offers” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationships:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to create for. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset. If it continues to give an error, please drop us a comment with the pairing so we can figure out what's going on. 

You also have the option to select any relationship.

By selecting “Any Relationship,” that means that you are willing to write or draw fanwork for, literally, ANY of the approved pairings.

The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what category of relationship you want to create for: eg, Any F/F, Any M/M, Any F/M, Any Multi, Any Other, or Any Nonbinary. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Cullen pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings in your designated category/categories. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is truly what you want.

Additional Tags:

You can offer to create fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Ratings: Select between one and four ratings that you would like to create for your assignment. 

The four ratings are:

General Audiences - suitable for someone of any age. no violence and/or sexual content (The “G/PG” of ratings)

Teen and Up Audiences - some adult language, and referenced adult themes such as sex and violence is okay. (the “PG-13” of ratings)

Mature - More inclusion of onscreen implicit violence & sex, and adult/darker subject matter. But not explicit gore nor sexual content. (The “R” of ratings)

Explicit - Explicit, on screen heavy violence & gore, and explicitly written sexual acts or nudity in art (The “NC-17” of ratings)

If you’re not sure where your boundary lies, we would encourage you to err on the side of caution. You may also browse past Black Emporium works to see what past participants have done.

Comments for mods:

Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you will and won’t create. As with your requests, you can provide general likes and dislikes as well as things that you absolutely will not do. 

If there is someone signed up you absolutely do not want to create for, please write "don't match me to x" here; we won't ask details, we just won't match and this will be a fully confidential field. If you hate nugs, put it here, and we'll make sure you get at least one nug-free prompt and, ideally, a nug-free sign-up. 

We want you to have an assignment you'll be happy about, so if you've got something that would be triggering for you to create for, let us know. We can only take action based on our own knowledge, so the more information we have the better we can try to match you with what you really want. 

If you do not enter anything into this box, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s) selected. If you have any preferences or do not wants, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved. None of the mods will blab over whatever you write; we just want you to have the best time possible with your assignment.

Minimums and Maximums in Offers:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three offer fields (Required: Relationship, Additional Tags, Ratings; Optional: Comments to mods). Remember that you may put between ONE and THREE relationships per offer field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is thirty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 offer fields, so if you fill 2 offer fields out with 2 offers in each "box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more offer field even though you have one over the minimum required amount of offers -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three offer fields, each with one offer, then go back and double up or not, as you wish.

A Note on Matching

1. Sign in to Ao3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. Go to the Black Emporium signup field (link)

3. Scroll to the “Requests” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset.

Additional Tags: You can request fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Letter: If you have written a letter on an external website (such as Tumblr/Wordpress/Dreamwidth/Google Docs), you may link it here.

Description: Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you would like to see in a fanwork, both in general and for specific pairings. Good things to include (in this box, a letter, or both) are general likes and dislikes, preferred content rating, and Do Not Wants. Please remember to put your DNW's (do not wants) in the Ao3 sign up form - we can only take action if you put your DNW in your Ao3 sign-up form because it is the only thing we can absolutely guarantee that your creator will be able to access.

Remember that anyone who creates fanwork for you must respect your Do Not Wants. If you do not enter anything into this box, and you do not have a link to a letter, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s). If you have any preferences or things you do not want, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved.

Here are some things commonly put in the description box:

Likes/Wants:

- Frequently it can be considered helpful to your author or artist if they have some idea of what you like to see, and what you don't. For example:

I love F!Adaar/Sera because I think the idea of them merrily pranking their way around Skyhold is so much fun. Please don't write me something sad about them.

Do Not Wants:

- Stuff that makes you uncomfortable, or just plain stuff that is Not Your Thing. While the Black Emporium does not believe in kink shaming or otherwise insulting people for their own personal taste, we do want people to let their artists or authors know what their limits are. You don't have to give any reasons for this; "no x/y/z" gives your creator plenty of info to discern where your limits are.

We can only take action if someone writes you something against your DNWs if it is in your sign-up.

Prompts:

Prompts can be just about anything, but they're meant to be ideas that you'd like to see that can help give your artist or author something to work off of. Sometimes this can be a prompt or a question you'd like explored (for example: What if Solas found himself falling for M!Trevelyan? How would he feel about potentially falling for a human?) or an idea you'd love to see (Josie and M!Cadash snuggled up in front of a fire, please!) or just a few words of inspiration (Leliana/Josephine - secrets, lies, ravens).

Details about your character(s):

It is fairly common for people to give basic descriptions of their characters if it is a character where their appearance or personality may vary (ex: Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors), particularly if fanart is requested. These descriptions can be very basic indeed (ex: purple hawke), or extremely detailed (ex: This is Celeste Trevelyan, she loves her squad more than life itself, pink hair, dusky-rose skin, built like she could bench press you six ways from sunday).

Bucket Requests:

You may also use the description field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to receive. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing that have been nominated. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Please fill out the form entirely before filling in pairings manually in the description; those that you fill in in the relationship field (the first 30) will take priority.

Things you should not put in the description field:

“I would like anything but nasty [kink]. I think people who write that are gross and nasty.”

Please do not insult people who like something you dislike. It’s Not For You, and That’s Okay. “No [kink]” expresses this much better than a long explanation of why you don’t like [kink].

“I’m only choosing this to get to three nominations. Please don’t write it.”

While we know someone who signs up for a, b and z may want a and/or b more than z, but please don’t scream to your author or artist that what you may well match on is something you don’t want as much as other pairings. Writing something like this also reduces your chance at treats as well.

“Even though I said I wanted M!Solavellan, I’m fine with F!Solavellan too if you like that better.”

Please don’t tell people that you’d be alright with non-nominated pairings, as fics with only non-nominated pairings cannot be added to the collection.

Minimums and Maximums in Requests:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three request fields (Required: Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Letter, Description). Remember that you may put in one OR two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is thirty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 request fields, so if you fill 2 out with 3 requests in each "request box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three out with one request, then double up as you wish.

4. Continue to the “Offers” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset. If it continues to give an error, please drop us a comment with the pairing so we can figure out what's going on. You also have the option to select any relationship.

By selecting “Any Relationship,” that means that you are willing to write or draw fanwork for, literally, ANY of the approved pairings.

The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what category of relationship you want to create for: eg, Any F/F, Any M/M, Any F/M, Any Multi, Any Other, or Any Nonbinary. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Cullen pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings in your designated category/categories. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is truly what you want.

Additional Tags:

You can offer to create fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Comments for mods:

Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you will and won’t create. As with your requests, you can provide general likes and dislikes as well as things that you absolutely will not do. If there is someone signed up you absolutely cannot stand, please write "don't match me to x" here; we won't ask details, we just won't match and this will be a fully confidential field. If you hate nugs, put it here, and we'll make sure you get at least one nug-free prompt and, ideally, a nug-free sign-up. We want you to have an assignment you'll be happy about, so if you've got something that would be triggering for you to create for, let us know. We can only take action based on our own knowledge, so the more information we have the better we can try to match you with what you really want. If you do not enter anything into this box, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s) selected. If you have any preferences or do not wants, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved. None of the mods will blab over whatever you write; we just want you to have the best time possible with your assignment.

Minimums and Maximums in Offers:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three offer fields (Required: Fandom, Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Comments to mods). Remember that you may put in one or two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is twenty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 offer fields, so if you fill 2 offer fields out with 2 offers in each "box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more offer field even though you have one over the minimum required amount of offers -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three offer fields, each with one offer, then go back and double up or not, as you wish.

Bucket Offers:

You may also use the comments to mod field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to write if you have already filled thirty slots. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Once again, those filled in the actual relationship: tags will take priority over those written in, so choose which pairing goes where carefully!

A Note on Matching

1. Sign in to Ao3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. Go to the Black Emporium signup field (link)

3. Scroll to the “Requests” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset.

Additional Tags: You can request fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Letter: If you have written a letter on an external website (such as Tumblr/Wordpress/Dreamwidth/Google Docs), you may link it here.

Description: Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you would like to see in a fanwork, both in general and for specific pairings. Good things to include (in this box, a letter, or both) are general likes and dislikes, preferred content rating, and Do Not Wants. Please remember to put your DNW's (do not wants) in the Ao3 sign up form - we can only take action if you put your DNW in your Ao3 sign-up form because it is the only thing we can absolutely guarantee that your creator will be able to access.

Remember that anyone who creates fanwork for you must respect your Do Not Wants. If you do not enter anything into this box, and you do not have a link to a letter, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s). If you have any preferences or things you do not want, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved.

Here are some things commonly put in the description box:

Likes/Wants:

- Frequently it can be considered helpful to your author or artist if they have some idea of what you like to see, and what you don't. For example:

I love F!Adaar/Sera because I think the idea of them merrily pranking they way around Skyhold is so much fun. Please don't write me something sad about them.

Do Not Wants:

- stuff that makes you uncomfortable, or just plain stuff that is Not Your Thing. While the Black Emporium does not believe in kink shaming or otherwise insulting people for their own personal taste, we do want people to let their artists or authors know what their limits are. You don't have to give any reasons for this;"no x/y/z" gives your creator plenty of info to discern where your limits are.

We can only take action if someone writes you something against your DNWs if it is in your sign-up.

Prompts -

Prompts can be just about anything, but they're meant to be ideas that you'd like to see that can help give your artist or author something to work off of. Sometimes this can be a prompt or a question you'd like explored (for example: What if Solas found himself falling for M! Trevelyan? How would he feel about potentially falling for a human?) or an idea you'd love to see (Josie and M!Cadash snuggled up in front of a fire, please!) or just a few words of inspiration (Leliana/Josephine - secrets, lies, ravens).

Details about your character(s):

It is fairly common for people to give basic descriptions of their characters if it is a character where their appearance or personality may vary (ex: Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors), particularly if fanart is requested. These descriptions can be very basic indeed (ex: purple hawke), or extremely detailed (ex: This is Celeste Trevelyan, she loves her squad more than life itself, pink hair, dusky-rose skin, built like she could bench press you six ways from sunday).

Bucket Requests:

You may also use the description field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to receive. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing that have been nominated. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Please fill out the form entirely before resulting as filling in pairings manually in the description; those that you fill in in the relationship field (the first 30) will take priority.

Things you should not put in the description field:

“I would like anything but nasty [kink]. I think people write that are gross and nasty.”

Please do not insult people who like something you dislike. It’s Not For You, and That’s Okay. “No [kink]” expresses this much better than a long explanation of why you don’t like [kink].

“I’m only choosing this to get to three nominations. Please don’t write it.”

While we know someone who signs up for a,b and z may want a and/or b more than z, but please don’t scream to your author or artist that what you may well match on is something you don’t want as much as other pairings. Writing something like this also reduces your chance at treats as well.

“Even though I said I wanted M!Solavellan, I’m fine with F!Solavellan too if you like that better.”

Please don’t tell people that you’d be alright with non-nominated pairings, as fics with only non-nominated pairings cannot be added to the collection.

Minimums and Maximums in Requests:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three request fields (Required: Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Letter, Description). Remember that you may put in one OR two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is thirty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 request fields, so if you fill 2 out with 3 requests in each "request box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three out with one request, then double up as you wish.

4. Continue to the “Offers” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset. If it continues to give an error, please drop us a comment with the pairing so we can figure out what's going on. You also have the option to select any relationship.

This means that you are willing to write or draw fanwork for, literally, any of the approved pairings.

The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what sort of relationship you want to create for: eg, any f/f, any m/m, any f/m, any multi, or any nonbinary. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Cullen pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is what you want.

Additional Tags:

You can offer to create fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Comments for mods:

Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you will and won’t create. As with your requests, you can provide general likes and dislikes as well as things that you absolutely will not do. If there is someone signed up you absolutely cannot stand, please write "don't match me to x" here; we won't ask details, we just won't match and this will be a fully confidential field. If you hate nugs, put it here, and we'll make sure you get at least one nug-free prompt and, ideally, a nug-free sign-up. We want you to have an assignment you'll be happy about, so if you've got something that would be triggering for you to create for, let us know. We can only take action based on our own knowledge, so the more information we have the better we can try to match you with what you really want. If you do not enter anything into this box, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s) selected. If you have any preferences or do not wants, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved. None of the mods will blab over whatever you write; we just want you to have the best time possible with your assignment.

Minimums and Maximums in Offers:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three offer fields (Required: Fandom, Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Comments to mods). Remember that you may put in one or two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is twenty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 offer fields, so if you fill 2 offer fields out with 2 offers in each "box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more offer field even though you have one over the minimum required amount of offers -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three offer fields, each with one offer, then go back and double up or not, as you wish.

Bucket Offers:

You may also use the comments to mod field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to write if you have already filled thirty slots. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Once again, those filled in the actual relationship: tags will take priority over those written in, so choose which pairing goes where carefully!

A Note on Matching

The RATING field allows you to specify what Ao3 rating you would like to give/receive.  

The four ratings are:

General Audiences - suitable for someone of any age. no violence and/or sexual content (The "G/PG" of ratings)

Teen and Up Audiences - some adult language, and referenced adult themes such as sex and violence is okay. (the "PG-13" of ratings)

Mature - More inclusion of onscreen implicit violence & sex, and adult/darker subject matter. But not explicit gore nor sexual content. (The "R" of ratings)

Explicit- Explicit, on screen heavy violence & gore, and explicitly written sexual acts or nudity in art (The "NC-17" of ratings)

If you're not sure where your boundary lies, we would encourage you to err on the side of caution. You may also browse past Black Emporium works to see what past participants have done.

The TREATS field will be labeled as "character" since Ao3 has a limited number of fields that we can use for sign-ups. This field is REQUIRED so that prospective treaters can see whether or not you are open to the treat they have in mind, but it will not be used in the matching process.

The options are:

No Treats: you do not want to have a treat created for you, for this relationship

Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat for this relationship

Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat for this relationship

Multi-Recip Fic Treats: you are open to receiving a fic treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship

Multi-Recip Art Treats: you are open to receiving an art treat that will be gifted to more than one person requesting this relationship

You do not have to select the same treat option for all your requests, but keep in mind that whatever option you select will go for all the relationships in that request field (if you are entering more than one).

Ao3 recently introduced the ability to block gifts from users other than your assigned creator. This means that if you want to be able to receive treats, you need to ensure that the following option is enabled.

To do so, go to "My Dashboard" on your Ao3 account, select "Preferences" from the sidebar, scroll down to "Collections, Challenges and Gifts," and make sure that the "Allow Anyone to Gift Me Works" box is checked.