(Avatar: The Last Airbender) Ba Sing Se is the capital of the Earth Kingdom and the largest city in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe. The city is functionally self-sufficient containing vast farmlands and more than enough sources of water to sustain millions of residents, and is well protected by it's expansive network of fortifications and legendary walls that have been said to be virtually impenetrable. The residents of the city generally lead a better life than the inhabitants of the rest of the Earth Kingdom in a highly class stratified but stable environment under the Earth King.

For a hundred years, the Fire Nation has ravaged the lands outside of the outer walls of Ba Sing Se- colonizing vast parts of the Earth Kingdom and conducting a campaign of mass genocide and incarceration against members of the Earth Kingdom as well as other nations. For the duration of the war, residents of the city of Ba Sing Se have been led to believe that the city is immune from the war- popularized via the catchphrase, ""There is no war in Ba Sing Se""- a lie heavily propagated by the city's corrupt elite police force, the Dai Li. They work to capture, interrogate, and imprison political dissidents who try to dispute this narrative all under the name of the Earth King while in reality, the Dai Li are functionally the rulers of Ba Sing Se and do not want any challenge to their power.

While the Dai Li are able to maintain the peace within the city for the better part of this hundred year war, outside the city walls, the Fire Nation had worked to develop a highly advanced hydraulic drill that was on the verge of penetrating the legendary walls of the city. This was only foiled by the intervention of Avatar Aang and his friends who destroyed the drill and ended any immediate hopes of the Fire Nation conquering Ba Sing Se. But in the process, they discover the Dai Li's elaborate conspiracy to keep the population in check.

(Percy Jackson) Nico di Angelo is the mortal demigod son of Hades and Maria di Angelo. Nico’s abilities include supernatural battle reflexes, pain resilience, control over the dead, earth (i.e. levitating rocks) and shadows, navigating the dreamscape, and radiating an aura of fear and death. He also inherited the fatal flaw for children of Hades, which is holding grudges.

Nico had a demigod sister also of Hades, Bianca, who died in on a quest - something for which he initially blamed Percy Jackson (demigod son of Poseidon). Maria also died when Nico was a child after Zeus struck the hotel they were staying in in an attempt to kill the siblings. Nico has had a complicated relationship with his father as well as the other demigods at Camp Half-Blood.

For the purposes of this debate, Camp Half-Blood has defeated Kronos' attempted return but Percy has not yet been taken to Camp Jupiter, so that any event after the first series of books may not be assumed.

(Dungeons & Dragons (5e)) The Forgotten Realms are a world of monsters, magic and adventure. Various magical and monstrous threats exist and kingdoms often deal with this by hiring adventurers to kill these threats.

One source of magic in the Forgotten Realms is a connection to one of nearly 40 gods that exist, ranging from the lawful good god of justice Tyr to the chaotic evil god of lies Cyric. The most favoured followers of these gods, known as their clerics, are granted access to various spellcasting abilities, including healing and combat spells. The power of a spell a cleric is able to cast is tied to the level of favour that cleric has with their god. Spells in this universe often require the use of material components of varying costs (with more powerful spells having higher costs).

Some of the most favoured clerics have access to spells that allow them to resurrect the dead. These spells range in power from ones that can revive those who have died within the last minute, to those that can revive someone who died up to two centuries ago. The material components for these spells are costly, ranging from nearly a year’s worth of pay to a lifetime of pay for an artisan worker.

In Once Upon a Time, some of the characters include: Snow White, Prince Charming and their family, who are generally morally virtuous but occasionally stumble; the Evil Queen, who is seeking redemption and trying to be a better person but struggles; and Rumpelstiltskin, who seeks power at all costs but is conflicted by their love for Belle.

As a result of a curse cast by the Evil Queen, the characters were sent from the Enchanted Forest to the Land Without Magic (aka the ‘real world’). Now living there, the characters all crave their ‘happy ending’.

Henry, who is the 12 year old grandchild of Snow White and Prince Charming [see also broader family tree], has inherited the power of 'the author’, granting him the ability to ‘write’ the happy ending of all the characters. Previously, the role of 'the author' has been emphasised as non-interventionist - recording but not altering events.

For the purposes of this debate:
- The characters have their memories intact (i.e. after the curse is ‘broken’)
- ‘Characters’ does not include ordinary people living in the ’real world’
- Henry would not be able to write his own happy ending (per the show)

(Van Helsing) 3 years ago, the yellowstone volcanoes erupted; blanketing the world in ash, blocking out the sun and allowing the previously secret vampire population to overrun the human race.

These vampires exist in various forms depending on how well they have been able to feed. Those who haven't been able to feed consistently are feral creatures who can be fought off by humans. Whilst the vast majority of vampires in the current world are of this type, there are those who are well fed, intelligent and possess much greater strength than any human.

At the time of the apocalypse, Axel was part of a unit of marines who was tasked with securing a single comatose patient from a hopsital in the centre of Seattle, who they were told would play the key role in overcoming the apocalyptic events that were unfolding. In the present, Axel leads a small group of survivors that are still holed up in this hospital, guarding over the comatose body of this patient and a caged vampire, who was once a survivor in their group. The hospital itself is fortified, has its own rudimentary electricity supplies and is surrounded by UV lights. Ferals pose little threat to them inside of it, although they do still need to make scavenging expeditions into the outside world to gather food and supplies.

Via occasional interactions with other groups of survivors, Axel has been told that the city of Denver has expelled its vampire threat and fortified an outer boundary, making it a safe haven for humans. Other members of Axel's group do not yet have this information. This is in severe contrast to Seattle, which is a ruined city with very little human presence. Travelling to Denver would require leaving the comatose patient behind.

Note: this motion is set prior to the events of season 1.

(Merlin) King Uther has banned magic, and anyone found practicing it is put to death. This has arisen in the past twenty years - stabilising an otherwise turbulent kingdom with lots of competing magical factions.

Merlin is a talented young sorcerer who lives in Uther’s kingdom, and keeps his magic secret. He works in the King’s court as an assistant physician, and servant for Prince Arthur (the King's son). A dragon who ‘knows all’ as a creature of the Old Religion lives under the castle, imprisoned by Uther. The dragon has shared with Merlin that his ‘destiny’ is to save Arthur and unite the land.

Morgana is a ward in Uther’s court. She has recently had it revealed to her that she has magic. Morgana, already at odds with Uther over his cruel treatment of magic creatures, sorcerers, and various townsfolk, is beginning to resist Uther’s control, but has not yet aligned herself fully with other magic users. This would potentially require harm to come to Arthur, and definitely involve killing Uther. The weight of this decision is causing Morgana’s mental state to fray. Merlin is currently one of two people in the court to know Morgana has magic - the other is his boss, the senior court physician.

Various assorted magical peoples have attempted to murder Uther (and Arthur) in order to end his reign. Merlin has secretly thwarted some of the plots to end Uther's life; others have been deterred by knights, Uther, or Arthur.

This motion is set prior to Morgana leaving Camelot with Morgause, and therefore debates should not make reference to future events in the series, e.g. the dragon's release, Morded's return, Cenred's army, Gwaine, etc.

(Twilight) You are a Quileute teenager whose lycanthropic nature has recently surfaced. As a result, you have joined a pack of Quileutes with abilities like your own (which is the only such pack currently in existence). As well as the ability to transform, your abilities now include a constant telepathic connection to the pack whilst in your wolf form and an inability to disobey the pack’s current alpha (the leader of the pack).

The status of alpha is inherited and you have discovered that in fact you have shared heritage with the current alpha that places you equal to them. As a result, you have the opportunity to reject your role in the pack and pursue a life on your own, though all other members have expressed their commitment to the current pack and so you would be the only member of your pack to leave. If you do not reject the current pack, your place in it will be the same as that of all other non-alpha members.