IAMC26 Challenge - Step 4 – THE KEEPERS

"Every ritual needs witnesses. Who guards the breathing rite?"

The pattern persists because someone — or something — ensures it does. You are about to meet the keepers.

Please read all instructions carefully before posting your work or asking any questions.

If you've missed previous steps, you can still enter. Catch up via these Links

• STEP 1: The Trace

• STEP 2: The Landform

• STEP 3: The Breathing Rite

Synopsis

Someone tends the ritual. Someone watches. Someone remembers.

This is your world's first sign of guardianship — of presence that serves something greater than itself.

• Silhouettes positioned around sacred ground

• Architecture built to observe or protect

• Tools left by careful hands, worn smooth by use

• Dwellings that face the ritual site

• Marks of those who sleep in shifts, who never leave

Whether they are devotees, prisoners, inheritors, or something unknown, they are bound to what you showed in Step 3. This is The Keepers — presence with purpose.

🔹 Focus: Guardianship Through Devotion

Who maintains what cannot preserve itself?

They may not create the ritual, but they serve it.

• Are they protectors, servants, or prisoners of the rite?

• Do they understand their role — or follow it blindly?

• Are they chosen, born into this, or the last survivors?

• What do they sacrifice to keep the pattern alive?

Don't show their faces or reveal their nature completely. Let the viewer sense their presence through what they've built, used, or left behind.

Color + Mood

Your visual identity evolves, building upon what came before.

• Do the colors suggest dedication, burden, or sacred duty?

• How does their presence change the environment — with warmth, wear, vigilance?

• Let continuity flow visually through repeated elements from your previous steps

This is not just a world that breathes — it's a world that is tended. Please show us the evidence.

Meaning and Intention

In 1–3 sentences:

• Who are these keepers — and what drives them?

• How do they relate to the breathing rite from Step 3?

• What does their guardianship cost them, or grant them?

Keep the mystery intact. A keeper isn't a character sheet — they're a relationship to purpose.

⚠️ Avoid:

• Showing complete character designs or detailed faces

• Creating a bustling community or civilization

• Explaining their entire culture — suggest their role, don't define it

Step 4 Checklist

✅ One image depicting keepers, guardians, or evidence of caretaking

✅ Consistent or evolving visual identity from Steps 1, 2 & 3

✅ 1–3 sentence description

✅ Optional: architectural studies, tool sketches, guardian post concepts, devotional objects

⚠️ Tag your post: Challenge Step 4

📊 Scoring & Timeline

Scoring & Timeline

🕒 Submission deadline (no penalty): Sept. 22Th 2025 – 5 PM CET Late uploads accepted with a 5-point penalty

Submission Instructions

• One submission per artist

• Upload in the Submit an IAMC26 Entry space

• Use any format or dimensions

• Include your written description in the caption

Tag with: Challenge Step 4

General Rules and FAQ, available here

Questions? Use the IAMC26 Challenge Q&A space.