empatheias_ooc | Mod Announcement: May (Reply)

— MONTHLY MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: MAY —

We have a few important announcements, including one regarding upcoming application cycles, so if you read anything on this post, at least read that one!

» CALENDAR

The main calendar spreadsheet is here as reference.

Here are the basic dates to keep up with:

5/01: Canon and Original Character Applications open.
5/04: Applications close; Reservations close; Intro log posted.
5/05-06: All applications should be processed by the end of this period.
5/18: Test Drive.
5/25: Activity Check starts; Reservations open.
5/31: Activity Check ends.
6/01: Applications open.

The effects from the last month have died down, but instead of being the usual warm spring, there are odd bursts of cold breezes and cloudy skies. Not ones that look like rain, but sometimes more ominous—colder. They come and go every so often, but it will increase as the month goes on.

» ACTIVITY CHECK RESULTS

Below are the following who were either removed from the Activity Check or dropped out of the game. The list includes all characters who left the game throughout the month. The following names will also be posted in a visible place within the residential area where most of the characters are residing. This list reflects the names that are also on the wall.

Amara Sigatar Khura'in |

benignantly
Anduin Wrynn |

peacefulprince
Ariel |

tradedvoice
Bucky Barnes |

heismymission
Dray Lyell |

mother_of_monsters
Elize Lutus |

pinkidealist
Galen Marek |

forcelightning
Gold |

uncouthhatcher
Grit |

range
Hiyori Iki |

withmyownfists
Jean-Jacques Leroy |

jacquesoff
Kael'thas Sunstrider |

itried
Kyoko Kirigiri |

thegreatmistdetective
Lena "Tracer" Oxton |

zipped
Lucy Heartfilia |

celestial_wizard
Mabel Pines |

meowbel
Maya the Siren |

wellplayedbitch
Minako Aino |

hearted
Nahyuta Sahdmadhi |

ephemerous
Natsu Dragneel |

explodewiththereage
Nobita Nobi |

used_realtears
Pidge Gunderson |

ramblingly
Rayfa Padma Khura'in |

divinable
Reinhardt Wilhelm |

hammernhasslehoff
Sakura Sakurakouji |

fulltimeheroine
Silver |

feistytrader
Sousuke Yamazaki |

shrugsitoff
Steve Rogers |

noparachute
Thace |

catmmander
Velvet Crowe |

artoriouuus
William Twining |

notsolomon
Yoda |

backpackjedi

The following received strikes and must pass this month's Activity Check to remain in the game.

crosspear

edealistical

foreverhalone

forsaken_taboo

helpsthemedicinegodown

nyantomforce

untiltheend

zephlyrt

If there are any mistakes, please let us know ASAP!

» JOBS & TASK BOARD

The Task Board has been updated so characters can start taking on odd jobs if they are so inclined. Details as to how the Task Board works and sign-up can be found here. In addition, there is a Job List sheet that list out more permanent jobs available for characters. These are different from the Task Board jobs as they can be used as part-time or full-time jobs and do not have any specific time period. If you want your character to have a job, that's it. This is also where we will list character run businesses. So if you have one or are thinking about one, there will be a place where it can be referenced and looked at. You can even make tasks relating to your business.

The location of each task is determined by the colors they're labeled with. So, Blue = Verens; Yellow = Shaarnath; Pink = Theastai; Purple = Excursions; Red = Plot.

IMPORTANT! We have a few tasks related to the various things happening this month, so take a look!

As always, we highly encourage anyone to fill out task ideas. (Or if someone is actually crazy and willing to help be our task board generator, we will gladly hire you.)

» EMOTION TRACKER UPDATE

The Emotion Tracker has been updated with new sheets. If you forgot, you can still submit to the tracker and just have it count toward this month. This includes any events that occurred.

This month's survey link is here. Thanks to a suggestion, there's a slight change in the format that hopefully provides more clarity. We've also had feedback requesting a kind of tally for individual responses and are working on that (I say "we" I really mean Slip, thank her everyone!).

Here is the screenshot for the end of last month:

Big fat greenie with...gasp Sosyne with the most overall positive of the bunch and Piphron with most net positive! What a change! Daimonia has most overall negative, but Peromei has most net negative. Interestingly Aiada has the most apathy. As for what the numbers mean for Elios, that will be explained in another section. But for the first time in...ever, I think, all Arehtei are overall positive.

Anyone who is interested in the fancy-schmancy breakdown of points can find it here—but don't worry too much about it if numbers aren't your thing.

» MOD APPLICATIONS

As mentioned in our last mod post, we are in need of new mods both for the actual mod team and for NPCs. We've gotten a couple of applications, but we definitely need more, especially for the mod team. If you are interested, just go here and apply! The deadline is May 15th, but we will keep it open if necessary.

» APPLICATIONS: NO JULY CYCLE

We had asked last time on feedback regarding skipping an app round to deal with more intensive plot things. We have since decided that we will skip July's application cycle. That means after May, apps will open on June and August. It can be assumed it will resume the normal monthly schedule after August, but we will see how things go game plot wise.

To make up for the lost month, both June's and August's cycle will be extended to a full week, so 7 days.

We'll remind everyone again in the next mod announcement and in June's.

» FLOWER FESTIVAL RESULTS

All right, now that we've had a few submissions, we can get a better idea of what to do as a result of the flower festival. Emotion wise, there was a lot of positive emotions flooding back into the land. Although it was only for a few days, long lasting effects have been made that will allow that are to continue thriving. How long? Maybe a few weeks or months, perhaps until the end of the season. But still much longer than before.

Pebble wise, although there weren't that many submissions, we can at least assume that most of them are positive. Thus the mosaic will be of a beautiful, brightly colored phoenix made in the likeness of Elios. Now it's just a matter of getting it to him, that elusive bird.

Which leads to where is said bird. One would have thought that the signs of progress and all that love would have drawn him out, but nope. Those who spoke with him will have noticed that something was greatly amiss, and for those who have not followed, essentially Elios has become more withdrawn and secluded. He's hiding somewhere and is refusing to be seen. Why exactly is unclear, but those who spoke to him may have gotten a few hints.

But another important thing to note as that all this time Elios has mostly been receiving love. One would think this is good, but one of the biggest teachings from the Arehtei is that there must be balance. So those are our hints for you guys.

In addition, the current weather may also be a sign of things to come. But for now we'll leave the dealings of Elios to those interested parties. And we do have a few requests! Those details should be given out to them hopefully by the end of tomorrow. For now, the rest of the game at large will have more immediate concerns to deal with.

» UPTICK IN CRIME AND WHAT'S TO COME

While we don't have a major event planned, we do have some "fun" things in store for everyone this month. It's going to be spread out throughout the month, so certain parts will have to be detailed as we get closer to the date. So here is what you need to know for now and a heads up for what's to come.

Those of you who have been paying attention to task board requests and intro log prompts may have noticed that there’s been a marginal uptick in crime around Verens. Dua (May, for those of you who might be confused!) in particular has seen something even more curious—the newly established Verens Mafia has found themselves under assault by some unseen criminals even they don’t have information on. What does all of this mean? A few things, really…

New Crime. Crime will continue to be more of a problem in the city, rather than the hamlets outside of it. Interestingly, there’s very little criminal activity in the slums, and what activity there is seems to start on the edges of the city and radiate inward. Areas that are heavily commercialized will be the hardest hit, from stores being broken into and ransacked, to things like muggings and purse snatchings.
Airship Dock Sabotage. Airship parts have gone missing. To make matters worse, the true depth of the theft has been artfully disguised, as shoddy (but convincing) fakes have been left in the wake of most of the thefts. This will make many airships break down much faster, and will cause a scarcity of airships to use for trips off of the island.
Crystal Cave Looted. Strangest of all, the cavern in which otherworlders get their replacement crystals will be looted multiple times over the first half of the month, to the point where crystals themselves become quite a bit harder or impossible to get.

This all leads us to the next things that will happen, around the middle of the month and anyone can notice and start investigating into at any time. However, there won't be any real concrete answers until a little later in the month as things start to ramp up a bit.

Given the nature of the event, we're going ahead and telling you that on May 15th (and no sooner!!), crystals will be stolen and replaced so that none will be the wiser—at first. This is going to cause a few side effects after a few days of wearing the fake amulets. Said side effects range as the following: emotion drainage, exaggerated emotions both positive and negative, and lead into apathy.

IMPORTANT! This will be opt in only so if you don't want your crystal taken, that's perfectly fine. Additionally, you should be mindful that once the crystal is taken, it's taken for good. Any progress is lost and will need to start all over again.

Everything will become more apparent on May 22nd, and that's when the third phase of this event will occur. We'll give more details closer to the time, but you can expect it will involve finding and replacing the crystals.

So to recap, here's a timeline:

5/02-5/14: Thefts around the city and airship docks will be the only clue that something is up.
5/15-5/21: Amulet thefts begin continue through the 21st. The effects take roughly two days to get to the more obvious stages, which we’ll give more details about when the time comes.
5/22-5/27: Investigation and subsequent adventures to deal with what's happening. Details will be given out closer to this time.

Please remember when each stage of the event begins. There should be no posts regarding the crystals until the designated date. We'll be posting announcements for fuller details on the second and third to help remind everyone. But we wanted to let everyone know now so they can make their own plans accordingly.

» AREHTEI RITUALS

Reena is throwing another Arehtei Ritual for this month! If you're interested, the sign-up is here.

» DISCORD CHANNEL

We're still testing out the discord channel, and so far it seems successful! If after this month there's still use, then we'll add it officially to the game info (which still needs it rehaul I am sorry sob).

Again, this is not required, but if you'd like to check it out, click on this invite. You can either download the program or access via web browser from Discord's site.

------------------------

That's it for now! If you have any questions, concerns, or want things clarified, please comment to this entry.

Mod Announcement: May

Post a comment in response: