empatheias_ooc | Mod Announcement: March

— MONTHLY MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: MARCH —

HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS FOLKS! MARCH MADNESS HAS ARRIVED—okay, we don't have that much in terms of overly involved events, but we are finally tackling all these projects that have had to be put back. It's election time everywhere, so get ready! We also have the final announcement about the future of our application system, so be sure to read that as well.

» CALENDAR

The main calendar spreadsheet has been updated here.

But here are the basic dates to keep up with:

3/01: Canon and Original Character Applications open.
3/07: Applications close; Reservations close.
3/11~3/13: EVENT: Arehtei Representatives Challenge
3/16~3/18: EVENT: Political Campaigns
3/18: Test Drive.
3/25: Activity Check starts; Reservations open.
3/25~3/31: ????? (Exact dates TBA; range for general expectation)
3/31: Activity Check ends.
4/01: Applications open.

The wintry season of Notus is coming to an end and the spring season of Zephyras is approaching. By the middle of the month most of the snow will have melted away as the temperatures become warmer. However, there is a bit more rain with occasional storms every now and then. Seems like the island may be passing through some turbulent air space.

» 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.

Akashi Seijuro |

fatedking
Game Silver |

refuses
January Lightsphere |

problems
Kaneko Ken |

kueba
Keiichi Maebara |

keichan
Rose Quartz |

roseheartz
Ryoji Mochizuki |

fullmoonfortune
Sachiko Shinozaki |

murderloli
Vincent Nightray |

untraces
Yuu Nishinoya |

freeplay

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

altique

littlebaskerville

melodyoflogic

Those who made fulfilled the "Free Pass" requirement can be found on this spreadsheet. When you use your pass, we will mark it off.

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.

» EMOTION TRACKER UPDATE

The Emotion Tracker has been updated with the sheets all brand spanking new. Anyone who posts after this announcement will be added to the current sheets (so any late tallies from the previous month can still be counted).

While you are free to look at the entire sheet, here's a (lazy) screenshot of what matters:

So. This month's tracker was quite the roller coaster. For those who may recall, at mid-month of February, it had actually dipped into the negatives (gasp). Although the overall total is positive, take a close look at the actual positive/negative breakdowns. Peromei, Sosyne, and Thras actually received more negatives, with Thras taking quite a hit. Looking back on the past months, he's been more or less neutral, but with a slant more toward the negatives. Granted, Thras has his city that will balance it out overall, however he may take note of this.

Poor Peromei, on the other hand, is getting a bit of a mood whiplash here. Make up your minds, dammit! Especially since she's been getting the most hits in terms of emotion points. For Sosyne, she just thinks its par for the course, so hard to say if it's good or bad.

So how will this affect things in the future? Only one way to really find out.

» TREE OF MEMORIES POD UPDATE

So as we mentioned last month, we have a Pod Tracker for the Tree of Memories. We still have some pods just ripe for the pickings, so we may incorporate them this month. However, if we do they will be different compared to previous reveals.

» APPLICATION CYCLES

Last month we proposed shortening our application cycle for various reasons. Among those were to help give more time for in-game events, players to settle down prior to said events, wait reduction, more specific time for arrival, and other benefits. There were some cons, but to us at least, the pros outweighed them. We threw a poll and we thank everyone who responded! Your input is invaluable.

With that said, the final decision is the following:

Starting in April, applications will run during the first four days of the month with a process time taking no longer than five. Introduction logs will go up on the fourth or fifth of every month and all applications will be processed in one batch.

This also means that reservations have to be modified a bit. Instead of the original two week period, ten days max holding, reserves will last for eleven days total, with a max holding of nine. That means the longest a reserve can be held is nine days. If someone puts in a reserve the moment reserves open, they have until the second day of the application cycle to submit their app. After that, it's expired. (We do take app challenges, but reservations take priority.)

So tl;dr list form using March and April as examples:

3/25: Reserves open (reserves made on this date expire on 4/02)
4/01: Applications open
4/04: Applications and Reservations close at 11:59PM CST; Intro Logs posted
4/04~4/05: Application notices are sent out within this time period.

This also means that ICly, all new arrivals are coming in on one day. Characters can actually begin to notice this pattern and thus predict when exactly people are arriving. Previously it was kind of a "time fudge" non-specified time period, but now there will be a definite date.

We'll see how this goes for the next couple of months. If the system needs to be modified, including reverting back to the original system, then we shall make the necessary changes.

Again, this will not start until April. March application cycle will end on the seventh of this month.

» AREHTEI REPRESENTATIVES CHALLENGE

All right, we've talked a lot about this OOCly and ICly all available Arehtei have been broached on the topic. Now it's time to actually get this done. An IC announcement will be made to inform the characters, but we're going ahead and throwing up sign-ups now.

Purpose
Basically, the Arehtei reps are to serve as a liaisons for the Arehtei and kind of be like "first responders." While everyone will still be welcome to speak to the Arehtei personally, the reps can also serve to funnel questions to the Arehtei. Other than that, the reps do not have to perform any specific tasks (unless the Arehtei so chooses—who knows, they may liken the reps to the priests of old!).

Challenges
How this will work is the Arehtei are going to issue a challenge to those who are interested in being their representative. We say "challenge" but these will be more like games of sorts that deal with the aligned emotions. They can vary from quizzes to task-like challenges. None of these challenges will be overbearing or traumatizing, but they will try to test candidate to see how well they not only understand the emotions, but how well they can get along with the Arehtei. We will also try to cater the challenges to the character specifically.

Candidates
There will be a maximum of two reps per Arehtei. Candidates must have been in the game for at least two months. Candidates have to sign up on their own to participate. For those whose character would be more hesitant to do so, a friend could sign them up, but we need you to sign up OOCly on your own. Characters can also try to do this for nefarious or troll reasons. Finally, although this is obvious, only those actually aligned to the Arehtei can be a representative of that Arehtei. Sign-ups are here. IMPORTANT: If you have multiple characters, only choose one.

Actual Selection
In the given form, there are fields that will ask why the character 1) is signing up; 2) would actually be a good rep; 3) success/fail preferences. This will help us give us some IC reasoning as to whether the character will succeed. To make this clear, we as mods will not be deciding. We will be judging based on the Arehtei's actual characterization, and the Arehtei will have a deeper insight into the character's true motivations. Thus they will definitely notice if someone is coming in with ill-intentions, but will put them through the ropes all the same. Who knows, maybe they'll deliberately choose one to teach them a lesson or keep an eye on them. The factors will vary widely on each Arehtei. However, we are also going to employ RNG if everyone in the final selection is on equal footing and we have more than two to choose from. Those participating will know beforehand whether their character makes or breaks it so they can play it out accordingly. However, we'll tell it in private so there's at least still some suspense!

Arehtei
For those wondering about Piphron and Aiada, who are currently still not present on the island, we are still tossing a few ideas of how to incorporate them. For now, the other four (maybe five if Sosyne feels up to it) well issue similar challenges to those aligned to the two missing and select "temporary" reps. Again, while any of the aligned can do this, the main task for these temp reps will be to try and directly contact Piphron and Aiada. They will be in charge in figuring out not only where they are, but their state. Once the Arehtei appear, the reps could either stay or change.

"Limited" Event
Due to the nature of the set-up, this "event" will be limited to those who participate in the challenges. We can have a "spectating" area so others could watch, however we do not plan for this to be a largescale event.

Schedule
ICly, all of this will take place in one day, but OOCly we're having it occur over three days. The current scheduled dates are 3/11 - 3/13, with 3/13 being the actual IC date. Since everyone will know whether they were selected or not prior to the end, we will be able to announce the winners on time while allowing participants to continue threading if needed. That said, we do want everyone involved to tag timely and focus on these threads.

Sign-ups will end on Monday, March 7 and everyone should get their notices before the 9th. If you have any questions, ask them here.

» ELECTION TIME

IT'S HAPPENING. Once again, refer to this post for information as well as to sign your character up for campaigning. As for the campaigns themselves, this is how it will work:

Schedule
The campaigns will last three days both ICly and OOCly. The start on 3/16 and end on 3/19.

Campaign Platforms
A log will be posted on 3/16. In this log, candidates will create a thread starter with whatever campaign speech they wish to say to try and cater votes. Others can then thread and ask questions. If you'd like an example, refer to the previous campaign.

Polling
On the same day as the log, we will throw up a poll that players will used. All votes will be cast ICly—you must select by how your character would vote. It will last until the end of the campaign. For an example, refer to the previous poll.

Announcements
We will announce the winners on 3/20.

This is also going to be a hard deadline type of event. We encourage all candidates to put their "platform" threads within the first day so players can at least have a rough idea of what to work with for voting.

» BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

You may notice that on the calendar schedule there's a bunch of ??? during the last week of the month. There have also been hints and implications in other sections of this announcement. Based on these other factors, there will be another event of sorts at the end of March, but the details won't be finalized and discussed until Mid-March. Just consider this a heads up that there will be something else happening.

With a lot of elements and pieces now falling into place, the plot can finally come out of hibernation. Expect more to come in April!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Player: San
Character: Lu Meng
Arehtei: Elios
Month Joined: Oct 2014
Success or Fail? Success
Backup? I'd prefer Luey to get chosen, but if he doesn't get chosen then I don't mind putting him up for Backup
Has your character interacted with the Arehtei before? Yeap. A couple of times already.
Why is your character running? Lu Meng really wants to help out the Arehtei. He can somewhat understand why Elios isn't too keen on sharing information after having been burned (hah!) in the past, so that's why it's even more urgent that he does all he can to improve Arehtei-Empatheias/Otherworlder relationships. Not just for the benefit of the Empatheians/Otherworlders, but also for the benefit of the Arehtei themselves; he thinks the Arehtei are still sick and suffering from emotional imbalance. Both the people and Arehtei would benefit if the Arehtei recovered, since then the people would be able to feel their emotions more freely without worries of throwing the Arehtei into cray!mode again while the Arehtei would be overall in much better emotional health. He's come to care for Elios, and to a lesser extent Peromei, and he would really like to help the both of them recover from their past. He'd like to help restore the Arehtei to their former glory and position as emotional support for the people (like how he's seen them in some of the Memory Pods).
Why should your character be chosen: Lu Meng helped to pitch the idea of the representatives to Elios on Red's behalf. He's also been blunt with Elios previously on how there's a bit of frustration and distrust towards the Arehtei for holding back information. But he's also shared information with Elios on the state of the people, and (in a thread that's going to happen soon!) will be sharing some memories from the memory pod. With how he throws himself into causes he believes in, he would truly dedicate himself to the job if he's selected, and still try to help Elios even if he's not. He's genuinely fond of the bird and considers Elios a confidante on matters of love and hatred.

While Elios and Lu Meng come from two opposing concepts of how to deal with love, I think the position of representative would help both him and Elios to kind of balance each other out, with Lu Meng being the more rational side and Elios being the more emotional side. Lu Meng would also ardently learn more about love from Elios; since he's been in Emp he's been learning more about familial love and even (gasp!) romantic love, and it's been a bit of a rough life lesson so far but things are looking up!

Lastly, he's also a forward person. He'll be honest with Elios and not afraid to ask questions from the birb. His manner might be a little brusque at times, but he'll also equally fight for/defend Elios if people are spreading rumors or falsities about the birb. If Elios has any questions for the people, Lu Meng would definitely not hesitate to bring it up.

Challenge preferences: I think something Lu Meng has been struggling with lately is whether he deserves "love" (platonic, familial and romantic). He's struggled a lot with self-hatred in recent months, and while he's definitely made improvements he does have his moments when he wonders if he deserves the love that people have given to him. Also, something that challenges the whole concept of duty/propriety vs love. A challenge that places him in a situation where he'd have to pick his duties as a representative over saving those he cares about would be great! Especially if it forces him to abandon logical thought and just follow his feelings.

Lu Meng does well on both physical and puzzle challenges. Philosophical stuff isn't something he's particularly good at, but it would be what's needed in order to get him to think more about the role of love in his life.
Extra + Questions: Nothing at the moment!

Edited 2016-03-01 23:44 (UTC)

Mod Announcement: March

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