empatheias_ooc | Mid-Month Announcement: January

— MID-MONTHLY MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: JANUARY —

» CALENDAR

Here are the dates you should know for the rest of the month.

1/17: HMD Meme | OOC Campaign Sign-up
1/18: Test Drive.
1/21~26: EVENT: Night of Selenium
1/25: Activity Check starts; Reservations open.
1/31: Activity Check ends.
2/01: Applications Open.

Some other "future" date notes are that IC voting campaigns won't be held until early February, and other things are slowly rolling out as they happen in-game. Another thing we'd like to mention (since we've seen some chatter), is that there is not an IC Valentine's Day. The holiday doesn't exist in this world. The closest in-game version is around April. That said, those who want to their own version of Valentine's are more than welcome to do so (last year there were some "love chocolates" going around...). We'll remind everyone again in the February announcement, but we wanted to go ahead and say this before people start expecting things only to have their hopes and dreams dashed away.

We will throw a CR Meme in mid-February.

» WELCOME OUR NEW NPC HELPERS

Earlier we asked for NPC volunteers since we have quite the cast right now. Three of you have answered! Please thank Kat, Wighty, and skarme for taking the dive and joining our team! Wighty is going to be handling Piphron, and skarme will be tackling the angry whale, Sosyne.

We do still have openings for some of the other major named NPCs, so if anyone is still interested in those, the application is here. Otherwise, we're relatively set for now. So once again, thanks for everyone who expressed interested and applied!

» EMOTION TRACKER UPDATE

As always, it's kind of early to tell where the Emotion Tracker is going. Crystal still broken.

As a reminder, this is just a "mid-month" check to give everyone an idea of where the Emotion Tracker stands. If you haven't had a chance to submit your threads, don't worry! You can still submit and have it count for the final tally at the end of the month.

Here is a screenshot of the stats:

Look at all those big numbers. Especially for Peromei! Although Junko is trying really hard to tank those numbers again, she's getting a lot of love right now.

» TREE OF MEMORIES

Just a couple of updates! As you guys know, we've made the Tree of Memories into a kind of "permanent ongoing" element of the game. We have a new tracker made just for the tree. Every 20 points, a pod will be slated to fall. Right now, Peromei is one point away, with the rest well on their way, most over half! We can't guarantee one will find around Selenium, but it's a possibility. Otherwise, assuming 20 points are reached by the end of the month, it will occur in early February.

So to help with that, we're going to link to this open log, so for those who need more things to do, go out and visit those pods and comment to the tracker!

» IC CAMPAIGNS

Just a quick reminder and explanation about the campaigns that are about to happen. The in-game representatives was a player run idea, and we'd like to continue it. We are down to one representative and there can be up to three. Right now we've thrown up some "official" OOC sign-ups that doubles as IC registration. Those signing up can go ahead and have their characters talk about their run, but the real IC campaign platform will occur in early February. At that point we'll throw a poll which players will vote ICly. One big perk for becoming a representative will be the upcoming negotiations with Shaarnath. Otherwise, it's a pretty easy role.

» NIGHT OF SELENIUM

All right guys, time for what everyone's been waiting for. Given how well our previous version of the event went, we're going to do a repeat of it this year—but with a few little differences to still make it current and a little unique.

Schedule. The IC date for the event is Sunday, January 24 but for OOC purposes we are forward-dating the log to Thursday, January 21. You can expect all posts to go up between 4-6PM CST. Although Night of Selenium itself is a one day and night affair, logging will take place over five days. So 5 OOC : 1 IC day ratio. There will be two planned parts and one potential third part:
- Phase 1: Dealing with Ghosts. Details on this are below, but this log will handle the "daytime" activities. This will be the first log that goes up (on Thursday).
- Phase 2: Night of Selenium. Again, details are below. This log will handle the "nighttime" activities of the lantern sending. It will be posted on Sunday, January 24 and will OOCly last until the following Monday.
- Phase 3: Bonus. This will only occur if certain requirements are met. Read the details below to learn what these requirements are. If they are met, then a post will go up Wednesday, January 27 and be a one IC day affair, with OOC dates to be determined (however, it will be no longer than Saturday, January 30). It won't be anything game changing, but it would be kind of an "aftermath result." It can also either be good or bad.
As with all things, although we have a schedule, in terms of threading anyone can backtag for as long as necessary.
About the Night. The "Night of Selenium" coincides with the Empatheian version of the "Winter Solstice," the time where night is longest, the moon is fullest, and the temperatures coldest. On this night, everyone pays respects to those who have died, especially within the past year. All businesses are closed, including government work. Although people will be somber and grieve, most take this day to celebrate the lives of those gone. Small parties are held and some will publicly speak about the departed. Visitations to the graves and cemeteries are often conducted to leave behind small gifts. It is a time where families gather to relearn their family history and revere and respect their ancestors.
The actual event. At around eight o'clock, everyone gathers to the shores of Lake Niras or go out on boat or small airships hovering near the shores. Each person is given a light, paper lantern with a flower candle attached to the bottom. Both the lantern and the flower represent the soul of the deceased. In addition, the names of past loved ones are written on small slips of paper set right above the candle. The names indicate for whom the lanterns represent. Some name specific individuals, others keep it generic to represent an entire family or line of ancestors. Some use multiple lanterns, and some use one to represent them all. On cue, everyone lights the candle. The names are burned and fuel the lantern. Everyone then releases these lanterns into the sky. This act represents the idea of souls rising to the heavens. At a certain point, the cord holding the flower candle will burn through and release it from the lantern. The candles are designed so that they float down to usually land in the lake. This symbolizes the belief that a part of the soul will still remain on the earth and in people's hearts.
- Special flowers. This year, rather than flower shaped candles, they have gathered special flowers that will hold a small round candle in its center. Prior to release, everyone will be asked to focus their thoughts and emotions into these flowers. Once in the air, the flower will slowly burn away. But as it burns, it will create a colorful shimmering dust pollen, the colors reflecting the emotions. Good or bad, the pollen will spread over and represent the ashes of lost loved ones and (hopefully) create an aurora borealis effect.
Emotional sways. Throughout the day, one can expect there to be a mixture emotions, ranging from somber to grief to fond remembrance to celebratory. During this period, emotions will have a stronger influence on the surroundings and on other people. If you are by someone who is feeling particularly sad and grieving over their lost one, then you will start feeling it as well. You might start thinking about someone who has passed or is gone and start feeling the same way—even if you normally wouldn't or had different feelings for that person. The opposite is true as well. Your own feelings can affect others.
Tree of Memories. The Tree is making a return with this event, and it makes sense given the theme going on. Here are a few ways the Tree may affect your character.
- Memory petals. A strong breeze will mysterious kick up, making the flowers of the tree scatter all over the city and across the island. Even the pods sway ominously, some looking fuller than before. When a petal lands, touches, or is caught by someone, the petal will immediately reflect whoever was the most important, hated, loved, remembered, or forgotten person that had died, lost, or haven't seen around in a very long time. The scene will also be the most important one and will invoke the strongest feelings (or lack of feelings, meaning when they could have been the most apathetic about it). It could be a scene of their death or a memory of when they were alive. If there are more than one petals around, you could have multiple different reflections of either the same or different person. But that's not all the petals will invoke.
  - Ghostly images. Born from the memories stirred by these petals, there is a high chance that a vague, ghostly image will appear of the people in the petals. It is not solid and takes on a more misty form. There are only few discernible features. It cannot talk and it does not move, instead just appearing and disappearing at various times. It is possible to have more than one. The kind of feeling and memory from the petals will also affect its form.
    - Soothing soul. If there are fond memories of this person, then the image will have a lighter appearance. It will also give off a soothing aura, as if to try and calm and placate the living. It can also influence others, and the stronger the feelings you have, the stronger its influence will be.
    - Malevolent grudge. If there are hatred, bitter, extremely grievous, harsh memories of this person, then the exact opposite happens. The image is completely black and twisted in the sense that at times it doesn't even look human. It hangs around you and the emotional influence is much stronger, spreading the negative sentiments outward. The stronger it is, the stronger the effect.
    As mentioned, these images appear only every so often, so don't expect to see people walking around with strange ghostly images following them for hours on end. They usually only appear when they are thought about or during emotional times. However, the "ghosts" don't just disappear out of thin air.
  - Ghostly ascent. After lingering for a brief time, long enough for you to deal with them, the "ghosts" will then drift toward the pods of the tree. They will all go toward the pod that associates with the strongest feeling toward that ghost. So if a ghost had given happier or sad feelings, it would drift into a pod for Daimonia. Hatred and love to Elios. Anger and peace to Sosyne. Some may be a mixed bag, so it's up to the players to decide where they would go.
  All of these ghosts will appear up until dusk. Once dusk hits, any remaining ghosts will go to the tree and no more will appear.
- Tree Tracker. Because of this unique "ghost count" we will have a designated sign-up for everyone to comment to. However, in terms of count it will still follow the same formula. By default, each ghost counts as one point, with aligned ghosts counting as two.
Emotion Tracker. Similarly, there will be a designated Emotion Tracker for the event.
"Bonus." So to talk a little bit about the "bonus" phase, here's what needs to be done. The number of ghosts and other emotional points that go toward the tree will matter. It's possible we could drop pods early as a result. The other is of course Daimonia. It's essentially her day, after all, and she may put on a display depending on how the emotional tide is. Because the pods matter, we're going to need those counts before the end of the event!

And that's about it! As you can see, it's running fairly similar to previous iteration of this event with just a bit more focus on memories and the ghosts having another role.

One final thing to mention is the grave robbery plot from ST0110. For those still on the case, no rush! But if you could tell us what kind of ending you guys would prefer so we have an idea of how that will be prior to Selenium, that may or may not affect things as well.

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And that's about it. If you have any questions, concerns, or want things clarified, please comment here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If the person was majorly important in the person's life can there be more then one of their 'tree ghost' that appears?

You mean like multiple versions or instances?

Uh, instances?

Not like, alternate realities or anything. Like the same person popping up several times due to repeated memories and strong feelings tied to them.

It would be preferred if it would only be once, if only because of how it affects the tree tracker.

Afterthought: however, the ghost could remain longer and be a little stronger.

Edited 2016-01-20 02:49 (UTC)

That sounds delightful. Thank you~

Mid-Month Announcement: January

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