Dia's Corner - News from The Boss

[Antidia]

I have a few announcements.

First of all, I want to wish Spooky and Mina the best. They've both stepped down from staff, but will remain to hang out and RP with us still. biggrin Thank you both for all your hard work behind the scenes. smile

Teigra will be playing Chieftain Rais now, so contact her for your faun-leader needs.

We're getting closer to opening our Holy Knight event. Just a few more info threads to complete then we can start the concept contest.

I would also like to remind folks that this is an RP shop. RPers get perks. The more active the player, the higher the chances I will select that person to play upcoming important plot roles. And -hinthint- I will be looking for someone to play an IPC coming up soon.

If you own an Elder: I will be looking for activity from now until our Luminary event begins (its a lil ways off, so there's time-likely around 6 months or so). If none of the current Elders are active by that time, they will be retired. If they become active, I will work in a way to include them in the current Luminary plot arc. By active, I mean that ELDER has to be RP'd. Doesn't matter if the owner is active because I want to see RP and I want to see that you are serious about your Elder. This goes for the several that are currently statues. One Luminaries show up, all Elders that are statues will no longer able to "break out". Even as a teen.

And another reminder: all staff members--Teigra, HelMel and Seiana--are allowed to greylist anyone that they feel deserves it, without my permission.
We've had several incidents recently with attitudes, sore losers and folks feeling entitled that I need to put my foot down. Guys, please be nice to each other. I try to be fair in everything I do, but sometimes things are overlooked, and sometimes someone just pisses me off so bad I refuse to help them. Gratitude goes a long way with me. Being ungrateful goes the opposite direction.  

[Antidia]

So what I have I been up to?


I have been feverishly filling out information threads and cleaning up the guild getting ready for our Holy Knight event, which will start on November 25, 2011.

If you can't find a thread, go ahead and ask, because many are finding homes in new subforums.

I also opened the Prize Pot and Adoption thread, so if you are curious, go check it out. It's in the HQ subforum.  

[Antidia]

What's going on backstage? Well, the holidays had staff fairly busy this year, in addition to half of us dealing with end-of-term projects for school. The shop's been a bit slow, but we're still chugging along.

I graduate on Jan. 7th, and will have more time on my hands, and I am hoping to get the next breed's linearts completed so we can push their introduction. I'm looking forward to the upcoming RP bit of our Holy Knight contest. It's gonna be lots of fun, and I hope the folks that entered enjoyed it. It's an event that took us nearly 2 years of planning and tweaking, so I hope everyone enjoys playing in it, as much as we did planning it.

We also have an upcoming event centered around the FAERIE PAE'IL coming up after the Holy Knights, to help get them some spotlight time. wink

I hope everyone had a happy holiday, and I wish y'all a Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you the joy, happiness and success that you deserve. heart  

[Antidia]

I just wanted to give a heads up that we're still here, and working on ways to conclude the knight RP round. I'm sorry it's stalled a bit. Speaking only for myself, I can just say that I have had to deal with things iRL that aggravated my medical condition and rendered me mostly useless the last few weeks. I'm recovering, but it will still be a few days before I am able to do things, because I have to assess where we are, and what needs to be done.

Growings should pick up soon. I apologize for the delays.  

[Antidia]

I apologize for dropping the ball, again. Life just turned hectic, in addition to Photoshop ceasing to be cooperative for me anymore. I didn't have an alternative method to complete artwork.

I'm working on things best I can right now. I know there's a couple dozen baby Pae that should technically be adults right now, in addition to a contest that stalled completely. We're working on resolving that right now. What I will be doing is posting the adults of all the over-due pae, and I will include links to the skipped stages for those that want the artwork for them. If you want to RP the skipped stages, that's fine, but I want to deliver the adults because many people prefer to RP adults over the children/teens anyway. Because this is not a RP-required to grow shop, they should have grown on a regular schedule anyway, had I not had technical and personal issues.

If you have questions or concerns, please PM me.  

[Antidia]

From this point forward, any shop-granted IPC that has not been played, will not be rehomed, but will also not be treated as if they are absent. If they have an assigned duty, it will be assumed that they have been performing this duty, whatever it may be, and the shop reserves the right to summarize said IPC's actions for the purpose of moving the plot forward. Direct and specific actions will not be 'controlled' as much as can be avoided, such as any actions in a private relationship or anything that may reflect upon the character's specific personality quirks. We do not wish to god-mod or take your character out-of-character, at least the character that you have established for them outside their original assigned role. We only wish to move the story forward, and will do so using the most general terms and summaries of events possible.

Whenever a major plot event happens, any IPCs (and pae with important roles) will be included in a summary to explain what they did, who they may have encountered, and what they are now supposed to know.

If there are questions or concerns about this, feel free to PM me.  

[Antidia]

We're working towards getting everything caught up, including the meta-plot stuff that was previous left hanging as well as the knight contest and growings. I suggest anyone interested in the knight contest still to start RPing again if you want your pae to become a knight and integral part of the future meta plot which involves the introduction of the Luminaries, as well as another secret reveal.

Pae not considered a "squire" can still RP and get a chance at an IPC position for those who want it, but don't want leadership responsibilities.

Our goal is to be in a position where we can roll out the next steps towards the next breed as well as getting Luminaries started up (the new Elder stage) very soon.  

[Antidia]

For the most part, all growings are caught up. If you think we missed your pae, feel free to PM me.

Knight contest is still on going, and we need a minimum of five knights for the plot. We're not going to just give these roles away to everyone who participated. Only those who RP'd in the spirit of the contest and plot will get a knight. If that's less than five, we'll fill in the rest with NPCs. The knights are very important and will be the similar to having a Luminary (Elder), and each one is on unique lines. We will compensate for the RP each contestant didn't get due to staff issues, but not all RP requires staff involvement.

Also, I'm noticing a few people may not be aware of the rules regarding our RP setting. Please review all RP information threads in the RP sub-forum if there's questions about the setting, the characters or what is or isn't allowed. The threads are still under construction; however, they do contain the important information. For example: Pae do not have electricity*, or unlimited food. Also, the only ordnance that exists will be that which a pae creates; so there is no artillery or munitions.
*Only pae who secured a generator prior to the HQ being destroyed have electricity, and that's only as long as the fuel source lasts.There are no fossil fuels on Telrunya, however there are fuel sources yet to be discovered. PM Antidia for information if you want to plot the discovery. Also, Telrunya City has an energy source which keeps it lit at night and allows for some appliances.

I'm going to try to get the power thread up sometime this week. Be advised, it does contain another large update to the way powers are handled on the island, so there are changes that will affect all Pae'il who RP having a power or special ability.  

[Antidia]

As we start to prepare for our Valentine's Day chaos, some executive decisions had to be made.

Any inactive Erote or Grace will be reverted to NPC status so that the shop can use them for the events as needed. Their players can have them back should they become active again.
Activity for an Erote or Grace consists primarily of being active/available in the Valentine's Day events. It's okay to not bring them out regularly, because they are seasonal, but if they are not available for just one V-Day event, they revert to shop control.

Current Erotes/Graces becoming NPCs:
- Pothos - God of Longing
- Hymnaios - God of Weddings

This upcoming V-day event will require the presence of all Erotes and Graces, just as a heads up.  

[Antidia]

This is not the official announcement, but I wanted to give a heads-up to everyone so they can start thinking about and planning which Pae they would like to participate in the V-day events.

We're going to have two different things to participate in, and you can play both or one or however you want.

First will be Dancing with the Erotes. A dance contest in which we'll have signups about a week prior to the event starting. We'll draw random names from those who sign up to determine who is partnered with an Erote for the contest. Graces will be included in this with the Erotes, so there's going to be a total of 11 couples. Judges will be Venus, Psyche, Artemis and Tonantzin. This portion of the event will end before Feb 14, because the winners will be the King and Queen of the Dance. More details (including prizes) will be revealed when I put the sign-ups thread up.

Second will be a Valentine's Day Dance that will start on Feb 14th. This event will require an RSVP (cuz we need a head count for preparations) and each Pae must have a date. You can start looking for a partner now, or RP your pae asking another if you like. (multiple pae per player will be allowed) Prizes for this portion of the event will include a Deity and a Grace, in addition to oops!babies and other fun stuff. I'll put a sign up for this along with the dance contest this week.  

[Antidia]

I'm in the process of creating a new "Getting Started" thread with updated information regarding our setting and plot, but I still have a lot of information to go through in the guild to make sure it's all there, so it will take some time.

There is some information I would like to put bluntly, because it was never really touched upon, even if it was implied in some minor incidents.

Telrunya started out a little marysue island full of overpowered superheroes. I did not like that, and I felt that was not a fun setting, nor was it cohesive with my vision for the RP in Fifth Age. I slowly started changing it over the years, based on advice from my staff that I shouldn't change it all at once.

Life was too easy for Pae'il, so even "slice of life" RP was stale and boring. So I moved the island to the ocean for a more realistic setting and to allow for more expansion of ideas. Pae'il now have to deal with weather. Humans no longer can find the island, either, so the human influence is fading fast. And yes, I am purposely taking it away because I want this world to have Pae'il as the dominant species, not humans.

Civilized Western culture is not the dominant culture on Telrunya. It is a diverse island with many different cultures. Realistically, Pae'il would not know anything about human culture.

I recently removed the deus ex machina: the HQ. Pae'il no longer have unlimited access to everything. This was not meant to punish the Pae'il or the players, but meant to take the "easy" away from the story. Easy means boring. I want people to test the boundaries of their creativity. Resolve conflict with their Pae'il, not wash it away as if it never happened. I want us to create an enriching and engaging story with the RP in this shop.

My goal for this shop, and the RP is to encourage us all to be storytellers, and exercise our creativity by creating wonderful, memorable characters that everyone can enjoy reading about.  

[Antidia]

I had been putting off announcing this, waiting for confirmation from a specialist, but I seen him today and he confirmed all the initial assessments and diagnosis.

I have a Glomus Jugulare Tumor that goes from my middle ear, into my neck and up the base of my skull. It was confirmed today that it's gone into my brain. Glomus tumors are typically benign, and slow growing. This one is affecting my facial nerves, my neck and shoulder and vocal chords. I don't know when surgery will be, because they have to coordinate 3 highly specialized surgeons for a day-long surgery. I'll let everyone know when it is, when I get the call.

I will make sure to get all owed artwork done before my surgery, because one of the complications and risks is nerve damage which could affect usage of my right arm -- my drawing arm. I will do everything I can to ensure I don't leave anyone hanging. In the mean time, we're going to keep going as planned with flatsales and plot events.

I just wanted to let everyone know what's going, because it has made me more emotionally volatile than is usual, and for that I apologize. I just ask that everyone have a little extra patience with me, and if I snap or anything, that I never mean anything malicious. I love you guys. heart  

[Antidia]

REGARDING POWERS

Because there's been some confusion and mass amounts of complaints, I'm going to address a few issues regarding powers.

First and foremost, powers are an RP perk, not a right. If you don't RP (or don't want to), just don't take a power. It's that simple. That's why we had to put the deadline on reserved posts. If you don't have time to either answer the prompt or put in a few minutes to think of the power, then WAIT UNTIL YOU DO. There is no rush to get a power. Also, not all pae HAVE to have a power, so don't feel obligated to get one just to have one. They're meant to enrich the RP, not force a chore on the player.

Powers are an added dimension to Pae'il that help us carve out their future role as a Luminary. They also serve as the vehicle for choosing a Faction. Once you align to a faction, you have to stay loyal to it. Silly and useless powers pretty much seal the fate of the pae that they will never become a Luminary. The ONLY exception to this is if the power was previously assigned by us. (In which, contact us directly--because some can still be worked with) For the most part, if you don't take your character's power seriously, neither will we. If you just want a fun, silly ability, that's fine. Not all powers have to be fight-oriented to be useful, but they do need to be useful for the character as more than just "having any old ability".

If coming up with powers is hard, then ask us to do it. We like powers, and we like thinking up new ones. If you reserved a post and some important RL things happened, let us know so we can make sure not to delete your post.  

[Antidia]

I just want to reiterate that I can and will change my mind regarding future plans and plots for individual Pae'il. I am starting to notice whenever I provide information to certain individuals about plans for their pae or the plot involving their pae, they become complacent, entitled and sometimes lazy with the RP involving those characters. So I want to remind folks that just because in private IM I may say "hey, your character is slated to do such-and-such," doesn't mean it's written in stone and if I notice some entitlement going on, I WILL change my mind and let someone else's character do the job.

So the bottom line is, until it's officially announced, nothing is written in stone. But once things are announced, I will stick to it.

So no more getting lazy if I tell you I want your pae for a certain job. I can easily pick someone else who takes the role seriously.  

[Antidia]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to post a few tips when it comes to character background stories as I've noticed a few folks struggling.

- Not every backstory has to be tragic. In fact, only a few should be, so why not give a Pae a happy backstory? Their conflict can come from things that happen now, instead of in the past.
- For characterization: A normal person can overcome tragedy in less than three years. The scars will be there yes, but dwelling on it and making it "who you are" is a sign of mental illness that requires therapy. A person's tragedies don't define who the are; how they handle them does.
- Amnesia is a no-no. Don't ever resort to it, under any circumstances. It's a lazy copout. In fact, if you want amnesia as part of your Pae's story, you have to get RP mod approval or we'll post something in the RP about it. Too many people use it to wash away mistakes in their RP instead of dealing with them as they should. And others use it as a lazy way to cover-up a painful past. There are far better options out there than memory wipes, so if you need help, just ask. We'll be happy to help. If you have a good plot idea that involves amnesia, just run it by us so we know to leave it alone.

Thanks guys, all the RP has been great fun to read and I can't wait to get back into it fullswing! heart heart