Pompilidae

I didn't know him personally, but he sounds like a gem. Condolences to his family and may he rest well. Our community rallies in times of need and I am proud of everyone for their kindness and respect during this time. Lots of love to Dantory.

𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 ● 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒

The Baroness of Vittalitze stood to read the missive. She affirmed its contents, corroborated the story. "We must remember our faith, mm?" She spoke lowly to the Honorable Baron. "To sin by silence, when they all should protest, makes cowards of men and women alike.” @champ

Somewhere, a certain A.B Prudence continues her writings. +1

A certain Baroness eagerly skims the flyer. She smiles and whirls about to go bother her husband about it. Perhaps a visit is in order. @champ

+1 Incredibly quick turnaround time. Intensely creative and flexible ((I change my mind a few times here and there)). Underpriced, if I am honest. <3

Huge +1 for this. Transparency is paramount and I am happy that LotC is moving in this direction.

Fjarriagua Culture: As observed by A.B Prudence Those maiden’s of the snow, or what little is known of them, surely does not cast a favorable light. Tales of women who abduct children in the night, consume any and all men in sight and wreak havoc on any village they can wrap their cold hands around: it is all wrong. Fjarriagua are highly motivated and intelligent creatures. They operate within tightly knit covens. The inner workings of their existence has long been shrouded in mystery. ‘Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand her’ The Coven: Hierarchy Motherhood: often a symbol of happiness, family, devotion and incredible physical sacrifice for the continuation of the world…For the Fjarriagua, this carries a much darker and sinister duty. Witch Mothers are the lifeblood of every coven, maintaining their precious daughters and ensuring their safety. The Mother is as powerful as she is wicked. Most prominent is the ability to create new Fjarriagua. Through the touch of a Greater Fjarriagua, a seed is planted and fostered within a descendant woman’s skin. A yearlong transformation takes root, dragging that woman ever further from her mortality. This glorious process is known as the ágæti. The rebirth of a descendent to a Witch is surely a time of celebration for the Coven. Their hunts may double or even triple in amount, acting as gifts for the Fledgling. A grand feast is held at the end of her transformation, and it is said that the new daughter is showered with praise and charms. ‘Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth - look at the dying man's struggle at his last extremity, and then tell me whether something that begins and ends thus could be intended for his enjoyment.’ The coven is almost entirely composed of Daughters, or simply Fjarriagua. They attend to the Mother and relentlessly vye for her affection and praise. It is said that Mothers are an addictively soothing presence, comforting her tormented daughters and offering reprieve from their misery. These snow Maidens will often band together to plan hunts and other plans to bring about the demise of civilization as most know it to be. Through a common misery and hatred of men, they find solace amongst one another. A lone witch is a rare sight, and is most likely a trap...surely others must lie in wait. Elusive as they may be, most Fjarriagua tend to drop their mask and open up around her sisters. Nights filled with howling laughter and the ring of bells at their feet is a surefire signal that Fjarriagua are near. It is said that tying three bells about the ankle, along with a thistle stem and a Glacier Lilly’s petal would protect a witch from heat. The Cave: “Nothing burns like the cold. But only for a while. Then it gets inside you and starts to fill you up, and after a while you don't have the strength to fight it.” Fjarriagua are quite solitary creatures, as they live out their days way up in snowy mountains and tundras. Huddled in caves, igloos and other wintered trenches, they live quite contentedly. Supposedly, the snow maidens are completely immune to the cold and are forged from it. Frightfully so, their control over the great Wintered North is no light matter. From their pallid fingertips, frost flies out from under their control. They celebrate the North and the power from whence it came: Skjoldjier’s Realm. What these maidens do to occupy their time up in the thin aires of the North is largely unknown. There is rumor that they perform nightly rituals to greet the moon and frolic within its dark embrace. In the early hours of morning they scatter to the dark, afraid of the sun and its harsh rays. Skoldjier’s Realm: In many a passing whisper on the street or hidden within old folklore books, lies the realm of Skjoldjier. A place in constant Winter, with no end in sight. For any mortal to enter the Realm, it is a death sentence. Howling blizzards, biting winds and piercing icicles are all that awaits. To a Fjarriagua, Skjoldjier’s Realm is the birthplace of her very existence. Long ago, a bride to be waited at the altar. Her groom would never show, and so she became inconsolable and distraught. So distraught, that she abandoned the wedding all together and threw herself into an unforgiving snow bank. Had Father Frost not stepped in, she would have surely died. It is through his redemption of this sorrowful woman that the Fjarriagua were born. A hatred of the man who wronged her and a refusal to let it go froze over Brunhylde’s heart. It would remain this way for the rest of written time. Or so the tale goes.

They are monsters: I’ve noticed a trend spanning across many servers over many years. Creatures are almost always played as people, but with a quirky dark side. The lore is rarely followed thematically, as much as it may be mechanically, and ends up making the concepts behind said mechanics seem incongruent with the stories that take place on the server itself. One such example, from my own community, is the idea that Fjarriagua are just women who kill men on the weekends and are divas the rest of the time; that their disconnection from their humanity as they grow older (or advance tiers) is often ignored. They spend more time among descendants than with their own coven, despite lore insisting the inverse should be the case. On a practical note, I understand one must stimulate roleplay and playing with the same few people can get boring. To this I say:it’s what you signed up for. Part of playing this creature is to form a coalition with others like you. If the lore indicates they find comfort in each other, if they’re pack oriented, what have you; it’s what they are. Going against this and having a character act on their own most of the time without any repercussions only serves to prove the point that lore doesn’t matter to players. When a magic or CA is written poorly, it can be exceedingly difficult to extrapolate from. However, even in vague pieces, there are still points where it must be explicit about things inherent to the creature, at risk of ill-equipping the player for their role. Fjarriagua is no exception. They are coven based. One cannot function on their own for extended periods of time without psychosis, depression, or even violent outbursts from the aforementioned mental turbulence. It is not often convenient to write these out. However, nothing about the CA is convenient. They have to feed often, they become paranoid when left alone and are easily injured by flame. Siliti also form covens; they rely on each other for more than hunting. To share knowledge, or put heads together to scheme, or to perform a ritual. Most CAs, I would argue, are group based; roleplaying is, after all, an inherently social hobby. I’m certain some people feel as though their roleplaying experience is deppreciated by a fellow, less thoughtful roleplayer. The same people will often erroneously intertwine OOC feelings with IC actions. We are ultimately people and can pick and choose with whom we enjoy the hobby but if Player A does not like Player B, Player A shouldn’t antagonize Player B in-characterly based on this issue alone. Why do I mention this? Every great storyline has the potential to be completely muddied by OOC feelings, including the basis for how a creature or magic is played out. Spreading a community out in small pockets, which has happened for many communities, only harms the whole in a server that struggles with centralizing roleplay to begin with. The less interconnected and tight knit a CA is, the more they and those they interact with have to lose at an OOC level: the bits of time they have to invest in their hobby and the willingness to continue playing all together, given all of their proverbial eggs are in one community, are at risk. Communication becomes muddied, a game of telephone follows and before you know it: Your lore is shelved. What is the solution? This is a complex issue to tackle. Most of us join a community because we are intrigued by the idea or know somebody within it. Once we form a part of it, in whatever way we were introduced to it - with the narrative’s health in mind or without it, - it can be difficult to change our play style. Really taking the time to understand the lore and player culture surrounding a magic, CA or even ‘mundane’ communities is going to be beneficial to you, the player, 100% of the time. Understanding the foundations of the lore are going to make your storytelling so much easier. At the end of things, what keeps us coming back is the community and drive for telling a great story collectively. I have been writing for nearly a decade. Roleplay is a good, often novel and always entertaining means by which to explore the passion. Any time I interact with someone as a player, I hope to leave them with a good impression: that I helped peddle their story along and the confidence that they definitely pushed mine forwards, as well. I am only writing this because I care about storytelling. Bringing a character to life, giving them a personality and backstory is one of the most enjoyable aspects. Being jaded also tends to come with doing something for a long time. I am not the exception. This post is evidence of that in spades. Carrying out a believable and effective villain is much more difficult than playing everymen. These characters are completely opposite to myself morally. It was this added difficulty that forced me to research more into what I was going to be playing as. The more I learned, I was able to extend beyond the lore with what I call ‘yes and’. I am aware this is a popular theatre term. Acknowledging the core of the creature, AND how can I play this out? For example: Frost mothers would do anything for their coven. For their daughters. AND, they are no longer people. A living, normal mother would be kind and caring. Fjarriagua are monsters, they aren’t capable of love as a human might describe it. I interpreted this as a Mother Fjarriagua being a creature who cannot love, but thinks it can. Anyone who has a Fjarriagua who has interacted with mine knows this. She is as cold as she is emotionally manipulative. However, it is her duty to maintain her coven's livelihood. She will keep you alive, but she cannot love. When it is beneficial, a Mother can be nice but never kind. There is always the underlying question of: What can the Mother get out of this situation? Here is where my gripe lies. Players that have had the opportunity to play a Coven leader take the idea of motherhood within the context of Fjarriauga very literally, assuming they are doting and normal, living motherly figures. The context is stripped completely. It is in part up to the lore writer to make clarifications. It is also in part up to the player to apply the context needed. If you are playing a monster, the normal social rituals and rules do not apply. These are not people with magic, people with anger issues or even living beings. They’re Undead, pantomimes of the human experience neither living nor capable of leading everyday lives, let alone passing on to the next. The very reality of that is maddening enough. For any character to be alive hundreds of years longer than they were supposed to is a huge mental toll. This is something that also has the opportunity to be played out extremely well. When we apply the context needed for these creatures, we open up so many avenues to playing dynamic and fun villains. We open up collaborative opportunities for those in our communities, we push stories along and we keep our many overlapping circles we roleplay with as a whole- alive. LotC is only here because all of us keep it here. Part of telling a good story is being not so good, and accepting the downsides that are inconvenient. Believable characters are flawed, more so for villains. It is okay to depart from the idea that a creature is just a mentally twisted human or descendent. It is equally okay to let go of the need to have something to yourself and to cooperate with the people that make the thing you hold dear possible at all. Resources on Writing:

We have done some incredible work. Thank you @VictoriaMinaj for breathing life into the past year's culmination of draft after draft. You are always lovely to collaborate with, and I am so proud to see this finally flourish. I hope this can pass through and this rewrite will revive our community. When I first joined, I noticed some issues that bothered me. The lore seemed too small and didn't fit us as well as it used to- the culture changed, the player base changed. No longer is half the server a Fjarriagua- only a few. I am happy to have erased these issues through these new (hopefully) implemented changes. The purpose of a rewrite, to me anyway, is to keep a magic from dying and ensure it makes sense for those who choose to keep it afloat. I think this more than accomplishes the goal. +1 Always cheering you on.

Whilst courtship can enhance roleplay, it really doesn't matter. Hear me out. As much as it can make sense IC wise for character A and B to be together, it doesn't often go this way. Especially in bigger nations where courtship and who marries who can be, and often is, a HUGE political move. It can make the most sense, but unfortunately, OOC racketeering is the only guide for most courtships. Especially when there is land, money, and pixel power to be exchanged. I would implore you, and anyone else who likes to engage in courtship/marriage RP-to not be devastated or frustrated when a plot makes perfect sense and falls apart for seemingly no reason. As much as I dislike the idea to arrange everything OOC, to have any enjoyment out of the roleplay you choose to partake in, in the current climate it is in- is to play the game, too. Talk to the other player. Be realistic, a commoner trying to marry a prince- isn't going to work. Work out what you can ICly, and negotiate the rest another way. Pixel power will almost always overrule a good story. I've learned this a time too many. Try to develop your character and make them earn their way through life. Accomplish what you want them to, through their own grit- rather than a ring on the finger.