GodEmperorFlam

The Glass Cannon Mentality This thread explains the stance taken on glass cannons and the mentality it creates. A glass cannon is a term used in MMOs and other game settings such as tabletops where someone has a character created that is very strong when it comes to dealing damage, but the downside is that they can’t take much damage themselves. “Glass cannon” as glass shatters easily while cannons can destroy a fair bit. When it comes to LotC, we are not playing against NPCs like in most games nor do we have a well crafted game at our disposal that does most of the balancing for us when it comes to PvP abilities that utilize lore/magic related abilities. Due to years of seeing how one sided magics that can stomp out others leads to issues, a decision has been made to try and keep things balanced against everyone else and move things in a non-combative direction for lore. This decision includes the culling of the glass cannon mentality. What does this mean for lore writers? You shouldn’t design a lore piece that allows players to act as glass cannons. Putting a bunch of weaknesses on a person does not justify allowing them to do a crazy amount of damage. Instead, focus on fleshing out your lore in a non-combative manner or ensuring the combat side of things is not too wild. Lore ideas, such as empowerment, is thus frowned upon. You should not be designing abilities that allow you to do multiple attacks in one emote or allow them to be large nuke abilities, regardless of the charge up time.

World Lore Event Submissions This thread covers world lore event submissions, which are special pieces of world lore that are meant to be used by actors or incorporated into new maps. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. World Lore Events This is a broad topic as many things can be considered for world lore events. However, please do not confuse this with an event proposal. While an event proposal might be for an eventline, this is for adding permanent world lore pieces that events can spring from to LotC’s canon. From magical weather phenomenons to special diseases to special flying islands, so long as it is meant for events and is not in the hand of players, it constitutes as world lore events. Format This format is meant for world lore event submissions. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact Story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title should be [World Event Lore] - [Name]. For example, World Event Lore – Gravity Rainstorms. Origin/Backstory This is where you should put an RP friendly backstory or potential origin story for the lore. It can be written however you want (e.g. in journal entry format or in a narrative format). Details This is where you put the details of the world lore event that you are proposing. Cover how it starts, the effects it has on the world, and any other details you feel is important. Make sure that you are clear as any actor should be able to read this piece and have a full understanding of how it works. Red Lines (Optional) If your piece effects players in some manner, whether it be infecting them or bolstering them in some manner, you should put any red lines/restrictions here. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving, what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t, and why it fits into LotC’s canon. This is OOC and separate from the lore itself and is meant to help the Story Team understand what niche your race is filling. It does not need to be super long or in-depth. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Special Lore Locations/Artifacts This thread covers locations that are intertwined with other lore pieces & artifacts/special items that also get written into other lore pieces or independent. You can read more about the viewpoint for this page here. Special Lore Locations Places like the old Hollowed Ground where connections to Aeriel would occur or places where CA creatures respawn fall under “Special Lore Locations”. Focusing on respawn points first, we will be culling them. With upcoming changes to how the cloud temple and monk revival works, it will make sense for any CA creature or magic user to respawn at the CT. Teaching/Connection areas are another point of contention. This type of area needs to not be hoardable, they should be creatable/accessible by anyone that uses the lore (they can be restricted by a TA or something anyone is capable of getting though), and they should be tracked by the ST. We will have a form you can fill out, very quick and easy to do, once the piece is implemented. The threads will be hidden besides for those in Story management/Admins to lower the chances for meta to occur. If these type of things are limited in number, they can not be placed at places like bedrock level or at the bottom of a fortress that has a maze built atop of it. It should be heistable or capable of being taken. They should also not restrict anyone from going in. For example, having an AOE passive effect around it so anyone who is not some special creature gets harmed is not allowed. This does not mean that you need to leave things in the open, we just ask that you be reasonable in your placement and when writing its natural defenses. Lore Items/Artifacts Lore Items/Artifacts are items that are written into lore. Whether they are something like the blight stones/aspect stones or a phylactery, these count as lore items. These are fine so long as they are tracked by MArts or require a Story signature (rarity dependent*). They also need to be clearly laid out in the lore, else they will require MArts to ensure that we have the details of the items written down somewhere. These items should also not be unique, one of a kind items that only one or two people using the lore can have access to. Similar to the locations, these items must follow the no hoarding at bedrock level/no effect that prevents most people from getting to it. This does not mean that you need to leave things in the open, we just ask that you be reasonable in your placement and when writing its natural defenses. *More common things, such as a creature’s blood or dregs, would only require a Story signature. Please bear in mind the current restriction of only being able to have 3 items a day signed (subject to change). If your character is capable of binding themselves to a special type of weapon written into the lore that has magical capabilities, that is more akin to something tracked by a MArt where it can outline said capabilities.

Explanation: Special Magic/Creature Artifacts/Areas This thread serves as an explanation for our stance on special lore locations/items. A number of magic and creature pieces include things such as magic artifacts (e.g. the Aspect Stones or Blood Stones), special locations (e.g. the Fwitch Altar/respawn area), or how Necromancy had the Black Nexus. Portable Items/Artifacts Special lore items are fine for the most part. It’s acceptable if a piece wants to include items that the magic users can obtain, so long as those items are either clearly laid out in the lore or require a MArt. The former should be tracked, such as with the MArt system (it doesn’t need to be reviewed if it’s a lore item with static properties already laid out in the lore) and the latter should not allow for too crazy of an item. The key thing here is for the items to be written down clearly so there is no difficulty ensuring people are utilizing them in a non-PG fashion. The issue with special items/artifacts is when they are unique, one of a kind items with no option for anyone else in that lore’s playerbase obtaining it. There’s no reason for this item to exist except for someone to get special snowflake treatment. Another issue is when they are important items, such as phylacteries, that are then buried at bedrock level or stashed somewhere no one is ever going to access. Things like this essentially negate most (if not all) of the downside that magic/creature item comes with. And finally, there are issues with an artifact that only specific people can access. For example, if your item had an AOE damage area that hit everyone BUT the users of your lore with no way to disable/bypass the AOE damage. A way for this to work would be something like the Aspect Stones. The Aspect Stones are incredibly heavy for non-Druids, but they can still be moved by non-druid users. It is a challenge, but it won’t be an impossibility to move them. Special Locations Special locations are spots special to the lore, such as a respawn point or ritual area. Respawn points fall into the same issues that phylacteries or the Black Nexus had. Mechanically it’s a bit iffy since you spawn at CT after dying and then have to soulstone/travel to wherever you were meant to spawn if someone is waiting there or just chill at CT and spawned there. There’s also the thing where people can just stick them wherever they want, whether that be at bedrock level or somewhere no one is going to find it. In addition, most (if not all) can just be remade fairly easily so there’s no real downside to it. As such, a lore fix will be proposed to allow everyone to spawn at CT, as that would make things streamlined. Ritual areas/artifacts, such as the Black Nexus (a special object needed for necromancy disconnection), are problematic in my eyes since they can be hoarded or kept under lock and key for whatever group wants it. These ritual items/areas should be reproducible by those who use the lore. It doesn’t need to be everyone, but it shouldn’t discriminate. The recent Runesmithing altars is a good example of this. In their old iteration they were kept to a small handful which caused issues since even people with TAs were unable to recreate it.

The Techlock & Magi-Tech This thread explains our stance on the techlock and magi-tech. Techlock The techlock is something that has floated around in the background for some time now and it’s been one of the things that should have been addressed long ago. The issue, like with world lore in general, is that more problematic pieces have taken our attention and it makes it difficult to properly tackle the techlock and technology as a whole. When things have died down on the playable lore front, Story needs to sit down and categorize technology into different parts (e.g. medicine, weaponry). From there, it can be established where the server is tech-wise and that will be the foundation for figuring out how players can push past it. Once that is all defined it becomes much easier to look at a technological field and decide “is this going too far?” or not, as right now we don’t have anything majorly defined to hold another tech piece against. At that point in time Story could reasonably adjust the techlock to allow certain things to advance. Magi-Tech Magi-Tech is essentially magical technology, which can bypass the techlock in some cases (dependent on what the magi-tech is emulating). However, this does not mean that the server should dive into science fiction territory or go too advanced. Things like AI have been on the server, which was rather out of place and has since been culled. New inventions with magic aiding in the process is fine, so long as it is creative and not just imitating real life technology. This means no particle accelerators, cars, supercomputers, et cetera. The primary issue with magi-tech, aside from the amount of people trying to use it for things that are not appropriate for the server, is the fact that it is rather niche/isolated to a specific community. Everyone can pick up a crossbow or get some siege equipment, but only a certain amount of people are going to understand how to create magi-tech gadget 9000 that someone writes for. This isolation to specific groups should be kept in mind when writing the invention, as allowing super niche tools that only a small group of people are going to use will not be a thing. These inventions should have an impact on a larger scale, rather than a small one.

Ability Types Ability types are types of ability categories, such as healing or enchantments. Not all ability types are listed here, but we have put the ones that are being changed and/or restricted for lore writers to be aware of when designing their lore. If you something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Enchantments/Runes Enchantments will be restructured in a few different ways. An “enchantment” is any type of magic that is then stored onto an object that anyone, including a non-mage, can utilize. This includes voidal enchantments, runesmithing items, hexed items, et cetera. You can read more about why the decision was made here. Any ability that you intend to be able to be used as an enchantment, must be labeled as such, this is to help showcase to everyone what kind of enchantments we can expect. When it comes time to write the guide, you will be expected to include a section on this. A person may only use 3 different enchantments in a combat situation, please keep this in mind when setting up your magic if it is one that is enchantment oriented. Stationary enchantments (e.g. a barrier enchantment) will need to be manned to be used and will count as an enchantment used in the combat encounter. If they are not manned they will not work. Stationary MArts may be an exception to this, though it will be a case by case basis depending on what the MArt does. Recharging an enchantment has now been modified. An enchantment should either: Naturally recharge off of the user’s mana pool/life-force/whatever your thing is powered on. This should not be instant, for the sake of balance. The more minor the spell, the quicker you can recharge it. If you have a t5 lightning blast, it should take a bit of time to recharge and become usable again, such as an IRL hour. Have a hard date on the description when the enchantment goes defunct. Healing Healing abilities require more effort the more they are capable of healing. Healing someone from the brink of death should not be done in a handful of emotes like old healing magics allowed for. On top of the RP needing to be extensive (or broken into multiple RP sessions that aren’t all crammed into a day), the healing should be interesting and/or interactive for the one being healed. Simply emoting some magic energy fixing the person is neither of those. In addition, if you are healing in a combat situation, you should aim to have your ability revolve around stabilizing rather than fully healing someone to the point where they can re-enter a fight. You can read more about the subject here. Empowerment Empowerment abilities revolve around empowering something else, rather than being able to do something on its own. The old iteration of blood magic was capable of empowering magic past its normal limitations for example. Empowerment is going to be severely limited in regards to what it can do, as it is one of the ability types that leads to the most issues. You can read more about the decision to cull empowerment here. Poisons Poison and poison oriented abilities are currently not allowed unless they are slow acting or have a really mundane counter that people can readily get. The issue with poisons and things of that nature is the fact they have little proper counters. Yes there are antidotes, but those are rather niche and hardly anyone has access to all kinds of them. Another issue was the fact that poisons could quickly kill a person back when they were unmoderated. This, coupled with the fact they had little counter, made them overpowered to the extent where if a person was properly poisoned they would be dead before any help could arrive. Poisons that are non-lethal are allowed, so long as their effects are not fast acting (e.g. knocking a person out in a few emotes) and are instead a slow burn, more akin to an illness IRL. Portal Creation/Teleportation/Blinking In a lot of fantasy settings, things such as magical portals and teleportation are possible. In LotC this is the case as well, but there are some restrictions to it. Portals: No portals should be established that lead to other areas of the map. This is considered bypassing the removal of fast travels. Portals should not go to Aengudaemonic realms outside of Story management approved events. Realms created for the purpose of this RP is an exception. These realms may not grant items without approval as well. Portals leading to Aengudaemonic related areas should be made with a PK clause understanding if they go in they will likely be obliterated if/when conflict occurs. Realms must fit LotC’s setting, so trying to fabricate a cyerpunk or modern day realm would not be allowed. Players may not have bases or storage areas in these realms. Long Range Teleportation: Not allowed outside of soulstones. This includes any kind of long range teleportation around the map, along with teleporting characters or items to you from afar. Short Range Teleportation (Blinking): Should only be usable once or twice in a combat situation. Not allowed to go through things such as walls/gates/other solid obstacles. No blinking to places you can’t reach MCly without placing/destroying blocks. Should only cover small distances (2-8 blocks). Sensing/Tracking/Locating This group of ability types have been restricted as they all act as a tool for what is essentially lore approved metagaming. Sensing abilities revolve around being able to detect things, sometimes in a vague fashion and sometimes in a very precise manner. You should not have any ability that is capable of distinguishing special traits about a person, such as being able to tell someone is an undead or practices a certain magic. Vague sensing abilities where you can tell that a person is around in a small radius around you is what is currently allowed. Tracking/Locating abilities where you can hunt a person down from across the map or magically see where someone is through a mirror is not allowed. The same goes for animals doing this, such as bloodhounds.

Resource Submissions Resource submissions are lore pieces made that cover natural resources such as ores/minerals/large scale flora and their uses. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Resources Resources cover things like ores/minerals/large scale flora. For smaller scale flora use the index (found HERE). A plant index submission covers a plant, its general uses, and alchemical uses. Resource submissions that cover plants should have things beyond that, such as ironwood and how it can be tempered into a variety of items outside of alchemy. There is usually a unique technique used to refine the large scale flora as well that is not typically seen amongst other plants. A problem that the server faced was getting filled to the brim with aesthetic pieces that don’t serve a purpose and are ultimately only used by a small handful of players. This should be avoided in future lore proposals. If your new metal is a reskin of steel with no noticeable difference, and the forging technique is very closed off, that’s a big red flag. Which leads to the next thing to keep in mind, exclusivity. World lore should be used and people should have access to it. It’s fine if the smithing technique for a new metal is not known by everyone, but people should have the opportunity to experiment with things to figure it out on their own. Group-locked pieces are not allowed to prevent issues like this. Another thing of note when designing a resource is where it’s located. How does it fit in with the world/does it add to the world? Does it interact with creatures/plants around it? Or it just a deposit people can find in different biomes? Take this into account when designing your material, as fleshing this out will help players when roleplaying the aspect of seeking these resources out/when they interact with it. Format This format is meant to be used for Resource Submissions. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact Story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title when posting to the forums should be: [World Lore] - [Material Name]. For example, World Lore – Jade Ingots. Material Name and Description (Raw form) The name of your new resource and the description of the material should be given. You should include where the resource is found in its raw state and if it interacts with the environment (e.g. thanhium deposits will sap the heat from the area around it, which directly impacts the area). List what your material can and can't do in its natural environment. For example, if your material naturally glows, that should be placed here. Or if it has a toxic cloud around it, describe how that cloud functions and the effects it has on people/living creatures. Applications (Raw Form) You should use this section to describe the ways that the material can be used/applied in its raw form by people and also state the applications it is bad at. For example, if the lore is about a shroom that gives off special spores, describe how the spores are capable of being used (e.g. describing how the spores can be combined with water to produce a sleeping agent or if burned they produce a tear gas-esque effect). Red Lines (Raw Form) Put any restrictions that someone would be unable to use your material for when it is in the raw form. For example, if your raw mineral can give off a glow, you might put that the glow can not be blinding as a red line. Harvesting Method You should detail the harvesting method here. Be sure to include what occurs if the harvesting method is not done correctly. For example, if you want your special plant material to have a natural defense when the improper method is used, you need to describe it in full. Say the plant releases spores that can harm the person. If you were writing about this, you need to include how big the spore burst is (like how many feet does it cover when it spreads initially), what effects it has on a person, types of treatment, et cetera. You also need to include the item description for the MC representation of the item here. This will be what is put on an item before being signed by the ST when your material is harvested in-game. Harvesting Red Lines If the harvesting has any restrictions/red lines, put them here. For example, if it is not possible to find nodes bigger than 16 oz, you could put in a red line stating no one can harvest more than 16 oz worth of the material in one go. Material Name and Description (Refined Form) (OPTIONAL) If your material can be refined or turned into a new state via some process (e.g. turning an ore into an ingot), describe it here. You need to include any noticeable features that the refined material has on its own. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Applications (Refined Form) (OPTIONAL) You should use this section to describe the ways the refined form can be used/applied by people. For example, if you are writing a new type of metal, describe the way it can be used and its limitations. If your metal is incapable of being blunt, describe how it acts when someone tries to turn it into a sword. Or if it’s made to be sharper than normal, describe how that effects things. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Red Lines (Refined Form) (OPTIONAL) Put any restrictions that someone would be unable to use your material for when it is in the refined form. For example, if your metal can absorb a magical attack, you might put that it can not absorb more than one attack before breaking. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Refining Technique (OPTIONAL) For the above refined form, describe the technique/method used to turn the raw material into the refined form. For example, to refine an ore into an ingot you would first begin to the process of melting the ore to extract the metal and then do things to remove the impurities/ore. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Refining Red Lines (OPTIONAL) If the refining has any restrictions/red lines, put them here. For example, if the refining process can result in the material being ruined, you could put that once it’s ruined it can not be used again/needs to be trashed. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Repeat (OPTIONAL) Repeat the above refined sections if your material has different variations in which it can be refined. Do this as many times as necessary. Skip this if your material can not be refined. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving/what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t. This does not need to be long, we just want to know your intent with adding this piece. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of. This is only needed if you’re using pre-existing lore for your piece.

Historical/Legend Submissions Historical Submissions are lore pieces that cover something that occurred in LotC’s history. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Historical Historical lore can be written for a few things. Firstly, it is written for time periods that players were not around for OR for time periods for areas that the players did not have access to. Secondly, it can be written for anything, including deities and other entities outside of the Mortal Realm. It does not need to be limited to the modern era either, you could try your hand at some historical lore about the first time Iblees went to war with the descendants. What your piece should do is provide depth/worldbuilding to an aspect of the server. It should not exist just to exist or to try and validate an RP belief. Legends Historical pieces also do not need to be entirely factual. You are capable of submitting a “Legends” variety which provides a looser interpretation of events and is meant to be an RP friendly tale that people can know on the server. This is essentially submitting an RP Tale that people can know on the server/claim they found in a book if need be. It can not be about any current characters or be used to try and promote a fake narrative that boosts current RP. Format This format is meant to be used for Historical/Legend Submissions. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact Story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title should be [Historical Lore] or [Legend Lore] - [Name]. For example, Historical Lore – Horen’s Battle Against Iblees or Legend Lore – The Plight of the First Halflings. History/Legend This part is where you put in the historical information or your RP Legend. There isn’t a set method for this, so you can style it as if it was someone’s journal, two people talking in a pub, et cetera. OOC Explanation This is where you cover the historical text from an OOC standpoint, explaining it to the members of Story. This does not need to be particularly long, so long as you get to the point about what it is about & if it establishes anything important that might alter history or sets a precedent. If you are aiming to have this be a Legends piece, talk to us OOCly about the Legend and inform us how you wish for this to spread. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Location Submissions Location lore is lore written for locations in LotC’s world. This can either be on the current map or places outside of the current map. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Locations A location receiving lore for it should serve some kind of purpose that adds to LotC in some fashion. There is no point writing in-depth lore for a place we are never going to utilize. This does not mean that we need to actually be able to visit the location in-game, but it should still be able to have some kind of impact on us. For example, the starter areas are a group of continents that exist around LotC that we will likely never visit in-game. Their purpose is to act as a place where characters can claim they are from or a place where characters can claim they were vacationing at when shelved. This is made possible through the Wayfinding portals, described below. If you are writing for a non-mortal realm area, such as an immortal realm, please check in with ST management to ensure that what you’re writing for is necessary. For example, attempting to give Wayfinding Portals The Wayfinding Portals is an addition that allows for us to have a valid reason for being able to travel back to various locations. Currently these do not link back to past maps, but they do link to places such as Aeldin and the starter locations. You can read here for more information: Wayfinding. This allows for a place to have access to the current map. Please note that this isn’t a method for people to gain items or things of that nature. You can not design a place and have your character go and visit it to retrieve rare goods that were written into the piece. If you are writing for a place located within the immortal realm, do not include Wayfinding portals. Format This format is meant to be used for Location Submissions. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact Story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title should be “[World Lore] - [Name of Location]”. For example: World Lore – The Avark Archipelego. Name and Location Tell us what the name of the area is and describe where this is located. You should include if this is an area that can be accessed by people or not. Geography Cover the layout of the land, what creatures/plantlife is there, and if any civilizations are based in the land. Civilization (Optional) Cover the culture and other traits that the civilization has if there is one. If this is for a starting area or other area people will be able to have characters from, they are going to need a reference for how they were raised up. History (Optional) Cover the history of the land. If any civilizations exist, go into detail about their events as well. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving, what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t, and why it fits into LotC’s canon. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Disconnection This thread explains our stance behind disconnection when it comes to magic/creatures. One of the biggest issues with guild locked magics in the past is their usage of disconnection. There have been a number of examples for how this has caused issues, whether it be a dark magic user getting kicked out because they were on bad terms with the rest of the group OOCly or the holy civil wars where groups tried to disconnect each other. As such, it has been decided that disconnection will be centered on RP actions to cut out the potential for OOC abuse. The latest example of this would be the paladin and Ascended(?) pieces where if you do not break any of the Aengudaemon’s rules, you can not be removed from the magic. This type of ideology should be applied everywhere that has deific-esque tenets so we have a set in stone ruleset for each magic on why a person should be disconnected. This gets rid of the potential for someone to disconnect you just because they dislike you OOCly. For non-deific disconnections, Story will require an actual RP justification for the disconnection. If a member of Story receives a report that someone was disconnected for no real RP reason and it checks out, the disconnection will be overturned and the person who did the disconnection initially will be punished. However, with this mindset comes the argument “well what if the person is being problematic OOCly?”. Rules regarding this have been added where people are liable to have their MAs revoked should they be found to be causing OOC problems for others. Another might be “this will cause people to be really picky on who they choose!”, which is potentially true. As Story will be punishing people more harshly with the new protocol, people can take chances more often and they can be dealt with by members of Story if the choice turns out to be problematic.

Magic Targeting This thread explains the thought process behind our stance on magic that targets specific groups or individuals. A year or two ago we had the height of the “dark vs holy” conflict which then led to other issues (e.g. the holy civil wars which had a lot of OOC problems) and it was made clear that magics that were forced to target another group was not something a lot of the players on the server were capable of handling appropriately without it devolving into an OOC mess. As such the LT stepped in and had the holy magics adapt their magic for a more general combat use rather than just an anti-dark magic. Similarly, Story has been steering the dark magics to have more mundane counters so they weren’t reliant on having a holy mage be their counter. This is something touched on to make sure the mistake is not repeated with some other magic that might be introduced in the future. Conflict can be fun, but when it is forced towards a certain group, it leads to OOC issues and gets problematic. So when you are writing your lore, you should keep this in mind and make sure that your magic is not something that has another magic group as a specific counter or that your lore isn’t targeting a specific group. Targeting is fine if you’re targeting a broader audience, such as magic users as a whole, as that isn’t hyperfocusing on one niche group within it. And if you are targeting a broader audience, your magic/creature shouldn’t be powerful as you already have an advantage over a good chunk of people. Fi’ was a good example of what not to do, as that magic simply shut down another person’s magic and wasn’t fun or interactive. The weakness was also bypassed by people creating special armor that even the weakened Fi’ mages could utilize. If a magic is made to deal with other magics (e.g. an anti-voidal magic), it should offer some kind of interaction so one side isn’t simply shutting down the other.

How Magics Interact With Each Other This thread is an explanation for the thought process behind a few different ways that magic interacts with other magic and creature lore pieces. Stacking Magics vs. Meshing Magics Currently the server is under the 5 slot system, which allows a character to have up to 5 magics (not including feats). This is a big number if you think about it. Inputting the current standards for the amount of spells that make up a magic, that means you can have potentially 50ish (or more including feats) spells at your disposal for one character. With the new standards, these spells will be properly balanced, so it’s not that concerning as a person will just have more variety to what they can do as opposed to having a bunch of nukes on hand. The issue however arises when you have magics designed to mesh with each other. This can lead to issues in terms of balancing if it isn’t done properly. Blood magic was used to empower things, which led to people trying to create mini-nuke level spells. This is something to avoid, so if you want to stack magics and have them mesh with each other, they should be done in a way that gives depth to the spells being changed rather than simply making them more powerful. If you combine two magics, the spells should be a mix that have unique effects rather than something stronger. Augmentation > Strength. This applies to the concept of “dualcasting”, which is now defunct. If you wish to RP utilizing casting two magics at once or meshing your spells, it needs to be apart of the base lore of the magics being cast. There have been too many instances where people are unsure how their dualcasting would function when meshing magics together (e.g. fire + wind evo to try and form a fire tornado used to be an iconic thing). Creatures & Stacked Magics When designing a creature, you should take outside magics into consideration. Your creature will take up a slot (or more) and how it interacts with the other magics is very important. A few creatures at the moment have the capacity to avoid weaknesses when it comes to magic, which is what we want to avoid. If you have a physically strong creature, that strength should not remain after taking up voidal magic. Changing the weaknesses out for something else is something that can be allowed, but outright bypassing it won’t be. Isolating Magics Some magics tend to cut out the use of other magics. For example, a deific magic might not allow voidal or dark magics to be used. Isolating magics like this is fine, but it should only be done for situations that make sense in roleplay and should NOT be used to justify your magic being more powerful than other magics.

The State of Aengudaemons & Co. This piece is an explanation behind why Aengudaemons are having their direction changed. Aengudaemons & Patrons Aengudaemons, through repeated mistakes, have become something of scorn on the server. Whether it be someone playing one and actively funneling events for their playergroup that revolves around said deity or a failed antag, Aengudaemons have been used in many poor fashions. After the failure of the Gazardiael eventline, many were opposed to them being used again. The September Prince was the latest usage of a deific entity, which also had a lot of issues. Scrapping the Aengudaemons removes a lot of potential. Instead, they should take a step back and never interact with the mortal realm directly again. Left in the background, patrons (Aengudaemonic servants/creations) should replace them and be things that players can interact with. These patrons need to be shaped in a way that isn’t just “LOOK AT ME, I’M DEIFIC”, but in a more human fashion. They should be an interesting event character that isn’t just shilling for their own playerbase. This plays into the Aengudaemonic Pantheon idea that the story team will be working on, which will flesh this idea out and create a few different Aengudaemonic factions. This will give more life to the Aengudaemons and give them actual relations, which for the most part outside of the holy trio, have not been elaborated on or used at all. Boons and other feats can be created more easily with this, as the factions would allow Aengudaemons that normally didn’t have any interactions with each other to create something new. For example, mixing the time element from Metztli with the knowledge aspect of Dragur to create a harmless aesthetic feat would now be possible (this is an example, not something that is actually happening rn since Dragur is locked away). Spirits The Spirits are a neat concept, but a lot of that area is undefined. The hierarchy, how a lesser becomes a greater, their strength in an event, the system of dealing with shamans, et cetera. This is something that will be one of the primary focuses of the story members who focus on shamanism while the lore games occur. New Aengudaemons The server has plenty of Aengudaemons at the moment and we will be scrutinizing new entries. Most submissions for an Aengudaemon are done with the mindset of using them as a power source, rather than adding to LotC’s canon, which causes most to lack depth/use. We ask that you keep this in mind and try to avoid doing that if you are designing a new Aengudaemon or Patron.

Misc. Deity Lore This thread covers deific-level beings that aren’t related to Aengudaemons. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. These are rather rare in the grand scheme of things, but we wouldn’t be opposed to accepting new ones so long as they add to the server in a beneficial manner and make sense to be added to LotC’s canon. The primary ones at the moment are Voidal Behemoths. These entities are some of the most powerful voidal entities. However, due to the fact that they are voidal horrors, they usually remain outside of the mortal realm. If you are writing one of these, please consider how it will fit into the scope of LotC. Format This format is meant to be used for Misc. Deity Submissions. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title should be: [Misc. Deity Lore] – [Name], [Entity type]. For example: Deity Class Lore – Gnomics, Voidal Behemoth Origin/Backstory This section covers how the entity came about and if they are interacting with the mortal realm, what caused them to start doing that. Description and Goals This section covers what the entity is and what they are attempting to do. If it’s a submission for something never been seen on LotC before, make sure to put plenty of detail. Capabilities This section goes over what the entity is capable of doing, what boons they can grant, et cetera. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving, what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t, and why it fits into LotC’s canon. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Patron Submissions Patron submissions are lore pieces that cover a new Aengudaemonic Patron and their goals. You can read more about the direction that Story is taking Patrons here. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Patrons Patrons are beings created by or infused with power by an Aengudaemon to serve some purpose said deity wants to see fulfilled. Patrons range in power and do not always need to be deific figures. Examples of this would be the Ascended or Undead, mortals given boons by Aengudaemons that give them a new form or traits. Conversely, there are beings such as Dragaar/Drakaar and the Spirits which have overwhelming power in certain situations. When designing a Patron, you have to bear in mind their purpose and how they are designed relationship-wise to their creator. Questions like the following should be asked: Are their souls bound to the Aengudaemon where they have to serve? Are they given free will to carry out some goal and if so, what goal? Do they respect the Aengudaemon or are they looking to backstab them? How do they view Mortals? Are they capable of giving boons to people? Format This formatting is meant to be used for proposed Patron lore pieces. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Thread Title The thread title title should be: [Patron Lore] – [Name], [Patron of (insert name here)]. For example, Patron Lore – Abe, Patron of Tahariae. Origin/Backstory This is where you detail how the Patron was created or raised into power by the Aengudaemon. Make sure to do some research with said Aenguldaemon so that it aligns with current lore. Personality This is where you describe how the Patron acts. This will be needed if they are ever used in events. Do they respect the Aengudaemon or are they looking to backstab them? How do they view Mortals? etc. are things that should be written out here. Goals This is where you describe what the Patron was made for and how they are trying to carry that goal out. Abilities This section is where the capabilities of the Patron are described. It doesn’t need to follow normal magic abilities, but you should give us a good idea of what the Patron is capable of in case it gets played by a Story member. Current Location This section should cover where they are currently and what would entail them leaving it to be used for future events/storylines. This section doesn’t mean there has to be a way for the Patron to appear/be used however. It’s more of a general means of having insight to what is currently going on with the Patron or if there are any future possible interactions. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving, what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t, and why it fits into LotC’s canon. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Event-Only Races/Creatures This thread covers Event Races/Creatures and the formatting required for them. Do not confuse this for the creatures on the index, as they are two separate things. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. What Is It? An Event-Only Race or Creature is a submission that is reserved for events and is also one that is meant to be thoroughly fleshed out. Index creatures are meant for minor creatures that, while they can be used for hunts, are meant to just add to an ecosystem and give life to the biome. Event races/creatures should have a lot more depth to them so they can be used in events whenever. This sort of submission can have high levels of power or abilities as they are meant to be event only, and thus we don’t need to worry about balancing as much as we would if it was in player hands. Bear in mind that if your creature/race is considered rather powerful, it will likely be locked behind ST management to prevent it from being abused as other creatures have been in the past. Other locked creatures include dragons and their sub-creatures (dragaar/drakaar), aengudaemonic entities (i.e. the Aspects), some historical entities and deific/aengudaemonic entities, and anything that approaches such power/significance as these. It’s advised, if making an ET-only creature, to make ones geared towards event-play as a result, not towards day-to-day play. There’s a difference between prolonged, daily roleplay and events catered by the ET, even with heavy roleplay or non-combat events. Weaknesses are also advised, especially for monsters or entities meant for combat roleplay, so that an exploitable quality of them can be used by the players interacting with them in the event to defeat them. They generally should be defeatable by a group at least. Formatting There are no special formats specifically for this, but we ask you use the following as references when writing your race/creature. Event actors do not need to conform to the normal lore standards, but it is still helpful to flesh out your piece and give the actors an idea of what they are utilizing. Things such as culture and how the creature/race act are things that an actor would need to be aware of, but when it comes to things such as abilities it can have more leeway. If your piece is for an event race, this here is a good reference. If your piece is for an event creature, this here is a good reference. Use [Event Race] or [Event Creature] in your forum thread title to distinguish what it is.

Open Race Submissions This thread covers Open Race submissions. Please note that we are not looking for new open races at the moment. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Open Races Races that can be played without a creature application or ET, such as descendant subraces (example: mountain dwarves), combinations of descendant races (example: adunians), or entirely new races (example: kha, before the CA). They cannot be specifically any stronger or have more advanced abilities than your average descendant, and if they’re a subrace or mix, they must adhere to the racial curses that already exist in lore, though they may be somewhat altered (for instance, while halflings live as long as humans, their dwarven greed is expressed in food and drink rather than gold). Story/Administration is not currently looking for any new open races or subtypes, but will still review any submissions made for them. Something you NEED to keep in mind for these submissions is that you will be required to have a significant backing. Open races are meant to be active and accessible to everyone. If it fails to gain traction, there’s a big chance that it will be demoted to a CA race or potentially shelved. We also require that Open Race submissions be substantially detailed and not lacking or vague with information. Format This formatting is meant to be used for proposed open race lore pieces. If you believe your lore needs a hybrid formatting, please contact story management before you start writing it to confirm that you can use it. Title The title should be “[Open Race Lore]” followed by the name of the race. For example: Open Race Lore – Billybobians Origin/Backstory The origin/backstory should present how the race came into existence and was discovered/how they came to the current map should be described in this section. This can be left vague Description/Traits All of the traits that the race may have should be detailed here, both physical and mental. Height range, typical hair colors, skin color, et cetera for the physical side of things. Mental traits aren’t necessary, but you should note if they differ from a regular person. For example, elves tend to start going insane after 1000 years. History This should cover the history of the race, including the major turning points and general direction they have been going in. Please try and refrain from inserting them into events that occurred on the server. For example, citing that this race helped against the undead in the Westerlands eventline makes no sense. Culture(s) This section should detail the culture(s) of the race and any notable distinctions they may have. What kind of society do they have? Do they have a unique sense of fashion? Religion? Festivals? Et cetera. Abilities This part should go over any unique abilities this race may have that a normal descendant lacks. It does not have to be magical in nature and could be a unique physical trait. This can be skipped if your race does not have any special abilities. If your race does, please follow these guidelines for creating your abilities, along with the ability formatting:Ability Components + Ability Types. General Red Lines This is where you list general red lines of the race if any are required. If your race is restricted from learning magic or has restrictions of a similar nature, be sure to include that here. Purpose (OOC) This section is where you describe what purpose your lore is serving, what it is bringing to the table that other lore pieces aren’t, and why it fits into LotC’s canon. This is OOC and separate from the lore itself and is meant to help the Story Team and Administration understand what niche your race is filling. Citation Spoiler You should have a spoiler at the bottom that includes links to any lore pieces that you referenced or based your lore submission off of.

Abilities An ability is a special function that a character is capable of learning/utilizing, depending on the lore piece. For example, magic users are capable of learning spells and creatures might have some special retractable claws. Both of these can be considered abilities. A combative/combat ability is an ability that is capable of being used in a conflict encounter, which can range from an event monster attacking a town to just fighting bandits. A non-combative ability is an ability that is incapable of being done in a conflict encounter. That said, whether they be magical or not, all abilities written into a magic/creature/race/invention/et cetera have to be balanced. We have laid out a number of sections for you to read and understand what you should be taking into account when designing abilities for your lore. Each section will have a tl;dr summary at the top of it, followed by a spoiler with a longer description. If you something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Formatting for an ability is as follows: Ability Components Abilities are made up of a number of components. These need to be properly accounted for to create the ideal ability. When creating an ability, please keep in mind that we do not want to see glass cannons (an explanation for this can be found here). Labeling Abilities Abilities are required to be labeled as either “combative” or “non-combative”. You can do both, just note that the “combative” variety of the spell should be limited in what it can do. We are giving people more freedom in what their abilities do for “non-combative” spells, under the premise that they recognize it is incapable of being used in combat. Timing Combat spells should have emote counts, such as 3 emotes to utilize the ability. Non-combat spells can have either emote counts or IRL timeframes. If your non-combat ability takes a lengthy amount of time, use IRL or narrative time. Effects Any effect that an ability causes need to be thoroughly written out. A spell that disorients should describe how it disorients a person, along with how long it lasts and any interaction with other abilities. Counter All abilities that effect someone or something (typically in combat) require a counter of some sort, even if it’s mundane. Firing a magical crossbow? Counters can be as simple as using proper armor or the fact that the spell moves slow enough for people to jump out of the way if they saw it coming. Lethality Abilities should not be insta-wins and need to be appropriately scaled in terms of lethality. Below we break it down into range and emote counts when it comes to lethality. Versus Environment abilities should neither instantly kill people nor should it be incapable of being removed. Also bear in mind that you will need PRO/RO approval if you intend to cause damage block-wise to things. Energy An ability, when combative/effecting things or people, should not be something you can spam endlessly without tiring. Your ability should consume energy and you should detail how many times it can be used in an encounter before the person is incapable of using it. This should also be balanced/tie in with the rest of the abilities. So you shouldn’t have 10 combat abilities that can all be used 10 times in a combat scenario. This energy should not be tracked by arbitrary number systems. Keep it simple and in single digit numbers. Someone shouldn’t have to pull out a calculator to figure out what they can and can’t do in a combat situation. Red Lines/Restriction All abilities should have red lines that dictate the limitations of the spell, outside of their general mechanics. We do not want to see a million red lines, as with the rule regarding “if it’s not written, you can’t do it”, helps cut down on that.

CA Race Groups The playable groupings list is meant to add some organization to the existing playable creatures and help us down the road when Story is reviewing proposals for new ones. We have made groupings based on a few factors, primarily their accessibility/abilities/purpose. The more abilities/capabilities a creature has, the heavier the required criteria will be. At the end of the day we wish to ensure that people are not grabbing creatures simply for the sake of empowering their character and having it act like a regular mage might. If something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. To read more about the thought process behind the creature grouping list, look here. Grouping A – Starter Creatures This grouping serves as the grouping that has the “starter” creatures. Anything in here is capable of being picked up by anyone, so long as they fill out the app. Creatures here should not be amazing ability-wise and have little to no advantages for combat. Ologs will be the only exception to this rule due to being grandfathered in. Criteria: Grouping B – Constructs/Creation Creatures This grouping is saved for creatures that need to be created IRP before a player can play it or a low powered transformative being. Typically these creatures serve their creator in some fashion if they are constructs. Criteria: Grouping C – Standard Creatures This grouping serves as a grouping that has powerful (not necessarily combat-wise) creatures which are not meant to be wide-spread. Most of these are transformative, meaning that your character needs to be made one by someone else and is not capable of being played otherwise. This grouping is meant to be a standalone creature and not one that is the “end-game” of a magic. Criteria: Grouping D – Magic “End-Games” This grouping is meant for magics that have a creature “end-game” in their progression. These creatures exist for the sake of enhancing the rp within that magic, and should not be used as gatekeepers of the magic. These creatures should not be more powerful than whatever the regular mage version is at the end of their progression. The abilities that these creatures have should not be something that gives them a big edge in combat or a big edge over the rest of the magic users in their group. The abilities should be ones of synergy, that require the regular magic users and create unique rp that is fun/aesthetic rather than something that grants an advantage. Criteria: Grouping E – Fully Progressed Creatures This grouping serves as what we are phasing creature end-games out to be. These creatures are a fully progressed variation of their Group C counterpart, one who has spent time and effort delving further into the creature’s RP. These are typically more “powerful” than their counterparts in Group C in some way, whether it be by added abilities or by a unique form. While this is meant to be something any of their Grouping C counterpart’s can work towards, it shouldn’t be something they can achieve easily. It is also not meant to be something the other Groupings are fully controlled by. Criteria:

Creature Grouping List Explanation This thread covers the thought process behind the Creature Grouping List’s criteria. Creature vs. Descendant A creature should be something different from a descendant, not something that is a reskinned version of one. The more powerful a creature, the less descendant it should be like. A warped mentally (one that is mandatory) that can be seen in roleplay, an alien physiology, or a completely different (mandatory) culture (that is not easily replicable) are examples of ways that you could differentiate the creature from a descendant. In short, if you want to play a big creature you should be prepared to play it fully and not just act like a descendant with superpowers. Progression A creature should not immediately start off with a ton of abilities and new features, there should be a gradual build-up. This allows the player to not be overwhelmed if the creature has 2+ magic’s worth of abilities under their belt. This can be tackled in a few different ways. Scaling A big problem with the older creatures is that they had a high level of power, with a relatively low expectation to provide RP to those around them. Please be aware that we will be steering clear of creatures of this nature in the future. Creatures, for the most part, exist to provide the server with unique RP you can not find elsewhere, similar to magics. Scaling Power with RP Potential In order to properly balance creatures, we will be taking a look at them from their power levels and what they do to provide RP. Scaling Power in General Creatures should still adhere to the balancing found in our lore submission guides, but they are usually granted more power than one would usually find in a descendant if they are pushing the boundaries. With that said, we have noticed certain issues that have cropped up overtime when it comes to scaling general power. Scaling Power with Outside Magics Creatures are already (usually) powerful in some manner, so when you couple them with powerful magics, the potential for breaking stuff is high. As such, creatures should either have augmented capabilities with magic, such as how druids could use blood magic for thulean, be incapable of utilizing certain magics.

The Lore Games - Prologue The Lore Games are launching soon, I am currently just compiling the final version for admin approval after getting a lot of feedback from the lore sect and Telanir. The concept itself has been approved however, so I will be laying out some of the fundamentals here. Attention Gamers #1 Contrary to popular belief, the ST will not be reviewing lore the same way as we do in normal reviews. WE WILL NOT BE LOOKING AT CURRENTLY ACCEPTED PIECES AND JUDGING BASED ON IF WE BELIEVE IT’S NEEDED ON THE SERVER OR NOT. So if you have a piece that is hated by the community, that will have no effect on your lore so long as you follow the guidelines that will be released after being admin approved. Attention Gamers #2 Despite jokes that have been made, I am not looking to thanos snap lore out of existence. I believe that a lot of concepts that are on the server right now are fantastic, but are just poorly executed. What I want from the community is for them to use this opportunity to rewrite their lore in a more fun and creative manner, while not being the overly vague/hole riddled mess we have at the moment where players loophole doing dumb stuff which cause issues. Make it way more fleshed out than it is already, get new abilities that contribute to RP, go wild with the ideas so long as they fit the theme of your lore and aren’t just a powergrab at new combat abilities. I am not going to be killing combat magic, but we have come up with a solution to ensure that people can design amazing spells without worrying about them being abused in combat situations, leading to the spells getting nerfed or dealt with in a more blunt fashion. Attention Gamers #3 Any pieces that were voted on for the loremag will get their verdicts soon, due to a recent IRL problem 2 of our managers are out so it slowed the loremag process down. We will do another loremag before cutting it off and letting those that have lore submitted view the Lore Games criteria when it is out and adapt to it before we resume the loremag process again. Timeline* Everyone will be given 3 months to finish a draft of their lore. You can finish sooner, but it needs to be turned in at some point before those 2.5 months are done. From here, the lore will be reviewed by the ST to ensure that the criteria is met and will be given back in roughly a month (we’ll be dividing lore up into chunks so we can review it without getting overwhelmed). Once your group is given back your lore with notes on what is wrong/right, you will have 1 month to make the edits. A final reviewal process will occur and if the edits were not made or were not done appropriately, the lore will be shelved. After your lore is approved, you will be required to write up a guide for it (assuming it is a magic or CA race). 1 month will be given for this to be complete. *Times may change before the Games launch, but this is a tentative timeline at the moment. Discord Chats All of the magics that are not guildlocked (e.g. voidal) will have a chat made for them in the main discord. A few ST will be assigned to each of these chats to help answer any questions or pass those questions along to management should they not know the answer either. A form can be filled out when the Lore Games start where you can ask to have a chat created for your group (e.g. if the druids wanted one, someone could request it). Only people that participate in the lore will be allowed in the chat, unless a majority of people in it are fine with an outsider being added. This is to prevent issues we’ve seen in the past where outsiders come in and try to do a takeover or be problematic. Being in these chats are not a necessity and we will be booting troublemakers from them if need be. If you are needlessly being antagonistic towards people in the chat or if you are being disruptive in general, you will be removed. What Lore Is Participating? Prizes?? The lore that will be up in the lore games will be: - All existing magics, including feats. - All existing creatures, excluding ET creatures. - All creatures that relate to the index. We will be wiping all of the creatures on the index and introducing a more dynamic system for this. It revolves around a biome/habitat-esque idea. So rather than accepting creatures individually, we will be taking a look to see if they add to their proposed biome. The creature form will be updated to reflect this when the Lore Games start. The end goal is to be able to have a much more fluid and alive biome, so event actors have an easier time incorporating things into events. So someone can pull up the “forest” biome and see what the predators are, what they feed on, the plants in the system, and how everything acts in accordance with each other. As I mentioned originally, prizes will be apart of this as it is a game. The categories are not set in stone, nor are the prizes just yet, but it’ll be for things like which group submitted a piece that utilized the opportunity to grow their lore the best and lore that had the least issues upon submission. I will not be participating in this, so my lore has no chance of taking a prize in order to try and avoid things like bias claims. We will be opening a Q&A thread in the next few days where you will be able to ask anything you want regarding the Lore Games, so be on the lookout for that.

Rules & Lore Guidelines The lore submission rules and guide exists in order to help you understand the basics of what Story is looking for in a lore piece. This thread is where we will go into detail on various aspects of a lore submission that you should keep in mind when writing LotC lore. If you something here or in the other criteria pages confuses you, please contact a story member or post on our FAQ, found here. Starting Tips General Formatting Lore submissions do not solely exist to tell a pretty story/look great narrative-wise. Other games like Dark Souls or games with journal entries as their lore can do that since they aren't a roleplaying server. It's in the same vein as the argument on "triple A games have less detailed magic systems than us, why do we need to go in-depth?". They have the magic coded into the game, which is why the lore for their magic can be vague. That code already calculates damage, range, and other factors for the player. As a roleplay server we need to have stuff more fleshed out because at the end of the day players are meant to use it in-game through emotes and make RP/stories out of it, with no plugin backing or things that automate the magic for them. This is why the narrative/story should be at the beginning, so you can be as creative as you want there without it getting in the way of describing the mechanics of an ability or other such things. The information portion of the lore piece however is meant to make you flesh things out and figure out all of the ways the lore can be used. Despite the nature of how it is done, it is still allowing for us to get the information we need in a clear, laid out manner. The days of lore reviewers having to try and dissect an ability from fluff will be over with this formatting. At the end of the day the formatting is all there for a reason. Whether it's to help lore reviewers review it or to make sure someone roleplaying said lore has access to something that clearly details how to do it, there's nothing that isn't necessary there. For pieces that transcend one format and use multiple, hybrid formatting has been created (more on that below). Each section should be cleanly labeled using the terms from the formatting. For example with abilities, you should have something that ends up like this: If you have multiple things under one section, such as multiple paragraphs or acts in the backstory, you do not need to keep labeling each section as “Backstory” and can just have the one “Backstory” title at the beginning of it. Adding these labels/following the formatting may seem tedious, but it is very beneficial in the long run as it makes things easier to review. This also makes it way easier for the wiki team to port over your lore into the wiki. They will be able to skim through the piece and find each label and then port the contents of the label into the specific section of the wiki formatting during page creation. Story thanks you in advance for making the process easier on them. Hybrid Formatting Hybrid formatting can be used if you believe the submission you are making goes beyond its current formatting, either due to it mixing submission types (e.g. magic + creatures) or because it is unique in the way it functions. There is no specific formatting for this, as it is a case by case basis that is dependent on the lore being written. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU NEED TO USE HYBRID FORMATTING, CONTACT A STORY MANAGER. Hub Pages If your lore has multiple submission types or multiple subtypes and you feel it is too long to fit on one lore thread, you can use a hub page + multiple submissions. A hub page is essentially this, a summary page that contains links to all of the relevant lore pieces under your lore. For example, let’s say your lore has 3 magic subtypes and 2 CA creatures tied to it. You feel that the lore is rather lengthy and would rather chop it up into multiple submissions, say one magic submission and two separate submissions for the CAs. The hub page would have links to all of that + summaries for each one. In order to create a less messy archive, these pieces will then be moved to a separate subforum while the hub page is used as the main thread in the lore section upon acceptance. Lore Guidelines This section will cover various aspects of a lore submission and what you should keep in mind when writing it. Purpose (OOC) Every lore piece should have a clear purpose that helps impact LotC in a positive manner. The purpose of a magic or creature should help spread that lore’s RP and should not be something that mimics another lore’s too closely. Themes A fair chunk of lore (magic/CA creatures/aengudaemons/et cetera) have a theme. Translocation is all about portals/voidal pockets/storing things, druids revolve around nature, and Tahariae is all about purity. These themes are clear after reading the lore and set the lore in place for a direction that the piece is taking. This applies to future additions as well. When designing your lore, think about the theme and how it will impact future lore pieces that relate to your lore as they will be looked at to either uphold the theme or branch off of it in a way that makes sense. If you have a theme where you specialize in fire magic to combat evil, and then you make an addition trying to get physical buffs and other things with the excuse “it helps us combat evil”, it won’t fly. That lore has a specific theme and tossing in generic spells will water that theme down. Playstyles Playable lore all needs to have a playstyle that helps give the piece depth. If your CA race is powerful, it needs to have some aspects to it that separate it from descendants beyond a reskin. Things like mental defects or a different mindset to a wildly foreign physique should be considered. We will not allow races or creatures that are essentially just a descendant race with super powers. Redundancy A lore piece that is proposed should not mirror an existing one too heavily. It is fine to have something similar, so long as there are also a variety of differences. This may vary depending on the lore submission type, which you can read about below. Versatility Something that can be considered good world lore is something that isn’t very niche (typically) and can be used in different ways. This gives the piece more ways for it to create RP and more ways for it to make sure it doesn’t fall into obscurity. Rewrites/Amendment Rewrites should only be done when there are major flaws that need to be fixed or you wish to take the lore in a new direction that still fits with the general theme. Amendments can be done more frequently to help catch things that may have been missed in the initial submission or to fix minor problems that crop up while the lore is being utilized..

Flam’s Return https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPu9pkiLdVs Today I return to deal with lore enthusiasts, you can start your clock Med. Lore-wise, the Lore Games will start soonish, the document I have for it is currently getting critiqued by the lore sect and will then be pushed to admins for their approval once it is adapted into an easier to read format. I’d like to thank @Delmodan and @Frott for managing lore things while I’ve been away, I would not be here today without their support. The wiki sect welcomes @Lukariatias as the newest manager, who will be assisting @Lsuvsfar in helping update the wiki. They will be releasing a thread on changes he is making to the front page and in general soon once the team is all on the same page for it. Event-wise @ScreamingDingo and @Xarkly are currently paving the way with a few projects. Things are a bit slow though due to the lack of builds being made, but now that the developers have a new leader things should get back on track soon. I’d like to give a shoutout to @Tha_Mystery_Man for his latest large scale event, I hope to see more of those impactful events from my team soon. I’ll be making updates more often to ensure that we’re all on the same page for what the Story Team is up to, so look forward to more threads from me in the future! Also if you pm’d me over the forums while I was on hiatus, I’ll be getting to those today/tomorrow.

rp description MECHANICS red lines denied for not following my GLORIOUS formatting, and half these spells don’t even fit the ascended theme and just bounce all over the place, like your ultra instinct spell and anti-magic spell, sad

Hiatus has been extended to deal with some IRL things.