squakhawk

0 kinslaying and treachery seem to be a very common theme in every extended family ive ever ran (and i dont do close family rp)

then you'll be happy :j

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Lora&display=swap'); @import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=PT+Serif&display=swap'); #custom h1 { font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 32px; } #custom li { font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; line-height: 2; font-size: 16px; } #custom h2 { font-family: 'Lora', serif; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 1em; font-size: 24px; color: #3586b5; } #custom h3 { font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0.5em; font-size:18px; color: #448db8; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: dashed; } table.center { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } #custom p { font-family: 'Lora', serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1em; font-size:16px; } strong {font-weight:bold;font:inherit;} #custom td { font-family: 'Verdana', serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1em; font-size:16px; } what's up guys uhh good evening and shit it's like 10:49 PM, We have some exciting news to share about the direction of the coming Map, plans and designs, and our latest work. Map Status The design stage of the new map has been tricky (we faced a setback of two months), but we’re confident that the struggles were worth it. Map design is critical to its success and we want it to be as good as it can be before we make any irreversible decisions. So on that note—we can’t share an estimate for the release yet, but our paint is freshly started and will be done before the holidays. So what can you expect? Once the map is 3 months away from release we will post an announcement and begin the final phase. That’s when you can expect more media presence, land selection/prebuild, and previews of the new gameplay systems. Our priority is to minimize rules & shackles on roleplay. This will reflect in both the map itself and its gameplay systems (land ownership, RP, etc.). More on that below! Map Design Between the Your Views, the map discussion channel, community perspectives, and lots of revisions—our latest design is nicely saturated with feedback. We don’t want a pristine map we can’t touch—it should be usable, visually charming, with land simple to acquire and practical to build on. Of course, the Cloud Temple is a must—but it should not be a place that can impact gameplay. Roads should unite the world in a way that flows naturally and feels lived in. And as for land—it should be used, populated and bustling—not purchased once and left untouched. That probably means: no hubs. We’re certain that if we can address these concerns, we can make an impact on quality of life and build a bustling, living map. And now—let’s take a look at a visual retelling of The Descendant’s journey from Aegis to Almaris, and perhaps a teaser within! All credits to @Anore [Your View] - Cloud Temple Where do we put the Cloud Temple? Let’s say, not on the map but…above the map. This can solve the problems with CT that shows up in feedback over and over—the CT (and hubs) should not directly impact gameplay. So far we have been designing our systems around an off-map cloud temple, and seeing how we can even go without hubs. What do you think? We also have some plans for reviving the Library of Dragur. However, it won’t be like its past form. Now, it’s going to be focused on player history told by the players, rather than just being a repository for every book on the map. And one more question: what do you want from the Cloud Temple? Aesthetically & physically—what can we put there to enrich the experience? (especially for newbies & first-timers) We’ve used the CT as a ground for free foods, banks/auctioneers, and other amenities—but what does it mean to you? We want this to be the best iteration of the Cloud Temple, and we’re ready to try novel ideas. Map-Discussion & Discord So, it’s no secret that the official-answers channel is mostly abandoned. We recognize this—it’s hard to keep it accurate, especially with something as fluid and dynamic as map dev. We want to deliver on our promises, so we also want to avoid setting confusing or contradictory expectations. For this reason, we will repurpose the channel to be an FAQ of official statements and confirmations: “what can you 100% expect?”. As we grow closer to the end of development, we will be able to offer more solid answers—certainty and stability. This way as we get closer you and your friends can make plans and prepare for the upcoming transition. But one thing stays the same—we’ll be watching the discussion channel! Lore and Story Our approach to Lore and Storylines can make or break a map release. And, based on insights and discussion, we want to radically shift our perspective. Let's ask first- what does it mean for a map story to be successful? We’ve seen that it’s not often that an overarching major plotline decides that. Rather, it’s what kind of impact the lore and storylines within a map have on characters. In the past, most plotlines were centralized & directed by one person (the burden was as bad as it sounds). Despite one-man stewardship being quick and effective, it also meant whether or not we had a fun story in each map-cycle was a gamble. Massive plotlines do have their place—but what better than to fuse storylines into the physical world? Why should event sites be static, locked off exhibits and not part of the world you can manipulate? And what matters most about a map’s lore? Player characters: because plots fade but characters don’t. This is why this time our focus is to design lore that empowers your own storytelling rather than you playing a cog in something else. Tearing down roleplay walls is the main ambition—instead of railroading, we want to publish lore and stories which will naturally evolve specific areas of the map. How can we evoke interest and curiosity in passing players? How can we provoke thought and engagement with the landscape and builds? How can Story actors create their own storylines within regions instead of just being fed directions?—and how can we enable players to take full advantage of these changes? These are our operating questions. Rather than three/four weeks of fun plot before it fizzles—we want to enrich each region of the map in a way that lasts the whole map. Each region will have its own unique identity, feel, and history. And with that out the way…we have a teaser of a story written by @Bonito of explorers sailing to a mysterious land beyond the misty sea. Closing Thoughts I’m happy with the way it’s going. I’ll be honest, beginning phase two was a real struggle, and it was hard to see how it could all piece together. But it’s looking clearer now, and I believe we have a steady direction set—one that I hope will make many people happy too. We are doing our best to account for your feedback, and most of all, to deliver a quality experience. As always, we look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please let us know how you feel, and your thoughts! Have a great one, Squak & The Map Development Team Credit to; Video, Aos/Eos Map - BasketWeaver Short Story - Kujo Postwriting - Mady07 Postwriting - Squak Editing - Telanir

Music: The closest they’d ever get to the Seven Skies, that’s what the captain told them. Nine months at sea was the longest Aymar had ever been, fed Baldwin’s stories over supper to satisfy his mind and belly. Five weeks since the last port, and three days without any signs of life, not a gull or cod to spy. A calloused hand shook Aymar from his daydreams. “Up, lad, be hush about it,” said the deckhand, his long, greasy hair hiding his finer features in their poorly lit quarters. “What’s happened?” Aymar asked. “Land, boy.” A flicker of hesitation in the deckhand’s gravelly voice, and past the curtain of hair, Aymar caught a glimpse of the man’s eyes bubbling something close to fear. He crawls out of his hammock and trudges up the midnight deck. The panicked gales made gooseflesh of his bare arms, sails whipping overhead. Weather had served the Happy Harpy’s crew well, no riptides or storms sighted well over some months, but the biting chill had followed them through all the seasons. It kept the men fat with fabric, scurrying below deck like rodents whenever they could. All but Baldwin. Aymar spotted the little man by the rails, moonlight reflected in his gray whiskers. “Cork says there’s land,” Aymar said, “But there’s been no noise from the nest.” He had expected a sight like this to bring commotion, but the night was quiet and empty as it always was. Around them the night made shadows and husks of the men, but they were watching, bearing the deckhand’s same frightful glint. “Can’t blame them, no, but it’s there alright, across the waves, look.” Baldwin points a stubby finger over the water. “Stars and stars, and then black shadow swallows up the light. You can see shapes and the like. Mountains and woods, I can even see Dimazd from here.” At their last port, a grouchy dwarf had called it Wyrmos, and when saying Dimazd aloud caught a few dubious eyes at the tavern, one saw why. “Tall tales,” Aymar said, eager for ignorance. “I see it well enough, lad. I feel it scratching me neck, hear it whispering in me ears, I do. The others see it too.” One of Aymar’s pointed ears twitch. Golden relics, ancient tomes, the story changed from lip to lip, but a degree of wealth was always guaranteed. The wealth came with other, less savory guarantees, guarded by things Aymar had heard tale of over flames. “Does it frighten you, Baldwin?” “Frightens any man of salt,” he said. “It’s the marshes first. . . Zeke says there was an orc on his old crew who’d seen them. He said they needed an extra man with an oar on the rowboats to brush aside the things hiding in the water.” “Things?” “Fishfood, lad. Sailors go in, but they don’t come out. Making Zeke the first bastard dumb enough to come out and go back in.” Baldwin pressed his lips. “They call it the pleasant death, real peaceful-like. No pain,” he says, “A mercy, really, or the closest men like us will ever get to it.” “Is that what you came here for? Mercy?” Baldwin doesn’t answer. They join the crew in silence, watching the dark mass crawl closer and closer above the waves. All writing credit to @Bonito

Clarified the blasting potion timer As well, Black Alchemy isn't necessarily magic, its just the lifeforce base reagent from which they draw a lot of their effects. The magic limit is auto-alchemist, it's only if the holder/wielder is connecting to a magic or an enchantment. Summons/creations would be inherently magical by default, and would count obviously as an active spell/enchantment.

Hey everyone o/ It's about time for another Story Team Update. This update will cover current changes we're implementing alongside this post such as Alchemy and soon, the Lore Criteria/Guides rewrite. As well, recent team activity and recruitment! Recruitment We’ll start this one off with a call for new members. We’re recruiting across all sects of the team, though focusing on event team members and builders in specific. Wanting more thorough eventlines, additional actors, and people to work with Antag in the coming months, Event absolutely could use your help. Builders much the same - with events comes build requests, always. If you are a talented builder looking to get paid some mina for your work that players get to see and interact with, the application form is linked below. If you think you’re qualified for either of these positions, please put up an application! You can find the form attached here. Alchemy With that out of the way, we’ll tackle the elephant in the room first, with Alchemy. Alchemy has been a big talking point in all facets of the server. We’ve heard countless calls to action about the state of alchemical abilities, with the overwhelming majority agreeing that it is too strong and too bloated, and needs to be brought down to earth. You can think of this as a mini-overhaul of Alchemy. The changes that have been just implemented are as follows; Across the board, potions now take one extra emote to activate. We have decided to add a ‘priming’ emote for potions, which requires an independent emote to mix the concoction. (Draw → Prime → Throw). After the ‘priming’ emote, the potion in question must be used within two emotes or else it becomes dormant. A dormant potion is not useless – it will only push you back to the second emote in your chain of three, requiring priming once more. Though they affect all combat related potions, these changes were specifically designed with tanglefoot and blasting potions in mind. However, it should be noted that blasting potions cannot fall dormant. If you prime your blasting potion and do not throw it within one emote (rather than the typical two), then your potion will explode. Think of this as pulling the pin off of a grenade, except you can’t hold the lever down and delay its blast. You prime the blasting potion, you best be ready for an explosion. Be sure to check the lore for clarification! We have clarified the “maybes” and “almosts” in description for blasting potion damage. In addition, we have made it more clear as to the effect of glass and shrapnel emitted from our favourite medieval grenades. Tanglefoot has been reduced mildly in its overall effect. Not only will it take time to come into effect – rather than instantly entrapping the victim – it can also be resisted with proper counters and precautions. Be sure to check the lore for clarification! Null Arcana is the last on our list of targeted changes. It will now break anything it is applied to, save lunarite, after a single use, and will only interrupt mages for two emotes. Constructs can expect to be stunned for one emote too. Be sure to check the lore for clarification! Mages are affected by these changes too. Alchemy potions now become inert and unusable until two emotes past the disconnection/cessation of magic from the user. Alchemy bloat is another big topic of contention among the story team. While having more lore is not always a bad thing, it can be rather intimidating and confusing for a budding alchemist to venture into the feat with several duplicate and redundant potions. As such, we are going to be merging some potions in an effort to streamline things. For now, these are what the ST has found to merge: 1. Pain Reducer & Headache Reliever from Medpack 1 & Medpack 3 2. Tranquil Draught, Heart Calming Solution from Medpack 2 & Medpack 3 3. Paco Powder, Contact Purifier, Instant Water from Trade Alchemy, Medpack 1, Lector Alchemy The amount of reagents and herbs can also be confusing, as they aren’t organized too neatly. Alongside our new guides project that you can read about further down the post, we’re going to be creating a botanical compendium as a one-stop shop for all your herb and reagent needs. With the creation of this in mind, we’ll be reducing the amount of open reagents with the release of the next map, and trying to explore more interesting and thematic variants rather than just plants. We're also currently looking at a way to implementing a submission form/type unique to Alchemy which makes it more akin to Short-CD MArts rather than lorepieces. Primarily, this prevents the various theme-packs that come from alchemy and a more character-unique or tailored potion. Not to mention, ability to attribute their creation and association to certain player characters. This would combat bloat and prevent the far-to-wide niche that Alchemy has been overtaking in the last year or so. It had been planned to implement alongside these changes, but given current team reform, it has been decided to put it off for the time being. This will wrap up the alchemy section of our update. Potions with outdated descriptions are still usable as long as you follow the new guidelines. Feel free to contact a story team member and make an sreq to have your descriptions updated if you feel necessary. This is overall to better balance for CRP, as most forms of combat on the server (ranged combat, magics, melee, etc) where falling behind in comparison to the quick action and sheer versatility that came with Alchemy which is an otherwise inconsequential feat. Guides, Lore Criteria, and New Player Lore In their current state, lore guides are in a very odd place. Some pieces have beautiful, in depth guides that help explain the lore, while others simply copy-and-paste the original lore piece and remove some of the fluff of the lore. Most of this can be attributed to the lack of criteria for lore guides. As such, we will be introducing a new set of criteria for guides. This will be more relaxed to help ease the process of creating a guide. Expect to see a format posted with the Lore Criteria update that should be out by the end of the month. Tackling guides is one of the ways we hope to make it easier for new players to join the server. LOTC has over ten years of stories, history, and lore to experience and explore. While this is an amazing feat in and of itself, it can be very intimidating for someone who’s joining in after those ten years! The story team hopes to remedy this fact with the ‘New Player Lore’ project. A comprehensive, surface-level dive into various lore pieces of the server; things that we think all new players should know and be made aware of. We’ve been progressing well with this project which should hopefully be done by the end of the year. We’re curious about the ideas of our new starting location, and may need some help with the older ones. If you’re familiar with Aeldin and want to potentially help out, let us know! There are some people on the project already pretty familiar, but it’s always good to have more assistance in hopes of clearing up the holes and working out the kinks. If this sounds like something you can help with, please reach out to story management or leave a comment on this post. Aengudaemonica To those unfamiliar, Aengudaemonica is a big, fancy word that us lore writers like to use to make us feel intelligent. In general, it refers to the pantheon of LOTC, with the gods, goddesses, and deities that make up our world. In recent times, we’ve implemented an embargo which prevents new deities or deity-adjacent things such as realms or magics. This is because we are undergoing a major shift in direction with our views upon deities, along with re-organizing all our old lore from a decade of mistreatment. Not to mention, all the written, unwritten, shelved, unshelved, and questionably implemented lore around them. Previously, these supposedly omniscient & omnipresent entities have been largely absent in interacting with our world. The being that gives your character their magical abilities or faith should be more than just a passing name in an in-game history book. We’re hoping to shift to a system that fosters curious lore and interactions, which provokes player interaction and roleplay. An enrichment to a world that otherwise mostly lacks this very important part of core fantasy. While we don’t want to set a release date we probably won’t meet, we are doing our best to make sure it comes as soon(™) as possible. Miscellaneous Updates It’s no secret that loremags/amendments (and their updates), and sreqs, have seen a slower turnaround time in recent months. With many of our members focusing on IRL obligations like work and school, we’re unable to pick up and review these things as fast as we have in times past. We are working on mitigating that problem, however – and one of those ways is by recruiting new members. If you glossed over the mention above, we’re recruiting across all sects of the team. If you’d like to help us out on the story team, now is as good a time as ever to submit an application, which you can find here. We’re also reducing frontload with lore and seeing what we can do to make our systems quicker and more expedient so that there is less turnaround. The drop in activity is not only in our lore sect of the team, either. ET and BT have seen reduced activity lately for the aforementioned reasons. Though our map events, and regularly scheduled events in general are still continuing well, we’re always working to improve and do better. Story Team Enforcement has undergone a rework, too. Our last system saw varying degrees of quality in regards to punishments and investigations, so our new and updated system seeks to set a baseline of expectations and more checks/balances to have more consistent action. Lastly, we’ve done some small changes to the lore section on the forums frontpage. Now, you can see all the categories from hotlinks immediately visible. As well, we have made a quick link to the Lore Applications section which is normally buried deeply into the applications section of the forums for quick and easy access. If you have any suggestions on making the lore forums more visible or easy to navigate, please let us know. That’s all we have otherwise, thank you for reading! Please let us know any comments or concerns you might have in the comments below, privately, or in the ST Discord. Thanks!

Lore has been shelved and moved to the appropriate subforum. If you have questions about why this specific lore has been shelved, please contact an ST Manager or the ST Administrator.

where mynebor

Application completed. You will be contacted by Staff on the application's status and next steps.

Application completed. You will be contacted by Staff on the application's status and next steps.

there will be an announcement 3mo prior to release that we’re 3mo prior to release. During this time land selection/prebuilds/media presence will occur a lot of what spoon said also but rather than people leaving mapdev, in this stage (save for the paint/builds) things can take anywhere from a week to a month with systems, lore, etc. to write so again, genuinely don’t know.

━━━━━━━━━┛✦┗━━━━━━━━━ Вера, Соль, Дым, Гром, Кровь, Сталь, песня солдата, готового вернуть королевство из тьмы. IN THE SIGHT OF PRINCES AND MEN With the reclamation of The Kazarma and by rite of the lost Raevsblade Svjetlast, Siegmund of The Carrion has deemed The Kingdom known as "Haenseti-Ruska", The Pretender Kingdom, be razed and decoupled from it's false matrimony. From the Kazarma in the north, the keep of red flame, The Pretender-Kingdom lead by Karl of the house Barbanov is to meet the terms following. Phials of Bastard's blood, one from each descendant of your personal line. As provided before by your host, so graciously. House blades, from each head of nobility. A show of faith, each to surrender their false-kings' claim. Any who offer their sword will be granted power, and amnesty. The crown of your false king, Karl Barbanov, Third of his name. To decouple the kingdom, and depose this falsity. These terms will be discussed by the lake North of your false-kingdom by riders of my line and yours. Should these demands not be met by the following winter in full, your kingdom will burn. Salt and smoke, your line will be plunged into the flames of the high hells. Your people will suffer, your city sacked, your palace plundered. Should you call in your allies, your craven fear will be known. You, Karl Barbanov, will witness every succulent moment of torment before you and your line are extinguished. Be quick. Signed, Siegmund of The Carrion, Rightful King of Ruska, Prince of Calamity Rokmael'Ozog, Lord of The Kazarma-by-the-flame Zhad Za'naz, Guest of Dreams О Бедствие, чьи знамения явлены, Жертвоприношения животных проводятся у его дверей, О мои хозяева, оно выпускает ужасы. ━━━━━━━━━┛✦┗━━━━━━━━━ EVENT DETAILS

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

have to agree with this that there is basically 2 archetypes of 1 - bloodthirsty brute 2 - reserved spiritualist who is also bloodthirsty (but its viewed as bad) taking from either warhammer (fantasy or 40k take your pick) or wow for either of them by majority and while thats fine, those two archetypes dont really interest me as a character and I can't imagine being in a place surrounded by just those two people. People can break the archetype, fooddude does play a more scholarly orc, and it comes off well, but when I see others playing a scholarly, curious, or intelligent orc, it just comes off as a dull elf reskinned into a more physically apt race. Exception being noobs I see taking this route sometimes, but often they in the past have been bullied out of the community for it. mi lub @Panashea and mi lub blah doe

Amendments/Additions implemented into main lore post. Thank you for your submission. Moving to correct subforum to prevent redundancy and clutter.

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

Application completed. You will be contacted by Staff on the application's status and next steps.

This lore has been denied. Did not mentioned cain and abel lore involvement with rocks. Cannot retcon that with this lore. Otherwise it would be solid. This is a rocky start. A diamond in the rough. Rock on.

Amendments/Additions implemented into main lore post. Thank you for your submission. Moving to correct subforum to prevent redundancy and clutter.

Amendments/Additions implemented into main lore post. Thank you for your submission. Moving to correct subforum to prevent redundancy and clutter.

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.