NotEvilAtAll

[!] A note is pinned to Iris' Tree Election Signup ~Slaying Monsters!~ This term o' mine has gone on for much too long. It is now time for another election for both Mayor and Sheriff positions here in Bywater, land of halflings, land of gnomes, land of adventurers, and land of peace. If ye wish to sign up, please do so with the following prompt: Name: Race: What are ye running for (Mayor or Sheriff?): Anything you'd like to add: ONLY halflings, gnomes, biggun residents, and adventurers officially registered through the Quest Office can run for Sheriff. The position of Mayor is halfling/gnome only. The signup ends in Two Pumpkin Days, wherein voting will begin! KNOX SAVE BYWATER! ~Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Bywater

Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Bywater, stands on the roads of Bywater. She looks over Zidanna's observatory, the Cingedoz trading cart, and the Aurora Residence. Behind her lies the the Bywater Jungle, where brave Adventurers, big-folk and halfling alike, slew the Fire-Breathing Terror-Lizard that once threatened the village. She lies down against the grass, a quill in her hand, and begins to write: "My Fellow Halflings. It has been a long and arduous few years. There are forces at work that seek to destroy us; to drown us against the waters, burn us against the flames, and corrupt our hearts and souls. There are many who support us. Kind big-folks, be they small like us, or tall and green, or somewhere inbetween, come to Bywater to defeat Evil and defend us. Against all the odds, we have prevailed. Our vision, our dream, our future of a peaceful shire where we can till the soil and reap its fruits has shown through. Not all is as it used to be, however. We are no longer a state merely of halflings, but of adventurers, of farmers, and of friends. We are not isolated any longer, and there are others on Almaris who share in our vision. With this in mind, I make a few key changes to the village: FIRST: Bywater is a village by and for halflings, but we need others to truly thrive! Like-minded big folks are to be welcomed and given homes in the far corners of Bywater (Where ol' Bogwartz now stands vacant) so they may trade with us and help keep us safe. At the same time, city-halflings must be brought to Bywater at an ever-increasing rate to fill all vacant burrows with life! SECOND: The Quest Office is to be expanded, and Adventurers from all over Almaris brought into Bywater to further protect us, obtaining glory and wealth for themselves in the process (as all adventurers ought to!). THIRD: Keeping with our old Republican Traditions that date back to Dunshire, the Second Election of Bywater will begin shortly! I will be running for my third term as Mayor, and others are welcome to run against me or for the position of Sheriff! We have proven ourselves, and now we are to reap the fruits of our success! -Mayor Mimosa Applefoot" And surely enough, as the sun rose over Bywater, a new feeling comes across the village. Not one of worry, or of fear, but of hope. The hope of a good life not just for one's self, but for all. OOC: Bywater has gone through a lot since it's formation. We were threatened with eviction at the hands of the staff over only hitting 0.8% activity, yet we have pulled through and now must look to the future. We have active leadership as well as daily events. These will continue (obviously), but with renewed vigor. Unlike many LOTC communities, Bywater (and by proxy the halflings) is open to events and building by many people, not just our leadership. It is an ideal environment to grow comfortable with building and planning your own narratives on the server. On top of this, there are some other benefits to playing a halfling and/or living in Bywater: -No Taxes (ever!) -You can build your own burrow (or cottage, or observatory, or anything really, we don't mind) -Publicly provided and shared building materials via the Storage Burrow. No need to grind everything yourself (contributing is still encouraged!) -An overall fun and friendly atmosphere If you've ever wanted to make a halfling or live with halflings, now is the time to do so! Here is a link to the Halfling Skin Archive (I WILL LITERALLY PAY FOR YOUR SKIN COMMISSION IF NONE OF THESE SKINS SUIT YOU): https://sites.google.com/view/skinarchive/home/halfling-skins?authuser=0 Here is a link to the Halfling Guide (Made by yours truly): And, last but certainly not least, a link to the Halfling Discord: https://discord.gg/uXsA9wq Here's how you get to Bywater in the first place:

It’s free advertising

274 pages holy cow

((Moved to 6 pm est sorry for all the time changes))

[!] A notice is put up on the Bywater noticeboard FIRE BREATHING LIZARD! ~The horrifying lizard strikes at the innocent!~ TERROR! FEAR! DESTRUCTION! The FIRE-BREATHING LIZARD of the Bywater Jungles MUST be stopped, AT ALL COSTS! This is a tier A+ Quest! Only some expenses will be spared when outfitting adventurers to deal with this threat! ALL ADVENTURERS, ASSEMBLE! ~Mimosa Applefoot, local halfling and Mayor of Bywater ((6 PM EST, TODAY on Sunday the 5th of February, 2/5/2023. Located within Bywater, the home of the halflings on Almaris. Directions to Bywater: ))

IGN: jumperhand3 (your ign so I can see your skin and do tell which one you want me to use) Discord: NotEvilAtAll#2321 (your discord here, I will @ you in the main lotc discord for any questions. I'll only dm with your permission) Character's name: Mimosa Applefoot (your character's name) Description: halfling, 2'4'', rest is basically just on the skin (a small description of your character, such as race, body shape etc.) References: i don't have any mimosa art :( (any references here such as pose, hairstyle or a drawing of your character) Details: she has a cool shovel with a blue glint (any specific details such as equipment, scars, birthmarks etc.)

"T'is ain' worth ah lawsui', Breasal. Please, jus' drop 't fer all o' our sakes" says Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Bywater

Mimosa Applefoot does a double take when looking at the artistic drawing of Sarah "Tha' lass used t'ae beh ah Vampire? O' Knox.... sure t'is ah small world. Glad she's bettah now."

cake sword better

I like this. +1. Only problem is that this lore seems to only relate to elven mythos, which is bad! It should be for everyone!

I technically lost but @VerminHunter thought I won so I got the top prize anyways.

[!] A note is pinned to the Bywater notice tree! Events 'n Bywater! ~Malin's Welcome~ ~Ploughing the fields~ Planting o' the wheat fields o'er with new grains! This is vital for our village economy, for obvious reasons! ((8 PM EST, Thursday the 2nd of February, 2023)) ~The First Seed~ ~A totem to the Frog Spirit~ Weeding the seedlings o' the fields so as to make for a better harvest! What good is a field if all it grows is weeds, after all? It is to take care of the weeds before they grow to large. ((7 PM EST, Friday the 3rd of February, 2023)) ~The Grand Harvest~ ~A feast in the Applefoot Burrow~ Harvesting the fields! This will coincide with threshing, milling, and other vital tasks to ensure for good quality grains and flours! ((3 PM EST, Saturday the 4th of February, 2023)) ~Sun's Smile~ ~Adventurers dealing with a rather peculiar situation~ We must secure the safety of our village as well this year. I expect new enemies to rear their ugly heads. These enemies of Bywater will surely be put to justice by the loyal Adventurers of the Adventuring Guild. Of that, I have nay doubt! ((4 PM EST, Sunday the 5th of February, 2023 This will be a HalflingQuest eventline, expect action and excitement! Link to HalflingQuest rules in the spoiler below:)) Knox bless Bywater! Glory to the Wee! ~Mimosa Applefoot, local halfling and Mayor of Bywater.

[!] A notice is spread through the wind! Shogging Night! ~The shogging logs of Bywater in their traditional setup~ An ol' traditional game dating back as far as any halfling can remember, Shogging is our national sport and something us weefolks ought to take more pride in! Let us convene next Pumpkin Day to train & practice our beloved sport and keep the tradition alive! ~Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Bywater ((7 PM EST, Tomorrow on Wednesday the 1st of February, 2/1/2023. Located within Bywater, the home of the halflings on Almaris : ))

cya

Ppl using this democracy debate thread as a soapbox to voice their discontent with democratic concepts and universal suffrage IRL really shows the mental maturity of the server is in the early teens.

[!] A notice is spread through the wind. A copy slams into your face comically, forcing you to read it. A NEED FOR HEROES ~The peaceful lands we must protect!~ The forces of Darkness, of Evil, of Despair, of Hatred, and of Improperness have escaped justice once again! They now aim to conquer time itself, hurling the world and all of its peoples into eternal darkness! This MUST be stopped at all costs! The Quest Office of Bywater hereby declares this to be a TIER SSS quest (of utmost importance!) with a grand reward in hay, leather, meat, and iron for any adventurers willing to defeat the Time Bandits (now known to be worshipers of the Squid Lord!). Knox speed and may righteous fury be with you! Knox shall protect us, and you are to be HIS shovels! ~Mimosa Applefoot, local halfling and Mayor of Bywater ((3 PM EST, tomorrow on Sunday the 29th of January, 2023. Located within Bywater, the home of the halflings on Almaris. Directions to Bywater: ))

LOTC democracies suffer from a lack of players in every nation to fulfill all of the roles in a modern democracy. You can't really pull off a full legal system, parliament or congress with representation for multiple provinces/states/whatever, and proper checks and balances without literally 100% of your nation's playerbase being senators and lawyers. In IRL societies that is not a problem as your average village has about the same daily occupancy as LOTC does, much less massive cities with millions of people. Because of this, most LOTC "Democracies" are just INSANELY STRONG, POWERFUL EXECUTIVES with ZERO checks and balances apart from "Uh, if you commit crimes against the Republic, the guards will arrest you and put you in jail for 2 IRL hours or kill you so you can instantly respawn!" And the guards are loyal to the super powerful executive leader anyways and the Democracy turns back into a Monarchy/Dictatorship/Whatever in only a few election cycles. It's not made any better by the fact that PROs are literally GODS of their regions via current rules and can do whatever they want even if a legislature rules against them. Some big empires can pull of parliaments/duma/congress stuff better than others thanks to having more players to fill up the voter base and run for office, but it's overall much more difficult to run a functioning democracy on LOTC than it is IRL. I think it's worth mentioning that LOTC Monarchies have huge problems as well. It used to be the case that old ex-NLs (le funny shadow leaders) could exert power and influence over a lot of the server by controlling succession or some NL who really shouldn't be given nation-leading powers are made to inherit the throne (Such as BenevolentManacles most notably). Overall I think LOTC democracies are better than having dead-beat do-nothing NLs given power through friend cliques but overall still ain't perfect.

“W-weh WON?” says Mimosa Applefoot “Tha’s incredible! Oi knew all t’ae prac’ice would pay off!”

“Ooo! Loveleh new trade goods fer us!” Exclaims Mimosa Applefoot the halfling of Bywater