NotEvilAtAll

[!] You find a newspaper in your aviary mailbox... The Hay Herald: Volume 8 ~Not your grandma's paper!~ Contents: ~Unity Under the Shire!~ ~Event Success!~ ~Adventures, Nasty Things!~ ~The CRIMES of the GNOMES?~ ~Unity Under the Shire!~ Let us remember how important UNITY is to us and our people! Monofarthingism, the idea of all halflings livin' together in one village, dates back almost as far as the records go. Yet in modern times, far too many halflings live off on their own, in their own private burrows or (Knox forgive 'em) in hovels and homes within biggun cities! It is our duty to Knox and ourselves to UNITE ALL HALFLINGS INTO T'A SHIRE! Knox wills it, and it shall one day be done! I dream o' a future where ALL HALFLINGS live in the shire, even the shoe-wearing ones, so that all will learn of the proper halfling ways & culture and be free from big-folk oppression! We are to be free, prosperous, and proper! One shire under Knox, and one shire for all halflings! ~Event Success!~ ~Gilbert being punished for his tomfoolery!~ Several events have taken place in Honeyhill recently, ranging from underground spleefin' nights to aboveground pumpkin carvings and more! ~Carving Pumpkins~ ~The tavern fills with life~ ~Adventures, Nasty Things!~ 'n less grand news, both Breasal and Gilbert be off on 'adventures' of sorts, away from the village! Not just late for supper, these two will be late for breakfast, second breakfast, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, AND evening snacks! Remember that no good proper halfling goes on too many adventures! Always be home 'n time for supper if you can! Travel food never tastes as good as home-cooked meals after all! ~The CRIMES of the GNOMES?~ Recently, many burrows have been burglarized by burglars with small hand prints. Many halflings have blamed the gnomes for these foul thefts, saying that only a gnome would have the knowledge and proximity to do all these acts! Are the gnomes truly responsible for these crimes? You readers may vote on the matter by sending the following prompt back to me (just write 'Return to Sender' on the letter, birds usually figure it out). ARE THE GNOMES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BREAK-INS AND THEFTS?? YES[ ] No[ ] ~Official poll by the Hay Herald newspaper This has been the latest issue of the Hay Herald. Mimosa Applefoot, signing out! -Mimosa Applefoot, local halfling & Mayor of Honeyhill.

[!] You find a paper pinned to your burrow... Ye are invited! Next pumpkin day we'll be having a grandiose GAMING NIGHT, just as me father used to run back 'n the day. Shogging, spleef, you name it, it'll all be there! Miss it and yeh're a rotten pumpkin! (Note: seasonal costumes are optional) -Mimosa Applefoot, local halfling & Mayor of Honeyhill. ((tomorrow on Thursday, 10/20/2022, at 5 PM EST, located in Honeyhill, the home of the halflings & gnomes))

[!] You find a note attached to the Honeyhill Noticeboard ~The Demon-rat invades the tavern!~ Beware, all ye halflings, for danger's around Strange rats in the bar, now wanting to be found To harass us all and send us in'tae the ground! Keep on your feets! Stay wary! ~Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Honeyhill

“Vereh noice. Good work as always, Hob!” says Mimosa Applefoot, mayor of Honeyhill.

Settlement PRO MC Name: AceOfHearths Settlement Name: The halfling village of Bywater Proposed Settlement Locations (Highlight 3 on the map): Preferred (in order of preference): tile 15 tile 143 tile 67 Settlement Lore (could include previous roleplay posts showing involvement with the community) (1000 words minimum): Settlement Government Structure Explanation: An elected Mayor and Sheriff along with an Thain. The Thain is in charge of diplomacy, the Mayor is in charge of day-to-day village management, and the Sheriff keeps the peace. Both the Thain and Mayor have the power to appoint Elders to act as stewards of sorts, keeping tabs on burrows and events, region perms, storage burrow access, and other such things. Each elected position (Mayor, Sheriff) has a term of 8 years, but there are no term limits for re-elections. Settlement Builds and Infrastructure (photos required): All of these are halfling villages built by us in survival mode (as we intend to do for Bywater). Technically, much of Brandybrook was first designed in creative on a build server and then painstakingly copied over by hand without even using litematica, but it's still impressive for a non-pasted build nevertheless. Current burrow building guide (by yours truly): This guide should give you a pretty good idea as to what the typical halfling burrow will look like in Bywater, as it's what is most commonly sent to new halfling players as they build their first burrow. It's also not uncommon to take inspiration from youtube, pinterest, reddit, etc since many halfling/hobbit builds can be found there too (heck, some hobbit hole building guide videos on youtube have over a million views! Plenty of places to learn how to build in a good ol' halfling style). Random burrow I made in singleplayer but never put on the forums: How does this settlement offer a unique niche not already found in an existing polity on the server?: Halflings have been on the server for over a decade now, our culture staying more or less the same since 2012. Halflings are unique in that... A: We let everyone build their OWN halfling burrows while most other communities use pre-pasted builds (sometimes even commissioned for real money) and don't let people make their own housing. Halfling villages develop organically as a result in a way that most LOTC settlements don't. B: We focus on farm roleplay more than most other communities and offer a decent rural roleplay experience. C: On top of building and farm RP, we also do crazy adventures sometimes to mix things up (just ask anyone about my HalflingQuest event storyline which has recently concluded). How does your settlement tie to the greater lore and narrative set by the community on LotC?: Halfling villages have always been a great place for wild adventures to start out small and humble. Although halflings can be somewhat isolationist at times, that does not mean they won't go out and impact the world on occasion! Here is one such example of a halfling adventure, a legendary one whose influence is still felt in halfling politics to this day, when the Great Thain Rollo so gloriously stole the Thain Shovel from the big-folks! More recently, we've opened up trade negotiations with the Dwarves of Khron'Hundmar and intend to continue it within this settlement, sending out trading caravans full of halfling farm goods to the far north whenever possible. Just like most halfling villages prior to it, Bywater will grow organically and incorporate all sorts of character narratives into the build itself, with all sorts of little quirks, differences, and secrets in its burrows and fields! Halfling villages are always fun to explore for the first time as a result. Have you ever run a settlement on LoTC before and what experience do you have with leadership within roleplay communities among the current groups of players?: I am the current Mayor of the halflings on Almaris and I have some old experience running lots of halfling events going all the way back to Atlas. I started a trend called Dunshire Drinking Nights and ran events every week for the better part of a year, continuing the trend into Arcas and Brandybrook after Atlas ended. I still have a bunch of old screenshots in an old google doc from that time period. More recently, I've planned and co-run several CRP eventlines, some more serious (Rat eventline) and others more lighthearted (HalflingQuest). The current guide to halfling roleplay was made by me as well as the most updated guide to building halfling burrows. I'm not a one-man show when it comes to leading, but I hope with the help of others I can do a decent job as Mayor for the rest of my halfling character's 8-year term, upon which I'll either be re-elected or some up and coming new player will take over leadership instead! Other leadership: Elders: @420alien @TakeMeT0TheFae Thain: AceOfHearths (Harley on the forums sadly too many Harley-related forum accounts for me to find them big sad) Do you understand the metrics for maintaining activity and the grounds for settlement removal, along with the standing polity cap? I do!

[!] You find an unwanted newspaper in your aviary The Hay Herald: Volume 7 ~Even the gnomes read it!~ Contents: ~New Government!~ ~Gnomes in Honeyhill?~ ~Trade with the Dwarves~ ~Watermelon Joe Captured!~ ~Economic News: Taxes & Tariffs~ ~New Government!~ After a period of brief turmoil, Lily Peregrin has given up the Thaindom to a newly elected government of Me, Hob, and King Cyris. O' course, this be old news by now, but t'is still worth printing in the papers! Here be an interview o' me provided by Bennet Hassenfort! [!] Another paper is attached to the Newspaper! It goes on for quite a few pages... ~Gnomes in Honeyhill?~ ~The realm of the gnomes~ Again with the old news, there's now a sizeable community of GNOMES living in Honeyhill under their Gnome-Queen, Tulip! Although these gnomes have so far proven to be less than useful (laziness runs 'n some bloodlines 't seems), we're still keeping them around on the hopes that they'll provide some useful labor for the village as a whole one day! ~Trade with Dwarves~ ~Halfling traders gearing up for journey~ King Cyris (now Thain King Cyris) has done a wonderful job with diplomacy as of late. One such event blossoming from that is trade with the dwarves o' the far north (Or Norf Dwed, as I call 'em). The Norf Dwed were horribly OUTNUMBERED by us weefolk traders and hardly had much to provide for us, yet we still gave them good deals on our wares out of generosity. ~Halfling traders as far as the eye can see, but alas, the dwarves are much more reclusive~ ~Watermelon Joe Captured~ Watermelon Joe, rumored to be a distant relative of the Otterbowl family, has been CAPTURED and sentenced to endless eternities in the dungeons for his crimes against halflings, frogs, and rats alike! Our village's adventurers have finally brought the man behind all of the spider and rat attacks to JUSTICE! This is a glorious victory for all of gnome and halfling kind! ~Taxes & Tariffs~ In economic news, tariffs remain strong at 110% fees for minas usin' biggun businessfolks. The new taxation policy, known as Burrow Obligations, will take effect by the end of the Autumn, hopefully collecting lots of new goodies to dole out to burrows by the end of it! Pumpkins remain strong while bread cools its growth slightly, only increasing in barter value from five pumpkins per dozen to six. Iron values have crashed significantly ever since trade with the norf dwarves opened up, much to the delight of the fledgling halfling blacksmithing industry, long hampered by iron shortages. It seems that the economic future may be in shovels as much as in pumpkins or wheat. A shovel can make more value while a pumpkin can only be used once (or twice), of course! Buy shovels now! Hold forever until it's value reaches ONE THOUSAND PUMPKINS and we'll all be RICH I say! Warning: this is not sound financial advice ~Mimosa Applefoot (& Bennet Hassenfort), Mayor of Honeyhill (& random unpaid intern).

Man I haven’t heard about the Road to 500 in a while. Crazy to think we thought the lockdown server highs would never end. I think most of what’s caused LOTC to stagnate recently (slide back a bit in numbers, even) is general boredom with Almaris. Almaris has already been in place for longer than Arcas lasted, and Arcas itself was a very long map too. School’s back, lockdowns are 100% over, and not much interesting is happening on the server.

Option 1: Enter the trading burrow (shown here as viewed from the farmers' market). Put your Burrow Obligation foodstuffs, animal items, etc. into one of the marked barrels. To ensure that your obligation is counted, you can sign a note on a piece of paper (paper is obtainable from the nearby aviary) with /notes write (message) and /notes sign afterwards to put in the barrel along with your obligation. Option 2: Lock your mailbox with /cdonation and then click on it while running the command /cmodify @AceOfHearths @jumperhand3 @420alien @TakeMeT0TheFae This will keep your mailbox operational as a mailbox while allowing all of the halfling leadership take out any items you put into it. Put your Burrow Obligation into your mailbox and you won't even have to leave your front step! The poor ol' Elders will do the work for you. (note: you may have to change who is added to your mailbox after elections) Here is what's due every week per the Burrow Obligation system (pick one of the following): ~Eight hay bales, bound with twine ~Twenty four baked potatoes ~Ten pumpkins, larger t'a better ~Sixteen sugar cane bundles ~Four leather hides, preferably tanned ~Eight cuts of meat from any animal ~Eight bundles of wool ~Sixteen wood of any style ~OR a dinner party held in your burrow!

These sorts of threads never accomplish anything. Different races/communities on LoTC appeal to different Roleplay niches. The #1 reason people don’t play orcs is that Orcish Roleplay isn’t there preferred style (also that most of their OOC friends aren’t orcs). That is natural and changing a bunch of things to get more general appeal (losing the Orc RP specialization in the process) is stupid and will see you outcompeted by larger races that do that generalist approach better.

my profile gives it away, sadly in more ways than one

[!] You feel it in your bones.... (and see it on the noticeboard too) The final battle for Honeyhill shall begin, the brave defenders of the shire versus all those who stand in its way! All around Honeyhill the rats and spiders prepare for their final assault, will YOU stand in their way? Adventurers! You are once again called to service! ((Event 3 PM EST on Saturday, 6th of October 2022, located within Honeyhill, the home of the halflings))

Coming 2015!!

Devs are GODS do not stand in their way

[!] A notice is pinned to the Honeyhill Noticeboard! An Adoption! ~A fun time in the tavern~ I, Mimosa Applefoot, Mayor of Honeyhill, am proud to announce that Miel is now an Applefoot just as I am! Nay longer shall he live alone in the tavern, for now he has a family with me and my son, Hal, where he will be loved and cared for! -Mimosa Applefoot, halfling and Mayor of Honeyhill.

((updated as of 10/5/2022 with current members and new relations with other families

Mimosa Applefoot reads this agreement, later commenting: “Weh should’ve asked ‘em fer more farmland if weh’re gonner le’ ‘em use our cheese cave! Oi don’ wan’ t’a fiddleberries ter ge’ exhaus’ed carin’ fer biggun cheeses fer NUFFIN!”

[!] An epic saga is told all across Honeyhill, spreading the news of the adventures of the new Mayor and Thain. The Saga of Mimosa and Cyris 𝅘𝅥 Far over the northern mountains cold, 𝅘𝅥 𝅘𝅥 through caverns deep and forests old, 𝅘𝅥 𝅘𝅥 we must away ere break of day 𝅘𝅥 𝅘𝅥 to seek our fortune in the snow. 𝅘𝅥 ~An old Dwarven song~ And so, with all great adventures, it began somewhere humble. In Honeyhill, home of us halflings, where even the rats and mice are home in time for supper, something rather peculiar happened. Mimosa and Cyris, the newly elected leadership of the village, set out to dark, dangerous lands in search of wealth, fame, glory, diplomacy, and trade. Out to the north and west, where Arugula's wrath grips the world in ice and snow, they found what they were looking for. Many strange, strange creatures came up to them. They found talking man-like fish from the rivers, leaping through the air like arrows and back into the water as the swan dives. The man-fish commanded the power of water itself, freezing the river over to walk over to them. They talked much, but of very little, and so the brave halflings carried on in their journey. The roads carried them far to the north, where they stumbled across a Dwarven hold alone in the desolate wastes around them. Exhausted and freezing from their travels, Mimosa and Cyris went to them for warmth and all the comforts that a weary traveler can find outside of home, which the Dwarves provided o' so generously. Discussions were had with the Dwarven settlers; trade deals drawn up, new bonds forged, and thus a new relationship between the wee and the less-wee began. Here in the land of the Northern Dwarves, many more strange creatures were found, including rogue Gnomes outside of the Gnomish Kingdom, who swore themselves as enemies of the village Gnomes even as the Dwarves and non-Dwarf colonists alike bonded with the travelers! Tired and weary, Mimosa and Cyris went back to Honeyhill, and thus this story concludes. May Knox bless us all! [!] And so the fables did end, and story books conclude. [!] As well as general tales of halfling adventure, a missive is pinned to the Honeyhill Noticeboard! "Attention all halflings! Cyris and I have made new trade negotiations! In exchange for our foodstuffs, the Dwarves shall give us many fine crafts from their cold, mountainous land! May Knox bless this new relationship and give us trading success! -Mimosa Applefoot"

[!] A note is pinned to the Honeyhill Noticeboard. Halflings and their strange ways... A Mayoral Edict ~Scaring the Gnomes~ As the new Mayor of Honeyhill, t'is time for me to make a few changes 'round here! ~NEW ELDERS~ I hereby appoint Dolly Peregrin and Gilbert Bingu as Elders of Honeyhill! May they serve well! ~Burrow Obligations!~ To ensure that burrows remain occupied and to keep us busy producing foodstuffs, all burrows must now provide a certain amount of resources to the village as a whole! This ought to serve as a much more rational way to handle burrows, ownership, and evictions without relyin' too much on Elders doing things at their own whims! Every year, each burrow owner must provide one of the following options: ~Eight hay bales, bound with twine ~Twenty four baked potatoes ~Ten pumpkins, larger t'a better ~Sixteen sugar cane bundles ~Four leather hides, preferably tanned ~Eight cuts of meat from any animal Bigguns do NOT count as animals. Do NOT pay your obligation with anything cannibalistic. ~Eight bundles of wool ~Sixteen wood of any style ~OR a dinner party held in their burrow! If ye be a Gnome, ye are exempt, as are burrow owners who got their burrow that very year. Ye may provide extra resources in advance if ye are to go on travels or adventuring of sorts, up to four years permissible (send me a bird if ye need more leniency!). All of the collected resources will be redistributed back to everyone for use in burrow pantries, parties, and other such matters! The obligations be due after every Sun's Smile ((Sunday)), so get to work! ~The Importance of Farming~ We shall devote ourselves to the art of farming, as Knox has so willed us. We are to rotate potatoes, oats, and wheat between our three fields and use proper equipment. With this in mind, we MUST acquire the following equipment: ~A proper pony-drawn field harrow ~Better harnesses ~Threshing flails ~Winnowing fans This be the end of the missive! May Knox bless us all! ~Mimosa Applefoot, halfling and Mayor of Honeyhill. [!] The notice ends with the flag of the Halfling Republic