NotEvilAtAll

when are you going to cope and seethe

In the meantime though I think the pit plugin might still be around so we might be able to get pits back.

I remember making drugs with you in your halfling burrow’s basement. Good times. I miss Atlas (and even Arcas to some extent). I miss Hoo-Kah plugin. I’ll miss you too.

Pits AND LC please. I like letting new halfling players build their own burrows, and the absence of pits this map makes that task much more difficult than it really ought to be. Also mushroom blocks are a pain. You can only get 2 of each type at east hub every half hour, no mushroom stems anywhere at all. You basically can't build with proper mushroom blocks unless you're purchasing a paste that uses them. Leaves are also a massive pain and I usually just bonemeal saplings and shear 'em to get all the leaves I need since it's 10x faster. The fact that leaves have gone from being a block that was practically free in Arcas to a block that is a huge hassle to get good quantities of in Almaris is very indicative of the problems of Vortex's node systems.

I can show you around older maps on the museum server if you want

Oh wow it's almost as if there was a global pandemic at the time that shut down schools and workplaces as everything moved to a remote model. It's almost as if other minecraft servers hit record high playercounts at that time as well due to this pandemic. When you delete settlements with next to nobody in it, you are moving around next to nobody. If moving around just a handful of people instantly revives LOTC playercounts, then that must be some fancy magic going on right there. Do the handful of players living in those mostly dead charters duplicate themselves upon their relocation? Does transforming a server that used to be 85% within nations to a server that is instead 90-95% within nations make all of the activity cargo cult magic happen? You can make other arguments for the deletion of all those charters being a good thing. Crediting their removal with the increased playercounts of 2020 during the covid lockdowns is just illogical, however, and not a valid argument. There is a blatant, obvious cause for those increased playercounts yet you still give all the credit to your cargo cult activity policies without understanding that the correlation does not necessarily equate to a causal relationship. This is a causal relationship how? There were no successful warclaims after your Charter Reform until very recently with the Norland vs Oren war. If you want to point at increased banditry or that one war fought exclusively in a warzone between Oren and a coalition, please credit Korvic and the other devs at that time for fixing the 1.14 lag crisis and making banditry a thing again and allowing the server to have more than 120 players on it at any given moment without kicking out half of them every hour. I'm sure you're an intelligent person, VonAulus. I just question your logic at times.

Also only 1 settlement is allowed per tile, which is a weird rule IMO and makes it harder for settlements to be close to each other and capitalize on good locations.

? The point of freebuild is not that it is possible to get land outside of a nation at all, but rather that there's a very low barrier to entry to do so. Settlement applications that require 5k minas, 1% server activity, and can be denied by the World Team for subjective and arbitrary reasons do not have that low barrier to entry. It is true that a lot of things that happen in freebuild can also theoretically happen within nation land in vassals or in a settlement, it is just much less likely for said things to actually occur due to the increased difficulty of doing anything. Freebuild lends itself towards more things happening rather than less things happening, as a general rule. With this in mind, I do not think our current settlement system makes freebuild obsolete. Yeah, you're kinda correct here. Activity checks ruined a lot of the vibes LOTC used to have. Back in the day what defined your community's survival was its ability to rally people for warclaims in its defense. Nowadays, what decides your community's fate is how many Slice of Life roleplayers you can keep around to boost up activity numbers.

Arcas wasn't a freebuild map? Unless you are talking about the wildlands, which was not full of griefed builds whenever I explored that corner of the map. Did you mean to say Atlas? Atlas actually looked pretty good in all honesty (even the freebuild areas). I fly around it regularly on the museum server and I prefer it to Almaris. Love it or hate it, the freebuild system of Atlas set up a lot of the nations we now know and love. Elvenesse used to be Aegrothond in freebuild back in Atlas. The modern Dwarven Urguan state was founded in freebuild in Atlas. Orcs used freebuild to get back on their feet after losing their nation status twice (it was twice, right?). Adria in Arcas used to be Belvitz in Atlas (and Curon too I think, I remember Curon was in freebuild when it was first founded). If you think about it, early Arcas was really just a map with all the successful freebuild towns on it (plus a few nations that lived all the way through the big coalition wars of Atlas).

Yep, they still are.

The halfling sport of Shogging spreads ever further!

Ayo, I finished up a build today! I started this a month ago, and I think it's turned out pretty good! In this build, I tried to recreate some of the older block palettes and styles of Willow Hollow and Reedsborough burrow building (the ones using lots of spruce and dark oak, to be exact). Of course, like all of my builds, I end up changing it a lot to fit my style and thus the burrow looks absolutely like a burrow made by me and not anyone else. Still, it's a different aesthetic than what I'm used to so it was fun to build. Creating the layout for this burrow. I built the dining table before I even did the floors or walls, such was its importance in the build. Finishing up the kitchen and dining room furnishings! The fully furnished burrow! Now with a complete ceiling so you don't get wet when it rains! Covering the burrow in dirt, crude first cover to be smoothed out later. Giving the burrow a bit more natural form. I really love how this turned out. The slight height change across the hill really sells it as a natural formation. I wanted to build a cottage on top of this burrow, so I did. This is the most compact cottage I have ever built. In this tiny space I managed to cram a table for one, fireplace, chest, and bed. There's also a window and a good looking chimney coming out the top. All you'll ever need in life (although a crafting table and furnace might also be useful). With everything else finished, here's the final look of the entrance. Yes, those leaves on the path actually block it and you have to step over them. Sometimes practicality has to be sacrificed for the aesthetic and the overgrown look I'm going for. Side view so you can get a better look at the cottage and trees. I just did the quick and easy Willow Hollow/Reedsborough style of making trees. They're just vanilla fancy oak trees with some blocks and mushrooms added around the trunk as well as a bit of leaf modification. Looks pretty good given the amount of effort I had to put in for it. The backside of the burrow. I love the look of these big ol' burrow chimneys. Nice and stout, a contrast to the spindly li'l thing that acts as the cottage's chimney. Entrance room. I love how this looks. Right as you enter, you're looking down into the dining room and fireplace all in a straight line. Feels very comfy to be going down into the earth rather than up into it. Of course, it's not just a dining room here in this burrow! There's also a kitchen, with a second fireplace just for cooking to boot! You can also see the entrance to the pantry in this screenshot. The kitchen itself. It seems that someone has been baking cake. There's also a window to the outside world. This is the dining room. It's going to have a wine cellar underneath it as well, but I haven't built that yet. I'll get to that soon. Anyways, this dining table seats 12 people, and another table behind the camerahalfling in this screenshot seats 2 extra people for a total of 14 maximum guest capacity. You can practically fit the whole village in here, and it's not even that large! The pantry. Nothing too special here, just a regular ol' pantry connected to the dining room for when you need more food for guests! On the other side of the entrance room (away from the kitchen and dining room) is this parlor room. There are barrels for alcohol and a plant in the middle. A small transition room between the parlor and bedrooms. It has a secondary purpose as a miniature library. There's also a pumpkin in it for some reason. Children/guest bedroom. Not much to see here, just a room with two beds in it. The master bedroom, with a larger bed, closet, extra storage, and some fancy paintings. That's all for this burrow! Hope y'all thought it was cool! I sure did spend a fair bit of time building all this!

[!] A note is pinned to the Knoxville Noticeboard Attention! I've come down with t'a plague! As such, I am nay longer fit to serve my Sheriff duties. I give temporary Sheriff status to my wife, Delphi, until a new Sheriff Election can be held! -Filibert Applefoot, ex-Sheriff of Knoxville

Can't believe I managed to win one of these

"Praps oi ough' ter pay t'ese folks ah visi'. Maybe dey could tell meh o' some omens frem da heavens. Who knows!" thinks Filibert Applefoot, a halfling from the far off village of Knoxville.

[!] An Almanac is spread around the halfling village of Knoxville. It is also possible to obtain a copy in Bramblebury. FARMER'S ALMANAC In this year within Knoxville, much has happened and has yet to happen. This here yearly Almanac shall contain predictions, assorted wisdoms, and past happenings that are of note! ~Contents~ ~Recent village occurances~ ~A Glimpse into the Future~ ~Heed these Wisdoms!~ ~Recipes~ ~A Poem~ ~Occurances~ Much has happened in Knoxville as of late. Most notable be the marriage of Delphi and Filibert, may their union bring us greatness in the future! More recently, the fields have been sown, left unattended for a while, and then weeded. While the crops be ready for harvest, it is wise to wait and see if the crops shall grow stronger with the weeds gone first. Thus, the fields were not harvested. New burrows are available in Knoxville, and new halflings have been moving in frequently. ~A Glimpse into the Future!~ This year's harvest (that has yet to happen) shall be bountiful, yet not bountiful enough to relax for the winter. The winter forage and hay baling shall be enough to feed most of the animals, yet a few pigs will need to be culled so that their preferred food does not run short. Spring will come later than usual, delaying the planting season. There will be many new faces in Knoxville, and by summer there will not be enough burrows to house everyone. The heavenly omens will be good, yet next year's omens are looking far more sour. Perhaps it is a good time to stockpile what you can before the harvest gets worse as the skies and spirits shed less of their being onto these lands for fertilizer. The blessings of the Pumpkin Lord can only last so long. ~Heed these Wisdoms!~ On Plants and Dreams If your burrow (or whatever else you be living in) does not have grass or moss covering it, there will be nothing to sort out the bad dreams from the good dreams coming to you from the heavens as you slumber. If there is not vegetation between you and the sky, you will not sleep soundly! Nightmares come for those who sleep under naught but wood or tile, and good dreams come to those who sleep with grass, herbs, crops, or trees above their heads. Be wary, however! If you sleep too far into the earth (as the dwarves do), the plants will not protect you from nightmares as easily as if you were in a cozy, grass-covered burrow! Shovel Omens It is a good omen to have a shovel on hand when it is needed. It is a bad omen when there is a large group of halflings with no shovels in sight. While you need not carry a shovel with you all of the time, it is best for at least one person in every group to have a shovel at the ready. Good things come to those who are prepared. Weeding Fields Do not harvest a field on the same day you have weeded it. It is best to let a crop after straining it by rummaging around it for weeds. Even if it is late in the harvesting season, letting crops rest after weeding will let the crops grow larger within the new space the weeds used to inhabit. Do not weed a field before summer is halfway through. Any weeds cut down before midsummer will grow back threefold by harvest time. It is not wise to clear the fields of tiny weed seedlings. Let the weeds grow first and become recognizable; only then may you cut them down and put them to use or waste as necessary. ~Recipes~ Stuffed Potatoes To make stuffed potatoes, cut open a potato and scoop out all of its contents save for a little. Throw in cheese, chopped onions, beans, meats, and other leftovers you wish to use. The potato can now be baked just as you would bake a potato normally (Ovens are preferable to open fires when it comes to baking a potato). Best served with a heavy sauce. Stock To make a good vegetable stock, throw animal bones and leftover choppings of vegetables and meats into your cooking pot. Cover with water and stir regularly until the water and vegetables boil down into a mushy mess. Strain the contents of the pot through a cloth to extract the stock. This stock can then be used in soups and stews to add extra flavor. This recipe is great with the stalks and crusty bits of vegetables, so long as none of it is rotten. ~A Poem~ Plough the fields late summer and sow the seeds come fall Les' your winter wheat nay grow very tall! -Filibert Applefoot, Sheriff of Knoxville

OOC: Hello there! This is an event designed to simulate a single day of halfling life as best as possible. Everybody starts at the beginning of the hour, having just woken up. Their characters then go about their day as they would IRP, eventually falling back to sleep at the end of the hour, which ends the event. Working, eating, talking, and other things your character typically does in a day can and should be roleplayed. There will be a single roleplay prompt happening during the hour to promote interaction, but attending it isn’t mandatory. Feel free to do as you wish. The intention isn’t to attract a large quantity of halflings into one location at a time, but rather to create as much immersion as possible. SoL Event Checklist (Optional): -Wake up ( ) -Eat something ( ) -Do some task ( ) -Interact with someone ( ) -Eat another thing ( ) -Go to sleep ( ) RP: [!] A note is pinned to the Knoxville Noticeboard! "Bahh! T'a fields o' Knoxville are full of weeds now! We better cut them up with sickles or else they'll overwhelm the fields!" -Filibert Applefoot, Sheriff of Knoxville ((Scheduled for 4 PM EST today, 7/17/2021, located in Knoxville, in Haense within Attenlund. You can find Knoxville using the below map: ))

Filibert Applefoot shouts louder.

“Nay men’ion o’ Knoxville fer A’’enlund? ‘Ave yew ever even been ‘n A’’enlund or do yew jus’ read t’a papers?” Questions Filibert Applefoot, halfling resident of the area.