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[Pig Boy]

Cold Cycle: Arc 723

The Cold Cycle has Vhalar (123 Trials) and then Zi'da (93 Trials) which are open for you to play. All new threads from October 1st 2023 - January 31st 2023 should be timestamped within one of those two seasons.

Please see Timekeeping for more information and reach out to a member of staff if you're confused!


This announcement includes information on:
- Dates & Seasons
- Staff Changes
- Open and Closed Cities.
- Community Updates
- Tech Guy


Dates & Seasons
We're rolling into the new Cycle. The Cold Cycle marks the Autumn and Winter seasons of the Arc, and begins with the season of Vhalar.

Vhalar is described as the season of harvest, where vegetables, herbs, and other produce are ripe for reaping one last time. During the beginning of this season, the temperature is still fairly hot, even though the second sun has moved away. As the trials progress, the weather cools while the leaves slowly change from thriving green to lively red, yellow, auburn, and purple. The grass wilts and hardly any color is saved by the end of the season except for the pines and other shrubs and trees. Vhalar takes on a chill during its final days before sinking into the cold season of Zi'da.

Vhalar lasts a total of 123 trials (days). It is a festive time for most cities as the temperature mid-season is quite enjoyable.

Zi'da rolls in, bringing with it the cold winds of death. This season was named in honor of the Immortal Daia, after she was struck down at the hands of a human, thus manifesting the war between deities presently. Zi'da is a cool season that only progressively gets colder. Very few flora survive during this time and the trees, barren and lifeless. Animals have settled down to hibernate while the only real noise that disturbs the peaceful silence of Zi'da are the humans that walk about and the Immortals that fight for control. Snow is common during this season, along with freezing rain and blizzards.

Zi'da lasts for a total of 93 trials (days). Though it is considered a cold season, the weather and chill of Zi'da pales in comparison to Cylus.

Staff Changes

We've had Jackalope return from his hiatus to return to Peer reviewing duties and he's been killing it ever since along with our other active reviewers. We'd like to thank all peer reviewers for all the work they've been doing. We went from a month long wait in the middle of the cycle for review, to waiting only a week tops for a review. Great job!

Unfortunately Avalon has been stepped down from moderation this past cycle, we hope to see her return in her PC guise, but in any event wish her well.

Also, we'd like to point anyone to Activity Guidelines/Requirements if you want to join the ranks of volunteers. There are certain standards of communication for Peer Reviewers/Wiki Workers/Prophets to communicate with the rest of staff for hiatuses or absences. As well as being basic courtesy to fellow reviewers, it allows us to understand and be aware of how many Peer Reviewers / Wiki Workers / Prophets we have at any given time - this is important for knowing what we can take on and what needs focus.

Cities & Areas Open and Supported by City Mods
The following Cities are Open and have City Moderators presiding over them. This means they will have active Calendars, Events, and will moderate threads for players. These city moderators are on hand to provide active support for their cities.

• Melrath - Fate
• Rharne - Pig Boy
• Scalvoris - Peg
• The Eternal Empire - Basilisk
• Yaralon - The Wanderer

Cities Under Active Development

None at the moment!

Cities & Areas Closed
The following cities are closed. PCs are not allowed to play here.

• Rynmere (including Andaris and the Eastern Territories)

Unmoderated Cities

Central: Ivorian Empire
Eastern: Athart
Eastern North: Viden
Southern: Augiery
Southern: Desnind
Southern: Quacia
Western: Etzos
Western: Ne'haer
Western: Rhakros
Western: Sirothelle
Western: Uthaldria

Community Updates!
Rather than something every month, which I realised will overlap with this - I'm going to put the Community Updates here. Aside from that, one very major update is that we've brought back the global Discord, and dissolved the city Discords. If you wish to join the Global Discord, please send a PM to a staff member.

Currently, staff are working on the following:

• Working on streamlining the Site Guides & where they are. This project is an all around team effort. If anyone wishes to adopt it for their selves, please speak up!
• More Effigies are forthcoming! This is being headed up by Basilisk and is ongoing.
• Valtharn's blessing is also being developed.
• Pact Magic is being worked on. A magic meant to form magical contracts/geas but not limited to those.
• Darius is leading on trying to streamline the languages we have on Idalos - on giving them descriptions and so on. This is ongoing.
• We're working on simplifying the Shoppe - on making 1 page per Wealth Tier that gives you an overview of that Tier, and the Shoppe only being for buying things outside your Tier. I'm leading on this but it's kind of stalled a bit. If anyone would like to help, that would be very gratefully received.
• There's a new race (from beyond the Barriers at the edge of the world) and some new magic(s) in the process of being dev'd.
• A new race from the Misty Miasma is being worked upon.
• We're thinking that maybe the whole of creation started when a mouse laughed. Deep lore /ancient history clarification is forthcoming.
• There's an ongoing discussion on Ghosts. ~ if someone would jump start the discussion again, it can be found here: Ghost Skills and such
• Glamour has been released!
• Daia's Mark has been fully released!
• Draithadir's Effigy has been fully released. Only two Effigies of the Ruin's Dawn dragons have yet to be developed.
• Immortal Personalities Chart has been nearly finished, and will be ready for publishing soon!
• We're working on a 1-5 guide for how likely an Immortal is to mark a specific person meeting certain criteria.
• New Methods of learning magic is being discussed in the Peer Review and Wiki Work forum, if you'd like to get involved in the discussion consider volunteering. The new method will involve other ways of learning magic, that don't involve implanting an alien parasite into your soul. It is nearing completion.
• New races from beyond the Miasma are being considered for inclusion into our lore by Squirrel. Stay tuned for more info, as it develops!
• Tech Guy is looking at automating more of the calendar process to make the transition easier for players and moderators!

Tech Guy!
I can't even begin to explain all the things Tech Guy has done for us over the last few years and this continues. We've had a lot of updates, including an automated review system, an automated XP / skill ledger - lots and lots of things! If you're not up to date then start here in the updates! Massive, enormous thanks to Tech Guy for all he's done and continues to do. There's also still so much more to come, such as Tier 2 skills being added, and the UCP skill system exiting beta. Thanks go out to Pegasus who's worked side by side with Tech Guy through all of this.

Also thanks for excerpts, say code, and integrating the Calendar into the forum structure!! Here's to any ongoing developments you have coming. They truly have been a gift.

He does more for the site than is immediately visible at any time, but rest assured the site runs as smoothly as it does because of his help.