[WEEKCHANGE] WEEK #32: AUG 14, 2050 - AUG 20, 2050

[zenderael_mods]

Major announcement: You need to ask to join the zenderael_rl community with all characters. It will be the only community that logs will be posted on if they occur on Week #32 or later!

Aug 14, 2050 - Aug 20, 2050

A reference for which OOC days are which IC days:

Sunday 19/Monday 20/Tuesday 21 = Sunday 14
Wednesday 22/Thursday 23/Friday 24 = Monday 15
Saturday 25/Sunday 26/Monday 27 = Tuesday 16
Tuesday 28/Wednesday 29/Thursday 30 = Wednesday 17
Friday 31/Saturday 1/Sunday 2 = Thursday 18
Monday 3/Tuesday 4/Wednesday 5 = Friday 19
Thursday 6/Friday 7/Saturday 8 = Saturday 20

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OOC News

You are all beautiful people and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Phase II is here! We have a few policy changes and updates. Our new applications can be seen here. We also have a summary of Phase I coming soon!

We are also preparing for the great wiki overhaul! We would like to involve players in this because we are lazy and want to get you to do our work for us. As such, there will be AC points awarded for wiki work! Stay tuned for details!

Malachai Dominga has changed to NPC status.

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Last Week...

The game timeline is up to date!

Operation Return took place:

Valentine lost her powers as a druid and became a spellsword.

Acher lost his powers as a berserker and became a druid.

Gabriel, the Asha, has created a meteor-storm like spell for blasting walls apart.

Darius, the league leader of Righteous Dawn, has been spotted alive and well. He’s a paladin now.

Ultimately the operation was a success. Aerveas is dead, Mezzron has been chased away, and the war is over.

Acher retreated to occupy the former hunters’ base with remnants of Aerveas’ army, however.

Everyone did a lot of checking up on each other, spreading information, and making sure everyone was all right.

Gabriel set up warps to try and get clerics to assist with the epidemic on Earth.

Ravindra and Reilanin took news of Alexander’s death harshly.

Acher killed the Vairya and fed her tongue to a hapless Earth boy.

Nova killed Missie.

Duncan killed Nova.

Duncan killed the Vahishta and became the new Vahistha after consuming the heart.

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Next week...

Birthdays & Holidays
There are no birthdays this week!

And there are STILL no holidays in August. :(

Welcome to Phase II!
Zenderael and the Earth have merged! Zenderael has appeared as a continent in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Central America and Hawaii. When the massive merge finished, a number of Earth locations ended up on Zenderael. Some, but not all these, are detailed below. If you have further suggestions, you can propose them in comments! Furthermore, as long as you document it, smaller towns and locations can be assumed to have appeared here and there. This is the cut off for bringing over a large city, though.

Communications to the rest of the world have been disrupted. The appearance of sea monsters and flying monsters have made oceanic and air travel difficult. There are also monsters in the ocean that can interrupt warp travel, and both post dragons and mages will have a difficult time finding a warp route without getting interrupted midway. Over the course of the week, it becomes clear that intercontinental travel is impossible with any regularity. Zenderael may be on Earth, now, but it is cut off from the majority of the planet. Radio and satellite communications indicate that most governments are holding their own, but a number of monsters have appeared in the countryside and modern firearms, courtesy of Pelusa, are starting to fail across the globe. In short, no one is considering taking a trip to Zenderael any time soon.

Earthers stranded on Zenderael have not had their official status decided yet, but they appear to be here for the long haul. If you play a guild leader or other person who would have some say about what to do about them and have specific ideas, let us know in comments below! Failing that, we can assume that most are granted citizenship and begin integrating into Zenderean society (if bumpily at times). Modern firearms no longer work and gasoline is now extremely limited. While an alchemical substitute exists, it is prohibitively expensive and currently only available to the Saftan military.

Fall City and Underwood have completely merged with Bastan. Underwood is just a short distance away from Bastan’s walls, linked by a paved Earth road. College classes were supposed to end Week #31, but the mods forgot (oops). As such, they end Week #32 instead! Classes are expected to begin on time at the end of August, but the administration may change their mind.

Everea

• A number of rural areas from across the Earth have appeared in the Everean countryside.
• Jerusalem, Israel has merged with Nerabast.
• Rangoon, Burma has appeared near the hunters’ headquarters.
• Stonehenge has appeared in northern Everea.
• The wreckage of the Titanic is now in the middle of the Whimsical Woods.
• St. Petersburg, Russia has merged with the Everean town of Calderwood.

Pakerion

• Alexandria, Egypt has merged with a Pakeri fishing village.
• Part of the Antarctic icecap has merged with the assassins’ headquarters (causing flooding as it melts).
• Las Vegas, USA has merged with Enghelab.
• The ruins of Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius have merged with the Ruins of Kirkfinn. Roman ghosts have joined the Zenderean ones already in Kirkfinn.
• The Tunguska crater from Russia has appeared near the rogues’ headquarters.
• Sydney, Australia has merged with Bordertown in the Borderline.

Safta

• Akhibara, Japan has merged with Shaneh Bazaar.
• Part of the Himalayas have appeared in the western Saghar including Mt. Everest through Namche Bazaar.
• The Large Hadron Collider has merged with the Ignis Furnace, a high level raid in northwestern Safta.
• Munich, Germany has merged with Iscalon, a city in the Saghar.
• Ottawa, Canada has merged with Stonecaster.
• Disney World has merged with Omghan!

If you know something about one of the cities that was merged over, please put it here! We will be editing the wiki to make gathering world information together easier.

The Armaiti is Missing!
The sudden appearance of the ice cap (and penguins!) has flooded the assassin base. In the mess, the Armaiti has gone missing. No one is quite sure what happened to her. Unfortunately, a lot of her lieutenants have also gone missing, because parts of the base were completely flooded or snowed in. This means that assassin characters have a choice to make: the Armaiti isn’t here and they could leave during the confusion. If she comes back (or her replacement is not so nice), though, there could be a problem. We will discuss any consequences OOCly should they occur (and if you have suggestions, let us know!), so no one will be screwed over here.

The Armaiti was also in control of Enghelab. The appearance of Las Vegas has largely handled that problem, because the city government has stepped in and established control. Unfortunately, this also means that the casinos are now employing berserkers, rogues, and the occasional druid as bouncers. There are also wind elementals being employed as waitresses.

State of the Hunter Guild
Now that the war is over, the hunter guild is no longer on recall. They are also, sadly, without a base because it has been occupied by Aerveas’s remnant forces that have chosen to follow Acher. They do not have the manpower to take it back, but will deny any offers to assist in liberation for the time being. Most would prefer to rest after the war, and their base was not valued enough to go risking their lives so soon. Those unlucky enough to be pushed into unofficial leadership roles are staying close to the berserkers. Many of their own were trapped in the Undertow, and they wish to see that through.

As for the Mano, they have not come to a decision about appointing a new one and continue to keep the god-organ under secrecy and protection. Rumor has it most of the discussions boil down to: “You take it.” “No you take it.”

The War’s Aftermath
There is a separate post discussing Pakerion’s fate now that it is without its sorry excuse for a king. You can find it here.

If you play a guild leader, feel free to comment with more information about your guild, how it’s doing, and if the war changed anything significantly. Or if your leaders plan to change operations significantly now that the war has gone down.

Druids and the God Womb
The druids want their god-womb back, but that is an understandably delicate situation with much at stake. Medena to the rescue! The earth dragon will not be far from Bastan when the world comes together and will finally get the whole story. She will request the leaders give her the womb so that she may help the druids find balance in the new world, and will help appoint a leader she knows will restore the Undertow.

The leaders have agreed to this, and the womb will go to Medena for safekeeping while she discusses the druids’ options with the guild. This will be defaulted to a handwaved, background decision, but if anyone has interest in playing out the negotiations, let us know in the comments and Medena will figure out how voice recognition software works.

The Curfew Lifts!

Lera might still be in Bastan, but she sent orders back to the Nenakret to lift the curfew in Safta. There are still patrols and such, especially in areas with newly arrived Earth people, but people are allowed to remain out after sundown. The patrols are still suspicious of people who openly dress and act as druids. There will not be any overt brutality, but they will ask pointed questions and may escort people away if they look like they will cause trouble.

So how about that epidemic?
The new Vahishta spent much of Saturday night running around Fall City with a support spellsword in tow, trying to put a dent in the epidemic. Thanks to the Asha warping in a few clerics from Bastan that same night, the clerics of Fall City were able to vouch for his identity and he was able to start mobilizing Zenderael's clerics to pick up the workload that Earth's small number couldn't manage. The French army field hospitals in Bastan also joined in on the effort.

Illnesses are still spreading throughout the week and it is possible for your characters to catch something if you would like them to, but the epidemic is no longer impossible to contain and clerics are better able to establish a system of triage and support. If you have duck pox or blue eye, eh, you might be SOL--they need to conserve their mana for the more serious ones.

By the end of the week, they'll have managed to eliminate or mostly eliminate the illnesses that posed a serious threat, and without the Necroticorn around to maintain the spread of disease, the nonserious ones seem to be fading out on their own.

Dragonmail Returns!
The postal dragons have gone off strike! With the assistance of AFL-CIO lawyers that came over during the merge, the postal dragons have created new rules and the lower level workers now enjoy much better benefits (including vacation packages, so relaxing postal dragons can be found all over Las Vegas). They are also members of an American postal workers union. There are a few new rules.

First, dragons will no longer enter dangerous areas. If you’re in a war zone or a disaster area, they will drop off your mail at your registered ‘home’--the same place they drop it if you’re asleep. If that is unavailable, the letter will wait at the nearest dragonpost until the recipient becomes available. Second, they will no longer carry dangerous cargo knowingly. Bombs, poisons, and the like will not be accepted unless disguised, even if they pose no immediate threat. Third, if you use them in an abusive way, dragons will refuse you service.

This will be Hand of Modded out as needed.

Note on Guild Leadership
The majority of guilds are in the hands of players. While the mods are trying to improve on letting people know about possible consequences to decisions guild leaders make if players come to us first, we are not always able to account for the reactions other guild leaders will have to those decisions. If you are planning to do Big Guild Things that would affect other guilds, it is safest to double check with those players to make sure you are prepared for what their responses might be. We will continue to endeavor to have discussion posts for big events where these decisions are likely to come up so that players can keep on the same page with one another.

As always, you are free to use the OOC comm for your own proposals and discussions!

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The weather...

We will no longer be giving weekly weather forecasts now that the region has expanded, but we will alert you of any bizarre weather patterns. If you would like or decide on any specific weather for your logs, please comment here with that weather. This only needs to be in unusual circumstances and high traffic areas. Saying the Undertow got a flash thunderstorm or that obscure-mountain-location no one else is logging in had a blizzard can usually go without saying, but if you want heavy rain all day in the Undertow, you should let everyone else know.

Comments/questions/concerns? Feel free to use weekchange posts as discussion posts! If there's something you want to do in the coming week, you can comment about it here and let people know/sign up/whatever.

The next weekchange will be posted on June 2nd IRL-time.

Comments

[firecracker_hopping]

Some clarification from chat!

Omghan is more merged with Lake Bueno Vista, the town where Disney World employees live. Disney World is in walking distance, though.

[brokencrescendo]

Berserkers: Mostly camped outside Bastan/Fall City, unless Omid kicks them out. A squad of scouts is hanging around the Undertow to keep it safe from roaming monsters and such. I imagine most of the spellsword shields set up prior have worn away.

They will be "pulling their weight" by agreeing to help paladins with restoration of Bastan and knocking any rogues they find around. Clerics, too, by association. The whole giving the organ away to Medena thing has a lot of the berserkers on edge. Some think the Ahura should have just eaten it himself to guarantee getting it back, but most recognize that would have been a terrible idea.

There was still some infighting over the decision, but mostly because people are tense and there's nothing that can be done. Rhys is trying to keep his guild busy.


PS: I am going to be out of town Tuesday-Sunday this week, but I am less useless on my phone than I used to be and should be able to tag when not on planes for millions of hours.

[andlivefreely]

Ottawa is the seat of Canada's government. This means that the Canadian government, complete with the Parliament Buildings, now resides in Stonecaster, on what Ottawanians call 'The Hill' (Parliament Hill).

Ottawa is also home to a variety of national museums and historical sites, as well as housing the Supreme Court of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint, and the Bank of Canada. Of note, also, is the Rideau Canal (which runs through the middle of the city, and is used mostly for pleasure boating), the Rideau Center (A mall, Ottawa's primary meeting ground, located downtown), and the Central Experimental Farm ('a rare example of a farm within a city').

It also has a collection of colleges and universities, most notably: Carleton University, University of Ottawa, and Algonquin College.

I'm just gonna c/p this to the wiki for Ottawa to save you guys some hassle :D ...once I know where to put it :V

[firecracker_hopping]

The spellswords are going to stay the same. The two years of mandatory military service will be staying; if you want someone to become one, this is a requirement, but I am gonna try to make it flexible so it's more about getting extra CR than not (so, enough leave to see friends and go places, plus patrols and assignments that you can use as excuses to do fun scenes).

Lera will be trying to institute succession rules for the Mazda and encourage them for the Asha and Khshathra, but how far those get depends on them. It'll basically be that the eyes should pass to a named successor, and if someone murders Lera, then the spellswords are to get them back. Naturally, her named successor will be Morvarid because that's science. This will also be so, ideally in 150 years, Lera can start training her successor personally. Less confusion and happenstance!!

Oh, she'll also be in Bastan for week 32 and 33.

[inchesofevil]

Fun facts about Munich!

In German, its name is München. It has a population of nearly one and a half million. It is a very livable city with a high quality of life and a low crime rate, and it is just CHOCK FULL of neat historical landmarks. Have fun keeping up that standard in the Saghar, Deutschland.

It also COMPLETELY SHUTS DOWN every Sunday. You will be hard-pressed to find a single business operating in downtown Munich on a Sunday. (Particularly vexing if you are Jewish, says Siegmund.)

[paper_crane]

Quick question! Are warp mages in Bastan back to business as usual? Or would they be trying to keep Bastan somewhat quarantined? :x

[giltededge]

UH ANOTHER QUESTION /late

how does the inability to communicate with the mainland affect email? >_>

that is, what happens if you try to email someone outside of zen, do you get a failed to send notif or something?