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Timeskip Vote #2
ABOUT THE TIMESKIP
The votes are in, and ED will have a timeskip! This is the post in which players will vote for the duration of the timeskip, and learn more. Voting shall last for one week. Options range between 1 and 5 years. If you're just tuning in, you may also want to read the Timeskip FAQ and the Timeskip Vote #1
Below is a summary of information regarding the timeskip which all players should take the time to read!
LOGGING THE TIMESKIP
Following the battles which will occur in February, the months of March and April will proceed in the normal fashion though at a trickle of the pace, allowing characters to still engage in quests, and offering low-investment events for boon qualification. Outside of rising political tension in the background and as pursued by PCs, most efforts will be focused on rebuilding and re-grouping, which will continue throughout the timeskip. Formally, the timeskip will be completed as of May 01, 2015, and the game shall resume as normal, though backdating is certainly allowed and encouraged. Important things to remember:
- There will be no new shardbearers, no monthly events (and perforce no boons). Monarch contact will be limited to include shardbearers highly ranked within their court.
- Fairy rings will be inoperable. Powers, abilities, and boons may be used to allow for fast-travel. Otherwise, characters must hoof it to where they wish to go.
- Lockets will not work. Characters would need traditional means to keep in touch, or need to fashion (or purchase) their own alternative means of magical communication. These alternative devices can be used on the network alongside lockets, and can be fashioned to interact with lockets.
- Boons all perform to their original specifications. None are depowered or vanished, though all would show the signs of age as appropriate for the passage of time.
- Influence and quests would continue to be given and rewarded as normal (one quest per player per ooc month), for our OOC sanity. PCs who are able to give quests are encouraged to have an expanded docket of them at the ready.
We request that each character in the game who is not going to utilise an opt-out mechanism for the entirety of the timeskip to post a timeskip page on their journal. We have constructed a sample timeskip page for you here. The code for it, with all time organisation in-tact, may be taken from the last comment on the page, or may be accessed below:
Players are free to design their own pages, of course, and it can be easily expanded to include additional years. These pages, in addition to organising what happens to your character, shall be used for logging out most of the events of the timeskip at your discretion. For March and April, threads logged on this page can be used to count for AC. We ask that most logs occur on these pages for smaller timeskip events so as not to clutter the log comms for those playing current events in March and April, with the exception (at your discretion) of logs featuring 3+ characters which are significant enough in scope that the greater Eachdraidh community might benefit from seeing them.
THE NETWORK OVER THE TIMESKIP
Characters who have alternative means of communication which is not a locket should have mention of this fact (and the item's specifications) on their character journal. As the locket network is down over the period of the timeskip, please keep all network communique limited to IC inboxes: either traditional communique, such as courier-delivered letters, or network communique between individuals with the devices/capability.
THE DRABWURLD OVER THE TIMESKIP
Increased division and tension between the Seelie of Glaschu and the Unseelie of Dorchadas should be an overarching theme which carries through your timeskip logging. Increased tension, desperation, and willingness to resort to violence (whether in self-defense or no) should be issues which your characters face, as the courts each rise from their respective rubble grander, taller, and harder than ever they have been before. For these are the last days of the war, perhaps of the world, and everything counts. Is your character willing to become shardless to be free of the increased pressure to fight, and the increased danger that having a shard represents? Has your character become determined to win victory for their court, if only to defend their world… or the end goal for the universe which their court represents? Or is your character trying to walk the precarious and ever-thinning (and ever more dangerous) margin of neutrality?
Seelie in the Unseelie-ruled North would be pursued and hunted by enemy forces. Likewise for Unseelie in the South. Stories would begin to abound of shardbearers being slain in enemy territories until it became clear that ‘crossing party lines’ would be unsafe for all involved.
Meeting in mingled groups in public would be incredibly dangerous for both parties unless done within the borderlands or unaligned territories such as the Station, Daonna, Briste, Leathann, and Treun, and in player-initiated safe haven areas. As stated in the FAQ, natives can determine shardbearers from non-shardbearers, and within a close enough distance, determine Seelie from Unseelie: so even characters who profess neutrality will not be treated as neutral.
While we will delay releasing a 'calendar of the timeskip' until after the vote below is complete, players can count on the following:
- NPC (and hopefully some PC!)-led border strife.
- The growth of new towns and villages, pending player developments.
- A continuation of anti-shardbearer sentiments, particularly in Daonna, Parrais, and Leathann, sometimes resulting in violence.
- The increased appearance of shardhunters, natives and shardless who seek to kill shardbearers for their shards, either to use as magical artifacts of power, or to sell (either to the appropriate court or on the open market).
- The persistence and growth of the Cult of the Fox, a native's-rights movement which seems to support and foster anti-shardbearer sentiment.
ORGANISING THE TIMESKIP
After the length of timeskip has been determined, the mod team shall scramble as fast as they can to provide a detailed timeskip calendar for the game, outlining the significant events of the drabwurld so that players can begin planning. As players confirm any notable PC actions, we will update that calendar.
Ideally, approximately 14 days following that post, we will release a Timeskip CR meme, which will allow players to post a variety of details about their characters, including:
- Goals for the timeskip.
- A brief summary of current timeskip plans.
- Desired CR over the timeskip.
- A link to more detailed information on that character's timeskip page
We shall, on that meme page, keep an updated roster of opt-outs, and be happy to assist any players needing help, better direction, or other information.
OPTING OUT
There will be multiple opt-out mechanisms for characters who do not desire to engage!
- Enchanted Sleep - Your character simply falls into a Sleeping Beauty-esque enchanted sleep for the duration of the timeskip! Those who fall into an enchanted sleep within their respective castles shall be guarded 'round the clock by local guards.
- Lost Between Fairy Rings - Your character simply vanishes from the world while traveling by fairy ring! On the date of the timeskip's completion, they simply step out of their destination fairy ring, having absolutely no knowledge that their trip was anything but instantaneous.
- Fae Curse - Want to only miss bits and pieces of the timeskip? Your character could be fae-cursed by accidentally getting on the wrong side of a native fae! Be creative: perhaps your character falls asleep for a month if they sneeze, or when they hear a certain phrase.
- White Hart's Touch - Perhaps the White Hart finds your character and gives them the gift(or punishment?) of living for a period of the timeskip as a woodland animal. Hard to do too much as a badger!
- Canon Update - Need to canon update your character? You can do it now! This will function much like the enchanted sleep option.
- Wildcard - Does your character canonically have the ability to timeskip or enter a type of stasis? They may use it for all or part of the timeskip! Alternatively, we're absolutely open to fairy tale-themed suggestions! Simply post your idea in the comment section below.
Not an option you like? Suggest another at the Timeskip FAQ.
FOLLOWING THE TIMESKIP
As of OOC date of May 01 2015, ICly post-timeskip (however many years it is) these these things will have changed:
- Lockets will resume function but be court-locked. Individuals must find alternate means of cross-court communications, though as stated in the FAQ, alternate communications devices may be used in the network comm as lockets provided they have that function. Characters should have documentation within their character pages of said alternate device. This serves to encourage new characters to seek CR primarily within their court for at least their first month.
- Individuals wandering into peopled areas claimed the opposite court should expect swift detection and to be hunted by authorities/guards/etc.
- Characters are significantly more likely to be punished if found fraternizing with members of the opposite court.
- Events and quests will reflect the darker and more tense theme of the game.
Again, monthly events throughout the year will be a mixture of war-related and non-war related, to account for players who have no interest in engaging with the war element. Mod-assigned quests will focus more on war efforts unless requesting players specify that they desire otherwise in the appropriate field, and as before, metaplot activity will center around various elements of war effort. As always, players would be encouraged to initiate their own player events related to advancing the war effort, whether through espionage, political or economic maneuvering, or outright battle.
THE VOTE
Without further ado!
Poll #16387 Timeskip Poll #2
This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 74
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 74
How many IC years should the 2015 Eachdraidh Timeskip cover?
1
50 (67.6%)
2
6 (8.1%)
3
5 (6.8%)
4
1 (1.4%)
5
12 (16.2%)
QUESTIONS
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1. Using illusions or shapeshifting to change your appearance won't stop natives from recognizing you as a shardbearer and Seelie/Unseelie, right?
2. This last bit "Characters are significantly more likely to be punished if found fraternizing with members of the opposite court" does still apply to the neutral zones mentioned earlier in the post? (Station, Daonna, etc)
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2) Indeed it does! Don't let your monarchs find out. Relatedly, individuals who tattle on their shardbearer friends are likely to be rewarded.
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Setting up an embassy in certain areas and having questers persistently undertake PR over timeskip, for example...
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(Thank you!)
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Chloe's latest boon is a nifty treasure map, which she will probably spend her time-skip time exploring. Would the mods need to give me a list of things she might find during that year of treasure hunting? I'm not really sure what she would find in the world, but I can suggest things too, I suppose.
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We wouldn't want to halt ALL current activity just for timeskip: that would leave people opting out twiddling their thumbs for two months!
As for the map: we're happy to let you take an active role in determining the cool things she might find, or we can help guide you and give a list, or we can collaborate, and both pitch suggested items/locations! c: We love letting our players have initiative with the world, but are also happy to give you a framework, should you want one.
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So, the timeskip starts at the beginning of march. During March and April, a year passes, and on may first, it will be the may first of the next year?
Or is the timeskip all basically happening at once, and march first will be the first march of the next year?
Oh my god even asking the question is leaving me confused.
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IC Date Jan 30, 5,701 - End of timeskip vote! People are free to be planning whatever they want!
IC Date Early Feb, 5,701 - Timeskip calendar and timeskip meme! People are free to begin logging timeskip.
IC Date Feb, 5,701 - Battle plots find their resolution, both castles are in disrepair.
IC Date March, 5,701 - Current events still happen (boons, quests), in a very slow and minor way (low-interaction events, no major battles, etc.) players log timeskip details in the background.
IC Date April, 5,701 - Current events still happen (boons, quests), in a very slow and minor way (low-interaction events, no major battles, etc.) players log timeskip details in the background.
IC Date May, 01 5,70? - March, April, and x year(s) have passed ICly! The timeskip is considered complete.
Does that make sense?
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Edit: wait no I get it now. I think.
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I think it'd be helpful to the new applicants if they have a list of plots lined out before them as well as CR opportunities with the meme. Not that the CR meme is a bad start, but this might encourage people to seek out others for things they want to do while not excluding anyone for not having established CR ahead of time.
A couple of examples off the top of my head are like:
-an expedition to explore a certain area, anyone who has an interest in that could join
-organizing a charity dating auction for a town that could really use the funds
Sorry if I overlooked if that sort of a post will exist.
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We absolutely intend to have a list of ideas of things for characters to do over the timeskip, and in addition to other initiatives for new players or those without strong CR! c: We really want to make sure to give everyone a strong foundation.
Re: QUESTIONS
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... I think of weird questions don't mind me...
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DISCUSSION
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Like I mentioned in the first poll, while five years isn't much for a character like Gimli, who is by his people's standards a grown adult who is more or less set in his ways and already doesn't trust the disappearing monarchs, even six months can be huge to other, more human PCs, especially in a war-torn environment. Yes, there's the option to log it out but we'll still be forced to skip over oodles of character growth and development and relationships and god knows what else. For a lot of people, that's what makes RP fun. It's a bit different if the game is going on a brief hiatus that starts and ends in real time, since people could feasibly play out the stuff in real time if they wanted to, but skipping a year in a month is just too awkward and possibly not very doable.
A timeskip, frankly, makes the game feel like a narrative. It's one thing to have a ten-years-later event or something because let's be honest, sometimes it's fun to think "what if" but there's just something different about being forced to play a character that has had changes happen to them and not being able to play out the changes...yet not being able to revert to the unchanged version. It's not very fun in my opinion. It's nerve-wracking.
There's also some characters in game right now in somewhat unstable states--and this includes the newbies coming in this round. We're tossing characters who won't have enough time to form a good CR base into a game...and then telling them either opt out of a big thing for the game you just applied for or tell us how your character who's only been here long enough to get an intro post out does over this period of time that you can't feasibly play out properly. I'm frankly impressed we have so many reserves right now, what with this going on. I actually honestly told two friends considering the game not to apply because of this timeskip! I want the game to be fun for them, and I don't see how coming in before or even after this skip will be fun. You're either stuck in the Newbie Zone and forced to quickly decide what your new character is doing...or you'll be a new character coming in to a world where you might not feel like you can do much, since so much has already happened ICly (I've seen that complaint aimed at some long-term games and a skip is essentially making the IC world that of a long term game).
...also, and this isn't related to the mechanics of it, but honestly I think it may be just a little foolish for the Courts to assume that the people they kidnapped/tricked/conscripted would care about them if they vanish and limit contact for a year or more. Like some people might but I don't see a majority giving too much of a damn about the people who screwed off like that. I really don't see that ending well in the long run.
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It's important to understand that 'Seelie' or 'Unseelie' is not a political decision. It is a way of being so long as anyone has a shard, like having red hair or brown eyes. Natives can discern shardbearers from non-shardbearers and Seelie from Unseelie, and during and after the timeskip, natives of Glaschu and Dorchadas will be hostile to those from 'the other team'. Losing one's shard means suddenly no longer having protection of any kind against these enemies, no place at the castle, no free meals or clothing or service. Suddenly you're cast out, with nothing but your boons, and expected to find your own way.
So, realistically, the greater majority of characters have every reason to remain shardbearers, and to stay within their court even with a reduced presence of the monarchs.
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Regarding new players apping in: links to timeskip voting have been predominantly displayed on the app page, and still are! We have advertised the timeskip heavily, in an attempt to ensure that only players who are certain of their desire and ability to play through a timeskip submit their applications. Furthermore, we've been creating several new player resources (including a New Player Guide, the updating of the Story So Far page and a volunteer Buddy System for new players to pair up with older hands) to help players more easily and more quickly find their footing in a plot-heavy game.
And, relating to assuming that people would stop caring about their courts: most characters in-game are aware that losing their shard means that a great portion of the magic which supports all life in their world is destroyed. Many characters have strong enough ties to their homeworld that they are unwilling to become shardless, and, as February's various plots will prove, when the enemy is willing to hunt you wherever you are for your shard... and the natives of the drabwurld have little love of shardbearers, and in some cases actively hunt them, the courts and court-allied places become the only safe havens. Furthermore, this mechanic isn't meant to say the monarchs disappear entirely: but that the leaders of the courts become the absolute avatars of their will. It's our hope that this will, over the course of the timeskip, assist the development of court hierarchies, as characters who have recently had a full eye-view of the broader implications of what it means to be a Shardbearer of the War of the Gem means turn to sources of stability and protection.
It's also meant to help give players the freedom to explore their character's feelings on the war, the unkind truths related to being a shardbearer in the war, and so on. To let us see some characters harden their resolve to protect the fate of their world and become willing to slay other shardbearers, and also to see characters try to justify their neutral leanings to these other, increasingly desperate parties. And to begin, in many cases, coping with the slowly-dawning fact that they're unlikely to ever see home again.
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Also it sounds like you guys are having the monarchs vanish so that the PCs' hands are pushed into loyalty or abandonment and I actually really like that because let's be real, faeries are dicks like that ♥
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And the events of February are likely to be very traumatic for many of the characters who experience them, and while playing characters realistically living through and dealing with traumatic events can be fun, sometimes a little fast-forward can help reach points where characters can safely re-invest themselves and it's not as draining on a player.