State of the Game 2

[hohnkai]

M O D U P D A T E

Hello Savrites! We had originally intended this to be a normal mod update type of post, but we decided to do a State of The Game update instead. Mostly to let you know what's going on, where we're going, and where we'd like to end up. First, let's talk about apps! As per the calendar, applications will be opening up again on October 16th. We have changed some of the rules regarding apps to (hopefully) make it easier on both new and old players as well as the mods. They are reflected on the individual pages, but here is a summary: ☄ A reserve is now required for all applications. ☄ There will be an application cap. ☄ Any current player who officially drops may re-app a new character at any time, but only once every 2 months. The application cap will be set to 15 applications for new players and 15 applications for current players. This means we will have a total of 30 app slots open during October. Whichever slots are not filled will then be opened as a "free for all" on the last day of the cycle (October 22nd). Two Page Updates: Mini Games & Jobs TIMELINE: October - Mini Colony * see info below November - Ship Month December - Midway Hub January - Midway Hub February - Arc II Thisavrou Plot Specific Sign Ups Are Now Closed In October the ship will be touching down on the Runoff's Mini Colony. This is a mecha of trade and commerce, which is something we want to do a little bit of world building with. There are three sections below that players should participate in. The first is a sign up for location specific plot; take a look at the linked map and respond with your character's name and the corresponding number. Once all the numbers have been taken, we'll double them over for anyone else that signs up. The second section is to 'create a business'; in this section players can build a business and then NPC it during the event. The third is suggest something that occurs on the mini colony; you list it and if it fits, we'll approve it. All of this stuff will be built into the event logs when they come up. We'd really like our players' input. If anyone has questions about the upcoming event(s), Arc II, or anything else, let us know below. Thank you all for being amazing players.

Comments

Ideas for world building

[a_shadow]

Presenting multiple ideas for the type of place this could be:

Solarpunk:

• Similar to a test being conducted in Missouri, the colony would have solar-powered panels for citizens to walk and drive on. The panels would light up in strategic areas at night and power the adjacent buildings.
  
• Tall buildings are built to maximize roof and patio space, terraced to include sustainable sources of food and oxygen.
  
• Liberal use of renewable sources for fabrics, such as linen and hemp, dominate the fashion choices. Art nouveau-inspired design choices and liberal use of stained glass dominate the look.
  
• More about solarpunk as a design concept can be found here.

Dystopian:

• Fingerprints or other unique identifiers are required when entering the premises, for the purpose of tracking purchases and linking them with individual users. This is so that targeted advertising may be placed on nearby billboards and signs by computer systems that are tracking the citizens' every move.
  
• Building projects have been expanded underground, leading to the slums of the city being located below the powerful banks and other large businesses. The leadership basically denies there's any trouble with this, though the poor who live there suffer from mold-borne illnesses and lack of sunlight.
  
• Crime is punished immediately, as people who are caught are known to be guilty because of the constant tracking of everyone's movements.

Modern:

• The place where the ship docks is a large city similar to contemporary New York City. However, the trade center and the central station are combined, leading to an intensely busy trade depot with many multiple languages being spoken, currencies being traded, and people hurrying to and fro.
  
• Outside the trade and travel hub are many other business districts—theater, restaurant, shopping, and financial, just to name a few.
  
• Public transportation is freely available and reliable.

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Possible events to include:

• Underworld festival: The natives honor their belief in the specter that rules the afterlife by honoring it with a celebration in hopes they will not die in the coming year.
  
• Paper festival: Natives write notes to their friends, relatives, and celebrities to express something they haven't told them in the last year. These notes are left taped to doorways, signposts, and other publicly accessible areas for other people to read.
  
• Fruit festival: Natives celebrate the abundant crop of the local sweet fruit that is unknown to anyone on the Moira.

[hohnkai]

Hey! The mini colony is a huge trading and living zone, so the three types of settings you suggested would all exist there in some way, among others. What we'll do is take bits and pieces, if not all of, the info you supplied above and tie it into different sections for other players to have their characters to be a part of.

So the festival idea is fantastic and one of the other mods wanted to suggest that we combine it. Something like, there is a group of natives on the mini-colony that throw the festival and it's to honor their god and the dead in hopes that they will live through the following year. They write notes to those that are still alive to honor them as well, telling them what they haven't, and they eat a local sweet fruit that nobody on the Moira has ever had. If you are good with this, we'd need a new name for the festival and any other details. Like what is the fruit, taste and appearance, does it do anything special? Are these group of mini-colony locals different or unique in anyway? Do they wear certain clothes during the festivals? Do they decorate the city? Anything like that.

[a_shadow]

The festival is known as the Desiderium festival, which is a word meaning an ardent desire for something that has been lost. The fruit, which resembles an Australian fingerlime, ripens at around this date every year. This citrus fruit is tart, yet sweet, and crumbles into 'caviar' when removed from its rind.

Fruit images: 1 2 3

The ethnic group that throws this festival, the Lamaria, makes paper from the rinds of the fruits, which is the only proper paper for the notes to be written on. As fitting the occasion, people wear special finery to present the notes to their friends and relatives, and to wear to the grave sites where they leave the notes for the dead. These tend to be burgundy and lime colors, like the fruits, and are shot through with gold (I can't draw anything for this but I'd like this culture to fit into the solarpunk aesthetic from my suggestion post).

They don't decorate the city itself as they are just a smaller ethnic group from among the population, though their own local neighborhoods may be decorated.

The fruit has no special effects on the eater, but pairs nicely with alcohol for after-hours consumption.

[hohnkai]

Oh, wow. This is fantastic. We'll definitely include it. It will probably end up its own prompt, so if you think of anything to add let us know!