Dashing Through the Blog

Because I HasThings to Do... Look at My Backlog...Far Too Much to Chew!

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Anyway, welcome once again to the Valucre blog! I did my best to get through this in a timely manner while simaltaniously making it feel like that was exactly NOT what I did, ha. As always, I strive to deliver quality content, but as it frequently seems to be the case, I am trying to cram in an unusually high workload and studying/exam prep for my exam this week. This is why I try to prep this sucker ahead of time, but instead of having time to do that this weekend, I was incredibly busy, gahhh! Well, life happens as you all know and the best you can do is roll with the punches.

A funny saying that. Why would you 'roll with punches'? Frankly, I try to dodge or deflect them. Hell, if someone is trying to kick my ass, the last place I want to be at is on the floor rolling with them. No thank you- well, maybe there is an exception to that, but that's a different sort of ass kicking.

Anyway, hope this blog is up to the usual kick ass standards. G'day Valucre, let's see what's going on this week. ;)

What's Happening Valucre?

The Chosen: Round Three Continues- Continues this Friday that is, as both participants are swamped in schoolwork at the moment. The first week will probably start off slower and a little less than full throttle as we have to wrap up that school business, but after the school stuff is out of the way- watch out, this one ought to be good!

Frost Hunting- Do you enjoy hunting giants? How about the chance to rip wings off frost fairies (come on, we all know half of you are sadistic bastards)? Well, if you want to get in on the RP opportunities provided by the cold snap and get in on some Gaian academy based stuff as well, go help this person out with their planned trek into the wilderness.

Check Out the Gaian Academy- Hey, if you haven't checked out the Gaian Academy, you just might be missing out some really cool stuff. A variety of classes for everyone, with all manner of lessons available for that growing character. Want to start from scratch with a character while giving them a realistic chance at success? Start at the academy!

Dimensional Jumps- This is one of those threads where the first line uttered by the character was probably something along the lines of 'opps'- which nothing good ever came of that. The character in this thread accidentally jumped himself into some other realm unknown, and this RPer is looking for someone, or someones, to come playa friend who goes off searching for where the heck they ended up. Care to play search and rescue?

A Warrior's Retreat- Hey, do you play a medically oriented character or have interest in starting one up? Do you want to come to the aid of an injured character and provide some help in getting this person back on their feet? Well then, as long as you know something about the anatomy of a vampire (or perhaps have your Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires on hand, you know, for reference), you can get involved in helping this poor person out. And if you are not the most medically inclined, perhaps you can come RP as a support person. Will you lend a hand?

Clear Cut for Valjer City- Valjer city needs some help clearing out a bandit problem in a nearby woods they intend to use for lumber harvesting. A small group is requested to accompany a couple of their rangers in getting rid of this problem. If you wish to endevour on this task, let the OP know!

A Monstrous Disaster in Mezthaluen!- Another mention because they are closing in on their deadline bonuses (fyi to the people involved- extension coming through due to me being too busy to keep up, but only one that makes up for my delay, not a super long one, so better hurry!) and so they might need help getting this wrapped up. VB, stone with unique ability hidden among them to the first who finds it- all you got to do is slay some beasts. Quick, help the townsfolk, they know not how to defend themselves!

Site Changes!- News  not pertaining to role-play in and of itself, but in case you are the type of person who might not pay attention to threads that get put on force read, I am going to reiterate important news here- the site is moving. Not URLs, but across software, and with those changes, we're losing our current blogs (on Valcure, not here) and groups- if you have -anything- that needs to be backed up, do it ASAP! Like, yesterday, or by the end of the weekend or something. The software change moves us onto a better platform, one that should have some better features and stability (yay) so be prepared for the changes and again, back up important group/blog stuff!

Lore of the Week!

This Week's Feature: Blairville, Terrenus

At a Glance: 

• Leader:  Regent Induo Katamus
• Population: Highly diverse, with no solid majority of Humans, Dwarven, Gnome, Gypsy, Goblin or Wellfolk (Automata, Sauren, Maas). Small population of Molocks (Mole-people) present as indigenous population. Numerous other unique entities are also present but too small to register in a census.
• Defenses: 
• 3,000 Registered Militia
• 3,000 Constabulary Officers
• 3,000 Terran Guard
• 1,000 Cartographers: Cartographer's are Blairville's elite transplanar exploration team, tasked with exploring and mapping out the unknown doors of the multiverse. In order to perform their job at full capacity, they are trained rigorously in body and mind and are often tasked with the destruction of any 'unnatural aberrations', often having to do so alone. Almost no one has actually seen a cartographer, but it is said that during the attack on Blairville cartographers went about tearing the heads of men and demons alike with their bare hands. Their only known identifying feature is their strange, rust-colored armor. 
• PeaceKeeper: : Merle Atreides
• Hot Spots: 
• Inn de Clairmont- An ornate, three-story caravansary. The Inn de Clairmont serves as a way-point on Terran's northern road. A common home for passing travelers, it boasts a stable for their horses, a small smithy for small repairs, and an attached shop for purchasing essential wares. Just the place to relax-, re-equip and get what you need before moving on to the next leg of your journey. The hanging gardens fringing the building and surrounding its inner courtyard, which is often used for venues, is also a tourist attraction.
• Rookhelm Tavern Hall- A finer place to feast and rest your feet could not be found for miles away from the Rookhelm Tavern Hall. Somewhat a more legitimate establishment than most towns might offer by way of tavern, the Rookhelm is often times used as a meeting place for businessmen, merchants, visiting dignitaries and the Constabulary. 
• The Gypsy Market- The Original Bazar of Blairville, and a grand location for magical trinkets and bizarre curios. It is here that many a hedgewizard plies their trade, along with many thieves. 
• Tower Quarter- Arguably the only proper mage district in all of Terrenus, and inarguably the larges. Numerous spires jut out from the low-lying shop fronts, and many "mage clubs" are hidden in the twists of houses and along the gaps in the cobble. Here the professional wizard makes their services available to the public, sometimes with prices too steep or unique for the common brand of adventurer. 
• The Unterholm- Blairville's subterranean furnaces, the crucibles and kilns that form the backbone of Blairville's ore refinery business. Much of the lower caste in Blarville society filter their way down into these depths, finding honest if physically demanding labor. It is rumored that some born within the deeper recesses of the Unterholm are cursed never to see the surface. 
• The Walls of Blairville- A magi-tech marvel, the Walls of Blairville are a massive, thinking artifact, tasked with forbidding entry save by those who pass through its front gate. A very, very rare few know about the Wall's mechanics, and fewer still know just how far the walls are willing to go in keeping to their collective programming to protect the people within. 
• The Pavilion of The Sun, Moon, and Seasons- Festival and parades are a part of Blairville culture, and the The Pavilion is the center of that culture. During the day, it forms the center of the town, but when parties are about, few can hardly comprehend the wondrous, exciting chaos that it plays host to.
• Artifacture Tower- A massive, 14 story keep, roughly four blocks wide on all sides and made of ashen stone. Contained within are the acitivites of the mysterious organization known as Artifacture Unlimited, ho serve as opaque benefactors to the city. The only listed member of Artifacture is its owner and sole proprietor, Julius Aldoid. Julius is best known for coming to the aid of the city following the Arcantian assault.

Canonical Occurrences by Members:

1. Gypsy Market - Dragon's Egg: Three individuals helped an old mobster's wife steal a dragon's egg, and caused a serious ruckus in the Gypsy Market which resulted in their ownership of the egg.
2. The Sacking of a City: A legion of demons and creatures, headed by a warlord, arise from the marshland and march on Blaurg. The city is on high alert, having been struck with sorrow once too often, and rallies to defend itself. As quickly as they came, the army vanishes; the purpose for their feint remains unknown.
3. Unlike Tower One: Events of the past that explain why Artifacture Tower was empty and the reason behind the 'disappearance' of Julius Aldoid and 'The League of Mages'.
4. Artifacture Tower - Chapter One: Months after Julius Aldoid's disappearance from Valucre, Soren, a time-traveling Mage and his companion, Lunarius Maji, arrive in the emptied Artifacture Tower. Finding the fourteen-story keep empty of both life and activity, Soren and Lunarius claim the tower as their own. Taking Julius Aldoid's study and laboratory, Soren escorts Lunarius to a guest room before bidding her a good evening.
5. Julius Aldoid and his employees and personnel vanish mysteriously and abruptly, leaving behind an empty tower.
6. Blade Sweeping: Blaurg has been razed in a bold, daring move by the Arcantians of Altus Arcantium, located in Genesaris, in a decisive victory for the Arcantians in the Terrenus (Gaia) vs Genesaris (Altus Arcantium) war. Blaurg has suffered the most damage of any single town in the history of Terrenus beginning with Odin Haze's reign.

Available Quests:

• lvl2: A gypsy has gone mad and is cursing anybody that wanders into her store. Find out what the cause is (has she been threatened? cursed? children kidnapped?) and put a stop to the chaos.
• lvl2: Your character(s) wakes up in a dark, dank prison cell. S/he has been captured and must escape the Unterholm before an even worse fate befalls them. 

Brief Summary of Lore:

• Beginnings: The City of Blairville's charter was signed in the Second Great Unification, during a period known as The Times of Many. King Oros, ruler of an ancient nation predating Terrenus, had commissioned cartographer Erebus Langley to survey his land and make a map of it. The Langley Expedition is one of the great early stories in the nation's history and it was Langley himself who first discovered and recorded the supernatural effects of Terrenus's forests.
• Pre-Crusade: Through most of its history, Blairville has been a city outside of Terran culture. Wedged between hills fringing the Wastelands and the Coconino Marsh, Blairville was often thought to be a backwater city and their trade was limited to Langley's Keep and Patia. Wet winters that gave way to monsoons and dry summers that gave way to drought gave the early settlers a rough time of claiming their stake. Blairville's outsider nature quickly attracted many mages and representatives of the arcane world, due to its ready access to materials mundane and illicit. The city also quickly became well-known for its artisan spirit, and the local booming sector of craftsmanship resulted in Blairville's growing fame and financial stability. True wealth did not come to the region until three major crops started to show up in national circulation- tea, spices, and sediments in the top soil. With these crops Blairville gained and continues to hold command of its own destiny. Independence and aloofness, more out of internal interests than external apathy, have been prevalent themes through much of its history.
• The Crusades: The Battle of Western Plains was a decisive victory for the Imperialist Forces. Pagan Separatists held much of the town and it took 18 months to crack open Blairville's walls in a war of attrition. Even after entering the city, fighting was toe-to-toe for six months. The battle tore much of the town apart and it had remained a ghost town, functionally abandoned, for half a century, until its ruins eventually settled by the gypsies and mages that claim the town now.
• Saturnia Regna: It is only in the last ten years that Blairville has once again entered into the national stage, its involvement encouraged by Odin Haze and the great respect he earned for himself and for the national government he represented by way of his selfless restoration efforts. It is notable as well that in the last thirty years before flying the Terran banner, Blairville was untouched by crime syndicates, malevolent warlocks and Hidden Devils. Blairville was a humble town, small compared to other cities but charming in that regard. Only recently has it returned to its proud heritage of artisanship and, though bustling, it is not yet the arcanopolis it once was.
• Knock the Bottom out of the Sky: During a clear March day, Blairville was attacked by Arcantian forces. A single, massive airship covered in blades fell from the sky and razed a great portion of the city. Civil engineering damage reports indicate that a defense satellite, the northern Gaian church, and the largest local library were also destroyed despite none being in the path of the crashed airship and intelligence reports indicate that these locations were specific targets of Arcantian forces. It is difficult for historians to agree on a specific death-toll. Altus Arcantium reports suggest hundreds of thousands dead, while Terran estimates suggest a conservative ten thousand. Some theorists suggest that the disparity between the two reports is a result of propaganda, though it is unclear which side is engaging in the lie, and the destruction of census records in the targeted library make it hard to agree on a base number as well. Refugee camps spread out along the region and numerous subterranean developments sprang up within the foundations of the town.
• Reconstruction: Terran Government contracted private arcane research and artifact company Artifacture Unlimited, due to the personal friendship between Odin haze and Julius Aldoid, a renowned philanthropist and local resident of the city. Rebuilding the city and its foundation took a single week, while planning and development stretched the affected quadrants of the city into a month of abandonment. Local merchants proved themselves a hospitable bunch, opening many of their warehouses and factories as temporary shelters for the displaced citizens and transplanar immigrants. Six weeks later citizens returned to their homes and the city lived once more.
• A Vision for the Future: Shortly after the construction of Artifacture Tower and the revival of the League of Mages, some suggested that Blairville may have been entering a second golden age. Pressure from international relations, more deeply felt in the notably individual Blairville than in other cities of the federation, attributes to a great strain felt by the people. Currently the city resembles much of the Post-Crusades Blairville – a place filled with magical secrets, exotic people, and a thirst for wonder paralleled only by Hell's Gate's thirst for knowledge. 

Newly Awarded!

Got one for ya!

Congratulations to Offtopic for earning the Most Helpful Award! Thanks for always helping out in all the ways you do!

Valucre Blog Challenge!

Hey, I had one submission come in this week, a different sort of approach, but I liked it. An epic fight seen was the topic, but this one is more focused on the aftermath. Thank you for your submission (I forgot to get consent to credit, so I will leave this anon for now). 

She was knelt next to his body, her knees caked in blood and mud. The wind picked at the curtain of her long black hair swaying gently at her elbow. Dirt smeared a cheek, parted by old tear trails. Shadows haunted her tender face. The light of her life was gone, pale, lifeless on the ground. His eyes stared unseeing at the sky where their spirits once danced with imagination. She shuttered as she covered his eyes and closed them to the world he once loved. 

His sword was jammed in the soiled earth next to her. Without looking, she reached for it with one hand, grabbed it by the hilt, and pulled herself up to a wobbly stance. Her wounds were many, evident by the dents in her plate armor, but none cut deeper than the darkness filling her heart. An ugly gash oozed crimson blood over the curve of her breastplate. Bodies lay all around her. The wind shifted, filling her nose with the pungent smell of human excrement, charred flesh, and ash. 

She turned her head to the battle raging on down the hill; black against white, ice versus fire. Dragons tore at each other in the skies above two clamoring armies of silver and gold. Her soft brown eyes reflected the flashes of metal. A single pristine tear leaked from her eye, streaking her cheek. She yanked his sword from the ground and glanced at the saber, then back at the battle, the carnage. Her eyes hardened to glowing slits as her lips formed a crooked smile. One word, spoken in the ancient tongue, left her split lips, sending a sonic boom through the field below.


New Challenge of the Week: Sometimes, a minor incident in a character's day is actually a metaphor for something much larger that is going on- a small conflict representing a greater struggle they are working to overcome. Write a short scene detailing a character first overcoming this minor conflict, and then having that moment of epiphany where they realize its parallels to their greater problem- and perhaps how they can overcome that as well. 

Since we're losing blogs, just PM it to me! :)

New Members and Returns!

Welcome:

Nyriel:
Hi Nyriel! I’m Acies, site blogger. I’m glad to see you’re ready to dive right in here and start making something of your time on the site. Don’t mind your sloppiness, you can improve over time- no one will look down at you for trouble with the tenses (well, no one reasonable at least). Also- scraped up knees? That is a bit of an odd one, but hey, to each their own!

Mystiqueblaire:
Howdy Kayla, welcome to our little slice of heaven. I’m the guy who greets you via the blog- so greetings! Valucre is a great place to get your practicing in so you can improve, so I hope it pans out well for you! 

Feadur:
The man from Slovenia, a country I had no idea where to find on a map and thus, to my great shame, I had to go look it up. Already making myself look like a stereotypical asshole American- great going Acies! Anyway, to make up for my ignorance of your countries location (as well as every other major detail of it >>) I am going to extend my warmest hello to you and give you wishes of a happy rping career! 

Tenor:
Hallo Hallo Tenor, you did not give me much to go on in greeting you, so I kinda have to sit here and ramble on while trying to make it look like I wrote a suitable amount of content to pass as a decent enough greeting for the new member. You like how I can expand this out without really writing anything of relevance at all, thus making it look like I put much more effort into this than I was truly able to? That’s call bsing my friend, and you might see it in some the RP threads you plan on reading too! Anyway, hopefully you find some good reads not so stuffed up with fluff, so you can enjoy what is written. ;)

Harmoniel89:
Vicktoreya- that’s an interesting way to spell the name. I like unusual spellings though, as long as they don’t come off as corny :P. Anyway, glad to have you here and hope you do in find fact find that little niche for yourself where you can get a good group (of those two to three others) going in some fantastic RP. Sounds like you’ve been doing this for a while, so you know how it goes. Welcome to the site. ;)

The Ronin:
Hello back Mr. Ronin, I did in fact care to read what you wrote- and I bet you will find that lots of people do, believe it or not! Hell, as of the time I am checking this thread, 22 unique registered members checked out your thread- that’s some reading their partner. That all said, I return your  warm greetings with greetings (heated to a comfortable level of warmth as well) back to you and say I hope you have plenty of opportunity to kick off any rust you might have and get back into some enjoyable writing. :)

MrKrutiika:
Hey there, so what is a pseudo-newbie? Are you pretending to be newbie, or just falsely presented as one, or just an imitation? Inquiring minds must know!!! Anyway, welcome to Valucre, I see you are another refugee from Gaia. I say refugee because people come in here seeking decent role-play and well… they never go back- isn’t that something? Anyway, welcome to Valucre, have a fantastic stay!

Yummybiscuits :
Dude- your name is fucking hilarious and you have a bitchen avatar- welcome to Valucre, can we keep your forever? 0_0 Anyway, you too are a transplant from Gaia- been getting so many these days. Glad to have you, hope you enjoy the RP ;)

Ilaughatmyself:
Hey, what a coincidence, I spend a lot of time laughing at myself too- wouldn’t it figure? Of course, when you’re me, you either spend time laughing or else you start crying and crying is just unbecoming on a person my size, so I try to save some shred of dignity. Anyway, I hope you have a good and memorable stay here on Valucre!

Returns:

Nada!

This week, we got 9 new members and zero returns. The lack of returning folks is disappointing, but getting 9 new members is a good solid number and something I can appreciate!

Birthdays of the Week?

So, here are the week's listed birthdays. PLEASE, keep in mind that if you do not make birthday's on your profile listed and public, they will not show up on the Calendar. If they are not on the Calendar, I have no way of knowing about it and therefore no way of adding it here! If you want a shoutout for your Bday, be sure to make it viewable!

• NOVEMBER 29th:
• Lady Ambrielle
• Bookwizard
• NOVEMBER 30th:
• Epitaph
• _Yoku_ 
• Valkyre
• DECEMBER 1st: 
• A'Larea
• Tbh12
• DECEMBER 2nd:
• Lore
• DECEMBER 3rd:
• Lord Corvus
• AlexKlein5
• DECEMBER 4th
• None
• DECEMBER 5th
• Nasturtia

Happy birthday all you fine Valucreans!

Other Highlights?

Bah, these highlights, the deepest thorn in my side. Only for my love, my love of Valucre.

Today's Posts- Want to know what all was posted in the last 24hrs? Hey, go to quick links and hit that "Today's Posts" link. Or click this, you know, if you're kinda lazy or easily confused.

Did You Know-  About Me Section? Yep, there is a section in your profile to write a blurb about yourself, but even better- link to your characters so that way someone else (or yourself even, I do this a lot) can click those links and look up your characters! Read about this Did You Know here, it gives you the details. Want more Did You Knows- go here.

Closing Thoughts?

There is an interesting thing about memories. Assuming that an experience was not one that was negative and had a scarring effect on you, you’ll find that as time goes on, you might remember it more fondly. Those days of younger years will become the good old days, and those good days you had will be something you cherish forever. It’s just the way our mind works- we choose to put a positive spin on the things we had done in the past versus what we are experiencing now- even if what we have now isn’t half bad. That’s nostalgia for you.

There is power in this though- it’s a way to keep you happy, to have something to reflect back on and feel good about. It’s something for you to look back on and make yourself feel better when times are a little rough, or something you can associate with other knowledge and then later get multiple parts of your brain firing off at once. This is a good thing- it’s exercise for the brain and it’ll help you keep those wits about you for a longer period of time (helps with thinking too).

Why am I bringing this up?

Well, we’re coming up on the holidays and in that holiday spirit, many of us enjoy the prospect of giving (at least, I am going to put aside some cynical biases to assume most people do >>) and look forward to Christmas for that very thing (or any other holiday you might celebrate at this time). Christmas is fun, I love giving, I love giving something to make other people happy, to show that I cared enough to pay attention to what they like and make a concerted effort to get them something they would enjoy.

However, this makes it easy to get lost in that materialistic side of things- the thinking about stuff. It’s not that we’re doing it because we’re truly trying to be materialistic so much as it is just easy to lose focus on that fixation. Hey, I want to make you happy and give you cool stuff, so I am going to get very concerned with what stuff I am getting. Stuff is nice- we get things we can use, things we like, things that might last quite a while or only a short while. We get excited when we see what other people have come up with for us and we appreciate that thought put into it.

However, there is a funny thing about stuff- most of the time, it is not going to last forever. Most of the time, we’re going to use it up eventually, or it will wear out, or maybe it was not as great as we once thought or it just loses its luster. We do this not just with gifts given to us but more often with things we buy for ourselves as well. Sure, sometimes, you make an investment you are happy with- a console, a computer, that guitar you have ached for- those have emotional/utilitarian ties. However, a lot of things though- we’re just purchasing stuff with only shallow meaning.

That shallowness just doesn’t hold up to the sands of time.

Now, let’s go back to memories. We tend to remember things more fondly than we might have even experienced it the first time around (hence, people thinking that old days were better when in reality, they probably weren’t much different) or if we did have a great time, we keep that. It is not something that can lose its luster because it’s captured the way we tucked it away, and any time we want to pull that back out and look at it again, it’s still going to be just as shiny and cool. It’s because that’s your memory, your thing to keep from here on out (short of something happening to your memory as a whole of course). There is plenty of research on this- experiences and making memories makes people significantly happier in the long-run than buying stuff.

Yep, that fun vacation is most likely going to be a far greater source of overall happiness for you than buying that new pair of shoes, or the newest Iphone (which you will have to replace in six months anyway, if you plan to stick with the most updated version ;P ), or some other physical good. When it comes down to it, we tend to derive the most long-term happiness not from the things we have attained but from the memory and experiences we have acquired.

I spent quite a bit of money getting two of us over to Jordan Con this last spring- and I have not regretted a second of that. I had a blast- and when I think back to it, I just feel fantastically happy I did it. And even though my car tried to blow up- going up to meet Rob and play him in some grueling airhockey and chess was something I will keep with me in my memories for long time- it was motivating enough to send me back up to Washington for a second time. Going to Big Bear with even more Valucreans- priceless as well. I don’t sweat the amount spent in making these trips possible- I just feel damn glad I did them.

The message I want everyone to take from this (not go to Jordan Con, although, that is a good secondary message ;)) is that when it comes down to it this season, even though you might be handing out actual gifts (I am), make sure you give the gift of good memories, both to those you love and yourself. Enjoy people’s company, have a good time, enjoy being in the moment and let those memories build up, so that way, a few months down the road, you can fondly look back at this holiday season and say- hey, that was a great time. I’m glad I got to spend it with those people I care about.

Especially for those of you who might be struggling too much this year to give some sort of cool material gift- give the gift of a good time, a happy memory, a moment to cherish- it doesn’t cost you a thing, except maybe a bit of your time. You don’t always need money for that.

[Unless of course you want to get out to candlestick park for the last 49ers game ever being played there, where legends were born and retired, but getting there is going to run you $600… then you might need money. But hey, you do the best you can. And hope someone out there just happens to have $600 they just planned on throwing away anyway. :P ]

In all seriousness though folks, I really do want you to have a great holiday season and make sure you have a wonderful experience. I’ll be seeing you all next week. ;)

"Memory is the treasure house of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved."  ~Thomas Fuller