Your monthly catch-up newsletter brought to you by your uber-friendly admin.
...
That'd be me.
Okay, so before we begin, let me introduce you to our new newsletter. It's not the format I'd originally intended, nor is it designed to draw back old members specifically. It's designed to present a month-by-month summary of IC and OOC happenings around EF.
Now. This is really a test run to see how much work needs to go into one of these babies, how well received they're likely to be (so I would greatly appreciate comments), how useful and/or interesting the content is, and so on. Depending on all that, and probably other factors I haven't considered yet, I'm not going to make any promises.
That said, a word from our sponsor! :3
...
Which would also be me.
Two Years Old
It's nearly heeeere! EF will be celebrating its second (official) birthday on the 8th of August and we have a bunch of stuff planned to make the event memorable! :wink: Don't even think about missing it! (especially if you're into collecting trophies. :: )
Catching Up
- A new cafe opened in the Underground, replacing the old Cosy with the new Le Bon Cafe and Hotel.
- Dazadi Rhea came down with a cold after rescuing a firefox from the Dusky winter weather. She doesn't seem like the best of patients, but it's her sleeves I feel sorry for!
- Loranth Tiamati and Zephyr Cairbre had a heated meeting after his owl pooped on her shoulder. : Dragon Wars, anyone?
- Calanthiel Ashelinn has returned from his wandering just in time to find Piper Kin and Sabrina Casius making friends in Le Bon Cafe over lunch. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. :3
- And the same Sabrina Casius has summoned Xanth to offer her services as an acolyte. So far, Purple HeadTM seems more interested in playing the Mischief Maker than in taking the summons seriously.
- Also, there's apparently a moose loose aboot this
hoosecafe. - Piper Kin was stunned to find Kuma's lieutenant, Sierina Catania, in her shop after the tribe dissolved. She was even more shocked when all the Apalos did was order a print. oO; Could there be peace between these two ex-Kuma girls? Or does Sierina have something up her sleeve?
- A new pet shop has opened after Suka Matali's disappearance. Animal Magic, run by newcomer Sabrina Casius, may seem plain compared to the Exotic Emporium's elaborate layout but the Nymph is friendly and the animals seem to love her.
- And what's this?! I see a familiar face! ;D
- After getting lost in the forest, Sabrina Casius and her new pet lemur, Eva, met injured amnesiac Naava Makani. Already scared, the latter was easily frightened by the overhead circling of a terrifying black dragon, who happened to be none other than Arkadios Rhea trying to decide what to do about his marriage. What will happen to the pair?
Find out next week on Tales of the Forest! - The hospital has a new intern! Loranth Tiamati, new to the Green Sept, has joined the staff at the hospital ready to undertake her training.
- Character Housing has been zapped. It's bigger, it's better, and it allows for more freedom when your character decides where they want to live.
- Two members of staff have retired this July: We say thank you to Dora and Russ for their work on the Admin and ONPC teams respectively. (This also means I'm actively seeking a new writer for the ONPC team. )
- Further staff changes involved an ONPC "upgrade" that allows the team to do much, much more! =D So yes, there really is a moose loose aboot this hoose.
- The new FAQ went up, and it is nummeh (so I advise you read it before I eat it all). =D
- I've also updated the Portal Nexus description and added a new Transportation section to the website.
- Elsewhere, there were some big changes that affected a number of groups, including the Lesser Gods, Governors and Guilds.
- I began downsizing the forums to remove inactive areas and better utilise the boards we have. This project is ongoing and may see a few zig-zags before I've settled on something that works best, but not to worry. It's not like you need to know where you're going or anything!
- Activity rules changed with members now able to temporarily or permanently retire their characters if the Muse takes them.
- And in Contest news, this year's Summer Camp went swimmingly and we had a lot of really awesome entries. :proud: It was neck and neck for a while there but Russ took the lead right at the end and earned himself a spiffeh new trophy. The prize shop is still open for anyone who has points left (which I believe is most of you, actually! ¬_¬) and I'm looking forward to next year's Camp. :cool:
- In related news, I added a revamped Awards page as a collective trophy case, so now you can see which trophies you have and which you have yet to win! No shoving!
There wasn't going to be anything for July's Giggle Squad feature but Russ snuck in with this gem and I had to post it! ::
Why Zephyr's So Grumpy
"I GUESS, if you like guys that resemble an often shirtless version of Billy Ray Cyrus, but nurtures his sensitive side by gnawing off the head of a porcupine and using its spikes to brush his long hair."
Question Tiems Nao? :huh:
Borrowing a leaf out of the old Chronicles' pages, I'd like to include an Editorial section in the newsletter. Last time we didn't do too well on question submissions but I take that to mean you all know everything and don't need my help. ::
With that in mind, I will only be including the Editorial section if we get questions. I'm not really interested in making up questions every month like we used to (it seems kind of silly, really).
That doesn't mean you can't ask IC questions if you want to, though. :^^:
This has been your regular update, brought to you by the Month of Xanth. I can has hugs nao? ::