[Xanth]

To coincide with the grand opening of the Elysian Underground and the end of the quest to save Dazadi and Sylope, I have invited the Carnival to town! There are rides and other outdoor activities setting up in Central Park, New York, while indoor games and activities can be found in the Underground's Feature Room. The carnival will be in town for about a week so that everyone has the chance to enjoy it.

There will also be an Awards Ceremony held in the Theatre, so be sure to stop by!

OOC: Thanks to Nattie and Dora for the idea of a carnival.

[Xanth]

Now the carnival has opened its metaphorical doors, I should note that the cost of rides and such activities are also metaphorical. Only those activities related to the carnival, and not the prices that characters have placed on their items. If you want to buy a tattoo from Dora, you need to use real (Elysian) money, but if you want to ride on the tunnel of love, you can roleplay giving them money but it will not be coming out of your bank account.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post here. ^^

[Xanth]

Particularly useful for when you want to plot with other players in the OOC board, the spoiler BBCode tag has been specially created to hide parts of your posts.

[spoiler]Your text[/spoiler]

It works like this:

Spoiler

Dude what are you looking for?!

Code from here

[Xanth]

I've changed the pet field on your profiles so that you can actually input the pet you own - including the name of that pet, if you like - rather than having to keep up with all the pets for sale in Elysia.

Unfortunately, this means I've deleted the old field to create the new - which means you have to edit your profiles again. Sorry, but it will actually be easier this way, and gives you more leeway on what you type in. ^^

Just a quick note, too, that certain fields, such as the awards field, aren't customisable by you. Awards, in particular, are for the staff (ie, me) to edit and that's why you get an error message on some of them.

[Xanth]

I have been so caught up in organising the carnival and ensuring the death of the Hind that I have missed the fact that a level 1 has been wandering around the forest. This person was lucky she did not run into the dangers we have been trying to keep away from you all, but needless to say it has made me realise another method of locking off the more dangerous areas is necessary so that we do not have any unfortunate deaths.

Level 1s now cannot enter (you can read but not post) areas including the safari, desert and forest. I apologise if you think this unfair but please remember we are only trying to keep you safe.

Thank you,
Xanth

[Xanth]

*cough*

Ummmm, it seems Emma did something stupid when changing the area permissions, and half of you can't see the places you need to see so, um. Post your name here and she'll fix it.



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[Niles]

Niles Alieh and Eilidh need fixing, at least, Niles does *goes to check other chars*

EDIT : Alieh can see it, Eilidh and Niles can't

[Aeitius]

Is needing access to the Grove for Aeitius and Attila.

Fixed

[Naava]

ok, i can't post in the new & announcements for some random reason, so i'm posting here...



fix me please? i can't see a sanctuary at all...

Fixed and moved.

test post for emmers............

yay, okk, thankee emms

[Ryou]

Laurel can't see the grove anymore... Sanura's fine, though. Ummm... I don't know if Ryou can see Paris. I'll go check.

:: checks ::

Yupp, he can see it. So the only one needing fixing would be Laurel. < 3

[Xanth]

OK I think I've fixed it, but if you're still having trouble, post here to let me know, thanks. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This means that I've had to put things back the way they were so level 1s can post everywhere again, even in the places they shouldn't.

[Xanth]

The carnival has decided to stay in New York for longer than the intended week. Nothing has been said yet about exactly when they intend to leave, however, so if you plan to go, you should make it quick.

[Xanth]

If you go down to the woods today, you are sure to find a wonderful new device that allows members to customise their post colours and have it so that colour/font/size appears every single post without you having to type it all out.

All you have to do is go to your My Controls > Change Profile Information and you should see three new drop-down menus: Choose Colour, Choose Font and Choose Size.

There should be a javascript pop-up colour picker if you click on "Pick" next to the Choose Colour field, but it doesn't seem to work. Instead, insert the hex code of your colour choice, not the colour name. The rest is self-explanatory. ^^

[Xanth]

Meet the iPoints system, as created by -Calypso- and CheetahShrk.

This is a (kind of) fully automated system which means you no longer have to post every time you want to withdraw/deposit, and you can easily buy from other members by clicking the "Give $$$" link in the left-side panel of their posts, under their avatar then filling out the details.

I've been through and updated all the active members' points count. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to rename "Points:" to Dollars, so we'll have to put up with it until someone answers my request for help at the support boards. ^^

You'll notice some accounts, particularly mine and the Aides' have quite a lot. This is because we fund the rest of Elysia and I didn't want to have to top us up manually too often.

To Buy

When buying something from someone's shop, the process is changing. You can still roleplay in their shop but you need to then click the Give $$$ link under their avatar. This will take you to a new page to send them a PM. The name is automatically filled out, so you just need to fill in the amount and the reason. A list of the items you're buying should suffice unless you want to add a thank you note.

To Earn

Don't worry, those of you with jobs that give you a salary will still have the money put into your account automatically. ^^

[Xanth]

First of all let me introduce you to the new bank account. This is the official money account for everything that happens here at Elysian Fields. Salaries come from this account, contest winnings come from this account, and so on. Ultimately it all comes from Xanth because she tops it up, hehe, but the transactions will be done from this bank account including any payments you make for things like housing.

Which leads me to announcement number two.

You may have heard the rumours that the hospital system is changing, but it's been taking some time because I've been going backwards and forwards between ideas. We've finally settled on a system.

First of all, healers should be now called doctors, even Max the vet, because they all work in one big building (Elysian Emergency, now known as the hospital).

Castalia runs the official pharmacy. Though she is a herbalist, her cures are just as good as any pill you could buy over the counter, probably better...

All doctors are paid a salary and are now official employees much like market police are.

This means that you no longer pay them for treatment as you would if their clinics were run like a shop. Instead, you pay a monthly fee of $10 and that money should be transferred directly to the bank account I mentioned earlier, to be paid on the first of every month, starting October the 20th. You also need to pay $5 to cover the two weeks left of September.

This $10 covers the cost of health insurance and that insurance pays for all treatment you could possibly need. If you don't have insurance, you'll have to pay full whack to be healed.

Each doctor will keep their own threads but they have now been fully trained in healing other species so if one is away, you can go to the next. Since they're being paid a salary, none of them will lose out.

Summary

+ New bank account

+ New hospital system:

= $10 per month for health insurance
= Can go to any doctor for healing
= Official pharmacy run by Castalia

Note that if you are currently in a healer's thread or have already made arrangements with them regarding payment, you should honour that agreement. ^^

This new system only applies to threads/clinics in the hospital subforum. Other healers who have their clinics in the market should be treated as any other shop. ^^

[Usagi]

Merp, I have a few questions ^.^ If we get tips from the EC do the tips come from the reporter or the Bank account? And if we haven't set up an account yet how exactly do we do that? ^.^

[Xanth]

Chenoan is still responsible for paying for tips. ^^

Your account is set up automatically with $0. By posting on the introduce yourself thread, you get $100 and by posting on Who's Who you get $5. That will remain the same, but I will say that's not automatic so it may take a few days. ^__^

By the way, if there's anyone who I've missed out when updating accounts (I went through the old bank threads so if you never created an account, you won't have any money ) you'll need to PM me to ask for your money.

[Xanth]

According to market rules, if you go into business with a partner, you share the profit and responsibility 50-50. If you feel your partner isn't pulling their weight you can make a report to the market police asking them to verify this and then if that's the case, you can either reopen the shop in your own name and have the old one closed down or have MPD rename your current shop (or do it yourself) and have them split off whatever front posts your partner has made.

Say for instance:

Post #1 - by you
Post #2 - by partner

Both of these posts are the front pages for the shop threads, giving information about what's sold. Since your partner would no longer be selling anything in your shop it stands to reason you'd want their post deleted.

So to summarise:

If your partner isn't pulling their weight, contact MPD about revamping your thread. ^^

[Xanth]

I have been informed that the carnival is leaving town on Saturday the 30th of September. If you aim to go, make sure you do it before then or you will find the park empty.

[Xanth]

White Magic

As you will have noticed by now, Elysia has a new layout. I've been working on adding new skins, primarily to try and prevent accidental wrong-characer posting, but finally I've managed to finish one. I liked it so much I made it the new default, but you can still use the old skin by going to the bottom of any page and using the drop-down menu on the left-hand side.

This skin is called White Magic, because I couldn't think of a better name.

I'd also like you to meet Faroah's best buddy, Mop: :wave:

Tourist Office

You'll also have noticed that there's a new board setup for Elysia's Tourist Office. Jarratt (Eivyonydd) suggested that we separate the mortal realm (Earth) from the mythical (Elysia) so it's easier to get around and more obvious which areas you have to hide your true nature. So here's a run-down of the new set-up.

Tourist Office: Earth

Places any human being can get to, places that humans live in, places you need to hide your wings unless you want to invite trouble. New York, Derby - cities and places governed more by human laws than Xanth's.

Tourist Office: Elysia

These are the places that only Others can get to, and a select few humans who've stumbled on our world. Most of these areas are level two or above because they're inhabited by weird and dangerous creatures. You can let loose here, it doesn't matter if someone sees your wings or your weapons, and Xanth's word is law.

Hope you like the new set up, guys.

Alpine Mountains

The portal to the Alpine Mountains is now up and running but it's a level 3 and above area. We aren't quite sure yet what kind of creatures you'll encounter there - Xanth doesn't like the cold so she avoids mountainous regions - so best to be on the safe side. If you're under level 3 and are caught in this new region you will be zapped.

New Post Icons

Remember the smileys that you can put into your topic description? Well, the new skin obviously has icons to match but you'll also notice three differently coloured round blob things in red, green and yellow. These are for a couple of things.

Red :closed:

If your shop is closed for some reason (temporary hiatus, waiting for stock clearance, etc) you can use the red post icon as an extra sign because let's face it, not everyone sees the CLOSED notice in topic descriptions.

You can also use it if you're in a plot or quest that are invitation only (quests, etc). Please only use this when absolutely necessary (if you've been sent on a quest you aren't allowed help with).

Yellow :working:

If you need to close your shop temporarily to catch up on work (artists in particular may find this useful) you can use the yellow button to indicate that it's not quite open but not quite closed either. This would also be useful if you have items for sale that people don't need to roleplay for - stick this up in your shop, put a note in your first post indicating which items can be bought without roleplay, and then customers can just send you the money.

For roleplay, you can use the yellow button for threads you'd rather people not join unless it's been arranged beforehand. We understand that there are some plots that wouldn't work if other characters join part way through.

Green :open:

For shops that are open, physically manned (and requiring roleplay) and currently taking orders.

How better to indicate whether your shop is open or closed than these traffic lights? You could even use them in you homes to indicate whether or not you're in, receiving visitors, etc.