Best Of

10/23/2022 at 15:52
Ictinus, the Architect
Everyone
Hood of Elusion: Classlead #3176

Hi folks,

As part of classlead report #3176, we have made some changes to the Hood of Elusion as outlined below:

- The elusion effect now lasts for five minutes when activated by saying 'aroilath'.
- After the effect wears off, there is a 5 minute cooldown before it can be activated again.
- The item with the power must be worn.
- The effect will continue to be disabled for 15 seconds after attacking another player, or 30 seconds if you kill them.
- Other hoods can still see through it, as can the sense_elusion consumable defence.
- Sense_elusion from consumable crystals now lasts 1 hour, down from 24.

Since these are fairly major changes to a high-value artifact, we are offering full refunds to anyone who currently owns a hood.

If you want to take advantage of this, please file an ISSUE with the item number of your hood or item that has the power on.

We'll be keeping an eye on this as it plays out as I do agree with the premise of the classlead as a whole, which may prompt additional changes in the future.

Penned by my hand on Tisday, the 23rd of Niuran, in the year 505 MA.

10/23/2022 at 4:50
Anonymous
Everyone
Descending the Spiral: Tina, Adherent of Corruption

Summoned without ceremony to attend the Goddess of Corruption, Tina Cardinalis made her way quickly to the Isle of Despair, Tiyen Indoron. Promised the approval of her Goddess when faced with a most intimate Harrowing, Tina descended through trials that tested her resolve in each of the Lady's Gifts, and faced them with fervent candour and an ardent determination to embrace the depths of each.

Along the Spiral, she mastered Fear in the fleshy embrace of a rapidly increasing heartbeat, its sound taking on a life of its own that pressed on the senses with rising urgency. She embraced Despair on an idyllic lakeside, the slide into loss of self and life a gradual one that washed through on waves of endless blood where only pleasant picnicking was expected. At the luscious feast of Avarice, she devoured cakes by the hundreds, masterpieces of baking that made the eyes water simply to see them, and delighted in the visceral hunger that saw her discard and forget their beauteous forms even as they fell to mounds of bone-white ash that piled beneath her feet.

Descending once more, she found a mirror that focused her Malice, so that she might delight upon serving it to others who haunted her home, a vicious Gift that allowed her to enjoy its malignant goals. And from there she strode to a victorious battlefield, one that bore nothing but triumph in the broken and scattered corpses of her enemies: lo, she looked upon them created something new, something monstrous, and personally stitched together a gargantuan beast of assorted parts. She left it to watch over the battlefield even as the hideous heat of the sun parched the land, and with the essence of Corruption at her side, she drew darkness down to cloak the land in a celestial display of Might.

Once she proved herself worthy of her mastery over Corruption's Gifts, she was faced with a new trial - empowering a thirteen-pointed star, as of the Indorani of yore, with her own blood and flesh. She graciously allowed the others of Chakrasul's Chosen to join her, empowering the ritual of Might with their own flesh, blood, bones, and organs. As the lustrous star in a hidden sanctum was fully empowered by the efforts of the Chosen, the essence of their trials streamed forth to empower Tina's body, anointing her at the base of her descendancy to become to first true Adherent of Corruption.

With her new powers firmly in hand, she gains a particular domination over those long subsumed by Corruption's dark embrace - conjuring the memories and apparitions of Amelia, the Corrupted Arch Dryad, Yetrent the Ruinous Theurge, Idricara, Daughter of Twilight... and most significantly, Idar, the Fallen Champion. All these will serve Her once more, as sworn so passionately by Her Adherent, just as all else will come to Her Spiral in time too.

Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 20th of Niuran, in the year 505 MA.

10/21/2022 at 10:14
Keroc, the Starborn
Everyone
Classleads October 2022 - part 1

Animation / Wavebreaking
=======================
- [3193] Fixed Earthenwill / Engulf bypassing bruising requirements.

Artifacts
=======================
- [3177] Wings, amulet, translocator, custom wings, etc now require 95% or higher health and mana to activate, up from 75%.

Enchantment
=======================
- [3172] Eye sigil now knocks revealed players off balance for 3 seconds, up from 2.5.
* This balance loss is unmodifiable.

Mentis / Dictum
=======================
- [3166] Disrupt is no longer possible to do while fallen.

Miscellaneous
=======================
- [3171] Choosing to change elevation now requires celerity in order to do so.
* This will affect things like Flying and Swinging, but not something that forcibly moves you.
* I've also rectified a number of class skills where you could fly with paresis.
- [3169] You can now ASSESS, CONTEMPLATE, and GAUGE while watching someone in an arena.
- [3169] The commands DIAGNOSE and WOUNDS have been fixed for watching in the Sect arena.

Performance
=======================
- [3183] Removed the balance time bonus from being off-balance when using Harry.
- [3183] Harry base balance recovery time reduced to 2.75, down from 3.
- [3183] Harry balance recovery time is now decreased by 0.25 for each curable affliction the opponent has.
* This is capped at a speed of 1.25 seconds (or six afflictions).

Shamanism / Experimentation
=======================
- [3180] Hepafarin and Ouabain have been added to the Spiritsight / Cognisance loki pool.
- [3205] Elder Shaman / Research chance to proc is no longer halved by stupidity.

Tattoos
=======================
- [3171] Tentacle equilibrium recovery time lowered to 2.5 seconds, down from 3.

Penned by my hand on Gosday, the 9th of Niuran, in the year 505 MA.

10/17/2022 at 1:55
Keroc, the Starborn
Everyone
New Division Command

Hi folks,

There is a new division command, per HELP WAR, that I'd like to trial:

ORDER <division> CHARGE <city>
- Orders a division to begin an invasion of the specified city. The
until will split up into individual units and begin to make their
way into the city, fighting any guards or citizens they encounter.
- To begin an assault, the division must be just outside the gates of
the city.
- If there is an enemy division in the same location when you attempt
to charge, you won't be able to begin an assault.

Do note that this division command is considered an act of war and will instigate one. It will also essentially give up that division for your invasion needs.

That's all!

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 8th of Lanosian, in the year 505 MA.

10/9/2022 at 2:30
Ictinus, the Architect
Everyone
The Throne of Ashes

Today we are introducing a new, fifth Thronekeeper position for Bloodloch: the Throne of Ashes. The holder of this position is not decided through the normal election process, but instead through PVP. The first to hold the position is Mjoll, as a prize for winning the Esterport Duel. Subsequent holders may challenge through combat as described below:

To contest for the position, you must do:
BATTLE <target
This sets up an automatic knockout duel in the Bloodloch arena, the winner of which will gain the right to challenge the current holder of the Throne of Ashes to their position.

- This costs the same 10k gold fee that normal contesting does.
- This will set up an entry on EVENTS for an automatic knockout duel in the Bloodloch Arena for the next Saturday at
23:00 GMT (one hour before howling).
* If the next Saturday 23:00 is less than 24 hours away, it'll be the following Saturday instead.
- The city can request from the patron to change the date/time as needed.
- Everybody that wants to participate in the duel and gain right of challenge MUST also do this command BEFORE the arena opens.
* Thronekeepers, of course, cannot participate.
* This includes the Thronekeeper of Ashes, since the duel is battling for the right to challenge them.
- There will be an entry on ELECTIONS you can view to see current signups. You cannot vote in this election, it's for viewing purposes only.
- At the appointed time, the arena will open for joining by the participants for 5 minutes before it automatically starts. If you miss this window of joining, you're disqualified.
- This command has the same soft/hard cooldowns that normal contesting does, refer to HELP ELECTIONS for that.
- The command also has the same restrictions for playtime that normal contesting does.
- Winner of the duel gains the right to challenge the Thronekeeper for their seat.
- If nobody else puts their name forward by the time the duel comes around, you will gain right to challenge the Thronekeeper by default.

The person that gains the right to challenge the Thronekeeper can:
CHALLENGE <target> FOR THRONEKEEPER
- This must be done with both of you standing at the Bloodloch Arena, like a normal duel.
- This is a best of three duel. You will respawn in the arena upon death with a grace time on your first death. i.e. first person to get two kills will take the Throne.
- This duel has the same effects that a knockout duel has. i.e. battle hunger and bloodlust effects if it goes on for too long.
- Your right to challenge expires after a real-life week. If no battle takes place then the winner will be manually decided by the city patron.

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 10th of Midsummer, in the year 505 MA.

10/7/2022 at 13:50
Keroc, the Starborn
Everyone
Major Foci & Occupation-General

Hi folks,

We're making some changes to how major foci work as I continue to give our conflict systems an update. This particular one focuses on making a major foci a little more valuable to contest and/or control.

There are more Research changes to be coming soon, so don't flood Ictinus' inbox too hard about the damaged pylon ranks for now.

Major foci changes
==================
- Major foci now have a hard cooldown of 3 days, up from 1.
* The soft cooldown where it has a 1 in 10 chance to spawn remains, once the hard cooldown is over.
- The ylem gain possible from a major foci has now been tripled.
- Fixed a bug where major foci didn't grant the full amount of time allowed to complete a contention phase.
- Fixed a bug where the eld in the Onslaught contention were generating less ylem than intended due to one of my earlier changes with Absorption.
- LEYLINES now has information about each contention type when in a major foci area.
* The LEYLINES display also has some wording changes as well, so you might need to update your triggers.
- Node and Ylemfield contentions now spawn their own type of foci instead of lessers and minors.
- Node and Ylemfield foci now have very fast control times, so you can quickly take them over after chasing off an opponent.

In addition, we have a new treaty term and a new city position: the Occupation-General. Make sure you read HELP OCCUPATION before agreeing to any treaties that specify this term within its writing, so you know what you might be signing up for.

As per HELP TREATY, the use of the term is described as thus:

OCCUPATION <person> : (City only) You will offer the position of
Occupation-General to an opposing party,
providing that the chosen individual is a
citizen of that party. When signed, the
Occupation-General will have a number of
powers in your city, which can be found
under HELP OCCCUPATION. You must include
a relation term alongside this to be
valid.

That's all for now!

Penned by my hand on Closday, the 1st of Midsummer, in the year 505 MA.