"'Twas the night before Ziellmas, when all through Scalvoris
Not a creature was stirring, nobody saw this;
The group of them moved, with great stealth and great care,
Knowing that Saoire soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a turtle of stars and many small folk, most queer,
The turtle it turned to a woman before me,
I knew in that moment that she must be Saoire.
More rapid than eagles her companions they came,
And she beamed with delight, and she called them by name:
"Now, Siel! now, Zodick! now Karlis and Siva!
Marla's a Guinea Pig, and Ganty a Beaver!
To the island of Faldrass! Fly over the wall!
We must dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
"As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When we meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
First up to this housetop we'll go- yes Thorma and Barley
We'll all stop a moment, but we mustn't dally"
And then, in a twinkling, they flew up to the roof
And there, in the snow, prints from foot and hoof.
As I turned my eyes to it, and was gazing around,
I saw Saoire leap to the air with a bound.
She was dressed all in glitter, from her head to her toes,
And her face twinkled also, to the end of her nose;
Yet, just as I saw her, a shell on her back?
'twas a trick of the light, she just wore a rucksack.
Her eyes—how they twinkled! her dimples, how merry!
Her cheeks were like roses, her nose like a cherry!
Her droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the cloak wrapped around her was as white as the snow;
She laughed and it sounded like she had bells in her teeth,
And wore on her head a most beautiful wreath;
The Cadouri next to her had a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
As they began to fly away, Saoire turned with a jerk,
And laying her finger aside of her nose,
And giving a nod, to the night sky she rose;
She sprang to her turtle, to her team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard her exclaim, ere she flew out of sight—
“Happy Ziellmas to all, and to all, a good night!”
(Written by Pegasus and adapted from "A Visit from St Nicholas by C. C. Moore)
Hello, everyone! It's been a couple of days, right? Well, not quite 48 hours, but close enough for us! Players are excited for Saoire's appearance, we're excited for our reveal, and your excitement is feeding into our excitement and we had to get this out before we popped like a Christmas balloon. So let's open that last gift under the tree a bit early, yeah? Well, I say last gift, but it's really more like three gifts.
First off, we're adding a new Immortal to the site, the last non-PC Immortal. Who's that Immortal, you may ask? Well, that Immortal is Saoire, the Gift-Giver of Idalos herself. Not being one of the most publically known of Idalosian Immortals, Saoire had a lot of myths built up around her, but now she's taking a more active role in things at long last. She's been uploaded to the wiki for your perusal, and you can find her at the following link.
wiki/index.php?title=Category:Saoire
But wait, what about her Blessing? Well, we've got that all cooked and ready to go as well. Saoire's Blessing is a bit of a different beast than other Blessings. It's not combat focused or espionage focused or anything else. It's primarily based around teaching, and serves as a reward and aid for PC's who take an active role in mentoring new PC's, boosting the amount of knowledges and even EXP that PC's can get by threading with someone who has Saoire's Blessing. You can find Saoire's Blessing at the following link.
wiki/index.php?title=Category:Telka#The ... g_of_Telka
Finally, we got one more surprise. You might have seen those small furry critters scampering about the Saoire posts and been wondering just what they are. Well, wonder no more, for I have an answer for you. Those little fuzzballs are the Cadouri, Saoire's little treasures, and they just so happen to be a newly playable race. Now the Cadouri have lived in Saoire's Emean Domain for a long time and they're new to Idalos proper, so please keep that in mind when playing them. The Cadouri can be found at the following link.
wiki/index.php?title=Category:Cadouri
Well, that's all we got for you right now and the last major update/reveal/release of the year. We'll be back next year with more surprises and reveals and yes, more Dragons, but for now, everyone have a merry Christmas and we'll see you all after the new year.
-The Standing Trials Moderation Team