Welcome to Rebirth 724!
1st of Cylus, 724
The Flying of Islands of Iulure were as inscrutable as ever. They had been flying in the air, undisturbed for centuries. A local oddity that those who plied the waters of the region had long since grown accustomed to, a fixture that was unchanged by the passage of arcs, resurgence of Induks, the deaths of Immortals, and the return of Dragons. So it had always been, people thought, and so it would always be.
Until this day, when the air around the Iulure Isles shimmered and seemed to open beneath the islands. A strange ship, much larger than any ship that been seen on Iulure, emerged from the opening, appearing as if from nowhere when it passed through the opening. Following behind it were more ships of a more usual size, though with a more unusual shape.
Once it seemed a small fleet of ships had come out from Iulure, there was another shimmering of the air around Iulure and the opening seemed to close. The ships, which it turned out could fly, started their way towards the islands where Strosdyn was located, but a smaller ship broke off from the fleet and descended down towards a merchant ship that had, on later reflection by the sailors, lucky enough to be passing through the area on its way from Quacia to Melrath.
The smaller ship descended until it was much closer to the merchant ship and a figure jumped over the side, spreading its own wings so that it could glide down to the ship. It was mostly humanoid, barring the golden horns, wings, and tail that reminded a few sailors of the tails of the golden dragon that had been seen around the distant city of Uthaldria. Its manner of dress was strange and obscured its form, but its open and friendly smile and lack of weapons relaxed the crew, who didn't find the stranger threatening. Once it saw that they had relaxed, she, for his voice identified her as a woman, spoke. "Cyfarchion. Hyludin ydw i, ac rydyn ni'n chwilio am rywun. Ydych chi'n gwybod ble gallwn i ddod o hyd i Luesco?"
The 10th Anniversary and the Hyludin
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the start of Standing Trials 10th Anniversary Year! Yeah, it's been ten years since we started working on the site. Well, almost. Officially, the 10th Anniversary will be in October, but we figured, why wait until then to start celebrating? So, for the entire of the 724 Arc, from February 1st, 2024 to January 31st, 2025, we'll be celebrating the 10th Anniversary.
Now, that means a few things. First things, first, the Hyludin have come down from Iulure and are out and about. Now, when they get to each city and what they do there will depend on the mod for that city, but you will be able to interact with them. They aren't playable yet, but but there's plenty of secrets to learn about these strangers. However, for anyone wishing to interact with them, here's a brief checklist of what can be learned at a glance.
First, the Hyludin have draconic horns, tails, and wings that resemble the seven known Dragons. What exactly that means will be just below, but beyond that, their skin, hair, and eyes come in a variety of colors. Otherwise they're human, but none of them speak common or any other language heard on Idalos. Oh, and they can fly with their wings and their tails are prehensile. They have their own, unique language.
The appearances of the horns, wings, and tails are as follows.
Artere: Purple insectoid wings, black multi-pronged antler-like horns, purple tail with a tuft of black fur at the end.
Deabrutoa: Black bat-like wings with a red membrane and a hooked claw at the wing joint, short curved black horns, a black tail with an overlapping diamond pattern of bone on top.
Drathaidir: Large gold bat-like wings with a gold membrane and a large hooked claw at the wing joint, short straight gold horns, short gold tail.
Frosvinndur: Large icy blue wings with feathers that look like ice crystals, short icy blue horns that look swept back, a long tail that looks to be made of solid ice.
Kuvarakh: Black bat-like wings with green cracks throughout the membrane that trail green light, long straight black horns, long black tail with green cracks.
Vielkrontier: Short green bat-like wings, short green horns with a slight curve, green tail that splits into multiple tips about an inch from the end.
Vindecaldra: Large metal wings with vents that emit flame, long straight steel horns, a long tail with flame vents along it. The flames do not appear to actually burn anything.
The List
The Hyludin aren't the only surprise. Over the course of the next year, the Prophets of Standing Trials will be focusing our dev efforts on one main goal: Finishing all of our outstanding Dev projects! Admittedly not the most glamorous thing, but we want to try and face the next 10 years with as clean a slate as we can manage.
We have a list of what that entails, and we figured it'd be nice to share that with you as well!
Races: Hyludin, finishing off Ghosts.
Magic: Pact, Schism, and the return of Aberration.
Skills: write ups done. Get Languages sorted. Dreamwalking and Emeas.
Marks: Treid, Valtharn. Finish updating (take out all mentions from the old Devotion system.)
Spiritborn: (This will not look like what was promised in The Call, just as a heads up.)
The Shoppe:(Gathering, Crafting, Resources)
Dragons: Artere
Effigy: Vielkrontier, Artere.
Now, on a quick note, The List does not include the rest of the Dragons. That is intentional, as they aren't considered to be outstanding Dev projects. They're still future dev, but who knows, we might be able to get to some of those if we finish The List. As it stands, our plan is to have The List finished by October 2024.
Anniversary Plot
Now, you might expect that some sort of major plot is due for the 10th Anniversary. Well, you'd be right, but that's scheduled for the Cold Cycle. There might be secrets to find that'll lead up to it, though, and we might do some build up in the Hot Cycle. Who's to say? Well, me, I guess. I could say. But I'm not gonna.
Usual Cycle Change Stuff
This Cycle is the Rebirth Cycle 724, including the seasons of Cylus and Ashan.
Cylus
Long cold days leave the world in a constant state of twilight. Living outdoors becomes extremely difficult due to the icy temperatures and flora and fauna suffer during this time. Grass dies making livestock, who need to eat more to survive the harsh conditions, difficult to feed, and a lot of trees fall into dormancy, slowing down their metabolism and energy consumption in order to survive the season until the sun comes up again.
While the days slowly tick on, the sun begins to sink to the horizon before finally being blocked by one of Idalos' slow orbiting moons. The stationary effect of this moon, however, is partly due to the Ellune and their dormant ruler, Treid. His influence over the moons, and his less than favorable views of Faldrun, prevent the moon from showing any light for 30 trials. A curse he enacted to punish Faldrun for his backhanded and wicked ways, Treid was incapacitated by Audrae before he could remove it. Now the world suffers sunless for 30 trials an Arc, until the light of Ashan touches it once more.
Ashan
The first few weeks of Ashan are rigidly cold. Though the sun finally makes its appearance from Cylus, it takes many trials before the ice melts away into puddles, blooming flowers and grass. Ashan experiences a cold period, lasting for a quarter of the season before the temperature finally heats up enough to begin sowing crops for the Arc. Ashan is mainly known for it's spring weather, gentle breezes, and the rebirth of plant life. Barren trees slowly sprout buds of leaves and flowers, releasing a green haze of pollen while green grass grows slowly from the wet soil. Dead leaves from the previous season are swallowed up during this cycle, providing nutrients for new life growing from the ground.
Ashan lasts a total of 123 trials (days) while experiencing pretty moderate weather. Later in the season, rain clouds become a common thing, depending on the environment. The temperature begins to heat up while the green haze of pollen dies away and the budding plant life fully sprouts into bushy trees, thick grass, and lively, colorful flowers. As the season closes, the temperature rises, ushering in stronger storms and much hotter weather.
Staff Changes and City Status
Unfortunately, Jackalope has had to step back down from staff due to IRL issues.
Open Moderated Cities
Melrath - Fate
Rharne - Pig Boy
Scalvoris - Peg
The Eternal Empire - Basilisk
Yaralon - The Wanderer
Cities Under Development
Iulure Isles - Fate
Closed Cities
Rynmere (including Andaris and the Eastern Territories)
Cities Open But Unmoderated
Central: Ivorian Empire
Eastern: Athart
Eastern North: Viden
Southern: Augiery
Southern: Desnind
Southern: Quacia
Western: Etzos
Western: Ne'haer
Western: Rhakros
Western: Sirothelle
Western: Uthaldria
And that's it! Normally there'd be some Community Notes and such, but this is already really long and we've already covered what's coming up in the next year. SO. With that in mind, I'm going to bid you all farewell for now. I look forward to another decade of telling stories with everyone.
-Basilisk
