I have my next segments outlined (going to be significantly longer since I want to send proper interaction at everyone); just been a bum for the first week of summer break.
Got it! Don't worry too much; I'll have a busy two weeks coming up, everyone, so I'll set a soft deadline for... say, Friday, the 10th, as the last day to submit interactions and any cards for challenges prior. That should give everyone time to get into the new flow of their lives XD
Raim and a few of the guild's other elders sat around a wooden round table set near where Macoto and Ruut had collapsed. Despite Ruut's protests, many of the elders demanded the pair rest for at least another day. Today's meeting was to iron out some of the guild's future actions before things became even more chaotic.
"The Cosmos tell of some kind of… perversion that's been forced onto the area, enforced by unknown creatures. There's a dramatic climate shift between the Antaias region and the rest of the plane," Macoto supplied.
"I'm reluctant to risk even more people when we hardly know what's going on, but we need to send in some more caravans to thoroughly investigate them," Ruut said.
"We may have bigger problems on our hands," Raim said, looking off into the distance. Following his gaze, the others couldn't help but fall silent for a few moments at the sight of the immense blazing eye that had emerged where the rift had occurred.
"That can't be good," Macoto murmured.
"Then we need only hasten the cleansing," Ruut said. "Since the True Gods Cult’s leaders have allegedly vanished, let the Rhododendron quietly finish off their remnants. It wouldn't do for one of our trump cards to be revealed to the others this soon, so make sure you move undetected."
"Of course," assented a hooded Rhododendron Circle elder.
"In the meantime, the Euphorbia Circle will look into potential solutions in case that doesn't go away once Burning Valleys' crusade ends."
The Euphorbia elder nodded. "Things have already gone more than awry. It won't do to have any more nonsense sprung on us."
"One more thing," Ruut continued as the elder stood. "Make preparations for an emergency departure. There are countless other worlds for us to explore; if it comes down to it, I'd rather we leave than start making sacrifices."
"Very well. We should be ready within two days."
“When was the last time we heard from the Seven Leagues or Valenos Forest?” Raim asked once the Euphorbia elder left.
“Not since the day after Burning Valleys appeared,” Macoto said.
“I’ll ask the traders if there’s been any changes in their attitudes recently. There’s been no trouble on our end, but we should prepare countermeasures for them as well.”
“Between the Chrysanthemum and Rhododendron, Valenos won’t be a problem,” Macoto assured everyone. “As for the Seven Leagues…”
“They have too much variety in their ranks,” the hooded elder interjected when Macoto trailed off. “Should we put marks on their leaders?”
“We don’t want to cause our clients undue suspicion," Raim countered. "If the agents are itching for a side job, have them scout the people in their leaders' inner circles.”
"Very well." The hooded elder left swiftly and soundlessly.
"Anything else that needs to happen?" Raim asked.
"Not that I can think of," Ruut said, the others nodding in agreement.
Between a lack of activity on multiple participants' parts, as well as some serious IRL problems I'm dealing with, I'll be making the hard deadline Sunday, June 26th. This should give people time to come back together, and for me to deal with the problems and uncertainty I've been going through lately.
Since this is apparently still going on, here's something.
In the courts of the true ruler, a hush falls as the queen exits the chamber for the first time since establishing the colony. With grace and poise, she takes measured steps that softly clack against the stone floors. No one dares follow but a single attendant. No one fears for her safety as long ago they had seen her dispatch any who would attempt to dethrone her.
Once out of sight the court slowly picks back up with its game of gossip and rumors. There was only one subject though, where she was going. Dozens of names were traded but only a few made any sense. Finally one person said what no one else would.
"What if she's visiting with her patron?" Says a young necromancer of Halga's coven.
A knight whirls around, drawing his sword in the same motion and decapitates the student of undeath. There was absolute silence save for a duo of thuds.
The court adjourned fully for the first time in the age. ____________________________________________________________________________________
The queen finds herself rearranging the castle to make this trip shorter. Adjoining hallways with her will. The structure bending to a desire older than this epoch. To be denied would be forswearing the pact forged in primordial law. A door comes into view around a corner that had never existed before and would never exist again.
She reaches for the door handle. The hinges creak as the wooden door swings open before she can grab hold.
Not her will. Not the castle anymore.
The true ruler steps through into a vast library that could never fit within her world. A world unto itself and then some. The knowledge of ten thousand worlds cloistered away, rotting. She follows a path from an age before reason. A simple path that slithers its way toward the heart of this world.
"What can a simple bookbinder do for the queen?" Comes a familiar voice from her dreams.
She rounds the corner of a mile tall bookcase to enter the workshop of Tamnas, The Bookbinder. Tools and loose papers littered a half dozen tables, desks, and shelves. Tamnas for their part was looking up from their latest project, a manuscript in the process of being put together.
"You know why I'm here." She says coldly.
"No need to be harsh. We serve the same." They reply with a smirk.
"I need more." Annoyance creeping into her tone.
"And more you shall have, but remember the price is," They pause letting it hang.
The queen glares at her fellow pact bound. How long ago had they been so stupid. Now it was coming full circle.
"Expect the eyes and ears of our patron to be more prevalent than ever." Tamnas comments going back to work.
The conversation was over.
(Tamnas) Forces are martialed and the world calms. As even the kingdom's knights grow thin, a surge of protection and power flows over the land. Seemingly knights begin coming from out of nowhere. The kingdom makes a final stand against the chimeric beasts with this new found surge of power. (The eyes and ears) The Cataclysm Seers begin appearing across the land and spy on these chimeric threats. Who they truly report too is a mystery.
Speeeeeeeeeen Sorry I haven't been keeping an eye on this. Life really caught up to me, and around the time I planned on getting back into this I ended up having some medical problems. I'm in a decent-ish mood now though, so I'll be looking back through this
Tommia is in contact with me. His family has lost internet connection because of moeny issues. Things have been spiraling down for him rapidly, and I think it is safe to say that this is on hold for now, again. I am very sorry to all participants; I would move forward without him if I felt like I could replicate his input alone and judge to the same standards. Seeing as this is NOT the case, I will not be pulling this without him.
I technically do have internet now, but stress and family matters have basically screwed up my life and sapped me of my inspiration. I'm trying to get it back, but it's a slow process. I've even dipped out of playing D&D to help me get myself straightened out. Maybe I'm jaded, maybe I'm burnt out, but it's very difficult to force yourself to write. I have guidelines I hold myself to, and I refuse to allow myself to publish low quality filler and fluff just for the sake of "making do". I learned the hard way that doing that is incredibly self destructive, as it's better to make a bit of excellent progress every now and then than to steadily churn out mediocre writing.
Unfortunately, I haven't had the motivation to produce writing that's of a level of quality Colonizers deserves, except in brief stints of inspiration I can't control. This is partially due to the aforementioned stress, and partially because I've felt uninspired, mainly just because I can't get out and about to do any of the things I used to do, the things that kept me from losing inspiration. When all you can do is write, all you can do is play Magic against people you can't even sit face to face with, it gets to you. I'm more or less sort of trapped in my own prison; I have all of the time in the world to work on things, but no motivation to work on anything because I don't have an outlet.
I hope all of you will accept my apology for taking the reigns of something I couldn't keep up with, even if it's for reasons I cannot control. I've been fighting back and forth trying to deal with mental health problems severe enough that I can't lead a normal life. And not just with that, but all of the drawbacks that come with it. The fights trying to claim disability, feeling powerless as your future is decided by people that don't know you. People that don't understand you, and only know what they heard about you from a third party. The paradoxical struggle of having no motivation to better your situation, and getting anxious over the fact that you aren't bettering your situation.
I don't like to vent. particularly because I want to stay optimistic, both for myself and for the people around me, but things are at an all time low around here. No one I can regularly speak to in person truly cares about me, and it hurts knowing that the people that do are hours away. That the people you'd trust with your life aren't beside you, but living in another state, or even in an entirely different country. That you feel safer with someone you've never seen in person than in your own place of living. And it hurts even more knowing that only time will take care of things.
@Tommia - This place is here for you as an outlet when the inspiration does strike you, as it always has been. Sometimes, knowing that others appreciate you can serve as inspiration and fuel, and we hope that's something you can find here on occasion. We're not capable of solving the problems life throws at everyone, but we can at least offer you our best wishes and leave the light on for you.
Time marches on, and will not stop to let us rest. We may only bide our time for so long before we have no more time to give.
When a Saga has an extended pause, it's difficult for anyone to pick back up. In a 3/4 vote from the remaining contestants (which is supported by both myself and cohost @DrakeGladis), we've decided that it's best to conclude this Saga now, rather than forcing people to write for something that isn't fresh in their mind.
It's currently up in the air whether I'll host the next Colonizers or let Drake take over, but what isn't up in the air is that Season One is over. As much as I want to conclude the cliffhanger I left everyone one, there's no way to do that without unfairly killing off all of the factions... so, Otaimo has evacuated the plane of Myria. But what the factions don't know is, while most of them were sent home, the winner was brought to Otaimo's Sanctum to rest while the situation on Myria settles. Once the rage of the Wraths are quelled, they will be able to claim the unstable Plane of Four Seasons as their own...
While The Seven Leagues were starting to slowly lose their lead for Storytelling, my judgement system prioritizes Challenge performance and Storytelling quality over quantity. This allowed The Seven Leagues to stand out very early, and stay far ahead of the pack for a good portion of the Season.
However, things nearly changed. Apothecaria Salvia started catching up towards the end, and likely would have been a stone's throw from a tie if another elimination challenge would have taken place. As is, they started gaining a lot of ground!
In third place by a literal fraction of a point was The Kingdom of Antaias. If not for the last challenge they would have been second, but they lost some points on one of their last cards. They managed to remain consistent for basically the whole contest, however!
And for fourth simply due to attendance, we have The Valenos Forest. They missed a challenge, and were originally the most likely to make a comeback before then. Life happens though, so they unfortunately lost their second place position.
@SpellPiper2213 Due to how this season ended, you'll be allowed to participate in the next season if you wish. This technically counts as a victory if something like Colonizers Grandmasters comes up for this Arc, but it's a hollow one, and it would be unfair to deprive you of your ability to participate because of "victory by default".
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https://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/comment/223183/#Comment_223183
Raim and a few of the guild's other elders sat around a wooden round table set near where Macoto and Ruut had collapsed. Despite Ruut's protests, many of the elders demanded the pair rest for at least another day. Today's meeting was to iron out some of the guild's future actions before things became even more chaotic.
"The Cosmos tell of some kind of… perversion that's been forced onto the area, enforced by unknown creatures. There's a dramatic climate shift between the Antaias region and the rest of the plane," Macoto supplied.
"I'm reluctant to risk even more people when we hardly know what's going on, but we need to send in some more caravans to thoroughly investigate them," Ruut said.
"We may have bigger problems on our hands," Raim said, looking off into the distance. Following his gaze, the others couldn't help but fall silent for a few moments at the sight of the immense blazing eye that had emerged where the rift had occurred.
"That can't be good," Macoto murmured.
"Then we need only hasten the cleansing," Ruut said. "Since the True Gods Cult’s leaders have allegedly vanished, let the Rhododendron quietly finish off their remnants. It wouldn't do for one of our trump cards to be revealed to the others this soon, so make sure you move undetected."
"Of course," assented a hooded Rhododendron Circle elder.
"In the meantime, the Euphorbia Circle will look into potential solutions in case that doesn't go away once Burning Valleys' crusade ends."
The Euphorbia elder nodded. "Things have already gone more than awry. It won't do to have any more nonsense sprung on us."
"One more thing," Ruut continued as the elder stood. "Make preparations for an emergency departure. There are countless other worlds for us to explore; if it comes down to it, I'd rather we leave than start making sacrifices."
"Very well. We should be ready within two days."
“When was the last time we heard from the Seven Leagues or Valenos Forest?” Raim asked once the Euphorbia elder left.
“Not since the day after Burning Valleys appeared,” Macoto said.
“I’ll ask the traders if there’s been any changes in their attitudes recently. There’s been no trouble on our end, but we should prepare countermeasures for them as well.”
“Between the Chrysanthemum and Rhododendron, Valenos won’t be a problem,” Macoto assured everyone. “As for the Seven Leagues…”
“They have too much variety in their ranks,” the hooded elder interjected when Macoto trailed off. “Should we put marks on their leaders?”
“We don’t want to cause our clients undue suspicion," Raim countered. "If the agents are itching for a side job, have them scout the people in their leaders' inner circles.”
"Very well." The hooded elder left swiftly and soundlessly.
"Anything else that needs to happen?" Raim asked.
"Not that I can think of," Ruut said, the others nodding in agreement.
"Alrighty then, we'll leave you to your rest."
In the courts of the true ruler, a hush falls as the queen exits the chamber for the first time since establishing the colony. With grace and poise, she takes measured steps that softly clack against the stone floors. No one dares follow but a single attendant. No one fears for her safety as long ago they had seen her dispatch any who would attempt to dethrone her.
Once out of sight the court slowly picks back up with its game of gossip and rumors. There was only one subject though, where she was going. Dozens of names were traded but only a few made any sense. Finally one person said what no one else would.
"What if she's visiting with her patron?" Says a young necromancer of Halga's coven.
A knight whirls around, drawing his sword in the same motion and decapitates the student of undeath. There was absolute silence save for a duo of thuds.
The court adjourned fully for the first time in the age.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The queen finds herself rearranging the castle to make this trip shorter. Adjoining hallways with her will. The structure bending to a desire older than this epoch. To be denied would be forswearing the pact forged in primordial law. A door comes into view around a corner that had never existed before and would never exist again.
She reaches for the door handle. The hinges creak as the wooden door swings open before she can grab hold.
Not her will. Not the castle anymore.
The true ruler steps through into a vast library that could never fit within her world. A world unto itself and then some. The knowledge of ten thousand worlds cloistered away, rotting. She follows a path from an age before reason. A simple path that slithers its way toward the heart of this world.
"What can a simple bookbinder do for the queen?" Comes a familiar voice from her dreams.
She rounds the corner of a mile tall bookcase to enter the workshop of Tamnas, The Bookbinder. Tools and loose papers littered a half dozen tables, desks, and shelves. Tamnas for their part was looking up from their latest project, a manuscript in the process of being put together.
"You know why I'm here." She says coldly.
"No need to be harsh. We serve the same." They reply with a smirk.
"I need more." Annoyance creeping into her tone.
"And more you shall have, but remember the price is," They pause letting it hang.
The queen glares at her fellow pact bound. How long ago had they been so stupid. Now it was coming full circle.
"Expect the eyes and ears of our patron to be more prevalent than ever." Tamnas comments going back to work.
The conversation was over.
(Tamnas)
Forces are martialed and the world calms. As even the kingdom's knights grow thin, a surge of protection and power flows over the land. Seemingly knights begin coming from out of nowhere. The kingdom makes a final stand against the chimeric beasts with this new found surge of power.
(The eyes and ears)
The Cataclysm Seers begin appearing across the land and spy on these chimeric threats. Who they truly report too is a mystery.
Sorry I haven't been keeping an eye on this. Life really caught up to me, and around the time I planned on getting back into this I ended up having some medical problems. I'm in a decent-ish mood now though, so I'll be looking back through this
Unfortunately, I haven't had the motivation to produce writing that's of a level of quality Colonizers deserves, except in brief stints of inspiration I can't control. This is partially due to the aforementioned stress, and partially because I've felt uninspired, mainly just because I can't get out and about to do any of the things I used to do, the things that kept me from losing inspiration. When all you can do is write, all you can do is play Magic against people you can't even sit face to face with, it gets to you. I'm more or less sort of trapped in my own prison; I have all of the time in the world to work on things, but no motivation to work on anything because I don't have an outlet.
I hope all of you will accept my apology for taking the reigns of something I couldn't keep up with, even if it's for reasons I cannot control. I've been fighting back and forth trying to deal with mental health problems severe enough that I can't lead a normal life. And not just with that, but all of the drawbacks that come with it. The fights trying to claim disability, feeling powerless as your future is decided by people that don't know you. People that don't understand you, and only know what they heard about you from a third party. The paradoxical struggle of having no motivation to better your situation, and getting anxious over the fact that you aren't bettering your situation.
I don't like to vent. particularly because I want to stay optimistic, both for myself and for the people around me, but things are at an all time low around here. No one I can regularly speak to in person truly cares about me, and it hurts knowing that the people that do are hours away. That the people you'd trust with your life aren't beside you, but living in another state, or even in an entirely different country. That you feel safer with someone you've never seen in person than in your own place of living. And it hurts even more knowing that only time will take care of things.
~ An Unforeseen Conclusion
@Aggroman15 @cadstar269 @Nomp @SpellPiper2213Time marches on, and will not stop to let us rest. We may only bide our time for so long before we have no more time to give.
When a Saga has an extended pause, it's difficult for anyone to pick back up. In a 3/4 vote from the remaining contestants (which is supported by both myself and cohost @DrakeGladis), we've decided that it's best to conclude this Saga now, rather than forcing people to write for something that isn't fresh in their mind.
It's currently up in the air whether I'll host the next Colonizers or let Drake take over, but what isn't up in the air is that Season One is over. As much as I want to conclude the cliffhanger I left everyone one, there's no way to do that without unfairly killing off all of the factions... so, Otaimo has evacuated the plane of Myria. But what the factions don't know is, while most of them were sent home, the winner was brought to Otaimo's Sanctum to rest while the situation on Myria settles. Once the rage of the Wraths are quelled, they will be able to claim the unstable Plane of Four Seasons as their own...
The winner of Season 1 of Colonizers Arc 2, is...
The Seven Leagues!
While The Seven Leagues were starting to slowly lose their lead for Storytelling, my judgement system prioritizes Challenge performance and Storytelling quality over quantity. This allowed The Seven Leagues to stand out very early, and stay far ahead of the pack for a good portion of the Season.
However, things nearly changed. Apothecaria Salvia started catching up towards the end, and likely would have been a stone's throw from a tie if another elimination challenge would have taken place. As is, they started gaining a lot of ground!
In third place by a literal fraction of a point was The Kingdom of Antaias. If not for the last challenge they would have been second, but they lost some points on one of their last cards. They managed to remain consistent for basically the whole contest, however!
And for fourth simply due to attendance, we have The Valenos Forest. They missed a challenge, and were originally the most likely to make a comeback before then. Life happens though, so they unfortunately lost their second place position.
@SpellPiper2213 Due to how this season ended, you'll be allowed to participate in the next season if you wish. This technically counts as a victory if something like Colonizers Grandmasters comes up for this Arc, but it's a hollow one, and it would be unfair to deprive you of your ability to participate because of "victory by default".