Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 278 nations
New Hyperion - 83 nations
Nowhere - 3 nations
Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Gaming: Gattoartico
Thane of Integration: Kane lives
Thane of LGBTQ Affairs: Pengu
Thane of Roleplay: Vacant
Thane of Werewolf: Pengu
Jarl of Foreign Affairs: Gattoartico
Thane of Dispatches: taulover
Jarl of Regional Affairs: Doc
Thane of WA Affairs: BraveSirRobin
Advisor: Chanku
Sorting Out the Storting
A Recap of Recent Wintrean Legislative Events
by taulover
Image credit: Dmitry Valberg on Flickr
Greetings, friends! It is I, taulover, Speaker of the Underhusen, here to bring you some quick updates on the state of our legislature!
In the June Underhusen elections, the incumbent term chose to lower to the number of seats to four, and five candidates stood for office:
[li]Chanku ran on a campaign of experience and legal reform.[/li]
[li]Mathyland cited his long-time incumbency and capacity for grammar fixes.[/li]
[li]Crushita did not campaign until late in the election, basing it on his experience and Spud religion.[/li]
[li]I, taulover, ran with no specific agenda except keeping the Laws page completely up to date.[/li]
[li]Doc had some various ideas, including defining citizenship within the Fundamental Laws.[/li]
Crushita ultimately lost the election, likely due to the delayed campaigning.
In the Speaker vote following the election, there initially appeared to be a possibility of a tie between myself and Chanku. We reached an agreement wherein Chanku would become Speaker pro tempore and be free to implement his legislative goals without any hindrance from myself. Additionally, I appointed Mathyland as Secretary.
Chanku's main proposal for the early part of the term was to create an officer system for the Underhusen. Under this new system, the Speaker could create various offices and appoint citizens to it. After some discussion (in which a proposal for giving the Monarch the duty to initially nominate a Speaker candidate was rejected), this amendment to the Underhusen Procedural Rules was passed.
Following this event, I created the Office of Information at Chanku's advice, and appointed Mathyland to lead it. This Officer position continued Mathyland's former Secretarial duties and also expanded them to include greater public outreach responsibilities.
Other proposals still remain in discussion, including one giving the Speaker the power to fix grammar errors in laws, and another establishing an explicit supremacy clause in the Fundamental Laws.
The Culture Review
by Gerrick
This is the fifth installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Wintreath's Jarl of Culture. I'll be talking briefly about some events going on in the cultural areas of the forums, such as Ministry news, forum games, and contests that took place from late April to early June.
Thanes (Vice Ministers) of Culture are elected positions that serve to manage and represent different areas of Wintreath. Along with the already established positions of Thanes of Roleplay, Werewolf, LGBT Affairs, and Gaming, in May the Ministry of Integration was dissolved and a new Thane of Integration was added to the Ministry of Culture. Elections for these positions were held at the beginning of June, and the roles are now filled by Pengu as Thane of Werewolf and LGBT Affairs, Gattoartico as Thane of Gaming, and Kane lives as Thane of Integration. There were no candidates for Thane of Roleplay who completed the necessary steps to win the position, but I will be on the lookout for someone to take it over. I look forward to working with this group and seeing what they can bring to their new roles.
Wintreath's Finest is the name for Wintreath's citizen of the month. Nominations are for those who stood out as contributing or showing dedication to the region or having been extra active, caused activity, or been a good influence on others. The winner of April 2018 Wintreath's Finest was Gattoartico for his hosting of the successful regional game nights playing Realm of the Mad God and Minecraft. The winner of May 2018 Wintreath's Finest was Wintermoot for all of the work he has done to update and redesign the recruitment system, the forums header, the newsfeed, and other areas of the forums. Other nominees for the two months were Elbbsas for creating and hosting the Wintreath Escape Room, taulover for organizing and getting the Orendi out regularly, and Hydra for designing each Orendi.
Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme (or themes) nominated and voted on by citizens who then incorporate the winning theme(s) into their avatars for the month. Themes are often related to current events, though they may also include themes nominated at the random whims of citizens. May's winning theme was Anything That Rhymes with May, beating out other themes such as Minecraft, Han Solo, and Justin Timberlake. June's winning themes were a tie between Alaska and Cats. Crushita adopted an avatar that is unquestionably the most fitting: a picture of Mayor Stubbs, the cat who was the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for twenty years.
Spyfall is an easy-to-learn forum game where the lone undercover spy tries to figure out the location of the game while all the other players, who act in their given roles related to the location, try to figure out who the spy is. Spyfall VIII, which was hosted by North, lasted from early March until May. The location of the game was the United Nations with players given the roles of ambassadors from different countries. Hydra, the Spy, ultimately did not successfully announce the location before being correctly voted off as the spy by a majority of the players, which was initiated by Doc, making this only the second time in Wintreath that the Spy lost. There were apparently some miscommunications as to how and when the Spy could make his guess, but everyone including Hydra agreed to have enjoyed the game.
The Pandemonium RP Begins!
by taulover ft. AJ
Image credit: erzon77 on AdeptGamer
Advertised as "a roleplay of possibly infinite possibilities, but also structured," Pandemonium is a Discord-based RP set in a dimensional cluster, ruled by gods. Here, AJ'BLarg, the GM, explains the setting:
The existence of Pandemonium is built on a simple principle. Planes. The five main planes are the main realms of Bael'Kath, Olv'Thrane, Alissa, Santioc, and Xaelinoc. Pandemonium itself is a centralized dimension inside the capital of Xaelinoc, accessed by a single portal. Each of the six realms is vast, and each the size of an entire plane of existence. There's other planes that exist, and possibly will come into play.
Each plane is vastly different. Xaelinoc is the plane of the demons, ruled by the mighty Demonous Clan. Santioc is the plane of the angels, led by the Fallen Angel Cardina. Olv'Thrane is the plane of the elves, led by the mighty Zermophium, who is said to have the power of the world tree of the plane itself. Alissa, led by the Draconic Maelikor, leader of the humans. Bael'Kath, the realm of chaos and horror, led by the monstrous Xernia. Pandemonium, the capital of the collective, led by Kessek Demonous, the God-King.
If you dare to try your fate, possibly rise up in the ranks, come to the Multi-Plex of Pandemonium. Or perhaps lie in wait until your plane comes under the scope of the Multi-Plex. The possibilities are infinite in the multiverse. How will you fit in?
AJ has much experience GM'ing roleplays online. On comparing RP'ing via forum and Discord, AJ stated his opinion that "Discord is an easier and less intimidating platform." It will undoubtedly be exciting to see the Wintrean RP community evolve as it takes on this new direction of RP'ing and broadens into new platforms.
If you're interested in this RP, you can contact AJ#4382 on Discord.
Wintreans Share Food That They Made!
These are some potato wedges that I made! New potatoes cut into wedges, shredded Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt, and some parsley after it came out of the oven. I could have baked them a bit longer to crisp the outside more, but the flavour was fantastic, and went great with ranch dressing as a dip. It won approval in my house, at least. :D
This is currently one of my favourite dinners. Bobotie: a mince dish, with copious amounts of fruit, curry powder, and milk-soaked bread. I have to start making it at a bit past one for it to be serveable by six, and the egg layer on top keeps consistently being runny, but I'm getting there!
My take at raspberry fool, based on a recipe on Food Network and the ingredients that I happened to have. I actually decided to totally mix in the raspberries and cream to give it a uniform flavour. I'm not usually a big fan of raspberries, but it was good with ladyfingers. :D
I also made this with strawberries yesterday, and it's very much my thing. :)
Feel free to share your own favorite recipes at the Howling Wind Tavern!
An Interview with Gattoartico about the New Modded Minecraft Server
by taulover
Gattoartico tours Furnace Lane, near the spawn of the modded server.
Wintreath has had a thriving Minecraft community for many years, with a vanilla server dating back to 2014. Recently, however, Wintreath has expanded its scope in Minecraft to mods. Joining me today discuss this topic is Gattoartico, our Thane of Gaming, who has launched a modded server based on a custom modpack.
Why did you choose to make the Wintreath modded Minecraft server?
It partially spawned from a conversation with Trader on the Vanilla server. We were discussing plans for militarization of Castle Terrinian and High Castle, with missiles and sentry armies. As a result I started compiling the mods I already played with and asked for mod suggestions. It kinda became a desire of mine to see Spawn on Wintreath Server being nuked. We don't have that map but the one we do have is a close second!
How did you decide what mods made the cut for the server pack?
Some of them were mods I loved previously, like AbyssalCraft which adds in elements of Lovecraft to the game. As well as mods that others suggested. The existing server pack is one that I slimmed down to the largest pack that would put the least stress on the kind of crappy laptop the server is on. It's still pretty full but without any truly heavy hitting mods.
What have been some of the biggest difficulties of getting the modded server up and running?
One of the biggest issues was finding the right hardware and pack size. Occasionally I take the server down for "maintenance," which is just code for the me getting tired of hearing the fan howling. I do intend to upgrade the server hardware in the near future, as trying to run it off of a first gen i3 really isn't helping performance.
What is the most interesting thing you've seen on the modded server?
Definitely the building styles of the players. Everyone on the server has kinda the same Dwarven mantra going, "Dig deep, and then dig deeper." Outside of my constructs most buildings on the server go down and not up. Which can be seen with the construction of Deepholm, Crushita's dwarven stronghold in the deep. Out of everything it is still the second deepest structure on the server. The only thing that goes deeper is my Mortis Engine. And boy is that sucker deep.
But then that may be warranted. After all, nuclear powers are on the rise server side. So digging deep may be a result of the expanding nuclear arsenals. Out of which mine still dominates the server at nearly sixty silos scattered across four dimensions.
Do you prefer vanilla or modded Minecraft?
I would have to say modded. I like the plethora of new and strange things mods add to the game. Alongside technology and magic I enjoy the variety of dimensions, creatures, and weapons you can find.
What are you plans for the future of the server?
The first thing on the list is upgrading the hardware. Ideally I want to to have an i5 or i7 as the processor and at the very least 16gbs of ram. Then the pack will go full and y'all will get the true world save. Where the server capital is a massive mountain range with sheer cliff faces. And the days prior to the server world and pack change I plan on dropping a total war scenario on y'all. Nuke each other and fight my dudes.
Orendi XIV: Vernal Equinox Issue
We have continued to experiment with our new Orendi format, first introduced in our previous issue! Check out our full PDF Version, or if you cannot read it, take a look at the pages in image form below.
Orendi XIII: Special Summersend Edition
We are experimenting with a new Orendi format! Check out the pages below, or if you cannot read them, check out our PDF Version.
For the third year, Wintreath is hosting the Summersend Festival, our annual festival to celebrate the end of summer and the approach of cooler weather with fun and games for everyone! The festival will start on Friday, August 18th and run until Sunday, August 27th, and will include forum games, contests, discussions, roleplaying, scheduled gaming sessions, and more! Every year the Summersend Festival gets bigger and better, and I believe that this year will be no exception...if you have a chance, consider coming over for some of the fun and enjoy the festival with us. We'd be honoured to have you as our guest. We'll provide a link to the festival area as soon as it's open, but if you would like to make or update an account beforehand, our forum is located here.
Hope to see you there!
Looks like you got it! ^-^
This has been very popular in most regions, so there will probably be another puzzle in the next month or so. Be on the lookout!
Looks like you got it! ^-^
This has been very popular in most regions, so there will probably be another puzzle in the next month or so. Be on the lookout!
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Amalya (Pengu as Acting Jarl)
Jarl of Defense: Chanku
Jarl of Foreign Affairs: Wintermoot
Jarl of Integration: Point Breeze
Jarl of WA Affairs: Reon
A Message from the Monarch
Just another standard photo op for the Monarch. Article by Wintermoot. Greetings, friends and allies of Wintreath. You may have noticed that this is the first Orendi to be dispatched in quite a few months. As we have worked to overhaul our foreign affairs program, it has become apparent that it takes a great amount of time and effort to put this dispatch together, and because of that we will be scaling the Orendi back from a monthly dispatch to a seasonal dispatch, with each edition covering events from the season before in detail. Between releases, we will continue to send smaller dispatches covering everything from events going on in the region to interviews to tidbits about the region. We feel this is the best way to maintain active relations and embassies with all of our diplomatic partners.
I hope that you enjoy reading our latest Orendi, and that relations between our regions continue to grow and prosper.
Judicial Reform Perplexes Wintreath
The fight over Judicial reform! Article by Wintermoot In a region that has seen few political divisions, the debate and continued failure to come to agreement on judicial reform stands out. While most Citizens agree that the current judicial system isn't working, there are a wide variety different ideas on the system that should replace it. Proposals have included the creation of a jury pool of Citizens whose members would be selected to hear cases at random, the creation of an elected Supreme Court, the transfer of judicial authorities to the Monarch, and the abolition of the judiciary entirely. While the debate has been on-and-off since June, to date no proposal has passed the Storting with the 2/3 supermajority required to amend the Fundamental Laws, the Constitution of our region. Given that proposals most also pass a referendum by the same supermajority, it goes without saying that any judicial proposal has a harrowing journey to passage.
To better understand the diversity of ideas and the mindsets behind them, I've approached some of our current and past members of government that have advocated a particular solution with one question: why do you feel your stance is the right one for Wintreath over the others?
Reon (Underhusen Skrifa): You have recently authored and introduced the Omnibus Judicial Repeal, stating that it was in anticipation of another amendment bringing judicial authorities to the Monarch. Why do you feel this is the best approach for Wintreath?
Joshua Bleuteisen (Underhusen Skfria): In the current debate, you have openly supported abolishing the judiciary and going as far as stating you wouldn't support any other judicial reform proposal. Why do you feel abolishment is the best approach for Wintreath?
Wintermoot (Monarch): You authored the first judicial reform attempt, the Administration of Justice Amendment Act, which would have created a jury pool with members selected at random for each court case, but withdrew support for it after it failed in the Storting not once, but twice. Why did you feel this was the best approach for Wintreath?
Chanku (Underhusen Speaker): To date, you have opposed all proposals for judicial reform and have instead recently proposed two Acts, the Judicial Offices Omnibus Amendment Act and the Case Selection Procedure Act, both of which aim to fix the current system. Why do you feel fixing the current system is the best approach for Wintreath?
Games, Games, and more games to come!
A collection of Wintreath's many games to play! Article by Pengu If there's anything that we know anyone loves, it's games, and this may be something that is slowly becoming what Wintreath can be known for. What started as a single Werewolf game has exploded into much more because of the astounding participation from both our citizens and residents, as well as our growing tourist population. In fact, as of writing this, Werewolf is in the works of its 4th game with one of our newest citizens, Laurentus, taking the helm.
Spyfall was also introduced into Wintreath, and was met with much enthusiasm. Now, our acting Jarl of Culture is working on more ideas to cook up on what to bring to Wintreath in the form of regional games and contests. Some of his ideas include Clue, Resistance, 20 questions, and even an interactive form of Choose your own Adventure. We're looking forward to see just what other games will be popping up around Wintreath, and we hope to see all of you taking part when they do.
Citizen of the Month Contest Established, Amalya First Winner
Citizens discuss what makes someone a Citizen of the Month. Article by Wintermoot. Wintreath recently had its first Citizen of the Month election, where Citizens can nominate and then choose an outstanding member of the community that has had a great impact on the region and the people in it. The Citizen of the Month then gets a special forum mask with the colour of their choice and the opportunity to be interviewed so everyone can get to know their Citizen of the Month and their reflections on their time in the region.
The first person to be recognized by our Citizens is our Jarl of Culture, Amalya, who is someone I can safely say has touched so many of us in the community for the better through her openness, honesty, charm, humour, and strength to stand up for who she is and what she believes in. She's been a true role model for everyone here, and it's an absolute honour to be able to interview her.
It's the Great Election Day Wintermoot!
This new election term is already full of surprises! Article by Pengu. Last term, we had a list of candidates run for office, though none of the candidates had campaigned. It was something that was dreaded to happen in the future, because it was something that had potentially foreshadowed what the term itself was going to be like.
This term however, has proved quite the opposite! Very shortly after elections had opened, candidates began to pop up like daisies. And in an equal amount of time, campaign threads began to pop up as well! While only half of the candidates have started campaigning as of writing this, it's definitely a welcome change compared to last term.
And it's proving to be quite exciting so far too! Almost immediately after campaign threads came up did questions start pouring in for our candidates. Between answering those, the debates being sparked in the campaign threads, and the action that it's sparked in candidates taking the initiative to do things in other parts of the forum...let's just say it's been quite an exciting election process so far for Wintreath, and no matter who gets elected this term, it'll be an election to remember.
News in Briefs
Happy news makes for happy briefs!
Wintreath held a successful festival with The North Pacific which lasted from February 8th to the 13th and included a AMA for Wintermoot and McMasterdonia, an event to match people up with new friends from the other region, and an icebreaker that led to discussion of everything from hobbies to music.
Wintreath committed to eventually adopting a regional currency later in the spring. A regional contest gave us the name of this future currency, the Krone.
A Sunshine Policy was announced regarding discussions of the Riksråd, the regional Cabinet. Cabinet discussions will now be made public after one year.
Acting Jarl of Culture Pengu brought Werewolf (Mafia) games to the region, which have become a huge success and has thus far resulted in three very fun games. Plans are under way for a fourth game hosted by new Citizen Laurentus in the near future.
Wintreath entered into a treaty pact with The Rejected Realms in November, and just recently entered into a treaty of friendship with Ainur.
Since the publication of the last Orendi, Wintreath has established relations with Taijitu, Mordor, and The South Pacific(again). Hello, new friends!
Wintermoot got a reaction from Saint Mark in Wintreath
Wintermoot got a reaction from Bran Astor in Wintreath
Wintermoot got a reaction from North Pacific Spy in Wintreath
Wintermoot got a reaction from Big Bad Badger in Wintreath
Wintermoot got a reaction from Llamas in Wintreath