Jump to content

Wintreath


God-Emperor

Recommended Posts

Orendi IX

Wintreath Foreign Update 9 - Spring 2016 (I know it's late!)

 

wintreath__67470.png

 
Government of Wintreath
 
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Pengu
Jarl of Defense: Chanku
Jarl of Foreign Affairs: Wintermoot
Jarl of Integration: Vacant

Jarl of WA Affairs: Reon

 

 

Revocation of Govindia's Citizenship

Written by Sapphiron
 
6vz4EVJ.jpg

The Storting deliberates the matter at hand.

 

 
Within 48 hours after the announcement of the fifteenth Underhusen election results, there was a re-emergence of public discussions regarding the revocation of Govindia’s citizenship. Unlike last year, such an occurrence was hardly surprising, for it was preceded by a firm warning during the campaign period not to abuse the moderation reporting tool to report candidates “for refusing to answer campaign questions” as well as an indefinite ban from the IRC for persistent harassment (repeatedly demanding an apology and resorting to personal attacks for declining to answer his queries) against a fellow Wintrean despite repeated warnings and being placed on probation. 
 
On the 19th of April, after much discussion amongst the members of the Storting, the revocation bill was put to a vote in the Underhusen, and passed with 4 ayes and 3 abstains. On the 20th of April, the revocation bill was presented to the Overhusen, and passed with unanimous support. With the approval of both the lower and upper legislative chamber, Govindia’s citizenship was officially revoked under Article 2.4 of the Citizenship and Demonym Act.
 
It should be noted that as members of a region founded on the principles of liberty, equality, freedom and compassion, the Storting recognises the revocation of citizenship as a solemn issue, and has pursued all other avenues of action. While Govindia’s less than desirable behaviour may have been unintentional, many members of the community have stepped in or at least tried to ameliorate the situation. After giving numerous second chances, it is certainly regrettable to declare that little to no visible changes have been observed, and that a citizenship revocation has been deemed to be necessary. In the words of the Overhusen Chairman Wuufu, "This is not a removal from this community in full, and shouldn't be seen as such, but instead it should give you (Govindia) the motivation to effect change."
 

Storting Passes Five-Post Citizenship Requirement

Written by Wintermoot
 
VP7iho5.jpg

The Citizenship Integration Amendment Act will alter the path to Citizenship.

 

 
The Storting recently passed a requirement that prospective Citizens have five posts on the regional off-site forum, including their Citizenship application, before becoming a Citizen.
 
The requirement was originally suggested by Wintermoot, who pointed out that nearly a third of all former Citizens had only made one post: their Citizenship application. The requirement was suggested to encourage prospective Citizens to interact with the community and get involved in the region before becoming deciding to become a Citizen, pointing out that as a region whose cultural and discussion areas are open to anyone with an account, Wintreath was better suited for this sort of requirement than many others.
 
On the other hand, the proposal was opposed by several Citizens, including HannahB and Chanku, who expressed concerns that the requirement could intimidate prospective Citizens who would otherwise have become involved in the community anyway. Both stated that had there been a similar requirement when they had joined, they would have been more hesitant to join to begin with.
 
Ultimately, after several weeks of discussion, the proposal passed the Underhusen 6-1 and then passed the Overhusen 3-1 (with one Peer not voting). During the course of the discussion, several other measures were taken to streamline the Citizenship process, including allowing the entire Cabinet to process Citizenship applications in order to allow for quicker approvals, simplifying the Citizenship form, and overhauling the regional forums to be easier to understand by new members.
 

Updates in Wintrean Government

Written by Wintermoot
 
hmm3v07.png

Ch-ch-changes...

 

 
The Storting | Elections for the lower chamber of the legislature, the Underhusen, were held during the first week of June...issues that arose for the election was the relative inactivity of the Underhusen in the previous term and the on-going Constitutional Convention for reforming the legislature which has dragged on since November. Several candidates ran non-serious campaigns, such as Crushita/Eldarion's campaign to "have Patatoism declared the official religion of Wintreath". At the conclusion of the elections, which included a three-way runoff vote, Barnes, Reux, Laurentus, tatte, and BraveSirRobin won election, defeating Chanku, xXHydraXx, and Crushita. At the same time, the Monarch saw fit to make a change the upper chamber of the legislature, the Overhusen, replacing Colberius X, who had fallen inactive, with Aragonn.
 
The full election announcement can be read here.
 
The Monarchy | The Monarchy has also made a number of changes in the Riksråd (Cabinet) and subordinate guilds, based on the Monarch's Spring State of the Region Address pledge to create a more active and contributing Cabinet.
 
On June 9th, the Monarch formally removed long-time Jarl of Integration Point Breeze, who had been inactive for several months. On July 5th, Point Breeze was also removed from the post of Thane of World Assembly Affairs, after his Citizenship nation ceased to exist and he could no longer serve as Vice-Delegate. Both offices remain vacant at this time, and a search is underway for someone to fill those positions, as well as the positions of guildmasters for the recruitment and mentoring guilds, which are part of the Ministry of Integration. You can read the full announcement here.
 
Then on July 3rd, the Monarch announced the appointment of Emoticonius as Thane of Foreign Affairs, with the responsibility for ensuring that our embassies remained active and for assisting in the creation of unique initiatives to make our embassies stand out. As you may know, Emoticionius, also known as The Church of Satan, is the person responsible behind the puzzles that have been posted in our embassies, which have proven very successful in many regions. 
 
The Monarch also announced the Ministry of Culture's appointment of Aragonn as Guildmaster of the Roleplayers Guild, by far Wintreath's most successful and active guild. As Guildmaster, Aragonn will work to maintain and expand our roleplays, as well as take part in discussions related to roleplaying in the region. Aragonn has been involved in the guild since its creation in November 2015, and has also been involved in roleplaying in the region of New Hyperion as its Lord of Culture. You can read the full announcements here.
 
While there has been a noted decline in activity throughout the region and NationStates, with these changes the government of Wintreath is set to weather the storm.
 

Cipher Pol Ice

Written by Emoticonius
 
m64s44m.jpg

The North Pacific working around the clock to crack the Wintreath embassy code

 

 
May 29, 2016 | Regions across NationStates discover an encrypted message within Wintreath embassies. Some Wintreath embassies are met with replies of "What?!" and "This is not clear communication." Others however decoded the message which revealed a new initiative from Wintreath. The initiative itself was conceived and proposed by Wintreath citizen Emoticonius, better known as The Church of Satan and each encryption personally assembled by him. In order to give Wintreath embassies more purpose and (inadvertently) more activity, these same embassies will be receiving monthly encryptions, puzzles if you will. This was met largely with intrigue and enthusiasm although it was also met with bewilderment and confusion in others.
 
June 1, 2016 | The next monthly puzzle is sent out. Drastically difficult compared to the introductory encryption, regions began working towards cracking the code and reaching the end. Several aneurysms later, New Hyperion became the first region to crack the codes and reach the end. The North Pacific and Renegade Islands Alliance would soon follow, however no other region has managed to do the same as of yet.
 
Here we are in July now. Last month's puzzle was only solved by a few regions. Congratulations New Hyperion (honorable mentions: taulover), Renegade Islands Alliance (honorable mentions: Tangaroa) and The North Pacific (honorable mentions: Praetor). Below is a step-by-step walkthrough of last month's puzzle, for those that would rather just see the answers:

 

3NNqnKI.png?1

 
This transposition cipher has each letter moved forward 123,456,789 times, a nine character number chosen because there are nine columns. The message was written to read horizontally originally, but somehow it was decrypted to read vertically, lol. It reads "On the Wintreath forum go to Summersend Hills within The Registry of Things Past and read the most recent post. The password is ALOHOMORA." The closing statement by Wintermoot contains a link to a password-protected page on the Wintreath website, www.wintreath.com/mercury which by now may not be up anymore.
 
It contains (or use to contain, in the future, hello future NSers!) the following binary message:
 

01010010 01100101 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100111 01101001 01101110 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101001 01100011 01101000 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100001 01101101 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110110 01100101 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100100 01100101 01101101 01101110 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000001 01101100 01101101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01111001 00100000 01011011 01110110 01101001 01101111 01101100 01100101 01110100 01011101 00101110

 
This translates to "Return to the beginning of that which cannot be named. Only then can you reveal the rivalry that predates The Almighty [violet]."
 
It's apparently not as widely known as The Church of Satan thought, but [violet] has been in NS since at least January of 2003, which you can discover if you search for [violet] in the boneyard. It will tell you the nation belonged to an administrator. [violet]'s profile on the NS forum says she's been around since 2009 and this mislead everyone. Moving on, "that which cannot be named" is a reference to the WA's predecessor, The UN, which is specifically referred to as "the bureaucracy that cannot be named" on the General Assembly's and Security Council's list of resolutions. At the beginning of the historical resolutions, the first resolution is "Fight The Axis of Evil" drafted by Maxtopia (Max Barry himself). One of Wintreath's long time citizens is Axis of Evil, also known as Joshus Bluteisen. He was the answer.

 
Keep an eye out for July's puzzle! It's late but it will be released and will not disappoint.
 

IRC Quote of the Season

<Laurentus>: Anyway, what were you about to say about Occam's Razor, Hannah?

<Evelynx>: we decided that osama bin laden was, under the simplest possible explanation of the available evidence
<Evelynx>: being kept prisoner in order to make an abraham lincoln, hitler, osama bin laden hybrid
<Laurentus>: Oh god. I suspected as much.
 
 

 

Thanks for reading!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

v54r835.png

 
As summer comes to a close, so to does the dreaded
summer lull! The heat dies down and the trees shed a few
pounds in preparation for the harsh winter to come. With
things cooling down Wintreath is celebrating with the annual
Summersend Festival! So come on over and join us for Clue,
Nomic, Spyfall, spam games and more! The festivities begin
in just two days but be sure to register for some of the
more engaging activities ahead of time! Everything begins in
just two days so see ya there!
 

Schedule

 

 
August 17 - Festival opens for forum game pre-registration.
 
August 19 - Festival Begins.
 
August 28 - Festival closes. Forum games may run past this point until they reach their conclusion.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Choice? I don't understand, The X plays so an X goes there, no?

I'm so confused... Wintreath hates me T__T

To be honest I didn't really understand it myself either. I was going to ask about it, but never got around that, sorry about that and not getting back to you in.. uhh, nearly a month.

 

The person who made the puzzle has only said when asked about the puzzle the following:

 

 

Right now, no hints. I assume they're stuck on the first part because they're overanalyzing it. I was counting on that, heh.

 

Wintreath loves you!  ^_^ Come say hi to us when the Summersend Festival kicks off!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Celebrate TWP Festival Oct 14-16

LinkImage 
The Delegate and Guardians of
The West Pacific

Request the honor of your presence at a Weekend-Long Celebration,
Given in thanks for the many nations and regions that have supported TWP.


The festivities begin on the RMB, our Linkforum and our LinkDiscord server on Friday, October 14th. Join us first thing in the morning for our Friday Karaoke tradition. The official celebration begins at 19:00 (USA EDT) with formal introductions, and will continue throughout Friday into Sunday. There will be games, music, an open chat party, amusing stories about The West Pacific and a panel discussion on the history of TWP. A highlight of the celebration will be a State of the Region address offered by Big Bad Badger at 20:00 (USA EDT) on Saturday. TWP will also hold joint military operations in recognition of the event. All nations or regions that would like to participate should contact our new Commander of TWPAF yuno_owl__517133t2.jpgThe West Pacific ANIME Force of Yuno owl.

Feel free to join us for any or all of the celebration, as your schedule permits. Whenever you arrive, you may describe your entrance and announce yourself, if you wish.

Residents of TWP and others are encouraged to change their flags to the one at the top of this invitation for this event.

No RSVP requested.

Should you have any questions about the party, please contact neenee__991494t2.jpgThe Magical Cookie Queendom of Neenee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Invitation to Werewolf XI- The Great Schism
An exhausted messenger has appeared at your church. His horrendous appearance suggests he has traveled a long way to bring you the letter he clutches in his hands.
"From Cardinal Rimaldi." He says before slinking away into the night. The writing is clearly hasty but the message itself well thought out:



My Dear Friend,


You are needed by the college of cardinals

Today is the day
 We hoped and we prayed
We would not live to pay
The price of our way
The wolves circle their prey
As some might say
And as my life ticks away
These words I lay
In hopes you may act like light, a ray
And hope you may order the disarray 
That plagues our dear conclave

Yours,
Cardinal Giuseppe Rimaldi

Hello all of our friends and allies! It is time for another game of Werewolf! You are all invited and encouraged to join our games, whether you are new or experienced! To sign up you can go to this page and if you are new to werewolf you can find a helpful guide to the game here! Hope to see you all there! 
-Crushita




The message is clear. You must travel to Rome for the Conclave. And whether you will survive is of grave doubt.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

FotoFlexer_Photob.png

Statement on the Vassalization of New Hyperion

Greetings to our friends, partners, and neighbors,

After a long period of interaction that has seen our communities converge together, the Frozen Realm is happy to announce that it has accepted a proposition from New Hyperion to accept that region as a vassal state of Wintreath. This special relationship was formalized with the approval of the "Covenant of Fellowship Between New Hyperion and Wintreath" by both regions in October. It was further ceremonially established in a commendation ceremony this past weekend between Zander Cerebella, Autarch of New Hyperion, and Wintermoot, Monarch of Wintreath.

As a vassal state of Wintreath, New Hyperion will cede sovereignty and authority over foreign, military, and any other external affairs to Wintreath, and will be bound by all treaties ratified by Wintreath. In turn, Wintreath will provide diplomatic and military protection, guarantee the right of internal self-rule, and eliminate post-count requirements for their Citizens wishing to also become Citizens of Wintreath. In short, the regions will become a joint diplomatic, military, and external entity under the banner of the Monarchy of Wintreath.

This is the culmination of a relationship that began years ago during the 2014 Regional Sovereignty Conference in Lazarus, when it was noted that our regions had many similar ideas and stances on that topic. Over time, we have come to realize that our regions have many other commonalities...a desire for meritocracy, a focus on community interaction, and a community spirit of being true to ourselves. Since then, our communities have become friends and grown together, and now seek to stand together as one in solidarity. Going forward, we are excited to become ever-closer partners and see where this special relationship leads us.

Regards,
-Wintermoot
-Monarch of the Frozen Realm of Wintreath



Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
Orendi X
Wintreath Update 10 - May 2017 (Very, very late)



wintreathflag.png

Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 302 nations
New Hyperion - 80 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations

Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Thane of Information: Crushita
Jarl of Integration: Finrod Felagund
 

 

Citizen's Corner
Article by Gattoartico, winner of Wintreath's Finest April 2017

microphone.jpg
From the Citizen's Corner recording studios...

Citizen's Corner is a regular feature where we select a newish Citizen and allow them to opine on current affairs and activities within the region. This month, our contributor is Gattoartico, a recent arrival to the region who won last month's "Wintreath's Finest" contest (previously known as Citizen of the Month). Here's what he had to say:

 

Quote

Hey guys, Gatt here! Over the past few months of my stay here I've gotten to know a number of you all through the many different things the region offers. I've organized Civ games and put effort towards a modded minecraft server, as well as win Wintreath's Finest, I find that no matter what you guys are one of the most accepting groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

I feel proud to be considered one of you guys no matter what, and to be honest this is one the few places I go to pick up my mood after a bad day; from the antics of the majority, the teachings of the Holy Tuber( Starch be praised!) and the Potatoe Pope, and to Mathy's math related puns. You guys are incredibly fun loving in all the right ways!( Sorry, I couldn't avoid an innuendo)

Something new is always going on to take a look at, like Elb's Timed Prompts and Justinian's Wild Men of Witchita RP(HEIL KANSAS). Recently I've been feeling the itch to fire up multiplayer Civ as well as roll back into the Minecraft Server and pick back up with the Modded Server. 

Now as I'm writing this I think of all the new folks that have come along since I got here. The new folks are what reminds me of why I picked this region, the warm and inclusive environment that we have, as well as the love of meeting new people. With all these new  people the identity of Wintreath is constantly evolving and I think solidifying into a unique and powerful culture. I feel that for everyone who has, is, and will be here it will be like Mother Rome. For Rome was the first Immortal Empire, not because it would last forever, and not because its memory would, but because its mere existence is enough to shape the future forever. In my eyes Wintreath is the heir to that ancient legacy, one that simply says it will shape the future no matter what. 

I feel like that got really heavy there so to lighten the mood think of this: A Flying Walrus with a French mustache and a beret, carrying a basket containing baguettes and French wine. Try not to laugh. Try it.

 


 

Elections for the 21st Underhusen
Article by Crushita

steakfry.jpg
Serving up steaks and politics


The April 2017 Underhusen elections have concluded! With 9 candidates running for 5 seats, the election looked to be close. In the end 13 people cast their ballots, not including at least one candidate, who though not mentioned by name was noted to be a symptom of a greater issue. To quote him "why should the Citizenry be interested enough to vote if the candidates themselves apparently aren't?"

The first event of note was the Fourth Annual Robin Steak Fry, in which only 3 candidates participated in, a record low number. Wintreath's perennial candidate and occasional elected official, Chanku, who further discussed his campaign of judicial reform and fixing issues within the Fundamental Laws and who said that the biggest problems facing Wintreath were inactivity, stagnation and legal flaws. He asked for his steak medium-rare. Secondly came North, who said that the new session should focus on activity, and that inactivity was the biggest problem in the region. He only specified that his steak should be cooked. Finally came Mathyland who said that he wanted to run to help with the inactivity in the legislature. He proposed fixing up any mistakes in the current laws and repealing Wintreath's treaty with Ainur, which our Monarch Wintermoot, had already proposed and written a bill for. He said that Wintreath's biggest problem was heresy. He wanted his steak steak flavoured. At the end there was much steak given out and joy was had. Unlike the previous steak fry, no candidates were ironically burned at the steak.

In the end, the 5 people who were elected were Laurentus, BraveSirRobin, Mathyland, North and Crushita. A summary of their campaigns are as follows:

BraveSirRobin ran a wonderful campaign, where he promised to be "an active, rational member of the Underhusen who will not let Wintreath down." He noted that he had pass experience in the Underhusen, though his legislative efforts were unsuccessful, and that he would try to solve the Underhusen's biggest problem, inactivity. Later in his campaign he proposed creating a dedicated page for community input into the legislative process, boosting RP interest and trying to further connect with "our people on NS." BraveSirRobin has also been elected speaker of this session.

Mathyland promised to spread the word of the holy tuber, setting up more churches in its holy name, banning heretical tomatoes. He also proposed building a wall dipped in gold and making Tomexico pay for it along with doing a grammar check of the Wintrean laws. He also promised a big door in the middle of the wall, which only followers of the holy potato would be able to cross through, that he would be active, and that he would remember who the speaker was.

Laurentus ran on a satirical, Trump parody of a campaign, preferring to rest on his previous credentials then any actual campaign promises. To quote Laurentus in his initial campaign speech "I no longer have any idea what's happening around here." 

North ran a campaign on simply being there and resting on his laurels as part of his North Party. His most notable campaign promise was simply having a nice logo

Crushita ran a six word campaign.

Best of luck to the new Underhusen!


 
Interview with Justinian Ezkantion on his new RP, The Wild Men of Wichita
Article by Gerrick

gerrickandjustinian.png
Gerrick (right) sits with Justinian Ezkantion for an interview.


Justinian Ezkantion, who became a citizen of Wintreath last year during the Refugee Crisis of Ainur, has started up a new character roleplay: The Wild Men of Wichita. After a long drought of very little roleplay on Wintreath's forums, Justinian's new RP hopes to breathe new life into the RP Guild and the general RP scene. As Jarl of Culture, a member of the RP Guild, and a participant in the Wild Men of Wichita (as Frank "Punchy" Dennison), I sat down with Justinian for an interview.

1. Can you give a short introduction of yourself and your interest in roleplaying?
I'm currently the Lore Master of Wild Men of Wichita, and former Sovereign of Dellenaria, former Crown Prince of Ainur, and all sort of other fancy titles from regions that don't exist anymore. :P

I've been an active Roleplayer since about two years ago when I began participating in Ainur's forum RPs before starting my own in Dellenaria and now here. I tried getting into the RPs on the Site Forums, but I found the larger size to be a bit overwhelming, as there was less of a close community to plan around. I generally stick to Offsite Forum RPs now due to that.

2. Can you give a summary of the setting of the Wild Men of Wichita RP?
It's a post-apocalyptic setting following a catastrophic combination of the Great Depression and a second outbreak of the Spanish Flu which brought down almost all of the world's governments. The RP itself is set in the great plains where the eastern half of North America has united and is looking to "civilize" the continent once again while powerful gangs of cowboy-like raiders extort the common farmers for protection money and fight each other for control of said rackets.

3. The setting and lore is quite unique and extensive. Where did you get the inspiration to create all of this?
In many ways I was inspired by Fallout New Vegas to create the image of a seedier and more modernized wild west. I refrained from that series' retro future aspects though, in favor of emulating the gang culture of pre-WWII America.

4. What is your role as Lore Master (the Wintrean title for Game Master) in the RP?
My role is mostly to create an outline for the RP's plot to ride along, as well as to immerse players in the world through the narrative. But it's not all about making the actual RP. The day to day stuff includes making sure that players aren't breaking any rules, and if so how that situation should be handled. Plus I need to make sure the pacing doesn't slow down so much that players become disinterested or feel there's enough of a lull in activity to take a break for a while. After all, RP is for entertainment purposes, and it's my job to make sure that it's entertaining to the players.

5. As you're also the leader of the gang, can you tell us who the Wild Men of Wichita currently consist of?
"Jackknife" Jim Luckett - Leader of the gang and adopted son of the leader of the main crime syndicate in Kansas, Rufus Luckett. He's an irritable, womanizing, hard-smoking and hard-drinking autophile who gets the job done, no matter how gruesome of an act that requires.

Punchy - A hard hitting, tough as nails American gangster with a troubled past and a penchant for blowing people to smithereens with his trusty shotgun.

Dima - A cossack and former pirate that can hold his own in a drinking contest and a riding contest. He's the best locksplitter in the state, and wears his baggy cossack pants enough that Jim has taken to calling him the "Shiekh of Araby".

Chief - A silent, lumbering Indian with hunting skills that would make some big cats blush. Though he used to be called Injun Joe, Jim took to calling him simply "Chief" because it reminded him of his motorcycle, and he never forgets his motorcycle.

Annie McOakley - A surprisingly lethal dentist from Ireland whose real name is Cary, but Jim of course found a way to make her sound like some kind of discounted Irish version of an American celebrity out of spite. She is probably the only one in the group with the equivalent education of a college graduate.

Smiley - An Irishman who might as well be Jim's twin. They're both womanizing, booze-drinking sons of the mob. He's the gang's best shot, or so he says.

6. What direction do you think the story will go? What should we expect?
I already have a general outline of the story progression, but all I can say here is that after the raiding campaign the gang is currently conducting in Kansas, there's going to be a big campaign that will wrap up the first arc of this RP. The east is pushing hard on the gangs, and like cornered rats they're beginning to panic, and the actions they're going to take may end up making things far worse than they ever were going to be...

wildmenofwichitagang.png
A gang from the world of the Wild Men of Wichita.


Wintreath Reconsiders Nation Requirements
Article by Wintermoot

newcitizen.png
Wintreath. Live it. Now without the nation requirement.

After prolonged discussion last autumn, the Storting created an alternative five post per month requirement to maintain Citizenship for those who do not want to keep a NationStates nation. Originally proposed in August by Wintermoot, who pointed out that many members were moving away from NationStates, the issue was revived in September when long-time Citizens Laurentus and Pengu announced that they would no longer keep a nation because of they were no longer interested in NationStates. This prompted several bills for the Storting's consideration:

1) Skrifa HannahB made the first proposal, which would have allowed either the Storting or the Monarch to waive Citizenship requirements at their discretion. This proposal was supported by some who felt the nation requirement should only be dropped for long-time Citizens, but others, particularly Wintermoot, argued that all Citizens should have the right to not have to keep a nation, so long as they remained active.

2) Jarl of Defense Chanku then made a proposal that would have created a "restricted Citizenship" status for those whose nation had ceased to exist and had made an average of ten posts per day. However, it was pointed out a provision that restricted Citizens would not have the right to vote or run in elections may have been unconstitutional, that only Wintermoot would meet the post requirement, and that restricted Citizens would not have any rights or abilities over former Citizens.

3) Finally, Wintermoot proposed an alternative ten posts a month alternative to maintaining a nation, which passed after the requirement was modified to five posts. While some members preferred one of the other proposals, most saw this proposal as the most viable compromise which would allow Citizens involved with Wintreath but not NationStates to maintain Citizenship.

This discussion took place as part of a broader reevaluation of Wintreath's identity, in which many have come to see Wintreath as more of an organization that has a presence on NationStates than just a NationStates region, and expect Wintreath to eventually expand to other games and areas in addition to NationStates. By the following March, Citizen Doc summed up the sentiments of many when he expressed "...that this [the forum] is less the online arm of the Wintrean region and more that the NS region is more the NS arm of Wintreath".


Wintreath Debates Skyrim Civil War
Article by Wintermoot
stormcloackimperial.jpg
This was the re-enactment portion of the debate and totally not us actually fighting about it.

Our Say What's On Your Mind forum topic, where members express thoughts about anything, drifted into discussion about Skyrim, which led to another topic debating the merits of the Skyrim Civil War. Not counting people who hadn't played Skyrim (yes, they apparently exist) or had no preference, an astounding 80% backed the Empire over the Stormcloaks.

Supporters of the Empire contended that a unified Empire would have the best chance of resisting any future war with the Aldmeri Dominion, and also pointed to racism within the Stormcloaks, particularly their treatment of Dunmer refugees in Windhelm. The Stormcloak minority, best represented by Jarl of Culture Gerrick, pointed to the successful Redguard resistance in Hammerfell against the Aldmeri as proof that Skyrim could also resist alone. He also pointed to other cases of racism within Tamriel to show that an Empire victory wouldn't make Tamriel less racist.

That's not to say that the Empire went without criticism, with Gerrick asserting that the forced ban of Talos worship within the Empire by the Aldmeri was evidence of the Empire's weakness, and Monarch Wintermoot comparing the Empire's forced cooperation with an enemy against a group of its own people to Vichy France during World War II. Based on his twenty minutes of gameplay in Skyrim, Thane of Information Crushita also pointed out that it was the Empire that was going to execute the player at the beginning of the game.

However, at least so far practicality has carried the day, with most Wintreans continuing to support the Empire.


News in Briefs

briefs.jpg
Been waiting on Charax to freshen this bit up for a few years now.
 
  • In a contest to rename the Minecraft Server, the server's current name, "Official Wintreath Minecraft Server" beat out 15 other suggestions, narrowly winning over "WintCraft" and "Wintreath's Blocky and Frosty Paradise". The server will retain the current name.
  • The first regional Diplomacy game recently concluded, with a draw between xXTheHydraXx (Russia), taulover (France), and Elbbsas (England).
  • The Wintreath Facebook Page reached 50 likes in April, and currently has 53!
  • Wintermoot dissolved the Ministry of Defense in March after months of ministry inactivity. Discussions about the future of the region's participation in NationStates R/D are ongoing.
  • Development of a new statistics page on the website is ongoing. When finished, the new statistics area cover various stats and will allow for better, data-driven decisions to be made.

Thanks for reading!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Orendi XI
Wintreath Update 11 - June 2017 (omg, monthly dispatches?!)

wintreathflag.png

Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 286 nations
New Hyperion - 76 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations

Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Thane of Information: Crushita
Jarl of Integration: Finrod Felagund


 

Citizen's Corner

Article by North

microphone.jpg
From the Citizen's Corner recording studios...

Citizen's Corner is a regular feature where we select a newish Citizen and allow them to opine on current affairs and activities within the region. This month, our contributor is North, who has been a Citizen since August 2015 and a constant presence in the Underhusen, the elected branch of our legislature. Here's what he had to say:

Hello, Wintreath! I am a man who likes to keep things short and sweet and this is my first time writing anything like this, so bear with me here.

I entered Wintreath a bit disillusioned with NationStates communities and was on the verge of leaving it entirely. I entered expecting another clusterfuck of epic proportions, another waste of time. And instead, I found a gaggle of some of the oddest people I've ever met, and I've met a man who cut off his thumbs for a bet (story for another time).

But in spite of the oddity, the weirdness, and just about everything else this place has wormed its way into my heart. It'a a place of inclusiveness, a place for all to find a corner for themselves and a place worth protecting. So to anyone who finds themselves here, welcome and buckle up! This is a place for all and I hope in another year we can all stand together, stronger then before, and look upon a new, better, greater Wintreath!


The Ainur Problem: A Lesson In Failure

Article by Justinian Ezkantion

300px-Berlin_Ghost_Town.jpg
A Microsope into Incompetence from Ainur's former Crown Prince

Recently the government of Wintreath has finally decided to terminate their formal relations with a region that has been dead for a very long time. Ainur, a region founded with a Lord of the Rings-esque theme and a strong community dedication to its regional government, was once able to boast of a couple hundred nations and a vibrant RP community which oddly enough rarely had anything to do with its theme. However, over nearly 5 years of existence it slowly withered away into a lifeless zombie possessed by ~20 lurkers and with an offsite forum that hasn't been touched since August. 

To pinpoint when or how exactly this happened is pretty much impossible. A lot of events that crippled or should have crippled the region ended up being merely shrugged off by a still-dedicated core community. Perhaps Ainur can serve as yet another testament that no matter how dedicated your most loyal members are, things will decay without new blood no matter what. Really, some of the decisions that the inner circle of government in Ainur made (myself included) can be guidelines for what not to do when operating a region.

To begin with, a certain significant person in Ainur's government (who shall remain anonymous even though you probably already know who I'm talking about) believed everyone else wasn't going to do as good a job as he was doing, even when the region was starting to plummet in terms of membership. Thus he tried very hard to prevent giving power to anyone else, because he was afraid they might muck it up, or that they were going to commit some sort of petty vengeance on him. Paranoia from the most powerful people rarely leads to a successful and healthy community.

Secondly, as more and more of the core community (mainly those who had registered to the offsite forums) began to drop off as they grew older and started attending college, recruitment wasn't really very organized. You had one guy whose job it sort of was to recruit people through a legal API tool, and that job wasn't really being monitered very well. Whereas the region I currently inhabit, Wintreath, encourages manual recruitment as well through various rewards, there was no such system in Ainur at any point in time. In fact recruitment was such an enigma to me in Ainur that I didn't even understand how it worked until after I had left following two years of service in various positions.

Thirdly, the amount of reach that Ainur had was dwindling constantly. While I was mostly in the dark about recruitment something I was quite aware of was how Ainur's projection through the greater NS community was shrinking. Our participation in the raider/defender game collapsed into nothing and the regional military effectively dissolved. While the game is hardly necessary to keep up a presence on the site, it certainly helped. The fact that we only posted perhaps once or twice to our site forums page, however, certainly didn't help. While some of those who remember the drama might point to the adoption of less noble individuals into our region causing regions to cut off diplomatic ties and ruin our reputation as the primary act of isolation, I would say that's simply not the case as diplomatic ties would be re-opened only a year later, yet the region was incapable of recovering its position. It was problems within, not without, that caused the reduction of Ainur's position.

Due to the way that the government operated in its later years (Where a few people had a lot of power) when one person went inactive there were many, many functions of the region that suddenly ground to a halt. Responsibilities that were never given to anyone else, shoes that were never refilled, etc. For instance, when the Royal Chamberlain and the Newspaper Editor CTEd there wasn't a single regional update of any kind sent to anyone for months. The Ainurian government lost its functions as a sandblasted sculpture loses its features until it is naught but an unrecognizable pillar of stone.

However the final nail in the coffin to any life supported region such as this comes when attempts to clean the slate and build anew are blocked by attachment to the old. When people become unwilling the change the region they've spent so much time in, they fail to breath new life into it, and the dissatisfied will simply seek greener pastures. Such is the case with Ainur, where almost every single member of government in the summer of 2016 left and never came back. While the immediate cause of the exodus, and with it Ainur's demise, was  a series of unlawful bannings and regional drama, Ainur would have been able to recover were it not so insular, and that was a problem that had been permeating long before.

May all this serve as a reminder, that no region is an island, and that even the closest of communities can collapse from within. Be warned, lest ye end up having to communicate on skype because apparently Discord is too complex my compatriots said while playing Dwarf Fortress.

Signed,

Eldarion III, King of Ainur (deal with it, Crush)


Celebrating Pride Month with a New LGBTQ Forum

Article by Gattoartico

prideforum2017.jpg
It's kinda like a digital version of this!

I suppose something we are known for (not that I would know as this is my first and only region) is our LGBT community. In honor of Pride month we recently acquired an LGBT forum over here. Topics are already pretty great, from a discussion on a college course about all this to a thread about Drag Queens.

I myself am responsible for at least one thread, one I intend to use as a place for members to introduce themselves as them. So that new and old members can find others who share similar experiences or just need a little guidance to help them find themselves.

Wintermoot has started a thread chronicling his time taking Stanford's Transgender Inclusiveness course, a thread that is quite interesting to be perfectly honest.

And another user created the thread on Drag Queens as they work towards becoming one. A great thread that I thought was pretty nifty so there. 

As well as quite a few others I just noticed to be perfectly honest with you. Quite a few others. Like, a lot. Like legit I don't think you comprehend how many here. A literal lot of threads.

I feel like this is an important part of Wintreath that we often overlook. Which if I recall correctly is part of the reason Wintermoot made the forum. So, out of what little kindness remains in my black heart I elected to write this article. I've reached the point in this article where I've said all that I wanted to say but I still want it a little longer. 

So as a final note this particular part of our forums is always open to new and interesting threads, from personal experiences in life to maybe a thread discussing RuPaul's Drag Race. I honestly don't know what will crop up. But I hope to see it become an integral and active part of the region in the future.


The Culture Review

Article by Gerrick

moc_logo_lg13.png
That's kinda what we do around here.

This is the first installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Gerrick, 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, monthly contests, and forum games.

The Monarch’s Game Bag is a list of over 150 spare Steam keys that Wintermoot and other citizens have donated to the region over the years. As the Monarch’s Game Bag used to only be rewarded to those who won the Monthly Recruitment Contest, which had no winner for a year, it had no real use, and the Steam keys were left unused. To help with this as well as to help spur civil service activity, a new system was put in place to reward those who take the initiative to make Wintreath a better place. All of the games were split into two categories: Gold Rewards (those that cost at least $10 each) and Silver Rewards (those that cost less). Silver Rewards are given to those who write 2 articles for the Orendi, gain 1000 recruitment points in one month, or win Wintreath's Finest of the Month. Gold Rewards are given to those who win the Monthly Recruitment Contest, gain 2500 recruitment points in one month, win Wintreath's Finest of the Year, or complete two of the Silver Reward tasks. Rewards will also be given out during festivals, so make sure to attend our Summersend Festival in August!

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 May 2017’s Wintreath’s Finest was Justinian Ezkantion, who was nominated for creating and hosting the newest roleplay, the Wild Men of Wichita. I had the pleasure of interviewing him about the RP in an article in last month’s Orendi. The other nominations for Wintreath’s Finest were Fortis_Scriptor, who has written several stories and pieces of lore for the world he and Crushita are building for a book, and Elbbsas, who has been writing short timed prompts to work on her creative writing. Both Fortis_Scriptor and Elbbsas have helped revitalize the Halls of Art and Writing and have inspired others to post their works as well.

The Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme that several forum users will adopt into their avatars for the month, whether that means using pictures or memes that have to do with the theme or Photoshopping the theme into their usual avatars. Nominations are typically related to current world affairs, historical dates, holidays, or happenings in Wintreath. The winner of June 2017’s Avatar Theme of the Month was a tie between the FBI (nominated because of the ongoing high profile FBI investigations) and the Battle of Midway (the famous WWII naval battle that took place in early June 1942). Other nominations included Skyrim, flags (nominated because of Flag Day in the US, which takes place in June), and June as a name (May as a name was a nomination in last month’s contest).

The Monthly Recruitment Contest is back after a year of having no winners. The winner of the contest must have the most recruitment points (with at least 1500) by the end of the month. Recruitment points are earned by manually sending out recruitment telegrams to new NationStates nations, using our recruitment tool. The winner of May 2017's Recruitment Contest was Mathyland, who recruited to 1578 nations. As the winner of the recruitment contest, he was then allowed to choose any game from the Monarch’s Game Bag, which he decided to be Sid Meier’s Civilization V.

Spyfall is an easy-to-learn party game of bluffing, probing questions, clever answers, and suspicion. In the game, one player is the Spy and has to try to figure out their location, while all other players try to figure out who is the Spy without giving away their location. We had already had five games since it was first introduced to Wintreath in early 2015. This sixth game was made up of eight players and took place in a cathedral to Wintreath’s unofficial religion, Potatoeism. The non-Spy players took on roles (such as Bishop, Beggar, and Tourist) to help them ask and answer questions in-character. The game ended up lasting from May 30 until June 13 when BraveSirRobin, the Spy, figured out the location and won.


Wintreath Does Yet Another Political Quiz

Article by Wintermoot

8valuesquiz.jpg
Cause it's not like we have better things to do, right?

Over the course of the past month, members of the forum community have been taking the 8 values political quiz, which attempts to place you among four axis based on your responses to various political issues it asks about. Overall, the quiz determined that the forum community as a whole tends to be socialist, globalist, libertarian, and progressive. Even the most "conservative" member, Justinian Ezkantion, was described by the quiz as a centrist, with most members being categorized into libertarian socialism or social libertarianism. Overall, it was an interesting look into where individual members and the region as a whole stands on various issues!

Below is a description of each axis and the two values that comprise it as stated on the website, along with some information on where the region stands on each axis.

Quote

Economic Axis: Equality vs Markets
Those with higher Equality scores believe the economy should distribute value evenly among the populace. They tend to support progressive tax codes, social programs, and at high values, socialism. Those with higher Market scores believe the economy should be focused on rapid growth. They tend to support lower taxes, privatization, deregulation, and at high values, laissez-faire capitalism.

Most Socialist: Cinciri (93.3 Equality/6.7 Market)
Most Capitalist: Justinian Ezkantion (49.4 Equality/50.6 Market)
Regional Average 69.9 Equality/30.4 Market

Diplomatic Axis: Nation vs World
Those with higher Nation scores are patriotic and nationalist. They often believe in aggressive foreign policy, valuing the military, strength, sovereignty, and at high values, territorial expansion. Those with higher Globe scores are cosmopolitan and globalist. They often believe in a peaceful foreign policy, emphasizing diplomacy, cooperation, integration, and at high values, a world government.

Most Nationalist: Justinian Ezkantion (69.7 Nation/30.3 Globe)
Most Globalist: Crushita (22.3 Nation/77.7 Globe)
Regional Average: 37.9 Nation/62.1 Globe

State Axis: Liberty vs Authority
Those with higher Liberty scores believe in strong civil liberties. They tend to support democracy and oppose state intervention in personal lives. Note that this refers to civil liberties, not economic liberties. Those with higher Authority scores believe in strong state power. They tend to support state intervention in personal lives, government surveillance, and at high values, censorship or autocracy.

Most Libertarian: Aegon (85.4 Liberty / 14.6 Authority)
Most Authoritarian: Justinian Ezkantion (40.0 Liberty / 60.0 Authority)
Regional Average: 69.0 Liberty / 31.0 Authority

Society Axis: Tradition vs Progress
Those with higher Tradition scores believe in traditional values and strict adherence to a moral code. Though not always, they are usually religious, and support the status quo or the status quo ante. Those with higher Progress scores believe in social change and rationality. Though not always, they are usually secular or atheist, and support environmental action and scientific or technological research.

Most Traditional: Justinian Ezkantion (53.5 Tradition/46.5 Progress)
Most Progressive: taulover (12.2 Tradition/87.8 Progress)
Regional Average: 23.0 Tradition / 77.0 Progress


News in Briefs

briefs.jpg
Honestly, we're too lazy to find another image this time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Wintreath was featured on NationStates' "The World Page" on June 30th, which led to over a dozen nations finding their way to the region! 

If for some reason you find the urge to read all the past Orendi editions, you can now do so in our new Orendi Archive, which includes every edition ever published along with its date of publication.

Wintermoot has been making efforts to make the Wintreath website more mobile-friendly, although this is an on-going effort.

Based on feedback, our Citizenship App was changed to include a space for new Citizens to introduce themselves and to separate NationStates-related questions to a separate section (being involved in NS has been optional for Citizenship since November 2016).

Could Stellaris games be in Wintreath's future?


Thanks for reading!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Orendi XII
Wintreath Update 12 - July 2017 (a little late cuz mass effect marathoning takes time)



wintreathflag.png

Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 228 nations
New Hyperion - 77 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations

Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Court Scribe: Justinian Ezkantion-Telcontar
Jarl/Thane of Integration: Vacant

 

 

 

 

Wintreath Celebrates 100,000 Posts!
FeTW2kY.jpg
The wind and the snow has not kept us idle on the forums!

 

 


When we first started the Wintreath forums, I imagined many possibilities, including the one where the region never went anywhere. The one where just a few years later we would celebrate 100k posts seemed pretty far out, but with the support of the community over the years, that's where we ended up this month! Actually, we celebrated it twice: first when Aragonn made the 100,000th post counting deleted posts (which was post ID 100,000), and then later in the month when Matilda Love made the 100,000th post not counting deleted posts (which brought the post count on the forum front page to 100,000). Either way, this accomplishment is a testament to the constant activity the forums have enjoyed over the years.

[spoiler=Wintreath Top 10 Topics of All Time]Top 10 Topics of All Time
GENERAL: Say What's On Your Mind - 7185 posts
SPAM: Double Post Game (Past Rounds) - 6829 posts
SPAM: World Association - 4309 posts
SPAM: Guess who will post next! - 2173 posts
ROLEPLAY: From the Ashes: A Galactic Nations RP! (OOC) - 1522 posts
CULTURE: Werewolf VI: Until Dawn - The New Chapter - 1497 posts
SPAM: Spam Points (Past Rounds) - 1420 posts
ROLEPLAY: Frostbite Tavern - 1092 posts
SPAM: Count to 2,000 - 1014 posts
SPAM: Count to 1,000 - 1004 posts[/spoiler]

It's not surprising that many of the top topics are general discussion and spam game topics; however several cutural and roleplay topics have also stood the test of time to earn a place in the top topics list, including the Werewolf VI game topic, the From the Ashes roleplay Out of Character discussion, and the Frostbite Tavern casual roleplay.

This accomplishment comes as I've placed an emphasis on making the forums simpler and easier to understand and navigate, particularly on mobile devices. It also comes a month before the region's annual Summersend Festival, which last year alone generated over a thousand posts. Along with the continued support of the Wintreath community, these developments will help the forums remain busy far into the future!

 

 

 

 

The Culture Review
moc_logo_lg13.png




This is the second 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, monthly contests, and forum games.

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 June 2017’s Wintreath’s Finest was BraveSirRobin, who was nominated for his efforts to starting up more roleplays in the region. He has taken the helm at revitalizing Wintreath’s most popular character RP, the Star Trek-influenced Wintreath Space Expeditions, by starting up talks for The Next Generation, which already has applications up and running. On top of Space Expeditions, BraveSirRobin has also taken the lead in trying to start up a new nation roleplay that will take place in a post-WW2/Cold War era alternate universe. BraveSirRobin was technically the only nominee, but as Jarl of Culture, I made no other nominations as I thought his win was well-deserved.

The Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme that several forum users will adopt into their avatars for the month, whether that means using pictures or memes that have to do with the theme or Photoshopping the theme into their usual avatars. Nominations are typically related to current world affairs, historical dates, holidays, or happenings in Wintreath. The winner of July 2017’s Avatar Theme of the Month was a tie between ‘MURICA and Canada 150 as both the USA and Canada have their national day in July. With the large number of Canadians and Canada-sympathizers in Wintreath, it was no surprise that it ended in a tie, and the rivalry between the two countries ensured that there would be no other nominations to spoil the contest for one side or the other. One proud Canadian-Wintrean, Crushita, even went so far as to turn his national anthem into a case why one should vote for Canada:

Oh Canada! 
The World Does Not Hate Us!
Adi-ition-ly,
We don't have Donald Trump!
Tous les érables poussent là où les França-a-is sont
Nous devons les apaiser, nous aider s'il vous plaît
Spud keep our land
Glorious and free!
Oh Canada!
We-e vote for thee!
Oh Canada
We-e vote for thee!

The Monarch’s Game Bag is a list of over 150 spare Steam keys that Wintermoot and other citizens have donated to the region over the years. It now serves as a reward for those citizens who perform necessary civil service duties for the region, such as recruiting and writing articles for the Orendi, as well as those who go above and beyond to be elected to win Wintreath’s Finest. This month, games were given out to two such citizens: Justinian Ezkantion chose Dragon Age: Origins for winning Wintreath’s Finest of May 2017 and writing two articles for the Orendi, and Gattoartico chose Purgatory for also writing two articles. We hope more citizens continue to follow their example and help out Wintreath to earn more free games!

 

Interview with Ashton Mercer on his new RP, Empowered

33acn51.jpg

 

 


Ashton Mercer, one of several former Ainurian refugees who moved to Wintreath last year, has been an active roleplayer ever since he became a Wintrean citizen. Last fall, he created and hosted a superhero RP called Super. Now he has started up a new, rebooted version called Empowered. As Jarl of Culture and a member of the RP Guild, I sat down with Ashton for an interview.

Can you give a short introduction of yourself and your interest in roleplaying?
So, as most ex-Ainurians might know, I've been around the NS RP scene for a while. About five years, actually. Ever since I re-discovered Nationstates in 2012, I've discovered my enjoyment in crafting stories and characters. I've spent time in Albion, as well as other smaller regions, but my homeland and main haunt was Ainur. I did many RPs here and there, whether centered around a nation or a character, and near the end I was often leading them. About a year ago however, things began to fall apart, and people were looking to find somewhere else in NS to be. A lot of Ainurians left to join Wintreath, and I followed them here. The rest is good history. 

Can you give a summary of the setting of the Empowered RP?
The Empowered RP is set in a universe that is (pretty much kinda) exactly like ours, except that a certain segment of the population have fantastic supernatural powers, like the heroes and villains you would see in the comic books. It's a fairly easy setting to wrap your head around, yet it has the detail and potential for exploration that very complex settings do. It strikes that perfect balance that makes it such a perfect world to enjoy and be a part of.

What is your role as Lore Master (the Wintrean title for Game Master) in the RP?
The way I see it, when I am directing an RP that I don't have a main character in, I'm basically supposed to be a very lazy shepherd. Point everyone in a direction that I think is fun, and let them work it out from there. Right now, I'm closely guiding the only main storyline so that we can work out the OOC/IC kinks without jumping through pan-dimensional hoops, but I'm hoping that more unique threads and separate stories will spring up once Innocence Lost has run it's course.

You've come up with a unique idea to Wintreath where there will be separate threads for each story-line. Where did you get the idea, and how do you see it playing out?
To be perfectly honest, the idea for the storyline threads wasn't mine. It was proposed to me by Doc in a private conversation, who himself was inspired by the typical way that comic books are structured: different issues for different stories, but with the capability to keep characters and story arcs intact. We came to the conclusion that an RP structured like this might be able to provide everyone with an ability to have heir own storylines without the clutter and story fatigue that comes with keeping everyone on a single thread, as is standard for most RPs. Also, it made more sense for Empowered in particular, since the setting is so open-ended than, say, Wintreath Space Expeditions, which has a focus on one ship on one mission. I think everyone will like the results.

Who are some of the current Empowered characters in the RP?
We have a good variety of characters so far: a constantly drunken pyromaniac, a antihero version of Thor with terroristic tendencies, a level-headed circus girl who can materialize mirror-like barriers from thin air, an archaeologist with some ancient aliens technology, and many more. The center of this latest story is a missing kid named Andrew, who has a tragic backstory, intense powers of speed and strength, and some mysterious and potentially deadly connections. If you want to see more or want more details, definitely check the threads out. The character apps and the story are both worth reads.

Finally, what direction do you think the story of the current issue, "Innocence Lost", will go? What should we expect?
While I know pretty well what I am doing to the story right now, I have no idea at all how Innocence Lost will end up, which makes all of this very exciting. Of course, I have some ideas about the various potential endings and how the NPCs I direct will handle it, but it all really depends on the player characters' actions and how they effect themselves and the rest of the acting parties in this story. A few players have actually thought of an ending that I hadn't considered at all and their characters are already going after it, which is awesome, and I'm looking forward to see what they will do at the climax of this chapter. I definitely will try not to spoil anything and there are still a lot of uncertainties that haven't been played out yet in the story thread. However, I will say this: barring a total disaster, this won't be the last time we see Andrew or the FBI Agent McGrath.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Thank you for your time, and if any of this sounds interesting to you, definitely take a look at us and consider signing up!

 

 

News in Briefs

briefs.jpg
Honestly, we really are too lazy to find another image. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

  • An all out brawl occured this month of the RMB where amateur RP enthusiasts of all varieties denounced one nation's decision to claim all of the Middle East.
  • The position of Thane of Information was abolished, replaced with a court scribe whose sole function is to make this newspaper in a timely manner (EDITOR'S NOTE: It's totally the diplomat's fault. Nope, definitely not me playing old BioWare games and crying at what EA has done to it. No siree)
  • AMAs have exploded in popularity on the forums for...some reason.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Invitation to Summersend Festival


WP7oGmy.jpg
Venue construction is already ongoing!




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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...