ORIGIN

News! New Caves, New Lessers, Quest Updates, New Groups and More!

New Caves!
As most of you will by now have seen, the North-West and North-East Quadrants of Origin Cave have now been opened up! Characters are free to explore them. From Gemini's Room of Mirrors to Ursa's arctic mountains; from the twinned lava-forges and ocean islands of Leo to the pristine palace of Cepheus; from the throbbing dark of Draco to the utopian meadows and forests of Pegasus, the new quadrants provide the setting for all sorts of new adventures.

New Lesser Gembound!
To go with the new regions, we have a large number of additions to the Lesser Gembound list! You'll find heat-adapted critters in the forge of Leo, winter-ready beasts in Ursa, and a couple of pristine creations wandering Cepheus, to name a few! You can view these creatures in the official Lesser Gembound Guide here. These creatures will also need new artwork--see the end of this post for details on how to claim art slot(s); each submitted piece will net a 100 magicka reward. More Lessers will be added over the coming weeks.

Ongoing Raid
The new Quadrants have been opened up by the quest thread, [RAID] [Winter in Polaris] [FROM YOUR COLD GRASP]. We highly recommend keeping an eye on this monumental thread; it has introduced several new NPCs and offers lore tidbits for the careful reader, as well as involving a large number of player characters and a resurgence of the fungus known as Mother.

Upcoming Quests
Two other quests, put on hold to allow for COLD GRASP to complete, will soon be started up again and open for all players to join.

Relics of a Forgotten Age, continued in Keys, Chains, and Fish oh my! will entice Gembound--in particular any aquatic or semi-aquatic creatures (or just really good swimmers!) to unlock some of the mysteries hidden beneath Origin's heretofore-unexplored underwater tunnel system... and possibly some creatures or places not yet revealed.

The Three Kings - Wild Hunt, a Quest thread featuring the enigmatic Three Kings NPC(s?), hinted at a mysterious Wild Hunt soon to pass through Origin Cave. This hunt will take place through October, and will feature ghostly riders and their phantasmal prey; characters will face the choice of which side, if any, to aid and will effect the outcome of the Hunt.

Rule Additions
Two new rules are cropping up, and will be added in time to the Guidebook.

Rule I. - IC items and services cannot be exchanged for Magicka.

The results of a poll taken here, the vote was overwhelmingly against this, and so this sort of IC/OOC trading will be disallowed. IC actions and goods thus won't have the pressure behind them to earn magicka, and can be freely roleplayed for IC currency alone.

Rule II. - Characters cannot be adopted with the intention of killing them.

We normally rely on common courtesy with character adoptions, but as this is not yet an official rule and as we are seeing a large influx of adopted characters at the moment, we'd like to make a note of it. If you're adopting a character, it should be with the intention of roleplaying it, regardless of OOC circumstances or the original owner's allowances; if you intend to kill it off, it is best to leave it to another roleplayer to adopt and roleplay, or to leave it off-screen and alive.

Group Updates

Back to the fun stuff! Several groups have either newly formed, or are undergoing major developments.

First, the Edenfolk are now established in Eridanus. With a whopping ten members, they're focused on building a cooperative, peaceful community town, including basic resources, technology and culture.

Second, the Voidcrawlers are now established in Cetus. A cult worshipping Corruption and the sanctity of... Snails?!... this cult's information is interesting, and worth the read.

Third, the leader of the near-defunct Children of Rot, Dragon, is attempting to call forth a meeting among those who remain, and any interested parties, in order to build a safe and secret haven somewhere in the depths of Cetus.

Lastly, a new group will soon be forming: the Chaos Forge, an offshoot and evolution of the Sentinels of the Sands. This group will be relatively reclusive, but observant of the caves; their purpose will be to create and train monsters to ensure Origin's continued survival. Keep your eyes peeled for their amazing Group-Specific Spell--hint, it took both admins many hours to get it working right...

WHEW. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope to see you in the new Quadrants! See below for a list of the Lessers still requiring artwork, and happy roleplaying!

Please post below if you'd like to claim one of the new Lesser Gembound to do art for. Each piece will be rewarded with 100 magicka on delivery, and a credit on the critter's Guide entry!

If you claim, please try to deliver within ~2 weeks. Limit 3 claims per person at a time. Be sure to check both this list and the other posts below to ensure that the slot has not already been claimed. Some attempt should be made to keep the artwork in line with the existing art: aka at least semi-realistic, rather than cartoon-style or the like.

Deer:
Mountain Deer: Lizz - Delivered & paid!
Ivory Deer: Charlie - Delivered & paid!

Rats:
Lava Rats: Done (Dark)

Rabbits:
Snowwhisker: Navy - Delivered & paid!
Tree Rabbit: Navy - Delivered & paid!

Mice:
Ice Mice: Done (Navy)

Bats:
Crystalwing: Done (Dark)

Birds:
Hellswan: Navy - Delivered & paid!
Mountain Sparrow: Charlie - Delivered & paid!
Ghostbird: Dark - Delivered & paid!
Rainbow Spinner: Lizz - Delivered & paid!

Snakes:
Basilisk: Lizz - Delivered & paid!

Lizards:
Firetongue: Gortys - Delivered & paid!
Icebeast: Gortys - Delivered & paid!

Bugs:
Oily Bumblebug: Done (Navy)
Sparkbug: Done (Navy)
Ice Worm: Done (Dark)


Misc:
Trapdoor Ray: Gortys - Delivered & paid!