HAPPY NEW(S) YEAR!

First off, a quick edit with the OTM announcement!

Congratulations to our January OTM winners: the tragic and wonderful V-Zoisite-One as Character of the Month; the whimsical, delightful duo of Ariah and Ampelio as Pair of the Month; will you be coming home? as Thread of the Month; and the--oh hey, that's me--Dark, as Member of the Month! (Thank you guys! <3)

Thanks for voting!

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Monthly Draw

ʡ 500

Congratulations to Oscenavis on winning the Monthly Draw!

With a new year right around the corner and Origin still going strong, we'd like to take a minute to thank all our players for continuing on with us. It's been a great few years, and hopefully we'll be going for a good long while, yet! In that vein, this post is here to summarize some of our most recent events--as well as, more importantly, introducing some of what we've got planned for you over the coming year!

Last year...

...brought us the new DEATHMATCH! event! I hope that everyone had fun with this, and it's possible it'll make a comeback in the future. Most likely, it'd be tweaked a little so each overall round has a time limit to keep it from running on quite so long--always a problem in the forum RP format--but all in all I hope it was fun. Lots of violence, cheering, and death--it definitely lived up to its name!

...and a new NPC! Peppermince has been revealed as a way for characters to maybe get some help with safely traversing or even living in Ursa. With Peppermince came the new spell unlock, Rimefrost, perfect for all your ice-breathing needs!

The Creator was finally revealed, too, as none other than Rrevalk, the monstrosity to whom all Valkhounds owe both name and allegiance. This was a major lore revelation, though I doubt anyone (least of all me) expected him to first drop by during a game show hosted by Nemean!

This upcoming year...

...has a few major events planned. Some of them are continuations of things we've already begun. For example, reading lessons with Astraea are likely to be posted now and then, along with upcoming parallel lessons by The Blacksmith for those characters interested in Smithing and Enchanting!

In addition, the strange veins of oily black stone so similar to, but different from, Oilstone have been spreading, here and here (followup here!). Is there a pattern to their appearances, a meaning to their strange whispering? The only thing we can say for sure is that it's probably not good that there's more of it now.

Other events are entirely new, or new installations of previous events.

For example, there's a Trial of Hydra in the works that--if participants succeed--has the potential to change the face of Hydra forever. (Shhh--this one's still a secret!)

There's also a big multi-event event being set up by Game Master Navy: each active group will be the focus of a major event, though anyone is free to join these threads. These events will unlock new spells, techniques and abilities, as well as providing some shifts to the lore status quo: see the first, which will take place starting in Cetus at the behest of the NPC Artio! These events may overlap a little, but overall they'll be spread out geographically and thematically enough that everyone should find something that at least one of their characters will have fun with!

Next: get your crafting characters going--because Algol will be hosting a Flea Market fairly soon! All his unclaimed Enchanted Items (along with a few new ones!) will be available for purchase, on a first-come, first-served basis... for a price. But all other characters will be invited to set up shop, too, and sell or trade anything they've made!

A new region will soon also be unlocked within one of Origin's caves: a mysterious and mist-shrouded little place with its own secrets to explore...

Lastly, but certainly not least, is the mysterious Crime Noir storyline, featuring our favorite dark detective, East. A mysterious... mystery, a disembodied voice narrating, is threading its way through Origin Cave. Help East out, if you like, by having a look at the plotting thread here, or just follow his progress, starting with a chance find in Tunnel J and moving on to a search in Monoceros!

There's more, of course... a lot in the works--enough to keep even the busiest characters invested. We hope to see you all over the weeks and months to come, and we wish everyone a Happy New Year!