[Origin Cave]

Magicka Bars And Beautiful Lore!

Magicka Level Bars!

You've waited a million years for the magicka bars, and they're finally here! You will notice that these bars exist in the top right corners of your posts. The magicka levels (not to be confused with Magic Levels) dictate the level of magicka that your character currently has access to as of their most recent post - it is split into "Magicka Level %" which is the level the character is at in that specific post, and the "Restored To %" which is the level your character is at presently. Here's how they work:

Spell Cast Attempts: A spell cast will reduce the magicka bar by the roll value.
Physical Combat & Other Attempts: These attempts don't affect the magicka bar.
Non-Attempt Post: Posting without rolling an attempt will restore 5% to your magicka bar.
Daily Restoration: Every day, the magicka bars restore by 20%. This only happens in active threads.
9% Or Less: If your Restored To % is at 9% or less, ALL your attempts, regardless of type, will fail due to exhaustion.

It is important to remember that the magicka bars start at 100% for each individual thread, so even if you have 100% in one and 5% in the other, your attempts will still work in the 100% thread, and will fail in the 5% thread.

Magicka bars are also coloured based on character elements. These are the colours you will find:

	Fire		Water
	Energy		Plant
	Animal		Fungi
	Prokaryote		Earth
	Light		Electricity
	Pressure		Arcane
	Non-Elemental

These changes are reflected in the Guidebook under Game Mechanics -> Attempts. As of yet these changes have not been made. This post will be edited when they have. Remember that this is still a fairly new feature, so if you find any bugs please let us know in the Maintenance forum!

Lore Contest Results

A winner for the lore contest has been picked! Congratulations, Matt! Your story will be featured in the post below this one, as well as in the new Library section of the Guidebook. A site-wide event thread can be made of Booker telling his story and will be linked to in this post as well. Everybody else's stories will also be transferred to the Library section, but can be removed upon request. As of yet, the Library section has not been made. This post will be updated, as well as the quicknews, when its up!

Posting Madness: Autumn Edition!

Another posting contest has arrived! Here is another chance for you guys to win an exclusive rare character slot. However, this posting contest will offer 3 weeks to accumulate post counts (please list your post count totals beside your linked threads), and will only award the rare character slot to the 1st place winner. There's one more fun challenge: complete a thread with a fall-related thread title, and you'll earn 1 extra post towards your total post count!

Thread Sweep

All threads that have not been posted in since August 1st have been archived. If you would like to have them unarchived, you can head on over to Update Me! and request to have them moved back to their original forum.

Quest Progressions

We are very eager to finish up our current threads, as they will allow us to move on and undertake exciting new quests! Thus, we ask that members please post in our current threads with haste so that the Game Masters can finish up the quests. The mysterious new Gembound, Jupiter, has Beast in the throes of death. Will the Gembounds simply let him die? This quest is nearing completion. A creature sleeping in a chrysalis of ice has been found in the bottom of the lagoon in Pisces. Does he know the answer to stopping Raheerah? This quest will require another part and should be the priority for posting. New quests will arise as soon as these quests are complete, and don't forget, each quest your character completes they get a nifty achievement for!

In Light of the Recent Slowness

It's no surprise that as summer comes to an end, we're going to find Origin slowing down. People are getting back into school (if it hasn't already started), moving to their campuses, and work may be beginning to pile up again, among other things - and this is totally understandable! The staff would like to acknowledge that this slowness is a regular part of the forum community, and you shouldn't feel pressured to remain active once things start piling up. We do ask that if you are going to be scarce, please make a note in your signature, and let us know in the Member Absences thread. Don't worry about us - we'll always be here, even when you aren't!

Reminders

As usual, we'd like to remind you guys about a few threads...

Vote for Origin!
At the bottom of the index in our affiliates section we have a button for Animus Top 50. If you'd like to help out raising awareness about Origin, you can click that button and vote for us! Of course this isn't necessary, only a small favor to Origin should you choose to do it.

OTM Voting
Voting for September's OTMs opens today! Head on over to the voting page to cast your vote!

The Cave Report

Resistance and Reformation
The big fuzzy white dragon is at it again, and this time it looks like he's going to take down a few more Gembounds than anticipated. Maybe we should keep a close eye on Fallah and Black in particular...

Twisted Game Becomes Reality
Louie encounters the sweet and virginal lamb Wynry, and though on first glance his intentions seem merely to pull the little lamb into an innocent adventure, we should always exercise caution when Louie is around... that fox is always up to no good. Hopefully nothing extremely horrible will come of this.

Nevermind Yesterday
Something interesting seems to be blossoming between Cancer and Amaria... are either of them willing to risk the tension between their alliances (or lack thereof) to maintain their friendship?

i hear cathedral bells
Leon is ready to make an eternal commitment out of his relationship with Makyna and produces an engagement gift as he asks her to stand by his side forever. Makyna is thrilled and says yes; you all know what this means. WEDDING HYPE!





If something interesting is happening in your thread, send a PM to the Origin Cave account or alert the staff in the cbox. We'd love to cover it in the current or next issue of The Cave Report!

[Origin Cave]

By Matt

Booker sighed, humming softly, staring at his family with a small smile. "A story? I s'pose I could find a story for ya. Ah!" A wink, and he went on. "How's about the story of how we came to be, eh? How everything came to be." With that, the numbat curled up, cleared his throat, and began to speak...
___________________________________________
A long, long, long time ago, before you and me, before the crystals of Orion, before the waters of Pisces, even before the bones of Canis, there was nothing. All was darkness, as empty as the void, and the world was still. Then, with a flash of light, came the first being in existence: a mushroom. It was tiny, and glowed silver, healthy and strong.

For eons, it sat, alone, waiting to fill the world with its Brothers and Sisters. And then, with a great yawn, the light stretched - and from within, a great cloud of spores burst forth, filling the world, and wherever they landed, a new life sprouted. All of these tiny lights were connected to the first by streams of white light, glowing beneath the new ground, and with each successful creation, the silver mushroom grew stronger and taller, more beautiful than ever.

As the lights grew, so too did the world, and soon, other lives took shape. First came the earth, covering the light that connected the mushrooms. Then, water, carving rivers through the earth, brought about tiny shoots of green. The plants flew up past the mushrooms, but they didn't mind - they knew that they were the first, the true originators, and everything else had them to thank. Soon, Eridanus was born, full of life, rich with food for the lights. Then, the fungi found something: a rock, buried in the earth, entangled in their bright connection, covered by roots. With a great burst of light, the mushrooms thrust the rock up to the surface.

And within that rock, sat the first of us. It was blind and deaf, unable to do much but cry. The screams garnered nothing from the earth, nor the water, nor the plants, for what could they do? But lo, the silver mushroom heard the first of our pleas, and sent out a great rush of Her magic. The shock wave broke open the rock, and let us out into the caves, and with Her guidance, the world grew once more. First came Orion, with its great, towering structures, crystals shining down to remind us that our caretaker was watching.

Then came Polaris, with its massive Spire and its humming energy, and so it went, on and on, until the cave was sprawling and overflowing with life. The silver mushroom was so proud of her creations, so overjoyed, that she offered to grant each of them a wish. The earth and the plants wanted the same thing: to remain in Eridanus, where they had been so happy. Water, however, wanted its own realm to claim, and so She sent it to Pisces and Cetus, where it stayed, split in two but fulfilled.

Finally, She asked us: what do you want? You could have anything; power, wealth, your own place in these caves to call your own. And we looked up at her, and then around at each-other, and all the things She had helped us to create, from the wondrous stories carved into the tunnels, to the city of Orion, even to each other - and as one, we replied. "You. We only want you." And the All Mother smiled, and granted us our wish, connecting us to her through the lights.
___________________________________________
"And so we became Her Brothers and Sisters," Booker finished with a grin, chuckling at his son's excited clapping. "And now she helps us, even those who are so helpless as the first, and lets us see the lights to find our way home."