Toren Neminis

Hello,

I am many years late; but I wanted to say how thankful I am that this exists. Exploring Aegis again brought back such wonderful memories. I managed to find my home again in old Laurelin. Now, I can spruce up the place and surrounding area with new blocks. What fun!

*As is his habit, Toren walks past Native's home in his travels through and then onwards to the lands beyond the Cloud Temple. This time, a fluttering parchment hung on the entrance of the tent catches his eye. With a furrowed brow, he reads the notice. His expression softens once the words impress upon the Elf that Native is simply taking leave for a trip. Toren smiles rather faintly, recalling the memories of the once High Prince.

Toren lifts his head and looks about suddenly, turning on the spot, wondering if he has missed Native by very long. With his keen, cerulean eyes the Elf catches the familiar sight and silhouette of his old friend upon the path as he makes towards the central platform. Noticing that Native is rather encumbered by a heavy pack, Toren merely calls out, waving as he does so,* Safe travels, Native! May Malin always smile his blessings upon you! Good health and good fortune!

*Passing by the Cloud Temple on his way elsewhere, he hears that Prince James has been found but that the Flormai Elfling is still wanted. He presses his lips together into a thin frown.*

"What a mess," he says, shaking his head.

*He continues on his journey, brow still furrowed with worry.*

*As Toren is making his way towards the city of Normandor, his eyes catch the slight fluttering movement of something wedged in the wall. With each breath of the cool breeze, the paper, he realizes it is a paper, trembles as though in an attempt to free itself from its prison between the two gray bricks. Brow furrowed in curiosity, the Elf kneels and then ever so gently tugs and dislodges the folded parchment so as to prevent any tears. How has this made it here? he wonders to himself.

He rights himself whilst unfolding the paper. The parchment beneath the pads of his fingertips feels old and the swirling golden vine filigree looks faded as though Malinor is not the first place it has found itself. Toren briefly peruses the contents within and realizes that it is a letter, a personal one at that. He knows of no "Winter" nor of her sister "Summer". But "Salvus", "Eastfields", "Riven", and the other named places -- these are all locations that he has encountered before in his travels.

The Elf traces the snowflake with his forefinger before folding the paper carefully once more. He slips it into his pocket. Toren decides he will return it as he is almost certain Malinor was not its intended destination.*

"Riven...," he murmurs to himself softly, "I hope my memory serves me correctly and I am able to find this 'Winter'."

((Sounds pretty spiffing! Hopefully some free time in my schedule will open up and I'll get a chance to hop onto the server to catch some parties or to have my character Toren reminiscence tons about Laurelin and all of that. :P ))

* smiles at him*

"Wonderful! May I ask your name, and where I can find you nearer the time - to organize more details?"

*The Elf grins in return, as response to Jauher's smile but also for his own reasons. He is not quite as young as he once was, being more than 800 years old. Long gone are his days of innocence and naivety and wandering for the sake of exploration and discovering. His travels oft are not performed in leisure but out of necessity now. He thinks it will be a nice change of pace; though he is not foolish enough to think there will be no danger, just of a different sort.*

We are well met, *He pauses a moment as he recalls the name of the man, a name he saw not a moment ago upon the leaflet*, Jauher Bren. I am called Toren.

As for where I may be found should I need to be contacted; please send a bird to Normandor, the capital of the Holy Princedom of Malinor, where my primary residence is.

Until then, may Malin bless you and yours with good health and good fortune. Farewell. *Toren inclines his head respectfully before turning upon his booted heel and quitting the presence of the crowd to return home. As he walks away, he catches the words that there is no more room for others upon the expedition and he feels himself lucky that he arrived when he did to inquire about it.*

*His pointed ears perk when he hears the word "expedition". Walking over to the well-dressed man, Toren is given a leaflet. After perusing it briefly and then folding the parchment up and pocketing it, the Elf glances up and says,*

An expedition to the far North you say? Most interesting. I would gladly attend this undertaking. *He grins slightly as he speaks,* I've always been affected by wanderlust, even in Aegis when the realm seemed somehow smaller... To see ruins and to hear their history;it would be an intriguing experience.

((A great idea. This sounds really fun! I hope I won't be too busy when it happens.))

I agree with Alkenaar. Even though we have the Xtremetop100 site to vote on, keep voting on MineStatus too :D

We're currently spot 39; we can do better.

*Gasp* Yay! I guess I have to harvest a bunch of pumpkins then!

Ok, so I need to ask Ever about a character that apparently only Ever has seen, and is now taking control of? Seems legit.

Sorry to just interject, but I would like to just say that I've interacted with the Witch. We RP'd in a round-about way in which my character never saw her but he did take shelter in the trees next to the tower or beneath the overhang of the door itself two or three times whilst passing through the woods towards his home in Normandor.

Just leaving it here.

Very cool, I'm reading the Quarterly right now. It's interesting enough that I think I'll continue following it. :)

Hopefully this will encourage people to (remember to) vote more often and boost the server's rating on MineStatus. I remember when the server was consistently top 5 so I'm really surprised and even a little bit disappointed that LoTC's spot has fallen so low. At the moment of my posting, the server is at 74.

I view voting as a way to support the server as it draws in newer players who in turn provide more roleplaying opportunities or may even donate to the server. And as with any server, the community is its lifeblood, especially with a server like this one since its mainstay is roleplaying; you don't really log into Lord of the Craft to build or to play Minecraft normally but rather to interact with other people and to create and experience dynamic stories with characters of our choosing. Otherwise you might as well just play on your single player world.

It doesn't take very long to vote nor is it a particularly painful or arduous process. Sure, we, the players, no longer receive minas from voting but voting is a way to give back to the server on which a lot of us have spent more time on than we should because it's too fun not to log in :P So if, for whatever reason, you can't contribute monetarily, voting is the next best thing.

Just sayin' (but probably just rambling because it's very late),

-Stamp.

P.S. :P Goliath, it's probably a good idea to include the link to vote on MineStatus somewhere prominently in the original post: http://minestatus.net/6317-the-lord-of-the-craft/vote

EDIT: Vote Numbers:

June 1: 4

June 2: 160

June 3: 313

The 4th: 467

The 5th: 581

The 6th: 686

The 7th: 755

The 8th: 914

The 9th: 1,067

The 10th: 1,204

The 11th: 1,246

The 12th: 1,314

The 13th: 1,382

The 14th: 1,422

The 15th: 1,480

The 16th: 1,566

The 17th: 1,609

The 18th: 1,649

The 19th: 1,694

The 20th: 1,747

The 21st: 1,835

The 22nd: 1,858

The 23rd: 1,898

The 24th: 1,947

The 25th: 1,993

The 26th: 2,033

The 27th: 2,079

The 28th: 2,117

The 29th: 2,155

The 30th: 2,192

*He notices the crowd and approaches, his interest piqued. As Toren nears, the voice of a man carries above the murmur of all others.*

"ArmaLuna hm?" *Toren muses quietly to himself* "I think I shall have a visit once I'm free of my duties."

((The video is awesome by the way! :D ))

((Hm, couldn't get out of Normandor if Toren wanted to anyways XD But his vacation home in Roseus is empty of items anyhow so it doesn't matter. Look forward to the plague ending so I can come visit Roseus again to see changes))

((Assuming it is a notice of sorts.))

*Toren mouths the words absent-mindedly as his eyes scan each sentence upon the parchment. He approves of the new Council members and hopes they will lessen the burden of sovereignty greatly. Toren muses for a moment, wondering that if he asked, if they would give him back his title as a Prince. He thinks on it briefly and decides he is content where he is.

The Elf is especially happy to hear of Sythra's and Lafthi's new child. And at the mention of Laurelin, he feels a particular stab of sorrow as memories flood his mind; recollections of his beloved Laurelin and his tenure as a Prince of the Council and the years spent as the Capital's caretaker, memories of High Prince Native and how the air of Aegis seemed somehow sweeter and the trees and flowers somehow greener. He cannot bring himself to love Asulon as he loved Aegis.

He found his hand has clenched into a fist, crumpling the once stiff piece of parchment into a wrinkled mess. He frowns and smooths the paper, folding and pocketing the notice. He decides at a later time to visit Sythra and Lafthi to offer his most sincere congratulations. Toren decides to take another walk around Normandor. It is only his thousandth one.*

*Reads the notice and nods approvingly. He doesn't like it, but he understands such actions must be taken to ensure the survival of Malinor's citizens (at least those fortunate enough to have made it within the capital before the gates were closed). Toren folds and pockets one of the flyers before wandering away, muttering under his breath slightly.*

"Time to take another walk around Normandor."

Congratulations everyone, especially the GMs and other staff of LoTC which make it possible to love the server to much since you guys keep it running smoothly. I think this is pretty awesome, the number keeps going up every minute too. :D

I will add that in the reclamation process, items from chests will be appropriated for the use of the Princedom and homes will be modified to comply with the new building code.

Both of which will be done indiscriminately; again, it may seem harsh, but it is necessary as many of these homes have stood far too long abandoned.

Are not Elandriel and Normandor already considered under the rule of the Princedom? I am afraid I did not quite understand the question: do you mean to say that Normandor and Elandriel should be overseen by one person or somehow the cities are to be physically brought together to be merged across the whole of the island via more homes/buildings?

In any case, I do support this if it would better our Princedom. If it breathes more life into the cities, attracting more visitors and potential residents I am happy to vote yes.

Malinor's ever humble servant,

Lord Toren Neminis.

*Toren listens intently to the tale...he is old now, has witnessed more than his fair share of fell creatures and strange evils, to disregard this story. He believes it but does not speak but for a few words.* When peace visits the realm of mortals, it is so strange to us that it can never stay for long.

Please do not misconstrue that I dislike the spirit behind the idea: that, in essence, this will be a competition of fighting skill, cleverness, even good fortune and pure survival. I disapprove of this and here is why:

I've read the Hunger Games; they're pretty engaging books and the characters too. I view Asulon as a world unto itself, as it should be. It remains separate from our world and the only connection between Asulon and the Real World is us, those who play on the server, those who make up its world and its lore. I don't mind it when inspiration is taken from IRL, for where else would it come? All ideas, even ones rooted in imagination, stem somehow from things we've seen and experienced in life. But I am of the opinion that we should be very careful as to what we bring from our real life to Asulon.

Of course it wouldn't bother my character if the "Hunger Games" came to Asulon, as he would have no idea what they were, no idea that they truly came from a book, but I would bothered immensely by it OOCly. I always personally find it really, intensely grating (like enough to make me want to flip over tables in rage) when people simply take directly from books or other media; be it names of characters or more importantly concepts that remain unaltered in any way, shape or form; that they did not bother to remake with their own voice. As in this case, here, from what I understand you have barely changed it at all, only did so because you had to to suit Minecraft's limitations and motif.

The "Hunger Games" exist and are called such in the books for a reason; those reasons do not exist in Asulon. Asulon is very far from the dystopian hell of the Capitol and the 12 districts; where the majority are starving, clinging onto life and the tiniest glimmer of hope; where those chosen have no choice but to compete in the Games and die in a merciless, savage way anyways because the Capitol demands it as a means to exert their control, as a way of saying "You are nothing. I own you and your life" because that it is essentially what it is. It is a show of power and it is punishment. It is a way to curb any form of open dissent by showing that everyone in the districts are nothing but bugs to be squashed if desired by the Capitol. It is the government's way to say that the Capitol's full weight and wrath will fall upon those who rebel and the Capitol will obliterate them wholly.

I wish you had a lore for the "Hunger Games" existing in Asulon: why are they being brought to Asulon at all? What is the IC point of (let's face it, only one person can live) sacrificing your life in these games for such a pittance as a magical weapon, in the books, they had no choice but to compete and hopefully, on a whisper of a hope, come back alive to their loved ones. There was always an air of desperation in the Games because they knew they would die in brutal manners meant to entertain the heartless masses, who viewed them truly nothing more than animals, toys, and they would have to kill their fellow competitors in probably equally brutal ways. In the books it is portrayed as barbaric and animal, cruel, for those who had to participate.

I urge you to change the name to something else, to do more than simply lift the concept of these Games from the books and change it so it is more fitting and appropriate to Asulon's setting. If your idea were changed enough so that it was nearly unrecognizable from the "Hunger Games" books, I would consider adding my support.

Awesome. I'm excited to hop onto the server!

Thank you Vaq.

Looking forward to the update/maintenance. I can live without LoTC while this essential matter is taking place. As for the temp. server, I wouldn't mind playing on it when LoTC is offline.

((Rather nice so far; brings back memories of Laurelin which I miss very much OOC and ICly. And as far as I'm aware, whilst the canopy looked very much like that of IRL palm trees, the trees were just giant oaks.))

Looking forward to it Vaq. As always, please keep up the wonderful work on the server.