THE CHAOS HERALD
WEREWOLF TUNNEL COMPLETED!
The mighty crafter of Istaria showed once more, why the WA fear and loath us! In a magnificent show of unity, guilds and individuals from all over came together to complete this new community project!. There are conflicting reports on the amount of time it took, and even though the portal was not active yet, one thing is certain, a grand time was had by all.
A few highlights to Illustrate:
All through the day, many were busy mining away on the metal resources needed for this tunnel. At first the going was a bit slow, as word of the project had not reached all the crafters. But as more and more heard the call, the work crews quickly filled up.
Metal and stone work seems to have been the focus at the start, and progress was very steady. Enchanters too got involved and worked tirelessly to harvest essence and apply orbs.
Much later in the day the wood workers began in ernest, and much like the metal workers, progress was slow but steady. Many of the choice fields were in danger of being depleated, so crafter spread out all over to collect what was needed. At one point it looked like they would actually empty Elmnic, the gathering was so hectic!
Regardless of guild politics or differences, everyone banded together as one highly skilled body to finish this project in record time! It proves beyond doubt, that when called upon, the gifted are willing to forget any petty squabbles and shoulder to shoulder, work together to ensure our future!
Since there were so many different ones to thank, let me say ... WELL DONE! to us all!
WA - "WARM AND FUZZY"?
Last week the WA announced they were giving up. This unbelievable news, turns out the be a ploy by the WA to give all Istarians a false sense of security. Since the announcement, many more have been taking to the resource fields to gather. Even newly awakened Gifted have been seen freely wandering the waste lands and battle fields, in what appears to be complete safety.
However, scouts are reporting many new tracks around the edges of many towns. Odd tracks, of beasts not seen before. Rumors abound of harvesters going missing, whole flocks of sheep slaughtered, and even a few settlements having all their chickens disappear overnight. One scout, even caught a glimps of flickering fire, that appeared to be walking into the Aughundell mine shaft.
One ranger reports of seeing mobs that are not instantly recalled upon death. That seems odd enough, but if you add to that the increasing sightings of undead clerics and healers, there is fear that these two things are related. The speculation is that perhaps the Lich King and his henchmen, are teaching their clerics to reanimate their fallen forces. If this is true, the gifted are in serious trouble!
Please check back here often for updates. I will continue to pass on any news we receive.
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THIS BREAKING NEWS JUST IN!
COMPANY CONTACTS:Withered Aegis, LLC
Torrin Macalir
[email protected]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 1st, 2005
Eastern Deadlands, Istaria (IP) - In a surprise press conference today at 10am, Torrin Macalir, aka the Lich King, announced that the Withered Aegis would be giving up. Citing irreconcilable differences with the other members of his ruling council, he had the following to say.
"It is our intention to lay down our arms and return to our peaceful lives that we left behind some three centuries ago. We've had some great matches, the Siege of Aughundell, the Novo machine, and even the Battle of Tazoon. But we're ready to give it all up."
Macalir is a powerful sorcerer who rose to power nearly three hundred years ago and was instrumental in the formation of the Withered Aegis, the subjugation of the Satyr race, imprisonment of the Dryads, and many atrocities against the Living Races of Istaria.
The Wraith Lord and Beast Lord were not available for comment and could not be reached by messenger. In fact, it should be noted that the messenger never returned and has been presumed killed.
The Maggot Lord's publicist issued a statement following Torrin Macalir's press conference. "The Maggot Lord supports the decision of The Lich King and is looking at a nice beach-front plot near Selen or perhaps Dikaina on which to build a few houses, silos and retire."
About Withered Aegis
The Withered Aegis is an unincorporated, privately-held partnership based in Eastern Istaria. The ruling council consists of Torrin Macalir, the Wraith Lord, the Beast Lord and the Maggot Lord. Formed many years ago, their publicly stated goals are the subjugation or destruction of the Living Races and the ownership of all of the lands of Istaria.
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TRINKETS FOUND ON SLAIN MOBS
In the last few days, a new wrinkle has developed in the fight against the WA. Many of their forces have begun to carry magical "trinkets". These are often jewelery, but are sometimes tablets that can contain a powerful blessing to any that use them. Pretty as many are, they are very fragile, and are destroyed after a single use.
These Magical items, will often provide a benificial enhancement to our skills, like a 200% damage addition for ten minutes, "Istaria's Guiding Hand" a +% increase in damage to spells, alacrity buffs, %-to hit, heals over time, damage shield, decrease incoming damage, dmg boost, etc...
However, they can have equally detrimental effects as well. Some will decrease your effectiveness as a fighter, others will engulf you in flames and damage you over time, still others will steal your health away, or cause all your augmentations for get removed constantly for a period of time.
Many feel these possible bad side effects are worth the risk, if they can get enhancements that make them more effective in fighting the WA. And I have to agree, that much like getting a wrapped gift on festival day, these trinkets will hold many's atttention. Hum, what will I get today!
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THE IAC CHARGES GRANT SMYTH
After completing their investigation, the Imperial Audit Commission formally charged Vault commissioner Grant Smyth with embezzlment of funds, and obstruction of union policies.
In what has been called a "better late than never" move, The IAC after careful review of all vault shareholders, has decided to refund all tier 4 and 5 shareholders for the overcharges by Grant Smyth, in the form of vault upgrades. This was due primarily to the fact that Smyth and already spent the funds in a gambling hall in Mundi community, and monetary refunds were simply impossible.
Any with a T4, or T5 vault should see an increase as follows...
T4 Vault raised from 2800 bulk to 3800 = +1000 bulk
T5 Vault raised from 3000 bulk to 4800 = +1800 bulk
A most welcome change for our crafters to be sure! And as the Vault assignment board meets next month, we may be seeing opportunities to increase our vault further in the coming weeks.
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"LETTERS FROM THE FRONT" "Upon rising from my slumber today, an ominous thought crept in to my mind. The odd quietness of late, though welcome, bodes evil methinks. I continue to have a dread I cannot shake, nomatter how jovial my company has become. It's almost like the calm before a great storm, or the quiet days before a birth. If the first, then we may see distruction and ruin, things that I fear most. If the latter, then who's child will it be?"
" One thing is certain, soon we will be in the midst of changes not of our making. My captain keeps reminding us that, 'what we make of the day depends on the foundation we lay in the morning'. Let's just hope our foundation is a strong one and that we truly are prepared"
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A CITIZENS VIEW
Crystal Power
By Klaus Wulfenbach
Know, O wise and curious Reader, that consumable crystals may yet be gleaned from the battlefields and wastelands of Istaria. Know, O right-thinking and clear-minded Reader, that some among the Gifted lust after thy hard-won Coin, and do place such prices upon their offerings as would drive all and sundry to beggardom. Learn now, O Reader, of the gleaning of crystals, and rebuke these miserly Gifted with a firm and upright hand.
The sources of these coveted crystals number four, yet I will speak of two only. The places I will not speak of are sacred to the Rites of Dragons; making sport there is unseemly.
Learn now of the Ruined Observatory, a place of Blight far to the south of Dalimond, and yet west. By dragon wing it is a short flight south by south-east from the beaches of Sslanis; those not so free to move will find brisk run in order. From Bristugo travel south, or from Heart south to the lands claimed by the wood golems, and thence west. Look, O cunning and prepared Reader, upon the Map of the Land, and see how the land is shown rising in a great spiral. Upon this mound resets the great Observatory itself, tragic and ruined. This fallen Seat of Learning is the heart of the Blight miasma, and to it you must go.
The base of the great mound is populated by automatons and their risen creators. Know, O perceptive Reader, that these foes are too strong to be met with bronze; only those wielding iron or better will win the day, save they band together. Brother Spiritist, Sister Reaver, pray attend! These automatons are soulless. The Magicks of Spirit and the Blade Ethereal harm them in no wise, yet will they vex you right well in return.
These automatons and their risen creators are the foes you seek. They carry not only the vaunted crystals, but hoard of silver for feeding the might of Dragons. Mark well, for a few carry also clues to send those fortunate enough to claim them questing for hidden caches scattered throughout the land. These caches are greatly prized by those who seek crystal bounty. The crystals they contain are most often of great power, far greater than those found on the automatons themselves. Finding the caches is largely child’s play, save for one, which lies in the swamplands far south of Harro, in which roam many dire creatures. The other three are unguarded and may be discovered with little effort.
Learn now of Old Rachival, City of Gnomes. Between Aughendell and Morning Light it lies, and the road to it is often thick with shadow spiders. Automatons and stronger undead roam the Blighted ruins; bear steel when confronting them if you would live. In the great ruined dome at the heart of the city may be found Project X, an automaton of great might, and his ghostly attendants. On either end of this plaza, roadways ascend to the topmost level of the city. Here may be found the strongest automatons and a number of Deathly Ogres. From them may be gleaned crystals, items of Learning, and hoard of gold. Deathly Ogres are mighty; seek them out, O prudent Reader, if you are near to taking up arms of cobalt, or stronger yet.
This teaching is done; but not the learning, and to our own roads we each go. May your road bring you health, wealth, and victory.
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CRAFTERS CORNER
About Istarian Nodes - by Guinness McInnis, Master Tailor
While slaving away in the fields, with nodes all around me, I often have nothing better to do than ponder. What are the properties of the nodes all around me? In my experience, I would guess that the nodes of our great land yield between 800 and 1400 bulk of that particular resource. This leads to 2 important properties of our nodes: 1)they are not created in a fully developed state, but rather improve over time and 2)nodes hold a fixed amount of bulk, so a node will yield more total units of the lighter resources such as bark, sap, and gems. Point number one better explained means that freshly created nodes will have fewer total units than one that has been sitting in the field for awhile untouched.
Secondly, while it may not be apparent to some, one of the biggest reasons for moving to the new worlds was simply the existance better quality nodes. The relms of Chaos, Order, and Unity all have nodes which are so plentiful they were termed 'rich' or 'mother lode' by the Istarian Crafting Board. Nodes shall be known as 'rich' if they are capable of holding approximately 3 times what a regular nodes does. Secondly, nodes shall be known as motherlodes if they are capable of holding in excess of 40000 bulk (roughly 10 times what a rich node holds). Rich nodes seem to spawn randomly and I have yet to determine much about their behaviour. Mother lodes type nodes are a bit easier to figure out. There is a maximum of one mother lode per field and it exists all the time; as soon as it has been fully harvested another one will spawn in a random location within that field. For anyone curious, this is easiest to see in the topaz field outside of Kirasanct, due to its small size. These more fertile nodes serve to better aid the gifted in the war against the Withered Aegis.
As a final qualifier, the numbers presented are valid for any crafter who is optimum in harvesting that type of resource. If you are less than optimum, a percentage of the total bulk will be wasted due to your lack of skill. I also stress that this is simply my experience and I welcome any comments on the subject - be they in agreement or disagreement.
Happy Crafting!
As told by Guinness McInnis, Master Tailor
( These suggestions apply primarily to tools/weapons/armors )
Some time ago, I heard a rumour that seemed contradictory to the accepted means of enhancing one's skills. The generally accepted practice for improving my crafting skills is continually making the hardest item in which I feel my skills are optimal at. This is what is taught to all novice crafters by their trainers, and the officially accepted process adopted by the Istarian Crafting Board of Standards.
What I had heard was that this is actually not true, and that resource usage should also be considered as well. That if a crafter would deconstruct a tool or weapon, and calculate how many bars were used total, that often, the lowest rated tool would gain the greatest experience for the resources used!
Not long after, I headed for the obsidian fields with my stone chisel in hand, ready to test things out. Much to my surprise, I found my skills increased more for making and deconstrucing a disk full obsidian essense siphons, than for making obsidian essense structurers. More recently, I tested this theory out as a weaponsmith. Even with metalworking skills of 980, I still found my skills increased more for a diskload of mithril bars spent on mining picks, than fitting hammers.
While this "secret" has been common knowledge to many folks for quite some time, I felt the importance of making it public, since many crafting schools can gain experience by making tools.
So, to make it simple for the newly gifted ones, tools that require a skill of 200, 400, 600, and 800 will provide the best experience gains per tier, at any skill. There is one exception to this, which you may spot with careful eyes. As a general rule, a wise crafter will check the experience they are gaining as they move up from Beginner to Journeyman, and should be well equipped to assist in the effort to defeat the WA by the time they reach Expert status as a crafter.
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One thing sorely missing from our towns and villages are the kilns and pottery wheels.
Daily the cooks of Istaria must trudge to the major cities with loads of sticky clay, just to make simple dishes to eat from. Please, Will the Istarian Building Commission let us have permission to build these on our plots!
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That is it for this issue!
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