Kyphis the Bard

So, having received the feedback I needed, I am indeed going to apply for this position. Traditionally, the Leader of the Academy has been the Master Archivist. This title has been useful to single the bearer out to new players as someone who is knowledgeable about what goes on in MD, as well as remind those internally of who sits at the helm of the land. However, this ended up being a double edged sword, with the loss of our last MA precipitating a major decline in MDA activity and public interest. The Archivists are not normally in the public eye - we usually sit on the sidelines observing, rather than interfering. Neutrality is a quality we value very highly. It has been the role of previous land leaders to make public the results of the work we conduct, as well as encourage community participation from outside the Archives; for example the Paper Writing quests that Pamplemousse ran as an RPC, or the many lectures that used to be run. We have in the past had a more proactive and focused branch of the Archives, known as the Legend Speakers, to help keep the MDA in the public eye. I myself helped lead a revival of this branch, with the aid of people such a Fyrd Argentus. The current loss of the Legend Speakers is a major blow to the MDA's public presence, and one that I intend to address once I have the resources; although this is not an easy task. I have worked for the Leadership and betterment of the MDA for the last six years in MD. Many of you remember me when I was the "eternal MP3"; you all know that I do not advance my ambitions until I feel I am ready to do them justice. That time has finally come. The title of Master Archivist, while appealing to me for its traditional value, is not one I would choose. It represents the idea of being better than my colleagues - that I inherently know better than they do; that if I am Master they must be subservient. To me, this is not suitable for the MDA. The MDA is an Academy, a place people come to better themselves. It needs a leader who is willing to learn from his colleagues and use their successes and talents to grow the Realm. All this said, it is important for a Leader to be able to stand out, step forward and take charge. While the MDA's leader needs to consider the knowledge of their associates, they also need the authority to get things done - make the decisions when no agreement can be reached. This position does not need a council, it needs a decisive leader. With this in mind, I would forgo the title of Master Archivist, and instead take the title of Chancellor of the MagicDuel Academy. I realize this is the same title that Ivorak has suggested, I have suggested it as well because it is the most fitting for the role. Ivorak is extremely helpful and knowledgeable, and one of the people who I would rely on in this position, because he is able to see what others do not. If I receive Leadership of the MDA, I will: Encourage Archivists to take on specific tasks of interest and value to the realm, for example Innocence's current work on the AL. Work to strengthen Land Ties by working with the leaders of the Mainlands to reinstate the Envoy initiative begun with the Legend Speakers. Take steps to encourage community activities such as Public Lectures, Story Nights, and the Seed Walks. Make my decisions while considering the needs and opinions of the citizens of the MDA. Maintain the MDA's position of Neutrality in Land Affairs, that we might better serve all Lands and the Realm as a whole. Strive for new initiatives that will promote a community spirit within the whole of MD. Represent MDA in the best light possible, as its public figurehead. It is not in my nature to restrict people, rather I prefer to focus them. While I often come up with ideas, it is the feedback I receive that allows me to make them reality. I am a decisive person, but I work to be as informed as possible. All this said, the following is the description I would take as Chancellor of the MagicDuel Academy: "The Head of the MagicDuel Academy, it is his responsibility to seek new tasks for the Academy to work on. If there is a subject you want to learn more about, he will be able to help you find a specialist, both within and outside the MDA. Always willing to discuss new ideas and learn something new, he is someone you can talk to about anything. If you have a suggestion, or feedback, he is the one to take it to."

Now that I have [relatively] stable internet again (currently getting minute long drop outs for some reason), I need to message a few people before I make the final decision on whether or not I will stand for this role. As I said before, this position has been my main motivator for being in MD for the last six years. I also have experience with this sort of position, as I lead the Legend Speakers for over a year and helped raise them back into prominence with members such as Curiose and Fyrd Argentus (who, while some of you may not have always agreed with, where an incredible aid in my efforts) and programs such as the Land Envoys (which was sadly not completed by the time my tenure ended). However, it is because of my internal perspective of the Archivists that I must take a little more time considering whether to run for this position or not.

You are right, I currently dont have stable internet, however I am that addicted to MD I wont miss anything if I can help it! It has been my character role since I began playing MD to one day lead the MDA - everything I have done up until this point has been to further this goal. I have a lot more I wish to say on this subject, however I currently have incredibly limited access to the net so don't have time to say it. I should be getting internet back tomorrow, but I humbly request this stage be left open until Tuesday at the latest to cover any possible delays. If need be though I will make my application during the second stage (since you graciously said it would still be possible then)

(whoops, the downvote on Mya was accidental. Didn't intend on giving any change to rep there) Shem: I'm not exactly a loud voice for Loreroot, and few outside Loreroot would even normally count me as one of them. I don't know you as well as some others do, but I have had many occasion to watch what you do. I count dst as a friend, although I *definitely* don't agree with a lot of the stuff she does. Certainly in the past she has caused a lot of grief to Lorerootians, and she often acts as though she can't stand the groupthink of Loreroot, but I know that while she can be stubborn and self-righteous, she is also usually fair. I see a lot of the squabbles that she gets into with other people, but I don't see it from her side or their side. And I don't let an argument where she was wrong and might have hurt someone or something I care about stop me from defending her when she is in the right. So I want to congratulate you on your choice of alliance. I remember the sorts of things you have done in the past from within loreroot, and I know that you will continue to do your best for the realm as a whole from your new position. Loreroot has its flaws, as does every land - every person. I am sad, sadder than I can easily express, to see you depart from it; but I am glad, far gladder than I am sad, to see that you are still in the realm. I wish you luck in your new alliance, may you be as effective there as you had been through your long history in Loreroot.

Yep, works fine now, all 102 creatures loading at once (although the page takes some time to stretch, haha. Still like, a minute faster)

Currently getting a lot of "No Image" place holder images for my creatures. It loads them sequentially, then after a random point (has stopped at 40, has gotten as far as 62 loaded) it stops loading the images and uses the placeholder image for all subsequent creatures.

Finally back online :D

Welp, everything is finally sorted out. We move on the 14th of Decemeber, although I will be incredibly busy until then so probably won't have time to chat unless its important (or your feeding me flowers - I always make time for those who feed me flowers. You know who you are). For those wishing to send christmas cards, the new address is: 64 King Street, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 3350.

Finally got some inspection times booked, that was surprisingly hard o_O Our first inspection is this Saturday - The house we are in is being settled on the 19th Decemeber. Not exactly a lot of leeway here :P

There are also MAGICCTC creatures that don't get reset. Although, haven't looked into them since before the MP limits where put in place, so no idea if that still works.

Since this contest appears to be entered on the forum, and unlike in game you can only have one forum account, it seems feasible to me to have a Drachorn as a reward. Anyone who wins would only be able to do so once, for one account, and would have to choose between a wishpoint or a Drachorn, not both. Still, I would feel more comfortable if it wasn't an option available to just anyone doing this permanent quest, but rather just those who excel (the 7-8 category).

Rustgolds are actually pretty common.

There are several items that need heat, and there are different ways to supply it. After MP3 you get your own heat storage device, so some things you need to be a higher MP level to use, but most things accept (or indeed, require) a higher value of heat than your average player can supply, which is where Heat Stones (solid heat) come in. These let pretty much anyone use heat powered devices :P Although they are not the easiest things to come by, sometimes.

I would be more worried to see you absent than to see Mur absent.

Some of you have been given this news early because you are working on quests/projects with me, but most of you have not heard the news yet. My wife and I will be moving house this December from Sydney NSW, to Ballarat Vic (969 Kilometers). Since we don't know how long it will take to get work, nor do we even have a place selected to rent yet, I have no idea how long I will be offline. It may only be a day or two, it may be six months. I've had to turn down a lot of offers to work with you as we get ready for this move, and this saddens me :( Even sadder is that I will likely not be able to participate in the Card Exchange this year :( But it is my goal to at least log on every day to check my messages, so while I may not be able to be very social I will still be around as much as I can! MD is not a place I will ever leave unless I am dead ;)

The correct number and date was 175 missed days, and opened on the 28th October 2008

Your ritual would end up having 1K ve, so would be used. Needs to be lower.

One of the ways to avoid accusations of favouritism in these situations is for contest runners to explain how the solution was achieved. That is something Mur actually did. If Mur wanted to display favouritism he has far more effective ways, believe you me (for example he could have just asked the person he wanted to reward what they would spend the wish on, and give them that instead - much harder to trace when no-one knows about it. Except dst. She knows all) This said, I have my own opinions as to the fairness of this quest and its reward. But that is no-ones business but my own, since Mur is a Demon, and while Demons follow rules, they follow their own rules.

Yes, its even possible for lands without alliances, such as the Labyrinth.

Its worth pointing out that this is not possible for all lands. The four main lands allow it, I believe no other land does (not certain though)

Check the one he is refering to though, Rophs ;) That said, I agree with everyone else here (bar OP). No reason to remove it - indeed plenty of reason not to.

Username: Kyphis AD: 1646 Volition: 1.42 Grinding: Yes. *cough*

Hmm? I don't understand where that conclusion is coming from. AP is still AP. If a scene requires more than one AP to travel into, then it takes more than one AP to travel into. So no. 1: A "foreign" location would be the full cost (that is, the static entrance fee in AP, and the variable entrance fee for Ex[ploration] P[oints]) 2: A land with high loyalty is an interesting scenario. I had not considered this aspect prior to your question (so thankyou). I would expect the best solution would be firstly to reduce the ExP cost in the same way AP cost is currently reduced, with any excess reduction from loyalty applying to the AP cost. Although that's messy. This sort of thing is why AP cost for certain locations would need to be re-reviewed. It may also be suitable to instead apply a reduction to both ExP and AP costs for high loyalty regions, but reduce the rate at which loyalty reduces travel costs (ie, 1/2 what it does now applied to AP, 1/2 applied to ExP). This ones an interesting one, and will need more thought. 3: Gates are the sort of location that would need their AP costs reviewed. Some gates, like Marind Bell, need to be highly accessible. Other gates, like Necrovion, need to be almost completely inaccessible. This discussion would tie in to how land loyalty works; so something like the second suggestion (splitting the reduction of travel cost between both for high loyalty) coupled with a re-evaluated travel cost would likely be needed. To take a stab at three in a little more depth: Take the Marind Bell Gate. It is supposed to be highly accessible. As such, an AP cost of 20 allows all players through. MB citizens get a bonus to travel, so say they have massive loyalty they would find the travel cost to be 1 AP and 0 ExP, no matter the viscocity. The Golemus Golemicarum Gate is supposed to be semi accessible, while still off limits to the youngest players. The land is also supposed to be accessible through the front gate even if you are not a citizen at current. As such, setting the AP cost to 100 does not really fulfill the initial goal of keeping the land off limits to younger players, while setting it above 100 does not allow for the second case (that is, non-citizens entering via the front gate). That said, GG is actually accessible via the Labyrinth as well, and we have Land Pass Papers that bypass gates. With these two factors, it is possible to set the AP cost to something only a GG citizen could pass, while still leaving this gate open to non-citizens (not quite exactly as it was prior to the introduction of viscocity - GG would still be more accessible than it was back then, however only to people with GG land loyalty). The Necrovion Gate is supposed to keep pretty much everyone out. As such, setting the AP cost to something incredibly high is not a problem. With Land Pass Papers in existence, this still lets non-citizens enter. In essence, because GG is an in between state (keep young players out, let old in), it is the most interesting one of the situations (so kudos for getting me to look at it). In the format where loyalty reduces both AP and Viscocity costs ("travel costs"), this would reduce its current accessibility, while still leaving it more accessible than it was prior to the introduction of viscocity. I think ultimately one thing that could change to make this possible and accommodate all situations (Sages Keep, for example) would be to give some locations a default ExP cost, which is comparable to the current above starting limit AP costs. This would allow it to be set so that Loyalty has no effect on AP cost, and only effects ExP cost. To take GG gate as an example again and assuming ExP was set to start at a maximum of 100 and scale based on age at half the current rate that AP scales, you could set its AP cost to 50 and its ExP cost to 150+/- visc. This would keep new players out of GG for roughly the same period of time. So in this scenario, no matter your loyalty you would pay 50 AP to enter GG, but based on your loyalty you might be able to ignore the ExP cost, or at least mitigate it. (note: there is no reason to assume that ExP would actually be set to a starting maximum of 100 for new players, I only use it in the example as its relatively easy to wrap the concept around. values like that would be something to discuss far down the line if the idea was ever seriously considered, which based on what I have discussed with Mur and what he has said in this topic, does not appear likely in the slightest)

Yes, still valid. You can even post your attempts here if you want (although that gives any competitors an edge) Might as well put a time limit on it, I'll reveal the numbers at the end of the month.

Welp, that's nice. Chewett decided to split the posts and never say anything, hence the nonsense repetition. And Alyon, your numbers are wrong ;)