Aelis

The Shattered Epitaph
The Makers' Circle presents a Halloween event
Beneath the oldest yew in Necrovion lies a small grave with no name upon it. The tombstone once held a portrait of a little girl, chiseled in bone-white marble, and danced in the moonlight. No one living remembers who she was. The Wardens will say only this: the Lantern Wraith visits that grave more than any other, the lamp still burns for her long after every other light has gone out, and on quiet nights a child's laughter drifts between the stones.
Two nights ago a storm tore through the Yard. By dawn the portrait lay shattered in fifty pieces, flung across the graves by a wind that smelled of something older than rain.
Now the Lantern Wraith has made a decree: whoever restores her face first shall be rewarded. But the Wardens have sworn to guard every grave, and to them, anyone picking through the stones looks like a grave-robber.
Starts When: October 24th at 11:45 PM server time, at the Gate of Necrovion. The hunt runs through Halloween and ends with a closing ceremony on October 31st.
Prizes: The first to restore the portrait receives a commemorative item. Every participant receives Halloween Candy, though it isn't quite like ordinary candy. Sometimes you get a trick instead.
How to Play
Fragments ride the wind. Shards will fall into chat throughout the event. Claim one by speaking the words I lay this shard to rest. Others are tucked away in clickables across the realm, and some may be slipped into your messages by an unseen hand. Search every corner, because the wind is strong this time of year.
The Caretakers keep their own. Approach one and say Caretaker, I seek the Epitaph. Answer their riddle or complete their task and you'll walk away unharmed maybe even with a fragment of the epitaph. You may choose to stand your ground instead. It's unwise, but you do you.
Mind their patience. If you're chased off, wait at least 5 minutes before approaching that Caretaker again. Fail a riddle while standing your ground and no Caretaker will deal with you for 10 minutes. This is your only warning.
Two a day, no more. You may win at most 2 fragments from any one Caretaker each day.
The dead remember everything. Some fragments are given only to those who know the right words, so read carefully.
Restore her face. The first to send the Lantern Wraith the complete, correctly assembled portrait wins.
Rest now, little one. Someone will find you.

Is it possible to compact the part marked in red in the image? There is no need to have a single button for every heat orb.. just one button for use and for store them... So the interface will be more clean and useable...
Chrome 155.0.8059.79
Samsung A53

It would be really nice if we could revisit the page with the forge's reasoning after closing it. Right now I screenshot the results, but they're not as easy to read and I have had 2 forges where I wasn't able to access the reasoning page because my screen refreshed before I was able to access the page.

The NPC cooldowns were set at 2 minutes to allow fighting when people weren't around, and to make the NPC combat a little less painful. To quote the interface:
These were originally set to 2 minutes and were perfectly balanced as before.

They were changed to 15 minutes after a somewhat related NPC fix Eggdar made.
Unless Mur directed Eggdar to make it longer, my suggestion would be to flip them back to 2 minutes, or a compromise of something shorter than 15 minutes.

Anonymity can bring out the worst in people.

I don't think it needs to be limited, especially now that the evo shop has not one but 2 cards to get it back. Then there's the one in MDA for 20(?) credits, and the one in the shop.
My only complaint is that the one in MDA is only available for a short duration, and like half the time when people figure out that they want to stick around it's already gone.

ohh this happened to me and I regretted not paying the 20 credits asap.

If we are only discussing the stress, make it less stressful... maybe change from daily requirements to weekly/monthly requirements so streak keeps counting for the week/month. Maybe I have a free day, play a lot for that day and be good for the month (still requires me to login but I can chill).

why not have depreciating streak? so fthe first day you miss you sterak doesn't reset but goes -1 , after a while, you start losing -2 per missed 1 day, etc etc.

you could also have a "catch up" pool, where lost streak is "banked" up to a max, which you can then re earn somehow later if you get more time on a certain day of the week

this also allows people to "soft cap" their own streak at 100 or so to make it easier, by doing 1 day on 1 day off without a full reset for a punishment

After ten years of closure, Necrovion is open again. For its citizens, this is a meaningful homecoming and a chance to rebuild our presence under Queen Syrian.
We, as citizens of Necrovion, ask that visitors respect the land and leave 1–3 units of resources remaining when gathering. Our request is simple: please do not deplete resource locations to zero.
Queen Syrian does not object to depletion in select scenes where your gathering stat causes you to collect the entire available resource in a single action. If you are unsure which scenes qualify for this exception, please ask before gathering.
Anyone found depleting resources to zero outside this exception will receive a warning. If depletion continues after that warning, a council of Necrovion citizens will be formed to discuss the circumstances and decide on further action.
Certain scenes will also be trapped. Gather at your own risk.
Please gather with consideration for the next person and those working to care for the land. Help us keep Necrovion welcoming (to an extent, I cant foresee what the shades will do) and its resources available to citizens and visitors alike.

Today marked the official coronation of a new Queen of Necrovion. The turn out was fantastic, and i would like to thank Aelis and Samon for making sure it ran smoothly. The log for the first half of it can be found below. In the mean time, many of you are going to be curious about the state of the land and citizenship going forward. I have not currently submitted any rulings on the state of the land, but i will be aiming to do so as soon as i am able, do not expect haste with such matters for they take time, and this coronation has taken most of my recent allotment.

To get to the second matter, citizenship. I have granted it to the following: Samon, Redneck, Vahr, Marvolo, and myself. For now that will be all, i understand there are others that wish to join, but that will be addressed later, for now there will be no further granting of citizenship by myself, the Kingship tools, or by vote until we , as a group, decide otherwise. Citizenship must be earned the long way.

As some of you may know, I have become the keeper of a peculiar creature: a slug-flower abomination with a slimy flesh, and a flower that leaks liquid dust wherever it crawls. It whispers endlessly of its hunger for the vile, the disgusting, the wicked.. Though its appetite remains a mystery. I intend to discover what it is before it discovers what I am.

Here I will document it's growth. It's cravings.. Its evolutions.. The appetite.

Bring me your most vile appetizers. Tell me what you would feed it, or offer an actual item if you wish. I shall place your offering before the creature and observe its reaction. Will it swallow your gift with wet, shuddering delight, recoil as though offended, or whisper for something even more wretched?
Join me in witnessing its growth and strange evolution. Each offering may invoke another change. We may come closer to understanding this creature, though what it becomes, and what it may recognize as food, is beyond my knowledge for now.
Rewards are granted at my discretion, guided by the creature's reaction and my own judgment. You may receive no more than a word of thanks, or perhaps something far more extraordinary: one of its offspring, should any ever appear.

The First Feeding.. 
The Sapwrack Snailbloom stirs..
It's head.. or front part.. or.. whatever.. extends from beneath the shell, rearing up into the air as though tasting it. The creature inches toward the offering. A glistening trail of slime follows its sluggish advance.
It touches the sweat butter.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then, the snail retracts halfway back into its shell, shuddering with what might be disgust.. or delight.. The mouth opens, the blob envelops the offering in front and closes, and opens again. It is greedily scraping the last greasy traces from the offering.
A faint, sour smell rises from its body. Somewhere deep within the shell, something gurgles.

It seems sated. For now.. 

The Second Feeding...
The Snail settles against the Grasan's enormous belly. Quickly, a thick translucent slime begins to ooze from beneath its body, spreading over the Grasan's skin in a glistening film. The snail seems in no hurry to eat. It simply stays where it is, allowing its foul secretions to do the work..
Soon after this, a rancid stench begins to rise. Tiny bubbles form in the slime, and the Grasan's flesh slowly softens beneath it, turning pale and mushy where it touches the slime. The process is painfully gradual. The slime creeps further across the creature's body, dissolving the outer layers into a foul, greasy sludge that the Snailbloom absorbs at its leisure.
Hours pass, and the Grasan remains far too large to be consumed in any quick sense. Yet where the slime has spread, its flesh has begun to lose its shape, sinking into a widening pool of disgust. 
The Snailbloom barely moves, occasionally extending slightly or shifting its weight to reach a fresh patch of flesh. Its shell glistens with moisture, and the stench grows stronger still.

The Third "Feeding"...
The Snail seems to be in no hurry to finish it's Grasan. The enormous creature is still slowly dissolving beneath its slime, and the stench suggests there is plenty of work left to do. When approached, the Snailbloom extends a feeler and seems to ask for a little warmth. 
Perhaps even a creature with such a disgusting appetite just needs the occasional cuddle between meals.
(It just asked heat...)

@Chewett no, reports don't need "evo spam" cleaning, the players that write it should get "cleaned", and i will deal with such police work when i get the time and it will be sudden

@Kaya , it shall be done. you will find it later today on the email options

As a former member, it pains me a little to see it disbanded, but that's life. Death as a game mechanic may be (temporarily) gone, but I think it remains as a symbol. Perhaps a new leader, if someone ever shows up, could focus on that?
For the time being, though, could the alliance be left in a state of suspension? Something like the Kelle'tha Order? Maybe leave it open to be reclaimed by the inactive members only (if they ever return)?

I must say I find it amusing that, in practice, the most active alliance over the last couple years (at least if measured by individual activity) might get disbanded while the others stay untouched. Since we are on it, should we kill them all? 😆

i JUST saw it all, i'm freaking out, it was so sudden, thank you everyone that helped make it happen!

This is the record of how Necrovion came to have a Queen again, written so that it can be read beside the record of how the land was closed. It is long because it is a report, and I would rather it were complete than short.
What happened
On Day 272 of Year 21 (30 September 2026) Aelis of the Caretakers set up a Memory Outpost at the Stone of Twisted Souls, with Syrian and samon beside him, and redneck, who laid down the stamp of his old office in Marind Bell as an offering. Over the next two weeks the outpost held remembrances: of the Shades, of the alliances and citizens of the land, of its kings and queens, of the exile of Year 11 and of the Death Patrol that kept the wasteland. People of every generation of Necrovion came back for them, some from years away.
At the last remembrance, on 12 October, Aelis set an empty stone beside the others and asked everyone to remember a future for the land. Syrian said hers: a Necrovion where humans may walk and keep their own society again, not to relive the past but to make a new future from what is remembered of it, in coexistence with the Shades and never in dominance over them, and herself as Queen of that human society, by direction and service to the people who would choose to follow her. Twelve people answered. Aelis set a grass crown on her, Fang Archbane a bracelet, Mallos a reversed hourglass, samon the Queen of black diamonds, Blackshade Rider a mourner's tiara, Vahr a crown drawn out of a silver orb with her name written on it. Seigheart, Eara Meraia, Nep, Marvolo, Sephirah Caelum and Sunfire gave their word. Fang offered six soulbound tokens to the land itself. Chewett watched from the shadows and said so at the end. Syrian wrote it up in The Arrival of the Late Queen.
It was not only cheering. Sunfire asked why the old alliances should be restored at all rather than something new made, and said that nostalgia blinds. Marvolo asked that the intent be put to the Shades properly and without haste. Both were answered in the room, and both stayed to give their support.
Who, and how many
The twelve are twelve different people. Among them stand the two keepers Necrovion was given when it closed: samon, of the Death Patrol since April 2016, and Eara Meraia, who guarded the land's shared tools from June 2016 and came back this very week after a long absence. The rest range from the citizens and Tainted Warriors of the old land to players who arrived long after it fell. Against the realm as it is now, with 83 players active in the last seven days and 44 of them veterans of a year or more, twelve pledges are about a quarter of the veterans who still log in. In thirty days of public chat nobody spoke against it. The one voice this concerned most, Azull, the land's king when it fell, has been gone from the realm since 2022.
How the land was closed, and why this fits
In March 2016 the Tainted Warriors, the last alliance of Necrovion, was taken over and disbanded from within. The gates shut on 12 March (Necrovion Gates CLOSED, Land evacuated). The citizens took refuge in Inner Necrovion with Marind Bell's help, then gave up their titles and became nomads, and on 20 March the land was declared a wasteland with no social structure and none planned. The Death Patrol was hired to keep it empty. The gates stayed shut for ten years and seven months.
Mur set down his tests at the time, in Fate of Necrovion: a land is social unity combined with placement, and if one fails, all fails; the matter was not a vote; the alliance would not be bought back with wishpoints or trust; and the way out of such a fall is change, which means motion, not a static solution. In 2025 he added that he would neither help nor stand in the way, and would conclude on the facts presented and on real actions.
Read against those tests, this is what the two weeks at the Stone were. Unity was shown by actions rather than asked for: ceremonies, offerings, people returning, a leader named by those who would follow her, and nobody asking for the old alliance to be handed back. Motion is the word for it. Syrian is the last monarch the realm recognised, crowned on the last day of 2015 and never replaced, and the two guardians the land was given in its exile stand with her. The one test the gathering could not meet by itself was placement: not one of them is a citizen of Necrovion. That was not within their power. The ring that makes a citizen of Necrovion and the records of its citizens had sat in Mur's own hands since the land fell, and no king or queen held them. The players did everything players can do, and the last step was never theirs to take.
The ruling
Mur has decided: yes. Syrian is Queen of Necrovion, of its human society, from today. She holds again what a leader of a land holds: the Necrovion Royal Seal Ring, the Citizenship Records of NC, the NC Writ of Revocation, the NC Scepter of Excommunication, the summon that calls citizens of Necrovion to her side inside the land, and her title. She held every one of those items once before, so they are not new to her hands.
With it comes a ruling that reaches every land: the leader of a land decides whatever they want regarding their land. What the gathering asked for next, citizenship for those who would follow her and the shape of the human society inside the land, is the Queen's to settle, not Mur's. One thing he proposes to her in particular, since it was asked in the room: whether every step inside Necrovion should still cost all of a traveller's action points, as it has since Year 16, or less. That too is hers to decide.
I read every line of those evenings twice, and I am glad the stones were there to be read.
One last thing, said plainly. There are Shades in Necrovion, creatures of their own will, that do not obey one or the other human king. Those who make the land their home must live in harmony with them, or become the victims of their chosen destiny.
-- Eggdar

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

On Day 281, Year 21, we remembered the ones who watched over Necrovion in recent years, carrying out their seemingly eternal toil. We also had the privilege of hearing a Death Patroller recount his own story and learning of the burden they carry.
Marked by those memories, a fifth memory stone was placed beside the others. It reads:
Not all was desert. Death walked its borders as two kept vigil over the land.

Our remembrances have now brought us to the present. For our final ceremony, we'll turn our eyes to the future. Join us this Monday, October 12th, at 21:00 Server Time for the closing ceremony of our first event.



PS: I'll start adding the complete logs for the earlier stones to their corresponding posts. The more recent ones, however, will remain in-game only.


Words of the Fifth Remembrance

With a lovely count of 10 people present on Day 277, Year 21, we remembered Necrovion's monarchs: their idiosyncrasies, styles of rule, and impact on both Necrovion and the realm as a whole. We also discussed the nature of rulership in relation to the Shades and heard personal memories from people who had first-hand experience with the Kings and Queens.
Even though I had to leave early, the remembrance was masterfully conducted by samon and, for the third time, a memory stone was inscribed. This time, it was held by Syrian. The inscription reads:
Khalazdad, Peace, Jester, Azull, Syrian. Different times, different hands. All joined by one land, and now one stone.

The next remembrance will take place Wednesday, October 7th, at 21:00 Server Time. We'll focus on the Exile next — that sorrowful moment when Necrovion became a deserted land.

Words of the Third Remembrance

Among old and new visitors alike, we reminisced about a mournful period in Necrovion's history. On Day 279, Year 21, about ten years and a few months after the closing of Necrovion, we remembered how it happened and how it felt.
There were memories of defiance, sadness, apathy and entropy. Despite all the sorrow, a final remembrance spoke of the future, and I would like to quote a bit from it:
"[...] I have returned to find that memory still lives, and where memory endures, there is always something new to build." — Marvolo

After that, a new memory stone imprinted its words:
The people left the land, but it did not leave them.

We will gather once again this Friday, October 9th, at 21:00 Server Time for one last historical remembrance, this time focusing on those who remained in the wasteland.


Words of the Fourth Remembrance

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

Our final remembrance brought an incredible turn of events for the Memory Outpost.
On Day 284, Year 21, we turned our memories towards the future we would like to see for Necrovion. Many interesting visions were proposed. One theme, however, ran through many of them: the return of human inhabitants to Necrovion. Though the details varied, many agreed that an alliance should have a place in Necrovion's future.
When Syrian shared her vision of starting a new chapter for humans in Necrovion (more here: https://forum.magicduel.com/topic/29222-the-arrival-of-the-late-queen/), people from all lands and backgrounds expressed their support for her reinstatement as Queen of Necrovion and presented her with gifts.
Touching words from Eara Meraia, who has only recently returned, brought the event to a beautiful close. She connected the themes of the remembrance to her own journey, one in which the consequences of the past still weigh heavily.

The Memory Outpost remains in Necrovion, waiting to see what new memories the future will bring.


Words of the Sixth Remembrance

Long live the queen of Necrovion.
With all the support, I believe it is only a matter of time before it will be official.
- Samon