[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Elysia]

Hello! it's me, the Newbie from about a week ago now. When I first came to this site I was very intimidated. The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that this is an intense and in depth Role Play where length doesn't make the writer, quality does, and I really believe that if you want people to read your stories.

The vast amount of races with their abilities and qualities are simply amazing! And the well thought out world of Mizahar. I read for a day and a half just trying to get everything to sink in, and a day later, I created Elysia Sylph.

I only started Role Playing just two months ago in another site. I fell in love with it instantly. I used to be a hard core RPG gamer (using consoles) up until then. I even started to write a novel in the site that introduced me to RPing. Although, I think I have grammar problems. I'm not sure actually, I've been told different things in schools and I just don't know anymore. Some people give me good feedback from my first two chapters in my novel, but now I'm wondering it they were just being "nice." I'm not looking for that here, I want criticism so I can be a better writer. I'm hoping that's what this site will offer.

Anyway, thanks for letting me post on your Journal! ^.^

[Gossamer]

. Travel Times Rant It is seriously time for a rant, folks. I haven’t had a good one in ages, partially because I’ve been hugely busy in real life and partially because winter makes me depressed when it drags out with endless days of rain and mud and no sunshine. And when I’m depressed due to weather its hard to work up the energy required to get pissed off enough to rant. But, that having been said, here goes the latest one. REALLY!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! Do you all absolutely have to have down to the second time wise and inch distance wise the distance between things? Do you realize how unrealistic that is? Yes, I see your side of it and that you need a guideline for your travel rps and a general idea of the dangers you’ll face going from point A to point B in the game and consequently how long you’ll be facing them, but don’t you think this is a huge HUGE unrealistic undertaking on the part of the staff? Why you ask? Well, I’ll tell you why. You guys are all so flipping spoiled it is not funny. In our real world, we have paved roads and mile markers and this silly guy called Rand McNally and these other people who just go by the three singularly asinine AAA’s. They tell us where we get on roads, get off, where to sleep, the best places to eat, where we can pee, and generally down to the second how fast our trip happens. Well guess what? Mizahar isn’t the real world. Have you ever gone hiking on a trail out in the woods? A great deal of Mizahar is woods. The ‘roads’ are generally wagon tracks or really wide hiking trails. They aren’t even well maintained so they can be prone to washouts, mud, rockslides and all sorts of situations. Most people don’t travel – at all. And the ones that do are generally traders or explorers. Thus asking for a time to get from one place to another is almost impossible to answer as a question. Are you walking? Are you riding? Do you ride well? How big is your group? You do realize solo riders get places faster than groups of riders or even wagons. Hikers can actually sometimes get places faster on foot because they don’t have to stick to the main trails even though the main trails are faster. There are even some places you can’t get to by road like Wind Reach. There are other places that move constantly, like Endrykas. It has no set location thus there’s no way to say its XXXXXXX miles from Syliras because it might actually be XXXX miles or XXX miles depending on the season and the day. Honestly, I’ve ridden by saddle horse from the boarder of California and Mexico to the boarder of Washington and Canada on something called The Pacific Crest Trail. I did it on horseback and in pieces over a series of years. Some of the most beautiful and rugged riding exists on this trail that drops from well below sea level crossing the flanks of Mt. Shasta and Mt. Rainer and St. Helen's. There are no ‘travel times’ available for these trails. There are only rough distances. Sometimes, you’ll be riding along and look down off a cliff and see your buddies still on the switchback beneath you and your other buddies well over your head on the switchback above you. Trail riding is a heck of a fun sport and one you’ll never grow tired of. But it’s tedious. Weather changes by the minute, especially up in the mountains. It can be a beautiful day one second and the next things can go to hell in flash floods or because a cougar decides you’re a great dinner option. One group could ride a section of the trail in one time and another group in another time. It all depends. All these factors converge giving you a ton of situations and what ifs that may or may not come true. I love the great outdoors because of this. Every day is a surprise. But it also makes travel times in Mizahar a bit impossible to predict and even more impossible to really translate into a neat chart or a perfect map. We need to get over it though. Relax. Do the best you can. Ask a domain storyteller where their city is in relation to where another city is and what their best guess is. Endrykas’ answer will always change. Mine for Wind Reach will always be ‘how you flying in?’ etc. .

[Gossamer]

. Where To Start And Who's Giving You Advice I really wish, in my heart of hearts, that people would stop advising new folks to start in Syliras. So many of them are getting completely and utterly lost there. Send them to cities that have less spam. Lhavit, Ravok, Riverfall, Avanthal, Alvadas are all good choices. I feel like we're losing a lot of new folks to the sheer scroll of Syliras. Seriously. Point them better places. And newbies? I really wish you'd look at the join dates of people who are giving you advice. If they are just a month or two old, maybe listen to the folks that have been around a lot longer or have more posts. I've seen a lot of really terrible advice lately being given out in chat. It just takes a second to click on 'who's online' then click on the name of the person who's giving you all this advice and see when they joined. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. There's no way as a Founder I can prevent bad advice from being dispensed, but please please please understand who might be giving it to you. .

[Stitch]

I also would like to point out to new characters...

When you are considering joining a city, go check out the dates of the topics posted there. See how many people are active. I hate it when I see new players joining a city where people haven't posted for months. </3

I also fully endorse Ravok.

[Panna Cotta]

Or Sahova .___.

[Vick]

Yeah I am really tired of people telling people to start in Syliras. Granted I am sure some new person who has only been here a month or two will yell "But Jen said look at join dates and you have not been here that long Vick."

"No...your right. Vick has not been here that long, a few good months. Me? As a player in chat talking purely ooc I have been here for ages."

"But Jen said check join dates!"

"Don't start in Syliras. Good mods but just don't. You want to check your play style. If you like a lot of one on one with a mod then check a smaller city or area that does not have a lot of players and has mods. If you like fast pace then look around on the subforums on the dates and if it is one person or a small group and find out how they are."

No idea why I kept putting that in quotes I blame the fact it is past 3 am but I agree nonstop to that rant. I have been trying to get people to come to Sahova for the past....3 months it feels like. Then again I am not going to fight with some newbie (granted few months but in my eyes if you are under 6 months you are newbie) that random place A is a much more danger filled place then some magical island of undead people.

So agree with you Stitch on people need to check the last posted dates both from players and from mods. Or check the mod offices and see what is going on or even sending a mod (or players in that city) a pm asking them things about what is going on or any plans in the future. I know Vick is always plotting and debating new things and would love for newer players new to both roleplay or overall mizahar to come and join as I think that would be a great learning time.

[Gossamer]

Vick, it scares me when you start talking to yourself.

I also agree Sahova would be an amazing place to start a PC, especially if you like ancient technology and miraculous things.

[Gossamer]

. Wildly Successful This term is an ever changing one for me. How so? As time passed, especially in regards to Mizahar, I’ve constantly revised my expectation of what ‘Wildly Successful’ means. At first, it was just getting two of my best online buddies to agree to a crazy project. Later it was asking three more to join us and having them go ‘sure’. Later, it was seeing our name in place at the top of a forum website and GP win the victory of getting two vastly different sets of software to mesh and look fabulous together. Even later, it was revised again when we had our first newbie log on. That was a precious memory. After that, it was attracting a newbie like Mike and getting him to stay. Just a bit after that, it was realizing that I was finally healing from all the pain and hurt that was festering in my heart from someone I considered a very damaging individual running a poisonous site. Shortly beyond that, it was the pure joy I felt when I realized people liked my ideas and used them. The more folks that created kelvics and Konti ladies, the more healing balm packed my soul and I felt stronger than ever. It wasn’t all singing and dancing. It wasn’t’ at all easy. We had our doubts and our debates and even our squabbles. But the important thing was that we worked together. We listened. We provided what others said they wanted and treated everyone like family. That’s what Mizahar is to me. It’s an online family. And I realize it can’t always stay the same. People come. People go. Life changes quickly, sometimes regardless of if we are ready for it or not. Lately my definition of Wildly Successful has changed once more. I can’t begin to explain to you how much satisfaction it gives me to see so many other people logging on, having fun, laughing and crying and really enjoying this site to its fullest potential. All the scheming, love, hate, devotion, thieving, and mad grabs for power just tickle me pink. I’m starting to see a trend though. Each time I’ve revised my vision of ‘wildly successful’ it has a great deal to do with people being happy, especially myself. I don’t do things that make me unhappy unless I absolutely have too, and I certainly don’t do them as elective activities. Mizahar makes folks happy. And that happiness, no matter how big or small, means that someone is enjoying someone else’s hard work. That makes the work well worth it. It also makes any future work well worth it too. There is truly no greater joy, people, than making other folks happy. That happiness in turn makes you happy. Happy is like some great big contagious disease. Someone gets infected, infects someone else, who then infects others, until you have exponential growth. Isn’t that what we want out of life? How simple of a goal is that? Simple. Very simple. And yet, its also the hardest thing in the world to achieve because we aren’t always sure we know what we are seeing when we do in fact see it. We sabotage ourselves with ‘what ifs’ and fear. Walk boldly. Don’t be afraid. Keep your eyes open and recognize happy when it hits. Give it a nod. Then nurture it because it has this huge power behind it. Huge. I can’t stress that enough. Mizahar is where it is now because it’s been dealing in happy for a long time now. Sure there are exceptions, but in general we do what we can to say yes and be givers not takers. The crones in the world will tell you by giving you open yourself up to being receptive. This is an absolute fact. I believe it with my whole heart. If you are receptive, you are entirely wide open for gifts to then come your way. Happiness is a gift. You should give it and receive it in equal measures and in regular intervals. .

[Phoenix]

I am infected.

Edit: That sounds gross.

[mushy stuff] I gave up on writing a long, long time ago. I was told I was bad, I didn't have any skill at all and my self importance was overly inflated. It took me years and years to even get any kind of confidence back, or to even have the urge to write at all. But finally, I did feel...something. So, I looked things up online (looked past a ton of terribad werewolf sites) and found Miz.... I grabbed Amanda's hand, and we joined.

Since making Addy, and getting to know everyone and you through Miz.... I'm totally infected. I've edited this like three times now, because I cant get what I want to say out correctly. It is a good feeling on my end to see you take so much joy out of what you do, Jen, even though you have such a huge job. In WoW I was a raid leader. And that sucked. Everyone whined at me, I couldn't make anyone happy. I was the bad guy. So I can easily see how something as massive as Mizahar could do the same thing to you, and it probably does. But to be able to look away from all of that and still find joy? It makes me happy to be a part of it all. [/mushy stuff] (Get it?! BBCode Joke)

[Gossamer]

Jules- I love your writing. Seriously. You write beautifully well. I think most of the game would agree. I really wish you'd scrapbook more. I think we'd all benefit from hearing your thoughts.