OOC Info The Syka Seasonal Calendar - Fall 522 A.V.

[Gossamer]

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an
oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."
- Stanley Horowitz

Syka has a theme for each season. This one is no different. However, you must wait until the Storyseed Section for the theme to be revealed if the hints buried in this post don't give it away first. In the meantime, I understand this calendar is long, but please read each section carefully. There are some big changes to Syka this season because of the events of last season. If you TLDR it, you might miss out on some great opportunities!

I hope you all completely and utterly enjoy Fall!

"Problem solving is hunting. It is savage pleasure and we are born to it."
- Thomas Harris

Greetings Sykans!

Syka enjoys very few seasonal changes. If anything, it is the time when most Sykans miss other places and the turn of leaves or the crisp freshness of autumn air and depart for small trips to Riverfall or other neighboring easily accessible locations. Some of the NPCs will be gone this season due to that reason and need.

However, for the jungle, the universal season that is most of the year deviates only slightly from summer to winter, with the transitional seasons having no transition at all.

Fall in Syka is more of a feeling... like people are standing on a precipice and waiting to either jump or fall off. It is this season they can see things most clearly in... the view stretched out before them. This is the season to get your bearings, make decisions, and pick a direction to continue. Fall tends to be fast-paced, lively, and enchanting with threads of deeper darker things interwoven through the joy.

Secrets long buried are revealed. Darkness in your hearts can expand and reveal itself. Introspection leads to revelry, a sense that life moves fast and each day should be enjoyed thoroughly. There will be conflict, enemies, and above that an overshadowing that drives the need to release deeper and harder.

Also, a new Syka location has been discovered by the Rangers while out scouting The Maw. Close to the settlement, the Rangers have discovered a group of fish ponds that seem to be a remnant of some ancient Aquaculture project. The ponds are in perfect working order and there are hatchery facilities attached along with a set of living quarters opening an opportunity for someone to start a new career if they are interested.

"Spring is beautiful, and summer is perfect for vacations, but autumn brings a longing to get away from the unreal things of life, out into the forest at night with a campfire and the rustling leaves."
- Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Please keep these requirements in mind. Participating in the theme is always voluntary, but in order to get rewarded for your participation, the below list is required. Paying seasonal expenses and the expectation of earning coin is reliant on job threads. Those are not voluntary. They are required game-wide.

If you go inactive in Syka or take a break for a season or two, you lose your free claims (that have been awarded in the past) because you haven't contributed to the community. If you have purchased your property and it's paid in full, you can feel free to go inactive with no penalty. If you are still paying on it, inactivity isn't an option without the loss of your property for missed payments. Please be aware that job threads and placeholders can be no older than a season behind. Nothing will count or be paid for that is older. I do not pay partial wages. It's all or nothing.

The list below is things you need to include in your Spring threading.

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.

If you complete all these tasks successfully and fulfill the requirements, then you will get an award in the form of Quest Coupons of your choice (minus the Artifact coupon). Incomplete threads do not count. These items must be completed by the end of the season.

Please note. These are Syka's challenges. The threads must be completed in Syka or The Outpost relating to Syka's business.

"The first breath of autumn was in the air, a prodigal feeling, a feeling of wanting, taking, and keeping before it is too late."
- J. L. Carr

Theme: The Hunter Or The Hunted

After reviewing the atmosphere of Syka, one will understand this is a season of highs and lows. I'd like the theme to be The Hunter or The Hunted this season. You can decide. Are you hunted? Or are you hunting something? Take past plots or your history, or even ideas you've been slow brewing in your mind for your PC, and bring them forward and spotlight them. Become the hunted. Start hunting something. I don't mean literally picking up a spear and traveling into the jungle to become the great white (black, red, yellow, etc) hunter, but that is possible too. What I really mean is craft a plot this season around this theme where you are either persecuted or are the persecutor.

Is your past hunting you down with a vengeance? Are you hunting your future down and destroying it or paving the way to glory? Be creative. Run with this theme.

The storyseeds below are designed to help you with this season's theme.

Please remember, storyseeds are just ideas, hints, and nudges for you to craft a greater plot from. They are a starting place. Feel free to mix, match, and combine storyseeds and knock out more than one in one thread. For example, a survival situation could easily be combined with a deep-seated unbearable pain while hunting whales. Got it? Great!

❖ Remember something you've completely forgotten or suppressed.
❖ Recieve a mysterious visitor or package.
❖ Have an encounter with an ancestor in a vision or drug-induced state.
❖ Have a dangerous jungle encounter.
❖ Have a crazy very detailed dream.
❖ Have a vision of the past, present, or future.
❖ Investigate something.
❖ Discover an unusual place.
❖ Research/investigate the mysterious claw mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Pray to a new god or goddess.
❖ Give/receive a blow to a fellow PC.
❖ Research a topic that is new to you.
❖ Discover a new hobby.
❖ Tell someone a terrifying story/hear a terrifying story.
❖ Solve some sort of mystery.
❖ Join a new group/Make a new friend.
❖ Invent a new drink or dish for Syka.
❖ Visit a location new to the Settlement or new to you.
❖ Share/learn a secret.
❖ Make a friend/enemy.
❖ Learn a skill that's new to you.
❖ Learn a new weapon.
❖ Acquire a new weapon.
❖ Use the rule of three. Set 3 things in motion for your character's story.
❖ Have a truly beautiful/amazing day.
❖ Misdirect/lie/cheat someone about something.
❖ Discover wreckage on the beach and investigate - must get the full story.
❖ Get a bird to spy for you and relate all it sees to you.
❖ Have a profound amount of tension in a thread (sexual, social, competitive)
❖ Discover an artifact.

"Autumn leaves shower like gold, like rainbows, as the
winds of change begin to blow."
- Dan Millman

Syka's weather is as normal with beautiful days punctuated with brief rain showers in the morning and evening that tend to drive everyone to cover. The weather is balmy but the super hot days are over. Average temperatures are around 80 degrees with around 80% humidity. There are highs and lows.

The Settlement has rainy days, but the rain is warm. Inland from the Settlement, the jungle turns muddy during these periods, though the sand and cobbles around the buildings of Syka keep the mud at bay. Rainy days can make small valleys into flash floods and sturdy well-known trails treacherous. Quicksand forms in riparian areas and sandy deposits in the jungle. Travel can be treacherous.

Towards the middle and end of the season, Syka will have a series of thunderstorms rolling in, high winds, and excessive weather that might cause settlers to seek the storm shelter for brief overnight periods. During this time, the tides will be excessive too, as the storms rolling out on the Suvan pull the tides excessively high and low, causing the beaches to change slightly and ruins to be exposed out in the bay.

Several people will hear a mysterious call out to Solitude Island if conditions are right towards the middle of the season. To qualify for this 'call' one must have written at least 20K for the season thus far.

"Of all the seasons, autumn offers the most to man and requires the least of him.."
- Hal Borland

I'm always willing to run a personal storyline for anyone who joins Syka for the season. People get such few opportunities to interact with their actual storylines in generic calendar situations within various domains, so in Syka I'd like to change that. I will be willing to run the following:

❖ Personal Quests
❖ Gnosis Threads
❖ Flashbacks & Future Foretellings
❖ Training Threads

Just let me know what I can help you out with. Syka might be small but we have had some really incredible storylines here in the past.

Happy Threading!

Goss

[Adisa Niobe]

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.

[Shade]

Seasonal Challenge!

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.

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[Rhydian Lamoze]

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections

[Tazrae]

Calendar Doings!

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.

• Tazrae was going to be doing the hunting, but it worked both ways.

❖ Get others involved in your storyline.

• Rhydian, Shiress, and anyone else are welcome.

❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.

• Job 1
• Job 2

❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.

• Paid.

❖ Be active.

• That's never an issue.

❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.

• An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire I - Whip
• An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire II - Whip
• An Ember Adrift From The Bondfire III - Whip
• An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire IV - Whip
• An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire V - Whip
• An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire VI - Whip

❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.

• I'm going to research the unknown symbol on the monolith.

❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.

• [Challenge] The Length Of A Day VII - Jaelis & Kamrae

❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.

❖ Investigate something.

• Moonglow I
  
• Moonglow II

❖ Have a vision of the past, present, or future.

• [Challenge] The Length of A Day V

[Mittle]

❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting. Mitt's past is hunting him down hard.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline. Check, Tazrae and Taln
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid. job threads completed 33 and 34 fall 522
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills. Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill-Check, 2 job threads completed, etc) and increase it by 5 points. Mitt some clamming a little.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads. Check, Stu, Rainmere, Artik and Randal.
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. Check, 1. seed-Receive a mysterious visitor or package. Mysterious bird keeps appearing in birthday challenge thread . Check, 2. seed-Misdirect/lie/cheat someone about something. Conned Artik into buying a drink. Been a dick to Taln.
** Learned clamming
Seed 3 Make a friend/enemy. Taln is a frenemy, but leaning more toward friend kind of.
Seed 4 Give or receive a hit from another PC. You're an ass Taln.
Seed 5 Tell someone a terrifying story/hear a terrifying story
23 Oct '22 current Syka Season Total WC I've lost count
______________________________________________

[Taln]

❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting. Seeking/finding followers of Ivak. ❖ Get others involved in your storyline. Hahahahahaha ❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid. He doesn't have a PAID job. ❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher. ❖ Be active. ❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points. Working toward animal husbandry ❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith. ❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads. Stu, Artik, Randal, Zayne and Rainmere. ❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. Seed 1 Make a friend/enemy. Mitt is a frenemy, but leaning more toward friend kind of. Seed 2 Give or receive a hit from another PC. Thanks Mitt Seed 3 Tell someone a terrifying story/hear a terrifying story

[Kamilla]

❖Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith. - A Claw To Pick
❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads. - Hope On The Horizon - James Chaliva
- Home Is Where The Heart Is - Jehu
❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.
- Deliver a blow to a fellow PC The Enemy of My Enemy

[Alric Lysane]

❖ Start a post in this thread keeping track of how many requirements you have completed. It's a good idea to cut/paste this list into your own post below that you can work on as the season progresses.
❖ Decide what is hunting you/What you are hunting.
❖ Get others involved in your storyline.
Moritz Viewpoint - A Redone Reunion
❖ Complete TWO job threads of at least 2.5K words if you want to be paid.
❖ Pay Seasonal Expenses of Common or higher.
❖ Be active.
❖ Work on one or more recommended Syka Skills (Wilderness Survival, Tradeskill, etc) and increase it by 5 points.
❖ Pray to one of the Gods/Goddesses who are represented in Syka and on its Monolith OR investigate/research the slash mark symbol on the monolith.
A Claw To Pick…
To Claw A Blank
Murphy's Claw

❖ Include one of the NPCs listed in the NPC Masterlist in one of your threads.
Mathias – The Inequities of Life I
Randal – The Inequities of Life III
Buraga – The Inequities of Life IV
Stu – The Inequities of Life V
Indigo - Jungle Odyssey Pt I
Sorian - Job Thread 1 & Job Thread 2

❖ Utilize at least 2 storyseeds in a creative way. The storyseeds can be used in whole or part or could even be used as an inspiration for a whole different story arc. Folks will just have to be able to see the connections.

❖ Remember something you've completely forgotten or suppressed.
❖ Have an encounter with an ancestor in a vision or drug-induced state.
❖ Research/investigate the mysterious claw mark symbol on the monolith.
A Claw To Pick…
To Claw A Blank
Murphy's Claw

❖ Visit a location new to the Settlement or new to you.
The Confluence, Reclaimed Knowledge, Dais of the Forgotten & Pavena World Gate - Sometimes The Stars Bear Witness

❖ Pray to a new god or goddess.
❖ Have a crazy very detailed dream.
❖ Discover an Artifact.
Some Things Remain The Same

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