The World of Althanas

Lornius Corporate Championship Rules

The rules for Althanas’ 2v2 tournament have been posted!

-Only registered teams and players will be allowed to participate in this tournament. If your character has not been approved you will not be allowed to join the tournament at all.

-The battles will run exactly like a Citadel battles where each fighter will be completed healed between battles. Between each Round there will be a 5 day period of rest for updates to be posted around Althanas.

-The first person to post, as determined by random pairing, will set the setting for the battle. Remember that Lornius is a closed off island far north of Corone. It is very remote, desolate and intolerable. All battles must use a portion of the island as their setting.

-The standard rules of battle of Althanas also apply for the duration of this tournament. That means no power gaming will be tolerated. OOC should be kept to a minimum, if it is anything more than a clarification it should be kept in a PM.

-There are NO disqualifications due to absence. If it is certain that a fellow team member will not return for a short time or falls during the battle, the other player can remain to battle. There are no EXP penalties for non-participation, however wildcard points will be deducted for non-approved extended absences.

-Each Round will last exactly two weeks, and must be over 10 posts of actual RP to receive EXP for the battle. At 12:00 AM Pacific after the round is over, and the fights will be judged over a short resting period.

-Teams will be randomly paired against one another for each round.

-All judgments are final.

If you’re interested in our tournament, head over to Althanas and register. Don’t be afraid of being new and without a partner. There is a thread set up for people without partners to find them here.

Lornius Corporate Challenge

countingcrowds:

althanas:

One of Althanas’ most beloved tournaments, the LCC, is returning! In the LCC, players form 2 members teams and write in a 2vs2 bracket against other players. The LCC always brings out amazing storylines and fantastic character development from our site’s players.

Never been to Althanas but interested in the tournament? Registration begins in just under one week, so there is plenty of time to register your character and find a partner.

Lornius Corporate Challenge

One of Althanas’ most beloved tournaments, the LCC, is returning! In the LCC, players form 2 members teams and write in a 2vs2 bracket against other players. The LCC always brings out amazing storylines and fantastic character development from our site’s players.

Never been to Althanas but interested in the tournament? Registration begins in one week, so there is plenty of time to register your character and find a partner.

As Althanas’ gift to our awesome writers, we’re going to offer a holiday posting incentive for the next month! In character (IC) posts from December 9th through January 9th (up to 11:59 pm EST) will receive an immediate bonus at the end of the promotional period, equivalent to 5% EXP of your current level-up requirement per post.

How much is that, exactly? If you’re Level 0 it’s 100 EXP per IC post; Level 1, 150 EXP; and so on (here is the Level Chart for reference). And what’s more, you’re eligible for the reward up to two entire level-ups! (Keep in mind that we’re tallying all of the bonuses from your current level, even if you level up from the reward.)

This is on top of what EXP you may earn through judgment of the threads once they’re finished, too. Crazy, right?!

That means that if you’ve been putting off a solo or considering starting a thread with someone new, this is the perfect time for it! Visit the Role-player’s Corner to see who’s looking for what; we have both new and established writers who are seeking threads.

To participate, you must reply to this thread with a link to your activity. Please make one post per person and simply list the threads you’ve posted in during the timeframe (no need to update for every post, unless you posted in a new thread). We’ll be checking activity through other means, but this will help make sure we don’t miss anything.

Disclaimer: Awards are up to the discretion of the staff and if we see people abusing it, such as splitting posts into multiple shorter ones, we may reduce the size of your bonus accordingly. A general rule of thumb is a solid IC post should be in the range of at least 300-500 words, but this is not a hard restriction and thoughtful small posts –– including those in the Citadel –– are still included in the incentive.

New Currency: Althanas Points

Althanas Points are here! What are they, you may ask? Althanas Points are an out of character currency developed to reward players for contributing to the community and being active on the site. We love you guys, and everything you do so we want to make sure you feel appreciated for making Althanas thrive! Zook Murnig has posted up a FAQ on AP, including how to earn it and what kind of swag you can spend it on. You can find it here, where you can also ask any questions not already answered by the FAQ.

Have fun earning, everyone!

Adventurer’s Crown Round Two - finished!

A huge congratulations to Sagequeen and Inwuhou for taking first place in the second round of the Adventurer’s crown on Althanas!

The Adventurer’s Crown is a yearly tournament where teams are assembled of registered characters and they are to write a quest incorporating their take on a set of obstacles given for the round. The quests are judged and the writers in the top quests go on to the next round.

Moving on to Round Three are:

Sagequeen

Inwuhou

Christoph

Zack Blaze

Congratulations to our writers! Here’s an exerpt to the winning thread with a score of 71, group five.

Inwuhou fought the surge of metaphysical nausea that came with working up Paradox. It had been a close thing, the fall. She had crossed four cubby-holes in the twinkle of an eye to get to Erissa by slicing time thin; the elf had fallen all of three inches and the lifting hand to the back was simplicity itself. Now, the backlash struck.

The nun was almost hidden around the broad curve of the tree. She was slowed because it is very hard to climb using holes that all observation insisted was, in fact, filled with very solid pieces of metal. There was solid wooden stairs laid upon those metal supports, spiralling all the way around the tree. In the green-tinted shadows cast by the bountiful leaves overhead, a dozen people went about their unconcerned lives. Hanging from the rails every two feet, zig-zag waxpaper tassels blew in a warm, pleasant wind. Two young people leaned against the rail and one another, apparently discussing a future together. A bare-chested man bearing three skewers of roast fish whistled foreign melodies as he came up the stairs. He shouted a greeting to three elders, who broke from their congregation to inquire about something. Inwuhou didn’t understand a single word, but she did understand the good-natured laughter at the answer.

Are you looking for a place to RP, and does the sound of regular fun features like tournaments and contests appeal to you? Come join us on Althanas.com

Bells in Trayas

Resolve loved parties. She hadn’t been invited to Anthony and Barbara’s wedding but it was a given she’d pop up at some point during the reception, the girl having established somewhat of a reputation in her handful of years on the loose in the Radasanth vicinity’s social scene. The war had put a damper on things for obvious reasons, but she still managed to find something to do when inspiration struck. It was one of her goals to someday be that one old lady who somehow received invitations to every event in the region, a permanent fixture in celebration everywhere. Her funeral would be the most glorious fête of the century; she had already begun planning it and very much hoped that at that point she would have her abilities under enough control that she could attend as a ghost. It wasn’t worth trying to tell her that wasn’t possible; she’d find a way.

Bells in Trayas is the most recently judged quest written by Itera and Resolve. The story involves a wedding reception crashed, and magical hijinks ensuing. It’s a fun read, and garnered a score of 61 from newly returned judge Zook Murnig.

Story - 19/30
Storytelling - 7/10 The story was a relatively simple one at the start, but it twisted and turned in unexpected, but nonetheless forseeable, directions. While things got a little confusing at some points, that was not a detriment to this category. I would also like to congratulate you two on making a non-epic story, one of an attempted theft gone wrong, into something truly enjoyable to read.
Pacing - 6/10 Though short, this thread managed to make a lot happen within the page and a half of posts. However, nothing felt rushed, and nothing moved too slowly. There were a couple of instances of backtracking between posts, but I noticed that in the last few posts you had resolved that between yourselves, so I did not dock for it.
Setting - 6/10 Not a whole lot was said about the actual physical setting of the town or the tavern where the wedding reception took place. However, it’s often forgotten by writers that the denezins of a place can be used to flesh out the setting wonderfully, and the two of you did just that. I got a sense of personality from each person, and that helped both this and Persona. I would, however, like to see more description and interaction with the setting in the future.

Characterization - 19/30
Persona - 7/10 Resolve, I got a very good feel for your character from the moment she was introduced, and it carried through to the end of the thread. I appreciated that she was not instantly friends with this trickster fairy the moment she revealed her true identity, and did her best to get rid of Itera by the end for all the trouble she had caused. As well, Itera did a good job of playing out the idea of a mischievous and far from benign fae, and I personally enjoyed the reference to traditional folklore in her fear of the iron gate. Towards the end, it got a little out of hand with the trickery and tea parties, but otherwise it was a good showing all around. As I said in Setting, the background characters all really shone. Enough detail was given to their motivations and behaviors to make them stand out, but they never upstaged the main characters.
Action - 7/10 Some would argue that there was very little action in this thread. I would disagree with that, and though there was no real fight scene, I saw a lot of work done with using your abilities creatively. The activity of the locals entertained and played into the major events of the story, as well.
Communication - 5/10 This is hard for me to judge in this case, because while there was some great dialogue and body language at the beginning and middle of the thread, the last few posts had some of the strangest exchanges, including when Itera finally introduced herself for who she really was, and insisted that Resolve drink some tea. There’s not much I can say to help with this other than to take your time getting in tune with your character, and imagine how a reader will interpret what is being said, whether through dialogue or body language.

Prose - 17/30
Technique - 5/10 I didn’t see very much unusual language, and while the two of you seem to have a grasp of basic English and how to make it work for you, you might want to look a little deeper into metaphor and other methods of spicing up your writing. I also wondered at the repeated use of the phrase “what fortune” in a single post by Itera, which was never repeated anywhere else. Was this going to be a running gag or catch phrase, and just got abandoned later?
Mechanics - 5/10 A few times Itera switched tenses, and there were a few misspellings. I was briefly confused by the use of “a napron” until I looked up “apron” on Wiktionary and found that its origins were originally just what you had used. I applaud the creativity, but be careful with this. Most judges wouldn’t look up something like that, as it looked to be a simple typo spelling error. As well, be careful of run-on sentences and try to separate out unnecessary or potentially standalone clauses within your sentences.
Clarity - 7/10 Despite the number of things happening simultaneously, especially in the beginning, I had no problems understanding what was going on. There was a little hiccup in keeping track of things once the hedgehogs were loose, but as soon as Itera was found out by the real Valerie’s arrival, everything was brought back to the main characters and I knew what was going on again. I would advise caution with the rifts, however, because it took me a second to catch onto what was happening when Itera brought the serving tray down on Resolve’s head.

Wild Card - 6/10 Down the rabbit hole we go!

TOTAL - 61/100

Itera receives 651 EXP and 147 GP
Resolve receives 651 EXP and 147 GP

One of the more unique aspects of Althanas is the judging system, where writers submit their threads for judging by our moderator team, and the scores are used to assign rewards of experience and gold to those characters. As characters level up, they can add abilities and skills to their player registrations. The combination of the RPG game and play by post roleplay writing is something beloved by our players. Does this concept interest you? Come write with us at Althanas!