Antheia's blog

When September Ends

Well, friends.

I won't say this is the end, because I hope it's not. But I am officially taking my name off of active staff at the end of September. I'm starting graduate school for fiction which is super exciting! But most of my creative writing goes into NarniaMUCK, and I need to concentrate all that energy on school, which means I can't staff at the same time. Those of you who are active may have noticed that I've already started to disappear as my grad school duties pile up.

Jarron is still around, and some of our lovely non-RP staff are filling in the gap while Emilia and I are away. You are not abandoned! And I would love to hear about your lives. My plan is to log on Antheia very little if at all, except during my breaks, but you have my staff email if you want to have a bit of personal correspondence. I do expect to be back come summer, and hopefully not miss TOO much of the HHB excitement that will be 2014.

Anyway, thought I ought to officially announce, since I've been getting a few requests lately that I've had to forward on to other staff members. I love you all, my beautiful Narnians. Smile You are so creative and clever and passionate, and I have grown so much over the past 5 years staffing here because of what YOU have given me. I hope I get the chance to work with you again as closely as I have in the past when I'm done with school, but if not, I'm very grateful for the time we've had.

<3
Anth.

This Holiday Season

Greetings friends and happy Thanksgiving to our players in the States!

Here's my quick plug to say thank you for staying faithful to your friends here at NarniaMUCK in spite of busy and changing lives. I know it's hard to stay plugged in, especially when your staff are not around as much to help keep you informed.

I'm afraid that staff are going to continue to be scarcer than we've been for the foreseeable future. That said, feel no fear leaving page#mails if you need some help, or using task to document a problem for us. We may not be able to help with everything and we may not be able to respond immediately, but we continue to love you and love working with you. I speak especially for myself, here, but I think the sentiment extends well beyond myself.

All this to say, it's Thanksgiving where I am, and I'm thankful for you guys! This is a place where each of you is truly and visibly important. It's you that keeps RP going with fresh ideas, interesting personalities, exciting adventurous, and abundant community. Keep coming, keep RPing, keeping chatting, and keep poking at me when you see me around! Most of all, keep finding Narnia a great place to relax and find friends. I love to see how you guys enjoy each other here (and I enjoy you, too).

I'll make a quick plug here: the contest for Christmas celebration ideas ends in just a few days on November 25. There's not many entries, so you've got a great chance of us using your idea (and even if you don't, we'll probably give you some silver apples just for contributing)!
Also, start looking out for Father Christmas. I hear he's coming around and about here pretty soon...

The Beginning of a New Year?

The last two years have been interesting April Fool's Days for me. I've spent a lot of time in the prep stages, but been largely unavailable on the day of. For that reason I don't have a ton to report on today's actual activities-- though I know there was some names which got mysteriously melded, some shot-gun expert level "thievery" abilities, and some parties that ended with all of at least one player's items lost in the river. Hopefully you all had the chance to meet Rumpelstiltskin, frolic in Neverland, climb a giant beanstalk, and discover an underground ballroom, as well.

Some of you probably know the theories in regards to the history of April Fool's Day. Most people will tell you that April Fool's Day originates from a change in calendars, from April 1st as New Year's to January 1st. Those who stuck with the old calendar were 'fools'.
These theories don't account for some of the earliest references to April Fool's (which is referenced even as early as Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", 200 years before the calendar change). I don't know of any more accurate origination, or if there even is a good solid reason for April Fool's day-- medieval Britons did love their practical jokes so.
What's fun for me is that April Fool's Day is the actually the closest thing we have to a New Year on NarniaMUCK. The game gets completely scoured and redone by staff-- turned upside down in much the same way old Europeans would do for big holidays signifying new changes (like Mardi Gras). RP is stopped for a full day while everyone steps back to explore a new game all over again. For me, there's a lot of fun and carousing, but I also miss RPing a bit, too. It's a reminder of why I love the players (you guys are so fun to goof off with), and also a reminder of what it is I love about the game (I did have a nerdishly great time looking into the history and reinterpretations of all those fairytales, but Narnia is such a full world with such a bright worldview-- even as it acknowledges real evil). When that 24 hours of carnivalesque hullabaloo is complete, the entire game is wiped clean. There's an end of the world feeling to it, as one by one each room disappears and all the players congregate in the last room, nonodding religiously, waiting to be purged, themselves. It is binding. It reminds me of the essentials (you). And then, I hit enter 3 times to let my client know I want to reconnect-- and there's good old Narnia, back for another year.

I've already written a blog about New Year's, so I won't write a lot more on another. Some fun things have happened already this year. I think you might start getting hints in your characters' daily lives of the exciting events going on at the castle soon. In the meantime, I look forward to the coming 12 months, and the next April 1st. Maybe I'm a fool, but I think it's going to be a good one.

<3 Ozm-- I mean, Anth.

April Fool's Day Preparations

Every year we change large sections of the muck to prank our players for April Fool's Day. It's good fun for both staff and players-- just a full day dedicated to complete and total silliness. It started out long ago (years before my time) with a few amazing staff members who literally got on the night before and changed probably hundreds of rooms in less than 24 hours. We give ourselves a little more time for prep these days, but I am consistently impressed by how much fun and creativity comes out of my fellow staff members (and our players, too, on the day of). Read more »

2011 in Review

It's been quite a year for NarniaMUCK and if new years are good for anything, they're good for looking back and waxing nostalgic while smoothing your fake mustache, adjusting nonprescription glasses and sipping a cup of organic tea. ...Oh just me on that last part? I suppose I can just focus on the nostalgia bit, then.

("Where did you get enough hands to do all those things at once, Antheia?"
"I'm a magical centaur wizard; I can do whatever I want, hypothetical skeptical player.") Read more »

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