Hellooo my festive little snow imps!
I hope you've all got your winter bobble hats ready and your elasticated space jeans on, because this December is a complete treat glutton, you lucky things, you.
For the uninitiated - here's a little backstory! (For those who know the story already, just scroll past this part.)
Five hundred years ago, a Tukkav by the name of Laus Koldain began a new tradition, which he called Winterflame. The holiday was modeled after traditional Toof Circles, but with a decidedly more inclusive bent. Occuring once every four years, Winterflame is focused around togetherness, a way for Tukkav in all corners of the galaxy to extend their natural feelings of hospitality and warmth to non-Tukkav. This multi-racial holiday has become rather popular, with gift giving, story circles, and of course, drinking, as popular mainstays and traditions.
As usual, transport to Winterflame will be available from Omni Station.
Just like last year, expect things to happen all month long as we add new faces, introduce new features, create new content, and keep things rolling along just like a snowball.
Right now, you can go and enjoy the snowmounds, start a snowball fight, make some snowmen (be sure to PUSH mounds and snowmen), learn about Winterflame and get accustomed to the cold climate. You can also now SNOWANGEL SNOWMOUND to make snow angels and give yourself a sparkly little EFFECT.
Oh yes... we now have an 'Effects' section in our descriptions, where us admin types can pop pretty little add-ons to your appearance. More to add to this, for sure, but for now, you can use the EFFECTS command to view and remove any effects you have!
You'll see various quests around the Winterflame Festival area, and most of them count towards a running total of points, for which some extra special rewards will be given at the end of December. Our favorite Halloween event kids, Eddie and Ely have been added to the quest children and there will be more added to the Winterflame area as time passes... it's only just getting set up! You may even see some familiar faces FLOATING about!
As for this month's promo, it's....you guessed it: GIFTCATCHERS!
WHAT THE HECK ARE GIFTCATCHERS?
Giftcatchers are a Winterflame tradition that evolved from the Tukkav custom of hanging gift-laden nets in the doorways of their huts before a hunt. Originally meant to appease the local spirits, the custom became associated with prosperity and generosity over time. It was enthusiastically adopted by offworld celebrants as an integral part of Winterflame gift-giving.
Giftcatchers are available for purchase on the website and you are able to hang them in-game for yourself or your friends! Once you've purchased them, you can simply HANG GIFTCATCHER FOR ME or HANG GIFTCATCHER FOR <player> and it will be placed in the room! You can additionally add ANONYMOUS to the end to give someone an anonymous gift!
Once hung, they will be filled with gifts sometime during the in-game day!
Giftcatchers come in 4 varieties: Simple, Silver, Gold and Platinum, with each tier containing higher and higher values of gifts inside! That's not to say that you won't luck out if you stick with the Simple giftcatchers, though - they have a chance to contain all the gifts as well. After a giftcatcher is full, you may OPEN GIFTCATCHER and retrieve your prizes. Check out HELP GIFTCATCHERS to learn more about the workings of these Winterflame specials.
There are a LOT of prizes in the giftcatchers this year, so let's get right into the prize list.
We have some brand new goodies for you this year, which so far are:
A festive Winterflame prize calendar - A special advent calendar to help you count down the days with some yummy candy.
A snow-sparkled fish baggie - including three new adorably wintery fishies - a miniature snow cone crab, a striped lamprey and a spiral shelled polar periwinkle!
A snowman shaped thermos - complete with piping hot cocoa whenever you want it, served in a whole variety of flavors and styles! Whether you prefer rainbow marshmallows or dark and sophisticated hot chocolate, this is the thermos for you!
A passive bugsweeper - drop this device in any room owned by you and anyone who drops a bug there will be in for an eardrum-piercing surprise if they try to listen in on your private spaces The very latest in home security tech.
We have THREE brand new ship rooms for you to unlock this month, thanks to the wonderful Soren:
- An aromatic shipboard diner - your new robotic chef is at hand to provide you with up to five foods of your choosing! - The immense appliance installed behind a countertop of gleaming paristeel takes up most of the space in this narrow diner, the lights blinking across it adding to the moody, color-changing strip lighting installed up near the ceiling. A few stools tucked beneath the counter provide a place to sit at the bar, while a couple of squashy chairs tucked against the bulkhead near the door provide a place to curl up with a drink and a good book.
- A botanical stasis room - Keep your plants safe from harm (and decay) in this lovely new room. - Completely enclosed from floor to ceiling in crystal-clear formglass, this greenhouse space allows for the loving care of any of the sector's resplendent flora lovingly housed within it. Timed sprinklers set within the ceiling provide moisture to each species' requirements, creating rainbows in the mist. Heavy with the scent of loam, sunloft shelving allows the most prized pieces to be displayed at varying heights.
- A cozy hearthroom - Comes with your very own roaring hearth, logs to put on the fire and a cosy comfy sofa. - This cozy and inviting inglenook is a natural gathering spot for those that seek warmth and fellowship while roasting marshmallows or swapping stories. A conversation pit built into a recess in the center of the room allows the acoustics to focus intimate speech against the crackle and roar of the nearby fireplace.
As for artifacts, we have four new ones for you this time...
Black Market Hack (blackmarket_hack)
Allows you to access the BLACKMARKET when docked at any station, you shady trepling!
Everlasting Poison Bottle (poison_bottle)
Allows you to LACE <liquidcontainer> to poison to a drink.
Street smarts (street_smarts)
Allows you to SCOUT UNEXPLORED every 1 minute, rather than every 5 minutes.
Friend of Quickmark (double_junk_cap)
Doubles the softcap on how many marks you can earn from bashing per RL day.
ALSO, if you missed them, there is a chance to win a set of Bushraki wings, and as a great BIG present to all of you, we have made EVERY promotional artie ever released in Starmourn available in the giftcatchers this year - and there's so many of those, I can't even list them all!
We also have all of the wintery promo items from previous years in there, as well as lots of other stuff!
Additionally, for every 5 giftcatcher of each type you purchase, you'll receive either a hunter's or tracker's version of that tier! So if you purchase 5 gold giftcatchers you'll get a tracker's (or hunter's) gold giftcatcher. These special versions contain double the reward value as the regular versions! However, these giftcatchers will only be filled on December 25th (tracker) and January 1st (hunter). These tallies count over multiple purchases, so if you purchase 5 single giftcatchers over the month, you'll get a special version with your 5th purchase.
BUT WAIT... THE PRESENTS DON'T STOP!
The SS Ironbeard is also back this month, and while whoever pilots this massive capital ship remains a galactic mystery that would stump the wisest Rek Chronomaster, what ISN'T mysterious is the packages full of goodies that it rains down upon whatever planet it is currently orbiting.
NOTE: The SS Ironbeard will only orbit racial homeworlds (and Scatterhome, since it counts as a racial homeworld. But not Glisal II or Song) and will toss gifts to everyone who happens to be on the surface at the time. You can only get these gifts in an outdoors room, and you can track him by doing STARCHART IRONBEARD. You may only receive one such free gift per day.
Thank you SO MUCH to all of the Storytellers who have been working their little butts off to get this ready for you all. Please show them lots of love and give them lots of praise. They deserve it!
More to come... but for now...
Happy Flameday, one and all!
Damiel <3
