November 2017 Announcements

November 2017 Announcements.
Prepare for a bumpy ride!



Odds and Ends
We've got even more odds and ends at the start. November is a busy month, with both a contest and an event starting this week. We also have a much-requested new section of the FAQ.

Our detailed power guide serves to answer questions about subpowers, power limits, species ability balancing, and magical items on applications. While aimed at new characters, almost all of this will apply to power improvements as well.

Events
This month we have a whole bunch of events, including not one but two ICC events! This month we have the forum Bonfire running all month long, but we also have the ICC Bonfire running on the 4th and the 5th. We also have the Pirate's Feast running from the 10th-12th. Whether you prefer playing in events on the forums or in the ICC, hop into the Bonfire now and enjoy!


Contests
We have an AU Contest beginning on the 5th, and running until the 14th. This contest will challenge you to design an alternate universe version of one of your existing characters. The theme will be announced on the 5th when the contest goes up.


Spotlights

Member Spotlight: @ReD!
ReD has been with Starlight Academy longer than most of us can remember. They're very active with new members and old members alike, continually plotting and joining in on spotlights and forum events. They really help to make the forum feel like a lively and friendly place to settle down. As the creator of Mischief Night, this is a double celebration for ReD!

Character Spotlight: Fabio "Frito" Magee by @Lazzy!
"Why is he hot, he's a quacking pumpkin." - Romi
"He got that pumpkin spice." - Kada

Frito is exactly what you expect when you give a fantastic RPer like Lazzy a skeleton of a character concept that includes the words "wild card." He's fun, funny, and charming in a way that you wouldn't expect from a man whose birth name is Fabio Magee. And he beat the devil himself in a dance-off to win back his soul, which is just about the best thing I think I've ever read. He's a welcome addition to the Green Hat crew and overall just a really interesting character.

Plot Spotlight: Mischief Night
Mischief Night is an extremely interesting player run event, started by our own ReD! During Mischief Night, students steal small items from teachers and hold them ransom via anonymous notes for candy. It's a hilarious plot that has already created some really funny connections between characters.

You can check out the next set of spotlight nominations here. You can read more about spotlights and other contests in the Complete Guide to Contests.​

Mid-Month November 2017 Announcements.
I told you it was going to be bumpy...



Staff Promotions
We'd like to welcome two new members to the staff team! Both @Ashes and @Keen have joined the rangers, and you'll see them around the cbox with new orange names.


Monster Invasion!
Much to the delight of the cackling-behind-the-scenes event staff, the yearly bonfire event was crashed by monsters, requiring an evacuation to the school. While the school continues operations as normal, more remote parts of the island are seeing the incursion of dangerous creatures.

This event is a forum event, where players make their own threads and then have those thread invaded by visitors controlled by the mods! The information players collect and what they decide to do with it can greatly change the course of this event, so check out the explanation thread here.

We also have a VR sim based on our AU contest coming up on the 25th-26th! This will be taking place in our ICC.


Contests and Spotlights
The AU Contest is no longer accepting entries for the contest portion, although you can still enter profiles for the VR Sim itself. Winners will be announced at the start of December.

The community spotlight is now up, and you can vote on winners here!


New Lore!
New lore: Our wiki page about the island's healthcare system now includes an entry on recently opened moon clinics. These facilities offer their services free of charge to werewolves who become uncontrollable on the full moon, and those who have similar afflictions. Original draft by our very own @Nikki! If you have any ideas like this, send a message @Kait's way about it.

Our page on vampires includes new information about how vampires and others can obtain blood on Manta Carlos. Kait is also looking for players to contribute to this page with sections about their own kinds of vampires.

We have new lore on Reapers, done by @Foxy. The section "Reaper Trivia" was added to help outline common personality traits, their "culture," relationship to death, limbo, and a general guide to Reaping and how it may work.

The Fae page has also had quite a bit of sprucing up with contributions from @Foxy, @Kadakism, and @Boop. Most of these updates are about Under the Hill and the various courts and species of Fae that reside there.


Power Upgrade Revamp
As mentioned in last month's announcement, we've revamped the way we handle power upgrades to make things much easier! The process now runs similarly to applying for a character in the first place, and uses the new power upgrade forum. You can read all the details here.​