Site News

Nestled amongst some oddities in a certain shop...is something a bit peculiar. Elnin have been hearing rumors scattered amongst communities of finding these compact little surprises left on elnin doorsteps and sometimes directly in bags. This must be one of them! Is that an egg of sorts? Some older elnins mentioned similar occurrences in olden days but the records are quite sketchy. The most impactful advice older elnin can give is to treat these eggs gently and care for them.

Additionally the miasma this season seems unusually thin for the time being. There are more rumors that the eggs have something to do with feyfolk and that feyfolk have been actively working to push miasma back this season. It's unclear how long this odd behavior will linger for or what these strange eggs are but they have to hatch eventually, right?

The raffle winners for the June 2024 Spirits Stirring Raffle are...

Oddly-Colored Pomu (Oddform / Multi-colored) Token Winners"
1. strabi
2. bisflorescentia
3. Malis
4. Silver-the-wyrm
5. BlackMajixCat
6. Chickolates
7. Orangeish
8. starimaga
9. Llew
10. DearRyufur
11. Daffupanda

Overwild (Aquatic) Token Winners:
1. ceryskies
2. Knife
3. Becci
4. Starbask
5. Shadonut
6. Mowen
7. FruitCrepe
8. Nekoyang
9. AliLV
10. missdevichi
11. wintry-chan
12. Picnyx
13. Jahpan
14. Giz
15. yumehaeya
16. Katsuki
17. SmolPeep

Oddly-Colored Pomu (Single-color) Token Winners:
1. Twerpette
2. LizzyJun
3. Mewwsic
4. Seaglassmoon
5. Sharky

Rolling took place in our Discord in the #games_and_raffles channel today!

Thank you everyone for participating! We hope you bring you more events soon in the future! <3

From now until the end of June we'll be hosting a raffle for 15 Overwild (Aquatic) Tail Tokens and 25 Oddly-Colored Pomu Tokens (10 Oddform/Multi-colored pomu and 15 Single color pomu).

Please read below for additional info on how to enter and rules. Completing this year’s Spirits Stirring Seasonal Prompt will not automatically enter you for this raffle. You will need to submit a response to the appropriate google form, so please keep this in mind!

A 3EC participation bonus will be granted to all users who complete the Spirits Stirring Seasonal Prompt ( [S-2] Spirits Stirring) this month. This bonus will be granted at the end of the month. This will allow community members to purchase the latest card frame from the Card Frame Merchant if they wish or put it forward to something else they're saving up for!

2024 June Spirits Stirring Raffle Details

The raffle winners for the March Raffle 2024 are:

#1 - Spring Time Bun - flyingwaysofducks
#2 - Spring Tea Party - aquapyrofan
#3 - Butterfly Garden - DarkfireVengeance
#4 - Bleeding Heart Doe - Daffupanda
#5 - Chocolate Lover - ShinPurple
#6 - Auspicious Spring - SuperLebunee
#7 - Spring Lamb - plumendra
#8 - Peony Ballerina - LizzyJun
#9 - Thawing Meadow - number11train

Rolling took place in our Discord in the #games_and_raffles channel today!

Thank you everyone for participating! We hope you bring you more events soon in the future! <3

Between now and next Sunday we will be hosting a short raffle for some premade kittom prizes.

Please read below for additional info on how to enter and rules.  You will need to submit a response to the appropriate google form, so please keep this in mind!

March 2024 Raffle Details

It's March already and this year is flying by.  So once again we're touching base with the community!

Discord Changes and Clarifications

We've made a few notable changes to our discord this month and we want to clarify a few things that we've gotten questions about.

Recent Changes

• We've added a #writing_gallery channel to showcase written works to compliment our art_gallery which is primarily focused on visuals.
• Emoji use in the #questions and #design_feedback channels on discord will now be restricted to moderator staff.

A Few Clarifications

• The #art_gallery is a place for primarily visual arts, this includes drawings, crafts, and heavily curated photography.
  • We have gotten questions in the past on whether or not photography has a place in the #art_gallery, and the team feels that it does. If you're sharing photos though as an art piece, we do ask they not just be casually taken photos that may be more appropriate for other channels like #pet_appreciation, #cook_nook, #discovery_channel, etc.
  • No matter what medium you are sharing visual art of, please be conscientious of spam. If you wish to share many pictures of something drawn, photographed, or otherwise, we ask you to choose your best image or two and then link to a more robust gallery if you want to share more.
• Only responses in #questions and #design_feedback from modberries, prompt team moderators and design team moderators are considered official responses to general questions.
  
  • We have many channels where other members casually try to help out, and occasionally moderators may respond in other spaces too with a best guess, but these are not to be considered official responses to questions regardless of who they come from.
  • Generally questions asked in #questions and #design feedback goes through more than just one staff member to try to ensure we're giving accurate responses. When any moderator or group member replies in a one-off fashion in general channels there is a risk that their feedback may contain their personal opinion in a casual way or misinformation, so we ask group members to take these answers with a grain of salt and know they may not always be accurate.
  • Only discord moderators may hop into any channel to address discord specific tasks or conflicts.

Moderator Changes and Current Queues

We've had some adjustments in our staffing in recent months and many of our mods have had some things cropping up in their daily lives.

Tatter and Leechi Are Off to Other Pursuits!

In the past few months here we've had a few of our prompt team staff step down due to work and family commitments taking priority in their lives. Moderating was an aspect they didn't feel they would be able to keep up with. As always the team is supportive of moderators prioritizing the things they need to do in life. While it is unfortunate we have to see the teammates we enjoy working with go, we're hopeful to continue to see them around the group and taking care of themselves. Tatter was among the older staff members on our prompts team and Leechi joined the team a few years after. We're wishing them some easier times in months to come even as some other things in life ramp up for them!

Slower Responses and Queues this Month and Next Month

We just want to call some attention to regular group systems moving a bit slower on all fronts this month and potentially next month. We've had a few team members step down and several others are still helping out but currently experiencing some rougher times. Work has been strenuous on some of our staff while others are out sick or dealing with some difficult family matters. While we won't be going into many details, we did want to ask the community for a little more patience as the team works through things this month and next month. Please expect things to be a bit slower and try to recognize we're a bit of a skeleton crew during this period of time.

It is worth mentioning Starbask will be out of town for the last two weeks this month with little to no computer access. This means some more involved approvals, questions, or tasks may be on hold during that time and take a bit of time thereafter to catch up on. The team can usually handle many tasks and questions but some still fall to Starbask and Mana to confer on and clarify details on as needed.

A Raffle on the Horizon

We did a free kittom raffle back in December and we'll be hosting another small one this month. The raffle will go live soon, time permitting, and be open for a minimum of 48 hours with intent to be rolled some time Sunday March 17th, 2024 PST time. There will not be a prompt requirement to enter this raffle, however the form to enter the raffle will include a question about what your favorite part of spring is! So start brainstorming if there's some things you are particularly fond of during the springtime!

Happy New Year everyone! We are officially in 2024 now, and efforts last week have been made to wrap up most work.

Winter Modcation

Modcation is upon us. We've wrapped up the first week of January and moderators have begun their modcation. Expect to see group functions halt on all fronts. If moderators wish to work during modcation there may be some movement but nothing is being required of the team during this time, so expect most things to not start happening again until early February!

• January 8th-31st: Moderators will not be expected to work during this time frame. Users can still submit prompts and design approvals, etc. but please do not ask about turnaround times during this window as well. Staff may choose to work if they desire but it won't be a required thing. We want to make sure the whole team has a well deserved break.
• February 1st-4th: Moderators will be slowly coming back. Responses may be slow during this time period but we'll be looking to get back to things at a more regular pace the following week.

Moderator Changes 2024

A few may have already noticed but early this January we've had changes to our moderator staff. We have one very bittersweet sendoff as a more senior moderator has stepped down, and a few new exciting additions to our staff team that resulted from applications reviewed this past year!

AliLV is Off to Other Pursuits

It's with a heavy heart the team is announcing AV is stepping down as a moderator with the group after working with us for five and a half years. We've had other very wonderful mods step down in the past to focus on their lives and other endeavors so this isn't entirely new to the team. As moderators, our time is often split between our day jobs, moderation work, and other hobbies and creative pursuits and sometimes we get spread thin. During these times, we need to consider if moderation work is the right thing to continue as it is still work, and while enjoyable can also be taxing at times.

AV for a number of years has made enormous contributions to the group in terms of keeping our masterlist processes and finalizing steps running. On top of those duties, her experiences as a more senior mod have meant sometimes on top of masterlist work she has contributed to design approval feedback, prompt feedback, questing feedback, and honestly there isn't much AV did not have some contribution to in the group during her time with us. When we transitioned to the World of Eyre site it's safe to say AV was what made it possible for us to have such thorough records of ownership histories, and she helped with most of the double checking of elnin data and entries imported to the site prior to its launching. It's safe to say the site would not be where it is today without her. So we're extending a big thanks to her. She has been an incredible mod and we can only be understanding and supportive as she gets some more free time to pursue things she may have put on hold for the group's sake in past years.

Shifting Roles

Prior to AV's departure from the team, we shifted some roles around a little. Alongside Sharky who has helped with masterlist task and guide updates in the past, our moderators FruitCrepe and wintry-chan have stepped up in recent months to help try to fill some of the big shoes AV is leaving behind. They have been doing a fantastic job. Fruit and Wintry are still helping the design approvals team, their jobs now extend to cover some finalizing steps both on that front and a few others.

New Moderator Staff Incoming!

As of this month, we've officially hired 3 new Prompt Moderators and 3 new Design Approval Moderators. We're hoping this will enable our teams to tackle the new quests and many design updates we're expecting to see in this coming year!

Please welcome these individuals to our staff!

• Mild-arts, Nalico, and Strabi have joined our Prompt team!
• Afrielzi, Becci, and Cynder are the new members of our Design Approvals team!

We're very excited to have them on board and we hope the community will be too. While we have onboarded them now, training and getting them up to speed on our internal workflows will be a task left for February. Their joining us in January should give them some time to get to know the existing moderator team during this quiet period and shadow any very limited work moderators may opt to do during break if they wish.

Reminders and Warnings about Soliciting and Trading Designs

We've posted some of these reminders in the past, but it has come to our attention that some users have been approaching people about buying/swapping their elnin when these owners have made no inclination that they have any desire to part with their elnin designs. We have also received multiple reports about users being approached with trades that break the group's TOS and Adopts TOS.

This is a reminder that users should not be harassing people about buying/swapping their elnin, or guilt tripping anyone at all. Users found in excess of this harassment may have their incoming trading privileges temporarily suspended, and if reports persist there will be heavier consequences. We put out public reminders and warnings like this as a first step to let people know that we're noticing these types of activities occurring, and if they are the ones taking these actions that they need to stop immediately. It is not ok. In general, if we see a single report of unwelcome behavior in the group or rule breaking, we may assume a reminder is needed to bring awareness to areas of the group in case some individuals may have forgotten our rules.

If we see multiple reports of actions persisting, even after public reminders, we will have to take further action. By that point we would've given users ample opportunities to refresh their knowledge of the rules, and will begin to enforce them. The group is not responsible for its members being made aware of the rules. Links to these rules and terms are accessible on the website, and are almost always linked alongside our events and sales. A lack of familiarity and awareness of the rules is not an excuse and warnings will be given accordingly if needed.

This is our second public reminder relative to these topics. We heavily recommend group members re-familiarizing themselves with the group's rules, etiquette, and policies.

These can be found at the following pages:

1. Group Terms of Service
2. Community Rules & Etiquette Guidelines
3. Adopts Terms of Service

If someone has been harassing you about trading/swapping your elnin, please send the moderators a ticket with the details so that we can look into it. In the situation where a user has an older elnin and doesn't have a WoE account, you can send us a note to our Modberry account on DeviantArt instead.

We also want to mention that retaliation towards community members for not wanting to trade their elnin, or at those who've felt uncomfortable enough they had to report someone else's behaviors in the first place, is not ok. Please respect the decisions of others. Harassment in a retaliatory way is not tolerated here and there will be consequences for those types of actions as well. We are sorry this has to be said but we have unfortunately received enough reports that it is necessary.

An Update to Bonded MYOs

We wanted to include a mention here that when bonded MYOs were released, we stated that group members could not redeem a second bonded MYO (of the same type, either EC or SC) for 12 months after the last was claimed. We're now adjusting this to align more with how Special Quests can be done, where we will no longer be keeping track of the time between claim submissions, and just stating that you can purchase one bonded MYO of each type (One for EC and one for SC) each annual year.

So the ability to claim bonded MYOs will now reset with the end of the year wrapping up. This means as of January 1st, 2024 at 12:00am PST time you can submit a claim for bonded MYOs within the year of 2024. We hope this update makes it smoother for users as well as staff with a little less time tracking involved!

Some Trait Updates

In preparation for some future changes to the group, primarily looking more at subtypes and eventually hybrid elnin, some traits are being renamed to keep things clearer as new traits and terminology are introduced.

Traits and Mutations being renamed, some with more adjustments than others:

• Hybrid Tails will be placed under the "Overwild" tail style umbrella under a "Furred" variant.
  • For now, this is just an adjustment and a rename, but we are still getting clarification if users will be able to edit their Overwild (Furred) tails into Overwild (Aquatic) ones and vice versa.
  • This change is to avoid this tail style from being confused with hybrid mentions in the future that relate more to the hybridization of elnin with subtype traits.
• Hybrid Crowns (2MP, 4MP, and 5MP crown styles) will have their crown style renamed to "Compound".
  • This change is to avoid certain crowns from being confused as having a subtype restriction when we start to clarify info on hybrid elnin in the future where hybrid refers to subtype related traits.
• Sleek ears will now be called Pointed ears, to have a name that reads solidly opposite to the Rounded ear mutation.

General Trait Guide Changes:

(The following pages either needed updates to align with the above changes or they were grossly out of date compared to the trait entries themselves. So we've opted to ensure information has shifted to our trait entries. It is worth noting given Modcation is happening some examples are linked and the "Trait Examples" are all placeholders. This is not a bug. It's just very time consuming to crop and add examples so that will be a future QoL endeavor.)

• Tail Guidelines and Crown Guidelines are now on their trait entries.
• The Tail Guide Overview page has been removed.
• The Crown Guide Overview page has been removed.
• Our Elnin Anatomy Guide now links to entries more directly in these areas, and the crown size graphic has been added to this page.

There are still a handful of guide updates we need to make based on conversations surfacing in discord, such as:

• Updates to include more elnin aging info and details about kittoms on our lore page.
• Refining language and visual guides for decora anima and how it interacts with other mutations.
• Clarifying some additional lore on the elnin lore page about corrupted anima shards and the role elnin play in being the caretakers of Eyre's mana systems almost everywhere. (These bits we intend to link to on related quest acts for added background.)
• And more...

Unfortunately, we just haven't had time to really refine language and what needs to go where. December was a busier month than expected along with some staff traveling or having some real life things take priority. We apologize for the delay but at this time it may just take us a bit longer to get everything into place. We're still trying to stick to release timelines for other aspects that have been long planned, but quality of life updates are never ending so we try to slip them in where we can.

Questing Updates

Special Quest submissions from 2023!

Due to modcation, Special Quests submitted towards the end of 2023 that required edits may experience a delay in feedback since the moderator team will be out for the remainder of January. Edits to Special quests from 2023 must still be submitted in January on the submitter's side.

Usually we would aim to have all special quests wrapped up entirely by the end of January, meaning any back and forth feedback from the moderator and users' sides would entirely be sent within the month of January. Since staff will not return until February this means users already have more time this January than they normally would to make the edits. In a normal year we would expect no edits be made last minute, since if back and forth was needed in a normal year, mods would be doing those steps during that month. Last minute submissions would give the team no time to give feedback and work through things during that 1 month of forgiveness time for corrections, resulting in the special quest rolling over to the following year because fixes may be still needed in February.

In general, we're still encouraging users to try to submit their act fixes sooner this January, even if more time is being given due to the staff being out. This year we'll be aiming to wrap up all special quest submissions that need edits by the end of February, so be sure to make any requested edits to 2023 Special Quest acts within January and resubmit your claim before 11:59pm on January 31st. If any claims are resubmitted in February, we will consider the special quest submission to roll over and be considered a part of 2024. This is done with the intent to avoid a long drawn out several months long process for approving any special quests that were intended to be a part of the prior year.

Two new Special Quests have been added to the site!

Unlike our last round of quest updates where they were more focused on mutations, these two quests do have some specific requirements relative to the base MP of some traits before the quest rewards can be applied.

A few things worth highlighting:

1. The new quests will appear on the Quest Directory page. If you're curious about them you can read more there!
2. While these are Special Quests, these two specifically have a relationship with the MP value of an elnin's tail or crown and have some requirements related to those MP values that must be met before traits can be applied.
   • The Overwild Tail quest will require an elnin have a 4MP tail prior to the upgrade reward from this quest to be applied, but if your tail style is lower than 4MP, you can pay the difference to upgrade it to 4MP prior to applying this quest.
     • This quest only covers Overwild (Aquatic) and Overwild (Furred) tails at this time!
   • The Compound Crown quest requires an elnin to have a crown, it does not add one for free, and this quest will always add +1MP to the base crown currently present. If you want a higher Compound crown style then we recommend when you go to apply this reward that you pay to upgrade the base crown to a higher tier.
     • 1MP crown styles will become 2MP Compound crowns, 3MP crown styles will become 4MP Compound crowns, and 4MP crown styles will become 5MP Compound crowns when this upgrade is applied to the base crown style.

Reiterating some other helpful details to know about these Special Quests since it's been a while since we last added some:

• These quests should not be compared to resonance quests in terms of workload, as they relate to more limited traits not typically accessible through resonance.
• These quests will be available year round, and they will not require you to spend AP, but they might require you to upgrade your elnin's tail or crown in order to apply the quest reward.
• The number of acts required to do these quests will be comparable to the number of prompts you would typically do to acquire other more limited traits or mutations, with an additional piece required beyond the standard amount.
• These trait quests will generally reward an additional 1 AP (Any Region) that users can put towards other goals they have for a character. While these two quests are not mutations, we kept this bonus to a character-tied currency to match their mutation counterparts.
• The number of times users can do a certain Special Quest will be limited on an annual basis. This may be adjusted later, but for now this approach seems to be working.
  • We will be counting this based on when the original quest claim is submitted. So if you submit a quest claim in 2025, it would count towards that year's annual limits, even if your acts were completed or submitted in 2024. There will be no exceptions on this, so please be mindful of when you submit your claims! At the start of the year there is about a month we allow for Special Quests to be entirely wrapped up. January 2024 will be a bit weird due to modcation (see info above).
• Quests now exist for the following traits: Overwild (Aquatic or Furred) Tail styles and Compound crown styles.

All the new quests have been added for now, so users will be able to start working on them. Please give moderators at least a month after modcation to review quests submitted to the Special Quest category. We expect that approvals for these quests may take a bit. While we won't be aiming for these approvals to take a whole month, we don't want these approvals to compete too much with our regular monthly prompt approvals in terms of time commitments.

Addressing concerns about vague acts

With the addition of these new quests, we want to recognize feedback we have recently received that some acts are feeling difficult to respond to due to how vague and generic they are written. Prompts and acts being more generic or open ended at times has been an intentional choice within the group, as these are starting points for creative writing. The group does not expect prompts or acts to write and personalize characters for group members. By leaving them on the more vague side, our hope is that despite a generic prompt users have more room to delve into why their characters are there on their own. The elnin may take the journey, but what they get out of it is up to their owners.

As staff, we will take a hard look at trying to do quality of life updates to quests throughout 2024 to provide additional questions that group members can ruminate on and help with this process without limiting user's characters to the same reasons for doing a quest and ending up where they do in each act. We hope these efforts to existing prompts over time will allow group members to expand upon their writing or the angles in which they think about their characters and the experiences those characters have instead.

If group members feel that there is a lack of balance between written and drawn prompts, please recognize that both drawing and writing are options. Neither option requires anyone to be the best writer or artist to complete the base requirements. We do not require submissions to be purely digital drawings, and drawings on paper that are photographed or scanned are also options! Which option is better or worse, or easier or harder, is a very subjective area. Some individuals in our group will write more or less, and some artists will draw faster or slower. Ultimately it's up to you to choose what works for you and work within what the group has decided the balance to be.

If one option appears easier to a group member, we highly recommend pursuing that option, but subjective statements about how easy it is without actually doing that option could diminish what is a harder task for others who are doing that option with difficulty at times. We have many individuals in our group that have hit our word count cap many times over, and we can tell that, for them, that option may seem easier than drawing. We will not be adjusting word counts on acts to be lower for a number of reasons, which we outline a bit more in the section below. The things covered in this section are just a few of those reasons.

A Not so Brief History About Written Prompts and Acts

We weren't originally planning on going over this for this news update, but it is something we feel is worth clarifying because this history isn't one we've really discussed before. It might shed some light on the group's stance on where writing sits in the group and how we've balanced some things, as well as why we will not be adjusting word counts on prompts but other changes we'll look into.

Way back in the dawn of Eyre, written prompts were not an option that got certain bonuses and for the most part these prompts did not exist in the group aside from very few entries. There were a few side events that delved into flavorful text entries, but they were usually side one-off things that happened in a year, and not intended to come up as regularly. Some early prompts did have a written option but it was always less balanced with variable word counts, and initially very lacking in the ability to earn bonuses.

The fact that written prompts eventually saw a more structured regular option with full bonus opportunities was largely due two things:

1. An uptick in expressed interest from the community in written prompts
2. Some early proposals from staff joining the team years ago who also enjoyed writing and were willing to put in the time to review written prompts.

Our overall outlook was very different back when prompts were only posted every few months, instead of monthly, and things like questing didn't exist. Mana ok'd the staff's proposal to have more regular written prompt bonuses and some attempts were made to include them. Base EC earnings and bonuses as well as requirements fluctuated greatly in the early years. There was little to no consistency and a lot of experimentation both by Mana, and later, the team in the years between early 2016 and mid 2018.

It wasn't until mid 2018 that prompts started to become more consistent in requirements, but the bonuses and balance still felt a bit off. This was later revised in 2021 after Questing specifications had been released and that system had been reworked once. At that point, we could better grasp what Prompts vs. Questing might look like, and the ways in which they could be aligned and the ways in which they wouldn't, because their requirements, needs, and surrounding expectations varied.

A Vague Outline of Prompts and Variables Over the Years

• 2016 July - 2018 February Prompts
  • Base EC Earnable: Varied between 2EC - 6EC
  • Bonus EC Earned varied between 2EC - 4EC
  • At times multiple submissions were allowed for lower value prompts.
  • Drawn submissions required everything from just only the elnin to someone else's elnin with or without a background, other Berry Bazaar CS or Elseworlders or gijinka forms.
  • Written submissions required at their base anywhere from 500 -1200 words at times. Bonus word requirements required prompts to hit anywhere from 1200 - 2000 words total to count, depending on the prompt.
• 2018 March - 2021 June Prompts
  • Base EC Earnable: 6EC
  • Drawn submissions required the elnin and either a second elnin or background generally. Bonuses were: Background +2EC OR Including another Berry Bazaar CS/Elseworlder +2EC.
  • Written submissions required 600 words. A bonus was allowed but it required 1200 words for +2EC.
• 2019 Questing was Introduced
  • Drawn submissions per act required the elnin and a full background. Mini-requirements submissions drawn separately were just the elnin, partial backgrounds accepted if included at all.
  • Written submissions per act required 1000 words. Mini-requirements written separately were 300 words.
• 2021 July - Present
  • Systems were re-evaluated.
  • For drawn prompt submissions, there was no change. An elnin and background were required.
  • For written prompt submissions, the base word count was kept at 600 words, but the bonus was lowered to 900 words.
  • For drawn quest act submissions, there was no change. An elnin and background were required (give or take extra elnin dependent on if you're questing for a kittom or not).
  • For written quest act submissions, the base word count was lowered to 900 words.
  • Mini-requirements drawn separately saw no change. (Historically these requirements were intended to be a part of the 900 words in Acts, and many people still include them. Doing them separately is intentionally 300 words because it's another submission to review.)
  • Monthly Regular Prompts were introduced and don't require drawing elnin but generally "bonus" portions of content (ie. Drawn background or 300 words.)

Currently the balance introduced back in July 2021, is a balance we are content with. Adjusting some of our newer quests' base word count requirements would mean we have to revise questing page wording across the board to make distinctions between types of quests (Resonance and Special) that we feel reintroduce potential confusion. Additionally, while we have introduced many Special Quests, there are likely to be future quests that may be more involved in terms of requirements and bonuses that we might ask to be included. This would potentially come up with quests for subtype elnin or occupational training on combat or magic.

Historically, you can tell there were a lot of iterations in what things got changed between currencies awarded, base requirements, bonus requirements, whether written works received the same treatment as drawn art, etc. We understand that currently things may seem a bit lopsided with one very involved quest that has lots of act options (Resonance) and other quests that are a lot more restricted and have very specific paths and goals (Special Quests). Our aim is to not make changes that result in more changes in the future that require back-tracking and varying things further. Keeping things consistent, so we don't need to update as many guidelines overall across many sections of different pages, is what is enabling us to tackle these projects. So we hope for some understanding on why we're deciding not to change things again now.

Artificial Intelligence Recap and General Warning

In this news post we were also hoping not to have to cover this, but it's apparent that there is still some presence of AI use in written prompts in the group. After about 3 months of looking at prompts and acts, including those before that prompted that initial news mention, a chunk of prompts have stood out as sharing numerous word choice similarities despite being written by several different users. It's frustrating for our team in good faith to clarify that AI should not be used in the group to replace one's own efforts. Yes, it can be assistive at times but it's to the point where it's very clear from the redundancy of phrases AI writing predominantly likes to use, that some group members are using assistive technology to speed up prompt writing in ways we have asked members not to.

We review a lot of prompt submissions, many of which are very clearly well written with diverse language and a lot of character inspiration behind them, and we are sure that to a degree AI is used in these prompts to spell check or help with grammar. Spelling and grammar assistance are considered appropriate uses of AI tools relative to the group. That said, word choice and sentence formation is not considered appropriate use of AI relative to the group. Some of the submissions coming through that we have to review are reading as though autocorrect has suggested every other word. AI is using the same words and phrases over and over again, and it does not sound like a person wrote it.

It's easy to look at our quest acts and prompts and know they are vague. We acknowledge that we might see redundancy from users in an overall way because it's hard to reinvent the wheel without really digging into some additional questions. However, in the cases where AI use is too prominent, we're finding redundant phrases that have little to do with what the prompt's descriptions say the prompt is about, which is what we assume to be the underlying cause of redundancy in the average non-AI prompt submitted by group members.

We understand that there are a lot of group members that don't use AI this way, we still recognize that most of our submissions do not do this, but when we so blatantly see AI use in the group it's frustrating. We wish to be fair to those who have put in the time to refine their craft, be it drawn or written, and fear that users who turn to AI to do it for them diminishes the efforts of their peers.

If you are someone who is using AI in your work as more than just a translator or spell checker, and we continue to see the redundancy of phrases that AI tends to write, or writing in ways that don't feel human, we will approach with revision requests. Ultimately, we want to make it clear it brings us no joy to consider having to do this. In general, we try to be more relaxed on prompts and we will still try to where possible, but we've already seen so many submissions that feel definitively AI influenced that we are ready to start addressing AI submissions more directly. If you continue using AI, despite the group's policy not to, please expect a lot of feedback from us requesting substantial edits to future submissions. If you aren't using AI, please continue submitting written pieces as usual; the team will try our best to avoid false positives for AI.

If you have concerns that your submissions may be reading as AI due to the use of a translation tool, please submit a ticket with a google document to your untranslated content, and a link to the tool you have been using to translate your content as well as the name of that tool. We are mindful this could be an extra ask for those who do not use English as their first language, so we want to be extra clear that submitting a ticket is not a requirement, so don't feel a need to do this right away. You may still hear nothing from us in the future, but if you do and you suspect it's due to AI translation, we can work through it and cross compare tool options to see if there's a pattern. Doing this at that time would help not only you but also the community as a whole.

The raffle winners for the December 2023 Premade Free Kittoms are:

#1 - Latte Hearts - Starbask
#2 - Snow pine tree - Kaethus
#3 - Yule Cat - CantaloupeTrash
#4 - Winter Lights - LadyPipen
#5 - Snow Owl - Nekoyang
#6 - Vanilla White Chai - Lizzara (This kittom as an outfit! Check dA notes please!)
#7 - Sweets by the fireplace - Shanyume
#8 - Sunlight in the Snow - Vontier
#9 - Diamond Dust - Keilin
#10 - Arctic Rabbit - Nyxilei
#11 - Paw De Deux - Orangeish
#12 - Wintertide - wintry-chan
#13 - Frosted Cranberries - katsuki
#14 - Frosty Mornings - Giz
#15 - Frostbitten Blooms - LizzyJun
#16 - The Spire - Casteds

FTO MYO Kittom winners:

Kittom MYO #1 - Carame_Candy
Kittom MYO #2 - jennie
Kittom MYO #3 - starimaga
Kittom MYO #4 - seiso_gremlin

Rolling took place in our discord #games_and_raffles channel today!

From now until the end of December, we're hosting a raffle for some FTO MYO and premade kittom prizes.

Please read below for additional info on how to enter and rules. Completing a required prompt will not automatically enter you for this raffle. You will need to submit a response to the appropriate google form, so please keep this in mind!

December 2023 Raffle Details

Happy December everyone! I'll be covering our plans for December and maybe a light mention of some reminders and plans for the New Year.

The 2023 Feyhallow Raffle

We are still getting information for winners of certain prizes and distributing participation prizes. We are hoping to have everything distributed or detailed out in the next few days here. We want to thank everyone for their patience until then!

A Winter Raffle

For users who participate in either [M-072] Endearing Exchanges or [MR-002] Gift Giver prompts this month, you'll have the opportunity to enter for some free raffle kittoms this miasma season. Maybe a bit of good will will rub off on you!

More details about this raffle will come sometime this upcoming week on how you can enter and what kittoms will be available. Doing at least 1 of the prompts mentioned above will be needed, but doing more than one prompt will not grant additional entries. It will be 1 entry per person!

Winter Modcation

As mentioned in a previous news post, the moderator team will be taking a break this winter season as the holidays get nearer. Below we'll outline the rough plan for the upcoming weeks!

• December 18th-31st: This will be a slow period for moderator staff.  Please don't ask about turnaround times during this window as this is included within the expected "break" time the mod team is receiving. (The same goes for the first week of January noted below.)
• January 1st-7th: The Moderator staff will be focusing on getting feedback out for December prompts and Special Quests. Ideally if any edits are needed to prompts or acts, they will be made at this time and we'll address things that are resubmitted after Modcation is over.
• January 8th-31st: Moderators will not be expected to work during this time frame. Users can still submit prompts and design approvals, etc. but please do not ask about turnaround times during this window as well. Staff may choose to work if they desire but it won't be a required thing. We want to make sure the whole team has a well deserved break.
• February 1st-4th: Moderators will be slowly coming back. Responses may be slow during this time period but we'll be looking to get back to things at a more regular pace the following week.

The Winter Raffle is planned to be rolled early January after all of the December prompts have been reviewed and approved. (Quests/Acts are not included in this.)

PG-13 Content and Some Lore Clarifications

It seems like this has come up a bit more topically this month on several fronts, but we wanted to put out a reminder that this is a PG-13 group. This goes for content that surfaces on-site and in our discord. Due to elnin being adorable fluffy little residents of Eyre, they may have a draw towards younger audiences, and so we're aware that our content needs to be appropriate for younger ages. This is what Manaberri expects as well! We know there are many group members that are adults and interested in more mature content, but we want to be clear that this should not be depicted in prompts and official group spaces.

Mature Content Off-Site

While we do not moderate content off-site, we also ask group members to be considerate of how they're publicly depicting characters from this group in other spaces when it comes to more mature content. If you can tag your content as explicit if it might go beyond PG-13 in other non-official spaces, that would be appreciated. We just want to try to avoid anyone stumbling into anything explicit that they didn't expect to view/read when this group comes to mind, because we're just not that kind of group. There are plenty of private communities and spaces to explore content above PG-13, but we strongly request group members to be mindful of what goes out on the internet.

A Bit About Kittoms

It was brought to our attention recently that we may need to refresh the group's understanding of kittoms and lore surrounding them. Kittoms are considered to always be children in terms of physical and mental age. Size-wise, in gijinka form, kittoms sit about hip height at their tallest when compared to even the smallest of adult elnin, and they are even shorter if an adult elnin standing next to them is on the taller end. (View the elnin size-guide here.) Kittoms do not have a teenage phase or around early adulthood romantic exploration sort of phase like you might see among humans. There should be no romantic relationships for kittoms or any implied physical/sexual relationship depictions for kittoms in this group. That does not fit the PG-13 standard the group has, as it would be viewed as depicting a romantic relationship between children, or an adult and child in alternate cases. It's worth mentioning kittoms can still be very close friends, but the meaning behind "I like you" between kittoms as something like a childhood crush would be considered as the friendly sort of like, not a romance that starts to dive into more adult themes/dating.

We're bringing this up because we had some questions asked privately about kittoms on this front. Some people were curious about where they sit in terms of things like physical and mental age, and trying to figure out what's appropriate to portray. When growth occurs in kittoms, they experience a steep growth in both physical aspects, like mana, as well as mental maturity. It's not as gradual as some people may have been thinking it was, and to be clear, even if a kittom has lived many many years, they are not a several hundred year old adult stuck in a kittom's body. Their mental maturity would still remain child-like until they experience growth. Actual age has very little to do with it!

We want to be clear that no one is barred from depicting friendship between kittoms, or adult elnin looking out for kittoms to make sure they are safe, but we expect those types of relationships to not be romantic or sexual in nature. Group members are not restricted from ideating about what two grown elnin might be doing with their lives in the future, but as long as a kittom is a kittom on WoE and being used in these spaces, they need to be treated as children.

We suspect some time in the shift of resources to the WoE website years ago, some of these details about kittom lore may have been left behind in some old side posts. We'll be looking to add these bits of information on kittoms to our lore page, but for now it felt relevant to clear up in light of these recent questions and observations in the group. If you want romance between elnin, please keep it PG in group prompts and only between adult elnin.

Relative to Depictions of Gore and Death

Currently, this is a space that could use a bit more fleshing out lore-wise. At this time, we'd like to request content (art or written, etc.) depicting gore or death of elnin be kept private. There's a lot that Mana needs to get down on paper relative to how these types of things work as far as elnin go. They're essentially mana constructs, so how blood and death may be experienced could differ from our experiences on earth. At this time, since we don't know what's canon and what's not in these areas, these works should not be publicly posted in official spaces at this time. Also, we are not certain about what may go beyond PG-13 at times, so until some clarification and lore can be noted down officially, these are areas that will just have to be avoided or explored in an unofficial sense off-site and in private.

Relative to the Darker and Sketchier Parts of Eyre

Theft/swindling is about the only sketchy more casual activity confirmed in Eyre that staff might expect to see in prompts at this time. Miasma poisoning/mana flaw stuff does exist, and it is hard on elnin in terms of health, but even that hasn't been expanded upon or encouraged outside of specific mutations and questlines. We've still tried to keep things fairly light when we can.

We know there's been light discussions of things like contraband but depictions of severing body parts of elnin (even hair) illegally, or slavery or trafficking of elnin/kittoms/other races in Eyre is not something that the group is okay with having depicted in prompts. We understand maybe there are gruesome stories group members want to tell out there, but this is not the place to do so. As a group, we're not policing negative personality traits that might aid in some character growth, but darker subject matter that reflects heavier more, earthly topics like death, abuse, etc. shouldn't be a common thing we see coming through prompts.

The team does not want to be forced to review this subject matter and things that may breach the expected PG-13 rating of content submitted to this site. Consider not just other group members that might stumble upon this content on our site, but also our staff that have to read through this or see it day in and day out. No one knows what anyone has been through in their lifetime. Being interested in darker themes to the point of potentially harming peers or wanting to discuss heavy and dark topics through art is not appropriate here. This group is intended to be a creative and predominantly positive space. Eyre does have its dark alleys and aspects, but Mana has been pretty careful historically not to be on the nose on most darker topics. Yes, it's a bit fun to hear about how elnin are different, but even in that there's a recognition that it's just not a common thing.

Sorry if this section has come across as a bit heavy in itself, but as a group, we really hope to not have to discuss boundary pushing in these areas like we have had to here. Being a sensitive subject, we wouldn't want any potential trauma to surface for anyone, even if no one is intending to. It forces us to be more serious than we like to be in the group.

Looking Forward to 2024

On a lighter note, there are a lot of things we're hoping to dive into in the new year. Things we're hoping to work on and release in 2024.

• Some new faces on staff
• A few more trait quests
• Tackling some of the remaining subtypes that have yet to be released
• Working through hybrid elnin and how they work in the group
• If the above things can be accomplished, we're hoping to get back to elnin breedings in some form, though this will not likely happen in the spring since it is heavily contingent on working through some of the things listed above.
• More fun raffles and activities in the next year

We're excited about a lot of the things on this list, but it will take time. The above list reflects our goals, but it is not a promise that everything on the list will happen for sure if things come up. As usual too, there's always a few quality of life tasks mixed in, so timelines are a bit uncertain, but above is our initial roadmap! As always, we appreciate the support and patience as we work through adding on and improving aspects of the group.