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.