Send your choice to http://tinyurl.com/z8ed4rv. One choice per person.
As summer comes to a close, so to does the dreaded
summer lull! The heat dies down and the trees shed a few
pounds in preparation for the harsh winter to come. With
things cooling down Wintreath is celebrating with the annual
Summersend Festival! So come on over and join us for Clue,
Nomic, Spyfall, spam games and more! The festivities begin
in just two days but be sure to register for some of the
more engaging activities ahead of time! Everything begins in
just two days so see ya there!
Schedule
August 17 - Festival opens for forum game pre-registration.
August 19 - Festival Begins.
August 28 - Festival closes. Forum games may run past this point until they reach their conclusion.
The Frozen Realm of Wintreath
Invitation to Werewolf X - TWO YEAR Celebration
Greetings to our friends and partners! In celebration of TWO years of Werewolf/Mafia games in our region, I’m happy to announce that we will be hosting not one but two games for anyone that would like to join us! For more information, please see the message below from the host of our games, Pengu!
— Begin quote from ____
Hello to all of our friends and allies in our neighboring regions, Pengu here. Its hard to believe that its already been two years since Werewolf was brought to Wintreath. In that time weve had some pretty great games both hosted by myself as well as other members here on Wintreath. To celebrate the occasion, Werewolf X will be split into 2 games: A special Werewolf version of Clue that Ive been planning for a couple of months now, and a game of Werewolf based on the Batman: Arkham Knight video game with a twist Youll play the villains attempting to get rid of the Batman once and for all. I hope to see many of you sign up for one or both games so we can celebrate this special occasion together.
-Pengu
— End quote
To sign up for one or both games, check out http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=3955.0. If you have never played Werewolf or Mafia and would like some information on how to play, http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=3759.0. Like Pengu, I also hope that you can come and celebrate two years of fun games with us. =]
This is the Embassy Thread for the region Wintreath.
Hello from Wintreath! We’re hosting a game of Spyfall here and you’re invited! If mystery, intrigue and character roleplay is your thing then come on down now! Spyfall is a simple game with very few rules to remember, First, there is a spy, second, there is a setting, usually a location or a time period, third, everyone except the spy is aware of what the location is and has also a character to role play as, last, everyone asks each other a question one at a time trying to figure out who is the spy without giving the location away! The objective of the spy is to figure out the location and the objective of everyone else is to figure out who the spy is. Simple! So come on down and sign up now!
Signup thread link: http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4101
Rules and Tips: http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4116
Invitation to Werewolf XI- The Great Schism
An exhausted messenger has appeared at your church. His horrendous appearance suggests he has traveled a long way to bring you the letter he clutches in his hands.
“From Cardinal Rimaldi.” He says before slinking away into the night. The writing is clearly hasty but the message itself well thought out:
[hr]
My Dear Friend,
You are needed by the college of cardinals
Today is the day
We hoped and we prayed
We would not live to pay
The price of our way
The wolves circle their prey
As some might say
And as my life ticks away
These words I lay
In hopes you may act like light, a ray
And hope you may order the disarray
That plagues our dear conclave
Yours,
Cardinal Giuseppe Rimaldi
[hr]
The message is clear. You must travel to Rome for the Conclave. And whether you will survive is of grave doubt.
Hello all of our friends and allies! It is time for another game of Werewolf! You are all invited and encouraged to join our games, whether you are new or experienced! To sign up you can go to http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4100.0 and if you are new to werewolf you can find a helpful guide to the game http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=3759.0! Hope to see you all there!
-Crushita
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GLLe0gmFGG0/Ut7IGiol5KI/AAAAAAAAApc/kxkmpfPoUls/w606-h276-no/FotoFlexer_Photob.png
Statement on the Vassalization of New Hyperion
[hr]
Greetings to our friends, partners, and neighbors,
After a long period of interaction that has seen our communities converge together, the Frozen Realm is happy to announce that it has accepted a proposition from New Hyperion to accept that region as a vassal state of Wintreath. This special relationship was formalized with the approval of the http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4025.0 by both regions in October. It was further ceremonially established in a http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4246.0 this past weekend between Zander Cerebella, Autarch of New Hyperion, and Wintermoot, Monarch of Wintreath.
As a vassal state of Wintreath, New Hyperion will cede sovereignty and authority over foreign, military, and any other external affairs to Wintreath, and will be bound by all treaties ratified by Wintreath. In turn, Wintreath will provide diplomatic and military protection, guarantee the right of internal self-rule, and eliminate post-count requirements for their Citizens wishing to also become Citizens of Wintreath. In short, the regions will become a joint diplomatic, military, and external entity under the banner of the Monarchy of Wintreath.
This is the culmination of a relationship that began years ago during the 2014 Regional Sovereignty Conference in Lazarus, when it was noted that our regions had many similar ideas and stances on that topic. Over time, we have come to realize that our regions have many other commonalities…a desire for meritocracy, a focus on community interaction, and a community spirit of being true to ourselves. Since then, our communities have become friends and grown together, and now seek to stand together as one in solidarity. Going forward, we are excited to become ever-closer partners and see where this special relationship leads us.
Regards,
-Wintermoot
-Monarch of the Frozen Realm of Wintreath
Orendi X
Wintreath Update 10 - May 2017 (Very, very late)
[hr]
Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 302 nations
New Hyperion - 80 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations
Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Thane of Information: Crushita
Jarl of Integration: Finrod Felagund
[hr]
Citizen’s Corner
Article by Gattoartico, winner of Wintreath’s Finest April 2017
From the Citizen’s Corner recording studios…
Citizen’s Corner is a regular feature where we select a newish Citizen and allow them to opine on current affairs and activities within the region. This month, our contributor is Gattoartico, a recent arrival to the region who won last month’s “Wintreath’s Finest” contest (previously known as Citizen of the Month). Here’s what he had to say:
[spoiler]
Elections for the 21st Underhusen
Article by Crushita
Serving up steaks and politics
The April 2017 Underhusen elections have concluded! With 9 candidates running for 5 seats, the election looked to be close. In the end 13 people cast their ballots, not including at least one candidate, who though not mentioned by name was noted to be a symptom of a greater issue. To quote him “why should the Citizenry be interested enough to vote if the candidates themselves apparently aren’t?”
The first event of note was the Fourth Annual Robin Steak Fry, in which only 3 candidates participated in, a record low number. Wintreath’s perennial candidate and occasional elected official, Chanku, who further discussed his campaign of judicial reform and fixing issues within the Fundamental Laws and who said that the biggest problems facing Wintreath were inactivity, stagnation and legal flaws. He asked for his steak medium-rare. Secondly came North, who said that the new session should focus on activity, and that inactivity was the biggest problem in the region. He only specified that his steak should be cooked. Finally came Mathyland who said that he wanted to run to help with the inactivity in the legislature. He proposed fixing up any mistakes in the current laws and repealing Wintreath’s treaty with Ainur, which our Monarch Wintermoot, had already proposed and written a bill for. He said that Wintreath’s biggest problem was heresy. He wanted his steak steak flavoured. At the end there was much steak given out and joy was had. Unlike the previous steak fry, no candidates were ironically burned at the steak.
In the end, the 5 people who were elected were Laurentus, BraveSirRobin, Mathyland, North and Crushita. A summary of their campaigns are as follows:
BraveSirRobin ran a wonderful campaign, where he promised to be “an active, rational member of the Underhusen who will not let Wintreath down.” He noted that he had pass experience in the Underhusen, though his legislative efforts were unsuccessful, and that he would try to solve the Underhusen’s biggest problem, inactivity. Later in his campaign he proposed creating a dedicated page for community input into the legislative process, boosting RP interest and trying to further connect with “our people on NS.” BraveSirRobin has also been elected speaker of this session.
Mathyland promised to spread the word of the holy tuber, setting up more churches in its holy name, banning heretical tomatoes. He also proposed building a wall dipped in gold and making Tomexico pay for it along with doing a grammar check of the Wintrean laws. He also promised a big door in the middle of the wall, which only followers of the holy Pax Fruit would be able to cross through, that he would be active, and that he would remember who the speaker was.
Laurentus ran on a satirical, Trump parody of a campaign, preferring to rest on his previous credentials then any actual campaign promises. To quote Laurentus in his initial campaign speech “I no longer have any idea what’s happening around here.”
North ran a campaign on simply being there and resting on his laurels as part of his North Party. His most notable campaign promise was simply having a nice logo
Crushita ran a six word campaign.
Best of luck to the new Underhusen![/spoiler]
Interview with Justinian Ezkantion on his new RP, The Wild Men of Wichita
Article by Gerrick
Gerrick (right) sits with Justinian Ezkantion for an interview.
Justinian Ezkantion, who became a citizen of Wintreath last year during the Refugee Crisis of Ainur, has started up a new character roleplay: The Wild Men of Wichita. After a long drought of very little roleplay on Wintreath’s forums, Justinian’s new RP hopes to breathe new life into the RP Guild and the general RP scene. As Jarl of Culture, a member of the RP Guild, and a participant in the Wild Men of Wichita (as Frank “Punchy” Dennison), I sat down with Justinian for an interview.
- Can you give a short introduction of yourself and your interest in roleplaying?
I’m currently the Lore Master of Wild Men of Wichita, and former Sovereign of Dellenaria, former Crown Prince of Ainur, and all sort of other fancy titles from regions that don’t exist anymore.
I’ve been an active Roleplayer since about two years ago when I began participating in Ainur’s forum RPs before starting my own in Dellenaria and now here. I tried getting into the RPs on the Site Forums, but I found the larger size to be a bit overwhelming, as there was less of a close community to plan around. I generally stick to Offsite Forum RPs now due to that.
-
Can you give a summary of the setting of the Wild Men of Wichita RP?
It’s a post-apocalyptic setting following a catastrophic combination of the Great Depression and a second outbreak of the Spanish Flu which brought down almost all of the world’s governments. The RP itself is set in the great plains where the eastern half of North America has united and is looking to “civilize” the continent once again while powerful gangs of cowboy-like raiders extort the common farmers for protection money and fight each other for control of said rackets. -
The setting and lore is quite unique and extensive. Where did you get the inspiration to create all of this?
In many ways I was inspired by Fallout New Vegas to create the image of a seedier and more modernized wild west. I refrained from that series’ retro future aspects though, in favor of emulating the gang culture of pre-WWII America. -
What is your role as Lore Master (the Wintrean title for Game Master) in the RP?
My role is mostly to create an outline for the RP’s plot to ride along, as well as to immerse players in the world through the narrative. But it’s not all about making the actual RP. The day to day stuff includes making sure that players aren’t breaking any rules, and if so how that situation should be handled. Plus I need to make sure the pacing doesn’t slow down so much that players become disinterested or feel there’s enough of a lull in activity to take a break for a while. After all, RP is for entertainment purposes, and it’s my job to make sure that it’s entertaining to the players. -
As you’re also the leader of the gang, can you tell us who the Wild Men of Wichita currently consist of?
“Jackknife” Jim Luckett - Leader of the gang and adopted son of the leader of the main crime syndicate in Kansas, Rufus Luckett. He’s an irritable, womanizing, hard-smoking and hard-drinking autophile who gets the job done, no matter how gruesome of an act that requires.
Punchy - A hard hitting, tough as nails American gangster with a troubled past and a penchant for blowing people to smithereens with his trusty shotgun.
Dima - A cossack and former pirate that can hold his own in a drinking contest and a riding contest. He’s the best locksplitter in the state, and wears his baggy cossack pants enough that Jim has taken to calling him the “Shiekh of Araby”.
Chief - A silent, lumbering Indian with hunting skills that would make some big cats blush. Though he used to be called Injun Joe, Jim took to calling him simply “Chief” because it reminded him of his motorcycle, and he never forgets his motorcycle.
Annie McOakley - A surprisingly lethal dentist from Ireland whose real name is Cary, but Jim of course found a way to make her sound like some kind of discounted Irish version of an American celebrity out of spite. She is probably the only one in the group with the equivalent education of a college graduate.
Smiley - An Irishman who might as well be Jim’s twin. They’re both womanizing, booze-drinking sons of the mob. He’s the gang’s best shot, or so he says.
- What direction do you think the story will go? What should we expect?
I already have a general outline of the story progression, but all I can say here is that after the raiding campaign the gang is currently conducting in Kansas, there’s going to be a big campaign that will wrap up the first arc of this RP. The east is pushing hard on the gangs, and like cornered rats they’re beginning to panic, and the actions they’re going to take may end up making things far worse than they ever were going to be…
A gang from the world of the Wild Men of Wichita.
[spoiler]
Wintreath Reconsiders Nation Requirements
Article by Wintermoot
Wintreath. Live it. Now without the nation requirement.
After prolonged discussion last autumn, the Storting created an alternative five post per month requirement to maintain Citizenship for those who do not want to keep a NationStates nation. Originally proposed in August by Wintermoot, who pointed out that many members were moving away from NationStates, the issue was revived in September when long-time Citizens Laurentus and Pengu announced that they would no longer keep a nation because of they were no longer interested in NationStates. This prompted several bills for the Storting’s consideration:
-
Skrifa HannahB made the first proposal, which would have allowed either the Storting or the Monarch to waive Citizenship requirements at their discretion. This proposal was supported by some who felt the nation requirement should only be dropped for long-time Citizens, but others, particularly Wintermoot, argued that all Citizens should have the right to not have to keep a nation, so long as they remained active.
-
Jarl of Defense Chanku then made a proposal that would have created a “restricted Citizenship” status for those whose nation had ceased to exist and had made an average of ten posts per day. However, it was pointed out a provision that restricted Citizens would not have the right to vote or run in elections may have been unconstitutional, that only Wintermoot would meet the post requirement, and that restricted Citizens would not have any rights or abilities over former Citizens.
-
Finally, Wintermoot proposed an alternative ten posts a month alternative to maintaining a nation, which passed after the requirement was modified to five posts. While some members preferred one of the other proposals, most saw this proposal as the most viable compromise which would allow Citizens involved with Wintreath but not NationStates to maintain Citizenship.
This discussion took place as part of a broader reevaluation of Wintreath’s identity, in which many have come to see Wintreath as more of an organization that has a presence on NationStates than just a NationStates region, and expect Wintreath to eventually expand to other games and areas in addition to NationStates. By the following March, Citizen Doc summed up the sentiments of many when he expressed “…that this [the forum] is less the online arm of the Wintrean region and more that the NS region is more the NS arm of Wintreath”.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]
Wintreath Debates Skyrim Civil War
Article by Wintermoot
This was the re-enactment portion of the debate and totally not us actually fighting about it.
Our Say What’s On Your Mind forum topic, where members express thoughts about anything, drifted into discussion about Skyrim, which led to another topic debating the merits of the Skyrim Civil War. Not counting people who hadn’t played Skyrim (yes, they apparently exist) or had no preference, an astounding 80% backed the Empire over the Stormcloaks.
Supporters of the Empire contended that a unified Empire would have the best chance of resisting any future war with the Aldmeri Dominion, and also pointed to racism within the Stormcloaks, particularly their treatment of Dunmer refugees in Windhelm. The Stormcloak minority, best represented by Jarl of Culture Gerrick, pointed to the successful Redguard resistance in Hammerfell against the Aldmeri as proof that Skyrim could also resist alone. He also pointed to other cases of racism within Tamriel to show that an Empire victory wouldn’t make Tamriel less racist.
That’s not to say that the Empire went without criticism, with Gerrick asserting that the forced ban of Talos worship within the Empire by the Aldmeri was evidence of the Empire’s weakness, and Monarch Wintermoot comparing the Empire’s forced cooperation with an enemy against a group of its own people to Vichy France during World War II. Based on his twenty minutes of gameplay in Skyrim, Thane of Information Crushita also pointed out that it was the Empire that was going to execute the player at the beginning of the game.
However, at least so far practicality has carried the day, with most Wintreans continuing to support the Empire.[/spoiler]
News in Briefs
Been waiting on Charax to freshen this bit up for a few years now.[ul]
[li]In a contest to rename the Minecraft Server, the server’s current name, “Official Wintreath Minecraft Server” beat out 15 other suggestions, narrowly winning over “WintCraft” and “Wintreath’s Blocky and Frosty Paradise”. The server will retain the current name.
[li]The first regional Diplomacy game recently concluded, with a draw between xXTheHydraXx (Russia), taulover (France), and Elbbsas (England).
[li]The Wintreath Facebook Page reached 50 likes in April, and currently has 53!
[li]Wintermoot dissolved the Ministry of Defense in March after months of ministry inactivity. Discussions about the future of the region’s participation in NationStates R/D are ongoing.
[li]Development of a new statistics page on the website is ongoing. When finished, the new statistics area cover various stats and will allow for better, data-driven decisions to be made.
[/li][/ul]
[hr]
Thanks for reading!
This is really late and Orendi XI was skipped, but here is Orendi XII:
Orendi XII
Wintreath Update 12 - July 2017 (a little late cuz mass effect marathoning takes time)
[hr]
Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 228 nations
New Hyperion - 77 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations
Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Court Scribe: Justinian Ezkantion-Telcontar
Jarl/Thane of Integration: Vacant
[hr]
Wintreath Celebrates 100,000 Posts!
The wind and the snow has not kept us idle on the forums!
When we first started the Wintreath forums, I imagined many possibilities, including the one where the region never went anywhere. The one where just a few years later we would celebrate 100k posts seemed pretty far out, but with the support of the community over the years, that’s where we ended up this month! Actually, we celebrated it twice: first when Aragonn made the 100,000th post counting deleted posts (which was post ID 100,000), and then later in the month when Matilda Love made the 100,000th post not counting deleted posts (which brought the post count on the forum front page to 100,000). Either way, this accomplishment is a testament to the constant activity the forums have enjoyed over the years.
Wintreath Top 10 Topics of All Time
Top 10 Topics of All Time
GENERAL: Say What’s On Your Mind - 7185 posts
SPAM: Double Post Game (Past Rounds) - 6829 posts
SPAM: World Association - 4309 posts
SPAM: Guess who will post next! - 2173 posts
ROLEPLAY: From the Ashes: A Galactic Nations RP! (OOC) - 1522 posts
CULTURE: Werewolf VI: Until Dawn - The New Chapter - 1497 posts
SPAM: Spam Points (Past Rounds) - 1420 posts
ROLEPLAY: Frostbite Tavern - 1092 posts
SPAM: Count to 2,000 - 1014 posts
SPAM: Count to 1,000 - 1004 posts
It’s not surprising that many of the top topics are general discussion and spam game topics; however several cutural and roleplay topics have also stood the test of time to earn a place in the top topics list, including the Werewolf VI game topic, the From the Ashes roleplay Out of Character discussion, and the Frostbite Tavern casual roleplay.
This accomplishment comes as I’ve placed an emphasis on making the forums simpler and easier to understand and navigate, particularly on mobile devices. It also comes a month before the region’s annual Summersend Festival, which last year alone generated over a thousand posts. Along with the continued support of the Wintreath community, these developments will help the forums remain busy far into the future!
The Culture Review
This is the second installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Wintreaths Jarl of Culture. Ill be talking briefly about some events going on in the cultural areas of the forums, such as Ministry news, monthly contests, and forum games.
Wintreaths Finest is the name for Wintreaths citizen of the month. Nominations are for those who stood out as contributing or showing dedication to the region or having been extra active, caused activity, or been a good influence on others. The winner of June 2017s Wintreaths Finest was BraveSirRobin, who was nominated for his efforts to starting up more roleplays in the region. He has taken the helm at revitalizing Wintreaths most popular character RP, the Star Trek-influenced Wintreath Space Expeditions, by starting up talks for The Next Generation, which already has applications up and running. On top of Space Expeditions, BraveSirRobin has also taken the lead in trying to start up a new nation roleplay that will take place in a post-WW2/Cold War era alternate universe. BraveSirRobin was technically the only nominee, but as Jarl of Culture, I made no other nominations as I thought his win was well-deserved.
The Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme that several forum users will adopt into their avatars for the month, whether that means using pictures or memes that have to do with the theme or Photoshopping the theme into their usual avatars. Nominations are typically related to current world affairs, historical dates, holidays, or happenings in Wintreath. The winner of July 2017s Avatar Theme of the Month was a tie between MURICA and Canada 150 as both the USA and Canada have their national day in July. With the large number of Canadians and Canada-sympathizers in Wintreath, it was no surprise that it ended in a tie, and the rivalry between the two countries ensured that there would be no other nominations to spoil the contest for one side or the other. One proud Canadian-Wintrean, Crushita, even went so far as to turn his national anthem into a case why one should vote for Canada:
Oh Canada!
The World Does Not Hate Us!
Adi-ition-ly,
We don’t have Donald Trump!
Tous les érables poussent là où les França-a-is sont
Nous devons les apaiser, nous aider s’il vous plaît
Spud keep our land
Glorious and free!
Oh Canada!
We-e vote for thee!
Oh Canada
We-e vote for thee!
The Monarchs Game Bag is a list of over 150 spare Steam keys that Wintermoot and other citizens have donated to the region over the years. It now serves as a reward for those citizens who perform necessary civil service duties for the region, such as recruiting and writing articles for the Orendi, as well as those who go above and beyond to be elected to win Wintreaths Finest. This month, games were given out to two such citizens: Justinian Ezkantion chose Dragon Age: Origins for winning Wintreaths Finest of May 2017 and writing two articles for the Orendi, and Gattoartico chose Purgatory for also writing two articles. We hope more citizens continue to follow their example and help out Wintreath to earn more free games!
Interview with Ashton Mercer on his new RP, Empowered
http://i64.tinypic.com/33acn51.jpg
Ashton Mercer, one of several former Ainurian refugees who moved to Wintreath last year, has been an active roleplayer ever since he became a Wintrean citizen. Last fall, he created and hosted a superhero RP called Super. Now he has started up a new, rebooted version called Empowered. As Jarl of Culture and a member of the RP Guild, I sat down with Ashton for an interview.
Can you give a short introduction of yourself and your interest in roleplaying?
So, as most ex-Ainurians might know, I’ve been around the NS RP scene for a while. About five years, actually. Ever since I re-discovered Nationstates in 2012, I’ve discovered my enjoyment in crafting stories and characters. I’ve spent time in Albion, as well as other smaller regions, but my homeland and main haunt was Ainur. I did many RPs here and there, whether centered around a nation or a character, and near the end I was often leading them. About a year ago however, things began to fall apart, and people were looking to find somewhere else in NS to be. A lot of Ainurians left to join Wintreath, and I followed them here. The rest is good history.
Can you give a summary of the setting of the Empowered RP?
The Empowered RP is set in a universe that is (pretty much kinda) exactly like ours, except that a certain segment of the population have fantastic supernatural powers, like the heroes and villains you would see in the comic books. It’s a fairly easy setting to wrap your head around, yet it has the detail and potential for exploration that very complex settings do. It strikes that perfect balance that makes it such a perfect world to enjoy and be a part of.
What is your role as Lore Master (the Wintrean title for Game Master) in the RP?
The way I see it, when I am directing an RP that I don’t have a main character in, I’m basically supposed to be a very lazy shepherd. Point everyone in a direction that I think is fun, and let them work it out from there. Right now, I’m closely guiding the only main storyline so that we can work out the OOC/IC kinks without jumping through pan-dimensional hoops, but I’m hoping that more unique threads and separate stories will spring up once Innocence Lost has run it’s course.
You’ve come up with a unique idea to Wintreath where there will be separate threads for each story-line. Where did you get the idea, and how do you see it playing out?
To be perfectly honest, the idea for the storyline threads wasn’t mine. It was proposed to me by Doc in a private conversation, who himself was inspired by the typical way that comic books are structured: different issues for different stories, but with the capability to keep characters and story arcs intact. We came to the conclusion that an RP structured like this might be able to provide everyone with an ability to have heir own storylines without the clutter and story fatigue that comes with keeping everyone on a single thread, as is standard for most RPs. Also, it made more sense for Empowered in particular, since the setting is so open-ended than, say, Wintreath Space Expeditions, which has a focus on one ship on one mission. I think everyone will like the results.
Who are some of the current Empowered characters in the RP?
We have a good variety of characters so far: a constantly drunken pyromaniac, a antihero version of Thor with terroristic tendencies, a level-headed circus girl who can materialize mirror-like barriers from thin air, an archaeologist with some ancient aliens technology, and many more. The center of this latest story is a missing kid named Andrew, who has a tragic backstory, intense powers of speed and strength, and some mysterious and potentially deadly connections. If you want to see more or want more details, definitely check the threads out. The character apps and the story are both worth reads.
Finally, what direction do you think the story of the current issue, “Innocence Lost”, will go? What should we expect?
While I know pretty well what I am doing to the story right now, I have no idea at all how Innocence Lost will end up, which makes all of this very exciting. Of course, I have some ideas about the various potential endings and how the NPCs I direct will handle it, but it all really depends on the player characters’ actions and how they effect themselves and the rest of the acting parties in this story. A few players have actually thought of an ending that I hadn’t considered at all and their characters are already going after it, which is awesome, and I’m looking forward to see what they will do at the climax of this chapter. I definitely will try not to spoil anything and there are still a lot of uncertainties that haven’t been played out yet in the story thread. However, I will say this: barring a total disaster, this won’t be the last time we see Andrew or the FBI Agent McGrath.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for your time, and if any of this sounds interesting to you, definitely take a look at us and consider signing up!
News in Briefs
Honestly, we really are too lazy to find another image. ¯_(ツ)_/¯[ul]
[li]An all out brawl occured this month of the RMB where amateur RP enthusiasts of all varieties denounced one nation’s decision to claim all of the Middle East.
[li]The position of Thane of Information was abolished, replaced with a court scribe whose sole function is to make this newspaper in a timely manner (EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s totally the diplomat’s fault. Nope, definitely not me playing old BioWare games and crying at what EA has done to it. No siree)
[li]AMAs have exploded in popularity on the forums for…some reason.
[/li][/ul]
[hr]
Thanks for reading!
Orendi XIII: Special Summersend Edition
We are experimenting with a new Orendi format! Check out the pages below, or if you cannot read them, check out our http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/13-Orendi.pdf.
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/13-1.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/13-2.png
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/13-3.png
[/spoiler]
I really like the new update layout. Nice job and thank you for the update ^ _ ^
The Frozen Realm of Wintreath
Invitation to Werewolf XIV: A Werewolf of Ice and Fire
(Editing credits: Hydra)
Hello, friends and allies! Wintreath is hosting a very special game of Werewolf, and you are invited! Let me present to you… Double-Elimination Werewolf!
You see, when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. Not always, though, for oftentimes you get to go north to the Wall, instead of being lynched and killed! But don’t worry, it’s an honor to serve on the Night’s Watch. Definitely won’t be anything going wrong there…
I welcome you all to join our game. To sign up, head on over to Werewolf XIV: A Werewolf of Ice and Fire (Trailer + Signups)! If you’re unfamiliar with Werewolf or Mafia, Werewolf Beginner's Guide a good overview of the general workings of the game. I hope to see you all in the royal court of King’s Landing for a fun game of Werewolf!
–taulover
Orendi XIV: Vernal Equinox Issue
We have continued to experiment with our new Orendi format, first introduced in our previous issue! Check out our full http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/14-Orendi.pdf, or if you cannot read it, take a look at the pages in image form below.
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/14-1.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/14-2.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/14-3.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/14-4.jpg
[/spoiler]
After nearly two years since our last puzzle, we are back with yet another! Good luck, and have fun!
Orendi XV
As with before, we have continued to write our Orendi in a newspaper-style format! Check out our full http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/15-Orendi.pdf, or take a look at the pages in image form below.
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/15-1.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/15-2.jpg
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://wintreath.com/graphics/orendi2/15-3.jpg
[/spoiler]
Hello everyone!
Now that a month and a half has passed since we’ve posted this puzzle, I’d like to revisit it. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has managed to fully solve the puzzle, and few have reached the final steps. As such, I’ll present a partial solution for the parts that seem to have left people stumped, while leaving it up to you guys to solve the rest.
[spoiler]As many people quickly realized, the initial image was written in Aurebesh | Wookieepedia | Fandom, the fictional script of the Star Wars universe. It reads, in Spanish, “Vaya a nuestra Discord y reaccione,” which translates to “Go to our Discord and react.”
Of course, this was not merely a plug for our Discord. Quite a few people showed up on our Discord server, trying to find the next step. Many of them attempted to trigger the bots, such as our custom-written Zaphyr, to respond with something. However, the solution lay elsewhere.
Discord Has Reactions (Epic Science Experiment) - YouTube, in the form of emojis. Servers can https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/207619737-Adding-Emoji-Magic, which is what we did. I made https://i.imgur.com/Kz7soyD.png
to fit within the Discord emoji constraints, handwriting the letters in a small pixel-based font of my own design. As far as I am aware, The Peninsular#7987 is the only person to have found this emoji as the solution, and they have my congratulations.
Looking at the contents of the emoji (which can be downloaded and zoomed-into through various ways), the letters themselves are text encoded in MIME base64. Decoded, we get this URL:
http://wintreath.com/index.php?part=2048
Which leads us to a game of 2048!
But the tiles look rather odd…[/spoiler]
The last step of the puzzle is left as an exercise to the reader.
It was also fun seeing people send us various responses and counter-puzzles! For instance, we received this message from Baikerbanur/athdot of New Hyperion, which was rather fun to work through:
[spoiler]/ t s r i f / o i . b u h t i g . t o d h t a / / : s p t t h[/spoiler]
Best of luck in cracking the final segment! I’ll be back with the full solution and another puzzle soon.
taulover, Thane of Embassy Dispatches
Wintreath Foreign Update XVI June/July 2018
Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 278 nations
New Hyperion - 83 nations
Nowhere - 3 nations
Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Gaming: Gattoartico
Thane of Integration: Kane lives
Thane of LGBTQ Affairs: Pengu
Thane of Roleplay: Vacant
Thane of Werewolf: Pengu
Jarl of Foreign Affairs: Gattoartico
Thane of Dispatches: taulover
Jarl of Regional Affairs: Doc
Thane of WA Affairs: BraveSirRobin
Advisor: Chanku
[hr]
Sorting Out the Storting
A Recap of Recent Wintrean Legislative Events
by taulover
Image credit: Dmitry Valberg on Flickr
Greetings, friends! It is I, taulover, Speaker of the Underhusen, here to bring you some quick updates on the state of our legislature!
In the June Underhusen elections, the incumbent term chose to lower to the number of seats to four, and five candidates stood for office:
[ul]
[li]Chanku ran on a campaign of experience and legal reform.
[li]Mathyland cited his long-time incumbency and capacity for grammar fixes.
[li]Crushita did not campaign until late in the election, basing it on his experience and Spud religion.
[li]I, taulover, ran with no specific agenda except keeping the Laws page completely up to date.
[li]Doc had some various ideas, including defining citizenship within the Fundamental Laws.
[/li][/ul]
Crushita ultimately lost the election, likely due to the delayed campaigning.
In the Speaker vote following the election, there initially appeared to be a possibility of a tie between myself and Chanku. We reached an agreement wherein Chanku would become Speaker pro tempore and be free to implement his legislative goals without any hindrance from myself. Additionally, I appointed Mathyland as Secretary.
Chanku’s main proposal for the early part of the term was to create an officer system for the Underhusen. Under this new system, the Speaker could create various offices and appoint citizens to it. After some discussion (in which a proposal for giving the Monarch the duty to initially nominate a Speaker candidate was rejected), this amendment to the Underhusen Procedural Rules was passed.
Following this event, I created the Office of Information at Chanku’s advice, and appointed Mathyland to lead it. This Officer position continued Mathyland’s former Secretarial duties and also expanded them to include greater public outreach responsibilities.
Other proposals still remain in discussion, including one giving the Speaker the power to fix grammar errors in laws, and another establishing an explicit supremacy clause in the Fundamental Laws.
[hr]
The Culture Review
by Gerrick
This is the fifth installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Wintreath’s Jarl of Culture. I’ll be talking briefly about some events going on in the cultural areas of the forums, such as Ministry news, forum games, and contests that took place from late April to early June.
Thanes (Vice Ministers) of Culture are elected positions that serve to manage and represent different areas of Wintreath. Along with the already established positions of Thanes of Roleplay, Werewolf, LGBT Affairs, and Gaming, in May the Ministry of Integration was dissolved and a new Thane of Integration was added to the Ministry of Culture. Elections for these positions were held at the beginning of June, and the roles are now filled by Pengu as Thane of Werewolf and LGBT Affairs, Gattoartico as Thane of Gaming, and Kane lives as Thane of Integration. There were no candidates for Thane of Roleplay who completed the necessary steps to win the position, but I will be on the lookout for someone to take it over. I look forward to working with this group and seeing what they can bring to their new roles.
Wintreath’s Finest is the name for Wintreath’s citizen of the month. Nominations are for those who stood out as contributing or showing dedication to the region or having been extra active, caused activity, or been a good influence on others. The winner of April 2018 Wintreath’s Finest was Gattoartico for his hosting of the successful regional game nights playing Realm of the Mad God and Minecraft. The winner of May 2018 Wintreath’s Finest was Wintermoot for all of the work he has done to update and redesign the recruitment system, the forums header, the newsfeed, and other areas of the forums. Other nominees for the two months were Elbbsas for creating and hosting the Wintreath Escape Room, taulover for organizing and getting the Orendi out regularly, and Hydra for designing each Orendi.
Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme (or themes) nominated and voted on by citizens who then incorporate the winning theme(s) into their avatars for the month. Themes are often related to current events, though they may also include themes nominated at the random whims of citizens. May’s winning theme was Anything That Rhymes with May, beating out other themes such as Minecraft, Han Solo, and Justin Timberlake. June’s winning themes were a tie between Alaska and Cats. Crushita adopted an avatar that is unquestionably the most fitting: a picture of Mayor Stubbs, the cat who was the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for twenty years.
Spyfall is an easy-to-learn forum game where the lone undercover spy tries to figure out the location of the game while all the other players, who act in their given roles related to the location, try to figure out who the spy is. Spyfall VIII, which was hosted by North, lasted from early March until May. The location of the game was the United Nations with players given the roles of ambassadors from different countries. Hydra, the Spy, ultimately did not successfully announce the location before being correctly voted off as the spy by a majority of the players, which was initiated by Doc, making this only the second time in Wintreath that the Spy lost. There were apparently some miscommunications as to how and when the Spy could make his guess, but everyone including Hydra agreed to have enjoyed the game.
[hr]
The Pandemonium RP Begins!
by taulover ft. AJ
Image credit: erzon77 on AdeptGamer
Advertised as “a roleplay of possibly infinite possibilities, but also structured,” Pandemonium is a Discord-based RP set in a dimensional cluster, ruled by gods. Here, AJ’BLarg, the GM, explains the setting:
The existence of Pandemonium is built on a simple principle. Planes. The five main planes are the main realms of Bael’Kath, Olv’Thrane, Alissa, Santioc, and Xaelinoc. Pandemonium itself is a centralized dimension inside the capital of Xaelinoc, accessed by a single portal. Each of the six realms is vast, and each the size of an entire plane of existence. There’s other planes that exist, and possibly will come into play.
Each plane is vastly different. Xaelinoc is the plane of the demons, ruled by the mighty Demonous Clan. Santioc is the plane of the angels, led by the Fallen Angel Cardina. Olv’Thrane is the plane of the elves, led by the mighty Zermophium, who is said to have the power of the world tree of the plane itself. Alissa, led by the Draconic Maelikor, leader of the humans. Bael’Kath, the realm of chaos and horror, led by the monstrous Xernia. Pandemonium, the capital of the collective, led by Kessek Demonous, the God-King.
If you dare to try your fate, possibly rise up in the ranks, come to the Multi-Plex of Pandemonium. Or perhaps lie in wait until your plane comes under the scope of the Multi-Plex. The possibilities are infinite in the multiverse. How will you fit in?
AJ has much experience GM’ing roleplays online. On comparing RP’ing via forum and Discord, AJ stated his opinion that “Discord is an easier and less intimidating platform.” It will undoubtedly be exciting to see the Wintrean RP community evolve as it takes on this new direction of RP’ing and broadens into new platforms.
If you’re interested in this RP, you can contact AJ#4382 on Discord.
[hr]
Wintreans Share Food That They Made!
These are some Pax Fruit wedges that I made! New Pax Fruites cut into wedges, shredded Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt, and some parsley after it came out of the oven. I could have baked them a bit longer to crisp the outside more, but the flavour was fantastic, and went great with ranch dressing as a dip. It won approval in my house, at least. 
This is currently one of my favourite dinners. Bobotie: a mince dish, with copious amounts of fruit, curry powder, and milk-soaked bread. I have to start making it at a bit past one for it to be serveable by six, and the egg layer on top keeps consistently being runny, but I’m getting there!
My take at raspberry fool, based on a recipe on Food Network and the ingredients that I happened to have. I actually decided to totally mix in the raspberries and cream to give it a uniform flavour. I’m not usually a big fan of raspberries, but it was good with ladyfingers.
I also made this with strawberries yesterday, and it’s very much my thing. 
Feel free to share your own favorite recipes at the Howling Wind Tavern!
[hr]
An Interview with Gattoartico about the New Modded Minecraft Server
by taulover
Gattoartico tours Furnace Lane, near the spawn of the modded server.
Wintreath has had a thriving Minecraft community for many years, with a vanilla server dating back to 2014. Recently, however, Wintreath has expanded its scope in Minecraft to mods. Joining me today discuss this topic is Gattoartico, our Thane of Gaming, who has launched a modded server based on a custom modpack.
Why did you choose to make the Wintreath modded Minecraft server?
It partially spawned from a conversation with Trader on the Vanilla server. We were discussing plans for militarization of Castle Terrinian and High Castle, with missiles and sentry armies. As a result I started compiling the mods I already played with and asked for mod suggestions. It kinda became a desire of mine to see Spawn on Wintreath Server being nuked. We don’t have that map but the one we do have is a close second!
How did you decide what mods made the cut for the server pack?
Some of them were mods I loved previously, like AbyssalCraft which adds in elements of Lovecraft to the game. As well as mods that others suggested. The existing server pack is one that I slimmed down to the largest pack that would put the least stress on the kind of crappy laptop the server is on. It’s still pretty full but without any truly heavy hitting mods.
What have been some of the biggest difficulties of getting the modded server up and running?
One of the biggest issues was finding the right hardware and pack size. Occasionally I take the server down for “maintenance,” which is just code for the me getting tired of hearing the fan howling. I do intend to upgrade the server hardware in the near future, as trying to run it off of a first gen i3 really isn’t helping performance.
What is the most interesting thing you’ve seen on the modded server?
Definitely the building styles of the players. Everyone on the server has kinda the same Dwarven mantra going, “Dig deep, and then dig deeper.” Outside of my constructs most buildings on the server go down and not up. Which can be seen with the construction of Deepholm, Crushita’s dwarven stronghold in the deep. Out of everything it is still the second deepest structure on the server. The only thing that goes deeper is my Mortis Engine. And boy is that sucker deep.
But then that may be warranted. After all, nuclear powers are on the rise server side. So digging deep may be a result of the expanding nuclear arsenals. Out of which mine still dominates the server at nearly sixty silos scattered across four dimensions.
Do you prefer vanilla or modded Minecraft?
I would have to say modded. I like the plethora of new and strange things mods add to the game. Alongside technology and magic I enjoy the variety of dimensions, creatures, and weapons you can find.
What are you plans for the future of the server?
The first thing on the list is upgrading the hardware. Ideally I want to to have an i5 or i7 as the processor and at the very least 16gbs of ram. Then the pack will go full and y’all will get the true world save. Where the server capital is a massive mountain range with sheer cliff faces. And the days prior to the server world and pack change I plan on dropping a total war scenario on y’all. Nuke each other and fight my dudes.
[hr]
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for the update!
Yes, thank you for keeping us updated. I really enjoyed the food bit 
Invitation to our Fourth-Annual Summersend Festival!
This year’s theme, minus ‘box’. Hey, we were lucky to find something that said Spooky Summer!
[hr]
Greetings to our partners and friends!
It’s a busy time of year for many of us, but that’s what makes it a great time to take a break from it all and have fun for a little while. Here in Wintreath, we celebrate the waning summer and welcome the approach of autumn with the Summersend Festival, a yearly festival of fun activities and events that always showcases our culture and makes it a wonderful time to visit or tour. Consider yourself formally invited! 
This year’s festival will run from Friday, August 17th to Sunday, August 26th on https://wintreath.com/forums/, with the festival forum opening up on Wednesday, August 15th for event and booth hosts to begin setting up! Here’s just a sample of events that have been confirmed for this year’s festival:
This Year’s Theme: Spooky Summer
Wintreath Escape Room 2
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Mage Wars 2
Spooky Themed RP
Spyfall
Murder Mystery Game
And More!
Each year the Summersend Festival proves to be a bigger success than the previous year, and we hope that this year will be no exception. I hope that you will have a chance to take a break and join us for some fun and games.