Second Hand Shoes

We all know that sometimes, when a Divine returns after a long time away, they’re not quite the same. We all talk about it – though we pretend we’re not, and do it behind closed doors. In our community there is a taboo against questioning whether the Divine you’re interacting with now is played by…

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SERENLEAKS: Notes on Adasser (or How to Help Us Help You RP)

SERENLEAKS: NOTES ON ADASSER (or How to Help Us Help You RP)   Typically, when an administrator takes over a god role, they write about their reasons: Why did I take So-and-So? How difficult was the event that revealed X? What inspirations do I draw upon to develop God, the Godly God’s personality and beliefs?…

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Year in Review: 2014

Lusternia reached a tremendous milestone as 2014 marked its ten year anniversary. It seems like yesterday that I was rushing to finalize the rooms and skills so Lusternia could be released in October 2004 as we had planned. There was so much to do! The Skarch Desert had to be completely described (for rather contentious…

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“What is Elf on a Shelf, anyway?”

One fateful day off, as I sat in front of my computer with a steaming cup of coffee, it dawned on me – Elf on a Shelf is a terrifying, horrible concept that has further polluted the beautiful idea of the holiday season. What mad, commercialism-driven fiend developed this evil toy that watches people from…

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Notes on Suicide Prevention

It is difficult to discuss suicide. As someone who has dealt with this idea personally and professionally, for a variety of organizations, I can vouch for how terribly hard it is for the person who is having suicidal thoughts and for the people who are doing everything they can in a supportive role. In the…

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On Kate von Roeder

Kate von Roeder, formerly Visaeris, is dead. Many of you are aware from the forum threads. And now, I find myself with the second post this year about suicide. Again, someone I knew. Fantastically talented, passionate, willful, always brilliant and interesting. Kate epitomized some of the best and worst qualities, but she never did it…

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Good Gods Gone Bad

If there’s one thing everyone has an opinion about, it’s how a Divine should behave. You learn this almost immediately as an admin. Be aggressive and vocal in your org, but don’t be too commanding or too opinionated. Be friendly and encouraging, but don’t be too snuggly. Be a visible presence to prove that you’re…

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Scandal in the Havens

The morning sun had barely peeked out over the horizon; birds were chirping, butterflies were fluttering, squirrels were being squirrely and I was steadfastly ignoring all of it as I worked agitatedly at My forge, a scowl marring My otherwise Divine complexion. It was a disturbance to the north that had Me so riled up……

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The Enchantress and the Silver Lady face off in Boston

It happened suddenly. The skies darkened slowly, the subtleness of Drocilla’s touch upon the lands causing the air itself to become denser with Her will as She arrived in Boston. Noting the change immediately, Lisaera arrived on the scene to protect Her beloved city (yes, city, because sadly Boston isn’t a commune – just go…

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The kind of work a patron does

It’s been a few months since I threw on the silver robes and started livening up the place with storm clouds and moonfire. By and large, I’m loving every second of it. The players of Serenwilde never cease to amaze me with their creativity and their passionate responses to every kind of stimuli. Were they…

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Divine Relationship(ping)

Isune has always been a romantic. In her first incarnation in Celest, one of her most memorable actions was swooning over Lacostian, a wise and handsome god of the Third circle. Did he ever share those feelings? Or was it merely platonic? These questions were never truly answered when Lacostian vanished from the Basin of…

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Behind the Deceit

One does not simply release Drocilla. After she’s been expected/predicted by the players to arrive in the midst of some huge event, we couldn’t just have her waltz in casually. So when we (Havens: The Next Generation) all ended up reaching Godhood so closely together and decided to do a multi-release, the plan for Drocilla’s…

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How-to: Release four gods at once

What do you do when you take on the task of coming up with an event that will release four deities? At first, my answer was to sit immobile in front of the computer screen for a solid five minutes. Then, I let the slow, creeping paralysis of idea overload take me over until I…

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Bad to the Bone

I hate Nocht. Well… Sometimes I do. Whereas he is the malicious God of the Night, I’m a rather boring computer tech in the boring Midwest. We’re nothing alike. (Though I do envy his gorgeous hair) But that’s the point of role play, right? The chance to be someone or something else. The chance to…

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Glory be to Glomdoring

I’m back. Sort of. I’m not any Viravain’s you’ve ever known. When you take on a role larger than yourself, one where multiple very talented players have added the cumulative weight of experience and history over the course of Lusternia’s operating history, it’s hard to fill their shoes. So the best way to do that,…

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A Treatise on Godly Relationships

When I was but a wee mortal growing up on the winding thoroughfares of [DATA REDACTED], one of the (admittedly many, many) aspects of Lusternia which most caught my interest was just how human the Divine were. They had their flaws and shortcomings, they had their moments of sorrow and triumph, and they had realistic…

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To Dust Returnest

Coming to the end of my time as a volunteer administrator for Lusternia has been a difficult journey for me. I’ve been playing Lusternia since open beta in 2004 and I have truly loved the game. Seven years later, I felt that I had achieved a lot as a player but that I would like…

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Mortalsickness

In some ways, becoming an eph comes with as many losses as it does gains. The first thing you do is qq your mortal for the very last time, and that, for many of us, was a hard decision to make. There’s a good number of admin who chose to apply for Havens because they…

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The Occult and Cultists

There’s only thirty rank positions in a Divine Order. This is hard-coded in. No amount of begging, pleading, and even tricking a brief change through on Iosai (that broke everything) that was swiftly redacted, has won me any kind of slack in that realm. As I came to find out in the early days of…

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Year in Review 2013

Once again, we find another year has come and gone, and it comes time for me to look back and review the year as it has unfolded in 2013. What should be fresh in everyone’s mind is the Red Star event which has its roots extending back many years. Perhaps some of you may remember…

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