I am going to start weeding out inactive players in the next couple weeks. So please if you are still interested in playing, start stepping up the posting speed (3 posts a week bare minimum, 5 posts a week preferred), or give me your explanations as to why you're slowing down, if you haven't already.

This is always an unpleasant time for me because I tend to feel at least a little bit of guilt at dropping players, even if it's for the sake of better game flow. Also, it takes some thought to work in new ones mid-game, especially with this particular premise. But... it has to be done!

I thought I'd be able to update tonight, but not sure I can manage it for a little while longer. Hopefully it won't be a problem, since it's a holiday for some today.

Thanks to people who posted today though.

I invited 2 more players in because I had anticipated losing more players. Seems like most of them want to stay, much to my amazement. But I'm not going to keep the others from joining.

The two joining are two great players from my other games.

One is taking an Abyssal role (directly inspired by Third's Player Creativity post. The player really liked the premise, too.)

The other is taking the Eclipse role vacated months back by Saffron. Also incidentally means the group can have a full circle of Solars plus all 3 types of Lunars. Plus a Sidereal and an Abyssal. An interesting spread which I hope will endure through the rest of the game.

Anyway I'm going to sit down soon and update some threads here and write some PMs. Apologies if it comes a little late.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:02, Tue 14 Apr 2009.

The new characters:

Broken Eternal, the Day Caste
Veldygar Arhandor, the Eclipse Caste

They will be starting separately from everyone else, obviously. (Neither has completed a sheet yet so I'm waiting until they both do to start'em off!) But I still added them to story group 1 so they can read what is going on.

Feeling pretty ill... not sure there will be more post until Monday.

Though I may at least post for the Hive Queen. How much I do depends on how I feel tomorrow. o.O

All right, starting to feel better. May still turn out to be a slow week, though, but I'll give it my best shot :)

My birthday is on April 23rd (it's my 30th in fact.) I am planning to take a couple days away from the computer. So that would probably be the 23rd and 24th (Thursday and Friday).

Veldygar and Eternal should have their intro by late tonight barring any unforeseen circumstances on my part.

edit - more Hive Queen will also come late tonight, as what she'll say will have some relation to what Veldy and Eternal are doing. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:55, Mon 20 Apr 2009.

OK, I'll be back either late Friday night or Saturday morning. :)
Please keep posting in the meantime, at least until you'll need my input again.

Hey all, I'm back. I will start updating again this (Saturday) afternoon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:27, Sat 25 Apr 2009.

It should be becoming apparent how I'll be trying to divide things here. So here's a peek into how the game will be progressing.

After the virus affects the automaton sentries, I'm envisioning something like this... barred anyone who would rather take time to scout and explore first. I am flexible, and the neutralized sentries will make movement easier.

- 1 group invading and/or infiltrating the inner temple (this group will likely encounter Veldy and Eternal)
- 1 group to help cause a diversion (Tycho and his men will be implied here as NPCs)
- 1 group to attempt to incite laborer revolt (they'll also end up meeting Free)

The Hive Queen's Ruby caste warriors, and the half or so of refugee troops with Drachma, will support invasion or diversion efforts if directed toward this.

There will be another downtime once people move into the builder bug hive, too.

Of course some things still need to finish before I can move the game onward, namely Hive Queen thread (which needs to get posting again!) and Conclave. So those threads will definitely come to a conclusion this week.

Whew, sorry all, I meant to update here earlier than now. I'm working on it.

OK... I've updated all but Conclave because I'm waiting for a post there. I've more or less determined I'll just skip you guys out of the area by my next post, I've given you enough of a runaround. Can just assume you have a lucky day in terms of stealthing (gasp!) and Mockingbird makes up a significant distraction for you to get away easier.

I'd like for Conclave people to enter at the tail end of the mini festival with the Hive Queen so all of you minus Veldy and Eternal can move to the next thread together.

New character (who I dearly hope will be the last I accept for a while; I will be happy to have our group of players stabilize) is shaping up to be someone who is currently working with Free. Heh, Free and the Abyssals idea Third came up with are among my most used bits of player creativity. I will definitely be incorporating both of Danae's Fire District ideas as well. Fun stuff.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:53, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

I may be absent most of Saturday. So. Weekend posting may be slow... Not that I don't post faster than most Exalted games I've seen, anyways (life? what life?)

By beginning of next week I will be starting to move us ahead plot-wise and prompting people to divide up for tasks.

Also, just to mention it officially here, I have had to move Dreams-of-Light to inactive status as her player is having RL rear its ugly head, and such. So not sure when/if she will be reacting again.

Dashu's player will also possibly be slow due to RL things. We will find a way to cope without our handy night caste in the meantime. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:08, Sat 02 May 2009.

Excuse any potential delays, I've been working on other things and now I am completely drained, and I haven't had a full, proper meal in nearly an entire day. It is getting very hard to write right now but hopefully I will have something for Veldy and Eternal's thread in the next couple hours.

Time skip for the settlement will start either late tonight or on Saturday afternoon at the latest!

(Sorry, I deleted the last announcement I made for this by accident. Anyway this is just to cover myself in case I end up resting for tonight.)

Just made a rather large post to begin what ought to be a *brief* Hive stopover, at the bottom of this thread:

link to a message in this game

As stated in the post, everyone (except Veldygar and Eternal) has 9 days of downtime for training, crafting etc.

I'll leave the Mining Settlement thread open to finish what last bit of conversation there is there, but it'll close soon.

Ugh, I wanted to write but I'm currently too tired... I stayed up really late for a friend who was having some bad times. I need to get some rest and I'll post some things I intended to get done (particularly in response to Danae and Higura/Nanaret) before I go out for the day. if you haven't posted yet in the Hive thread since my last big post, please do, I would like to know what everyone does in the 9 day gap.

Also, if I don't get response from Veldygar in the Republic Mission thread by tomorrow I'll just proceed with posting results for Eternal's sneaking.

Thanks for patience...

While I sit down to do some writing (trying to kick my inspiration :/) I also thought I'd point out the PCs' collected or crafted equipment list. It's the last post of the Experience/Rewards thread.

link to a message in this game

Those of you in Builder Bug Hive have access to these items right now.

Nanaret has already let me know she wants to trade out her exceptional wood-enchanted breastplate for the green jade breastplate as part of her 'Immaculate disguise'.

There's still a couple unclaimed things on that list. Inform me via PM, IC or OOC at your discretion if you want any of it. Discuss among yourselves if you wish, otherwise I will assign items in the order people ask for them.

You can of course claim anything that the refugees currently hold, as well.

I'm really tired, feel like I could rest for longer... I've been so exhausted it's made me ill. But I will post something by tonight. (At least for settlement, as I told Talia I would.)

I'd like by the weekend / beginning of next week to start picking up on the posting speed again. I'll be moving onto game week 5, which will be when the meat of your plans for the Earth District begins.

That also means I have to nudge Veldygar and Eternal's thread to start moving as well, though I have gotten word from Veldy's player he'll be slower for a month or so. Just means I'll figure a way for some of the other PCs to meet Eternal sooner than later so he keeps getting interaction.

I feel the small downtime, while allowing to plant the seeds for some story elements, has slowed the pace to a point I'm not happy with... so hopefully we can get back toward the action soon. I've generally found interaction works better in smaller groups so the next immediate goal will be to divide people up by tasks and get moving on those.

Ahhh... despite my comments about speeding up, I realized Xurizu's player has his birthday today (the 17th!) so I probably won't update till after, so he can have a chance to catch up.

In the meantime, Hive people can make a choice as to what group they will accompany, and Veldygar can post his surprise attack (now that one of the monks is splattered on the wall...)

I may be away from the computer (gasp!) for the large part of the day Thursday and possibly Fri. Doesn't mean I won't update, just that I won't be at the comp. to watch the game as closely as I usually do. I'm pretty determined to getting us moving on the new threads, after the group spent so much time in preparation.

This is happening just in time, too, as our latest new character, a Zenith Caste named Kares Perian, is nearing completion. As I may have mentioned before, he will be in the company of Free -- or at least the gang that claims to follow him, the Freerunners. (I hope I will do justice to Free when it's time for me to RP him, assuming the group can even secure a direct meeting with the man himself, that is!) So the PCs will be divided 6 and 5 when everyone gets together. Only one out of the few I thought would leave ended up leaving the game, so we have an odd number of players now.

It's ok though! we may lose one some day. or I may gain one to make 12. I'm not sure about that, though, as it does take a lot of work to keep this group entertained, something I am not always sure I'm succeeding at. (If I did recruit I think I'd be most interested in someone playing a Dragon-blooded defector -- someone who'll start at higher Essence than the Solars.)

Water Republic thread: I am waiting for Eternal before moving on, but if I don't get a response in the next couple days I will assume he's holding action. Just gotta keep the combat moving, is all. If Veldy ends up alone too long I'll figure something out so he can meet up with the other 4 coming his way quicker.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:35, Thu 21 May 2009.

Once again some updates/prodding...

Builder Bug Hive - needing some interaction with the prisoners from Higura/Third (this should be happening in the past now, concurrently with main story threads, to keep from lagging the plot)

Inner Temple Infiltration - waiting for Dashu and Third to arrive, I'd like to move on Sunday evening if possible

Freerunner Meeting - could use some attention from Talia but if none by Sunday evening I'll move on

Water Republic Mission - waiting for Eternal's defense and next attack (can put 'em in the same post to save time). Hoping this battle won't drag on too long... you guys are going to be in a lot of battles from here on.

In the next couple days I'll also be working on starting Kares Perian's short prelude which will involve a peek a couple floors up! for once! I feel pretty crazy watching 5 threads at once, but they should merge in the next couple weeks I hope.

Hope you all had a good Memorial Day.

I was reminded in another game that it's Memorial Day in the U.S. I haven't been in the states for 4 years so... I tend to forget about its holidays. So I assume that's why it's been so quiet yesterday.

Kares Perian's intro, start:
link to a message in this game

The thread name is actually pretty similar to the Freerunner Meeting one (featuring Higura, Nanaret, Talia and Xurizu), so if that confuses people I can change it. I had my reasons for the similarity, but player comprehension is more important.

I'm now running four threads concurrently, which could be quite a strain for a single ST, but I'll try my best to keep it up until the groups can merge. I may at times post less detailed, in favor for going more quickly, depends on the situation and my inspiration.

I'll do my best to update more tonight/tomorrow, but I have a bit of a family emergency going on as my sister's cat is being put to sleep. Poor kitty. :(