Moon Cycle 44: 12/01 - 12/11 + AC Results

[somarium_lords]

First, here are the AC results for this month:

friend remove glenbaskerville
friend remove lovelysadism
friend remove undefeatedly

Now for the moon cycle!

❖ MOON CYCLE 44 ❂ 12/01/10 - 12/11/10
Phase: Full moon; the moon shines brilliantly in the night sky, and is also fully visible during the daytime.

Weather: Winter has arrived! Of course this means the weather has turned from the mildly cold to almost freezing. Temperatures range from a high of low-40s °F to lows in the mid-20s °F. The nights will be particularly cold, and there will be small ice patches here and there, so watch where you step. There will also be some snow flurries and periods of light snow every now and then.

Effects: Everyone will start feeling rather chipper for the next few days, and any dreams will reflect this. Most dreams will be happy and peaceful, maybe even bringing up some childhood memories.

Notes: All right guys, this month is going to be a little special with a lot of setting changes going. It is imperative that you read everything!

• Where did the leaves go? Upon waking, characters will notice that something is very different. All the leaves they had grown accustomed are gone! Instead, every leaf that had been on the ground has been replaced by...
  
  
• Snow! That's right, instead of piles and blankets of leaves, Somarium is now covered in piles and blankets of fresh new snow. This of course means that there are several thick patches here and there, but it will thin out a little as the days go by. Some people may also find some small piles of snow inside their homes, and their doors to the outside may be blocked in due to snow piling up against them. Don't worry, someone will dig you out. ...Hopefully. Note: New fresh snow is set every morning.
  
  
• It's the Christmas season. As in the past, Somarium will magically be decked out with Christmas decorations overnight. Garland, streamers, bells, wreathes, and more. Of course there are some special "effects" to some of these, so play close attention!
  • Giant Christmas Tree. In the center of Espoir, by the fountain, there will be a huge, fully decorated Christmas Tree. It won't have anything underneath its boughs, but it will soon enough!
    
    
  • Secret Santa. Once again, we're doing our Secret Santa! In front of the Christmas tree, there will be a large sign that characters can sign-up on. Characters can also sign up other characters. This is to allow any characters who wouldn't normally participate to be able to do so. You must have player permission to do this.
    • Sign-up. The in-game sign will be up for all characters to see immediately, so it's there as soon as the tree appears. However there will not be an IC sign-up log post; instead all of that will be handwaved and assumed. Characters are of course free to discuss it at any time. Instead, the sign-ups are done OOCly, and there will b e a separate post for players to comment to be added to the list. The sign-up post will go up either tomorrow or Thursday, and we will give constant reminders throughout the next couple of weeks. While there will be a general "gift exchange" opportunity, you can give your gifts at any time that works best.
    
    
  • Floating Christmas Ornaments. Characters may want to watch where they're going. Scattered around Somarium will be random Christmas ornaments just floating around. Some will even act as floating lights at night. But be careful, for some of these have a life of their own! Any plain ornaments, no matter what color, may actually fling by and try to peg someone in the head. It won't hurt much, and they won't break, but it will most likely be annoying at least and cause some bruising. It is possible to fend these things off. A simple smack or dodge will do. Also, they won't follow the character. They only try to attack once, so if they miss, they won't bother the character again. For a while, anyway.
    
    
  • Walking snowmen? All the scarecrows will have been replaced by snowmen. Some will be plain, some decorated, and all are mean. If you thought the scarecrow were bad, the snowmen are worse. If a character gets too close to one of them, they will be more than happy to chuck large pieces of coal at the character. Note: they can be melted and destroyed, but they'll reform after a few hours.
    
    
  • Magic Mistletoe. We're bringing back the old time classic: the magical mistletoe. These will be hung everywhere and in the most random of places: in any doorway, arches, windows, boxes, hanging in the air. Note: they're not in every possible place, and sometimes they change. One day the mistletoe may be there, and the next its gone. But if two people happen to be underneath, one of three things will happen:
    1. Kiss. If the characters have at a friendly, good relationship (so friends and above), the two will kiss. How they kiss is random. It could be right on the lips, or it could be a peck on the cheek. This is completely up to the players, and the characters will have little choice. They will be compelled to perform the action. If one character has more feelings for the other, then they may even be tempted to confess their feelings.
       
       
    2. Hug. If the characters don't have a very good relationship, they will feel compelled to hug each other. It's the season to make amends and come together after all! However, it should be noted that this does not affect how the characters feel toward each other. Though they will hug, they will harbor those ill feelings. So they'll still hate each other's guts and probably try to kill each other afterwards.
       
       
    3. High-five! If the characters have never met before or have a more neutral relationship with each other, they will automatically perform some strange high-five greeting ritual. It could be simple, or it could be ridiculously complex.
    The only way to avoid these affects will be to just avoid the mistletoes all together.
    
    
  • Caroling. Wherever a character goes, they will most likely hear Christmas Caroling music playing somewhere around them. In fact, they may start to hum a little along with the music.
    
    
  • Sleighs everywhere. Characters will discover that most of the transportation around Somarium has been replaced by horse drawn sleighs. An NPC will happily give your character a ride through the streets at no charge!
  
  
  So as not to be repetitive, there is no signal post, so players are free to make IC posts about the change whenever they want. Also as a heads up, this month is unusual. We're keeping the reasons why a secret, but one thing we will say is that each week will be a little more special than the last. So as mentioned before, keep an eye out for both in-game and OOC mod announcements.
  
  And that should be everything! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to comment to this post or contact either of us mods.