Salutations everyone!
The Domain and Settlement Selection (D&SS) restart is imminent and almost here! Let’s look back at everything else that occurred this month:
A new feature added recently by Discord, which gives server communities more perks to spruce things up!
You can learn about the benefits the varied levels of Server Boosts provided at the link above, and since you can only choose 1 server to dedicate your love towards, we'd like to thank the following members whose boosts helped us gain or maintain our perks in July! (boost verified on July 31st, 2019 - the number in parenthesis indicates how many times you’ve appeared on this list)
We consistently review surname reservations on a daily basis. Each month, we like to share a few from the past period that caught our eye.
Favorite declines:
Most attempted surname: “Lord…”
Standouts:
Each month we'll spotlight one or two of our favorite memes that were shared via the forums or Discord.
Joemiddle shared his take on a popular topic this past month - Ancestral Land:
Deviants and the lifestyle associated with it are a regular topic in the CoE community. Here is Capt. Funk Wagnalls’ interpretation of what they are all about:
And finally, since it is a month dedicated to maps while everyone is waiting for D&SS to restart, here’s a map interpretation from one of our members from OCE named Haste makes waste:
If you'd like to see your meme highlighted, share it with us in our Discord or forums and it may show up here one day!
A new column in the Community Journal, this section will highlight and provide answers to interesting questions submitted to us by the community.
This month our question comes from Lord Mayor Matt, and they asked:
"I would like to know how ore and other minerals are discovered underground. will we have to sink random shafts and hope to get lucky or will there be a triangulation system similar to other titles etc.”
Snipehunter
"That's a fun question, thanks for asking, Lord Mayor Matt. We have a few technological tricks up our sleeve here in the real world that we can use to help us find seams of ore and similar deposits, but that won't be true in Elyria. However, that doesn't mean it's entirely guess work, either."
"First, to answer your question directly: There won't be a system for triangulating the location of mineral deposits that does the work for you."
"That said, you won't generally need to sink random shafts into the ground and hope for the best if you're willing to do a little prospecting. Instead, you can start by locating surface mineral deposits and following them back, so to speak. For example, if you investigate the shores of a waterway, or if you pan for minerals or use some other placer mining, and you come across small deposits of something like gold, it's a safe bet that those are being washed down river as the water scours its way across some larger deposit upstream. Even just knowing that can narrow your search significantly and help identify the hill or other feature that houses the minerals you're looking for. But, generally speaking, whatever specific mining techniques you use, you're going to start prospecting a new area by looking for surface signs of the presence of a mineral and working backwards. You might find iron ore in a cliff side or a hill, and dig a tunnel there to follow the seam underground, for example, or you may find evidence in the form of the presence of certain things in the soil that indicate mineral deposits deeper underground."
"Once you know where to look, it becomes a question of labor with a little bit of luck; the more you work and the luckier you are, the more likely you are to hit the mother lode, eventually."
"Hope that helps!"
If you would like to submit a question for the Ask a Dev column in hopes it will get answered in a future Community Journal, use this form.
Our volunteer moderators are not only bastions of peace in our community; they are a helpful hand whenever you need assistance.
They are very knowledgeable about Chronicles of Elyria and provide valuable feedback that helps keep our community amazing.
Each month in the past we provided a little insight into who they are and what makes them tick.
Since we have interviewed everyone on the team, this column is being put on hiatus for now. But look for a new one soon as we added a new moderator recently and we’ll be interviewing them very soon!
Peruse our previous Community Journals for all of the previous interviews from the current and former mod team members...
As you may already know, our volunteer Moderators and Super Moderators spend countless, often tedious hours supporting and helping the community to ensure peace and happiness across all of our platforms.
In July, the moderator team was tasked with putting the finishing touches on the RP expansion of Donovan’s estate for our official Discord, replaced Soulbot with a new, more powerful & versatile bot, and worked towards finalizing an update to the Recruitment channel rules for clarity, to name a few.
We also added a new moderator to the team, if you didn’t notice please welcome Focii to the fold. Much of the team spent time this month helping get him up to speed.
If you want to talk to a moderator, you can find them in the forums with a Moderator title, or in our official Discord server in purple (Moderator) and gold (Super Moderator).
If you have an interest in becoming a moderator for our team, please; don't call us, we'll call you! There is no application process, we constantly seek out capable, kind, considerate, helpful, and supportive individuals who have a reputation in the community of being upstanding players who are honest and have integrity, If that sounds like you and you are present in our community, keep up the efforts and we'll find you!
Each month we spotlight an organization from our community.
We have many creative members who are building amazing groups in Elyria, and this is one way we can help bring them to your attention.
This month we learn about the Moonbow Academy from its founder, Duchess Alluvial “Alvy” Maris.
Official Organization name: The Moonbow Academy
Server: Angelica (NA-W)
Kingdom affiliation: Valyria
How did you form? "Moonbow was created in 2017 as a roleplaying space. When information regarding the differences between schools, associations, and guilds came out, I knew that I would want to create a school; thus Moonbow was transformed from a few roleplay channels into a fledgling academy."
Leadership: "Moonbow's leadership functions just as a school in the real world would. At the head of the Academy is the Headmistress, who together with the Educational Board passes decisions on what they feel is best for the Academy. The Academy is made up of staff and researchers, who go above and beyond to provide for their students."
Organization purpose: "The Academy focuses on the "hard skills" of the skill flower. Educating students to become the best they can be within these areas and researching the world of Elyria and its mechanisms is the purpose of Moonbow. All knowledge from Moonbow will be collected in the duchy's knowledge vault, The Halls of Cognition. It is through these purposes that Moonbow hopes to enrich their students, both present and future."
Motto/Slogan: "Crescam et Lucebo - Grow and Shine."
Fun Fact: "The Moonbow Academy is part of an organization called the Prismatian Academy Network; which currently consists of the Moonbow Academy as well as The Solaire Academy of Art. The Network is open to any institutions who advocate the circulation, exploration, and preservation for all."
Discord: Here
Recruitment thread: Here
Thanks Alvy! It was enlightening learning a little more about the Moonbow Academy!
We don’t have a subject for this column this month, but we promise you we will return with a Kingdom update in August!
To be considered for this spotlight, submit your content here.
Thank you for continuing to send us your wonderful creations!
Important: Continue to share your creations. We need more of them. Please utilize the link above so we can show off your efforts to all Elyrians!
Remember, even if your submission wasn't featured this month, we may still use it in the future.
Athorias shared his vision of cooperation in the Taiga and Alpine Tundra: ”Hailing from the frozen north, Brudvir and Hrothi work together in harmony!”
Geisha / Winter shared with us their latest tribe creations you may have seen posted to Twitter and describes it as ”An on-going project to showcase the different tribes of Chronicles of Elyria”
See all of the tribes completed so far at their Deviant Art site here: link
DesiDoll shared two pieces of their art this month, the first is described as *”A male Brudvir waiting at a forest hideaway.”
The 2nd is equally beautiful and depicts ”A Brudvir tailor finishing a new pattern.”
Thanks to Domain & Settlement Selection, much of the community has been all about them maps lately.
Duchess Alluvial Maris spent some time creating fan-made overlays of the map samples we've been sharing lately.
You can view all of them at her Imgur link here, nice going!
(EU) Recurve has also been hard at work making overlay graphics and adding text to the individual kingdom maps for all servers.
Here's one for the kingdom of Aequitas on the Oceania server
Find more at her Twitter.
Lastly, but certainly not least, the kingdom of Bordweall has been releasing the full size stylized maps with a hex grid maps overlay.
All four maps are anticipated to be released over the coming days on their Twitter account. Map N is already out, check it out here!
There are even more community members showcasing the maps in exciting ways. Even though we can't share them all, we wanted to say thank you for all of the awesome efforts to promote the amazing world maps of Elyria!
If you have art, songs, poems, or any creation that relates to Chronicles of Elyria you'd be willing to share in a future CJ, find the link at the top of this section, submit, and thank you!
Thank you to all of those who submitted your fan pieces!
Every so often our community sends us wonderful gifts. Sometimes they are food or drink items, sometimes other more customized gifts are received.
Regardless of what or from whom, we're constantly awed and humbled by the fact that our community blesses us with gifts every so often.
To that end, since we now post a thank you thread, we felt it made sense to highlight them again here for anyone who missed them.
In July, we received 2 studio gifts.
Thank you all so much <3
To help you get to know our team better, we try and interview one developer each month, or as often as is possible.
This month our favorite off topic poster Frontenious (Orlando) graces us with more about the man behind the front-end of our sites.
Q: If you don’t mind, can you share with the community a little background of where you grew up?
A: "I have lived a majority of my life in the lustful state of Missouri. With a brief stint in Florida where I ended up married to a woman named [REDACTED]. I don't recommend any it!"
Q: How did you meet Caspian? Any fun stories you care to share?
A: "We went to school together and actually worked on a variety of culinary projects. Stories... I have physical proof of his existence in the world of #@%^$#%$&^#%$#@&@%$&$^$&^$. Stays censored. Sorry guys, while I have no direct fear of insulting our fearless leader. My annual review is coming up. Daddy Caspi signs the papers I stack. So the yearbooks will remain "burnt"."*
Q: Why did you decide to be a coder?
A: "You know those old creepy doctor's offices from when you were a kid? The ones that had that Highlight magazine and the sick puzzle toy that is a bunch of filthy wood bulbs on a wire rod? Well coding is like those puzzles when you were a little kid. They kept you occupied and safe from the scary people that stick you with a needle when they make you think its an airplane."
”Now you pop a few Imodium and have an energy drink. There is no doctor. You are all grown up, and you get paid to solve the puzzles. The story doesn't matter. If you enjoy something, do it, find time for it.”
Q: Is there any other career path you considered at one point? What was it and why did you change?
A: "I have a background in IT and customer service. I hate people and I like to break @%^. Is this the question? Can we go to the aquarium yet? They have otters."*
Q: Watchmen or TMNT and why? (Feel free to replace these 2 with others if these aren’t your style)
A: "Transmetropolitan if we are going that route. I do have a %^#& load of copies of Calvin and Hobbes. Hey wait a minute other you! He said feel free to replace these... $%&^$ ^%$%#$&# Chainsawman."
Q: It is fairly well known that you are a prankster like Loki, the god of mischief. How did you get that reputation?
A: "Which tricks am I responsible for again? I am not denying it... but we could trip over one of my multi headed traps within steps of our desk. Sorry, I meant multi-legged Serp. Legged."
Q: What is your favorite Jelly Belly flavor and why?
A: "Cinnamon. I like spice. It's that simple."
Q: Pets? Do you have any and if so, care to share about your furry friend?
A: "I have a dog named Elly. I have had her for almost 10 1/2 years. We climb mountains and stuff."
( ^^ Elly walking on a log!)
Q: Is there a particular program you use to get your work done that you couldn’t live without? Why?
A: "I use Visual Studio Code a lot. I am a front end engineer though. I need one of those color swatches from home depot and a typewriter. Also some crayons and tape. Can we make macaroni paintings at the office next week?"
Q: What is your favorite flavor of salt?
A: "HIMALAYAN PINK SALT"
Q: I understand you are an avid outdoors-man, what types of activities do you enjoy?
A: "I buried something in the woods near the Canadian border this past weekend. So I like to, I guess, hike in the mountains. Did you know we have freaking bears out here? Like the honey jar dude got off the shelf and started walking around robbing your trash."
Q: What is the best prank you ever pulled on a co-worker?
A: "I volunteer for the local arachnid relocation program. I save office spiders and move them outside safely in a glass! Sometimes the glass empties in "random" locations."
Q: If you could say anything to the entire Chronicles of Elyria community, what would it be?
A: "I found a Nerds Rope. I am done.”
”Nonsensical humor aside. I work with a great team and they are all good at playing poker. You never see all our cards. Things are happening. Yada yada soon. But you gotta see this sheet for the moves for... (At this point they stopped recording, NDA and he gives out recipes for breakfast snacks.) "
Thank you Frontenious, that was very… interesting!
Chronicles of Elyria has a Reddit community, lovingly managed by Hellmoon, Mickdude, ImbuedGreen, and SirApetus.
We recently surpassed 4,000 subscribers, and continue to grow every month! Keep up this amazing momentum everyone and if you want to help spread the word about Chronicles of Elyria, join in!
If you are interested in joining our subReddit, find it here.
The Chronicles of Elyria community is a busy one, and has been for a long time now. It’s so active that there are many live shows hosted each month. To help you be aware of them, and attend these enlightening and often revealing events, we've summarized those we know occur consistently each month. If you host a show on CoE and want to be included here, please contact us at [email protected].
As a recent change, if your channel hasn't added any new content in the last 90 day period, we'll remove it from this list. If you feel your show was removed accidentally, please contact us or reach out to Serpentius.
Learning Elyria is "a series hosted by Jason and Ryan from Jbros (forum names Duyo and MeltedWater). We are a new weekly show that covers different topics from Chronicles of Elyria as well as starting a weekly lore show."
A CoE Talk show from and for German speaking community members is online, hosted by Olaf Biebelix, Loki and Creamas.
"In our CoE Talk we discuss the latest CoE news, previously prepared topics and answer questions from the viewers. All of that in a fun atmosphere. We want to bring this awesome game to a group that isn't able or willing to translate everything on their own so they can be a part of an awesome community. It's hosted every Wednesday at 8 pm."
Run by Anibal and co-hosted by our Spanish-speaking Ambassadors and long-time community supporters, Gammea and Daedhel, Taberna Elyria is "a monthly podcast in Spanish where they introduce *Chronicles of Elyria and its news to spread the word to all Spanish-speaking gamers."*
"Join Anibal, Daedhel and Gammea in this new adventure!"
"The Arkadian Herald focuses on creating presentation videos for CoE from the Kingdom of Arkadia in different European languages to help people that don’t speak English. or speak very little, to learn about the game and its major features. As of now the covered languages are : English, French, Italian and Russian. A new series of videos exclusively in English, focusing on debating on specific matters regarding the game are being worked on right now. We hope to see you soon to help us spread the world of CoE to the World!"
Conclave 360 is “a community based discussions channel that seeks to help people find their home in the larger Elyrian community. Videos focus on topics ranging from introducing local community leaders, guilds, associations, and schools to discussions on how the mechanics “as described so far” will impact those people and institutions."
"Free at 1pm PDT/4pm EDT on Sundays? If you're looking for a home in Elyria, tune in to Face the Conclave and find one!"
Oceanus FM is "a collaborative broadcasting effort hosted by Alleykat and featuring all OCE Kings including Aequitas, Lor Voskara, Caprakan, and Tylsia as regular co-hosts. The channel was created to provide an Oceanic time zone live stream and video series, to talk about issues relevant to the Oceanus server of *Chronicles of Elyria."*
"Oceanus FM does not follow a strict broadcast schedule due to shift work. Watch out for announcements!"
TheoryForge. "This veteran team of streamers began a new show on Friday, May 10th, focusing on Chronicles of Elyria. The current hosts have all purchased packs with Alpha I access, and are excited to become more active members of the community. We are drawn to CoE because of its unique mechanics, and the migration of the Revival community."
Follow them at the link below, they are live every other Friday at 9pm EDT, 6pm PDT.
The BBC "(Bordweall Broadcasting Company) livestream deep dives into the latest developments from Soulbound Studios. Watch and discover what has them so excited about CoE, then join them and their guests in the CoE Discord voice after party and find out why they believe CoE is going to define a whole new genre in online gaming!"
They stream live every other Tuesday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. Watch the CoE forums for their announcements!
The Town Crier is " a live informational show/podcast featuring Morbis (Duke of Vornair), Adam (King of Vornair) and Mickdude (Count from Alésia). The topic is typically the latest goings on with the game or in the CoE community, theorycrafting about things Caspian says, or watching them blunder around with recurring technical difficulties with all the grace of a three legged giraffe. Super entertainment!"
You can catch them live every Thursday at 3pm (PT)/6pm (ET)/10 pm (UTC).
A Pirate's Guide to Elyria. It is "an interactive Lore and RP based CoE Talk Show, hosted by Captain Seli and Zigsmash, where we casually dive into the world of Elyria and talk about its lore! Each episode will cover a range of topics from the Tribes of Mann and their Religions, to the solar system and everything in between. Chat from the audience is highly encouraged, and we'll discuss theories and fan lore as well!"
"Show times are determined by how much rum the crew has had the day prior, so stay alert for announcements of when (Generally Tuesdays around 2PM Eastern, but could happen any day and time)!"
We love running contests, promotions, and events for our players — but it turns out our players love running them as well!
To help you keep track of all of the different contests and events at any given time, we've summarized them into one directory and stickied it in our General Discussion forum.
Soon we'll have a few extra contests to add to the list, so if you like winning stuff, don't miss out on these fun and exciting events!
There are a ton of talented artists in our community, many who share their creations in our forums and on our Discord server. Recently, some of those artists (including our super awesome Hellmoon) have created an official Chronicles of Elyria group over at the ultimate web destination for all art, Deviant Art.
Explore the creations, add your own or just support the creativity of our members in the CoE Deviant Art group!
Each month we'll get to know one of our esteemed Ambassadors, as well as let you know the status of current nominations and votes!
Today we have an interview from our esteemed Ambassador Protey, who some lovingly refer to as ProteyBot :)
Q: Would you mind sharing a bit about where/how you grew up? Everyone has interesting or enlightening stories?
A: “I grew up in the Puget Sound area in a city called Port Orchard, WA. Started out poor, but by the time I graduated my family was middle to upper class. Mainly due to my mom, she's awesome. She not only had to take care of my brother and I by herself a lot of the time, she also worked full time and would still cook and clean the house. She instilled in me the values of focusing on being successful and self-reliance. Due to these values, even though I was on my own since I was 18 and was so poor as a young adult I was homeless on the streets of Seattle for a few months, without begging and without going on welfare, I was able to retire by the time I was 38.”
”Before I retired though I did more in those 38 years than most people do in their entire lifetime. I earned a bachelor's degree in physics. I read the majority of the classics, from Shakespeare to Dickens to Jules Verne (Billy Budd by Melville was the worst! I had to look up every other word in the dictionary). Scuba-dived off of Maui. Placed in the top 5 of a dozen triathlons (I wanted to go Special Forces in the Army, so I would do insane training like running 10 miles in 52 minutes, swim 1.5 miles in half an hour, and lift weights a 100 reps in a row at other people's normal lifting weight; I did all this in a single day, 5 days a week. This training so well prepared me for triathlons, I thought, why not?). Traveled around the world multiple times. Been to Jordan and Iraq, ate lamb with a bunch of Sheiks. Been to South Korea (I recommend trying Oh-Gyobsan (butchered the name, sorry) which is commonly called "beef and leaf"). Went to Japan during the cherry blossom festival, saw Mount Fuji, Tokyo Tower, and visited Akihabara (highly recommend, like in Japanese anime, they have Maid Cafes there where only women work, and they are all dressed in maid outfits and act cute). Went to China, stood on the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. Went to Egypt where I stood on the Great Pyramid, saw the Sphinx, and rode a camel in the desert. Went to the UK, walked amongst the stones at Stonehenge. Went to Greece and saw the Parthenon (this was 1 day before the riots started in 2011, got lucky). Went to Italy, rode a gondola in Venice, saw the leaning tower of Pisa, Michelangelo's David in Florence, the Roman Colosseum, and the Vatican. Went to France, saw the Eiffel Tower, went to the Louvre, and saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Went to Spain, did the running of the bulls in Pamplona (yes, I was gutsy enough, or foolish, to grab one of the bulls by the horn; ended up with a huge bruise on my leg for a month). Went to Easter Island, Macchu Picchu in Peru, walked above the Amazon Rainforest on a rope bridge, fished up piranha (cooked them and ate them, pretty tasty) on the Amazon River, and picked up an Anaconda while I was there too (yes, it bit me). Went to Antarctica where I did some kayaking, saw a bunch of whales, killer whales, seals, and thousands of penguins. Also was foolish enough to jump into the frozen waters with nothing but my swim trunks on. Since I retired I have also went to Israel and was baptized in the Jordan River."
Q: Wow, that was impressive! So tell us, when did you first get into video games? Care to share your favorite experience?
A: "Hmmm..... I first started playing video games when I was about 4 years old. It was either Pong or Adventure, can't remember which one was first. Spent a lot of time growing up in the arcade. My fondest gaming memory though is when I got an NES when I was 12 and played Final Fantasy. It was for this reason I chose to play FFXI over Shadowbane or WoW."
Q: You served your country with honor, and I’d like to thank you for your service. Any interesting stories you can share from your time enlisted?
A: "I was only enlisted for a short time. Most of my career was as an officer. I retired as a Major. As for an interesting story.... On 7 December 2007 I was in Baqubah, Iraq where I was in a battle, getting shot at for 3 hours. Thankfully I didn't get hurt, but I did see a fellow Soldier get shot (he's alright, it was just in the leg) about 10 yards from me. Saw some pretty horrific things over there during that deployment. We were a Stryker Brigade. The insurgents had a weapon that would send a super-heated round inside the Strykers, bouncing around and burning everything.... and everyone.... inside to a crisp. I remember having to look inside one of the remains of a burnt up Stryker. That is why I always am somber on Memorial Day and tell people "no, it is not Happy Memorial Day". Other than that, I had a lot of fun in the Army, got to do all kinds of fun stuff like jumping out of airplanes, repelling out of Black Hawks, and of course, travelling all over the world."
Q: On certain Spanish foods, which do you prefer, Guac or Sour Cream and why?
A: "Guac, can't stand sour cream."
Q: Cats or Dogs and why?
A: "Cats. The feel of their fur and the sound of their purring is way more pleasant than what a dog is."
Q: How did you learn about Chronicles of Elyria?
A: "Internet search for upcoming MMOs."
Q: What are your plans once in game? (if you can share?)
A: "I was somewhat famous in FFXI for soloing things. I try to figure out how to make the impossible, possible. From this as well as my tenacity you read about earlier, I look forward to not only explore and fight difficult monsters, but for those players who are competent to come and attack me. A worthy adversary, difficulty in the game, this is what I am seeking. For as I have said before: if a game isn't challenging, can it really be called a game?"
Q: What feature of Chronicles of Elyria are you most excited about?
A: "Real consequences. Most other games, consequences, if there are any at all, are trivial."
Q: Love that answer! Tell us what you think about being a Community Ambassador?
A: "I know I've been slacking in this department as I took a hiatus to catch up on anime, manga, and games I had piled up while I went through and catalogued all that the devs have said. Whether I was an Ambassador or not, though, I wanted to impart knowledge of the game onto others. It's kind of for a selfish reason though. I wanted to raise people's capability so they would hopefully become a worthy adversary."
Q: Some in the community call you ProteyBot, how do you feel about that?
A: "Could be worse, when I was in the Army I had the nickname Rainman (yes, named after the character in the movie) due to my being able to do math quickly in my head and I would take bags of M&Ms, separate them by color and make them all have the same amount in each pile. I think I might be autistic, LoL."
Q: Is there anything you’d change about the Ambassador program if you could?
A: "Seems fine to me."
Q: If you could say one thing to the community, what would it be?
A: "Please make yourselves as competent of players as you can be... then come for me (are you seeing a theme here?)."
We really appreciate your participating in this column Protey, thank you!
This month we received no new nominations for the Ambassador role. We had a previous nomination from last month, but the nominee didn't qualify based on the prerequisites of the program.
If you want to learn more about the current Ambassador program, or know someone you would like to nominate, click on the link! Thanks for your support, as always.
The Subject Matter Expert program allows players in the community to lend their expertise to the studio to help make Elyria the best it can be!
Find our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in orange in our official Discord server, and identified as "Subject Expert" in the forums.
Learn more about the SME program here
We always have a lot on our plate, here’s a sampling of some of what’s in store for you in the future:
It is an exciting and busy time at the studio, but as always we can’t thank you enough for your patience and support
Until next time,
More to come...
