31 October

Community Journal: October

By Serpentius

A lot happened this past month, but most importantly we launched one of the first major milestone events that will forever shape Elyria, and so much more.

Read on for a summary of all that happened in October in this months Community Journal.

A look back:

  • In our first Developer Journal of the month, we outlined our transition from Pre to Alpha in the 0.4.0 Adventure Completion blog.
  • All religions celebrate the Eye's return, but only the Al'tifali revere it as the Queen's Gaze. Thus what better tribe to introduce the Light Armor concept for than the Dras.
  • Fresh off our completion of 0.4.0, we began Adventure 0.5.0 "Some Assembly Required". This blog helped outline why the next few months will be an exciting time in the development of Chronicles of Elyria.
  • Our resident linguaphile Vye answered some of the community's most interesting questions about languages and communication in Elyria. Read the blog announcement here, and review the entire session in our official Discord server in the #soul-chamber channel.
  • Continuing our showcase of Al'tifali tribe armor concepts, the next one we shared was The Waerd Light and Medium armor concepts, since one just wasn't good enough.
  • For the first time in gaming history, that we're aware, Chronicles of Elyria backers were able to vote on the world they will be inhabiting come game launch. With such an auspicious event taking place, we outlined in detail how map voting was going to work in this announcement. The 1st reply contains a full FAQ as well.
  • Next up, as there are only 2 Al'tifali tribes, was to show the more robust version of the Dras' defensive gear in this medium armor concept.
  • It wouldn't be spooky October and the Queen's Gaze holiday wouldn't be the same without updated lore and an accompanying story. Learn about the origins of the Queen's Carnival and listen to a tale about a being known as the "Lantern man".
  • Back by popular demand, we launched a store promotion to coincide with Queen's Gaze. Learn more and get yourself a promo item before they return to the vault on November 2nd at noon Pacific time.
  • The final level of physical defense for the elusive Waerd that we shared is their Heavy Armor concept, seen here for the first time. What did you think of this design?

Surname reservations:

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:

  • von Noobshausen
  • Forty
  • Huckaboo
  • Non Ame
  • beekiller
  • Immortal
  • lucky

Most surprising request: Jon Snow (clearly this user knows nothing of our rules)

Standouts:

  • Auzlough
  • Raueklyr
  • Òrchidaceae
  • Quindynaire
  • Eisenzunge
  • Färrearaum
  • Aerssenns

Popular Memes

Each month we'll spotlight one or two of our favorite memes that were shared via the forums or Discord.

Abigor shared this one outlining their thoughts about our meme game:

Dleatherus felt this was an apt description of his feelings at one point:

Meet a Mod

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 we provide a little insight into who they are and what makes them tick.

This month we meet Esoba and learn more about him. Esoba's cute doggies

Q: Where about do you call home?
A: "Currently, southwest Virginia, but I would say “home” in my mind is where I grew up in northern Minnesota."

Q: Anything interesting happen when you were growing up? (either there or elsewhere)?
A: "I’m not sure if anything interesting ever happened in the tiny, tiny town I grew up in. Although, I grew up in the age where kids were kicked out of the house from sun up to sun down, so we definitely had many adventures."

Q: What got you into gaming?
A: "Growing up during the evolution of console gaming, I can say that gaming really started when my family got an original NES. It was Mario and Excitebike that first really captured my attention. However, my love of PC gaming started when I was introduced to Acrophobia in the mid to late 90s. While I know many folks wouldn’t consider a word game like that a true online game, it definitely showed me what an online game could be. Spend hundreds of hours playing, chatting, and building friendships. My love for MMOs started with the release of DAoC, and really solidified during my time playing SWG (before its ruination by the worst patch/update in the history of gaming)."

Q: What are you playing right now? How do you like it/play?
A: "I enjoy games from almost all genres, and am also a board gamer at heart, so most recently I’ve been splitting my time between Civ6, Madden, Skyrim, and my favorite board game of all time Kingdom Death: Monster. At the moment, I cannot seem to get interested in any other MMO because I keep finding myself disappointed with them, and thinking about what they don’t have that CoE will."

Q: Do you have specific plans for Chronicles of Elyria or just going to wing it?
A: "The best laid plans of mice and men. But yeah, I do have some plans in place. I’m already happily pledged to Polaris County, and thoroughly enjoying my duchy and kingdom communities (shout out to the good Erzhalden and Vornair people). Otherwise, I plan to use my settlement as a kind of starter town where I can have plentiful jobs, cheap housing, and reasonably priced equipment. Basically, I want to have a place where newbies can get their feet wet in Elyria and then make whatever life for themselves that they want."

Q: You’re a professor IRL is that correct? What made you get into the role of educator?
A: "That I am, although I really split my time between teaching and research. I can’t remember ever wanting to be a teaching professor, but I knew I was going to pursue my Ph.D. before I ever left the military. Jumping out of planes has a tendency to make you reassess your life. It just so happens that when I taught my first upper level undergraduate class I quickly realized that I enjoyed the absolute hell out of teaching at a university. Especially in my field. Because of that first experience, I decided I wanted to work for a university that would allow me to dedicate myself equally to my research interests and teaching. It is an added bonus for me that I can help turn out highly trained professionals into a field where “quality” can sometimes be an issue."

Q: Can you share with us an interesting anecdote from your teaching career thus far?
A: "There are so many examples from humorous to heart breaking to unbelievable. I can tell a funny story that I still haven’t lived down despite the several years since it happened. One class I was lecturing about the assumptions of some therapeutic approaches, and for some reason it didn’t register in my head that I was incorrectly saying organismic self-regulation. I’ll leave it up to your imagination to figure out exactly what I was saying. Non-the-less, the class let me go on saying it incorrectly for the entire time. Thinking back, I do remember thinking they were far more interested than usual on the topic. One positive aspect is that even to this day students who were in that class tell me that they still remember every word of that lecture."

Q: What are your aspirations in the future, continue with education?
A: "I will continue learning, but I believe I’m done going after any additional degrees. One doctorate is quite enough for me. I would say that moving forward I’m focusing on the research I’m doing, and writing about the areas that I’m interested in. At the moment I’m wrapping up two books I have under contract, and in the planning stages for a third."

Q: Vikings, or the Last Kingdom?
A: "Honestly, I can say that I’ve never seen an episode of either. They’re both on my “to watch” list, but that thing is several pages long, so I may or may not ever get to them. Most recently I finished re-watching Babylon 5, which is something I do every other year or so. By far my favorite Sci-Fi show (haters gonna hate)."

Q: What do you like about being a moderator?
A: "This question is probably the easiest of them all. What I like the most is witnessing the passion and commitment Serp brings, the mod team’s level of teamwork, and communicating with the community. I especially enjoy the interactions I get to have with folks from all of the different sub-communities. I would have never been exposed to the broader swatch of the community had I not become a moderator."

Q: Dislike about it?
A: "I would say my least favorite part would be those rare circumstances of people whose only intent is to troll, or otherwise bring extreme negativity to the community. Everyone has ups and downs when they’re following a project like CoE (I had my own fair share), and that is completely understandable. However, sometimes people come into the community with the sole intention of trying to bring others down. I’m as big a fan of cathartic releases as the next guy, but as a moderator those instances are definitely not my favorite."

Q: If you could say one thing to the entire community, what would it be?
A: "Keep being awesome. I’m always blown away by this community, and having been parts of many different gaming communities in the past, I can say with honesty that this one has been my favorite."

Thank you for sharing with us Esoba, we're glad to get to know you more!

Meet an Organization

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 make sure you know about them. This month we meet the Elyrian Initiative, founded on OCE, but now available across all servers.

Let's learn more about them!

Official Organization name: The Elyrian Initiative

Server: Oceanus (OCE)

Kingdom affiliation: None

How did you form? "Late into 2017, two ideas were merged into an organisation. Remios and Xemmas, two of three current leaders of the Initiative, met and discussed what an ideal organisation would encompass, and how to implement it in the world of Elyria. One thing led to the next, and the Elyrian Initiative was formed."

Leadership: "Remios, Xemmas, and Azmodeth oversee all operations and are the ultimate authority within the organisation. Beneath, and reporting directly to these three, are the Ministers, who oversee large amounts of chapter houses. Each chapter house has a chapter house leader, who oversees the day to day operations and ensures everything is running smoothly."

Purpose of the Organization: "The Elyrian Initiative strives to link players across their respective servers using franchises through a series of contracts. We deal in every branch of Elyrian life. Do you need protection while travelling? Do you need a message delivered? Do you need something translated? Resources collected? Something Captured? Training? Information? Contact the Elyrian Initiative. We are a resource to connect you with whatever you need."

Motto/Slogan: "Anything and Everything."

Fun Fact: "Before evolving into the Elyrian Initiative, the organisation was known as the Adventurers Guild. Created over two years ago during the Kickstarter period, it is one of the oldest guilds on the Oceanus server, out dating all four Kingdoms."

Discord: here

Recruitment thread: here

Thanks again for helping us learn more about your organization!

Meet a Kingdom

This month, we learn about the Kingdom of Al-Khezam from their monarch.

Thank you Usifan for taking the time to tell us about your Kingdom!

Official Kingdom name: The Kingdom of Al’Khezam

Server: Selene (EU)

Leadership: "Al’Khezam plans to be a feudal monarchy which is a connected combination of nobility, where each noble rules their own territory, aside from a set of rules required, and duties to their liege, the mayors serve their count, but is given free reign in how to achieve their leadership, the counts and dukes follow a similar pattern, having to fulfill their obligations as vassals, but are generally considered free in the manner or method with which to achieve their goals."

"The royal Court will be where decisions are made. All Dukes are given a place in this court. Their wealth and land may be grand, but so are their duties. They will also be responsible for the maintenance of the men-at-arms sequestered within their realms and the defense of the borders and the roads that travel through their lands." "Kingdom wide issues will also have a centralized structure so that in times of tribulations Al’Khezam will respond with one voice, one action."

Kingdom colors: White, Red, and Blue

Kingdom symbol: Black & Gold (tulip-dagger)

Kingdom crest:

Goals of the Kingdom: "Our aim is to build a healthy and prosperous kingdom, where schools of thought and science create new wonders for Elyria, where crops flourish, trade is never-ending, wine flows and a man can rise from humble farmer to wealthy landowner, an itinerant layman to head scholar at a university. We only ask that you embrace the spirit by which our kingdom is founded: the spirit of community, love for our fellow man and the sharing of burdens when times are hard. The land in which Al’Khezam will be placed is one in which this vision will come to pass, one in which all-tribe cultures are seamlessly blended into a magnificent tapestry that brings joy to all who see it."

Fun fact: "The Kingdom of Al’Khezam once contemplated introducing a currency backed by the Trison, the Moo. Mostly for the laughs to be had when people said ‘That’ll be two Moos please.’" and "-The Order of Wisdom & Learning once contemplated the nature of a big red button until one of their scholars decided to just press it. It did not end well. Many Waerd died to bring us this information."

Discord: here

Recruitment thread: here

Closing statement: "We welcome anyone wishing to join us in our endeavors, irrespective of beliefs, ethnicity or social standing. Together we can build something that could stand the test of time and be a wonder of Elyria."

Community Spotlight

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.


To accompany the lore story of ilnajaren and the lantern man, Bombastus shared this reading of it in his own words:

Audio reading of the lore story, part 1

Also good news, Bombastus let me know he is currently finishing up part 2!


As she has done every year since I've been here, Hellmoon drew the current mod team as if they were kitties attending a Halloween party, good timing!


Elsy shares this creation and describes it as "A farmer looks out over the Bordweall landscape as sun rises on the capital city of Bloodroot. The tree of legend, the Bloodoak, is bathed in morning light."


Kitlandria shared her artistry of her fellow Super Mod and herself entitled "Disciples of the Two Fold Queen Arise: Mercy and Justice"

Congrats again to both of you on your promotion!


Meet a Dev

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, we interviewed Soulbound's Senior Art Lead Irreverent.
Read on to learn more about him and what he does at the studio.

Q: How long have you been a gamer?
A: "That depends on what you consider being a gamer. I have loved games of all types for as long as I can remember. I loved board games and video games, although my parents didn’t want us to play video games. We did have a Second-hand Atari that we played on an old black and white TV. It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I would say I really became a gamer. For Christmas of ’92, I got Battle Masters, and my brother got Heroes Quest. Those two games turned me into a huge gamer, so much so that I even stared making up my own sets of rules. My favorite was a rule set I made that combine Battle Masters and Heroes Quest that I called Battle Quest (this was before I knew of the existence of the Warhammer Games universe). These were the gateway games that led me into Tabletop wargaming and RPG’s"

"A short time after that, our family got our first computer (really is was the second, but it was the first one I was allowed to use). It had no HDD, and 512k of RAM. Before I could use it, my dad made me read the hardware and OS manuals. I learned all about DOS… I remember trying to tweak my PC to play the brand new shareware game Wolfenstein 3D and a space sim called Wing Commander. These two games made me a PC Gamer for life."

Q: Where you grew up, were there arcades and did you hang out there?
A: "My family moved around a lot when I was young. We never lived in areas close to arcades, so the few times I could go were pretty special. However, at the end of high school, I did work in an Arcade for 3 years. It’s about the best thing you can do to make yourself never want to step foot in an arcade ever again."

Q: Tell me more about where you grew up? Maybe an interesting story from childhood?
A: "I grew up in the Midwest – Illinois and Minnesota. I grew up in rural towns, so that meant a lot of outdoor life experiences. I also grew up in the 80’s, so I got to actually go out and have those experiences without my mom or dad hovering over me. We built forts, dammed streams, caught frogs and turtles…We would ride our bikes all over town. Kinda like you see in those old 80’s movies…crazy… One year, the street we lived on was being repaved. There was one area where they dug a pit and piled gravel on two side, so it looked like a double like you see in motor cross tracks. It was perfectly positioned at the bottom a hill. Being the young adventurous boys that we were, we decided to jump the pit. I got to go first. I lined up, pedaled like mad, took off from the high side…it was glorious. Until my front wheel didn’t clear the lip of the other side, and dumped me face first down the other side of the gravel hill…I received no long term damage, and a whole bunch of ‘awesomes’ from my friends."

Q: You’ve been at Soulbound for a while now, how do you enjoy working there?
A: "I am very much enjoying my time here at Soulbound. I love working on small teams and working as a generalist. When working in a small team I get to ( have to) do things I would never even get near at a big studio. I have much more influence and responsibility over the final product. Very empowering and exciting."

Q: Chocolate or Jellybeans?
A: "Chocolate. Always Chocolate."

Q: What is your go-to drink (non-alcoholic, if you please)?
A: "I’m trying to quit drinking soda, so...uh…water?"

Q: What is your official current role at SBS, and can you tell me a little more about what you do?
A: "Currently, I am the Senior Lead Artist. What that means is that I am responsible for overseeing the art team and overall content production. Mostly, I just work with the other artist to set up schedules and make sure every one is on the same page when it comes to making the art content. This is in addition being a character artist."

Q: What got you into this field?
A: "I served in Mosul, Iraq for a year. While I was there, there was quite a bit of downtime. Like many others, I had a laptop to watch movies, play games and do paperwork. I had a free version of Photoshop and windows movie maker and started making these little ‘South Park’ style animations about our experiences. Everybody loved them. I was nearing the end of my enlistment and thought, “ Maybe I’ll do this once I’m out!” So I went to school for animation. While I was there, they started offering a game development program. Being in the Seattle area, I thought that games were a better option with more employment opportunities (little did I know…). I began working toward becoming an Environment artist, but couldn’t find an internship. Meanwhile, a couple buddies of mine found internships as character Artists. I asked if they need any more interns. The answer was yes, and that’s how I became a Character artist."

Q: Wolves or Ravens?
A: "I don’t understand the context. Wolves because they are not annoying?"

Q: What are you working on right now? Can you share a sneak peek?
A: "I am working on clothing and equipment for PrElyria. Unfortunately, I don’t really have anything to show right now…it’s all in that “ almost there” states. But soon…"

Q: What are your plans in CoE, assuming you plan to play it?
A: "I’d like to be a god. Or even just like a demi god. I want to go around sowing discord and playing tricks on people…But that may be outta’ scope. I am usually a lone adventurer type of player. I’ll be a wanderer I assume…wandering from town to town, stealing things and breaking hearts and minds…"

Q: If you could say anything to the community right now, what would it be?
A: "I’m not much of a community talker. I tend to put my feet in my mouth, so it’s safer to say nothing at all. Keep on keepin’ on, I guess!"

Thanks again for answering our questions!

Reddit community

The Chronicles of Elyria community has a Reddit community, lovingly managed by Hellmoon, Mickdude, and ImbuedGreen.

The Reddit community has been heads down this month focusing on Map Voting so we have nothing new to report at this time.

If you are interested in joining our subReddit, find it here

Community shows

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].


The newest show on this list is the Arkadian Herald, "a talk show hosted by Threepwood of the Kingdom of Arkadia, with various participants from different kingdoms, debating on subjects or features of Chronicles of Elyria and giving their opinions on the best way to implement it to make the game more attractive and interesting. If you enjoy it and wish to participate while having a cam and preferably a mic, let us know by visiting our discord"

Their Channel


Conclave 360. They are “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!"

Their Channel


Oceanus FM is "a collaborative broadcasting effort hosted by Alleykat and featuring the Kings of Aequitas, Lor Voskara 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!"

Their Channel


Cremoria News Network [CNN] "is a weekly CoE talk show brought to you by the Duchy of Cremoria. They do deep dives on CoE mechanics, interviews, and community news. Tune in every Sunday at 6pm Eastern / 3pm Pacific for this classy and sassy stream."

Their Channel


Vendor Trash is " two guys with a laundry list of gaming street cred dating back to the 80’s. It was first a failed dumpster diving blog, then they failed at motivational speaking, and then finally found their calling talking about Chronicles of Elyria. They are excited the game they've always dreamed of is finally being made. After many episodes they are still going strong, come join their throbbing obsession."

Find past episodes on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

Their Channel


Tavern Talk "airs every other week at 7pm CST/CDT with Jax and Gora. They talk about all manner of things Chronicles of Elyria. From deep dives of developer design journals to in-depth character profiles of prominent and notable players to hosting occasional guests on the show, we bring the Dance of Dynasties to you live!"

Show schedule is the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturday of the month at 5pm PDT / 7pm CDT/ 8pm EDT

Their Channel


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.

Their Channel


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 Thursday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. Watch the CoE forums for their announcements!

Their Channel


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 Wednesday at 3pm (PT)/6pm (ET)/10 pm (UTC).

Their Channel

Community contests

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.

The Queen's Gaze promotion and Queen's Carnival Costume contest end this Friday and tonight, respectively. It's not too late to participate!

The Art of Elyria!

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!

Ambassadors

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!

Meet an Ambassador

October brings us a chat with not one but two of our original Ambassadors. Let's meet Gammea and Daedhel!

Q: Where did you grow up? Is it the same place as you live now? Can you tell me something about your childhood that was memorable?
A - Gammea: "I grew up in Cadiz which is Andalucia, the south of Spain, I moved to Sevilla to study Biology at the University and, many years later, I went to Madrid to work. And, if this is no enough, I moved to Palma de Mallorca four months ago! Most of my memorable mementos from my childhood is shared with my little brother, we usually argue about the time spent on the PC (my father don’t let us use it more than one hour or two per day and we did a schedule). I remember us playing Mario cars game together in the garage with either his or my friends. Fighting one each other in LAN strategy games, ... When we start to grow up, our game focus changed and I miss playing with him. Maybe CoE would make the miracle!"
A - Daedhel: "I was born in Palma, the main city in Balearic Islands, Spain (some could say we’re almost German, but not yet!). I was living and working in Madrid for two years but few months ago, due to a job opportunity, I returned to my beloved Island (and dragged Gammea with me). As for any memorable childhood memory… well, this one is difficult, so many things… Maybe the way my father taught me to swim: He carried me until it was deep enough for me so I can’t reach the sand and threw me away (not so far from him but as high as he could) and screamed at me (while flying) “you cannot fly! But you can swim!”... Once in the water I tried to swim or survive (whatever happened first) and every time I was near him he stepped away and guided my to the shore, there he said “You now know how to swim”. It is fun (now) to remember that, guess some could fear the sea after that, but I love it and missed it a lot while living in Madrid. Salt in my blood."

Q: Where did your nicknames come from?
A - Daedhel: "Daedhel comes from quenya (one of the Elven languages created by J.R.R.Tolkien). It means “Elven (-edhel) shadow (Dae-)” and is the name of my very first tabletop RPG Character, in the old MERP system Lord of the Rings (my very first Tabletop RPG book and one of my personal treasures) back in the `90s. It is also the nick I adopted when I joined the Spanish Tolkien Society and the nick I use almost everywhere on the internet. I never use it now for a character in any game, ‘cause I consider it as much as my real name (Yes, I’m a massive fan of Tolkien)"
A - Gammea: "When I was in the high school, my best friend and I like to create stories, I drew the characters of two twins witch sisters, Astro and Gammea. She took Astro as her alias and I took the other one. Since then, I used this nickname in every game or forum I've joined."

Q: How did you two meet?
A - Gammea: "Through common friends and thanks to Guild Wars 2. Daedhel was the GM of a RP guild I joined. Months later we met IRL and then everything got “serious”. Five years later and here we are."

Q: Changing gears, I understand there was some unrest in the Spanish community of Catalonia recently, did that affect either of you?
A - Daedhel: "Well, this one is a deep, intricate and complex subject that embraces more than just Catalonia. As historian (Daedhel) if I write everything that is involved in that… this interview would be longer than Caspian’s states of the game (or a book) mostly because I’d try to explain everything so you could deeply understand the situation. Gammea recommends a Netflix’ documentary called “Two Catalonias” (I don’t know if it is translated into English) where different points of view are shown. To let you know what it involves: Notions of defending different cultures (Catalonian, Castillian, Basque, Gallaecian…); meaning of what is state and what is nation, many think that they are the same, but they don’t, Spain, as many other EU countries has more than one culture; civil rights and liberties in danger, expression, decision, thinking, etc.; a huge manipulation from politicians and mass media helping the growth of tensions, playing with cliches to generate confrontation and misdirect attention from real issues like the progressive destruction of the medium class with the exaggerated augmentation of poverty on one side and the increase in the number of rich people on the other, systemic corruption (blackmail, theft of public resources, nepotism, etc); the economic crisis is still here drowning families…" "As you see, it’s a complex topic to spend an entire evening in a pub, with some beer and chitchat, so... to anyone who wants to know more you can ask freely to me by forum or discord PM. Not many Daedhels in town! (It’s easy to find me)."

Q: Spain is famous for the riding of the bulls, have you ever experienced that first-hand?
A - Daedhel: "Riding of the bulls is a cruel tradition that inflicts pain and suffering to bulls and shame to us, together with many other similar traditions in Spain. I really hope abolition tendency continues and someday soon our festivities are all only about fun and not torturing and killing innocent animals."

Q: Granizado or Horchata?
A - Daedhel: "Granizado, almond -speciality of my island- or lemon ones are the better. I hate Horchata, but Gammea…" A - Gammea: "Only during summer! I swear!" A - Daedhel: "Just because Horchata isn’t sold in winter."

Q: Do you two have any pets? If so can you tell us about them?
A - Daedhel: "We have two cats. Gammea, as a Biologist, chose Dumas (to honor the writer Alexander Dumas) as a name for one of them. Daedhel, as historian, chose Schrodinger (to honor that famous Scientist) as a name for the second cat. The joke is that in Spain there is a sort of “fight” between pure Sciences and Social Sciences and we chose names “of the other side”."

Dumas and Schrodinger

Q: Did you decide right away that you’d join Chronicles of Elyria as partners or was there any discussion about going solo?
A - Daedhel: "I wanted to be an adventurer… but then I took a barony to the knee... ‘cause Gammea said something like “It would be cool to build a Spanish community in game, a different and healthy one”. Then the barony grew in population, we bought a County, and then it grew again… two times… *stares at his empty wallet Worth it."*

Q: You two created and manage Heraldo de Elyria, can you tell me more about it and its goals?
A - Daedhel: "Heraldo de Elyria is a fansite where every Spanish speaking fan of CoE can meet and follow the News. We’ve built that place for everyone, doesn’t matter the server or the kingdom you are in. It’s a neutral meeting place."

Q: You also help out a lot on the official CoE wiki, what made you decide to get so involved?
A - Gammea: "Well, Daedhel focuses his efforts on Heraldo de Elyria where he translates almost everything (and helps me with the Spanish wiki in his free time) while I was focused on being editor at Heraldo de Elyria and working harder in the wiki (one year later I now know why Vye makes schedules to prevent people from collapsing)." "If you want to go deep into this story, in 2016 when we were in IRC, an early tiny group were starting to create the wiki and after we did, I just asked about the possibility to create the Spanish one, and, thanks to Maygus who helped me a lot, I started this project. A few months later, other people started the same project in other languages and now we have the wiki almost translated to four languages: Spanish, German, French, Italian, and soon (™) in Portuguese. And we're still looking for help everywhere!"

Q: If you could give a shout out about the Wiki, what would you say?
A: "We would like to have more people interested in translating any language! If you feel that you can help the wiki grow, just join us in the wiki CoE team! Either as an editor, translator, etc., you are absolutely welcome!"

Q: What are your thoughts about localization for Chronicles of Elyria? Which languages would you have it ported to first?
A - Daedhel: "Frankfurt, seem to be the best ones and I’d port it to Spanish, of course :P"
A - Gammea: "The location is something that depends totally under lots of criteria! And for which language, the answer is obvious, Spanish!"
Serp: "Why does that not surprise me? XD"

Q: If you do get married, do you have desires to be a parent?
A - Gammea: "It is something that we have in mind. And, nature will set the gender!"
A - Daedhel: "I always joke about having a football team out of children (true football, the one you know as Soccer) and Gammea hates me a little. In truth I’d like to have at least two, one girl and one boy.

Q: Let’s say you were married, had children, and they became old enough to use the computer. What rules will you have for them to keep them safe?
A: "If you educate them well enough and talk with them about many things the most you’ll need is to control their schedules to prevent them from always being in front of the screen (there’s a life out there and many books to read!)"

Q: How old will they need to be in order for you to let them play CoE?
A - Daedhel: "Depending on PEGI?" laughs "We’ll see" Gammea nods

Q: What do you like about being a Community Ambassador?
A: "It’s a recognition of hard work, and a responsibility. It’s an honor to work side by side with mods and Devs helping the community."

Q: What do you dislike about it?
A - Daedhel: "Even though it’s not technically a rule for an ambassador, it’s true that many times, especially in the official CoE Discord, I don’t write or tell my opinions at their full extent, ‘cause as an ambassador I feel that I should be neutral in some conflicts, helping to solve them, not feeding the fire."
A - Gammea: "I have a similar point of view. Furthermore if you want to spread your perception of something that is not set by the developers. Sometimes you have to be absolutely clear that you are making an speculation and is not a canon thing, even if we are on pre-alpha!"

Q: If you could say anything to the CoE community, what would it be?
A - Gammea: "Spread the word of Elyria! Don’t be lazy and kick your friends in to join the Community and start the Dance of Dynasties!"
A - Daedhel: "Easy one: I want to write down the Chronicles of Elyria in an interesting (healthy and fun) way!"

Thank you both so much for taking the time to share all of this with us, you are awesome!

Ambassador Nominations

There have been no new community Ambassador nominations since we last reported in September. If you want to learn more about this program, or know someone you would like to nominate, click on the link! Thanks for your support, as always.

Subject Matter Experts

Soon we will be announcing round two of our invites for Subject Matter Experts to join our volunteer crew. Keep an eye out for that post coming soon.

We're thankful to our current SMEs who officially joined us last month, and we're excited to reach out to and find our next group of experts to join them!

What’s next?

In November we'll see very exciting progress, let's take a peek at what is in store:

  • Map Voting round 1 concludes at the end of this week, expect a recap to prepare you for round 2!
  • We will share the winners of the Queen's Carnival in a few days, we had a lot of great submissions, thank you!
  • Map Voting round 2 commences on November 5th, keep your eyes peeled for the announcement
  • November is a popular month for shoppers leading up to the holiday season, and we plan to also participate in traditions such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday - stay tuned!
  • Expect updates on Server Selection
  • More Q&As, more ChamberBot sessions, contests, and plenty more

Until next time,

More to come...