In “The Sea Chart” replace “a Fishing Contestant can move their name from their current cell to a cell no greater than four orthogonally connected cells away from their current cell” with “a Fishing Contestant can move their name from their current cell to a new cell, provided Manhattan distance (i.e. the number of orthogonal steps needed to get from one cell to another) between those two cells is not greater than their current speed”

Add the following to “Fishing Contestant”

Each Fishing Contestant has a Speed which is publicly tracked

If a Fishing Contestant has between 0 and 15 Catches, their Speed is 4
If a Fishing Contestant has between 16 and 30 Catches, their Speed is 3
If a Fishing Contestant has between 31 and 45 Catches, their Speed is 2
If a Fishing Contestant has more than 45 Catches, their Speed is 1

In “Disturbances” replace the paragraph starting “There is an atomic action called Sight Disturbances” with

There is a Next Disturbance which is a publicly tracked date and time. If the current time is after the Next Disturbance, any Fishing Contestant or the Elder Judge may take the Sight Disturbances action, and it is the only dynastic action which Fishing Contestants make take.

The Sight Disturbances action has the following steps:

in the same rule replace “With a 50% chance, the preceding three steps are repeated, with the newly created Disturbance not being eligible to be selected in step 1” with “Randomly select Yes or No. If the result is Yes, the preceding three steps are repeated, with the newly created Disturbance not being eligible to be selected in step 1.” and replace “Publicly track the time and date of this performance of Sight Disturbances in a variable called “Last Sight Disturbances” with “Roll a DICE24. Set the Next Disturbance to be the current date and time, plus 24 hours, plus a number of hours equal to the dice roll, rounded down to the nearest hour”

Roll a DICE24. Set the Next Disturbance to be the time the last slight disturbance action was performed, plus 24 hours, plus a number of hours equal to the dice roll, rounded down to the nearest hour

In the rule “Madness”, replace “Madness greater than 0,” with “Madness greater than 4, they are considered Mad, and “.

In the same rule, after the text “Each Fishing Contestant has a publicly tracked number named Madness that defaults to 0.”, insert a new paragraph with the following text:

As a Fishing Action, a Fishing Contestant may perform Meditation, which is an action where that Fishing Contestant may spend any positive amount of their Energy to subtract an equal amount of their Madness, to a minimum of 0 Madness. Meditation costs no Energy to perform, other than the Energy spent to reduce Madness as part of the action.

In the same rule, replace “Spend any positive amount of that Fishing Contestant’s Energy to subtract an equal amount of their Madness, to a minimum of 0 Madness” with the following text:

Meditation, except that the amount of Madness subtracted is only half of the Energy spent (rounded down)

If there is a rule named “Blackwater Beast”, in that rule replace the text “44 hours” with “48 hours”.

In the rule “Fish Function” add the following text:

In this rule, when determining whether two strings or two names of fish are the same, treat all lowercase alphabetical characters as if they were uppercase for the purposes of this comparison. The Fish Function may not require alphabetical characters to be uppercase or lowercase as part of the description of the function.

Consider the Fish Function as being empty as of the date and time of this enactment.

Add a new rule called “Doubloons” with the following text

Each Fishing Contestant has an integer number of Doubloons which defaults to 10

In “The Sea Chart” after

As a Fishing Action, a Fishing Contestant can move their name from their current cell to a cell no greater than four orthogonally connected cells away from their current cell.

add

If this new cell already contains one or more Fishing Contestants and is not the Judge’s Hut, the Fishing Contestant performing this action must give 1 Doubloon to each other Fishing Contestant already in this new cell (if they do not have enough Doubloons to do this, they cannot move to the new cell)

In “Fish Function” replace

they add it to the Fishing List with the name of the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action as the discoverer

with

they add it to the Found Fish List with the name of the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action as the discoverer and that Fishing Contestant gains 1 Doubloon

Create a subrule of “The Sea Chart” entitled “Blackwater Beast”, containing the following text:

There exists a Blackwater Beast, whose location on the Sea Chart is privately tracked by the Elder Judge. There is an atomic action called Moving the Beast which only the Elder Judge can perform, and consists of the following steps:

* Change the Beast’s location to a non-Shore cell that is adjacent to its current location, selected privately at random. For the purposes of this rule, an adjacent cell is one that is a single horizontal, vertical, or diagonal step away.
* Roll 1DICE2. On a 1, the Beast Bellows.
* If the Beast Bellows, then the Beast’s location at the time of the Bellow is revealed on the Sea Chart and any Fishing Contestants on or adjacent to the Beast’s location gain 2 Madness. Fishing Contestants who are located on Shore cells are unaffected by the Beast’s Bellow.
* Make a Story Post on the blog explaining whether the Beast Bellowed and whether any Fishing Contestants were affected.

If the Elder Judge has not set the Beast’s initial location, then they should do so by randomly selecting a non-Shore cell and revealing its initial location on the Sea Chart. If it has been over 44 hours since the last time the Elder Judge has Moved the Beast or set the Beast’s initial location, then they should Move the Beast at their earliest convenience.

In the Sight Disturbances action steps, to the first step append the text “if there are greater than 2 disturbances”, and to the second step append the text “if there are less than 3 disturbances”.

If the proposal “At the Waters of Madness” failed, this proposal does nothing.


In the rule “Madness”, after the word “Rest” add the following,

No energy is gained if the Rest action is used by this rule

In the rule “Fishing Contestant” add the following to the list of Collect Catches instructions as bullet point 5

If that Cell is an Basalt Obelisk, they gain 2DICE6 Catches and then roll DICE3. On a roll of 1, nothing happens. On a roll of 2, increase their madness equal to half their Catches gained, rounded down. On a roll of 3, increase their madness equal to their Catches gained

Move the following text “If none of the above apply, they gain 2DICE2 Catches”, to bullet point 6 on the list of Collet Catches instructions.

Add a new rule named “Madness” with the following text:

Each Fishing Contestant has a publicly tracked number named Madness that defaults to 0. Whenever a Fishing Contestant has a Madness greater than 0, they may not take any dynastic actions other than either of the following:
* Rest
* Spend any positive amount of that Fishing Contestant’s Energy to subtract an equal amount of their Madness, to a minimum of 0 Madness

In the rule “Disturbances”, replace the text “which only the Elder Judge can perform, and should do so as a Daily Action” with the following text:

which is a Daily Communal Action that may be performed by any Fishing Contestant or the Elder Judge. If it has been over 36 hours since the last Sight Disturbances has been performed, or it has never been performed, no dynastic actions may be taken by any Fishing Contestant except for Sight Disturbances.

and in the same rule, add the following steps at the end of the atomic action Sight Disturbances:

* If there are less than 3 entries in the list of Disturbances, repeat all of the previous steps, until there 3 entries in that list.
* Publicly track the time and date of this performance of Sight Disturbances in a variable called “Last Sight Disturbances”

and in the same rule, remove the sentence beginning with “If there are ever less than three Disturbances”.

JonathanDark will be mentoring Lukas until the Second Dynasty of Darknight has ended and the date is past the 29th of August 2024.

Flip the contents of the Sea Chart in the following manner:
Swap all contents of column A with the contents of column G; the contents of column B with the contents of column F; and the contents of column C with the contents of column E, in each case keeping the contents in their original rows.

Change the text of the rule “Landmarks” to

There exists a Shore, which is any cell where the cell’s label has A in it.

There exists an Ocean, which is any cell where the cell’s label contains a letter that comes after F in alphabetical order.

There exists a Judge’s Hut, which is at cell A4.

There exists three Basalt Obelisks, which are at cells F2, E5 and D8.

Create a new rule entitled “The Big One” consisting of the following text, and place it directly below the rule “Fish Function”:

The Big One is a fish (i.e. an alphanumeric string of letters that satisfies the Fish Function) that is privately tracked by the Elder Judge. The number of characters in the Big One is a publicly tracked integer called the “Length of the Big One”. If The Elder Judge has not set the Big One, they should do so and update the Length of the Big One at their earliest convenience.

For each string submitted by a Fishing Contestant as part of a Fish Identification, the Elder Judge should privately inform that Fishing Contestant how many consecutive characters of the string (starting from the beginning) exactly match the corresponding characters in the Big One.

If the proposals “All Fished Out” or “They’re Biting” were enacted, revert them.

Append the following to the rule “Fishing Contestant”:

As a Fishing Action, a Fishing Contestant may perform the Collect Catches action. When performed, the instructions for the Collect Catches action are the ones listed with the first matching criteria for that Fishing Contestant and the Cell containing their name, in the order listed below:
1) If that Cell is a Judge’s Hut, they gain no Catches
2) If that Cell is in the list of Disturbances, they gain 3DICE6 Catches
3) If that Cell is a Shore or a Cell that had their name for their most recent performance of Collect Catches before this instance, they gain 1 Catch
4) If that Cell is an Ocean, they gain 2DICE4 Catches
5) If none of the above apply, they gain 2DICE2 Catches

Create a rule called Disturbances with the following text:

There exists a publicly tracked list of Disturbances which should have 3 entries, each one consisting of a non-Shore cell label.

There is an atomic action called Sight Disturbances which only the Elder Judge can perform, and should do so as a Daily Action. It has the following steps:
* A random Disturbance is removed from the list of Disturbances
* A new Disturbance is created in a random non-Shore cell
* Any fishing contestants in that cell are moved to a legal adjacent cell in a random direction, if possible
* With a 50% chance, the preceding three steps are repeated, with the newly created Disturbance not being eligible to be selected in step 1.

While the Elder Judge Sights Disturbances, they are permitted to determine its random values secretly.

If there are ever less than three Disturbances, the Elder Judge can perform the Sight Disturbances action as many times as necessary to bring it up to 3, skipping the first step and ignoring the restriction that it is a Daily Action.

In the rule “Fish Function”, after the text “If the Elder Judge has not set a Fish Function, they should do so at their earliest”, replace the word “convince” with “convenience” and after that word add the following text:

, and must publicly track the date and time that the Fish Function was most recently set or changed.

In the rule “Fishing Contestant” add the following text:

As a Daily Action, a Fishing Contestant may perform the Collect Catches action. When performed, the instructions for the Collect Catches action are the ones listed with the first matching criteria for that Fishing Contestant and the Cell containing their name, in the order listed below:
1) If that Cell is a Judge’s Hut, they gain no Catches
2) If that Cell is a Shore or a Cell that had their name for their most recent performance of Collect Catches before this instance, they gain 1 Catch
3) If that Cell is an Ocean, they gain 2DICE4 Catches
4) If that Cell is a Basalt Obelisk, they gain 3DICE4 Catches
5) If none of the above apply, they gain 2DICE2 Catches

Create a new dynastic rule called Fishing with the following text:

As a Fishing Action, a Fishing Contestant may Cast Their Line (or Cast, for short). When a Fishing Contestant Casts, they gain a number of Catches equal to half the orthogonal distance to the Judge’s Hut from the Sea Chart cell they’re currently in, plus one if they’re in an Ocean cell, plus three if they’re in a Disturbance’s cell.

Create a subrule of that rule called Disturbances with the following text:

There exists a publicly tracked list of Disturbances which should have 3 entries, each one consisting of a non-Shore cell label.

There is an atomic action called Sight Disturbances which only the Elder Judge can perform, and should do so as a Daily Action. It has the following steps:
* A random Disturbance is removed from the list of Disturbances
* A new Disturbance is created in a random non-Shore cell
* Any fishing contestants in that cell are moved to a legal adjacent cell in a random direction, if possible
* With a 50% chance, the preceding three steps are repeated, with the newly created Disturbance not being eligible to be selected in step 1.

While the Elder Judge Sights Disturbances, they are permitted to determine its random values secretly.

If there are ever less than three Disturbances, the Elder Judge can perform the Sight Disturbances action as many times as necessary to bring it up to 3, skipping the first step and ignoring the restriction that it is a Daily Action.

There is a publicly tracked communal value known as Weeks At Sea, which is equal to the number of full or partial weeks that have transpired since the start of July 29th 2024 (if is before July 29th, Weeks at Sea is 0)

In “Energy” replace “14” with “15” everywhere it appears. Then add “A Fishing Contestant’s Energy defaults three times the current Weeks At Sea” to the same rule

djf1107 has been made idle after no blog activity for over 7 days. Quorum drops down to 4.

I’m angling to become a Fishing Contestant, if an Admin could hook me up :)

If the proposal “Out to Sea” was enacted, add a subrule to “The Sea Chart” called “Landmarks” and give it the following text:

There exists a Shore, which is any cell where the cell’s label has G in it.

There exists an Ocean, which is any cell where the cell’s label has A in it.

There exists a Judge’s Hut, which is at cell G4.

There exists three Basalt Obelisks, which are at cells B2, C5 and D8.

If the proposal “Catch, then Identify” was enacted, append to the end of the rule “Fish Function” as a new paragraph:

If the Fishing Contestant’s name is not in a Shore cell when they perform a Fish Identification, they are not permitted to submit more than one string during that action. If a fishing Contestant’s name is not in the Judge’s Hut’s cell when they perform a Fish Identification, they are not permitted to submit more than three strings during that action.

If the proposals “VFA” and “Out to Sea” were enacted, append to the end of “The Sea Chart” as a new paragraph:

As a Fishing Action, a Fishing Contestant can move their name from their current cell to a cell no greater than four orthogonally connected cells away from their current cell.

Add a new dynastic rule called “Energy”

Each Fishing Contestant has a publicly tracked integer Energy which can be between 0 and 14. Any action that would set a Fishing Contestant’s energy above 14 instead sets it to 0. Any action that would reduce a Fishing Contestant’s energy below 0 may not be performed.

As a weekly action, a Fishing Contestant may Rest and gain 5 Energy.

By default, in order to perform a Fishing Action a Fishing Contestant must spend 1 Energy, plus 1 additional energy for every Fishing Action that Fishing Contestant has already performed in the last 20 hours.

The cost in Energy to perform a Virtual Fishing Actions (VFAs) is spent when the action is initiated by the Fishing Contestant, not when it is performed by the Elder Judge. Likewise, for the purposes of the window for determining additional costs for a Fishing Action, virtual fishing actions are considered to be performed which the request was sent to the Elder Judge rather than when the Elder Judge actually performed the action. If a Virtual Fishing Action fails, the cost in Energy that was spent to perform that action is refunded by the Elder Judge to the Fishing Contestant who attempted to perform it.

If there is a rule called “Fish Function” than in it replace “Daily Virtual Action” with “Virtual Fishing Action”

Add a new rule named “The Sea Chart” with the following text:

There is a publicly-tracked grid, named “The Sea Chart”, which consists of Cells where each Cell is labeled with the letters “A” through “G” in alphabetical order across the columns of the grid, and the numbers 1 through 8 in numerical order down the rows of the grid. A specific Cell is referenced by its column letter and its row number in that order, e.g. D4 for the Cell in the column labeled D and the row labeled 4. Each Cell may contain the names of 0 or more Fishing Contestants.

If a Fishing Contestant’s name is not in any Cell, the Elder Judge should randomly select a Cell by column letter and row number, repeating this random selection until an empty Cell is selected, and then add that Fishing Contestant’s name to that Cell.

If the proposal “What is a fish?” did not pass, this proposal does nothing.

If the proposal “Waiting For The Big One” passed, append the below text block to the rule “Contestants” as a new paragraph. Otherwise, add a new dynastic rule called “Fishing Contestant” with below text block.

Each Fishing Contestant has a publicly tracked number of Catches. This number defaults to 0.

In the rule “Fish Function”, replace the final two paragraphs with:

As a daily virtual action know as Fish Identification, a Fishing Contestant may privately ask the Elder Judge “Are any of the following fish,” followed by a number of clearly delineated strings no greater than their Catches. Each of these strings are any alphanumeric string of between 1 and 20 characters which are not the name of a fish on the Found Fish list, and which are not duplicates of other strings submitted in the same Fish Identification. They then reduce their Catches by this number of submitted strings.

To resolve Fish Identification, for each submitted string, the Elder Judge determines if the target is a fish or not as according to the Fish Function. If it is a Fish, they add it to the Fishing List with the name of the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action as the discoverer. If it is not a Fish, they privately inform the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action of this fact.

Add a new dynastic rule called “Fish Function”

Any alphanumeric string of letters may or may not be a fish.

The Fish Function is an English phrase no longer than 100 words which describes a process for determining if a given alphanumeric string is a fish or not, and is secretly tracked by the Elder Judge. If the Elder Judge has not set a Fish Function, they should do so at their earliest convince.

The Found Fish list on the gamestate tracking page consists a list of names of fishes and the name of the Fishing Contestant who discovered them and is by default empty

As a daily virtual action know as Fish Identification, a Fishing Contestant may privately ask the Elder Judge “Is XXXXX a fish?” where XXXXX (the target) is any alphanumeric string that is 20 characters or less, which is not the name of a fish on the Found Fish list

To resolve Fish Identification, the Elder Judge determines if the target is a fish or not as according to the Fish Function. If it is a Fish, they add it to the Fishing List with the name of the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action as the discoverer. If it is not a Fish, they privately inform the Fishing Contestant submitting the virtual action of this fact

Add a new rule named “Contestants” with a subrule named “Time”, and in that subrule, add the following text:

Each Fishing Contestant has a publicly-tracked number named “Hours Spent” that’s between 0 and 12, defaulting to 0. As a Weekly Action, a Fishing Contestant may change their Hours Spent.

In the Core rule “Victory and Ascension”, replace the text starting with “start a new dynasty by completing the following Atomic Action:” and ending with “using the terms defined on the wiki page Imperial Styles.” with the following text:

make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. The Ascension Address should specify the Elder Judge’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specifiy one or more of the following:
* New dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule “Synonyms”
* A number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed)
* Any number of Building Blocks rules to remove or insert, as per the instructions in the Building Blocks section
* The name of the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” to a different page that does not exist and does not start with the word “Ruleset”
* The Elder Judge’s Imperial Style, which if specified is a set of nonbinding guidelines that the Elder Judge is encouraged to follow, using the terms defined on the wiki page Imperial Styles.

If it has not been done since the most recent posting of an Ascension Address, the Elder Judge or any Fishing Contestant may perform a Dynastic Reset, which is an atomic action with the following steps:
* Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms as outlined in the most recent Ascension Address.
* Repeal any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept in the most recent Ascension Address.
* Update the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” with the name specified in the most recent Ascension Address, if any.
* Make any specified or automatic changes to the Building Blocks section of the ruleset as described in the most recent Ascension Address.
* Update the Building Blocks page to reflect any changes to the terms outlined in the rule Synonyms.

In the Core rule “Dynasties”, replace “before an Ascension Address has been posted” with “before a Dynastic Reset has been performed”.

Consider the atomic action Dynastic Reset to have been performed since the most recent Ascension Address.

If the “start a dynasty” atomic action for the Second Dynasty of Darknight has been completed, or if Darknight has voted against this Call for Judgement, then this cfj specifies neither changes to the gamestate, nor corrections to any gamestate tracking entities.

Otherwise, the enacting admin should complete that atomic action on Darknight’s behalf, with the following modifications:
*The Gamestate tracking page should be Dockyard, unless Darknight has commented on this cfj with a new Gamestate tracking page name.
*The building blocks should be set to their defaults, or, if Darknight has commented on this cfj with regard to a different status for certain building blocks, they should be set to the specified statuses.

“Well that was a fun little story to pass the drive.” I chuckled as we pulled up to the dock for this years Blackwater Bay deep sea fishing contest. “I wonder what the prize will be this year?” My thoughts were interrupted by the blare of a mic as the head judge began his welcome

“Welcome all to the 83th annual Blackwater Bay fishing contest. The rules this year are a bit different. You have until sundown to.. HAIL THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠..... where we will then declare a winner who will win the coveted…. THRALL. Good luck everyone!  glory to THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠.

Repeal all dynastic rules.

Set the synonym for Player to “Fishing Contestant” and the synonym for Emperor to “Elder Judge”

Imperial Styles: Gardener, Preservationist, Powerhouse, Scam-mundane, Servile, Methodical

LEGEND
ChaosGoblin
Clucky
Darknight
GloopyGhost

The Story
Clearly, the frying pan was the most suitable weapon of choice for this situation. With a mighty swing, June brought her pan down upon the bigger skunk fly with a wet crunch. As she shook the remains of the fly off, June watched its mate retreat, its panicked buzzing echoing in the distance. “Skunk flies,” June muttered to herself “Anyone who claims they aren’t harmful should come out here and try gathering swamp beets from their nest and then tell me they just smell bad.”

Her prize secured, June placed the swamp beets into her bag and began the hike back home. She would have to stop by Eddie’s garden on the way back in order to gather the last of the ingredients that she needed. As June neared the garden, a sudden acrid smell stopped her in her tracks. Something wasn’t right. She climbed the nearest maple for a better look. Between the treetops, June immediately saw the choking green smoke rising into the sky. Her eyes widened. “Pirates.”

With the sickening smell of smoke on the wind, June raced as quickly as she could towards the village. Nearing the family shop, she ducked behind an over turned cart as a pair of pirates stepped out, arms loaded with stolen goods. “Hey, thanks for the supplies buddy.” one of the pirates called out over his shoulder “Here’s the receipt back though.” With a laugh, the other pirate tossed a torch back through the doorway. June watched in horror as the shop quickly went up in flames, the yells for help inside grew silent.

Natasha, head cocked, listened as the little village at the top of the cliffs fell. With the ocean to her back and stone cliffs to her front, she seemed to have an advantageous cover, but something about this still felt wrong. Every so often, about 50 paces away, bags of supplies thudded down from the dark cliffs into the sand. Crew members were taking bags of supplies from shore to the ship when she heard, “Captain! We have it!” She turned to investigate and momentarily forgot about her worries as she saw the pale blue glow of the jewel.

As the pirate handed her the gem, Natasha allowed herself a small smile. “Beautiful,” she sighed as she leaned against a nearby cannon. “Captain, what’s so special about this gem?” Glaring, Natasha turned and held out the gem. “Its called the heart of the deep and its said to hold a power anyone with a passion for power would kill for.” Keeping her own fears hidden, she continued. “Legend says this gem allows one to control the master of the deep and rule the seas.” Muttering to one another, the other pirates began to ponder what they had just learned. Turning back to her quarters on the ship, Natasha shivered. “Unless the part about there being a girl who can use the gem to destroy the master is true.”

June spent the next several hours helping the village recover from the pirate attack. Fortunately, when all was said and done only a couple of villages had lost their lives, though several buildings were burnt down in the raid. After a long day of helping survivors, June took a moment to relax with a simple pleasure: fruit from the great apple tree that stood on top of the sandstone cliffs. As she plucked the bright red fruit from the leafy branches she took a bite. The Black Hawk could barely be seen on the horizon, but June knew it was only a matter of time before it returned. Suddenly, dark clouds began to form above the distant ship and loud thunder filled June’s ears. This was no ordinary storm. Something was wrong. Something unnatural.

Panic and fear racked the crew of the Black Hawk. No one really knew what to expect when Natasha held the Jewel of the Seas aloft, but a bottomless pit appearing before them was not anywhere on the radar. Neither was the eldritch beast which arose from the pit.

W̶̾͝Ẽ̸͊ ̷̄͑Ȧ̷͗R̶͐̍E̶̎̕ ̵̈THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠

The deep voice penetrated their very souls.

B̸̈́͌E̸̽̌C̷̋͝O̵̅͒M̸̓͒Ĕ̶͉ ̶̕OUR VE̵͋͌S̶̔̚S̴͛̕Ẽ̷L

The bodies of Natasha and her crew lurched and her eyes turned a bright red.

D̸̂̄Ē̴̚S̵̅͝T̵̂̐R̷̅͠Ö̷́͛Y̶̏ THE GIRL

Without a word, the possessed crew of the Black Hawk turned their ship back to the village…

Back on the sandstone cliffs, June felt something hit her shoulder. Turning around she found a piece of paper wrapped around a small stone. Unfurling it, the message read: “Meet me in the crypts. We need to chat.”

As darkness continued to spread, June found herself descending into the crypts. She found herself standing inside a large chamber, surrounded by members of the village. The mayor, the blacksmith and even the director of the small playhouse. “What’s.. going on?” June asked, confused. “There’s no time” the mayor said, worry in her voice “We need you June. You’re the only one who can seal THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠..” she stopped briefly at the word “Please.” June slowly nodded “Okay.”

Guiding June to a set of four lit candles, the mayor handed her a mirror. With a deep breath, June took the red candle and dripped the wax onto the mirror. She followed with the yellow, green and blue candles and as the wax of the blue hit the glass, the mirror began to glow. “NOW JUNE!” Racing back outside, she found herself facing the deep lord face to face. Holding the mirror and with a determined mind, June recited the chant.

“By the power of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,
By the light of the sun and the glow of the moon,
I cast you out, demon of the deep,
Return to the depths from whence you came.
In the name of balance and harmony,
I banish you back to the watery abyss.”

An unearthly scream, a blinding light and then silence.

In the month that followed, the village rebuilt with June its protector. But on a lonely isle sat a figure, clutching a gem. “Soon master” Natasha whispered. “Soon”

The End?

Wit the story finished and as the storyteller with the most points as per the rule “The End”, I achieve victory.

I would like to be unidled please (once legal).

Here is the final Points tally:

ChaosGoblin: 142
Clucky: 148
Darknight: 168
djf1107:136

Add the contents of The Last Fragment to the end of The Story.

New drawing is ready. Will it be the last?

The winning Ending Fragment for the most recent Judging is Fragment #1:

As darkness continued to spread, June found herself descending into the crypts. She found herself standing inside a large chamber, surrounded by members of the village. The mayor, the blacksmith and even the director of the small playhouse. “What’s.. going on?” June asked, confused. “There’s no time” the mayor said, worry in her voice “We need you June. You’re the only one who can seal THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠..” she stopped briefly at the word “Please.” June slowly nodded “Okay.”

Guiding June to a set of four lit candles, the mayor handed her a mirror. With a deep breath, June took the red candle and dripped the wax onto the mirror. She followed with the yellow, green and blue candles and as the wax of the blue hit the glass, the mirror began to glow. “NOW JUNE!” Racing back outside, she found herself facing the deep lord face to face. Holding the mirror and with a determined mind, June recited the chant.

“By the power of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,
By the light of the sun and the glow of the moon,
I cast you out, demon of the deep,
Return to the depths from whence you came.
In the name of balance and harmony,
I banish you back to the watery abyss.”

An unearthly scream, a blinding light and then silence.

In the month that followed, the village rebuilt with June its protector. But on a lonely isle sat a figure, clutching a gem. “Soon master” Natasha whispered. “Soon”

The End?

“We need to chat.”

1. As darkness continued to spread, June found herself descending into the crypts. She found herself standing inside a large chamber, surrounded by members of the village. The mayor, the blacksmith and even the director of the small playhouse. “What’s.. going on?” June asked, confused. “There’s no time” the mayor said, worry in her voice “We need you June. You’re the only one who can seal THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠..” she stopped briefly at the word “Please.” June slowly nodded “Okay.”
   
   Guiding June to a set of four lit candles, the mayor handed her a mirror. With a deep breath, June took the red candle and dripped the wax onto the mirror. She followed with the yellow, green and blue candles and as the wax of the blue hit the glass, the mirror began to glow. “NOW JUNE!” Racing back outside, she found herself facing the deep lord face to face. Holding the mirror and with a determined mind, June recited the chant.
   
   “By the power of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,
   By the light of the sun and the glow of the moon,
   I cast you out, demon of the deep,
   Return to the depths from whence you came.
   In the name of balance and harmony,
   I banish you back to the watery abyss.”
   
   An unearthly scream, a blinding light and then silence.
   
   In the month that followed, the village rebuilt with June its protector. But on a lonely isle sat a figure, clutching a gem. “Soon master” Natasha whispered. “Soon”
   
   The End?

2. Unsure of what to expect, June headed to the crypts. Lighting a torch and descending into the darkness, June looked around but saw nothing but unmarked coffins. Suddenly she felt a chill and her torch went out. In front of her appeared a cloaked figure, illuminated only by bioluminescent fungi which grew on the dead.
   
   “Welcome, June” the figure said “I’ve been waiting for you”. “Who are you?” June asked. “I have had many names over the years. Director… Announcer… Emperor… Publisher… but my name matters not. A threat stands before us. That pirate Natasha has awoken a being know as THROM. Even now, THROM hunts you down. He seeks to destroy the world. You must stop him.” “Me? How?” asked a puzzled June. “With this” said the figure, handing her a large object. “This is the Deus Ex Nomica. It gives you the power to change the rules”. “Change the rules? The rules of what?” “Everything”. As June held the D.E.M she instinctively knew how to use it.
   
   “I don’t understand. Why can’t you do it yourself?” she asked. “It’s… complicated” came the reply. “But I can just… say we’re back in town, right?” With that the D.E.M. glowed and suddenly they were in the middle of town, just as Natasha’s possessed crew arrived. “Yep”. “And banish Throm?” Natasha’s crew suddenly disappeared. “And restore the town?” The town sprang back to how it looked before the raid. “Yep”. “A bit unsatisfying of a conclusion, innit?” “Yep”
   
   The End

3. June, filled with determination, climbed down the sandstone cliffs and made her way to the hidden crypts. When she gets there her mind races with anciption and her journey flashes before her eyes. She reflects on her long journey to get to this point as it all whooshes back in her head as she walks up to a shadowy figure, Who was this mystery figure?  her heart shakes like a darkness calling out, she hears a voice call out “its time for school”. June jolts awake in her bed. Even though the terror in her dreams was fake, her real heroic feat had just begun: High School. One things for sure, the journey gave her the feeling that she was the director over her own life and her internal sense of pride had awakened and her inner demon vanquished. The end.

GloopyGhost has been made Idle for not posting an entry or comment in the past 96 hours (4 days) and not sending a Creative Writing or Scoring Response in the past 96 hours (4 days). Quorum drops to 3.

In the rule The End replace “While there is an Open Judging and The Last Fragment is empty, as a Story Action any Storyteller may call for a Ending Drawing by making a Story blog post where the title contains the phrase “Ending Drawing”. When this post has been made, the next Drawing is considered the Ending Drawing” with “While there is an Open Judging and The Last Fragment is empty, as a Story Action any Storyteller may call for a Ending Drawing by making a Story Post Votable Matter where the title contains the phrase “Ending Drawing”. If a quorum of Storytellers votes in favor of this post the next Drawing is considered the Ending Drawing”

Make the Ending Drawing just a Drawing and cancel all of the pending Creative Writings.

Give 20 Points to Clucky and give 20 Points to Darknight.

4st idles after making no activity within 7 days

Because the Creative Writing is a Virtual Action, per the rules for Virtual Action:

Until a virtual action is resolved, it is pending. A Storyteller may cancel a pending Virtual Action by privately communicating to the Publisher their request to do so.

Creative Writings don’t get resolved until the Judging is posted, so you can cancel your Fragment and resend it at any time until the Judging is posted.

Add “The drawing has been open for at least 96 hours” to the list “If, since the most recent Drawing action, any of the following are true:”

Add “The Judging has been open for at least 96 hours” to the list “If, since the most Open Judging post, any of the following are true:”

After the Ending Drawing, and the Judging and scoring happens, the Ending Fragment is added to “The Last Fragment” and not to The Story, so the dynasty is not ending yet. There will still be more Drawings and more Fragments between what’s currently in The Story and this Ending Fragment, unless a Storyteller posts a Wrap Up and a quorum of Storytellers votes in favor of the Wrap Up.

Replace the entire text of the rule “Timing Out” with the following text:

The Publisher may render a Storyteller Idle if any of the below criteria are true:
* If the Publisher has not received a Creative Writing from that Storyteller within the time span of the most recent 3 Judgings being posted
* If the Publisher has not received a Scoring Response from that Storyteller within the time span of the most recent 3 Publishings being performed

Before you start trying to bang out the Ending Fragment in 250 words or less, simplify the process and try to answer these questions first. The answers should help you focus on what to write for the ending:

• Which characters win and which ones lose?
• How does the environment change for the winners and losers?
• What happens to the people that the winners and losers interact with, if they interact with any at all?
• How do the winners and losers interact with each other at the end, if at all?

Feel free to comment with your ideas on how to think about the ending.

Don’t forget that this is an Ending Drawing, so the last two words of your Fragment must be “The End”, and the winning Fragment will be added to The Last Fragment rather than The Story. Also, because it’s an Ending Drawing, your word limit is 250 words instead of 150 words.

The winning Fragment for the most recent Judging is Fragment #2:

Panic and fear racked the crew of the Black Hawk. No one really knew what to expect when Natasha held the Jewel of the Seas aloft, but a bottomless pit appearing before them was not anywhere on the radar. Neither was the eldritch beast which arose from the pit.

W̶̾͝Ẽ̸͊ ̷̄͑Ȧ̷͗R̶͐̍E̶̎̕ ̵̈THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠

The deep voice penetrated their very souls.

B̸̈́͌E̸̽̌C̷̋͝O̵̅͒M̸̓͒Ĕ̶͉ ̶̕OUR VE̵͋͌S̶̔̚S̴͛̕Ẽ̷L

The bodies of Natasha and her crew lurched and her eyes turned a bright red.

D̸̂̄Ē̴̚S̵̅͝T̵̂̐R̷̅͠Ö̷́͛Y̶̏ THE GIRL

Without a word, the possessed crew of the Black Hawk turned their ship back to the village…

Back on the sandstone cliffs, June felt something hit her shoulder. Turning around she found a piece of paper wrapped around a small stone. Unfurling it, the message read: “Meet me in the crypts. We need to chat.”

In the rule “Timing Out”, replace the text “if that Storyteller has not posted an entry or comment in the past 96 hours (4 days), and if the Publisher has also” with the text “if the Publisher has”.

In “Fragments” after “A Fragment is a flavor text string of at least 5 and at most 150 words” add ” (unless the current Drawing is an Ending Drawing, in which case the maximum allowed length is 250 words)”

In the rule “Drawing” after the text “Make a Story blog post with the title of “New Drawing: “” add the following text:

, or if this is an Ending Drawing the title should be “New Ending Drawing”,

How will The Story be resolved??? We shall see…

Make sure your next Fragment ends with the sentence “The End.” as per Rule 2.10.

Under Judging, add this bullet after
“Add the Fragment in that Judging with the highest Total Score, randomly selecting a Fragment among any that are tied for highest Total Score, to the end of The Story, unless it is an Ending Fragment, in which case publicly track it as “The Last Fragment” and do not add it to the end of The Story.”

Make a Story post announcing the winning fragment along with any flavor text the Publisher may choose.

In the rule “Points” add the following text:

As a Virtual Story Action, a Storyteller may send a request to the Publisher to learn where they are in Points relative to all other Storytellers. When the Publisher resolves this action, they subtract 5 from that Storyteller’s Points, privately sort the Points of all Storytellers in order from highest to lowest, and report back to that Storyteller with that Storyteller’s ordinal place in the list (e.g.: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. etc), where the Storyteller with the highest Points is 1st.

Under Judging, add this bullet after
“Add the Fragment in that Judging with the highest Total Score, randomly selecting a Fragment among any that are tied for highest Total Score, to the end of The Story, unless it is an Ending Fragment, in which case publicly track it as “The Last Fragment” and do not add it to the end of The Story.”
Make a Story post announcing the winning fragment along with any flavor text the Publisher may choose.

Something unnatural.

1. As the storm quickly grew in intensity, a strong breeze carried a salty mist into the village. June peered out at the ship on the horizon. It was quickly approaching the sandstone cliffs. She froze. “They’re returning already!” She could only hope that there had been enough time to prepare. June rang the warning bell at the top of the hill with a loud CLANG! As the mist became a light rain, June noticed that the ship had gotten surprisingly closer. It almost seemed as though the ship was being… propelled. No, the ship was being carried by something humongous, a giant shadow underneath the hull. And the storm was following in its wake. Already the villagers were beginning to meet by the cliffs, chatting nervously but prepared with the weapons and defenses that they could find.

2. Panic and fear racked the crew of the Black Hawk. No one really knew what to expect when Natasha held the Jewel of the Seas aloft, but a bottomless pit appearing before them was not anywhere on the radar. Neither was the eldritch beast which arose from the pit.
   
   W̶̾͝Ẽ̸͊ ̷̄͑Ȧ̷͗R̶͐̍E̶̎̕ ̵̈THŔ̸̐Ő̸̾M̵͠.
   
   The deep voice penetrated their very souls.
   
   B̸̈́͌E̸̽̌C̷̋͝O̵̅͒M̸̓͒Ĕ̶͉ ̶̕OUR VE̵͋͌S̶̔̚S̴͛̕Ẽ̷L.
   
   The bodies of Natasha and her crew lurched and her eyes turned a bright red.
   
   D̸̂̄Ē̴̚S̵̅͝T̵̂̐R̷̅͠Ö̷́͛Y̶̏ THE GIRL.
   
   Without a word, the possessed crew of the Black Hawk turned their ship back to the village…
   
   Back on the sandstone cliffs, June felt something hit her shoulder. Turning around she found a piece of paper wrapped around a small stone. Unfurling it, the message read: “Meet me in the crypts. We need to chat”

3. June could only guess what was going on. She feared the sea, and thereby, knew little of it. But one story in particular had always stuck with her: the story of the gem. Naturally… she purchased a rowboat and set sail oar for the storm.
   
   At the center of the maelstrom, Natasha had taken the gem to Charybdis, the bottomless pit that lie in the deep. She simply wanted to meet… for a chat. With the gem. She had planned meticulously for this. Years upon years of research and pillaging. Well… almost meticulously, at least. She did forget to properly inform her crew, which thought this was The End. Ignoring her disorderly crew, she raised the gem and exploded her voice into the deep,  “Zenzizenzizenzic and zenzizenzizenzic powers raised, closer and closer to your mathematical ways. Instead by zero let infinity shine, so now let thine power be mine!”

4. A small town abuzz with chaos sent out a “smell” that a nearby sleeping dragon noticed. Little psychic screams infiltrated the cozy den of the dozing dragon. Mir lifted an eyelid as well as her nose. She stirred irritably at the interruption to her snooze but that passed when her senses grabbed onto something. Not people, well, yes, there’s people: there’s always people, but something else. A jewel? THE Jewel? Mir stretched her wings out and gazed out the cave door that fell directly into a bottomless pit. While making up her mind that she’d need to go introduce herself to whatever bozo, correction, lovely person that happened to be holding a dazzling jewel, she walked toward the cave entrance. As she stepped off the ledge, she pushed down with her wings and she thought, “Amazing! New friends to meet! We might have a nice chat or some exciting negotiations.”

5. As June set sail, her mom’s words echoed in her head. “Go to the orchard of the sea goddess. There you’ll find the high priestess Anthalia. Meet with her, she should know more about the gem that the pirates took.” “Don’t worry Mother, I promise to end whatever they plan on doing” June thought as she sailed onward.
   
   It was sunset by the time June made landfall on the island orchard. To her surprise, a clocked figure was waiting on the beach. “Umm.” June stammered “Hi… I’m looking for…” The figure raised a hand. “The winds have told us of your need to meet with our high priestess. Come, there is much to chat about.”

In the subrule “Drawing”, add the following step as the last step of the Drawing atomic action:

* Make a Story blog post with the title of “New Drawing: “ followed by the current date, and any flavor text of the Publisher’s choosing in the body of the post.

Last call for Creative Writings

Add the following to “Points”

As a Virtual Story Action, a Storyteller may send the name of another Storyteller to the Publisher. When the Publisher resolve’s this action, they first reduce the points of the Storyteller performing this action by three, then privately inform that storyteller how many points the other Storyteller they named has

Feel free to check in here with a comment just to keep from going idle

naught has been idled for being inactive for 7 days. Quorum falls to 4.

Add a new Category named “Rituals” to the gamestate page.

djf1107 is unidled per this CfJ. Quorum remains unchanged at 4.

“Unless the part about there being a girl who can use the gem to destroy the master is true.”

1. June and her mother stumbled out of the burning building. “Is that everyone?” June asked, breathing heavily. Her mother surveyed the group of people that they had managed to evacuate. “Yes, everyone made it out.” June let out a sigh of relief. “They took everything. Even the seaberries and dragonfruit that you worked so hard to gather,” her father said, looking distraught. “But it’s worse than that. They took the heart of the deep. The prophecy has come true.” At this, June gasped. “June, I’m so sorry, but we need you to get that gem back. You’re the only one who can harness its true power.” June looked around at the chaos and destruction that the pirates had caused, and her fists clenched. She was going to make them pay. “My pleasure.” And June headed for the sandstone cliffs.

2. “Set course to the sandstone cliffs. We need to get the gem to the caves before sunset” Natasha ordered, biting into a piece of fruit to hide her nerves. She couldn’t believe it. Here she was, the most feared pirate in the seas, shaking like a penguin at a seal colony. “It’s a pleasure making such a deal with you” the voice of the cloaked figure echoed in her mind. “Why would anyone even dare try to use this gem?” Her conscience nagged at her. Before she had time to ponder what would await her, the voice of her first mate suddenly called out. “Captain! We’re being followed!”

3. June spent the next several hours helping the village recover from the pirate attack. Fortunately, when all was said and done only a couple of villages had lost their lives, though several buildings were burnt down in the raid. After a long day of helping survivors, June took a moment to relax with a simple pleasure: fruit from the great apple tree that stood on top of the sandstone cliffs. As she plucked the bright red fruit from the leafy branches she took a bite. The Black Hawk could barely be seen on the horizon, but June knew it was only a matter of time before it returned. Suddenly, dark clouds began to form above the distant ship and loud thunder filled June’s ears. This was no ordinary storm. Something was wrong. Something unnatural.

4. Distracted by the stream of goods going over the sandstone cliffs, June didn’t see a blond girl sidle up beside her. Speaking softly in June’s ear, “Cap’n’s gonna be happy for swamp beets; almost good as fruit.” June gasped slightly and tried to calm her heart while staring at this girl who apparated from nowhere. “Ladies by themselves get mistaken as goods.” She whispered, as she put a small dagger into June’s free hand. “Pirates shoot cannons at enemies. Damsels are for pleasure; and not their own.” The blond took off and motioned to June to follow. She followed.

Make the player djf1107 unidle and treat their idle timer as if they had not gone idle during this dynasty.

Last call for Creative Writings

djf1107 is idled after 7 days of inactivity. Quorum remains unchanged at 4.

In the rule “The End” add the following text:

There is a publicly tracked Fragment called The Last Fragment which defaults to empty.

and in the same rule, replace “While there is an Open Judging, any Storyteller may call for a Ending Drawing” with the following:

While there is an Open Judging and The Last Fragment is empty, as a Story Action any Storyteller may call for a Ending Drawing

and in the same rule create a subrule named “Wrap Up” with the following text:

A Wrap Up is a blog post with the category Story Post - Votable Matter where the title begins with the phrase “Wrap Up” and the body only contains instructions for one of the following:
* Add the contents of The Last Fragment to the end of The Story.
* Add the text “The End.” to the end of The Story.

A Wrap Up has the following additional rules:
* A Storyteller may only post a Wrap Up as a Story Action, and only while there is not an Open Judging.
* Only one Wrap Up may be Pending at any time. Any Wrap Up that is posted while another is Pending should be closed as Illegal.
* The Publisher may not vote on a Wrap Up.
* The Publisher does not count when determining quorum for a Wrap Up.

A Wrap Up is resolved in the same manner as described in Resolution of Proposals, by interpreting the term “Proposal” to mean “Wrap Up” for the purposes of resolving a Wrap Up.

In rule 1.2.1 “Idle Storytellers,” replace “An Admin may render a Storyteller Idle if that Storyteller has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), or if that Storyteller has not posted an entry or comment in the past 168 Hours (7 days).” with:

An Admin may render a Storyteller Idle if that Storyteller has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days). An Admin my also render a Storyteller Idle if that Storyteller has not posted an entry or comment or made a legal change to the gamestate tracking page for the current dynasty in the past 168 Hours (7 days).

In the rule “The End”, after the paragraph “If the last two words in the story are “The End” the Story is Complete.” add the following paragraph:

While there is an Open Judging, any Storyteller may call for a Ending Drawing by making a Story blog post where the title contains the phrase “Ending Drawing”. When this post has been made, the next Drawing is considered the Ending Drawing. Fragments received by the Publisher for an Ending Drawing are considered Ending Fragments and must end with the sentence “The End.”

In the rule “Judging”, replace the step “* Add the Fragment in that Judging with the highest Total Score, randomly selecting a Fragment among any that are tied for highest Total Score, to the end of The Story, and format The Story with any paragraph breaks between sentences that the Publisher deems appropriate.” with the following steps:

* Add the Fragment in that Judging with the highest Total Score, randomly selecting a Fragment among any that are tied for highest Total Score, to the end of The Story, unless it is an Ending Fragment, in which case publicly track it as “The Last Fragment” and do not add it to the end of The Story.
* Format any part of The Story with any paragraph breaks between sentences that the Publisher deems appropriate.

She turned to investigate and momentarily forgot about her worries as she saw the pale blue glow of the jewel.

1. June stood before the blazing inferno that was the shop. Her home. She was fortunate, really. Had she arrived a few minutes later, likely her family wouldn’t have survived. Not everyone was as lucky. Eddie’s father was killed, sword rammed through his chest, when he protested the destruction. She spun, stalking toward the well, where her father sat nursing his burns. “We can’t let them get away with this!” “I know, child,” her father sighed, “and I agree. Your passion is admirable, but look around you. This town is in no state to send a party in chase. Especially not enough to overpower a blood-thirsty pirate band.” June pointed, “They didn’t fire their cannons. No bombardment, and the brigands ransacked every building they saw. They were looking for something, and were willing to kill to get it. I need to stop them. Even if it means doing it by myself.”

2. Watching the unfolding horrors, June didn’t see the petite blond sidle up beside her. While looking forward, she said close to June’s ear, “Cap’n’s gonna be happy ‘bout dem swamp beets. Ya never see ‘em in the sea towns.” June, turning her head quickly, and trying to get her now exploding heart back in her chest, gasped. “Ladies by themselves get mistaken as goods.” And the blond shoved a small dagger into June’s free hand. “Pirates shoot cannons at enemies. Damsels are for passion and fun; and not their own.” The blond took off and motioned to June to follow.

3. Suddenly, a loud BANG was heard a cannon ball whizzed past their heads, crashing into the cliff wall above them. Natasha turned to see another large ship turning into the bay. “Blasted Navy” Natasha muttered. “Get back to the ship, we’ve got what we came for.” A fiery passion burned in her eyes as she grabbed the jewel and aboard climbed The Black Hawk. “Take us out, Faulk” she ordered. “But Ma’am, many crew are not back on board” the helmsman replied. “I said. TAKE US OUT” she roared. “Don’t try to fight them. Its time to run.”

4. “At last, the power to command the seas,” Natasha said. “Assuming the legends are true, that is.” As Natasha took the crate with the jewel from her first mate, Steven, she suddenly realized what had felt so wrong. All of the sounds that she would have expected—birds, waves, even the wind—were absent, and the air felt unusually still. At this realization, Natasha froze. “All hands on deck; I want our cannons ready,” she ordered. “Are you expecting trouble?” Steven asked. “Anything could happen,” Natasha said. “And something feels wrong.” All of a sudden, something exploded from the ocean with a furious passion. “Ambush!”

5. As the pirate handed her the gem, Natasha allowed herself a small smile. “Beautiful,” she sighed as she leaned against a nearby cannon. “Captain, what’s so special about this gem?” Glaring, Natasha turned and held out the gem. “Its called the heart of the deep and its said to hold a power anyone with a passion for power would kill for.” Keeping her own fears hidden, she continued. “Legend says this gem allows one to control the master of the deep and rule the seas.” Muttering to one another, the other pirates began to ponder what they had just learned. Turning back to her quarters on the ship, Natasha shivered. “Unless the part about there being a girl who can use the gem to destroy the master is true.”