The Rift Collapse 

After fighting off the Arma Caeli for a second time and bracing many unstable rifts, the dust finally settles. People find themselves in a world they know, yet it isn't quite the same. The Veil has fallen, covering each realm with blissful ignorance. Or does it? Most people seem to be going on with their regular lives as if nothing had happened at all. No rifts, no adventures across realms. Even faced with those from other realms, they seem unaffected - incapable of seeing their true nature. Yet, there are others who can feel there was once more, that know something is off, but cannot quite put their finger on it. And then, there is the smallest group of them all - those who appear unaffected by the Veil, gazing straight through it. To them, the changes are probably the hardest. Will those they care for remember? Will they ever see each other again, their true selves?

Amongst the superficial peace, the Adventurer's Guild has been building a base in Antiqua, Varelia, hoping to help adventurers that need guidance - while also trying to gather as many of them as they can in order to stay prepared, even experimenting with ways to bypass the Veil. On the other side, there are those who oppose this idea - siding with the Arma Caeli, declaring that continuing to use the Reflection cannot lead to anything good. All of this has even gotten the more isolated Beastlings, Lupicus and Felespio, to take matters into their hands again.

One thing is for sure: just because you can no longer see something, and the rifts have been all but gone for the most part, does not mean they no longer exist. Or that all danger is gone. Many Veil Breakers agree: The connections between realms and all realms themselves must still be protected.

And we are back!

It was a wild month of a lot of work but I can somewhat confidently say that I got a lot done! It was definitely not easy and I don't wish to repeat this anytime soon, but I am very happy with the result and I hope you all will have fun with it as well c: 

Here is a list of the general changes that have been made (which I wrote as I worked throughout the january):

• The Veil: With the focus on main species and hubs, side content and species can be hidden or shown via the Veil. This can be done at any time in your settings. Stuff related to side conent will have a magical wand beside it. This goes for: the masterlist, news, galleries, sales and ideally any place. To view items related to side species you will need to turn your veil setting on in your settings!
• Characters: It'd be a good idea to check your characters for trait/subtype correctness. Especially opened MYO slots! I feel like there may have been some accidental trait loss here...namely, holy/unholy halo on opened slots. (I had an oversight because I forgot slots are internally treated the same as characters...I am sorry about that.) Lopilu should have been merged into Beastling of subtype Lopilu. You can still set their Home location to their hub!
• Elemental Essences: A new currency, one for each of the 9 elements you already know from companions. Your new currency for getting elemental traits (ex. seasonal). Some elements are more common in certain seasons. Winter=Light and Dark Spring = Plant and Wind, Summer = Fire and Water, Autumn = Spark, Venom and Earth. The price point of 40/trait stays, but ways to obtain them will be slightly new and possible outside of their "main" season.
• Seasonal currency: Please check your inventory! Per 10 seasonal currency you should have received one choice bag of that season that grants 10 elemental essence. You may have 1-9 seasonal currency leftover. You can exchange this for essence of your choice matching the season by submitting a claim. You have 1 month to do so, then the remaining seasonal currency will be deleted. Please ignore the -0 currency logs, they are just an oversight of mine but have not actually changed your balance.
• Side species traits: Have been exchanged into a generic trait item of the same rarity. The usage should be the same, attach it then pick the trait you want. The generic uncommon wisp should allow any uncommon side species trait for example.
• Potion of Floof / Extra fluffy: Discontinued. I felt like limiting floof on Beastlings and other species is a bit stupid. Those who owned Potion of Floof will get a seasonal surprise gift instead. If you have a already approved character that had floof, you can also send in a claim for another seasonal surprise gift within 1 month of this post.
• Holy/Unholy Halo: Discontinued due to a new elemental trait. All characters that used to have this trait now have new "Divine Halo". The trait representation is the same.
• Other Ex. Seasonal traits: May change in which month they appear based on their element. Some item art changes. Should otherwise remain functionally the same.
• New elemental traits: Will be officially introduced later, but don't be surprised some characters already have them due to the below. They replace seasonal traits, and add to them. Can be purchased with the new elemental essences currencies. All traits have also gotten new art.
• Elemental trait item changes: Some item art changes, but most importantly, added flavour text for the items and where they were originally made!
• Glitches: Removed glitches, but added the traits the glitch gave your characters as a proper elemental trait instead.
• Crossbreeds: No changes yet, but please let me know if you are ok with your crossbreeds also receiving the glitch treatment. If you don't they remain as is. New crossbreeds cannot be made, although you will still be able to pair different species (the offspring will be one of the parents species) once I manage to get around to the code.
• Transformations: New and merged transformations for Beastlings! Humanoid Beastlings now have human noses, You do not have to update your old art but new ML art will expect this. Walkers have anthro noses/snouts. All tiny ferals are mini form, all big ferals are ride form. Arma caeli received the Arma form for their armoured appearance, and a optional unclad form if you want to show them off without it.
• Site Themes: Beside the layout receiving a slight update, you can now pick more main colors from the settings aside the normal dark mode/light mode! Try it out!
• MYO Crafting: The to Varelia prompt was removed, as MYO crafting was updated. Please refer to the new guide. Idk what happens if you try to claim a recipe twice but we will see xD
• Base items: They have been removed for now, because I was majorly unhappy with these old bases. I want to make something new, but it may take a while. You may keep using the bases if you really want to.
• Nature Items: New items that you can collect on adventures to complete a one-time collection, or to sell for profit from your inventory. Some grant elemental essences!
• Adventures: Getting an update to distribute the new nature items! The character's you meet were also adjusted to both be on theme and lower workload. More adventures are available than before, including 4 seasonal ones an the reflection which you must unlock via prompt first.
• Collections: these have been updated so you can earn awards by collecting items related to a specific species or subtype from the adventures! We also have some seasonal collections to complete for awards and essences.
• Awards: Some new awards for specific Beastling/Arma Caeli subtypes have been added! A lot of new awards...
• Shops: We have new shops which are now seperated by the type of item they sell, not the type of shop it is for easier entry and access (hopefully). New shop keepers too!
• Dailies: mostly the same just a new paint job!
• Masterlist: Search is hidden completely unless you want to search. Sublists can now be filtered by transformation easily if you want to see for example all the mini beastling vs all the humanoid ones! It will show the thumbnail of that form, not the "main" one.
• Elemental trait cultivation: Cultivation items will no longer be directly buyable, rather, you craft them! Complete elemental prompts to get the recipes, then you can buy ingredients from the craft store! The rest of the process for cultivating them stays the same. There is a new guide for this as well.
• Elemental Prompts/Awards: these will let you unlock the recipes to craft elemental cultivation items, needed for the above! These prompts will release from now on during the season of their element. Right now, we have light and dark out for winter. They are once per user, and will be available at any time.
• Guide and Lore pages are hopefully updated (aside pairings which will still need an update and some code changes, time ran too tight)
• Location page is updated with proper lore AND we have a clickable map of Varelia now! 

Things I still need to get done:

• Pairing is getting some updates but I was running out of time. They have been disabled for now but I will work on them as soon as I can to get the updates in!
• Professions for the non Lopilu Beastlings will be added ideally with an event in future. 

Free Species Changes 

For those of you who would like to pull some of their existing OCs into the main realm, we will be offering 3 free species change items. You will have all january to claim these items. Just send in a claim & add 1-3 "Strong matter modifier" to it.

Free re-launch / starter gift

There was a tiny change in the new player experience. Instead of somehow figuring out a convoluted way to allow only new players to claim it, any of you can! See it as a thank you for your patience and support. You can claim the Adventuring Starting Kit at the Adventurer's Guild. It contains a choice of a Beastling MYO, 80 coins and a random regular Beastling trait item.

New Lopilu Raffle

A new raffle lasting for a month is also up! Someone give this cute lil Lop a home! 

Due to there being many changes, it is likely that I missed something. If you notice something that looks off or missing, please let us know! It is very likely that it was not intentional. There will be a little relaunch/advertise event likely around a week after this just so we can get the worst bugs solved first!

Thanks again for reading! I'm counting on you to find the last remaining bugs and hiccups o7

- Cyl

Snowfall Season

Duration:  December 1st - March 1st, Realm: ALL

Winter is coming, get cozy!

Prompts

Earn dark and light essences by completing the newly released Seasonal Winter prompts! Due to January being a month of site maintenance, there will only be two prompts with more rewards this year so that you can make up for one less month of time more easily.

You may also want to visit the new daily, Blessing of Winter, for free winter essences each day during winter.

Seasonal Traits

This season comes with light & dark traits that work on any species: (Note: there have been some trait availability changes with V3!) You can obtain them from Winter Valuables.

• Zombiefied
• Plushified
• Leathery Wings
• Spectral
• Sparkling
• Divine Halo

Wintery Companion Variants

Some new forms have been added for these critters!

Backgrounds

Fuchsia has prepared some new and old wintery travel locations to you ! Visit Tranquil Travels Agency  and check out some of the seasonal backgrounds you can buy only during winter!

Winter theme 

Of course we also have this season's theme up for grabs again! Get it while it's still cold from Evecubes!

CERBERUS

You. On behalf of the Lord and Lady, stop right there.

CERBERUS

You are an adventurer, I can sense it.

Narrator

(The Arma Caeli seems to glower at you, agitated.)

CERBERUS

You feeble creatures have no idea what you've done with your foolish actions, even now.

CERBERUS

Although it seems you are finally noticing the...consequences. Judging by your latest attempts to counter the - what do you call it? - rift instabilities.

CERBERUS

Sorry to say, but you're not going to find success in that. The reflection has been compromised too much.

CERBERUS

You may even just be making it worse with your ignorance.

Narrator

(Cerberus laughs, but there is no joy in it.)

CERBERUS

Fear not! That's precisely why I am here...and why my brothers and sisters have spread across realms.

CERBERUS

You might be powerless but we...we are connected to the reflection. Born from it. A bond you trespassers will never come close to understanding.

CERBERUS

Be grateful that we have been sent on this mission, for we will seal all rifts for you - permanently.

CERBERUS

The reflection needs peace to heal, rid itself of all the foreign objects you dragged there.

CERBERUS

You wonder why I tell you all of this? It's simple.

Narrator

(The Arma Caeli cracks a mischievous smile.)

CERBERUS

It's because you won't remember anyway.

CERBERUS

We've developed a means to make you forget all of this ever happened. Realm travel, other realms, rifts and the reflection.

CERBERUS

A spell of unprecedented dimensions that will be set up spanning all realms, so that you may never wander and destroy anymore.

CERBERUS

I suggest you spend the time you have left with this knowledge wisely, while you can.

Narrator

(The heavenly being laughs before vanishing into thin air. You feel queasy.)

A cruel Reality

Duration:  December 1st - January 1st, Realm: Any

Faced with a cruel reality presented by the Arma Caeli Cerberus, the true conundrum is unveiled. At risk of losing all memories of other realms and the means to travel to them, what will your character do? Will they submit to the plan laid out before them to save the reflection? Or will they fight for a fairer cause, to retain all memory, bonds, and relationships they forged across realms? Whichever be the case, show us your character's struggle and strife! You never know what change your efforts may bring. Do not lose hope!

For this update, a new event prompt has been added. It will grant you magic, and allows you to flesh out your characters actions following this cruel revelation. 

PLEASE NOTE. Even though the plan of the Arma Caeli is to bring an end to realm travel, this does not mean it will succeed. Please refer to the V3 plans or discord channel for this- None of your inter-realm plots or characters will be broken up or removed, unless you choose that option!

Monthly Prompt

Monthly Prompt
Earn your easy extra  80 !

Lucerna

Adventurer! I am so glad to see you.

Lucerna

I loathe to ask this of you, but I was tasked to recruit any adventurer I can to our cause. Something...curious is going on.

Lucerna

You may have noticed this already, but recent rift activity has been weird to say the least.

Lucerna

We recorded many more of them forming than normal. And those that do - strange creatures have been sighted emerging from them!

Lucerna

Not to mention the risk of regular people getting sucked into the reflection, possibly to never find their way back...

Lucerna

I can barely stand thinking of it.

Lucerna

Which is why I hope you will accept this quest. We need any help we can get.

Lucerna

Please get out there and report any rift you find to us so we can close the area down.

Lucerna

If you prefer, you may also want to capture any strange beings trying to enter your Realm from them.

Lucerna

Or perhaps, if possible, you could assist the reflection rescue attempts. Anything will do.

Lucerna

If you complete such missions, we will reward you, of course. Please give it some thought. We must get to the bottom of this.

Bracing unstable Rifts

Duration:  November 1st - January 1st, Realm: Any

Lucerna needs your help! Rifts have become unstable, appearing more often and dragging unsuspecting people into the reflection. Strange creatures have also begun appearing, and the situation is seemingly getting out of hand...Something big is brewing, we just don't know what!

To help Lucerna, you must complete event prompts! They will grant you magic and some fun items from inside the reflection...

Riftborn Invasion

We don't know much about them yet but these Riftborn critters have been appearing around rifts. They don't seem to have inherent elemental powers, but... Maybe you can make some use of them? 

Special Rift Event

For the duration of this event, you may use up to 2 seasonal traits for your rift designs! This is valid for up to 3 designs per person. Get creative and share some love around. You will also be rewarded for it with one of the event prompts!

Participation Award

As always, a new award waits to be claimed for event prompts! 

Monthly Prompt

Monthly Prompt
Earn your easy extra  80 !

Change is near, but do not despair!

It has probably been rather obvious that the decision would sway this way, but as promised I am making it official now. Realms Away will see some bigger changes, but I genuinely believe it's for the best in the long term. If I lose my motivation to work on this site, the only other thing is closing it down and that'd suck most to me.  I even debated if I should call it Realms Away V2.5 instead because it is not like we are destroying everything and building something new (A Realm Reborn style). While changes are coming, a lot will also stay the same. It's a change of focus, not a change of species or content available (although I would argue that content improvements are coming, if anything!)

Because I could not possibly cover everything I worked on the past month in preparation of this post, I made a little slideshow/presentation for you:

> You can view it here. <

This should cover most bases, I think. It may not be perfect yet because some things can't be anticipated beforehand, but those things we will work on fixing as fairly as we can as well. Of course, the discord channel v3-discussion is still open for your questions!

And yes, if you don't plan to read through the document, there will be a new 2 month event starting tomorrow. It is a change from the original plan but it will explain and lead into the changes lore wise too!

Finally, thank you for being so kind and patient to me. I get that change sucks sometimes and that some of you may still be left disappointed despite our best efforts. But I'd at least like to ask you to maybe still give it a chance. Realms Away is my passion project, and I will keep striving for more fun things to do.