┌─── ∘ December 2025 Newsletter ∘ ───┐
Skybright, Season of Winter, Year 1641

(art by sabbatarian1408 on instagram)

“The first day of the Winter season remarks the presumed deadline for the harvest; anything left unsewn shall not be reaped and anything unreaped shall not be sewn. Some preliminary crops are laid out in the mid-late Winter in preparation for Vernus, but the primary trait of Winter is death — stockpiles are exhausted, climates are harsher, and days are shorter. Those unprepared shall not last the cold unscathed.”

- Standard Calendar, from The Compendium

December is here!

This month's newsletter includes Build updates, the latest Systems hotfix, new updates to plugins and more!

 The full release of Vampires is ever-approaching! And there's even more things to look forward to in future updates, take a look!

° New & Upcoming

Community Updates

Spire Seneschalty Referendum

• The referendum vote has concluded, the Seneschalty system remains, with a result of 63.5% in favour, and 36.5% against.
• Additionally, future feedback and grievances with the Spire's government may be handed over to Community Team in a ticket, which will be processed and sent to the players in charge as is done for staff teams. Please use this method, feedback threads or contact members of Community Team instead of DMing the government's players from now on.
• An OOC committee has been created to review laws and reforms to the Seneschalty from the perspective of players outside of the council sphere, to ensure further consideration on how they will affect the server and RP within the town OOCly before they are posted. Crime RPers are included within this group, as a brand new initiative, it will be monitored and is subject to change according to what is best for the server community's long-term health and communication. These players are @Vigilance, @ChishmFips, @mallsharkz and @Dinomono

Community Team

• The team has the pleasure of welcoming @mallsharkz and @MerryLights to Mentor!

Moderation Team

• Moderation team also welcomes @ChishmFips as our newest member and second non-staff moderator!

Community Guard Skin and Writing Contests

• The winner of the Guard Skin Contest is @neji101 ! Having provided the now official uniform of the Spire's guardforce! With @turtwigwins 's submission as the last-minute runner-up! They've received 8 XP & 750 Crowns, and 4 XP & 250 Crowns respectively!
• The participants of the Writing Contest have also received their rewards, we thank @Octaconta, @Aufberon, @Akme/MUST and @Wake for their wonderful contributions to the Spire Library! Those who provided one volume received 4 XP & 150 Crowns, and those who provided two or more received 8 XP & 300 Crowns!
  • In particular, Wake has provided a terrific amount of books written across the entirety of the last month, and even some previously-written extra volumes as well! 

Build Updates

• The Albern's Crossing Expansion is now live! A raffle will be held for ownership of the plots around the expanded area, be on the lookout!
  • Here's some nice pictures of refurbished Albern's from our lovely @Captain_Cynical !

• The Undercity Expansion is coming to a Spire near you soon! Pending review and implementation into the world.
• In order to facilitate communication and organisation in building, Build Team is now headed by @Pyrias !

Lore Updates

Lore Team

• Please welcome @dogshitfartelectric as our second Lore admin! Lore Team deals with a wide variety of aspects of the server, another Admin helps reduce the workload and make responses to tickets/review of concepts happen more quickly and efficiently.

Expanded Lore

• The forums now have an Expanded Lore section! Regions, settlements, noble houses, history and more will be presented within it's subforum from now on in order to make the Compendium show only the essentials for new players while still giving a place to more in-depth entries.
  • Expanded lore entries already present in the Compendium (Pearl Coast, Sudvalkia, etc.) will be moved to their appropriate subforums!

Bestiary

• The upcoming Undercity's subterranean environment wouldn't be complete without an ecosystem of it's own, 4 underground beasts will be released alongside the Undercity to roam it's dark deep caves!

Vampires

• Vampires are being introduced to the Southern Reach, through an eventline headed by @Dee !
  • Keep in mind the eventline is ongoing, and has only just started! Involvement with vampirism will expand as the story develops.
• The mechanics and lore of vampires have, as stated in last month's newsletter, been finalised! And will be formatted and posted on the website soon.
  • The previously presented Curse of Eternal Blood is outdated, and doesn't represent current vampire lore or mechanics, please be patient while the team gets the Spire's newest spooky arrivals up to date!
  • As stated in Dee's discord announcement, vampire PCs are intended to have an application system and a log keeping track of them.

Systems Updates

Systems Changelog

• Here's the latest Systems Changelog detailing the changes from the late-november hotfix! Major updates (among many clarifications and minor changes!) include...
  • Forward Charge receiving the ability to approach kiting enemies more effectively.
  • Shieldbash's negative modifier being removed, to account for discrepancy in damage output when compared to other reaction attack methods.
  • The Prone and Grappled conditions become more substantial and impactful, the former impeding movement and reaction attacks, and the latter giving a negative modifier to spellcasting rolls.
  • Actions that trigger Death Saves have been updated and clarified! You no longer risk dying by performing preparative weapon actions! (Lift, Load, Chant, etc.)
  • Riposte's attacking chance on grazing hits has been removed, in order to account for the disparity in reaction damage between different combat approaches.
  • A tripartite one, Spells!:
    • After much feedback with players being brought to Systems, the capstone of Ichor, Graveblossom has been updated to incur greater consequence on the revived/healed by it.
    • Ether's Sidestep becomes a 4 Anima spell, with a +1 Fortitude requirement, it's description is also clarified to include points within line of sight. Previously, it granted more mobility than originally intended when compared to it's cost.
    • Cursesmithy's capstone, Haunt is clarified further:
      • Becomes consistent in familiarity requirements with the Scry spell
      • Details that lasting effects and wounds the caster suffers remain after the duration of the spell
      • Clarifies that items may not be taken and transported through the spell, as that sort of displacement's more along the lines of the Ether branch, and not in accord with the Nocturne's lore.

Fables Rework

• Spirit of the Fire Dragon, Lady Luck, and Equinox + Phoenix each have three reworked feats which are completed on the systems side and are awaiting review as well as in-universe deployment with lore.

Arcane

• Arcane Hindrances for mages are finalised and awaiting review & implementation!

Mutant Rework

• The Mutant Rework has been finalised, pending review. As some might know already, the Mutant feat itself as a primary requirement for the condition will no longer exist, it's extra weapon slot effect will be repurposed into another feat!

Technical Updates

/Display Command

• Feats are able to be displayed now!

Command Modifiers

• Casting and Death rolls can now have custom modifiers added to them, making mechanics such as the Rage feat and penalties to spellcasting able to be fully reflected in-game!

Other

• Unique interactions between weapons and damage reduction are now reflected in the attack rolls for each! Shown as tags for bonuses against Unarmoured [UA], Medium or Heavily Armoured [MA][HA] enemies, Armour Piercing [AP] attacks and Graze Piercing [GP]!

° Player Events & Projects
Player-lead events and projects of Avalore, curated by the editor and Community Team to feature for the month.

Player Projects

Avalore Feat Tier List by @FortuneFool ! For the systemheads out there!

Avalore Character Census, by @mallsharkz ! Some OOC data collection for those who love graphs and the like.

Player Events

The Southern Reach Grand Tourney continues! Organised by @Insert

The SECOND Spire Yule, as well organised by @Insert !

° Player Photos
Players are able to submit photos through our Photo Album forum (via our Discord server) to be featured in our newsletter, and even used as promotional material for Avalore!

Those Before Us - @Megladon

Chance Encounter - @Insert

Roots of Knowledge - @Bliinx

An Onslaught on Fear - @Octaconta

Stellar Show - @Bliinx

Shrine Rebuilding - @Captain_Cynical

The Week of Lost Light - @Insert

A Strange Attraction - @Bliinx

Colourful Inspection - @Captain_Cynical @Insert

Day at the Docks - @Bliinx

Visions of the Past - @mallsharkz

The Trials to Come - @Insert

Crow-Friend - @Megladon

『ライミ・エッシャーだ！』- @Insert