┌─── ∘️ August 2025 Newsletter ️∘ ───┐
Bloomburrow, Season of Summer, Year 1641

Pixel art by pixelias on Reddit

	“The second season is that of abundance and bloom, remarking a blossoming, cultivated crop. The season of colour and lasting sun, of ripe fruit and good health.”
	- Standard Calendar, from The Compendium

 Summertime is almost over, we hope you have been keeping cool! The Covetous Campaign continues.

There have been some big updates to mechanics and staff structure!

Players can also expect to see the new expansion on the server soon!

° New & Upcoming

Community Updates

Community Update Session

• A summary of everything discussed in the July Community Update can be found here.

June Fundraiser

• The Pride fundraiser is complete! We raised a total of $270 USD that has been split between three charities: The Trans Income Project, The Stonewall Alliance Center, and ACT UP. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to these donations! Full post and proof can be found here. 

Circle of Four

• An election was held to determine the next Circle of Four. Congratulations to the new councilors:
  • Ser Adrian @Kamaoe
  • Penelope Periwinkle @Romedeu
  • Eithna Primriver @Hyssope
  • Yuna Moontusk @Moony

Staff Structure

• The staff structure is currently being reworked to make certain roles more clear, while also spreading out responsibilities and authority across more members of staff. This is to help decentralize decision-making from admin and allow more flexibility for staff teams. Staff Structure is subject to change, and can be found here.

Community Team

• The Community team is focused on outreach to players, handling whitelisting, the newsletter, and generally ‘new player’ (and old player!) questions.
  • @Moony will be slowly taking over as Admin and Team Lead of Community under the guidance of @Charybdis
• There will be clearer division to showcase the differences and functions of the Community and Mentor teams!

Lore Team

• The Lore team is responsible for all the storytelling that goes on in Avalore. That includes organizing our server campaigns, background setting and world-building lore, bestiary and flora, fable encounters, and arcane underlings.
  • To manage the vast workload of the Lore team, it is broken down into smaller teams, each with a team lead.
    • @Dee will be the Team Lead for Lore overall, with each of the smaller team leads working under him. 

Discord

• Upcoming updates including:
  • Meet the staff sections
  • Separate ticket submission system for Safety Policy reports, so that players do not have to be whitelisted to submit these
    
    

Lore Updates

Compendium

• Released:
  • Mistan lore expansion courtesy of @Tomtomgags [Mistan]
    • This also includes updates to the Mist Isles and the addition of the Serene Monarchy, the governing body of the Mist Isles. [Serene Monarchy] [Mist Isles]
  • Pearl Coast lore expansion was also provided by @adamunavailable [Pearl Coast]
    • This also includes a regional update of the Pearl Coast within the Mist Isles. [Pearl Coast Region]
  • Sangifleuer has finally been added to the Compendium. @dogshitfartelectric did a wonderful job creating it. [Sangifleuer]
  • Fireborne’s expansion has been finished by @Moony and is in the process of being added to the Compendium. 
  • Stonerunner cultural update is in-progress

Build Expansion

• The build expansion is complete. It will be added throughout Saturday. Give massive thanks to our wonderful Build Team: @Zoslore and @Aqua in particular! 
  • The expansion will feature an upgraded hospital, town hall, and dozens of new plots outside the walls of the Spire Town. These include farming, housing, caravans, and even guild plots! Read more about the expansion through Reedie’s announcement here!
    
    

Systems Updates

Arcane

• Arcane Rework:
  • Arcane is estimated to be around ⅔ of the way complete! 
  • Upcoming frequent mechanical releases to lay the groundwork for the arcane overhaul

Environmental

• New!!!: Environmental Effects
  • Reduced movement in Shallow Water
  • Further reduced movement and combat penalties in Deep Water
  • Uneven Terrain
  • Perception penalties when rolling Perception in Dim Light and Darkness.
• New!!!: Environmental Hazards
  • Falling damage
  • Damage over Time (e.x. Fire, Poison).
• Details can be found in the Player DM Guide.

Stealth

• Updated: Conceal (Hide Rework)
  • Details can be found on the mechanics page, under Stealth Mechanics.

XP & Feats

• • New & Updated Feats:
    • Aspect of the Dragon: Scales
    • Siren's Swimmer
    • Trailblazer
    • Backline Flanker
    • Softstep
    • Spotter
    • Skirmishing Party

• Updated!!!: Precise Senses

• • New!!!: Seafarer
• Now Live:
  • 10 XP feats
  • 12 feat slots
  • Mages now have one extra feat slot per mage tier
    • Mage 4 — 2 feat slots
    • Mage 3 — 4 feat slots
    • Mage 2 — 6 feat slots
    • Mage 1 — 9 feat slots
• Full details on the new and updated feats can be found on the Feats page.

Technical Updates

In-Game

• Quality of Life
  • Can now use /character switch <1/2/3/etc> as a quick way of changing character
  • Can now use /character edit <name/age/height/race/description/pronouns> as a way of directly going into that item instead of having to do /character edit then click (though that way is still there too)
  • List of titles in /title is now alphabetically sorted
  • Fall damage & drowning damage is disabled
• Bugfixes:
  • Rolling a manual expression with a modifier on the end now actually adds that modifier (e.g. /roll 2d10 2, though you can also just do /roll 2d10+2)
  • The amount of toxicity debuffs from alchemy potions should be fixed (for real this time)

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

Player Events

Covetous Compendium by @Pyrias —
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MgaOQzqxueHTpiXy1sD2E4htWheTj_3B1DV6qWittmw/edit?tab=t.0

° 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!

Petrus and Meriel discuss the Idris threat with the town. - @Spidermankini

The loathsome Woglet. - @Insert

The Southern Reach - @Vigilance

Something sinister lies in a tomb... - @yoursecondexwife

Romance in the Spire! - @_PEACHGORE

Fun in the sun! - @Aufberon

More loathsome Woglets. - @Wake