┌─── ∘️ October 2025 Newsletter ️∘ ───┐
Falltide, Season of Autumn, Year 1641

Art by @elioliart on Instagram

	“The final day of Summer gives way to the harvest season; the stockpile that will last until next Vernus. When the food is reaped, stored and sealed, and the plants begin to dry and crispen from lively green to bright orange, red and yellow.”
	- Standard Calendar, from The Compendium

Autumn continues with redder and crunchier leaves! The Covetous Campaign is a wrap, and The Sundering's attack has been quelled by the people of the Spire.

This month has seen a lot of development from the Systems Team soon to be released, and some expansions on the lore, be it the new lore on Stonerunners or the post-Sundering appearance of the Void-Touched, and their catalyst for finding their way to our realm, The Dreaming One.

Players can also expect to see the underground Undercity build coming soon!

This newsletter comes with an Avalore-themed crossword! The first person to DM a screenshot of the solved puzzle to @Moony will be awarded 2 XP!

https://puzzel.org/en/crossword/play?p=-OaRWyvfczR6WuVl1Ig5

° New & Upcoming

Build Updates

New builds

• Docks Expansion: The docks expansion is now live! Featuring new, larger docks and several beach-side houses. Thanks to Aqua, Pyrias, and Ropefish for their amazing work!
• Spire Crystal Interior: As part of The Sundering, the Spire’s Crystal is now open and available for roleplay!
• The Undercity expansion is on it's way! Here's a teaser for how it's gonna look!

Community Updates

Community Team

• The team has the pleasure of introducing two new members: 2Kelp and CaitieBug! 
• Community Tickets: Catch-all tickets for Avalorians to provide feedback on anything about the server. The Community Team will forward it anonymously to the relevant parties. You can make these tickets on Avalore’s Discord! 

Discord Server Updates

• TTS Bot: A TTS Bot has been added to the server, to give a voice to those who type in voice chats.

Lore Updates

Lore Team

• Upcoming Expanded Lore Section — New Forum section for approved player-submitted lore to help simplify the Compendium for new players. Be on the lookout!

Compendium

• NEW PLAYER RACE: Void-Touched. Players can now make Void-Touched characters on the server, complete with their own lore.
• Race Concept Art: Each race in Avalore will get their own concept art on their pages, done by the amazing Soup!

• The Lore expansion for the Stonerunner Subculture is now canon! Players can expect to see it on the forums ASAP. In the meantime, feel free to direct any questions to NOS402!

Fables Rework

• Fables rework is progressing.
  • The Portents have been retired until further notice — those with Portents feats will keep them, but will no longer be available to take.
  • Lady of the Lake and Phoenix and Equinox are the furthest along — finalization stages, though talks with interested players are happening.
  • Shrinekeeper and Divine Gardener are still just getting started. Any and all feedback is appreciated!
  • New Fable! — Lady Luck: A figure, a law of the universe, you decide- yet those with Her favor are those who find comfort in seedy places. With two new and one reworked feat, Lady Luck's favor is offered to the stealthy, the thieves, and the downtrodden scrappers. 
    • This Fable rework will be released with the entirety of the Fables Rework! Release date still pending.
      
      

Systems Updates

Arcane

• Arcane Rework:
  • Arcane is still going strong! So far, this is what has been finished of the rework;
    • Spells of all Branches are finished  — 186 total!! 31 for each!
    • Cantrips have been started.
    • Lastly, finalizing new mechanics.

Bard Update

• A variety of changes to Bards have been implemented in Avalore:
  • Bards can now have a more meaningful role in events beyond monotonous performance emotes round after round because of a major shift in their action economy that allows them to do other actions in their turn.
  • Elementary feat gives INT oriented characters a chance to flex their tactical brains by improving their odds of success through quick calculation.
  • Skirmishing Party and Backline Flanker both had requirements changed to reflect their status as stealth functions and to better align with the stats they actually use.
  • New feats: Elementary, Rousing Inspiration, Performer

Other

• Death Mechanics Rework;
  • Still Underway — This rework will serve to bridge the gap between high and low fortitude players, making it less unequal across the board. It is nearly completed.
• Maneuvers;
  • Nearly Complete — These will add mechanics to physical maneuvers that are often used in combat, such as grappling, to correct the usual confusion of what to roll and bring variety to the usual combat actions. New feats will also be added to give these maneuvers more depth. It is nearly completed.
• Weapons Templates;
  • Adjustment of existing weapons and feats. The goal of this update will be to better represent certain weapons, make less used weapons feel more worthwhile.

XP & Feats

• EU XP Incentives
  • It is a well-known issue that EU players are having difficulty attending events, as many occur during the evenings in NA timezones, requiring EU players to stay up late or wake up extremely early to attend.
  • While larger changes are still being sorted out, a temporary incentive has been enacted to help balance out the XP discrepancy between NA and EU players, and to encourage players to schedule events at times that are more favourable to non-NA players.
  • Any events held between midnight EST and 1pm EST (that's 5am GMT to 6pm GMT) are subject to the following bonuses:
    • Under an hour: 4 XP (instead of 3)
    • Over an hour: 6 XP (instead of 4)
  • Please just add a note in your post in the XP thread if your event qualifies. This is a sort of trial run — we'll see how it goes!

Technical Updates

In-Game

• Website Changes
  • Mechanics Page Update: Table of Contents, and a new, fresh layout!
• Quality of Life
  • Server Cap has been expanded to 75 players!
• Bugfixes:
  • There have been no bugfixes this month.

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

Player Events

An overhaul to the Spire’s government has been enacted under the careful guidance of Meriel Noctis. Read more about the various aspects of it through the links below: 

https://avalore.net/forum/topic/1527-the-stewardship--council-charter/#post-5978

https://avalore.net/forum/topic/1532-electoral-procedures-of-the-spire/#post-5988

https://avalore.net/forum/topic/1536-ooc-qna--on-the-reform/ 

Player Projects

A treatise on the Natural Borders of the Southern Reach, written by @Insert!

https://avalore.net/forum/topic/1528-a-treatise/

A Comprehensive Treatise on the Nature of the Ether, by Ser Adrian Pandion ( @Kamaoe )

https://avalore.net/forum/topic/1550-a-comprehensive-treatise-on-the-nature-of-the-ether/#post-6029

The Sundering's Photo Album

Etheric tendrils emerge over the Spire-Town, taken by @Faye Spiritscribe

The Spire door is open, taken by @Soup

Looming over the Spire, taken by @Reedie

A tragic end for Militia Sergeant Halbie Grohss, @2kelp

Spirans at the ready, by @Soup

Lights above the clouds, by @Waffleheart