┌─── ∘ January 2026 Newsletter ∘ ───┐
Frostfall, Season of Winter

Art by ManuPianesi on Twitter

“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

Newsletter Activity

The activity for this months newsletter is an Avalore spinoff of GeoGuessr, AvaGuessr!
From images A, B, and C, (in the spoiler) determine in Minecraft co-ordinates where the viewer is standing.
DM your answers to @Moony on Discord. For each closest answer won, there is an award of 2 XP

Guess the co-ordinates:

This Newsletter comes with some delightful holiday art from @adamunavailable ! This month, a very Facet Christmas!

° New & Upcoming

Community Updates

Spire Government

• The Seneschalty Feedback Survey was had as a way to gather suggestions for improvement of the current government system, and as an OOC survey after the IC Referendum closed. The feedback has been sent over to Seneschalty players for consideration, Community Team can't assure the changes proposed by the playerbase will be implemented, we however thank everyone who gave constructive criticism and hope concerns were alleviated!
• The government structure of the Spire is not set in stone, players that put time and effort into a new project of governance are welcome to communicate with an Admin to gain approval and replace the present system, much like how the current Seneschalty was put into place.

Build Updates

The Undercity

• Our newest addition to the Southern Reach is now live! Visit the Undercity; an abandoned mineshaft system turned lawless hotspot. Popular among those of ill-repute and nonconformists, the only enforcement here is that of the people's opinion. The Undercity is accessible by taking the minecart or by talking to the Lift Attendant in the city's mine, east of the town.
  • Plots will be available to rent very soon!

Lore Updates

Bestiary Additions

• Along with the release of the Undercity comes 4 new cave-dwelling creatures:
  • Desmins: Unassuming but particularly annoying rodents. They're tamable, but is it really worth the hassle of destroyed furnishings?
  • Grotgrubs: Before you stands a giant, imposing... slug? Don't be fooled - it's plenty dangerous.
  • The Muisi: Mushroom-people...? Well, not really people. Perhaps they're similar to grumpkins.
  • Sarloths: Look up - before it grabs you. That is, if you can even spot it

• These beasts can be found alongside all others on the Bestiary page.
  • If you have any questions about these new creatures or you wish to include any in an event, please feel free to open a Lore Ticket on our Discord, in which you can be provided with a unique DM guide for each.

Arcane

• A light update to arcane progression is being worked on to have less reliance on patrons and DMs, more detailed flavour lore for initiations and options for further mage-to-mage learning!

WorldAnvil World Map

• The Ko'ram region in the WorldAnvil map has been heavily detailed with settlements and geographic points of interest! Thank you @Soup for updating it!
  

Campaigns

• Campaign team will soon begin work on our Third Server Campaign: Fractured, headed by @Soup as team lead after the discord's campaign poll landed us in a more grounded theme- That is, more focus on the mundane compared to the supernatural! Exploring a growing conflict near the Southern Reach that will have our Spire-Town involved, stay tuned for updates and remember, anybody interested in helping DM for it - Lore Team or not - is welcome to message @Moony on discord for a chance to have themselves incorporated to the team!

Systems Updates

Vampire Feats

• Vampire feats have been posted in the Feats section of our page, they're not currently available for use in-game but they'll be implemented soon!

Arcane Hindrances

• Unique Arcane Hindrances for mages over level 1 are finished and pending review to implement in-game.

Mutant Rework

• The Mutant Rework is finalised, containing a few new feats, adjustments to current feats and unique hindrances for the Mutant trait! It too is pending implementation.

Fable Rework

• Lady Luck's feats and lore are completed, Phoenix & Equinox's and Spirit of the Fire Dragon's are currently being worked on!

Technical Updates

HP Plugin

• An HP Tracking plugin has been implemented, both with numbered and vague HP states over the player's nametag. Commands are the following:
  • /c showhealth to toggle visible health over your nameplate and character card.
  • /c heal [Amount] to gain HP, this can allow you to go over 20 for temporary HP gained with potions or feats.
  • /c damage [Amount] or /c dmg [Amount] to receive damage, reaching 0 puts your character in Critical, perform the command again and enter Bleedout, another and the HP will be marked Dead.
  • /c maxhealth [Amount] (For DM use) to set unique maximum HP points, intended for NPCs only as PCs have all 20 max HP.
  • /c obscure health (For DM use) to toggle displaying health as vague descriptors (Auspicious, Undeterred, Wavering, Weakened) instead of numbers.

Automatic Server Messages

• Automatic tips and general messages will show in the chat every 45 minutes! They can be muted (as well as login/logout messages) with the /mutenotif and /mutejoin commands.

Character Tags

• Tags for Mages, Vampires, and those of Arcane Bloodline are now present in character cards! Others such as Mutant and Fable-Blessed will be added in the future.

Weapon Rolls

• Non-Proficient and Improvised weapon roll modifications are coming! They will automatically apply the correct negative modifier to your rolls.

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

Player Events

The Reconstruction Event for Albern's Crossing newly-funded Dawncrest Bridge, organised by the Spire's Exchequer Samiylo ( @KZ_Neilz ) will begin on the 3rd of January at 8PM EST!

° 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!

Cold Winter's Day - @Xeno_Wyvvern

Spar on the Beach - @mallsharkz

Mournshade's Ruins - @Insert

Lady's Grace - @Megladon

Winter Masquerade - @Insert 

Yule - @Insert

Cryptid Hunting - @Nerdocalypse

Moonblade - @Insert

Outlaws - @Megladon

The Underground - @Megladon