Search Requests

[lifeaftr_mods]

Search Requests

And no one knows how far it goes

As a central element to the game, Search Requests may seem very daunting at first. Never fear! Below is a table of contents for this page that may help answer your questions, giving you the confidence to venture forth into the great unknown.

[ ♆ ] What Are Search Requests?
[ ♆ ] What Impacts a Search Request?
[ ♆ ] How Many Search Requests Can I Make?
[ ♆ ] Why are Searches Limited?
[ ♆ ] Islands Available
[ ♆ ] Search Request Form

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What Are Search Requests?

The contents of many islands that make up the archipelago of LifeAftr require player exploration and participation to uncover and chart, as everything from the potential dangers, obstructions, and resources are randomized. Alongside adding weight to the potential dangers characters may face, it also gives you the potential to influence the game as much as possible.

Upon arrival to a new island, a blank map of the island's general shape will be provided with a grid, parsing the island into square sections for the purposes of exploration. Each of these squares are a base size of one mile by one mile in terms of width and breadth, unless otherwise noted. Each square is also labeled for player convenience. Characters who have access to boats or another means of traversing the ocean waters can perform search requests on surrounding waters.

Search Requests are intended to be used as a prompt for IC interactions. While not all search results will hold something of particular interest, such as finding new seeds or fruit, but in circumstances where enemies or information has been located, we encourage ICly threading out these results, or using them to foster new CR.

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What Impacts a Search Request?
As of July 2018, there are new factors to take into account when submitting a Search Request:

[ ♆ ] GROUP SIZE limits the timeframe in which a search request can be completed. While a single mile may not seem so far to walk, thoroughly investigating a square mile is a different matter altogether. Depending on the size of a group, characters may choose to push on into an additional square at the cost of spending the night in the wilderness, potentially exposing themselves to other dangers - or in groups of four or more, split the group to cover the additional ground. Search Requests are currently limited to two squares maximum at a time, regardless of group size.

[ ♆ ] DIFFICULT TERRAIN such as mountainous regions, thickly wooded areas, or those under the sway of severe weather conditions may severely hamper a group in covering new ground. Due to this, search requests may be limited on occasion to one square per search, regardless of the group size. This restriction will be announced when relevant.

[ ♆ ] POTENTIAL RISKS can and will hinder characters set on searching more than one square. If searching an area thoroughly, it is assumed that your character is both taking their time, and covering as much of the ground in that square as possible. Obstructions, predators and catastrophes should be predominantly unavoidable due to this.

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How Many Search Requests Can I Make?
Each character is limited to submitting one search per week, of up to two squares. When searching in a group of three people or fewer, a second square may only be searched if characters intend to spend the night camping out, which puts them at risk for additional dangers.

Beyond submitting a search, characters may also band together with others for an additional two search requests, but these requests must be submitted by another character.

Additionally, Search Requests may only be forward-dated up to two days ahead of the current date. As LifeAftr may sometimes see events suddenly beginning, forward-dating is limited to avoid the need to retcon.

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Why are Searches Limited?
The introduction of limitations to the number of search requests characters can conduct is to ensure moderation of the game's pacing, in addition to ensuring all players have a chance to affect the plot, regardless of their tagging speed or RL obligations. Previously, search requests have been unlimited due to an agreeably slow pacing as LifeAftr established itself. The beginning of July saw the game expanding and going through a new teething stage that required a few new aspects to our search requests system, in addition to discarding mechanics that simply weren't being used.

In some circumstances, such as when an island is due to disappear - potentially for good! - we may lift these restrictions to allow those who'd like to further explore islands to go wild.

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Maps Available:
The current islands, their descriptions, and how much area has already been unveiled can be found on the Locations Page. A key describing the area, resources, and dangers can also be found.

The following island(s) are currently available for exploration:

ENSŌ
NASTRANDIR
The following island(s) are not currently available, but have individual locations pages for player perusal:

AI'TUOH
CAHYPDO
CHOL
IO
MAATI
MONSUN
NUIDAN
UMUI
ZIZIPHUS

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Search Request Form
To submit a search request, please post the below form in a new comment. Before submitting your request, keep in mind that map updates may lag depending on mod work schedules. Checking the last few posted searches may avoid doubling up accidentally.

<b>Player name:</b> <b>Character name:</b> <b>Character journal:</b> <user name="NAME"> <b>Character(s) accompanying:</b> <b>Area searched:</b> Please specify the island and square number <b>Date of search:</b> The day or days upon which the search took place - if you intend to search two squares with three or less characters, keep in mind that this search will require your characters to camp overnight. <b>Additional notes:</b> Any specific notes regarding how your character searched, what they might have been looking for, or any events of note that occurred during said search go here.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL, COMISSIONED ART BY RUKA )

Comments

[solperierat]

Player name: Casey
Character name: Edward Elric
Character journal: solperierat
Character(s) accompanying: Faust, GInko
Area searched: Monsun
Date of search: January 11
Additional notes: Edward is keeping an eye out for building resources, and Faust and Ginko are looking for medicinal herbs.

[lifeaftr_mods]

We're going to need a region of Monsun you intend to search before we can respond to this!

[solperierat]

...I could have sworn I put down D2, whoops. Also please add Lydia to the list of searchers!

MONSUN - D2 | ѱ PREY

[lifeaftr_mods]

The Search Begins...
Monsun's warped landscape is unmistakable, even to those who have never traveled this land. The trees twist on themselves in bizarre and non-Euclidean shapes. At several points, the woodland has been sheared away by overlaid swirls of meadowland that wouldn't look out of place on Ziziphus. It is as though this foreign landscape has simply been...draped atop Monsun, with no regard for rhyme or reason.

The discord has also done a good deal more than make the landscape a little strange to look at. It has also, for lake of a better term, torn holes in its cosmic cloth. Dark blots of something shadowy and cold to the touch irregularly permeate the landscape, like ink stains on a page. They don't seem to...do anything to anyone who touches them, though they're unbelievably and bone-searingly cold. It's possible that simply up and standing in one of them for an hour might leave you with a very intense case of hypothermia.

Stay on guard, and stay alert. Your worst traits will start to surface the longer you stay here - gradually at first, and then with increasing rapidity. Be careful about going at each other's throats.

♆ D2 has been unlocked on the map of the area! ♆

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Can't Change Your Stripes
The trees might be able to be harvested for lumber, if you don't mind braving the eclectic landscape. Unfortunately, no medicinal plants seem to reside in the vicinity. Most of the undergrowth is comprised of thick, twining brambles and scattered hillocks of grass that look as though they were cribbed directly from Ziziphus. And that's not the only remnant from that long-gone island in the area, either.

Those of you who have seen them about Ensō will recognize the animals that frequent this region as tigerlilies. It seems that those that did not relocate to Ensō came here instead, and have made their home on Monsun. The woodland would suit them, if it wasn't so peppered with blatant irregularities.

Tigerlilies have no immediate benefits in terms of resources, though they can be tamed, with effort. Just take care. They're prone to spraying a heavy, soporific pollen on those that they perceive as a threat, and you probably don't want to be trapped on this side of Monsun any longer than is strictly necessary.