So here's the deal with The King's Office:

Anyone may post a suggestion for a new law, whether it be old or new. Some will be previously established at the mod's discretion, but your opinions are highly valued in regard to these.

Some laws may be repealed upon a majority vote of Parliament and approval of the King. The same goes for approving a law.

Once a law has been suggested (and only one law per post please) it will be open to discussion for one week. Once the week is up the opinions will be weighed and the dice will be cast. A master list of laws will be kept, whether they be approved, discarded, or later repealed.

A repeal can be called for at any time in a new post (such as Request to Repeal Law #48, and then stating the reasons for the request). The repel will be voted on just like a regular law with a one week grace period.

If this system doesn't work we will tweak it until it does.

The laws can be anything from the heavily serious (restricting movement of dangerous creatures), to the completely ridiculous (the call to have all children be silent all day on Tuesday). This part of the game is something of a fun experiment.

( How it Works )

When we moved I decided to make the King's Office a part of the regular community (as opposed to having its own), however that wasn't particularly addressed at the time because we had no laws on the table. From this point forward laws will be proposed in the main community, voted on, and passed or failed after one week. They'll be labeled with the tag !laws. All laws that have been proposed (regardless of passage or failure) will be added to this master list.

As a refresher: the mechanics of proposing laws, including format and method.

Lycan Law*: Proposed by Mary Anne Browning - Passed Revised, see below
Shifter Law*: Proposed by Ariman Shulz - Passed
Drunken Revelry Prohibition*: Proposed by Gideon Morrow - Denied
Public School Law*: Proposed by Thongchai Saenamuang - Passed into law with some provisions
Alteration of Lycan Law: Proposed by Thongchai Saenamuang - Passed


*links lead to offsite archives

The prophets knew that most mages had four major phases of magic. The first began at age seven; most children were born with every magical ability they would ever be able to tap, few could gain more. At age seven the average mage could decipher their direction and begin to explore the magic they would like to practice. From that age on to age thirteen the exploration was in full sway. At age thirteen, the end of puberty, most mages attained a burst of power, a strengthening that they could then begin to master until the age of nineteen. At nineteen a mage was considered at their full strength, though they might still learn of other abilities they had not tapped into, it was a rare mage who would ever gain more strength after coming of age.

The last two stages were longer and not as clearly defined as the first two. From nineteen until a certain age, which was different for each mage, their grasp on their magical abilities would plateau. Then from the certain age until the time of their death their magic began a slow decline. Some mages never experienced the final stage of magic and few would argue that it was an unlucky thing. To lose your magic was to lose an integral part of yourself.

The NPCs listed here are not typically used for play. These were mentioned in passing during the course of the game, or figured into back plot in some way (with the exception of Juno, and Gwen Morrow).

NPCs used for play are contained within graveshallnpc

( NPCs from A-Z )

This is only a listing of NPCs that were playable characters in the original Graves Hall game. This is mostly just a way to track significant changes for them moving into Beyond.

( NPCs from A-Z )

The same sort of thing as the NPC listing except for familiars. If there's no specific pb it's no big thing. So comment below if there's any info you'd like to add.

If you'd like a picture to go with your familiar please make one and send me a link.

( Familiars A-Z )

Some of these are repeats from Graves, if only because the characters are still around.

( Familiars A-Z )

First crappy map. It's about the best I can manage with photoshop (because I have no skillz), but at least you have a decent idea of where things are and it's not a complete and utter eyesore.

( It's big )

New map ( under the cut... )

It's biggish. All credit goes to Sass who worked on this tirelessly and drew it by hand.

Sass finished the new map in record time. She is also working on district specific maps (smaller areas with more detail), which will take more time, but will be added eventually.

( New map )

The elementals in the area define the weather. This is why Marik is cold when everything around it is warmer. The elementals there make it snow on the mountains and have colder temperatures throughout the year. This is also why Kakusareta Island and Isla Partei are tropical climates, even though they are in the north.

As a result of the new map I've updated the places post.

( New Meridian Up Close )

Again, all credit goes to Sass for drawing a great map.

The first king was Kenichi Abe, a Daemon who was instrumental in protecting Meridian before it was claimed by the prophets as the seat of the king (which was Hamlin's great idea to end the constant struggle for control of the city). He was crowned October 1st, 300 years ago (from 2007, the start of the game).

Our most recent king was Thongchai Saenamuang, crowned October 1st in the Year of Burning Mountain (2007). He disappeared in the mass disappearance incident in January of the Year of Determined Exploration (2009).

There was an interim, unnamed NPC king until October 1st 2009 when Jackson Willis was seated to replace him. Willis is an NPC that any player can use to effect change and move plot forward within the game.

The king's basic duties are to maintain the integrity of Parliament, to protect the people, and to ensure that the seat of power remains under his or her control.

Faeries in Aylasia came from "Faerie" to settle at one point. They lost touch with their ancestors and developed in different ways. Over time they lost some abilities, changed some abilities, added some new ones, retained old ones. You get the picture. Both types of faerie magic will be listed here.

Of note: Faerie has been spelled fairly consistently, but we each have our own variations of the shortened form: fey or fae. Either is fine and could be excused by region, or family tradition.

Something else important to note: while Faeries outside of Aylasia have the seelie and unseelie courts, those lines have long since blurred in Aylasia and there is no distinction or court in existence.

( From the realm of Aylasia )

( From the realm of Faerie )

( Welcome to Vegas )

This location is only usable in Beyond the Graves.

The Omnibus Club is located in New Meridian, somewhere between Parliament and Silk Road. It is a tall building, several stories in fact.

Each of the floors has a specific theme that caters to a certain crowd. These floors are often being altered to suit the needs of the ever-changing club going crowds.

For Ohana and Oharu's party some of the floors that will be available (since they've rented the whole club):
- A roller-discotheque
- A bubble club (the kind where they pour bubbles on the dance floor)
- A classy restaurant (probably on the top floor)
- A rock club (with a variety of bands playing, probably Ohana's favorites)
- A lounge (which is decidedly for Oharu, laid back with jazzy music tinkling in the background)
- A dance club

For lack of a better description, it’s Ibiza, Mardi Gras, Spring Break and Cancun at sundown ALL ROLLED INTO ONE.

Isla Partei is located way way north of New Meridian, and is a tropical island in the ocean.

( Come to the Island of Party )

It has been addressed absentmindedly before now, the subject of technology and how some things have developed on a parallel with our world and how some things have not (as in cars and roller disco). For all technical purposes Aylasian time runs parallel to our own.

The development of technology in Aylasia has been spotty because most things can be accomplished with magic, without the need for modern technology. Here's what I was thinking and please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments:

( Random Bits of Technology )

This is something I've discussed with a few players off the record. I figured anyone could weigh in if they wanted.

( It is possible for magic to be renounced or bound. )

Things got a little kooky with our families when we started making Beyond. So we made some family trees. They're twisted.

( Graves Kids )

( Elliot the Whore )

( The Branches are twisting together )

-Siblings are color coded (each color is one family of siblings; makes it a little easier to tell what your looking at). A sibling that is half colored is only half sibling (Enki of course is an adopted sibling).
-The blue line above Enki means he was adopted.
-The dashed, pink line means a love-affair that ended.
-The dotted blue line means that they weren't in a relationship, but they decided to have a kid together.

This is a seriously complicated family tree. Almost everyone else has their own, separate and easy to understand tree (re: except Elliot).

( Safe Dating )

I've been working on this new overarching plot idea for a bit now, sort of letting it stew in my brain. It's been 300 years in the making actually. And it works into both Graves and Beyond.

It explains why some of the weirder stuff has been happening.

( Essentially put: )


So. What does this all mean for the game?

Your characters could quite possibly develop a new, peculiar type of magic. Among other possibilities: this extra magic is affecting how things work, making things that were improbable more possible. It's not only affecting mages but magic itself. There are a multitude of ways this could be played out.

It's not necessarily all inclusive, but if you have a character who needs something interesting to happen to them this might be the plot to jump on. It's up to you how you want to play it, however it won't be explainable. While your characters will know something weird is happening they won't know why or how. So if you want, hop on the crazy train.

( The B.P. )

This plot has mostly played out, though it's still possible to have a character who suffers from some effects of the B.P. (if they caught it before Elliot disappeared).

This applies more specifically to Beyond the Graves since Cam and Kat are definitely unstuck in time.

( Time Travel is Risky Business )

This is definitely player knowledge and NOT character knowledge.

Because of the surplus of magic AND the fertility spell cast on Isadore, ALL mages can have children at a younger age.

The phenomenon will start cropping up more and more as the young mothers start seeking prenatal care and eventually it'll get press coverage.

My thinking is that the fertility spell (cast by the mystery NPC) broke the universal law about fertility which became compounded by the surplus of magic around New Meridian. The result is that the one, very pointed spell expanded and altered the world so that now mages can have children younger (the cusp I would say is 18-19). I don't know what other ramifications this might have yet (considering that mages will be giving birth before their magical gifts are fully realized and before they've had a real chance to discover them). I can already see Salem Academy building a daycare wing to help their young parents get through school.

( The Compendium of Aylasian Holidays )

This is what we have so far for Aylasian Holidays. This list could be added to with player input.

We've been handling sex and pregnancy on a case by case basis in the game so far. So let's open up the discussion further. This is what I (and some of you who've spoken with me) have been thinking:

( Magical Prophylactics )

We all know about the Graves Hall Society and it's members. But we haven't much discussed other societies that function within the larger culture.

( Social and Magical Societies )