Announcements & News

SUPER excited to see what comes next in terms of lore for these guys - the beastclans have always been one of my favorite things on this site and I'm glad to see them getting some love that they so much needed. Thank you, staff <3 keep being awesome!

love the scene [emoji=rainbow star 2 size=1]

kudos to staff for a wonderfully handled apology for an unfortunate situation, this clearly had a lot of thought and care put into it's execution

also the new harpies are adorable!

very appreciative of the fr staff acknowledging and admitting their mistakes and working to fix them <3 not to mention the new familiars/artwork is so cute

[quote name="Undel" date="2022-12-14 13:45:09" ] [quote name="Laluzi" date="2022-12-14 12:31:37" ] Am I the only person who's baffled that they finally addressed this serious issue in lore (which is good - overdue, but good)... and then went and stocked four new humanoid familiars in the treasure marketplace, which was a previously addressed issue to remove any implications of trafficking and slave labor? Because it's kinda whack to me that this happened specifically in an update meant to address sensitivity. [/quote] It was a way for us to make the familiars widely available through a means that is not the coliseum, an ancient dig site, or an alchemical brew. The marketplace is a game mechanic that allows items to be widely distributed. Some things in our game are mechanics to facilitate the play experience, and are independent of lore. In this same way the auction house and crossroads and message center are not indicative of trading a sapient being (such as your dragons) for currency, even though that is what the mechanic allows. If a player wants to create lore for this, they're welcome to, so long as it stays within our existing content guidelines. I do want to acknowledge your point that in the past we did avoid putting Beastclans in the Marketplace because of our outstanding lore that at that point had already been called out for having harmful real world implications. With today's update, we would like to let the Marketplace exist strictly as a mechanic for distribution and not an implication of an in-lore transaction. [/quote] Thank you for the response! I'm fine with gameplay-story segregation; Baldwin, the Coliseum, and especially the Auction House already fall pretty snugly in that category. I was just really confused on this one point because it seemed evident to me that there was a measure being taken there (versus with Baldwin, where there isn't really anything you can do but shrug; the way familiars work makes an item sink necessary), and this struck me as a weird time to forget about it. But the explanation makes plenty of sense, especially now that the albatross has been removed. I do think that's something that should probably be announced officially, because it's been a long-standing source of confusion and arguments. I really do think this was a good move, and the new familiars and scene are gorgeous (especially the potters) – so I would like to clarify my tone a bit. I'm very happy with the switch, and looking forward to what will be done with the other beastclans!

i'm very happy to see this change!! the beastclans lore never sat right with me, it's very nice and refreshing to see a change and a new approach moving forward and such a mature apology. :]

the lore on the harpy's new page was all so cute and well written, i love the type of worldbuilding it adds! and the art for the page + the new familiars are so super cute. i'm looking forward to the new scenes!

This rocks. As a white american who's generally clueless, I never realized the implications of the original lore and am ashamed of my ignorance- this change is very much for the better and I appreciate staff's willingness to communicate, apologize, own up to their mistakes and make things better.

I always thought sentient races being enemies of dragons no matter what was pretty boring anyway, even setting aside the colonialism parallels.

[b]If Beastclan lore is going to be changed, does this mean some lore or stories for dragon breeds will also be changed?[/b] Particularly with Pearlcatchers ([url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=21]"knows its species to be the pinnacle of dragonkind"[/url]), and Gaolers? There's been concerns over the behavior of the ice ancients in BOTE, particularly with [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=106]Cracks in the Ice[/url], which have been directly compared to the much-feared stereotype of violent, anger-prone, and prejudiced wardens/correctional officers due to Vidar's and Hertha's dialogue and behavior:[LIST] [*]Vidar threatening to throw (the lying) Wemba into cells with horrorbeasts and being frozen for eternity. Sure, he's a hot head and his threat could be a bluff but... [*]Hertha directly calls Wemba (shade-smelling ice-blessed Skydancer) an abomination and tries to freeze her alive, which ONLY fails because Wemba's a fellow ice dragon. [*]And from this [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/ann/2946934]Q&A post[/url], Sentinels and Overseers aren't changing the social structures of their orders. Probably unintended, [s]but based on how the question was asking about how non-ice Gaolers work[/s] [b]EDIT:[/b] Hiccup on my end. Exact quote: [quote][quote]In the lore, it says that Gaoler are expected to join an Order once they come of age, lest be seen as only a child. The problem is, 4/5 of these orders aren't able to leave the Fortress of Ends. How does this work for Gaoler outside of the Southern Icefield? Are they all seekers? Or is the culture different now that the Gaoler have begun to wander?[/quote] When the Icewarden sealed away the gaolers, the Orders basically calcified. The only gaolers not currently re-evaluating their social structure as it pertains to modern Sornieth are the Overseers and the Sentinels. Failure is not an option for these Orders as the consequences would be far-reaching. Whatever changes are made within their home territory will be built around providing continued support for the Overseers and Sentinels. [/quote] My bad. Not sure what the original poster meant by "Gaolers outside of the Southern Icefield" but I took it to mean any Gaoler born outside the region, which would logically make them non-ice, which lines up with another plot point in Cracks in the Ice because Solveig asks where Wemba was hatched. The response almost reads as Sentinels and Overseers deliberately excluding non-ice dragons or maybe possibly Gaolers BORN outside the icefield... especially when it has the already-prejudiced Hertha as the Overseer leader. Admittedly it doesn't entirely fit with Asmund (Sentinel leader) who's more chill, but it's not an impossible conclusion given the Gaoler backstory. [/LIST] Compound this issue with Frigid Fugitive Shackles, Hertha's and Vidar's dialogue leaves things a LOT worse to the imagination: [item=Frigid Fugitive Shackles] [b]Please note: I don't expect or want the prison association with ice flight to go away, or the story to change at all. I only want to know if things will stay or if stuff is going to get tweaked or not.[/b] Literally the biggest change to ice flight's lore I could ever want just a friendly Old Cop/Young Rookie Cop NPC combo with a Gaoler and Tundra in a shop or story somewhere -- both for the sake of some much-needed light-hearted goofiness and better representation for the flight, but also a reminder that ice flight's wardens are still there to protect dragons. Not... do anything that Vidar and Hertha can possibly dish out. I deeply apologize for bringing this up after an extensive moderation effort, but I was half-finished before the thread lock. Hopefully this post doesn't cause any accusations or heated debates towards me or other players. [s]also will we get scenes and expanded lore of dragon breeds and their flights/societies in encyclopedia? That would be niiiiiiiiiiice and I've love to see artwork of a Banescale warren or something[/s]

I'm excited for what'll come next!! The new harpy lore is so cool. And Beastclan NPCs! I hope the Beastclans will get more individual personality/agency after the retconning is done, though; I don't think it would make sense to exclude them from canon problems. But the origin stories never sat right with me, and I'm glad the real-world parallels have been removed!

While the apology isn't mine to accept, I'm glad y'all acnowledged the problem in a mature way, and didn't just dig your heels in. Thank you for being thoughtful and respectful!

New lore new lore new lore! Wooo!!