I have to say this is one of the rare times I feel ambivalent towards an update! Most of the time I'm completely on board with changes and additions to the game, but in this case... (Also please note, this is my take on the update - I haven't been reading the replies to this thread other than those made by staff themselves so I'm a bit unaware of what the rest of everyone else is saying!)
Well, for one. This is an
excellent step in the right direction, and I'm very happy to see Flight Rising's staff listen to the playerbase and address these concerns. I think over the years I've been here (I've been an active player since the launch month), I've just continued to see the FR team get better and better at communication and listening to player feedback, and this is one of those times where I'm very happy to see the change and growth here.
Reading through the lore, regarding this point: "Male fledglings are a rare and treasured birth. Due to their scarcity, these harpies do not usually leave the protection of the flock in order to ensure the continuation of harpykind.
While they rarely join individual family units, who they choose to mate with is solely their decision and that decision is respected." (Bolding the line I want to point out, for emphasis.) I have to say I'm really happy this particular piece of information was added to the lore. For quite some time I'd found the male harpy lore a little... concerning? I won't fully get into why since this is a PG-13 site obviously, but let's just say the implications it gave off before when it was
so vague about the male harpies was... not good. So this makes me
very happy this was included, just relieve any concerns of consent in their choice of partners! So thank you so much for thinking to add this into their new lore.
I am also really, absolutely loving that we get more information about their culture and lives. As someone who's very invested in the lore of Sornieth, I've been curious about how many of the Beastclans function for quite some time, so I'm thrilled we're getting so much delicious bits of information and culture with these updates! This will be fantastic for working into my own lore in the future. It's also really neat to see how Talona's position has changed from being basically the leader of the faction of Beastclan in direct opposition to dragonkind, vs. is now more-so the authoritative leadership ("Grand Roc") over the harpies, specifically.
Speaking of, I'm pretty sure there's a Tomo Trivia question that asks about Talon specifically; if this hasn't been changed or removed, might be a good idea to jot that one down on the list of "things needing to be changed"? I apologize if this has already gotten mentioned; again I personally haven't read through 40+ pages of replies, aha!
My overall take on this is very positive and I'm glad to see these changes. However... part of the reason I mentioned ambivalence is mostly just because, as someone who works the lore heavily into my own (and I actually do have quite a bit of lore for my dragons and clan, I just haven't shared it on-site for the most part because I am a slow writer and a busy person), this retcon is going to cause me some issues, and I'm going to actually have to sit down and rewrite some chunks of my own personal lore and narrative. Obviously this is just a "me issue," but... it's... admittedly... a
little stressful to do when I'm... already an incredibly slow person, and this just makes it... more difficult for me to share my content, aha.
I really don't have any
official complaints about this update. I'm just personally stressed out now with needing to factor this into my lore. I think I'll have to wait until the Beastclan's revised lore is fully out before I can really see how this will work with what I have and what needs to be changed from a bird's eye viewpoint / perspective (pun intended) of the overall picture / direction the staff are going with it. In conclusion: I love the update! I just don't love having more work to do in the background because of the retcon, and that's just a me issue since I've been... invested in the lore since 2013, and this will take a lot of time getting used to. (This is also a case of "autistic person doesn't do well with completely unexpected routine changes" thing going on. I think I just need some time to process this, but this makes me feel overwhelmed and just a bit distressed aha.)
This last section though of the new harpy update:
"While the alliance in the Zephyr Steppes has been regarded as strong and mutually beneficial, there have been reports of harpy wings who patrol outside their cities being harried by
enormous, winged shapes in the night. Thus far neither the harpies nor the allied dragons of the Zephyr Steppes have been able to identify a culprit."
Staff already clarified - these aren't Ancients! And if they're not Ancients, then what could they possibly be? I wonder if this is the new threat the obelisks were created to protect us from - The Returned? I have to say this little juicy bit of lore is so incredibly exciting! Thanks for leaving us something to have some hype over too, staff. The ongoing mystery of "What Is Going On" is really, really fascinating to me, and I love very little teeny tidbit we get of it!
Anyways, cheers everyone. I hope y'all are having a lovely day and thank you for the much needed update, staff! Stay safe everyone!
atlas ! fr+0
