We've launched the announced Talent and Lore Update! All characters are granted one free RP talent and race change. Update Log.
Updates to Talents and Monsters: Read the specifics in the Update Log
08/01/'21
Gaia Reborn
Gaia Reborn, the hottest MMORPG of the last decade, has seen millions of players experience its unique world - a combination of fantasy and reality. When Gaia Reborn was a game, one goal was to make the game world a one-half scale model of the real world. This pursuit was known as the Half-Gaia Project, and it is one of the aspects which led to Gaia Reborn becoming such a popular virtual world. With regional servers having unique areas, quests, cities, and monsters, it wasn't uncommon for people to create alternate characters on other servers to experience what felt like an entirely new game.
Ten years after the game's launch, millions of players have joined and created countless characters across the many servers. Now, with the release of the latest expansion, Pioneers of Arcadia, many are getting ready to begin new adventures in the new Italian server, exploring the new region corresponding to Italy, known in Gaia as Italia. Characters would have to start from fresh in this new world, but Italy would finally get its own piece of this world.
Countless players created their characters, logged in with excitement fueling their hands as the cursor swept across the screen, and then... darkness... Everything was black, and as their eyes opened, the players found themselves in the streets of an unfamiliar city. Looking around to survey their surroundings, many players realized this city was not so new after all. While desolate and ruined, the architecture conquered by vines and greenery, this city was unmistakably Rome, but at the same time, it was not. Finding themselves in the bodies of their characters, trapped in the world of Gaia Reborn, players are left to adapt to their new reality in this fantasy world.
"Aaaaah" a sad cry pierced the air in the common room of the tavern, eminating from a small, fragile looking boy.
"Please Belladonna, I implore of thee, this porrigde will not do! I need something with actual flavour to gain any fullfillment of nourisment!" the long haired blonde cried out at the serving lady; who's braided, auburn hair was slung over her left shoulder and a tray of empty cups in her left hand.
"Please, I beg of you, some sweet or spice, maybe a grape or two? Isn't there anything you can do for me? Maybe just a pinch of salt?" the boy continued his begging, "the porridge, it is too bland! I have lived of this gruel for two weeks! Two weeks! My tastebuds have gone as bland as the meals!"
"Oh, my poor Izark," the lady said with an evil grin, eyes that would turn world bosses into obedient lapdogs waiting for a pet, as she pinched his cheek, "you know we could... but that would mean that you'd actually have to do something more than just help out with our books." she continued as her smile widened.
"You could do the dishes once every day? Or perhaps run a broom through the tavern after we close?" her honeyed words flowed out of her mouth as a warm spring breeze, only to be turned into an icy blizzard once one gazed upon her deep, brown eyes.
With a deep sigh Izark resigned to his fate, clotted as thick as the porridge he was doomed to eat, each day, every meal. "You win this round Belladonna, maybe one day you will find me willing or rather: desperate enough to do such tasks. But not this day, this day I will face my demons once again..." Izark mumbled as his cheek was still being pinched, picking up his spoon and sticking it straight in the center of his bowl of porrigde.
Having conceded his fate and surrendering to her feminine charms the serving lady let Izark's cheek go with a softer and gentler smile, turning the cheek red as the blood rushed back into the veins. They had done this dance quite often. Izark would complain, she would offer him chores to do in exchange for some extra's in his meals. He would refuse and she would make it very clear that he was to behave and not throw a tantrum. Once the dance was done he would silently eat his porridge and let his head rest on the table in defeat, always facing away from the bowl but never leaving it filled with even the slightest scrap.
The deal the owner and Izark had struck was very clear: Izark got a room to stay and simple food to sustain himself in exchange for helping out with the books of the tavern. It would have been a win win for both parties... except that Izark always wanted to eat and taste more than he had bargained for.
The fact that he was quite lazy for an adventurer didn't help his cause. Others would come, eat, drink, sleep and go out. Izark got out of bed, had his dreaded porridge, went over the books and took care of the plants in the tavern. Sometimes he borrowed a book or went for a walk, but that was the extent of his adventurers' life. Maybe someday he feel the itch of an adventure, but it seemed that once again, this was not the day. Perhaps tomorrow, as a new day offered new chances to all.
Just where in Romalia was she? A tired but lanky-looking adventure in monk attire searched with a wistful expression on their face. She was a pale but tall monk with a rack of antlers adding more to her height with pixie cut styled green hair and deer ears were at the base of her antler trees with a striking pair of polished ruby eyes undisturbed by their tired looks. Alma knew the city was vast and that all roads lead to this place but it was honestly a map of corridors. The things you do to try and get a better idea about the place and the side roads were just a bad choice. In her mental map out of Romalia to backtrack the areas did Alma come to understand the main hub areas. In a way was this a bit of why this world proved to be more of a hassle. In normal sort of rpg game were the areas designed in mind of the players. You had your usual areas of main and heavy commerce with easy to find and recognize locations on top of basic signs that lead to the exit for the field area. Whoever wanted to make this into a game world honestly appreciated the more classic types that didn't come with a guide or a simple layout. The immersion was the goal and that was the key to it. Here though, in this world called Gaia Reborn, Alma continued to find that as part of the many aspects to tackle. An old-style brought to life with a map scale of what used to be present-day Rome.
"I should honestly change my profession at the rate this is all going. Okay. I remember the main road is north of here and another branching one west. So if I go in either of those directions should I be able to run into it eventually." The woman reasoned with a look around the overgrown buildings. A few of them were covered in moss as well but not so bad as the far outskirts. This place had a few places where it looks like people lived in them. A couple of sniffs of the air told her that a few meals were in the process of finishing cooking. A tavern of some kind must not be far from here.
Following her nose to the to building in particular, the deer Faunri entered with a skittish peek from the doorway first before fully crossing the threshold for a seat at the table. Someone else looked to have found this place as well based on the quick glance at the styled nameplate. "Hello? Is this place open? If not I could just come back here later," Alma called out in concern if either case was the issue here.
Izark was devouring his porridge with great displease as a deer-like creature peeked around the corner.
"Yes, the place is open, welcome. I would recommend you steer clear of the porridge. It is rather bland and thick enough to build a castle with." Izark said with a sullen grin, "Belladonna, the mistress, is currently at the back, can I help you with anything?"
Izark smiled a bit more contently as he rose to his feet, relieved he could postpone his culinary torture and stave of the blandness dread that washed over this tastebuds with every bite he took. "If you have the coin there is some pretty decent food and drink available once Bella comes back. If you're looking for work, there might be some chores to be done but you should ask Bella about that." Izark said whilst scratching the back of his head. He'd rather hope the deer wouldn't come applying for a job, fearing he might be kicked out as a less demanding employee would have arrived to take over his current gig.
"I'm Izark, by the way, the residential bookkeeper and somewhat unwilling victim to bland porridge. 't is a tragic tale and quite a boring one, I'll spare you on that account. How may I be of service?" he asked, bowing gently towards the deer.
A fellow dining patron approached her from another table to answer the fountain of questions. Alma wasn't expecting for them to be addressing her as her ruby eyes locked onto them. He wasn’t that bad looking yet his being here kept wanting for more. If this local were popular then more people should have ambled in yet it was only him and a woman names Belladona in the backrooms. Based on the use of this woman’s name, Belladona ran the place.The man’s nameplate read Izark Gloomstep overhead as the same with hears bearing Alma.
“Just a small bite will be good. I’ve mostly done chores and jobs in city for that.” Alma replied. Stepping out of the city by herself by a gradual process. Eventually she’ll have to once Romalia had worn out its last threads. Humored for once by the man’s introduction, Alma grinned for his company.
“Wasn’t aware that bookkeeping was a profession,” she unconsciously commented with praise. Jobs like that can be taken up? Alma had thought players were what they were, job classes and crafters with merchant on the side, but this was news to her. Her eyes kept an honest clarity in them meaning she wasn’t ridiculing the man despite the tone.
“I am Alma, nice to meet you.” Her head tilted in a light nod. “What would you recommend past the porridge? I’m still getting familiarized with all the names of these dishes.”
"Very pleased to make your acquaintance Alma." Izark spoke, adding a gentle smile and light bow to his repertoire. "I pride myself in knowing quite a few recipes and dishes, though I have yet to discover which work in this new world, and as to add misery to misfortune: I suffer from the curse of Prometheus. I desire tasty dining, yet my cooking skills are sub-zero to say the least. I could hardly boil an egg, so to speak."
Taking a cup from behind the counter and filling it with water Izark continued to rummage, softly mumbling to himself for a small bit. "I do digress, please forgive my lack of manners. If you desire a small bite, might I recommend some bread with garlic butter? It is quite sustaining yet light on the stomach."
Tapping his chin with his index finger Izark continued:”If you are looking for something bigger, perhaps a thick soup or roast with sage, rosemary, some honey and a side dish of either lentils or pasta? It is a main course, usually eaten at dinner time, but one should never pass up a chance for good food if you have the time.”
"Per your inquiry: My subclass is merchant, therefor I keep track of the buying and selling of products as well as their pricing and so on. It is a rather boring and tedious job, but it keeps me fed and a roof over my head. Belladonna does want me to go out there, but I find it rather frightening with all those monsters and what not out there. I always imagine them thinking of us in the same way we think of certain plants and livestock: a nice snack for the night." Izark said with a slightly forced grin as a small shiver went down his spine at the thought.
In his mind he saw himself hanging above a fire as you would see in some movies. The monsters would cover him in honey, adding herbs to him as they kept turning him above the fire. The thought did not please him much to any extent.
Her eyes followed his curious bow which made her think he was some gentleman of some kind. That or just playing the part anyway. He continued to be a rather curious individual when explaining his passions and something about Prometheus. In layman's terms of what's going on; he can't cook. Speaking of cooking got her wondering the same thing. She never tried her hand at it before here. Mostly because she didn't have access to a kitchen and kinda slept on the floor near a campfire or something. Is cooking that much of an issue? "What do you mean? Anyone can boil an egg. Or at least make a scrambled one from a sunny side up." There's just no way for someone to not know how to cook basic things. Hell. Just some light oil, bread, and a skillet can make a nice grilled toast! Alma shook her horned head in disbelief.
"Bread and garlic butter does sound good." Good? More like mouthwateringly good! Alma could feel the corners of her mouth tighten up to keep from drooling. The man named Izark, or so his nametag read as a helpful reminder, wasn't helping at all with the other suggestions mentioned. What manner of aura she had before when Izark first saw her walk-in must have changed to an impression of someone looking dehydrated for a glass of water. He may not be a chef but he sure knows how to arrange a good sounding meal.
"Must be nice to work for someone like Miss Belladonna thanks to your subclass. I kinda wish I picked Courier or something so I could do some work like that." Be a real job in a long time for once than errands. The deer woman laughed weakly and rubbed her hands nervously at the mention of the monsters outside the city walls. "You think so?" She asked before muttering much more quietly to herself. "Maybe I should do more training..." Selfconsciously aware that as a combat class would she need to make ends meet better by going out of town and fighting monsters and the like. Using runes and a scribe had such a long cooldown to do that she'll have to charge higher prices to make them happen. In a competitive market among other players who would want for that kind of imbuing service would drive the prices lower. There are many other players here to try challenging a market like that.
"But... won't it be safer to go outside of the walls traveling in a party?" Logically that would be the case. In a party and safety in numbers. Basic herd mentality and all that which would be a great thing to do if there were more active recruitments going on. "Although monsters are scary to handle. Having a book keeping job must pay well."
Looking at the deer-folk and listening to what she said Izark remained silent for a while, contemplating his response.
"I regret to inform you that though I can cook a basic meal, I fear I have been quite unclear in my explanation, my apologies. I intended to convey the difference when cooking for oneself and cooking for someone other than yourself. Perhaps it would be best described as a way of love." Izark said, thinking on his next words for a bit, slowly scratching the back of his head as he went.
"If you were to cook a meal for someone else, you pay more attention to the meal, the flavours, the details, the looks, and effort in general, if I might be so bold to presume. Whereas when you cook a meal for yourself it does not matter if it is pleasing or not. You are only working for yourself and not for another. At least, that is what I think is the key to both love and cooking: putting in the effort for someone other than yourself... If that makes any sense." Izark said, his cheeks becoming a bit red as he went, his eyes darting from Alma to the ceiling.
"Yes, there are some perks to being a merchant though not many that do not involve money." Izark said, slightly joking and trying to change the subject a bit. "I'll bring you some bread and garlic butter, can I bring you something else?"
"Being a courier sounds nice but too dangerous for my poor old self, I don't like combat that much, and I prefer the company of folks over the lonesome road. Being in a party would help out very well, truth be told. I should venture out sometime soon; Belladonna has been nagging about it for a while now. Would you by any chance be interested to venture out together?" Izark asked, cheeks blushing, as he placed a plate with warm bread, greenish butter, and a small knife on the counter. The greenish stuff unmistakeably smelled like garlic, with a hint of other garden herbs.
"Being a bookkeeper in a tavern does not pay that well as you might think, I do the books and chores, I get to keep a roof over my head and food. The more I do in the tavern, the better the food I get, it appears in hindsight I might have made a bad deal." he continued chuckling as he remarked his situation.
"Oh... oh! That's what you meant." The connections made across as her ears slacked apologetically to not have understood sooner. "Hmm, I guess that makes sense. I thought there was an issue with cooking in general. Not to say I've tried cooking yet around here." This came to mind as she browsed her menus for the cooking option. A tiny directory in crafting that was about are minuscule as anything. Basic recipes anyone could do with the notable exception where her scribe skills had more extended options where, sadly, each and every single process required materials to be made. Someday that will need to be remedied and that would mean one of two things; make money or venture beyond the walls.
"Venturing with another would be welcoming." A smile formed naturally to the thought. "I seldom hear anyone mention the suggestion to form parties and the like. Or, just any at all." A plate of warm bread and a greenish butter was presented to her. A look at it and scent made her stomach churn. A hint of garlic and herbs was powerful to her nose for a mild burning sensation but it was a welcoming smell more than anything. If she could take these very herbs and shove them in the corners of her storage space then it would certainly improve the scent of stale earth and stone. Alma's hands took straight away for the knife and spreading the butter thickly. After the first bite, it tasted heavenly enough that she'd make sure to spread more butter on the inner portions bitten away. Not the healthiest way to have it but Alma was making an effort to use every scrap of butter available.
"Mmm~ I could live off of this stuff if I could work here." Alma licked her lips of crumbs and took to another buttery bite. "Lately all I do is manual labor chores for money to stay a night somewhere or for simple things. I hope to someday earn enough for my own place." However long of a serves basic chores and change could save up. At this moment her eyes were much more fixated on coating the bread between each take.
Smiling Izark looked on as Alma started savouring her meal. "I can see you are a lady of fine taste, I appreciate that very much." he responded, starting to clean things an appropriate distance away from Alma.
"So we are somewhat in the same ship, as they say. Not dying, but not improving the cards we have been dealt either?" Izark asked, rather straight to the point. "I sometimes hear people talk of going out together, but I never know how those things end up. Most of the time half of them have been rather deep into their cups." he continued, grinning as he thought back to drunken Landers and adventurers alike, drinking in the finer hours of the evening.
"I hope you can forgive my bad manners, one should avoid to talk business during dinner, but: what would you like to do when we venture into the big, bad, unknown world outside? I heard there is a forest nearby? Or perhaps a stroll through the town, looking for work?" Izark asked of the deer-lady. Silently he enjoyed the joy, or gluttony, with which she ate her meal. He was relieved he was not the only one out here with a discerning taste for good food, no matter how simple the recipe.
Her eyes turned toward's his voice and the bread she was helping into lowered to the table. Hands rested there folded one on top of the other as the delight of the bread and butter lost a bit of their magic to it. She never precisely died yet in this world before but maybe she had reached the point of starvation and dehydration at some point. If that was even possible to die from that. Going out to with someone, due to the context of the earlier conversation, had Alma think that meant trying to die together with someone. How would have that turned out? She tried to take another bite and chewed it over. The bread still bread and the buttery spread still a wonderful as it did. The woman's thoughts weighed in on this. These cards were dealt but the rules or what game this was wasn't explained. Or rather that she thought these were a game but found confusion through inconsistencies.
Their eyes soon met and it took a bit to register what Izark was suggesting. Was he asking her to travel around or was he only putting forward a scenario of if that were to happen. Uncertain of either, she fiddled with the partly eaten and butter coated bread while rubbing their inner palm. "Ah. Um, what I'd like to do?" Alma wasn't clear on what and how any of this sounded like a business. Did he mean like doing a quest errand?
"I'd...would like the find materials to make a map or a journal. Although I've never been good at keeping up with said journals for very long. You make it sound as though we'd come across a cottage or some woodcutter out there who needs a small errand done as a tutorial quest. Yet, I...suppose I should be getting used to the existence of beasts and monsters." Her voice trailing off in unease of having to perform all this as a bare-fisted monk. As if in the likelihood any such person would be around at all in this world. The stroll through the city didn't sound like a bad idea either and safer. Selfconsciously did she ask herself if that was too weird to do right after.
"Searching around town for work is something I've done on my own. I think a few other people have been doing that too in various group sizes. Not sure how successful they have been but it would be worth a try."
Welcome to the help dialog for the Custom Mini-Profile Creator plugin!
Click on any of the tabs above to go through the plugin configuration process!
You can access this menu at any time by clicking on the icon in the bottom right bar (may not be applicable if you're on Forums.net), or you can disable the welcome window and/or the icon by going to Plugins > Manage > Custom Mini-Profile Creator and changing the Show Help option.
This step is essential as it gives the plugin everything it needs on the page to get as much profile information as possible.
To make the profile variables work you'll need to add a new line to the very end of Themes > Layout Templates > Mini-Profile and paste the code below on it. The code should be placed completely outside of the mini-profile, so if you're using the default mini-profile template this will be after the very last closing </div> tag. This needs to be done on every theme you have the plugin enabled on as the template is theme-specific.
If your mini-profile template is already customized and you've hit the variable limit for your template you're free to remove any lines from the code below if they contain information that you don't plan on using. For example, if you have no plans to ever add a user's IP to their mini-profile for staff reference you can remove <div class="mp-info ip">$[user.ip]</div> from the code and everything else will still work just fine.
Once you've added the HTML from the Layout Templates tab you're ready to move on to building your mini-profiles. If you want to get going and try some out now or you're not very adept at HTML, CSS, or Javascript, worry not! This plugin includes some examples for you to try out. You're free to skip to the Custom Profile Fields tab and read over this tab later when you're ready to build your own.
Here's a quick rundown of each of the components in Plugins > Manage > Custom Mini-Profile Creator:
Name This is the name you'll be adding to your custom profile field dropdown once you've finished coding the mini-profile. Pretty self-explanatory. Make sure this name is unique from every other name you use for your mini-profiles or you'll end up overwriting the earlier ones in the list.
HTML This is the HTML that will go inside your mini-profile. You can use just about any HTML tag here so long as it's appropriate for where the mini-profile is showing on the page. Please refrain from using <style> or <script> tags here. You have the next two sections for that! Also, remember that mini-profiles can show multiple times on the same page, so you shouldn't add ID attributes to any of your elements here. Two elements on the same page cannot have the same ID per HTML standards.
CSS This is where you'll place what would normally go in your forum's style sheet or what would normally be between <style> tags. Try to code your mini-profile's HTML in a way that will allow you to target it specifically with your selectors. For example, you can surround all of the content in your HTML with a <div> element with a class and target that class and its child elements specifically with your CSS. That way you don't accidentally target every mini-profile on the page with CSS that was meant for the one you're building. One more thing: The forum theme's CSS still applies beforehand, so your mini-profile may look right in one theme but not in another. The best way to circumvent this is to define as many styles as you can to override the theme's CSS.
Javascript Anything that normally goes between <script> tags will go here. This one's a bit tricky since you'll obviously want to target the custom mini-profile specifically. Luckily there's an easy way to do that. In your statements you can use the $(this) variable to target the mini-profile if you're coding using jQuery. Otherwise, if you only plan on using standard Javascript you can target $(this)[0] instead.
Once you've finished building your mini-profiles it's finally time to add them to the Edit Profile page for use! To enable selection of custom mini-profiles you'll first need to add two specific custom profile fields in Members > Custom Profile Fields in your forum's admin area:
Mini-Profile Theme
Staff Mini-Profile Theme
Mini-Profile Theme is for mini-profiles that are designed for member use. You can set the Who Can Edit option for this field to Staff With Power if you only want staff to be able to choose mini-profiles for users. Otherwise, if you want members to freely be able to choose their own mini-profiles you can choose Members and Staff With Power.
Staff Mini-Profile Theme is for mini-profiles designed specifically for staff use. This field is completely optional.
Set the type for both of these fields as Drop Down Selection. Click on the (View/Edit) link to add mini-profile names to each of these fields.
If you've just installed this plugin you should have three different mini-profiles already installed by default: Example 1, Example 2, and Example 3. You can add these to your dropdowns to test them out and see the plugin in action.
If you're having trouble getting this plugin to work despite following the instructions in the previous tabs you may want to check that each of your themes meets the prerequisites below in Themes > Layout Templates > Mini-Profile.
First, ensure that opening tag of your mini-profile template includes the $[miniprofile_class] variable in its class. On the default ProBoards theme it should look something like this:
<div class="$[miniprofile_class]">
Next, make sure that the default {foreach} loop for custom fields is present inside your mini-profile. It doesn't need to be visible, so you're free to add it inside a hidden element if you don't plan on displaying it or if it would mess up the appearance of your own custom template.
Beyond that you can do whatever you like to the mini-profile template for the most part and it shouldn't negatively impact the plugin.
The following is a list of available variables for use in the HTML section of the mini-profile creator and their definitions. Adding any of these to a mini-profile will generate the content described in its definition in place of the variable so long as the information that variable outputs is visible to you.
To reference your forum's custom profile fields you can use $[user.customfieldname], substituting "customfieldname" with your custom field's name. You'll need to type the name in all lowercase with no spaces and only use characters A-Z and 0-9.
For example, Mini-Profile Theme becomes $[user.miniprofiletheme]. This will output the value of the custom field. In the case of this example, it'll be the name of the mini-profile theme you've chosen in your profile.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These will only work if you followed the steps in the Installation tab of this window on each of your themes. Any themes that do not include the template code specified there will not have these variables replaced in the mini-profile.
$[user]
User's display name link.
$[user.age]
User's age (if visible to you).
$[user.avatar]
User's current avatar.
$[user.badges]
User's list of badges.
$[user.birthday]
User's date of birth (if visible to you).
$[user.color]
Hex color of user's group. If user is not in a group this will return inherit.
$[user.custom_title]
User's custom title.
$[user.email]
User's email (if visible to you).
$[user.gender.image]
Image associated with the gender selected in the user's profile (if available).
$[user.gender.text]
Name of gender selected in the user's profile (if available).
$[user.group.name]
Name of user's current display group.
$[user.group.stars]
Star images associated with user's current display group.
$[user.id]
User's numerical ID.
$[user.instant_messenger]
User's list of instant messengers specified in their profile (if available).
$[user.invisible]
Returns 1 if a user is invisible. More useful for Javascript.
$[user.ip]
User's IP address (if visible to you).
$[user.is_online]
Returns Member is Online if user is currently online.
$[user.is_staff]
Returns 1 if a user is designated as staff. More useful for Javascript.
$[user.last_online]
Timestamp showing when user was last online.
$[user.likes]
Number of likes this user's posts have received.
$[user.location]
Location specified in user's profile.
$[user.name]
User's display name in plain text.
$[user.personal_text]
User's most recent status.
$[user.posts]
User's post count.
$[user.rank.name]
User's current posting rank.
$[user.rank.stars]
Star images associated with user's current posting rank.
$[user.registered_on]
Timestamp showing the date/time the user registered on the forum.
$[user.registered_on_short]
Condensed version of user's registration date.
$[user.social_network]
User's list of social networks specified in their profile (if available).
$[user.username]
Outputs the user's login username in plain text.
$[user.warning.bar]
User's warning bar (if it exists).
$[user.warning.level]
User's current warning level (if visible to you).
$[user.website]
Website specified in user's profile.
You can utilize the $(this) variable in the Javascript component to target the mini-profile <div> element. For example, if you wanted to add a class to the mini-profile you can use:
$(this).addClass('class-name-here');
Profile variables can also be used in the Javascript component in this plugin. In Javascript the value undefined is used to signify that a value doesn't exist for the variable you've specified. With this in mind you can use profile variables in Javascript conditional statements within the plugin similar to how they're used in the actual layout templates section of the admin area.
if(variable) will only run if the variable you specify has a value.
if(!variable) will only run if the variable you specify has no value.
Example 1 (variable has value):
if(user.group){
$(this).find('.group').show();
}
If the user has their group displayed in their profile the above Javascript would make the HTML below visible if you had it hidden with CSS.