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.
In fact, yes : they were just a few birds flying away. Paulette could’t contradict Alma’s statement. But her astonishment came from the flock's attitude as they weren’t flying away from lightning but rather went towards it. A bizarre behaviour the girl had never seen before. The question was still to know if it was due to the effects of the spell or a strange habit from the crows of the region.
The purple haired Alv glanced at the black flock shrinking in the sky before her. Their edgy appearance came from their noisy calls and big body “It’s almost unreal how those heavy looking creatures can fly up in the sky” But Paulette retorted to herself that she acted concerned about fat crows where a moment ago she just casually accepted that her friend could cast lightning.
Not looking where she was putting her feet, she almost tripped over something and catched herself thanks to her spear. The thing that almost made her fall was a piece of rectangular metal half buried by ivy and ferns, Paulette recognized a license plate unreadable because of the vegetation. “Here I am” thought her before looking towards the gas station she just found.
Alma was on the roof, against the light. The sun illuminated her hair and clothing borders but Paulette could only see her silhouette in shadow. Her antlers above her head gave her some magical aura. She looked like a spirit from the earth. Part animal, part human, indistinguishable yet haloed by sun rays, she appeared to Paulette like a mus of the forest, which was reinforced by the beating of the crow’s wings in the sky and the effervescence of the vegetation on earth.
Moved by this angelic vision, Paulette remained silent and stared at her friend from the ground, neglecting her slightly panting breathing from her run.
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The bulky swarm did drew closer. Seeing names of what they were and how...unusually larger than their distance perspective made them out to be. Alma stared as they approached and began landing about the gas station. Like out of a crime scene these birds swept the place for loose shiny nuggets of rustic treasure. Unlike the wolves outside the city walls, these seemed to be ordinary birds. Again her attention went to her spell book for the comment earlier in their chat. Was the spell what luted them here? She’ll have to make a small note about it for sure.
A scrap of metal drew her eyes downward to the cloaked traveler not far from her. Seeing their form and lance in hand, the name above even, confirmed to be Paulette. She seemed to be staring somewhat though. Wonder what? Alma searched herself over before climbing down with a jump. Landing oddly felt so effortless as she greeted them with a wave.
“Strange birds around here.” Bigger than any standard pigeon that’s for sure. “Glad you made it. I would have gone to look for you if my directions turned out to be that poor.” Seeing Paulette gave the feeling of ease to know someone else in this world and more so to see them again at all. A fear that they’d moved on to other lands outside of Romalia.
“We can talk better here than holding the sides of our head. Can chat and stroll for a bit to where we’ll find some trainer while these birds here pick up some rusted nuts and bolts.”
Alma went down from her overhang position. Descending from the rooftop also erased the magic aura around her, letting the Alv see her full face with a more humble sight. A large smile appeared on Paulette’s face, this has been a long time since the last time she had seen her dear friend.
-don’t worry, your indications were the most accurate, in this unmapped world we can’t do much… Yet ! I have the feeling we can discover it step by step and maybe find something truly important : this is a new world after all !
Paulette made a small pause and then added “It’s good to see you !”
Around them, the crows that worried the purple haired girl earlier were scattered in the surrounding area, picking shiny objects or what they thought were shiny because of the sun's reflection on metallic surfaces.
-Yes it’s strange, I thought they were going to attack you. She laughed and shrugged as to say “whatever”
Naturally, Paulette positioned herself next to the faunri, ready to go for an exploration while chatting. She wondered when their telepathic conversation had ended but as her friend said : they had let their hands fall back since a little moment.
-The ability to call someone using this sort of telepathic power is so useful, this was the first time I was using it but it is very convenient. The only issue is that I’m guessing is that we can only call people we have in our friend list ? Relationship networks could be powerful tools if adventurers start to master this means of communication...don’t you think so ?
In the real world, Paulette had the natural ability to talk to everyone, chatting with friends was an easy exercise, however the young player tended to withdraw and let the other speak. With Alma, even if she started the conversation, and initiated their walk next to each other, she left a small step ahead to Alma, walking a bit behind her to watch the faunri ears and back. Even without her mystical aura, Alma gave a sense of authority by her tall appearance and antlers and the young Alv was respecting that.
Ever so positive. Alma smiled some and wished she could be the same. At the very least to have adapted to this world better for it. Seeing Paulette again already lifted parts of her day. They headed out from the gas station to follow the road. Away from the metropolitan areas and housing toward the rim of Romalia protection would they find more overgrowth and forests. This area was still with Romalia but visually it was different. An area that may have been a public park was now its own forest within the city as buildings became few and far in between.
“We’re still in the city, you think?” Alma asked her friend to confirm their thoughts. They can be treated as being outside the city limits but for where they were going, there was some sense in the city planning in the past. Old Rome was built in a circular cluster with many famous monuments and places all bunched up together. If there was a working car would they have gotten to any place in less than fifteen minutes. A trip from the outer rim to the center would maybe take less than that, even with an account for merchant traffic.
“I read a bit of the game. Half the size of the planet to fit in the world servers or something. So.... what would take us an hour to walk in the real world should be half that.” Alma turned to Paulette to share where her thought process was taking them. “I saw this old sign for a university pointed this way. So I wondered if maybe the space can be used as a training area. I’ve tried the old coliseum but it was, kinda a mess.” Old ruins do be old that way. “So, maybe, the city guards might have better use of an old track and field since the main city area is so crowded.”
Even if she adapted to her new life, Paulette was drawn into this game world when she knew absolutely nothing about it. On the contrary of Alma, she hadn’t read anything about the game before starting it. “Half the size of our planet ?!” The purple haired girl turned pale, she would never have believed this world was that vaste. The distance she had travelled so far suddenly looked ridiculously small. The will to go forward overwhelmed the young Alv, she needed to progress. Thankfully, her best friend was standing next to her and they were heading towards a training area right now.
-I don’t think we are in the city area, usually, monsters don’t come into the city, but we met a crow flock. Also, nobody lives here.
The two girls were progressing around buildings and artefacts of civilization like cars and street lamps, yet everything was covered in moss and ivy. It was a strange feeling to acknowledge their everyday furniture under a vegetation thickness. Like if they were traveling into the future and witnessed a cataclysm. The most surrealist part was when Alma talked about the old colosseum. Back in their former world, this place was already in ruins and belonged to an extinct civilization. Picturing both Roman architecture and modern buildings united under a coverage of green leaves was kind of disconcerting.
Paulette looked in the direction that the seafoam haired girl pointed. The path was in the shade under many trees.
Their small journey took the pair through loosely described forests of Romalia. The over growth taking over the surrounding buildings more so with their route taking them closer to old parks used to be kept in line against urban landscape. If Romalia didn’t look like a more rustic and beaten city then this was more closer to ruins. Structural integrity fading out with each passing wall. No room was not without some hole in the ceiling where a bark stalk would just out wearing a green cloud of leaves for a head.
Alma looked at each forgotten home in wonder of camping out in them or if they were even safe to. Not many citizens seem to live out here the further the two ladies strolled away from the center of the city. With trees that came out of gaping holes as if the homes themselves were a creative gardening pot of choice, they soon came upon a road with a canopy of bark and branches. The lining sides of the road, once lined with cypress trees, have grown so wildly they the branches reached out and knitted themselves to fashion a ceiling. Gaps between each tree had either fallen brick or low shrubs but by the looks of things, Alma breathed out in amaze of what was witnessed here.
“It’s like out of a kid’s movie. A tunnel of trees.” She gleamed. The scene of a little girl picking after a trail of acorns which lead her to a natural tunnel of branches and leaves. A perfect hideaway for a child but on this size, it looked right at home in an elf kingdom or something. The deer’s head craned upward in thought of what it would be like to be climb one of these before turning to her companion. “Guess we're on the right road. Looks inviting anyway. You ever been down one of these?” Alma wondered if the adventurous Paulette had seen this feature around Romalia before.
Alma was still walking a little before Paulette. The purple haired girl got used to monitoring her deer friend’s ears and interpreting their little movements. It gave a lot of information about the seafoam haired girl’s state of mind. Right now she looked completely absorbed by the view. It was the opposite of a panoramic point of view but the trail wrapped by green vegetation looked lovely.
-No, I’ve never been around here said she.
Paulette was also observing their environment, it looked to her like a place where it would be easy to lose themselves. Foliage was dense and only a few rays of sunshine could pierce through it. Also, the devastated buildings hiding cooler shadows and crawling ivy branches were outsider to her knowledge.
To this point, Alma looked more confident than her
-This is a quiet place with abundant grass, Saguaro would like it, I think. She added
But she regretted it as soon as it came out of her mouth. Even if the shady and greeny path looked good for her hungry stallion, she could picture hordes of unknown insects under the leaves or similar crow flocks waiting perched on the bark of trees and probably many other creatures from the forest, unseen below every hideout.
-Actually no, he’s afraid of bunnies, he couldn’t stand being here. She corrected
“It’s like out of a kid’s movie. A tunnel of trees” Alma really looked like she was walking in her element. Her thin silhouette and clear dress progressing slightly above the mossy ground, her elevated antlers almost blending with the foliage. Again Paulette got striked by an angelic vision. This time the subject was less ferric than bucolic. It reminded the french girl about XVIIIth century landscape paintings.
Yes it was exactly like the classical pictures in galleries : a ruin in the background for the magnificence, the overgrowing nature all over the painting and a doe in the middle as a reference to Atemis.
This time she didn’t stay silent and said
-You seem so at ease, you could be muse of this place I wouldn’t be surprised !
This idea calmed her mind.
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"Do I?" Having it pointed out to her like this brought her attention to the Alv. She stopped mid-stride and touched at the white fur tufts around her neck and wrists. Indeed she felt more at ease but it was hard to see herself being so. If this were still a game and they were all viewing their characters through a monitor then it'd be easier to say how their characters looked. Relaxed, tense, rested; a whole world of emote actions included to add that extra personal touch. Enough that never emoting at all would make a player seem too stoic. Without any of these, both Alma and Clair seemed humbled. Was humbled the right feeling? Despite it all, the mature face smiled in thanks for Paulette saying so.
"Guess so. Mostly since we're still within reach of the main city." If they ran back anyway. By foot should be nearly five or ten minutes to the central plaza and markets. They were getting close to something of a local park or small training forest within the city. Or maybe this was planned to become something else later? Clair couldn't imagine how the world would progress that far or if it would. As long as the local wildlife looked tame, Alma could be a bit more relaxed as Saguaro would be. Whoever that is.
"But, I've never wandered this far out in the city. So it's likely thanks to you being here." Alma explained though the tone may have been rather bashful. "It looks to be a former road to somewhere." She pointed out how the trees were a little too neatly placed on both sides. "And rather fancy. I feel like we should be going in the right direction for once." Rather sure of this, Alma kept on to take point. A tunnel had to end eventually to a facility of some kind. So long as they're within the city they should be ok. Or so she thought to be the case.
What Alma didn't know about this lane is how attractive it was. Nature gravitates people to it. The natural open pathways could line up maybe ten or fifteen people across easily. In a dreamy sigh, Alma wondered aloud as her head tilted upwards at the curved broughs above.
"Could you imagine what this place would look like? If lights hung up there."
Yes, Paullette could definitely see the scenery her dear friend was puting before her eyes. At the end of the afternoon, when the sun would stop to be so strong, when the atmosphere would be more temperate, if there were lightbulbs hung up between the branches, the place they had arrived in would be wonderful.
-Like a ballroom ! A natural ballroom with a dance floor made of grass and ivy curtains. Or the most serene arena at least.
It seems like the two girls were taking courage from each other because now, Paulette could see the forest like a tender place and it was thanks to Alma’s words and ideas.
-Thanks again for calling me today. I enjoy your company. This place is nice, I suggest you we stop there, whether it is to rest and picnic or train our fighting skills, what do you think ?
"Sounds good," Alma replied with a smile. To be thanked and commented like this gave a rare warmth the deer wouldn't have thought to experience. Rather than her own selfish wants and fears were this not considered possible. Nestled at the thought of someone else enjoying her company, her bobbed head nodded in agreement to anything. Rest. Picnic. Training even! All of it sounded too good to do which also was rare. The want to gladly do something.
"Even a ballroom. Maybe this place will...liven up that way. If this was a game, there'd be festivals and stuff, ya know? Events to take in and rare, once a year prizes to seek." The thought was such a dream as well in this new reality. Dreaming of home was a far-off thing yet so was this world being as game-like to be equal to comfort food. If someone could. Do they have to ask? A mayor or the church? Her hand combed through her thin locks of who to turn to. Let alone whom to turn to.
"Hey. Those two look easy." "That an Antas like you right? They seem to be beginners still." "In this city still? Some people really take it slow after what happened." "Keep it cool. You'll scare them off."
Her ears perked and turned slightly down the path from the faint voices just out of visual range. Her head followed to make out the shapes of what was soon approaching them. If this were a game area for players en route to the training rounds then, logically, there would be people that roam this pathway too at some point. In other games with wide zone areas would player shops be made to line the walkways but stores and the markets were in the opposite direction. Clare envisioned players standing idly around as well or gathering up but, as well as just being a hang-out area, there were guild hawkers. Before the pair approached another spearman sporting horns similar to Alma but lacking the usual animal ears that come with them, a serpentine woman sporting an odd hook arm device at their side and a rather human-looking person possessing a longbow at their back. Finding the Faunri and Alv looking girls lonely looking, the trio strolled up intrigued to make conversation.
"Ah, hello," Alma raised a hand and lowered it in simple greeting toward the strangers. The trio looked to be a bit higher level based on their appearance and clothing. Unlike Alma and her simple dress-like tunic and Paulette's medium armor, these three looked closer to the part of their job classes. A ranger, a pirate, and a spartan-looking armored gladiator. Clare tried to have her character's mature face do the talking as the three welcomed them.
"Hey, you two seem a bit new, how about you join our guild? We're always looking for new members to train with," the leading Gladiator spoke rather warm and eager to have met them. Their combination set and different races to socialize with marked them as players in the eyes of Alma and Paulette. Their names hovered by their features through the mind's eye UI system but it was rude to point out names without introduction so Alma gave a neutral smile as the man carried on.
"I'm Garreth by the way," the Gladiator spoke. "Mavis. A pleasure," the Pirate lamia spoke with an elegant bow from the waist up. "And I'm Duncan," the Ranger spoke last with a thumb pressed to his chest to rival Garreth's eager approach. "We're part of the guild SkyWay. Looking to recruit up any new members around. You two interested?"
"I'll give it some thought," Alma answered with a shake of her head. The cheer between her and Paulette withdrew to frank mannerisms. "First time to be scouted for a guild really. We're just heading this way to find the training grounds to practice our skills."
"Oh yeah? We've just came that way! You can't miss it at the end of this road. You sure you don't want to join up?" Garreth offered yet Alma shook her head again. His tone getting rather pushy to snatch them up.
"I'll have to think on it. Frankly, I'm not that good at combat to go joining up anywhere just yet. But I'm glad to see that there are guilds out recruiting people." Alma shook her head once more to keep things polite so far.
Not yet defeated to be declined twice, Mavis took up the reigns for Garreth to ask Paulette the same questions to join their team in SkyWay. "What about you? We're aiming to help lost players in this world. It'd make sense to stick together."
The perspective of the two of them sharing an afternoon together, chatting, training and then eating and resting, all in this graceful place, animated Paulette’s face. It sounded like an outing with the girls as they used to experience in their former world. When they were speaking together, she felt like they were on the same page and the young Alv considered Alma as her best friend. She needed her company.
The purple haired girl was picturing how a festival could be settled there when she noticed Alma’s ears and body gesture suddenly triggered toward a path exit. Then she heard a low voice saying “Keep it cool. You’ll scare them off”.
When Paulette heard that, Alma was already greeting the newcomers. Her deer friend really had some instincts allowing her to hear further and faster.
Out of the forest, She saw three characters appear, they were clothed like successful adventurers.
Indeed, they introduce themselves as some kind of mentor, recruiting the losts ones. The level gap between them and Alma and Paulette was quite obvious.
At first sight they looked friendly and Paulette thought “Why would we be scared of them ?”
She successively looked them all three in the eyes, especially the two men. Everytime she was meeting someone for the first time she couldn’t help but ask herself “Could it be my brother ?” and tried to acknowledge him through the fictionals avatars. She never saw someone that she knew in the former world, inside this one, but once, she heard that it was possible to recognize someone through the game designs. Nothing happened, the three characters in front of her were totally unknown.
They immediately started to introduce their guild and act like the girls had just arrived in this game-like world. “We are here as long as them as it seems to me. It is true that I am a newbie in MMORPG but I don’t feel so lost now, especially when I’m with Alma. I don’t want to enrol myself in an organization with people I don’t even know” It only took Paulette two seconds to make her mind about these three journeymen.
Alma, who had started the dialogue with them, seemed to have the same idea and kept the exchange polite even though she refused their offer.
She stood tall and spoke like a responsible adult to them. This feature looked really good on her face, something about determination and strength she had rarely shown.
Paulette stayed in her back, nodding to what she was saying when the pirate lady addressed directly to her : “What about you? We’re aiming to help lost players in this world. It’d make sense to stick together”
The young Alv was about to answer negatively when something crossed her mind and before thinking further she asked
-How many are you in your guild ? Did you gather many lost players who were alone ? Did someone ask for their sister ??
Sensing the opportunity, the lady who introduce herself as Mavis tried to seduce her to follow them at the guild housing
-Numerous are those who seek for their family in our guild. Did you lose a sister ? Or a brother ? We can help you to find them, maybe they are waiting for you to join us ? What a happy reunion it would be if you reunite tonight ! Our guild house isn’t far from here, we can take you there before nightfall if you want. As for your training session you can come back here with us tomorrow, it won’t be a problem once you register as one of our guild members.
While speaking about the possible guild to join did Alma’s ears twitched and she cupped one of them briefly. Her eyes watching the group while speaking in a slightly lower tone as to not over tale the conversations Paulette was carrying nor the extensive display of guild SkyWay’s numbers. “Yeah? Oh, sorry, we’re still on the way. We came across three mentors that looked to help us out. No, we didn’t forget,” Alma spoke the. turned away to try to quiet herself a little in an attempt to keep the conversation private as best as possible while in public. “Paulette is with me though and we’ll be there after we finish. Him? No, unfortunately he was busy and couldn’t make it but said dinner is still on at his place. Yeah. His food is the best. See you soon. Just make sure to save us a spot.” Lowering her hand, the deer smiled apologetically for the interruptions when thanking the SkyWay trio.
“We’ll keep that in mind. It’s good to know some guilds still running and so high in members. Really. We appreciate the helpful offer though. Currently we have some friends to meet up with later so we’ll have to take up your offer another day.” Alma tried to offer a pleasant smile, trying to avoid involving with these people for too long. Paulette could use the help though but with that vague answer, Alma doubted these people could do more than wishful happily ever after remarks. Still, it wasn’t fully her place to speak out. This isn’t her brother to be out searching for so maybe some extra eyes would help. Whether these people seemed like the type to do anything after boasting how wonderful a reunion would be left as small tokens of what ifs. “Were you thinking of asking for their help?” Eyes turned to Paulette since the girl gave her own set of questions. An imaginary timer running down if the two were to meet up with their friends up ahead or join up team SkyWay to make a search party.
“Shame it be that way,” toward the deer who continued to not take the plunge so soon to count among their ranks. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find us,” Mavis flicked her tail and slithered forward. Alma took a few steps back by Paulette to let them pass with Duncan and Garreth joining after. “Yeah. Venturers gotta stick together!” The ranger Duncan threw a loose hand salute to a thumbs up at the girls with Garreth delivering a choppy wave. “There still an opening for you though,” Mavis directed her eyes to the spear woman when circling past with her male companions. “We can spread the word while heading back to the main city. Won’t be too hard with our numbers. But I see your got a playdate planned out. We’ll be around the plaza fountain for the evening.”
“Yeah, totally. Reuniting lost family is for a great cause. Be cool to have family together in the same guild.” Garret encouraged.
“Let me check if we know anyone. What’s his name?” Duncan placed a hand to his ear at the ready to make the call once he got a name.
It was becoming obvious the three adventurers were forcing the conversation. Paulette regretted her question, actually she didn’t want to involve those people in her search. If her brother was still in Romalia, they would have been reunited since long ago. She was the lost one, she was the most vulnerable sibling, left by herself in a completely unknown world while her brother was already familiar with the game before the catastrophe.Furthermore, her brother always admired solo players and didn’t have many friends, she doubted he would have joined a big guild as this one, even facing a changing reality and loneliness.
While she was in the hands of Mavis and Duncan, Alma started to speak to herself, she acted like someone on the phone and her friend immediately understood what she was doing.
When she ended her fake conversation, they were both ready to go, but the trio stood insistent before them.
It was at this ranger man to make a mental call “What’s his name?” he asked. Paulette squinted her eyes, maybe he too was faking his call, things couldn't be that easy ?
But she had to answer. After the little talking they have had she couldn’t withdraw herself like that. It was her last chance to see if her brother was known by these people or not, will she seize it ? And again : she knew absolutely nothing about her brother in this world nor his avatar appearance, nor the pseudonym he chose for his character. She was a hundred percent sure it wasn’t his real name though. When logging in, this unfortunate evening, they had a small disagreement because Paulette wanted to keep her name and he warned her about the dangers of it. “He would never say his real name to strangers. What can I answer then ?”
For a few minutes, the conversation was basculating from casual to ambiguous, both sides were lying or at least hiding something. The young Alv decided to play her part and gave a fake name
-He is called Ernest-Ranuce, it’s french. She said purposely pronouncing the “r”
The spearman tried his best to repeat it to his interlocutor and after a small pause he answered by the negative.
-We don’t have a player of that name, I’m deeply sorry…
-Right, that name rings nothing to me either, but we can still help you if you come to see us. Added Mavis
The conclusion was upright, but of course, nobody would never choose a name like that, even being a great fan of Stendhal. Duncan was honest but maybe he saw in her game.
It was time to leave.
For both parts, the situation could only fester. Paulette accepted Alma’s initiative and walked away. The three adventurers waved at them once again and for good.
Once they were out of sight and hear, the purple haired girl started giggling
-Errrrrnest RaNUcE !! Haha what a name !! Between two brusts of laughter she still managed to say : I’m sorry I made the conversation last too long, I wanted to leave too. Thank you, you saved us !
The deer had a hand to her chest when sighing to hear those other members of SkyWay leave. Talking to people like that was actually pretty stressful that she felt a bit bad to lie about being on the phone just to ditch out of the chat. Paulette must have caught on her to ruse that way but not what her friend was thinking. Alma nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman let out a burst of laughter. Good grief! Alma clutched her chest with a start before making a few brief chuckles herself. Ernest RaNUcE? "What sort of accent is that?" Alma asked from all the exaggerations tugged onto each syllable. Thanks to this, it did brush the stress from that encounter.
"Though, you think he'd answer to that?" A rather dubious question but Alma was curious if that indeed was his name. "Like if we went to the plaza and shouted out like that, would he answer?" Alma wondered and cupped her hands around her mouth and pretended to shout. "Ernest Ranuce! Ernest Rancy!" The woman tried to roll her Rs and accent it just as Paulette had done but each attempt came out like a flat tire or a child with cotton in their mouth. After a few attempts she began to giggle a little for hope hopeless her native language wasn't helping at all; either American or the twang of the southern country. Sheepishly did she scratch her cheek after these horrendous attempts. More than anything...
"Won't we have to remember that name when we meet them again?" Alma now pointed out. It won't be easy to remember a name like that without writing it down somewhere. It's different for Paulette since this person is supposed to be her brother.
She laughed at her friend’s attempts but applauded the effort, it was much like it !
The purple haired girl took a deep breath, the air was temperate and the atmosphere mossy.
-It’s my french accent, i usually try to hide it.
She was happy to relax the situation
-It has comedic potential. She added fully aware that her french fellows were often mocked.
-I attempt to use it to my advantage ! She smiled directly at Alma and her face took a strange grin like if she was as proud of her effect as one of her class skills. Then her tone got lower :
-But seriously no, it isn’t my brother’s real name. I panicked
She had to explain to her friend what was the situation, how she subscribed to the game just so he could show her his favorite game world, how she had no knowledge at all and how he was supposed to come pick her up once logged in.
-...So since we embody our avatars and bear our pseudonymes, I’m not sure I can recognise him by sight. He is shy and prudent and I know he will never tell his real name as long as he can hide it by his username. During the first week here, I tried to call for his real name while surveying Romalia’s streets but then I realized it was useless. Plus, if I’m the only one to know his true identity, I think that’s an opportunity for when we will meet again to prove who I really am to him.
Here, Paulette posed the narration, hesitating,
-To be honest I don’t know if I will ever see him again… Maybe he never logged in ? Maybe we don’t live in the same world now ?
But she recomposed herself and claimed :
-Anyway, I won’t stop looking for him ! I just don’t need those suspicious people’s help !
Rising her index like if she just had an idea she said to the seafoam haired girl
-I will tell you his real name so you can help me look for him, after all you are my best friend !
And, taking a fake formal tone to make her declaration look like some spy transmission she said
-I don’t know the pseudonyme by which he calls himself, but luckily I can guess what it must sound like : “Mr.Weak”or “Ugly-san” are usernames he has already used before. And for his real name it is much more appropriate and affectionate : it’s Oscar.
Paulette breathed out slightly, she was actually relieved. Being able to share her secret with someone she trusted was helpful. As long as she was opening up to Alma, she added her other worries :
-Now you are part of the plot ! I trust you but I can’t say the same for Garret, Mavis and Ducan… These three gave me an uncomfortable feeling at some point and I thank you very much for getting us out of there !
Paulette thought about when she meet Alma for the first time
-It’s actually the second time you saved me from my chaotic destiny !
One instant she wanted to hug Alma “I wonder if she would let me do that ?” but decided to restrain : Alma looked like a shy woman and she didn’t want to make it constrained between them. She clapped her hands instead
-Did you do it on purpose ? What did you think of these three ? Should we avoid them from now on ?
And Paulette looked down her eyes to learn about Alma point of view and get a guideline
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.