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.
A soft evening breeze blew by the outskirts of Tivoli. It passed by two Adventurers at a campfire not too far from the town.
"Landers are real people?.. Don't tell me you seriously believe that horseshit!"
Mikey looked at SidO with a look of bafflement. He got up from his seat and walked toward the other side of the campfire. Just what is this guy on.. Is he losing it like the other players?
His expression growing more agitated the closer he got to SidO. Can't believe your giving into this line of thinking as well..
He stood in front of SidO, and stared at him with a tense glare.
"First, this game fucks with your body. And now, Is it fuckin with your head too?"
SidO's eyes widened as he heard Mikey's yell and saw his furious expression. He watched him come closer with an unnerved feeling.
With Mikey stading in front him, he moves back in surprise and tries to defend himself quickly. He settles on a spot on the rock he's sitting on and speaks. "Hey man!.. I'm just saying that the Landers look like they can think on their own, have their own routines and lifestyles, and... "
He hesitates to go on for a moment..
Mikey's chiding echoes in his ears. He sighs heavily for a moment. His head falls in melancholy and he continues his response.
"Their also capable of hating and prejudice.. Like people.."
word count: 114
"speaking colour: 0077ff, thought colour: 7e7e7e, c71919"
Mikey sees SidO stop speaking and urges him to continue.
"Yea go on.."
He hears his response a few seconds later, and takes a moment.. Before chuckling.
"Oh yea? They're programmed to be racist too? Ah man.. That is just great." The bastard who sent us here is a hoot..
He starts going on a tangent with an amused expression.
"So. It certainly is a very close imitation of human behavior. I'll give it that.."
He looks down at SidO.
"And what're you going to do about it? Merry up with them? Try to change them since they're 'people'? What if they were always made to treat the Antas like shit? What'll you do then?"
SidO was surprised as Mikey's words rang through his ears. A sense of anxiety and worry started to well up in him. He keeps looking down and speaks quietly. "... I don't know"
He sighs. "Heeeh.."
That's right. Mikey knows about the Antas situation too.. He's gonna chew me out for sure..
His eyes breifly widen in realization.
But is he right? What if there really is no way to change the perception of the Antas in the eyes of those who hate them? Will things always be the same? Will I be screwed? Damn...
Mikey looks at the sulking SidO for a moment. "That is a fair answer." He turns around and walks to the other side of the campfire. "I don't think anyone would know really.."
He sits down on a rock and stares at the campfire between him and SidO. "Have you heard of the Antas story yet? I heard about it from some talk that was going around."
He takes a breath and continues. "Apparently. Over a thousand years ago. The Antas's mining operations caused a volcano to blow up and destroy Enoch lands. The Enoch were pissed at the Antas and attacked their country. The Antas ended up losing their lands and were forced to spread out over Italia. The Enoch though, have had a grudge against the Antas ever since and demonized them in their religion. Something about them coming from demons or whatever."
He pauses. "The Enoch being a political powerhouse in Italian affairs, along with their propaganda religion, makes life for the Antas pretty bad I'm sure."
Mikey smirks. "Now that's what I call a history of bullshit imperialism and oppression. Reminds me of some people groups in real life actually.."
He looks at SidO. "What do you think are the chances of some warmongering Enoch bastard using that volcano as an excuse to rile up the Enoch masses to support an invasion of Antas land?"
SidO's heart sank as he silently listened to Mikey's explanation. .. So that's what happened?
He stared into the campfire in front of him blankly.
He speaks after Mikey's finished talking. ".. That''s grim.. I didn't know about this.." He felt a heavy feeling in his chest.
" This is so sad.. I didn't think the Antas would have it this bad. I just thought the other races disliked them for being different.. Damn it.." Why did it have to be the Antas who got such unlucky cards?..
He looks up at Mikey, serious. "You.. were laughing.. Is this funny to you Mikey? And do you believe the Enoch's story?"
Mikey looks back at SidO with another smile. "Yea. I find it very hilarious actually.. How well these NPCs are able to imitate even the pathetic aspects of human nature.. This situation would probably make for a good study of hatred, prejudice, and contempt in racial/ethnic relations."
He grins as he starts answering his other question. "And I don't believe the Enochs for a bit. I could tell their one sided fabrications were bullshit the moment I heard about them.. Hell.. I'd say the garbage they spout about the Antas is a lot like the shit extremist and radical groups preach about their enemies in real life. Whoever created this world really knew their stuff about human psychology."
He turns his head for a moment. "Although 'za volcano destroyed muh farms' is a pretty stupid reason to start a war, its not the stupidest, but its up there..."
SidO stares at Mikey looking away in another direction. "Right.."
He turns to the campfire, looking downward. Stupid huh.. That's right. Everything the Enoch said have to be true.. Just like real world propaganda.. Amazing. This really isn't like a fantasy game world at all. Things aren't as simple as killing monsters and any evil.. But Mikey still sees the Landers as NPCs despite them being so humanlike... But.. If that's the case..
After a minute of remaining silent, he looks at Mikey and speaks.
".. Do you think we can do anything about it? The Antas problem and this world's issues?"
He waits intently.
word count: 103 total wc: 103 + 107 + 102 + 114
"speaking colour: 0077ff, thought colour: 7e7e7e, c71919"
Mikey faced SidO blankly. "No. We can't do anything. And even if we could. There's no point."
He leaned forward. ""Why should we care? We were just brought to this dimension one day. Its not like we got any answers or anything either from a higher entity or power. We're not obligated to do anything for anyone."
His eyes narrowed. "What happens to those NPCs doesn't matter. Why should we have to get wrapped up in their problems?..You think they would even accept our help? We're a bunch of foreign aliens to them. There's no way they'd let us move up their political and administrative ladders to make big changes, unless we lick their boots and act subservient. Have you also thought about the possibility of them taking advantage of us? Adventurers are essientally immortal cannon fodder with potentially devastating destructive power. What if the governments of the states try to forcefully conscript us into fighting in their wars? Do you really want to be coerced into fighting endless conflicts for those AI dolls just because you think they're human?"
He put one hand over his face and grinned. "Man.. Maybe everyone who played this game spent too much time in front of their screens after all. To the point where they deluded themselves into believing its real.. What a joke.."
He paused for a moment before putting his hand down and speaking. "And as for the Antas.. I pity them.. But it can't be helped. Its been over a thousand years and the Antas and anybody else for that matter haven't been able to change their plight. Militarily or otherwise. What can we do about it?"
He looked at SidO seriously. "The only thing that matters is us."
SidO lowered his head. He thought about Mikey's tangent. Yea, Mikey's right. It does make sense for Adventurers to look after their own interests. There also tbe possibility of the Landers using or trying to manipulate us. But where do I stand? I don't believe the Landers are just NPCs in a game anymore..
He saw how Mikey stared at him as evening wind came and started to pass by them. The flames or the campfire wavered in response to the wind. The sky had started to become dimmer as the afternoon light started to wane.
He raised his head toward Mikey and asked. "Okay. Having taken all that into account, what're you going to do?"
Mikey smirked at SidO's question and replied. "Ah. That is a good question.."
He paused briefly and continued. "Seeing as how I don't care much about this world's native inhabitants, perhaps I could try starting a war?.. After all, powerful and greedy empires don't help anyone do they?"
His face becoming more exuberant as he started at SidO. "The Enochian Pontificate's trying to expand its influence and power over the other parts of Italia? I'm sure that'll make life for the Antas all over, much worse if they succeed. And to stir up a conflict, we just gotta rile up the right people, and cause the right tragedies and misunderstandings yea?"
Mikey then stopped as he dropped his excited demeanor and gritted his teeth while focusing his eyes in anger. "But before that. I need to forget the pain of death. It is the greatest obstacle in my way. It won't be easy for an ordinary normal person, but with the Adventurer's immortality, you and I can surpass that limit. Even if it means killing myself in all sorts of brutal and horrific ways... Once dying doesn't phase me anymore, I'll be a lot stronger."
SidO's eyes widened in horror as he heard Mikey. After a moment of gathering his thoughts, he returned to his dull expression. He addressed Mikey with added confidence this time. "Are you serious?" Start a war? You're already planning something insane?..." He looked away from him.
"Sure. There's disputes and conflicts with all these different factions, but is there really any incentive for any of them to go to war. The status quo seems to be acceptable to all of them even if some are trying to advance their influence And if a war did break out wouldn't a conflict be very one sided because of the firepower the Enochians have?... Can't we use our knowledge of our world that's advanced thousands of years in the future to fix things peacefully and minimal violence in this world?"
"You're gonna have to rally a huge fighting force if you want to take them on."
He looked back at Mikey with more concern in his voice.
"Also.. What's this about the forgetting the pain of death? You're really going to put yourself through that much pain? Are you sure about this?"
word count: 189
"speaking colour: 0077ff, thought colour: 7e7e7e, c71919"
"With enough understanding and will, the right actions can make anything happen... Anybody has the potential to change the course of this world."
He stops.
"And I am absolutley sure about becoming stronger, even without the pain. I enjoy battling after all"
A smile then creeps up on his face.
"... Actually. Why don't we duel right now?"
With that, Mikey quickly brandishes his short sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left. He then side steps, turning to face SidO. The dagger in his left hand is thrown, blazing through the air and towards SidO's head.
SidO looked at the fast incoming knife with panic. "Huuh!?"
He dashes past the knife as it flies near his head, and lands on grass to catch his balance. He lifts his head to look at Mikey's smug grin with slight annoyance. After a moment's pause, he speaks.
"Alright. You know this is real combat where we feel very hit and its pain. But I don't mind dueling..."
After sprinting and jumping, SidO concentrates mentally to cast a spell. Accelerate.
He feels his hold over mana strengthening. He casts more spells with the instantenous power of Accelerate. Cast Constellation's Boon. Enchance Vigor. Target: Me. Then cast Fate's Machinations on Mikey to stop him. Cast Instill Fear on Mikey.
Inertia overtakes his body as he flies toward Mikey in a dash with his throwing knives in hand. A thought goes through his mind as he reaches him. This is odd.. It feels like old times where we used to fight back in the game...
SidO proceeds to slash away at Mikey's chest as many times as he can to take advantage of his stunned position. He then follows him to throw his knives and a bolt from his grimoire his way after Machina expires.
Mikey was taken aback as he found himself frozen from the effects of Constellation's Boon. He gritted his teeth as he saw SidO's attack coming toward him. He's already using the big guns from the start.
He grimaced as he felt the slashes from SidO's daggers chipping away at his body, thinking about his next actions. Now depending on what effects this spell has. I am going to be incapacitated for a bit after this. What can I do-
His thoughts was interrupted as he suddenly found his body moving against his will. So. Its the fear effect.
Mikey was forced to run from SidO as he kept up his attacks. He was hit by an array of throwing knives and a spell bolt to the face. "Agh"
As the effects of SidO's spells wore off on him, Mikey halted his dashing and regained control over his body. He turned towards SidO.
Alright. Now its my move.
"Ante Up!" Shouted Mikey as he lunged back from SidO, while clasping his hands. The short sword from his inventory appeared beside him in a shining glow, and waited for his command. Destroy SidO. He proceeded to lay a punch, kick, and another punch towards SidO, as the short sword flew toward him for a ballistic attack. Mikey followed this by crouching and sweeping his leg at SidO. He then got up and went for a speedy jab towards his shin.
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.