August News!

[Saruna]

As part of our modmeeting last night, we realized that it would be beneficial to share major setting updates and plans with you guys so you both know what's going on and can comment on it! So here are some things that have happened in July/August around the site that were never officially announced but still might be of interest to you guys!

As ever, please do feel free to comment, request, or critique anything going on Thar-wise that strikes your interest!

SETTING

**Member contributed setting updates will always first run through the world dev subforum. If you wish for your setting work to go into official setting via the wiki, please inform a staff member through chat or pm and it will be reviewed.**

We've had some rather large wiki updates regarding setting projects!

Tapuria
New wiki category: Animals & Creatures
Tian Xia
City Guard page update
Marn Culture
First Settlers
Synevive
Descendant
Titre
Official Citizen

Someone please let me know if I've missed anything!

Intended Upcoming Projects & Wiki Updates for September:

Please note that as we're by no means perfect some of these might take longer than September, fully depending on real life.

Trelham wiki page
Initial write-up and brainstorming for Puradynes
Paragon structure
First Settler family social hierarchy & politics
Marn upper class culture trickle-down from First Settler families
Pretana write up
Corezo update
Marn Government structure
Initial write up for Elf, Dwarf and Gnome origins
Marn & Shim businesses update

Discussion & Brainstorming

These are things that will be rolled out in September that we sincerely hope members will get involved with!

• A world dev topic on race origins and the effects and weaknesses that occur out of cross-species children
• Monthly open meetings for members to talk shop about what they're doing with their own projects, questions for staff, or discussing Thar stuff with staff/other members. After all of that is done it will end with a free for all where we explore writing or . . . stuff.
  
  Tentatively, meetings will happen on the first friday of every month, starting at 5PM PST.. The first meeting will be Friday, September 6 (10am Sept 7 for Australians) We are going to attempt to hold them for several hours so our members across timezones will be able to hop in for a few hours depending on when they're able to get on (I, for example, should be able to hang out until 3-4am my time). We will adjust time and day pending member feedback.
  
  We're going to try to ensure a mod is present at all of these meetings to be available for interrogation.
• Any members wishing to bring up tidbits of setting info (such as breda with halfbreeds) are highly encouraged to do so! If we can't figure out a set answer between moderators, we will start doing more world dev discussions pending how the halfbreed one goes.

...I think that's it. Someone let me know if I missed anything.

[Saruna]

Ahhh one more thing about the member meetings:

We're going to start by first doing these through Google+ Hangouts. This requires, at minimum, having speakers or headphones of some kind. Mics & webcams are optional, but encouraged for those who wish to do the talky talky. There is also a chat sideboard in the hangout for anyone who doesn't wish to use mic but still wishes to contribute.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

- Start with a google+ account.
- You DO NOT need to use your real name.
- Friend Zina. (PM her with your google+ email)
- Zina will send out a meeting invite. (VOLUNTOLD!) This will show up as a red bell alert in the upper right of the screen.
- When the day comes, click on 'hangout'. This might require a download; if you have issues getting it to work let one of the mods know. Frug, in particular, is the best for helping to figure out how to make the newfangled thing work.
- Enjoy being a nerd! NERD!

If after the first meeting the majority of members would rather die than do another google+ hangout, we'll discuss other methods and venues. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS WILL GO. Patience and understanding will very much be appreciated!

[Darrik]

Epic update is epic, and huzzah for Tapuria!

Regarding Google+ Hangouts: it is very easy to use, I have found, and less of a hassle than Skype.

[Stella]

We're using Hangouts instead of Skype because it runs in your browser, and doesn't limit the number of people who can join as much.

By the way, meetings will consist of a lot of this:
http://tharshaddin.com/store/screenshot.jpg

and this:
http://tharshaddin.com/store/screenshot2.jpg

[Stella]

Thar Shaddin Open Member Meeting
REMINDER: Please create a google account if you do not already have one here: https://accounts.google.com/SignUp
Then visit this page: https://plus.google.com/110268368574946818681
and add me to your circles. Otherwise I will not know to send you an invite.
You should download the hangouts plugin ahead of time to make sure everything works.
There is a limit of 10 people at any given time. If one person leaves, a new person can then enter. If this limit is reached (which is unlikely) then keep an eye on the hangout anyway and wait for someone to leave.

Meeting Date:
Friday, September 6 5pm PST (10am Sept 7 for Australians)