JANUARY 19TH, 2014 UPDATES

hello everyone, while the beginning of the year has rolled around, and we have seen many faces come and, unfortunately, go. however, i’m so happy to say that gossamer is still up strong and running. as the month of januaray rolls along, and february is around the corner, the staff and i have a bunch of both in character and out of character news! so if everyone could please read the first two announcements, and then if you are interested in auditioning for a high position please read the third one. and then those with thunderclan, shadowclan, and windclan cats keep reading for your respective miniplot. and those people who want to attend the second gathering please read the last announcement and sign up. thank you so much!

various changes to the site
NEW ACTIVITY RULES, NEW STAFF, NEW HIGH POSITIONS, CHANGE
IN ADMINISTRATION, AND VARIOUS NPC ADDITIONS TO THE SITE.

while the beginning of the year has rolled around, we have lose our head admin talls. her goodbye message can be read, here. we grieve for gossamer’s lost, as talls is the one who restarted and started the site, and got us to where we are today. and i grieve for our loss in talls as well, as she is the one who became my first friend on the site and has welcomed me and made this community one that i am so devoted to. if she decides to come back, we will welcome her with our open arms. and talls can be contacted via aim at gorsetalon. we will miss her dearly <3

with the resignation of talls, please welcome ♛harley queen and @melk to the moderation team! they’re both lovely, friendly people to be around. and @shinguards and @smalls2 and i will still be part of the staff. if you have any questions, concerns, or anything, please feel free to pm any of us. and with these staff changes, not drastic changes will be made. the staff and i have agreed to have a new outlook on activity policies. those being:

i. your accounts must be logged in once every two days. if it has been a week since your last login, we will notify you via email and you will get two days before your account is deleted. we have changed this from the once a day logins to account for your busy schedules as well as limited internet access.
ii. every member (not character) must post at least once every week. however, each week, you must alternate with which character you are posting with. if a character has not posted within 2 weeks, but have logged in. we will still delete your account.
iii. if these cannot be met, you will be deleted, unless posting an away message in the occ board speaking of your spotty appearance. however, those who are consistently spotty will be stripped of any high position characters, since we are unable to keep the site plots moving and clans are unable to function without leaders, deputies, and medicine cats.

we will still keep the traditional naming system, however, will be open to any suggestions for suffixes which can be pmed to tallsie is waiting for white by using your account, or, by using the newly created @whispers account! with the changes that have been occurring, we’ve decided to ask the members what they think. gossamer is a community, and all of your voices are valued equally. and we want to know what you think and any changes that you want to see happening over the time of your stay. so do you have concerns? questions? plot ideas? are you too shy to pm any of the staff with your normal account? well, the whispers account is just for you! it’s a method intended as a way for members to voice their concerns, questions, or suggestions anonymously to the staff team-- and we will reply promptly with answers! the username for this is whispers and the password is gossamer. we trust all of you to use it sparingly, and any abuse of the account will be noted and punishment will be determined.

we have decided to change the way training pairs work. the respective clan leader will now decide upon acceptance of apprentices who the training pair will be to encourage the situation where leaders get to pair mentors and apprentices based on personality and strengths/weaknesses and such. so Blizzardstar, emberfang, @milkfur, and @white please pm one of the staff members or let them know the updated training pairs every week or post in the training pairs thread by tagging the mentor and the apprentice. thank you very much!

now, for the in-character news. with the disappearance, of talls, we have decided to bump up the windclan event to right now to explain the in-character disappearance of tallstar. so we welcome emberfang as the new windclan leader! and with the addition of skyclan, @white will be its leader. if you are interested in participating in any of their or @milkfur's leader ceremony, please pm both the respective leader and tallsie is waiting for white for any more information. and you will be able to use the @starclan account for this. we also welcome @eveningcloud and @mothdust as skyclan’s deputy and medicine cat. mothdust will be hinted at during whitesmoke’s leader ceremony, and mothdust’s training will begin via her dreams as well as in conjunction with the other medicine cats. thunderclan’s current deputy will be paleflower please welcome them all and congratulate them on becoming a high position! we still have openings for riverclan and windclan deputy and shadowclan medicine cat, and information for that will be found below the activity check!

activity check 1.0
JANURARY 19TH - 29TH, TEN DAYS, MUST HAVE POSTED WITH ALL KEEPING CHARACTERS. PLEASE POST IN THIS THREAD WITH FORM.

with the recent changes that have occurred, the staff and i have decided that there should be an activity check to get rid of those accounts as well as those characters that people want to give up. this will help us get organized and re-do the member directory, the name claim, as well as the clan statistics. for those characters that you are keeping, you must have one in character post with that account during this time period.

high position openings
SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT, RIVERCLAN DEPUTY, WINDCLAN DEP
MUST PM tallsie is waiting for white AND RESPECTIVE CLAN LEADER WITH AUDITION

the positions that are open are shadowclan medicine cat, riverclan deputy, and windclan deputy! if you are interested in these positions, please fill out the form below (after creating your character and being accepted as a warrior of that clan) and pm it to tallsie is waiting for white and your respective clan leader (either @smalls or emberfang or @milkfur thank you!)

note: keep in mind that shadowclan is currently traveling, and does not have the guidance of starclan. the medicine cat must have a knowledge of herbs, but will not have the blessings of starclan or the guidance, as they left the territories without a medicine cat.

[blockquote][b]name:[/b] your ooc name
[b]age:[/b] your ooc age. required to judge potential activity level.
[b]other commitments:[/b] let us know any activity hindering commitments you might have and how they will affect your ability to play a high position.

[b]character name:[/b] your applying character's name
[b]character age:[/b] in moons
[b]character gender:[/b] tom or she-cat
[b]character's clan:[/b] one of the clans able for audition
[b]character's current position:[/b] position your cat is now
[b]character's aspiring position:[/b] the position your character wants

[b]character's short description:[/b] short description of your character. 100-150 words
[b]character's personality[/b] how your character interacts. thorough. persuade us as to why this cat would be worthy of the position, or what drama they may bring to the clan.
[b]character's history:[/b] your character's history. thorough

[b]rp sample:[/b] as good as you can make it, an rp sample of your character. should be brand new and fresh.
[hr]

[b]why do you want this position?[/b] what are you going to bring to this position?
[b]current clan's plot:[/b] in your own words, tell us the plot the current clan is going through.
[b]do you acknowledge our activity rules, and do you understand that seven days of inactivity (logging in and posting) will result in termination from both the position and the site?[/b] if not, please erase your application.
[b]do you understand that to keep your character active means to post three hundred words a post, or your account will be terminated from the site?[/b] if no, please erase your application.[/blockquote]
additionally, if you are willing to roleplay ◌ doe-eyes for approximately a week to keep her active. please pm white with an example of a doe-eye post. thank you! splashy and the staff appreciate it

thunderclan miniplot 1.0
APPROXIMATELY JANUARY TO FEBRUARY, ALL THUNDERCLAN.
"AIN'T NO CURE, THAT MUCH I'M SURE. DON'T THINK I CAN SURVIVE."

for background, explanation, and notes, please read the january updates. if you have recently made a thunderclan cat, or have not signed up, please sign up by using the form below.

HEALTHY leopardheart doe-eyes darkpaw

WHITECOUGH cuckooface wolfpaw amberfeather

GREENCOUGH patchcloud frogpelt snowfoot goosepaw

DEAD blizzardstar (1 life) paleflower

my cat, [b]NAME[/b] of thunderclan, will be [b]HEALTHY/SICK WITH WHITECOUGH/SICK WITH GREENCOUGH/DEAD[/b]
the first thread is still going on. we currently need cats to start arguing with one another, to force the plot to get moving. so for everyone who has a thunderclan cat, please post in the thread below. and we previously said that the illness will be gone before the start of the next gathering-- however, that is not true. as the cats will still be affected by the sickness during the gathering. however, those sick will not be able to attend. thank you very much!

THREAD ONE: SPINNING WHEELS KEEP TURNING night, just after the gathering. blizzardstar calls a meeting to discuss the happenings at the gathering, the out break of the disease is revealed here. IN PROGRESS

shadowclan miniplot 1.0
APPROXIMATELY FEBRUARY TO APRIL, ALL SHADOWCLAN + OUTSIDERS
“THE SILENCE GUIDES YOUR MIND. MOVE TO A PLACE SO FAR AWAY.”

windclan miniplot 1.0
APPROXIMATELY FEBRUARY TO MARCH, ALL WINDCLAN. CHANCE.
"I CAN TEST THE LIMITS AND BREAK THROUGH, NO RIGHT, NO WRONG"

BACKGROUND never become complacent.

much like thunderclan, windclan’s territory was tranquil and untouched. the fire and frozen river hardly seemed to affect them, and with spring on the horizon, food would only become ever more plentiful. even the spreading illness seemed to rest only in the depths of the forest and not on the moors. sure, their leader was untrained and naive in the ways of the warrior, but they still prospered as the largest and most stable clan in the territories. they were the greatest of the four oaks; faster than the wind itself; uncatchable.

but, such peace could not last forever.

it was only a matter of time before the cats of the grasslands became too negligent of the borders shared with the strongest of all animals, twolegs. these tall, strange beasts began to take notice of signs and symptoms of something more. a handful of paw prints by their irrigation ditch, a dead mouse carcass in the barn, a cat calling in the night. fearful of a growing population of feral cats, they began to take desperate measures.

first came the twolegs: the blundered about the edges of the territory, poking at everything and anything. everything living hid from the hairless creatures. no one wanted to get tangled up in their tained steps. darkness clung to their actions, willfully warning the wild that nothing gould could come. stay away. run. yet they left as quickly as they came, a bad memory only to be forgotten. a tale for kits on a winter’s night. it was over, it would all be okay.

of course. nothing is that easy.

that night, they took something, someone. they snatched away the cat starclan had picked to guide them through the shadows. they stole the flickering hope the moors needed to stay alive. they seized the one thing keeping windclan forever strong:

tallstar was gone.

in his place, strong metal dens lay scattered about the territory. ominous and cold, they promised to steal everything else that was left of windclan. they would catch the fastest cats of the forest. finally, the last great oak would fall.

EXPLANATION this is a two to three month plot where windclan loses their leader and everything else crumbles beneath their paws. a few days after tallstar announced emberfang to be the next deputy, a group of twolegs wandered across the territory. they stayed for only a few short hours, but behind them they left a series of traps. the goal was to control the wild population of cats which the surrounding farmers had started to notice. that night they caught their first victims - tallstar and his mate clovercloud. now emberfang, a painfully young and newly named deputy, is left to lead the clan away from an unknown danger. some will be caught in the cages never to be seen again, others will return after a visit to the "cutter." one thing is certain - the time of peace is over and windclan will never be the same again. 

SIGN UPS all windclan! we need a few characters to be caught by the twoleg traps. some will never return-- or return as kittypets-- and others will lose their ability to reproduce. this is all on a volunteer basis, so please post in this thread with this code please. the admin account will be posting in organized threads with information as to how many get stolen and when.  as well as when the stolen cats will be returned back into the forest

LOST FOREVER tallstar clovercloud spiderstep

KITTYPETIFIED icestream chalkpaw

"FIXED" name name name

my character [b]NAME HERE[/b] of WINDCLAN will be [B]LOST FOREVER/KITTYPETIFIED/"FIXED"[/b]

NOTES keep in mind that windclan will be affected by the disappearance and reappearance of cats for two months. the timing of the cats disappearing will be posted in the clan by the staff, and reappearance time will also be posted. for some threads, the creature account will be posted with twolegs catching some of the cats and taking them away. there will be a general uneasiness and hectic atmosphere of windclan, and desperation. as for whether windclan wishes to take sanctuary will be up to the leader, as well as the their relationship with other clans. for threads, there will one organized thread to introduce the idea of the disappearances and the twoleg drama. remember, this affects all windclan only. but the other clans will probably know of the drama in windclan, because word travels fast. and because of the upcoming gathering.

THREAD ONE: PROMISE OF FUTURE CRISIS midnight, just after the recent twoleg sightings and the naming of emberfang as deputy. tallstar is no where to be found and has been missing for close to four days now. a npc windclan cat with the name, pipitpelt comes and collapses in the middle of camp, screeching of horrors unimaginable. IN PROGRESS

gathering 2.0
FEBRUARY 1ST TO CONCLUSION, ALL CLANS (SIGNS UPS PLEASE).
"ANYWHERE I, I WOULD’VE FOLLOWED YOU. I’M GIVING UP ON YOU.”

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THUNDERCLAN blizzardstar (?) darkpaw

RIVERCLAN milkstar ravenpaw ternpaw (m)

WINDCLAN briarheart icestream

SKYCLAN whitestar ryecloud stripetalon

my cat, [b]NAME[/b] of [b]CLAN[/b], will be attending the second gathering.

love and love always,
the gossamer staff