Bukkit's bringing me down. But not you guys! This is a "blog post," so read it.

So iSack and myself got a whole lot of nothing done today. Fuck. I hate this.

Anyway, it's good news for all of you: Business as usual in the wonderful world of...uh...Cascade.

All out war has broken loose on the Refugee Island. Take up arms and fight valiantly.

Interacting with the Altar of Souls (the spawn point) directly is impossible right now. The entirety of the island has been turned into a battleground. This will remain for a while.

You are more than welcome to go off to your corners of the map and build as usual. The border has, regretfully, been severely reduced: this is because of an awful chunk issue coupled with the plugin I made (based off the BiomeSettings mod) doesn't exist for Bukkit in 1.3...yet. Don't tell iSack, but it's what I spent most of the day doing. It's awful.

So, I am severely depressed and irritable and now, more than ever, I need my community backing me. I upgraded the server as you are aware and it's running fabulously...for no one. Our playerbase is at an all time low and most of our core members are leaving. I am of course to blame and take full responsibility. So now is a good time to discuss how to handle this:

No longer will members join Haven Minecraft. They will join the faction which apprenticed them. We will have a form of apprenticeship up and running by Sunday, and it will enable you to begin training vagrants and getting them on the server...permanently...and fast-like. Apprentices will now be able to made into full members as soon as they clock 2-4 hours of gameplay with a master and pass an on-the-spot variant of the application quiz by a respected member (an 'op', as it were). The now-member will simply continue to play with his master and gang, working towards common goals for the faction and the like.

If the new member goes rogue, it is the responsibility and fault of the faction, and all will be held accountable.

I keep saying "factions." Yeah, they're not quite in yet, but will be soon. Not just anyone will be able to make a faction. Let me say this, however: Factions will need representation throughout Cascade. At first, a symbol. Then carving out a mountain. And then a city. Lore, writing, members stepping up to do other things for the community... All of these things will go towards getting that sweet, sweet benefit of having the label, the protected territories and other benefits.

Isack and myself will be working continuously tomorrow; I am afraid there will be little fun to be had. Just bear with us during these trying times...