Welcome back for more changes and new things! You all are rocking it and we are amazed by how active everyone has been. Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey, some changes have been made based on your feedback. The survey is now closed but we will have another one in a few months to see how things are working out for everyone.

Occupational pride ranks will now come with the following perks for the characters who hold them:

• Lead Fighter: Can make/answer challenges for pride lionesses or cubs
• Lead Hunter: +1 dice for pride hunt rolls if they’re leading the hunting party
• Lead Medic: +2 dice for healing pride-mates (healing a wounded roll)
• Lead Scout: +1 luck to all pride-mates during raids or wars

We recently made a big change to the requirements for claiming trade experience. Shortly afterwards, the Staff team released our Check-In Survey, and got to hear everyone's thoughts on this, amongst other things. After listening to you guys and taking in your feedback, this is the last change we will be making on claiming trade exp, for the time being:

• Trade tasks must occur over the span of 2 posts within the thread.
• You can only make 3 requests for trade exp per thread.

We understand that this reverted change will be confusing and frustrating for some of you -- we apologize for that, and hope that this is a fair middle ground for all of our members. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

The claimable OOC petals for "Thread with a new person (claimable once per OOC member)" has been changed to need the following requirements:

• The thread in question needs to have 10+ posts with exits.
• There has to be interaction between your character and the other member’s character.

If you are participating in a neutral territory hunt and fail on your first attempt, you can request one re-attempt in the same thread.

• To do this, all characters in the hunt need to post again (after the hunt results have been posted by Staff). After there has been a second round of posting, the second attempt can be requested.
• If you are successful on your first attempt, you cannot request another hunt roll in the same thread.

This is only applicable to neutral territory hunts. Pride hunts do not quality for additional attempts.

Here are some changes that we are making to the Outlaw trade, including some changes to the levels and the Master/Sub-Master perks.

Level 1: +1 to hit rolls
Level 2: 50/50 chance at 1 cub while rogue, regardless of thread count between parents
Level 3: Can’t be claimed / Can challenge for a lioness or cub at the borders or from prides without a rank
Level 4: Can create an official band
Level 5: Can move the location of their band once per OOC month

MASTER PERKS:

• Increase maximum of lions in a given band by 5 (total of 15 for the Master Outlaw).
• Can roll a maximum of 3 cubs regardless of pride or rank.

SUB-MASTER PERKS:

• Increase maximum of lions in a given band by 5.

The Outlaw trade is set up so that once your character reaches Outlaw Level 4 they can set up a non-traditional pride, called a band. Members in the band are classed as rogues, but will be given a title that shows their rank within the band.

• The Master Outlaw must have the support of 5 others to set up a band. They must ICly gain their support and play out setting up their band location together.
• The maximum number of members is 10 (including cubs) per level 4 Outlaw.
• So, if you have two level 4 Outlaws in the same band, you can have up to 20 members.
• Having more Master and Sub-master Outlaws in the band raises these numbers.
• If the Band goes over their maximum number of permitted members, a member must either be run out, or the band will fail.
• Since it is a trade perk, creating an Outlaw band does not count as being a “leader”, and does not qualify your character for leadership-based awards or petals.
• Bands cannot be challenged for in the way that regular prides are.
• Bands can make alliances, if they wish, but can not offer to "take in" members from other prides during war or other circumstances.
• The location that a band has settled in can be treated as pride lands. This means that band members can defend the land that they have chosen from other characters.
• The band's page (similar to a pride page) will be viewable in the neutral territory that they are settled in.
• Ranks within the band are decided by the Master Outlaw and do not have to follow the set-up of normal pride ranks. However, the number of ranks allowed is set by staff depending on the number of Master Outlaws that have banded together.

A Band can fail for the following reasons:

• Master Outlaw(s) not posting 3 times in a week.
• Band page not being updated once a week.
• Member numbers are greater than allowed.

This information is now available in the Guidebook, here.

Amaryllis’ mentorship system is a way for younger characters to get involved with trades, and for more experienced characters to pass along their knowledge and expertise.

Master Mentor: A lion who has proven knowledge of their chosen Master trade and is able to pass that knowledge onto youth.

Level 3: 1 Apprentice
Level 4: 2 Apprentices
Level 5: 3 Apprentices

Sub-Master Mentor: A lion who has proven knowledge of their chosen Sub-Master trade and is able to pass that knowledge onto youth. A sub-master mentor can have 1 apprentice once their sub-trade level reaches level 3.

Apprentice: A youth (4 months - 2 years of age) that is interested in a given trade can become an apprentice.

To become official, both characters must complete 4 trade-related threads (10+ posts with exits), in which the mentor is teaching the soon-to-be apprentice.

• Threads need to be about teaching and not just doing the action, and the apprentice needs to be following along.
• Once completed, you will need to post the threads and the request in General Maintenance for Staff review.
• Once it is official, both parties will receive the “Mentorship” IC award.

In order to stay as an official mentor and apprentice pair, you will need to have at least one trade-related thread per month.

• If either party becomes inactive, you will need to start over in order to become official again.
• "Take part in an organized hunt using the hunt system" does not count as a mentorship/apprentice task.

This information is now available in the Guidebook, here.

Starting today, we will be setting the Amaryllis' default theme to "Dusk Before the Dawn". This may change the theme for some of you, depending on your current account settings -- if this happens and you want to switch back, all of our skins and themes are still available in the UserCP, or via the dropdown menu at the bottom of the site's homepage.

Also, we now have one of our long-awaited dark skin, which is called "Shadows at Dusk", so make sure to check it out! We hope you guys enjoy it, and more options will be coming soon.

- The Staff Team