Yui-chan

Well, it sounds like we'll be in opposite corners of the Isle. Aegon and I are spending the holidays in Kent. And to that end... Happy holidays, everyone. I'll be gone until after the New Year, so I hope you all enjoy some time with friends, family and/or loved ones. We'll see you in 2006! Best wishes, ~Yui (and Aegon)

Katz, edit your poll (ie, edit your first post). Once you do, you'll see that you can not only see the number of votes, but modify them. I think. Let me know if you can't. (Had to experiment to learn that) , ~Yui

Vigil, please don't post 'chain letters' in the Pen forums. If you'd like to take this concept and write it up into a chilling and vivid story, then we'll be glad to read it and give you feedback and appropriate praise. Badly written and poorly punctuated posts threatening death to our members, however, are neither amusing nor impressive... and are not very welcome. If you need a place to post things like this where they may be appreciated, I'm sure I can make a few suggestions. Send me a PM for a list. Thank you, ~Yui

Well, in a fit of productivity, I created the guild, tonight. Thanks to some friendly people, some of whom are definitely able roleplayers and already interested in this community. (Hi, guys!) The guild is the . Rhese is guildleader at the moment. Please be sure that I know your alts'/characters' names, and I'll start sending invites and spreading the power to invite around. This is going to be fun. Valdar, get your butt on Argent Dawn! Yours, ~Yui aka Rhese

For lack of a better decision-making factor, shall we just say that we're going to Argent Dawn since Valdar hasn't chimed in here? I don't really care strongly, but let's decide. I need to know which server to look for you guys on without playing server-pong to find you. Thanks, ~Yui

Truth to tell, with a 50+ character on the server, I thought you'd be the loudest exponent for putting this party on Argent Dawn, Gyr. You've already put so much time in there. That's my main reason, though it's no more valid (and probably less so than Valdar's two 60s on Icecrown), for wanting to go to Argent Dawn. I have about 45 combined levels of time there. So, if you're not the one who wants to second a move to Argent Dawn, then the only part of my reasoning that's still valid is that I do think we'd find more people of Pen interest on Argent Dawn. Of course, we also won't be as unique there. I don't know. Whatever. Let's just make up our minds before poor Tamaranis puts another 15 levels into a character on Argent Dawn only to go back to his Paladin. S'all good, ~Yui

Well done, everyone. Congratulations on your shiney new titles, and thanks for contributing to our community. Staccato Wishes, ~Yui

I'm going to cry. That is all, ~Yui

Good luck, Mynx. Those computers are vicious and merciless fighters, so I hope you can beat it into submission quickly and without incident. Where are you going to be in England? The isle is our holiday destination, too. Have fun, ~Yui

Congratulations on finishing, Elvina. I hope you enjoyed the experience and can get a massive boost from your victory. More, I hope you can reread what you wrote and love it. (Heh. I never could, which is why I chose not to do NaNo, this year.) All the best, ~Yui

7 (7 ate 9) 4 (for he's a jolly good fellllow...) 3 (blind mice) ? 8 (the black 8 ball) 9 (dressed to the nines) That middle one doesn't ring a bell, I'm afraid... Taking a second, ~Yui

Many thank-yous for the help, Gyr. We've come an awful long way from the board with ten forums and 50 members. x_x I just wanted to re-point out that the blue is temporary. This is the Invision default skin (though our own 'Pen Blue' skin will probably be quite similar to this). I've got the Pen Tan skin about 75% done, so give me another day or two. After that, I'll put the Pen Black skin back together. (Although I'm planning a few 'improvements' to that one. I'm going to make it look a bit more like the Pen Tan, graphically. There'll be a Plain Black option, as well.) Danke, ~Yui

In the end, I tackled the easiest problem first. Smilies have been re-added. I can't guarantee that the text strings to call them are the same, though, so older posts may have :text: where a smilie used to be called. Yep, ~Yui

Gah. Herald permissions have been corrected. How did I miss that earlier? Sorry, ~Yui

Well, Tanny, I was about to launch into a 'no' answer, but I went back to look at the posts (not just yours, either), and I'm afraid to say that it looks like you -will- need to do a one-time replace in order to get the board to convert it to and from UBB Code properly. I have to admit, I have no idea why that's the case. The custom UBB codes that I added in to the upgraded forum are identical to the originals with the exception of the new {tablew} designator. In theory, the board should have treated them exactly like the originals, thus being able to convert back and forth. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Be sure to refer to The Pen Technology thread to guide you in which UBB codes to put in place of the HTML. Thanks, ~Yui Sweetcherrie, Problem corrected. Somehow, that particular forum had no mods assigned at all. I've restored Mod ability to you, Gryphon and Nyyark as standard. Yours, ~Yui

Tanny, your table is fixed. There were two problems with it, one caused by one of those UBB code changes I mentioned, and the other caused by me not properly re-entering one of the unchanged custom UBB codes. Anyway, problem #2 is fixed, and I'll post up a guide to the custom UBB code shortly, which will help you (all) make sure problem #1 doesn't pop up again. Sweetcherry, you and Katzaniel have the same permission mask applied, so if she can Mod, you should be able to as well. I've verified that the board is, indeed, identifying you as a moderator for the AVV. Please double-check that you weren't just missing the mod controls (which are in a slightly different position, now), and let me know if I need to investigate further. Thanks! All, I found that some incorrect permissions were at fault for the AVV being hidden to Poets, Quill-bearers and Troubadors. It's been corrected. In fact, I went through the whole list of forums and corrected a number of improperly assigned permissions. I -think- everything is right, now, though there were some people/groups whose permission status were unclear to me. Point being, if you find you can't see something you should, just let me know. Okay. I think that's everyone. Back to work! ~Yui

The Mighty Upgrade has been accomplished (though not without its share of weeping and moaning, I assure you ). As you've probably noted, the Mighty Skins are not yet ready. In truth, the update went poorly and took up all my skin-translating time. Anyway, skins will be back ASAP. I'll be working on them over the next few days. In the mean time, please do your best to muddle through with Invision's default Blue. Similarly, the Portal is out of commission until I can beat it into submission. Once again, hopefully within a few days. The Custom UBB codes that we had (Tables and StaticURLs) have been reinstalled with some very minor differences. Look for a topic with those updates some time tomorrow. (That's Monday.) Ah, and if you're looking for that extremely long list of smilies ... I'm afraid you won't find most of them. The updated board handles custom Smilies in a completely different way, so the old smilies just couldn't find their way over here. They're right behind the Portal and the Skins on my list of things to re-add, though, so look for them to magically reappear later this week. In the meantime, please take a look around and get used to the new commands, the new look and the upgraded functions. If you find errors, bugs, or just have questions, feel free to post them here. Tired and going to bed, ~Yui-chan (with the gracious help of Aegon)

"Dewd! I jess ripped the thing. I dunn reed it!" Exasperated, ~Yui

... the darkelf said, and then the penguin honked with glee and launched a heat-seeking apple at him in an explosive, ritual welcome. Mira blinked and nudged the tuxedoed bird. "A glacier, you were saying...?" "Oh, right. Yes, a glacier would be much more appropriate, and I think we can get the arctic gods to help with that if you'll only just...

You've done a great job, Katz. And so much work! Thanks for sticking with it. Brief, ~Yui

~Items~ Yui often carries a bow slung over one shoulder when outside the Pen walls, but has no quiver. Instead, her amunition comes from a bag of enchanted jade arrowheads that she carries in an interior pocket of her cloak. These artifacts materialize wooden shafts when triggered, making them the more compact equivalent to a quiver full of arrows. On occassion, she has been seen with a katan strapped to her hip, its leather-wrapped hilt visible jutting out from an embossed sheath. A small, dull ivory dagger always hangs from her belt as well. Her other constant accessories are a pair of black pearl earrings that were a gift, an enchanted quill, the tattered book in which it writes, and her long, ebony cloak.

~Skills~ Yui is skillful in a few different areas: swordplay, archery, magecraft and penmanship. She is only a novice with a katana (though taught by the great Gyrfalcon himself), but is a deft hand with a dagger and a master archer. She also has the nebulous ability to do what she calls 'Shadowwalking', to instantly travel over small distances by stepping 'through' shadows. While she doesn't know much about the exact means and method of her ability, it equates to using shaded surfaces as portals to access the very edges of a polar-opposite plane that exists next to our own, called the Shadow Plane. (Cioden Darkeye knows much more about this phenomenon than Yui does.) There are limits, of course. Temae Yui cannot shadowwalk if the shadows are not dark enough in contrast to the ambient lighting. A shadow cast in an adequately-lit indoor room is a viable portal, but as the lighting situation dims, the shadow becomes more and more difficult to use until it is too low-contrast. Though it might seem counterintuitive, this means that she is unable to shadowwalk in total darkness. With a portal established, Yui can then step through it to skirt the boundary between the two planes and pop back out into the light side at a different shadow. She can't make a shadow except the same way as anyone else, that is by standing in light. Neither can she portal into her own shadow, or force someone else to portal through their own shadows, for the simple fact that the portal disappears as its source moves through to the Shadow Plane. The portal would be forced to snap shut on the poor person. She can, however, send other people and objects through her own shadow and control which shadow they come out from.

~History~ Temae Yui was an Archmage until a few years ago (Pen time), when she joined the throngs of people that fled from her home world, Terra. At the time, they believed that Terra was in the throes of death, the strange Reincarnation cycle that formed its basis having begun to degrade. Since then, the emigrants have found that Terra still exists... or has somehow been remade, but Yui has chosen her new life over her old, vowing to never go back. Thus, she has the magical knowledge of an Archmage but a severely limited power and mana base from which to use it; it's rare for her to use her magic for more than the most simplistic of tasks. Although she was born (and still is, essentially) human, Yui is also an immortal, granted an extensive lifespan and the promise of eternal rebirth by the nature of her role on Terra. That is the legacy of all Archmagi and a part of the fabric of Terra's reality. Since coming to the Pen's world, she has wondered often whether she will now age and die, but the past few years have yet to answer that question for her. Yui-chan has the nickname of 'Huntress', a moniker that originates from some forgotten moment in the past. One assumes that it was created due to the utility of her archery skills, but it has stuck because it suits her in a lot of little subtle ways.

~Physical Appearance~ Yui is a female human and pretty typical for the species. Fair and small, she stands only 5'3" tall, her petite form giving most the mistaken impression that she is a weak, timid woman. That lie is told out by the stubborn set to her jaw and the gleam of defiance in her greyish-green eyes. Though some have labeled her beautiful, she would tell you that her only appealing feature is her long, golden hair. Naturally, the magess wears a variety of clothes and styles depending on the occassion, but she can most often be found in either an ankle-length fitted dress or a more practical everyday outfit that is some combination of fitted trousers, a rather comfy-floppy long-sleeve shirt, and a long vest or jacket-like garment. Whatever the fashion du jour, she is never far from her full-length ebon cloak. In fact, she's been known to be extremely protective of the seemingly-commonplace accessory...

~Personality~ Yui-chan and Aegon, her 'partner', hold a position equivalent to medieval nobles in the world's social structure, running a small fiefdom on the borders of the Pen lands. Her efforts there and within the Pen, where she serves as an Elder, have given her a reputation as a dedicated and responsible individual, which she values and appreciates. As a consequence, she spends most of her time taking care of anything and everything she can to keep both her lands and the Pen running smoothly. On average, Yui is a relatively quiet, stern figure who's often waiting with a teasing joke hidden just behind a frown. She finds it amusing to be mysterious, tending to deflect questions about her past and her person for no better reason than to make the asker even more curious. Of course, since she has lived for a very, very long time, she also may have more than her share of secrets. With so much history behind her, she tries very hard to live in the present, finding motivation and means of distraction within the Pen and its people. Though few know all the details of her birth and youth, it is common knowledge that she comes from a culture that is similar in many ways with what we know as Japanese culture; the "chan" suffix that so many of her friends add to her name indicates friendship and familiarity with a female of her nation.