Hornsounder - February 2008 edition

[Mystica]

 

General Dragonmount

(coordinated by Mystica)

 

*Euromeet 2008 - Ghent Festival (Belgium) *

 

From 17 to 21 July a neat little group of DM'ers will be roaming the streets of Ghent (which is in Belgium, which is the country, not the capital of Brussels) during the yearly Festival that will be taking over the streets of the city.

 

Preparations are underway and the meet is being organised by yours truely and I can tell you that I am both thrilled and a bit nervous at meeting people I've known for over a year but not quite, if you get my drift. ;)

 

It promises to be a fantastic event though and it's starting to get more and more exciting as people are getting their bookings fixed, their rooms booked and their travel plans finalised.

 

These preparations can be followed on the Euromeet board at DM and all are more than welcome to join in on the fun of the planning, discussing possible activities or just hang out and get a pre-taste of party/culture/relaxing event that those attending the meet are going to undergo.

 

Registrations are open to anyone who wishes to join us during these 4 days and I think it is more than safe to promise that it will be an event that will not be lightly forgotten.

 

Of course a thorough account of all happenings will be made afterwards, as we want to make you all jealous as hell, but like Corki said last year..... 'what happens at Euromeet, stays at Euromeet'. So if you want to be 'in' on the details and the more secretive stuff that will be going on, you better join us.  ;D

 

 

Organizations (ORG)

(coordinated by Mystica)

 

*THE KIN*

(by Taymist - UC)

 

So what have you missed at The Kin during January and February? Have no fear!! Your friendly neighbourhood reporter is here to bring you all the latest gossip.  ;)

 

Big news was the return of Staffmaster and Leane who had been greatly missed on the boards. Great to have you guys back! We also had 3 new members in the shape of Sienna, Mystica and Stefania Sedai. Welcome to each of you.  :D

 

There were Raisings aplenty as Zarine and Nephitess became Green Sashes in January, swiftly followed by two Raisings to the Red Sash for Faerielin and Taymist. Congratulations to all.  ;D

 

A new initiative was introduced by the Kin's Council this month.... The Golden Knitting Needle Club!! The first initiates to this exclusive club for Red Sashes who reach the highest point levels (150 and more) were Staffmaster, Ursula and Danya. Well done folks!!

 

The Spammers’ Challenge thread has been busy as ever and is up to an astonishing page 527 and post 6318. A huge leap in the last couple of months. Why not stop in and help it along?

 

Calypsa, Poledra, Faerielin and Elegant Eldest, Lor, have each celebrated birthdays through January and February and well wishes and birthday messages were passed along to all of them.  :)

 

The activity has been non stop on the boards as Kinsters attempted to keep up with Twinflower and all the exciting ideas she's been coming up with. February was all about love of course, as St. Valentine's Day came round on the 14th, with a glimpse into the original story behind the celebration. A Valentine's Day Card Exchange was also held to give thanks for all the wonderful friendships people have made in the Kin. It was also National Library Month, so everyone joined in with a discussion on their experiences at local libraries and their earliest memories of using the service. It seems most of us are avid readers... no surprise there then!!  :P

 

The annual Resolutions thread for 2008 started up and it will be ongoing for support and encouragement throughout the year. Members posted the things they'd most like to achieve or hoped to deal with this year and goals covered everything from losing weight, to giving up smoking, beating debt and concentrating on studying. Good luck everyone!!

 

If you'd like to see what other games and activities are on offer, then stop by for a visit... but remember!!... points are not the point  8-)... it's all about having fun, chilling out and making friends.

 

See you all again next month!!  ;)

 

 

[Mystica]

*Wolfkin*

(by Taymist UC)

 

Having missed January, there's a ton of news to cover in the Wolfkin Stedding this month, so let's get right down to business.

 

The Pack has called home some missing members since the start of the new year, namely Tigara, Dah'mir, Karaj, Gerrendus and Mirgonath and also found a much older member returning in the form of Elyssa. Elyssa chose to join the Healers' Guild, becoming an Apprentice, as she is already a Wolfsister and Tigara returned to the fold of the Seers' Guild. It was lovely to see them and hopefully they'll be staying for good.

 

New members were plentiful as the Wolfkin were joined by cosmicpanda, mmeeshal, Perrin of North Winds, Daetirion and CutNRun. A warm welcome and many dunkings ensued to make them feel at home.

 

January saw a record roll call sign up for the Wolfkin with 37 members making their paw marks. ;) February saw the challenge laid down to up that number to 45... and I'm delighted to report that challenge was met and exceeded with over 50 members signing in!! Way to go Wolfies!!  8-)

 

February 1st saw a milestone reached as Taymist became the first person to earn her Wolf Name under the new ranking system that was introduced last year. She gained the title of Maester as a Healer and chose the name Northern Grace, submitted by her old mentor Lara/Winter Mist. There were many good suggestions made and Tay extended her thanks to all the Pack members who participated. The Pack Leader, Goldeneyes05, also formally welcomed Tay to the ranks of Named Wolfkin.  ;D

 

That day also saw other Raisings as Safire made Youngling, Katiora became a Packmate, Mr. Soy Boyo made full Wolfbrother as well as Stalker, the Initiate rank in the Warriors' Guild and Ar'tara reached Traveler which is the Artisan rank in the Seers' Guild. Congrats to all of them.  :D

 

Changes were afoot in the Wolfkin Council as 12th Regiment had to step down due to offline commitments. To mark the occasion and thank him for all of his hard work, he was presented with the Omega Wolf Award for services and outstanding commitment to the Wolfkin Org. Mr. Soy Boyo stepped up to be Head of the Warriors' Guild whilst Doselan joined the Council as a Junior Member, taking over Recruitment. Mr. Soy Boyo also took over as Pawprints Editor and he will be assisted by Talya. The latest edition can be read on the Org's public board.

 

Birthdays saw parties and celebrations for Heiraphis Theroin and Poledra, who turned 18 this year. We hope you both had fabulous days!!

 

February was also the month for showcasing the Warriors' Guild after a very successful month for the Healers in January. The Warriors' Mafia Game, Night of the Living Dead, has proved a huge hit with all the Pack members.

 

Excitement currently abounds in the Stedding as the Wolfkin Org made the final nomination list for the 2007 Empy Awards in the Most Improved Org category. Pack Papa, Goldy, is urging all members to get out there and vote!!

 

Well, that's all the news so far this year... tune in again in March for the latest updates. Meantime, if you fancy some TQ and chili or have an interest in the world of nature... stop by for a visit. You may get lucky and be introduced to TQ Lake Monster.  ;)

 

*Wolfkin Div*

(by Taymist UC)

 

The start of a new year saw changes afoot at the Wolfkin Division as TaeaDawn stepped out of the Division Leader role due to offline commitments. The announcement that Taymist would be taking over as Leader was made on 22 January.

 

A new staff team was soon put in place to get things moving and contacts are now as follows:

 

Asistant DL - Andular

Head of the Rangers - Whitewolf/Owen

Head of the Sages - Andular/Miryana

Head of the Trackers - Nynaeve/Lorelai

 

Several members sadly left Dragonmount in January but balancing that out, the past month has seen Wolfsbane/Erik and Daegus/Medrin return to the Pack as well as a new member in the shape of Karaj/Alaya. Welcome and welcome back to each of them and a good luck to those who moved on to new pastures.  :)

 

A new RP (role play), suggested by Andular, which will have a mixed group of people from various divisions lost on an island and trying to survive, is currently under discussion so feel free to stop by the RP Planning board and give your input if it interests you.

 

Also in the pipeline is a joint activity for April between the Wolfkin Div and Wolfkin Org in an effort to strengthen ties between the two sides of Dragonmount. Further details will be forthcoming prior to the event. We hope to see as many members as possible involved and a call is going out to old members to encourage their participation too.

 

If you think you'd be interested in becoming a part of the Division, check out the website HERE. All the latest information on members, the history of the Wolfkin, copies of current bios and details on what's needed for a bio submission can be found on the site.

 

If you still have any queries, you can contact Tay at DMwolfkindiv@gmail.com regarding bios or wolvesinmist@hotmail.co.uk for general questions and just to say hi.

 

So if you feel you'd enjoy indulging in a bit of fantasy and trying your hand at role playing within Randland, we hope to hear from you soon and do stop by the out of character (OOC) board HERE. Don't forget there's always a warm welcome at the Stedding, along with chili, tequila and cookies from Nyn if you're very lucky.  ;)

 

 

[Mystica]

 

Wheel of Time Section

(by Taymist - UC)

 

Dragonmount Meets

 

Planning for D*Con 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia and Euromeet 2008 in Ghent, Belgium are both in full swing. They now have their own boards opened up for more planning. Details for those interested can be found at the following links:

 

Euromeet and D*Con

 

 

News and Announcements

 

Want to know the latest and most up-to-date happenings around Dragonmount? Then this is the board for you. Current announcements include news on the Empy Award Voting, Ask The Chosen and Jennifer Liang's Podcast interview about D*Con. You can find all of these and more, HERE.

 

 

Community News

 

An announcement was made this month that Brandon Sanderson, the man chosen to finish A Memory of Light, is scheduled to attend this year's D*Con. More info can be found HERE.

 

On February 20th we heard that Jennifer Liang, (aka Kathana, our very own Community Admin), had spoken to DM's Podcast about D*Con 2008. You can listen to the Podcast HERE.

 

The 4th Age Podcast has been busy once more and if you'd like to read about what's been discussed and check out Episodes 34-36, then the board you need is HERE. Alternatively, you might want to join in with the discussion on Asmodean's death which is taking place there just now.

 

Also, if you're interested in the outcome of the A.L.I.N. Role Play Awards, check out the RP Discussion board for all the winner announcements. Categories included Most Impressive Storyline, Mad Adventure and Creepy Horror amongst others.

[Mystica]

 

What exactly IS the Hornsounder?

 

Hornsounder is the Band of the Red Hand's monthly Newspaper. It evolved from a newsletter into a newspaper in March 2007 when Mystica took over as Editor in Chief and started a full restructuring and re-organisation of what once was not much more than a points earning tool.

 

Today, Hornsounder is a full sized newspaper that is run by a whole team of people and covers not only news from the Band but also offers a space to all other groups on Dragonmount to share their news and events with the rest of the community. Although the main focus remains on the Band, of course, it is a nice extra forum for other groups to get in touch with those that have not yet been in touch with them as well as offers their members a certain amount of pride to see their beloved group represented in this newspaper. (we hope... )

 

Hornsounder is open to everyone on DM, regardless of which group they belong to or don't belong to. And this in both ways. Whether you just want to read, play the games or participate in the Competitions, everyone is welcome to join in. The same goes for being actively involved in the Hornsounder as a reporter. Everyone is welcome to participate, write articles, offer a project they would like to run or simply get involved by offering ideas and suggestions to increase the quality of your newspaper.

 

There are some restrictions where positions are concerned, given that Hornsounder IS the Band's newspaper and therefore Banders do get priority on certain aspects. But this does not exclude the possibility of involvement for Non-Banders who wish to be an active part of it.

 

Interested in getting involved? contact Mystica through pm and she'll get back to you asap after assessing your suggestion/idea.

 

How does the Hornsounder work?

 

Hornsounder, like every real newspaper, is divided into Sections and some of those have Subsections.

 

Sections are shown by their individual Graphic Headers.

Subsections are shown in BLUE

 

The Reporter Teams.

Each Section is run by a Section Senior Reporter who is the coordinator of the entire Section, including the subsections. It is their job to make sure all the elements are submitted at the deadline given and meets the required quality standards. Some Subsections are in themselves so big that they too have been assigned a Section Senior Reporter.

 

The different Sections and Subsections are made up of a series of articles that can be made/written by either the SSR's or by other writers: Junior Reporters. They write parts of the Section contents and work closely together with the SSR's. They get to be mentioned as the author of the articles they write/make, and in case of a Bander get the points that go along with it.

 

Next to the Section Reporters we also have Project Reporters.

Senior Project Reporters are those in charge of a large project that almost certainly requires the help of Junior Reporters.

Junior Project Reporters are those in charge of small or medium sized projects and may (or may not) need assistance from Junior Reporters.

Which projects are Senior or Junior level is decided by the Editor in Chief on a case-to-case basis.

 

The Editorial Team is made up by an Editor in Chief, a Senior Editor, a Graphic Editor and Junior Editors. 

 

The Editor in Chief runs the whole newspaper. Creates and motivates the team, monitors progress and overlooks all Sections and everyone involved, gathers all the submissions and glues it all together into one coherent and appealing newspaper. The EiC also guards the quality of the newspaper, assesses new ideas/suggestions, implements new features and follows up on just about everything. The EiC has the final say on everything though should always strive to find the right balance between her team's ideas, the newspaper's needs and the readers' wishes.

 

The Senior Editor is the right hand of the EiC and picks up the reins in case the EiC is unable to perform the function. The SE is there to insure that the newspaper is published on time and with the set quality even if the EiC is indisposed.

 

The Graphic Editor is the left hand of the EiC and is in charge of all the graphical elements of the newspaper. From the Headers to the graphics in the articles, this is all the GE's domain. He/she is the one writers can turn to if they want to liven up their sections or articles with a graphical item.

 

The Junior Editor, are the assistants of the EiC and SE and tackle a variety of preperatory tasks on the editorial aspect of the Hornsounder. To become a JE one needs to be extremely active, willing and eager to work behind the scenes and be available for whatever the EiC and SE may need them for.

 

Hornsounder's Teams

 

Editorial Team

- Editor in Chief (EiC): Mystica

- Senior Editor (SE): Direwolf Jon

- Graphic Editor (GE): Son of Battles

- Junior Editors (JE): Bridmorgan, Lady Stefania

 

Senior Section Reporters

- Band of the Red Hand: Mystica

- Band Org Game: TBD

- Music: Stefania

- Columns: Mystica

- Lottery: Bridmorgan

- Travel: Stefania

- Banders Real Life: Demonspawn

- Band Awards: Taymist

- JoTS monthly winner: Mystica

- Archer Regiment: Amavia

- Cavalry Regiment: Direwolf Jon

- Infantry Regiment: Demonspawn

- Raw Recruits: Bridmorgan

- Redarms: Red Arm Leader of the Term

- Specials: Mystica

- Entertainment: Direwolf Jon

- Dragonmount: Mystica

- Wheel of Time: Taymist

 

How to be a part of the Hornsounder team.

 

If you would like to try your hand at being a reporter or you have an idea for a project, a game, a competition or you would like to participate in one of the Sections, then here's your chance!

 

Send a PM to Mystica with an outline of your idea or request.

She will assess it and give you an answer as soon as possible.

Note: Hornsounder claims the right to make any adjustments to your ideas that might be necessary to insure the quality and coherency of the newspaper