Hi, my brain has been rattling around this game inside my head for nearly the entirety of the last month. Here's some questions regarding development and lore for the devs :)

• Will there ever be more info about the Old World, or is it intended to be open to the player's interpretation (within provided lore)?
• Adding to the above, are there any images of the Old World, or at least some of the major locations?
• Players are often described as taking boats to Kalris. Is there more info on this, or is it just the running idea as to how most critters arrive?
  
• With Archaeology in the works, how much more is expected to be learned about the old empire? Will it mostly be tiny bits and pieces, or will we be able to find things like old literature, paintings, and depictions of how it once looked?
• Are there any plans to make character adjustments easier for both the players and developers? Newbie mistakes are going to happen because of the game's rather in-depth stat and skill system, and I worry about this adding strain as demand increases, even with the new week cooldown system.
  
• As the game gets bigger, what's the plan to handle large-scale events where you may have a very difficult number of players to manage?
• What are some UI changes you want to make? It's been mentioned that it will be changed; Will it be just cosmetic, or are there going to be some fun new additions?
• What amount of characters do you recommend having as the devs? You obviously allow as many as the player wants, but is there a "just right" number for you?
• Is there any interesting lore behind the name "Kalris"? Is this something that will be discovered later?
• Will we ever get to see canon designs for the dragon pantheon?
• Are there any plans to make holidays or holiday-like events, or will this be something that the players will create themselves and maintain as tradition?
• Aside from the Discord, will existing lore/major events ever be documented anywhere on the website as a sort of historical catalogue of what's happened so far?
• Are there any plans to improve the new player experience? It was admittedly rather rough, being flung into the world with only the current knowledge available on the website and a vague idea on how to build a character, as well as in the midst of a shortage of novice books in the library. I'm curious to know if there's plans to improve this.
• Will there ever be visual indicators to see another player's afflictions, such as wounds, bleeding, burn, curse, or other ailments? Will knowledge of these purely be left to roleplay?
• The current list for critters to be added in the beta are wildcats, hares, wolverines, bats, opossums, moles, shrews, porcupines, and beavers. Will this be the definitive list of playable critter additions, or are there plans to add more beyond that in time?
• What are some mechanics you're excited to add?

Q: Will there ever be more info about the Old World, or is it intended to be open to the player's interpretation (within provided lore)?
A: We intend to add a lot more lore books, but for the most part, the Old World represents "the world outside the game." We don't want to define it too strictly, because we want people to be able to play the characters they want to play.

Q: Adding to the above, are there any images of the Old World, or at least some of the major locations?
A: No, we probably won't expand too much on specific places, but it's much, much larger than Kalris.

Q: Players are often described as taking boats to Kalris. Is there more info on this, or is it just the running idea as to how most critters arrive?
A: My running theory is that the boats are left over from being constructed during the Empire, similar to how Mechs in Battletech/Mechwarrior are all from an ancient time and can't be constructed today, only maintained and scrapped together. Large constructions require more than just know-how and materials, buildings and ships and such were built by dedicated teams of Imperials with the aid of long-lasting magical spells since lost. Some boats were stolen by pirates, many sank, the remainder continue to travel between the island and the mainland, ferrying passengers or trade. As for how critters arrive, that's totally up to them. We might some day implement a tutorial that takes place on a boat, though.

Q: With Archaeology in the works, how much more is expected to be learned about the old empire? Will it mostly be tiny bits and pieces, or will we be able to find things like old literature, paintings, and depictions of how it once looked?
A: It's quite possible...!

Q: Are there any plans to make character adjustments easier for both the players and developers? Newbie mistakes are going to happen because of the game's rather in-depth stat and skill system, and I worry about this adding strain as demand increases, even with the new week cooldown system.
A: We intend to tackle this in multiple ways. Restats will not be as widely available as they are now. However, we want to provide more feedback in the character creator on what your stats should be, roughly, and how to plan your skills, and even have a bunch of prebuilt characters for new players to pick with some tutorial elements on them. In the beta GMs will not be making any characters changes except under special circumstances; there will be some IC tools to fix things though.

Q: As the game gets bigger, what's the plan to handle large-scale events where you may have a very difficult number of players to manage?
A: More GMs, more use of the forums over the Discord server, etc. Not everyone's going to get to participate in every event. Events are kind of pet projects for GMs, they run what they want.

Q: What are some UI changes you want to make? It's been mentioned that it will be changed; Will it be just cosmetic, or are there going to be some fun new additions?
A: Pica will be completely redesigning the UI. Language will be separated out into its own dropdown, for example, rather than the action bar. The new UI will show the time of day when appropriate. Things like that.

Q: What amount of characters do you recommend having as the devs? You obviously allow as many as the player wants, but is there a "just right" number for you?
A: I think one is probably the best, maybe two if you don't use them all the time. Making a bunch is not a great idea in my opinion; never you mind how many we GMs have!

Q: Is there any interesting lore behind the name "Kalris"? Is this something that will be discovered later?
A: It's just the name of the island. You could say Il-Tira chose it.

Q: Will we ever get to see canon designs for the dragon pantheon?
A: Absolutely, but I don't draw them, so it's not on me.

Q: Are there any plans to make holidays or holiday-like events, or will this be something that the players will create themselves and maintain as tradition?
A: Yes, we will have recurring holiday events.

Q: Aside from the Discord, will existing lore/major events ever be documented anywhere on the website as a sort of historical catalogue of what's happened so far?
A: We are already documenting major events on the forums, or trying to. That's probably going to be the historical catalogue.

Q: Are there any plans to improve the new player experience?
A: Very much so, I've elaborated on them a bit in the Discord server. The main one is going to be character prebuilds, as well as player-locked skillbooks for your first few skills, which you'll have to explore the world to get to their guaranteed spawns.

Q: Will there ever be visual indicators to see another player's afflictions, such as wounds, bleeding, burn, curse, or other ailments? Will knowledge of these purely be left to roleplay?
A: We aren't sure yet. It's not ever going to appear on a character visually, but we might add ways to examine people and see them.

Q: The current list for critters to be added in the beta are wildcats, hares, wolverines, bats, opossums, moles, shrews, porcupines, and beavers. Will this be the definitive list of playable critter additions, or are there plans to add more beyond that in time?
A: Probably definitive for now. Each new species is an enormous amount of work. I know Pica has grand designs, but that's already quite a lot of critters.

Q: What are some mechanics you're excited to add?
A: The ones you don't find out about until you've ventured into the furthest reaches of the beta map.