Canine Chronicle

Hey all! I hope everyone had a great January! Silvy and I are actually starting to get stuff done, whatya know?? As we informed many of you via Discord, upon Tobi’s departure and choice to make her own site, we’ve decided to change up some stuff on Infidelis. Don’t worry - we will never do a 180 on you guys! It’ll always be gradual changes, and with any big changes, we’d always put out a survey to gauge your opinions on it first.

This chronicle will announce some of the smaller changes we’ve been making behind the scenes for the past month. The work never stops for us - but that’s ok!

JANUARY’S TOP POSTERS

1st Place: Juno with 15 posts.
2nd Place: @brett & Karma tying with 12 posts.
3rd Place: @bentley with 11 posts.

Congratulations to those who have won! Your prizes have already been sent to your player accounts!

FEBRUARY’S SPOTLIGHTS

MEMBER: Nolybab

• She's been such an active member in rp and out of rp. She's such a pleasant beacon and her characters are so neat. Not to mention she showers people in lovely art and it's so kind of her. ;w; I love her to pieces.


• She's a great member! I always see her willing to roleplay. She is even nice enough the lend her talents and draw gorgeous art for others. Bonus that she has some of the most creative characters around!


• Such a wonderful community member and with engaging characters with such depth.

DUO: Karma & Angelus Mortis

• Angelus Mortis and Karma the loyal knight and the starry queen. Against all odds he had returned to her to face punishment and she actually accepted him. Their bond is deeper than the bleeding wound along his throat because his loyalty is something that will never dry up. I just love their dynamic.


• Karma and Angelus are such an interesting duo, with many layers history and emotions. The way that Angelus holds Karma in such high esteem and the way Karma seems to have affection for him, is just so lovely to read. I can't wait for more threads between them!

SCARIEST: Aleke

• He's so small and seemingly weak but this crafty dog is a schemer and not a dumb one. He considers certain targets to eye and is also gunning to betray but he has a healthy sense to avoid certain hounds. His personality is interesting and so is reading his way of thinking and it's pretty eerie that he plots to kill people so casually.


• Since everyone is picking Aleke for this month, I'm going to have to hop on the bandwagon with this one. He's scary and creepy in a good and well-crafted way. I'm always excited to start reading this guy's threads and what kind of plans he has in store for us.


• We haven't seen much, but the intention and hints of a dark plan has me on the edge of my seat! Aleke is the ultimate villain character. He's not aggressive or forthcoming, but it's the quiet way in which he observes his prey, hiding in the shadows, and planning is what makes him the scariest!


• I love reading his posts, with the intriguing thought process and interactions with the world around him.


• I tend to prefer scheming characters much more than the generic big bad who beats everyone up, and I'm very intrigued to see how his citywide chess game plays out.

FUNNIEST: Tito

• I honestly really adore this dog. He's so funny and casual in the way he flirts so shamelessly and his stubby body tumbles and makes such a awkwardly humorous show. I also adore his genuine way of affections and how he just douses it on so heavily, definitely one of my favorite characters tbh.


• Tito makes me laugh in just about every thread he's in. Always flirting with the ladies, and I love it!


• Tito is such a cute sassy corgi and I love him so much! His attitude is very endearing and I love reading his threads.


• Another obvious choice this month was Tito, whose playboy sass combined with his diminutive frame warm my heart and make me laugh out loud.

MOST UNIQUE: Hedon

• Pompous glorified dog but honestly you can't deny he's fine as heck. I really like his way of asserting himself and even his anise abuse is a new take for this site.


• The epitome of a snotty, entitled character, Hedon's threads are such a joy to read. Quark has done a great job building Hedon to be a... well, a hedonist!


• is certainly a very interesting character to read about! His history is so interesting and I can't wait to read how it comes into play!

THREAD: The clock ticks twice, your time is up

You can read it here!

• I love this dynamic between the loners sassing Crime and the eventual bomb and with Malice walking in you can clearly see the change in emotion and it's incredible. I look forward to see the fight hehe.


• This thread is packed with interesting characters and dynamics. The loners found themselves in a sticky situation with the Saints, and I can't wait to see how it goes from there.


• An unexpected group thread with two saints against intruding loners is just the fun of open threads! I love the interactions in this thread, with all kinds of tension being raised.

QUOTE

• The quote is odd but you can tell there's a hidden message of 'I came here to talk' rather than admitting it. Also, takes guts to be that rude to Karma and get away with it haha.


• The first time I read this piece of dialog, I was like, woah. That's how a quote of the month should make you feel, and it accomplished just that.


• Only a couple dogs can dare talk that way to Karma and live (or live well -- see Spider.)

Congratulations to our monthly spotlights! Enjoy our new way of displaying our winners in our info center! Your reward has already been sent to your accounts, enjoy!

Small Changes

Reputation -> Skill Points

Since Tobi’s site has “Prestige,” which is basically our Reputation system with a fancier name, we’ve decided to simplify our system. Our new points system will simply be called “Skill Points,” and these points will be collected through job tasks, training, and training others. Skill Points won’t focus so much on a social class thing anymore. Each category (Resourcing, Security, Health, etc.) will have a rank ladder of its own that characters belonging to that tier can climb by accumulating Skill Points.

The lowest rank in the three tier ladder is assumed to be the least responsible and the least skilled; the middle ranks are a little more skilled and a little more responsible; and finally the third, highest rank in the tier are the top of the line, respected and skilled. Each rank will have a set number of tasks they can complete at their level. Characters are encouraged to only complete their level’s tasks, though they may complete the level below them’s tasks as well, but only if there aren’t any dogs available to complete them.

Initially, of course, because this system is still pretty new, everyone - no matter their skill level - is going to be placed in the lower levels. We understand your characters might have skills that surpass this level, but they will still need to climb the rank ladder just like anyone else! An item is available in the Barc Shop for those who are very determined. Be aware, however, that you can only purchase this item a maximum of three times. Use wisely!

Collecting Skill Points will also be narrowed down to just collecting said points on job tasks, training threads, and teaching threads. We’ll still provide some job prompts for each gang and each job so that even those of you with the most generic ideas can still have some exciting threads! We’ve also lowered the points needed for each level, so that it’s a little easier to rank up. See a little more of what we’re talking about on the new page.

Additionally, we’ve removed the 6 month cap for claiming threads; we’re allowing you all to claim as many points as you have threads as long as they meet the requirements!

New Rank System

With the new point system comes a brand spankin new rank system! We’re throwing Patsies, One-Ups, and Big Shots out the window for a more personalized experience. Each job will have three different levels, much like we’ve already had, except instead of generic titles, they’ll have their own rank names! With this new system comes new rank tables depicting these new names and new levels. Even Lieutenants and Enforcers have gotten a new title!

Gang-Oriented

Infidelis will eventually go through a series of small changes that’ll make the dog gangs of Infidelis a little more gang-oriented. By that, we mean hardcore in their own way. Less like packs, more like gangs and following the culture of their chosen type of gang. We’re hoping by doing this, it will give each gang the uniqueness they’ve all been lacking for a long time, and give their leaders a little more freedom to take them in a direction they can be creative with! You may notice, little by little, the changes occuring, from rank changes to different wording within the Guidebook for each gang - we’ll be sure to update you on the new deets when they happen!

Legends -> War Stories

Over the course of the next few months, we will be converting our “storybook” into something a little less innocent. Street gangs aren’t built on mythology; they’re built on violence, hardship, and experience. Those types of stories can be passed down throughout the gangs to teach those how to be strong and resilient to the streets!

In the meantime, the storybook will be removed from the public eye until we revamp the stories! Players who have used the mythology and lore from it in the past need not worry - you can still keep using it! It can still be a thing; it just won’t be literature found on Infidelis.

Keep your eyes peeled for a chance to contribute to these new war stories in the future!

Revamp of the Unspoken Law

We plan on changing the Unspoken Law into something more personified and unique for each gang instead of one set of unison laws they all follow. Look forward to the change!

Nixing Personal Pouch Requirement

We’ve decided to remove the requirement of Personal Pouches from our applications and characters. This is mainly because dogs carrying bags never really made much sense to us on a whole. Why would Fido take the extra step to stuff something into his bag when he could just carry the thing home in his mouth? Those of you who liked the Pouch feature may, of course, continue to assume your character still carries one, but they’re no longer mandatory!

Replacing Special Job Skills Section with ‘Other’ Section in App

Because the Special Job Skills area overlaps with the strengths / weaknesses section, we’re replacing it with an ‘Other’ Section where you can list different things about your character that otherwise might not fit in the other categories. Brat, Tailer, and Recruit characters are still encouraged to list the job that their character would like to go into upon graduating / ranking up. All ambitious characters are welcome to list the rank their character will be aiming for in the future. Other things to list there might include quirks or information about relationships or something else! Since it’ll be an ‘Other’ section, the choice is yours to make!

Moving Ceremonies

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These aren’t getting much of a revamp yet, but instead a location-switch. Since many of the gangs have different versions of the Coming-of-Age and Graduation Ceremonies, they will be moved to the gang’s main page to hopefully clear up any confusion caused by having them all on the same page.

Requests Board

We’ve added a Requests area to the Graffitti board! We understand that sometimes people want to offer free art, graphics, or coding just for some practice or creative outlet, and there really wasn’t a place for that before. In Requests, you can request free graphics or offer free graphics. Looking for a new table or a little doodle for a new character? Ask here! If someone feels up to the challenge, they’ll fill your request!

Player Rank Prize Updates

We’ve decided to shuffle around some of the player rank prizes. We’ve noticed that as time went on, some of the prizes didn’t really reflect the hard work needed to achieve the rank, and we don’t want you guys to feel like you put in all this work for nothing - so we hope the new rank prizes will better reflect what’s needed to get where you’re at!

If anything has been added to your current rank’s prize list, you may claim any new items from your current rank; however, you may not claim any new prizes from past ranks!

Lurker Group

We’ve added a Lurker group for those who take an interest in Infidelis and it’s community, but don’t have the time or commitment to RP here yet! Our Lurker group is Public so that you can add yourself to it if you want to keep your ooc account safe from our monthly purge!

Lurkers are encouraged to join our Discord, chat with members, and get acquainted with the site even if they aren’t ready to roleplay here yet! Infidelis is as much a community of fun, awesome people as it is a roleplay site. We take pride in creating a friendly social environment that everyone can hang out and feel comfortable in, so please Lurkers, feel at home here with us! Let us get to know you, and you us!

Character Dropping

We’ve decided to lift the 2 week waiting period after dropping a character to make another! This means that the slot used to drop the character is available to be used for another immediately after the character’s drop has been processed and noted by staff. This does not exclude you from still having to have five recent posts on ALL your characters before you can app a new character.

We still encourage you all to plan and think about which characters you will bring on board. If we notice a person excessively dropping and apping characters, we may put a temporary hold on their character making!

Create-A-Territory Contest Winners

We haven’t forgotten about you, we promise! Alongside a few other small updates to the site and its layout we’ve recently added, we do plan on implementing the winning landmarks of the contest onto Infidelis soon! You can expect to see them officially added within the next few days! We’ve also noticed that a few territory descriptions within the ‘Map’ section of our guidebook are either broken or missing - don’t fear! We plan on fixing that soon as well. Thank you for your patience!

Bigger Changes

New Welcome Table

We got a new welcome table! Finding the previous one so glitchy it hurt, we opted for a smaller, more direct table to head each page. There, you’ll find quick links to various pages, the current plot chapter, the latest chronicle, the current month, featured adoptable, along with both out-of-character and in-character news events. Our staff pictures and census are right there where they’ve always been. Everything on it is interactive, so hover, click, and scroll away to your heart’s content!

We’ve removed the Gang Overview and pixel head High Ranks and Important Gang Threads from the welcome table in favor of just repurposing and repositioning information. We’re hoping players use our rank tables to reference gang ranks in the future as well as utilize the gang pages to look up information about each gang. Each important gang thread will be pinned to the top of that gang’s forum for easy viewing, accessing, and stalking.

New Mini-Profile

We’ve replaced our former Mini-Profile with a simpler, prettier one! There’s not much to say about it, really, aside from things will be switched around to accommodate the new code and will likely have to be filled out again - so make sure you update your mini-profiles once the new ones are in place!

Changes to the Saints’ Ranks

After mulling over it a bit, we, decided to make a few changes to the Saints’ ranks. This does, unfortunately, include in getting rid of the Explorer rank in exchanged for three shiny and brand new ranks! These include a bundle of scoundrels who, quite literally, collect ‘debt’ from those who’ve made deals with them, to ‘Gladiator-like’ dogs, and a specialized healer-like role of dogs who don’t mind a little bit of blood in creating scars or performing aesthetic process like ear cropping. We implore you to take a look at the guidebook to read a detailed explanation on these new ranks! As a message from Silvy herself, this is just one of the ways she’s going in trying to make the Saints into their own as well as more ‘gang-like,’ as talked about previously within this chronicle. You may notice the Saint’s information being a bit different, as it’s updated to satisfy these new changes

The introduction of this ‘Debt Collector’ and ‘Ripper’ rank will not happen in character and will be assumed to have been there ‘from the start’. For the introduction of the Gladiator rank and disbandment of the Explorer rank, an ic meeting will occur and will be put up soon! Look forward to it!

If you have any questions in regards to where to place your character or concerns, please feel free to message or DM Silvy . Any whose character holds the Explorer rank will be receiving a message from her in regards to their character, so please be sure to check your persona messages!

No More Activity Check-ins

WOOOO!

We’ll still be monitoring your monthly post counts from behind-the-scenes, but we’ve decided that it was a bit redundant to require you guys to check into Activity Checks when all it was about was posting! So, going forward, we will not hold anymore Activity Checks in which you all will need to reply to. Instead, we will continue to check post counts at the beginning of each month and send out activity warnings just as we have been!

Unused accounts will still be deleted on a monthly basis; members are welcome to use our new Lurker group if you’re interested in Infidelis’ community, but not yet ready to make a commitment to RP here yet! The Lurker group is public, so that you can add yourself to it if you want to keep your ooc account around.

Players who receive an activity warning for all of their characters and do not respond or post within the month will have their accounts deleted the following month.

As a reminder, please make sure to let us known about character drops/kenneling within the proper maintenance board!

Welcome Our New Moderators!

After putting in some deep thought about it, we’ve finally decided on the new moderators for Infidelis. We’d like everyone to give a warm welcome to @rose and @artsy ! They’ll be helping us in making handling IF a bit more easier on us as well as aiding it in making it the best canine RP around! You may also notice the new, shiny color they’ve gotten to mark their new status as our Mob Bosses, or Moderators, on both our discord and on site. We look forward to working alongside you both!

We want to thank everyone who showed interest in becoming a staff here as well! We appreciate each and everyone of you who stepped forward and offered! Right now, we’re only taking on two Mods, but in the future as Infidelis grows, we may take on some more!