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Seasonal TRAITS!

We also have one new and one returning Seasonal Fruit!

The Tato Fruit allows a Xero to have Patterned Skin! This can include markings of any shape on their ears, paw pads, tongue, or hairless sections if combined with that trait. These markings can only be darker or lighter than their normal skin color, unless combined with the Split trait.

And the returning Astera Thistle! This plant allows a Xero to have Fur Pads, giving a Xero extra fluffy feet that covers their paw pads, like a rabbit or fennec fox! This adaptation can help protect their paws against extremely hot or cold conditions.

The Tato Fruit can be obtained from the Winter 2022 DTE or Secret Santa 2022, and the Astera Thistle can be purchased from the ARC Lab. Both can also be foraged! Be sure to stock up before they go out of season!

Monthly Prompts

Finally, as always, we still have our monthly repeating prompts, XOTM & ARC Survey!

NEW TRAITS!

Now what would be a special event month without some New Seasonal Produce? We have 2 that will be gracing us this Twilight Carnival!

All Xeros who currently have these traits will have them added automatically, but going forward MYO’s with these traits will require the items to make them possible! 

The Hake Nut allows a Xero to gain an Ornamental Tail! This is a fancy tail tip made of hard keratin or cartilage. It can be almost any shape, as long as it’s placed on the end of the tail!

And the Harvest Fairy! This seed allows a Xero to have a set of Frilled Ears! These ears have a grooved outer edge, giving them a jagged or wing-like appearance!  

Both new items can be purchased from ARC Lab, found in Autumn Produce Baskets, or foraged!

 

 

Mult Fruit, Goodroop Fruit, and Spikul Fruit are back as well!

They are available in limited quantities all month in the ARC Lab and Autumn Produce Baskets so make sure to stock up before they go out of season!

Limited Time Event Prompts

Prizes & Freebies

The Twilight Carnival is a holiday of sharing and celebration - what better way to give back to the community than with free items every week?

 

During the Twilight Carnival, we will drop a free Gift Bag in the shops for everyone to pick up; the contents of this bag are a random surprise but will always contain the rare element Astatine! Open it from your inventory to see what kind of prizes you get!

Join us in our Discord for our second Bingo Xingo - a Xero-themed Bingo game that lasts all month! Every day new words are called and when you get 5 in a row, you get a prize! Prizes include Prestige, Astatine, Autumn Baskets, and tickets to the Mega Raffle!

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Twilight Carnival Mega Raffle

The Twilight Carnival Mega Raffle will run the entire month! There will be 10 winners with 10 different prizes! Raffle tickets can be earned by participating in the Event Prompts, Getting Xingos in our Discord, completing your Mushroom Foraging Collection, and more!

RAFFLE PRIZES

1. Xero X-420

2. Standard Xero ORB

3. Unusual Xero ORB

4. Notable Xero ORB

5. Astatine Container

6. Jungle Beaker

7. Marine Beaker

8. Hollow Beaker

9. Tundra Beaker

10. Desert Beaker

11. 50 Prestige

12. 5 Astatine

13. Mysterious Orb + 10 Prestige

14. Mysterious Orb + 10 Prestige

15. Mysterious Orb + 10 Prestige

Monthly Prompts

Finally, as always, we still have our monthly repeating prompts, XOTM & ARC Survey!

The cargo ship began to decelerate as it approached the waystation. At this reduced speed, the name painted on its ventral side was visible: INGE-339.

As far as ships go, the INGE was rather unassuming, its paint faded from countless flights to far-off stars. But the ship’s pilots treated this wear and tear as badges of honor: after all, each of these flights had been for missions of utmost importance, expeditions that helped catalog and map the sector. Although the INGE was small, it often carried valuable cargo. This journey was no exception—inside one of its isolation chambers was something that emanated a dull blue-green glow.

“Okay, okay, should I go for a sweetsap foam first? Isn’t it around the time of year when they do a harvest? Oh wait, what about a jewel berry slushie? Those are great. Have you had one before? I actually haven’t. I’ve just heard they’re great—”

“Ecci,” Finjin said firmly, with a clack of his mandibles for extra emphasis. 'I know you're excited to see the Carnival for the first time, but if you don’t focus and help us finish the handshake procedure...”

“Oh! Oh, right. Sorry…” her feathers ruffled in embarrassment, Ecci concentrated once again on the console. Her short talons clacked rhythmically across the keyboards and control panels. “Annnnnd—yes! We’re locked into the Owai system station. Translocation in 30 seconds standard.”

Finjin checked his own console. “Confirmed. Good work as always.”

“You really think so?” Ecci puffed out her chest in pride. “Thanks, Fin.”

She's a good kid, Finjin mused to himself. And an absolute prodigy of a pilot. If she could learn to stay focused, she would receive solo certification in no time.

Ecci, meanwhile, was quietly brimming with joy. It was like what they said back home: an Avian belongs in the sky…well, she thought. Space certainly counts.

There was a slight shudder through the hull of the INGE as it passed into the station’s superluminal field. Ecci glanced at her monitor. “Confirming connection with Owai station. Autopilot locked-in," she reported. “Looks like we’ll be there in about four hours standard. Wow, these new Lorentzian stations are amazing! I can’t believe they finally finished building them. Once I read an article about—”

Finjin had been on far too many flights to share in her starry-eyed excitement, and was privately looking forward to a quiet trip home and some time off for the Carnival. He considered reminding her again not to get distracted, then decided against it. Ecci had done extremely well, all things considered, and they were in the last leg of their journey. Let her chat if she wanted to—at this point, there was very little that could go wrong.

Vas'an usually was difficult to read, but today everyone could tell that they were in a dark mood. Kellworth could practically feel the concern radiating off them as they stood by their office window, staring out at the darkened sky. Their usual focus was completely absent: even the piles of overdue survey reports couldn’t draw their attention.

Kellworth didn’t blame them. They knew Vas’an wasn’t alone in feeling some sort of strain at the news—a strain that could only be lifted upon the safe return of the INGE’s crew. After all, these are people we all know, he thought. Although he tried to stay positive for himself and for the others, at the end of the day it was oddly freeing to succumb to his concerns and watch the skies with Vas’an, waiting for the cargo ship to return.

“Look,” Vas’an said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Do you see that?”

Kellworth squinted: there were three shapes in the distance, descending through the sky. “Yes! I think that’s them. Let’s meet them at the landing pad, I’m sure the ground crew could use a hand—”

But Vas’an had already started for the door. Kellworth grabbed his bag and followed.

As the crafts descended, two of them broke off and veered back towards orbit—likely escorts meant to ensure the Igne would land safely in Harbor. Members of the ground crew were scurrying about, preparing for the landing—and to aid the INGE’s crew, if necessary. But thankfully, as the ship approached, Kellworth could see that the damage to the hull damage seemed largely superficial, aside from a rather large blast mark near the engines.

Vas’an had noticed it too. “Looks like they tried to kill the power to the engines,” they said darkly, their tail swishing. “By the looks of it, these poachers knew what they were doing. Fortunately for the crew, Survey ships are built with plenty of backups to avoid getting stranded in the middle of uncharted space.”

As they had been instructed, the porter drones took the cargo down to the ARC labs; Kellworth followed close behind. Different sections of the ARC flashed by as they hurried past: the greenhouses, the genetics lab, and of course, the Xero Wing that housed the classrooms, playrooms and computer labs where young Xeros learned.

Kellworth glanced through one of the classroom windows and made eye contact with a serious-looking baby Xero. He smiled. They gave him an evaluating look, then very solemnly waved. Briefly distracted by this, Kellworth walked through a doorway and nearly ran into a figure in a white lab coat.

“Oh! Oops, I—hey, Doctor,” he greeted. Dr. Ero M’Taw had come out to meet him, seemingly in a hurry: another young Xero was clinging onto their tail, peeking out at Kellworth. “Sorry, didn’t see you there. Where’d you want us to put the samples?”

“Lab #3, Kellworth—please and thank you. I had it cleared out this morning in preparation for the delivery,” they said, relaxing at Kellworth’s easy smile. “Now it’s time for you to get to your classroom, small one,” they said firmly to the young Xero, who reluctantly released their grip and walked off.

“Are you teaching the kids this afternoon?”

“Not today. I found this one hiding under a desk,” Dr. M’Taw said. “They remained quite silent on how they'd gotten there, but I believe they sneaked out of the dormitories. I gave t hem a snack and an explanation on lab safety.” They shook their head disapprovingly, although there was a fond glint in their many eyes. “Have you had lunch yet? I recently heard of this wonderful little place that I think you’d—“

They were cut off mid-sentence by two things: the first was the shrill sound of an alarm.

ALERT. UNKNOWN CONTAMINANT REPORTED. REMAIN IN YOUR CURRENT LOCATION AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. THIS IS NOT A TEST.

The second was the cheerful jingle of Kellworth’s ringtone. He pulled out his pad and answered the call. “H-hello? Yes, I can hear you—uhh, yeah. Uh, what!? Hold on, Dr. M’Taw’s here, let me put you on speaker—“

Vas’an’s voice, urgent and controlled, came out through the pad’s speaker. “Yes, this is Vas'an. Preliminary medical exams revealed that the INGE’s crew came back covered in spores. Apparently there was a leak somewhere in the isolation chamber that they didn’t detect.”

“A leak!?” Kellworth said, taking in Dr. M’Taw’s startled expression. “Is the crew okay—“

“We’re tentatively classifying this as a Class 1A risk,” Vas’an said. “But we’re starting a lockdown to isolate any possible exposure, we can’t have any spores spreading to Harbor. Sit tight.”

Vas’an hung up. Kellworth pocketed his pad again, trying to collect his thoughts. “There must have been some micro-shrapnel damage or something from the attack,” he said out loud. “That could have broken through the isolation chamber…at least know we know how to track the spores.” But Dr. M’Taw still looked troubled. Kellworth’s heart sank a little.

“What is a Class 1A risk, anyways?” he asked. “I haven’t heard that classification before.”

Dr. M’Taw took a few seconds to answer, speaking very slowly and precisely. “It’s not common. The “1” indicates a low risk to the general population, even accounting for the spores’ dispersal through air. But an “A” indicates high risk of infection in immuno-compromised individuals. That includes the sick, the elderly…or the very young.”

With a vague feeling of dread, Kellworth followed Dr. M’Taw’s gaze to the doorway that the Xero had just walked through, to the wing of the ARC where the other young Xeros lived.

Calling all volunteers!

As I'm sure you have heard by now, there has been an outbreak of non-native fungal spores in Harbor and the timing could not be worse. To help contain the outbreak, we're recruiting individuals with with previous experience or interest in the following fields: foraging, fungus identification, or mycology.

While the initial contamination has been contained, the existing fruits must be collected before they are allowed to produce more spores and succeed our containment capacities. Please report to the address below and await further instructions.

Thank you for your interest and assistance. Together we can ensure that this outbreak does not become a full-fledged spread of an invasive species!

And hopefully, Kellworth thought as he finished typing up the notice and posted it to the Social Services board. The collected samples would provide enough data for that poor Xero's treatment as well...

“After reviewing the provided samples,” the Curator announced, “I do believe there is a solution to our conundrum.”

Even after talking with the Curator for some time, Kellworth still found it difficult to understand them through whatever hacked-together encryption filtered their voice. But thankfully, there was no ambiguity in what they had just said. He perked up.

“Oh! How wonderful to hear! We haven’t been making much progress on our end other than just slowing the progression—well, and we prevented a weird fungus invasion, I suppose that certainly accounts for something. Even if—anyways! What was your solution?”

The Curator blinked slowly. “Ah, hmm. ARC’s inability to remove the fungal infection does not surprise me, as the fungi cannot be safely removed.”

“What?” Kellworth blurted out. He had not jumped through all of these hoops—locating the Curator’s ship, sneaking the young Xero out of containment, going behind Vas’an’s back—just for this, for nothing. “I thought you—you just said there was a solution! Don’t you get it!? This isn’t a game or a fun little experiment—“

🍂 As the Autumn Equinox comes our way, we start bundling up into warmer clothes, seek cozy ways to beat the chilly weather, and enjoy the falling of the leaves…

🦊 And what better way to celebrate this shift but with a new Free Raffle Xero? ✨

🍂 That’s right! This wonderful fox-like Xero is a raffle for FIRST TIME OWNERS! Meaning you have never owned a Xero before! What a way to wander into our community!

🦊 To enter, please join our Discord and add your username to our Thread in #Announcements! We will be adding you all to a raffle bot on the site! 

🍂 We will be rolling this Xero 24 hours from now September 23, @ 1:00 PM EST!

🦊 Good luck all first time owners, and to our Xero Owners, please tell your friends and spread the word!