MERCURY ISLE
Version 9.0 - Awakening
Mercury Isle is a play-by-post wild horse and mythical equine RPG, created by the owner, Darkwing (then called Sailor Mars), sometime in the summer of 2001. Throughout the years, it has grown through eight version changes, two closures, and countless activity deaths. But here it is again, back up and running for another go-around.
If you're new to roleplaying, here's a quick explanation and a guide to understanding the site. Basically, what we do here is tell a story through posts on our message boards. Each post is written from the point of view of a player's character, and each post adds a little more onto the part of the story that concerns that character. Although we have an overall game plotline, your creativity isn't limited: embroil your character in any hardships or happiness that you may wish. You won't even realize you're exercising your mind and improving your writing skills as you play. (Yes, feel free to use that as a point of argument if your parents aren't sure about letting you join ~_^).
To start, go to "Begin" on the sidebar. The other links there are for the actual gameplay, the herd lives of the characters, and out of character, which means everything for players rather than characters
Updates
July 30, 2008 - I'm rather proud of myself. I actually did some updating today: took care of a few things that needed fixin', and I updated the member list. XD Anyway, a big hello and shout out to our new members, and a thank you to the old members who are back (especially to those of you who advertised!) I'm very encouraged by the activity I'm seeing. Palaunir is looking healthier already, and the ability quests have started up again. New members: the quests are available to you if you're interested, you know. ^_^ If you have any questions about the magic system, just give me a holler and I'll come running. After all, that's what I'm here for!
June 28, 2008 - Long time since last update, I know. School is finally over for me, which means I can start paying attention to MI again. I'm starting with a little bit of an overhaul: I'm applying some of my technical writing courses, and a new understanding of cascading style sheets. So, not only will the information be better organized, but the styles for the pages will be on a separate file, which will mean that version changes in the future will be really easy. Awesome, no? Well, back to work. I'll be getting in character stuff going soon. ~Darkwing
December 13, 2007 - We're so active! Hooray, I love it. ^_^ Anyway...I've updated the registry, and I got the chat room up on the OOC menu, so everything's ready for tomorrow night's party! Woohoo! ~Darkwing
December 2, 2007 - A great big welcome to all our new members! I'm so happy, the joining rate seems to be steady, and activity is going strong, aaaand a few quests have been handed out. ^_^ Also, we've set a date for our christmas party! It'll be on December the 14th, a Friday, at 10:00 pm EST. And I'll be hunting down a java chat thingie so we don't have to worry about people getting left out because they don't have MSN. This is going to be so great. ~ Darkwing.
November 25, 2007 - Hellos to everyone. My quarter is finally over, which means more time to devote to y'all. ^_^ Sooo....welcome back to some of our old members (Luna and Jenn <3) and welcome to a new member, Fleeters. I've updated the registry and everything, so now I'm off to do a little more adverting. Yay. ~Darkwing
October 14, 2007 - Welcome to all the new members! I've given out abilities and assigned realms for everyone so far, and I finally updated the member list. Now all you guys have to do is post more, mkays? I'll see what I can do as far as stirring up some sort of small game-wide plot, but until then why don't you guys get together and make little plots and things of your own? And if you're at a loss as for who to talk to, you can always post to Laurelyndel or Talia. I don't have much time for initiating threads, but I can reply (takes less muse, lol :P). Aaanyway...yay, MI is doing well, let's keep up the good work. ^_^ ~Darkwing
October 10, 2007 - Okays...so I've finally finished the rank descriptions. And I changed some of the rank names as well, to help differentiate the realm ranks from the War Training ranks. >.> Um, I think I'm just going to start calling it the Star system so people don't get confused. I also added a new Witch/Wizard ability - Keensight! Yays. I'll be adding people to the member list tonight, and I'll probably do some more advertising if I can spare the time. :P Sooo...yay, things are going smoothly, and keep up the great posting. ~_^ <3 ~Darkwing
October 2...er...3, 2007 - >.< It is the third, actually. >.> I just haven't been to bed yet. :P Okays...so I did a bunch of adverting today, and I posted. And I added new horsies to the member list: 10 of them now! Yay! Um...let's see....I think I'll do the realm ranks thing tomorrow....and other than that, there's nothing much new. -yawn- I should probably go to bed now.....~Darkwing
October 1, 2007 - Okies...I overhauled the abilities system. Its uber-cool now, plus I dug out that old stars system we had in version 6, I remember that was a lot of fun. Aaaand....um, oh yeah, I'm going to end up writing rank descriptions for all the ranks in the realms, and that'll probably go up wednesday. (I'm really tired of writing. There's a lot of stuff on that abilities page. :P) And I'm going to tweak some stuff on the joining board before I start adding people to the member list. ^_^ Oh, and the activity check board link isn't working right now...apparently the board got deleted. But we won't need that for a bit, so it can wait to be fixed. x.X ~Darkwing
September 29, 2007 - OMG...its been a year. One long year since I had to close. And guess what...I couldn't stay away. You guys with your sad posts on the OOC board, and the IMs talking about the good old times, and your laments that no game was as good as MI....well, they worked. They tugged the old heartstrings and made me think...we should try one more time. And I have to say, thank god I didn't delete the site, yeah? All the boards are here, the content is here...it was just begging to be re-opened. So, here it is! Now...you've all got to promise to be active, otherwise you'll make me sad, give me gray hairs and force me to shut down again. And nobody wants that...least of all me! Sooooo, without further ado, Mercury Isle. Re-join your old characters, bring in someone new. Also, for a limited time, get free Witch or Wizard status upon entry! Darkwing is standing by with the goody bag....so hop to it! ~Darkwing <3
June 26, 2006 - IMPORTANT, please read! Okay all. What we really, really need is new members. So, I'm going to offer a few little tantalizing things for people. Number one is: There are PLENTY of high ranks just waiting to be filled. If you like power, MI has it to offer. And number 2 is: I WILL BE GIVING ANY NEW MEMBERS/HORSES IMMEDIATE WITCH/WIZARD STATUS UPON JOINING. Yes. For the next few days (three or four, mattering on how many people pay attention to this), any new members or new horses that old members join will get this title. (Er...only one prize per player, sorry.) Anyways...and if you don't want to join a new horse, any horses that are actively posting on the communal boards (Herdless, Gathering, Fighting) will get this reward, too. (Again, only one title per player). Soooooooo....what are you waiting for?
June 19, 2006 - I finally am back. No more school. Finished with horse camp. Back. I still have chores around the house, and I'm trying to write a novel and also trying to read several at once - but I will devote time to Mercury Isle again. I haven't forgotten you, and it makes me sad to see MI a bit inactive, even though I've seen it worse than this. So - the abilities page is up. Sorry it took me so long to put it up! I will soon get a little button for Mercury Isle, and start adding us to RPG directories as well as advertising more. Posts from Sidhe, Talia and Laurelyndel will be coming, and Ebony Skies is on full duty as a God, giving out quests. Go ask for one. Or fight for abilities. I will be paying more attention to the fight board, and will judge any fights that need it.
May 8, 2006 - Alright, y'all. I've been posting with Sidhe, and I want to see you posting too. Laurelyndel will be out and about once I finish her picture...which will be whenever morguefile.com gets finished with their upgrade. Honestly...I just need /one/ picture of wings...and they're all closed. -sigh- Anyway, the advertising code is on the OOC board. And I've posted an announcement about realm/herd leaders, so go take a look at that. We need more candidates before we get going. Also, start to go get quests, and fight! Just because we're picking up members doesn't mean we can't start on getting magery.
May 2, 2006 - YAY! -throws confetti and blows on noise-maker- We have a new version! It's it exciting? Okay - I'm making an ad in a few seconds. It won't be anything spectacular, but it'll be fine. Wooooooooo....I'm so happy.
April 30, 2006 - Okay. One day of site construction, and I'm breezing along. Most of the substance is finished. Now I think I'll make a few pictures for the boards, and then I'll come up with an advertisement. And I'll get the templates for the boards together and everything. ^_^ I'm really excited!!