The Starlight Initiative

Gallery

In appreciation for the gifts that we have recieved in turn from people that have come to our events, we are so grateful and happy to have a gallery to show off and credit all the people who have made gifts for us! All images are posted with permission, and given clickable credit links so that you may check out their personal art profiles and sites for yourself!

Altheria by Clover

Starlight Initiative (2023) by CoffeeHands

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Starlight 2024

2024 saw the Starlight Initiative's second year of the Weekend of Gift Giving! We fulfilled fifty-five unique wishes that came to us either through our Discord or were made in-game at our venue! We also had thirteen exciting raffles with twenty-five prizes total! Many Figmental Weapons were distributed this weekend, and we hope that these figments may turn all our recipients' dreams into reality!

Starlight 2023

2023 saw the Starlight Initiative's very first Weekend of Gift Giving! We fulfilled forty-three unique wishes that came to us either through our Discord or were made in-game at our venue! We also had nine exciting raffles, all with unique winners who brought home awesome mounts and minions that are especially hard to get a hold of!

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The Initiative Presents:
Valentione's Speed Dating

The Initiatve invites you to a lighthearted day of speed dating taking place February 17th 2024 @ Crystal, Mateus, Empyreum, Ward 9, Plot 42 from 6PM - 10PM Central!This event is open to all kinds of folks, whether you're a seasoned RPer, someone dabbling in RP, or even just a casual event-goer that doesn't RP at all! Please be respectful to everyone who has signed up for this event, or is even just swinging by to see what it's about! Please note that this is not an event for ERP, so please do not come here expecting it.We stress that this event is lighthearted and is not made for the sole purpose of finding a date or romantic interest. If you end up finding someone who you click with, awesome! If you end up finding someone that you might even end up romantically involved with, also awesome! This event is just for fun, and we fully are doing this with the more of the intention of helping foster community and friendships.

HOW IT WORKS

Active participants will be assigned numbers and flower accessories that they will be required to wear in order to distinguish them at a glance for the event organizers and volunteers. You can either get these flower accessories yourself, or receive them at the door of the event along with a glamour prism to apply them if you don't want to just equip them. Flowers offered by staff that will be handling the event will be either white or red Dahlias or Oldroses that are hair accessories. Please specify which one you would like if you don't have a flower accessory but would like one.Participants will be separated by whether or not they want to RP. Non-RPers will be paired with non-RPers, and RPers will be paired with RPers.At the venue, participants will be directed into different FC rooms to meet with their partners, and given an itinerary. The use of FC rooms is to mitigate chat bloat for people that may have a difficult time keeping up with it if there are too many people. Each FC room will have one volunteer assigned to it to make sure nothing gets out of hand.

RULES

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Initiative News

December 11th, 2024 :: Extending the Starlight Initiative to the Materia (OCE) Data Center!

Hello! The Starlight Initiative has been working as best it can this year in preparation for the events coming up!First things first, we are not moving the event solely to the Oceanic server! The main events will still be on the North American Data Center of Crystal -> Mateus @ Ward 9, Plot 42 of Empyreum.We have been reached out to and generously granted permission to use a plot on OCE for the Starlight Initiative to extend our reach to every Data Center from a friend. People will be able to come to Ravana's Mist, Ward 22, Plot 1 to engage in the Starlight Initiative's Weekend of Gift Giving!We, admittedly, do not have people who have schedules that are more fit for the Oceanic side of things, though we will do our absolute best in doing what we can. If anyone would like to volunteer for the Starlight Initiative's event for those on and / or visiting the OCE server, we would most certainly welcome the help with open arms! :>We understand that this is also a pretty late update, though we hope that with slightly less than two weeks before the main event, this will be enough time to give the heads up!Of course, the Starlight Initiative is still -- and will always -- accept whatever help we can get! If you're interested in volunteering as an artist, writer, GPoser, raider, or general volunteer, please reach out!-Admin Prim

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2024's Creatives

2024 marks the very first year that the Starlight Initiative has called creatives to volunteer their time and efforts in creating for the community! All of them will be available to win works from in a Starlight Initiative raffle. Our sign ups for entering into this raffle can be found here!

Artists

bubbysz

coffeehands :: carrd

Dysmorphinx :: bsky - Instagram - Portfolio

FreeJayFly :: bsky - tumblr

hannyabou :: carrd

sae-mian :: tumblr

Selene_13 :: Art Fight - bsky

Gposers

BlossomBlade :: bsky - tumblr

humblemooncat :: tumblr

Iris Opranta :: bsky - tumblr

Writers

augitha :: Ao3

Excerpt from Obsidian

“You don’t seem very fragile,” she pointed out.That almost made him smile. “You don’t say,” He scoffed. They’d seen each other bloody and bruised plenty of times, despite Rielle’s best efforts. She’d even seen him get the shit beat out of him by Ompagne himself. Well, not exactly him, but close enough.She was thinking about something, he could see. Thinking about it, but not saying it, which meant it was probably something actually worth saying. Maybe she’d had some insight. But as soon as he noticed it, it was gone, replaced by a grin. She withdrew her hand and rolled onto her back. “Well it is a very brooding and dramatic title. So I guess it suits you.”He responded with a disgruntled huff, which made her laugh a little. When it became clear he wasn’t going to take her obvious bait, however, they both lapsed into a comfortable silence. He let his eyes drift closed again. He wasn’t sure how long they laid like that – probably no more than a few minutes. He thought she might have fallen asleep. But then she spoke again, a little softer than before.“I’ve got to leave tomorrow.” She said.Read the full work here.

Excerpt from Last Dance in Ishgard

In spite of all the splendor , Hnaba couldn’t help but feel that she would rather be enjoying All Saints Wake down in the Foundation. Though she still didn’t care much for the festival’s macabre imagery, it was nice to watch the “kits” scurry about in their costumes, collecting treats and lying in wait to jump out and scare one another. No doubt the parties held there would be more like those she was accustomed to; raucous get-togethers in favored taverns where ale and laughter and songs flowed freely. This, she was much less familiar with. There were no such formal galas in the forest, either that of her home or the Black Shroud. Their celebrations included music and dancing, of course, but lacked the rigid structure and complex but unspoken code of decorum that seemed to govern this one.Besides, the last such event she had attended had ended poorly.That was how she tried to explain away the unease that had settled in her gut.And yet, something still felt… off.Perhaps it was the crowd. To say the ball was well attended would be an understatement. The room teemed with people, and the dance floor was a dizzying swirl of faces. The sound of the waltz overpowered the drone of the crowd only by virtue of the musicians’ skill. It seemed as if every resident of the Pillars had turned out. There was more room to breathe along the edges of the dance floor, where she stood, but perhaps the close quarters were wearing on her nerves.Read the full work here.

Excerpt from The Gleaner and the Frog

The girl in the red jacket finally reached him, bending down to brace her hands on her knees as she panted for breath. “Yes!” She managed, emphatically. “Thank you! Erenville, was it?”“That is correct.” He nodded. He glanced down at the amphibian hanging limply between his hands, similarly exhausted. “Your friend was close to becoming a meal for a common whittret.”“I’m sorry,” she said, still catching her breath. She looked up at the frog and scowled. “Rhiki! You mustn’t run off like that! You’re going to get hurt! Or eaten!”“And it would serve her right if she did,” By now, the sorceress had joined them. Having not pursued as frantically, her voice was still calm and even. She affixed the frog with a disapproving stare. “You may find our debates on the nuances of aetherology dull, but if you insist on wandering off to have your own… froggy adventures, it is you who will bear the consequences. You are fortunate that Erenville was here to come to your rescue this time.”The frog emitted a dejected ribbit.Erenville looked up to the woman, then back down at the frog. “I did not realize that such transmogrifications occurred so frequently in your line of work.”Read the full work here.

KaddieKait :: Ao3 - bsky

Excerpt from Capillary Waves

Jecht recoiled from the cold water being splashed into the cell. He could even smell himself. Even so, the sudden ice bath felt excessive. Enough water got on him to soak through his cotton pants. His fingers tugged at the rubber band in his long tawny hair. Wet strands smacked his shoulders. The water dripped down his shoulders, mixing in with dried blood. Jecht looked for fresh cuts, but only found bruises. Even if the sea breeze made it cold, the sun was at least out. He searched for a spot to sit and dry out. The only things in this “room” were a straw mat, a bruised apple, and a bucket. The apple certainly wouldn't stave off his hangover, but he'd woken up in worse states.Before the sun could dry him off the guard returned. Jecht was glad he threw a towel at him. When he threw it his eyes stayed glued to the floor. He was young and clearly hated being here. Maybe there was a soft spot to exploit?Jecht made a big show of shivering as he threw the towel around him. He let out a thanks through gritted teeth. “Anyway, I could get some pants that aren't soaked?” Jecht beamed with the same smile he used on fans.The guard’s eyes darted down the hall before turning back to the cell. Jecht didn't feel like his question was that hard. “Is that a no?” he asked.Read the full work here.

reeclian :: tumblr

Excerpt from Valentione's

Making chocolate, as it turns out, is no easy task. A passable cook by Warder standards, Naejla has long since come to realize that anything more than grilling meat and vegetables with a few herbs may as well be sorcery. He spends a sennight struggling to figure out how to turn kukuru beans into something sweet, each failure somehow more monumental than the last, until one day the old couple at the fabric stall shares with him a great secret: you can just melt down chocolate bars someone else has made, and no one ever has to know..Things go more smoothly after that, especially since making amra puree is so much easier than fucking about with beans. He decides not to push his luck with anything complex: he picks a simple spherical mold for the shape and paints orange hearts on top of each one, then wraps them in cloth before settling them into a small wooden box carved especially for the occasion.The postmoogle who comes to get the gift, along with his carefully-worded confession-slash-dinner invitation, chirps happily about how they’ll see it safely to its destination, only to boggle when they realize that said destination is barely a ten minute walk away. The season, they declare as they flutter away, does makes people act irrationally.

Excerpt from Kefalogra-viera

The first cheese night is a happy accident: fuelled by talk of Saganaki at the Bole, Rafi tells Memela he’s doing some overtime and promptly orders over two ponzes of the dish from a pop-up in the Goblet. He doesn’t count on Lejo bursting through the door and running up the stairs to ramble on about how Forestay took him on the grand tour of Aleport - one whole tavern - before Skoen turned up and started a fight, leaving Rafi blinking through the confusion with a string of hot cheese about to drip down onto his beard.He supposes it won’t hurt too much to share - he’s ordered enough for eight people, after all - and they spend the evening talking about cactus viina, the retsina that came with his party platter, fancy cheese and how best to eat it. They drink and laugh, and Rafi tells stories - silly ones, little ones - about how he and his brothers used to argue over what goes best with saganaki, and how to this day Refr’s expensive tastes make him impossible when they go out for dinner. About how Rudi once won a Coerthan cheese-rolling contest, and tried to impress a local girl by showing her how quickly he could eat the wheel of cheddar he’d won as a prize.

Excerpt from Never Knit High

Wasp holds the knitted shapes up to the dim lamplight, brow furrowed as he tries to unravel the grand mystery of the day: just what the hell this gift from Mjelle is supposed to be.It’s hard to hold his arm like this for long, though, and seeing them start to falter, his daughter trots forward with glasses in hand. She rests them on his nose and eases him back against a mountain of pillows, arranged to keep the pain at bay as best he can. Finally she grabs the wool and holds the pieces up for him, rotating them in ways his joints won’t allow to give him a better look at her aunt’s handiwork. Her expression is a perfect mirror of her father’s: confusion, and a touch of concern.“Thank you, little light,” he rumbles gently, and squints through the lenses until she leans in closer. “D’you know, I’ve half a mind to give up. I thought mayhap it were a pair of hats, but last I checked I’d only got the one head, and our Sparrow won’t put any of your knitted tat on that fancy hairdo of hers.”Said Sparrow rolls her eyes and spins the shapes again, but doesn’t refute him. Her hair is too good to hide under a beanie.“They can’t be hats, Pa,” she tuts, and stretches out a long, thin piece of woven wool. “See? More likely it’s gloves.”“Aye, but there’s only three of the buggers! I thought it were a fashion thing. Hats have those these days; even I know that.”The banter between them quickly switches to what Wasp thinks he knows about fashion, which lies in stark contrast to what he actually does know, and not even this beautiful father-daughter moment can distract Mjelle from how she’s sitting all of a fulm away from the two of them while this entire argument (and the verbal evisceration of her heartfelt gift) plays out.

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