Happy 7th Birthday, RoW!

Happy 7th Birthday, RoW!

Wow, is really all I have to say. 7 years ago, I helped to open Ruins of Wildwood alongside my fellow co-admins Rachel and Tara. Never in a million years did I think we would make a site that would stay alive and active for 7 years. It still blows my mind every time I think about it, but I'm so incredibly grateful for the journey it has been. You all have been an incredible community, and even though some of the faces are different now than they were back at the beginning, the love for roleplaying in and telling stories about the world we've created has stayed constant. No matter if you've been here for 7 years or 1 day, I want to say thank you for playing a part in making RoW what it is today. I'm looking forward to the next year.

To commemorate the event, we are proud to release our latest yearbook. You can check it out here: CLICK ME! 

The yearbook is populated by content from you guys, and is filled with wonderful memories about what we and our characters have been up to the past 12 months. Along with releasing the yearbook, we'll also be switching over to a new archive for completed threads and the old archive will be closed.

Happy Birthday RoW, and congratulations everyone!

To celebrate, anybody have any good stories or memories from their time on the site (ever, not just this year). One of mine has to be reaching the 100,000 post mark this year. Our activity this winter was incredible, with drama brewing in literally all corners of the map. Even when it can have negative effects on characters (poor Serach is still crying inside like the emo child he is), it's really inspiring to see how everybody works together to make these plots happen even if they don't always go as planned.

So what are your favorite RoW memories?

So I joined this site six years ago with Elettra and even though she is gone now I am still very much in the long haul with this site. I couldn't imagine starting over rping in another community "in this day and age" and am so happy this one is still going. It is such a laid back, easy going community here.

Some of my favorite memories in RoW of course was my early times with Elettra, when she was so protective over her leader Jays and such a boss, as well as when she first created Willow Ridge so long ago and when her and Angier finally became mates. Another few points are Bane and Inali's relationship and when RoW banded together to take out the Aniwaya wolves. That was pretty epic. Of course, there have been many other good times. :)

Hmmm... let me think...
TL;DR: "Grey has been here wayyyyyyy too long. Shiz, man."

Year 1 (2010-2011): Here we go... November 2010. Can we start about how "semi-embarrassed" I was to just have Borden come scrabbling up the mountain in the middle a Drought BWP? Answering the call of a Leader - Alexander - who would later initiate him into Midnight Plateau on the spot? He later became Alexander's "II. Second" (when we used to have the role!) and went around at the base of the mountain to recruit. Cue #BoJay5ever. He met Jaysyek and the rest of that is history, they break away and Switch and I establish Grizzly Hollow the following February. Angier comes in after being listed on the Adopt-A-Wolf roster for a couple months... as Alexander's new Second, he soon meets Vlarindara and two messy love triangles start between her, the two Lyall brothers, and Jayse. Let me tell ya, it was just... a mess. Later, Angier meets Elettra under a willow tree in the middle of a rain storm and the obsession starts... My first RoW puppy adopt is born that May - Fenru! Middle-born son of the Tainn titan Indru and the legendary Corinna. I also get to participate in the site's first-ever Puppy Season and present Prosper, Hocus, and Trisden Lyall on-site. It wasn't meant to be... history was definitely repeated in GH when we think about what happened with a similar trio (Joan, Ophelia, and Felix). The Lyall's also fostered Alexander's cubs Theodore and Arlette; as the first-born boy curse would have it, little Theo perished from a snake bite.

Year 2 (2011-2012): For my first Hallowe'en, Fenru found out that his best friend Prosper died from falling into the currents of Swift River (so lovely...much drama, Elettra was NOT pleased to report this back to Jaysyek). Angier romps from pack to pack, Midnight Plateau to Swift River, hoping to rope in Vlarindara from Grizzly Hollow. He eventually comes to Grizzly Hollow but Vlarindara is nowhere to be found. I add four new Lyalls to the site: Renier, Ryvet, Taima and Calla. We even had a '@tagging' system and a "Misc," page added this year - definitely worth a highlight~

Year 3 (2012-2013): First and foremost: "Taima + Datura sitting in a tree..." Skoll and his siblings are born in the Spring of 2013 and they make Angier's life a living hell. Meanwhile, Borden and Jaysyek are in a place where Rook and Veho are right now - full of "I'm sorry's" and "I love you's." Angier finally abandons all hopes of making it with Vlar' and makes several attempts to join Willow Ridge. He brings Elettra gifts we kept waiting for that last spot in the male roster to open up! When he returns one last time, he vows to prove to Ele just how loyal he is. He fights his way to Second and is bested by the Guardian {Guinness}, who later deems Angier as a worthy Leader of the Ridge. Corinna decides to uproot Swift River and sends Ice, Jessie and her son Fenru on an expedition into the east to find Fenru's youngest sister Rissa (wooo! NEW MAP!). Before the year is up, Fenru finds a friend in Arlette. We did a site-wide move to the RoW as you know it today (HELLO BIGGER, MULTIPLE PROFILE AVATARS!). I did some bug-testing but for the most part, I was with you guys in the chatbox amidst the major RoW withdrawal we were all going through between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Upside is we also got a new feature: Timelines! Wow, FORGET trying to sort through your character thread log in chronological order, woooo!

Year 4 (2013-2014): The Where the Wild Things Are BWP hits GH hard and forces Borden and Jaysyek to leave Relic Lore. A misplaced Taima is reunited with Datura and she is taken into Naira's pack. Back at Willow Ridge, Angier and Elettra are having trouble reining in Skoll as he wreaks havoc anywhere he goes. He goes so far as to murder Mapplethorpe, Leader of Nomads Pass and Naira Aquila's mate. Taima and Datura welcome a son, Borden and Jaysyek's first grandbaby on-site on GH's abandoned grounds. Get this, his name is: Octavius "Gus" Percival Lyall Aquila. My plans for GH (II) falls through when I have Taima and Octavius leave Relic Lore. Rook is brainstormed and he joins later in the spring of 2014. Fenru and Arlette elope! They establish their pack off-site. I add three more Lyalls to the site: Deacon, Castiel and Greer and RoW joins Twitter! We also did a thing with the RoW Council, which was pretty neat in concept! 2014 was also the year where most of you thought we became a Vampires vs. Werewolf site for April Fools'!! <3 *High-fives Sarah*

Year 5 (2014-2015): Skoll continues with his reign of terror by murdering his cousin by extension Xetor and gets away with it. Niles and his sisters Ravenna and Isolde are born; they would become Elettra and Angier's last litter. Elettra becomes a grandmother when Skoll spawns a son, Sven, with Borden's grand-daughter Piety (omg, we didn't know this until later...). Rook's first son Tomen is also born not long after the Lyalls banded together from the northern, off-site to establish Grizzly Hollow (II) - as per Borden's last wishes. I also set Relic Lore on-fire - for April Fools'.

Year 6 (2015-2016): To kick off the new year on RoW, Rook meets Veho and the two hit it off... Hardships hit Grizzly Hollow and send Rook into the hot seat when Borden dies from old age (and what is possibly something like vascular dementia to account for his alzheimer's-like symptoms). Skoll spawns two more bastard children, daughters this time: Lila (with Naira's daughter Aponi) and Attica (with WR subordinate Hecate). By the end of summer, he leaves Relic Lore and heads south (to, well, y'know... get ready to spawn more spawn... what else is new at this point?). Our RoW Gift Shop launches!

Year 7 (2016-2017): Angier passes away, taking Elettra with him. It sends Niles into a spiral of events, from Sven attacking him on the spot to his sister ignoring him while the rest of the adults merely stood by. He meets Castel and goes home with her - which starts Niles on a possibly even rockier path. He even gets the bad luck of running into his older brother Deacon, who is angrily disappointed in his younger sibling. Rook and Veho have their first fight! omgwowokay. I also finally get a Borden-grandson in little Mouse, Rook's son. :D

Bonus: By the 2017 breeding season, I had created 20 cubs (someone might have to double-check that) and have already made plans for next Spring... The babies I'm most likely to brag about? Sven (with 2125 LP and deep Archer-Lyall family connections) + Greer (with 2350 LP as the Leader of Aurora Heights)! To date there are 4 bloodlines that boast Lyall blood: Aquila, Attaya, Archer, Diedonné/Tainn.

Bonus, Bonus: I'm so addicted to RoW that I've taken a puppy (almost) every year. :| I can't help dat puppy fever. Fenru ('11), Taima ('12), Skoll ('13), Octavius ('14), Niles ('15) and Mouse ('17). In 2016, I gave you two Skoll babies in exchange.

One More: At one point I had written completely around Ghost. Skoll seduced Aponi and killed her step-father Mapplethorpe. Taima was Aponi's older sister-in-law in the same pack for a time; and now Fenru is simply Aponi's brother-in-law.

Also, I am so deeply embedded on here, you probably can't keep me - an ex-mod/ex-RoW-Librarian away. <3 Thank you so much for everything listed above and more. This is by far the longest I've written around "a whole family" of characters. You guys are THE BEST. That being said: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROW! Here's to us and the wolves and many, MANY more years of successful writing, plotting, and RoWing! <333

Edit: I will also never forget the whole TEAM INDRU VS. TEAM RUIKO thing we had with Swift River Leadership was up for grabs!

Here's one more thing: Oldies but goodies... since there're no games this year. XD
Dug them out of my old photo storage for giggles.

Crossword
Word Search: General
Word Search: Lone Wolves
Word Search: Willow Ridge
Word Search: Whisper Caverns
Word Search: Oak Tree Bend
Word Search: Secret Woodlands
Word Search: Hollowheart Keep
Word Search: Magnolia Glen
Word Search: Black Thorn Downs
Word Search: Cut Rock River

Bonus: Dang... I don't remember making this????

Also: This image of the baby Library before it expanded and grew up a lot more. It now definitely houses all that I could ever want on a semi-realistic wolf forum RPG.



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You know you've been here too long when:

Ahh, happy seventh birthday <333

After I decided to quit Doutaini (might have tried 1-2 more times after this, but nothing ever worked out), I was without a wolf rpg. I ended up talking to Vami, who I knew both from Assia and Dout, and she had already been a part of RoW for about 7 months at this point. I remember talking to her (on AIM, I think? man, lol) and angsting about what to name my character. I wanted something short, and eventually settled on Ice Aesir, which is kind of ironic seeing as my long-time character I abandoned on Dout had been called Isa. :P

Stealing Grey's format.

Year 1: 2010-2011
I wasn't here :(

Year 2: 2011-2012
I came in at the end of 2011, and Ice was lured to Swift River by Indru's promise of getting to take care of kids. Those kids were Rihael, Kisla, and Fenru. I very nearly didn't make it past my first few months, because I found I had troubles balancing the realistic aspect vs ..well, I don't know. I think I put it something like Ice felt like a "glittery rainbow wolf" in how he acted, but when I made an OOC thread about my doubts everyone reassured me and I got over the little block and I'm so grateful for it. <3 I'm not sure I would've made it otherwise. Anyway. I was part of the whole Swift River/Poison Path drama! At some point, a fantastic bromance formed between Ice, and Swift River's silent second Marsh, despite Ice tricking Marsh to help his friend Ava. Later, this thread took place: aim for my HEART and it's still one of my absolute favorites to date. <3 I also briefly played Valkyrja in ~June 2012, a twisted wolf who upset Kisla but fell into oblivion when her brother Firnen disappeared.

Year 3: 2012-2013
This was a bad year for the Swift River wolves. Indru/Tara disappeared. Marsh stepped up to be the pack's new leader, with Ice as second. The BWP with the Aniwayans kicked off, and Ice, Jessie and Fenru got to discover Red Fern Forest. Rabies and the Aniwayan wolves had come to the Lore. They received the blame for Rissa's death, and after taking leadership of Swift River from Marsh, Ice rallied the Lore along with the other leaders, and they formed the closest thing the site has ever seen to an army. They explored the new lands on the other side of the mountain and took down the Aniwayan pack. Aiyana, my emo goth child from Indru and Corinna, ran into Borden, and developed a kind of father-daughter crush on him. She said her goodbyes and disappeared with him. Swift River moved and became Oak Tree Bend, where Serach and Sceral were born. Ice got the news that Marsh had died, and it broke his heart. :[

Year 4: 2013-2014
I started to seriously struggle with Ice, so he left with Merlin in order to track down their missing member Cali. It gave me a small break from him, but when I tried to bring him back, it still didn't work out for me, so he fell down from the Sierra Hills and lost his memory. Instead, I picked up Cezanne, Mapplethorpe's sister, and even though we didn't last very long, I had a lot of fun with her. My idea is that she left Relic Lore upon not finding a good mate here (or her brother), and had two pups, Cezar and Wega, before dying of old age.

Year 5: 2014-2015
Spring 2015 I resurfaced on Lord, who I still miss and wish I had done justice. I was in a bad place OOC, so of course, it didn't work out, and I disappeared again. :(

Year 6: 2015-2016
No sign of the Fenrir.

Year 7: 2016-2017
In October 2016, I was found lurking on the site for several days, before reactivating, of all my characters, Ice. I felt very bad for what I had done to him, because leaving his family wasn't anything he ever should have done. He got accepted back into OTB, was there with the whole Spieden/Aponi/Naira/Triell drama, reunited with Kisla (it was messy and the last time they met, she gave him the cold shoulder) and got three more grandbebes. Receiving the news of Kisla's death will crush him. :[ At the end of 2016, I picked up Lunette, my darling anxiety wreck <3 She developed something really special with Kajika, got cussed out by her sister Neha, hurt her mother Namid something awful, disappeared to CAD for two months, and is now trying to mend the mess of her life while figuring out what she's supposed to do.

So I have a trainwreck Lunette and an Ice who is about to have his world thoroughly rocked.

Most of all I am so appreciative of all the love and warmth and stability in this community <3 I have been on less kind places, and honestly, coming on here is great. You're all my extended online family <3 and I am so glad I returned, because I had missed all of you, and writing with you.

And all those fantastic things Grey dug out :O Here's a little of what I had, not much, admittedly:
OOC nav guide
IC nav guide
Profile skin explanation

The old paws background on the menus <333