8th Stretch Goal + Add-Ons + More Art + Spells
about 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 07, 2022 at 08:36:42 PM

Hey astral disciples!

Here we are, at 60k, smashing stretch goal after stretch goal! 

Your feedback on the project has been absolutely fantastic and we have been trying to make a few decisions based on some of the requests that were made since we launched. So before we talk about any stretch goals, I need to mention a few things:

• We are extremely happy that the new Star Sparkle tiers are going well! It is always really heartwarming to see our followers and backers respond positively to new additions that we made based on their feedback.
• Two new Add-ons have been added to the campaign!

The question we heard the most since launch is "Will the Tarot Deck be available separately?", so we decided to add it to the add-ons list. At the same time, we wanted the Game Ready tier to still remain a better deal for people that choose to back the project at that level. 

As for the FVTT module, the idea is that whoever buys it during the campaign or during the pledge manager stage, will get it at a lower price than what it will be available for after the campaign has fully ended.

(The module will be available at the price of around 40 EUR after the campaign is over.)

We really appreciate every single comment and message you leave for us and we want you to know that we are listening! So please don't stop, tell us what you think!

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8th Stretch Goal - Alien Adventure UNLOCKED!

We reached 60k so we are adding another SPECIAL adventure to the book!

I am so excited to make this one...

I am a huge fan of board games, playing at least 3 to 4 new ones every week, and I love seeing all the new mechanics, new methods of conveying narrative through tabletop games, and other things that they come with. Board games are most definitely some of my biggest inspirations and for that reason, I wanted to give tribute to one of my all-time favorite ones; Nemesis from Awaken Realms.

Nemesis is a sci-fi survival horror game that is all about cooperation and betrayal. You wake up from hibernation and you need to go and try to fix the engines, change the direction the ship is headed, and do a whole bunch of other things while your crewmates are trying to help you or sabotage your work. It's absolutely fantastic and every time we play it, we have a new story to tell. It feels more like a movie than a board game and I absolutely love every minute of it.

TTRPGs are not very far from that experience even if you have a lot of combat. Despite the tactical parts of the game you are playing, making it theatrically awesome and memorable.

So how does this all relate to Starlight Arcana? Well, as I said, I wanted to give tribute and there is no better way to do that than with an awesome alien horror-style adventure.

The adventure will have you searching through the dark corridors of a derelict galleon that you and your crew found, trying to understand just what exactly happened there. There will be special mechanics for the GM to help them play and narrate this adventure in a way that the players will fear moving forward and ways to make the players feel helpless (in contrast to the usual DnD feeling of being powerful heroes all the time).

So prepare yourselves as you are about to explore the mysterious and now derelict halls of the galleon, Ramnusia...

The adventure will of course come with a warning that it is a survival horror type of adventure and that certain themes are being used. While I like to write fiction in various different ways to evoke different emotions, it is important to always caution readers and players about what they are getting into.

(Ramnusia (Ραμνουσία in Greek) is one of the different names the goddess Nemesis (Νέμεσι in Greek) was known as.)

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Next up...

The world of Starlight Arcana has a lot of places to travel to. It would be fun if you had a cute companion to accompany you during your travels, now wouldn't it?

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Concept Art

Here's some more fantastic concept art from our Starlight artists!

This time, we are featuring our lead illustrator, Dusky Cat!

These were the initial sketches that Dusky made for the Stellar Degeneration spell.

The final result was this:

At some point, we even tested making some of the spells in a Mosaic style but we later scrapped that idea because we realized it would be too much extra work and it would not be as consistent with the rest of the things we had. That being said, the mosaic style is something that we want to return to and we are working with some fantastic artists for future content (that I cannot reveal yet!) for them!

Every time I look at Dusky Cat's work, I feel luckier and luckier to have been able to work with her and even more so to bring her on the team as a lead illustrator since her art style and quality of work are absolutely perfect for Starlight Arcana.

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Trivia

Last time we talked about a new Ancestry (The Crystalloid) and one of the subclasses (The Fate Weaver). This time, I want to talk about narrative design.

Designing a 3-Act Campaign

This section here will also be a video sooner or later on my YouTube channel where I talk about narrative design and other things, but I figured that writing a bit about it in an update might be something many of you will find interesting. I know that a lot of you want to run the Starlight Arcana campaign as GMs for your players so understanding the reasons why certain things were made a certain way is important to be able to make it your own when you are narrating and playing through the story found in the book.

The 3 Acts

I started using the 3-act method in my adventures from very early on just because I absolutely love this kind of design. The 3-act narrative usually works best with novels and other written media, but I quickly adapted it to TTRPGs in my own way so that I can help GMs in various ways.

The 3-act method in TTRPGs helps with:

• Timing your sessions better, since you know where you can start something important and finish off something else.
• Understanding the various dynamics of the story better and how certain characters and situations evolve throughout the story.
• Separating various parts of the adventure allowing GMs to quickly start from another part if they wish to or even completely skip other parts.

For Starlight Arcana, it is a little bit different, because this is a huge campaign and saying it has only 3 acts makes it sound ridiculous at first. Think about it; Rime of the Frostmaiden has 7 chapters and it is shorter than the campaign Starlight Arcana has with way fewer side adventures. So, naturally, the first question that one would ask, would be "why didn't you separate it into more chapters?"

The reason why is because of the starting points and the design of the story.

Starting Points

I found it way more important to have 3 strong starting points for GMs to choose from than to separate the entire campaign into tons of chapters. Having 3 acts allows GMs to choose what level their players can start at and with that just give them a background story to begin their campaign. There are suggested starting levels for each of the 3 acts and suggested information to give to your players in order to have the story still make sense and most importantly; have the players still care about the story.

Starting at a low level gives you the opportunity to build up the story slowly making the players care more and more about the story as they level up. If you start at level 3 or 6 though, it will be a bit harder to do that because there is less of a build-up. 

For that reason, I decided to include an entire segment at the start of each act, dedicated to helping GMs who want to start their campaign from that point. The segment has things such as background lore that needs to be shared and specific scenes/encounters that need to be introduced so that the players get more involved with the story.

Story Design

It was extremely important to me that the campaign plays out in a way that it does not feel boring or forced. While designing the story and the paths it can take, I was inspired a lot by video games and more specifically RPGs like Diablo.

The campaign story of Starlight Arcana starts with a linear path, where you more or less force the players down a certain path (keep in mind that it is a TTRPG you are playing, so the players could and always will, in my experience, diverge from the written path and that is a good thing). The most important thing to keep in mind when making linear paths for narrative design is to make sure that every step of the way, the players need to be given reasons to CARE about the narrative.

In act 2, the narrative design opens up a little bit and you will be given various choices to show to your players. I say "show" because, just like with everything else in narrative design for TTRPGs, you must always keep it open since your players are the ones determining the fate of the story. This part of the campaign acts as the bridge between Act 1 and Act 3 in the way that it allows the players to slowly start realizing that their actions and what they choose to do are far more important than they initially were and that they are slowly becoming free agents and the writers of their own stories in this larger narrative.

In act 3, everything opens up completely and the players are now free to roam the galaxy. The important thing here for GMs to remember is that the main story needs to be always lurking around the corner. What I mean by that is the fact that you need to always remind the players that there is a bigger threat and something that they could potentially bring more harm the longer they take to deal with it. Introducing small encounters, various new or already known NPCs (that maybe changed over the course of the campaign), or something that reminds them of the story is extremely important since it helps the players stay in sync with the campaign's main path.

Conclusion on Narrative Design

I am planning on making a full series on YouTube, explaining each and every part of Starlight Arcana in detail, so that people who like what I have made can go even deeper into the story and the thinking behind the design of the book. I am by no means the absolute expert on this but I am very happy with the knowledge and experience I have gathered over the years that allows me to make things like Starlight Arcana and I really want to share that with the world.

I always like to make content that I know I would have loved seeing out there myself.

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Till the next update...

May Starlight guide your way my friends!

~Kelf

Blood Magic + New Tier + Art + Trivia!
about 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 07, 2022 at 08:28:08 AM

Hey star hoppers!

This is going faster than any of us ever imagined it would. I have to say that I was the only one on the team that kept my expectations low but you have managed to completely stun me with the way it's going. I will seriously never stop thanking you for helping me bring my dream project to life!

NEW PLEDGE TIER! Star Sparkle and TwinStar Sparkle!

We are absolutely stunned by the reception of the Starlight Tier and there were a lot of people that wanted to support us at a higher tier for a unique reward.

Since we cannot expand the number of commissions for the Starlight tier because we want them to feel special to the 10 people that chose it and because they are a lot of work for the artist, we decided to open up a new tier between Galaxy and Starlight that will allow more people to join in and have their characters come to life through the unique token illustration style of Dusky Cat!

• Star Sparkle - Limited to 35 backers 

Dusky Cat will make a token of your choice, be it a character or a monster (up to Large size) and you will receive it in digital form so that you can use it in your games. The token will come in x3 different color variants as well and with bordered versions for use in VTTs.

• Twin Star Sparkle - Limited to 15 backers 

Same as with the other tier but for this one you get a small discount for commissioning x2 tokens!

If you like this style, by the way, make sure you check out Dusky Cat's Patreon Page where you will find a whole lot more such as vampires, sorcerers, zombie dragons, and many other magical creatures!

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2nd Mini-Stretch Goal UNLOCKED!

First, a few words from The Fluff Folio himself!

How could I say no to taking part in this awesome project! I’m more than honored that the mini-stretch goal my tiny creations were hiding behind got unlocked and I can’t wait to unleash them! I’ve collaborated with Kelfecil a few times before and always enjoyed the process. Not only is he able to dish out carefully tinkered content in record-breaking time but also amazes with good as well as prompt communication – no better tour guide out there to accompany you through the cosmic space and beyond!

~ Fluffy

Say hello to two absolutely mesmerizing void critters; the Void Snoop and the Void Snitch!

(These are uncolored early design sketches for the two creatures)

These little void critters will join the rest of the creatures that are in a special section of the book that explains all the little annoyances that you can throw at your players when they are traveling through the Sea of Stars (or anywhere else in the galaxy really).

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7th Stretch Goal - Blood Magic Spells UNLOCKED!

The mention of Blood Magic and other related rituals were already a big part of the theme of one of the planets so with this stretch goal unlocked, players will be able to channel the same kind of magic after they have gained enough knowledge from visiting that planet.

Blood magic relies a lot on channeling your own lifeforce or the lifeforce of others in order to cast powerful and extraordinary spells. These spells would be impossible without the use of these ancient and gruesome techniques that the Violet Elves created.

The Blood Moon world exists only because of the presence of its orbiting moon, a crimson orb floating all around it, drenching it in the colors of blood every night when it blocks the rays of Ukko's sunlight. The Violet Elves are the rulers of this planet and are not very welcoming to outsiders.

Should you find yourself there, you better be careful when the night falls and the moon is in the sky, for the blood sisters are on the hunt...

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Next up...

For now, I will give you only a small hint about this...

NEMESIS.

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Concept Art

I got quite a few people telling me that they loved the concept art section of the updates, so here you go:

This piece is an Eythereal Noble and was made by Swetha from India (StylusIsMyStyle on Instagram)!

And the final piece for comparison!

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Trivia

I asked some of you on Discord the other day what you would like to know more about and you said: Subclasses, Monsters, Spells and Ancestries, so here's a bit more information on some of those. The rest will come in a future update!

New Ancestry - The Crystalloids

Art by the amazing Bamvart.

The Crystalloids are a new alien race that I really wanted to create ever since I started designing Starlight Arcana. I find it extremely fun to make new ancestry options that are diverse and more and more different the farther you go in the galaxy.

The Crystalloids are first and foremost genderless. They are golem-like creatures made of crystalline minerals found only on their home planet. 

Crystalloids are created in a magical way through the connection of two or more other crystalloids when their bond becomes strong. A uniquely mystical ritual that other creatures have yet to understand.

Crystalloids have the unique feature of being able to grow in size over time if they wish to do so. This gives them more strength but limits their mobility. Because of that, many Crystalloids choose to be big and towering individuals so that they may find work as heavy lifters across the galaxy. There are a few Crystalloids, however, that prefer to stay small and nimble so that they may hide and strike from the shadows, making use of their crystal bodies to camouflage themselves wherever they may be.

Extra Trivia: There is a whole subclass that is inspired by this ancestry; the Crystallized Path Barbarian subclass.

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The Fate Weaver Subclass

There will be an art showcase for this subclass in a future update (which I honestly cannot wait to show you because it is one of my favorite ones in the book) but for now, I can reveal a few things to you about the subclass.

The first version of the Fate Weaver subclass, written back in February 2021.

The Fate Weaver and the Astromancer subclasses are by far the most important subclasses found within Starlight Arcana and I can say that they are easily the ones I spent the most time developing.

The Fate Weaver is heavily inspired by more modern witches such as the Witches of Constantinople, Romani, and gypsy witches as well as other more enchantment and fortune-telling kind of themes.

I actually have heritage from Constantinople and my mother would tell me stories about Smyrna and Constantinople, the, often untold, tragic history of the people there in the 1880s. One of my favorite works of fiction (that has a lot of real history in it too) is "The Witches of Smyrna" by Mara Meimaridi which tells the story of Katina, a young girl from Smyrna who meets Attarti, a Turk, who agrees to teach her about magic. Through enchantments, potions, curses, and a whole other array of witchy means, she makes her way up the social ladder.

I love this part of history and how entire wars were waged based on fortunes given by people with supposed mystical abilities (such as Pythia in Delphi of ancient Greece who gave fortunes to generals and others).

This is where my narrative and game design come into play. The Fate Weavers see the Threads of Fate as they walk through the physical world. As a Fate Weaver grows in power, so does their ability to weave those threads in different ways and in turn help their allies or hinder their enemies.

As a Fate Weaver, you will be able to choose between certain paths:

•  Cartomancy - Heavy use of the tarot deck to use abilities and cast spells.
•  Crystallomancy - Heavy use of a crystal ball in order to cast powerful rituals.
•  Hydromancy/Pyromancy - Whenever there is water or fire close to you, you are able to reweave fate easier and in ways, you otherwise could not.
•  Necromancy - Speaking to the dead unlike any cleric has ever been able to do so before.

Based on all of the above, you can imagine how much work went into making the Fate Weaver subclass. I love the idea of chronomancers and I have actually homebrewed one for a game where I played one in the past, but I really wanted something more thematic and nicely tied to the narrative of the world of Starlight Arcana. 

Cord Sight spell art by Anel.

I never really liked the idea of "talented magic users" since it felt like they just acquired power without ever having to work for it, so the Fate Weaver was the perfect solution to that. Fate Weavers are as much blessed as they are cursed with being able to see the threads of fate. As many have said so before me; knowing the fate of others is both a gift and a burden.

Making it a balanced subclass was also very difficult and at first most of the subclasses were actually extremely simple, following the usual design that DnD follows, but I decided to scrap that entirely and go with my gut because I did not want just another "somewhat interesting" subclass. I wanted you to pick a subclass because it speaks to you both from a thematic point of view and also from a gameplay style perspective.

Heavy inspiration was taken from various adventure and mostly cooperative board games where different characters have their own playstyle but still contribute to reaching objectives in their own special way. I really started to feel like DnD was starting to lose that feeling with what we are getting from the official products, so I wanted to completely break the habit and make things that felt different but also really fun.

A quick example of inspiration would be something as simple as the Gambler from Etherfields. There are luck-based mechanics with lots of dice rolling that everyone gets involved in but the Gambler has abilities and cards that make her lean a lot more into pushing her luck and that is something that from the very first time of playing the game, you get the feeling of being that dreamer. You are gambling your fate away with every dice roll and pushing to do even more extreme things while everyone else just hopes you won't mess up... again.

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I genuinely believe that we, as creators, should always try to push for more interesting things in our games since there is so much to draw inspiration from that it would be just remiss of us to just go with the "classic" design again just because it's the "safe route".

Keeping things interesting but also simple is what I believe in the most and I hope you will all like what I have meticulously prepared for you with Starlight Arcana.

I will talk more about my narrative and game design choices in future updates and will also reveal a bit more about the campaign and its story as it is one of the things that I am the proudest of. I always believed in making memorable stories and I hope that Starlight Arcana will be no different for you.

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Till the next update...

May Starlight guide your way my friends!

~Kelf

Bonus Backer Reward - Monster Codex: The Void
about 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 05, 2022 at 07:31:22 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

6th Stretch Goal - The Void + More Art + More Trivia!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 05, 2022 at 07:31:20 PM

Hey galaxy hitchhikers!

Before I talk about any of the new unlocked stretch goals, I wanted to say that you have all been absolutely lovely with your comments and compliments on the project!

I wanted to also remind you that if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to comment on the Kickstarter page, privately message me or just leave it in our dedicated Starlight Arcana text channel on discord!

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6th Stretch Goal - Expanded Void Corruption Mechanics UNLOCKED!

The void is unleashed and stronger than ever!

The Void is a core part of Starlight Arcana, taking center stage in the story of the main campaign and also being featured in various parts of the book, such as with the subclasses or the monsters.

The Void can corrupt most creatures in the world of Starlight Arcana and everyone reacts to it in, more or less, the same way. With this stretch goal being unlocked, it means that we will be adding a lot more information on how the GM can use the corruption mechanics to create their own NPCs, how to use it in and out of combat, and also how it could affect entire worlds.

For the players, there will be rules on how the corruption could affect you (without too many spoilers to ruin the GM's plans) and how you could potentially use the void for your own benefit.

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LITTLE BONUS FOR BACKERS: Since we unlocked this Stretch Goal, you can expect an extra little backer-exclusive update with bonus content for you to enjoy! We are starting with the Monster Codex: The Void, Part I.

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2nd Mini-Stretch Goal!

The 2nd MINI Stretch Goal is here and it is with none other than the amazing The Fluffy Folio!

Once we hit 51k, Fluffy will create two absolutely amazing void critters that will go in the Starlight Arcana tome. We will of course show you how they look once the stretch goal is unlocked, but for their stat blocks and the rest of their backstory, you will have to wait to see them for yourself when the book is in your hands!

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Next Stretch Goals Revealed!

Just going to leave this here as a teaser without explaining much yet!

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Concept Art

As always, here is some more concept art!

This piece was made by S1lver_Shark and it is for an NPC that will remain a mystery for now!

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Trivia

The Astral Siblings

Did you know that there are three Astral Siblings and not just two?

Ukko, Umi and their older brother, Za'strasz, created the galaxy when they were just messing around and decided to challenge each other on who could create the most beautiful planets. Things went out of hand when Za'strasz started realizing that the mortals they had created were growing in power and when he tried to "control" his world, his siblings intervened and defeated him.

Za'strasz is the strongest of the three, but Ukko and Umi teamed up to overpower him and in the end exile him into the farthest reaches of the cosmos. That's where Za'strasz found the Void...

(More on this story once we unlock the relevant Social Stretch Goal!)

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Till the next update...

May Starlight guide your way my friends!

~Kelf

5th Stretch Goal + More Art + Trivia!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 05, 2022 at 10:11:16 AM

Hey galaxy adventurers!

I keep having to come back to make more and more updates and it just feels amazing. I love doing this sort of thing and I have to thank all of you for that!

So apparently, you have unlocked the 5th stretch goal and I am so darn excited for it because the planet unlocks are by far some of the biggest ones, adding at least 20 or so pages to the book every time. I thought that in this update, I'd explain a bit more about how each planet will be formated in the book.

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5th Stretch Goal - New Planet: Molten World UNLOCKED!

The Molten World will now be included in the final book!

It sounds like a very simple premise "a world that is just full of lava and stuff" but that is really all you need to entice your players to visit and discover the real mysteries hidden within. And oh my, are there mysteries to be found there...

With its own unique bestiary and a constantly hot temperature, the Molten World will add a whole new section to the book so that you may use the planet and all it comes with in your own campaign or as part of the Starlight Arcana campaign.

Each planet section in the book is going to include things like:

• Main campaign story elements (main adventure)
• Various Side quests
• Settlements and other points of interest for exploration purposes
• A dozen new monsters unique to the planet
• Notable NPCs
• Environmental mechanics unique to the planet

Each part will have enough information for you to run at least 4-5 sessions there. If you really want to, you can always expand on what is in the book and spend even more time on the planet. Spending more time on just one planet though is not recommended and there will be game mechanics and story elements that will push both players and GMs to move the story forward and on to other locations too.

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6th Stretch Goal - The Void

The Void corruption is probably one of my favorite things in the Starlight Chronicles setting. Starlight Arcana will feature A LOT OF IT and I honestly cannot wait to show you more so that you can get a better feel for the corrupting force that will take center stage in the main campaign story of Starlight Arcana.

Should we reach 50k, we will be expanding the mechanics of the Void corruption, making them much more interesting and fun to use for both the GM (corrupted NPCs or Void monsters) and the players (wielding the Void and allowing yourself to be corrupted to gain powers).

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LITTLE BONUS FOR BACKERS: As soon as we reach the 6th stretch goal, I will also make a backers-only update giving you access to a cool little Void supplement that I think you all will find very interesting.

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Concept Art

As promised, here is some more concept art for Starlight Arcana!

Early concept art pieces for Astromancer, Corruptor and Crystallized Path Barbarian by Anel.

And just for the sake of comparison to how a final piece looks like, here's the final Warlock Corruptor piece!

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Last but not least, I wanted to let you all know that you unlocked the first Social Stretch Goal which is the +5 Patrons goal! The unlock is adding a new spell to the book (which will be revealed together with some other unlocks in a future update)!

The rest are quite close and we even have the first 5 of 10 haikus already submitted so we'll hopefully have more of the Social Stretch Goals reached soon!

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Trivia

Starlight Beginnings

Did you know that the whole idea behind starlight magic and other things started from my very first published adventure that is available for FREE on DMsGuild? 

It is called "The Tower of the Starlight Knight"!

(yeah I know, I liked long titles back then...)

Cats?

Void Cats, as they have been called by those who first came across them, are the only creatures in the Sea of Stars that don't care the least bit about the corrupting void since it has no effect on them. Their color changes slightly when affected by the void, but these mystical creatures seem to have a certain kind of unique immunity that shields them against the maddening and corrupting effects that the Void would have on any other creature.

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I am slowly realizing that I am ending all of my sentences with an exclamation mark now just because I am constantly excited... This is really a dream come true and I cannot thank you enough for it.

Till the next update...

May Starlight guide your way my friends!

~Kelf