Since the old thread has multiple broken links and things are different here. I decided to create a 2.0 version of the old thread I created.
I thought I would create this thread as a variant of the “What happened in Your Game Today?” thread.
Serial and non-serial updates are welcome. Any mermadic discoveries in the Sims are more than welcome, including discoveries while using mods. Let's give our MerSims the spotlight here!
I hope so too. I have the Fairy VS Witches mod from Spinning Plumbob and in the Debug Portion of Build Mode, I found the tree that leads to the Sylvan Glade, I’m actually super curious to see if I can use it to get to there from Sulani. 😜
I’m looking forward to sharing progress updates, I will be restarting my story, sorta treating it like a refresh of sorts since the updates suddenly changed the appearance of my sims and the use of the mods could have made my save unstable. Essentially, the appearance I gave to my Merlings was accomplished by glitching functions of a mod that affected CAS. The reboot is kinda a preemptive measure for what could happen.
Sorry, I did not mean to post this so late. I went in game and did a bit more to make progress towards getting a chapter updated and time got ahead of me. I'll try to make my build update tomorrow before I do things in game.
Anyways, here' the build progress for 04/26:
Right now, I'm transferring things from my older save to my new save. For this build, I am making it a residential rental that all my merfolk will live in. The first household in my rotation is the Zalrian Pod, so I started getting their grotto finished first. Just getting everything moved from rooms I saved to the gallery and arranging things the way I wanted took an entire hour. Eventually, I'll be doing everything from scratch.
Other things I lost time doing today involve getting things sorted out with the Vatore Pod. For my Story Refresh, I decided to focus more on one storyline instead of doing so much unfocused. Naturally, it will follow the Little Merman theme, but I'm hoping it will be a little less all over the place.
Damion's Lair:
Part of setting things up involved setting in motion Damion's involvement with other merfolk and making sure he has a functioning lair. For the most part everything works, but the Sea Witch Cauldron appears bugged when contracts are being used with the cauldron. I'm going to redownload the mod to see if that helps. If it doesn't I'll let, Spinning Plumbob know.
The most challenging part of this was deciding on how Damion would display his collection. Damion wants to collect the Love, Voices, Youth, and Souls of Merfolk, Vampires, Humans, Spellcasters, Fairies, Witches, Werewolves, and if he learns of their existence, Aliens. That's 32 different Sims he wants to collect things from. He might get duplicates along the way too. Crystal Creations had a really nice display that could almost be used to "Lock" the objects of his collection in, but I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't actually lock the cases and they didn't quite look the way I wanted them to. If he finishes his collection, I might use them for his particular favorites in his collection. Where I'll put them will come later.
Additionally, I went into CAS to make some minor changes to Damion's appearance. At this point in the story, he will be a little more consumed by darkness from dealing in dark sea sorcery.
The Guardians of the Sea and their role in preventing the Darkness of the Ocean Abyss from braking free will be returning to my SimLit Story. For that, I built the actual seal the Guardians are maintaining.
Okay, I just lost everything I spent hours typing. Good to know the annoying forum bug remains and the auto save still won't save whatever is typed. 😑 I'll try this again. I apologize for the delay.
I forgot a few things from yesterday, 04/26, and wanted to share them first. Because I lost everything earlier, I'm going to do a separate post for today. I'm hoping that braking things up will help cause I don't want to turn to a word document for this kind of an update.
Yesterday, I also spent quite a bit of time working on builds for the lots around Mua Pel'Am. Each of the three lots will have builds that represent the 3 stages of conservation around Mua Pel'Am.
At Key Point, I created Wayfarer's Atoll. This is a Generic Lot that will become a beach lot. I chose the Generic Lot type because it has fewer townie sims appear. This is the version of the lot that is in decline. I have a version of it that is more alive, but it isn't fully developed. Working on this lot, I decided to represent the conservation efforts around Mua Pel'Am in my builds.
I plan on using the T.O.O.L mod by TwistedMexi to move the Underwater Cave by Spinning Plumbob to another part of Mua Pel'Am. The Underwater Cave will serve as the actual entrance to the Wayfarer's Grottos that Merfolk call home. The Grottos my merfolk live in are completely submerged underwater and inaccessible to anyone that can't breathe underwater. So, it makes more sense for the entrance to these grottos to be underwater as well. Naturally, in game, it doesn't work like this, but it helps with pretending.
The Caldera Ruins
Formerly Caldera Camp, the Caldera Ruins were built by the Ancient Islanders alongside the Ancient Merfolk to Seal a Great Darkness in the Abyss of the Deep Sea. Over time, the islanders failed to protect the seal on land, and it was broken by individuals seeking dark magic.
Present-Day Islanders know very little about these ruins or the nature of the glowing glyph on the second floor of the ruins. There is no indication of a power source or an explanation for how the glyph is glowing. Glyph on the interior of the temple depict Chaos, Fire, and Vigilance. The Glyphs of Chaos alongside the Glyphs of the Watcher seem to indicate the purpose of the ruins. Archeologists theorize that the ruins was a kind of outpost used to observe the Volcano up close, especially since it was built from material that could better survive a Volcanic Eruption. The surroundings of the ruins are in decline like the rest of Mua Pel'Am. Historians have learned that the current state of the ruins came just before the decline of Mua Pel'Am as an island. The volcanic smog and declining life around the islands and in the ocean is a concern to island conservationists, but undoing the damage the island has sustained has been a long process that has yielded very few positive results.
Present-Day Reef Merfolk know that the purpose of the ruins was to protect the seal that kept a Great Darkness at bay. The Seal Underwater continues to be protected by a Sea Witch and the surrounding oceans have been preserved by the Reef Merfolk. The Malevolent Deep-Sea Merfolk drove out the Benevolent Reef Merfolk and, after some time, they abandoned Mua Pel'Am as well. The Underwater Seal can be found deep within an underwater cave inside the ruins and deep inside the volcano.
The Vatore Grotto
Damion spent a long time living alone. His affinity for Sea Sorcery made other Reef Merfolk wary of him, and he lost his parents when the Ruins on Land fell. Damion inherited the Mantle of the Purple Tail Guardian and took over protecting the seal underwater. He is one of the few Reef Merfolk that remained in the Seas around Mua Pel'Am after its decline.
Damion's Grotto became the Vatore Grotto after Caleb Vatore and him became life partners. Caleb Vatore was reborn as a Reef Merman thanks to Damion's Magic, and Caleb moved in with his husband. Caleb has been a source of light in Damion's life. Damion began to descend into the practice of Dark Sea Sorcery after Caleb's Death. This hasn't helped his reputation with other merfolk.
The Vatore Grotto is the home of the Vatore Pod and the only way to access the Underwater Seal.
It is great that you have been working on the lots, and to read the background details about them and the merfolk that live there🙂 I am sorry that you lost what you had written and had to retype it again 🙁
