I was disappointed by the decision to completely scrap and rehaul the whole July event, as it was my favorite month to play Lioden. The news post announcing it spoke very dismissively of the whole event, which also disappointed me. I liked so many things about it, including the cloud forest, Zimbabwe exploration, and decors. However, the rehaul seems to be due to the problematic writing of the storyline, which was disturbing and unsettling to many players, and those concerns are entirely valid.

I would agree that the storyline with Menhit, Apollyon and Apedemak handled sensitive topics poorly and I'm not here to argue that it doesn't. My issue is that from a purely functional perspective, the July storyline was far more rewarding to play over and over again. The game mechanics made it an event I looked forward to every year. Specifically, I liked the branching endings, reputation system, variety of quests, and choice between different decor rewards. Having five possible endings and three different NPCs to align with provided a RPG-style mechanic which gave your king control over the resolution of the story. With the other event storylines (especially June and September), the story is extremely linear and you're just being railroaded into the same resolution every time. I've found that these linear storylines are far less interesting the second time around, and lose appeal as soon as the novelty wears off. Additionally, many users have expressed interest in keeping the characters around in some way (such as spirit encounters in November) and are unsatisfied with the idea of retiring them entirely.

So, my resolution for this is to take all those mechanics from the July storyline and transfer them into the November event, which is the ideal place to put them. Some players have made suggestions desiring a storyline for this event, and it has plenty of characters that could be further explored.



Keep the piety currency rewards and quests, but transpose the reputation/reward system from July into November, and give that event a storyline with conflict and branching endings, but without the problematic elements. You could still trade piety in for NCL markings, stats, or karma, but there would be specific decors and applicators to gain. There's plenty of conflict that could be explored - you've got three shamans who appease the whispers of ancestors and try to help them find peace. A few encounters show that a young lioness named Ahiha is the apprentice of Sorcerer Sphinx, the master of 'twisted trances', and her demeanor seems to conflict with this role. Conversely, Erelath, a rather brash young lion, is mentored by "goody-four-paws" Aker, and there's an encounter where Erelath and Ahiha meet. You could put Erelath and Ahiha in the roles of Apollyon and Menhit. (Apollyon wanted to burn and take over the celestial kingdom, where Menhit was more passive and simply wanted Apedemak to change.) The two could be in a relationship but possess different ideals. Or they could be in a more antagonistic position due to their different visions of how to be a shaman.

This storyline would require you to resolve a particular issue with whispering spirits, and the shamans all have different methods that they propose to use. For example, if you aligned with Tefnut, you would support her in following a mediating, peacekeeping role as healer. The November event has tons of potential for further development and exploration, and I'd like to see this happen. If you have any suggestions for November storyline ideas, feel free to share and I may add them to my post.