written by ru

±

Website Release & Forum Updates

Introducing: The Staff Review: Log Horizon

UFinally, the updates are here! After several months of waiting the main DearSweetAru website

has been revamped with a newly remodeled forum right behind it. The new website features all of what we have to offer, providing several examples of our

products. Our new navigation system is more user-friendly and it is significantly easier to locate specific examples of what it is we commonly provide, though you may feel free to ask for something we do not have shown as an example. For now we are only taking in custom orders until we produce enough merchandise for you Buy Now customers out there.

Another feature added is our Forum News area where you can see all of our previous newsletters. The page also has the latest newsletter up for display in a larger format than our forum, allowing better readability!

Speaking of our articles, we have gained some new, rad sections not previously featured. We have reviews with Mr. Scarlet, roleplay/writing advice with Auki, and creature mythology with

Mozaic. Soon enough we will also be announcing contests winners, Member of the Month, and more! Want to submit an article to us? Then send a PM over to Ru for review.

Sadly due to mishaps with the forum we had a crash recently. The forum itself was unaccessible for several hours before our new Script Manager cheat117 managed to fix it. We found out it was due to the theme we had being outdated, so we found a couple of brand new themes!

Our base theme is cake, which you can see in the left picture. It is relatively bright, but not obnoxiously. For all you dark lovers out there who prefer slinking around in a shadowy forum you can feel free to change it to our other new theme: Blackened. If you couldn’t guess by the title... it’s dark and blacker than cake.

The forum crash also resulted in us having to get rid of a lot of modifications we had on the previous forum. We managed to salvage some of them, but others were too outdated to be kept — including our chatroom. Finding new modifications is in the works as we steadily regain control, but the forum runs much smoother and has some newer functions we previously did not have.

However, since the crash we have found some leftover errors here and there. If you do find any sort of problems or just things you know don’t belong, then PM either Ru or cheat117 with whatever it is you found. If you feel uncomfortable PMing us, then you can also post up a topic in our new Suggestions & Questions section to precisely that.

Due to various updates, a newly launched website, and steadily increasing the numbers in our member base; we decided to hire on some new, lovely faces to staff! However, we also realize you may not know the present staff too well either, so this article is specially written to tell you just who we are and why you should care.

I am the Head Administrator known simply as Ru. The forum and website are both run by me; and you can come to me for any questions you could possibly have. You have likely seen my red colored name plastered all over the forum because I am quite the blabbermouth. I love role-playing, drawing, artsy things, and other hobbies resulting in me being a starving artist.

I also co-run our largest RP, Elements. It is a gigantic world role-play that is always accepting members. Personally, I am the Game Master (GM) for the cities of Lilia and Akelea; as well as any of the other areas not run by Mozaic. It is a super duper fun role-play, which I highly encourage you to join.

Mozaic — Moz — is the Co-Administrator. She runs our Twitter and deviantArt pages; the former is updated MWF while the latter updates only on Friday. For Elements she is the GM for Estermallow, Inima, and Calore. She is relatively quiet, for the most part, but she is also very kind and honest. If you ever have any concerns don’t be afraid to send her a message.

If I am to ever disappear Moz is the one to go to. She has the title of Co-Administrator for a reason.

Next we have our handy Script Manager

screenshot of the newly redone website.

I’ve never really done one of these before, so bear with me.

So for my first review thingy I have Log Horizon. Now, when I first heard of it — what with the whole, “People stuck in a fantasy game world,” theme — I thought it was going to be just another .hack//sign or Sword Art Online (SAO). And, to be honest, I ignored it at first because of it. I was still pretty disappointed at how dumb SAO got, and .hack//sign I realized really wasn’t as good as I remembered it. I felt like I might be done with this context. However, Log Horizon proves to be better than both of them by leagues and really stands out on its own as trying something new with the already well established idea.

Log Horizon centres around Shiroe, a max level Enchanter, waking up to find that he and every other player are locked inside their characters’ bodies of the game Elder Tale. And unlike other anime that have this focus, Log Horizon focuses on life in the game, and not on trying to get back to the real world. Creating a set of laws and a political system for the players to follow, forming pacts with various guilds, advancing the technology of the universe with out-of-game knowledge — the list goes on.

The primary plot point is actually joining the guilds under a single government in order to have a say in the world’s political affairs with the now sentient NPCs of the world. Under the table coercing, backstabbing, manipulation — you name it. Log Horizon makes it work.

The only problem I had with the series is even though Shiroe is technically the main character the focus bounces around a lot to other characters around him. The most common offender was the small party of kids he helped when they were first starting the game and learning how to go through dungeons for the first time. Interesting, sure, since it gave a change of pace, but a good chunk of time was dedicated to

them and I was constantly asking myself when they were going to get back to the politics. Log Horizon’s second season will be airing in the fall and, as such, the first season ends with little resolved and me wanting more.

If you want to see a show that has great music, mind games, and, on top of that, pretty neat fight scenes Log Horizon is probably something you’re looking for.

log horizon; dsa does not own this.

continued on page 3

written by ru

JULY 2014 NEWSLETTER

written by mr. scarlet

««««««««¸

screenshot of the new forum theme.

The EVERYTHING CompetitionThe contest where you can submit absolutely anything to count as our

everything! Drawings, painting, graphics, videos, poems, story — absolutely EVERYTHING. Well, except the kitchen sink. Please don’t.

All you have to do is submit to us a piece befitting whatever theme we decide to shove into your pretty, little face. This is how YOU interpret the theme not us. So, if we tell you the theme is love and you decipher that as a mutilated heart smeared across the concrete... Well, we may think you need some help, but it counts!

All you have to do is turn in whatever it is you decide to submit by July 31st. Just blast a PM (personal message) over to Mozaic who will then add you up in the poll with all the other contestants. The following day the poll will be up and everyone can vote for which one they feel best fits the provided theme. On August 4th the poll will be closed and we will announce the winner!

Of course, though, what does the winner get and why should you care? The winner will receive an award icon on their profile giving them auto-bragging rights around the forum of how awesome they are. Their work will be showcased on all of DSA’s social medias; i.e. Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, website, etc. The world will get to see how awesome you are!

There is also a super special bonus reward. How do you get such an epic sounding award? Well, you don’t get to know how, but you do get to know it exists and what it entails. The winner of the super secret bonus reward will receive a free sketch from Ru of one person/character of their choice, so long as it does not break any rules on DSA. This means it can be yourself, a RP character, character in a show, etc.

Rules1. Must be original work.2. By submitting you are consenting for your work to be displayed on

the DSA forum, website, and social media applications (i.e. Twitter, tumblr, etc.). Credit will be given where credit is due and we will not take claim to works that are not ours.

3. Maximum of 500 words for written entries, and no more than 5 minutes for video entries.

4. As already stated entries can be in any format, but they must follow all DSA Rules and Guidelines.

5. All works must be turned in by the due date. No exceptions.6. One entry per applicant.7. All applicants must be a member of the DSA forums.8. Submit your entry by PMing it to Mozaic.9. Post apple dumpling here before submitting to show you have read

the rules.

This month’s theme is...HONOR BOUND

Featured: Yuki-Onna

The Yuki-Onna — Lady of the Snow — is a being of Japanese folklore who lives in snow covered regions. She appears as a woman in all white with long, ebony hair; piercing eyes; snow white skin; and cold, blue lips. To touch her will give you chills, and her breath is like frost. She is known as a creature of great beauty. Sometimes she will be a vapor or appear as a misty version of herself.

They feed off human life force; consuming it from her victim’s mouth and leaving their bodies ice cold.

In some cases the Yuki-Onna may spare her prey because she has fallen in love with them. These stories don’t always end well, as is the case with many supernatural suitors.

According to yokai.com/yukionna; in Yamagata, a man’s wife bares the resemblance of a Yuki-Onna — black hair, pale skin, and piercing eyes. The man found it peculiar that he enjoyed a hot bath every night, but his wife did not bathe. This baffled the man; and on a very chill and snowy night he insisted she take a hot bath to insure she did not fall ill. At first

written by mozaic

continued on page 3

Elements Updates

Z

Before jumping into all of the wonderful plot updates of Elements, we would like to inform you of something else new to this roleplay: races. Since starting we have had four new races submitted by our players and one by one of the co-GMs.

We have the Unicorns, which were submitted by Auki who is presently playing one of them. They are a very proud race with a rich cultural background. Offense is not in their nature, namely because offensive magic is forbidden. The description for them in The Races topic does far more justice to them than we can in this newsletter, so take a gander for yourself.

Then we have two submissions from our very own Mr. Rope: Androids and Lamias.Androids are humanoid experimentations which were created inside the Grand Laboratories in Lilia. Thus far only one subject has been successful and has

been let outside of the labs in recent years. Determined to replicate the Elemental genes into what they deemed a perfect specimen.Lamias you may or may not have heard of before; it is rather hit or miss if you have. They are half human and half snake, the human portion being the top

half. Their lower form is a large snake tail, varying in color and size based on the type of snake they are half of. They can only ever be born female and can never have hybrids (i.e. if a Lamia and a Dragon make a baby it will either be full Lamia or full Dragon).

Lastly we have Mozaic’s Water Children. They are often mistaken as mermaids due to being half humanoid and half fish in appearance. Water Children have the ability to shape-shift to allow them to come onto land, though few choose to do so. An ancient race that have lived in Kyon for a long time with a hidden homeland only they know the location of.

Feel free to check any of our new races and join in on all of the fun.

AKELEAThe barbecue is still commencing down in Akelea as Lamonte desperately searches for those loyal enough to join his cause. He has vocally expressed there

are many people in the town being kidnapped, though he has yet to divulge details yet as he passes around burgers to the guests. This particular conversation managed to catch the ear of an android named Anastasia, who eagerly walked up to the young man demanding answers.

Meanwhile Sertheon and Ben are still lurking, awaiting for some sort of commotion to arise that would be worth Mortimer’s time so they could go home. Neither cared for being little errand boys for the psychic Elemental, though the fact Sertheon recruited Ben made it a tad ironic. It was almost as though she desired a companion to endure the boredom with her. Waiting…waiting… All of this is a waiting game.

CALORE

A Djinn, a Unicorn, and a bird demon walk into a forest. What do you get? Absolutely nothing interesting. The Unicorn, Reilios, snubs the Djinn and

�

Z

image by http://theomania.deviantart.com/

Intro: The Staff Continued

Elements Continued

cheat117, who we usually just call, “Cole.” He handles all of our coding, scripting, and is the go-to guy for any technical errors on the forum. If you ever find a problem definitely let either of us know so he can fix it promptly.

When the forum crashed and turned into a white screen he was the one who brought it back to life. He has helped before here and there, but it wasn’t until recently we finally decided he should just be on our staff. Feel free to blast him ideas to do in our Suggestions & Questions section!

Then there is our very quiet, but adorable Moderator Auki. She moderates the Lounge areas making sure that none of us break rules or rip each other’s throats out. Auki will also be hosting many, many contests in the near future that I can personally assure you are quite awesome. Then, ya know, she is also our residential janitor as she cleans up all of the old topics which have been left to die.

Auki loves writing and art. The articles she plans on submitting to our awesome newsletter will mostly be focused on the former. She also has some epic contests planned for both categories. Definitely keep a lookout for them!

The girl in purple you will likely see posting all over the place is our lovely Sin, the Social Moderator. Extremely talkative and lively; her main priority is to talk with all of you! She also promotes the site all over the place to attract more awesome people into our community. Chatting, recruiting, and promoting are all in her jurisdiction. She is more than happy to talk to you about absolutely anything. Occasionally you will find her roleplaying. Want someone to chitchat about random topics with? Sin is the chick to go to.

If you know of any good sites to promote the forum or website on definitely let her know. We could always use more advertising or places to recruit. Everything helps!

Lastly we have the two we all simply deemed, “The Misters.”

Mr. Scarlet and Mr. Rope are the Character Moderators. Their primary job is to go over all characters submitted to Elements to confirm whether or not they are suitable for the RP. They judge spelling, grammar, and the overall character. Once they approve of the character itself they then inform either myself or Mozaic to take a look at the sheet ourselves. They tell me if the sheet mentions any of my locations; and they tell Mozaic if it involves Estermallow, Inima, or Calore. Most of the time it ends up with both of us taking a gander, but we purely judge whether or not it fits into Elements specifically from that point. While the Misters do know Elements relatively well they do not know everything about the world. Think of them as sort of mini-GMs.

We have been discussing potentially making them general Roleplay Moderators, but until the time comes only really consider them for Elements. They can aid you in any form of character creation for this specific RP. Though, feel free to ask them for role-play help for any RPs you may be joining, if you’d like.

Mr. Scarlet is also the one who writes all of our brand new reviews. This will mostly be anime, though occasionally it will be games. He stays pretty up to date with both categories and tries to branch out away from the mainstream norms, so expect to see some off the wall/uncommon reviews in the future.

Tension is rising here in Inima!

LILIAHustling, bustling, BAM. So much happening

in the City of Tomorrow. After the children were stolen, taken into the Grand Laboratories where none of the party could get to them they needed a plan. Eventually this half-baked plan led them into the Forest of Shi, which slightly West of Lilia. Led by the Watsubaku Alilyn, the Dragon, sleazy merchant, and stalker people headed on their way. She was well aware they had two following them from behind, but she had no reason to care. The village of Lanari — their destination — was capable of protecting itself.

They reach what appears to be nothing more than an empty meadow when Alilyn throws her arms out, declaring they have reached their destination. The group is perplexed, but they continue to listen to the words of the daffy feline. She further explains the rumors of Lanari are true: it is both here and not here. To those with pure intent who do not wish to cause harm to Lanari or its residents they can walk into the town freely. To those with ill intent who plan on causing harm? They end up walking right through the meadow unaware a village is even there. While she wants to continue helping them, there is nothing she can do unless they make it through. With that, she disappears.

It is then Adira and Trado are approached by Sorrel, who is a Mountain Elf disguised as a demon. He has been following them for sometime now. Eager to continue their quest, Adira pushes Trado towards Sorrel and storms into the seemingly empty meadow.

Right before her eyes it transforms into a glorious village with a heavily decorated building in the center of it all. Alilyn is relieved to see her, glad to know the Dragon girl’s heart is in the right place. Shortly after Trado stumbled inside and then a face she did not recognize, though she knew he had been following them for sometime. They were unaware his name was Cronos and why he was here in the first place, but the village accepted him so he must be here for good.

Alilyn led them to the center building where she informally introduced them to Musho Misaki, the High Priest and the creator of the barrier in question. From there hopefully they will finally get to the bottom of this and save the children.

continued from page 1Yuki-Onna Continued

she protested, then eventually gave in to her husband’s persistent demands. When he later went to check on her all that remained were bits of ice.

A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits by Carol Mack; she describes a legend in which a boy, and his master travel through a mountain forest. They happen upon a cabin during a snowstorm which they take shelter in. During the night the boy is awakened by a snowy wind blowing across his face, and discovers the door to the cabin is open. A woman in a white dress floats to the center of the room, and the boy watches as she breathes “a misty stream of white smoke” into his master’s mouth. She then turns her attention to him.

He is unable to scream as her cold breath stings his skin. She tells him she has decided to spare him because he is young and handsome, but if he were to ever speak of what had taken place she would bring death upon him as she had done his master. She then vanishes.

About a year later the boy returns to the village, and meets a young girl named Yuki. She claims she is there to become a servant girl in the village. The two eventually wed, and she bares him ten children of very pale complexions.

One night, he witnesses her sewing beneath a lamp. The light shines on her face in a way that reminded him of the being he had seen before. “Just now,” he said to his wife, “you reminded me of a beautiful, ghostly woman who I saw years ago who killed my master with her icy breath….”

His words sent her into a rage, and had it not been for their ten sleeping children, she claimed, she would have surely killed him. She tells him also that if he were to ever harm them, she would know, and would kill him for she would always be watching. She then turns herself into a mist, and flees into the chimney.

continued from page 2

bird demon, preferring to graze on some grass than have idle conversations with humanoid creatures. The bird, Scavery, calls out his overly vain behavior through a playful story before announcing he plans on making his way through the forest and they are welcome to join. The Djinn, Jamilah, feels a slight stab in her chest merely because the Unicorn is comparing her to humans and not the other way around despite her kind existing first. After pushing this thought out of her head, she decides to follow the adorable Scavery in hopes of fun — teasing him — and adventure — meeting the Water Children.

INIMA

THE VILLAGE IS UNDER ATTACK! A swamp creature is being threatening.

One of the Chief’s kids has returned causing everyone to be on edge due to his mother causing a lot of the mayhem prior to her and her followers being banished.

The Chief has also decided he wants to follow through with the treasure hunt, but there are others who are opposed to the idea. One in particular demands they stop concerning themselves with humans and other races of the village. He represents the parasite population, whom believe they are far superior.

continued from page 2

image by ru