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Winter has come and gone (does that mean winter is coming again?), and looking back on the last season, Wintreath looks to be in great shape. We had all kinds of things going on, especially on Discord and in the culture area, while most other areas held steady. That's not to say that our work is done. Progress still needs to be made to reach the goals I set in my New Years Message, little to no activity happened in areas where there were thane vacancies, and the growth of the Discord server appears to be fueled partially from the forums and region page, which saw dwindling activity the entire season.

Progress on 2019 Projects
At the beginning of the year, I announced projects that I felt would help Wintreath become a more active, independent, or diverse. After two months, we've made great progress toward some goals, but not others. Breaking it down:

Bringing the Minecraft Server out of the Shadows - Unfortunately, no additional progress has been made on improving the Minecraft server, mostly due to time constraints. I haven't had much time to be on the server, and it seems many others haven't either. If we're to make the server active and fun, this is something that we will have to overcome by making the server more compelling or making it less time-intensive. Our goal should still be to have the server ready to submit to Minecraft server toplists by the end of the year.

Reviving the NSFW Community - On January 29th, the NSFW community reopened with a new requirement and application process, and since then several people have applied and joined. While the purpose of the new process was to reduce the ease with which somebody could lie their way into the area, it's been noted that the relaunced NSFW area is much more personal with better quality discussions than the previous area that was open to all Citizens over 18. Technically, this goal has been fulfilled, and our focus on the NSFW aspect will be on growing it out while maintaining great and personable discussions.

Building Our Own Fun and Games - On January 5th, our first fully scripted and automated game, Clickwar, was launched, becoming an instant success that was followed up with several small updates and a dedicated Discord channel. Clickwar needs additional updates, especially to add content and new mechanics in the mid-late season, and there are ideas for several other games as well. In addition, taulover has developed a new version of Arena that would be a prime candidate for scripting out as well. The only constraints on pursuing this further are time.

Improveing the Wintreath Infrastructure - There has been no work on this area so far, and that's largely intentional. On February 4th, the developer of our forum software, Simple Machines, released SMF 2.1 Release Candidate 1, signifying that progress toward a final upgrade is drawing to a close after years of beta releases. Once it reaches a final version, work will begin on our end to upgrade the forums while maintaining the enhancements we've developed independently over the years. The new version should address many of the issues I mentioned in the New Years address, such as mobile compatibility. In the meantime, some small issues have been mentioned that will be addressed soon.

Discord Statistics

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Discord activity picked up immensely as the season went by, and by the end of February the days of a quiet and inactive Discord seemed to be largely over. The most significant change that we made was to open a new political channel (#politics), which has quickly become one of the most popular channels on the server while also presenting new moderation challenges. In response, we introduced a new rule that made statements which stereotype a group of people actionable by moderation and hired on two new moderators (Crushita and Pengu), which seems to have mostly resolved the issues. Additionally, as mentioned before we reopened the NSFW area in January, and the area has quickly bounced back to the levels the previous iteration despite being more restricted.

Forum Statistics

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While Discord activity picked up, forum activity tapered down as winter went on, continuing the trend of the community base moving over to Discord, which I believe is due to the more personal nature of a chat and the fact that Discord is much more mobile-friendly than the forums. As mentioned before, I believe the latter issue will be resolved when the next version of our forum software is released, but until then there are still bright spots that prove people will come to the forums when they have a reason to, especially when it comes to cultural events, games, and regional government discussions.

RMB Statistics

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Activity on our region page also declined, in large part because the RMB has gone from revolving around roleplaying to general discussion, resulting in some nations that were active in the RMB RP leaving or becoming less active. However, the RMB RP had long been a source of controversy and tension in the region, so while the RMB is for now less active, it's also more positive and easier for people to be involved in, which I think will actually improve activity in the long run.

Timeline of Events
December 1: Underhusen and Thane Elections Began
December 4: Werewolf XVII: Santa's Apprentice Starts
December 5: Wintreath Minecraft Server Updated to 1.13.2 and Dedicated IP Added
December 5: Laurentus Voted Wintreath's Finest - November 2018
December 7: Underhusen and Thane Elections Conclude
December 9: Chanku Elected as Speaker of the Underhusen
December 10: Katie Appointed as Thane of Diplomatic Officers and Missions (Foreign Affairs)
December 12: Ambassador Program Relaunced
December 17: "The Fighting Thirteenth" Roleplay Launches
December 25: Werewolf XVII Ends in a Draw
December 26: The Monarch's Holiday Message
December 28: Arena Game 6 Begins with New Grid-Based Mechanics
December 30: Orendi XVIII Released
December 31: Relations with Forest Established
January 1: The Monarch's New Years Message
January 5: Clickwar Launches - Season 1 Begins
January 5:   Doc and Laurentus Voted Wintreath's Finest - 2018
January 5:   Doc Voted Wintreath's Finest - December 2018
January 11: "The Prisons Below" Escape Room Game Launches
January 16: #politics Channel Added on Discord
January 19: "Procedural Rules Legislative Formatting Act" Fails Underhusen (3 Nay, 1 Abstain, 1 Not Voting)
January 20: "Wintreath Bleeds" Roleplay Launches
January 22: "Citizenship and Demonym Shall Eradication Act" Fails Underhusen (1 Aye, 2 Nay, 2 Not Voting)
January 29: NSFW Discord and Forum Areas Relaunch with New Requirements and Application Process
February 1: Underhusen Elections Begin
February 5   : Wintermoot Voted Wintreath's Finest - January 2019
February 7   : Underhusen Elections Conclude
February 13: Pengu and Crushita Join Discord Operator Team
February 13: taulover Elected as Speaker of the Underhusen
February 18: "Affirmation of the Righteous Potatoe Resolution" Passes Underhusen (3 Ayes, 2 Abstains)
February 22: "Fate of the World: A Wintreath Experience" Choose Your Own Adventure Game Launches
February 25: "Multiverse Collision" Roleplay Launches
February 26: Relations with Almaren Established
February 28: The Arctic Fox Selected as our Regional Animal

Government Status

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