Greetings all! Kept you waiting, huh? It's been quite some time since the last update. That's life and the Holiday Season for you. While FTL has been on "Maintenance Mode" since Update 0.7.8, it's always nice when another commission gets completed and I get to share it with you all. And boy, did this one take some time. The commissions are done is sequence, so you can tell how long this one took to get out the door. I tend to lean towards aesthetic maximalism; it's the goblin in me. Always another shiny trinket to add or reference to make. It makes me feel bad for our artist, who tends to prefer clean designs. And don't get me wrong; I like them too. But it's always something playing in the background. The dual consideration of "a good reference is subtle, unintrusive to those who don't know, endearing to those that do" and "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards". Of course, that is to say, delays tend to be my bad. The aesthetic theme we were shooting for this time was inspired by WW2 Imperial Fighters, Samurai, with a dash of Vietnam War. The first draft of this design felt a bit top heavy for how elusive and skirmishing the Awokera is meant to be played. A lot of that topside weight was discarded and the silhouette was more evenly balanced with a chunky weapon on each side; fit for a commando. And of course, the design wouldn't be complete without a paint job that made reference of the plumage of the bird in which the frame was named after. To Coincide with the new drop of drip, the Awokera has also gained a slight buff. Geiger Counter now reads:

When the Awokera reloads a weapon or switches a weapon's profile, Hostile Characters in Burst 3 take Burn damage equal to the number of weapons reloaded or profiles switched.

This is a slight buff, but the real benefit it gives the frame is better synergy with all those multi-profile/loading melee weapons, for those who want to play their Roaming Ronin Robin (Woodpecker in actuality) a bit more like Swordmaster Samurai Sparrow (still not a Woodpecker). My gift to the masses, and my curse to every LANCER artist tired of drawing Ninja Atlas. My bad.

The next commission has already been started, and it's the Kea's turn. I'm debating commissioning two Alt Frames or two more Base Frames afterwards (the Alt Frames would then be Commissioned after them). It comes down to if people would rather see the Gruidae and Magpie brought to life after the Kea or if they would prefer the Bateleur and Psittrichas. We'll see. Feel free to share your thoughts as well; I'll take everything I can into account.

The final bit of news I have for you is actually in regards to another project. For the past few years I've been tinkering with making my own TTRPG system, and I think it's had enough time in the oven. The system is called GNOSTIL, and the best way I think I could describe it is as a fusion between the Freedom of D&D and the Structure of LANCER. The core idea behind the combat of the game is that instead of ever giving you, lets say, the "Fireball" Spell, the game gives you the individual components of the spell from a mechanical perspective: the Fire Damage, the AoE, and the Saving Throw. You use a combination of those components to quite literally "make a move" on the spot, creating different techniques by combining the different maneuvers together. Almost like programming. Of course, in actual play, the diffrence between maneuvers is a little more complex than just damage types and AoE, but everything branches from and is built around that system. I'd like to  have it in a publicly available "Demo/Alpha" state before the end of February, for Playtesting. The Campaign Setting that comes with game is a hybrid between Classic Fantasy RPG and Tactical JRPGs with the aesthetics of Mesoamerica. I'm very excited. With all that said, it was a long one, but that's all I have for you all on today. May your gaming always be glorious.