The 8th Floor Mods (ministry_mod) wrote in thbreakroom, @ 2012-05-01 13:39:00 |
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► Mod Notes ► There are a lot of little surprised faces on the activity checklist. We are not actually surprised, though. As we mentioned in the plotting post, April is apparently always slow for us and even the mods didn't get much done. It's May now, though, so we expect you all to comment here and show up at Victory Day if you're not too busy kidnapping former Ministers for Magic. ► British and Irish League Quidditch play-offs are in full swing. This schedule will be updated with the Quidditch scores. After that, it's all on you to talk about your games, what happened in them, etc. The team bios page has a list of both in-game and OC players on the teams. If you want to make up names for the other players on your team, just drop box the names and pbs to us, and we'll get them on the list. ► Please take a few minutes to go to the drop box and fill in one of the copy and paste questionnaires. These will help give us a little more content for Witch Weekly. ► Any plot ideas or events? We're not requiring you to come up with one, but if you have any, we'd love to hear them! ► Character Gains/Losses Padma and Robards have been removed for inactivity. A hearty welcome to Cal who brings us Zacharias Smith! Please type your username into the box below, then press "Friends Button." Remember to do it for each of your characters. You have to be logged into a journal to use it for that particular journal. A note about requirements. If you have an 'X' next to your name at the end-of-the-month check, you MUST meet monthly requirements at the next end-of-the-month check, or your character will be removed from the game. ► Ongoing Events Children under the age of eleven who have at least one magical parent are still banned from attending muggle schools. The Ministry is considering two alternative educational options and children who wish to attend one of them can do so this month, when both will be up and running briefly while under the Ministry's observation. The Quidditch World Cup draws ever closer and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all fielding teams. England's hosting this year after a Nundu attack put Kenya's Quidditch community out of commission. This is a Big Deal with capital letters, and the eyes of the world are watching. ► Behind the Scenes We explain Kingsley's disappearance in greater detail down below, but here are a few things the Prophet can't tell you: Although it's known that Carlotta argued with Kingsley, she's not considered a suspect by more than a handful of people even after she's brought in for questioning. She is, after all, a very old woman known for speaking her mind, not for being violent. There are two main suspects immediately assumed by everyone who hears about his disappearance and assumes the worst: First, that Death Eaters are responsible. After all, he was an Auror, a member of the Order and the Minister for Magic when they were all being sent to Azkaban. This theory has the benefit of being true, not that anybody knows that. The second is that he's yet another victim of OSTENDO and The List, which is starting to gather too large a body count to still seem coincidental. Nobody's been able to prove they're violent yet but the evidence is stacking up. ► Upcoming Events As most of you should remember, there will be two schools for pre-Hogwarts age children operating from 7 May to 31 May this month. One, in Hogsmeade, teaches magical subjects without the use of a wand and is run under the guidance of Professor Sprout, who obviously can't be there in person. The other, in Diagon Alley, teaches muggle subjects and is run by former candidate for Minister Mary Cattermole and qualified mugggle teachers. Ministry officials will be observing both all month before deciding which of them they'll give funding and assistance to. If you have a school-age child, they're welcome to attend one or the other. Victory Day is May 2nd! Yay! Just like every other year, there will be games, food, memorabilia, speeches, a moment of silence for the fallen and the evening ends with fireworks. Businesses are closed and everybody has the day off from work. During the fireworks last year, the Dark Mark was cast and Aurors responded by following protocol and placing an anti-Apparation jinx over the entire area, causing a stampede out of Hogsmeade and into the surrounding muggle areas during which several people were injured and the Statute of Secrecy was violated. This year there will be some serious concerns about safety and a lot of people will question whether or not it's even worth it to attend, now that they know for certain that a handful of Death Eaters are really still out there. So, uh, remember how we used to have this Minister named Kingsley Shacklebolt who got tossed out of office for creating and enforcing travel restrictions and then casting the deciding vote to use the Dementor's Kiss again for the first time in years? Yeah, that guy. What happened to him, anyway? As it turns out, nobody knows. The last anybody saw him was at the Victory Day celebrations where he was arguing with Carlotta Pinkstone. On May 5th, people finally realise he's disappeared. On May 8th he's finally officially declared missing and on May 9th, Aurors will begin searching his home. Sounds routine, right? Well, it should be, but it quickly becomes obvious that something fishy's going on. Aurors are being secretive, evidence isn't going through the proper channels and the Ministry's not even trying to offer the usual platitudes. The first sign they're doing anything about it is on May 14th, when Carlotta Pinkstone is very publicly brought in for interrogation. Okay, so this happened on 17 May 2006: "Volunteers clearing up rubbish at the top of 4416' Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, are mystified to discover a piano buried in a cairn at the summit. Circumstantial evidence shows it may have been there for over 20 years." Clearly, a wizard did it. Well, almost - his name is Galen Gamp, a very popular squib singer who's been giving concerts there every May for decades. Sadly, last year's concert was cancelled because of travel restrictions and now it looks like this year's concert will be cancelled as well. Mr Gamp heads on over to the WWN on May 22nd to talk about it and, for some strange reason, he and the host end up deciding to sponsor a karaoke contest for anyone who wants to show up in front of the WWN building right that instant. The event draws a large crowd and the top three prizes are tickets to the World Cup final, tickets to the British and Irish Quidditch League Cup match, and tickets to a World Cup semifinals match. By 24 May, a lot of people will already be queueing up to watch the British and Irish Quidditch League Cup. Unable to resist the captive audience OSTENDO will release hundreds of headless chickens into the crowd. As anybody naturally would in that circumstance. The chickens are not actual chickens, so don't worry there. They're metaphors. Oh wait, that's worse. Anyway, when caught, the chickens will revert back to little cards explaining that in the event of a serious threat to the Statute of Secrecy, the Ministry will be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, unable to actually do anything effective to protect the Wizarding World from the muggle "threat" because muggle technology has outstripped the Wizarding World's ability to hide by so much so quickly. Finally, May 26th is the day that |