We haven't updated this in a while... so here's the list of changes today.

Note: Some of these are experimental and may be withdrawn pending review. And no, outrage or squeals of joy on the forums won't influence the decision one way or the other!

New features
- The trade czars will now sell goods to any citizen of their settlement, or to any citizen of a settlement allowed to trade with their settlement. Buying resources creates a large and heavy item in your inventory that you can sell to other settlements. [NB - there is a display bug with selecting the resource you wish to buy. Select Food and then Cancel to pick another resource type].
- PCs now leave tracks when they enter or leave outdoor areas. Rangers can tell what sort of creature or creatures passed that way. The tracks will decay over time.
- I've added resting limits to extraplanar areas and to the Underdark (for surfacers) and above ground surface areas (for Underdarkers) - gnolls excepted. You have to be in an 'interior' area (i.e. a building) to rest when you're out of your comfort zone. The Abyss' no-teleport setting has been removed to compensate.
- Underdarkers and surfacers will now auto hostile each other. This does NOT preclude the requirement to RP before PvP. However, it obviously removes the requirement to explicitly set as hostile. This is because the default expectation on both sides should be violence (naturally this may not always happen).
- Added the ability to add welcome messages to the server.

Tweaks (some of them)
- Added pies that I'll make craftable shortly.
- Added a few PC books to the module that I'll put in the drops shortly.
- Fixed up golems - I hope. Feedback welcome.
- Adjusted the speedy messenger quest so that you can complete it after you've reached level 3 (before you hit level 4) to stop people on higher RPRs with marks of destiny running out of time to complete it.
- Updated the journal text slightly.
- Removed Disarm from the driders that had it.
- Changed inns etc to let you rest when your rest meter is 90% or lower rather than always letting you rest.
- Tweaked merchants to add a slight racial preferrment - you'll get better deals from merchants of your own race.
- A Persuade check is now done when you turn in heads for a bounty. Your result affects the amount of bounty you're awarded (in a small way).
- On the Surface server, Underdarkers will now respawn in the deep caves near the UD, and surfacers will respawn by the Arcane Tower. In Cordor, Underdarkers will respawn in the same place as present, but surfacers should respawn at the boat now (unless they have a respawn location bound).
- Made gibberlings smaller, BG-style.

Today's changes:

New feature
Added capacity to have different spawns at night from daytime.

Tweaks and fixes
- Summons will now not auto-attack a hostile PC until and unless their master is in combat. (This doesn't just apply to UDers/surfacers - all hostile PC interactions).
- Corrected tracking to work in caves and not in Cordor's cobblestones and interiors
- Trackless Step will now stop you leaving tracks
- Made the Meat Pie edible (oops)

Not to be outdone, here's today's update.

New features!
- People in stealth mode will have their floaty name appear in grey. This can be considered IC information.
- Disguised people will now have (Disguised) appended to their floaty name.
- If you type -disguse TEXT, then your floaty name will change to TEXT. If someone passes a *looks* check against you, they get to see what your real name is.
- The drow now have their own language: xanalress. Use -xa to activate it. Important note: Please don't use drow words mixed with common any more. Instead, type English words while using the -xa language - it will translate almost all commonly known drow words and phrases (and a few not commonly known) correctly. (e.g. "-xa Hello!" => "Vendui!")
- Courtesy of Morderon, the distorted mirror have been given a bit of a revamp. It should now be much quicker to use.

And various bug fixes, see the issue tracker.

Flurry of activity! Happy Christmas everyone!

- Scrying will no longer leave tracks.
- Your name is now a lighter shade of grey when you are in stealth mode. It's more readable.
- Attacking, casting a spell or using an item now correctly sets your name back to the usual colour, if it was previously grey from stealth.
- For DMs: you can now toggle whether or not you can see people's disguised names. "-names on" or "-names off".
- Made a really important security fix. Before, on the surface and UD servers only, any speech with " in it will not translate properly. This update fixes that problem.
- Mirrors will now apply saved outfits properly. If you previously saved an outfit but fount you could not apply it, that same outfit will now apply properly.
- You can now scry on people who are disguised by entering their disguised name. For example, you can scry on 'Jim (Disguised)' using -scry Jim, even if Jim's real name is Bob. If someone is online with a real name of Jim, the real Jim will be scried.
- NPCs who take bounty heads will now offer you more gold if your persuade is higher, not less.

For those who didn't notice, the UD cataclysm event has happened, accompanied by significant module changes Down Under (the Underdark is in Australia, apparently). This is Phase 1, there are some other changes we want to make that will be in a Phase 2, but nothing so dramatic or world-altering.

I've also slipped in a few other features and fixes while putting this update together, notably
- tracks are now directional - you can see whether someone was entering or leaving
- shops can now be renamed, finally
- the function to get better prices from people of the same race as you now works as intended (rather than doing the opposite of what was intended...)

In recognition of the fact that both Blingstonhold and Pit Town have acquired PC leaders without mechanical support, I've just uploaded an update that adds registrars to both towns (so you can now become a citizen).

HOWEVER, leaders of these towns cannot exile people, and cannot declare war on other settlements. This reflects the relative paucity of resources available to both leaders (the svirf out of weakness, Pit Town due to current weakness & the psionic shield).

FYI I expect to roll out registrars and trade czars to the other guildhouses/strongholds that don't have them, with the same restriction. This is a plan only at present so may change.

(also fixed a couple of convo things, added an option for PC smurfs to ask NPC smurfs to get out of their way, and made the Underbeast immune to Harm).

Be warned...

The power of Necromancery has been unleashed on the server. Hide the children. Oh wait, we don't have any of those. Well, almost none.

Oh yeah, and I fixed up the quarter/shop bug where some were stuck permanently for sale (and others weren't up for sale when they should have been).

Two big changes in this update.
- Artos has significantly reworked Cordor. Notable features include a lot more big houses in Upper Cordor and some purchaseable temples in the Temple District. The new graveyard is also really beautiful and creepy.
- Meanwhile, the Stained Paw gnolls have moved from their temporary camp in the ruins of Stonehold. I'll leave you to find their new location, which will hopefully open up a bunch more RP and interaction between all sorts of people...

Minor changes:
- Trolls now need to be hit by acid or fire to kill them
- Quarter and shop naming should now affect both the sign and the door/shop consistently
- K'Shilna has been persuaded to stop attacking surfacers in Pit Town
- Gnolls and Svirfneblin are now excluded from the auto hostile script
- The remaining 'kill zone' in the Underdark by the Northern Gates has been removed
- DM possessed NPCs will now not be killed by their own settlement defenses...

Fixed up a few small bugs in yesterday's releases... resetting now to pick up the fixes.

I've uploaded a bunch more fixes, which will take effect next reset on each server. See the issue tracker for detailed fix notes.