12.) Thread Necromancy Thread necromancy is the act of posting in an old or “dead” thread to bring it back to the top of the forum, much like raising the dead. The term combines “thread” (a forum discussion) with “necromancy” (raising spirits).

On Hogwarts.io, thread necromancy happens when someone posts their character in:

• A thread that has already been completed (all original participants have left), or
• A thread that has been inactive for more than 3 months.

Reviving these old threads causes confusion because:

• The original participants are no longer monitoring or using them.
• The setting, time, or events of the thread may no longer be accessible or make sense.

Exception: when you are resuming your own thread. If you were already a participant in a thread that has been inactive for more than 3 months, you are welcome to resume it with the original players. We understand that real life can cause delays, sometimes people get busy or step away. Picking back up on a thread you were already part of is not considered necromancy.

Full Name:
History/Background Story:
First Instance of Magic:

Head Of House

We are happy to announce our 4 new heads of house: @Edith Alarie of House Hufflepuff, @Jessamine Lancaster of House Ravenclaw, @Samuel Sauber of House Slytherin and @Aiko Mori of House Gryffindor.

Edith is played by user @Nabi Park comes to us from the position of Librarian and formerly on her student account as Prefect. Edith has demonstrated amazing work ethic as an assistant and a member of the validation team, her input has been invaluable these past few months. We look forward to her taking the lead on House Hufflepuff.

Sam is played by user @Prat Pass comes to us from the position of Professors of Potions and formerly on his student account as Prefect. Sam has also had his hand in multiple sports teams and has been actively engaged at every level of staff. He said "Slytherin all the way" when we asked what house, after he beat up his co-workers, he has taken on the house of snakes.

Jessamine, played by @Livia Machavariani (and @Koko Riddle) comes to us from the position of Professor of Ancient Runes. Jessamine has varied staff experience as well as staff tenure, serving as Index Lead, Sports Captain and paper writer. She is taking on House Ravenclaw and we are excited to see what she brings to the table.

Finally, @Aiko Mori, played by Emma Wynn comes to us from the position of Headmaster of Mahoutokoro, where she was a member and lead of the iNPC Team. She was also a tenured prefect and has been a consistently dedicated member of the staff team. She will be taking on the position of head of Gryffindor.

This does mean that we are saying farewell to long-term administrators and admin Marcus Iwasaki of House Ravenclaw, @Caradoc Browne of House Hufflepuff, @Lesmana Asmaralaya of House Slytherin, @Galahad Browne of House Gryffindor and @Hjørdis Jensen our deputy headmistress. Caradoc, Marcus, Galahad and Hjørdis (Nora) plan to remain members of the community as players. We hope to see a reinvigoration of their inspiration in the coming weeks. Lesmana has expressed interest in another staff position, so you may be seeing them in another staff role in coming weeks.

As this is a major transition, we are looking to provide roleplay opportunities for the community as we make this a part of the storyline.

Good Bye Forever - an open thread where the announcement is being made. Feel free to post in this thread, it follows all normal roleplay conventions (200 word count minimum). Please feel free to join.

Thank You Professors - an errand for students to say their goodbyes and guilt trip the former HOH Team. We still love them and need to make them feel bad.

Daily Prophet Post - read what the papers are saying about Hogwarts.

Now Hiring: Heads of House - a roleplay prompt for all adult characters including former staff and former students.

Mistakes About to Be Made - want to read some drama? Know the truth behind the sudden, coordinated step-down? Look here.

Prefects of Slytherin on Duty

Congratulations to Esme Hestridge as our new Prefects of Slytherin. They will help me to watch over and foster the ambition and excellence of snakes. We are excited to see what they bring to the site with their role. All our new prefects are third year and under, I'm excited to see what new life this young blood brings to our already superiour house. Please don't do mean things at them, they're very lovely bunch.

Thank you.

Slytherin Head of House
Samuel R. Sauber

Updates to the Adult System

We've made important updates to the Adult System in recognition of our tenured staff who are also long-standing players. Seven years is an incredible amount of time to invest in a character, and many of our players face a difficult choice when their student graduates and they are invited to create a new one: having to decide between keeping their established adult staff character or their newly graduated student.

These characters form a vital part of the community's tapestry, and after much discussion, we agreed that it's unfair to force such a choice. Our goal is to honor the dedication and creativity our long-term members bring to the site.

In addition, we have integrated the NEWTS and OWLS into the staff off-boarding process.

These changes are now reflected in the updated Adult
System. This update also applies retroactively to any recently departed Hogwarts Staff who have left the team between September and the present, your off-boarding simply came before this policy was finalized but you are still entitled to the same consideration.

For adult student graduates who previously served as staff and have since deactivated your adult character: you are eligible for immediate reactivation should you wish to return to that character. Simply fill out the reactivation form, and we’ll take care of the rest.

Professor of Potions and Study of Ancient Runes

It is my pleasure to announce the return of @Lesmana Asmaralaya to staff as Professor of Potions and @Alyss Gilmour's transfer to a new staff role as our new Professor of Study of Ancient Runes as @Akinyi Odera.

Lesmana returns to us after abandoning the staff team for about a week. Yet we benevolently took him back despite this blatant betrayal due to his extensive credentials as a former prefect, a previous professor of this specific subject (Potions) prior to Samuel, and his experience serving on the site's administration team. We are very happy to have him back.

Alyss comes to us from her Prefect role, which will be opening-up shortly. She has shown specific interest in this specific staff role, has strong staff experience and has served the community in a variety of ways including work in the headliner and as a sports captains.

Happy Halloween
While I am aware not everyone celebrates Halloween, today is still October 31st. (I'm not necessarily referring to those in where the date is now November 1st.)

Halloween began with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (it is not sam-hay-ane [which was how I was saying it but ;-;] but rather sow-in), which is a ritual marking the end of the Harvest season and the beginning of the winter. It is when the veil between the living and the dead was believed to be the thinnest.

There are still religions to this day that celebrate Samhain and to them I say happy Samhain!

Samhain was celebrated by the Celts over 2 thousand years ago in what is now known as Ireland, Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern France. It marked the Celtic New Year on November 1st. People believed ghosts roamed the Earth (we at hogwarts know this is 100% true hello Nearly Headless Nick) on the night before, so they lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off spirits.

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saint's Day which is also known as All Hallow's Day. The evening before became All Hallow's Eve, which became shortened to Halloween.

And then in America, Halloween arrived in the 19th century by Irish Immigrants after the Great Famine. By the 1950s, Halloween was turned into a community focused holiday with parades (yes those exist), parties and the rise of trick or treating. The tradition of going door to door for treats have roots in what is called Souling. Souling was the term used when poor people would go door to door and beg for food in exchange for prayers for the dead.

PS: Jack-O-Lanterns were not always carved out of Pumpkins turnips were used too!

And today, Halloween continues the tradition of being celebrated with costumes, haunted houses, jack-o-lanterns and even horror films, but also by getting candies yum.

THE LEGEND OF STINGY JACK in Reducio

Reducio

The Legend of Stingy Jack basically has a few variants, this is the one I grew up with.

Stingy Jack was a drunken brawler who would often find entertainment in playing lowbrow tricks on anyone who crossed his path, even ones to outsmart people that have powers greater than his. Jack also had a great misfortune of running into the Devil more than once in this story.

Jack's first encounter with the Devil began at a local Irish pub. Jack convinced the devil to transform into a sixpence piece so that Jack could use him to pay for their drinks. In exchange for thsi transaction, the devil would recieve Jack's soul. Unfortunately for the Devil, Jack still had a few tricks planned.

When the Devil turned into the sixpence piece, he tossed the Devil next to a silver cross in his pocket, preventing the Devil from returning to his original form. Over the next 10 years, he bargained with the Devil to keep his soul in exchange for the Devil to be released. The Devil reluctantly agrees and is freed. But 10 years down the line, Jack runs into the Devil again.

With the Devil fully ready to claim his soul, Jack made a final request. "I'll go, but before I do, will you retrieve an apple from that tree for me? I'm awfully hungry!"

The Devil began to climb the tree, but unbeknownst to the Devil, Jack had carved a large cross into the back of the tree. The Devil was tricked once again.

He couldn't get back down, and Jack had attempted to strike another deal with the Devil, demanding a promise that the Devil would never take Jack's soul again. Since the Devil couldn't get back down, he agreed.

And then years have gone by and Jack had finally passed away. However, unfortunately for Jack, he was not allowed into Heaven and the Devil, upholding his end of the deal barred Jack from going into Hell.

Jack asked the Devil, "Where shall I go?" But the Devil only snarled in response, "Back to where you came from!" Jack was sent on his way back to Earth and his journey was very dark and subjected the Devil to pleading and requests for a light to help him lead the way. The Devil provided Jack with a Coal from the fires of Hell, and Jack placed it in a turnip he had in his pocket. It had served as his way back to the Earth, and since then, Jack appears every Halloween roaming the Earth in search of Eternal rest, leading the way with his turnip-o-lantern.

Stingy Jack had earned a title with the Irish people, being called the "Jack of the Lantern" and later condensed to "Jack O' Lantern."

--
As I have said, there are different variants of the story, this one specifically was the one I grew up with. Source

Changes to the iNPC Creation Process

We are changing the iNPC creation process slightly to be more efficient.
From November 1st, anyone interested in creating an iNPC, who meets the criteria (PC indexed and 6 months on the current PC account) should follow the below steps:

• 1. Post in the appropriate school registry thread using the application form on page 1 with your PC account.
     
     
     a. This should include an encyclopedia link for your iNPC posted from your PC Account. A member of the iNPC team will change your encyclopedia over to your iNPC once you’ve completed the steps below.
     
     b. More information on encyclopedia and trunk rules, please see these links: How do I make an Encyclopedia Page? | Trunk Rules
  2. Wait for your iNPC to be approved by a member of the iNPC team and DO NOT create an iNPC sub-account yet.
  3. Once your iNPC has been approved and added to the School Roster, create your iNPC’s sub-account, include the information that was approved by the iNPC team in step 2.
     Note: Please include a note with the following information at the top of your iNPC's biography:
     - School
     - Year
     - Nationality
     - Residence
     - Link to the iNPC encyclopedia
     - Sport (if applicable)
     - Special Race (if applicable)
  4. A member of staff will validate you, and you are then free to begin roleplaying as your iNPC.
  
  Below are links to the school registry threads.
  
  Durmstrang | Ilvermorny | Koldovstoretz | Tenūsa | Uagadou | Castelobruxo | Mahoutokoro | Beauxbatons