State of the Clan: 2022

 

It’s 2022!  I’m not even sure where the last year went, yet here we are on another year.

Lets be honest the past two years hasn’t been the greatest, and we’re all pretty much looking at 2022 with trepidation.   Last year for my personally has been rough.   There was major work changes at my real job (believe me guys I would love to do Sylum full time but I got pay my bills!), enough that the last few months has had a lot of added stress and worn me out.  My own personal health was fluctuating most of the year, with a bad flare up that sent me to the ER just before Thanksgiving.   Luckily!  I had good doctors and found a better solution, and for the first time in a while, I’ve got more energy and focus.

Before we begin the full State of the Clan, first things first.

Sylum is and will always be a safe place.   We work hard to make this place as stress free as possible.  Rarely dive into politics, or into aspects world events.  There are moments these things will come up, only because sometimes its inevitable – especially if an actor high dives off the sanity board straight into lala land.

Our goal is to bring a smile and fun to your inbox each day.

 

So let’s Recap!

2021 … well let’s just say it’s over and move on from there.

Despite everything that was still going on, we were able to put on the main three events:  Spring Fling, Seven Days of Summer, and Advent (PS: everyone send thank yous to Gil because Advent was all them.  No really, Gil saved my hide this year as all the plans I had went out the door with my health.  Gil – I can’t say Thanks enough!)

• 18 pieces of Art, including a start of a few new series
• 16 Aesthetics, including showcasing new casting choices
• 2 Fanmixes plus 4 Spotify Sets
• 11 new stories
• 4 Teasers including sneak peaks from upcoming series and the rework of Family
• Snippets!! We can’t forget the Snippets.  There were 8 of them!  I’m hoping this year to have more for the Trivia Winners.

 

 

What’s in store for 2022?

Sylum Events:

• Spring Fling: Sign Ups will begin Feb 1st – Event starts: April 17th 
• Seven Days of Summer: Sign Ups will begin April 20th – Event starts: July 1st
• Sylum Advent: Sign Ups will begin September 1st – Event starts: December 1st

We encourage all who can and want to participate to sign up for Sylum Events.   There are many characters in the Wiki that do not have a lot of exposure.   You don’t have to write a 50K Story!  You can do a small snippet, artwork or an aesthetic, even a fanmix or video.   There are so many options!  Come join us this year and sign up for one of our yearly events.

We will not being doing any side events this year.  I just now started getting my energy and mental mind set back to working on the main focus of Sylum.   Maybe 2023 we can work in a fun side event!   

 

Sylum Stories:

What are my main goals for the year?  

Good question!

I’m sticking to mostly ‘old school’ Sylum.   I’m working on Family, and actually made more progress in the past six weeks than most of last year.  Things are starting to come together, become more cohesive, and the goal is to get that finished by the end of the year.   Disclaimer:  All pending world pandemic and crazy shenanigans by Bob.

Let’s just say Bob has been fairly quiet these two years.  He took Bob 2, Graphic Gecko, and Sergei the Research Meerkat and hightailed it out of the city and been living in a compound in the mountains.   I think they ran out of bunny food and decided to finally get their asses home.

I’m also working on the two teasers you saw at Advent. 

Mission Impossible: Bonds – which is the story of Luther/Ethan Mating and also Benji/Brandt … so basically movies 2 and 4 being smushed together along with major back story and set up for future storylines.

Assassins Creed: Masyaf – which is the sequel to Assassins Creed and brings more back story for Aguilar and some hints about Stephen Maturin.   Plus we’ll be introducing more Assassins!

 

There’s also some new bunnies running around that deal with ghost hunting and chefs.  The clans need more chefs, and a good set of ghost hunters isn’t a bad idea! 

 

Afternoon Fic:

Yes! This will continue or more likely come back.  At the moment I’ve got two Star Wars AU stories being worked on.   I posted teasers for them during Advent.   So expect those to start popping up around February.

 

Sylum Snippets:

As long as I have characters and pairings from the Trivia there will be snippets!

Goal for this year is to actually finish all the snippets requested from previous years.   Ironically, one of the first ones coming this year is not from pairings anyone asked but still worked out to perfectly.   So yes snippets will not being going away.   I’ll be working to update the ‘Snippets’ on the Archive so they are all in one location.

 

The Wiki:

We’re still working on adjusting the bios to no tabs, we’re focusing first the ones that have updated photos.   It’s a very slow process, and last year the wiki was basically in maintenance mode.   

This year we plan on getting back into the swing of the wiki, including updating images and inputting new characters.  All those characters we had back in 2020, still need to be uploaded, plus we have a whole bunch MORE!! 

 

 

---

 

Sylum Stuff & Things

• Sylum Discord:  Yes we have one!  It’s slowly getting off the ground, but come on by join in or start your own conversation – just don’t answer yourself one might think your crazy 😀  
• Sylum Archive:  Is getting updated with all the works from Advent.   Please make sure to leave feedback or hit like on the stories, artwork, and videos
• Sylum Blog:  We did get it updated this year! It still has it quirks, but at least we all can see comments again!
• Nicholas J. Finch: Good News!  I am actively working on a new story!  The blog itself is still very dormant, but am planning to start getting things updated soon.

Sylum Vault

We shut down the Etsy store on January 6th.  We were a bit tired of keeping Etsy in business, plus they had changed a lot of policies that was actively hurting the store.  So we decided it was time for a change.   

So what are we doing?

• We’re focusing on product:  adjusting older items, while focusing on newer pieces
• We’re re-branding, look out for announcements of new social media profiles
• We’re building a whole new website that is ours and ours alone!!
• We’re creating a new look!

Don’t worry we’ll keep everyone updated on our process and when the New Sylum Vault will open.  

Support Sylum

One of the best ways to support Sylum is by being active on the blog and archive.  All of us who work on Sylum throughout the year, do this because we love this universe, and the annoying assholes who control our lives … pointedly looks at the Meridii.

So please hit the like button, and leave a comment on the archive and the blog.

Other ways to help keep Sylum moving towards our 20th, which guys is like 3 years away … THREE.

The Hosting Company has recently raised our rates, which considering we’ve gone ten years without one, isn’t too bad.   So if you would like to help, especially at the moment when the Vault is being reworked.  We’re take donations to fund the website, which includes the blog, wiki and archive.   All this is handled by our Hosting Company, and all donations go directly to the Hosting Company.

---

 

 

To all those who have supported me through this year, and this crazy thing called Sylum.

• Taibhrigh for the last minute wiki images, banners, and the awesome spreadsheet.
• Gil for Advent!  Just thank you for Advent!
• Dr. Janet for the weekly calls just to keep both of us sane.
• Sparrow for the rum.

But most importantly to my cohort in crime, my partner in all things.  Who keeps me sane, yet feeds the insanity.  We’ve survived 2021… maybe.  Hands over the stolen rum from Sparrow – here’s to 2022.   ‘Don’t Get Dead’

---

In Conclusion

As we still plod our way through all that is going on.  Let’s remember that we’re all here for one reason … according to the Top Ten Favorite Character.

As we go out into 2022 remember …

Be Kind.

Be Courteous.

Don’t be a Dick.

Sincerely,

Bj Jones (Nico aka The General)