Folklorian World

Art Roleplay Game
ARPG Name:	Folklorian World
Species Name:	Originally Foxlore. Now Folklore, Folkit, Folkgon, and sub-groups
Website Hosted On:	DeviantART
Dates:	Dec 3, 2017 - present
Founder(s):	DrawinglyWillingly
Staff:	UFOKitten, Nemaroony, Broze-Coffee, and ChartingtheAbscendant
Country Based In:	Global
External Links:	https://www.deviantart.com/folklorianworld
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Folklorian World is the art roleplay game (ARPG) for the original species Folklore, which used to go by Foxlore. It is hosted on DeviantART. Folklore are a closed species, however the group runs occasional make your own events. Otherwise most of the species appear to be obtained with money. A variation of the species is the Folkgon, which are free to make if you already have at least one Folklore. In private conversations, the species is called a "business" and the community as "clientele." As of February 14, 2020, Folklorian World has 630 members. This member count dropped to 602 in Dec 2020, possibly due to group inactivity and lack of admin/mod updates.

History

Folklorian World was opened by DrawinglyWillingly on December 3, 2017, well after the initial original species boom between 2011-2012. However, the oldest journal entry is from Dec 19, 2018, implying the group was either not accepting members till around this time or older journals have since been deleted.

Main page

After several months of internal issues the four members of the Folklorian World staff sent an email to Drawingly calling for her resignation, or else they would all quit. Drawingly's response was to agree, however she refused to hand off the species unless the mods paid money for it. Her species was sold to its co-owners and Folklore is now owned by four users on DA: UFOKitten, Nemaroony, Broze-Coffee, and ChartingtheAbscendant. As of February 2020 the group was listed as in "overhaul," and as of December 2020 has still remained inactive, with no updates from the staff who paid money for the species.

At some point DrawinglyWillingly wanted to work on a website for Folklorian World, based off the information in her Patreon. Her Patreon, which is still up, offered Folklore rewards based on tiers. Though this Folklore-based Patreon remains up, and may still be subscribed to, it currently has no patrons. One should also note that at this period in time Drawingly no longer owns the species.

Controversy

DrawinglyWillingly has an extensive public service announcement, or "PSA," on the service review category of Toyhouse. She has been accused of several things, most notably opening new commissions while having a back log of unfinished ones and the supposed staging of the Folklorian World hacking. Her actions resulted in many, many people in her species' group (including co-owners) opting to remove her. DrawinglyWillingly claims she plans to delete her DeviantART and Toyhouse accounts, meaning links to her work may eventually become broken. In a Dec journal, in which DrawinglyWillingly is announced to have been kicked from the group, the "Folklorian Four" (the new owners) describe the group as having gone through some "dark times."

One confirmed accusation was on the suspicion that Drawningly had lied about the death of her husband, which is noted on the PSA. Her motivation for lying about his death is unclear as she does not give an answer when prompted. However, she then goes onto to blame the group's hacking on him. This is a month before they bought the species from her and she was removed. Her husband, whether he was real or not, allegedly played a part in the supposed hacking of the group.

Group Hacking

On November 23, 2019, Folklorian World was supposedly hacked. During this hacking the group's icon was changed to white letters on black that said "IM A CUNT. I SCAM PEOPLE ALWAYS! AHAHAH" and the group's tagline was changed to "A group of fags." A few journals and artworks had been deleted as well.

Due to the nature of DrawinglyWillingly's long PSA many people had their doubts about who actually defaced the group. The suggested motivation for this staged hacking was so that DrawinglyWillingly, who had a very long overdue to-do list that she was avoiding, could claim the to-do list had been deleted and further delay her owed commissions. Folklore designs that had also had controversy around them had been deleted as well. After the hacking DrawinglyWillingly had her account returned to her after an hour and claimed the hacker's IP address was from Romania. At first she seemed to be trying to imply a former mod had done it, but then later Drawingly blames the hacking on the husband who she previously claimed was dead.

The Species

Folklore are bipedal, fox-like creatures and come in four different types: Folkit (small), Folklore (medium), Berserker (large), and Fairy (small and flying). They can speak, write, and wear clothing. The species is capable of magic. A fifth edition to the Folklore species is the Folkgons, which are normal foxes that can speak, wear clothes, and do magic. They have a gemstone and can float. All Folklore can have different "mutations," which are specific to where the Folklore lives. The Foklore masterlist can be viewed here. As of February 14, 2020, it has 954 designs. Designs can be re-designed as of Mar 18, 2020.

Folklore, as a closed species, is sold for real currency. Prices can range from $45 to $80 for flatsales. For Make Your Owns, the prices depend upon the "mutations" added. This can range from $30 for one mutation to $80 for unlimited mutations. To add a pet it is an extra $10, to change the body type it is $15, and to add a companion it is $25.

In November 2019, one month before DrawinglyWillingly was kicked out, UFOKitten was hired on to help with group overhaul. They stated that the species as a whole was to be revamped. Starting Mar 18, 2020, the staff have begun posting updated information on the species and ARPG, but as of Dec 3, 2020, nothing has been revamped yet (and one mod, Bronze-Coffee, has disappeared from the co-admin list), leading to some to suspect the group and species are dead.

Canon

Folklore live on the world of Gemtha. There are five major cities on the planet that players can choose from: Okoku Village, Copper Town, Djeserit Oasis, Endor / Winter Town, and Rook city. There is a single, short lore journal describing each city, its culture, its politics, and its weather. This lore appears to have only been added in 2019, two years after the ARPGs original creation, though the instance of its map being created in 2018 insinuates that the journal either came late or had been deleted and re-written. There is very little Folklore lore outside of the map and its cities, making the species name somewhat ironic. However, as of December 18, 2019, the staff have stated they intend to add new lore to the game.

Bookmarks are the main currency of Folklore. There appear to be at least three other types of currency: love tokens, spooky candy, and the folk cookie. Currency cannot be traded or gifted.

Berries, dyes, potions, and various items are also obtainable, through roleplay or art creation. There is also mention of "achievements" in the featured comments of the User Track journal, but this currency/item type does not appear anywhere else. Folklorian Worlds includes a secondary account called FolkloreItems where all items are uploaded in the gallery.

Players may put their Folklore characters through certain activities to gain currency and items. This is mostly achieved through short writings or art creation. There are a few different variations of this mechanic: chapters and quests. Chapters are simply prompts, such as "this is my home," in which players write or draw about their characters home for rewards. Chapter 1 (now retired) could net the player 60 bookmarks, 11 paper, 1 MYO weapon ticket, 1 continental berry, and 1 introduction scroll. As of February 2020 quests have been all but removed, their journal links are now defunct. Quests and chapters would have functioned relatively the same.

Player Lore

Though it as an ARPG, it is not a collaborative world building game (CWBG) like Fawnlings or Esks. Folklorian Worlds and the Folklore species have little to no player made lore. There are no kingdom coups, player-made changes to the map or in character community, nor any religious schisms. So while Folklorian Worlds has everything it needs to be a traditional ARPG, it has very little in the way of player made plot change. There are also no folders within the group gallery for roleplay advertisements. Thus, the player roleplay aspect is rather shallow and confined to the pre-made prompts and events by staff members.

Community

The Folklorian community is mostly active on Discord.

Art

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  Official concept art

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  $15 Folklore chibis

Comments

I understand the disappointment in the group, and I completely understand if you feel you’ve lost hope with the group. But please, don’t give up on Folklores just yet!

DrawninglyWillingly, the original creator

such an amazing idea that Berserker and Fairy forms can be achieved (via items)! It really gives awesome possibilities!! <3

CheriPearl

As someone effected by the older drama before the species became folklores (foxlore), I am glad to see it going into the hands of those who care! I hope maybe now I'll find the enjoyment to one day take part in this species without the past constantly lingering over my head.

FailedMonster

[Arkhangelia, Sept 6, 2020]
Is this species inactive?

[SfwGenuflect, Dec 3, 2020]
Seems so, admin hasn't been active since aug 2020, charting since jul 2020, though nemaroony posted an art piece here on DA on nov 5, 2020. Seems a shame, since I heard they had to buy this species for real money from it's initial creator. What a loss of an investment :( Who knows though, maybe it's only inactive due to covid, since the admin + one co-owner went inactive around the time covid hit. Maybe it'll be active again one day

edit: looking at the fanlore page for this group, looks like there's actually a co-owner missing from the sidebar (as the FL page notes 1 admin + 3 co-owners), so i think mod "bronze-coffee" must have left the group! probably not a good sign ^_^'