Introductions: The Inauguraling

Yes! More blood!

...

Or, bone marrow?

I've been lurking here for over a year

So ... hi ...

I am currently in a college intensive that requires me to think about things. And be up at weird hours of the night thinking about things. So, I thought I'd start actually posting here.

I drink too much coffee. My favorite memory of the last year or two is going for a long run at night on a lakeside bikepath and then getting caught in a snowstorm.

Welcome out of lurkdom

What are your Top 5 Eagle Time Threads of 2015

Boop meant to do this earlier. Eventually I'll be doing a forum adventure here. It'll be a short test run of another adventure, in addition a test run of a game/adventure system of my design, and it'll also be a prologue. The longer adventure that I'd expect to launch much later than now, will likely launch on the mspaforums, and possibly also run here too.

I haven't actually been watching all that much, I've just had the account set up for over a year and looked at the site now and then. But I like Jazz Camp.

Oh, I should probably introduce myself in the introduction thread.

Heya, I'm Fellow. I like comics, among other things.

I will also edit my every post, no matter how short, at least twice if I don't restrain myself.

"Hello, Fellow!" Reyweld bellowed.

...

Sorry for that terrible welcome. I hope you've been enjoying the forums!

SO LIKE, HEY.

I know I've already posted an introduction technically but I haven't been here in like 4+ years and it seemed like a better idea to just reintroduce myself than awkwardly insert myself in a conversation.

I'm TheEmptyPot! Most people just call me Mel because I'm pretty reckless with my name on the internet, but if you're uncomfy with calling me by my first name you can just call me tep!

I really like comics and cute anime, and I'm an animation student woooooo

Welcome back, Mel!

Hi Tep! I remember back when you were a tiny child with cool sunglasses on the MSPA.

yooooooooooooooooooooooooo

howdy mel!!!!

Hello. Kinda stumbled upon the place after having a conversation about the old mspafa forums with some people. I ended up googling a list of names of authors I remembered and well here I am.

Hello fluffy sojourner! I hope you enjoy eagle-time, for all its rippling muscles and personality.

Long-time lurker here, I'm just popping in to introduce myself. Turns out I've never actually done that? Weird!

Hi, I'm Gatr! Like the one in Wheat's post up there. But blue. And missing an o.

Welcome Sheepy! Inquiring minds wish to know: what is your favourite breed of goat/sheep, and is it the markhor?

Welcome Sheepy! Inquiring minds wish to know: what is your favourite breed of goat/sheep, and is it the markhor?

Hm, hard question. So many lovely sheep out there its hard to choose just one, best I can do is narrow it down to three:
-The Icelandic Leader Sheep, because they have such an interesting body of research behind them into their psychology as well as being a strong study case for local adaptation on a social level in herd animals.

-The Lleyn, because they're a great all-purpose breed and I had one growing up and she was the best.

-The Horned Dorset, because they look good, can live almost anywhere, and make really adorable bellwethers.

Haha, shit, I'm a New Zealander so my Actual Sheep knowledge goes about as far as Romneys and Merinos - it sounds like you really know your onions, and by onions I mean sheep.

Can you tell me more about Icelandic Leader sheep behaviour? I'm rather intrigued now.

Ah, I'm from Canada myself. We've got a variety of breeds but the various Dorsets are sort of our standard, good for meat and wool and lambs. You guys like the heavy wool producers in your flocks so Romneys and Merinos are good choices.

As for the Icelandic Leader Sheep, they're a small breed population wise - native to Iceland as the name would indicate. They're a fairly old breed that was derived largely from the original norse colonist's stock, so they started hardy and got even tougher over time but after the introduction of modern breeds to the island their population dropped to the limited number of around 1,500 but it is seeing some rebound due to cultural preservation efforts and interbreeding with other lines to pass on some of their favourable characteristics. Lovely markings, with white, brown or black wool across their bodies and a patch of cream around their neck and have short tails. Their faces have various white and black markings and both sexes have horns.

So while they're physically hardy and are exceptionally good at handling snow they gained research interest when they displayed somewhat unique social interactions. Mainly they seem to have instinctual predispositions to flock leadership, long-term memory in relation to geography, independent decision making, and a capable understanding of cause-and-effect. These traits make them unusually capable of being independent and successful without the supervision of either shepherds or dogs, with flock leaders guiding and motivating the rest naturally. They're often capable of leading their flocks independently over large geographic distances year after year, with memory of routes and hazards used to protect the flock.

One of the most unique observed traits however is that in groups of pure Leader Sheep there seems to be a recognized lineage of flock leaders. It is unknown if this is a social development or the currently undergoing study of parents teaching their young to be more capable than others for the role so they naturally win the position against competitors within the flock. Further there seems to be no preference for leadership being male or female so the usual ram-dominated dynamics have altered. However when they were introduced to groups of other sheep breeds, any Leader Sheep tends to assume a leadership position. Some of these studies show general improvement in these groups welfare with the introduction of a Leader Sheep, being that they're healthier and preform better against predation.

Other notables have been that their facial memory seems to be on a human-level of recognition and memory, they have been noted to learn a limited vocabulary of human words in tests and respond to them (effectively letting shepherds give them orders like dogs), and their spatial-awareness is incredible. Some of the testing methods developed with them have seen good results in Australian psychology tests as well though I'm less well versed with the details since I haven't read through them in quite awhile. Some mild debate on if they qualify as sapient - especially if we can confirm if they teach their young and other members of their flocks.

Hi all! I've been getting back into writing fiction for the first time since my childhood (also finally have free time and motivation) so I might start some forum adventures. Also have a lot of weird music projects.

In my spare time, I hang out in swamps and play online mancala.

Sheepy have you read A Wild Sheep Chase?

Welcome, Our Lady of Lampreys! Partake of the fruit.

Hi. I'm here because a lot of MSPAFA people were moving here with the recent... whatever the heck it is that the MSPA forums are doing. This place looks cool though.

I'm into video games (though not great at most of them), reading (mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and humor, and especially books that overlap those categories), and writing (I have a forum adventure I may bring here if the MSPA forums keep on not being open).

I'm also a teacher, and I get unreasonably invested in making bad puns. The two are not as related as I'd like them to be.

Always exciting to meet a fellow teacher! What might your specialty be?

Welcome to Eagletime!