The year 852 will soon be upon us and that means the current holder of the Staff of Nicator will soon be turning into a pumpkin and losing her castle. More importantly, this means that the fabled Staff will once more be contested and a new bearer crowned Lord or Lady of the Crossing!

For those unfamiliar, this auspicious contest pits the very best of Achaea against one another for the chance to win the Staff of Nicator (a weapon that confers several powerful bonuses to the wielder), access to the Keep at Nicator's Crossing, and their choice of either 2000 credits, or one year of Iron Elite Membership and a trip to the Artefact Vault. It is a test of not only strength and fortitude but ingenuity, creativity, knowledge of the land and its secrets, and of course the all important social skills!

Prizes will also rain down upon those who don't manage to take first place, with a host of credits and other awards on offer! Placing in the top ten in any of the Championship events will earn championship points (towards the overall winner) and credits.

Alongside the Championship events there will be lots of other ways to participate that can earn you special prizes! We'll announce all of these closer to the date.

There are some changes this time around, however!

Championship Sojourn and Tumble Races have been retired for this year. In their place shall be the Race Around the World! This contest will require you to tumble across the continent from one point to another, and then sail back to the starting point!

Championship Foozle has evolved into Worldgame Extravaganza, a triple cocktail of a PK egghunt, a foozle, and a bandersnatch!

NOTE: The winning city leader of this year's Capture the Flag will determine whether the bandersnatch is PK or not!

Championship XP Event will now feature danger modifiers on certain areas, continents, and islands for an additional twist!

Further details on all of these events will be made available in their own dedicated posts as we near the time. For now, below is the schedule for all the Championship events and some of the others we have in store for you so far.

(All times are in GMT)

THU, 18th Feb at 01:00 - Year 852 begins with the Treasure Hunt!

FRI, 19th Feb at 22:00 - Capture the Flag

SAT, 20th Feb at 19:00 - Championship Worldgame Extravangaza!

SUN, 21st Feb at 12:00 - Championship Race Around the World!

TUE, 23rd Feb from 12:00 - Championship XP Event Window #1

THU, 25th Feb from 00:00 - Championship XP Event Window #2

SAT, 27th Feb from 06:00 - Championship XP Event Window #3

SUN, 28th Feb at 01:00 - Championship Quiz!

SUN, 28th Feb at 17:00 - Championship Twins!

MON, 1st March at 01:00 - Staff Ceremony!

UPCOMING has all of this for you to look at too with some more details!

Penned by My hand on the 17th of Ero, in the year 850 AF.