"Callyste's Corner"
Advice on Romance, Love, and Marriage in the Realms
by Callyste

Welcome to my column dear readers! I hope to provide sage advice and information to you all on matters of the heart! I shall try to include a few questions, and some valuable information, suitable for all those seeking help in each issue. Please send in your questions. Mail them to CallysteA@aol.com. You may see them answered in a forthcoming issue!

FROM THE MAILBAG

Dear Cally,

I have met the girl of my dreams and need an engagement ring before I pop the question! HELP! Where can I find one?

Signed,
A paladin in love

Dear Paladin,

Congratulations on your impending engagement! An important consideration before going jewelry shopping is what kinds of rings and or other jewelry your intended likes. If she is fond of emeralds set in platinum, for instance, it may be best not to spend those hard-earned gold kronars on sapphires set in gold. Actually, engagement rings are sold in the Crossing Jewelry shop. There you have several choices of types of metals, and gemstones. A platinum or gold ring set with diamonds is by far the most expensive and common choice. Usually some gentle questioning on jewelry will give you an idea about what she likes.

The lovely shop in Leth Deriel, called Trevellyn's has some lovely rings in its upstairs jewelry shop, however, they are not called engagement in their descriptions, and are quite costly. Other places you can find lovely rings are the clerical jewelry shop in Shard's Temple of Light, ideal items for those of a religious nature. Leth Deriel's jewelry shop sells rings are well, with some unusual choices, suitable for Elven couples.

Lastly, the recent festival in Theren had some beautiful engagement rings for sale. They are bespelled with the "return to me" spell which protects them from grave robbing. Because of the fine workmanship and the magical nature of them, these rings are quite costly, well over 10 plats. Also, there were some lovely ruby engagement rings sold by a very romantic merchant several years ago. These rings or the ones from the recent festival can probably be found on the re-sale lists, of course, at the usual inflated prices.

CALLY'S LIST OF ELANTHIA'S MOST ROMANTIC SPOTS

Trying to decide where to take that special someone? Want a special place to pop the question? Here is a short list of romantic spots I have found in my...err... travels. Please send me yours! I will compile them and post them to my website!

1. The waterfall up stream from the goblins, out the west gate of Crossing
2. Eluned's shrine pool and cave
3. The lovely area east of the white bridge in Shard
4. Milne's rose restaurant in Shard
5. The Baron's Table restaurant in Theren
6. A peaceful picnic on the lake in Aesry
7. The magical orb room in Theren's keep
8. The carillion garden in Mer'Kresh
9. Oasis in M'Riss
10. The gardens of Tamsine's rest

DESIGN CHALLENGES

When creating items for a wedding couples are often challenged to design items that mean something to them and so marry them in the visuals of an item. This could and sometimes is an item the pair share, or a design for the ribbon and invitation.

So here is your challenge...You want your maid of honor to wear a lace gown, but she is a Ranger and wanted a fresh spring green gown. Even worse he worships Truffenyi, and she worships Damaris and gods forbid you tend to like the dark Urrem'tier, himself! Design the girl a dress!!

The rules- Standard merchant contract rules apply. The gown may have a tap, look and read description. Send in your designs and a couple of GM's have volunteered to help me choose the winner. They have also agreed to help make the creation a reality. The best will be announced next issue.

Thanks to Sharyn, Lilea and Valkri for the....umm...unusual ideas!

NEW WEDDING COMMAND AND WEDDING SYSTEM

GM Tvini, and her wedding staff are busy as ever! After almost two-month hiatus, the new WEDDING system for Cathedral weddings is working well to unite many more couples in holy matrimony. In fact it is such a success, Tvini is hoping that additional openings will be made available to couples soon. The new system works by spreading the vast workload of the weddings over a greater number of GM's, thus giving a few more options available to happy couples.