Xanadu Impalong – July 24-27
stargrace 
I love impalongs. I’ve participated in a few over the years, depending on what server they were hosted at. Since moving to Xanadu it’s very rare that I ever travel to another map, this one is so enormous that there’s no real reason to go exploring elsewhere. With that being said, a summer time Impalong is being hosted July 24-27th, and I’ll be taking my characters down there to help out for the days that it runs.
What is an Impalong? Imp is short for ‘improvement’ and that’s the action you do when you raise the quality of an item, like a tool or gear. So basically it’s an enormous gathering of players from all different skill backgrounds, and you work together to improve tools / gear / weapons of other players to the best of your ability. That means if you’re a blacksmith with a high skill level, you park at a forge for however long you feel like participating, and help improve other peoples items. You leave your items (labeled with your name) in the appropriate containers, and players with the proper skills come by and improve the items for you. Then at the end of the celebration you go home with a nice set of tools, some new friends, and a valuable understanding on how important community is in Wurm.
There are normally some contests that go on as well, with donated prizes. Running an impalong takes a lot of work and a great team of people. You need to have a deed large enough to hold everyone who wants to show up, as well as supplies for those doing the imping. You need meals, water, beds and basically have to take care of all issues that may arise. Of course any time you get that many people together in one spot you’re bound to have issues. The most common one is peoples tools going missing after they’ve been improved, or people dropping more than 1 set of gear into a forge to be improved, only to sell the items later. This is frowned upon, you should only submit one set of tools for improving, people are taking their time to help you out by doing these improvements for free.
There’s usually a section for priests, as well. People will gather for sermons, cast enchants, and hang out together. I plan on going with my Vynora and Fo priests, last year when I went I spent all of my time working on smithing and carpentry. This year I’m looking to do things a bit more casually, and help out with sermons and enchants. It’s at a location I’m not familiar with, so I’ll probably leave a few days early so that I can get there in plenty of time (and find my way back). If you’ve never been to an impalong before, I highly suggest you check one out if you have a chance. No two are alike, especially when they’re all run by different players. If you happen to be stopping by this one, be sure to say hello to Oshi and Maivis (my two priests). You can always /addfriend stargrace if you’re in-game, I look forward to hearing from anyone playing!
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!