To all those negotiating over souls:

We've made a number of adjustments to the way splintered souls work.

- You can now negotiate (choose 'keep' or 'release') remotely. We originally intended for it to be done in person to encourage more interaction, and to prevent it from being easily triggered, but we've found that most people seem to be using tells for interaction and the loss of participation outweighs our concerns regarding automation.
- Negotiation is no longer channeled/interrupted.

In addition, the way divesting souls works has been modified as follows:
- If you are the target of a pending divestment, you cannot enter into negotiations with anyone else (including starting our own divestment) until the divest timer ends, or negotiations related to it are completed.
- If your paired player has already entered negotiation with you (has chosen 'keep' or 'release'), you cannot divest your soul - you must complete negotiations.
- If your target is currently in negotiations with another player (including any pending divestment timer from another player, see below), you may not divest your soul until those negotiations are completed.
- Divesting a soul now gives the target a warning, and starts a 5 minute timer.
- If during the initial 5 minute timer the target does not enter negotiations, and the divestment completes, the target will lose 2 soul energy. This will have no negative impact on those choosing not to participate in the event (as negative energy won't matter for them) but will punish a real participant for failing to participate.
- If your target negotiates during the initial timing window and you have not yet entered your side of the negotiation, the timer will be reset back to 5 minutes, during which you may enter your reply. If you fail to do so (letting the divestment complete at the end of the second timer), you will lose 2 soul energy for abusing the divest mechanic.
- You still may not go below -6 points.
- We may need to make adjustments to the numbers here; we'll watch it.


The existing timers and other mitigations still exist -- divestment should be your last resort in negotiation. Divestment will no longer count against you, however, if your target did not attempt to negotiate.

If you encounter any issues, or any behavior that is counter to this post, please file a BUG report.

Good luck in your negotiations!

Penned by my hand on the 9th of Naturalis, in the year 111 AM.