Shorah!
Things are moving along very nicely on our end, and we have a couple of things we wanted to share with you real quick.

Early Bird Registration Closing Soon!

Just a reminder that early bird registration and shirt orders close at the end of March.
Starting April 1st:
– Other swag items may still be purchased until June 3rd.
– Regular registration will be open until June 16th. Regular registration is slightly more expensive, so if you’re on the fence about coming to Mysterium, now’s the time!
Head on over to the registration page to get started!

February’s Prompt Winner

We had some great submissions for February’s “Heart” prompt!
“Shadow” Dan submitted a fantastic Exile/Undertale crossover with pixel art by Kevin F. “Kefrith” Smith.

March’s prompt is “Idle hands” and submissions are still open for that one! Head on over to the “prompt-submissions” channel on our discord server if you have something you’d like to share!
That’s all for today. Have a spectacular weekend!

Kelly “Rayne” & Drea “m13”
Mysterium Co-chairs

Hello everyone!

We have some updates, some reminders, and one important piece of news. So let’s jump right in.

Covid Policy Update

We have added an FAQ to our Covid Policy page, to help clarify items in the written policy. In particular, we are now specific in the FAQ about how we will be verifying bivalent vaccines. Be sure to check it out if you aren’t sure if your last booster was a bivalent dose.

We have also updated the paragraph regarding the modified Covid policy while at Cyan HQ on Saturday. The new paragraph reads:

“Importantly, a modified policy will be in effect for the Cyan visit on Saturday. In particular, special guests and Cyan staff may remove their masks while presenting or taking part in a panel. We also cannot guarantee that all special guests and Cyan staff will be vaccinated. The normal policy as outlined below still applies to all regular attendees while at Cyan’s headquarters. We will do our best to stream as much as possible of the Cyan visit for anyone who cannot attend.”

Finally, we have been asked if we will be dropping our Covid policy given that the Federal government will be ending their Public Health Emergency on May 11th. The answer is: No, we will not be dropping our policy. We are a private event, and the end of the Public Health Emergency has no bearing on us or our policies.

Reminders

If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to go register! If you have registered, you may be interested to know that we’ve added an art print of our 2023 shirt logo to the swag shop. If you’d like one, you can log back into your registration account and add one on to your order.

Don’t forget that submissions for events and pin designs are still open, but act fast! Pin designs close in just over a week (February 12th)!

Also, in case you missed it in the excitement of reg opening last week, we have an accessibility survey open right now. If you have a couple minutes, we’d love to hear your thoughts on making Mysterium as accessible as possible. You can find the survey here.

Musical Chairs

Last, we want to let you know about a change in leadership for Mysterium 2023. Here’s a message from outgoing co-chair Taniith with the details:

Shorah friends. With great regret, I want to let you all know that I’m stepping down as co-chair of Mysterium 2023. I will also be winding down most of my involvement with Mysterium over the next year or so. Andrea Mountain (aka M13) will be stepping up to take my place alongside Kelly. Without going into great detail, I have a lot going on in my personal life, and I can’t devote the time and energy to Mysterium that I used to.

I have 100% confidence that Kelly, Drea, and the rest of the Mysterium team will put on an amazing con for all of you. I know they have some wonderful (and in some cases devious) things planned. You definitely don’t want to miss out!

It’s been a heck of a ride helping to run Mysterium since I joined the Committee in 2011. I hope to one day be able to attend again. You are all part of my extended Myst family, and I’ll miss hanging out with all of you. Until then, though, you can find me on Discord and all the usual places.

Stay safe out there!

-Taniith

No pressure or anything, right?

Thank you, Taniith, for your years of service and your guidance during this transition. We have a great team, and we will do our utmost to put on one heck of a show to celebrate 30 years of Myst!

-Kelly, Drea, and the Mysterium team

Hello friends!

We’re sorry it took so long, but we’re here to tell you that registration and hotel booking for Mysterium 2023 are officially OPEN!

Before we jump in, a quick reminder for your travel/booking plans: Spokane years are action packed, so ending at mid-day on Sunday just doesn’t cut it. Expect events to go until ~4pm on Sunday.

Registration

We’re trialing a new (to us) registration system this year. It should make registering easier, and includes the ability for us to offer easier pre-orders on swag. You can also log back in at anytime and review or edit your registration and purchase information.

Please note that t-shirts and early-bird pricing for registration will be only be available through March 31st. Starting in April, shirt sales will close, and the price for registration will increase.

You can get all the details and register over on our registration page.

Hotel Rooms

Similarly, head over to our location page to get all the details about our hotel. Hotel prices in Spokane, and around the country, have gone way up in the last couple of years. We know $149/night is pricier than what we usually aim for, but believe us when we say that this is a good deal for the Spokane area. If you need to split costs by sharing a room, consider posting in the #looking-for-people channel on our Discord server.

Covid-19 Policy

We wish it were gone, but Covid is still with us. So, as with last year, we have a policy in place. You can read all the details here, but the short version is:

• Full vaccination is required, including a bivalent booster, by June 23rd
  
• Masking will be required and enforced in Mysterium spaces
• No exceptions – we’ll be streaming/recording most events for those who cannot attend
• Cyan will have their own policy for our time at their headquarters (more on that soon)

Swag

Oh, did we mention swag? That’s right! We don’t just have shirts this year, we also have mugs, prints, and lanyard charms available for pre-order. We’re also cooking up some other goodies that might get added later, but for now you can check out all our available swag over here.

Accessibility Survey

We are always striving to make Mysterium as welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible. To that end, we’re putting out an accessibility survey to solicit feedback and ideas. We want to know what you’ve seen/experienced that worked well, what worked poorly, services we should look into, and concerns you have about accessibility at Mysterium.

The survey is short, and all questions are optional. So if you have a few minutes, please consider sending us your thoughts! You can find the survey here.

Submissions Reminder

A quick reminder that submissions are still open for both events and pin designs. Be quick, though, because pin designs are due by February 12th!

December Prompt Winner

As with last month, we once again had our Discord community vote on their favorite entry for our December prompt, “endings”. The winner was Grayson aka redwoodrroad, who submitted this animation of a scene from Riven:

Our January prompt, “beginnings”, is still open until the end of the month. So be sure to drop by our Discord and submit your work!

That’s all we have for now. Stay tuned for more news soon!

– Rayne & Taniith

Mysterium 2023 Co-Chairs