Arcadia

Arcadia (Greek: Αρκαδία, Arkadía) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan. In European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness.

Geography

Arcadia has its present-day capital at Tripoli. It covers about 18% of the Peloponnese peninsula, making it the largest regional unit on the peninsula. Arcadia has a ski resort on Mount Mainalo, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. Other mountains of Arcadia are the Parnon in the southeast and the Lykaion in the west.

The climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part, the low-lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and winter months in the rest of Arcadia. Winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon.

Pony Club

Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to the educating youths about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over 30 countries worldwide.

Origins

Pony Club began with the organisation that was formed in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the Horse formed a youth branch of their organization, "The Pony Club." It was formed to encourage children to start riding, while providing them with opportunities in the field that they would not be able to reach on their own. The group grew rapidly, from 300 members in 1930, to over 10,000 in 1935. When the Institute of the Horse joined with National Horse Association of Great Britain to form The British Horse Society, Pony Club was incorporated into the new group.

The success of Pony Club in Britain sparked the formation of Pony Clubs in other nations, such that there are now over 100,000 Pony Club members worldwide. Australia has the largest pony club membership in the world with just under 55,000 financial members. Note they also ride horses.

Skies of Arcadia

Skies of Arcadia, released in Japan as Eternal Arcadia (エターナルアルカディア), is a role-playing video game developed by Overworks for the Dreamcast and published by Sega in 2000. It was ported to the GameCube in 2002 as Skies of Arcadia Legends, featuring minor enhancements. Legends was in development for the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows, but both ports were canceled shortly before the GameCube version's release. The game's story focuses around Vyse, a young air pirate in a Jules Verne-inspired fantasy world, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with the potential to destroy the world.

Gameplay

Dungeons

Gameplay in Skies of Arcadia chiefly takes place in dungeons. Controlling the protagonist, Vyse, from a third-person view, players must traverse and defeat these dungeons to advance the storyline. A dungeon is a network of pathways with treasure chests, puzzles, and ubiquitous monsters. Completing the dungeons is usually a matter of exploring each of the pathways presented to the player until the correct one is found. Treasure chests are commonplace and contain some of the most powerful items in the game. Throughout the dungeon gameplay players meet compulsory random encounters. If the entire player party is defeated, progress is reset to the beginning of the dungeon. In the Dreamcast version, it was possible to slightly foresee these encounters by noticing a loud spin-up of the console's GD-ROM drive. This gave the player time to open the start menu and prepare for the battle.

La storia della Arcana Famiglia

La storia della Arcana Famiglia (アルカナ・ファミリア, Arukana Famiria, Italian for "The Story of the Arcane Family") is a Japanese visual novel series by HuneX and Comfort. The first game was released on October 27, 2011 for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). A fan disc (also for the PSP) titled Arcana Famiglia -Vascello Phantasma no Majutsushi- (アルカナ・ファミリア -幽霊船（ヴァスチェロ・ファンタズマ）の魔術師-) was released on June 21, 2012 featuring two new characters: Ash and Joshua. A spin-off cooking game titled Arcana Famiglia -Festa Regalo!- (アルカナ・ファミリア フェスタ・レガーロ) was released on December 13, 2012. The first game has been adapted into a manga and anime series along with various franchise-related merchandise such as drama CDs, music CDs, and fanbooks, etc.

Plot

There is an organization called the Arcana Famiglia, which protects the island of Regalo (Italian for "present"). The Famiglia is made up of people who have made contracts with Arcana cards, and have received special abilities due to this. On his birthday celebration, Mondo has decided it is time for him to retire and give up his title to a new boss who has control over an Arcana. To decide who in the "family" gets this title, he calls for a tournament, called the Arcana Duello, between Arcana users. To the winner, he promises the title of "Papa", a wish of the winner's choice and his daughter's hand in marriage. Refusing to accept this, Felicità decides to fight to choose her own path, with Libertà and Nova fighting for her freedom by her side.