Ok, the server is finally on the redstone update, and daexsyscore is working as well. :thumbsup:
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Mojang released another snapshot this week, but with no content, just some bug-fixes.

Apparently they're working on the lighting engine, but with little visible progress, so 1.5 will take at least roughly two weeks to come out.

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Anyway-

The server has a new faction in the lore, made by Epicmarkvan. It was called The Vincentian Alliance, but he changed it to be a kingdom, and I'm not sure if he's settled on a name yet.
The chain of snapshot leading up to the release of 1.5 continues- and the updates are staying pretty epic.

Here are some of the new things in 13w01a:

- Quartz/marble blocks - 5 of them, in fact. Three full blocks, the Block of Quartz, Quarts Pillar, Chiseled Quartz- as well as Quartz Slab and Quartz Stairs.

- A new type of minecart, the Minecart with TNT. It is lit with activator rails and also can go off when pushed, like a landmine. The faster it is going when it detonates, the bigger the explosion. This can be used to shatter even obsidian.

- Activator rails rails that light redstone-powered minecarts

- Texture packs can now have animated textures.

- Mobs can now have names, and server and adventure maps can even show them on top of their heads, like players.

- Chests can also be named.

- Death messages have been given an upgrade, they can now show assist kills, mob names, and the name of tools used to kill players.

- Trap Chests can now beam wireless redstone signals through walls.

- Skeletons are now better at aiming.
So, the 1.5 snapshots have begun pouring out, and it's awesome (NO, we are not on them. Too risky, no protections).

This is one of the biggest snapshots ever, if not the biggest. Some of the features:

- Redstone is now analog instead of digital, meaning the brightness of charged redstone wire now matters. This allows people to do much more with redstone.

- There is a new block called a hopper which works similar to pipes in the Buildcraft mod. It can transfer item drops into blocks with inventories, as well as move items between blocks (such as to create refilling dispensers), and to empty and fill minecarts.)

- There is a new block called a Trap Chest that gives off a variable redstone charged when opened. (These can be used next to normal chests to create storage rooms without one-block gaps between chests!)

- A new solid redstone block, which acts as a piston-pushable redstone torch.

- A new ore, found in the Nether: NETHER QUARTZ. Nether quartz is very common, and is used to craft comparators.

- A new block called a comparator, which compares two analog redstone signals and creates an output based on which one is stronger. It also works as an expensive instant repeater.

- A new block called a daylight detector. It outputs an analog redstone signal based on how strong the sunlight is shining on it.

- Two new types of pressure plate, light and heavy weighted plates. They output a redstone signal based on how many items are on the pla

- Items now can be spread across inventories by clicking and draging. Entire inventories of identical items can be transferred to chests by double shift-clicking.

Edit: Oh, and P.S. Mac and I will be making trailers for the server!
The survival world is now permanently gone. It greatly simplifies how the server is being run and puts less load on the RAM.

Also, we won't be updating to the snapshot with fireworks and enchanted books- we'll be waiting for a Bukkit version of 1.4.6 before updating.

And when it comes to the server story-
More pieces of the story are coming soon. :D
The website is also due for a major overhaul.