Just so everyone is kept in the loop, I've also heard back from Kitharsis and Veldanya via Dischord.

Kitharsis:
- Thinks [timeframe] for (C) should be 1-2 weeks.

Veldanya:
- Believes he will need (B) for only approx 1-2 months, as things are looking up.
- Thinks easiest would be for [timeframe] to be 1 month, but if not that, 2 weeks

And for me, I think [timeframe] should be 1 week.

Tallying up:
[timeframe] of 1 week: 4
(Fallen Templar, Shadow Chorus, Kitharsis, Soul Reaver)

[timeframe] of 2 weeks: 4
(Fallen Templar, Shadow Chorus, Kitharsis, Veldanya)

[timeframe of 1 month: 1
(Veldanya)

Makes it a bit of a tiebreaker, but I'll relent and make it 2 weeks since Veldanya had a preference for longer rather than shorter.  After all, just because it's 2 weeks doesn't mean it automatically will be 2 weeks every time.

I'll figure out how to do a hidden poll next and post it up so we can get majority agreement on the hospital pass.
I propose 2 months, after which the rules will kick in again as normal.

The Companions' initial assault on the guardian proved to have little effect, it simply teleported away and started drawing power from the crystal. Jharm's follow-up attack on the crystal itself yielded some result, however brief. There, that must be the weak link in the chain that bound both crystal and guardian. But putting the theory into practice wasn't going to be such a simple matter...

Phaerys took a step back as one of several portals opened up beside him, with a copy of the guardian storming out almost immediately after. He had to give himself a sudden, sharp gravitic pull backwards to narrowly avoid getting cleaved in twain by the oncoming greatsword. As he did so, the Ataran flung his handful of superheated alloy shards toward the guardian's head.

If brute force from the others had been insufficient, he could at least try to slow it down, buy himself enough time to lend aid in destroying the crystal. Without a proper melee weapon of his own, Phaerys had little choice but to propel himself further away and give himself a precious moment or two to act.

Aiming at the guardian's legs, Phaerys launched a volley of focused plasma beams. The heat was more than enough to melt most metals. One good hit in the knee joint would likely weld it in place, unable to move.

"Hahaha! This is what we like best!" The Warboss bellows as a new opponent launches themselves from a portal at him. As they approach, those spectral green arms form up around Gulgrim's form and brace themselves, catching the oncoming blades on their bulk and causing sparks to fly between the WAAAGH!!! Energy and the darkness of the greatswords. As the forces grind against each other in deadlock, Gulgrim leans forward, his massive, toothy maw getting mere inches from the armored face of his opponent, his grin growing even wider, if that were possible, before he uttered a single word, quietly, almost intimately, to his enemy.

"Boo."

At that, Gork's Teef and Mork's Teef sprang into Gulgrim's hands, and with a crackle of lightning, the Shoulder portions of Da Stompy Suit manifested on the Avatar's broad back, the paired deffguns and the twin Kustom Shootas roaring to life and unleashing a point blank fusillade into the Shaitan opponent while the spectral arms fended off the enemy's weapons. Bullets powerful enough to rip through ceramite sped blazingly across the devastatingly small gap between the two, and even as his fingers laid on the triggers, the Retractable bayonets on the paired shootas sprung forth, and Gulgrim lunged both of his physical arms forward, intending to impale his opponent even while torrenting fire directly into its body.

There would be no dancing around each other or fancy spellwork for the Avatar of Gork and Mork. There was fighting to be done, and it was time to get stuck in.

Soul Reaver watches with some trepidation as Jharm's hammer blow cracks the crystal, but fails to destroy it.  The attack had clearly caused some sort of temporary disruption however - it didn't seem to be completely impervious.  He would stay his original course.

However, Soul Reaver is forced onto the defensive when a portal opens before him and a greatsword-wielding Shaitan Lord springs forth.  Blooddrinker leaps up to intercept one blow after another with shrill metallic clangs.  Normally he would have taken a more aggressive stance, but he was absorbed in the casting of his spell and could not divert too much focus from its complex weaving.

But he would need a moment's breathing room for this final stage.  Lunging forward and twisting his red sword, Soul Reaver locks the enemy's blade into Blooddrinker's jagged crossguard, then forces their point downward with a circular motion.  With a final arcane word, Soul Reaver draws his arm back and completes his spell.

Closing his hand, he plucks a lance of blinding white light out of the air: a Spear of the Apocalypse.  With a grunt, he hurls the devastating projectile like a javelin at the heart of the crystal.

Ok, based on feedback so far, and my own opinions, I think the following should be done:


Permanent changes:

c) Change the rules so that the Battle Host doesn't have to post within 1 month of their own last post, but rather within either 1 month of their own last post or within [timeframe] of the last PLAYER'S post, whichever is longer.
This is probably an overdue change, but here's the question: how long should [timeframe] be?
Whatever it ends up being, we may end up with 1 month + [timeframe] as the time between the Battle Host's posts.
Personally I would say 1 week, but I'm open to suggestions.


Temporary changes (these won't last longer than Veldanya's tenure as Battle Host, or shorter in some cases):

b) Give Veldanya a hospital pass on the rules, given their difficult circumstances, for a timeframe they propose.  During this time hosting duties won't be given to anyone else and Veldanya can post as little (or as much) as they want.  Agreement to this would be by majority vote in a hidden poll.  Once the time is up they'll let us know if they need it extended further, and we vote again.  I'll add such an option to the rules for the future.
This will effectively override (c) above for as long as Veldanya needs it to be in place.
A question for Veldanya: how long do you feel it might be helpful for you to have this in place?
Remember that if it turns out you estimated wrong and we reach the end of that period, you just let me know how much more time you feel you need and we can vote again to extend it.

d) Since Veldanya has other priorities, I make it my job to remind people to post.  If they've posted, I'll probably start bothering people to get their posts up within a couple of weeks or so (please let me know the best way to contact you so I can do this).
Please note that (c) is intended to relax things for Veldanya only.  Players should still be aiming to post within a month of Veldanya's last post, so I'll probably start reminding people after a couple of weeks or so to make them aware that a post is up and waiting for their reply.
I will ALSO remind Veldanya around the time the 'usual' post deadline comes up, but as per (c) this will just be the occasional reminder.  There won't be any actual pressure to post.

e) I enforce the players' side of the rules myself and will god-mod people that take more than 1 month to post from Veldanya's post.  This is so that when Veldanya DOES want to post, they don't run into a situation where there are still other peoples' posts pending.
Keep in mind this isn't a new rule - this is just to take the work away from Veldanya.  I'm hoping that regular reminders from me doing (d) mean I won't have to do this for anyone anyway.
Remember, if you're in a situation where you feel you really CAN'T post within a month of the Battle Host, you really should let me know so we can accommodate you.

I've noted that both Fallen Templar and Shadow Chorus don't seem keen on having a god-mod rule of any kind at all, but I'll need to hear a good alternative solution for the situation it's intended to address if I'm to consider replacing that particular long-standing rule.