New Org.

edited December 2012 in North of Thera
Let's have some fun.

Let's say a new city/org was to be built, and you can come up with its concept.What would it represent? What would it look like? What core ideals would it follow? Would it gift players with any special mechanics (such as devotion, necromancy etc.)? What houses would be within it? What would its description be?

I'll start.

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New City: Darkenwood becomes a new forestral haven.

Description: Nestled within the far reaches of the North lies the mysterious and foreboding Darkenwood. Within its shadowy boughs are a group of like-minded individuals drawn to its sacred beauty and mysterious nature. As strange as the forest they reside in, residents preach of a greater aspect of Nature that is the power of Darkenwood, of an evolved strength than the "lesser nature form". Drawing their powers from shadows and darkness these dark believers walk the lands bringing their touch and strange ways to the world and preaching of a stronger natural power. Fighting against the "Natural" and weak ways of Eleusis, they seek to transform all Nature to the ways of the Darkenwood and bring to the world a dark beauty the likes none have seen.

Mechanincs: Druids and Sylvans joining Darkenwood would no longer channel sunlight but instead shadows and moonlight. Their groves will accumulate shadows over time and they would be able to EVOKE SHADOWS rather than sunlight (of course for them only at nighttime). Their ability messages that involve sunlight would be modified with moonlight and  shadowy versions.

Core Ideals: To live in unity with the dark forest and slay all non-believers. They have an almost divine outlook upon the spider queen inhabiting the Darkenwood and preach to her daily. They wish to convert all nature to the powers of the dark forest as it once was (events news for more info) and believe beings such as the Eleusians are the barrier standing in their way of such a goal.

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P.S: As you know there is a chance that a new City of Good may be built, if you like design your own version of how that would look and be as well! Attempt to not make it dull and unflavored :P.
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Comments

  • Something to divide up the powerhouse that is Ashtan.


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • I can see it now... Ashtan splits into two new cities. The City of Chaos, and the City of Freedom/lolpk


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • JamethielJamethiel Adelaide
    edited December 2012
    My dear friend, @Sylvance, posting about us on these forums will be punishable by unending death. Now, let me remember the right Mask-imbued words...
  • [a bunch of fun stuff]

    The slightly frustrating thing is that Cyrene already has so much potential to do all of that.  Historic conflict with Nature - check.  An affinity with Industry - check.  Hatred of Chaos - check.  Although it does read like a Cyrene/Hashan merger city.  Imagine the politics!

    What I would like to see well done is a genuinely secret society.  Bilderberg with magic.  A bit like a player version of the Conclave.  It's do-able if you get the right people involved, but also very tricky because one mis-step and you get "CLT Lol, got asked to b in secret society, lemme c+p their newsboards to you for lulz".  Done well, it'd be amazeballs tho.

    I think that the forums would kill it as quickly as poor player etiquette would.
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • Sylvance said:
    Loquacious Harlequin
    I'm getting a vibe that's half Fools' Guild from Discworld, and half the Tzaddikim from The Quantum Thief. Which is pretty awesome.
    image
  • Sylvance said:
    Loquacious Harlequin
    I'm getting a vibe that's half Fools' Guild from Discworld, and half the Tzaddikim from The Quantum Thief. Which is pretty awesome.
    Oh god, I love the Quantum Thief so much.  <3 Bluj.
  • A Forestal House that accepts all three Forestal classes.  I think it's downright silly that they are split up except for in Sents where Druids and Sents can both be.
    image
  • edited December 2012
    Katzchen said:
    Something to divide up the powerhouse that is Ashtan.
    Thats already happened once before. The new city was called Mhaldor. :)

    One of the best ages of Achaea was when cities and guilds where popping up left right and center. Everything felt so alive and exciting back then. There's just not the player base to support that happening again though. Which is a shame really.
    I won a competition awhile ago to have Chris Bourassa paint a picture of Lodi. My profile pic is the end product. :)
  • edited December 2012
    Sylvance said:
    New House: The Council of Quills

    Concept: Art has the power to upbuild, to rejuvenate, to express.  But it also has the power to crush, demean and destroy.  From its tenebrous manor in Delos, the Council of Quills exercises a subtle influence over Sapience.  Destroying its political foes with ego-destroying satire, rewriting both current events and history to its own agenda and slowly infusing its poisonous ideals into each of Sapience's cities, the Council slowly and quietly increases its power towards myriad hidden agendas. 

    The existence of the Council is a 'poorly kept secret', whilst the identity of its membership is as closely guarded as the combination to Lord Prospero's personal vault.  Many hopefuls who reckon themselves to be Sapience's manipulators, wheel-greasers and confidence tricksters make their way to Delos in hopes of attracting the attention of the Council.  Many of them do so, and many of these wish they had not.  Of the handful who are invited to attempt to join, the harrowing things that they must suffer is beyond the imaginings of most folks. Those few elite who are accepted into the ranks of the Council find are rarely seen or heard from again.  

    Mechanics: A 'secret' House that is not open to newbies and has a very high standard of roleplay.  Characters who meet the required standards may petition the House for membership, carry out a series of trials, and then are 'reborn' (*cough* Namechange *cough*) as a novice of the Council.  Those who appear to be fleeing past crimes (such as organisational theft, omni-enemying etc) are unlikely to be accepted.  House is primarily for Jesters and Bards, and is supposed to feel like something of a 'dark mirror' of Ty Beirdd and CIJ.

    Core Ideals: Secrecy, manipulation-for-manipulation's-sake.
    Up until the skills, this clan already exists, and it's doing very, very well for itself. Thoroughly enjoyed your shadows idea. It was a pleasure to read.
    "Trust in me, Universe, I will deliver / the promise that no-one shall ever / set their mind to games or play / for Serious Order is the way. I will not rest until it is done; / rules will be made for everyone. / They will know Order and its graces - and just like me, all shall be Greyfaces." - The Heroes of Sapience, Act 5, Greyface.
  • Lodi said:
    Katzchen said:
    Something to divide up the powerhouse that is Ashtan.
    Thats already happened once before. The new city was called Mhaldor. :)

    One of the best ages of Achaea was when cities and guilds where popping up left right and center. Everything felt so alive and exciting back then. There's just not the player base to support that happening again though. Which is a shame really.
    And the outcome was awesome that time. :P


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • Sylvance said:
    New House: The Council of Quills

    Concept: Art has the power to upbuild, to rejuvenate, to express.  But it also has the power to crush, demean and destroy.  From its tenebrous manor in Delos, the Council of Quills exercises a subtle influence over Sapience.  Destroying its political foes with ego-destroying satire, rewriting both current events and history to its own agenda and slowly infusing its poisonous ideals into each of Sapience's cities, the Council slowly and quietly increases its power towards myriad hidden agendas. 

    The existence of the Council is a 'poorly kept secret', whilst the identity of its membership is as closely guarded as the combination to Lord Prospero's personal vault.  Many hopefuls who reckon themselves to be Sapience's manipulators, wheel-greasers and confidence tricksters make their way to Delos in hopes of attracting the attention of the Council.  Many of them do so, and many of these wish they had not.  Of the handful who are invited to attempt to join, the harrowing things that they must suffer is beyond the imaginings of most folks. Those few elite who are accepted into the ranks of the Council find are rarely seen or heard from again.  

    Mechanics: A 'secret' House that is not open to newbies and has a very high standard of roleplay.  Characters who meet the required standards may petition the House for membership, carry out a series of trials, and then are 'reborn' (*cough* Namechange *cough*) as a novice of the Council.  Those who appear to be fleeing past crimes (such as organisational theft, omni-enemying etc) are unlikely to be accepted.  House is primarily for Jesters and Bards, and is supposed to feel like something of a 'dark mirror' of Ty Beirdd and CIJ.

    Core Ideals: Secrecy, manipulation-for-manipulation's-sake.
    Up until the skills, this clan already exists, and it's doing very, very well for itself. Thoroughly enjoyed your shadows idea. It was a pleasure to read.
    That being the case, mad props to its members.
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • Mhun will return to Moghedu, yo.
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • @Sylvance that sounds epic with a capital Awesome. I love everything about that (and would be sorely tempted to find a good RP reason to give up my Grove to do all that stuff!)
  • Interesting. It says far more 'mesmer' to me than vampire, other than the night thing.


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • Looks great - it's a pity that between alts and spies, the identities of the members would likely be revealed to the gossiping public quite quickly.
  • I want it D:.
  • edited December 2012
    @Talonia Actually, there are existing game mechanics which reduce the chance of this happening and allow for secrecy within clans.

    Letters also help with this, as would the mask abilities as laid out in @Sylvance's post.

    Really great work, Sylv. I like the idea that you can only do some of these actions at night, causing you to time your actions well and watch the time of day. It'd be interesting if being inside affected these skills too.

    My concern would be the level of maturity required for being able to take another person's voice and identity. Is this really something you'd trust the Achaean playerbase with?

    My suggestion would be to make the mask of your player a one-time choice (like a blademaster sword, requiring a lot of effort to change), and only to be names which don't currently exist. In addition, ventriloquism shouldn't replicate the accent or voice of the player.
    "Trust in me, Universe, I will deliver / the promise that no-one shall ever / set their mind to games or play / for Serious Order is the way. I will not rest until it is done; / rules will be made for everyone. / They will know Order and its graces - and just like me, all shall be Greyfaces." - The Heroes of Sapience, Act 5, Greyface.
  • Beya said:

    My suggestion would be to make the mask of your player a one-time choice (like a blademaster sword, requiring a lot of effort to change), and only to be names which don't currently exist. 
    This. This would be awesome.
    image
  • @Sylvance Actually an interesting take. I'm going to try and combine that to help complete a performance-style class I was struggling with. This skillset is a nice complement.

    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • edited December 2012
    @Xith - Sounds sweet!

    @Sena - Imagine a class with Masquerade tert, and your spirit-weapon skill as primary. *gasms*

    @Beya - Yeah, maturity would be my main concern also.  I know that elitist skills/classes/Houses/Orders are often complained about but I don't see how it would work any other way.
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • I don't even care if the class would work, I'd kill for a chance to just see if it would.

    Only one way to find out, etc, etc. It would just be too amazing to pass up on. I wouldn't even care if admin didn't run any events for 6 months while they coded it.
  • NizarisNizaris The Holy City of Mhaldor
    edited December 2012
    EDIT: I doubt, very much, that this will be implemented, as it would require code changes at a very fundamental, and likely wide-reaching level. Still, fun to play with.

    As for secrecy, what about a mechanic like this, as long as we are dreaming. Goal is to provide an obfuscation layer between the name and the character, using the mask theme.

    Interior name (soul name), and exterior (mask name).

    Mask names can be changed, along with the mask, with perhaps considerable effort. When you attack someone of this class, or enemy them, or whatever form of interaction with them, you do so with the mask name. Under no circumstance would organization logs contain a log like "So and so, and enemy of your organization, has namechanged to x". When you look through, say, CITY/HOUSE/ORDER/(HIGH)CLAN CHARGES HISTORY for a particular mask name, you see whatever actions they have done under any mask name the character has used. In places where a name is provided in charges history, the only name displayed is the mask name entered on the command line. Illustrative example:

    Bob has mask name of Sam.
    As mask name Sam, he raids Mhaldor. Is enemied and charged.
    Bob adopts mask name of Tony.
    As Tony, he defiles a shrine to Sartan. Still enemied because of actions under Sam. Is charged.
    Bob changes class, and loses access to masks, so he's just "Bob" now. He tries to join Mhaldor, and the standard background check is run of checking his charges history.

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY SAM
    Raiding (displays name of Sam any time name is called)
    Defiling (displays name of Sam)

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY TONY
    Raiding (displays name of Tony)
    Defiling (displays name of Tony)

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY BOB
    Raiding (displays name of Bob)
    Defiling (displays name of Bob)

    Goal is to retain a record, albeit obfuscated, of past actions. And also, to still make it possible to determine that two separate mask names are indeed the same character, but requires some detective work.

    Interior name (soul name). This is basically only the name that the player uses to log in with, before assuming the persona of their current mask name. Should the character ever change class, this is the name that they would revert back to.
    image
  • @Nizaris - just to be clear, the 'Bob Charges' would not contain either Sam's or Tony's?
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • Sylvance said:
    @Nizaris - just to be clear, the 'Bob Charges' would not contain either Sam's or Tony's?
    It looks like they would, which makes matching identities much too easy, even if there's a rule against setting fake or frivolous charges (the rule would just mean they'd have to actually do something against the city in order for the fake identities to be near-useless).
  • NizarisNizaris The Holy City of Mhaldor
    Sylvance said:
    @Nizaris - just to be clear, the 'Bob Charges' would not contain either Sam's or Tony's?

    Bob's charges would display any charges "earned" while wearing Sam or Tony masks. However, the name displayed (if any is displayed) would be Bob, instead of Sam or Tony. Same with Sam or Tony -- Sam's charges would include anything done while Tony, and vice versa.

    So:

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY SAM
    Sam is charged with defiling. Charge ID: 68972
    Sam is charged with raiding. Charge ID: 68973

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY TONY
    Tony is charged with defiling. Charge ID: 68972
    Tony is charged with raiding. Charge ID: 68973

    CITY CHARGES HISTORY BOB
    Bob is charged with defiling. Charge ID: 68972
    Bob is charged with raiding. Charge ID: 68973

    If you had a suspicion of who it was, you could cross check the charges history of the other mask names, and if the charge ID's matched, then you have your culprit. But, that could be difficult to keep track of.

    CITY ENEMIES would show: Bob, Tony, and Sam.

    It's really just meant so that if someone in the Masquerader's house were to leak their name, then they can still maintain some semblance of secrecy by changing their mask name. If they think that someone outside the house has put it together, they can change their mask name (paying whatever cost is involved). It adds flavour to a class based on masks and different identities, but still keeps tracking things like crimes, sentence terms, fines, and combat possible.

    Fun little addition: maybe for the cost of a mask name change, the Masquerader could make a FalseMask of their old identity that they could secret to some unlucky sap. This could result in a chameleon tattoo effect, changing the victim's name in QWHO to the Masquerader's old mask name. So, anyone hunting the Masquerader goes to the location of the victim.

    Oh, the possibilities!
    image
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