Mhaldor, the City of Evil! Dedicated to the utter domination of Sapience and more than happy to be incredibly cruel and vicious whilst dominating it! Also home to an increasingly dull monoculture revolving around the seven truths and being strong. Alright, granted, Mhaldor is a theocracy, a certain degree of monoculture makes sense (and may also be present in other cities, I'm actually unsure). But it doesn't have to be. One can be devoted to evil without wearing it like a set of plain malefic robes. So theoretically speaking, if you were to make a Mhaldorian alt with the purpose of A) Having RP that fits in well with established Mhaldorian culture but which is B) Distinct from that culture, what would you make?

I have found nothing wrong with Mhaldorian RP and i'm speaking as an ex Shallamese, ex Eleusian. I find nothing wrong with the roleplay of either of those cities. In all the cities i've been in i've been involved in raids. When I was Shallamese I used to follow Szanthax and Nimby into Mhaldor and support them with sniping and phase and what not, When I was Eleusian I'd follow Rangor into Mhaldor and support him with axing and grove gates, and now I'm mhaldorian I sit at Stygian preaching and being an ass.

To be honest, when the majority of your city follow Oppression, Suffering, and to a lesser extent, Vengeance and Death you are going to have a lot of fighting/thievery going on. It's a little hard to do otherwise. Being a pacifist by Achaea's definition of evil is not possible.

That isn't what I meant in the slightest, though. I didn't mean having a radically alternate philosophy from most Mhaldorians, but rather a radically alternate personality that meshes with that same philosophy.

Well to be able to get into the position to do that you have to go with the flow so to speak until you are ranked and respected enough to begin subtle changes towards your new roleplay. And this could take many years to happen. It can happen though. Look at Babel. Took well over 4-5 years as far as I know, but it happened.

Babel struck me as more a radically alternate philosophy than the same philosophy with a different coat of paint. What I'm talking about is someone with the exact same goals as the stereotypical Mhaldorian, but with radically different personality quirks.

Carmain, you're awesome but I am on the completely opposite end of the spectrum regarding Mhaldor. It needs a complete make over from the stereotypical Evil everyone tends to RP. Evil =/= cold, silent, shrewd uptight jerk. More Tahquil, less asshole please

Also, I actually attempted to do just what this thread is about Ashen, unfortunately I liked my character too much and he grew into something that did not fit with Mhaldor's belief system. Point being, you are not the only one who would like to see a change in Mhaldor's RP, I just got carried away with my own imagination

Seven truths are far more flexible than you think. There are other written works I'm sure you don't know about (not only the cryptic Apocrypha). You could have spent more time on your Mhaldorian alt before you gave up. I have one such an alt, initially meant to be a scholar, but his work or RP in game aren't taken too seriously. It doesn't really matter to me anyway. I'm satisfied with that one other character who is also interested in scholarship to interact with and I hope he doesn't go dormant.

What I had in mind is a scholar who would not keep to himself like most other Mhaldorians, and who would often try to engage in conversations and discussions with others, asking strange questions out of the blue and delivering sermons that are... not like others. I gave up on that idea temporarily though, until he's at least rank 3. Then all the eyebrow raising and peering at such behaviour from some BC members might be less frequent.

More complex, and consistently credible characters need more effort not everyone is willing to make.

Saadya is totally awesome

There is, as far as I can tell, almost no way to have RP as a HR1 novice anyway. Although if anyone knows how, I'd like to know.

Yes, there is. You join a house for training and education. There's your RP.

Your character has a history. She or he might have read some books before the trial thing. Had parents to teach him or her some values etc.

Well, okay, granted, you have a character who does stuff and has his/her own reasons for doing it. But you don't really have a chance to interact with others unless you're hanging out at the Archway hoping to make friends with someone who isn't a mudsexer.

Yes, you do. You have other house and city members to interact with. You can approach them instead of waiting for them to approach you (although I CAN'T stress enough how important it is for other house members to approach novices as well - that's what my evil character [further referred to as MEC] always does). You have other novices to do stuff with. If there's no one, you can simply pass novicehood and, like MEC, give attention to other novices about what you learned so far.

You can approach people from other cities even for a civil hello when you pass them by. That's what MEC does, even with enemies... except the most annoying ones.

Edit: wrong acronym:(

I think you're just operating on your own stereotyped idea of how Kaevan, Gorlasintan, Balynne, Nulaye, Andante, and every other ranking Mhaldorian acts. Whether it is actively roleplayed or simply result of the person playing the adventurer and their own individual personalities, all the people I listed are drastically different characters who simply happen to be united under the banner of service to Evil. Just because we all raid doesn't mean we all perform the same stock function within Achaea. While the universal villain thing has definitely been stuck to Mhaldor lately, I honestly doubt you can say you've gone into deep roleplay with any of us.

I don't play the game anymore and I don't want to play the forums, but I saw this and feel compelled to respond. There are two kinds of people in Mhaldor: zealots and fanatics. Its very nature disallows half-hearted devotion. I mean, it is a yearly ritual for city leaders to order citizens to divest themselves of identity and make bodily sacrifices to their divine masters. Does this really seem like the sort of place that fosters radical individuality? Allegiance to the Twins and the Truths is paramount to any other interest. The militarized structure and emphasis on hierarchical deference mean that assimilation is expected to be your first priority, idiosyncratic expression your second. Special snowflakes melt very quickly.

Despite this call for conformity, it is entirely possible to incorporate into your roleplay unique characteristics and quirks of personality: Wulfen hated bees; Herenicus hated the sludge in the streets; Cypra was a mad scientist; Kaevan sips tea during parley with demonic entities; Tenebrus was wily and charming; Nocroth was incredibly touchy about his wings; Balynne is the nicest evil dictator ever; Gorlasintan was a self-hating bard (or so I imagine). These are merely superficial differences. Work your way through the ranks, asserting your obedience in public and your creativity in private. Establish personal relationships. As you progress, you will find that you are given more leeway; though the core of your philosophy and the message you spread must never waver or change, the means of dissemination may. If you manage to breach the walls erected by most personages of rank (a task which can be, I admit, quite difficult, as Azu will surely attest), you will find as much breadth and depth of character as exists in any other organization.

If you want to roleplay as a novice, communicate with your peers within your organizations and find a good mentor, one with whom you can regularly interact.

Between Nocroth's post and my post in the other thread on the same topic everything I think has basically been said. I think that the vast majority of high ranking Mhaldorians genuinely like one another as players, but no two of us are the same, though we did all have to start off much the same, learning to fit in and walk the party line, etc. You learn, over time, just how far you can push your boundries and tease others and mess with your character without it being unexcusable sin.

There's actually a great bit of IC-writing about Mhaldorian Freedom by our dear Lodi that covers the whole topic in a much more interesting and in-game fashion.

Nulaye's personality quirks and flaws are not always long-considered and pre-planned. She's become motherly out of necessity, and is edging, very slowly, from Oppression toward thinking in a more Suffering-related way. She still prefers physical expression to words (and by that I mean: combat, raiding, ritualism rather than preaching, and even likes dancing...) She's very much a do-it-NOW sort and hates anything that slows her down or means a prospective project isn't getting tackled right this very minute. Those things are not who _I_ as a person am, generally, but have become the core of how I play and enjoy playing.

Everyone can't be in the spotlight at all times. People who try to be a star right from the start and over-do it don't tend to last very long. You can be distinctive and expressive without being ... an evil clown, so to speak.

Did someone say Tahquil was the gold standard for how Evil should be roleplayed? Uh...

bait hook with bass
cast line short

No more Mhaldorian raids!

If we're going to quit raiding, Boz, it will be because of your impressive work on our totems, not anything Tahquil can do.

If I could rp a non-traditional mhaldorian, I'd be a torso in a polo shirt that rolls around to all the different houses to tell the newbies about the dangers of not following the lords of evil and what they can do to not end up like me. Amunet can be a guest speaker on the dangers of sobriety. I think forced boredom through assemblies is a prime example of suffering and oppression at work.

Dude, that was so fun. I think it may have been the lack of sleep, but I kept giggling while we were doing that..even though I was actually just the doorman.



Lol'd

Seven totems? Pfft! That's nothing. What else am I gonna do aside from tell Boz to phase into Mhaldor so we can mess with your totems while you're spending time in the Sylvan estate? Heck, if you gave me more time, I could have gotten double that. Otherwise, as Nulaye and Kaevan say, you don't have to be some sadistic, frothing at the mouth brute to be a decent Mhaldorian. You can become more scholary, or actually speak in more than "Why would I want to speak with you, filthy Eleusian?"

Edit: Though your recent influx of people willing to speak has been improving, I still get that around half the time.

I walked past the Mhaldorian raid party as they came back..it made me giggle harder.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

I'm starting to wonder if we're talking about the same event. Are you sure you two didn't just TP the principal's house or something?

No. Really, what else are we supposed to do. Rush in and get killed by tramplesect? We tried to lure some of your guys out of there, but you didn't take the bait. Does overgrowth only give the message if the totem is empowered? I remember it giving a message...

It's not that I think you should have done anything else. I'm just perplexed by the giggle fit.

Oh. I was kinda muttering about how you guys didn't come rushing in the whole time. I think Boz is just on something. I mean, he was just kinda there. We were pretty much looking out for you guys most of the time. Otherwise, the walking past the entire raiding party thing is pretty cool.

Edit: Actually contributing! Just be willing to talk to your enemies. It's no fun if you're just kinda muttering about how forestals suck, when I'm trying to have a conversation with you. Heck, you might have even gotten a convert on accident. If you're willing to talk to the people in a polite manner, it doesn't matter if you just raided for seven hours straight, the fact that you're willing to speak in a reasonable manner to people, no matter if they're your enemies, gives a lot of fun. Heck, Eurulis still tries to convince Kelandra to choose between Nature and Evil, not because he likes her, but because he thinks she's able to choose. There's only one person I wouldn't talk to, but that's because he broke an IC/OOC barrier in a rather serious way.

I was not on anything, actually, just super tired. And for some reason, I was out of it. Just got back from a wedding..and everything that was happening IG was inexplicably funny.

That's called 'drunk', son.

I have the power to get 'drunk' without drinking alcohol..? Neat!

It was probably spiked... how much DO you remember?

Uhh, I remember having like 4 root beers, they offered me wine but I declined, then I was there for 4 more hours and watched everyone dance and get hammered, then we came home and I couldn't stop giggling.

Sounds like you were slipped ecstasy, possibly laced with some crack cocaine. I suggest getting to an emergency room as soon as possible. Ask them to pump your stomach.

When I log into Mhaldor I see diversity and dissension. Not all agree, not everyone does things for the same reasons. Sure we have a theocracy where do all that Apples or Shaitan tells us, but I'm sure Shallam would do whatever Penth asked and Eleusis would do whatever Vastar asked. I myself am a Mhaldorian Mastuhaman, my RP reasons for things are more for combat than for Evil, and I'll RP that. If Mhaldor was a city of robots that all RP and think the same it wouldn't be nearly as fun.

Yes, and doing so would incur large-scale whining from a large section of the population, who almost certainly know who they are.

/bitter

Does Pentharian do anything with Shallam? There has to be an active ruling god for a theocracy in Achaea, right?

Edit: question mark.

I saw a lot of Shallam treated as a two house city. If they weren't treated as second class citizens, they'd probably be more obedient.

I can't say anything about the current generation, but in the past the same was said about Mhaldor, but the front they presented was definitely homogeneous, without diversity or dissension. Leading to me criticizing that past generation for its 'cookie-cutter' RP.

What I'm trying to say is, how your character -is- is a part of RP, but how your character is -perceived by others- is also an important part of RP. And Mhaldor's collective character, so to speak, was perceived by others as homogeneous. Judging by some of the posts on this thread, it likely still is.

I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone is criticising one city because they generally all get along and believe the same things in the way the game/designers intended them to. If you want an in-fighting, backstabbing, bitching and arguing and internally struggling/slowing itself down state: try one of the other five.

Let Mhaldor be Mhaldor, and if it doesn't suit you, it doesn't suit YOU. not the game at large.

Admittedly, I don't have too many interactions with people because I try and RP what I perceive to be the perfect Maldaathi knight - cold, emotionless and to the point.

That said, I've had the odd interesting conversation with people who don't just whine - that's the other problem. Most of the tells I get are "I just got teamed by so and so isn't that against your code?"

There's no attempt for any kind of RP, it's like a five year old going "HE HIT MEEEEEEEEEE". I've had some really awesome conversations with a few people around that or other things about the code and Mhaldor and really enjoyed myself. I also make every effort to go to any kind of sermon from any perspective and ask at least one question or make at least one observation.

I've tried to open dialogue several times with several different people/orgs and mostly it goes nowhere. About the only serious conversation I ever had was with Goryllin about Phaestus' order. Just about everything else got ignored/fobbed off.

Also, it's hard to not be homogenous to a point with what we have to work with. It's also difficult when you deal with the same "You're weak because you team." "You only stomp weaklings, you wont attack strong people." and people who try and argue what the truths should mean, or just pick and choose one. There's no way to win against those people. I tend to just ignore them straight off the bat and try and focus on anyone else who's having an actual conversation, or asking questions. It's certainly a lot more enjoyable to me.

Ooo, a straw man, hadn't seen one of those in a while.



That's interesting, seems like everyone has the same experience then. For my part, I mostly had worthwhile interactions with Tenebrus. Everything else was rather stale and standardized.

Shallam, on the other hand, was much more varied whenever I interacted with them. Some Shallamese ignored me, some went with 'Cast out this Kharon', some asked questions, some tried to convert, others found fault with this or that aspect of my character's behavior.

You must not be looking very hard.

QFT. I actually see a lot of variation in Mhaldorian roleplay, but again, you have to form bonds with people. Agreeing with Saadya about the importance of reaching out to novices, you're still going to have to make some effort on your own to get to know others and dig beneath that surface persona. It's always seemed a nicely sophisticated, layered situation to me.

Edit: Not to Necro a three-week old thread, but the topic is important to me and Korben's self-righteous posts always incite me to text violence.

One thing I'm just now starting to learn: to really understand the philosophy of my character's class and history, I (the person behind the keyboard) need to give up the idea that I think I know what is best for me and that I understand what my class is all about. The more I learn about my class's history and details of abilities, etc, the more I grow to a deeper understanding of the class. It is more than just a different hat to put on, it is a very rich history I am stepping into.

I, the person behind the keyboard, am different from the character in game. What defines a class is the history of the class and the people that make up the class now, especially with respect to Evil as so much of it is tied directly in with Mhaldor.

It could be argued that you really don't understand Evil if you don't understand Mhaldor. This would also apply to your Evil based class.

I understand the desire to go "your own way", I've always been like that. I'm honestly enjoying the game now in the past couple weeks more than I ever have really, because I am slowly taking myself out of the way. I'd suspect that going your own way may be more applicable once you are successful in not going your own way, if that makes sense.

We can dream can't we.

We've had people raise questions like this in Shallam. People who say "I'm going to be Good, but not as your Gods see it!!"

Special and unique snowflakes drift into Shallam occasionally and are melted by the delightful heat of reality.

What the Te'Serra say is Good is Good. What the Terrible Twins say is Evil is Evil. In Achaea, the Gods ARE the things they represent. Thoth IS death. He's not just some casual pundit who's thought about death for half and hour and thinks he's come to some interesting conclusions. Everything he thinks about death IS death.

There is some variation in interpretation, and this lends itself to a vibrant RP environment, but you can't up and say that your definition comes from some higher truth which transcends the Gods.

One newbie wanted to join the priests but not the Church because he didn’t believe in many Gods but rather just one God. Presumably, Achaea Jesus.

Carzy mother?

Someone find Gildenlow's reading please.

http://www.supload.com/listen?s=241XOS9T1SZ4