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Ashtan

IsmayIsmay
edited February 2016 in North of Thera
The Ashtan I remember from way back when was a thriving city, filled to overflowing with everything from crafters to combatants. Now, it seems near empty and it makes me feel a little sad.


 What are your views on the cause of the population decline? It seems to have a direct link with the big house and city change to me, or so the timing of the decline appears to indicate.


Posting from a cell sucks.
Give us -real- shop logs! Not another misinterpretation of features we ask for, turned into something that either doesn't help at all, or doesn't remotely resemble what we wanted to begin with.

Thanks!

Current position of some of the playerbase, instead of expressing a desire to fix problems:

Vhaynna: "Honest question - if you don't like Achaea or the current admin, why do you even bother playing?"


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Comments

  • AepasAepas
    Oh my, for the first time Ashtan is suffering the issues every other city has had to go through. Except maybe Cyrene.

    While inside the city it might have seemed nifty, from the outside nobody really cared much about ashtan except for the few raiders and the people who leeched along with them. It's not really a suprise that when those few people went away there would be no real polarizing effect to draw people back in. Ashtan is going to have to be a bit more on their game about being a force in the world ideologically. (of course that's all my opinion)

    Better answer is: Every city tides and flows and in a year your population will be back on top. Targs had a temporary power spike, now it's rolling back over to Mhaldor (at least during my hours) and I actually have a hunch that in a year or so it could be Hashan holding the ball as long as a few of the more prominent raid/combat figures stick around over there.
    Replies the scorpion: "It's my nature..."
  • KayeilKayeil Washington State
    The Renaissance put Ashtan through a lot of changes, like shifting focus from  Freedom to Chaos, and now they have to define their city based on that, and I don't think that has been fully fleshed out yet. That is made more difficult by a dormant Babel. Also, I personally believe requiring citizens to be in a House might have been a drawback for some people. A lot of their top combatants have been less active, or left for other cities. The leadership has changed quite a bit. Ashtan is pretty much in new territory, and they're working hard at forming a new identity, but that will take time.
    What doesn't kill you gives you exp.

  • MamiMami
    Noncoms without power in Ashtan who only want to do their own thing also has another option now which is Cyrene. 
  • IsmayIsmay
    Awesome. I'm hoping all factions end up with healthy populations of active players. It makes conflict much more fun when everyone has a fighting chance.
    Give us -real- shop logs! Not another misinterpretation of features we ask for, turned into something that either doesn't help at all, or doesn't remotely resemble what we wanted to begin with.

    Thanks!

    Current position of some of the playerbase, instead of expressing a desire to fix problems:

    Vhaynna: "Honest question - if you don't like Achaea or the current admin, why do you even bother playing?"


  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    The wait for the Ren for Ashtan was a couple of agonising RL years, there were already people leaving to join cities that had already had their renaissance.

    Just as Hashan had a new focus put on the city, Ashtan has had a complete redefinition (OK, those people who pay attention saw it coming a long way off) but the lack of active patron (Vastar is the current patron, not Babel, BTW) has made the already difficult job of leading the city and houses in a new direction even more difficult.

    It's taking time, and may not be obvious an external perspective, but Ashtan is picking herself up and dusting herself off.

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • ExelethrilExelethril
    They are RPing a civilisation's decline by becoming the first city attest to Gaian ideology, embracing decay/ruin then eventually becoming overrun by Nature - a commendable and noble RP cause.

    #joinforestfaction #forumpropaganda #amidoingitritenoimnot

    [ SnB PvP Guide | Link ]

    [ Runewarden Sparring Videos | Link ]
  • GrandueGrandue
    The end goal of Ashtan RP is to ascend to become Chaos Lords in the Chaos Plane. The lore and history behind the alliance between Ashtan and the Court is fantastic and goes back hundreds of years. I have no idea if this was planned all the way back from the beginning when the pieces of the puzzle were first put into place, but if so I applaud the Admin on planning something so far in advance. I really am excited to see how this plays out and I'm very hopeful for the things that are going to be taking place in the next couple of years. 
  • ReilochReiloch
    Yes, Ashtan took a bit of a population dip post renaissance. But I don't feel that it has negatively impacted the city in any meaningful way in my own experience. The only major change that has taken place is our slide from the undisputed combat champions of the world, and I have a very hard time seeing this as anything but a positive for the overall experience of the game. Ashtan has always been the city to come to when you want to play the sort of character we cater to now, and the Accords have made it much easier to play that sort of character without becoming some sort of pariah. Unhinged nutbars, omnicidal maniacs, mad scientists, and all sorts of lovely Lovecraftian shenanigans abound, and we've managed to carve out a nice little niche for people who want to play those sorts of outright villainous characters who couldn't thrive under Mhaldor's rigidity. @Grandue is spot on about our wonky hours of activity, though- most of us seem to keep more or less the same hours of operation so it can be rough finding people around if you're not able to be around during serenade +/- a few hours.

    We've got a real nice thing going on now, with some very strong RP and a city full of people who I absolutely love playing with. Our player base might be a little smaller now, but the people who are around are there consistently and are working very hard to drive things forward. Seriously, you guys are all awesome.

    [spoiler]We really could use a Babel, though. Pretty please?[/spoiler]
  • AerekAerek East Tennessee, USA
    Reiloch said:
    ...Ashtan has always been the city to come to when you want to play the sort of character we cater to now, and the Accords have made it much easier to play that sort of character without becoming some sort of pariah. Unhinged nutbars, omnicidal maniacs, mad scientists, and all sorts of lovely Lovecraftian shenanigans abound, and we've managed to carve out a nice little niche for people who want to play those sorts of outright villainous characters who couldn't thrive under Mhaldor's rigidity....
    Quoted for emphasis, expresses a thought I instantly realized as one always knew, but had never managed to put to words.
    -- Grounded in but one perspective, what we perceive is an exaggeration of the truth.
  • KietKiet
    People sure have weird ideas about what Mhaldor, the place where a catgirl with a ribbon on her tail was the city leader, is like. 

    That said, I would imagine that having to wait like 2 years without knowing what was gonna happen was a pretty bad place to be for Ashtan, and that along with the more obvious factional shift was gonna hurt no matter what.
  • ReilochReiloch
    Kiet said:
    People sure have weird ideas about what Mhaldor, the place where a catgirl with a ribbon on her tail was the city leader, is like. 
    Oh, I've got nothing against Mhaldor. But it's not a great fit for *every* type of bad guy, especially those who steadfastly refuse to see themselves as bad guys.
  • KietKiet
    Most Mhaldorians don't see themselves as bad guys, either! I'm not dissing you or anything, but few people seem to actually get the Mhaldorian mentality which is a shame. I've gotten all sorts of weird (IC, obviously) reasons for people not joining Mhaldor before.
  • AodfionnAodfionn Seattle, WA
    lol'd @ tahquil

    he does have a point though; there are a large number on both sides of the Good/Evil spectrum that basically see themselves as trying to make the world a better place; that's a very different kind of villain or anti-hero than the very unique and niche roles that can be found throughout the Chaos faction, which might not thrive much in a totalitarian setting like Mhaldor or Targ.

    Mhaldor and Targ have their own uniquely horrifying ideas about how to make the world better, and that's super fun imo, but not everyone wants to play the religiously/utopian-driven bad guy, and some of the most truly villain-y roles seem like they would be a better fit for Ashtan under the current regime than Targ, Mhaldor, or even Eleusis. I sincerely hope Ashtan continues to foster that kind of thing, because it's one of the very interesting (in my opinion) things about Achaea's Bad Guys as opposed to the other IRE games. 

    Aurora says, "Are you drunk, Aodfionn?"
  • KietKiet
    edited February 2016
    My point is more from the viewpoint as someone who's converted or tried to convert a lot of people in-game. I understand that, at some point, it's obviously every city trying to ICly smear the other cities, but you run into really, really weird understandings of Mhaldor. This is also true for Targ, of course, as evident from all the people who think 'actually Targ is the true evil ones!' is a sick burn.

    There's very little excuse for how little most people understand the several game ideologies, and that just makes me shrug in mild confusion. Mhaldor and Targ both have a very wide variety of characters, and possible characters, I don't really buy that there's any character except some authority-averse guy that you couldn't play in either of those cities. You don't have to be a religious character, or see yourself as the bad/saviour guy, or be super serious to be in either of them.
  • XinnaXinna
    edited February 2016
    I don't think anyone was saying that all Mhaldorians are the exact same. Describing Mhaldor as "rigid" compared to Ashtan is obviously accurate, though. Completely different atmosphere. Very authoritarian.

    Ashtan is in some ways the complete opposite, allowing for a more anarchist type villain. I really enjoyed Chaos RP. It has a ton of depth, and is, well... an entirely different style than Mhaldor.

    If you think Evil or Good is misunderstood, try Chaos. Nobody knows what that's about or wtf those guys want.
  • KietKiet
    Fair enough!
  • AerekAerek East Tennessee, USA
    edited February 2016
    There's also the possibility that some players simply have zero interest in playing in one city or other for any number of completely OOC reasons, but still have to justify that aversion in some IC manner, for which stereotypes, tropes, and misconceptions readily suffice. In example, despite being a player that has a deep interest in combat, I simply would not enjoy the regularity and obligation (real or perceived) of Mhaldor's PVP scene. I like to fight, but not that much. That's not something I could/would ever say IC, though, so instead I have justify my aversion through one of the ready anti-Mhaldor tropes. I can do my best to make my IC reasons legitimate, but even if you can counter my reasoning at every turn, it still wouldn't change the fact that I, as the player, just don't want to play there.

    That's why Reiloch's statement is so on-point. Ashtan presents a different archetype of bad guy, the Chaotic Evil (if you'll excuse the tautology) to Mhaldor's Lawful Evil. It has nothing to do with the fact that a particular character "couldn't" excel in Mhaldor, and everything to do with the fact that the player wants a different atmosphere; one that was perhaps missing from Achaea, and now Ashtan readily offers.

    Edit: Ninja'd by Xinna.
    -- Grounded in but one perspective, what we perceive is an exaggeration of the truth.
  • BlujixapugBlujixapug
    Xinna said:

    If you think Evil or Good is misunderstood, try Chaos. Nobody knows what that's about or wtf those guys want.
    Mhaldor is the Sith

    Ashtan is like... the Trickster from Thief: The Dark Project

    maybe Corso from The Ninth Gate

    Rasputin from Hellboy? (if the story had been told from his side I'm sure he would have been much more sympathetic!)

    Struggling to think of more accurate fictional parallels.
    image
  • TreyTrey
    Blujixapug said:
    Xinna said:

    If you think Evil or Good is misunderstood, try Chaos. Nobody knows what that's about or wtf those guys want.
    Mhaldor is the Sith

    Ashtan is like... the Trickster from Thief: The Dark Project

    maybe Corso from The Ninth Gate

    Rasputin from Hellboy? (if the story had been told from his side I'm sure he would have been much more sympathetic!)

    Struggling to think of more accurate fictional parallels.
    ...And the manfools piled rock on rocks and
    raised a treesie roof, Hammers saws tear the skin of goodsie wood... and laughs
    at The Woodsie Lord. And when learns The Lord of
    this, He sends his beastessess to the manfools... who attacks and hammers saws
    their useless fleshes, and build him a house of they rottings skins

  • DridenDriden
    it would be awesome to play in ashtan. i have always felt that driden thrives more from chaos than anything else. i would move but i am not sure how many more times i can move him before people are just like no driden go away. 
    Cooper said:
    This is one of the worst forms of special snowflake RP I've ever seen. Thanks for going to another city to do it!
  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    Driden said:
    it would be awesome to play in ashtan. i have always felt that driden thrives more from chaos than anything else. i would move but i am not sure how many more times i can move him before people are just like no driden go away. 
    One more can't hurt, can it?

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • SobriquetSobriquet
    I'm in two minds whether to retire my Mhaldorian and start afresh somewhere or move him to Ashtan, seems like it could be fun. Think his fine might be stumbling block though.

    (Party): Mezghar says, "Stop."
  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    Sobriquet said:
    I'm in two minds whether to retire my Mhaldorian and start afresh somewhere or move him to Ashtan, seems like it could be fun. Think his fine might be stumbling block though.
    Nothing's set in stone, can't hurt to ask if it can be reduced... depending on who your Mhaldorian is, ofc!

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    Mosr was perma enemied for a long time and after just talking to a few people it was removed and whatnot.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • KietKiet
    edited February 2016
    Driden said:
    it would be awesome to play in ashtan. i have always felt that driden thrives more from chaos than anything else. i would move but i am not sure how many more times i can move him before people are just like no driden go away. 
    Pff, and after all the help we gave you, traitor.
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