The Coming Conflict (Factions)

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Ephemeralis
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Ephemeralis »

No better way to highlight Shadgard's protectionism than to have a slew of partly infested refugees or other tainted/corrupted people show up and get slaughtered at the gates while trying to seek refuge!
stratcat
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by stratcat »

Ephemeralis wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:39 am No better way to highlight Shadgard's protectionism than to have a slew of partly infested refugees or other tainted/corrupted people show up and get slaughtered at the gates while trying to seek refuge!
"Wait, we thought you said they were attacking us! It was some bloody work you had us do, and what for?"
"Well now, what's the difference? They needed to be put down either way. Go enjoy your cold drinks and your warm beds and don't overthink it, eh? We'll let the townsfolk know what heroes you were today. We could really use some heroic figures. S'all good. You've done the Lost Lands a favor."
Navi
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Navi »

You think they got tainted from stealing cookies from the cookie jar?

P.S. Stealing cookies from cookie jars should totally be a thing.
wander without wanting, thrust into lands unknown. the shadows shift and change, and the worlds with them.
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Can you hear me through the silence?
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We'll meet again
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nobody
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by nobody »

Is there currently a plan regarding how the division will take place? Like, will it be an IC event or an OOC event. Also, can we get a little more info on the ideals of Shadgard and Notshadgard?
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Rias
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Rias »

It'll be an IC thing. I've been working on some helpfile/wiki articles on Shadgard and Notshadgard so people can make educated choices. I also figure people who started characters before the second faction was an option will have the opportunity to switch over with a little RP. No backsies, though.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
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stratcat
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by stratcat »

Code: Select all

help notshadgard
========================================
From the wiki:

No results found for: "Notshadgard"
========================================

help totallynotevilshadgard
========================================
From the wiki:

No results found for: "Totallynotevilshadgard"
========================================
Lies.
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Rias
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Rias »

Various questions have come up that I thought would be good to put here so everyone can see the answers and have a bit more knowledge about what is to come.

Q: Is the new faction evil?
A: No, but it will be the darker gray faction, and some of the things they do may well be deemed "evil" by some. They don't do the scary things they do simply for the evulz or to better twist their villainous moustaches, but as means to ends. Well ... maybe sometimes some members may get a tad carried away.

Q: Will the new faction be the Mistveil Dominion, or strongly affiliated with it?
A: No. The Dominion is a powerhouse in the Lost Lands and I prefer to keep the two major player factions more scrappy. With the Dominion I'd have to be constantly finding excuses for why they don't take care of the players' problems for them, considering how powerful the Dominion is. It would also allow for far less player influence on the faction, since the Dominion is all about order and control.

Q: What will the weather be like in the new faction's base/main area?
A: Similar to Shadgard. Sorry, there's no escaping the snowy cold season.

Q: What kind of base will the new faction have?
A: It's a town packed into some protective walls and battlements extending out from a castle up a path in some rocky hills, with mountains rising to the east. It's one of those places where when you're in the town itself, you feel like you could be in a big city with all the densely-packed tall many-storied buildings blocking your view, and all the winding roads and alleys leading out from the town center, but in reality it's not all that big a place - so definitely a "town" and not a "city". There's also an area of town belowground. Nethrim, canim, infested, and some other less/non-human inhabitants will be seen wandering around in the open. The castle itself is large and looming and is meant to have a nice imposing sort of grand gothic aesthetic to it. There are some obvious occult influences around town.

Q: What kind of leadership does the new faction have?
A: Still hammering that all out, but it's looking like it'll essentially be a singular leader with various advisors. Authority consolidated in a single individual, but they're willing to hear to their advisors and citizens.

Q: What's the new faction/town's name?
A: Still waffling on that. I have one I really like, but I worry people will struggle with the spelling and pronunciation, so I'm pondering alternatives.

Q: What kind of relations does this new faction have with the rest of the world?
A: They have a general "it's us against the world" attitude. A large number of the faction's members are outcasts and rejects from other societies (even in the Lost Lands). Exiles, fugitives, canim, lucid infested, sorcerers, pariahs, et cetera. The idea is that this faction will take in those who were cast out everywhere else, and give them a real life in a real society. The prevailing attitude is that they can't trust anyone else, and this faction is their only home or family they'll ever have. This isn't to say it's a population made up entirely of outcasts, though. People may well seek to live there for various other reasons: seeing it as a haven of tolerance (perspectives vary, admittedly), an escape from the Dominion (or other places they disagree with for whatever reason), a chance to live in a fantastical place with the various occult implementations and presence of less/non-humans (we need a better term for that), a simple matter of chance or proximity, the only other real option besides Shadgard to live in an independent and relatively safe settlement not entangled in an overarching ambitious government - there are plenty of reasons people would end up in this place. All this to say that it's not a place where only people of one specific mold will fit, but it does have its primary demographic.

Q: Are iron and other ferrous materials forbidden in this faction's base?
A: No, but do be considerate of your potentially-nethrim neighbors. Ferrous materials can be dangerous and disruptive to them, but then so can fire and swords and other tools of war, and they're not forbidden either. There may be areas in town where ferrous materials are forbidden to increase comfort for nethrim citizens or reduce risk with nether-based labor creatures. I like that as a concept, it just won't be town-wide.

Q: Will members of this new faction be able to literally get away with things like murder because it's a "darker" faction?
A: No. This new faction is a functioning society and therefore has its own rules and laws. They may be more lenient about some things, but it's not an anything-goes free-for-all by any means.

Q: Where will this faction's base be?
A: Further north than the map currently goes. The guild areas (Stormholdt, Library of Qamar) will be between this faction and Shadgard, so travel times should be nearly the same, with just a few wilderness tiles more for members of the new faction.

Q: Will there be beavers?
A: Yes!

Q: Will they get their own protected farming area like Shadgard has?
A: Yes.

Q: How will these factions and Societies affect one another?
A: I think the only big issue will be that Shadgard will not abide members of the Harbingers. Everything else I can see working out one way or another. A member of the anti-nethrim or anti-resen societies would certainly have an interesting time in the new faction where nethrim and infested can be seen around town, but neither society is black-and-white "destroy all cases no matter the situation" group, so I could see members accepting things so long as the situation appears under control and the nether-corruption/infestation is clearly not spreading. I'd still expect them to exercise due wariness in such a situation, however. And maybe some of them have chosen to live there specifically to keep an eye on that situation.

Q: Will this faction's members receive any special mechanical boons or benefits to help them stand against Shadgard?
A: No. Shadgard has no inherent advantage, other than perhaps the fact that it was released first and therefore already has members. Cases of faction imbalance will be considered and dealt with case by case as situations arise, but I don't see Shadard as having any inherent advantage that needs to be counterbalanced by giving members of this new faction special benefits. If anything, the new faction has the slight advantage that they will welcome members of the planned Harbingers society, while Shadgard will not tolerate them.

Q: Will members of this new faction miss out on events because they don't have access to Shadgard?
A: They'll miss out on Shadgard-specific events and Shadgardians will miss out on events specific to this faction, but generally speaking I'll plan major events to occur in neutral areas, or at least try to have a matching number of episodes in both towns. Major events like seasonal festivals will have neutral grounds they set up with neutral guard forces that are only concerned with safety at the festivals and not the histories of attendants unrelated to said festivals.

Q: Do players -have- to choose one faction or the other?
A: Yes.

Q: Can players have active characters in both factions at the same time?
A: No.

Q: Will faction members be forced to fight and seek out CvC conflict?
A: No. If a player wants their character to be a peaceful farmer or crafter, they can be a peaceful farmer or crafter. Sometimes the conflict may find its way to such characters indirectly or directly, however, and it's up to them to decide how they deal with that. The hope is that everyone will have a reason to at least acknowledge and take interest in the conflict between factions, even if not wanting to become personally involved.

Q: Is this second faction going to receive less attention and development because it's not Shadgard?
A: I'm really excited about this new faction, and it being my own creation (though with various parallels and homages to "the other game's" similarish faction) I'll have no reservations with taking an active hand in its ongoing development and evolution as players make their influence on it.
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nobody
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by nobody »

Rias wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:54 am Q: What will the weather be like in the new faction's base/main area?
A: Similar to Shadgard. Sorry, there's no escaping the snowy cold season.
Ugh, fine. I won't pick a faction just for nice weather at least.
Rias wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:54 am Q: What's the new faction/town's name?
A: Still waffling on that. I have one I really like, but I worry people will struggle with the spelling and pronunciation, so I'm pondering alternatives.
If you haven't already, consider reaching out privately to some screen reader users to determine if spelling/pronunciation will be a problem there.
Rias wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:54 am Q: Where will this faction's base be?
A: Further north than the map currently goes. The guild areas (Stormholdt, Library of Qamar) will be between this faction and Shadgard, so travel times should be nearly the same, with just a few wilderness tiles more for members of the new faction.
One more reason New Emberlight should host the adventurer's guild!
Rias wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:54 am Q: Will this faction's members receive any special mechanical boons or benefits to help them stand against Shadgard?
A: No. Shadgard has no inherent advantage, other than perhaps the fact that it was released first and therefore already has members. Cases of faction imbalance will be considered and dealt with case by case as situations arise, but I don't see Shadgard as having any inherent advantage that needs to be counterbalanced by giving members of this new faction special benefits. If anything, the new faction has the slight advantage that they will welcome members of the planned Harbingers society, while Shadgard will not tolerate them.
I think that the minor advantage of having Harbingers will be nicely balanced by the players not present for the faction event(s) will have to put forth effort to change sides away from Shadgard.

Edit to add: Given that the choice to join the new faction or remain in Shadgard will be an IC/RP action, I'm curious about a couple things:
Will each faction respect the legal tender of the other, or not acknowledge them? IE, will Notshadgard accept Shadgard notes for payments and deposits and vice-versa?
Will there be any special consideration given for the relocation of bank vault items and/or farm structures and animals, or will that also be left to the migrating characters to handle via IC means?
Will there be any kind of mechanical issue around mailing to boxes of characters not in ones own faction (faction standing, higher mailing costs, etc)?
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Irylia
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Irylia »

Speaking of New Emberlight... will there be some sort of alternate route for this place to get there or will they have to travel all the way south to then head west?
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Rias
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Re: The Coming Conflict (Factions)

Post by Rias »

Q: Will each faction respect the legal tender of the other, or not acknowledge them? IE, will Notshadgard accept Shadgard notes for payments and deposits and vice-versa?
A: For banknotes, I'd like to implement an exchange service for the hassle someone has to go through to get the money from the opposing faction for these notes. So local faction businesses wouldn't accept the opposing faction's notes, and you'd have to swing by the exchange place where they take your note and give you a local one, minus a small percentage fee. Depending on how much of a hassle it is to implement, this might come later and all cross-faction notes may work without issue at first.
P.S. Just for clarity's sake: Riln (coins) is faction-neutral. It's just banknotes that might be fiddly.

Q: Will there be any special consideration given for the relocation of bank vault items and/or farm structures and animals, or will that also be left to the migrating characters to handle via IC means?
A: I'll probably just have a standard way of handling movement of those things with an associated service charge. Keep it simple considering this is a one-time and sort-of-OOC thing.

Q: Will there be any kind of mechanical issue around mailing to boxes of characters not in ones own faction (faction standing, higher mailing costs, etc)?
A: I don't think I want to cut off post communication and deliveries between factions. I might just say the postal service is a delightfully neutral organization. "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor opposing faction view//Will ever stop the post from getting delivered straight to you."

Q: Will there be some sort of alternate route for [the new faction] to get [to New Emberlight] or will they have to travel all the way south to then head west?
A: There will be an alternate route. It actually already exists, just isn't player-accessible yet. Spoiler: It involves going through one of the many Lost Lands ruins that starts with the letter V.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
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