Planned Societies

Talk about Societies in general that doesn't relate specifically to any particular existing Society.
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Candelori
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Planned Societies

Post by Candelori »

I am very interested to know what types of societies are planned. I appreciate the separation of guilds and societies and am currently in a guild, though I am looking forward to the added sense of purpose that societies will bring.
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Rias
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Rias »

(EDIT: The below post is dated! For more current information please skip forward to this post: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=67&p=3371#p3371 )

That's a good question. So far I'm considering the following:

Combat-heavy Societies
- Dwaedn Wyr: A group of druidic warriors with a powerful reverence for the Animal Spirits, they seek constant challenge and improvement through combat.
- A sneaky Society of assassins: This will be much easier to pull off conceptually now that disguises are actually functional, so one can better mask one's identity when on the job. (No disguise is 100% foolproof in every situation however - care should always be taken)
- To-be-named anti-resen Society: They're always on guard to find signs of the resen, and are ever ready to fight infested creatures. They'll get some anti-resen tools. (Not Tse Gaiyan.)
- To-be-named anti-nethrim Society: They're trying to keep the spread of nether-taint under control and spend most of their time fighting nethrim. They'll likely have some powers granted by, or at least themed after (depending on your beliefs), various Immortals that also oppose the spread of nether.
- Harbingers: A group of sorcerous warriors who embrace and spread the influence of various less-"nice" Immortals, including Aranas, Malfant, and some others yet to be introduced. Joining this Society would essentially make a player character into a "bad guy", and they're required to be overt about their allegiance (look up the word "Harbinger"), so this society is not for the faint of heart or easily-offended. Much of the playerbase will likely be opposing Harbinger characters.

*Note: One could choose to join one of these combat-focused Societies without specializing in combat oneself, and instead supporting in other ways. A blacksmith forging weapons for them, or a physicker providing healing, etc.

Occult/Arcane-focused Societies
- Rook Parlour: A private Society studying life and death, they are peerless masters of many sorcerous arts. Your necromancer and summoner types would fall into this group, but they do try to avoid the "evil" reputation in general. They strive to be a respectable Society despite the inevitable mistrust that accompanies many of their practices.
- To-be-named druidic Society: They're focused on preserving the natural world. They're not fans of the resen or nethrim, but members aren't necessarily required to join the armed fight against them. They have other ways of helping fight the spread of both nether and resen by enhancing the natural world and life rather than by directly opposing resen/nethrim. (They can choose to more directly fight nether/resen as well, of course)

Other
- A sneaky rogueish Society: For rogue types engaging in treasure-hunting and other shadier activities like stealing, smuggling, that sort of thing. May have potential jobs/tasks for things like infiltration and information-gathering in hostile territory and the like. Highly stealth-based, but NOT assassins. Opportunity to opt out of the more "morally-conflicted" tasks for the most part, but the boss may occasionally have a direct request that one cannot refuse ...

Eeehhhh ...
- On the fence about Snowpine Lodge as a Society based on exploration, wilderness survival skills, and bushcraft. I love the concept, but not sure it merits a Society of its own. Could easily be a Company.
- On the fence about Wyrvardn as a general "protectors of the people" warrior Society. I like them, but they suffer some frustrating baggage from my other works.
- On the fence about Mummers as a Society based around manipulation of emotions, with emphasis on (but not requirement for) storytelling, acting, music, etc. I'm not sure this merits a Society when it could just be an aspect of the Adventurer Guild or a Company.
- On the fence about a to-be-named engineering Society. They would produce some unique crafts, but I'm not sure how practical they would be as far as producing an appreciable number of useful goods. (We're talking more practical engineering - not magitech steampunk stuff.)
- Still on the fence about the old Templar or another Templar-like Society specifically, at least being joinable by PCs. Leaning toward no PC recruitment.
- While it will still exist in the lore, almost certainly not going to let PCs join the Monastic Order (thaumaturgic monks specialized in healing).

==========

Now I put it to the players: What kind of Societies are you interested in? Keep in mind that any player character can start a Company dedicated toward any purpose they want and recruit others, and player characters can be in as many Companies as they want. Societies need to be focused and dedicated enough to warrant a special group that will take a significant amount of development work and may even require their own special facilities (and possibly some supplementary abilities to cover occult powers/trade secrets/secret techniques) to exist. Societies take a lot of work to create as well as to maintain, so I prefer to keep the number of them fairly low and let Guilds and Companies keep things covered.

Overall, I think Societies should provide RP direction and motivation more than special powers and items (which is what Guilds generally provide). This makes me lean toward the combat-heavy ones I think, because there's always the situation of "I'm a fighter, but why am I out here fighting?" It always helps to have supported reasons for constantly running out into the fray.

Edit: Check out this article to brush up on what Companies, Guilds, and Societies are.
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Candelori
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Candelori »

Thank you for the information. I will continue to hope for a Templar-like society, knowing that this anti-nethrim organization will likely serve as a fitting choice otherwise.
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Valmorian
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Valmorian »

anything I could've suggested you seem to have covered I do like the idea of non combat ones, or light combat ones, so one could play for instance a medic adventurer, or treasure seeker,/medical scholar Meaning a person who has skills of a medic, how skilled I guess would depend on the char, but adventure out to seek lost texts and explore ruins while having the knoledge to keep themselves safe I think this falls under the adventurer guild, but I could be wrong either way, I like the idea
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Avedri
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Avedri »

A neutral, diplomatic society? Purely philosophy based, interested in helping to resolve disputes of the common people. They are mediators, conciliators and while they have no authoritative powers, they tend to be respected enough that their decisions are upheld by all parties. They also look to promote peace and prosperity by holding cultural events and celebrations as a way to spread awareness of other races/experiences.
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Lexx416
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Lexx416 »

A kind of lore/relic/hidden knowledge focused arcane society. They might be a good place for non-druids and non-sorcerers to congregate, and could be particularly well versed in diagrams and glyphs, perhaps having access to advanced geometric configurations and combinations that they jealously guard from the other societies. They're interested in seeking out any occult and arcane knowledge, as well as advancing their understanding of enchanted/ensorcelled objects.
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Candelori
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Candelori »

I hope it is not a bother, but I've found myself wondering more and more about the potential societies. I'm particularly interested in the mentioned anti-nethrim society, and what particular feel and flavor it will have to it. Even if not available to join for some time, simply having a plan to pursue recruitment from a particular society can be a powerful motivation and drive to play a character.
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Rias
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Rias »

I've continued to mull over the Society stuff, and some are still more thought-out than others. The anti-nethrim one is pretty much guaranteed to happen. I may put up a wiki/help article on it once I have more details on it hammered out (and a name I'm happy with), but here are a couple things I'll get out there now, with the caveat that nothing is set in stone yet.

Things it is:
- A Society dedicated to fighting nethrim and purging nether-corruption from the lands.
- Highly combat-focused (though non-combatants dedicated to the cause can also join to support in other ways)
- Loosely connected to some Immortals who appear to support the cause.

Things it is not:
- An overzealous crusade of bullies out to burn anyone who shows even the slightest hint of sorcerous aptitude or interest. These are not "inquisitors."
- A large military force. Their membership numbers are quite small.
- A religious order. It existed before any apparent support from Immortals, and it would continue existing should said support be cut off for whatever reason.

Kinds of perks they may get:
- Rituals/chants granting various buffs
- Rituals to improve a weapon's effectiveness against nethrim (could be cool to potentially synergize with crafting, so crafters could make weapons with more permanent, albeit minor, nethrim-slaying properties somehow)
- Some kind of ritual to purge nether from an area suffering lesser nether-corruption (ineffective in areas with deep-rooted nether-corruption, like areas that commonly spawn nethrim - we don't want to invalidate dedicated combat areas)
- Various Immortal-granted blessings/rituals for a variety of effects and buffs
- Access to some artifacts useful against nethrim and nether-corruption
- Rituals to cleanse nether-taint in individuals

Advancement methods:
- Slaying nethrim
- Purging nether-corruption
- Providing self-crafted gear for the organization
- Supporting other members with healing and such
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Maina
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Maina »

I apologize if this is considered necro'ing and bad form, but perhaps it's better than starting a new thread?

Rias asked what players would like to see. If that's still something of interest, I would like to see something that's fairly thematic to the era, I think? A society for people interested in studying anatomy and the human body, but through less ethical means. Think the old asylums, where they experiment on patients mentally and physically, often without consent. This may feel like it crosses somewhere between Rook Parlour and Physickers, but the amoral nature of it seems like it might have a more specific appeal that not all Physickers would want to be a part of? And it would not be so specifically sorcery like the Rooks.

Also, would certain groups like the Blood Cult or Sisterhood (should they exist in this iteration) count as a society?
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Rias
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Re: Planned Societies

Post by Rias »

Hmmm, I'm not sure if there's quite enough behind the ethically-unconcerned medical experimenter idea to warrant an entire society being built around it. I could definitely see it being an interesting Company (player-run) for those so inclined.

The Blood Cult, I'd really prefer to keep an NPC thing. They're supposed to be that group of baddies that virtually all PCs can agree are awful, and that the playerbase can easily unite against when they get up to their shenanigans. Also, they're a pretty secretive bunch with mysterious beliefs, rites, powers, and locations, and I know how players (in general) are with secrets. And lastly: they're squicky. I love having them as villains where I can allude to the horrors they commit, but I don't know that I'd want to start coming up with the nitty gritty details, and code them in as repeatable tasks and stuff.

The Sisterhood (assuming we're thinking of the same one) is another mysterious and presumably exclusive group designed to be a lore/NPC faction rather than a character option. Again with the mysterious beliefs and powers and secrets and whatnot, with any discoveries meant to be part of in-game storylines and events rather than through PCs playing as members.
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