Voicechat Notes: November 19th

[Teri]

Post away questions

[Karjus]

1) A while back, wheelbarrows were brought up as a possible item to help bridge the gap between nothing to handcart. Is that still a thought? If so, where abouts are we with them?

2) Are you any further with plate and chain in regards to figuring out their crafting process?

3) How has the split been between the two towns so far?

4) Republic flag, when?

5) Does the Dominion actually utilize Harbingers in an official capacity, like, are there Harbingers of specifically Bathal in its hierarchy, or are they always holding an agent status?

6) Does the Dominion's respect of Bathal factor into their military? For example, is it fairly common for some to pray to him before a fight, and held by a Priest, or is it very much an individual thing and less formal?

7) Are varhounds still a thing, and is it a generic thing across the Lost Lands, or specific to Mistral Lake?

[Delphine]

The Council of Nine: who are they? Were they elected or appointed by the Master of the Keep? Are they titled like... Minister of War, Minister of Economy, etc. or just a more general governing body without specific areas of influence assigned to them?

Are trials a thing in the Dominion's justice system?

Do you have any thoughts as to how the Dominion's military is structured?

Are there any Pales in prominent positions? Like are the Pales mainly foot soldiers or might you see a Pale commander or even a hoity-toity politician?

[Karjus]

Out of the warrior specializations, which do you feel capture what you were aiming for the best in terms of gameplay/feel? Which ones do you think need more work to resemble your headcanon?

Does the Republic military have any standard form/structure or is it highly dependant on where they're drawn from?

What exactly is keeping the Dominion do engaged in the North? Resistance uprising, Republic forces? The normal dangers of the Lost Land? Are they on the offensive, or is it more defensive as in, is this La Grande Armées march forward or the Limes Germanicus?

We saw Oakheart Golem limbs being loaded, but no torsos. Does this mean a Golem is destroyed if its torso is but limbs can be replaced?

With your timeline, would there be any Mistral citizens who saw the beginning of the Dominion becoming more than Mistral Lake and would remember what it was like in the dark days before things became stabilised?

Think this one has been mentioned before, but I've noticed a people assume Canim are a Dominion area specific thing, just like Liberi are a Valeria only thing. Is this grounded in reality or based on player assumptions with current area releases.

[Karjus]

It has been a while since we've seen any lore drops outside of conversation with NPCs. Do you have some in the pipeline or is this very much on the back-burner for now? Do you think we'll see some of the recent stuff imbedded in items/NPC topics, like the Karker Cult and Dominion stuff?

With the release of Mistral, we've seen a lot of new and a lot of old. What's your favourite addition, favourite old, new in the pipeline you're excited for, and thing you miss most about the old that won't be making an appearance?

People have mentioned they're concerned that over a faction split occurs, that they won't be able to easily access resources currently only found in that land mass. Do you have anything in mind that will alleviate that concern? Or do you encourage that and consider it one of the Dominion "perks"?

Are there other armor types you're thinking of that will be distinctively different instead of just material? For example, we've leather, scale and padded for light. Splint, brigandine and chain (planned) for medium and then ridgeleather, wooden plate and plate (planned) for heavy. I know you've mentioned I think chitin and carapace as two other ones (light/ medium?) Do you think there will be others, or do you expect and intend people to mix and match, especially for the heavy users. IE: move on from ridgeleather by going chain hauberk but keep enough ridgeleather on to keep heavy status, and so forth.

[Delphine]

Is there a known symbol of the Resistance?

How organized is the Resistance?

Are there any rumors of a connection between the Republic and the Resistance?

[Frisbee]

I am on log duty, tonight. Let's get to it.

Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "A while back, wheelbarrows were brought up as a possible item to help bridge the gap between nothing to handcart. Is that still a thought? If so, where abouts are we with them?"
Rias says, "Still a thought, but still just a thought at this point. I think they'd make for a decent first step before the large-investment handcart."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Are you any further with plate and chain in regards to figuring out their crafting process?"
Rias exclaims, "Not really, I haven't thought about it since last time it was brought up. But I probably should!"
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "How has the split been between the two towns so far?"
Rias says, "It's been interesting! Shadgard has a small lead overall at the moment I believe, but it's not by a huge margin, so that's good to see. I'm excited to see other people excited about getting settled in their respective camps."
Rias asks, "That said, we still have a -lot- of fence-sitters. So who knows how things will go when it becomes required to choose?"
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Republic flag, when?"
Rias says, "I've been thinking up ideas for the Republic flag! My current idea I'm toying with is kind of boring, so I'm trying to think of a way to spice it up a little."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Does the Dominion actually utilize Harbingers in an official capacity, like, are there Harbingers of specifically Bathal in its hierarchy, or are they always holding an agent status?"
Rias says, "They're not mutually exclusive or anything. Some people involved in the Dominion government may well be Harbingers. Bathal is a more popular one in the Dominion, but Aranas has a bit of a place as well, which should be understandable for those who have heard about some of the lesser-known aspects of Aranas that certain Harbingers have been speaking out about recently."
Marcuson asks, "With the advent of a certain foodstuff in Mistral Lake, it seems like the Dominion has pork from somewhere. The main meat available in Shadgard, apart from what hunters bring in, appears to be goat meat -- chevon. Could you tell us more about the differences in agricultural products between Shadgard and the Dominion?"
Rias says, "We actually were just talking about that on the GM channel. I'm no culinary term expert, but may have them changed to "boar meat" if "pork" doesn't properly encompass that. (It's weird how some meats have their own terms and others are just "<animal> meat".)."
Marcuson exclaims, "It is weird! A lot of cooking terms come from Norman influence and displaced Old English words. Swine, for instance, replaced by pig. And 'wild boar' as a phrase can even refer to the meat itself!"
Rias says, "Aside from that, uh... mostly what you see in the local farm animal availability, and local hunting fauna. Which Mistral is still missing, yes, but boar will be out there."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Does the Dominion's respect of Bathal factor into their military? For example, is it fairly common for some to pray to him before a fight, and held by a Priest, or is it very much an individual thing and less formal?"
Rias says, "I'd say it's not a formal thing, but it would be seen pretty commonly."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Are varhounds still a thing, and is it a generic thing across the Lost Lands, or specific to Mistral Lake?"
Rias says, "Varhounds are still a thing, and I need to get them added to Mistral. Minion code is still underdeveloped, but don't be surprised if you see those Vatnfjall patrolmen walking around with some varhounds in tow at some point. Varhounds aren't absolutely exclusive to Mistral Lake, but that's where you'd tend to see them."
Teri says (muffled by a mask), "Neat."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "The Council of Nine: who are they? Were they elected or appointed by the Master of the Keep? Are they titled like... Minister of War, Minister of Economy, etc. or just a more general governing body without specific areas of influence assigned to them?"
Rias says, "The Council of Nine were elected by the people to give the citizens of Mistral Lake a better place and representation in the Mistral Lake government. I'll add a lore study somewhere to give an account of when that happened. The Council of Nine Representatives all have their areas of expertise, but the individuals aren't necessarily limited to only those areas."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Last two questison from bbs for now Are trials a thing in the Dominion's justice system? and Do you have any thoughts as to how the Dominion's military is structured?"
Rias says, "I have a list of what their names and specialties are, so I'll dig that up and add it to the wiki somewhere."
Teri adds (muffled by a mask), "There are more questions, but I will cede the floor after them."
Rias says, "Trials can be a part of Dominion justice, but only when the government feels they are merited. There is no common right to a trial or attorney or anything like that. Most matters are simply handled by relevant government officials, and a trial might happen if their decision is contested by others in the government or if they don't feel they have the means to make an adequate decision without one. I'm sure there's more legalese behind when they do or don't happen, but I'm not into tangled rules and lawyering so don't expect a whole lot of specific detail there."
Rias says, "I'm sure public opinion can also have influence over when trials happen. If some popular community member were to be accused for a crime, the Dominion may well put on a trial just to try and get all the information out there and to convince the community that the legal action and punishment was justified."
Rias says, "When it comes to PCs, I wouldn't expecto to ever see a trial beyond some rare potential event that was planned beforehand. I'm not into trial drama and law tedium, and I think it would be a very draining process when effort could be better spent elsewhere by staff."
Chariot says, "First off, huge shoutout for everyone here, gms and players alike, for being awesome please past 19 something months of my existence. And recent particular shoutout for shake lockboxes and snowmen."
Chariot says, "Now to the question part: if housing is a thing in the future, will it be generic like inn rooms or are there something like styles or whatever to choose from? Or does it have to be custom made like old Clok partial housing system."
Rias says, "You can thank Jerc or Janarc for the lockbox shaking. I always get the two of them confused, but one of them suggested it and I thought it was a good one."
Chariot says, "Aw, I thought you spied on ma gameplay! I had a few days of exessive shake lockbox emote and all of a sudden it was in."
Rias says, "Housing will be copies of existing templates for the most part, but the hope is to have a variety of house styles to choose from. So you might get a shabby house in the poorer area, a nicer house in the wealthier area, a house carved into the mountainside along the Shadgard canyon walls or the where the Mistral platform meets the mountainside, etc. Beyond that though, I do love some of the old CLOK houses and may throw them in at some point as unique auctioned home or something."
Rias exclaims, "Housing will also likely be quite small though, just to get that out there early!"
Rias says, "Remember that both Shadgard and Mistral Lake are very tight on physical space. They don't have room for yards or expansive manor houses. (Except maybe an occasional unique, extremely expensive/auction one or something)."
Reslior asks, "Are there any plans for facial hair to be a thing?"
Rias says, "Yep! Facial hair comes up fairly often, and every time I think "I should have a system for that"."
Rias says, "I'll probably start it with just a barber shop in each town where hairstyles can be updated. Should be easy-peasy."
Speaking to Rias, Eugor asks, "When we have these weekly chats, are we secretly taking part in a ritual to Malfant? Seeking knowledge and such? Should we bring offerings?"
Speaking to Eugor, Rias says, "If you can't remember making your offering already, Malfant is doing their thing well."
You say, "I'm inclined toward Vandin, personally. I want all my memories and please. But I'm already starting to forget my questions."
You say, "Anyway. Firstly, is this room supposed to have ESP access? Secondly, are we, as players, supposed to be able to see new arrivals to the room that aren't GMs? I'm just asking because I can't see those, and trying to figure out whether my client is gagging something or if that's just the way it's intended to be."
Rias says, "It's weird that this room is linked to an IC ESP zone. Someone bugged it, and I'll fix that."
You say, "Thank you."
Rias says, "And, hrm. I'll add a third-person arrival message for when people arrive here via the mentor command."
You say, "Many thanks. My more game-related question was, the help file says that Raffaella, Tol Rhun and the Lost lands are the only areas with concentrated and frequent appearances of nether activity, or well I'm paraphrasing. With that in mind, and also with the theory that the nether can be everywhere, are we allowed to reference it, or have our characters interact with it, outside of those areas? in backstories and the like."
Rias says, "Sure, just don't reference some massive nether-influenced region or anything."
Rias says, "(Unless it's one of those listed)."
You say, "Okay, nothing worldbreaking. Thanks much. And thank you for hosting these in-game -- It's such a joy being a part of them."
Rias says, "If nothing else, sorcerers can go anywhere and use sorcery, and now you've got nether where they are."
Marcuson says, "Verel had a question and has given the okay for me to ask it. I've also got another question of my own."
Marcuson says, "Verel wonders if two-handed chain weapons will be a thing at some point. He'd like to be able to buy a flail for one of his characters."
Rias says, "Maybe. Probably? I do have a soft spot for chained weapons, and am willing to give them more Rule of Cool leeway despite all the internet arguments out there saying how impractical they are."
Marcuson asks, "My other question is regarding the Harbingers. It sounds like they'll be more than just warriors -- they'll be expected to 'spread influence'. What kind of things will that include? Will they be expected to preach?"
Rias says, "They don't necessarily need to preach as in give sermons in town square or whatever, but they do need to openly acknowledge and try to spread acknowledgment of their patrons. Harbingers are not for the secret double agent hidden dark power worshippers. Their part of the bargain for receiving boons from their patrons is spreading the knowledge and influence of said patrons."
Rias says, "So speak their names often, and talk about what those Immortals do and should be respected for. Doesn't need to be formal preaching, but it Harbingers should be bringing up their patrons often - preferably in a way that will garner respectful acknowledgment. Just saying their name on ESP over and over is more spreading mild annoyance than respectful acknowledgment. And acknowledgment does not require agreement or throwing in with them, just to clarify. Someone can be staunchly against Aranas while also respect its presenece, influence, and power."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Do you have any thoughts as to how the Dominion's military is structured?"
Rias says, "I've never had a whole lot of interest in the military and their structure and positions and ranks and all that, so I don't have anything solid on the Dominion military structure. Something I should probably get more detail on at some point. But I'll use this opportunity to remind that the Dominion military is impressive by Lost Lands standards, not whole-world standards. Lost Lands is pockets of struggling survivors, not a thriving highly-populated nation like those outside the Quarantine."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Are there any Pales in prominent positions? Like are the Pales mainly foot soldiers or might you see a Pale commander or even a hoity-toity politician?"
Rias says, "Commandant Muiris, one of the Council of Nine Representatives, is a pale and is the head of the Dominion military. There are other Council members who are Pales as well and aren't involved in the military, though not all of them are Pales. So yes, Pales can be more than just grunts and mooks."
Rias says, "That said, they do seem to be seen more often among said grunts and mooks."
Khan asks, "Oh, hey. So. Less a question, and more an observation from viewing question. When these meetings are held, both ingame and on discord, it would probably be pretty neat/useful if that when you logged in while it was ongoing that there was maybe a message just announcing it. "There is currently a discussion ongoing with Staff about the game, and it can be accessed via... etc." I'm not sure how easy that would be to do, but during these hours the game can be pretty empty despite the huge population so possibly just informative?"
Rias says, "Oh, yeah, that would be pretty neat."
Silly asks, "I've got two questions! Firstly, Will those other villages under the Dominion be open for everyone to visit, initially?"
Rias says, "They're there primarily for flavor, and to show the Dominion has multiple territories. I worry that making them visitable might end up with people getting attached to them and wanting to "live" in them rather than Mistral itself. But maybe they'll open occasionally for specific events and such."
Silly says, "I'd also like to know if certain thinks I send are too confusing. It is meant to confuse, what with the char being the way she is, but I don't wish to make it frustrating for the GM's. (I'm unsure if it's clear what ones I'm refering to, because I've only sent a few of those so far.)."
Rias says, "If we see a thought that seems confusing we'll probably peek in and see if we can glean some context, but if they're meant to be confusing that's fine! I haven't heard any complaints from staff about being frustrated by thinks, so I think you're all right."
Howard says, "How do the staff feel about character concepts in search or pursuit of things we ooc know don't exist? For example, a character obsessed with getting through the barrier in Shadgard or of finding certain remnents or objects associated with the gods."
Rias exclaims, "I think that's fine, as long as the PC knows and the GMs know. We've had characters poke at the Barrier, seek a cure to the resen infestation, and even be intent on becoming an Ascended Immortal. I think it's good to let the GMs know that the player is pursuing this as their character while the player knows it isn't something they expect to just happen because their character wants it. That way it's perfectly clear and the GMs don't start to get the feeling a player might be acting entitled or have unreasonable expectations. IC-wise I think that stuff is a great thing to be driving a character and their thinking and decisions!"
Rias exclaims, "And hey, if we ever -do- have an event where the barrier cracks open, or some progress in the Resen cure is made, or glimpses of potential godhood are dangled - we know which characters to involve!"
Speaking to Rias, Lexx asks, "Shadgard question! In the past, you've indicated that Shadgard might get a faction-exclusive Society, similar to how the Harbingers are exclusive to Mistral. Is that still the case, and if so are you still considering the anti-nethrim society to be Shadgard-exclusive (or, at least, barred from Mistral), or something else at this point? Also, any general updates re: societies overall?"
Rias says, "No progress on Societies in general, sadly. The anti-nethrim society does seem like it would be a good fit for the Shadgard yin to the Mistral Harbingers yang. Beyond that I haven't had any inspiration for any other Societies that would be Shadgard exclusive."
Maina asks, "Two questions. Or groups of questions, I guess. First: Is pale-ification known to be different from becoming nethertouched? Is it even related to nether at all? Will pale-ification be an option for players, or exclusively for NPCs?"
Rias says, "The Pale situation is not well understood beyond those who perform it. Even those who go through the process on the receiving end don't necessarily have an understanding of the hows and whys unless they're specifically told. They just know how they feel after going through it. It's generally understood to involve sorcery in some way, but it's not just a different word for people who have become Nethertouched. It's an NPC-only thing, due in no small part to all the mystery behind it."
Maina asks, "Thank you! Second: What is the best way to let the GMs know about character direction stuff, re: the earlier question? And how... common do you want that to be? Like do you want to hear about the direction of every character, if they have a direction to tell you about? Or only more extreme cases, like godhood-seeking or barrier-breaking?"
Rias says, "We enjoy knowing what drives all PCs, and a good way to keep GMs informed of that is uses of the THINK and RITUAL commands. Info can also be included in the character's backstory which can be supplied via the BACKSTORY command. It might also be neat to have some sort of notes command where players can list various tidbits about that character that they'd want to also be viewable by GMs that doesn't also include their entire backstory. Hmmm... butterfly acquired."
Maina exclaims, "Just to avoid the entitlement concerns if it isn't exclusively related to backstory!"
Ezrynon says, "Hello there.! I just had my usual probbly annoying question, about Arcana updates? I heard it's in the process of being worked on. So, was wondering when we'd be getting the big happy news."
Rias says, "You'll get the happy news when it's done! But I'm making decent progress and I've had some GMs testing things for me to weed out any bugs or unintended effects. As much fun as it would be to dump all the intended updates at once as a huge Arcanist-update-bomb, I'll probably trickle in the updates as the individual pieces are finished. Two handy things are almost ready! (Maybe three, if you count a new shape beyond Line to add room for a third glyph.)."
Ezrynon says, "That's good. It'd be nice to do more useful things with the skill soon."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Out of the warrior specializations, which do you feel capture what you were aiming for the best in terms of gameplay/feel? Which ones do you think need more work to resemble your headcanon?"
Rias says, "I think I'm pretty happy with them all except Guardian and Berserker at this point. Not to say I'd consider any of them "complete" yet because they're not and I have plenty that I want to add to all Warrior classes (and other guilds' classes), but I think Dreadnought, Duelist, Marauder, and Nightblade all pretty decently convey their intended feel and style. Marauder maybe a little less so than the other three. But Guardians and Berserkers are still in need of some love to get them really feeling like they're Guardians and Berserkers, and not just warriors with a couple useful but not exactly wow-ing perks. (Not counting druidry access for Berserkers for this particular discussion point.)."
Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Does the Republic military have any standard form/structure or is it highly dependant on where they're drawn from?"
Rias says, "They're a mishmash. They don't really have any unified military program or group, it's all about "We'll bring what we have and do our thing, you bring what you have and do your thing. Our leaders will coordinate." Like we've got Porto with the naval emphasis which is what most people first think of when they hear about the Republic, but then we've also got this scary bunch led by a Faewyr lady who's rumored to be possibly canim, or perhaps a bit touched by primal forces, and they're about skirmishing and hit-and-run and precision raiding on land."
Rias says, "The Republic is very much about "We'll bring what we have to the table, you bring what you have to the table, and we'll all try to coordinate as best we can for the overall good of everyone."."
Rias says, "So where the Dominion says "Welcome to the Dominion, you must comply to our ways" the Republic says "Hey, keep doing what you're doing, but join our group here and be ready to be called on." Not that they don't have their own basic set of rules that all members of the Republic are required to abide by, but there aren't many hard rules they have like that."
Tessa says, "Schweet. So I was just kinda curious. It relates only slightly to an email I shot your way this week, but I was curious if gm's ever considered different methods of accessing the network? Playing as one of my other characters, you really learn how much people rely on the network to get help, and it has really been between life and death sometimes for her."
Chariot asks, "After you answer Tessa's question: I know of a player who has some interesting rp obsession with Hopta. Aside from whatever the library gives about their vague lore, what are they actually? Why and how are they even here to begin with?"
Rias says, "We've got the ESP network on a pretty cut and dry idea of "it projects what you audibly say" to keep the concept simple and avoid any confusion on when and where and how it should work."
Rias says, "So communicating without literally speaking out loud would be best for something other than the ESP network. Like druidic communion, for example."
Speaking to Chariot, Rias exclaims, "You know better than to ask me for OOC details on what is clearly some very vague and mysterious lore alluded to in-game!"
Rias pokes his finger at Chariot.
Chariot pouts at Rias.
Speaking to Rias, Chariot says, "I don't mean for you to lay out every single thing ooc, lol! I mean...they seem to be a race that pops out of nowhere and the game lore, scarce as it is, mentions this only once."
Rias exclaims, "It is pretty weird. Maybe see what that obsessed character thinks and ask where their theories come from!"
Speaking to Rias, Chariot says, "Asking on behalf of that player. He wonders how to rp this without overstepping the lore."
Rias says, "Oh. Well, I don't know what to say in this case other than it's best not to make any assumptions or take liberties with what is very clearly some obscure and mysterious lore."
Rias says, "It can be something their character seeks to learn more about, for sure."
Speaking to Rias, Chariot says, "Here's the thing. He rps it out as something vague we can't assume, like either a race that's still alive and hidden among those statues, or some ancestral spirits something something something. I don't know how to even go with this given how little people know about them."
Rias says, "And have them ask around. I know there are a few characters that have picked up on some tibdits on the subject, and come up with theories."
Speaking to Rias, Chariot asks, "So just keep it mysterious then? That it?"
Rias says, "If that's what their character thinks, that's what they think. Treat it like you would in reality if someone was talking about some potential race of people or spirits or something that you'd never heard about. As long as they're not claiming OOC that their character knows more than what they've been able to learn in-game, it's fine for them to theorize or speculate or make IC assumptions on it, knowing that they may well be wrong because the information is extremely sparse and unreliable."
Silly asks, "I remembered another question I had. Is it possible to become so caught up in dealings with Ujaeio and illusions that you forget things about yourself,, like with Malfant? Is the gester looked to for guidance by those who struggle with dissociation?"
Rias says, "I think it's potentially possible just by means of getting so caught up and lost in various roles and identities and such that one might start to forget, but I would say that's more on the adherent than on Ujaeio. Unless of cours Ujaeio was interested in specifically doing that to the person, for some reason. It's hard to get a good idea of what the Jester is actually doing and why."
Lexx asks, "Following up on Maina's question about character direction/character driven-stuff - you posted a request asking for Character Dreams a while back. Any chance of bringing that back as something we can fill out, similar to (but maybe separate from) Backstory? Maybe limit it to one (non-retired, and maybe have the Retire process clear the dream out) character with a Dream per account?"
Rias says, "Yeah, I've wanted to have a setup like that since I had the idea to get character dreams. Something to consider along with the "character notes to share with GMs" idea."
Speaking to Rias, Serity asks, "So, hello, while Guardians were brought up; first, Stability seems non-functioning aside from knockdown prevention, perhaps after the 10/31 update? At least for dirt kick and tackle, 10+ mins vs. 3 dusklamp marauders had zero time/balance variance in negative effects. Secondly, are there any potential updates in the works for them that you can tease?"
Rias says, "Curses, I thought I fixed it."
Serity sympathetically says, "Apologies for the bad news."
Rias says, "Guardians have been difficult to come up with ideas for. I like the idea of a toggle where you can attempt to guard everyone in your whole group instead of one person (chance-based), and I plan to give them some Gear Adjust abilities for armor as a way to let them hand out some buffs of sorts."
Rias says, "Perhaps a preemptive attack when someone tries to attack the person the Guardian is specifically guarding, that interrupts the incoming attack."
Rias says, "But that's about it. I have a note file somewhere with some other stuff in it, but nothing else that was nifty enough for me to recall off the top of my head."
Serity exclaims, "Oh, that sounds fun. Thank you for the update!"
Teri says (muffled by a mask), "I realize it is getting a bit late, so I'm going to ask Delphine's questions on bbs, while the rest are Kaijus and could await next week if you aren't intending to go much longer. Here we go. '1. Is there a known symbol of the Resistance? 2. How organized is the Resistance? 3. Are there any rumors of a connection between the Republic and the Resistance?'."
Rias says, "There's one symbol associated with the Resistance which is a sunbeam piercing a dark cloud, but of course I can't say whether that's official, or the only symbol associated with them. How oragnized they are is a matter of debate! To hear the Dominion tell it, they're a laughable unorganized rabble, but the fact that they're still being talked about and credited (unofficially) with being thorns in the Dominion's side suggests there's at least some level of competence or organization. A connection between the Republic and the Resistance seems at least plausible. If nothing else, it stands to reason that the Republic at least supporting the Resistance would be in their own interest."
Maina says, "Re: non-verbal communication mentioned earlier: We have druidry commune as one method. For sorcery, is 'familiar message' slated to return, or is it gone/not lore-valid anymore? For those unaware, on The Other Game, could send your familiar to someone else and it would reshape itself into the form of a short message to be read by the target and those in the room."
Rias says, "Familiar Message was neat, but made kind of obsolete by Echoing Whisper. If it was brought back it would certainly also require a blood sample for the familiar to seek out the target, and at that point there's not much reason to do a lesser version of the Echoing Whisper effect where the person can't even respond. It was also tricky in that it introduced the concept of familiars being able to go to these far-distance places away from their masters, and that is a a troublesome lack of limitation to have for familiars."
Rias says, "I'm not saying it will definitely never be a thing, but there are a few sticking points that are difficult to get past."
Maina says, "I only thought of it because someone mentioned wanting non-verbal options, and echoing whisper does require speaking. Good to know, thank you! I think that's it."
Rias says, "For better or worse, a lot of those early-era abilities have since suffered hits from the Lore Banhammer."
Rias says, "All right, I think we'll call it done now! I'll remove Conch Mode and people are free to head back to the IC world, or into the OOC battleground through the hall, or to just linger and be OOC if you want. Thank you all for joining this meeting and for your interest in the game, and your suggestions and contributions! It really does bring me true joy to see this project and world enjoyed by others."