Sanguis Astroism

[Glaumring the Fox]

Nice try, but your shot missed by a few miles.

Then what was the reason asides from conveniently quitting during a losing war when Astrum was haemorrhaging nobles?

[Indirik]

Boredom mostly. I couldn't really find anywhere else to go. I was considering getting rid of him for quite some time. I finally made up my mind to move the duchy to Corsanctum, to see if I could drive something interesting. But before I could get somewhere to do it, the region starved itself rogue. Convenient enough. Brance dies of starvation.

Really, the character was done. He'd done everything I wanted him to do, and more. He was at a dead end. Time to move on, and allow some other people to take over and run the story.

[Glaumring the Fox]

But... Ok come back to Dwilight now.

[Qyasogk]

Enoch and Jonsu did immeasurable damage to SA and to Dwlight as a whole, that cannot be overstated. And after all that drama, a little boring quiet suits the vast number of SA faithful just fine. That and half of Dwlight was overrun, so some of us have been a little busy just trying to survive. When our homes are settled and safe, we will return to pursuits of the mind and the soul.

I must say it's interesting how often and regularly Chenier beats the "SA is dead" drum. Doesn't really make any of it true. This thread has way more people who are anti-SA and so the conversation is not really an accurate reflection of reality.

But don't let that stop you banging on your drum.

[Chenier]

Enoch and Jonsu did immeasurable damage to SA and to Dwlight as a whole, that cannot be overstated. And after all that drama, a little boring quiet suits the vast number of SA faithful just fine. That and half of Dwlight was overrun, so some of us have been a little busy just trying to survive. When our homes are settled and safe, we will return to pursuits of the mind and the soul.

I must say it's interesting how often and regularly Chenier beats the "SA is dead" drum. Doesn't really make any of it true. This thread has way more people who are anti-SA and so the conversation is not really an accurate reflection of reality.

But don't let that stop you banging on your drum.

I'm not anti-SA, I just think it's now a shell of what it used to be. And I'm a pessimist, so I don't think it'll ever come back to what it was. Nor any other religion, for that matter. Especially not the drug cult.

[De-Legro]

I'm not anti-SA, I just think it's now a shell of what it used to be. And I'm a pessimist, so I don't think it'll ever come back to what it was. Nor any other religion, for that matter. Especially not the drug cult.

Probably true, but then the same could be said of the realms of old as well. The game has changed, the player base has changed, we move on.

[Gustav Kuriga]

Enoch and Jonsu did immeasurable damage to SA and to Dwlight as a whole, that cannot be overstated. And after all that drama, a little boring quiet suits the vast number of SA faithful just fine. That and half of Dwlight was overrun, so some of us have been a little busy just trying to survive. When our homes are settled and safe, we will return to pursuits of the mind and the soul.

I must say it's interesting how often and regularly Chenier beats the "SA is dead" drum. Doesn't really make any of it true. This thread has way more people who are anti-SA and so the conversation is not really an accurate reflection of reality.

But don't let that stop you banging on your drum.

That's quite the bull!@#$. SA is boring and has been for a while.

[Glaumring the Fox]

I'm not anti-SA, I just think it's now a shell of what it used to be. And I'm a pessimist, so I don't think it'll ever come back to what it was. Nor any other religion, for that matter. Especially not the drug cult.

You are so bloody negative. What do you you want a static replica of an idea that doesn't change or evolve or die? Do you want a town made up of facades while we pretend its a bustling city. Everytime you say 'no kingdom or religion will ever equal SA on Dwilight' its you who are killing the server, that maybe our best days are ahead of us and its you who are already done and over. Some of us plan on playing on BM on Dwilight for the next decade if its up and running.

'Specially not the drug cult' Chenier you are a grade A *#%-Bag

[Eldargard]

I have to admit that I share Chénier's opinion about the Cult of the Bloodmoon. With such a controversial theme as drug usage at the core of the religion, it is going to rub a lot of people - like myself - the wrong way. I think that it will make it quite difficult for the religion to reach a level anywhere close to what SA has accomplished. Of course, only the future will tell.

[Eldargard]

I have to admit that SA seems to be suffering though. From an outside perspective at least. My character recently sent a message to the church leadership via the temples asking about the religion and he has heard nothing back. It has only been a few days though and I am sure a lot of SA characters are pretty busy. Still, I remember being approached by SA priests without even seeking them early and often back in the time when Barca was new....

[Eldargard]

Also, I still hope that SA recovers and maintains its dominance in Dwilight. The idea of there being a main religion in Dwilight as there was in medieval Europe is just awesome.  Then it is just a question of of how religious you are, not of what faith you follow. Though I find it hard to identify with the religion, I so want it to continue to succeed!

[Wolfsong]

You bastards should actually try to convert a Fissoan or two, so I can join in on this conversation.

[Chenier]

You bastards should actually try to convert a Fissoan or two, so I can join in on this conversation.

That's just another symptom.

And I'm not just dissing SA, or another other religion, for the fun of dissing. I've involved myself heavily in the religion game for as long as I can remember. I've founded a religion, I've helped others found religions, and I joined a number of religions of various ages, of which I often rose to elder ranks. Most of my characters have been priests for most of their careers. Guillaume, Machiavel, and Louis-Joseph, notably. And that's not counting the number of religions I've interacted with from the outside.

Religions are made to be inconsequential. It's built-in, inherent to their game mechanics. And players, in general, understand this. Some try to make religions matter despite their inherent flaws, but almost invariably fail. Some manage to be more meaningful than others, but very few manage to actually be a driver of change, instead of just a flavor coating on things that would have been done anyways for other reasons.

The argument that "make X (religion/realm/other) fun, and it will succeed" is false. But how do you measure success of a religion, anyways? Number of temples? Number of peasant followers? Number of noble followers? Number of noble followers who would actually listen to their religious elders if tasked with something? Number of noble followers who promote the religion of their own initiatives?

The Cult of Bloodmoon is not a successful religion by any standards. It is not a young religion, it is by now quite old. And yet it has never really spread beyond a single realm, migrating with its core as events dictate. Controversy may have a role in it, but it can't be blamed for it either. The Blood Cult, who openly professed human sacrifice, had, at its peak, followers in 6 or 7 realms, and being the state religion of one and a major religion in a few. Your success is lesser than that of Torenism­.

[Glaumring the Fox]

I have to admit that I share Chénier's opinion about the Cult of the Bloodmoon. With such a controversial theme as drug usage at the core of the religion, it is going to rub a lot of people - like myself - the wrong way. I think that it will make it quite difficult for the religion to reach a level anywhere close to what SA has accomplished. Of course, only the future will tell.

Its a roleplaying game, its a great avenue to explore controversial topics. We wouldnt have Game of Thrones or Star Trek of people werent willing to explore controversial topics. Unlike real life you can explore a topic in a role played setting without having to screw up your life. Drugs have always played a huge part in civilization. From the opium wars in China, to Afghanistan and beyond. I think it adds an excellent real world issue to Dwilight that can be explored in the Dwilight context, an element that allows the world to have more depth than being a mere playground for nobles and religious crusades but a real social issue that can be used either to redeem a character or condemm them. So many of the roleplays and ideas never take into account the society in Dwilight and its environment. How we encroach on nature, how we hunt the monsters to exitinction , how we enslave populations and convert them by the sword. Dwilight and BM shouldnt be a kids game, its a low-fantasy hardcore political simulator and if you cannot seperate your distaste for 'drugs' or violence or poltical intrigue from real life it is you who have the problem with roleplay in BM anf the ability to immerse your character in the liquids of autonomy and creation.


And Chenier, we are not looking for your version of success, nor we looking to be the next SA, we are happy being on the fringe doing our thing, surviving day to day and spreading the holy words of the fold.

[Anaris]

Dwilight and BM shouldnt be a kids game, its a low-fantasy hardcore political simulator and if you cannot seperate your distaste for 'drugs' or violence or poltical intrigue from real life it is you who have the problem with roleplay in BM anf the ability to immerse your character in the liquids of autonomy and creation.

I don't think he's suggesting that the CoB should be disallowed because of the drug theme. I think he's suggesting that that theme will simply turn a lot of people off from it. And I think he's right—but I also agree with you, that this is some of the kind of thing that should absolutely exist in BattleMaster.

Just don't ever expect it to become the norm :)