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Several Triunists hate several Astroists...

That's fair enough, several Astroists hate several other Astroists!

Although the two religions probably wouldn't really get along ((tritheism vs. monotheism) they both seem to share an emphasis on the importance of blood (in SA the Bloodstars are so named because they exert their influence via the blood).

It would be great to see another religion SA could actually be friends with; that would make for some much more interesting dynamics and interaction than 'everyone outside SA hates it'.

Hossenfeffer was simply too awesome a name for me not to use (was it really '03?). 

As for Mungo, my first BM character, well I went to school with a guy called Mungo who could fart at will.

Mungo was later joined in the game by Mary and Midge (possibly the worst infiltrator ever).  Anyone old and British enough would probably get that connection.  Since then there's been nothing but Ms in the family.

Don't forget that Mungo was killed by Sirion's troops too. Seems you had quite some interaction with the nice elves ..

Absolutely.  Mungo spent all of his life after the fall of Oligarch looking for a war against Sirion again.  Obviously I was unhappy when he finally died (he became a hero pretty much as soon as that option was available), but at least he died in battle against Sirion.  I wouldn't have had him go out any other way.  I moved Morgan (and his three recommendations) to Sirion immediately.  I liked the RP notion that Mungo had refused to recognise his bastard son for some reason, and that Morgan had to go to Sirion to establish his nobility. 

Actually, maybe that's something that should change.  Should an adventurer be able to transfer recommendations from an enemy realm and be recognised on the basis of them?

I don't remember exactly what I expected - probably an RP/Strategy game, but much less well balanced than BM is; so either a Strategy game with virtually no role-playing, or something more like a forum based RP thing with some nod in the direction of strategy grafted on.  I think it's the balance BM has that keeps it strong. 

My first character landed in Omsk (I picked a small realm since I thought there'd be a better welcome for a new player).  A week or so later, Sirion rolled over it, and that was the end of Omsk.

However, in that week there was lots of discussion about where the Omkians would go next and offers of hospitality from Perdan and Oligarch.  I picked Oligarch since it was closer to my new, hated enemy.  The EI Great War, with its ebbing and flowing, the number of times we dragged our sorry troops through Bruck, losing Oligarch city, all seeming beyond hope, coming back and retaking it; great times.  The months-long end of Oligarch in particular was perhaps the most involved I've ever been in a video game.  When Oligarch finally died, I was as gutted as any soccer fan seeing their team lose the cup final.  Perhaps more so, since I'd done more than just sit on the sidelines cheering.

That first character's bastard son now fights for Sirion's elite army, but there's still just a little bit of me that would like to see Sirion crushed.  Those elves are evil, right?

Tops:

1.  The history of the game - in the Fontan-Sirion bickering there have been IC references to grudges formed half a decade ago.  That's real IC feeling, and I don't know of another game to match it. 
2.  The subtle depth to the game - it's deceptive in its apparent simplicity, but the more you play, the more you come to understand how many ways there are to achieve things.
3.  The team nature of the game, in decent realms, at least.  Every character within a realm can contribute to the realm's success as a whole.

Flops:

1. Religion has very little to offer nobles for the most part.  Being religious was the default in the middle ages, the vast majority of peasants and nobles alike believing that the intercession of the priesthood was a necessity for the salvation of their immortal souls.  That's a pretty potent offering compared to 'a monthly fee you have to pay'.
2. Oaths.  The relationship between lords and knights is still too tenuous, when it should be the most important  relationship in the game.
3. Too Much Peace.  I understand this is being changed though, so I'm happy to wait and see.

... two of our three Dukes are SA in Terran, however the SA Church has little influence in actual Terran policy.

There's a reason for that; SA isn't actually trying to take over the world! 

Terran's SA dukes have been given no orders that I know of, secret or overt, to try and influence its policy in SA's favour.  I imagine they're probably pro-SA since they're SA, but that's as far as it goes.  SA is perfectly happy to share; as someone pointed out, even Morek had two religions for a while.  The Order of the Seven didn't die out because we crushed it, it died out because it had nowhere to expand and the leaders consequently lost interest (or so the founder told me before her character converted to SA).

Still, it's all about perception, and people think SA is a vicious brute.  I think this is going to do SA a lot of good.  We've had so much infighting and politicking because we had few external enemies.  This war may just heal many of those internal rifts, making SA stronger than ever before.  Which would be nice.

I have no idea.  I guess it would have to be a search engine result of some sort, since in the eight and a half years I've been playing I don't think I've ever met another BM player IRL.  My guess would be that I searched for 'browser RPG', since I'm a role-player and not a board gamer at heart.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is no 'computer' game I've ever played as long as BM.  I played WoW for about three or four years, I guess, and Counterstrike for at least a couple.  But nothing comes close to BM at eight and a half years without a break.  That's a fantastic acheivement, Tom, and you have every right to be really proud of your game.

Pilgrimages are questionable.  While the idea is interesting, in practise there seems to be little enthusiasm for it.   A couple of people tried to promote the idea of a pilgrimage to Corsanctum for SA worshippers.  In a religion of 100+ members, I think exactly none made the pilgrimage.  That's probably because, in Dwilight at least, the day to day business of keeping the realm alive in the face of roaming monsters and such is a major undertaking.  Most characters don't want to spend a couple of RL weeks trotting off to somewhere for the possibility of an RP interaction.  Which is a shame, but is understandable.

Otherwise, I have just a few suggestions: 

• Go with your instincts and make it 'unique and different from other religions within dwilight', but also unique and different from other RL religions. 
• Don't define everything too proscriptively.  Leave space for people to add their own colour.  It won't be quick in coming, but if/when it does it will be worth it.
• 'Actual in game actions they can do to progress further' is a good idea.  In SA we have an oath people can take to become (I've lost track of what they're called now, but they used to be:) guardians of the temple.  Players seem to take that personal oath seriously to the point that for some it's a major character point.

That's it for now.  I may think of some more. 

Should I be helping another Dwilight religion form?  No, of course not  :D

I don't consider SA as a religion is taken seriously.

I'm pretty sure it has been taken seriously by some people.

Take a look at this commentary on the Second Prophecy by the character Bengt Algotsson. 

I don't know the player (actually I don't even know if he's still playing), and I didn't prompt him, or give him OOC clues or anything like that.  He just took the time to read through a lot of the sermons and writings I'd posted to the wiki and he came up with a pretty fine interpretation.  Surely he wouldn't have taken the time and trouble to do that if he hadn't taken the religion at least a little bit seriously?

Agreed, lay a framework and then allow the player to build from it.

What ho everyone!

This, from Glaumring, is exactly what I tried to do with SA.  Jesse laid the foundations for the religion and named the three stars, then left it to me to shape as I chose.  But I didn't want to be the one to shape it, or at least not on my own.  I didn't want to spend a month or two writing a religion, then present it wrapped up in pretty paper as a fait accompli.  Besides, Dwilight is young, and the colonists are still fresh to the land.  They shouldn't have an age-old religion.  SA is supposed to be being worked out, it's a new religion in character as well as out of character.

But perhaps I should start putting down some more building blocks, and announcing a view on such things as an origin myth, life after death and so on.  I'd be interested in hearing opinions on that from people.