Messages

76

Far East Island / Re: Post News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: April 21, 2013, 03:47:52 AM »

But Galiard loved the stew!

Well, yeah. Kindaran stew is the best stew.

It was the dagger a la mode that was served via room service after that ruined everything!

77

Far East Island / Re: Post News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: April 20, 2013, 01:49:06 AM »

I never thought in a million years that Kidnara would actually agree to end the federation they had just made and ally with Cathay instead - I figured I could get in addition to.

We did go to war the last time because Galiard insulted Edmund. Edmund considered Steel to be insulting him. Kindarans react poorly to things they consider insults.

Very poorly, obviously.

78

Far East Island / Re: Sorraine

« on: April 18, 2013, 07:43:09 PM »

I'm not really talking about Galiard. But if you look at everyone else, it seems that religious tolerance is the mode du jour. Velax, Edmund, probably Rhosmyria, Ingall, and then hundreds more who aren't at the ruler level. So yeah, I'd say it's a pretty damn popular opinion. And this is on the second-most fanatical continent in the game.

I'll admit to this. Edmund has religious preference, but it does not influence his major decisions. As a follower of the Order, he'll tweak things where he can to help their spread and give support to other members of the Order when asked. He's not overly fond of the Church of Humanity as of late, so he ignores them, and he really doesn't like Sartanism (even pre-Order Edmund didnt like Sartanism), so he'd gladly fight against them. Everyone else he ignores.

When it comes to major political decisions I keep the peace and nothing more. There's no gain in Edmund becoming a religious zealot in a realm that, for the most part, preaches tolerance and cultural acceptance. That's not an OOC decision either, but IC considering the way the world around him is.

I agree, but this is tough to turn into a game mechanic in a low fantasy world. I'd love to play a zealot. I just don't want to be the only zealot in the room.

I played a religious zealot before Edmund and thought it was huge fun. The Trinity under Cid was harsh, unforgiving, and brutal and he was uncompromising in his beliefs. I don't think many people liked him, but he was carrying out a mission from the gods and he loved it.

More incentives in the game for characters like that to exist would be great.

79

Far East Island / Re: Sorraine

« on: April 17, 2013, 11:46:50 PM »

Mixing religion and politics worked more or less really well for the Vatican for more than a couple of centuries.

I'm sure it helped than there were a bunch of lords, nobles, and kings who followed their religion and, sometimes, cared to listen to the Vatican and took their faith seriously.

The conditions for Sartanism in the Far East seem less favorable, though I don't know your exact numbers.

80

BM General Discussion / Re: This is how you play Banker

« on: April 17, 2013, 04:47:39 PM »

That is wonderful and actually interesting to read!

This makes me want to play Banker all of a sudden and I've never had any interest in the position.

81

Atamara / Re: Minas Ithil?

« on: April 17, 2013, 03:44:35 PM »

I dont think anyone can join Minas Ithil since it has no physical place for people to enter and change allegiance.

I could be wrong, but I think Minas Ithil is stuck as a one person realm until that one person is no longer in it.

82

BM General Discussion / Re: A Revolution in BM Gameplay, and online gaming in general

« on: April 16, 2013, 11:12:47 PM »

But...there's nothing there...

83

Atamara / Re: Minas Ithil?

« on: April 16, 2013, 03:42:17 PM »

Hey, they just declared war on Heorot!

So I guess that means Minas Ithil is still kicking? Or is the corpse just twitching?

84

Far East Island / Re: History of the Far East Island

« on: April 14, 2013, 10:48:01 PM »

Regular, especially monthly, elections are a nasty piece of work, with one exception: realms with a very high noble density, leading to competition. Otherwise they are not just pointless, but detrimental to the system.

They've been ineffective for us. I've considered having Edmund bring up the idea of changing them to quarterly in the past, or dropping them altogether, but I always get distracted by something else whenever I do think of it. In the middle of all the mess happening now doesn't seem the best time either.

I'm not sure I've seen monthly elections held anywhere else I've played.

Are there any realms left in FEI that elect the ruler? I know Ohnar West did at one point, though I don't remember seeing notifications for them in a while.

85

Far East Island / Re: History of the Far East Island

« on: April 14, 2013, 07:09:01 PM »

You get election fatigue and the people voting don't have much of a stake in the outcome.

Yeah, I've never seen lordship elections actually work since half the time you end with no one actually running. Kindara appoints every lordship position no matter what it is.

86

Far East Island / Re: History of the Far East Island

« on: April 14, 2013, 04:51:59 PM »

So what is left of being a monarchy? Probably harder to protest the ruler (and council) out of office? The council members might be able to hold several titles at once? I know at least that there were restrictions on that in republics and democracies before.

As far as mechanics go, I'm honestly not sure. Our original rule was that no council member could hold landed titles and then that changed when we needed active bodies in regions. We were also going to prevent council members from being Dukes, but that changed too out of necessity. Edmund has never held a landed title, so the ruler is still expected to not hold titles so far.

It's been a long time since I played in a republic to it's hard to compare. Most of what we use to distinguish ourselves from a republic is pretty much roleplay. Republic is something of a dirty word in Kindara and Kindarans tend to see it as beneath them even while we vote for positions.

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Far East Island / Re: History of the Far East Island

« on: April 14, 2013, 04:05:19 PM »

Almost every realm is a monarchy these days (at least on some islands). But of course, a monarchy can be very much like a republic or a democracy too now since you can customize it in a way you couldn't do before.

Kindara is a Monarchy, though the Ruler is elected monthly and the Judge quarterly. It adds the edge of a Republic without us actually calling it a republic.

Of course, Edmund has always run unopposed, as did Tissaphernes before him, so I'm not sure how well the monthly system is working as intended.

88

BM General Discussion / Re: Favourite Government Position?

« on: April 13, 2013, 06:23:54 AM »

I've always been fond of Judge and I've played it a few ways to keep it interesting. Ender was always more executioner than Judge and his position allowed me to essentially just be incredibly violent and rude to everyone else while still getting away with it. I've also played the fair, minded Judge that presided over complaints, issued warnings, enforced fines, and oversaw the occasional case while writing law. Both have their moments and both can be fun to roleplay.

I'd have to say one of my favorite moments, though, came a long time ago when Ender executed an infiltrator that, if I'm remembering this correctly, was related to the King of Norland. I roleplayed his gruesome death and then roleplayed sending pieces of the body back to Norland one package at a time. I've also roleplayed sending body parts back to other judges who tried to convince Ender to accept prison treatment treaties.

Being Ruler is fun too, though it comes with a little extra stress sometimes. Being at the top almost opens up an entirely new game sometimes and I'm enjoying it even if I don't intend to do it for very much longer.

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Helpline / Re: Infiltrators

« on: April 12, 2013, 09:44:20 PM »

Do not underestimate the tax ninjas. They will catch you.

The gold must flow. I guess that would make nabbing sacks of tax gold a more dangerous task.

90

Helpline / Re: Infiltrators

« on: April 12, 2013, 04:29:27 PM »

I've already mentioned this to Velax OOC in the game itself, but I had an infiltrator on the East Continent for about two weeks. In that space of time I was captured, banned, captured, and deported and never once succeeded in anything. Since deporting basically resets the whole infiltrator class, I didn't feel like wasting my time trying it again.

I know my skill wasn't anything incredibly high, but I'd spent a fair bit of gold training to get myself ready and expected to at least be able to steal some gold.

I never really understand how some infiltrators are so effective. I can see wanting to make sure they aren't practically invincible, but as a whole they seem useless without some seriously intense investment and then you run of the risk of still being ineffective like Velax has been.