Exotic realm cultures

[Vellos]

Played in Norland for probably a year.

Hated it, but never really knew where else to go.

Guess that, since I hated it, it must have had a unique culture.

[Kain]

There are a lot of unique realms in Battlemaster, though more of them go unnoticed than they should do.

Firstly I would mention Thulsoma, though it seems most don't actually know the culture, judging by conversations I've had, when they mostly assume the realm has a Saxon culture, which, ironically it is far removed from. Thulsoma is more of a mish mash of concepts, the devout religious extremism, the complicated belief in honour, combat, loyalty, the Anglo Saxon virtues, it even has quite a few Asian influences and cultural ideals. I still have much of the stuff to put up on the wiki, largely in regards to vast annals of roleplays I have saved on my laptop, all the Saxon Stormland/Anglo Saxon Chronicle stuff, and a lot more of the religious stuff.

Secondly, I would have to mention Averoth, which I notice hasn't been mentioned yet, they have a very interesting realm concept as being a Free State, and what truly makes them a Free State, and what they expect of their nobility, and their stance on things like religion, war, trade and government systems such as monarchies. Averoth is very underrated for this, which is somewhat understandable as its not been a major player for its entire existence, and now it is set to get far more interesting, there is a massive culture clash between the Saxons, and the Averothian's, as we disagree entirely on concepts of religion, honour, virtue, war, trade, soldiering, loyalty, just about everything really. Sextus and Haruka are a strange "couple" as well, they contrast each other well (Sextus being another unique character, that is really under represented) but both absolute rulers of their own Strongholds and realms, with a great deal of loyalty from their followers. Averoth and Thulsoma were confederated, and I always toyed with the idea of Haruka and Sextus doing a pseudo sort of King/Queen thing, with opposing strongholds on either side of the Stormland's. Me and Sextus, did have a wide variety of hilarious and fun Roleplays planned, though most we never actually did.

For a third realm, I have to mention Norland, it may not have been the most unique (As many say its just a copy of Makar) but the realm has always had a vibrant player base and roleplays, I've been in the realm since 2004, till it was destroyed, and it always had some manner of hilarious Roleplays, and it shall always go down as one of my all time favourite realms.

Some people have mentioned Arcachon, and I would agree, but I feel Arcachon has become much more of a "regular" realm, than one with a distinct culture and realm concept, particularly of recent years we have slowly gravitated towards the common sort of realm you find in the game. That said, we have a very well developed religion and Clan culture. Some people also mentioned Nothoi I think, well the realm is some what unique, but we really have not got much in the way of culture or Roleplay sorted. That said, it's quite amusing that Nothoi is the ancient Greek plural for Bastard, and our ruler is called the Diadochi, which means successor.

Somewhat tragic that 3 out of 4 realms that you mention as being unique are now dead. Almost like we have to create some sort of government entity that makes sure that we don't make unique cultures extinct

The only two with very unique cultures that I've been in were BoM (still alive! And mentioned before in this thread) and Avamar (long dead).

[Indirik]

Somewhat tragic that 3 out of 4 realms that you mention as being unique are now dead. Almost like we have to create some sort of government entity that makes sure that we don't make unique cultures extinct

The first two were havens for cheaters and exploiters. I should hope that makes them unique. Sadly, I don't think it does.

Norland... Well... They were unique. But I'm not a big fan of their style of "unique". For my money, RedSpan was a better style of unique. (Although I never played there myself.)

As for Arcachon, they're a plucky little realm. They definitely don't have any intentions of rolling over for anyone. And it seems like they're having a lot of fun instigating, and keeping OW and Arcaea on their toes.

[Kain]

The first two were havens for cheaters and exploiters. I should hope that makes them unique. Sadly, I don't think it does.

Norland... Well... They were unique. But I'm not a big fan of their style of "unique". For my money, RedSpan was a better style of unique. (Although I never played there myself.)

As for Arcachon, they're a plucky little realm. They definitely don't have any intentions of rolling over for anyone. And it seems like they're having a lot of fun instigating, and keeping OW and Arcaea on their toes.

I was thinking about joining Arcachon. My character Jupiter is on an island wide travel quest to the north right now to find a new realm.
Cathay was sadly too quiet for my taste.

Seems like they are a rather popular realm too, player wise. 35 nobles for that small realm with 1 duchy, compared to PoZ's 37 nobles for 5 duchies.

[Adriddae]

Are there any evil realms out there? Other than Outer Tilog of course, I haven't really seen an truly evil heartless realm. Is there no one man enough to loot, pillage and torture, just for looting and torturing sake? A realm that maybe possibly rewards people based on assassinations and truly heartless acts.

I can kinda see that any realm like this would find itself with many enemies fast.

[Chenier]

Are there any evil realms out there? Other than Outer Tilog of course, I haven't really seen an truly evil heartless realm. Is there no one man enough to loot, pillage and torture, just for looting and torturing sake? A realm that maybe possibly rewards people based on assassinations and truly heartless acts.

I can kinda see that any realm like this would find itself with many enemies fast.

Monarchist Fwuvoghor was pretty cold-hearted, while it reigned. Infiltrators were quite prized then, too.

You were part of it at the time, I think, but Enweil had some rather strong supremacist sentiments going on during the last war, and looted freely and brutally. It wasn't for the sake of looting, though, but more to crush her foes like the vermin they were seen to be. Torture was used extensively, to gather the information we sought and get a glimpse of what was being said in the enemy realm, and executions were used at every occasion as revenge for Katia.

I don't personally really see Outer Tilog as being an "evil" realm, though. It loses the dread and merciless feel when it becomes so absurd and humor-oriented.

[Morningstar]

Are there any evil realms out there? Other than Outer Tilog of course, I haven't really seen an truly evil heartless realm. Is there no one man enough to loot, pillage and torture, just for looting and torturing sake? A realm that maybe possibly rewards people based on assassinations and truly heartless acts.

I can kinda see that any realm like this would find itself with many enemies fast.

Arcachon started out that way.  Sort of.  Looking back, I kind of regret overthrowing Tom (playing as "Tanaziel", I believe) and his bumbling, patsy ruler character as quickly as we did.  But once the initial rebellion was over, we were straight up mean for awhile. 

Strategically picked the island specifically for it being easily defensible and we created an "us vs. the world" mentality where rape, loot, and pillage was the name of the game.  Anyone within striking distance was a raiding target and we made lots of enemies very quickly.  And the roleplay to go with it was ridiculous at times how twisted and demented it could get.  Headed by Seraphina (world-renowned assassin dubbed "The Angel of Death") with her psychological warfare that forced other rulers to adopt otherwise unthinkable tactics and politics in order to fight back, and Malus ("The Overlord") whose atrocities, warcrimes, and civil rights violations would make communist China blush.  Now that I think about it, if The Dark Knight's Joker ruled a realm in BM, it would have been old school Arcachon.

Outside of that, I remember Svunnetland Empire being a Roman Empire-styled realm.  The ruler eschewed the "King" title (prior to custom titles) and was referred to as Caesar, and all the Dukes formed the Senate, who had voting rights on nearly all things pertaining to the realm as a whole.  Was kinda fun and really worked with the whole "decadent empire falling apart at the seams" idea that FEI started out with.

[Laurens88]

Yeah to bad the player of Einar turned out be become a huge *****

[Iltaran]

From the admittedly little that I've seen, Ibladesh is fairly evil when the mood strikes them.

During the War of the Nine Realms, Old Grehk was a bit extreme (torture and executions), but that was more of a case of using every tool available to make up for being badly outnumbered. It didn't last more than a few months.

[Bedwyr]

Depends on certain definitions of "evil".

Arcaea, for instance, has no difficulty slaughtering thousands or tens of thousands in a war to avenge an insult against the Queen, generally executes all foes possible, rewards and publicly lauds assassins, and the royal thrones are decorated with the skulls of prominent enemies while an auction was held for the bodyparts of a particularly heinous foe.  Ask whether Arcaea is evil and the answer would be yes in at least half the island.

But Arcaea disallows torture, was the instigating force behind the Order of the Hawk which sets strict limits on what methods of war are allowed, and is quite ruthless in punishing those who step beyond those boundaries.

Arcachon has gone even farther, torturing frequently and engaging in fairly nasty looting while doing it in the name of protecting the True Faith from the heretics and pawns of Sartan.

[Iltaran]

People who do evil things usually dont think of themselves as evil. They have a reason for what they're doing and they think that it justifies their actions.

[Chenier]

People who do evil things usually dont think of themselves as evil. They have a reason for what they're doing and they think that it justifies their actions.

Which is part of why I don't consider Outer Tilog to be truly evil. It's comical relief, dark humour at most.

[egamma]

Which is part of why I don't consider Outer Tilog to be truly evil. It's comical relief, dark humour at most.

Those whose characters they torture and execute may disagree.

http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Outer_Tilog/Brittiany_Torture
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Outer_Tilog/Valion_Torture

Granted, they are old, but I can confirm that they tortured my adventurer when they caught her--I cant remember if they did to my infil.

[Chenier]

Those whose characters they torture and execute may disagree.

http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Outer_Tilog/Brittiany_Torture
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Outer_Tilog/Valion_Torture

Granted, they are old, but I can confirm that they tortured my adventurer when they caught her--I cant remember if they did to my infil.

I'm not saying they are nice people. But in my mind, "funny" and "evil" are just completely incompatible. I can think of a ton of different adjectives for comical characters who do bad things, but they are only as "evil" as "evil henchmen" (bland no-name characters that just fight for the big bad guy, rarely see them ever showing they are truly evil and not just stupidly loyal).

[Revan]

Didn't really enjoy Outer Tilog when I briefly sampled playing there myself, but I still think Outer Tilog is bloody marvellous. They're amazing, their wiki is amazing. Long may they reign in the Colonies!