Pretty much as the subject heading says, a shameless recruitment appeal designed to give you an idea of what Westgard is like if you're thinking about looking for a new place to play.
Westgard is the only realm currently completely based in the west of Dwilight. It was founded by the Dev Team to be a home for players who were forced to migrate characters to Dwilight during the island closures. It still has a fair number of the nobles who arrived at that time, but it's also gained a few people from other sources. Generally, it maintains its position as the realm with the largest noble count on Dwilight, alongside being one of the smallest realms in terms of number of regions.
As a frontier realm, it's constantly under attack by the monsters and undead of the west. This leads to an endless war against the monsters, with plenty of battles. As a result, the realm has a strong PvE gameplay experience. It normally has several battles per week, both large and small. Generally speaking, most people can be funded to lead respectable units into battles. So lots of action.
In terms of both the practicality of its location and its established roleplay, Westgard doesn't really seek conflict with other realms. It considers itself to be the Shield of Humanity with a Calling to defend the civilised lands of the east against the vicious, ravening beasts of the wilds. Broadly speaking, it's on good terms with the other nearby realms. So, Westgard isn't the run-of-the-mill BM realm. It's intentionally something different. There are clear parallels with the Night's Watch from Game of Thrones, but we've tried to make it something less derivative than just a straight copy of that.
There are plenty of opportunities for roleplay (whether writing roleplays or just how you play your character). The realm doesn't have much of a religion going, so there's room for someone to create something there. Whether it be to try to introduce one of the native Dwilight religions to Westgard or create something new. Westgard's native 'religion' is called The Virtues, but it's not a religion in the common sense. It's more like a code of personal conduct akin to chivalry or a similar oath.
So, in summary, Westgard is a realm with a clear and distinctive theme. It's intentionally not like other realms, particularly in that its main focus is fighting NPCs - which may or may not be to your liking according to your tastes - some will find it interesting, while others will find it a bore. It's a pretty active realm for those willing to get involved. Almost all letters I see are answered by someone. It has a very large number of battles because it's endlessly at war with the hordes. Mostly, people have good level of funding to maintain units. There's a pretty strong team spirit in the realm that makes it an enjoyable and friendly playing environment.
And that's all I can think to say at the moment. This isn't a recruitment thread just aimed at getting more players to boost one side or another in a war, it's just because Westgard is an interesting and different place to play that has things to offer in terms of adding to your enjoyment of the game. I can honestly say that it's the most interesting realm I currently play in.
