Shower Thoughts



  • KylanKylan Member Posts: 28 ✭✭✭

    So this thread caught my attention on one of my check-ins and I have some thoughts. (And maybe this tangent has already reached the point where it should be split into its own thread anyway.)

    So I'll use Enorian circa 2009 as my reference point, since @Eydis mentioned it. There were a lot of unique factors at play around about that time that do not really apply today, for different reasons, so I'll explain a bit of that:

    - @Eydis mentioned there being a Zealous edge to Enorian, and this is true. A lot of the Leadership were Daru/Luminary and were the driving force for the zeal in Enorian at the time.
    - Enorian had the Paladins which acted as a sort of counterbalance to the more radical ideas that the Daru/Luminaries would have. The Paladins were the majority guild of Enorian (Often equaling or surpassing the other two guilds in raw numbers)
    - Auresae had been an active influence on many of the players at the time. So Auresae's Order was also a driving force in Enorian at this time.
    - Duiran (I think it is fair to say) was at a low ebb, which left Enorian in a good place to pull in people who would not have considered Enorian for their city if Duiran was.. well.. good.

    So with all of these factors, we had three guilds with an active core covering the different leadership roles, a healthy non city guild population and the Ascendril who tended to always be the quieter of the guilds. (I can only remember one or two Ascendril from the time, sorry!) all of the guilds did not necessarily agree on everything so much as they were able to work to a sort of balance with the Daru/Luminaries/Auresae's Order acting as the "engine" for Enorian at the time. The Paladins were an effective counterbalance and had a number of active players who could direct that energy through fighting, in-game politics, etc.

    Another point that I think might be slightly harder to believe is that there were no clear cliques (to my memory), people associated with their guild/order first, but the city was the thing that pulled it all together. If Arion had a problem, it was a problem some in Enorian would help with and so on. So there was a lot of interplay between the guilds and the orders - While you would see some segregation in orders, such as Auresae being mostly Daru/Luminary, Arion being mostly Paladin, you would get some Daru Arionites, for example. In this way, the links for the city were formed there.

    So does the last paragraph sound obvious? It should. There were so many different organizations and belief structures and the city was the melting pot for it, so there was internal conflict that often came up in flash points, but those were opportunities for those people to work together to resolve them through their links. Be it the GMs getting together to solve a problem or the city identifying a new direction, goal, etc.

    I think Enorian 2009 was the culmination the last 3 or so years where the city tried to maintain a core of fighters, call in people from other cities/guilds. (The Auresians were particular about the Vampire/Undeath cure being a method of "redemption"), but it also had a core of players who had been in the city for a long time and used to working together. It's not something I could -ever- claim sole responsibility for, but I would be being humble beyond belief if I said "I got lucky". I put a lot of hours into getting to know people in my city and tried my best to be careful about not neglecting people - if it meant spending a few hours in the Paladin/Luminary GH, so be it. My job was to make the game fun and give others a stage to play on.

    So I suppose what I am saying overall is that the drive comes a lot from the player base, but it -does- need support from the game admin (I know this can be hard at times), Auresae/Arion were able to give Enorian a push when the city may have been petering out and inspire groups of players to be vocal in a city sense.

    I don't understand enough about Bloodloch/Spinesreach to offer very specific advice, but I think Enorian benefited from an overarching goal coming from multiple sources, so any direction that the cities take need to get some direction from their guilds/orders. (The pillars thing @Vyxsis mentioned sounds promising for Bloodloch, though I understand it only comes from Teradrim atm?)

    I think if you get the guilds/Orders active and pursuing goals, that will quickly show in city leadership/current leaders being challenged by those who -do- have an agenda to push, which I think is the vital ingredient for the city - people in leadership that have their own agenda/world view to push and use the city as a vehicle for and encourage people to buy into.

    So, I guess I wound up rambling a bit, but I hope it gives some ideas. :)

  • TeaniTeani Evening Sky SwedenMember Posts: 2,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 11
    Shower thoughts:
    Will the neighbors be more annoyed with my singing in the shower if I use the shower head as a microphone or is it more dependent on the genre?

    Edit: Since I'm about to move I decided not to care and amped up the volume. :smiley:
    Also, sorry if I killed the thread :frowning:
    Post edited by Teani on

    Why do the good guys never get easy moral superiority around here!?
  • TozToz Member Posts: 2,491 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Aishia said:


    Because Spinesreach is already so superior in every other way, if they gave us moral superiority it'd be too OP.

    Arbre-Today at 7:27 PM

    You're a vindictive lil unicorn

    Lartus-Today at 7:16 PM

    oh wait, toz is famous

    Karhast-Today at 7:01 PM

    You're a singularity of unicorns awfulness Toz
    I kinda saw that coming but I still walked right into it
  • TekiasTekias WisconsinMember Posts: 346 ✭✭✭
    Aishia said:


    Alternative answer: Who says we good guys don't?
    Formerly: Spiegel. Eidycue.


  • VyxsisVyxsis VyxsisMember Posts: 477 ✭✭✭✭
    Tekias said:

    Aishia said:


    Alternative answer: Who says we good guys don't?
    i certainly haven't got any!!! *ducks*

  • EydisEydis Member Posts: 128 ✭✭✭
    edited March 19

    Man I still think about this all the time. I played in Sibatti Duiran too and it was...not nearly as much fun if you weren't in the core group, and man the Bahkatu sure weren't, but there was a distinct sense of purpose.

    Moirean Carnifex/Spinesreach is the most fun I've ever had in an IRE game, because everything had a purpose - even if it was just some crazy thing Moirean felt like doing that day. But I sure don't have the energy to be her, and I don't think any players do- her specific brand of mania was something spectacular, though admittedly double-edged.

    Spinesreach as a city though just...struggles. We have excellent players, the best CT in the game, and we DO THINGS well. Like we win events, we do great on the PK scene, we rally up hard for things like war/the Jox event. Mechanically, and player-wise, and anything like that I absolutely love the city.

    But once it gets to the lore...what even are we.

    Welcome to Spinesreach, show up for Toz and stay for the
    Shadow magic that can kill us all
    Thrilling political system that is just like every other city
    - Ability to do whatever you want

    Every other city has a reason for what they do. Enorian fights for the Light, and has/could have a serious religious bent. They have IDEOLOGY that drives their actions, and they won't be satisfied until you're nice and IDEOLOGY'D too. Duiran has to protect Dendara AT ALL COSTS. Defenders of the Wilds. That's a great 'why' to get out of bed in the mornings. Bloodloch has a bit of a weaker thing, but SPREAD UNDEATH is sort of the driving force of vampire movies/zombie movies so they got that going. But Spinesreach is very...apolitical?

    It's so funny that you bring this up @Toz because it's something E has been working on IC with the construction of Ilstrem Alliance. I think that there is room for Spinesreach to become a more focused organization. All throughout Spines' lore it's been about progress. @Fezzix and I have talked about this a time or two in the past but I think it's totally possible for Spinesreach to become the organization that fights for PROGRESS AT ALL COSTS. And I think the Republic is actually a great social structure for that since being free thinking is something Spireans can consider as a step in the way of progression. I think especially if Spinesreach considers progression as keeping the world from eating itself to right the prior wrongs of their history, it would spark some really cool role play arcs and could be a way for Spinesreach to really set their identity a part from other organizations. There are tangible threats that make this possible like the shadowbound and the albedi gods.

Sign In or Register to comment.