Factions Roll Call

[Wired]

One man's opinion, not a staff position...

Running a faction can be thrilling and extremely fun, but it also takes a lot of work. We're a storyline kind of place, and skilled/good faction leaders bear a lot of responsibility in setting out the sphere of play for their members. The DMs job is (in) different, but both serve as organizers and storytellers.

I should say that there is a tendency in online games for groups to organize themselves around material goals, gaining and sharing loot, for instance, or of course excercising control over other players. These groups are essentially "gangs" IMHO, "mutual aid societies" at best. Occasionally we get one on the server, which is fine so long as they play nice, but it's not really what I think about as a "faction." Just my experience, but when these guys ask for something as a group from a DM, it's the kind of request that starts with "We want...<thing, thing thing>," not "What if...<idea, idea, idea>?"

We are telling a massive, multi-generational story here. The Campaign is an overall arch of tale and time under which your individual stories play out. Your options and actions as a player or faction member are shaped by it, but it does not choose the path for you. That is a tale you will tell yourselves, a tale that will shape the overall picture and memory of the entire story arch when we look back. Running and/or being one of the prime movers in a faction is your opportunity to help tell, and LIVE part of the story too. Some people will just want to play in the faction of course, but they're playing the story you're helping set out as faction driver.

I'm just making this up, but if a group of five or ten players showed up from another server today and said they wanted to set up shop here and start a Good-aligned Mage's group secretly dedicated to thwarting the evil designs of the Magnus Order, played well, started contributing and making an impact, you can bet that you'd start seeing the role of both organizations in the campaign flower.

Excellent example, the Brigands and their Faction leader have been helping tell the story of the struggle between two thieving gangs in the seedy underbelly of Cear, as many of you may have noted in the pieces of this that have spilled over onto the forum. This is also a struggle that's played itself out in the game, with opportunities and surprises arising from Campaign events and faction events (though it's probably high time we did another one). So here is a group that is telling part of the story. It's their story, not Odin's or Jack Frost's or Wired's, and it helps shape the gameworld, becoming part of our collective history. Our job as DMs is to facilitate this storytelling and of course to play referee.

Now, this example happens to be a "Rogue's Group," so it could have organized itself around pickpocketing people in North Cear (something that would NOT have attracted positive DM attention, let me tell you). You could always go to a massively multiplayer game like WoW and grief people there if you want to do something like that, frankly I don't think we have the scale here (you might be waiting a long time for someone to walk by just to hassle them). This to me is the difference between the successful, recipe-for-DM-support faction and the "gang" cited above. If you came to my PnP game, I would not stand around and monotonously roll dice while you did stuff like this, we'd be engaged in the telling of a cooperative story with my job being to arbitrate between the "players" (ant: audience) and what's written down in my notes and module. The output is to some extent governed by the module (quests, events), or series of thematically linked modules forming an overall story arch (the campaign again), but the stuff we remember most is what the players did with it.

Now, factions do come and go. I could have cited some other factions which I will call successful, but still did not last, usually because one or two people were driving it, and it did not last beyond their tenure. I think that's just fine. Of course in designing a faction there's things one can do to build it to last better, but usually it's associated with one or more personalities. A lot of others have died off because they either got what they wanted or didn't get what they wanted, and without a storyline there was nowhere else to go. If your faction is going to peter out if a DM isn't lavishing attention on it, you're doing it wrong -- There's already a huge context created by the builders and DMs here for you to get along quite nicely by yourselves. That said, if you're able to do this you probably already have the basis for DM faction support.

If your faction had a strong enough story, organization, and participatory element (a reminder that proposed factions should first submit an application to the DM team), you could probably go right out on the Bioware boards and make a post along the lines of, "I'm looking for 5-10 players to form a new and interesting Mage's faction on Dasaria2. The group will be focused on -roleplay- and -storytelling-. The goal of this faction will be to tell the story of a group of good-aligned Arcanists who secretly oppose the machinations of the "Magnus Order," a secretive, NPC group of evil Wizards that seem to be behind many of the campaign developments in this gameworld. We will play together (probably Thursday nights), stressing the pure wizard archetype (as opposed to Spellsword) in our adventure play. Our group has DM support for faction events as long as we continue to drive our storyline. Our in-character base of operations will be at the 'Unseen University' in Ravenswatch, which is somewhat clear of Dasaria2's main city, Cear, where our foe's power is strongest. As Cear is the starting point for new characters, we will begin our characters as journeymen sent to investigate the activities of the Magnus Order in Cear..." I dunno I just made that whole thing up, maybe my example isn't all that brilliant, but I think there would be some people that'd bite on something like that.

People will come to NWN2 because it's really the only option out there for this kind of tabletop-influenced dungeons & dragons play/storytelling that ships with a toolkit (OK, NWN1 is still popular), and Dasaria2 due to the high quality of our players and the cool story we're telling together. The day when 100s of new video-game buyers were flocking to online servers are long since past (good riddance), so you can't just throw up a shingle anymore and have dozens of people sign onto your faction. I do however think it's possible to build high-quality factions and sustain a healthy, if not massive, membership at this stage in the game's maturity.

[Sorc]

I have a question - is there any faction connected to Peralia ? Young priest of her reporting in, being gifting greatest gift to ones who deserve it since came to this land, and now i ready to join the ranks of her priests.
Don't afraid of death, afraid that others will not receive it.

[Atharin]

Do you wish to help protect the land?
Are you fearless in the face of adversity?
Are you willing to fight for what you believe in?

Join the Argentum Vigilo!


The Argentum Vigilo was assembled by the Crown Prince, the next Emperor of Varana, Princeps Iuventutis Dairamik to lead the fight against Canas and protect the roads of the land. As knights in service of the people we swear to:

• To protect the roads between Cear and Ravenswatch and those who travel them.
• To defeat and destroy the Errant Knights of the First, also known as the Captains of Canas.
• To protect the weak and defenseless and fight for the welfare of all.
• To serve the crown prince in valor and faith.
• To live by honor and by mercy.
• To eschew unfairness and deceit.
• To fight for Justice where and when it is absent.

Contact Sir Kadmiel Greywolf or Sir Phelan Tennick in Two Bridges for details on how you can aid the Empire and fight the good fight.


((OOC Info: The Argentum Vigilo is a generally good aligned faction, though we will accept characters of neutral alignment. There are no class restrictions outside of what you would expect of a good group. IE No Blackguards or Assassins. New players and new characters are welcome to join, as are old players and high level characters.))

[The Explorer]

Cuhannan Religious Faction looking for 1 - 3 new members.

Basic requirements:

- Heavy RP - player must enjoy Rping even if they ain't all that good at it
- Character would have to be approved by Gobbylin and Myself (human/half elven race only)
- Player must be willing for their char to: follow the Cuhannan and S'arrapu ways/culture, be mostly disliked "kept at arms length" by grasswalkers/Varanites, have RP conflicts with followers of Lockwar, treat Magnus agents with utter contempt, misguid/mislead grasswalkers when appropriate, know what we can get away with under the Treaty between Cuhanna and the Emporer of Varana and push it to it's limits Rpwize, expect but not accept being treated like a 2nd class Citizen by the Talon.

- The player must be prepared to either let appropriate things go astray during DM events, cause some RP conflict in the middle of a DM event (yes even when theres a whole world of pain going on around them) or if not depending on their chosen Chars position/personality they must agree/back Mordecai up during these times (unless of course he is being mischeivous for the sake of it which is usually obvious)

- Would be a bonus if you excel at Rp haggling/debating but not essential
- Heavy RP - because it's worth a double mention
- Think they will enjoy doing all the above and more that I have not mentioned here.
- Side note; Yes a Cuhannan Pimp is more than possible but we already got one in Thralls gate.

If interested please PM myself = The Explorer or Gobbylin

[Hermur]

Greetings all.
We at the Stormbeard clan like to invite new people in to our great forum. You who was playing with a stormbeard last session when we entered the bugbear cave and Ash Stonecutter told the history about our clan and the dwarfs I would like to have names on if your intressted.

I wrote some of you up but I don’t have the username to this forum and can’t add you to the stormbeard subforum.
So if you’re interested please send me a PM with your username and the name of the character and what class he/she has.

Allright all I hope you’re interested in more info on our clan goal and want to play with us! Were hoping that a DM will look in to our course of action on the Dasarian server.

[Torquil Lamond]

The Cerulean Fleet is active and recruiting!

The Fleet is the provincial law enforcement agency for Dasaria, responsible not only for the enforcement of His Imperial Majesty's Notable Laws of the Empire, but also for the protection of the city's harbour, coastlines and waterways.

The Cerulean Fleet finds its origins in the City Watch of Cear. The Watch, a kindred law-enforcement agency charged with the protection of the City, was the sole provider of justice within the settlement before the foundation of the Fleet. Three of the founding members, Lieutenant Snapwyre, Captain Lamond and Commodore Lamond, were all members of the City Watch at one point or another.

A few months prior to the establishment of the Fleet, the regional Talon Command performed a number of audits on several Imperial Agencies within Cear, including but not limited to the Ministry of Trades and Commons, the Church of Lochwar, and the City Watch of Cear. As a result of this investigation, and with rising crime and piracy, the Talon recommended a new organisation be brought to Cear to handle such specialized needs. Thus, the Fleet was born.

His Imperial Majesty's Cerulean Fleet, the Dasaria Wiki entry

OOC Post on applying for the Fleet
IC Cerulean Fleet Bulletin Board, Meanwhile in Dasaria...
IC Cerulean Fleet District Guardhouse, Dasaria Establishments...

[Earendin]

Are there no any Mages' Guilds? Haven't seen anything IG or heard anything mentioned. I have seen one here but it looks dead

[Vahene]

Are there no any Mages' Guilds? Haven't seen anything IG or heard anything mentioned. I have seen one here but it looks dead

There's Ordo Magica.

K

[Alterity]

Are there no any Mages' Guilds? Haven't seen anything IG or heard anything mentioned. I have seen one here but it looks dead

Yes Ordo Magica is currently the only PC mage guild I know of. We are not advertising on the forums at the moment, if that is why you think it is dead. If you would like to join it, send me a PM. For more information on it, click the gold star in my signature for the wiki page on Ordo Magica.

[Cythis]

I would love to start a guild called something like "Children of Aemorniel"

Requirements:
Race - Dark elf
AL: NN to CE
Purpose: To try and take over the empire. Kill all over elves, but only make fun of the Rian elves while we kill them. Steal, and assassinate others that give us a hard time. Kill dark elves that kiss the empires rear. Kill paladins of any religion. Kill Lochwar priest. Why not?

I think this covers it. Oh yeah, Destroy the land of Rian - maybe some day. Or conquer that. Whatever comes first. However this is not a group to emulate the past of Naril. No incorporating exploits. Don't abuse HIPS(or I will try and kill you myself muahahahaha). Follow the server rules, yes I actually try that. Try and avoid killing cows with stone skin casted on them or you will never hear the end of it. Please RP as much as possible. Just don't associate to heavily with the AV or we'll have to kill you for that simple fact. Wait a minute, I am sounding like I have this big group of dark elves already? Uh oh....well maybe it will start to slowly form. We'll see. Also I am not the leader or a leader. Just your neighborhood friendly dark elf pc that will help you on your long(it seems like eternity) battle to level and have fun.

[Wired]

I know you are being facetious, but before anybody reading gets the wrong idea about the supportive things I have to say about this, let me go on record that there is absolutely no way a playerkiller faction is going to be permitted on this server. It is doubly inappropriate to be calling out specific players for harassment and I've edited your post accordingly.

Dasaria II is a Roleplay and Story-driven Persistent World. If you want to PvP all the time, I recommend the VERY excellent Dungeon Eternal X, a full PvP Action Server, which is a thousand times better suited for that style of play.

Now I know you have the seed of a real idea here that seeks to answer the question of what common goals might bring Dark Elves together as a group in this gameworld. I challenge you to focus on that aspect of the idea, maybe better fleshing out what it means to be a Dasarian Dark Elf, and situating them properly in the campaign. You might even start a separate thread on the topic and solicit others' ideas -- If you're going to run a successful faction, you're obviously going to need other players to sign on.

[Cythis]

Yeah I probably should have um....put a little more comedy hint into it. Hope no one got the wrong idea. As for the PKing, I generally have never needed to strike first. My mouth gets me into more battles then anything

[Alterity]

Aww and here I was hoping to have extra dark elves to fry

[Cythis]

Well more of my friends are coming on. But they are NOT PKing idiots like we have had experienced and to some degree still experience as of today. However they like them dark elves alot. Zion is one of them.

[Redleafe]

Whats a Dark elf? is that a desert? mmhhmmm, I love glazed elves....