Apparently Serenwilde is using totems tuned against the Disciples of Crow clan to ferret out our members... Doesn't this kind of eliminate the point of making a clan Private?

I can't think of any ways to alter things so that this could be prevented without restricting the ability of people to enemy whole clans. I'd just argue that it's mildly unreasonable to be able to figure out someone's supposedly-secret loyalties that way..

Thoughts?

It is the way it has always been. And just because your clan members arent visible to most of the population, shouldnt mean that they should also be free from any repercussions for being part of that organization. Think about it like this, there is no way to just look at a person and know what city they belong to if they have no title to distinguish them. Do you also want them to be exempt from being hit by totems/statues?

The only thing they really need to hit is enemies of the organization it belongs too- anything else is, as Visaeris said, a bit dubious. See'n as the enemies list would be clearly defined- the person tuning it has a clear understanding of who it'll hit, as in, what they look like, ect..

I mostly posted this as a hope to get some ideas on how it can be done. As I said, I don't see an easy way, but maybe someone does. It's just mildly amusing that some mystical totem knows somenoe's allegiance when nobody but their clanmantes know

Well...it is a mystical totem.

Communes and cities have a spiritual link to their nexus that the totems sense. Clans? Maybe the ability to speak on a special channel could distinguish them, but that's a much smaller than a huge nexus power-link.

Apparently newbies are quite knowledgable about the aether waves, that's the only RP way I can think of to get around it. It'd be cool if totems and people could only detect your allegience if you had the channel (aether-wave) open.

Thats a cool idea...dunno if it would work in practice, but it sounds interesting.

If going CTOFF would protect you from totems, that would make them so much less useful.

Can't the ability to attune against private clans just be removed, and the city can place any known members on their enemies list and attune it against them?

It makes sense to me that totems would only attack enemies of whatever they are tuned for. This wouldn't weaken their defensive use at all, since by and large it's enemies they defend against.

Objectively, the 'well, that's how it is in another game' argument is a weak one, which is the only real justification for being able to tune them against entire groups of people.

Plain and simple, I dont like the idea of any private clan waging war against a city or commune, and I dont care about their reasons for doing it. So any special treatment for them so that they can do so more effectively, would annoy me.

whine whine whine Visaeris...oh things not going in my favour...whine ITS OVERPOWERED.

It does seem kind of weak that in absense of any intel. work, or whatever you call it, they can simply tune a few totems against a clan and find out who's in whatever secret society. Sure, it's vaguely reminiscent of some sort of medieval witch-hunting trial (if they float they're a "witch", or if the branding iron doesn't leave a mark, etc.) only it just seems a bit more... cheap.

If some private clan is waging war on your city, or commune, then just enemy the people doing so. Unless you seriously intend to tune half your totems against enemies of Serenwilde and half against the Disciples of the Crow (or whatever) - which just doesn't seem all that smart to me.

I like the Disciples... well, I like the concept of secret organizations, and this one doesn't seem moronic (quite the opposite, in a nefarious sort of way). Serenwilde should have to work a bit harder to find out who's in the clan, I think, than tuning a totem and just watching who gets zapped.

At least someone got the idea.

I'm feeling rather immature right now so...

You're as much of an idiot out of the game as you are in it.

At least you spelled everything correctly this time.

He also quoted Daevos, not Visaeris, so yeah, he doesn't seem to play with a full deck of cards.

On topic, though, I'd just like to say it's the **** exploiting what ought to be a bug, to not only reveal members of secret clans, but also hurting them in the process. Undercover members of the Disciples ought to be revealed through RP, not by using magic witch-hunting paraphenalia.

EDIT: Watch your language Akhenaten. ~Auseklis

Note: The people sticking up for it are the people exploiting it.. hrm.

Out of curiousity, is there any other way to determine someone is a disciple, aside from waiting for a mistell?

I could care less whether they are exploited or not, but how is this anything horribly wrong. You should used everything at your disposal to find enemies to your organization...happens in RL and should happen here.

How is a totem recognizing a clan any different than it recognizing a city enemy? The totem is recognizing what it is set for either way...both are really enemies of the commune. The Disiciples of Crow seek to raise a commune in the forest whose very foundation is a threat to the Serenwilde....and commune enemies are a threat through their actions as well.