Having been just elevated to the position of Power Minister in Magnagora I started thinking about ways to work against people overdrawing all the time, and one of the ideas I had was a discretionary powerblock that only the Minister has the power to use. This presents a lot of problems which is why I'm bringing it up here to get input, but it also doesn't really effect any other city or commune, I don't think. Magnagora, for those who have never been, has mandatory power blocking, where everyone who isn't currently drawing power is blocked. I don't know if any of the other organizations have this, so one down-side is that it is really only effective in Magnagora.

So I present it here to you, I want input, ideas etc. I've brought it up already with the Leadership of Magnagora and we had a short discussion, but I'd like to hear others opinions.




It would be something along the lines of:

mpowerblock severian on
mpowerblock severian off

Only modified by the Minister, and maybe people that she/he designates.

One obvious drawback, if it really is only for the Minister, all the times that the Minister isn't present, the powerblock can't be removed, and if the person being blocked is a key defender, and an emergency comes up, they won't be able to draw power. Usually dross isn't enough for this.

If you see other problems point them out! If you have positive ideas bring them up! If you think this is stupid, tell me!

Or you can just unaide the people who don't control the powerblocks the way you want?

Better yet, give the Power Minister and Aides the ability to set a limit on each individual person. Once you hit that limit, you're cut off. Personal actions which add power to the nexus tack onto this limit.

Essentially, the PM and Aides can set a maximum deficit owed to the nexus per month. Going beyond that requires adding in power, or having someone of authority specifically raise the limit for that character.

Celest doesn't have mandatory powerblocking. I couldn't say for any other org. But this would allow rations to be set based on city rank, combat clan rank, guild positions, whatever. If you want more than your ration, put in power.

In Magnagora (as with other orgs I'm sure) all the leadership is required by default to be power aides, as well as certain people from each guild. The problem in mag is that these aides aren't -mine- as the city leadership has put out.. they don't actually work for me, they are just there with the function of checking novice power etc. I can't say that I agree fully with this policy, but it is still in effect. The problem is that since they don't work for me, they won't necessarily check the project that contains the perma-powerblocks, yet they still have the ability to unblock. I'm not saying that everyone is inherently distrustful, but there are the select few. (Plus there are lots of these aides that I don't have control over. I have about 7 aides that I've chosen that work for me, and that was because no one else sent in applications... the rest of the 20-25 some aides aren't mine).




This is a really, really good idea. I think this is far superior to my previous idea. An addendum is that aides and PM can remove the restriction somehow for emergencies, and that allows defenders to draw the power they need. This is a much cleaner cut system of keeping people in line. Great idea Eldanien!

Anyone else have ideas or comments on all of the previous?

Sounds like you need to decide if you were appointed to actually run the Ministry or not. So they want you to appoint a few people from other guilds to check power laws, without actually "being your aides"-- then tell those people that they are there only for checking power laws. They're not to touch powerblockings. If they do, they're out, and the guild can nominate someone else.

Then deal with your aides as per normal.

Well, since the PM and aides can set the value, all it requires is for one of them to bump up the value during an emergency. They just have to remember to set it back later.

There would also have to be a way to see who has what rations, which would probably be a PM/org leader/ruling counil ability (it's essentially an audit function).

I do that, but I can't remove them because it's a mandate from the council. Yes, I feel it should be my say, but unfortunately it's not. So far it's been about how the Power Ministry was 'traditionally' run, and that all of these things are 'tradition' and that I can't go against 'tradition' because it used to work.


@Eldanien: Ah, I understand I think that's a great idea

Here's the thing: if your problem is with the elected folk, your problem is with the people who gave you that job and can take it from you just as easily. Especially in Mag, there's a chain of command, and you're not on top and can't expect accountability from them. (Rather, they expect accountability from you.) If your problem is with your aides, just deal with your aides. Problem soved!

This sounds like this is a problem of Mag sucking more then a problem with the mechanics.

Oh come on.. no hits below the belt.

I feel that Eldanien's idea is the best one so far, and that if anything, that should go through to be used by all the organizations.

as one of minister of power of seren, i think it is great idea to set the limit which people can only draw with only exception like key defenders, securities, champion, etc.


very interesting idea really.

I would have to say no.

your reasoning for the change is "Mag RP prohibits me from doing my job, so I want a way to evade this RP instead of interact with it"

If you want to change it rally support in your council and change it.

@edalnien's proposal: that is not needed and can cause issues on several levels.

issue 1: you are being raided and your minister of power resigned just before it (maybe he is the one raiding), nobody but the leader can reset, you also need the leader to set a minister. (and if the leader is inactive or on vacation this will become even more pretty)

issue 2: it prevents a lot political strive that could come with the position as power aide or minister of power. That strive is actually fun.

and Kaatil = Valaria?