Hmmm... I'd say go less with ideologies and more with the _people_ who are going to be your guildmates and citymates. Just a short breakdown IMHO of the various city "cultures":
Magnagora: If you actually care about what's going on, it's great if you're in the legion. Sucks if you're not. Conclusion = great if you want to help defend _and_ attack (ie. be prepared to get enemied to a lot of places / things).
Glomdoring: Annoying. Just annoying. They got some nice ex-Magnagorans though.
Celest: Don't go here if you like pking unless you feel like listening to lectures on how it should be a duty, and not a pleasure. And how it's so wrong to actually _like_ it.
Serenwilde: Can you say zealots?
Lectures (or worse) on how you cannot be friends (much less anything else) with anyone who is a commune enemy, and depending on which guild you go, cannot / should not even talk to anyone who is even tainted. Relatively easy to rise in rank if you make it obvious that you are a fellow zealot. *shifty*
Oh yeah, going rogue is an option too. Can elaborate more on the advantages and disadvantages if you want to consider that.
Magnagora: If you actually care about what's going on, it's great if you're in the legion. Sucks if you're not. Conclusion = great if you want to help defend _and_ attack (ie. be prepared to get enemied to a lot of places / things).
Glomdoring: Annoying. Just annoying. They got some nice ex-Magnagorans though.
Celest: Don't go here if you like pking unless you feel like listening to lectures on how it should be a duty, and not a pleasure. And how it's so wrong to actually _like_ it.
Serenwilde: Can you say zealots?
Lectures (or worse) on how you cannot be friends (much less anything else) with anyone who is a commune enemy, and depending on which guild you go, cannot / should not even talk to anyone who is even tainted. Relatively easy to rise in rank if you make it obvious that you are a fellow zealot. *shifty*Oh yeah, going rogue is an option too. Can elaborate more on the advantages and disadvantages if you want to consider that.
Heh there's others 
Advantages:
- Access to all / almost all shops. In every city / commune.
- You don't get hit by totems / statues tuned against other cities / communes.
- No stupid rules saying who you can be friends (or relatives) with.
- Keep your relations good and you'll have quite a bit more freedom and fewer people after you.
- You don't get jumped because you are affliated to one city or another. (Just by stupid people who _think_ you are affliated, or use this as an excuse.
Doesn't happen all that often.)
- You get the Portal of Fate as a "nexus" for teleporting. A bit safer than commune / city nexuses.
Disadvantages:
- No power unless 1) you are almost trans planar and can get up to astral on your own _and_ are tanky enough so you don't get killed while linking, or 2) you have people who are willing to share their power with you.
- Lonely and boring unless you have your own active circle of friends.
- Most events more or less just pass you by.
- Limited skills. Basically you lose most of the specialised parts of your skills (anything that requires a specific kind of power).
- It's bad to have too much pride.
- If you choose to go with / help one side or other, you lose most of your rogue advantages, in which case you may as well just join that side.
As for level of protection, it depends on which city you join, and your status within the city. Once again, if you keep your relations good, you mostly won't find yourself getting jumped by a group anyway. In any case, it's always better if you can protect yourself.
Advantages:
- Access to all / almost all shops. In every city / commune.
- You don't get hit by totems / statues tuned against other cities / communes.
- No stupid rules saying who you can be friends (or relatives) with.
- Keep your relations good and you'll have quite a bit more freedom and fewer people after you.
- You don't get jumped because you are affliated to one city or another. (Just by stupid people who _think_ you are affliated, or use this as an excuse.
Doesn't happen all that often.)- You get the Portal of Fate as a "nexus" for teleporting. A bit safer than commune / city nexuses.
Disadvantages:
- No power unless 1) you are almost trans planar and can get up to astral on your own _and_ are tanky enough so you don't get killed while linking, or 2) you have people who are willing to share their power with you.
- Lonely and boring unless you have your own active circle of friends.
- Most events more or less just pass you by.
- Limited skills. Basically you lose most of the specialised parts of your skills (anything that requires a specific kind of power).
- It's bad to have too much pride.
- If you choose to go with / help one side or other, you lose most of your rogue advantages, in which case you may as well just join that side.
As for level of protection, it depends on which city you join, and your status within the city. Once again, if you keep your relations good, you mostly won't find yourself getting jumped by a group anyway. In any case, it's always better if you can protect yourself.
Join Magnagora the folks here are frindly, helpful, and really kick arse when it comes to being an Empire. Lots and lots of arse. 
And we aren't pure evil like the lil' girly (no offence ment to women) Elves and Paladins will tell you. At least I don't think we are... I know my character and his pals aren't, but most of us are real ugly, Orclach or Viscanti though. I'm the only Human in my small circle of friends. So you can join the wussie little Elves or Merians or you can join the glorious Engine of Taint and destruction. 
There is also a small group of aboriganl dark Faeish people who live in a place called Glomdoring, I'm not sure if they're that great, we don't seem to be very good mates anymore after they rejected our protection...
My advice is, note that you shouldn't take it, join Magnagora! @_@
And we aren't pure evil like the lil' girly (no offence ment to women) Elves and Paladins will tell you. At least I don't think we are... I know my character and his pals aren't, but most of us are real ugly, Orclach or Viscanti though. I'm the only Human in my small circle of friends. So you can join the wussie little Elves or Merians or you can join the glorious Engine of Taint and destruction. There is also a small group of aboriganl dark Faeish people who live in a place called Glomdoring, I'm not sure if they're that great, we don't seem to be very good mates anymore after they rejected our protection...My advice is, note that you shouldn't take it, join Magnagora! @_@
