Oh and i forget who brought this up and who shot them down but here's a lil quote from the histories to prove a point from the mini Hijack:

“No!” snapped the High Priestess of the Moon. “Serenwilde will not ally with Celest. We will never trust Celest again. I have told you what we will do. You are welcome to come to the safety of the Serenwilde but do not expect us to help any city ever again.”


So ya people are supposed to ate others, and they distrust them, or whatever's going on now *extra complicated, just like real life* so if/when they do come back even if their supposed to hate each other if doesn't mean they will... course their decendands have been murdering each other for awhile, so i geuss that helps...

Oh, but Syrienne's right wouldn't more Race Specilizations be cool? Trill get +1int +2 something and + something something and become.. *makes stuff up* Feathered trill, when they become Aeromancers... ooh and the plane of Air would be ONLY air, no ground, so you'd need to fly, and the aeromancer Mances would only be in the air... and their city is in the air too... oooh so many items so little time I've REALLY got to run now!

I just thought I'd put it here so it would be easier for you to find.

Trill aren't already feathered, like wingless chicken?

Our daily peak of simultaneously on-line people usually hovers around 100, a little below or a little above. 81 to 113 would be the extremes.

For me it depends on whether Hallifax will come out of the bubble feeling like no time has passed, with the same people in it as did the things they did in the Taint Wars.

If it does, yes, I will hold against them what they did, because they did it.

If it doesn't, no, I won't hold against them what their distant ancestors did, because they didn't do it, their ancestors did.

Is that really so hard?

Hallifax and Gaudiguch won't be good or evil. Most likely, they'll be lawful and chaotic, much like Ashtan and Hashan in Achaea. So while they'll probably fight each other constantly, they'll be neutral about Celest and Magnagora. It is likely that we'll have Serenwilde-Celest-Hallifax against Magnagora-Glomdoring-Gaudiguch, but not necessarily. As for Ackleberry, they would be either neutral or good, but would keep to themselves either way.

I can't stand how you all just simplify it like that.
NOT LAWFUL AND CHAOTIC.
At least I hope it won't be reduced to that utterly simple and boring concept.

Go play D&D.

Why does everyone assume that 'lawful' Hallifax would ally with Celest or Serenwilde as some part of a 'good' axis? Hallifax is the most likely to interefere with others "for their own good", as well as having no problem with keeping slaves as part of a strict social order. Hallifax is also probably the most pragmatic of all the cities and would have no qualms about switching alliances based on who is the most powerful. Gaudiguch, on the other hand, has a more of a "live and let live" philosophy with freedom being the highest ideal (although Gaudiguch is also more unstable, malleable and fluctuating). Remember, it was only the Empire at the time that kept them in check.

That's like asking why Celest and Serenwilde are on friendly terms... Serenwilde (according to history) is supposed to hate city dwellers, yet they don't seem to really care. Same concept - Hallifax just kind of "fits" into the good people side, while Gaudiguch seems to fit in better with Glom/Mag. It's what the players decide to do, and it depends on their perception. People get lazy and through various other reasons, they dumb down a city's foundation to "good" or "evil." Glomdoring and Magnagora more closely resembles evil from a neutral standpoint (dark city/forest, harsh, etc). Celest and Serenwilde resembles the "good" side more from a neutral standpoint (snuggly wuggly, the "Light/Forest", etc). Therefore, I also think that Hallifax (up in the sky, trill people are nice, they have wings and stuff) will go with Celestwilde, and Gaudiguch (mean, harsh, dragonish, fire breathing people, violent maybe?) will go with Magnadoring.

It could be the other way around as well.
Hallifax is based on science and logic, so they can analyze the Taint and come to conclusion it's mindless tool they can use and make research on it. Gaudiguch, relying more on prejudices and impressions, will be afraid of Taint and refuse to have to deal with it.

Reading through the histories, Hallifax seems a much more brutal and violent place than Gaudiguch. At one point, a member of the Celestine Empire out-and-out says that, although their descriptions appear to infer what Nine Breaker stated, Hallifax were nontheless the "troublemakers" of the Empire (troubling the Angkrag Mine, insulting Gaudiguch, and even starting the fight with 'em).

If anything, I'd expect Hallifax to ally with Magnagora (though possibly with a dislike of Glomdoring, due to the disorder that "infesting" suggests).

I could be wrong, and Estarra correct me if I'm wrong, but the design is that there would be no alliances. If we all stuck to the history, no one would be allying with anyone.

If that were true, the game would be much more interesting.

You are absolutely correct. Hallifax did have a highly developed aesthetic sense which manifested in breathtakingly beautiful architecture and people. But beauty is skin deep. They felt they knew what was best for everyone and had no compunctions with trying to enforce their will on others. Note they tried to take Angkrag from the dwarves simply because they needed its resources more and thus felt that in the order of things, that was reason enough for them to take it.

I think some people have the perception that 'neutral' means leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. Nothing could be further from the case as far as Hallifax is concerned, though an argument can be made that this is how Gaudiguch operates.

People are people, and politics is politics. Of course we expected alliances to come and go. But, yes, the history is there for a guide.

If only players gave a wit about a role beyond what serves them best for the game, eh?

"It could be the other way around as well.
Hallifax is based on science and logic, so they can analyze the Taint and come to conclusion it's mindless tool they can use and make research on it. Gaudiguch, relying more on prejudices and impressions, will be afraid of Taint and refuse to have to deal with it. "

view background Yasthane

Except that going for what serves you best is in most cases valid roleplay. There are always fanatics who have an ideal they consider more important than their own benefit or even survival, but they're usually a minority.

The "Alliance" between Celest and Serenwilde does make IC sense. They both feel their facing a terrible and powerful enemy (The taint) and their willing to put aside old hatreds to fight it.

Where good roleplay comes in is that should only last so long as the taint is big and threatening, as soon as either side figures it can resist the taint no it's own, things should fall apart.

Umm... that history doesn't make sense. There was no Glomdoring or Taint before the Kethuru's invasion. Viscanti didn't exist as well, same with orcs.

The second coming of Kethuru, when he took over Viravain, is what is being referred to. I think.