No, as much as you'd like to believe Hallifax was evil and would ally with Magnagora, it's highly unlikely that will happen. Throughout history, they've had many attempts to thwart the Taint they have come to detest. Remember the people inside Hallifax are frozen, not dead.

And yes, it would suck if the realm became a lame 3 on 3. Adding two new concept societies would provide the needed depth that Lusternia is lacking right now.

Commenting on 'evil' or whatever I'll leave to someone else, but there is a key fact that is not taken into account with your statement, the taint that Hallifax was against/tried to stop from reaching their city during their time is not the same as the taint of today, the taint of their time stopped being what it was that they knew when they and the other were severed from the normal flow of time, the act of which seperated Kethuru and his will from the taint. Whether Hallifax and such would continue to dislike it or study it and be interested is a matter for another debate, but to simply assume that they would outright deny it after being informed it is significantly changed from what it was, without studying it or some such, is not logical in my opinion

I guess they would study it, study the success of Magnagora and find a creative way to increase their power thanks to the taint without becoming twisted tainted things with feelings.
Wich could be obtained by enslaving Magnagora and making them work for hallifax benefit.

I never said Halli was evil, however Hallifax WOULD ally to whomever would PROVIDE THE MOST BENEFIT for Hallifax. Hallifax cares only about itself, and thus it wouldn't want to put itself into a less-than-suitable position. That could mean anything, really. That could mean "Hey, lets ally" or "Lets be isolationist" or even "Lets crush the f--- out of everyone!"

Halli in theory and Halli run by players are not necessarily the same

Like Narsrim said, no one wants another boring ass alliance war.

Yes, the Taint has changed since Hallifax's time, yes it will be studied, yes tainted and non-tainted alike will be let in as long as they can "play nice", and I'll not be a member of any city or commune if it turns into Ally Wars. Who wants that? I could be wrong about any of my statements, but it is what I would strive to achieve, and I know there are others who would strive for the same. The cities are player run, and although something could come along and force their hand, as in everytime an Aeromancer uses a feat a baby could die and Serenwilde could spontaneously combust, for the most part, the players will choose the direction of the city.

No matter how many factions exist, any war will turn into just "two sides" unless there is no contact between some of the factions.

I was having this discussion with someone about America and its "two party system" and someone was saying that the founders never even imaged that it would only be two parties. Anyway, at the end of the discussion it was agreed that you will always have two major factions, and people will either join one side or the other or break off contact.

That's BS - there have always been two parties. Always. All the way back to the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

Yeah thats what I said. They said that federalists and anti-federalists wheren't parties, they were just two sides of a debate. Like pro-life and pro-death. or pro-choice and pro-nochoice.

But anyway, the only way that Halifax or Guadiaugh won't make it just a larger aliance war is if they decide to never get villages and just stare at thier pretty spires.

Canada has a successful mulit party government. All with very different beliefs and ideals. There are approximately 4-5 major parties in Canada.

I think the only reason Glomdoring ended up sided with Magnagora was because when it was first brought in, it had both Celest and Serenwilde as enemies. (Though Serenwilde and Glomdoring did try that whole treaty thing to cease hostilities..didn't exactly work out) Not to mention Magnagora was all but peeing on it in an attempt to claim it as territory. (But again, that's pretty much what they should have done, because until then they had been on the losing side of an equation, whereas it is more or less equal with the weaker communities (Glom and Celest) each being more or less allies with a greater power (Magnagora and Serenwilde). If only Celest had gone against Glomdoring I don't think Glomdoring would have seen the need to make an alliance with Magnagora, or at least, they wouldn't have seen the need as strongly.

Edit: And for on topic's sake. I think Hallifax and Gaudiguch if/when they come out will try to start out like Glomdoring (Isolationist) but hopefully they will be able to pull it off better. Either that or solely against eachother only, and trying to keep it that way. But then again, we have one or more of the pre-existing communities trying to make a pact, or alliance, or something with the city that has the most in common idealistically with them. (I am 90% sure Glomdoring would not, but I don't know inner-city/commune politics for Celest, Magnagora, and Serenwilde) But the possibility is still there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Canada

According to that website there are basically only two parties that ever control the government of canada.

Here are the most recent Canadian election results:

Lib: 36.71%
Con: 29.61%
NDP: 15.69%
BQ: 12.40%

Those are the four major parties after the second largest and third largest parties merged together. As you can see votes are spread out nicely.

The thing is - will it happen?

When Glomdoring came out, lots of people were like "We don't wanna become Magnagora's bitch!" That didn't really stop it from happening, did it?

A three way conflict is very unstable. It will break down into 3v3 just because thats so much easier for people to understand and work with.

What should happen doesn't always happen, sadly. But what do I know - this is just speculation on my part.

Is that local or national?

From the websites I saw, Canada's national political struture is different than the local structures. And thats true in the U.S. Where I live in the most recent election it was:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_48..._Election,_2005

As you can see, the American Indepedant did better than the Democratic party.

Nationally, we have tons. Really, tons. Some are unheard of, some, like Liberals and Conservatives are well known. Theres the Separatists groups in Quebec, and probably in the other Provinces and Territories if you look closely enough. No organization, real life, or in game will ever satisfy all their people. While theres some of the main, dont forget about Green Peace, those dedicated to Social Rights and Care of the Planet.

Im missing a lot of groups, but really, I just havent payed that close attention to Politics in Canada until we get Elections. Even then, I cant vote so doesnt really matter.

I think Hallifax and Gaudiguch will be slightly different because Glomdoring had a direct enemy upon first forming, Serenwilde which was already a stable commune...

The way poltics works now, those two cities will also have natural enemies. If they are tainted, Serenwilde will hate them, if they are not, Magnagora will see them as a threat.

No, Dag... it doesn't have to be that way