Kinda makes me wonder, how often are the Seals gonna weaken? I mean, obviously not all the time or very often. Once or twice a RL year? Every other RL year? Something like that?

But, the file says that Ascendants are higher than Demigods. And Estarra said that Ascendants might come out with extra fancy powers too, so they're gonna be more God-like than Demigods are.

I think Ayridion did a great job--we even offered him an admin god position after his first year was up. However, this wasn't something he wanted to pursue and he requested to be a player. Being a god is not for everyone, there's a lot of time on your hands, you aren't "chummy" with players as you once were (though you get close to other gods), you feel constantly underappreciated, and there's a certain objective perspective you need to take that is difficult to maintain.

For player gods, we were hoping to come up with a god system that was interesting for them to keep them in that role, and yet contained so as not to be abusive to players or require constant oversight. Anyway, though we've tossed around ideas and systems, in the end we decided it was an neat idea that would unfortunately not work for us.

This sounds like a kickass idea in general. I'm really interested to see where this goes from a storyline perspective.

I think you raise a good point. You can't really expect players to play forever, it's just not possible. Lives change in ways that can't possibly be predicted. I could see the arguments for and against, but when it comes down to it, I don't think it hurts the organization to have a 'shift' ability. Obviously said ability would be closely monitored as it would be a big event. I think it could cost power (but yes, not 1 million), and people would be fine with it. Bottom line that I see: It wouldn't hurt the playerbase to allow the shifting (regulated by patrons, which won't take up much time as the patron should know whether their VA is inactive ), and it would certainly make them happy. Where's the harm?

Then why bother with the initial 1 million power? It doesn't make sense that you pay it once and then never again, just shift "it" around indefinitely. Also, I strongly dislike the idea of "shifting" ascendancy. You either raise an ascendant or you don't.

I don't like the idea of shifting.

1 million power can be raised again - it should be expensive, and it should be a risk. If you want to raise someone new, you'll have to raise 1 million more power. That's not an unheard-of amount - Serenwilde has 1.8 million now, and we rarely if ever lose power. I am guessing that most organizations well be around at least 2 mil power before anyone is raised, which means it probably won't even affect power use or consumption for anyone.

Well, what about, if the person goes inactive, being able to remove their ascendancy, with or without cost, so that the city/commune can consider raising another vernal ascendant?

Very very true.

I personally wouldn't want to take a Vernal Ascendant - I want to retain the freedom to take extended breaks (something I'll be able to do whenever I resign Prince - not until then!)

Why's one million such a big deal? Just out of curiosity. I mean, every org has that much, more or darn close to it now, don't they? In other threads, people mentioned that having the reward of org power wasn't a big deal because every org had so much power already that power was like blah... well, this would make power a big deal again, wouldn't it?

What is that power for if not to use? Just to grow and grow and say you have the most? I'm not saying it's not a lot of power, cause it totally is, but is it really a prohibitively large amount? Really?

so what about the gods, which ones are sticking around?

Also, I'd like to start a petition to ensure that Kalodan never ascends, kthxbai

I have to say as well that Ayridion really exceeded any expectations we had for the player god we would end up with after Ascension. We would have been hard pressed to ask for Ascension to turn out any better than it did, but that doesn't discount the obvious failings in the player god system which we were using.

In the end, we decided why re-write the system? Lusternia is a vibrant and complex game, and the player gods (or Ascendants, as they are now) should benefit from that and play an integral role within the established player communities, rather than play a completely different (and inevitably, due to the development time involved, simplified) version of Lusternia as a player god.

You're not a Seren, you don't get to vote!

I think we Serens should go in this order: Kalodan, then Krellan, then Ialie. If only Xoxo were still around, he would be topping off my list.



I agree from the player perspective. I have to say, even from an OOC perspective I didn't want to support Soll to ascend, but Ayridion proved to be absolutely amazing. He held plenty of fun events and RPd a god well. Good job, and welcome back to the player base Soll/Ayridion/Ilyarin/whatever other random nicknames we want to call you!

You're right. RP-wise, it doesn't make sense. I have faith in the administration to come up with a creative rationale as to why it can be shifted if it comes to it.

As far as the other argument: Shifting should cost something. I didn't mean to imply that it shouldn't. Ascendancy should also definitely be lost if the VA loses access to the nexus, I don't think that should be changed, but if we raise a VA and then the next day their dies in a car crash and forces said VA to become head of household, completely eliminating his play time, on top of the lower morale due to the loss of player, it's certainly a huge hit for the organization, burning them for being affected by something they couldn't possibly foresee. I'm not saying the admin should be held responsible for all terrible things to occur in the world, but with proper regulation I could see having this option could make the playerbase, plain and simply, a lot happier.

Granted, I'm not saying this is dire, nor urgent, nor needs to be addressed immediately, I'm just asking that it not be pushed off the table quite yet. It seems reasonable to me and seems like it would be a good precautionary tool for organization/playerbase morale, without a downside (provided we could come up with a sufficient RP rationale.)

At the moment, and this is obviously based upon nothing but speculation, the VA would have to either quit the organization or be outcitizened to lose VA. Is your trepidation based on the thought that neither of those will probably occur with a VA, and therefore the 1 mil will never be spent again, just shifted from player to player? That's a reasonable concern, IMO, but it seems just as unlikely to happen (again, with CONSTANT VIGILANCE *ahem*) as them being outcitizened/quitting the org.

On the other hand, if this had been out originally, I can imagine Magnagora making Daevos VA, and that would have been, what, a 3 year tenure? More than enough time to gain more than a million power.

So.. You're right, it's not a necessity, it would merely be a bit of kindness.

Food for thought, and no more. I think you will and have handle(d) the situation excellently, regardless.

I would like to second Estarra's words concerning Ayridion. It was great working with you, we love you, and thank you for all the good times! Wishing you all the best as an Ascendant.

I think it would work well if maybe an ascended god, if they leave or give up the position or what have you, has some of their essence "drained" back into the nexus as power. Not a huge amount, maybe 100K or something small. (Or maybe they could convert their essence into power whenever they feel like it, not at an equal exchange though.)

It would be really unfortunate if, say, Mary Sue is an awesome roleplayer and member of an organization, and they decide to have her ascend and vote for it. A couple of weeks later, something really unexpected happens and Mary Sue is no longer able to play. At that point I don't think it's fair to just say, oh well, that organization should have thought their choice through more.

I think the idea is awesome. It could start some really cool RP with Vernal gods and cults.

However...who do you think cities will choose as their Vernal Gods? It will be the people are that already influential and heavy hitters for the city/commune. Undoubtedly good combatants. it will people like Thoros and Forren, though I have no idea if they would accept it...I assume Forren wouldn't. I just don't want to see Lusty turn into achaea where the game revolves around a very small, elite player base.

Anywho, that's my two cents. I hope the admins can work it out cause it sounds like an amazing idea.

Now this is a good idea.

I wonder what happens when a mortal (i.e. not a titan or demigod) is raised to an Ascendant. I am guessing they would be promoted to level 100 immediately for statistics in addition to gaining the powers of a demigod, which makes it very worthwhile for non-demigods to compete for.

I hope the organizations hold competitions and such or at least a referendum to determine the best option rather than just picking someone at random. This mechanic could turn into a lot of fun!

I can see Kaervas doing this.

Anyways, looks good! Thanks admin!