Keep in mind that non-merians in Celest are considered second class citizens

No they're not...

Have you been to Celest? They segregate the non-merians

No, have you been to Celest? Of the six on the Star Council, only one is a merian.

When I was a Celestian, Merian Supremacy was a constant issue

When I started playing, Thoros griefed Mags as a Celestine. Oh right, how long ago was that?

Wow, even on the forums, the Serens spring to defend Celest
/sarcasm

Arix has a point, though it isn't that extreme anymore. And I know how much Charisma helps. I also know that you can influence just fine with mid range charisma. Because, you know what? I don't think he should choose race and guild solely based on how much Charisma he gets. You can win influence "fights" with 13 base charisma, and that is the important part.

I wasn't complaining about the Merian Supremacy issue, it led to some nice RP down the road, but it was there, and it apparently is still there but not as prevalent

Personally. I'd say Celest can be divided up in four tiers.

1st tier: Merians.

2nd tier: Everyone else.

3rd tier: Faeling, Furrikin, Tae'Dae.

Lowest-killed-on-sight tier: Visanti, Illithoid.

I've been in Celest since beta and never experienced this whole "merian supremacy" deal...and i've never been merian so slightly confused..Unless once again i'm missing a joke!

I think it's one of those things that's there, but no one pays attention to it. When Noola was in Celest, she certainly had no 'second class citizen' problems and she's Trill, not Merian. Other alts I've had in Celest have never had issues and they've been various other races. There's certainly potential for it though, considering that if you walk around the city, you can see there's definitely segregation going on as far as the way the city is written with the housing of different races and everything. Celest even keeps their poor people outside city walls! Most of the players just don't bother with it unless you're viscanti or illithoid.

By the way, there's no "Good" or "Evil" characters/orgs in this game. Which is wonderful.

Currently, Spiritsinger Wild Elfen is the best influencer, especially if you're a Talnara. Having PaleBeauty and NatureRhythm also is very nice.

The Ancestral effects of songs and other Domoths which support elfen/Serenwilde/Spiritsingers and a reasonable amount of int/constitution compared to faelings also make us quite good hunters.

We also have awesome people

Thank you so much for the replies!

Getting back on topic, and excuse me if I am off on any of these points, but I am most likely now leaning towards and Human or Trill, and thinking either guardian or mage based.

Is Mage way off base for the original question/idea? (I know can technically do it, but is it not the most helpful thing in the world? )

As far as sides/ political lines, while Trill are welcome anywhere, are they more regularly seen in Celeste, with Mag being more of a 'crossed over' Trill, or am I reading too much into the angelic appearance? Assuming Trill or Human Celestine/Nihilist/Aqua/Geo Is there any one combo that is more unusual or more useful (Either along RP lines or power lines?)

If you had to pick the top 2 combos out of those 8, what would they be (again, based on usefulness for the concept OR for RP purposes. I dont mind a slightly inferior character that has a unique presence)

Are any of those combo NOT particularly useful for this influence/rp idea? (Just logistically more difficult.. I know you can technically do whatever you want).

Im just really looking for something a lil challenging Rp-wise, but also something a little bit different, without going against the political grain TOO much, and without leaving myself gimped down the road.


Again, I know that I know next to nothing about the history and 'battle lines' around here, and I really appreciate how helpful everyone has been in laying out the physical/political scope and structure of the world. Shows a lot about the player base. :-)

You're reading too much into the angelic appearance - Trill are, currently, a purely neutral race. According to the Histories they're aligned with Hallifax, the Air city, which is currently lost in time.

EDIT: And pure trill have no hair, only feathers. Half-breeds (generally with humans) can have hair, though, and are probably more common.

From what you've said that you wanted. I'd go with human Celestine or Nihilist. Trill has been overdone in the Celestines, seems like half of all our newcomers nowadays are Trill. Guardians have the advantage of the populus chant, which will help increase your charisma by one, and if you are lucky, Fortuna can increase it even further. Netzach will also give you a boost, and both Mages and Guardians must take Highmagic where Netzach is. Of course, Trill have FAR superior charisma, so there is that to consider. Really, none of the choices are bad. Each class get some bonus to influencing in some way, so it all comes down to this. Do you want to have wings, or more experience? Do you want to create stormy weather and soothing mist, or create earthquakes and pits? Do you want to play with the angels, or force demons into submission? Regardless of what you choose, choose it because it looks fun.

Of course, there are also bards, who have BardicPresence (+2 Charisma) and Roulade, which heals ego.

To answer one of your questions Tiesor.

You could play a magi class (aquamancer in this example). Aquamancers can flood the terrain and clear the taint from it. Or the opposite and go around to spread the taint. One drawback, you don't get any exp for it. Cleaning and/or spreading the taint is always needed.

Dugan.

Excellent. These is EXACTLY the type of information I'm looking for! :-)

Of course, one thing to bear in mind is that if you go Druid or Mage, you'll have lots of people yelling at you to come to the defense of... anywhere to create a demesne. Mage classes are probably the hardest pacifist classes because they are expected to make a demesne and keep it running during raids.