The other day I was pondering all the IRE games and I came to a realization of them being related to a literal family. So in good humour, enjoy my interpretations thereof:

Imperian: Imperian is the father of the IRE family. He holds a degree in history and works at a museum or teaches at a University. In general, he's buried in research and work, so no one really thinks much of him. He seems to be very antiquated.

Lusternia: Lusternia is the mother of the IRE family. She fosters good will, and has a taste for gold, antiques, and the exotic. She also enjoys studying older cultures, and has a flare of Byzantine, Greek, Asian, or whatever else strikes her fancy at that time.

Achaea: Achaea is the star son of the IRE family. He plays football, and has a huge circle of friends. He parties on the weekends and has his fair share of beer. However, the poor bloke tends to be a bit brain dead, and the only reason he makes good grades in school is because he's so damned good at football.

Aetolia: Aetolia is the little brother to Achaea. In general, he can be seen wearing black, grays, and other darker colours. He has a small group of friends, and listens to The Cure and other similar bands almost constantly. He excels in school and makes almost straight A's, and despite his inverted nature, he's a bit narcissistic and grandiose at times, bordering slightly on megalomania.

That's pretty neat, anthropomorphizing the IRE games.

So Aetolia's the emo kid.

...

No offense to Aetolia or any emo kids out there. Just an observation.

It's true. In Aetolia, you have the option to become undead. Unlike here, it's a mostly permanent decision. So, there's two ways to do it. Both ways require your blood level be at %5 or below. The first option is to have a vampire suck out your blood till you're at that. The second option is to SLIT WRISTS with something sharp until you're at that.

EEEEEEEEMOOOOOOOOO

I believe Kante's statements are pretty accurate. Funny too, hee hee

But... but... but... Lusternia is the youngest! We're the baby!

This has been fixed.

Kante's was better. Almost looked like the atomic family.

I was going for a different sort of innuendo.

You're both pretty off about Imperian.

Imperian is more like the aging great-aunt the family shipped off to the decrepit nursing home, these days.

Imperian: Imperian is actually lazy, jobless nephew of the family - his actual parents foisted him upon Aetolia and Achaea (the mother and father) because they are too busy being on vacation to take care of him. He could not go on vacation because he has no job, no motivation, and no will to get a real education with which to get a vocation - so he had no money to buy tickets. He constantly craves parental attention because his parents are too busy playing video game consoles.

Lusternia: Lusternia is the quirky daughter of the IRE family. She is slightly odd, but in no way bad - in fact, her oddness is applauded as one of her most appealing traits. Lusternia is a great artist, an avid Pokemon enthusiast, and most of all enjoys any form of music thrown at her. She has a moderate circle of friends, and that's all her parents have ever asked of her. Despite this, she is always looking to include more people in her odd bouts of fun. Some of her teachers love her, some of them just cannot stand her.

Achaea: Achaea is the aging father of the IRE family. He married early in life but had kids later. Achaea was once an aspiring Olympic Fencing champion who desperate tries to expound upon the belief that you must try to succeed any dream you have. This lesson is often ignored by Imperian (who continues to live in the basement), and Lusternia tends to take it much more differently than it is intended. Despite all this, he is a caring father and pulls in a modest income as a local talk show host.

Aetolia: Aetolia is the aging mother of the IRE family. She was once grand, wild, and an aspiring History student. She fell short of her goals due to financial troubles and for quite a long time was clinically depressed. However, now she is back and better than ever, using motherhood as a wonderful outlet for her creative energy. Aetolia is a good mother, but she often likes to dress in black for no obvious reason - probably because she has her own quirky side too.

I can't help but notice that everyone depicts the other IRE games as variously worthless, and lusternia stands out as a shining star.

That's because it's true. Silly Isuka.

Well, I didn't care much for Imperian or Achaea, but Aetolia was fun. There are things I disliked and things I liked about it, just like Lusternia.

Example: I love the depth of combat (even though I get raped every time I try to fight) in Lusternia. I hate forging.

Achaea is a money-maker solely by virtue of its playerbase size, but a lot of people hate the whole "need to be a paralegal to understand the PK rules" and yeah, the massive playerbase can be a turn off.

Aetolia fills a vampire/"dark" RP niche, now that it isn't stuck in the hell of having a worthless producer. Again, the dark RP can be a turnoff.

Imperian is where Aetolia was a couple of years ago: stagnating because there is no decent development. The complete lack of communication is a big turn off. As is a lot of other stuff, but I won't bore you all with my bitterness :|

And the fact that Imperian doesn't really have a clear set of pk rules.

There are PK rules.

They're whatever the administration comes up with when it decides on issues every couple of months.

Having no PK rules is better than the Avenger System, sorry. I'd rather have PK be left up to RP reason than an actual mechanical system that prevents combat on prime or screws with defense.

Having no PK rules used to be Imperian's greatest strength, but the nature of humanity turned that strength in to a horrid, horrid weakness.