So, I know we don't have enough players to bring out Hallifax yet, but we're getting there with Kongregate. Not to mention the alt-storm that would happen. But regardless, Hallifax has Continuum as their Cosmic Realm. Why not have it be machine-based? Hallifax seems to be technology heavy, with all that Lucidian and Trill brainstorming. It could work.

They could be the tenders of the Continuum, fixing it constantly and repairing all the damages to keep Hallifax afloat. They could have crystal-based machines as their archangels. Their Celestials could be huge Crystal Kings. Depending on which kind of crystal the Guardians use in their machines would change the pet's attacks, like bonding to a Demon Lord. Their symbol could be a crystal wrench. And so on.

Not to mention... a wonderful plot could be attributed to the battle between Technology (Hallifax) and Spirituality (Gaudiguch). These things are seperate from the Heaven/Hell aspects of Celestia and Nil, so we won't get one city siding with the 'good' side or the 'evil' side. It would be a great mechanic, and having those cities on the political landscape would add a lot of depth and truly change the current two-sided struggle in favor of a more dynamic political way.

it would be unbalanced if we brought out two new cities, we'd have all four ganging up on the two communes

Not necessarily. Those cities could just as easily ally with a commune. Besides, they're basically free from all bad blood with any org since they've been frozen in time - so everyone will be working to build alliances with them right off the bat. Drama! Politics!

Except that they'd have to be governed by existing players, so the bad blood would go with them

Well who told the communes to piss off the cities?

Maeve.

Oh, so it's automatically the commune's fault? This is exactly the attitude I mean. God I hate you people

What? Dude, I don't know what you're talking about. Magnagora and Glomdoring are fine with each other as far as I know. And this has absolutely nothing to do with Hallifax. Besides, if people migrated to the new cities, there would be people from every city/commune there so bad blood would be mutable. Further, Hallifax wouldn't just go after communes. That would be stupid, and I'm sure whoever the ambassador is would realize this. A city that's just starting off wouldn't start a war, and even when they do - they would be just as likely to go after cities as well as communes.

And wasn't I just talking about creating a plot between Gaudiguch and Hallifax? They would be the ones at odds with each other, and would be vying for alliances to meet this goal. Not attacking communes.

I actually would love for them to bring back the cities. Let the players slowly ( very slowly ) find a way to bring back one ... frozen in time. Players cannot "move in" to the frozen city, and all mobs are "frozen" and you are unable to interact with any of them. Be moving through the city and have things of birds frozen in mid flight and flames on fires stopped in mid-blaze. Give the players a hint of the cities, but not disrupt the balance yet. Heck, make an honors quest to where the city unfreezes for a moment. If and when it is decided to bring them in, make it into a big drawn out event.

Mag is the tech-heavy one. Hallifax would be more Confucian with their Continuum and the angelish things up there serving as a Celestial bureaucracy.



Hallifax floats because of Aeromancy. The Aeromancers would likely be in charge of keeping the city afloat.



Likewise, Vortex, as far as I can tell, is about rainbow colored meat trees and dogs with lizard heads. Celestia and Nil are only Heaven and Hell superficially.

We've been given exposition on what Gaudiguch is like (Project Tuchstone, the transformations, etc.), but what about Hallifax? Not much from my knowledge. Crystal Spires, the Matrix, Aeromancers and..whatever their cosmic people are.

Fat Buddha looking things sitting on clouds. The Supermobs look like Vishnu.

@Greleag: I always thought that it was Trill and Lucidian Technology that brought Hallifax into the clouds. Yeah, Magnagora is the Engine of Transformation, and the overtones of Pollution and such are evident. But in Hallifax, technology would seem to be much more flowing and balanced. Crystal based technology, kind of like Lemuria in New Age philosophy. It would have to be some kind of Trill Aeromancy obviously, but utilizing the crystal technology of the Lucidians. A harmony between Technology and the skies. And I like the idea of Buddhist and Hindu ideals in Hallifax. Oddly, most of the highest quality natural crystals come from Tibetan mines which is so high up in the mountains and above the clouds. It fits perfectly for the Guardians to maintain the crystal-based technology in the Continuum for their Celestials/Demon Lords as Engineers.

And let's not forget the different paths of finding enlightenment. There are left-handed paths that involve self torture and flesh-eating as well as the right handed paths that value meditation and destruction of the ego. These could be represented by different Celestials/Demon Lords, like Quartz for the right handed path, and Onyx for the left handed path. It wouldn't be too hard to expand these into different Lords and paths for the Guardians to follow. There's hundreds of types of Tantra and Yoga on Earth. Five shouldn't be a problem for Lusternia. Further, making these different paths to the peak of the same mountain less centralized in concepts of 'good' or 'evil' will make the people of Hallifax less likely to side with Celest or Magnagora on pure principle, and have their politics based on real events IG instead.

Unfortunately, Technology (Hallifax) vs Spirituality (Gaudiguch) seems to not work as well as I thought. Maybe instead... enlightenment vs empowerment?

Always seen it as order versus disorder.

Order VS Chaos. Mmmm, chaos.


We would totally steal Morgy to Gaudiguch.

I for one, did not see Hallifax as eastern/buddhist at all. The Lucidians from the game's Taint War history appear to be heavily western/greek empiricists, skeptics, and scientists. In their dialogue during the assault on Fire, the Lucidians constantly hush their Trill allies and insist they put their emotions aside, in a very Vulcan-esque tone, it seemed.

Dairuchi and its spiritualism on the other hand, has a very distinct touch of twisted Zen. Instead of clearing their minds of thought and feeling for introspection, they drink of it heavily to obtain enlightenment!

Nope.

law/chaos != order/disorder

That's always been a untruth that trips up many a roleplayer.

Psh, my view is obviously not anyone else's!

Not sure where you get Buddhist for Hallifax. That philosophy fits in much more with Gaudiguch (note their spiritual leaders). If you want to look at Eastern philosophical parallels, Hallifax would be much more suited with Confucianism (indeed, that was an inspiration). And just because they live in the clouds and are scientists, does not necessarily mean they're all that 'enlightened'--note their extremely rigid caste system and practice of slavery.

Just look to the domoths for the answer, young Padawan!