That depends upon your definition of 'need.'

If your definition of 'need' is 'must have or else our existence as an organization is in peril,' then no.

If your definition of 'need' is 'could have a lot of fun with this because it would be amazing,' then yes.

I always forget to capitalise "He" and "His" when dealing with Elostian -.-

Oh well.

No. EDIT: Or rather, I have a better idea.

Re valves: Yes, most annoying thing ever.

I feel bad about the idea of creating an alt. Serenwilde isn't going to recover and become tolerable again because even more people split their attention away from it, or leave it. But it's been more than an RL year during which all there is is the beatdown, and the brief breaks until someone decides to reinstate the beatdown, and I find other things calling more and more. I wish I didn't have to feel bad about it.

(Though, I do think about how Celest was so bad a year and a half ago, people were joking about the last person to leave turning out the Light -- oh wait, that was me joking about that -- and that seems to have led to it getting better. Maybe what Serenwilde needs is if its population gets cut down from its current very-few-people to being virtually no one, pissing on it will get boring enough that it'll be left alone, and thus gain a chance to recover like Celest did.)

That kethuru figurine was customized.

What I don't get about that is, every time it comes up... Serenwilde has the highest activity. You can check CULTURE to see that.

It may be different people, but it's pretty much always right up there, and every time you've made the "we're losing people" post I go to check Culture and Seren has the +100 point bonus.

Is it just that you're losing the people you interact with? Where's the disconnect between the mechanical activity of Serenwilde versus your perception? I'm honestly curious why there seems to be this huge gulf, where mechanically Serenwilde isn't losing much in the way of activity but it's being perceived as a huge drain-away.

Probably the old timers / fighters who have alted over to Gaudi is what he's talking about.

The active people aren't really the ones who do things.

Some of them try, though...!

Edit: Or rather, the people keeping the pop of Serenwilde high.

Well, I'd think that they're doing something that keeps other people engaged and happy to be there, or it wouldn't stay so high...

What are you classing as "things"?

Edward Cullen is obviously the appropriate Shavatt choice.

Talking to each other.

Some people might call them snugglers but I don't know what they do behind closed doors so don't ask me!

I operate under the sandwich theory of Lusternian politics.


On the outside, we have the bread which is the fighters and such. They protect the meat from the outside and generally help stop the sandwich from falling apart. The bread is like a day old and is very hard because of such, highly resists being bitten into.

Inside we have the grief meat. This is the role-players and such. If there is no bread, then they are the ones that get bitten into. The meat cannot handle being bitten into very often or much, but they are needed for the health of the org.

We also have the mayo. They have no strength against raids and are the really really worthless people. The ones who do nothing but aetherhunt, mudsecks, or complain about their skills. The mayo has been left out in the sun for a month and makes the whole sandwich suck when you have enough to where you can taste it.

Glomdoring is currently a sub sandwich.

Magnagora is a normal sandwich.

Celest is a normal sandwich where the bread has just been cut a bit too thin.

Hallifax is a pita.

Serenwilde is an open-face sandwich.

Gaudiguch is a jar of mayo with a piece of ham and bread stuck in it.

It's not that people aren't logged in; it's that they spend all their time the way a dog who's been beaten too much spends all his time, either bitching about the last raid, or silently twitching with dread while waiting for the next one. There's also a fair amount of yelling at each other about how all we need is better communication, the perennial group of happy-go-lucky people every nation always has who ignore anything about the nation other than the social club, and people hiding in manses. And then there's the perennial chasers of whatever IRE's scheme of the day is -- I think we're up to three days a week now that are designated for something or other? What little time is left is taken up with the crap-shoveling work of fixing whatever damage was done in yesterday's raid -- counterquests, destroying statues, planting trees, etc. (We've given up on village feelings, thankfully, or that'd be even more makework spread over too few people.)

We may have culture in the sense the score measures, which must be some kind of population thing, but it's the culture of a ward full of neurotic abuse victims waiting in between rounds of heavy artillery fire. There's no room in it for any fun or anything where I decide what I want to be doing today. Even when there's a lull in the raiding (and I appreciate that it's been relatively reduced recently) no one feels like they can count on it enough to do anything, or has the energy to do it even so.

There's also the fact that while we certainly have a constant stream of newcomers, most of the core people who have been the most fun to interact with have moved on or given up. It's not easy to form relationships with the new ones when they probably will move on too. A Starbucks probably has a lot more people doing a lot more activity than a small, local coffee-shop, because of the sheer movement of people through it, but you aren't going to make friends there.

I love that sandwich analogy.

I want an illithoid friend to play with in Hallifax.

Me too.

* * *

It bothers me a bit that being on the receiving end of continual raids from a superior force can ruin people's in-game life so badly, if Lendren's commentary is any indication. I suppose that's just how it goes, and I know the shoe was literally on the other foot not too long ago, but still....

Gaudiguch is currently too dominated by OOC cliques to care about its own atmosphere, raid defense, or the secret societies it's supposed to have within its borders.

Edit: Why does anyone in Serenwilde log on anymore?

Um... I felt bad about making a disposable Shofangi alt just to look up Psionics/Kata learning lines for Janalon, so I rolled a Serenguard alt. I've never had a warrior before, and now I've got Treant (mostly) working plus the free lessons for July and my Iron Elite membership this month. Why not?

eeh, it is more likely that the mob would sit around doing nothing. I don't think Hallifax has really had anyone do anything remotely close to executioner worthy punishment and I can only remember Banduri being used like... once.

Either way, jettisoning from the city seems... eeh. It's comical and all but I don't see the supreme justice handing down a verdict requiring such and the only way it works is if you incorporate some method for restricting flight.

sq w
Frosted forest in the Moonhart's silver mist.
The shadows have been gathered here. Looming high into the air, tendrils of darkness form an ominous black tower of shadows. The silvery leaves of a faebush gently billow in the wind. A hornbeam sapling clings tenaciously to the ground here. A beautiful sprite flitters here with a brilliant halo of white light illuminating her presence. A demure willowisp floats lazily in the air here, bound by shadows. Disciple of Eventide, Vadi Stormcrow is here, shrouded. He wields an athame dagger in his left hand and a batwing shaped shield in his right. Dawnstealer Albiorix Stormcrow, Seer of Death is here, shrouded. He wields an athame dagger in his left hand. Thul, the Wall of the Wyrd is here, shrouded. He wields a monstrous bear claw in each hand. Calesta is here, shrouded. He wields an athame dagger in his left hand and a silver and black steel spider web shield in his right. Sidd is here, shrouded. He wields a tenebrous katana with inlaid ivory with both hands. Fly Karem, Ward of the Wyrd is here, shrouded. He wields a silver ravenwood klangaxe with both hands.

(Serenwilde Elite Guard): Kreon says, "Chokers are Sidd, Calesta, and Vadi."


That's why not.