This isn't a thread calling for the destruction of alliances, first off.

The alliances you all have here make no sense to me. For instance, Glomdoring and Celest are allies. Serenwilde and Magnagora are allies.

From what I've gathered, Glomdoring is supposed to be a "tainted forest." Celest hates the taint. Magnagora is all about taint, while Serenwilde is the only forest to survive the taint wars, and disgusted with civilization because they blame them for the taint. Am I completely wrong, or do the alliances simply make no sense at all?

If it is as mind-boggling as I think, should something be done to rearrange alliances?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

So a long time ago, that's how it was.

And then someone got the bright idea to figure out how to unbind Raziela after the forests cooperated temporarily to bind her. And it turns out to do so, the cities had to go to war with the forests. And the forests got wind of this and decided they didn't like this and made a truce and hit first.

And so you have forests against cities.

And then the cities finally unbound Raziela and Mag went on a rampage in Faethorn.

And then Seren and Glom got into a pissing match and Glom started beating on Seren and Seren joined the city camp.

And then the Celest got tired of being beat on by Glom and called it quits and shacked up with Glom.

And sometime in all of this Gaudiguch and Hallifax popped out. And all the Gloms and fish joined Hallifax and all the Mags and Serens joined Gaudi.

And THEN Hallifax thought they weren't getting a fair deal and switched sides. But they kept raiding Gaudi.

So Gaudi got pissed and joined the other team too. And there you go.

I further note that Celest has a history of cooperation with Glom. If we go wayyyyyyyyyyy back, like ancient history back, Celest fought a war with Seren. And since Mag wasn't going to pass up the chance to screw over Celest, then joined in on the Seren side. But since you had to get your potions from SOMEWHERE, and Seren wasn't selling, Celest went with Glom.

No mention of XI.... fail!

I thought the cities finally unbound Raziela and Mag goes on a rampage pretty much covered it.

Judging from lore and such, Serenwilde has no reason to ally with anyone, really. But, yeah, that doesn't work so well.

Yeah, the lore provides reason for absolutely everyone to hate everyone else for various reasons. Looking at things and saying 'Glom is sort of taintly (though wyrd != taint for a lot of people) and Celest is against it, so they should never ally" is way oversimplifying things, even taking out player politics.

No, Glomdoring is not a "tainted forest".

There is also history as to how the alliances ended up arriving to be so. Thankfully, the game isn't static and at least some things are player-influenced.

Razenth:

So a long time ago, that's how it was.

And then someone got the bright idea

Hehehee.

Anyway. I feel like everyone is theoretically open to alliance shifts but always hesitant to act on them. Glomdoring and Celest are very comfortable at this point, having worked through or past most of the little issues that can cause people to want to throw their hands up and abandon an alliance. We've each supported each other during periods of comparative weakness, and we're just accustomed to each other now. Ideologically, you can make most things fit, and we have found our niche.

That being said, and as much as I love our fishy friends, I do wish there were more opportunities for shift. I feel like I am always saying that. I just think it would be fun if the option to make major changes came up... ever. Comfortable is okay but boring, I think a lot of people feel that way. Plus, our new people could do with a little grief. Builds character.

Vadi:

No, Glomdoring is not a "tainted forest".

I... yes. That's what I said in my post. Only a few people cling to that idea, and it's generally accepted as not true.

Celeste would like to reform the Empire (read: take everyone else over), Hallifax would like to bring everyone into Harmony (read: take everyone else over), Magnagora would like to take everyone else over, then Taint them, Serenwilde wants return the untainted cities to nature, and wipe out Magnagora and Glomdoring (read: take some of them over, and kill the rest), Glomdoring wants to take everyone else over, then coat it in Wyrd, and Gaudi wants to annoy everyone or something.

Everyone has reason to hate/distrust everyone else. The alliance are strictly convinence/nessesity.

Gaudiguch wants to liberate everyone. Which is exactly like taking over, except without the part you change all of the laws around.

Hallifax exists to build a giant laser time-cannon to remove Gaudiguch from past, present, and future.

(I guess there is some of that Harmony thing, but seriously, time-cannon.)

We just want to make everyone pretty :(

And yeah, the current alliances aren't really led by ideologies, but by personal vendettas, enemy-enemy-friend, and convenience.

Speaking from a strictly realistic perspective (non-theoretical-- not 'who believes what'), Serenwilde allied with Mag out of pure necessity. The offer was, 'We'll protect your Ethereal Forest for you, at no real cost to you' (see: 'We need potions'), which was too good an offer to pass up. It's all in the IMC news, conveniently. The only reason Seren allied with Mag was because Seren was incapable of defending itself. It's made clear in the IMC newsposts-- the IMC of the time HATED the Taint, but was willing to make a deal with the devil to save their forest.

So, looking purely at the current situation, I would agree that the alliances no sense. But the alliances must be taken in context. Yes, Seren 'hates' the Taint. But there's no incentive (read: Nobody's getting griefed SO HARD that they have NO CHOICE but to seek and accept help) to change alliances, so they won't change.

That said, that doesn't mean there aren't individuals who want to see change. On the converse; many folks want to see change. But an equally-large number don't want to deal with the stress of shifting alliances, don't want to 'lose'. You need something like a 75% majority of 'real' Orgmembers (people who will complain at you) in each guild to actually force an alliance change. So while, say, 75% of Spiritsingers support messing with alliances, the Hartstone don't. Which means that alliances won't shift, currently.

(It's a game! It's OK to lose every once and a while, especially if, by losing, you make the game more fun/interesting!)

In summary: No incentive/org-wide motivation to change alliances exist, currently. Org alliances driven by necessity, not RP.

Glom and Celest have a long history of cooperation, especially with their Patrons. Check out the lore around Lady Isune, Lady Viravain, and the creation of the Wyrd.

Clearly it is time for hai'Gloh Zemordia / Xion Initiative 2.0 : Maeve B-slaps Nifilhema.

There's also the seething OOC hatred that consumes players v players (not characters). I for one won't adore working with the BFF of the guy who screwed over our event quest using an alt. ;)

Correction: Celest-Glom have a long history of trying to cooperate. ;) ;)

Romertien:

You need something like a 75% majority of 'real' Orgmembers (people who will complain at you) in each guild to actually force an alliance change. So while, say, 75% of Spiritsingers support messing with alliances, the Hartstone don't. Which means that alliances won't shift, currently.

This is the only thing I disagree with. Frankly, if 75% of all players were actually so passionate about things, Lusternia would be... different. All you need is the vocal minority, or the guiding hand, in any org, to step up and make the call. Even if there are some ruffled feathers, the vast majority of people will simply accept a well-explained change delivered in an authoritative tone. There are always dissenters, but usually the people who really care will still be pulling for their org overall, and go with the flow as required.

We should totally have an event that makes every org hate all other orgs, totally.

Clearly it is time for hai'Gloh Zemordia / Xion Initiative 2.0 : Maeve B-slaps Nifilhema.

There's also the seething OOC hatred that consumes players v players (not characters). I for one won't adore working with the BFF of the guy who screwed over our event quest using an alt. ;)

Correction: Celest-Glom have a long history of trying to cooperate. ;) ;)


Wouldn't that be disastrous with 4 cities against 2 Communes? Unless... we're gonna leave out Hallifax and Gaudi to duke it out themselves.