City Titles/Descriptions in Char Creation

This discussion was created from comments split from: Newbie Difficulties/Troubles/Concerns.
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ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD.

Comments

  • ShaddusShaddus , the Leper Messiah Outside your window.
    You can choose from the following factions:

    Cities:
             Celest (City of Light)        Magnagora (City of Evil)
             Gaudiguch (City of Chaos)     Hallifax (City of Order)

    Communes:
             Serenwilde (Neutral Forest)   Glomdoring (Dark Forest)



    :/
    Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
  • XenthosXenthos Shadow Lord
    I feel like "Winter Court" and "Summer Court" will confuse newbies way more.
    image
  • The original isn't confusing. It does, however, not do the cities and communes justice. Though if you insist, it could be changed to seelie and unseelie, though I don't think those terms have been used to describe fae in Lusternia.
    Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
  • ShaddusShaddus , the Leper Messiah Outside your window.
    Natural and Feral?
    Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
  • Well, in a way this is dumbing things down for the newbies, drawing on established stereotypes which, face it, the various orgs in Lusternia were originally based on. Certainly our game and our culture makes "Dark Forest" and "Neutral Forest" (and also the different "cities of ---") an entirely inadequate description, but for the true newbie, these stereotypes are decent enough to guide their first image of the orgs. As players, we can, and we should be the ones to, change that impression and perception as we ease the newbies into the game.

  • I dislike turning Halli, Gaudi and Mag into aligned cities. While Halli and Gaudi are passable, since it doesn't force a white-hat/black-hat on them, turning Mag into a city of evil is a no-no. One of the big selling points, at least for me, is that there's supposed to be somewhat grey morals in Lusternia. Making Mag "evil" and thus by exention making Celest "good" doesn't sit well with me.
    Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
  • KagatoKagato Auckland, New Zealand
    edited November 2013
    Definitely agree with the fact that Magnagora should not be listed as "City of Evil" - and this coming from someone that has been in Celest since day 1 of joining Lusternia.

    When you think about it in a broader context, Magnagora could easily think that Celest are the 'evil' ones, pushing their zealous teachings of the light and the supernals.  Rather than displaying it in a black/white (good/evil) context, within both cities (Magnagora and Celest), there is many shades of grey inbetween.  Agree with the sentiment that they should be renamed "City of the Tainted" or "City of the Undead"

    Celest: City of Light
    Magnagora: City of the Tainted/City of the Undead
    Gaudiguch: City of Freedom
    Hallifax: City of Harmony

    Serenwilde: Treehuggers?  (Seriously though, I have not played Serenwilde enough to be able to come up with a suitable analogy)
    Glomdoring: Forest of the Merciless? (Again, I have not played Glomdoring enough to be able to come up with a suitable analogy)
    Never put passion before principle.  Even if you win, you lose.

    If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?

    If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
  • Treehuggers is far from accurate. In a short phrase, I'd say it's the forest of nature's dominance. Ever patient, ever watchful, and ever ruthless when called to action. That may just be me throwing my Winter Court stuff over top, though!
  • KarlachKarlach God of Kittens.
    Glomdoring is pretty much the Merciless Forest. Fai Glomdoring directly translates to "I have no mercy."

    I'm not sure Harmony is the word I'd use for Hallifax, it's a city of laws, bureaucracy and endless red tape. Anyone who's ever had to handle that stuff in real life does not feel in harmony with things.

    The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."

    You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!


    image
  • KagatoKagato Auckland, New Zealand
    Hiriako said:
    Treehuggers is far from accurate. In a short phrase, I'd say it's the forest of nature's dominance. Ever patient, ever watchful, and ever ruthless when called to action. That may just be me throwing my Winter Court stuff over top, though!
    My 'treehuggers' comment was tongue-in-cheek.  I haven't really spent enough time in Serenwilde to come up with a more serious idea off the top of my head, though I probably could with a little extra time.
    Never put passion before principle.  Even if you win, you lose.

    If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?

    If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
  • I really would prefer to see Serenwilde described as 'Natural' over 'Neutral', by far. While it was neutral in a political sense historically, even that hasn't applied for centuries now.

    The majority of the newbies we get here seem to come from Achaea, and I've already had to dispel the Cyrene notion of alignment neutrality (good/neutral/evil) from quite a few, as alignment-driven conflicts aren't really relevant in Lusternia. I fear this will exacerbate that, since that's what most Achaean converts seem likely to read into it, especially given the other references to evil/chaos/order make it really seem like an alignment thing. We're just as extreme as anyone else from the purity/taint conflict point of view, and haven't been politically neutral in a long, long time. We're not even remotely neutral when it comes to staying out of conflicts (what the Cyrene-types seem to expect)

    Even if we're working with stereotypes, calling Serenwilde "Natural", and Magnagora "Tainted" instead of 'neutral' and 'evil' can go a long way to making that first impression a more accurate one of what makes Lusternia so different, and thematically deeper, than what they're used to.

    Mayor Steingrim, the Grand Schema says to you, "Well, as I recall you kinda leave a mark whereever you go."
  • VivetVivet , of Cows and Crystals
    Morkarion said:
    I'm not sure Harmony is the word I'd use for Hallifax, it's a city of laws, bureaucracy and endless red tape. Anyone who's ever had to handle that stuff in real life does not feel in harmony with things.
    It's also more than that, and this is as unfair an assessment as judging Gaudiguch on face value as well.

    Hallifax is "The Beacon of Harmony" whether you like it or not.

    As an aside, I would avoid tacking Hallifax as "The City of Order". Harmony and Chaos oppose one another in Lusternia - Order is treated a little differently.

  • KarlachKarlach God of Kittens.
    Oh it's not a case of whether I like or not the nickname that the City has.

    I thought people were trying to find adjectives that reflect the characteristics of an organisation. How would you define Magangora and Celest for example, "The Engine of Transformation" gives very little to nothing to new players about the characteristics of the City.

    The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."

    You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!


    image
  • VivetVivet , of Cows and Crystals
    Morkarion said:
    I thought people were trying to find adjectives that reflect the characteristics of an organisation. How would you define Magangora and Celest for example, "The Engine of Transformation" gives very little to nothing to new players about the characteristics of the City.
    I guess I'm more from the crowd that wants to stick to definitions that make sense in the game's context, instead of trying to borrow outside of the game. I think just leaving it as, "The City of Light" and "The City of Taint/Undeath" is enough to evoke some proper images and context, without falling back on good/evil/neutral, which is likely to shift and not be properly accurate.
  • MoiMoi
    edited November 2013
    How about:

    The City of the Light
    The City of the Undead
    The City of Freedom
    The City of Harmony
    The Merciless Forest
    The Last Pure Forest
  • EritheylEritheyl ** Trigger Warning **
    edited November 2013
    I'm not sure why we don't just use the cities' "long names" (Engine of Transformation, Grace of the Moonhart, etc.). They're vague, but would bait newbies into actually looking at the files instead of saying "Oh city of evil yep right up my alley okay". Frankly I'm not seeing the point of this overview to begin with. But if it's going to stay, echoing sentiments of changing Chaos to Freedom, Order to Harmony and Neutral to Natural.
    Crumkane, Lord of Epicurean Delights says, "WAS IT INDEED ON FIRE, ERITHEYL."

    -

    With a deep reverb, Contemptible Sutekh says, "CEASE YOUR INFERNAL ENERGY, ERITHEYL."
  • EnyalidaEnyalida Nasty Woman, Sockpuppeteer to the Gods
    "Grace of the Moonhart" bleh.

    Of course it doesn't help that some of the org HELP scrolls are totally non-informative.
  • DaraiusDaraius Shevat The juror's taco spot
    Eritheyl said:

    I'm not sure why we don't just use the cities' "long names" (Engine of Transformation, Grace of the Moonhart, etc.). They're vague, but would bait newbies into actually looking at the files instead of saying "Oh city of evil yep right up my alley okay". Frankly I'm not seeing the point of this overview to begin with.

    But if it's going to stay, echoing sentiments of changing Chaos to Freedom, Order to Harmony and Neutral to Natural.

    Unfortunately, it looks like city is now the very first thing you choose, so there's not even an opportunity to look at the files unless you access them through the website.
    I used to make cakes.

    Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
  • Don't forget Evil to Freedom or Undead.
  • EritheylEritheyl ** Trigger Warning **
    Daraius said:
    I'm not sure why we don't just use the cities' "long names" (Engine of Transformation, Grace of the Moonhart, etc.). They're vague, but would bait newbies into actually looking at the files instead of saying "Oh city of evil yep right up my alley okay". Frankly I'm not seeing the point of this overview to begin with. But if it's going to stay, echoing sentiments of changing Chaos to Freedom, Order to Harmony and Neutral to Natural.
    Unfortunately, it looks like city is now the very first thing you choose, so there's not even an opportunity to look at the files unless you access them through the website.
    Yeah, that's unfortunate. You should still be able to do HELP <city> while in the tutorial.

    Having taken a look at the new arrangement, it's not AS bad as I'd previously thought...but I still don't like it.
    Crumkane, Lord of Epicurean Delights says, "WAS IT INDEED ON FIRE, ERITHEYL."

    -

    With a deep reverb, Contemptible Sutekh says, "CEASE YOUR INFERNAL ENERGY, ERITHEYL."
  • If it doesn't already, they really should offer a blurb.

    So the flow would be that you get a listing of cities and their very impressive titles.

    So...you have your listing

    The Cities:
    Magnagora, the Engine of Transformation
    New Celest, Resurgence of the Light
    Hallifax, the Beacon of Harmony
    Gaudiguch, City of Freedom

    The Forests:
    Serenwilde, Grace of the Moonhart
    Glomdoring, the Heart of Darkness

    These are generally great and evoke a certain image. Some could be a little more... impressive.

    When a newbie selects an org the next step should be a confirmation where they get basically... a sales pitch and warnings.


    So like...

    Serenwilde, Grace of the Moonhart.

    Located within the expansive northern forest, the Serenwilde commune are the stalwart defenders of Nature. Fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff.

    Maybe some "career" fluff, like what the guilds offer here. Maybe not with the new system.

    WARNINGS: This is a forest dedicated to the cause of Nature, not to concepts such as good or righteousness. 
    Et cetera
    Et cetera



    and like... at the end of that, a...

    "Are you sure you want to be a member of Serenwilde? (Yes/No)"

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