Whoa!

[Anonymous]

But I'd rather not get in trouble for letting the
quirri out of the bag when said clan is not meant to be known by the
general populace.

You mean like the Haruch-Kamed?

I'm assuming you are talking about the Conclave (or was it Enclave, I can't remember.)  I don't see the problem with wild speculation since that clan was known and talked about in non-IC terms on the old hypernews site.  

If that's what you are getting at it's a really interesting proposition, but I hope they don't go that route.  I'd definitely make a character since I missed out on them last time around, but they struck me as being the epitome of an isolated clan and I'm hoping they aren't that clan.

Black Moon would be really nice too.  I loved playing in that clan.  Two of my favorite PCs were with them and a third worked with them on occasion.

[Intrepid]

I'll have to plead the fifth on this one, CRW.

As for Blackmoon, weren't they actually destroyed?

[jhunter]

If (when) halfings come in, it'll pretty much kill any desire I ever had to play a northern character, because I'd lay money down that they eventually get bored and start raiding.

Not my cup of spiced tea.

If you knew -anything- about halfling society then you wouldn't be making this statement.

[LauraMars]

I'm not in favor of iso-clans.

[jhunter]

Those of us that play them would just be playing in a different iso clan anyway so it really makes little difference.

[Nao]

The fatal flaw of the PC gith, mantis and halfling of yesteryear had been a lack of common culture and opportunity for non-combative interaction.

Halflings, gith or mantis meeting up with any other PC race usually resulted in trouble of some kind because the races were so different culturally that there wasn't room enough for peace.  No peace, delicate or otherwise, means that these characters, no matter how well played or conceived, would eventually devolve into PK encounters with the rest of the world.

If each of these civilizations were to develop the potential to interact peacefully with even a portion of the PC playerbase, then I think they could become a staple part of the gameworld again.  Until that time, however, it's just a passing fancy until they meet up with a non-gith, non-halfling, non-mantis.

-LoD

sounds like interaction with templars to me  

[moab]

I'm not in favor of iso-clans.

This chick just gets cooler and cooler.  First Rasputina, now this.
I'm the vice-president of this club.

[LoD]

sounds like interaction with templars to me  

Yes, in the form of violence.

That's the problem.  Any people who lack enough common culture to interact with at least part of the playerbase (i.e. city, desert tribe (human or elf), etc...) will eventually devolve into violence with other PC's.  Why?  Because there is no alternative.  There has to be some common ground that brings these cultures together so that there can be more to do than fight.

The Blackwing culture defended its home and territory fiercely.  If you went prowling and hunting their lands, chances are you might feel the sting of a few arrows, or perhaps approached and attacked.  But you might also have a tense situation where you meet, exchange words/thoughts and trade.  Through consistent trade, perhaps you begin to develop some level of trust - perhaps not in each other, but in each other's desire for a win-win trading scenario.  There is communication, interaction and goals that can be fashioned outside of violence.

Gith, halfling and mantis are races most of the PC races consider enemies that merit a swift death.  If the races are to work long-term, they need to be developed in a way that allows somebody to interact with them and NOT be killed or eaten.  These races have opened and closed several times in the past.  I've even played in some of them, and what I imagine the scenario has been in the past is:

1. Player A thinks playing a gith would be awesome and special apps.  The app is approved, they create their character with a handful of other trusted RPers.  They read the documentation and begin trying to flesh out the gith culture through their RP.

2. Since they don't have other clans with which to interact, they are pretty much isolated and must depend on one another for conflict, competition, rewards, companionship, love, jealousy and hatred.  During down times, the players explore their wild and dangerous world.

3. At some point in time, Player A yearns to interact with other non-gith players because that's part of the whole reason they app'd in the first place.  How cool would it be to play a PC gith!?  Well, they make their way out into some space that might have a chance for PC's to come wandering through and, lo and behold, they find one.  Player A thinks, "Well, I'm not a twink, I'll try to RP with them a bit because that's what this is all about."

They approach the other character, who may or may not assume that the gith is an animated NPC or perhaps PC and stay to RP, immediately fight (because that's what happens against every other gith NPC they've ever met), or flee.

4. If the non-gith PC escapes, he goes back and tells his friends that he ran into a "strange gith" out in the "territory x".  His friends decide to go have a look for themselves, because what's cooler than killing NPC gith?  Killing PC gith!  Somewhere, a PC gets themselves killed by the gith and someone gets hired to go hunt the "strange" gith.

Great, there's interaction between races.  Violent interaction.  So now what happens?  What happens when the gith players get hunted down and killed because they are bored of RPing only with themselves?  They need an outlet for rnon-violent relationships with "somebody" so they can develop goals, wants and desires and express them in a non-violent way.  Otherwise, each character is just a ticking PK time bomb that is doomed from the beginning to be nothing more than a smart "monster" for other people to kill.

I'm not saying that gith or halflings cannot do well.  I'd LOVE to see them integrated back into the gameworld with the capacity to allow non-violent RP to occur.  Entities that are not ruled or influenced by the Sorcerer-Kings are very interesting, and if you make them able to foge alliances (motivated by mercenary or personal goals) with other races/peoples, then you can have some really exciting opportunities.

That may already be the plan.  I hope it is.

-LoD

[Intrepid]

On the subject of gith, there is at least one place where they might be
tensely accepted into society.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

On the subject of gith, there is at least one place where they might be
tensely accepted into society.

In all honesty, there's at least five, and two if you count well travelled locations, where the gith could perhaps squeak by, if they behaved themselves.

[Intrepid]

There you go then.

Although they're violent raiders and natural predators, they can
conceivably interact with other races on the fringes and frontiers of the
Known World.

It sounds like they're more accessible a race atm than halflings or
mantis.

[Angela Christine]

There used to be a few gith NPCs in Red Storm, but I think they were removed a while back.  I don't know what that means.


Angela Christine

[Marauder Moe]

Just got reminded of something in another thread: the Thryzn (mutants who helped in the liberation of Tuluk) might be another possibility for the other clan being opened up.  I think it'd be better than the Gith because they at least have formal relations with one of the cities, or used to.