So What's Next? - Tuluk Version

[Culinary Critic]

I want staff to re-open Tuluk, just so people can freak the fuck out and flip their lids and remove their clothes every time they think about not being able to detect a witch just from skills anymore.

Re-open Tuluk.

The gates are barred from the inside, none enter His Ivory for a decade.  And none leave.
Strange sounds come from within the White Walls.  Not quite screams, not quite moans.  Not quite human.
Odd, terrifying lights are visible over the closed walls at night.  Flashes in every colour imaginable.
Few see it, and none stay to watch when, after a week of absolute silence, the west gates begin shaking, pounded and battered from the far side.  They bow out, but hold.
Weeks pass.  Then more weeks. The same battering flares up at every gate, over and over, harder and harder, though all hold.  It becomes part of the background.  The shrill cry of a hunting hawk, the rustle of the wind through the  foliage in the Grey Forest, the snarl of a pouncing gortok, the battering of the gates.
One day, a traveller slows on the North Road and stops just before making his turn to Morin's.  He stares along the road...at the west gates of Tuluk, unable to look away from the sagging ruin that was once stout timber.  Large scraps cling to the points of the broken beams, some cloth, some flesh, some unrecognizable.
A breeze drifts along the road, carrying the scent of smoke, dust and charred meat from beyond the gate, though no sound follows it.
Later, a group of brave souls leave Morin's, heavily armed and armoured.  They proceed cautiously into the city, vanishing into the unnatural gloom.
Hours later, they return to tell the tale of the empty roads, the gates and doorways hanging open, the looming buildings, their insides darker than they should be at high sun.  The once proud artwork defaced, defiled, broken, shattered.  The only gate that held, and held fast, was that into the Heart. 
That it had been assaulted was obvious.  The road outside littered with bones, assorted rags and scores of arrows.

Now....GO!

[Asmoth]

I want staff to re-open Tuluk, just so people can freak the fuck out and flip their lids and remove their clothes every time they think about not being able to detect a witch just from skills anymore.

Re-open Tuluk.

The gates are barred from the inside, none enter His Ivory for a decade.  And none leave.
Strange sounds come from within the White Walls.  Not quite screams, not quite moans.  Not quite human.
Odd, terrifying lights are visible over the closed walls at night.  Flashes in every colour imaginable.
Few see it, and none stay to watch when, after a week of absolute silence, the west gates begin shaking, pounded and battered from the far side.  They bow out, but hold.
Weeks pass.  Then more weeks. The same battering flares up at every gate, over and over, harder and harder, though all hold.  It becomes part of the background.  The shrill cry of a hunting hawk, the rustle of the wind through the  foliage in the Grey Forest, the snarl of a pouncing gortok, the battering of the gates.
One day, a traveller slows on the North Road and stops just before making his turn to Morin's.  He stares along the road...at the west gates of Tuluk, unable to look away from the sagging ruin that was once stout timber.  Large scraps cling to the points of the broken beams, some cloth, some flesh, some unrecognizable.
A breeze drifts along the road, carrying the scent of smoke, dust and charred meat from beyond the gate, though no sound follows it.
Later, a group of brave souls leave Morin's, heavily armed and armoured.  They proceed cautiously into the city, vanishing into the unnatural gloom.
Hours later, they return to tell the tale of the empty roads, the gates and doorways hanging open, the looming buildings, their insides darker than they should be at high sun.  The once proud artwork defaced, defiled, broken, shattered.  The only gate that held, and held fast, was that into the Heart. 
That it had been assaulted was obvious.  The road outside littered with bones, assorted rags and scores of arrows.

Now....GO!

I'd be down for a post apocalyptic Tuluk... A ghost town that could be taken over by rogue magickers and criminals!

[Molten Heart]

I want staff to re-open Tuluk, just so people can freak the fuck out and flip their lids and remove their clothes every time they think about not being able to detect a witch just from skills anymore.

Re-open Tuluk.

The gates are barred from the inside, none enter His Ivory for a decade.  And none leave.
Strange sounds come from within the White Walls.  Not quite screams, not quite moans.  Not quite human.
Odd, terrifying lights are visible over the closed walls at night.  Flashes in every colour imaginable.
Few see it, and none stay to watch when, after a week of absolute silence, the west gates begin shaking, pounded and battered from the far side.  They bow out, but hold.
Weeks pass.  Then more weeks. The same battering flares up at every gate, over and over, harder and harder, though all hold.  It becomes part of the background.  The shrill cry of a hunting hawk, the rustle of the wind through the  foliage in the Grey Forest, the snarl of a pouncing gortok, the battering of the gates.
One day, a traveller slows on the North Road and stops just before making his turn to Morin's.  He stares along the road...at the west gates of Tuluk, unable to look away from the sagging ruin that was once stout timber.  Large scraps cling to the points of the broken beams, some cloth, some flesh, some unrecognizable.
A breeze drifts along the road, carrying the scent of smoke, dust and charred meat from beyond the gate, though no sound follows it.
Later, a group of brave souls leave Morin's, heavily armed and armoured.  They proceed cautiously into the city, vanishing into the unnatural gloom.
Hours later, they return to tell the tale of the empty roads, the gates and doorways hanging open, the looming buildings, their insides darker than they should be at high sun.  The once proud artwork defaced, defiled, broken, shattered.  The only gate that held, and held fast, was that into the Heart. 
That it had been assaulted was obvious.  The road outside littered with bones, assorted rags and scores of arrows.

Now....GO!

I'd be down for a post apocalyptic Tuluk... A ghost town that could be taken over by rogue magickers and criminals!

Zombies, not the undead kind, but the brain dead kind.

[MeTekillot]

Make Tuluk a city of warring clans, with a clan NPC in almost every room, and you only have protection from lawlessness if you're in the right area and in the right clan.

[Asmoth]

I honestly would prefer the city either destroyed totally or used.  Having it closed as is, I feel adds nothing to the game.

[Patuk]

Maybe so, but it certainly doesn't detract from it either.

[Delirium]

I actually love the idea of Tuluk as a ghost town. I don't want to take half-measures, either. I think Tuluk should be completely, unequivocally, no death-of-superman Never Coming Back.

Turn Tuluk into a labyrinth of ruins, full of plague, disease, and dead bodies - where Really Spooky Shit happens, especially at night.

You could open up the "rebuild" (aka ruined) areas systematically as a series of RPTs, where groups of players go to loot the remains of the city - and maybe ex-Tuluki patriots take exception to that fact. Groups of ex-soldiers who remained in the city, criminal gangs who took advantage of the chaos to gain in strength, various hostile NPC factions to contend with.

I'm imagining empty, half-burnt mansions, abandoned warehouses, empty taverns, made into the hideouts of criminals, witches, and ex-soldiers, who all fight each other but mostly stick to their areas of the city. There's loot to be found, and places to seize as your own... if you can deal with the terrors that walk in the night, and the gangs who stalk the day.

Build up Morin's into a true village, where Tuluk has lost control - do the merchant Houses let Kadius have it? Do they squabble for control? Do they each put a stake in it?

Meanwhile, the Kryl grow restless...

How does Allanak react to this? Maybe they start eyeing expansion... Luir's Outpost would be a tidy first prize, without Tuluk to protect them.

So, so, so much political and plot-related chaos could result from finally letting Tuluk die that it is insane. Let it happen.

(Yes. It would require a shit ton of building. That's what we recruit builders for, right guys?)

[BadSkeelz]

I wouldn't really want to see Tuluk destroyed. It's the last cultural bastion against a rising tide of magick-loving wankery.

[BadSkeelz]

That said... I don't particularly like the weird state of limbo it's in now, where we can "Virtually" visit the interior (sometimes) but don't actually know what's going on and thus have nothing to report back.

[Delirium]

The bastion of magicker-hatred would be all the Tuluki refugees and PCs in Morin's.

[BadSkeelz]

Morin's is not yet a viable cultural center. It needs building up first before the rest of Tuluk would need tearing down.

Edit: Also northern PCs should be able to get Northern Templar guilds.

[Delirium]

Morin's is not yet a viable cultural center. It needs building up first before the rest of Tuluk would need tearing down.

Good point, I agree with building up Morin's first.

[Asmoth]

Morin's is not yet a viable cultural center. It needs building up first before the rest of Tuluk would need tearing down.

Edit: Also northern PCs should be able to get Northern Templar guilds.

As long as it's not Lirathan Templar...

[Malifaxis]

I think we should stop calling it Tuluk, and just start referring to it by the number of times it has been destroyed, occupied, or rebuilt.

[Delirium]

this isn't even Tuluk's final form


... that's why I want to NOT death-of-superman it. Let it actually die. If another civilization takes over the space, let it be something else entirely.

[Asmoth]

this isn't even Tuluk's final form


... that's why I want to NOT death-of-superman it. Let it actually die. If another civilization takes over the space, let it be something else entirely.

Well there is still the matter of Psychic, Immortal Muk Utep who is somewhere.

What you gonna do about that eight foot tall killer?

[Case]

Being in a virtualized civil war doesn't necessarily turn it into an apocalyptic hellhole. The whole 'refugees' thing is/was way overblown when citizens are allowed to (virtually) visit. It is just a virtual city. So much player apocrypha.

[Delirium]

Muk and Tek (or whoever is posing as them) duke it out and kill each other, getting rid of both of those story-ruining all-powerful jerks in one fell blow.

[BadSkeelz]

Being in a virtualized civil war doesn't necessarily turn it into an apocalyptic hellhole. The whole 'refugees' thing is/was way overblown when citizens are allowed to (virtually) visit. It is just a virtual city. So much player apocrypha.

Staff have gone in record (at least in my requests) that not all refugees are able to return.

Having a virtually open City with no way to get reliable news out of it is a clunkier solution than just walling it off completely. Player Characters have zero idea what's going on inside - to claim that you do is verging on power gaming.

[Case]

Being in a virtualized civil war doesn't necessarily turn it into an apocalyptic hellhole. The whole 'refugees' thing is/was way overblown when citizens are allowed to (virtually) visit. It is just a virtual city. So much player apocrypha.

Staff have gone in record (at least in my requests) that not all refugees are able to return.

Having a virtually open City with no way to get reliable news out of it is a clunkier solution than just walling it off completely. Player Characters have zero idea what's going on inside - to claim that you do is verging on power gaming.

People have been claiming all sorts of BS IG. But it never got walled off completely!

[BadSkeelz]

It should have been

That GMH trade and certain unknown personages with the proper "credentials" can visit the interior of Tuluk is true. Most PCs cannot.

Basically the only people who can visit the virtual city are virtual NPCs.

[Case]

It should have been

That GMH trade and certain unknown personages with the proper "credentials" can visit the interior of Tuluk is true. Most PCs cannot.

It's not been consistently stated by staff.

[BadSkeelz]

Staff statements on Tuluk have been sloppy on the boards going back to the original closure announcement, but it's a little more definitive in game.

[Bogre]

Like gladiator PCs -

everyone apps in secondary roles in the closed off city state

and plays out the internecine war until

some faction remains standing

[Jingo]

Whatever they do, I think they should avoid trying to mirror Allanak. I.E. Templars, nobles and social hierarchies should not even be comparable.

More interesting would be warring bardic troupes that seek patronage from a Templar-lite caste. Make caste structure horizontal instead of vertical. So those within a caste can compete to become the "noble" at the head of the caste.

That's me throwing ideas at the wall.