Force c-elf tribes

[MeTekillot]

Force city elves to get approved (or point at in chargen) a choice between maybe 2-3 tribes with their own weird hat tribal bullshit, so that city elves can properly be represented as the second most populous race in Zalanthas by giving players who app into them an implicit and instant clan connection of support and shit. How many c-elves do you know?

[Dar]

It's so much more complicated then that.

Delven tribes have a territory of their own. A highly defensible, mildly lucrative, and highly expensive to conquer. And if things get hairy, the entire tribe can simply move camp. Making the entire expense turn into a wisp of smoke.

Now Celven tribes. Will either be hiiiighly pro-templarate, long con oriented, variation of Bejeweled Hand (A clan known primarily for their gem cutting craftsmanship, subtle crime, and intense loyalty to Muk Utep).

Or they will be in a highly defensible position. This wont make it impossible for Templarate to squish them, but will be expensive. This on another hand, will make them highly powerful. Powerful enough to easily curb stomp the guild and have the ground to bring out talent that can stay unknown enough to southside, but interactive/protected enough to be tolerable to play. Talent that with a bit of time, will be able to scratch off templars like tissue paper off the boot.

Celves tend to be pretty damn powerful when in tribes, or small knit families.

[yousuff]

At the risk of going offtopic, I've made a rolecall for a celf tribe looking for members.

Ontopic however, I think celven tribes should have more representation. I don't think players should be forced into them, but I feel they should at least exist with the possibility of players applying to be a part of one on chargen. Especially with the expansion of Allanak in the last few years, with the rooftops, and new rooms scattered throughout the city offering numerous little niches for tribes to be founded.

[Synthesis]

'rinth-based c-elf tribes will never flourish beyond more than a flash in the pan, for a few reasons:

1.  The completely irrational berserker player response to theft of all sorts.
2.  C-elves aren't karma-restricted, which means noobs can get in and fuck everything up for everyone else.
3.  They don't have a natural non-aggro basis for interaction with the rest of the playerbase.
4.  It's far too easy for roundear bounty hunters to get deep into the eastside, murder elf PCs, then get away
5.  Crime code is brutal, and even veteran status can't prevent you from failing a dice roll every once in a while.
6.  Not being able to travel is painfully boring.
7.  City-elves are super weak when it comes to noob-status combat, and it takes a long, long time to get competitive with dwarves and strong humans.

In order for a 'rinth-based c-elf tribe to flourish they need:
1. Karma or highly-vetted special app restriction
2. A reason for the rest of the game to interact with them that doesn't involve killing on sight
3. A real safe haven

Even if those were provided...the combination of starting out as a pathetic weakling, brutal crime-response, and static-location boredom will probably always be overwhelming, and those aren't things that are likely to be changed at all.

It's this thread again.

[MeTekillot]

Make c-elves 1 karma requirement.

[yousuff]

Make c-elves 1 karma requirement.

I'd actually rather this and see them properly represented

[Vex]

City elves are, imo, more iconic of the games theme than any other species. They should have coded representation, in the form of an OPTIONAL clan to join upon character generation. I say optional, so that lone wolf elves have people to seek work through, or have affiliation status with, similar to human/half-elf/dwarf/half-giant and even mul independents do. Even one city elf clan, with a couple PCs, could provide interaction and opportunities for involvement in the goings on, that is quite often closed to elf PCs.

There is little in the way of options for city elves, as they're quite difficult to maintain due to isolation/lack of options/difficulty of travel/extreme ooc player bias. When I say extreme ooc bias, what I mean is, players are predisposed towards treating elves, as ran-do-gank fodder, due to the knowledge they're codedly inferior to, basically, every other race, have almost no chance of having meaningful affiliations, and have no clan backing as an OOC rule, unless joining one of the WEAR OUR UNIFORM ALWAYS clans, which are naturally combat based and require extensive travel... which is not the forte of city elves.

I feel it important to insist, as well, that a city elf clan does not have to be criminal. I feel the portrayal of elves as suicidally stupid, hyper-klepto, wildly anti-social rebels is entirely too common. You can have an elf who is not into picking every pocket, stealing all the furniture, flipping off the man and spree killing npcs in the commons. You can have a clan with a legitimate front, it doesn't matter what, pottery or weaving or some other commons trade skill, with shady backroom goings on.

Indulge in theft, burglary, smuggle poisons and peddle the cure, be the Guild foil and run protection rackets that force players to choose a devil and take sides by association, no more friends-with-everyone safety, but in a way that keeps up a legitimate front. Give the Templars a reason, to come collect tithes, to distribute jobs to elves and have an alternative to the Guild. The guild PCs I meet, are often lazy, usually incompetent, and keep their positions and lives, because there is no competition, where there SHOULD be AMPLE competition. Allanak is EXTREMELY corrupt, after all. The life of an organized criminal should be dangerous and extremely cut-throat competitive, not lax, lounging in the Gaj, like some shitcloak, waiting and hoping someone will offer to pay protection money, for the garbage in their apartment.

As of now, you can play a city elf for a year or more and have almost no meaningful interaction, with other elves. There are always strings of throw away, for-the-lolz elves that are full retard right from the start, but, they're not even real PCs imo. Please, don't do this, it's extremely harmful, when most players are already ooc predisposed into thinking "elf players, are idiots".

Even one, again, OPTIONAL clan, would give elves some legitimacy and accessibility to the game, if it's done right. A full-blown crime syndicate would, likely, result in a lot of problems, as it's basically a license for elf PCs to gang up and shit all over the floors, safe from betrayal and similar such. A clan with a legitimate front, that it has to maintain, whilst dabbling in other, shady business behind closed doors, is a built-in rein, since even if they have ten max enforcers with super stats, if they get overt and overzealous, it'll bring Templarate wrath down upon the entire tribe, which is, naturally, bad for the tribe and as un-elf-like as can be.

There is no shortage of half-elves and dwarves, because they have plenty of options for all walk of character. There is next to no city elves, who aren't of the disposable, comic-relief or grief variety. The few there are, tend to be forced into extreme isolation, or away from Allanak, since they're going to be hunted until dead, simply for existing. At least until they're powerful enough by code, that the rest of the races have to take them a bit more seriously, or be splattered.

Closing the coded distance, to be competitive with races, like dwarves, takes a lot of time, as I know well. It isn't really practical, but is possible. It isn't a fun way, to run a PC, either way. The most boring aspect of my elf, was the grind it took, to no longer be a lazy players gank away, from having to reroll.

Elves could be an important facet of the game, but I feel it would be impossible to achieve legitimacy without a coded clan, backed and supported by staff, in the same way other clans, for other species operate. That little southern clan, which is almost always empty, has an ASTOUNDING and RIDICULOUS amount of ooc protection that, basically, forces their relevance on the game.

A city elf clan, given a smidgen of that support, could make a broad difference in how enjoyable, and accessible, elvish play can be.

[Cind]

I appreciate the nod to elven culture by setting up the tent-topped building, but I think it'd be super easy to write up two (they probably wouldn't do three for various reasons you can think of right away) pages of documentation, one for each of two city elf tribes based in Allanak, that you can join right away. One would be easier for humans to talk to than the other, one would be kind of, you know, the sort of hard mode veteran elves tend to go for, and the other would be for people who wanted to be an elf and not have to think about jail all the time.

Then at chargen, you could choose:

A) The Almost Nice Dudes, B) The Sons of Anarchy, or C) a small independent tribe.

The Almost Nice Dudes would be who you joined if you wanted to talk to people without being obligated to look in their pockets first. The Sons of Anarchy was an alright show, its about a couple of vicious biker gangs that are fighting each other throughout it. I am implying that you could go totally hardcore in one tribe but also have a better chance of making it initially, and have the dependable buddies you're supposed to have.

[Inks]

Anything Mekillot wants is probably something I am against since I was forced to be in the same tribe with him once.

I would like an optional tribe for celf with 1 karma requirement. That would be cool. What Mekillot is trying to do here is to further weaken celfs by the look of it.

Celfs are what defines Zalanthas for me. It is a hard mode that many players can't pull off. It is almost a completely different game when you play one.

Love it.

[MeTekillot]

What

[yousuff]

What

All aboard the metekillot hate train choo choo

I dunno, I'm kind of hoping for there to be a playable coded celf tribe sometime soon. Whether player created or staff created, I feel it's vacancy is quite obvious

[Synthesis]

There are at least 4 coded city-elf tribes in Allanak alone.

It's just a matter of the Staff choosing to open them or not.

[yousuff]

playable

4 coded elf clans doesn't mean squat if they're non playable.
Honestly I wouldn't mind even a retcon/documentation rewrite or whatever might be required to make one of them playable.

[Synthesis]

playable

4 coded elf clans doesn't mean squat if they're non playable.
Honestly I wouldn't mind even a retcon/documentation rewrite or whatever might be required to make one of them playable.

They're all playable.  I've been clanned Sandas, Valuren, and Kanosh.

Like I said:  it's just a matter of the Staff opening them up for play again.

[maxid]

playable

4 coded elf clans doesn't mean squat if they're non playable.
Honestly I wouldn't mind even a retcon/documentation rewrite or whatever might be required to make one of them playable.

They're all playable.  I've been clanned Sandas, Valuren, and Kanosh.

Like I said:  it's just a matter of the Staff opening them up for play again.

You're mildly aggressively disagreeing with yousuff just to secretly vehemently agree with yousuff.  You don't like the terminology he's using to indicate that they're not open, which is what they seem to mean by 'playable'.


If staff doesn't allow apps for a thing, that thing is not playable.   Nilazis are not playable, I've had a Nilazi.

[Synthesis]

Sidestepping the argument about whether "playable" is grammatically equivalent to "open for play...."

My point was that they don't need a retcon or a doc change.  The docs probably aren't the reason they're closed to play.

[yousuff]

I'm gonna assume english isn't your first language or it's some weird vernacular of my own country. If something is non playable, it is by default, not open for play.

Like I mean no snark or anything, I did fully mean no celf clans are open for play. I think the docs are the reason why they are currently closed, because I can't think of any other reason why. Nearly everything else has gotten a revamp, and I'd say they've fallen behind the standard of every other playable, open clan.

[Synthesis]

"Playable" to me means a role that a) has full coded support and b) has a useful place in the game.

"Open to play" means a playable role that Staff will allow you to play.

For example:  a rock is not a playable role; Nilazis are playable, but not open to play.

[yousuff]

I mean this in good humour, but




Context is a thing you know. It's pretty obvious what I meant regardless of technicalities. I'm not going to say anything further about it though.

Celfs should have playable open coded clan representation. As has been said for the bajillionthtime. I remember this topic back in 2016 and I'm sure it's going to arise again in the future

[maxid]

I'm gonna assume english isn't your first language or it's some weird vernacular of my own country. If something is non playable, it is by default, not open for play.

Like I mean no snark or anything, I did fully mean no celf clans are open for play. I think the docs are the reason why they are currently closed, because I can't think of any other reason why. Nearly everything else has gotten a revamp, and I'd say they've fallen behind the standard of every other playable, open clan.

Synthesis is very pedantic at times.   I don't say this to attack him at all, just help put you at ease - the problem here is not with you.  This is his pattern.


To contribute: I agree with him that they don't need doc changes.  Unless the docs are the reason the staff has them closed and an update would make them open for play.

[Armaddict]

I don't think he's being pedantic as much as using the full power of words to be as accurate as possible to avoid misunderstanding.

I too am in the camp of elves being the true zalanthan story. City elves are great, and I agree that some tribe support would give them the city presence required for them to actually contribute to the game in a meaningful way. They can do things now, but in reality, the 'elven bloc' should be just as present (not powerful) as the GMH bloc or noble bloc. They are a presence, a danger, an asset, an obstacle in ways that simply cannot be portrayed by the lonefoot.

Staff support for elves all the way. Not much revamping or fixing of them needed, if any.

[Dar]

Synthesis. If you've played in Jaxa Pah. Then you well know that they are 'not' playable. They're either made too powerful, too iso, or too clunky with the whole, ignore a big chunk of elven culture to make a clan function problem, to be a viable fully fleshed out clan. Every time there was an active membership of Jaxa Pah, they dominated the rinth and various other aspects and things. And every time you start figuring out how did lonefoot elves became part of the clan, you realize that trust tests were a joke.  There is a reason why they're not open to play 'despite' an active celven interest, and it has nothing to do with being codedly capable of being open.

[Armaddict]

Jaxa are kind of a weird thing.  It's supposed to be a mixed conglomerate of tribes, not a tribe unto itself.  Unfortunately, that's really hard for people to play out because elves are assholes and exclusive rather than inviting and inclusive.

That said, I don't consider them to be one of the actual tribes open for play precisely because they're not a tribe.  If played well and with active guidance/reinforcement, it's a ripe place to show the problem of city elves; they're actually very powerful, very deep-seated, and actively involved everywhere...but they get in each other's way just as much as they help each other, making the 'allied elven front' a very scary prospect that is also very rarely seen.  Other groups actively work to avoid giving them a cause to unite over.

Tribes separated though, the Haruch Kemad, the Valuren, the Kanosh, the Sandas...those all exist.  There is even an elven market clan (or there was one) for lonefeet to get into in order to work for the families as a non-blooded member of the community.  That's all inactive at this point, and there really isn't much reason for them to be.

they dominated the rinth and various other aspects and things.

This, in particular, though, is the greatest barrier.  Not because of how true it is in application, but because people don't like how true it is in the actual sense of how it comes together.  A group of elves, selfless and selfish for and with each other, absolutely trusting and closer than close, is a scary prospect.  That's not a flaw, that's what makes elves elves in the world.

That isn't to call anything of what you said wrong.  Only saying that the perspective on elves is that they are meant to solely exist as weaklings and non-powerhouses, and I think that needs to shift before you can find any meaningful elven play.

[Dar]

The problem here is that majority of Rinthi based Celven tribes success and achievement comes from volatility. Scamming, conning, thieving, assassinating, extorting, etc, etc. Which in itself is absolutely awesome!  It's also very fun and if there is a coded clan doing that, it will stem with numbers. Numbers who are supposedly absolutely loyal to each other, put their clan ahead of themselves, and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the tribe.

Such loyalty either takes a very long time, or requires to be chargenned from the beginning. Or be glossed over slightly and a lonefoot elf immediately becomes this. Which is obviously 'meh'.

But if you take a clan of active members. Let's say 3-5 of them who are very loyal to each other and their main source of achievement, bragging rights, and way of earning coin is volatile towards the rest of the city, the damage they are capable of is immense. For the most part, the balance is maintained by lack of safe training grounds and short lifespan due to silliness. I'm actually kind of curious how will things work out now with the new subguilds. Now that celves are not born with barely any defense and 70-90 hp totals.

[Miradus]

One of the issues I have seen playing elves is that nobody will do anything with you because of these "loyalty tests". They won't go so far as to even rob an apartment with you unless they've put forward the requisite 100 hours or so of roleplay into your relationship.

All the crime movies and books, the criminals NEVER trust each other. That's what makes for good conflict.

The Guild runs on rails pretty much. The only fun to be had in the Guild is when it's been run OFF the rails. Criminal elves have always seemed to me to be like they should be borderline off the rails at ALL TIMES. My previous elf attempts though resulted in either being picked out of a 100,000 vNPC lineup for pickpocketing because they saw someone "very tall" or trying to navigate climb code with max 84hp.

Elves are indeed hard mode. Which has always made them fun, in my few excursions into it, but desert elves are far LESS fun. Why? Because the canon has been poured over them like concrete years ago and it's extremely hard to break out into anything unique. That, in itself, makes me less inclined to see concrete coded elf clans in the city.