Fifth Kingdom

[TimmyZ]

@ThatGuyThere I like that.

Fifth Kingdom is magic rare, middle scale on tipping scales when it shows up. Its just not a player option. It is /not/ a story device or a railroading tool for staff to control anything. It may be beneficial, it may be something to defeat, or just an enhancement to rp.

[TimmyZ]

@Packrat said in Fifth Kingdom:

I have to admit that my first thought after looking through the website was along the lines of:

'Ohh god, not vaguely medieval Irish, this is going to be insufferable'. It is going to attract the worst typed accents, weird hagiographic interpretations of inherent Irishness, etc.

This hasn't sat with me quite right and is misleading. Namely the /not vaguely medieval irish/ portion. This statement alone paints the very image you speak of into everyone's minds; it has nothing to do with irish history and its a game of pretend fun with knights with shamrocks on their shields, who speak in poor dialect and all live in Castle Blarney. And, namely, because care was given to incorporate Irish elements without dominating in history to bore the typical player that doesn't want to read actual Irish history. And this very topic is addressed on the wiki.

My stance: Take King Arthur, the 2004 film, where Arthur and the knights are Slavic horsement. My Arthurian since is 'no, no, not even good from literature standpoint'. I see where they got it, Hengst and Horsa and props to Hussaria. My Polish heritage is upset cause it could of shown Poland in a good light. Its none of these things, yet I enjoyed this film. if it led people to find more interest to learn of the many elements borrowed to make this what was the better. If anyone actually did study some Slavic history, even more better.

Fifth Kingdom is not shamrock knights and blarney stones, we discourage dialect.

What Irish are we:

Namely we are provinces (fifth) with a different 'nobility' than most typical fantasy, L&L and historical games address.

The Clan system is the most important thing in play, most warfar will be Clan>Clan, involving raids, there may be some chance for Clan to Clan even within the same province we focus on.

We have established a terminology page to give correct historical perspective and explain where we are different. And yes, Knights are not Irish. And no, we do not involve glassgallows (derivded from the arrival of more Scottish.

Berhon law is important in the game, while we acknowledge writing, the idea of the berhon and the fili remain important to society. For those unfamiliar with brehon law, its close to modern law, it is in part the past precedence by other cases and rulings, preserved by the berhon, a class of legal, oral tradition, poets.

We have used terminology page to give some context and hopefully inspire folks to look at actual history of Ireland from both time points (6th and 16th centuries, both radically different and interesting, and at the heart, basically a war amongst provinces and clans that just continues)

From a larger standpoint at this actual time in history, we're looking at the convergence of religions versus the 'canon' history of St. Patrick showing up and everyone is just suddenly Christian too.

So while the game is not an Irish historical recreation and like the French authors throw in high gothic elements of France into 4th and 5th century Engand, the game is a fusion. But care has been given to include Irish elemnts, which are part of what make it unique compared to just another tale of knights.

[kitteh]

I'm looking at apping!

Fwiw, I'm pretty sure all L&L MUs are garbage when it comes to historical accuracy, realism, etc, so I don't really see a reason to criticize inauthentic Ireland over inauthentic England, magical Angel Sex France, or anything else.

I just hope the staff isn't expecting too much in terms of authenticity in the culture, politics, and mores. We saw this play out in Realms Adventurous; people weren't really interested in depicting early near-Roman Britons, and in general RPed toward the High Medieval version of Camelot right away (ignoring that Pendragon was meant to eventually get us there in accelerated fashion).

Basically, people gonna Game of Thrones, wherever you play and whatever your setting.

[TimmyZ]

@kitteh said in Fifth Kingdom:

I'm looking at apping!

Fwiw, I'm pretty sure all L&L MUs are garbage when it comes to historical accuracy, realism, etc, so I don't really see a reason to criticize inauthentic Ireland over inauthentic England, magical Angel Sex France, or anything else.

This, yes. It's inauthentic, but a stretch to not even vaguely authentic. The one hand it has a few loosely inspired ideas, the latter just brings the idea of two green suited leprechuans on shetland ponies saying "ach johny me lad let's us joust now then shall we".

No one plays a pirate to have halitosis and die of liver malfunction at the age of 32. Just care was taking to avoid gross misrepresentation.

[Arkandel]

@TimmyZ said in Fifth Kingdom:

No one plays a pirate to have halitosis and die of liver malfunction at the age of 32.

Well, there goes my fucking concept.

[kitteh]

@Arkandel Aw. I like pirates.

[TimmyZ]

@Arkandel said in Fifth Kingdom:

@TimmyZ said in Fifth Kingdom:

No one plays a pirate to have halitosis and die of liver malfunction at the age of 32.

Well, there goes my fucking concept.

There goes my hypothesis that no one likes it.

[krmbm]

Could you please fix your wiki so the pages don't change transparency when you hover over them?

[TimmyZ]

@krmbm said in Fifth Kingdom:

Could you please fix your wiki so the pages don't change transparency when you hover over them?

Done and done. Might not have been the most friendly on phone or tablet. Was: poke screen once for hover to solidify, all fully opaque now.

[TimmyZ]

Just an update.

Things are slowly growing. This is good from my end, slow growth means more attention to the players coming in on my end.

The most common time for things to happen here is not the typical EST Evening (PST Late afternoon into evening). Euro Evenings and daytime US seems to be the best times here.

I know those of us in this time usually have a hard time and carve our own way, making our own plots, but here, this is one of our more active times. If this is your common connect times and the theme interests you, we would be glad to welcome you. After the stateside holiday here today, should pick back up again tomorrow.

[Pondscum]

The game continues to slowly grow and has seen an influx of new players in the last few days. Some important positions are still available that staff would love to see filled:

Tier 1 Positions Open:
Now all filled (sorry).

Tier 2 Positions:
Warden: Protector/steward of the lands of Kidare; reports to Court Garrison.
Intendant: Organizes entertainment for the court, music, theatre, or otherwise - no troupe, act, fool, performing bard gets in without going through the Intendant, reports to the Kapelmaster
Heralds: (2 positions): bards/fili/scribes, responsible to organize, announce and referee the contestants at a tournament (not during the contest); reports to the Kapelmaster
Priests: (2 positions): Layleaders under the Bishop of Colmac, these priests operate in the court itself for Christians, performing services/mass
Ovates: (2 positions): Layleaders under the Fili of Court, performs direct services for household members and staff of the Celtic pagan faith

Along with the above, there are a wealth of other positions which are the backbone of RP at Court. http://fivek.wikidot.com/theme:court-of-ronain#toc3

Plots are running, including the alleged sighting of a river monster which will be kicking off the early part of next week, and the gathering of forces to the north of Kidare as Ulster bid to take the city of Artri. Men have just been mustered and are leaving to reinforce Artri n preparation for battles which will span the next couple of weeks.

Staff and players are helpful and responsive, so if the above piques an interest, drop on by for a chat.

http://fivek.wikidot.com/start
connect at: arthur.silvertree.org : 1106

Edited to add: Staff are working on a political/economics system which will be introduced once thrashed out fully. It'll place more focus on the Septs as crop failures and morale (amongst other things) become very real threats to success in the game.

Edited again to add: As of just now, the Fili position and the Marshal are both pending apps.

[TimmyZ]

Still slowly growing. Finished the start of some battle sequences, wall defense against battering rams. The fate of the city of Artri hangs in the balance, the control of the bridge over the River Inny at stake as Ulster tries to push back into Kidare.

The looming suspicion if the western clan of Tirechan can be trusted after dealing with the brehon of the Ulster Courts remains. And suddenly more superstition and folklore is abound; good and bad luck plaguing the Court of Ronain, and the appearnce of an Avanc in the bogs south of the River Shannen. If the Ulster defence holds out perhaps the final Kidare Tourney to celebrate first harvest can lift spirits.

The Court full, we're turning some focus to developing the Septs (house or the families within a Clan). Court politics (our developing system) goes into play in July, and will be used for Septs that develop come August. As @Pondscum noted, it's a roll at beginning of month, any failure or shortfall can be remedied through rp (plot a solution or rp with other houses to trade for needs). End of month could net surplus in resources that could gain house favor.

Like the five top court positions, the heads of the Septs could be good positions for active players in a manner similar to FCs or Faction Heads. The hope is to have house politics coded come August so that failing rolls gives plot ideas for head and members of a house to solve and aid in rp.

Staff will continue focusing on bigger picture meta with plots ready to go for July.

[tce]

I like this game, so far. Staff are really helpful and welcoming of player direction, theme is extensive but not unmanageable with every nit-picky detail. I got burnt tf out on the Lords & Ladies genre, but this is a nice welcome back.

[Pondscum]

This game is ticking along nicely with a few plots being wrapped up and new ones unfolding. Today will see the start of a campaign to push the Ulster forces out of Degairde where they have taken up occupation. Some fresh to play roster characters have been added, (and being unplayed there's no nasty surprises in their history to jump up and bite anyone deciding to claim them) with tie-ins and hooks to characters already on grid.

There are also several important positions waiting to be filled; amongst them the Midach Gobae (Master Healer and commoner position) for the Court, and the Bishop (Feature/Tier 1 position). There are also Septs (families) now open for active leadership, either as the OOC main character or as the heir to the Sept itself.

If historical games are your thing, drop in and check Fifth Kingdom out, people are usually around and happy to help.

http://fivek.wikidot.com/start
arthur.sivertree.org: 1106

[Lithium]

So I was looking over the wiki, and since there's not really any emphasis on politics I am wondering how story progresses, is it just... social RP while waiting for some action?

Something about how the wiki is presented just seems to indicate it's pretty much going to end up a historical sex mu* and I am curious how it plans to avoid such a thing.

[Tempest]

@Lithium said in Fifth Kingdom:

So I was looking over the wiki, and since there's not really any emphasis on politics I am wondering how story progresses, is it just... social RP while waiting for some action?

Something about how the wiki is presented just seems to indicate it's pretty much going to end up a historical sex mu* and I am curious how it plans to avoid such a thing.

Not to rag on the game, but when I looked at the wiki, I got a similar impression.

"Not married" "needs a husband!" "her family wants to marry her off!" are not really interesting RP hooks and it was on pretty much every female PC's wiki.

That mentality tends to breed a specific sort of RP that will eventually completely take over the game until it is nothing but Medieval Wedding Simulator. Yes, marriage would 'thematically' be a big deal in this sort of thing. But the 'politics' of it never come in on MU. It's just 'find your one true love'.

[Lithium]

@Tempest That's the thing, the wiki states they are /not/ politics focused to begin with, which leaves me with... What else is there besides random fight with baddies of the week(tm)... other than a historical sex simulator without all the nasty, dirty, foul parts that would make it historically accurate.

[Ganymede]

@Lithium said in Fifth Kingdom:

Something about how the wiki is presented just seems to indicate it's pretty much going to end up a historical sex mu* and I am curious how it plans to avoid such a thing.

I can't say for certain. I know there was considerable discussion as to whether to implement a political system. I think that, at the time, there was concern that the game operators had the time to keep that system going. It would have required substantial work to accomplish.

That said, I'm not sure how much sex is going on. There's an awful lot of fighting right now. And for all of my attempts to sick my thingie into everything, I've been horridly bad at it.

Your mileage may vary, but the RP is very enjoyable when you're the brutish, grunting old man with the axe.

[TimmyZ]

A political system was being worked on. Prior to its potential release, we very publicly offered that we would be running political missions and events in July and asked for interested parties to respond. We received one reply. That one reply, we set up an event to see if others might show up, and one more showed. Spur of the moment, staff offered to run a hunt for new players playing huntsmen that same day. Two players for political and 6 showed up for the spur of the moment hunt, it felt that was the will of the players.

Slightly more successful for July was the beginning of the White Knight Quest. Folks were more keen to take and accept challenges from the mystery knight. This is still ongoing, with a chance to contribute, his identify revealed.

Ulster invasion is concluding at the moment, there was a lull in fighting (from the onset of news) to give the political missions a try. We'll conclude that.

July introduced fae-touched PrPs, a few took part in this, those touched now can meet with the fae courts.

Now, as far as chance of politics relating to strategy game between houses, this will most likely not happen. The interest has been low. We've been offering things to those who show activity, not making things to increase activity.

As far as marriage maker/TS game, lets be honest, marriages happen on all themes, as does the dating. Its going to happen here, but staff are more focused on continuing to do things. The first parts of August were reserved for the end of the year tourney. We're back into the swing once more.

For all it is worth, I'll be honest, don't expect daily events or staff to offer lots to do. I'm shooting for one event a week if I can, an occasional alternate for doing something Friday nights when I can be around. In the end, we are really seeking personal character stories, in line with medieval high Arthurian literature. There is RP and it is what you make it. Log wise, we average between 1-3 logs posted a day, a slight lull currently after the tourney, a few vacations and mishaps.

For politics, its literally up to players to decide if they want to politic (not strategy resource management simulation/game). I've pointed out on several occasions how easy it could be for anyone to actually politic (convince others to see things their way, not roll dice), to get the political powers that be to promote folks within the game.

All that being said, we've had many chime check it out then leave. The group sticking around is a damn good group of folks who enjoy a little bit of everything, the adventures, the tourneys, and yes the romance (even if they are holding out against Daithi). The RP is enjoyable to read in the logs. I enjoy the RP i can find when not running things. I've been very entertained by this group and will try to keep the pace and theme as it's developed by them too.

[Ganymede]

@TimmyZ said in Fifth Kingdom:

All that being said, we've had many chime check it out then leave. The group sticking around is a damn good group of folks who enjoy a little bit of everything, the adventures, the tourneys, and yes the romance (even if they are holding out against Daithi). The RP is enjoyable to read in the logs.

Daithi cares not for romance. Daithi cares for battle, beer, and busty broads.