They see a Banite and instantly think that as evil, when non-evil followers of Bane do exist.
Oh Jimbono. *covers her eyes with one hand, then with the other*
I'll be short, and I hope not offensive at all, having an extensive history of playing LE, knightly characters elsewhere on servers where death was equally inconsistent...
To begin with, I can assure you that out there there are so many intrinsically evil faction that I'd actually say the Amian islands as a whole are more evil than good, including Kohlingen. Or neutral, at best. So much in fact that """some""" charaters actually believe that on Amia good is evil, bigot and hypocritical, while evil is at least straightforward and somehow better when not just playing cardboard, token evil puppets, walking about and killing everything that moves http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForTheEvulz .
One can conquer and lie, pretend to be absolutely innocuous for a time while secretely working to make grand plans come together, backstab allies, convert allies, or hell, even be convinced they're actually doing something evil to create something good and base their propaganda on that.
Terror and respect can be spread in many ways, and as someone pointed out earlier, most characters are absolutely -terrified- by Amian paladins. Applying ridiculous amounts of violence is a way to go, without necessarily killing. Or twisting others into submission through blackmail, affection, need for informations, threatening to destroy something necessarily less easy to retrieve on Amia than life (such as honour, pride, credibility, a few fingers etc).
Tl;dr
Talking about evil on Amia: there's plenty of it. Actually so much I don't think I can name a single, thriving major faction that's just plainly good or neutral. And I'm talking about how they actually behave, not about the banners they wear.
Like I said, I am not concerned whether there is evil on the server or not. I know there is, but most of it is secretive and hidden, because the server does act quite restrictive to anything but that. But yeah, everyone seems to be concerned with one extreme or the other, to the point where they miss out on other important details of characters.
Also, I log in as much as I can, which sadly isn't all too often, due to right now being a time of large deadlines for University work. I can give reasons as to why others don't log in much, but that really isn't my place to say.
In all honesty, I don't really see how your post addresses anything within my own. I never mentioned a lack of evil within it. I just mentioned that in my opinion, many evil doers tend to be a little too similar. eg; All the Banites except for one being a priest. The reason? Power. As I said, there is a lack of incentive for people to play less evil overlord mastermind types of evil and more physically attuned and focused henchmen/bodyguards. But that is just how people will want to be, not particularly something the DM team can change. Players can change it though, by providing such incentive.
_________________ Khaldun Menetnashte Khalfani Victor Wilkinson
Some of us play the horrors of the underdark: But Im unsure if i Should recommend you folks that. It's difficult and sometimes confusing to play the part of being the greater evil. We are active anywau
I must admit though, I'm onboard with the conflict faction group of commentators. The key issues currently with factional conflict is that it's primarily limited to ideological divisions. That can be elf vs dwarf, evil vs good, tiefling vs aasimar but ultimately at the end of the week, there's still an Amian economy that is ticking over, putting bread on tables and disseminating such a trove of magical items as to make freshly arrived mages require new sets of robes due to accidental discharges.
Part of the reason I brought Jys onto the server was to inject a dose of the strange, the unreal and the odd that is all that Planescape is about, and it that means a red-headed drow wandering around the surface talking like a costermonger from Sigil then perhaps that'll add to things. The system in planescape runs on two engines really IMO - you've got factions - the ideological merry-go-round that eschews good and evil and talks about life and death, sensuality and restraint, freedom vs authority in all it's many flavours (xaos vs indeps vs anarchist-revolutionary league vs harmonium vs hardheads vs guvnors) - at least 3 factions for each and then you have all kinds of sects that are generally left to DM discretion. The ideological spectrum is broader and arguably more vital because it disposes with the powers (aka gods and the like) in a few ways - some factions try to become gods, others deny their existence freely due to the protection of the Lady. I'm not saying throw it out, but perhaps consider what your deity's opinion is on certain sociological topics that wouldn't necessarily come up. The point raised about proto-anarcho-syndicalist peasant revolts is good here too - is Feudalism the way of things, or are there actual complaints amongst the people about having to support the theocracy in Kohl for example.
Second engine is jink or gold if you aren't au fait on the planar cant. Economic. Which brings me back to point above - Amia has no real threat to the economy of the server and there is no player interest to bring about such a threat. Mention of Armadas is a good start. Wiltun could strangle Cordor's naval access with ease should it have reason (at least that's the perception that I've been given). Players could precipitate this through RP on Wiltun and then other players could man blockade runners (that 'alternate beginnings' ship's crew could have some fun) and so forth. That's just one example of something that could be done, obviously it would require a bit of DM work behind the scenes. Another would be the aforementioned peasant rabble.
The reason that the Banites had to be so thoroughly squished was because as I recall back in the day they a) blockaded free movement around the isle and b) had the PVP nous to generally succeed when challenged mechanically.
Being evil ultimately should colour the behaviour of a character and their actions, but it should not be the definition of who they are or what they do. Trevor Philips in GTA V is evil, but he doesn't really just go around killing people because he can - arguably he is just careless with others lives and is motivated to ensure his business succeeds. Etcetera.
Oh and 1 last thing.
Factions of One. Be afraid, be very afraid.
EDIT: Final thought. I'd love to see a faction with a charismatic sorceror at it's head. In fact once I'm done with my dissertation... well watch out
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Man, this account is over 10 years old. Where do I get my old man beard?
I would hope a sorcerer would be charismatic. Otherwise they need to go home and rethink their life, haha.
Why not a bard?
_________________ Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play: Salema Nefahri::A penny for your thots Zrae'a'stra'fryn::That which nightmares are made of Khasir::From the East a storm is coming
Quoting for confirmation that sorcs suck. Because they do.
_________________ Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play: Salema Nefahri::A penny for your thots Zrae'a'stra'fryn::That which nightmares are made of Khasir::From the East a storm is coming
The reason I said Sorc instead of Bard is partly because I feel that Sorcs are more flexible (though arguably a bard could put his perform into public oration and his song could be a hitlerian diatribe against the enemy). You also have a familiar to talk to when you're bored.
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Man, this account is over 10 years old. Where do I get my old man beard?
I also think that I'd much rather see Active Conflict Factions, rather than Active Evil Factions.
This, so much. Some of my recent memorable events happening have happened since I returned earlier this year. Why? There's conflict brewing on each section of the island! When I played the island had their "Big bad boss" to kill, such as the Dark Flight and the Horde. Now, they are their own enemies. Each settlement has their agenda and by gods have the fights and stand-by-cordor-square conversations lead to some of the most interesting RP I've witnessed since I joined the server ages ago.
I'm going back to this now.
Mr. Hackums, I'd like to explain why some of my reasons where I was impressed on the assassination of Dian is slowly reverting in to bitterness.
The sole reason is those evil PCs did not stick around much longer, leaving the actual reason behind Dian's assassination and the plot of several other PCs completely void.
I have no idea where and why they disappeared, but it seems to be a recurring theme with some (not all) evil factions/groups. They plan to do many bad things, do the first one and then give up or die down.
Just thought I'd give an update to my previous points I gave you.
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"Operating in the border between light and darkness, shadowdancers are nimble artists of deception. They are mysterious and unknown, never completely trusted but always inducing wonder when met"
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