Faction #32 Redesign - The Cymru - People's Defenders

The Cymru - Faction#32 (created in Midgard USA - Zan E.):

Note: The faction was designed to be in Kalmar, but it could be redesigned to be
In Midgard or both locations jointly. The faction focus was for players that wanted
to roleplay and explore within the world.

The Cymru faction was created after the Great Cataclysm.  The effects on Kalmar were
far worse than the rest of the world.  All the cities in Kalmar were harmed in some way
and some were even completely destroyed.  Most of these cities were left as a small
fraction of there former glory.  The faction was formed when the remaining cities of
Kalmar started to recover and people from other lands began to appear in Kalmar taking
over these weakened towns and cities.  These clans and factions posed a threat to the
lands of Kalmar and its culture.  The feeling was that these foreigners could soon take
over Kalmar as the Imperials once did to Midgard.  That is when great individuals of
Kalmar stepped forward, realizing something must be done to protect Kalmar and its
culture or it would be discarded like the garbage.

Once formed, the Cymru faction promised the people of Kalmar that they would be
free to live their lives as they have for centuries.  These men and women promised to
give their lives to protect their way of life and keep their communities free from the
totalitarian control of others.  They have no stated enemies other than those that
hinder and harm the culture and people of Kalmar.

Cymru Skills:

CMD - Command
STR - Strategy
TAC - Tactics
ORA - Oratory
REC - Recruitment
ENT - Entertainment
PCB - Personal Combat

Cymru Bonuses:

1:  The ability to learn/hear of Events or Happenings or Situations that people are talking about. 
2:  Being able to double arm LI/LM, LI/MM, MI/LM, MI/MM
 
Cymru Hierarchy:

1  The Speaker of the People
2  The Benefactor of the People
3  The Defender of the People
4  The Singer of the People
5  Duke
6 Baron
7 Count
8 Earl
9 Lord
10 Knight
11 Master at Arms
12 Master of The Hunt
13 Master Archer
14 Master Bard
15 Hunter
16 Archer
17 Minstrel
18 Scout
19 Tracker
20 Storyteller

Cymru Goals:

1 Cymru presence in every Kalmar City (11 Offices)
2 Prevention of closed cities in Kalmar
3 Keeping Kalmarian markets as true free markets
4 To stop any oppression against the people of Kalmar
5 Connect all the cities of Kalmar with a road system
6 Stop any Bandit activity in Kalmar
7 Restoration of all former cities of Kalmar

Cymru Factional Building:

Cymru Tavern/Inn :  A place for the people to gather and talk, with good entertainment and song. The
Tavern greatly increases the chance to learn of some happening or rumors within the area of the city.
The Cymru are very Bardic in nature and were extremely close with the people.  They are the patrons
of culture and have their hands on the happenings within the cities. The benefit to the city was to increase
the Tax income to the cities +1%/Tavern, and increase the Happiness rating +2%/Tavern within the city.

When creating a new clan, I always advise player to start off as a Independent clan and then choose your (10) Skill points within skills and then join the faction of your choice and add/train in that factions skill set to add to your skill mix.

Example Clan Startup:

<Clan Name>
LDR: CMD-2, STR-1, SGE-1
F1: TAC-1
F2: SGW-1
F3: ORA-1, REC-1, SPY-1, ENT-1
NOTE: Then I would declare for Cymru #32, train (+1 PCB) for the LDR,F1,F2,F3, and then so on.

A truly great faction that was player designed and Live in Midgard USA version of the game under Zan E.

The skills set might be redefined as:

CMD - Command
STR - Strategy
TAC - Tactics
ORA - Oratory
REC - Recruitment
ENT - Entertainment
PCB - Personal Combat

NOTE: There are many former Cymru players that would like to play this faction once again from game start and play them down in Kalmar.  The same group of players would also like to play a naval faction like the former Buccaneer's also from Midgard USA version also under Zan E. A thread was started on this forum for a new version of them called The Swashbucklers, that could also start up in Kalmar once the game starts and the Naval is worked out.

If you start as a Independent clan and then declare as a factional clan which is the process I think every clan should pursue.

Ldr: CMD-1. STR-1, SGE-1, ORA-1, REC-1, ENT-1, PCB-1
 F1: TAC-1
 F2: SGW-1
 F3: SCT-1
NOTE: Then after the clan declare start training more in the factions skills to make the clan more rounded.

Speaking for myself, if the Cymru faction were live from the game start I would start all three of my clans within this faction.  If it was purely down in just Kalmar, that would be just fine. We could rebuild Kalmar as we did before way back in Midgard USA under Zan E. We did it then and we could do it once again. It would be fun and a challenge. Maybe we could then stand up other newer factions like; The Swashbucklers (Naval Mercs/merchants), and The Cult of the Dark One (Religion of Moorlock). I know the GM Mr. Davin wants the other factions but there is a whole other crew of players that want to play a different flavor of gameplay.

Realize if Davin opened up Kalmar to game play, the Cymru in the beginning would be to only faction down there but that would be fine. We did it before and we could do it again. Think of it as a clean slate, a virgin continent  with very little down there. Everything would be from almost scratch but that would be an exciting challenge to do it on our own. The same players that would enjoy that challenge are the same players that also played naval clans in the past and would form up a new naval faction once again. Also the same players would also form up a new religion as well too. I could see a whole new continent defined by the player-ship willing to design a new future for a new land called Kalmar.

Are you willing to be apart of making a better tomorrow and a better continent? Join the brave players down in Kalmar and help form a new future on your own work and sweat. No hand outs down there, just good work to make a better and braver future that you to can help define and develop. Join the real true gaming team.

It's not that I WANT the other factions, but that I don't want too many choices to start with.  If we have the Cymru in the beginning, what other faction(s) should we get rid of to make room for it?  I'm not talking about room to expand, as in another continent, but as in having too few players to fill out too few factions.  IOW, if everyone joins the Cymru, then who is going to be left to play the other factions?  If very few players are left in other factions, then why have the others at all?

Alternatively, can we create a faction that provides some of the basic play styles and benefits found in the "standard" factions PLUS the ones that you like from the Cymru?  If we combine what you like from multiple factions into a single faction, that would satisfy my need to not spread the players too thinly.  And if we provide enough fun from a combined faction, would there be any need for a separate one?

Have you any suggestions along any of these lines?

[quote=Davin]
It's not that I WANT the other factions, but that I don't want too many choices to start with.  If we have the Cymru in the beginning, what other faction(s) should we get rid of to make room for it?  I'm not talking about room to expand, as in another continent, but as in having too few players to fill out too few factions.  IOW, if everyone joins the Cymru, then who is going to be left to play the other factions?  If very few players are left in other factions, then why have the others at all?

Alternatively, can we create a faction that provides some of the basic play styles and benefits found in the "standard" factions PLUS the ones that you like from the Cymru?  If we combine what you like from multiple factions into a single faction, that would satisfy my need to not spread the players too thinly.  And if we provide enough fun from a combined faction, would there be any need for a separate one?

Have you any suggestions along any of these lines?
[/quote]

Ok then if we want to look at it that way, lets get rid of or not start with either the Getham, Roder Families and the Banner Religion

Thus lets redesign the Imperials to a kinder faction like the Imperial Republic, and the Boda Noble House.  Let those two factions stand up as the two real contenders for the heart and body of Midgard. These two factions can both be at odds with one another. The Boda could be as I have stated a former Guild within the Imperial Republic that stood up faster and seem to survive better  with coming together out of the ruins after the great ruin before the Imperial Republic could manage to reform itself again. They are not really enemies of each other but it is a land grab at this point, as they both try to collectively convince all the cities of at least northern Midgard to join either of their two causes instead of just remaining Independent. The former Roder and Geham Nobel Houses could be left in a state of Limbo as being out there talked about but just have not really stood up yet as well as others that are also rumored to also exist (gives room to maybe expand in the future if there are players to consider doing that).

Then that leaves room to set up a Barbarian culture of the Skelts within the deep forests of southern Midgard. These Skelts are enemies to both the Imperial Republic and Boda Noble House and will fight both of them on the spot. They don't want either of them in their lands of Sothern Midgard, and will raid the other two as well. The Cymru could have stood up in Kalmar as the People's Defenders against the Imperialisms of the Imperial Republic and the Boda Nobel House.

So that would give you the following factions then:

- Imperial Republic (at odds with the Boda and enemies of the Skelts)
- The Boda Nobel House (at odds with the Imperial Republic and enemies of the Skelts)
- The Skelts (enemies of both the Imperial Republic and the Boda Noble House, uneasy true with the Cymru)
- The Cymru (at odds with the Imperial Republic and the Boda Noble House uneasy truce with the Skelts)

As to the religious wars, well I think both the Gift and Ring have a place and would work great within the game. However I would take the Banner silent for now and add another Moorlock religion like either the Serkeanar or The Cult of the Dark One and keep the Blood & Fire silent like the Banner. So maybe do the following: The real Religous wars has not truly started yet and both the Banner and Blood & Fire are silent but not stood up yet. If in the future there are enough players with the desire then they can then be stood up and restarted.

- Gift (at odds with the Moorlock religion Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring)
- Ring(at odds with the Moorlock religion Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring)
- Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One (enemy with the Gift and Ring, wanting to spread all across Midgard and Kalmar and trying to win the support of the people)

Here is a Cymru city of Jhorgule #1430 that we built from scratch by myself and many other clans down in Kalmar. This was Turn Cycle #79, where I had stepped down as the Cymru #1 and was the #2 at the time and was working on bringing live another Religious faction "The Seeker Religion" an Old Gods based religion. The Cult if the Dark One was also down there and was very much against the One True Gods faith where you can see a OOH Temple was burned to the ground by them as it was completed within the city. They didn't have a issue with our new faith as Moorlock was one of the Old gods (he was the God of Knowledge). As you can see the Cult had no issue with the Skelt's as they were followers of Moorlock (The Skelts were Sudo-Religious Barbarians/SeaKings).

Page:2 of the CVR (back side)

Update Idea:

After talking with Steve Kort, Bonegrinder, and Dark Shadows one of the greatest problems Midgard of the past had was the vast distances that were in the game and had to be travelled. Since the Naval side of things will NOT be in play, that means it will take a long time to reach anywhere in the game. So then maybe what we should do is put everyone on just the Midgard continent.

So we will have both the Imperial Republic and Boda Nobel House will be in northern Midgard mostly. Then the Skelts will be in Sothern Midgard in the forests. The Cymru The People's Defenders will be anywhere and everywhere on the Midgard content. Now as to the religions I would have both the Gift and Ring as the One True Goders. I would also stand up the Cult of the Dark One followers of Moorlock. Now I should also point out that the Skelts are followers of the Old Gods and at odds with the Gift and Ring.

Factional relations:

Imperial Republic: at odds with Boda Nobel House, The Cymru, and open fight with the Skelts
Boda Nobel House: at odds with Imperial Republic, The Cymru, and opem fight with the Skelts
Skelts: at odds with The Cymru, The Cult of the Dark One, open fight with Imperium Republic, Boda Nobel House, Ring, Gift
The Cymru: at odds with Imperial Republic, Boda Nobel House, Skelts, The Cult of the Dark One
Gift Religion: open fight with Skelts, Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring
Ring Religion: open fight with Skelts, Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Gift
The Cult of the Dark One: at odds with the Cymru, open fight with Gift, Ring

The above factional relations would give lots of strife flowing and plenty to do for all. In the future oter factions can be added into the mix as we have more players.

BTW, Dreamweaver, is it really necessary to post the same information in several different threads at once?  Why not just stick to a topic in an appropriate thread so everyone can discuss it in one place?

[quote=Davin]
BTW, Dreamweaver, is it really necessary to post the same information in several different threads at once?  Why not just stick to a topic in an appropriate thread so everyone can discuss it in one place?
[/quote]
Well I wish you would comment on it in one of them at least!!!

I'm working on it - it just takes me time to go through all the different threads and look at each point you're trying to make in order to respond to them.

[quote='DreamWeaver' pid='137479' dateline='1580462442']
The Cymru could have stood up in Kalmar as the People's Defenders against the Imperialisms of the Imperial Republic and the Boda Nobel House.
[/quote]
If the Imperials aren't invaders any more (according to your ideas) then what are the Cymru defending against?  It's not like anyone's "invading" their territory, right?

[quote='DreamWeaver' pid='137479' dateline='1580462442']
So that would give you the following factions then:

- Imperial Republic (at odds with the Boda and enemies of the Skelts)
- The Boda Nobel House (at odds with the Imperial Republic and enemies of the Skelts)
- The Skelts (enemies of both the Imperial Republic and the Boda Noble House, uneasy true with the Cymru)
- The Cymru (at odds with the Imperial Republic and the Boda Noble House uneasy truce with the Skelts)

As to the religious wars, well I think both the Gift and Ring have a place and would work great within the game. However I would take the Banner silent for now and add another Moorlock religion like either the Serkeanar or The Cult of the Dark One and keep the Blood & Fire silent like the Banner. So maybe do the following: The real Religous wars has not truly started yet and both the Banner and Blood & Fire are silent but not stood up yet. If in the future there are enough players with the desire then they can then be stood up and restarted.

- Gift (at odds with the Moorlock religion Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring)
- Ring(at odds with the Moorlock religion Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring)
- Serkeanar or Cult of the Dark One (enemy with the Gift and Ring, wanting to spread all across Midgard and Kalmar and trying to win the support of the people)
[/quote]

I don't see any particular problems with any of that.

:D LOL....I know it takes time! :angel:

[quote='DreamWeaver' pid='137483' dateline='1580516750']
Update Idea:

After talking with Steve Kort, Bonegrinder, and Dark Shadows one of the greatest problems Midgard of the past had was the vast distances that were in the game and had to be travelled. Since the Naval side of things will NOT be in play, that means it will take a long time to reach anywhere in the game. So then maybe what we should do is put everyone on just the Midgard continent.
[/quote]

I agree that opening multiple continents right now is just too much.  We may even try to start everyone just in one smaller area of Midgard and that way they can expand as they eventually find that area too developed, crowded and constraining.

I differ in my opinion from Steve, as I always had issues with the factions of the past. Basically it is why the game never had a huge following of players, it did have extremely dedicated players that were die-hards, but it never had lots of players. Now remember we are talking about over 20+ years ago now and many of those former players have even passed on, and you must get new players n the game to survive. Plus the new gamers want different things than the older players had wanted. This is opening a huge can of worms here, but I feel the game needs a major over haul to survive. Restore the stale older game will not fly on it's own.

[quote='DreamWeaver' pid='137483' dateline='1580516750']
So we will have both the Imperial Republic and Boda Nobel House will be in northern Midgard mostly. Then the Skelts will be in Sothern Midgard in the forests. The Cymru The People's Defenders will be anywhere and everywhere on the Midgard content. Now as to the religions I would have both the Gift and Ring as the One True Goders. I would also stand up the Cult of the Dark One followers of Moorlock. Now I should also point out that the Skelts are followers of the Old Gods and at odds with the Gift and Ring.

Factional relations:

Imperial Republic: at odds with Boda Nobel House, The Cymru, and open fight with the Skelts
Boda Nobel House: at odds with Imperial Republic, The Cymru, and opem fight with the Skelts
Skelts: at odds with The Cymru, The Cult of the Dark One, open fight with Imperium Republic, Boda Nobel House, Ring, Gift
The Cymru: at odds with Imperial Republic, Boda Nobel House, Skelts, The Cult of the Dark One
Gift Religion: open fight with Skelts, Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Ring
Ring Religion: open fight with Skelts, Cult of the Dark One, allie of the Gift
The Cult of the Dark One: at odds with the Cymru, open fight with Gift, Ring

The above factional relations would give lots of strife flowing and plenty to do for all. In the future oter factions can be added into the mix as we have more players.
[/quote]

The internal strife is good for game balance and giving players plenty to do.  I still wonder about your thoughts as to why the Cymru would be opposing the Imperials/Boda if all they're really trying to do is improve the land (so they gather as many adherents as possible).  Could you explain a little better?

I was one of the founders of this faction and greatly enjoyed my time in it and think it would be a great add to the game. The problem I see you continuously bringing up is personal desire to have lots of people in every faction. at no point in the history of midgard have I seen large numbers in many factions even when we started the Cymru I think the best we had was 12 players and just over 40 clans and that was because and Penn and me work our ass off to get those so we can get Zan to make the faction in the game. That sort of thing was not the norm in the game. If you get 10 players in half the 7 you are looking to limit the game to you will be lucky. The fact is you will never have player balance in the game it will always be lopsided and some will be very lopsided. Things may change as the game goes on but you will always have factions with lots and those with few and if people get bored with the limited choices they will leave. The more variety of interesting factions you have the better chance to keep those players.

Just a example several players Penn and me brought into the old Midgard started with 3 Cymru. Later in the game they went down to 1 or 2 and grabbed clans in other factions, because they got bored of the same old thing or doing similar things or wanted to be part of something different. If there wasn't something else for them they would have simply stopped playing those other clans and just play 1. Again that decreases the number of players in a huge game.

I don't see a need for "lots" of players in a faction.  If I get 3 players and 5-10 clans in each starting faction I think it'll be well on its way to being successful.  What I don't want to see is <exaggerated slightly for effect> 50 factions with half to three-quarters of them having no clans at all (or at most one).  I'd just like all the factions to have a following.  If nobody (or almost nobody) wants to join a faction, then we're better off not having that faction at all in the first place and it should be dropped.  If we really need the faction in some way, then we must change it to be more fun so people will want to play in it.  There's just no reason to have factions that aren't going to be played (in an organized fashion).  If we build up to having enough players, I have no problem creating dozens of different factions for them to choose from.

What's wrong with that attitude?

The Cymru were a faction that had (16) players in it I have the senior reports still. Now I think if you want to keep the past history, then you need to return all those factions again to the game. I understand that you do not have the naval system coded completely so the factions that need that simply can not start yet.

If you want the Big Box Imperials to be that way then do it, but as the GM you MUST ENFORCE not alloying Abuse that we say in the past. Like the Boda #1 had a cousin Imperial clan and etc. Stuff like that has to be stopped by you the GM. Now the other Big Box faction was the Barbarians (Seakings). I would just bring back the following factions at game start, and just keep the history.

Imperials
Boda Family
Roder Family
Getham Family
Merk Verk
SOA
Banner Religion
Gift Religion
Ring Religion
Order of the Hand - Holy Knights
Blood and Fire Religion
Serkeanar Religion
Cult of the Dark One Religion
Cymru
Skelts

Then bring these in after the Naval is ready:
Buccaneers
The SearKings

If we just skip forward into the future a bit (to avoid having the exact same clans around), then yes we'd either need to reincarnate all the factions or explain why they're not around any more (such as with another cataclysm).  But you're right - there's a lot of abuse and imbalance that went on in the old system that I'd really like to be able to change.  But history "to date" interferes with that.  I don't see any way to keep all the old stuff around and still "fix" things.  Does anyone have any solution for that?

[quote='Davin' pid='137515' dateline='1580534599']
I don't see a need for "lots" of players in a faction.  If I get 3 players and 5-10 clans in each starting faction I think it'll be well on its way to being successful.  What I don't want to see is <exaggerated slightly for effect> 50 factions with half to three-quarters of them having no clans at all (or at most one).  I'd just like all the factions to have a following.  If nobody (or almost nobody) wants to join a faction, then we're better off not having that faction at all in the first place and it should be dropped.  If we really need the faction in some way, then we must change it to be more fun so people will want to play in it.  There's just no reason to have factions that aren't going to be played (in an organized fashion).  If we build up to having enough players, I have no problem creating dozens of different factions for them to choose from.

What's wrong with that attitude?
[/quote]
Factional regiments only to the top couple clans in each faction? Not to everyone. That will probably spread out the players to the lesser populated factions... The underpopulated (with players) factions should make a "sell" to get clans in their faction

Just spit-balling ideas