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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 22:51:54 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 27, 2014 22:51:54 GMT -5
Kurac has a lot of secrets... Mekeda and whoever else that was working with them way back when, really gave them special treatment. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to staff rotations. So. Time to get into it. if i had to guess I'd say they started rotations to get someone in Kurac who'd cut membership. Back in the day, Sanvean would occasionally reference a "Sekret Club". I forget exactly when. Decade ago. Anyhow they were apparently a group of players who wanted to run Arm without the imms. I thought she was being childish and paranoid; I had no idea the group existed. She was wrong about the big Kuraci being involved though. This'll get tricky, because i have to cover two subjects to reply to you. I'll divvy it up. Old Skool KuracSo there was a time when Kurac had around 1/3 of the active playerbase. yes. That many. This time ranged from a year before Tuluk revolted against Nak to some time after that. The clueless staff took the approach of trying to blame the Kuraci imm(s), the Sekret Club, sunspots, weather balloons, and the Time Cube. The reality was Kurac was where you could do shit. It had a few good leader PCs who were autonomous. As long as what they did was sane they didn't need permission to do it. As a result if you joined Kurac you had shit to do. Immediately. And you were important. Im not saying the lowliest grunt was wearing silt-horror. I'm saying they had shit for you to do they needed done. Not because an imm gave them a busiwork quest, but because the players of PC leaders were playing their characters as ambitious leaders and their staff trusted them to do it. Early on, the main thing the clan staff did was fill custom orders. Otherwise the PCs and clan staff had very limited interaction. I believe the first imm during the Kurac explosion was Arkon. he had an ingame OOC meeting with the PC leaders on clan direction. The only thing I can recall coming out of that was PC leaders could promote and demote very far up the chain. This was partially done so they could be corrupt. Now players with promote/demote seem to be commonplace in the game. At the time I remember it being pretty unusual... my mind may be playing tricks. oldtwink may be able to clear that up. Anyhow, so you had driven autonomous PC leaders expected to generate activity. They generated a shitton. This created a lot of activity for Kurac-affiliated clans like the Guild. Kurac smuggled the shit out of spice into Nak during this time. They had a guy in RSV who more or less was the entire demand side of the economy. Newer players likely don't know this, but RSV used to be fairly hard for an indy to live in. With their dedicated guy there RSV had a decent sized playerbase. And people for the Guild to get discount bricks of tho from to flood the Nakki market with from. Tuluk was a shithole. I dont recall if Tuluk got spillover from Kuraci activity but I recall they had a heavy lumber demand at one point. they were destroying wood for virtual construction. Wagon maint. The like. Not because some staffer told them to, but because it made sense, and the PC leaders decided to have their subordinates doing it. this sat poorly with many staffers. Their clans had nothing to do. So few people applied. But it couldn't be their fault for stifling activity! No! So naturally Kurac was the problem. So Naephet the Nyr of the day, created an HRPT. This took place after Tuluki liberation IIRC. Kurac was kicked out of Luir's in an impossible battle that was presented to the playerbase as "to be decided by how events go". Behind-the-scenes, Kuraci PCs could either retreat or die. Naephet's announced plan was to spend 6 months where Luir's would be a gathering place for the scum of Zalanthas. Overrun by mantis controlled by a sorc called "Lord of Storms". Then naephet vanished for months. His idiotic transparent plan to kill Kurac's playerbase failed miserably. the staff rooting against Kurac failed to see what any sane person would have. So Mekeda took up the reins of the retarded plotline. Kurac built a temporary shelter near Luir's to act as a new outpost. it was makeshift, shitty, all the rooms were coded as outdoors. the kind of thing that you'd expect realistically. Kuraci activity continued exploding. Which anyone but a typical Arm staffer could have predicted. Now PCs really believed they had to hunt and gather. I think Gesht the RSV imm got added as Mekeda's assistant on Kurac at this time. Kurac eventually won back Luirs. They did get some love, albeit mostly cosmetic. Luir's got expanded and organized better. new stuff got added to the archives, like that creepy key and the haunted crypt. Those were Gesht; i believe they were meant to add IC relics of Luir Dragonsthrall, but didn't do anything. He handled the smaller pat of Kurac. Sekret ClubSo who are they? First off I'm using Sanvean's name for them. I don't even know if they had a name. I only even learned it was real some months after I roiginally left the game. my information is slim. But they are a group who would intentionally create IC events that the imms couldn't ignore. Driving the Kuraci military argosy off the Shield wall, for example. Their goal was to drive major events themselves. i couldn't say if it was for attention, out of spite, or both. They definitely did not like the staff. To reiterate their ranks did not include the PC leaders I was talking about earlier. I knew a couple of the PCs specficially wrongly suspected of membership. Even if I hadn't known who wasn't in them I wouldn't mistake driven Pc leaders for this group. The goals are 9or were) very different. The "Sekret Club" as san called 'em were big on doing big events at the expense of the clans they joined or sponsored into using the access they got. the problem is since Sanvean (HL at the time) and a number of other imms assumed Kurac was run by these guys, Kurac got an unfair rap. I am not sure if the Club's still around. However i suspect Nyr was one of their later recruits. Since he's become an imm he behaves like i'd think they would with power. Constant changes to the status quo. shit that's hard to ignore. changes for the sake of changes. Shaking things up for the sake of being seen. I really can't shake the feelings that cockbag is a sleeper agent.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:01:01 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 23:01:01 GMT -5
BitterFlashback : Awesome post, and, FWIW, there is an IC legacy of the Dragonthrall in Luir's. It just makes me sad that the archives and most of the magicker friendly roles in Kurac have been forcibly closed.
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:06:40 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 27, 2014 23:06:40 GMT -5
Thanks! Sorry to read the extra special Kurac stuff got closed. damn the imms are petty bastards.
Oh, and I forgot Brixius. Sanvean's husband. I think he was between Arkon and Mekeda chronologically. Like the three i mentioned he was pretty hands-off driving clan direction.
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:12:55 GMT -5
Post by lulz on Feb 27, 2014 23:12:55 GMT -5
That was actually the stronghold that the one group had going there. It got unlinked in the past 3 years, admins went in and manually just linked the grassy rooms around it together so it was inaccessible. It was, god, I can't recall the name because I never played in it and it was closed by the time I was on staff, but I'm sure someone older could recall it. Not the CAM, but something like that? It was magicker related. AFAIK, Steinal was never codedly built or part of the game. Formerly known as the Conclave.
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:14:37 GMT -5
Post by lulz on Feb 27, 2014 23:14:37 GMT -5
BitterFlashback : Awesome post, and, FWIW, there is an IC legacy of the Dragonthrall in Luir's. It just makes me sad that the archives and most of the magicker friendly roles in Kurac have been forcibly closed. The archives are not closed. Rahmi reopened them, and Gowan was Calus' first agent. Soon after I recruited Raba (Kurac mul) to join me.
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:17:19 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 27, 2014 23:17:19 GMT -5
The archives are not closed. Rahmi reopened them, and Gowan was Calus' first agent. Soon after I recruited Raba (Kurac mul) to join me. Good to hear. it was too cool an idea to let go down the tubes. All you need are some solid templars in Nak and the AoD and Kurac clans would feed off each other's activity. if Kurac stops being the clan of booze and sex and goes back to being a cartel that is.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Secrets
Feb 27, 2014 23:38:58 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 23:38:58 GMT -5
BitterFlashback : Awesome post, and, FWIW, there is an IC legacy of the Dragonthrall in Luir's. It just makes me sad that the archives and most of the magicker friendly roles in Kurac have been forcibly closed. The archives are not closed. Rahmi reopened them, and Gowan was Calus' first agent. Soon after I recruited Raba (Kurac mul) to join me. When were they reopened?
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Lizzie
Clueless newb
Posts: 199
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Post by Lizzie on Feb 27, 2014 23:47:58 GMT -5
All things considered, the Sekret Club at least left hints that cool stuff had happened. I think forcing things that imms can't ignore is better than just bowing out when they shut down every single goddamn plot.
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 0:04:53 GMT -5
Post by lulz on Feb 28, 2014 0:04:53 GMT -5
The archives are not closed. Rahmi reopened them, and Gowan was Calus' first agent. Soon after I recruited Raba (Kurac mul) to join me. When were they reopened? After you left staff. Gowan moved some of the books located in the Archives to his own personal lair that I doubt anyone will ever find if the Archives have been left to rot. Around a month into Gowan's career as a soldier, Calus began making appearances ridiculing Gowan's ineffectiveness. Soon after the blonde Archive operative (I forget her name) would routinely show up and interact with me. It was at this time I realized I was being groomed to take a position in the secretive organization. Calus started giving Gowan jobs to do, and with each success began to look to my PC as someone who could get shit done. That was why I was put in charge of the Mantis as the new proprietor and that is why Rissa, FW's noble and Icumen died; Calus gave Gowan free reign to eliminate any and all threats, be them foreign or even within our organization. Certainly one of my favorite times as a mundane, up there with my first Jihaen and my first real Kuraci I had, Judah.
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 0:09:42 GMT -5
Post by lulz on Feb 28, 2014 0:09:42 GMT -5
All things considered, the Sekret Club at least left hints that cool stuff had happened. I think forcing things that imms can't ignore is better than just bowing out when they shut down every single goddamn plot. Agreed. If you actively encourage your playerbase to "be the change", don't whine when they do something that might force you to do a little work.
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 1:21:40 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 28, 2014 1:21:40 GMT -5
All things considered, the Sekret Club at least left hints that cool stuff had happened. Eh, don't assume everything cool that happens outside or against the imms was them. from what I recall they preferred to just screw things up in clans. There are a few driven people left who had nothing to do with them. I think forcing things that imms can't ignore is better than just bowing out when they shut down every single goddamn plot. i almost completely agree with this, because I have nothing but contempt for how the staff kills player activity. But doing things for the sake of doing them isn't inherently good either. Enemy of my enemy isn't necessarily my friend, you know? If you actively encourage your playerbase to "be the change", don't whine when they do something that might force you to do a little work. Oh come on. you know they only say that because "Fuck you I don't want to work i'm a volunteer" is considered too direct.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2014 1:38:11 GMT -5
When the alternative is (as it has been in the last few years) that nobody really does anything at all, it almost is inherently good.
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 1:57:15 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 28, 2014 1:57:15 GMT -5
When the alternative is (as it has been in the last few years) that nobody really does anything at all, it almost is inherently good. Again, not a fan of staff smothering but not going to say breaking things to hear them shatter is good because "oh hey something's happening". It becomes indistinguishable from the imms' own random bullshit. if a sponsored role does something horribly out of character for their clan, is it discernably different from when Nyr decides to do the same thing because plot convenience? If you don't know if the PC is a staffer or not it just looks like the same bad writing. Then again I quit the game. Again. i'm kind of at a loss to explain why I thought the staff might have grown out of their pattern of lunacy. maybe arm would be better if everyone just shat all over everything. I'm not really in a place to say otherwise at the moment.
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Lizzie
Clueless newb
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 2:17:12 GMT -5
Post by Lizzie on Feb 28, 2014 2:17:12 GMT -5
I was under the impression the Sekret Club was doing stuff that would normally require talking to staff, without doing so. That hardly seems bad or wrong, and it's on par with a northern templar suddenly deciding to gather a group of PCs and fuck up Ten Sarak or whatever, without talking it over with staff beforehand.
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Secrets
Feb 28, 2014 2:44:00 GMT -5
Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 28, 2014 2:44:00 GMT -5
My understanding was they were doing shit for the sake of seeing things happen. Breaking things. Wrecking things, Causing problems with alliances. Not for any reason other than to fuck with the imms, sometimes at the expense of other players' immersion.
i believe you're jumping to the impression I'm against player-driven things. I'm highly in favor of them. Or I wouldn't have brought up case history about how successful it was for Kurac. I'd rather the staff stop bludgeoning us with their "writing".
@oldtwink Do you recall if it was common for non-noble PCs to have promote/demote back in the days when Tuluk was occupied by Nak? I forget the year. but I get the impression you were also around back then.
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