Celestine Ascendancy

Sagex

I know some of us said this is where we will call home when the game starts but, I was wondering how you guys think this should be run. From what i've read it's kind of like an eliteist style world where the rich lives in luxury while the poor suffers. How do you plan to play your character? I think for me, honor and pride is where its at so if my character sees someone suffering he will lend a hand

Baedundariel

I'll be too busy bein' dizzy over in Scatterhome to pay attention to snob hill.. heh.

Sagex

pfft we're going to rule the iron throne !

Villanox

Well, I for one plan on being a glorious business shen, who commands vast riches, and totally doesn't control a band of pirates. Where on Celestine did you get that idea?

Sagex

The desc, the wealthy live in the ivory towers and most of the place lives in slums. . Towering skyscrapers, the homes of the social and political elite, soar high above smog-choked urban valleys. Crime and both power and economic inequality run rampant, with the top 0.1% of the population having more of both than the rest of the planet combined.

Xiru

I haven't decided between two races, but one would be in the Ascendancy more than likely, possibly either character could turn out that way. There's plenty of potential here, and while I don't have an idea ready to be shared, the richness of the possibilities makes me glad that we have information available pre-launch. I think it'll enrich RP with those of us die-hard enough to be frequenting forums for a game that's yet to open. 

Hailfire

I find when playing a MUD it takes me quite a while to learn the lay of the land, so I generally prefer to start at the bottom of the scrap-pile but aspire high. As such I'll probably be playing a bit of a nobody Shen or one who has fallen from grace and seeks to move on upwards. Something of a thug with lordly aspirations most likely... The kind of person @Villanox might employ as a henchman.

My experience is in Cyberpunk RP with a strong rich vs poor theme throughout and I love that theme, so the Celestine Ascendancy is where I'll be starting out.

Jericho

If my current design for my character makes it to live he'll definitely not be wanting any part of the Pretentious Palace.

Retherian

I am the Senate!

Laxnarl

Ruling is for the weak. True dictators have people to do that for them. You just stand behind the throne with puppet strings attached to your minions.

Quean

I know this thread is a bit old, but as the launch date is closing in, I find myself neglecting the important projects in my life and getting back to my Starmourn character notes and sketches  As I am sure I will be playing an Ascendancy citizen, I wanted to share a few thoughts on it here.

I know some of us said this is where we will call home when the game starts but, I was wondering how you guys think this should be run.

Well, first of all, at launch we will probably be a thinking about bashing and questing most of the time, there will be little structure to it. But I would start experimenting with small things: going around the home area to get a sense of the aesthetics, the dominant colours and symbols; finding awesome sounding ways to greet you all in the channels and bid you farewell; scout the best areas to socialize both in small groups and larger gatherings. I remember being there in the opening days of Midkemia Online, with RP being not that common, and comparing that to the awesome, rich tapestry of language, lore and rituals that I was used to in Achaea... Now I have more understanding that building such things takes years, but still - if we want to have this vibrant culture, we need to start somewhere. For me, this "somewhere" is in the small decisions, interactions, social rituals that are so cool that they immediately spread like viruses.

It would be awesome, though, if we had a a direction we wanted to go with this. Again, in Achaea it was really easy. Mhaldor is evil. Cyrene is Venetian. Eleusis is nature-centered etc. Simplistic as these basic, core ideas were, they worked. When I first played a Mhaldorian character, I was absolutely enchanted by the way other players roleplayed EVIL (not just evil) in literally every interaction. And the surrounding space supported it marvellously! I would love for the Ascendancy to have these sharply defined core concepts to begin with, so that we move towards more sophisticated in time

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, the CA seems to have a Cyberpunk feel to it. I'm sensing a vibe of something like Altered Carbon, the Earth from The Expanse, maybe Omega Station from Mass Effect, or the old Blade Runner. I would love to have the sense of it every time I'm around, but honestly, building such an environment seems to me more difficult than simply an "evil city". One way I can think of is to create a "pop culture" or sorts and make celebrities out of a group of more powerful Player Characters. I'm thinking holo-advertisements on buildings that depict @Villanox's branded beverage. Putting some effort into that would build us at least a small group of prominent players, known to everyone, including newbies, simply because their names and faces would be EVERYWHERE

"Oh my, you mean to tell me you actually met Villanox? She is so brilliant! A genius, a philanthropist and a class act! Pirates? Ah, you've heard about it too? Be serious, not all rich people are corrupt, such gossip is for children! Still, this mystery kind of makes her even more hot..."

We will not be able to recreate the enormous wealth gap between Players, simply because of how game economy works. We are meant to advance, exactly as the lore seems to indicate we should not be able to. Is there a way still have an in-game, cyberpunk-like super-elite? Well, another idea is for us, as Player community, to have something like knighthood in Achaea - a class of citizens ridiculously difficult to get into, commanding great prestige. No, I don't know how this could work in practice, but narrative-wise, it could be like the meths from Altered Carbon. Once you get there, you become influential, but also you land in the spotlights. I imagine many Players would actually prefer not to go there, in order not to be too exposed.

So the haves-have_nots is one potential aspect of the culture to build on. The second might be a vibrant underground culture. Exotic clubs, weird cults, ethnic gangs, smuggler rings with good, narrative twists (and identities that go beyond "we smuggle things"), underground artists...

A smaller aspect of the culture could be the "I know the game is rigged, which is going to make it so much sweeter when I win!" attitude. I know my character will surely play with this trope.

Did I mention that we should have the best detective agency in the Starmourn Sector? Come on, private eyes are a staple of noir, and through it - of cyberpunk. And a smoking, whiskey-sipping, cynical individual with an office in Scrapston, overlooking a channel, would be too awesome to miss.

And finally, we may or may not explore it, but there is potential in having a dark, internal police force like The Protectorate or Grammaton Clerics who protect the establishment

All right, I'm slowly getting embarrassed about how hyped I'm getting waaaay ahead of time, throwing ideas that may have no place in the actual game world. because the devs and builders already have a lot waiting for us. Still, no promises I won't throw in more of these, I'm too anxious to get started. Cheers to all the future Celestines!

Villanox

Quean said: I dunno why there is a spoiler here. so... yeah....

I know this thread is a bit old, but as the launch date is closing in, I find myself neglecting the important projects in my life and getting back to my Starmourn character notes and sketches  As I am sure I will be playing an Ascendancy citizen, I wanted to share a few thoughts on it here.

I know some of us said this is where we will call home when the game starts but, I was wondering how you guys think this should be run.

Well, first of all, at launch we will probably be a thinking about bashing and questing most of the time, there will be little structure to it. But I would start experimenting with small things: going around the home area to get a sense of the aesthetics, the dominant colours and symbols; finding awesome sounding ways to greet you all in the channels and bid you farewell; scout the best areas to socialize both in small groups and larger gatherings. I remember being there in the opening days of Midkemia Online, with RP being not that common, and comparing that to the awesome, rich tapestry of language, lore and rituals that I was used to in Achaea... Now I have more understanding that building such things takes years, but still - if we want to have this vibrant culture, we need to start somewhere. For me, this "somewhere" is in the small decisions, interactions, social rituals that are so cool that they immediately spread like viruses.

It would be awesome, though, if we had a a direction we wanted to go with this. Again, in Achaea it was really easy. Mhaldor is evil. Cyrene is Venetian. Eleusis is nature-centered etc. Simplistic as these basic, core ideas were, they worked. When I first played a Mhaldorian character, I was absolutely enchanted by the way other players roleplayed EVIL (not just evil) in literally every interaction. And the surrounding space supported it marvellously! I would love for the Ascendancy to have these sharply defined core concepts to begin with, so that we move towards more sophisticated in time

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, the CA seems to have a Cyberpunk feel to it. I'm sensing a vibe of something like Altered Carbon, the Earth from The Expanse, maybe Omega Station from Mass Effect, or the old Blade Runner. I would love to have the sense of it every time I'm around, but honestly, building such an environment seems to me more difficult than simply an "evil city". One way I can think of is to create a "pop culture" or sorts and make celebrities out of a group of more powerful Player Characters. I'm thinking holo-advertisements on buildings that depict @Villanox's branded beverage. Putting some effort into that would build us at least a small group of prominent players, known to everyone, including newbies, simply because their names and faces would be EVERYWHERE

"Oh my, you mean to tell me you actually met Villanox? She is so brilliant! A genius, a philanthropist and a class act! Pirates? Ah, you've heard about it too? Be serious, not all rich people are corrupt, such gossip is for children! Still, this mystery kind of makes her even more hot..."

We will not be able to recreate the enormous wealth gap between Players, simply because of how game economy works. We are meant to advance, exactly as the lore seems to indicate we should not be able to. Is there a way still have an in-game, cyberpunk-like super-elite? Well, another idea is for us, as Player community, to have something like knighthood in Achaea - a class of citizens ridiculously difficult to get into, commanding great prestige. No, I don't know how this could work in practice, but narrative-wise, it could be like the meths from Altered Carbon. Once you get there, you become influential, but also you land in the spotlights. I imagine many Players would actually prefer not to go there, in order not to be too exposed.

So the haves-have_nots is one potential aspect of the culture to build on. The second might be a vibrant underground culture. Exotic clubs, weird cults, ethnic gangs, smuggler rings with good, narrative twists (and identities that go beyond "we smuggle things"), underground artists...

A smaller aspect of the culture could be the "I know the game is rigged, which is going to make it so much sweeter when I win!" attitude. I know my character will surely play with this trope.

Did I mention that we should have the best detective agency in the Starmourn Sector? Come on, private eyes are a staple of noir, and through it - of cyberpunk. And a smoking, whiskey-sipping, cynical individual with an office in Scrapston, overlooking a channel, would be too awesome to miss.

And finally, we may or may not explore it, but there is potential in having a dark, internal police force like The Protectorate or Grammaton Clerics who protect the establishment

All right, I'm slowly getting embarrassed about how hyped I'm getting waaaay ahead of time, throwing ideas that may have no place in the actual game world. because the devs and builders already have a lot waiting for us. Still, no promises I won't throw in more of these, I'm too anxious to get started. Cheers to all the future Celestines!

I really hope we get to have a cool kinda 'Hey' and 'Bye' as opposed to "Hello humanoids" or whatever, my mind immediately going to "Hail the Dawn" from Targossas in Achaea.

I think any super elite thing would be something kinda player created. The elites of the city deciding to cement their power by creating some kind of 'Elite-clan', possibly restricting members of it to leadership (that would be a bad idea but just throwing out general shit) since it's really not supposed to be equal.