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+--- Thread: [Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society (/showthread.php?tid=5058)
[Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society - K'dath - 10-14-2013
K'dath, you ambitious, handsome stallion, what is this cunning plan you've brought forth today?
I wanted to make a pitch to the community for an idea I'd had before overly investing any effort into it, just to be disappointed by a lack of turn out, and cluttering up the LS hall with another concept that'll lack proper execution.
I've been dwelling on my time as the guildmaster guy who isn't the guildmaster but organizes everything because the atual guildmaster is a lazy tosser for a small roleplay guild on WoW. It was a brief endeavor, but wildly fun, and I'd like to recapture a bit of that. I've thought about it very carefully over the past week or so and tried to articulate my thoughts into something that I think would be an excellent concept with intention and planning beyond just the central theme.
The pitch itself: For all intents and purposes, a normal courier company. They are of little open renown and rarely handle missives or parcels of an interesting nature. They are the lightest on their feet of any postmen though, and will often harken into dangerous areas where more cautious men would flee.
Along with their peculiar reputation of moving effortlessly through territory which should be rife with conflict, they are known in the specif circles which require such discretion to deliver to clients that are not normally accessible by common post...
Yes, a normal and effective post service that courts the hands of less reputable men is nothing new. But beneath a rather typical veneer there lies a secret order who traffics in goods and services not available by anyone else in their niche. The society is old, harkening back to a time when the Ixal still rightly called the Twelvewood home and Hyur clashed with Elezen in bloody war.
The society were of each the races, skilled in the weaving of arcane mist, and subjugated it to their will in a time when no one knew these arts. Using this lost understanding of magic the moved through enemy lines as effortlessly as the wind. They worked in compliment to subterfuge rather than directly, and brokered in secrets that would turn the tide of history.
Since those ages the Breath of Garuda* have fallen from the history pages. No longer are hushed tales whispered of magical spies as transient as the air itself. They have buried themselves for want not to draw attention to their unknown ends.
But they are among you, watching you. They know your secrets. And you'll know when they've come for your when you receive the letter baring this mark:
(Pretend there's a real impressive symbol here, I'm working on it)
You write a very convincing speech, my eloquent friend. So what am I to do with this pitch?
Give your feedback, of course.
There currently is no linkshell, no organization, and no one else the idea has been presented to. This right here is the foundation, and if nothing comes of it nothing will happen. Simple as that.
Your ideas and insights are appreciated.
K'dath your idea is amazing! But what do you hope to accomplish with this?
I want to have an organized, effective, story-action oriented RP society with a loose enough basis that anyone would be able to participate in the way that best serves them, with a narrow enough focus to have a progressive meta-story. A for-profit guild firmly grounded in neutrality that is not a 'hack 'n slash' mercenary guild, but rather a more passive, interactive element that can add to immersion of its members and other players.
I wanted to extend a hand to those who have felt neglected or excluded from exclusive or overly-narrow focused Linkshells, and provide an excellent standard of role play in a non-hostile environment. I want to foster a certain style of role play that involves getting out into the world and including others, regardless of their character/character's affiliations. Everyone gets letters.
Let's say you do go through with this, as your ideas are as perfect as you are charming. How can I willingly indenture myself to your cause?
Let's start here with what I bring to the table;
Officer Experience
Creative Planning
Minor Organizational Skills
Minor Lore Knowledge
What would establish the good foundation this project needs to get off the ground is someone who is more decisive and organized to help put a lot of the concepts and ideas into an achievable perspective instead of just my inane ramblings. Someone better acquainted with lore to help clean up the back story and assist in writing further storyline.
Idea people to come up with smaller quests and missions I would like to implement to encourage RP in places that are out of the way or normally do not see as much. Even if you couldn't see yourself being affiliated with the company or society therein, you can always offer yourself as a non-affiliated contact!
I'd like to collaborate with leaders of other Linkshells and see about interweaving storylines, at their discretion and as it suits them, as our nature is to be flexible. Something as simple a delivering an important missive to a mercenary force on the front lines, to an elaborate arc involving a noble house employing the 'seedier' aspect of the society to uncover secrets someone would not want known.
Other than that, we need bodies! You can't have a secret society of magical postmen without people! People to deliver letters, people to receive them, people who are covering up awful secrets, people who want those secrets uncovered, people who want those people dead, and people to facilitate their death.
(I would like to stress it is not an assassination/criminal organization guild and that is not the concept. We don't kill people, we just... might conveniently let someone who wants a party dead know where they'll be sleeping tonight. The blood is distinctly off our hands.)
Truth be told, I am not a guildmaster and I am terrible at running things. I know this about myself because I have done it many times before. I would like someone with as much ambition and drive as I have to assist in holding the reigns and bring a bit of order to the chaos that is me.
All that said, I welcome any response on the matter, be it interest, scathing critique, or grotesquely over the top compliments about how suave I am. You can post here, or if you're uncomfortable spewing fort your opinions, contact me through forum's private messaging, or even grab me in game! My usual playtime range is between 12am-12pm CST (that's 1-1 for you EST weirdos) but I'm usually logged in if I'm at home and awake, even if I'm not actually playing.
Oh, and also, don't name drop your linkshell in this thread. I'll consider it really fucking rude to advertise your project on my space. I didn't crash your thread to spam up about mine. Thank you for your cooperation~
*The name was sorta come up on the spot as I was writing all this out, a bit of an homage to the guild which sired the idea; 'The Ravenlord's Herald' <Ravenlord Runners>. It's totally subject to change.
RE: [Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society - Qhora Bajihri - 10-14-2013
I think it's a great idea, especially if you can build up a good backlog of ideas/end up with a prolific creative bunch to keep things (packages, parcels, letters!) moving. I have someone (not Darien, far too messed up for such a practical venture) who may be interested if you end up moving forward.
RE: [Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society - LiadansWhisper - 10-15-2013
This sounds really cool! Â I hope it gets off the ground. Â
RE: [Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society - C'kayah Polaali - 10-15-2013
This sounds like a great idea! I RPed a messenger in LOTRO, and it was really fun. Not only do you have a ready-made IC justification for going anywhere, but you have an easy "in" to pretty much any RP group.
As far as the secret society bit goes, I think that has all sorts of promise, as well. From experience, it's a bit harder to RP, but it can be extremely rewarding. I'm not particularly knowledgable about FF XIV lore, but there seems to be enough power struggles to support this sort of thing.
I'm mainly on Siren, but I've started a version of C'kayah on Balmung, too, and I'd be happy to help out with this. I'm an old fart with kids, so my playtime is fairly limited (probably 1-2 times a week on Balmung), but I'd love to be involved with this.
RE: [Balmung][Linkshell Pitch] Postal Service & Secret Society - K'dath - 10-17-2013
The inspiration, like I said, was a guild I'd formerly been a part of, and I'd put a lot of thought into how I would transplant those ideas and experiences before I even brought it up. Much of this I've already done, already tested, and already worked out. But a lot of the things I want to incorporate are things that I've heard a demand for from this very community. More facilitation of public RP, more story lines, more openness, more adventure and action, less sitting around in taverns waiting for things to happen, and less over centralization of the community.
I sunk a lot of time into quietly ruminating over how I would try to put it all together and make it all work. Because that's the kind of vision I can get behind. A real, dedicated, community wide liaison for everyone. I've got a lot of plans, a lot of ideas, and a lot of passion for my projects... unfortuantely, it doesn't appear most others care for passion and ambition as much as practicality or simplicity.
I wanted to go as broad as possible, while still maintaining a tight concept. Everyone gets letters. Beyond that, the varied nature of a society implies the need for an innumerable number of services and contacts. I wanted to completely abolish the concept of people saying 'I would, but this doesn't fit my character'. No matter what you bring to the table, there will be a way to work with it and involve you with the story to whatever depth or degree you desire. Not everyone has to be a deeply involved super spy or anything of the sort. It's layers of secrets and services that you can pick and chose from, or leave the whole thing at face value. It's the story you want to make of it.
A lot of people are still lost when it comes to breaking into the scene. More people simply feel like the opinions available don't cater to there tastes, or are too insular to break into. And I can relate to that. As welcoming and abiding as some people are others, especially the leaders of larger groups, can be right tossers. I'd like for this to be an 'in' so to speak. A way to diversify everyone's contacts and exposure to many different groups.
Perhaps it's all a bit over ambitious. I've got nice sentiments, but not the kind of response I'd hoped for. There's a lot of work that'd need to be done to set everything up to get the full, intended experience. It's not going to be another 'plug and play' half-baked idea that can afford to be indecisive or indirect. I want to make a vision that impacts a community... and I just can't justify sinking the kinda time it would need, and the time I would want to give, into a project for two or three people who may or may not show up.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the sentiments from those that bothered, I really do. It easily made my day. But the comparatively overwhelming indifference is discouraging to say the least.