For the very first stage I thought it would be best to answer a lot of the questions that the founding members have been asking me. So, let's take a little time for some Q&A!
Q: If it's an Ishgardian FC, does that mean only elezen are allowed to join?
A: Of course not! It's an Ishgardian FC, but Ishgard isn't exclusive to elezen. Certainly midlanders will be present, just because they're everywhere, and who knows how a player might justify any other race being involved in any of the game's political bodies. The point is that every race - and every gender and class, for that matter - are welcome to House Haillenarte FC!
Q: Don't you feel presumptuous claiming a canon faction for your own FC?
A: Not really, no, and I'll explain why. This FC won't be representing the nobles of House Haillenarte. My character certainly isn't a member of the noble house, for example. At best the Haillenartes themselves will be represented by occasional NPCs. The FC will actually focus around the people that make a noble house possible - retainers, vassals, ministers, wards, soldiers, craftsmen, dignitaries, etc. None of whom will be direct Haillenartes.
Q: So no one is allowed to use the Haillenarte last name?
A: They are, but in choosing to be a core member of that family, the player would be agreeing to extra scrutiny from myself and my officers, to ensure that they're not abusing the name's influence in ways that will shed negative light on the FC or its members. So, on the one hand they would gain the RP benefits of playing a high noble, but on the other hand they would be closely monitored OOC.
Q: How will that effect guild ranks? Will there be a clear cut system of who has authority over who?
A: That's a good question. This one has taken some thought, because it's difficult to determine who has more authority between non-nobles in this kind of arrangement. Guild ranks will be OOC and very simple: Administrator, Officer, and Member. I think their definitions are self explanatory. For IC ranks I'm developing a tier system that will not necessarily be a character's rank so much as it will be his level of prestige and influence within the FC. This will also likely be simple, and will only contain 4 levels. However, it's still under development.
Q: But your character will start at the highest influence tier and be IC in-charge, right?
A: No, actually. My character will go through the same process as every other character. There will be a small number of characters that start on higher influence tiers, as determined by back stories and such, but none of those characters will be mine.
Q: So, a player of low OOC rank might have a character that out influences a character belonging to a player of high OOC rank?
A: Yes! This is something I'm looking forward to a great deal, actually. The separation between "We are the players" and "We are the characters" is going to be a large part of how this FC operates. House Haillenarte FC isn't going to be about the grind to climb the hierarchical ladder, but more about cooperating as players to make fun stories together for our characters. We're even going to feature a new approach on character story telling, but more on that later.
I'll answer more questions and continue to update the concept of this FC as we draw nearer to the release of Heavensward. In the meantime, I welcome any player to ask anything they want and I'll answer!
Q: If it's an Ishgardian FC, does that mean only elezen are allowed to join?
A: Of course not! It's an Ishgardian FC, but Ishgard isn't exclusive to elezen. Certainly midlanders will be present, just because they're everywhere, and who knows how a player might justify any other race being involved in any of the game's political bodies. The point is that every race - and every gender and class, for that matter - are welcome to House Haillenarte FC!
Q: Don't you feel presumptuous claiming a canon faction for your own FC?
A: Not really, no, and I'll explain why. This FC won't be representing the nobles of House Haillenarte. My character certainly isn't a member of the noble house, for example. At best the Haillenartes themselves will be represented by occasional NPCs. The FC will actually focus around the people that make a noble house possible - retainers, vassals, ministers, wards, soldiers, craftsmen, dignitaries, etc. None of whom will be direct Haillenartes.
Q: So no one is allowed to use the Haillenarte last name?
A: They are, but in choosing to be a core member of that family, the player would be agreeing to extra scrutiny from myself and my officers, to ensure that they're not abusing the name's influence in ways that will shed negative light on the FC or its members. So, on the one hand they would gain the RP benefits of playing a high noble, but on the other hand they would be closely monitored OOC.
Q: How will that effect guild ranks? Will there be a clear cut system of who has authority over who?
A: That's a good question. This one has taken some thought, because it's difficult to determine who has more authority between non-nobles in this kind of arrangement. Guild ranks will be OOC and very simple: Administrator, Officer, and Member. I think their definitions are self explanatory. For IC ranks I'm developing a tier system that will not necessarily be a character's rank so much as it will be his level of prestige and influence within the FC. This will also likely be simple, and will only contain 4 levels. However, it's still under development.
Q: But your character will start at the highest influence tier and be IC in-charge, right?
A: No, actually. My character will go through the same process as every other character. There will be a small number of characters that start on higher influence tiers, as determined by back stories and such, but none of those characters will be mine.
Q: So, a player of low OOC rank might have a character that out influences a character belonging to a player of high OOC rank?
A: Yes! This is something I'm looking forward to a great deal, actually. The separation between "We are the players" and "We are the characters" is going to be a large part of how this FC operates. House Haillenarte FC isn't going to be about the grind to climb the hierarchical ladder, but more about cooperating as players to make fun stories together for our characters. We're even going to feature a new approach on character story telling, but more on that later.
I'll answer more questions and continue to update the concept of this FC as we draw nearer to the release of Heavensward. In the meantime, I welcome any player to ask anything they want and I'll answer!
