Let's get some Garlean role-play going!

[Dravus]

I've recently reached the conclusion of the main storyline in FFXIV and I've come to look upon the Garlean Empire with a mixture of awe and respect. I find them to be very intriguing and their motives aren't as flawed or questionable as I was initially led to believe - especially when one considers that each of the major city states present in Eorzea has a lot of blood on their hands. With that in mind the tensions between the inhabitants of Eorzea and the Garlean Empire can easily come across as being a case of shades of grey and well intentioned extremism rather than a situation of holier-than-thou versus outright evil.

 

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this, eh? Simply put, I'm looking for a handful of other like-minded role-players to invest in some Garlean role-play! This is the part where it gets a tad complex, though. I'm well aware that there's a handful of role-players already playing defectors of the Garlean Empire, though that isn't really what I'm looking for. What I'm seeking is people willing to role-play individuals who are currently devoted to the Garlean Empire. Naturally this isn't going to make our characters very popular and for the sake of realism we'll essentially be kill-on-sight should we wander close to pretty much any settlement in the game.

 

So this isn't going to be something that'll lead to a drink in a tavern or a bout of fishing in the comforting embrace of Limsa Lominsa. This'll be about survival, which leads me towards my next point - one that involves some pretty major spoilers for the main story:

 

 

 

At the end of the main story quests we see Castrum Meridianum reduced to a smoldering ruin. We also know that the various other Garlean strongholds within Eorzea have been blockaded and assaulted by the combined might of numerous factions present within the various city states. Furthermore Rhitahtyn Sas Arvina, Livia sas Junius and Gaius van Baelsar are dead and Nero Tol Scaeva's whereabouts are currently unknown. In addition to that a very large portion of the Garlean forces stationed in Eorzea can safely be considered to be dead, held captive and  scattered. 

 

Though for the sake of telling a compelling story I think it's safe to assume that remnants remain in pockets throughout Eorzea. I wish to embrace this niche and create a small group of Garlean role-players who will hopefully make for intriguing antagonists and rivals!

 

 

 

This is all rather ambitious, though. So I suppose I'd best set down some ground rules:

 

• It isn't any fun when people adopt a mentality along the lines of 'the good guys must always win'. For role-play to be truly interesting there needs to be losses and victories on both sides. 
  

• Things need to be reasonably fair. I don't want to see any meta-gaming if the remnants decide to hole up in a secluded location and then suddenly half of the server arrives for no reason other than to treat us as fodder to fuel their characters' heroics.
  

• There's a lot of stuff we don't know about the Garlean Empire and it's people. We'll be striving to do our best to work with their lore as it is depicted though we'll need to take some liberties in order to fill in the gaps. I want this to be done in a way that doesn't feel contrived or immersion breaking.
  

• This isn't about ranks, titles or being the next Gaius van Baelsar. It's about the intrigue that arises when individuals fighting for a cause they feel strongly about are forced into hiding. This may include a power struggle, rivalries and even doubt towards the methods and motives used during the campaign in Eorzea.
  

• If suitably disguised we may venture into some of the smaller settlements in order to acquire information and supplies, though this will be a very rare occurrence with a strong chance of things backfiring for the sake of realism. 
  

I think I've rambled on enough for now, though for those curious I'll be creating a brand new character for this project and expect others to do the same. There's a few reasons for this:

 

- The Garlean naming conventions are pretty interesting. We don't know the specifics, but I'm sure we can piece together some suitable names. It'd be pretty cool for each character involved in the project to have a Roman or pseudo-Roman name.

 

- Since random role-play is going to be difficult and largely antagonistic I think it'd be best if people relied on their main character(s) to sate their desire for tavern and city role-play.

 

- It'll put us all on a similar playing field right off of the bat. It's likely that we'll all level at different paces and degrees of efficiency but if all goes well we'll be able to help each other out and tackle those pesky story dungeons together instead of waiting in queues for ages!

 

Right, I already said I'd stop rambling. So I'll do that! This is still in the early stages and I'd love to hear constructive feedback and ideas sent my way.

[LandStander]

I am already ahead of you. I have a character who is still loyal to the empire, but he is basically acting as a saboteur. He spreads rumors, lies, etc., in an attempt to sow seeds of distrust and chaos in Eorzea. Though on the outside he seems like a nice guy. If you would love to get together and collaborate. I am mostly on my main Dennthota Ahtahrmwyn if you want to talk in game.

[Dravus]

I am already ahead of you. I have a character who is still loyal to the empire, but he is basically acting as a saboteur. He spreads rumors, lies, etc., in an attempt to sow seeds of distrust and chaos in Eorzea. Though on the outside he seems like a nice guy. If you would love to get together and collaborate. I am mostly on my main Dennthota Ahtahrmwyn if you want to talk in game.

 

That sounds great! I'd definitely be up for working something out with you.

 

I'll toss you a message in-game as soon as I can.

[Naunet]

One character of mine, Sah'ot Kith, was a Garlean spy embedded in one of the many poacher groups within the Shroud. There was an incident, things went wrong, and certain interests stepped in just in time to save her cover from being blown. She's currently serving as the Commerce Regulation Agency's primary "eyes and ears" in the Shroud and is very much a Garlean loyalist. It's entirely possible your character would have regular but secret contact with her - or the other "top" members of the CRA (Illira Carceri, Ildur Vaernian, and D'hein Tia) - to get updates from the field, intel, plan and plot, and maybe even just commiserate every so often.

 

I also have another character, Naunet Brandt, who was a native Ala Mhigan involved in the insurrection that toppled the ruler of the city-state and put the Empire in his place. She is currently on the run after deserting her legion following an incident that left her feeling ashamed and unfit to serve. Obviously the Empire doesn't take kindly to deserters, so she is doing her best to blend in with Eorzeans. However, she still maintains loyalty to Garlemond and though she is in hiding, she is ever looking for a way to get "back" with the Empire that wouldn't leave her shot dead.

 

So yea, definitely interested in making connections ICly!

[LandStander]

Naunet, you and I are destined to be friends. It seems like every idea I like to get behind you do as well <3

[Dravus]

One character of mine, Sah'ot Kith, was a Garlean spy embedded in one of the many poacher groups within the Shroud. There was an incident, things went wrong, and certain interests stepped in just in time to save her cover from being blown. She's currently serving as the Commerce Regulation Agency's primary "eyes and ears" in the Shroud and is very much a Garlean loyalist. It's entirely possible your character would have regular but secret contact with her - or the other "top" members of the CRA (Illira Carceri, Ildur Vaernian, and D'hein Tia) - to get updates from the field, intel, plan and plot, and maybe even just commiserate every so often.

 

I also have another character, Naunet Brandt, who was a native Ala Mhigan involved in the insurrection that toppled the ruler of the city-state and put the Empire in his place. She is currently on the run after deserting her legion following an incident that left her feeling ashamed and unfit to serve. Obviously the Empire doesn't take kindly to deserters, so she is doing her best to blend in with Eorzeans. However, she still maintains loyalty to Garlemond and though she is in hiding, she is ever looking for a way to get "back" with the Empire that wouldn't leave her shot dead.

 

So yea, definitely interested in making connections ICly!

 

I'm happy to work alongside both characters! It'd give my own character a solid reason to head to Gridania, perhaps in search of a reliable ally. As for Naunet, my own 'Garlean' is from Ala Mhigo due to having grown up there. He was rather young when the region was put under Garlean control and ended up serving their cause loyally as a soldier when he came of age. In the present day he's stranded in Eorzea after the events of the main story, so I'm sure we can find some way of tying them together! He's not going to be without mercy, especially given the fate he's witnessed many of his comrades suffer.

[LiadansWhisper]

This sounds great, although my character wouldn't fit in with it.

 

On the other hand, like I said to you in game, Theo, if you guys are subtle about it, it's totally possible for you to move relatively unhindered since there doesn't appear to be any real "checks" on population/trade between areas.

[Dravus]

This sounds great, although my character wouldn't fit in with it.

 

On the other hand, like I said to you in game, Theo, if you guys are subtle about it, it's totally possible for you to move relatively unhindered since there doesn't appear to be any real "checks" on population/trade between areas.

 

I'll definitely be taking the time to visit Gridania, hopefully our paths will cross one way or another! 

 

In other news my patience paid off and I managed to create my character when Balmung opened up again! He'll be using a variety of different names whilst travelling through Eorzea, though he'll be known as Caesius Baelthar among his comrades and friends. That's also his in-game name for those looking to contact me!

[ArmachiA]

Me and Ellion both have a brother/sister team who are loyal to the Empire and are only in Eorzea asking as spies and whatnot. We were planning on using them in a storyline for our guild later, but I'd love to give them a more prominent role on the server! You can get a hold of me on my mains or send me a PM

[Claris]

I rolled a Miqo'te alt just for this purpose. While she's not fully fleshed out, the basic gist is that she and her Elezen pirate captain were captured by the Garleans and are currently employed as spies. P'lahmui Muhih herself has been planted inside Limsa Lominsa (and eventually the Maelstrom) as a fledgling adventurer and arcanist to keep tabs on the city-state and its grand company.

 

I don't know the full story behind the Empire, as I haven't finished the game yet, so she only knows what she needs to know.

 

I tend to only level her a bit on weekends, so if she works please toss me a PM and I'd be happy to speed things up a bit.

[Dogberry]

Fresh Bread, bard out of Gridania, reluctantly loyal to the Garleans. Let's meet up and get plotting!

[Dravus]

I've set up a LS for the sake of keeping in touch and bouncing ideas off of one another. It's aptly named 'The Garlean Empire' and I'll happily throw an invite towards those of you looking to get involved. I should be online fairly often on at least one of my characters, so feel free to poke me!

[Ildur]

I have some reservations about using post main-storyline events as the basis for this. There are some logistic problems with it. For one, there are people who might not have reached that point yet. Then there are people who will have their roleplay in a completely incompatible chronology. I will wager that the great majority of the roleplayers will have their micro-canons locked in the status-quo stablished at the beggining of the storyline. Garleans have various outposts across Eorzea, they are preparing for war but haven't done anything more than skirmishes. And the Grand Companies are focusing on reconstruction.

 

 

 

And certainly Van Baelsar never sent an Ultimatum, the Ultima Weapon never absorbed the Primals, the Grand Companies never initiated major consecutive assaults ont he Castri and Castrum Meridianum never exploded. All those things are major events in the main storyline that, if we consider them part of our characters' micro-canons, then would also be major events that should be acknowledged by almost everyone in Eorzea (except Ishgardians, maybe).

 

Imagine what would happen if one of the groups your Garlean refugees get to interact with regularly considers that the Castrum is still intact. It won't be a big deal, of course, as two micro-canons can co-exist as their conflicting parts don't interact with each other. But imagine if it does. What if this group's roleplay was based (somehow) on the Castrum still existing? How do you save interactions between both groups when their micro-canons are at odds with each other?

Whatever happens, one of the groups will have to change their canon to be compatible with the other. And we know that retcons are a can of worms in itself.

 

 

 

MMO roleplay is always placed in a limbo between some point before the start of the despicted in-game storyline and the start of the storyline itself. In part because not all players will finish the storyline at the same time but, more importantly, because post-storyline events are never reflected on the game world. Everything is in a sort of time stasis.

Placing your own chronology anywhere after that stasis will be locking people out of your roleplay due to the clashing disparities between micro-canons: you will be way ahead of them chronologically speaking.

 

This is why I have reseves about your proposed scenario, Theodric. I do think that it is an interesting one and that it would be great fun exploring it, mind. It's just that I think it has too much potential to lock people out of each other's roleplay.

[LiadansWhisper]

This is why I have reseves about your proposed scenario, Theodric. I do think that it is an interesting one and that it would be great fun exploring it, mind. It's just that I think it has too much potential to lock people out of each other's roleplay.

 

I guess I really don't understand why we should or would exclude the events in the Main Storyline from the overall state of the game.  :-\

 

Sure, people may not have gotten there yet, but most intelligent individuals are able to separate what they haven't experienced in-game yet from the overall story.  What's more, there are a lot of people who already don't feel "comfortable" RPing without hitting 50 and seeing everything.  So does that mean everyone else should do that?

 

If people want to gate themselves at the start of the story, they're free to.  But I don't think it's fair to expect other people to do the same.

[DAISHI]

I love playing the bad guy.

[Lament]

I haven't reached the end of the main storyline, myself, but I read Ildur's spoiler tag anyway--

 

I don't think anyone should exclude the main storyline's events from their roleplay.

 

But I can see why people would.

 

Unlike console games, MMOs can't change much, visually, as the story progresses, because you have multiple people playing, and each person may be doing a different story step. So, as Ildur mentioned, the world itself is in a sort of permanent stasis. Story events aren't actually reflected in the world.

 

When there are changes that are reflected in the world, they tend to come in the form of patches. Now consider this scenario:

 

A patch comes up. Ishgard opens to foreigners.

 

Consider we have players A, B and C. Player A finished the story, player B just defeated Titan, player C just started.

 

Ishgard opened to foreigners at the same time to players A, B and C. But for player A, this was after the main story, for player B this was right after Titan's fall, and for player C, it opened before the main story actually happened. If all three players are taking what they know of the main storyline into consideration, you have three completely incompatible timelines.

 

This is generally why people tend to disregard the main storyline when it comes to RP - timelines get very messy.

 

Now, you absolutely can set up a scenario where you consider the main storyline has happened, for RP purposes (disregarding which step of the main storyline you're actually on in the game itself). But this also brings up a few potential problems:

 

- New players will not have experienced the full storyline yet. Reading about it is different from experiencing it, so it's likely new players will be unable to take part until they're done with the main story (which can take a long time if you prefer RP to leveling).

 

- Like Ildur has stated, most other people/groups will not be sharing that timeline. This makes it difficult to cross-interact or to absorb new players, unless they specifically roll a character to fit the timeline.

 

- It rules out or complicates several character concepts/ideas and limits what those characters can accomplish. Consider:

 

summoners, primal researchers, resistance members, spies, people seeking revenge against the empire, et cetera.

 

 

 

Obviously, you don't need to disregard the main storyline if you don't want to. But it does severely limit entry into the group, it does rule out some concepts that people are likely to think of before they finish the main storyline, and it does severely limit interactions with people outside the group.

 

Which is absolutely okay, if you don't mind. It's entirely possible to make a group if everyone involved approves of the idea. There's nothing wrong with having a group headcanon that is incompatible with other people's.

 

Ildur never said this was a bad idea and everyone ever should always disregard the main storyline, just that they have reservations due to how limiting it can be.

[Brynhilde]

Although I won't be joining you, I think your idea is a great one. It certainly sounds very interesting!

[LiadansWhisper]

I haven't reached the end of the main storyline, myself, but I read Ildur's spoiler tag anyway--

 

I don't think anyone should exclude the main storyline's events from their roleplay.

 

But I can see why people would.

 

Unlike console games, MMOs can't change much, visually, as the story progresses, because you have multiple people playing, and each person may be doing a different story step. So, as Ildur mentioned, the world itself is in a sort of permanent stasis. Story events aren't actually reflected in the world.

 

They are, just not consistently in every single area.

 

When there are changes that are reflected in the world, they tend to come in the form of patches. Now consider this scenario:

 

A patch comes up. Ishgard opens to foreigners.

 

Consider we have players A, B and C. Player A finished the story, player B just defeated Titan, player C just started.

 

Ishgard opened to foreigners at the same time to players A, B and C. But for player A, this was after the main story, for player B this was right after Titan's fall, and for player C, it opened before the main story actually happened. If all three players are taking what they know of the main storyline into consideration, you have three completely incompatible timelines.

 

But in the overall meta-plot of the game, it occurred after the Main Storyline concluded.  Personal stories always come second to the main meta plot of the game itself, because the developers dictate what is and is not canon, and they control the storyline and its progression, not us.

 

This is generally why people tend to disregard the main storyline when it comes to RP - timelines get very messy.

 

Only if people refuse to follow canon.  :-\

 

Now, you absolutely can set up a scenario where you consider the main storyline has happened, for RP purposes (disregarding which step of the main storyline you're actually on in the game itself). But this also brings up a few potential problems:

 

- New players will not have experienced the full storyline yet. Reading about it is different from experiencing it, so it's likely new players will be unable to take part until they're done with the main story (which can take a long time if you prefer RP to leveling).

 

They can still experience the storyline.  There's absolutely nothing preventing them from experiencing it.

 

- Like Ildur has stated, most other people/groups will not be sharing that timeline. This makes it difficult to cross-interact or to absorb new players, unless they specifically roll a character to fit the timeline.

 

How exactly are you determining that most groups will not be sharing the timeline?  Do you have a count?  Why are you speaking for everyone?  :-\

 

- It rules out or complicates several character concepts/ideas and limits what those characters can accomplish. Consider:

 

summoners, primal researchers, resistance members, spies, people seeking revenge against the empire, et cetera.

 

 

 

 

None of that is ruled out.  None of it.  I don't even know why you would say that.

 

Obviously, you don't need to disregard the main storyline if you don't want to. But it does severely limit entry into the group, it does rule out some concepts that people are likely to think of before they finish the main storyline, and it does severely limit interactions with people outside the group.

 

I really disagree with this.  But in the end, there's nothing that says that everyone has to play with everyone else.  I'm fairly certain there will be plenty of people available to play with them, even if some others will choose not to.  It's a big server.

 

Edited to Add: As an example, let's take World of Warcraft. So you have Vanilla Warcraft, and it had a specific storyline that took place during that time period (there are even websites that have delineated the timeline). I started playing in BC. I never got to experience the events of Vanilla WoW. Does that mean that my character can't have been a part of that? Or that somehow I can't progress my story because I didn't do those things? I never played the Warcraft RTS games, despite the fact that what occurred in those games and the storylines that they followed are absolutely integral to the storyline of World of Warcraft. Does that mean that I can't include that stuff in my character? Should I just pretend it didn't happen, because I didn't get to go through it? o_O

 

No. It means that I write my background taking into account the things that happened before. When new players started playing in Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, or Mists of Pandaria, they hadn't experienced anything previous to the expansions they started in. Does that mean they should ignore those Canon events? Because they didn't get to see them, therefore they won't get ideas about their characters and so they should just do whatever they want and ignore the story itself? I mean, seriously, people can do whatever they want, but I reserve the right to walk away if someone is ignoring events out of the main freaking storyline. :-\

[Dravus]

I'm more than willing to set some of my role-play in the past to accommodate committed role-players who want to get involved but consider themselves to be at a completely different point in the game's timeline. It's something I made use of fairly often back in WoW, since it allowed me to explore past content from the perspective of new characters that were created long after a particular enemy or plot point was dealt with in the canon lore.

 

I'm not sure if I've made much sense when trying to explain that, but I can definitely understand where the concerns are coming from on all sides. I believe that this would be the best compromise.

[Lament]

@LiadansWhisper: I started my post with "I don't think anyone should exclude the main storyline's events from their roleplay. But I can see why people would."

 

I'm not telling you how to do things. I didn't say most of the things you reacted to, actually. There's nothing wrong with this idea; I was just explaining why I, personally, understand Ildur's reservations.

 

Edit@Theo: I think that made sense and is a brilliant way to include incompatible timelines without changing the concept. "Future RP" would also work, but less well since other things may come up in the character's actual timeline that would mean the future RP can't actually happen (e.g. if in the future RP there is mention of a family member that ends up dying in the 'current' timeline). Though if everyone involved is OK with the possibility of "future" RP being disregarded by characters 'from the past', so to speak, nothing stops that either!

[Ildur]

As stated, there's nothing stopping us picking one point of the game's storyline or another to base our micro-canonical timelines on. It's a matter of perspective.

For the sake of keeping this somewhat on-topic, I won't go at lenght about this matter. But I want to point out:

 

(...) I mean, seriously, people can do whatever they want, but I reserve the right to walk away if someone is ignoring events out of the main freaking storyline. :-\

 

I think you are missing the point. It's not about the game's storyline. It's about roleplay. We aren't talking about ignoring canon, but about picking a timeline that accomodates the greatest ammount of roleplayers.

There are people who don't like spoilers because they ruin their enjoyement of the storyline. If I pick a post-storyline timeline, and these people roleplay with me unknowningly about my timeline, then there's a very big chance that I will effectively ruin their enjoyment of the storyline. Because, unless it's stated beforehand, chances are the big events of the storyline will be something your character knows and talks about.

 

You can't actually give proof that the storyline has happened because the game's storyline is enterely dependant on each player's progress (from a mechanical point of view), of each player's selected timeline (from a roleplaying point of view) and because the game itself doesn't bother in enforcing that the storyline finished. Every region is locked in a status quo that won't change until the developers decide to do so.

Your example about WoW is quite accurate about this, actually: the status quo only changed after a patch/expansion happened. What was the starting status quo of those patches or expansions? The starting point. Once a expansion launched, the story moved on.

 

Picking the finishing point of the story-line is more practical than picking any intermediate point, but it isn't as practical as picking the initial point. You are implicitly forcing people into rushing to level 50 if they want to roleplay with you and enjoy a spoiler-free ride across the game's storyline. It is practical only for those who don't care about spoilers and those who reached level 50. Whereas the starting point is practical for everyone regardless of they levelling speed and resistance to spoilers.

 

------

 

Theodric's alternative is a good one: 'Fluid Time'! (Or as I call them, 'retro scenes'). You'll have to stablish OOCly beforehand at which point of the timeline every people you roleplay with is, and things might get confusing due to character development. Planning will be required, which might or might not be on everyone's alley.

But it allows you to be on a post-storyline date while also allowing you roleplay with people who aren't there. So it's a good plan.

[LiadansWhisper]

As stated, there's nothing stopping us picking one point of the game's storyline or another to base our micro-canonical timelines on. It's a matter of perspective.

For the sake of keeping this somewhat on-topic, I won't go at lenght about this matter. But I want to point out:

 

(...) I mean, seriously, people can do whatever they want, but I reserve the right to walk away if someone is ignoring events out of the main freaking storyline. :-\

 

I think you are missing the point. It's not about the game's storyline. It's about roleplay. We aren't talking about ignoring canon, but about picking a timeline that accomodates the greatest ammount of roleplayers.

There are people who don't like spoilers because they ruin their enjoyement of the storyline. If I pick a post-storyline timeline, and these people roleplay with me unknowningly about my timeline, then there's a very big chance that I will effectively ruin their enjoyment of the storyline. Because, unless it's stated beforehand, chances are the big events of the storyline will be something your character knows and talks about.

 

You can't actually give proof that the storyline has happened because the game's storyline is enterely dependant on each player's progress (from a mechanical point of view), of each player's selected timeline (from a roleplaying point of view) and because the game itself doesn't bother in enforcing that the storyline finished. Every region is locked in a status quo that won't change until the developers decide to do so.

Your example about WoW is quite accurate about this, actually: the status quo only changed after a patch/expansion happened. What was the starting status quo of those patches or expansions? The starting point. Once a expansion launched, the story moved on.

 

Picking the finishing point of the story-line is more practical than picking any intermediate point, but it isn't as practical as picking the initial point. You are implicitly forcing people into rushing to level 50 if they want to roleplay with you and enjoy a spoiler-free ride across the game's storyline. It is practical only for those who don't care about spoilers and those who reached level 50. Whereas the starting point is practical for everyone regardless of they levelling speed and resistance to spoilers.

 

Well, no.  It's called "you don't bring it up during the RP."  Not every single RP scene has to be focused around the central storyline of the game.  :-\  A lot of stuff is completely mundane, and there's no guarantee that every character will have participated in the storyline events, even if their story is currently taking place after the end of the main questline.

 

 

------

 

Theodric's alternative is a good one: 'Fluid Time'! (Or as I call them, 'retro scenes'). You'll have to stablish OOCly beforehand at which point of the timeline every people you roleplay with is, and things might get confusing due to character development. Planning will be required, which might or might not be on everyone's alley.

But it allows you to be on a post-storyline date while also allowing you roleplay with people who aren't there. So it's a good plan.

 

I agree it's a great idea.

[Illira]

 

Well, no.  It's called "you don't bring it up during the RP."  Not every single RP scene has to be focused around the central storyline of the game.  :-\  A lot of stuff is completely mundane, and there's no guarantee that every character will have participated in the storyline events, even if their story is currently taking place after the end of the main questline.

 

While I do agree that much RP shouldn't and doesn't necessarily interact directly with the "official main storyline", it is important, especially in scenarios such the RP of Garlean Supporters to know where your character, and micro-canon reside in context to it. As it effects the atmosphere and general lore used within the RP. I haven't finished through to cap yet, so I don't know the what happens and what the state of the world is at "end-game" yet. Spoilers are fine, honestly 80% of the storyline is pretty bland, but RPing a Garlean supporter when the Empire is being pushed back is potentially a very different thing than win they are the overbearing aggressors. 

 

That goes beyond, just not 'bringing it up during RP'. Because its not about your character at every given moment. Its about the state of the world at large and the subsequent fallout of that. 

 

---

Anyway, Theodric, like the my compatriots, Ildur and Naunet, I''d be happy to work on Pro-Garlean RP with you. My main, Illira, is a staunch supporter of the Empire.

[Naunet]

I've always treated story lead-up during a patch as the "current" situation, but whatever "end boss" there is in the patch, he or she or it doesn't actually die or resolve something or whatever until the next patch hits. Ragnaros wasn't beaten back until the next tier released. The Lich King wasn't defeated and summarily usurped until the day the Cataclysm patch hit. Each of the dragons in Rift were not officially dead until the next patch. Shandra Manaya did not truly die until the Alliance patch launched. But all the events and dungeons and various plotsy whatnots leading up to those moments are either in some vague "process" of happening or have already happened (depending on the thing).

 

It's what the RP communities I've been involved with in the past seem to have settled upon, and I think it's a pretty good rule as far as RP goes.

[LiadansWhisper]

 

Well, no.  It's called "you don't bring it up during the RP."  Not every single RP scene has to be focused around the central storyline of the game.  :-\  A lot of stuff is completely mundane, and there's no guarantee that every character will have participated in the storyline events, even if their story is currently taking place after the end of the main questline.

 

While I do agree that much RP shouldn't and doesn't necessarily interact directly with the "official main storyline", it is important, especially in scenarios such the RP of Garlean Supporters to know where your character, and micro-canon reside in context to it. As it effects the atmosphere and general lore used within the RP. I haven't finished through to cap yet, so I don't know the what happens and what the state of the world is at "end-game" yet. Spoilers are fine, honestly 80% of the storyline is pretty bland, but RPing a Garlean supporter when the Empire is being pushed back is potentially a very different thing than win they are the overbearing aggressors. 

 

That goes beyond, just not 'bringing it up during RP'. Because its not about your character at every given moment. Its about the state of the world at large and the subsequent fallout of that. 

 

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Anyway, Theodric, like the my compatriots, Ildur and Naunet, I''d be happy to work on Pro-Garlean RP with you. My main, Illira, is a staunch supporter of the Empire.

 

You're right, it is completely different for the person roleplaying that character.  I was more trying to address the idea that somehow, if you are in a different timeline from someone else, you can't interact.  If JoeBob hasn't seen the end of the story, and is playing a loyal Gridanian, he can't interact with FredSpy because FredSpy has finished the Storyline and is playing a Garlean spy with the end events of the storyline factored in.  I don't think its that cut or dry.

 

 

I've always treated story lead-up during a patch as the "current" situation, but whatever "end boss" there is in the patch, he or she or it doesn't actually die or resolve something or whatever until the next patch hits. Ragnaros wasn't beaten back until the next tier released. The Lich King wasn't defeated and summarily usurped until the day the Cataclysm patch hit. Each of the dragons in Rift were not officially dead until the next patch. Shandra Manaya did not truly die until the Alliance patch launched. But all the events and dungeons and various plotsy whatnots leading up to those moments are either in some vague "process" of happening or have already happened (depending on the thing).

 

It's what the RP communities I've been involved with in the past seem to have settled upon, and I think it's a pretty good rule as far as RP goes.

 

That's actually what I've always done, too.  Especially since the follow-up patch tends to have the "mopping-up" portion of the fallout from the previous patch.  I mean, most of the time.  Blizzard isn't always so good about addressing those loose ends, but they've gotten better recently.