The Crystal Council 1 (Optional) GOT

A scream escaped the lungs of a short old man living inside a small stone house, built into a large stone castle, standing on top of an enormous stone mountain.
"DAMN IT! How could this happen Mirock!?" The tone of the old man was quite impressive, considering he couldn't be larger than a Dwarf. It however didn't keep his forehead from bearing a pool of sweat.
In front of the old Dwarf stood a taller but slimmer man clad in black, named Mirock. His voice was shaking as he tried to answer for himself,
"I-I’m sorry Professor, but we can't keep check of everyone... "
The older one, apparently a Professor, quickly interrupted his pleas,
"I DON'T CARE! ... Why would he... - HOW COULD HE JUST LIE TO US!?" He spat out.
"Sir, I don't know, there was no way to expect it again, we thought..." Mirock's voice kept cracking, his forehead resembling a sea more than a pool.
The Professor ignored Mirock, speaking on,
"Erik... Erik Coldstone. That such rats can keep biting our shoes is unbelievable."
Mirock reached for a napkin to dab up his sweat, "Indeed, Professor.''
The Professor itched his forehead, frowning,
"We need to gather every Loreseeker available."
Mirock gave a quick nod, picking up a bunch of catalogues lying on the wooden table in front of the Dwarf,
"Who are nearby?" he asked.
The professor groomed his beard, thinking for a second, "Where is Dorian?''
Mirock scratched his shaved shin, flipping through the papers, "Dorian?... I heard that he found some boy who showed an unusual instability. Apparently he's been training him for a week now"
The professor frowned, "Who gives a damn about some boy? I need Dorian for this, when is he coming home?"
Mirock stopped for a second, rereading the papers before bursting out,
"They should be on their way home right now!"
"Well then what are you waiting for? Go meet them!", The professor shouted back.
Mirock packed up the catalogues, picking up pace,
"Of course, but the other Loreseekers, will you send out ravens?"
"Sure, sure, now go!" The professor waved him away.
Mirock sped down a set of rock stairs, nearly tripping on the crude stone work. Downstairs, the building's entrance floor was filled with wooden bookshelves scattered throughout it's walls.
The only object differing being a door at the end of the room which Mirock, in his hurry, nearly flew out of. The house's exterior revealed the insides of a vast castle, shaped into a tunnel. The tunnel continued for just about a hundred steps in both directions before branching out into openings. Mirock ran straight through the north one, passing into an enormous hall supported by several marble columns. The castle was fairly empty at this time of day, while in the evening it would usually be crowded
with people doing their daily business. Branching out into several other tunnels, the castle was indeed huge. Mirock would have had to search through the entire inside, and perhaps outside as well, were it not for two dark figures wandering into the great hall just as he did.
''Dorian!'' Mirock shouted, the voice echoing throughout the massive, empty space.

Both figures turned their heads towards Mirock, each face shrouded beneath black hoods.

The taller of the two flipped back his hood, revealing a pale, black bearded man with dark, short hair. ''Mirock, what are you doing here?'' He asked calmly, albeit surprised.

''Dorian, you have to come quick, something urgent has happened!'' Mirock panted, gathering breath.

Dorian raised his eyebrows, peering down at the slightly shorter man next to him, ''Norras, go to my house, I'll come later.''

Norras descended his hood. His hair was near identical to Dorian's, but he had no beard, which only helped to reveal his disappointment, ''Okay-..'' he mumbled.

''No, no the Professor needs all Loreseekers available.'' Mirock chimed in.

Dorian looked up at Mirock, slightly baffled,
''Oh, ... alright, let's go then.''

''I'll group up the other Loreseekers, see you!'' Mirock shouted as he sprinted back towards the tunnel.

Norras stood still, peering up at Dorian,
''Does something 'urgent' usually happen around here?..'' He asked.

''No'' Dorian stated, a bit worried, ''Or well, nothing has happened for years.''

The two made their way towards the tunnel. People were already gathering as they approached.

''I didn't plan on you meeting all of the Loreseekers in an instant, I can't say that all of them are great people.'' Dorian said, peering towards the tunnel opening.

''Oh, eh... something I should know?'' Norras asked, still looking up at Dorian.

Dorian grinned,
''Oh, you should. I'll try to keep it short - ''

''Oh, is that Norras!?'' A hoarse, but curious voice interrupted.

Both Norras and Dorian redirected their eyes to the sound source.

The interruptor was a tiny old man, just a wee bit shorter than the Professor. However he was clean shaven and his ruffled hair had grayed under a white hood.

"Feidri!" Dorian bursted out, "Great to see you again!".

''Same, is that No-...'' Feidri begun, but was pushed back by Dorian who rushed him away from Norras, ''Stay over there Norras, I'll speak to Feidri for one second!''
Norras rose one eyebrow, confused.

When both Dorian and Feidri were out of anyone's sight, the latter inquired with a hushed voice, ''Why are you pushing me?''.

''I haven't told Norras about this, but he has an instability, there's something hiding deep within him. However I'd rather not he knows for now.'' Dorian whispered hastily, crouching down to face Feidri.

"I knew there was something special about the boy, I was surprised when they told me you were training someone! Why would you not tell him?" Feidri asked, scratching his sprouting hair.

''Well, he hasn't made much progress and I suspect that added expectations would not do him well.'', Dorian stated.

"I see, I see.. anything else you can tell me about him?", Feidri asked with a hint of excitement.

"Well. for a seventeen year old he has a lack of general knowledge. He grew up on a farm with no education. No geography, no history.."
"Fascinating... that those emotions would hide within such a simple boy.", Feidri peered upwards to the roof.
Dorian stared at him for a moment before changing the subject, "So, what's this 'urgent' thing that Mirock talked about?" He asked.
"Oh, I know just as much as you. That's why he has gathered us here if I understand, to fill us in?" Feidri answered, gripping his cane.
"But you and the Professor go way back, I thought you'd be the first one he'd talk to?" Dorian scratched his eyebrow.
"I suspect he hasn't had time." Feidri peered towards the small stone house.
"Perhaps we don't have time for small talk either then", Dorian rose up.
"Indeed..." Feidri shuffled away towards the stone house, supporting himself with the wooden cane.
Norras watched as Dorian rounded the corner he had hid behind, "Is that one of the bad guys?", he whispered.
"No, oh dear no.", Dorian answered, walking back to Norras, "Feidri is one of our greatest, he founded the Loreseekers together with the Professor fourty-so years ago.".
"Alright, so Feidri and the Professor - good guys." Norras confirmed for himself.
Dorian smirked, "Well, at heart at least. The Professor does have his outbreaks."
A muffled, "WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG, MIROCK!?", escaped the open door of the small stone house.
Dorian gestured towards the house, amusement in his eyes.
"Good at heart, lots of outbreaks" Norras mumbled, chuckling.
The lower floor of the stone building was completely empty, aside from the bookshelves, when Dorian and Norras walked. The ones who had arrived seemed to have already positioned themselves upstairs. The Professor had managed to calm himself down a bit, but he was still quite loud, "No Axel or Dorian still. Where are they Mirock?".
"Seems we're late.", Dorian mumbled to Norras, walking up the crude stone steps.
"We expect no less after all.", a tall, fit man standing at the top of the stairs stated with a smirk on his lips.
"Hello... Harven." Dorian sighed, clearly irritated.
Norras looked up at 'Harven', his most distinguishable trait being a brown, ruffled handlebar mustache. The hair was short but unkept, his pale face covered in scars. He definitely had muscle, but he was no beauty.
Just next to him however, stood a younger man looking the exact opposite. Still arrogant, but handsome, if not a bit childish. His sombre hair was clearly combed to the sides.

"Well, for a seventeen year old he has a general lack of knowledge. He grew up on a farm with no education, no geography, no history..."
"Fascinating... that those emotions would hide within such a simple boy.", Feidri peered up at the roof.
Dorian stared at him for a moment before changing subject,
"So, what's this 'urgent' thing that Mirock talked about?" He asked.
"Oh, I know just as much as you. That's why he has gathered us here if I understand, to fill us in?" Feidri said, gripping his cane.
"But you and the Professor go way back, I thought you'd be the first one he'd talk to?" Dorian scratched his eyebrow.
"I suspect he hasn't had time," Feidri glanced towards the small stone house.
"Perhaps we don't have time for small talk either then," Dorian rose up.
"Indeed..," Feidri shuffled away towards the stone house, supporting himself with the wooden cane.
Norras watched as Dorian rounded the corner he had hid behind, "Is that a bad guy?", he whispered, smiling.
"Oh dear no," Dorian smirked, walking back to Norras, "Feidri is one of the greatest, he founded the Loreseekers together with the Professor fourty-so years ago.".
"Alright, so Feidri and the Professor - good," Norras confirmed to himself.
Dorian smirked, "Well, at heart at least. The Professor does have his outbreaks."
A muffled, "WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG, MIROCK!?", escaped the open door of the small stone house.
Dorian gestured towards the house, amusement in his eyes.
"Good at heart, lots of outbreaks," Norras repeated, chuckling.
The lower floor of the building was completely empty, aside from the bookshelves, when Dorian and Norras walked.
All who arrived seemed to have already gone upstairs. The Professor had managed to calm himself down a bit, but he was still quite loud,
"Still no Axel or Dorian. Where are they Mirock?".
"Seems we're late.", Dorian mumbled to Norras, walking up the crude stone steps.
"We expect no less, after all.", a tall, fit man standing at the top of the stairs stated with a smirk on his lips.
"Hello... Harven." Dorian sighed, clearly irritated.
Norras looked up at "Harven", his most distinguishable trait being a brown, ruffled handlebar mustache. The hair was unkept, his pale face covered in scars.
Just next to him however, stood a younger man looking the exact opposite. Still arrogant, but handsome, if not a bit childish. His sombre hair was clearly combed to the side.
"You're Norras or what?" The younger man asked, staring him down.
"Yes, why?"
"Norras. Of course, finally someone who Dorian finds worthy to spend his time on," Harven budged in, his smirk growing
"Okay, we're already late, let's go Norras," Dorian gripped Norras around the wrist, sternly walking past Harven.
"Dorian, is that you!?" The Professor shouted, raising up from his chair.
"It is, it is," Dorian nodded towards the Professor.
"Great, finally. Take a stand between Emma and Elizabeth over there," he pointed towards a slight gap between the group of people.
Norras took a look around the room crowded with over twenty people, each person pushing against eachother next to the walls. A general buzz of discussion hoovered the air, most comments of how claustrophobic it was.
Dorian led him between a young, light-brown skinned woman and a pale, middle-aged lady with tired, bag-ridden eyes.
The Professor patted the table with his palms, shouting out "Only Axel left, shouldn't be that much longer!".
Norras looked towards the stairs. Both Harven and Mister Combed Hair were still leaning against the wall.
"So who were those two?" he asked, looking up at Dorian.
"Eh, Harven and Tervin. Useless trash," Dorian rolled his eyes.
"Aren't you being a little bit biased now, Dorian?" The young woman to their right asked, smirking.
"He's jealous," The pale woman to their left snorted, budging out to her sides.
The man next to her shot a cold stare beneath his monocle, barking out, "Shup up and blast off," before pushing back.
"How dare you push -"
"- I'll push whoever I want,"
"Who's pushing over there?" Someone yelled from further down the line.
"Oh for a prick's sake, stop pushing eachother," A tall man, eyes covered in long brown bangs shouted from the opposite line, "Elizabeth, you walk forward a little, Roderick, you go backwards,"
"Excuse me?" The man with a monocle spat.
"Did you just try to give me an order!?" The pale woman screamed, walking out of line.
"SHUT UP!!!" The Professor roared, smashing his fists onto the wooden table, "WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR PETTY ARGUMENTS, NOW GO BACK AND PUSH YOURSELVES UNTIL YOU DIE IF YOU HAVE TO!"
Elizabeth murmured, backing into position.
"... What did I walk into?" A tall man with glasses and a giant, unsure smile hopped up the stairs.
"Ah, Axel...!" The Professor gathered his breath, "We were waiting for you,".
"Ah yes, sorry, I was... watching the plants grow,"
"It's winter Axel," The Professor narrowed his eyes.
Axel's smile changed from giant to awkward, "If you switch the word 'plants' with 'fingers' -"
Norras raised his eyebrows
"Oh dear," The Professor breathed in.
"If I cut the fingers-"
"I don't want to hear it Axel, go stand next to Harven, there's a reason I summoned you all,"
Axel adjusted his glasses, leaning against the wall.

The Professor coughed, patting his beard before starting,
"Now that everyone has gathered, let me update you. I presume that most of you know who Erik Coldstone is, and for those who don't know, he was a very valued member of our community. Recently, Erik left a letter on this table in front of me, and this is what it reads."
The Professor reached into his backpocket, pulled out a piece of parched paper and started to read,
"I appreciate our time together, for it has given me possibilities far beyond my imagination. I should clarify. I, Erik Coldstone, hereby resign from the Loreseekers. But no, it does not end there. I am very well aware of the consequences of leaving your organisation, and I do not expect you to let me off the hook. In fact I understand that you'll hunt me down. In fact, I demand you to hunt me down. Because if you don't, I will reveal your entire organisation, your plans, your location. Everything. I'll leave traces, you'll follow and everything will be fine. Be ready, love, Erik Coldstone."
The Professor was shaking near the end of the letter. Everyone had gone completely silent, no one was concerned about occasional pushing. Norras looked at the Professor, noticing a peculiar looking dwarf standing behind him, completely shocked.
The dwarf looked straight forward towards the opposite wall,
"How do we know that this is -actually- Erik?" He asked, concerned.
"It's -his- hand-writing and he hasn't been here for two days," The Professor looked back at the other dwarf.
"And if someone kidnapped him?"
"Well it doesn't matter now does it?" The Professor bursted out, "We must assume that he's an enemy from now on!"
Axel raised a hand, his smile washed off.
"Axel?" The Professor asked.
"What if it's a trap?"
"Of course it's a trap!" The Professor spat, "But what choice do we have? We will walk into the trap, disarm it and throw it in his face if we have to!"
"So what do we do, wait until he leaves 'traces' while we sit chatting?" The man with a monocle muttered.
"No, no no, Roderick. I classify this as a first case threat. I will create a tailor sewn group of people to track him down, and prepare the others for anything comming. We do not know who Erik is allied to, nor why his confidence is so high. I can only assume that there's more to this than meets the eye."
"Tailor sewn group?" Harven asked.
"I have my ideas, but if you have anything to say about it, speak to me in private,"
"So what now?" Feidri asked, scratching his chin
"Class. We have people who are unfamiliar with each type of magic, and if we're gonna start war with an unknown enemy I'd like that to change," The Professor rose from his chair, putting the letter back in his pocket, "Everyone follow me!".
Norras looked up at Dorian who was now completely bleak,
"... so, Erik Coldstone?" Norras asked,
"A dwarf, he joined one year ago. I-... I'd never guess that this would happen again,"
"Again?"
Dorian kept quiet, scratching his neck.
Norras changed the subject, stepping forwards to let the other Loreseekers scatter,
"So, eh class?"
Dorian looked down at Norras, still flabbergasted,
"Yeah.., yeah I guess,"
"So, should we follow-..?" Norras started.
Dorian looked at the moving mass of people, seemingly breaking out of his confusion,
"Oh, oh right. Let's go,"
The Professor opened up a wooden door, leading into a large, polished room with podiums along the walls, each topped by a peculiar artifact.
"This is our little museum, look but dont touch." The Professor said, walking in. Feidri, Mirock and the peculiar dwarf close behind, chatting.
Norras followed, peering at the artifacts. Each podium carried an unique object, ranging from gemmed swords to a large, spiked, gray rock. The thing that stood out most, however, was a large, eerily-alive stone statue depicting a screaming woman.
"To the left here," The Professor said, guiding the group into another, less polished room, "This is what room we got for now, but it'll make due,"
Mirock lead the peculiar-looking dwarf through the group, holding his hand. Feidri came after, waving the others in.
"We'll go through the basics of fire, darkness and nature for anyone who's not educated in the areas," Feidri said loudly, "Roderick, Dorian and Axel, you know what to do,"
The man with a monocle, Dorian and the tall one with glasses walked ahead to the back of the room, which rose higher as to give them an overview. Norras took a stand in the middle of the room, giving a clear view of the three.
"So, now that we're all set, why don't you three introduce yourselves?" Feidri clapped once, taking a stand just next to the three.
The three looked at eachother awkwardly, staying completely quiet.
"Oh, alright. Why don't you start Roderick?"
"Eh, sure, of course," Roderick cleared his throat, "My name is Sir Roderick Kasperlund and I'll go over the art of fire with you today," He said, correcting his monocle.
Dorian glanced over at Roderick before continuing himself,
"And I'm Dorian Sapphireshield, I'll go over darkness,"
Axel flashed a smile, stretching confidently, "I'm Axel Garr, and I'll show you all the complexities of nature,"
Feidri nodded, "Great, so we'll start with Roderick, what differs fire from the other schools of magic?"
Roderick straightened up, clearing his throat once more,
"Some would say that Fire is the most simple of schools, but that does not mean it's any less robust. Fire is reliable, powerful, direct. It gets the job done, and who does not like explosions?" Roderick raised his index finger towards a nearby wall, shouting "Incendio!".
A flash blinded the room as the wall erupted in flames, leaving a deep hole.
Feidri jumped up in surprise, waving his hands towards the flame in an attempt to make it disappear, "Dear Giants - Roderick, it's not a popularity contest, we don't need to impress them with explosions!"
"I just thought it'd do them good to know how it looks,"
"Yes, sure, but don't blast the wall down like that!"
"Where should I aim then, at the students?" Roderick asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"No, of course not!" Feidri sighed, clearing out the rest of the flames, "Dorian, continue on,"
"Yeah, yeah sure," Dorian mumbled, "So, eh, darkness, shadow..."
"What's the difference between darkness and fire?" Feidri asked,
"Well, darkness sprouts... shadow, not fire"
Feidri stared at Dorian for a second, "Yes... but how do you 'sprout' shadow, as opposed to fire?"
"Oh, well, can I show them?" Dorian lowered his voice.
"Yes, sure, just don't break the wall,"
Dorian nodded, rising his hand up in the air. Small, dark particles started to form around his arm, swirling around.
"So, the way to darkness is releasing your deepest emotions and properly controlling them," A coin on the ground flew up and started to whirl with the particles around Dorian's arm, "Oh, and also, gravity responds to darkness, which makes it a useful tool,"
Dorian looked down at Feidri, "So technically, if you say something to upset me, these seeds of shadow will grow into flames,"
Feidri scratched his chin, "Should I say something mean?"
"Yeah, quickly though, I can't keep this going forever,"
Feidri gripped his cane, closing his eyes for a few seconds before carefully saying, "You're really ugly,"
The dark seeds didn't react, Dorian kept his glare at Feidri, "Eh, something a bit more vulgar perhaps,"
"Oh, oh sure..," Feidri went deep in thought again, bursting out after five seconds, "You're a worthless piece of shit!"
The seeds caught on fire, a tornado of tiny, dark flames now rotated Dorian's arm, "Not quite it, but you can see how it expan-"
"YOUR FATHER IS A SWINE!" Harven shouted across the room.
The dark flames erupted in a great explosion, catapulting Dorian back into the wall behind him. The floor catched on fire and Feidri fell over on his back. Mirock ran over to pat the dark flames out and Feidri crawled back up,
"Dorian, are you alright?"
Dorian pulled himself up, "Yeah - I'm fine..,"
Feidri looked over at Harven, face red, "Was that really necessary!?"
Harven grinned, "He said to say something upsetting, obviously it worked,"
Dorian frowned, "You know what, sure, it's fine. Now they know what happens if something goes wrong,"
"... Okay then..., Axel, I guess," Feidri muttered,
"Sure..!" Axel said, "So, nature. Nature has the broadest range, it's fairly hard to explain in such a short notice but I'll try. As opposed to darkness and fire, which becomes out of thin air, nature focuses on growth, shape and decay. For example," he raised his index finger towards the wall, just as Roderick did before, but this time it didn't cause an explosion. Instead a small part of the wall grew into a wooden flower.
"Now, that's just a simple example, let's try something more interesting," Axel pulled up a small pocket knife from his pocket, swinging it towards one of his fingers.
The Professor looked distressed, bursting out, "You don't need to-,"
The knife cut straight through the bones, snapping the finger in half. Axel bit his teeth together, holding up the bleeding stump in the air,
"I'm okay. Let's try this," he said as the stump started to sprout bones and tissue

A scream escaped the lungs of a short old man living inside a small stone house, built into a large stone castle, standing on top of an enormous stone mountain.
"WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO MEAN, MIROCK!?"
His tone was impressive considering his small, dwarfish build. His size, however, did not impair him from bearing a pool of sweat on his forehead.
A tall man clad in black, named Mirock, stood shaking next to the dwarf,
"I-I have no idea Professor,"
"This is unbelievable, the students are due in an hour," The dwarf spat, irritated.
"Very unfortunate timing, Professor" The tall man fumbled, his forehead resembling more of a sea than a pool.
"I need council. Get the Loreseekers here an hour early," He demanded, beard wet by his own spit.
"S-sure. Dorian told us that he'd be late though, he was helping a boy here,"
The Professor swore under his breath, "Well send a raven for him, tell him to hurry up!"
"Alright then.., but the others?"
"I'll find the damn others, alright? Now go!"
Mirock gave a quick nod and ran off, nearly tripping on the stone steps leading down to the lower floor. His robes fluttered as he flew through an open door and out of the small house, speeding away west. It didn't take him long to navigate the large castle and end up in front of a giant door, gaping slightly. Mirock peaked out of the gap, feeling a freezing gust of wind sting the tip of his nose.
"Should've grabbed a coat," He mumbled to himself, stepping out of the castle. His shoes crunched the snow beneath him, creeping up into his socks. "Corpus," He whispered. A small, black mass appeared in his hand, forming into the shape of a raven. His other hand then searched his pockets, pulling up a small piece of blank parchment.
"Minor crisis, hurry up," Mirock leaned in, lips hoovering above the raven whom registered each word and translated them into black letters on paper. He then rolled the parchment up and let the raven take it with it's claws. "To Dorian Sapphireshield, path from * to *," He finished, letting the raven take off. Mirock watched it fly towards the skies, and then spiral down in quick succession, stooping into the hands of a hooded man,
"Mirock, what are you doing here?" The concealed figure shouted, flipping back his hood to reveal a middle-aged man with black hair and a stubble.
"D-Dorian, you're early!" Mirock shouted back in surprise,
"Went faster than expected, even got a ride from a caravan," Dorian smiled, unwrapping the raven's parchment to scan its contents, "Minor crisis?"
"Oh, yes. The Professor will explain in detail, I need to dart,"
"Alright, is it fine if Norras comes with me?" Dorian asked, looking back at a struggling young man breathing heavily in his attempt to ascend the mountain.
"Oh, that's the boy?"
"Yeah, yeah that's him,"
"Yes, it should be fine if he comes with you," Mirock turned around, speeding off, "See you!"
"B-..bye!" Dorian gave a weak wave, shrugging.



C A S T L E B O Y S


Norras glanced up at the giant castle, catching his breath. Dorian wasn't exaggerating when he mentioned an enormous mountain. Lumbering over to what had essentially been his guide for the last week, Norras belched out all words that he could muster,
"Who was that guy?" He managed, looking up at Dorian.
"Mirock, an old friend, Loreseeker, - ... you doing alright there? Dorian looked back at Norras, who was on the bringe of falling down.
"Yeah.., yeah, just fine," Norras drew another deep breath, "So what did he say?"
"Gotta show up early. We'll have to swing by my house later, the Loreseeker's inn can hold our package for now,"
"Oh, something bad happened?" Norras followed Dorian inside the castle, feeling a rush of warmth.
"He said it was minor, so hopefully not,"
Norras nodded, continuing into the castle halls. Looking around, he noticed that each house was built into the stone walls, only recognizable by its windows and doors sticking out.
"So people really live like this... how do they grow food?" Norras asked, straightening his backpack.
"Eh, Trading. It's carried up the mountain and distributed at the markets. Living at a farm isn't the only way to get food you know,"
"Yeah, I guess," Norras shrugged. The pair kept stride, walking up into a lit tunnel. Distant discussion echoed through the passage, scrambled words bouncing off the rocks.



It'd be an open world, medieval, political, sandbox, player driven MMORPG focused on world PvP and large-scale battles/sieges.

So the fundamental basics in no specific order;

There's three basic stats, Intelligence, Charisma and Strength.

The world ages. One week of real time equals one year of in game time.
The game features permanent death, but you will always have one or more children to switch to and continue playing. Your children inherit your titles, reputation, prestige and banked items/gold.
All items you have on you are however dropped with your corpse when you die. Other players can pick it up, but may have trouble carrying much at once.

Real time combat, kind of like chivalry/mount and blade, but polished.

Experience is earned through actual activities and you level up through the way you act. If you fight you gain strength. If you speak you gain charisma. If you read you gain intelligence. With more.
If your character has earned, for example, max level in Strength, your children will earn Strength much faster.

A human caricature within the UI shows clear indications of where you're hurt. Most body parts can be individually targeted and hurt. You can for example lose your arm.

Rare, unusual magic. Spells should be of significant power and hard to conjure. High-end gear is enchantable.

High-end Weapons are nameable and track your kills. The more (in)famous your weapon is the higher it's worth, and the easier it is to enchant. Fame increases by kills and won battles with the weapon.

If you do well in a siege or grand-scale battles your achievements will be tracked. If allowed other players may see your PvP stats - including your friendly fire, how many people you wounded and how many people you killed.

The Economy would be largely player driven.

Open up shops; You can buy shop plots in towns and supply it with your own materials to start a shop. Either hire NPCs to sell your goods or sell it yourself. The prices are decided by you alone. The King will take a portion of your earnings in tax. You will have to pay the King weekly to keep your shop open.

Quest boards - quest boards show both automated NPC quests and quests made by players. To make a player quest, you choose your requested item(s) and then set the amount of gold you're willing to pay. Other players can then take note of that quest if they're willing to do the objective for the amount of gold you're offering. These types of quests would follow a contract and would not be scammable.

CITY

There will be pre-built cities and player built cities.

Create cities. You can set up a single point of reference and build a checkpoint with enough material and workers. You can then expand around the checkpoint, building up a kingdom. This would be a hard task considering it would be easy to raid a starting city.
When a city is blooming, NPCs will search it out and offer their services for a price. Other NPCs will want to live in your city if it goes well. After a while it will look like any other basic city. As a city expands, so will your reach. You can demand people to buy plot around the city if they wish to build anything around it, or else force them away. Soon you will have a kingdom.

Guilds(Houses).

A player can decide to start a Guild. He can then decide to hire people for positions within the Guild and give them a set wage depending on their subjective value.
The only way to own a City is to be the Leader of a Guild which owns a City.
To own a City, you can either build it, conquer it through war or revolution, or earn it through democracy.
The Guild Leader (Or King, if he owns a City), can run the City very precisely, deciding who gets in and out, deciding who gets punished and who gets rewarded. He can also control the NPC guards of the city as he wishes. He can tax the city as he pleases. All taxed gold goes to the Guild's Bank.
If the King wants, he can share the burdens with his Guild Members. This is why he would hire other people, and why he'd pay them what they deserve. If a member is tasked with, for example, the distribution of gold, he would have access to the Bank as well as event planning. If a member is tasked to serve in an army, that member would be given a wage.
If the King ever feels that his subordinates mess up, he can simply pay them less, take away some of their power or kick them.
If the members of a guild feels that the Leader is incompetent, they can simply leave and play without a guild, find a new guild or make their own.
When a Guild conquers a city, the Leader can chose if it should be lead as a democracy or dictatorship. If it's a democracy, an election will be held every (month*). If the current Leadership loses, the new candidate automatically creates a Guild which then effectively owns the City. The former Guild must then leave the city or migrate to the new Guild under a different Leader. Alternatively they start a civil war.
*Subject to change

Conquer Cities through war - The Leader of the Guild which conquers a City will be King of that City.
To conquer a City the Leader of a Guild has to declare war against the owners of the City, conquer the city (by holding a majority of allies inside the city while simultaneously keeping out enemies) and hold it for 3* hours.
*Subject to change


Mood Bar

The Citizen Mood Bar would change between Happy, Unhappy and Hostile. When the bar is all the way down, a revolution will automatically start. Alternatively, a player can incite revolution if the bar is in Hostile territory.

The Citizens happiness is based on several things:
1. The preferences of citizens (How the city should be run; Harsh and Iron Fisted vs Humble and Merciful, Open to foreigners or hostile towards foreigners, etc) can be gathered by asking individual citizens. The opinion of citizens will be more precise through conversation the more Charisma you have.
2. If another kingdom in the world is succesfully(or unsuccesfully) led a certain way, your citizens might be influenced by it.
3. If their previous king made them happy, they'd be biased to like a leadership akin to his and viceversa.
4. Speeches and Charisma.
5. The general well-being and health of all citizens.

Revolution starts either when the citizens gain max Hostility or when another player succedes in inciting a revolution.

When revolution begins the Player that is most liked by the Citizens will be asked to lead the revolution, and thereby become the Leader of a new Guild (named by the Player) consisting of Citizens of the revolution. If the player declines, the second most Liked player will be asked, and so on. If a player is asked when offline, the invitation will linger for 1 week. The revolution will however start at the time the invitation is sent out. If no Player leads the revolution, a random Citizen will, and the new guild formed by the revolution will be named after that Citizen (If the player later decides to accept before the invitation expires, he will become leader and have the option to rename the guild).
When a revolution starts, the vast majority of NPCs in the City (All who are not Friendly with the current King) will turn aggressive towards all members of the current Leadership's Guild. All players in the current Leadership's Guild except the king will have the option to send out a private Truce offer to the leader of the revolution, instantly through the UI, when the revolution starts (and until the end of the battle). If the Leader is an NPC, only those friendly to the Citizens will be accepted.
If the Leader of the revolution is not an NPC and accepts the Truce, the Player who sent the request will join the revolution's Guild with his or her former position from the current Leadership's Guild.
The Leader of the revolution, as all other Leaders of an army, has the option to order inprisonment onto certain players instead of death, if captured.
If the revolution is defeated, peace ensues (With the former King still in power) but the City will be in an even larger state of chaos, with barely no Citizens.

If the revolution succedes, the revolution's Guild, and thereby the leader of the guild will own the City. All who survived go back to normal. All Players from the former leadership's Guild who were inside the city when the revolution started but offline during it will be inprisoned. The Leader of the revolution's Guild will be able to chose their fate. They could either be spared, executed or invited to join the new Guild. These choices, just as all choices within the revolution, will affect how your citizens see you in the future.

How to incite a revolution / Open yourself up as a canditade of future democratic elections.

If you notice that the citizens are unhappy with something (through conversation, with more) you can set up speeches. If you're a nobody, you can start small in a bar or tavern and try to speak to the masses. It will work like a mini-game, where three dialogue options come up and then you choose one and go on, so

"I believe that our King has been meek in times of rough,"

"I believe that our King has made uncertain actions in a time of turmoil"

"I believe that our King has been too harsh, he is strangling our freedom!"

And then you choose one based on what you know about the citizens. Obviously Charisma will help here, and perhaps a bit of Intelligence as well.

To succede in questioning citizens you will need Charisma.

Example:

If you have 1 Charisma, your conversaton options with a citizen might be;

"Hey, how do you feel about the King?"

Citizen: "I don't speak to strangers"

3 Charisma;

"how 'bout the king m8"

Citizen: "He's a weakling who's too scared to do anything"

10 Charisma;

"sup with the king?"

Citizen: "He's a weakling who's too scared to do anything ... " *Bob looks to his sides nervously*

"You seem nervous"

Citizen: "Alright you seem like a nice guy, the truth is that the King does great, there's just this guy named Johnny who'd beat me up if he heard me say that,"

And sometimes he might just tell the truth at 3 Charisma, but you'd need to know those extra guys who're lying to really blow it away at speeches.

A member of the Guild might also try and gain leadership through these means, he may even denounce the King and speak in front of larger crowds. Of course this might anger the King, but if the King kills or sacks anyone, he might anger the crowd.

So the goal is to make a game that can be played a lot of different ways, as a shop owner, a crafter, a fighter or a politician, with more.

The complexity ranges from a simple archery fight to a situation where the King has hired "Anton the Advisor" to report the Citizens opinion of him, but Anton lies, saying that the Citizens feel the King is too weak (while they think he's too harsh). The King speaks of how he'll become an iron fisted leader and the citizens get pissed, Anton then denounces the King and says he himself will be a more humble leader. The King throws him out but the Citizens get pissed and recruit Anton to be their new revolutionary leader, overthrowing the King and ultimately sitting on the throne.
And then back to a great duel of swordsmanship for the honour of winning a tournament.

The ultimate goal, I think, would pretty much be something out of Game of Thrones. There'd be a main city that everyone would want to conquer for ultimate control over the world, an "Iron Throne" of sorts.

So, this would obviously be very succeptible to griefers. You could simply run in and kill a respected leader with your group of 5 newly created characeters, perhaps shoot five arrows while he's walking through the garden, or do a Leeroy Jenkins for the shits and giggles.
So NPC guards would be pretty OP against assasination attempts. They'd be able to deflect weak projectiles and such, and they'd probably always be near anyone who might be assasinated. High level armor would completely deflect low-tier weapons, and mages would be able to enchant characters to permanently deflect the first types of arrows, etc. Someone would have to be fairly well geared, and fairly well accompanied to carry out an assasination attempt.

This'd all be quite a risk considering you perma-die and spending time to gear up a character just to send him on a suicide mission might not be worth it just to make a King switch to his child heir and just return to his usual bussiness.
Multi-boxers would be banned. There would be a limit of perhaps 2 or 3 family trees on each account. A child could be born every week if you wanted so you'd never run the risk of losing absolutely all of your progress. The most valuable assets in the game would be titles, prestige and reputation, all of which you retain. Not to mention any gold or items youve stored away in the bank.

Now there are some problems which I have no idea how to fix, for example, is there really enough incentive to play through the game, seeing as this is the least of a theme park I've ever seen an MMO try. Would people just get lost the first hour? How would a player driven economy work? How do you get gold into a system completely driven by players without starting gold?


Your kills in battles are saved in a log as proof of your accomplishments.