#1 What do you, as a player, find interesting or intriguing about the Kelestian people that you might want to know more about?

 -  I am intrigued that they are underground dwelling people. When the healer speaks about their home and being a fungus farmer, I am reminded of the city of Derinkuyu, Turkey. I would love to learn more about their city, their culture, and their cuisine, being as how they are mostly underground folks.

#2 What do your characters find interesting or intriguing about the Kelestian people that they might want to know more about? Please do not feel the need to divulge your characters and feel free to be as detailed or vague as you wish for privacy.

- Jageris is very interested in the Yamin deity and what has brought them to Monlon as invaders. The cryptic Kelestian responses and the oddly zealous phrases they speak, leads him to think the key to understanding the whole catastrophe lies in learning more about their religion.

I want to know how to make more stuff!

Like how to weave that hemp armor.

Or how to make sling stones, or stone weapons, beyond the basic stuff already there.

Posted by: @sgexplosion

Instead of asking folks to submit feedback I decided to use the forums for longer conversation that everyone could see and discuss.

I would love to get some perspective on two different topics.

#1 What do you, as a player, find interesting or intriguing about the Kelestian people that you might want to know more about?
#2 What do your characters find interesting or intriguing about the Kelestian people that they might want to know more about? Please do not feel the need to divulge your characters and feel free to be as detailed or vague as you wish for privacy.

Just random questions. Has nothing to do with *checks story writing notes* anything. 

 

1: Their considerbly more advanced technology.

  Their stone armor is better than Irdine's bronze.

  They can tunnel through a mountain.

  Their weapons can do a number of things that ours can not.

2: Their use of Irdine mercenaries.

  The people of Irdine are so detached from society that they are forced to take money to fight their own people. Think to what scale of failure that shows at a government level. I for one would love if we could interact with this on a political level. For example I have alway wanted a story where we figure out how to get the bandits of Travent to work rather than fight.

  ( A real close second is religion. They were able to convince a people to invade Monlon with Religion. )

I'd just like to know the timeline of this reveal, everything in TEC moves at a galatial pace. Is it going to be 6 months or 10 years before we move on to the next phase of the invasion? It's hard to keep motivation if we think at any time something is going to shake loose when if that isn't the reality of your timeline. A rough outline would go a long way to help with this, it doesn't have to be specific.

So how long before we get slings?

How long before we get trainers?

How long/if will we get new craftable skills? -Seems like a cool opportunity to pour in resources as a Republic and develop comparable armor and make it a non-com that has real value.

How long before we get Iridinian smiths to catch up with the foreigners arms and armor, or are we stuck wearing the Kel's armor going forward? The Iridinian doesn't need to be better than Kel's but it would be nice to not have equivalents.

How long before we have the opportunity to custom order weapons and armor?

I do think that it would be excellent RP avenues to answer these questions at the same time you reveal different parts of their culture that is appropriate. For instance why would a warrior that is 90/90 suddenly decide to change allegiances? It could be a cool arc where you could unveil more about their god and create a valid reason for defection, found out their god was a lie for instance.

Thanks for all the responses folks!

Makes us happy to see just how story stuff is getting out there and creating some interest in the both static and dynamic story parts.

Some of the topics brought up have active components such as the gods being discussed by the Kelestian people as well as their society in general.

I'm not sure exactly what reveal you are discussing Prydain but I can tell you that this story is actively being both developed and as character engagements with the story happen or don't, adjustments are made. 

Answers to some of these questions will have to wait for more story to unfold as they are planned as possible discovery points along the way. 

No one else posted anything so I was considering closing the thread but I will keep it open in case others wish to engage on this topic for a short while longer.

Hey hey! 🙂

Naturally I would love to go there. Sounds awesome.

I enjoy all of their chat interactions as they fight us. Anything that can enrich that is a thread I want to pull on. Particularly the bit where they say that they're doing what they're doing for the sake of all of humanity.

I would love for there to be an update to the religion as a result of whatever is happening here. As if some secret or new information is unveiled as a result this whole thing and then there's an adoption of new dogma. I'd appreciate a refresher here.

I'd be interested to know what their version of an esecarnus is. What manner of beasts have they encountered in the depths, and how has that shaped their culture and their versions of monsters?

I'd love to experience and understand more of the geopolitical stuff as we have recently. How are the Kelestians portrayed, understood, or dealt with elsewhere? Specifically I remember the healer talking about how the Parcinians were previously their allies. To have some Parcinians get involved and share with us their knowledge would be cool. Wouldn't have to be the nation making a move to ally with us. It could just be enterprising individuals who are keen to make a buck by using their experience now that we have to deal with them.

Anyway that's my stream of consciousness.

Thanks for asking!

@philippe 

I appreciate your post on the topic so thank you for sharing some feedback.

Some of the story plot points you've mentioned are being explored currently and we do have plans for wider world story but I have to keep those behind the curtain for now. It has been a meticulous endeavor to unfold Monlon because we have taken a more active position in the story and are trying different avenues of storytelling. This includes the mixed use of rumors, passive story engagement opportunities, scheduled events, and giving players a much larger impact on story outcomes through multiple opportunities and interactions.

This is a bit different from Franlius which was a new battleground that had events or stories in orbit nearby but was not actively managed by staff for some of the time it was available. 

For example I will plan a few plot points and where I expect an event to go with story goals in mind for a scheduled event. You also plan for when characters go wildly off course and plan around and improvise as possible. Nice little bow in 30 minutes to a few hours. With Monlon you can extrapolate how much larger that is. The difference is a 10 page choose your own adventure book in comparison to a 500 page choose your own adventure book. 

Things like animals and regular day to day Kelestian life before invasion are high on my story telling list. Those things are there to be explored if and when characters engage in story. 

@sgexplosion 

So the way I am seeing it, you are running the Monlon story event more like a DnD campaign? Where the staff are the DMs and are adjusting the story and parameter's based on the players actions, interactions, etc? 

Versus something like a Final Fantasy game where the storyline is set in stone, the only thing that really changes is how much farming/leveling you do prior to hitting the major cut scenes? Sort of like Fran was, where it was a battleground, but nothing ever really "changed" until it closed.

Am I reading this right or am I off base?

@randomone 

Those are similar ways of looking at story building but I would say it isn't a perfect comparison because in TEC we have different tools than a DnD Dungeon Master. Dice and imagination are much more flexible than text and code!

In the past players submitted feedback that they did not always feel like they had impact on story or it was not enough. With Monlon the story has been written and built but just how much gets explored, discussed, and ultimately shared will be highly driven by character action and player participation.

I feel by now the Kel's should acknowledge those who are up there murdering there kind by swarm, we are making a giant deal about losing 4 cohorts, people like Oddr and Syden have killed that alone in Kels, same with some groups and the Aurik/Ios tuesday night set ups

@kered 

I've heard this brought up for discussion and we have been letting characters explore it in game to great success. Instead of pulling the curtain fully back I will present a few questions that I hope paints a wider world perspective for players.

In the last 305 years of the Republic, how many of those years has the Republic been at war?

In the last 305 years when was the last time the city of Iridine was sacked?

How long was the fight for Franlius in years? What was the end result of this war?

How long did the Republic have peace between Franlius ending and Monlon being invaded?

When in history was the last time the Kelestian people are known to have been actively at war? How long was that war?

These exact topics and more are there to explore in the game which is very exciting. I hope some folks found this post helpful or useful.

@sgexplosion 

In the last 305 years of the Republic, how many of those years has the Republic been at war?

Aestivan War - 13 years
Parcines War - 26 years
War Against Amerton (Cinera) - 9 years
2nd Aestivan War - 4 years
War with Cinera - 3 years
New Cinera war - 2 years
Cinera War reignites - 94 years
Kelestian Invasion - ?

Total time at war: 151 years

In the last 305 years when was the last time the city of Iridine was sacked?

Year 207 (115 prior to that)

How long was the fight for Franlius in years? What was the end result of this war?

I am going to guess 30 years considering on Scran 15th, 303, Hadron Calsuan exclaims "Let today be a day of celebration! After thirty years of warfare against the nation of Cinera, today we declare victory!"

End result is Franilus was flooded and the war with Cinera "ended." However, this doesn't make much sense since the war reignited in 209 when the representative of the White Cineran is killed, causing hostilities to reignite, which never seem to end until 303 with the closing of Franilus.

How long did the Republic have peace between Franlius ending and Monlon being invaded?

2 years (303-305)

When in history was the last time the Kelestian people are known to have been actively at war? How long was that war?

- No idea of length, but from interactions at the palisade, a lively Kelestian healer says, "After two hundred years of peace, the council did not throw us into war on a whim."

Perhaps the last time was the alliance with Parcines against Iridine?

References:
Wiki -  http://eternal-city.wikidot.com/history
In game NPC dialogue
Staff Postings -  https://www.eternalcitygame.com/community/eternal-city-game-world/the-kelestian-people/#post-1028

I made an error:

"How long did the Republic have peace between Franlius ending and Monlon being invaded?

2 years (303-305)"

Monlon was invaded in 303. So the time of peace was less than a year. My mistake!!!