The Empire: An Essay*

[growingivy 3382]

 

*And a critique. Definitely also a critique.

We DO NOT hate the Empire. We just want to see it better than what it is. There is so much potential in having a large portion of the server under the same leader.

---

What does it mean to be an Imperial?

We asked in our friend broadcast what it means to be imperial, no one could give a non sarcastic answer with a theme that the empire feels hollow.

 

The empire has nothing thematically or narratively uniting all of the vassals it controls beyond “you’re part of the empire, we control you, answer to the crown” which leads it to feeling like a bunch of vassals in a trench coat. There’s hardly any sense of community or collaboration between all of the groups under the empire.

 

The Empire has little to no cultural identity when it comes down to it. While we hear about a clothing post pertaining to the Capital, there still lacks a cuisine, a cultural language or accent like The Haeseni or Reinmaren have, and it feels like there’s no aspect that screams “This is the Empire. This is how we are different”. The Vassals have different, individual identities (Illatian, Auvergenian, Reinmaren, Haeseni, Norlandic (we know, not a Vassal exactly, but it stands)) that make them an interesting aspect and bring a whole thing to the table when it comes to developing those identities and continuing the traditions. While having little to no identity is an interesting ordeal in of itself, what identity the Empire does have is limited to ‘Racist Human’ from an outsiders perspective. What makes you different and sets this empire apart from its predecessors?

 

Where is the pride in the Empire Identity? Noble lines are uncelebrated, yet the majority of players in the Empire are of noble lines (an issue of itself in our opinion), yet when some are more notable or longstanding than others, there is nothing to really show for that. Where is the pride in the noble lines? The aspect of drawing back lineages and having an “I am the great-great-grandniece/nephew of so-and-so” being shown as an aspect of pride. We have a human family tree. Use it to its full potential! Write an edict that puts an emphasis on nobility! Make nobility matter.

 

What is the Empire name? You have the Kingdom of Burgandy, Capital, yet are simply the Empire of Man? The Renatian Empire came before, which may as well have been the Empire of Man, yet calling yourselves the Empire of Man only feels like bringing back a name for nostalgia's sake. How can this be carved out as a new, fresh dynasty?

 

Where is the aspect of colonization? If over half the server is to be a vassal or protectorate or some other term, how is that affecting these cities beyond “No spooks”. If all these places are forced to integrate, to acclimate, where are the aspects of the Empire being sprinkled throughout the cultural roleplay without desecrating the cultures in of themselves? Vassalization of itself should feel interesting, not like something you have to do just to keep your city alive from an OOC standpoint.

 

Why is there no fun in the Empire? The stupid edicts, the memorable, interesting things. Have an edict to wear pink on Wednesdays. Take bits from IRL history, like the Anti-armor law in England from 1313, banning armor in the Houses of Parliament to prevent members from intimidating one another. Or our favorite, the ‘Pointy shoe regulations’ from a 1463 English statute limiting the length of shoes due to the pointy nature at the time. Have fun with it! It’s a roleplay server!

 

Make all the vassals have to have statues of the Emperor's favorite horse! Then hire someone to talk about how awesome and mythical and how valiant, courageous and fantastic this horse was! There’s material here to work with! Prompt some roleplay through something.. A little less serious, less grim. Give us petty noble tea. We just need something to talk about!! Something to remember when we look back on this empire.

 

Part of this discussion is to encourage the leadership of the empire to interact with the other parts of  its playerbase. They hold the power to help prompt some fun silly stuff that everyone can follow along with. Creating an empire culture is a two way street that depends on players collaborating with one another as well.

 

If there is no culture to the Empire, the day it falls it will be a footnote in the past. No stories to tell, nothing worth remembering in the end. What legacy do you want the Empire to have beyond "Unifying Man?”

 

Hire us. We want to play here. We want to help!

 

- @growingivy and @kuebiko

 

[Metamancy 1778]

sorry the empire isnt getting any more fun anytime soon

[Plausifraunz 379]

It's kind of true, admittedly. And it's fine for vassals to have their own identity. That's what makes them interesting. I have to concur though that as it stands now, the empire is like a weird America where it's like thrice, or four different culture jumbles in a trench coat pretending to be one. 

The question stands though, is it something to be worked on? Or is it going to stay more as a nationality sort of thing, rather then a culture thing? In the same sense, you're an American, but at the same time you could be Italian, or Spanish, Greek, ect. America itself doesn't really have a culture outside of guns and beer. I feel like the same applies to the empire. It's just humans. That's admittedly all we have going for us. 

I do want to see more. I want my noble lineage to be more than just "Imperial vassal number 67." But it's hard when there is little identity aside the main imperial family and the authenticity behind just the fact that they come from their own distinct culture. 

[TaraJess 2853]

I died over a horse edict I lowkey thought that was an interesting plotline...

[annanicole__ 2802]

[growingivy 3382]

6 minutes ago, Plausifraunz said:

"Imperial vassal number 67."

HOW COULD YOU PLAUSI

[Plausifraunz 379]

Just now, growingivy said:

HOW COULD YOU PLAUSI

Chat, is this real?

[sam33497 7360]

The CEO of roleplay has spoken, write the culture posts stat

[Plausifraunz 379]

14 minutes ago, TaraJess said:

I died over a horse edict I lowkey thought that was an interesting plotline...

i just skimmed over this. How???? what's the story behind this???

[Frisket 4539]

Fun….

[Yeetboy0206 1574]

Honestly, pretty good analysis of the Empire! I'm going to play a bit of Devil's Advocate here and say that it definitely has the feeling of authoritarianism and ultimate power consolidated in near-worship of a single leader. When it comes to conflict over the overwhelming power of the Empire's military and the Emperor has power over the people, and how terrifying it can be to attract their ire, I think it leads to some pretty sweet roleplay! I remember when my second persona was younger, he got pilloried and hit with a tomato by an inquisitor for speaking up against an epiphyte being turned away and threatened with death, and it was genuinely fun RP. If they leaned more into how the Empire systematically strips people of their identity and tries to twist its people into this cold, efficient machine dedicated to increasing the power of the Emperor and his inner circle like the most interesting Empires do, it could lead to some really cool RP between people who conform out of fear and do everything in their power to survive and be rewarded by the system in contrast to those who choose to resist, rebel, and speak out only to face an overwhelming silencing and punishment of them. Have more fun with how empires seep into every single facet of a person's life as they try to pretend everything's fine until eventually you can't sleep in your own home without the Empire regulating it. What I'm saying here is don't be afraid to have more fun with the authoritarian aspects of the Empire and how it affects its people. It doesn't have to end in this immediate significant uprising, but they should still strive to make those moments where small pockets of dissent can brew, only to be smashed by the Empire's might, slowly building to this fever pitch. 

[MailC3p 2411]

59 minutes ago, Plausifraunz said:

i just skimmed over this. How???? what's the story behind this???

She stole a buncha mina from the Empire bec she was a steward and then she slaughtered horses she bred for the Empire 

[Crevel 7561]

I think you have a deep misunderstanding of what an empire is. At its very base-level, it's an extensive political entity consisting of varying distinct cultural groups. Look at the Roman Empire for instance and it spanned from England to its northwest and to its south it claimed dominion over North Africa. Each region of an empire is going to vary in its influence by the empire whether it be because of cultural reasons or whether it's because the empire felt less inclined to exert a certain set of values as long as they paid tribute and did what was required. This very much reflects LotC's empire as well. There is a very distinct aesthetic and culture that to my limited knowledge would be best classified as "Burgundian" but it's best seen in certain aspects of the capital or in the royal family. There are statues and inscriptions that show you what they value. The stylings, colours, general imagery, etc. That makes sense because the capital is the centre of their empire. The uniqueness is in the separate entities under the empire. If everything was a streamline culture it would be boring.

[Nectorist 12871]

It's not really my job to be an Empire apologist or whatever, but I do think it's worth at least explaining a few of the points y'all have brought up. I actually agree with a lot of them, and even the ones that I think could use some context are still well thought out. This is one of the more genuine and respectful nation critique posts I've seen, so don't take my response as being hostile or anything- I just want to give my perspective and experience as an older player.

 

I. Culture

 

The thing with the Empire, no matter what iteration you're talking about, is that it is essentially responsible for providing a home for every human RPer imaginable. This means being an open space for people who want to RP cultures that borrow from the French, English, Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Serbian, Turkish, Portuguese, Danish, Russian, etc (not to mention human cultures that are inspired from fictional sources). As the home of human RPers, the tent needs to be wide enough to let everyone try out their favored brand of RP, or else there basically won't be anywhere else to go. This naturally makes establishing a concrete culture outside of being 'Heartlander' extremely difficult, and it makes actually enforcing any kind of culture much harder.

 

I would've liked to have seen this current iteration draw a bit more from its Dutch-inspired roots in House van Aert, but I also understand why it didn't, because you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of the main dynasty practicing it. The only Empire that really had the time and opportunity to try and establish an identifiable culture was the Novellen Empire, and even its very limited attempts were widely-rejected because a bunch of vassals thought it was intruding on their own cultures. People really prize their creative expression, even if it comes at the expense of cultural cohesion IRP.

 

That said, I don't think it's a bad thing at all to encourage the ruling dynasty to establish more of a culture for themselves, I just don't expect that anything like that would filter through to everyone else. Humanity is just too diverse for it. The next best thing might be making cultural regions where vassals of similar cultures reside and interact, so that things feel less theme park-y and more deliberate in where various groups happen to reside. I know there are some efforts at this already, but it should be dialer up to an 11. 

 

 

II. Nobility

I actually fully agree with this point here, though I would shift a lot of the blame on the noble houses themselves, as well as the wider server culture. To put it plainly, there's little ambition within the average noble to take risks and build a storyline with their character. Losing titles (even if you're doing nothing with them) is something to be avoided at all costs. The only animating force behind a noble family's will to do anything at all is to get another title. This is a server-culture problem that exists pretty much everywhere else (I'd even say the Empire isn't as bad with it as some of its predecessors, as low of a bar as that it). Players want to take the path of least resistance to obtain a noble title as quickly as possible, then they want to do nothing. I think people should be encouraged to scheme, feud, contribute to a nation, etc, all things that develop interesting narratives and provide RP opportunities.

 

At the same time, the Imperial government shouldn't OOCly intervene every time two houses have beef in order to just handle conflict mediation through non-RP avenues. Again, this is a problem that exists in every nation, but the Empire should be a space for people to be bolder, riskier, and more ambitious than they would be in any other nation. If nothing else, this is probably one of the areas that I think the central government could and should step up in more, because human vassals have been cooked for years.

 

 

III. Naming

This is actually a good bit of worldbuilding. The current dynasty descends from House Pertinaxi, which ruled the 'Empire of Man' many years ago. Using the same name is a deliberate attempt to harken back to the legacy of the Pertinaxi, which mirrors stuff that irl monarchial dynasties would do all the time.

 

 

IV. Colonization (Cultural Exchange)

This one I kind of agree with. I'm not sure if it's just something that hasn't been thought of as much yet or what, but it could make for cool RP, albeit RP that's difficult to execute well. At the same time, I could see players screaming if they feel like their IRP culture is being intruded upon. A lot of people on here take a view of culture, religion, etc, that is extremely insular and static. Whether this is because of OOC attitudes, or the difficulty actually RPing out the idea of how cultural influences change people's behaviors over time, it's still something I'd love to see moving forward.

 

 

IV. No Fun League

I also agree that people should let loose a lil more, not be such sticklers for IRP laws or whatever so long as people are having fun and not being a blatant threat or something. This one's obviously more subjective than the others, but there's a goofiness you need to embrace from time to time when RPing and there could def be more of that.

[kuebiko 686]

3 minutes ago, Crevel said:

I think you have a deep misunderstanding of what an empire is. At its very base-level, it's an extensive political entity consisting of varying distinct cultural groups. Look at the Roman Empire for instance and it spanned from England to its northwest and to its south it claimed dominion over North Africa. Each region of an empire is going to vary in its influence by the empire whether it be because of cultural reasons or whether it's because the empire felt less inclined to exert a certain set of values as long as they paid tribute and did what was required. This very much reflects LotC's empire as well. There is a very distinct aesthetic and culture that to my limited knowledge would be best classified as "Burgundian" but it's best seen in certain aspects of the capital or in the royal family. There are statues and inscriptions that show you what they value. The stylings, colours, general imagery, etc. That makes sense because the capital is the centre of their empire. The uniqueness is in the separate entities under the empire. If everything was a streamline culture it would be boring.

the problem is roleplay thrives on collaboration and everyone having completely distinct cultures makes it feel disjointed, i dont think real life empires matter as a reference point when the current roleplay empire is hard for the average player to engage with beyond what vassal they've chosen to roleplay in. it's okay for things to be disjointed but i think things could improve if the empire had something positive that united them, like actual pride or something beyond conquest. unlike in idunia, the empire's vassals aren't quite as interconnected. where in idunia you can easily tell who's from tir-glas or angrenost, and those two places have a strong relationship to each other that comes up in roleplay all the time. meanwhile, in the empire everyone's just sort of there. it's vassals in a trench coat that say "we serve the empire" but that's kinda it

 

there's missed potential here!!!