Crevel

We lost a real one today. Goodbye BaconAvengerII.

[!] A public missive would be pinned on the noticeboards of the numerous Canonist realms to get the attention of the various Cardinals of the Canonist Church. However, its publicity would also make easy-reading for curious onlookers. [!]

Call for Pontifical Rebuke

11th of Tobias’ Bounty, 1948 I.S.T.

To the Esteemed Eminences of the College of Cardinals,

In these times of strife, when the light of our faith should shine brightest, we find ourselves at a crossroads that demands our attention and prayerful consideration. The position of High Pontiff, the Vicar of God, is one of immense significance in the life of our Church. Its role in serving as the shepherd and paramount temporal authority of the faithful by divine right is something of which there can be no comparison. However, it is our duty to acknowledge the failings of our High Pontiff to ensure that we do our part in ensuring the faithful are always in the good tidings of the Lord GOD. It is without doubt that the signs of slothfulness have crept into the Church’s most sacred office, threatening the very essence of our faith.

Sloth is not merely a laziness of the body, but a sluggishness of the soul. It is a sin that gnaws at the foundation of our devotion, causing us to neglect the responsibilities entrusted to us by the Lord GOD. Our Church, under the guidance of the High Pontiff, is meant to be a beacon of hope, a refuge for the weary, and a source of divine wisdom. Yet, we find ourselves witnessing a decline in the efficacy of our current High Pontiff in providing confidence for our faithful throughout Aevos. In time’s past we saw our priests being attacked, kidnapped, and murdered by enemies of our faith. Our faithful were being poisoned by a host of deceitful nuns and others claiming to be nuns numbering more than a dozen, and yet we did not hear comforting words from our High Pontiff in these trying times when we needed it most. No. We heard fear from men, women, and children who did not trust our nuns. We heard bounties being placed on all nuns by Canonist lords who feared for the safety of those they ruled over in their demesnes. It is unacceptable, and this was being done under the watch of High Pontiff Sixtus V. Even now, we see the failure of the Canonist League. A pivotal concordat that had the possibility to provide opportunities for the advancement of all of Canondom’s economic, militaristic, and scholarly interests. However, the High Pontiff squandered these opportunities with his disregard for the temporal and spiritual needs of the Canonist kingdoms. His inaction and lack of guidance has contributed to an undisputable rift between the realms of Canondom. We see this as the Kingdom of Petra and the United Kingdom of Aaun have left the Canonist League as a result of the League of Veletz’s mistreatment as a Canonist entity. We see this as a war is on the horizon between the Kingdom of Haense and the United Kingdom of Aaun. A war of this magnitude would be rife with Canonist blood, but it would not have come to be if the High Pontiff performed his divine duty as a Humble Servant of the Faithful.

The Curia is an essential council for the Church's governance. It stands as a testament to the commitment to our divine mission that started officially with the Exalted Owyn, but goes even earlier to the Exalted Horen. However, recent times have shown a failure to ensure that it is operating as efficiently as it can. The faithful deserve a curia that functions harmoniously and diligently, upholding the tenets of our faith and ensuring that our Church is a force for good in a world so in need of spiritual guidance. With the disappearance of Father Armand many years ago from a likely death from old age or illness, we have not seen a formal replacement take his place in the position of Auditor of the Tribunal to enforce Canon Law, issue ecclesiastical penalties, and conduct investigations in matters relevant to heresy, apostasy, and other attacks on our faith. Instead, our hardworking Antonius Cardinal Artorus has had to take it upon himself on top of his pre-existing duties as the Prelate of the Clergy to act in the Mother Church’s interests as an acting Auditor. While we cannot deny that he has been performing these duties well, even proving the innocence of the Von Augustens, this overlap is entirely unnecessary. Canondom has more than enough passionate clergy to justify appointing a new Auditor of the Tribunal. With a new Auditor of the Tribunal appointed, both the Prelature and Tribunal can perform with the utmost efficiency. This is especially important if war is to come to Canondom when an Auditor is most important to maintain Canon Law throughout the realms.

In the face of this reality, we must ponder the gravity of our situation. While it would be preferable that Sixtus V abdicates of his own volition and I encourage him to do so, we are in a period where we cannot rely on the High Pontiff to act for the good of Canondom. Thus, it is not out of malice or spite but a deep-seated love for our faith and a concern for its future that I bring forth the proposition of the College of Cardinals issuing a unanimous rebuke of Sixtus V so that a new High Pontiff may be elected. As we know from the Scroll of Gospel when the Lord GOD reprimands the Exalted Godfrey, we all fall short of the Lord and we are all capable of suffering from sin as we are rewarded for following His virtues. It is important that we recognise that the High Pontiff, too, is fallible and subject to the same temptations and weaknesses as any of us. However, the position of the High Pontiff demands an unrelenting commitment to the teachings of GOD and the responsibilities inherent in his role. To allow slothfulness to persist in the highest office of our Church is to risk the continued suffering of our faith. We cannot afford to falter in our duty.

Father Petyr, 

Prefect of the Landless City of Florentine,

Archdiocese of Albarosa

"So... they went from a vassal that "renounced from their fealty" only to become a different form of vassal of the same nation that still requires them to abide by Haeseni foreign policy, including giving military support? I don't really understand the idea of 'complete freedom' here." Vylandris Vuln'ibar muses of the treaty abroad from his Aaunic home.

Vylandris Vuln'ibar reads the document, intending to submit an application of his own. He would, however, be confused why the Dark Elf Lord Seneschal's portrait depicts a human with white skin. Despite this, he approves of the document and the government's efforts.

Vylandris Vuln'ibar looks onto the situation with intrigue. The accusations of vampirism being thrown around by those accused of being vampires themselves would make him question. Are there impostors Among Us?

Back to Aeldin we go...

See you in a month.

3 hours ago, Laeonathan said:

isnt aeldin unreachable since its on the wrong side of the world-coin rn?

Aevos is on Eos, putting it on the same plane as Aeldin.

Vylandris Vuln'ibar, a proud elf residing in Whitespire, milks a nearby cow upon the reading of this missive and then proceeds to drink the unpasteurised milk. However, due to the bacteria within this milk he would have stomach cramps for the rest of the day. He still proceeds to enjoy milk despite this.

Crafting? In Lord of the Craft? A Minecraft roleplaying server? I don't think I want it.

I am personally uncomfortable with interacting with child characters in general, so I don't do it most of the time. It's also why I usually start playing my characters properly around the 16-year mark. A lot of the time, I see children characters and it makes me feel disgusted that there's probably a 20+ year old or even a 30+ year old behind the computer screen trying to pretend to be a child. LOTC is used for escapism, and that's what they choose to be? There are players out there who choose to play almost strictly children. It also doesn't help that some people play their children characters obnoxiously. I've seen so many child characters around the age of 5-7 get into arguments with adult characters and use complex words that those children shouldn't reasonably know. Same with child characters that are played only to be gremlins, as if that hasn't been done a thousand times before. 

Since this is a thread about roleplay gender observations, my own observation is that those particular obnoxious child characters tend to be girls. Child characters that are boys, from my own experience, tend to be more focused on roleplay development that gives them easier accessibility to paths like knighthood, church acolytes, and other generally militaristic roles that have systems in place that give child characters the opportunity to ingratiate themselves with a niche at a young age. I'm sure that there are definitely girl characters that exist for similar purposes, but from my observations it seems like most of the time they weren't created with that goal in mind.

By divine providence, Vylandris Vuln'ibar and his property would be unscathed by the tsunami. However, the same could not be said for the marine population that was surely washed ashore the dry banks of Whitespire once the water receded.

5 minutes ago, TreeSmoothie said:

Make it against the rules for lotc discords to have NSFW channels & suggestive imgs (including art)/topics/etc posted pls

I'd also like to request it being against the rules for these discords to have selfie channels. I think most of us have been on LotC long enough to understand how these channels are used maliciously and yet for some reason they always seem to pop up.

Death to the Haenser slur as we know it.

This is a good idea though. Lots of minors seeing things they shouldn't be seeing in nation discords.

Nations are fully capable of becoming an antagonist on their own. The problem is that RP antagonism is often misconstrued with OOC malicious intention, especially by playerbases led by a jaded paranoid leadership. These issues arise due to a lack of communication because it's easier to vilify someone on the internet than it is to get into a voice chat with them to smooth things over. This is an issue regardless of if ST decide to inject a nation with PX-41 Serum. If an effort is made by NLs to actually speak to each other, we would be able to have more enjoyable roleplay narratives for both sides in general instead of having to hear a leader from the opposing side say something along the lines of "We genuinely thought you were trying to kill the community that we've built up".

Players, even without Story Team, are fully capable of organising their own player-run eventlines around a plague, blight, or even foreign invaders like the Skanarri in Norland to shape their local region. We usually only see these affecting one settlement or a nation. However, with enough organisation and a good concept, I don't see why these sorts of eventlines can't include numerous other groups. Chances are that they would probably be able to get a Story Team member at some point to give more flavour to their eventline using creatures and tools that a normal player would not ordinarily have access to.

Addressing the question itself, I don't believe that nations should be offered to become antagonists by Story Team. You don't have to be a scientist to be able to see the pattern that a lot of Story Team members will favour their own in-group with events, ST items, and other ways of preferential treatment. Artificially transforming the majority of a nation to become undead or something else like that so that they immediately have a unique affliction that becomes incredibly important to the server's narrative and a part of the server's history as a whole just seems to hinder the idea of organic roleplay and beginning it through OOC means is a bad apple that spoils the bunch. It would be more effective and more organic for some sort of magic, affliction, CA, etc. to spread within a nation over time until it eventually builds up to encapsulate a whole nation and if relevant, can push the leadership to adopt RP measures that can be viewed as antagonistic to the rest of Aevos. This process can be done with or without Story Team intervention, but it's a more story-driven narrative that is ultimately shaped by the nation themselves rather than an immediate antagonistic transformation put onto them by Story Team.

Full Name of Man - Thondorus Stafyr
Date of Birth of Man - 102 S.A. / 1898

Full Name of Woman - Yankova Kortrevich
Date of Birth of Woman - 101 S.A. / 1897

Location of Ceremony - Bastion Temple of Saint King Caius, Numendil

Date of Ceremony (Year) - 140 S.A. / 1936
Name of Clergyman who performed ceremony - Father Petyr

Minecraft IGN(s):

Crevel, AvoidRP

Discord:

crevel

Ban Selection

In-Game Ban

Ban Reason

https://prnt.sc/0FH7fx4ESY54

What circumstances led to this ban?

The first part of this ban, initially one month in length, began due to a situation in May. A player, who I henceforth shall refer to as Player A, expressed their desire to create an anthropomorphic rabbit CA in the general chat of the main LOTC Discord, and in the same conversation they used a screenshot as a reaction image to something said by someone else. Said screenshot was Player A’s anthropomorphic rabbit model from the platform/game Second Life which is well known for its NSFW content. I typed Player A’s Minecraft or Discord username (been awhile so don’t recall which it was exactly) into Google to see if they were involved with any blatant inappropriate content and found their Steam account where I noticed that Player A was in a Steam group called “The Vore Gamers” which had no content in it, explicit or otherwise. Thinking it weird, I sent it to Jihnyny in DMs as he was involved in a discussion with Player A in the LOTC Discord prior. After having a short look at their Steam page where Jihnyny noticed that Player A possessed **** games in their Steam library, we went down a (no pun intended) NSFW rabbit hole that we both uncovered simply by googling Player A’s usernames that he had on public accounts. The rabbit hole showed that Player A had described their online anthropomorphic rabbit persona as a “succubunny” and possessed nude models to use for this persona on Second Life (and possibly other games like VRChat) that they either bought or personally created for themselves. After seeing this, Jihnyny impulsively decided to confront Player A about it directly in the LOTC Discord given Player A’s desire to create an anthropomorphic rabbit CA which led to a lengthy argument that I had also involved myself in. Towards the beginning of the argument, there was an attempt to bring the matter to Moderation attention, specifically through IbnKhaldun by Jihnyny (though I am personally unsure how their DMs went), but the heated argument continued regardless which led to myself and Jihnyny being banned in-game for a month and Player A being banned for two weeks from my understanding.

I won’t be able to recall this second situation as accurately due to not having as many conversations about it for it to stick in my memory, as well as being banned from the LOTC Discord which makes me unable to pull up my Discord logs to refer to (if they even exist anymore). Regardless, this situation gave me a two month ban extension, and I shall refer to this next player as Player B. One day before my appeal date, Player B made a comment along the lines of “I’m so proud to be able to interact with this community :)” in the general chat of the LOTC Discord. Due to their username being very long and consisting of numbers and letters that could be easily confused, I decided to check their username and skin history because in my experience these sorts of players usually break rules and expect their complicated username to delay moderators from being able to punish them while they cause trouble. After looking at their history, I found that they had a history of using either racist usernames, skins, or both. I don’t recall exactly which it was and I can’t view their history again as it seems they made an effort to hide it all at some point within the past two months. They also had a bandit skin on as their current skin which led me to consider that perhaps a toxic group might’ve recruited them to the server from somewhere else or if they may have been an alt of a banned player. Regardless, I pointed out only the racist history in the LOTC Discord with a ping to Moderation in the same message in an attempt to spread awareness and after a short public exchange with Player B, my ban was extended by two months and I was banned from the Discord and restricted from posting on the Forums until my appeal date.

These two instances share two main things in common. Impulsivity and confrontation. These situations would've been much better handled if my immediate approach was to go to a member of Moderation with my concerns privately. Being impulsive and confronting someone that I believe to be a problem and/or danger to the community's safety in a public channel is reckless and undermines the authority that Moderation has as a team designed to keep the server orderly and safe. It makes their job more difficult when dealing with legitimate concerns when they have to deal with disorderly conduct impeding any investigation they may have to make. Furthermore, it looks poorly on myself and does not display the professionalism that I know I have.

Are there aspects of the ban you agree and/or disagree with?

I felt that the initial one month ban with the extension of an additional two months was a bit excessive and didn’t really follow typical policy, especially given that I did not have any prior infractions of anything similar and that these confrontations were made with good intentions to spread awareness (given that Moderation were alerted in both situations) rather than a malicious attempt to harass or to be toxic. Regardless of the policy, I think that in total it ended up being a good amount of time for me to reflect. I agree with the ban from the LOTC Discord since that’s where both incidents started. However, I fully disagree with the Restriction from Posting that I was given on the Forums. None of my misconduct took place on the Forums, and it prevented me from being able to actively engage in roleplay threads and feedback threads posted on the Forums which I would have partaken in in a civil manner as usual.

What motivates you to return to LOTC?

My main motivations are to connect with the people and narratives that make LOTC so interesting again, and to further explore the development of my two active characters. I have plans to spread Housemagery to my Canonist brethren on my priest persona, and I have plans to try learning alchemy on my elf while attempting to further his reputation as a fish merchant.

Attach other relevant information.

If my appeal is to be accepted, I will need to be unbanned from the LOTC Discord. I was told by Alex that I’d be unbanned when my appeal is accepted. Thank you.

Father Petyr hums as he reads over Adria's terms and compares it to those offered by the League. He notes that the Adrians did not address the heretical Canons Regular that had made Adria its base of operations, almost seemingly to avoid the question entirely even though that's one of the major reasons why tensions between Adria and the League are still there. He discusses the topic with some local priests as he continues writing his Housemagery books.

Father Petyr grimaces at the poorly done citation from the Scroll of Auspice, but he thinks the treaty is alright and hopes that it is actually accepted by the Adrians and followed properly by all parties so tensions aren't raised further.

He rereads an edit made to the document that is further spread, noticing that the citation still does not include the relevant Book which would be Book 2.

The Haeseni-born former Patriarch of Jorenus, Venerable Anders Kortrevich, would undoubtedly turn in his unmarked makeshift grave back on Almaris in the former cemetery of St. Henrik's Basilica if he knew. Alas, death is peace from the temporal, and the Seven Skies are beautiful.

18 minutes ago, Markisstreaming said:

Why does a new player that's looking for religious RP have to know how Aaun formed? They can find out IRP, and interact with the community. It isn't misleading or ignoring essential facts. Why is it essential for a new player to know that the Pro Empire Orenians (Oren being a nation that died quite a long while ago, and while influential in it's time, no longer existent.) lost and settled somewhere else? Why would a new player need to know how Urguan's elections work?

You are not understanding my point in regard to this. The point I was making is that there are inconsistencies in the little information provided that are not relevant or accurate to what experiences and culture these nations provide. I have no issue with it being a snippet of information, I encourage it because most players don't want to read a lot. However, if you are going to include information in a pinned guide, it should contain accurate information because new players will look at this guide to gauge what they are interested in.

To mention the example that I used in my last comment, why is Balian heralded as the nation that was shaped by political turmoil when Aaun has gone through more political turmoil and conflict than Balian has? Major conflict surrounding Aaun is much more recent than any major war where Balian was at the forefront. If they are going to include war shaping realms in their summary , it should go to Aaun or Adria if anything due to recent server history. Like you agreed with, the Imperialist - Royalist civil war in Oren was a long while ago and in the end it formed Balian but it was really long ago so why is it relevant now and why would it be relevant for however long this guide is around for? It's not, which is why I used it as an example.

Some of these summaries are done really well. Petra's is good, Haelunor's is good, Halflings' are good too. It's just that when you see the ones that aren't accurate, it's going to give false impressions to players expecting something and not seeing it through the roleplay.