Which Org Has The Most/Deepest/Most Hardcore RP?

Krynnis

Your opinions, please, and why you hold them. I was thinking about getting into Lusternia and am a big fan of RP. Want to get an idea of where I'd like to start. If you feel the answer isn't necessarily clearcut, I'd still like your reasoning / what you consider the lay of the RP land to be more or less.

Thanks in advance for any help/info!

Tekora

Every org has a huge amount of lore and RP beneath what you can see on the surface from the outside. 

Hell, I've been with Hallifax ever since it opened and I'm still learning lore that I had no idea of, by virtue of managing to rise to positions where I gain the 'need to know' basis. And for a city of Harmony and Beauty, Hallifax lore can get REALLY hardcore.

Qistrel

The cool thing about Lusternia is that every org has really great RP available. (Though sometimes you need to dig a bit to find it.)

Celest - Follow the light, have the five angelic Supernals that much is based on, also strong links to water and the Inner Sea, historical ties to the Old Celest Empire and many zones in Lusternia linked to families in Celest, has merfolk-like race.

Magnagora - Believe in the power of the Taint, follow the five Demon Lords, believe in change, progress, advancement and do much industrial era steampunk, even has steampunky cyborgs, has super snobbish viscanti upper class, not for faint of heart.

Hallifax - the beacon of harmony, bureaucratic society, with emphasis on science and arts, technology is crystalline, almost computerish, unlike Mag's industrial bent, science for the sake of science, my life for the collective. Traditionally bird people and crystal people.

Gaudiguch - hey, have a firemead! Want to try this weed? Have more firemead. No, no, don't look behind the curtain, ignore all that stuff about secret pyramids and stuff it's all completely untrue we are here to PARTY and set everything on fire. Oh, you know the secret handshake, come into the secret collegium we hide from outsiders. Dragon men.

Serenwilde - the last true forest, home of elfen, follow Mother Moon and the White Hart, tribal warriors, will do virutally anything to ensure they keep the forest whole and pure, links to the fae. Generally good but willing to bend the rules because nature.

Glomdoring - Followers of the wyrd, into the whole is more than the sum of the parts, deep links to shadow fae, followers of Mother Night and Brother Crow, dark nature, deny that they are anything other than perfection.

Saran

Qistrel said:

Serenwilde - the last true forest, home of elfen, follow Mother Moon and the White Hart, tribal warriors, will do virutally anything to ensure they keep the forest whole and pure, links to the fae. Generally good but willing to bend the rules because nature.

I'd disagree with "bend the rules", it's more... our rules are just not your rules

Allyrianne

It depends a lot on what you consider "Hardcore RP," and how much support you want from the community. There's a lot of layers to each of the organisations, and the history, hatreds, and powers of each are pretty carefully developed, and there's a lot of flavour and things to draw on, no matter where you go. Obviously what follows is purely my perspective and it's been a while since I interacted regularly with some of the orgs in any meaningful capacity.

Celest has plenty of room for hardcore zealot adherent to the Light, crush the tainted, justify genocide and racism on the basis of the necessity of purity, either try to cover up or atone for past mistakes/embarassments, seek to restore past eras of basin-wide cooperation under Celest's glorious guidance. This is all lore-supported, I don't know how much community support a character like this would have as I don't have much rp interaction with Celest lately.

Magnagora has plenty of celebrating and spreading the power of the taint, embracing undeath, corruption and brainwashing worthless beggars into serving in workhouses, noble viscanti using masks to cover up their rotting undead flesh, bloody sacrifices and rituals in honour of the demon ladies and lords, torture as a viable aesthetic, etc, etc. All lore supported, also very much community supported, although you may have to deal with some rp requiring you to work your way up from one of the disrespected cogs in the machine.

Hallifax is a stratified caste society, where everything is for the glory of the Collective, including requisitioning hundreds of indentured servants to be subjected to scientific experiments that may or may not kill them. There's also [CENSORED]. They're willing to take both excorable energies (taint/soulless) and divinus energies and turn them into weapons/experiment with viable means of power generation and weather manipulation. Artists and Scientists are at the top of the pile socially, warriors occasionally have an attitude of needing to protect the highest caste from itself. Currently the rp's more prone to the artists/bureaucrats/warriors than the scientists, although that may just be my perspective as my character's a musician, in the bard guild, and most of her active family are artists of one flavour or another.

Gaudiguch has the drunk party people and also has the dangerous/creepy/mindbending/fleshtearing mysticism side. I can't really speak to how easy the latter atmosphere is to get into at present, but it's definitely there and Mysrai's Order seems absolutely fascinating from what I've seen of it in logs/Their interactions with Zvoltz.

Serenwilde's lore has a lot of emphasis on cycles:cycles of the moon, seasonal cycles, life and death, growth of Hart, predator-prey. They're also the Winter Court, and some of them are currently exploring what that means. They have some impressive rpers, and a lot of history, tied to a lot of protective duties. Their group of rpers interested in developing how nature can be cruel and brutal appears to be growing at present, which seems cool from what I've seen, but as they, like Celest, can get typecast as the "good" guys by people wanting to play in a forest, there seems to be some mixed feelings. 

Glomdoring has consistently had incredibly strong, dark rp while I've been playing Lusternia. They murder babies, eat carrion, sacrifice, have rituals with shadows, and try to spread the Wyrd at any cost. I think they're going through a period of relatively low population (maybe?) but they have some pretty amazing rpers.

Cyndarin

Obligatory every org has great RP and you can find it if you look. It's true, but it's also true that everyone will feed you that line. LEMME BE HONEST WITCHU.

My vote is for Glomdoring or Hallifax in terms of depth and commitment to RP. 

Personally speaking, Hallifax has the more interesting concept, but the more flawed delivery of it which is why I've never enjoyed it. Glomdoring is smaller and less active, but deliver the collectivism for a greater purpose RP more successfully. The most notable difference between the two is that Glomdoring is more religious/cult-like and Hallifax is more logically inclined (or supposed to be). 

Glomdoring fervently worships a somewhat ambiguous, amorphous thing called the Wyrd. There's no one agreed upon definition of it, simply that it's nature's perfect adaptation to combat the taint and everything else is inferior to it. They believe it is a foregone conclusion that the Wyrd will consume the basin and all mortals will either know the Truth or be consumed with the world. They are merely biding there time until such an event occurs, content in the belief that they are serving the only perfect creation in the basin. Glomdoring believes itself superior and has little interest in convincing the world of it, the world does not understand. They simply are and that is enough. 

I'm not as well versed on Hallifax. They are very committed to their roles as an org to an impressive extent,  but based on my interactions they are kind of a caricature of the Borg if the Borg had a sitcom where they ran the Department of Motor Vehicles. The idea is that Hallifax is supposed to be the beacon of collectivist efficiency, that many minds are more successful than one, and that a carefully maintained society produces the best results. A beacon of amassed knowledge. What they actually are is a very long repetitive joke about excessive paperwork and file keeping, with a heavy helping of bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. The stand out moment for me, and one I wish Hallifax would follow, is during the most recent dream event where the invoked (or threatened to invoke) what amounted to martial law "for the greater good." They also come across as very "superior because we're superior," and the constant need to talk about it. That being said, they are committed to their representation of Hallifax, I'm always impressed when I interact with notable Hallifaxians because they are always on their toes. 

I would say the weakest are Gaudiguch (sorry, my org and I love them but I'm being honest) and Magnagora. Gaudiguch RP is half amazing and unique outlook on their existance, half chatroom. Magnagora is and has lived up to their amazing potential in the past. I would say following the d'Murani (noble family) departure somewgat, the overall RP cratered. Now they are back to evil for the sake of evil, almost comical tying damsels to railroad tracks style RP where being evil justifies virtually anything. It's quite literally "We're the best so everything we do is justified by that," which gets pretty old and tedious. 

Celest and Seren floating somewhere in the middle. I think Seren doesn't get enough credit for the work they put into it because "regular forest" can come across as somewhat boring or at least predictable in terms of stereotypical RPG archetypes. 

Yarou

Come to Magnagora and I'll give you all the hardcore roleplay you could ever want. Might be more than you can handle, though. I'm a roleplay monster.

Everiine

Also be sure to check out specific guild RPs. Some have some pretty incredible and fantastic lore that gives them opportunities for some really neat stuff.

Tarkenton

Can say, I don't like Seren after playing there for years. But Seren guard is top notch rp.

Krynnis

Thanks for the advice and information, everyone. I really appreciate it. I'm still undecided, though, just in case anyone else wouldn't mind chiming in.

Tekora

Come to Hallifax. We allow ANY kind of roleplay flavor, good or evil, as long as you FOLLOW THE LAW.

Daraius

And if you get an elected position, even that last bit is optional.  O:-)

Narynth

For me, Glomdoring is a deeply personal connection that flourished in the attitude and mindset of the commune's player base. The idea of 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts' to nab a handy phrase from above could not be more true--Glomdoring rises and falls together and does not place unnecessary value on the contributions of the individual except as extensions of the Wyrd. 

Despite being gone for a significant amount of time, I still see the beauty of this mindset in action--from the commitment to consistent roleplay in character development to the spread of Glom-propaganda through our mantras and posts--and for me this makes for the perfect venue through which to develop my own character even further and to challenge myself in ways that I never thought possible. 

For someone contemplating where to begin, I'd really encourage you to try out a few different characters set in different communes and cities. At the end of the day, I'd look to see what group really speaks to you as an individual on an ic and ooc level and trust that you'll without a doubt know when you find what's exactly right for you.

Portius

Daraius said:

And if you get an elected position, even that last bit is optional.  O:-)

Or write enough books. Really, any sufficiently useful person can ignore the law as long as they aren't too blatant about it. Which is exactly as it should be for a bearocratic despotism type government.

Havastus

Not enough raves go to the Tahtetso and their lore. The concept of Lumosis and the 3 Luminous Counsels of Humility, Discipline, and Sacrifice is super cool, and can allow for a lot of interesting RP. You're expected to have singular focus on your goals of furthering the Light and flaming your Divine Spark. That allows for some really good "sacrifice the few, save the many" type scenarios, which I think are a lot of fun to RP with.

Plus, our advancement system is the best ever, and the various graduation ceremonies are super well written and immersive.

Alseid

I have to say as a fellow new player I'm deeply unimpressed with Lusternia so far, I can't really gel into the whole theme and I feel like the guild skills are an excercise in lazy design because they're basically the same, or at least from what I've seen they are, but again that could just be from what I've seen so far.

I guess where my personal peeve comes in is people walk around talking about "it gives you a 10% crit" and "I'm at -10 right now" and it completely detracts from what could be an amazing RP atmosphere. I've also noticed that people like to sit at a certain nexus of power, and influence mobs for hours, which maybe has a purpose I'm not aware of at this point in time, but I'm talking strictly from a "just walked into the game" standpoint. Keep all this in mind when you decide if/where you will play.

NOW! All that being said I have had some completely amazing roleplay with some people in Magnagora, where my character is from, and with that some amazing roleplay from the Nihilists, most prominently Esca, the guild leader. I've also had some amazing RP with Marcella. Those two are responsible for mostly all the information I've had on the lore of the game and the history that lead up to where we are now. I literally haven't RP'd with anyone outside of Magnagora yet, but I'm lead to believe (haven't seen it yet) that RP between the Orgs exists.

I highly suggest Magnagora but it's all I've experienced so far, and there is definitely good and bad but that is every game ever, right? Give it a shot and if it comes down to it, make a char in every city and find what you like most. No matter what you choose, READ THE HISTORY ON THE WEBSITE, aside from a couple of typos it is absolutely amazing.

Sylandra

Every org has its own culture and brand of RP, each of which are valid and fun for the people who engage in it. I like playing in Hallifax, but I also can easily see the appeal in playing in Gaudiguch as Pyromancer, or a Moondancer in Serenwilde, or a Nihilist in Magnagora, or a Paladin in Celest, or a Harbinger in the Glomdoring. I'm a big believer in "you get what you put into Lusternia," at the very least when it comes to roleplay. Don't be the person who expects great roleplay to come to you, be the person that people go to for great roleplay.

That said, I know I wouldn't be as immersed in Hallifax if it wasn't for people like Phoebus, Daraius, Nihmriel, Arel, etc who helped me when I was just starting out. And it's rough if you can't find your people right away in your org, but from everything I hear about the other cities and communes in game, those RP communities do exist everywhere, just in different forms. The histories for Lusternia are kind of its big selling point for me too, and you'll find there are people as passionate about them as you are. It sounds like you're already finding your people, which is awesome! Things can be hard when you're starting out (my newbie experience was pretty tough), but once you get into the swing of things and have that community of people established, it's my experience that good roleplay becomes easier to find.

Dylara

It's really, really up to you and I'm going to be voicing what others have said, that said..

Read through the histories, the help documents for each Org that give you the basics of their RP. Find the one that calls to you, it may not be the right choice in the end but going somewhere just because someone told you it's awesome sometimes isn't enough.

In my experience, I've three Orgs I've always been torn between: Serenwilde, Glomdoring and Gaudiguch.

Serenwilde and Gaudiguch for me started off great but in the end didn't hold up to my hopes and desires for what I wanted for myself in this game. Glomdoring has been my fall back in more than one way, I feel the most connected to the people who play there, I can talk to them, have fun and I don't feel judged or unwanted because I'm friendly with the "wrong" people. I can't say I've always been happy there, but generally there is the feeling of a close community and a helpful and welcoming one despite the whole No Mercy thing.

Plus the RP is just awesome. 

Nienla

Hmm. I've tried three organizations in particular: Gaudiguch, Celest, and of course: Glomdoring.

Celest, back in the Malicia and Nydekion days, were all about the mentality of: "The world is divided in two: the Light and the Enemy." It was this mentality that made me love Celest, despite being wholly opposed to them. They were not just your goodie-two-shoes Paladin archetype, but rather the "Light is not Good" archetype as Celest was willing to do and achieve anything to re-assert the Light's dominance on the Basin once more. That has faded a bit recently, but you still have a ton of potential with roleplay with deepbonding to Supernals and the messages with pacting with them are really great.

Gaudiguch, on the outer layer, may seem like "FREEDOM!" but it really has a very dark undertone if you pay attention to what a lot of the mobs say across it. Gaudiguch is indeed about freedom in the spiritual sense, but a lot of opinions from denizens will tell you that they don't give two sh*ts about morality because the flesh is ultimately a lie. The flesh can be transformed, shaped, remade. It's the spirit that is immutable. So, while the Basin at large views them as a bunch of crazy, high-as-a-kite, drunken mob screaming about individuality and freedom, they still possess some very dubious view points on the Basin as a whole. I was able to see this by only spending a little time there with an alt.

Glomdoring, the organization that I've been with since the beginning, is something truly amazing (but I am biased). The environment is all about "there is no individuality, no personal pride, no personal ambition. There is only one thing that we advance: the Wyrd." As @Celina stated, the Wyrd is an amorphous, ambiguous form of evolution. People in Glomdoring have different definitions of it but are singular in their belief that it is the one true future for the Basin. Nienla's RP generally consists of the mentality that the Wyrd is evolution. It was created as a natural response for mortalkind to be able to have the strength necessary to deal with the Taint, the Soulless, or whatever boogieman-of-the-week decides to rear their ugly head and threaten the Basin. It's very Darwinist in that the strong endure and the weak will fall. However, that does not mean that they're cruel or callous to their novices. On the contrary, they believe that everyone must start somewhere and everyone, large or small, is capable of contributing to the overall greater whole that is Glomdoring. As @Narynth said, there is a very different mentality with Glomdoring. When someone is saying "Nothing matters but Glomdoring", it's not just a chant of dominance. It's basically saying: "there's no pride, ambition, glory, ego, etc. There's only the Glomdoring and nothing else matters." It's a diehard, zealous, cult-like following.

As for people who RP, I come from Aetolia so I'm always down for roleplay. A majority in Glomdoring roleplay quite regularly and I would say that there are some diverse identities. A lot of people think Glomdoring, as an example, is all about being dark and gloomy, but the Blacktalon would respectfully disagree. The Blacktalon guild (or at least Crek, Nienla, and a few others) are pretty much insane, talk about carrion like it's the best thing in the world, and are homicidally manic and nuts. Nienla falls into that archetype pretty well, I'd say.