[Avee]

In many aspects of Eternia we find conflict and battle to be the main aspect as to how problems are resolved.
You dislike someone? You smash their face in.
You want your political career to kick off? You knock off the old leader. Combat is an essential part of Eternia and is not going anywhere anytime soon; yet that does not mean combat can not be granted a sense of tension and fear like it has for so much of the early portion of Eternia and its history.

The existence of capture setting 0 has more or less removed a lot of tension which could have otherwise come from raw and wild interactions. Making the whole of Meranthe feel much safer than it really should - It's important to be reminded that Meranthe is now a continent with undead, demons and all manner of depraved activities.

Your interactions both on an inter-personal level and in the wilderness should reflect this going forwards.



Over the course of the Battle-Log, we have had 11,000 capture 0 battles and a little over 8,000 capture 1+ rolls.
Imagine for a moment just how different things would have gone if capture zero had never existed. How many interactions would have changed and how many stories would/could have shifted due to many differing effects.

I understand that to some; capture 0 is seen as a tool to remove griming/awkward situations for those much weaker than their opponents. No one likes being collared and captured by a settlement while your fellow faction members have little to no sway over said interactions; Which is why I propose two new mechanics in addition to removing capture roll 0 from the game.

** Mana-Ridden Blood
Throughout a conflict a message can be spoken without words. Upon the scene of a capture - The blood of the one captured will be spilled with a brief description of the setting and what occurred in the battle (written by the victor.) This will allow those involved with the character; if they want to pursue another new ruling/mechanic setting added into the game.

** Impromptu Raids / Prison Breaks
These can be requested at anytime by the admin team, provided either side has at least THREE people online at a time. Taking place during the night at higher stakes (you're in a demon capital/Aen Port) and working to aid your fellow soldier/demon to escape. They'll act as 3v3 skirmishes between the captors and opposing cities who decide to hold onto their captors for whatever reason. Back in the era of spires we had something similar, you could throw up an ahelp [DECLARING RAID] and the atl would be storming jianghu's towers or dawn would be breaking down eidolons walls. Occurring all roughly in the same night as opposed to waiting a week+ for 20v20 manned raids. (Which are good and DO serve a purpose still!)

This would allow for scenes to flow more dynamically and for those involved with the captor (Say, your brother or wife.) to have a chance to act and create a much larger scene/conflict in the grand scheme of things.

In closing, capture setting 0 being removed would not only reflect the new severity which has settled across Meranthe; But all the same allow for much more dynamic roleplay and tension to build between factions and players alike. Making people think before simply striking a stronger opponent and being able to escape with little more than a temp that will be healed by your six medics in a matter of minutes.

Of course, I would also like to hear the communities opinions on the matter as well as the current gamestate/feel of it overall.

Cap0's functionality is simple, it means you do not need to be worried about being captured.

Simply put, while the risk of being captured is gone, the other risks associated with this are not.

It's removal, in my opinion would serve only to hamper the current gamestate by resulting in less overall development in character through their attitudes for other characters. If one is captured in the first fight they have, there is a very real risk, even with the systems you have proposed, of death. I can barely rely on the admins to answer a ticket half the time, generally having to prod them through discord, and I'm being asked to rely on them for a pressing last second raid? It would only serve to add to their workload, and instead, likely due to a bad decision somewhere down the road, result in another one of Eternia's classic community riots.

Additionally, as other have mentioned, the inability to fight without a non-zero risk to one's IC via capture, which typically results in STALLED development for a character, rather than actual meaningful development. We saw it countless times in Spires wherein a player was captured, and either RB'd due to a complete lack of interaction, or simply rotted for several years in a cell without any form of relief. Major characters would result in quick action sure, but those minor characters with potential will probably be forced to rot... of course, there's also the annoyance of ten million corruption arcs followed by redemption arcs, but i'll not delve into those. I don't like them as a personal taste.

Cap0 permanent injuries though? I've seen countless of these, and they all came with some development from a character perspective, generally to positive ends as far as interactions with others go. They establish some sense of rivalry and further sow the seeds of discontent amongst players, leading to a feedback loop wherein one permanent injury caused by a Cap0 can lead to several days of consistent RP, and generally results in more fights down the road, not all of which are typically going to be Cap0.

Essentially, what I'm getting at, is that Cap0 is more valuable than it's being given credit for, it does it's job perfectly as a story creation tool. Cap risks above this may create stories too, sure, but they also run the risk of ending them.

TL;DR

Whilst I understand that ending stories is as important as creating new ones in Eternia's environment, I believe that the existence of Cap0 as a tool to push along narratives when people otherwise -wouldn't- due to risk, is overall healthy to the state of the game.