[NauticalMile]

Rambling time!

Strap in because I need to talk about something that has been bothering me since I started playing on an Island-based character. This will be a rather wordy text but at the end, there will be a TLDR; for all you lazy folk like myself. This is just too important for me to ignore because it does massively affect my character as well as my enjoyment of the game (Not to say that it's bad) but things could be far better.

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The Good:

Tight Nit Community
Island RP offers a rather unique set of roleplay as it is quite literally away from the world at large. These provide rather tight nit communities that offer some amazing roleplay, I can't stress enough that playing on an Island has made me rather close to all the characters and their players (even if we butt heads sometimes). I wish I could explain how it feels in words but it's kinda a feeling you'll need to get all on your own. Good people who make some really neat and unique roleplay, if I wasn't part of an Island faction I would have never found myself rping with such a unique cast of people.

Self Sufficient
This does more or less tie in with the first point. I've never had a faction where people were so willing to help one another. Be it items, dev, or just advice needed to be a better fighter. Whatever the case is- there's always someone in the faction ready to spring up and help out. You really don't need to go far when you have such an amazing and rather hard-working group to keep the tight ship (ha) of the faction running smoothly.

Away From Drama [Good]
This is a double-edged sword, and I'll explain why in the other section. For now, we're focusing on the good aspects of having a faction away from a rather large amount of drama (or at least trying to). Because of them being so far away, there's not too much drama outside of the factions unless it's internal issues or perhaps their own antag faction (Shout out to Deathwind Fleet) causing some uproar upon the Isles. Of course, there is drama, there's always going to be conflict that's around the game that's just how it's played. However, A LOT of things can be ignored because it doesn't affect the faction (and Isle) on a day-to-day basis. This to some can be seen as really relaxing, I know a lot of our players do enjoy the more relaxed pacing of the faction rather than some of the Mainland.

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The Bad:

Forgotten About
Man this does feeling suck. I can't tell you how hard we've been working to get our Island (at the time of writing it is named Fortune) back on the map. We've even had war after war for our people doing stuff, getting attacked, yadda yadda. Most of the time people forget we're around. Not as often as they used to be it is a serious lacking effect. I understand that a lot of island factions feel the same way, it's really hard to have a faction far away from the mainland to be part of the 'core' drama. It's just not fun knowing that people straight up have zero idea you guys are around because, again, you're on an Island on the furthest side of the map.

Away From Drama [Bad]
Welcome to the double edge of the sword. Listen I like being somewhat drama-free but when we're quite literally forgotten about for Rituals, or even sometimes actual server events it's REALLY not a great feeling. When we had a most recent war we had a ton of people asking just 'Where are you guys'. Kinda funny to think about but not being included in some of the main server events - sucks. Wars are cool, Raids are cool, and Conflict is COOL! We've had a TON of it recently!!! ...But still. We cannot afford the same situations as others. This isn't anyone's fault, it's just how Island RP is.

No Reason to Stay
Calm down before you fellow Island roleplayers jump down my throat and let me explain. When you're on and Island the roleplay rules (not literally) are somewhat different. Things are VASTLY more relaxed because there's not really a wildness you need to travel from and thus you don't need to worry about getting into random dangers which could lead to other things down the road. This is kinda where things get odd, there's no real conflict without leaving the Island (which is perfectly fine). Yet when someone is running a faction, when someone is trying to kick a faction into having more reason of being on the map- not having anyone around kinda sucks.

And there's a reason behind it because there's absolutely ZERO REASON to be on an Island for roleplay.

Unlike the Mainland, it does not have:
-Roleplay Opportunities with other Factions (if rare)
-Wild Encounters (Dangers!)
-Multiple Regens (There are but not enough to bring people over)
-Easy "Location" (95% of the game is too lazy to even use a wayfinding portal, much less use a boat.)
-Dens, Dungeons (YOU STAY OUT OF THIS TRAVERSE), and other reasons to visit the Isles

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The Boring

This is less of a list and more of my rambling thoughts. There are so many ways to improve Island RP and yet I can't seem to really come up with anything meaningful in the long run. When you don't have people in your own faction roleplaying there it CAN be discouraging, how often do you all see people from the Isles coming to the Mainland? Sitting around and doing a lot of RP? Most if not all of them do because that's really the only way to get roleplay. Which- again- is perfectly fine.

What I want to do in this thread is come up with a list of things to improve and actually make the Islands have a bit more impact on the game than they do now. They are kingdoms, factions, people who have invested their time and effort. Yet really are just left behind most of the time when it comes to greater and grander things. (Again I don't think anyone is at fault here).

Island RP is fickle, and trying to manage + maintain a faction on one is even harder. You're always going to have a VASTLY smaller population compared to a Mainland settlement. This is expected! Encouraged even because you end up having such a tight-knit community. I'm just not sure how to be more successful than doing posts to quite literally spawn in a greater population. (We already have a few of our Spawn-A-Solider AFK, it's pretty upsetting).

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How do we Improve?

I'm here to ask questions of the overall community:

-What do you want to see more of from an Island Faction?

-What do you want to see less of from an Island Faction?

-Are there any ideas you may have that could offer better RP for the Isles?

-What are your current thoughts on the State of Isle RP? Good, Bad, Boring? Explain your thoughts.


Tldr; Island RP is not great, I don't know how to improve it, please give ideas.

[Dreamspeaker]

step 1 learn riftmancy or wayfinding (in current ic climate probably wayfinding after all to not get smacked) or find someone to do it for you
step 2 make a project to create permanent gateway
step 3 you probably won't get that much traffic still but definitely more because im not going to go on a rowboat each time to go rp on island

alternative: ICly hire some npc who can ferry people back and forth and its basically same teleport (click on npc and poof) but ICly you get ferried over

island rp fixed hooray

no seriously, i feel you on this, but im not feeling like going out of my way to rowboat somewhere far (even if its closer than before) for rp when most of action happens on mainland anyway. im sure most think the same. at the very least the journey can be made easier via riftwarp

[Oicha]

Dev vampirism, suddenly the island will become much more popular. Guaranteed 2 work.

[DirectorBright]

Grey's player

I like having a place in the world that feels like it isn't always on fire. Drama can be good fun, so can conflict, but in my time on the mainland it felt like a pre-match PUBG lobby where I couldn't go five seconds without tragedy smacking me in the dome. The isolation of island nations does offer PCs a place to go to actually, you know, chill, and be able to forge some meaningful connections with others because they aren't in a continual life or death struggle nonstop.

In fact, during one of Grey's hardest, lowest moments in his story, when he was at his worst place mentally, he retreated to the isles specifically to rest and hide out because it's so out of the way.

That being said the island does serve mostly as a gathering hub for roleplay, without significant resources. There's no ores on islands, for instance, and no wilderness ambushes. The seas are safe to travel. Having safe/dangerous areas of the map segmented out a bit is neat. The community is definitely the best part, since you all live right next to each other.

I think generally Islands are very strong as a hub for development, an idea that you have a safe sanctum away from the continent's madness, and yet- there's no real resources here, so you have to go brave the no-man's land of the wilds for resources at some point. Seeing more development of the islands towards that idea of an isolated sanctuary sounds fun. The limited space often provokes a tight and cozy feel one built right, people have to work harder with less space! On the other hand, that also can limit how many people can live on an island. Nilhirra is overcrowded, Ariltors had room for a singular building.

[dopamiin]

hallo i play someone you know / tab blackdress and have been kidnapped to the islands for a while now

i strongly agree that the isolation is both a blessing and curse. its very easy to have frequent, drawn-out scenes without interruption which is really cool imo, but also like previously stated you often NEED to leave if you want to go scene because literally nobody else is around

the island people are very nice and friendly. 10/10 very good to hug

i personally dont care about boating but there are definitely people who just dont carry one with them. if u dont have a sub especially inventory is hard to come by. its made worse by the fact that since they're so isolated already, there's a nonzero chance that theyll just be flat empty and you wasted all ur time boating for nothing. the traverse portal kind of helps but also not rly just because they have to actually go through it to check which is easier but still more effort than some people are willing to put in

this means that over 90% of rp there is either someone you directly BROUGHT to the island (such as inviting someone over to your home) or somebody else who already lives there.

this all said; i dont think this is actually a bad thing whatsoever. it's an opt-in choice. people who want to live on the mainland live on the mainland, and people who wish to be on the seas are on the seas. i know it sounds kind of callous but i think if you want to play in an isolated area you should and if you don't you shouldn't, and thats a decision.

with that, i think it still does feel limiting to have lessened presence on the world stage, and this is probably imo the most important point of the initial post. a lot of the time it feels like at least for fortune that we have to go out and insert ourselves into things rather than naturally being drawn into it.

some way for newer players to actually know of their existence would be nice as well. i literally had no clue nilhirra was a thing until i was brought there by a resident, and STUMBLED upon the (currently all too lonely but becoming bigger!!) sapphire bay. again, traverse has a bit of a lead here because they both have a permanent portal on the mainland and a relatively common dungeon key that directly brings people to it. there is zero way other than word of mouth or similar to discover their presence or importance.

tldr i like my beach house all my friends are inside it having tea !!

[Kartoffelstampfer]

Hi, I'm in the other 3 people faction on an island barely anyone visits, including other islands.

I enjoy it, but I fully understand that island RP is not for everyone. It is basicly saying that you exist but have fucked off to extreme privacy because there is just a new issue on the mainland at all times. It feels like yes, it is not for the main-character crowd so to say, but it feels like they are excellent at housing the side-characters and letting them lose with a box of legos without the worry of a sudden antag death magi coming in and ending them.

That said, I think the problem isn't island nations themselves. I think the issue is the ocean, which is often a grand load of nothing with a side-dish of 'even if you sail past someone, you cannot interact with them'. It has happened more than once that I rowed past/together with like someone from morningstar/deathwind and it was just, ok, we conveniently ignore each other because we cannot interact with each other.

My one suggestion for ocean rp would therefore just be that. Make the ocean somewhat more dangerous/interactive between players. That's it.

[Fisk06]

Hello. Big post incoming.

I am the oldest (As far as I know) person who has lived on an island their entire character's life. (Stede Emeraldi, 95 years old.)
I have had to leave the island to do some development, but for other things? The islands were actually the place it was done.


They have a downside or two you haven't quite mentioned.
Single raid destructions.
As well as no spawn points. (They are not allowed to my knowledge, not since the Aen days.)

So, single raid destructions.
Yes, that's right - a single failed raid can result in the complete destruction of settlements in the isles. This is policy considering we benefit from being exempt from inactivity purges. That's the trade.
Is it worth it? Maybe.
During the period where I could count the number of people living amongst all of the isles on solely two hands and the world had an inactivity purge? Yes.
During the period where Port Fortune got destroyed? No. (Well, captured- but ah.. that's a whole mess.)
It's just how it is. This likely factors into why the islands don't go seeking trouble.
They are, and have always been one raid away from complete decimation.

No spawn points is a problem islanders have had forever, unfortunately I doubt it will change. (Despite all or most islands now having trees and copper to craft rowboats.)

Another thing is, for the longest time, decades and such - island settlements were more or less barred from having mainland teleporters in any form. Citing: "That's what rowboats and sailboats are for."
I am also not complaining about Traverse's Teleporter.(waygate) It's good they've finally broken that barrier we've been held back by for so long. I'm just a lazy bum and haven't made our own version.
(Plus it keeps a whole bunch of problems off of our islands.)

But the blistering pace at which the mainland moves doesn't make me want to make a character after mine finally croaks, and move there.
Drama from the mainland always finds a way to make it to the islands one way or another.
Why else would my character have problems with a person who is (Find out IC)?
Islanders have a somewhat shared interest to not kill each other. Things can.. reasonably be worked out a bit better.
After all.. we're not the bloodthirsty murderers and fel-worshippers of the mainland, are we? (MAINLANDERS.... AMIRITE...? GUYS...?)

Perhaps this is one thing that islands have, that is overlooked.

Family roleplay. - Not to say the mainland doesn't have this, as their version is more perilous, considering how often danger strikes and death finds those who have plenty to live yet.
You might say that this is good development for a young character. However - I was in such a situation, and it made me want to quit Meranthe entirely back when my character was still a young teen.
I didn't get a good enough amount of time to learn the customs, ways and culture of said family member.
Especially considering I had been thrust into leadership right afterwards.

Someone can reasonably play around as an 11 year old and mill about, figuring out who their character is and being influenced and educated by those around him in a more stable environment.
My character is situated uniquely in his perspective.. being someone who grew up in the isles with grandparents - and is now a great-grandparent himself. His formative days were spent in a calm, collected - and not at war (mostly) environment.
And now he is soon to retire(maybe) in the same kind of environment.
Which is uncommon for Meranthe as a whole, but not so much for island nations.

My very first character was also an islander. He spawned with Aen, when they had a spawn.(before it was disabled.)
This was very good for my introduction to Meranthe as a game, giving me a safe(ish) sandbox on an island to figure out how things worked, unlike being thrust into a danger right away.
(I ultimately got lost in the mainland on said character not long after and experienced that too.)

In short - you have plenty of time to figure out who the heck you are before danger jumps you in the wilderness.
(Unless you're one of the people who leave the islands as soon as you spawn to get maimed a half dozen times. Yes I am throwing shade at my great-grandkids, you goobs. You're not even full on teenagers yet!!!)

I don't know what else to say, truly. I think the isles are fine, if flawed - as they are.
I am probably forgetting something which I will remember and add later.

[NauticalMile]

Bumping this thread for more feed back!