OOC Thread and Chatroom

This is the OOC Thread for Last of the Romans. This thread is designed to be a simple chatroom for LotR players. No important information will ever be posted in here. This thread does not count as a "public thread" for the purposes of the LotR rules, so any oath swearing, oath breaking, or wills which are posted in here will not be considered valid. No information posted in this thread will be considered as binding on the Megas Logothetes. In short, this thread has no official relationship to LotR in any capacity. It is simply a chatroom.

:jumping:

How did I know you'd be the first person to post in here? :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by TinCow

How did I know you'd be the first person to post in here? :laugh4:

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lucky guess?

(that and I've been struggling with where to put OOC posts lately) :beam:

Tincow, we had better start fast because I have started drooling just looking at the list of avatars...

There will be drool all over the place if we do not start soon...

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Originally Posted by Tristan de Castelreng

Tincow, we had better start fast because I have started drooling just looking at the list of avatars...

There will be drool all over the place if we do not start soon...

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:laugh4:

Looking at all those avatars is scary. It's great that we'll be able to give everyone a character from the get go, but as the first Chanc. . .Logothetes I have no idea how to include everyone in the action.

The ERE starts with two or three field armies, one of which is Alexius's. We've got around 6 or 7 territories. Compare this to the 28 or so avatars we're going to have. There's going to be a lot of sitting around and watching mosaics set.

I'm a bit concerned how I will be able to integrate the new rules, a large amount of avatars and a new mod into a satisfying experience for everyone. Granted the test game gave us some experience, but this is huge and a bit intimidating. I'm starting to get pre-game jitters. :sweatdrop:

I love this draft picking process.

I've been scanning over the likely candidates and I must say it looks good!!

PK, you're banana's!:balloon2:

Great comment in the Sign Up thread though. That made me laugh out loud at my computer this evening.

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Looking at all those avatars is scary. It's great that we'll be able to give everyone a character from the get go, but as the first Chanc. . .Logothetes I have no idea how to include everyone in the action.

The ERE starts with two or three field armies, one of which is Alexius's. We've got around 6 or 7 territories. Compare this to the 28 or so avatars we're going to have. There's going to be a lot of sitting around and watching mosaics set.

I'm a bit concerned how I will be able to integrate the new rules, a large amount of avatars and a new mod into a satisfying experience for everyone. Granted the test game gave us some experience, but this is huge and a bit intimidating. I'm starting to get pre-game jitters. :sweatdrop:

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OK, don't get all nervous now...YOU'RE the King of Outremer and a member of the damn Illuminati!!

Now start acting like an Emper...Logothetes, and settle down man!!

*slaps OK and throws a glass of water in his face*

Get a hold of yourself man!! :-)

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

PK, you're banana's!:balloon2:

Great comment in the Sign Up thread though. That made me laugh out loud at my computer this evening.

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I'm just excited. :D

As for the comment, I thought you would appreciate that. ^_^

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Looking at all those avatars is scary. It's great that we'll be able to give everyone a character from the get go, but as the first Chanc. . .Logothetes I have no idea how to include everyone in the action.

The ERE starts with two or three field armies, one of which is Alexius's. We've got around 6 or 7 territories. Compare this to the 28 or so avatars we're going to have. There's going to be a lot of sitting around and watching mosaics set.

I'm a bit concerned how I will be able to integrate the new rules, a large amount of avatars and a new mod into a satisfying experience for everyone. Granted the test game gave us some experience, but this is huge and a bit intimidating. I'm starting to get pre-game jitters. :sweatdrop:

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I think you'll do fine. I think everyone understands that there will be little for most of us to do. Plus, in theory we'll be doing a lot of the work for you. Many of us will dl/ul the save and move our own avatars. There are few armies for you to keep track of.

Just be draconian about the SOT and we'll end up policing ourselves. :yes:

I say you rotate one of the armies between the avatars, letting each of them conquer one province... starting with me.

I say the best blitzers get the starting armies, otherwise we wont have enough provinces for everyone by the end of the first term

(note: I consider myself to be more of a defensive or cavalry commander more than any other type)

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Originally Posted by 00jebus

I say the best blitzers get the starting armies, otherwise we wont have enough provinces for everyone by the end of the first term

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We're not going to have enough provinces for everyone for awhile. It will make them worth more. Getting them will be dependent on making in-game relationships with the other nobles. :yes:

If you want one, cozy up to a noble with land and serve him loyally. Once you have the land, you can serve him disloyally. He might attack you of course but that's part of the fun. :D

Oooohh...OOC thread.

Not much to say regarding starting characters. Given that he actually looks a lot like my old character Andreas, it would be immensely cool if I managed to get Andrikas, but it's not a big deal. :beam:

Troop options at the beginning are going to be scarce as well. Besides existing units, there are no foot archers available for recruitment, the only cav is Skythikons and we'll be relying on militia spearmen for infantry. Army composition rules might be violated while we await archer buildings, unless mercs are hired.

The scarcity of troops plus the supply rules will cut down on blitzing.

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Looking at all those avatars is scary. It's great that we'll be able to give everyone a character from the get go, but as the first Chanc. . .Logothetes I have no idea how to include everyone in the action.

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The first term should go pretty fast, so I don't think there will be too much thumb twiddling. Plus, there are tons of rebel territories around us, none of which need an Edict to conquer.

Do we know for sure what day the first Diet will be? I'll be gone from the 31st to the 2nd.

Nope, not yet. I am going backpacking with the wife over the weekend. I will be gone from tomorrow (Saturday) morning until probably late afternoon on Monday. I'll take a look at how many people are signed up at that point. I will then decide whether to 'close' sign-ups or keep them open and put some ads up around the forums. Whenever sign-ups 'close' I will take the people who are signed up at that point and create the order list for picking avatars, and we will begin with that process. People can continue joining after that point, but they will go to the very bottom of the selection list, regardless of how many KOTR votes they participated in. Next weekend is a possible goal for starting, but nothing is set in stone yet. Could be a couple days earlier, could be a couple days later.

I just hope I make the first vote. :yes:

Will be out on a trip with my wife next weekend, it's our first anniversary. :2thumbsup:

congrats Zim, have a balloon! :balloon:

I think I'll be choosing an avatar, when my turn rolls around, based more on age than starting stats. None of them have too much of an advantage over the rest, but the difference between a starter at 16 and one at 25 (or 32!) is pretty significant.

:egypt:

Yay an OOC thread.

OK guys, a quick point I'd like you to discuss before I start it up:

I am going to be the despot of Arms again, it seems, in this newest installation of this madness, and am looking forward to it.

Arms do not play a major role in Byzantine history, and my initial time will be a bit limited by university, so I have a few ideas to balance this while at the same time perhaps tying Arms into our new rank system.

1. Every "house", that is feudal chain, to have a Coat of Arms (as in KotR). For inspirations to Byzantine Arms go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_heraldry, but feel free to go nuts. The only thing I ask is that it be kept reasonably simple.

2.1 Strators only use their House Arms

2.2 Comes, Domestikos, Hypatos and Antypatos may make some additions to their House Arms

2.3 Patrikos and Dux may halve or quarter their House Arms with a personal Arms, or make otherwise major additions.

2.4 Megas Dux/Exarch, as well as Caesars and Basileoses may have their own personal Arms.

2.5 The Chancellor is to get a special symbol added to his Arms.

Now please discuss guys, is this ok, what would you like changed, what do you think? I want to make this as accessible and fun as possible for everyone, while keeping it reasonably simple in the interest of time and some historical accuracy.

Sounds like an interesting idea to me. Won't it mean more work for you considering how fluid the rank system is?

I'd add that once a person reaches a rank he keeps the priveleges regarding arms of that rank, even if he falls down the chain at some point. That should slow constant changing of arms a bit. :yes:

I like the system very much, as it gives another IC benefit to advancing in rank. As long as you're willing to make the coats of arms, I think it's a great idea. I also agree with Zim regarding letting people keep their old coat of arms, even if they're demoted.

Good point Zim, and that is one that I had intended.

Regarding work, I think it should be a little less. In KotR, while everyone used their House Arms as "backdrop" I was essentially creating an extra one for every character. With this, a few additions to a House Arms for the lower ranks should mean much less work, especially given that there wont be many of the higher ranks for a while yet.

One other thing I wanted to bring up: the Byzantine did not use "shields" as in European Heraldry, as the only place they really displayed their Arms was in flags. The disadvantage of this is that they do not look quite as pretty, IMO. The advantage is that they are much easier to make.

Hi deguerra,

As I pointed out when you first did this in KotR, this is a great idea!!

I like the idea that people will start to be identified easily by their arms. Their allegiance and standing will slowly become instantly identifiable as time goes on.

Again fantasitic deguerra. Thanks for doing this.

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Q: Hey! The Byzantine Empire wasn't a feudal system! It was a dictatorship; a self-perpetuating autocracy...
A: Yeah, we know. The rules were written to generically apply to Medieval Europe. They don't fit perfectly with the historical reality of Byzantium, but we're very loose on the historical accuracy in LotR. Where it fits, we use it, but enjoyable gameplay comes first. It's really more of an autonomous collective, specifically an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the term, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special deka-turn meeting, by a simple majority in the case of normal affairs, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of rule changes.

Q: Well, how did you become Basileus, then?
A: Be quiet!

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TC, I almost fell off of my chair laughing at this one... :laugh4:

(look at my signature)

Where did that stuff come from PK?

That's pretty funny.

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

Where did that stuff come from PK?

That's pretty funny.

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TC and I are both using quotes from scene 3 in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mphg/mphg.htm

Just scroll down to scene 3 and enjoy. :2thumbsup:

Even just reading that makes me laugh.

Thanks PK.

HELP! HELP! I'm being repressed!

So much fun.

One night when I was still in high school I and some other idiots got the idea into our heads to walk about twenty miles to the next town. Along the way we recited, not quite in sequence, the entire script of MP and the Holy Grail, taking different parts as the mood took us.

Not a course I'd recommend to anyone, but it's definitely one way to stave off boredom.

:egypt:

https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b...avatars/20.jpg

Dibs on this guy! :laugh4:

Oh im looking forward to this!

This place has become somewhat quiet. It looks like we're all just about ready for TC to come back and wave the green flag.

I think that the green light for the avatar choosing could be given, so the political manouvering could begin.:gathering:

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Originally Posted by deguerra

that could be Tristan!

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What is that supposed to mean ?

I can understand the foreign part... But fruitcake :furious3:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

:clown:

So GH, didnt you find any of the existing avatars good as you wrote pass in the selection?

Maybe he wants to have dibs on one of the Komnenos boys?

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Originally Posted by Ituralde

Maybe he wants to have dibs on one of the Komnenos boys?

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Could be, i wonder then why he didnt take the caesar. Maybe GH is tired of playing Emperors.:clown:

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Originally Posted by Kagemusha

Could be, i wonder then why he didnt take the caesar. Maybe GH is tired of playing Emperors.:clown:

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Au contraire, if I had a working access to the game I'd have taken the Prince.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Au contraire, if I had a working access to the game I'd have taken the Prince.

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I saw your pass and wonder if it was computer issues or there are no Pope to excommunicate the faction. You do have the flair to make a storyline as family member. :yes:

I've got a little prologue story written for whenever that thread pops up and that may be the last you'll see of me for a while. Hopefully it'll be enough for you guys to chew on.

Not even close. We demand more GH! Surely you can find something to do? Example: Take the priest, get appointed as the Patriarch, and then start excommunicating avatars who don't live up to the Christian ideal. You'd have the high piety types listen to you, nice way to start random civil wars.

That actually might fit perfectly. Is there a Patriarch mechanism in SS4.1?

Don't think so, the whole thing would have to be RPed.

I'm almost frightened by the prospect of playing my character, because he will truly be a bizarre one. :laugh2:

GH as an eastern "Pope"? The world would be turned upside down.

If this occured as Emperor I would feel a bit threatened, as the emphasis would turn from Popicide to Regicide.

Also, how are we going to kill off all those unclaimed RGBs? I don't think there is a console command that will do it.

We got rid of Siegfried, we can get rid of these clowns. :tnt:

Depending how much we follow history, that could be very interesting.

The Emperor having both temporal and spiritual powers, was leader of the State and Church in theory. In practice, a strong patriarch could more than hold his own against the Emperor. There is much potential for interesting stories in this "relationship".

getting rid of generals is as simple as using the move_character (character name), (x,y) cheat. To find out where a certain location is, use the show_cursorstat cheat. The objective in destroying a general is to move him across water via a land bridge, and then hit backspace when he's almost halfway across so he stops on the water tile and dies.

example: "Move_character Kilij Arslan 24,144"
Puts the Sultan of the turks next to the land bridge in BC. Then move towards rome and die halfway across. No more Kilij Arslan.

Lo, I have revealed the magical secret behind destroying unwanted generals. Yea, use this power for good only, because to use it for evil purposes would bring about the apocalypse.

Also, it's just way funner to kill generals on the battlefield, so there's always that.

or you can just use "kill_character 'name goes here'"

Wasn't the "backspace while over a land bridge" thing discovered as a way to eliminate armies rather than generals, or is there a command for that as well?

You can just disband armies, I think we used the drowning technique in hotseats that had the console disabled (eg MPC)

Being the first and foremost to have suffered from that "technique" I can only confirm that land-bridges drowning works just fine to get rid of unwanted avatars...

Too fine if you ask me...:furious3:

So we can have stories about how a player gets tried and eventually burned at the stake for heresy?

Can we also have lawsuits after somebody gets caught during an act of high treason (like sleeping with the emperor's wife?), with a subsequent death sentence?

Is demanding financial compensation instead of starting a civil war a possibility?

Endless possibilities :jumping:

Did things like that happen in KoTR?

No, but we did have other "interesting" happenings...

As the Byzantine Empire, we are supposed to be decadent, aren't we?

So we need characters who are more concerned with their hedonistic needs then with the survival of our Empire...

Booze, (wo)men and cowardice, here I come...

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Originally Posted by Andres

As the Byzantine Empire, we are supposed to be decadent, aren't we?

So we need characters who are more concerned with their hedonistic needs then with the survival of our Empire...

Booze, (wo)men and cowardice, here I come...

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One of my requirements for an avatar was the Social Drinker trait. ~:cheers:

I think I'm pretty much going to have personal vices covered.... I can't wait to play my character. You guys are going to enjoy this...

Avatars don't always turn out as you initially plan them. My Mandorf in KOTR was initially intended to be a vile, debauched bastard of the highest order. Then he picked up a retinue member who was essentially a Saint and I had to alter things a bit...

Oh no, my friend, my character won't be evil, per se. Just... flawed. I've already said too much.

Tincow, i wonder at what point will you start distributing the initial lands to the avatars?:painting:

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Originally Posted by Kagemusha

Tincow, i wonder at what point will you start distributing the initial lands to the avatars?:painting:

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Me thinks Kag is trying to figure out if the 3rd FM will get any land before he picks him... :clown:

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Originally Posted by Kagemusha

Tincow, i wonder at what point will you start distributing the initial lands to the avatars?:painting:

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I didn't have a concrete plan about it. I was simply going to assign them to players who I felt would good potential candidates for 'heads' of Houses, since they will have a rank up on everyone else to start with. Obviously the Basileus and Caesar have to have provinces as well, to fit their position. Fortunately, both have been taken by people who I know would make the early game interesting anyway. Avatar selection will not have any impact on my decision about where the other four provinces go.

Assignments that I can declare right now:

Basileus Aleksios Komenus (OverKnight) - Constantinople
Caesar Ioannes Komenus (Ignoramus) - Nicaea

This reminds me that there may be another Basileus power that we have omitted... off to the Next-gen Discussion thread!

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

Me thinks Kag is trying to figure out if the 3rd FM will get any land before he picks him... :clown:

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There are few interesting choices out there, but lets see first, whom AussieGiant and Ituralde chooses, there is none particularly interesting fellow there who´s name screams "Nomen est omen", but choosing him might put me into a situation where id have to start courting TheFlax.:laugh4:

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Originally Posted by TinCow

I didn't have a concrete plan about it. I was simply going to assign them to players who I felt would good potential candidates for 'heads' of Houses, since they will have a rank up on everyone else to start with. Obviously the Basileus and Caesar have to have provinces as well, to fit their position. Fortunately, both have been taken by people who I know would make the early game interesting anyway. Avatar selection will not have any impact on my decision about where the other four provinces go.

Assignments that I can declare right now:

Basileus Aleksios Komenus (OverKnight) - Constantinople
Caesar Ioannes Komenus (Ignoramus) - Nicaea

This reminds me that there may be another Basileus power that we have omitted... off to the Next-gen Discussion thread!

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Thanks for the information, at least for me the distribution of lands will be a viable part of choosing my liege in the future, but of course that depends of the avatar i choose, cant wait to see this game start!:smash:

All right, looks like I'll be playing the Patriarch. If someone could give me his name and age that would be great. :yes:

General rules:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He won't have a presence in the Senate (this includes motions); rather, just post Proclamations in the Senate thread from time to time depending on how he thinks things are going. Don't expect him to get into a discussion with you or really respond to your comments, for they're just Proclamations.

When he dies, I'll stop playing him and think of something else to do.

For official Senate business, I'll be playing a nameless Senator who won't say much.

I don't know if there is a patriarch in SS but here is a list of the ones on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...Constantinople

and the postition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumeni...Constantinople

It might be better to use an actual in-game priest. I could keep an eye on him and keep GH abreast of his traits and retinue.

So can a private army "stomp" a Patriarch if the need arises like those nuisances called inquisitors?:clown:

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Originally Posted by Kagemusha

So can a private army "stomp" a Patriarch if the need arises like those nuisances called inquisitors?:clown:

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We could just push him onto a boat and have him preach to the fishes...

:clown:

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Originally Posted by Kagemusha

So can a private army "stomp" a Patriarch if the need arises like those nuisances called inquisitors?:clown:

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Nope, can't do it on your own faction's agents... (You're safe, GH... for now...:devil:)

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

It might be better to use an actual in-game priest. I could keep an eye on him and keep GH abreast of his traits and retinue.

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Yeah, I was thinking the priest with the highest piety (that isn't 58 years old).

I feel the need to clarify this, since we're now up to two people RPing avatars. I would like to emphasize part of Rule 1.2:

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Players may not use agents as avatars, since agents cannot fight battles and have a different set of stats from family members and recruitable generals.

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I allowed TheFlax to take the starting Princess because she would not be around for very long, people seemed in favor of it, and she has no ability to influence the game other than through stories and IC communications. I am now allowing GH to use a priest because (and only because) he is having computer problems that prevent him from playing M2TW at the moment. GH will also be voting in any polls that are put up as a random unnamed Senator, on the condition that he votes in a manner 'independent' of his priest character (whatever that means).

I fully intend to enforce the above portion of Rule 1.2 from now on. Unless you have a really, really good reason, please do not ask to RP an agent.

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Originally Posted by Tristan de Castelreng

Nope, can't do it on your own faction's agents... (You're safe, GH... for now...:devil:)

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Damn..:laugh4: Well then we have still Privateerkev´s suggestion about sleeping..erm, preaching with...oops, to the the fishes..:titanic:

Yeah! I got my man!

So when can we decide where to put our character?

Its funny that my top three candidates were Mine, Ituraldes and Northnovas picks in that order, all us three being next to each other in the list. I guess Tincow first will choose the distribution of the lands, before we may start moving our characters in their initial places.:yes:

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Originally Posted by Ituralde

Yeah! I got my man!

So when can we decide where to put our character?

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After I allocate the remaining provinces, which will be done shortly.

The remaining provinces are allocated as follows:

Markianos Ampelas (FLYdude) - Thessalonica
Aleksios ek Ikoniou (Northnovas) - Corinth
Makedonios Ksanthopoulos (Privateerkev) - Nicosia
Kosmas Mavrozomis (Zim) - Athens

All four of these players are very active and reliable players. In addition, none were ever the head of a House or the Kaiser in KOTR, despite particularly long playtime by FLYdude and Northnovas. In addition, Privateerkev and Zim both have basic Houses already lined up, so this will help get the initial politics going.

Anyone who cares where their avatar starts may now send me a PM with that location. Starting locations can only be inside settlements. Please hold off on the swearing of oaths for a little bit longer; they will be allowed prior to the first Senate session, but not quite yet.

So when can we start communicating IC with each other?

I want to get some things rolling... :yes:

*edit*

Nevermind, the previous post answers some of that.

You can start sending IC PMs if you want, but I'm not opening the game up to public IC discussions until everyone has an avatar. You're free to do whatever you want behind the scenes.