I get the feeling from SBS that yes it is possible to for players to change things. However, I don't believe it is going be easy or fast when tying to make huge cultural changes. You would have to gain the support of your players and NPCs first.

Unfortunately, the Nobility, which is a small percentage of the community, might have the ability to change the Cultures of the Tribes more drastically and quickly than the majority of players. It is my opinion that SBS is/or should be creating game mechanics that will make it more difficult for the World Builders to completely change a tribe's Culture before launch.

It would be a shame for players at launch not to be able to start out by enjoying the tribes as they have been written.

So with that being said, I don't think there will be a sudden shift (Unless it is able to be created by an incoming Monarch). As for the long term ramifications? Just like real life much of the culture will eventually be lost and change. Unless of course, we the players decide we want to keep it alive. :)

I agree with Mystic, but I don't know how much influence the PC population would have in the matter, not because of any NPC>PC kinda deal or anything but more so just because player characters will probably care less what the culture/religion is so long as they don't have to adjust their gameplay style too drastically.

But we will just have to see how government systems work in CoE and what kind of things NPCs actually do in game.

Also in terms of the tribes, I wonder what it would be like for new players jumping in on year 5 of the 10 year story.

Would there be an updated tribe dev journal for each server just so new players get an idea of what the tribes are like then? Or would there be no context for new players to see the mechanical benefits and disadvantages of different tribes? Or even if there is a distinction mechanically between each tribe or would cross breeding be done so rapidly that there'd barely be any pure blooded tribe members.

I don't know what repercussions other than social there will be for changing religions. It will depend on how involved SBS wants the gods to be in Elyria. If they have some sort of direct influence, there could be major repercussions.

As for cultural changes, I get the impression that most of the cultures are built around the idea that it is a good way to survive in that particular biome. There could be other ways, but I think some changes players will make could make it much harder to live in that biome. I don't think there will be only social implications to cultural shifts.

I don't think I've ever seen a game where the roleplay and lore is as closely tied to the mechanics as in CoE. I'm inluding tabletop RPG's when I say that. Choices made based on lore and roleplay will have major mechanical consequences in CoE.

This is similar to a question I posed for the last tribes Q&A (which I haven't watched so don't know if it was addressed). It asked how much of the culture/behavior/norms of a tribe would be programmatic, and how much would rely on player behavior/RP. We've not heard much at all to date on how actual systems will work in CoE, what the logic will be, how the game will allow/disallow activities etc. I imagine, given the complexity, for something like adhering to societal norms, the majority will need to be on the players' shoulders. But I would like to know what, if anything, CoE thinks may be possible on the game side.

There was a mention that characters created down the line, say 4 years or later into the game will receive older souls, souls with multiple lifetimes already. How this will translate into the skill ramps is anyone's guess but they will be trying to bring the new characters up to speed as fast as they can.