The Free Kingdom of Elyria: Gwyn’s Bid for Queen

You may also know me as the Queen of Flufferbutt, but that didn't quite pan out. Something about all the contracts getting eaten. Live and learn.

NA-East

And finally, a third of the former Empire of Xeilias was left in chaos, devoid of leadership with the previous nobility and aristocracy cast out of the Empire. But rather than wither and die, a new government arose. A kingdom composed of free people who shared nothing more in common than their desire to live in a world without tyranny and oppression. They would be the Free Kingdom of Elyria...

The Theme

At the heart of any RPG is story. It's not about getting items and skills without fighting to make and keep them, and it's not about skipping ahead to the final destination- the journey is everything.

Therefore, we would be starting as a monarchy; even the great Republic of Rome began as the Roman Kingdom. While the monarchy would have minimal influence over the people, as befitting the theme of the Free Kingdom, the initial political lore of CoE is that of a feudal era. It will be through mechanics, research, and story arcs that we will build towards a system more fitting for the Free Kingdom- city states and a republic.

A good guild leader, and by extension nobility in CoE, is like a good DM in a game of D&D: they are helping to set the stage for the players to step forward and shine. The nobility serves to guide some of the themes, the laws, and the atmosphere of the domains in which they reside. As an avid role-player and lover of conflict in stories, I believe in maintaining the atmosphere and lore of the locations I am playing in. Wherever the kingdom ends up, we would be adapting to the lore of that biome and its peoples. Religion, culture and all that follows will be determined by where we are, and will remain faithful to the story of CoE- if that means our cavalry will be riding on giant swamp slugs, then we'll simply cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the slugs of war.

Out of Character

I engage in all forms of gameplay, with RP and PvP being my main focus.

What can you expect from me as a leader? Someone who has no interest in micromanaging your gameplay. Someone who gets a kick out of helping out with worldbuilding and setting the stage for other people to have their time in the spotlight. Someone who likes to work with people and trusts others to know what they're doing and how to run their own organizations. Someone who is happy to listen and not afraid to admit when she's wrong, but someone fully capable of sticking to her guns and fighting the good fight to maintain her vision.

What can you expect from me as an ally, acquaintance or even enemy? Someone who is friendly but competitive- I'll specifically target my best buddy to kill when we PvP, but we'll be laughing, swearing and poking fun at each other and ourselves the whole time. I want to uphold a friendly atmosphere both inside and outside the kingdom, but that doesn't mean we won't be formidable, open to the story-building opportunities of conflict, and we certainly won't be afraid to jump into a fight- even if we're the scrappy underdog. Conflict is the backbone to any good story: I welcome it.

Because we will likely be the last kingdom choosing a biome, things like culture and specific theme will be finalized once said biome is chosen; I want to be faithful to the lore of Elyria, even if it's just as the starting point for an evolution into something else entirely. I'm not offering free perks or easy experiences; I'm not offering a skip button to the end goal of a story or political system. At the heart of all of this, I want to help create and delve into a good story with the rest of you.

Specific Policies

Religion

Depending on the biome/tribe we get, the religion chosen will be based on the dominant religion of that area. While it will not be an aggressive theocracy, we will begin at a place where the religion of the region will be the dominant and official religion of the kingdom, as it likely would be were we starting out in an NPC-controlled region.

Form of Government

We will begin as a monarchy, but one based in a thematic and long-term goal of maintaining independence and eventually researching and following story to turn into something resembling more of a Republic, with the option of allied city states entering the mix.

Taxation

We cannot afford to be viewed as weak or an easy, divided target; taxation will be implemented (and adjusted at duchy and county levels as dukes and counts see fit), and will be used predominantly for defense, followed by infrastructure and research. Diplomacy won't solve all conflicts, and we'll want to be ready to meet any disaster head-on as a free but unified group.

Foreign Policy

Diplomats will be appointed to enhance foreign relations, peace and trade agreements; our kingdom's interests come first. Aggression and threats towards our self-interests will be met with resistance, but overall we want to build a strong foundation before we go hunting down a war.

Internal Political Relations

Dukes, counts and barons will be expected to contribute to military and defense resources, as well as research and infrastructure. How they reach such a contribution is up to their individual discretion, but it is important to be aware that the creation of an unhappy and rebellious populace thanks to the implementation of extreme taxes or other laws will be addressed.

Economy

Trade, rough capitalism. It's hard to say much on most of these topics without more specific gameplay details, but the creation of a kingdom-wide form of currency would be an ideal goal to grow the kingdom's economy.

Technology

Part of funds from taxation will be going towards research of technologies meant to benefit the whole kingdom. While I do not want to restrict or demand certain branches of research of dukes/counts/guilds/etc, my own personal interests are in naval and exploration technologies, as well as medicine for a healthier populace.

Laws of Inheritance

Different tribes have different forms of inheritance laws, encouraged not only by the mechanics but by NPCs as well. Because this kingdom will be the last to choose a biome on NA-E, those laws of inheritance, along with many other such details will be reliant on the tribe we become.

Roleplay

Encouraged but not required. Though I am myself a roleplayer, I will not be enforcing any real rules related to such; I simply want to encourage embracing the story of the game. It's like going to the movies to watch Lord of the Rings and expecting Lord of the Rings; if you're suddenly seeing some kid running on set with a machine gun and a katana while wearing a bright pink bath robe and yelling at Frodo about replacing Gondor with the new nation of 'Shadow Ninja Wolf Land', you're... going to be really confused, probably.

PvP

Again, encouraged but not required. As someone who enjoys PvP, I certainly won't discourage skirmishes, sparring, training, wargames, tournaments, and (defensive, of course!) wartime activities, as well as less obvious and more subtle forms of PvP. If you have no interest in PvP, you won't be forced to engage in it.

Community

I'm looking to promote a community that is friendly and welcoming. That doesn't at all mean we'll be "carebears", weak or walked all over, or that we'll avoid conflict- as I've said before, conflict is the backbone of a good story, you can hardly have a story without it. It's possible to be good-natured out of character and still stab your buddies in the face in-game.

Support

While I am not the leader of a big gaming community, I do have a number of people who would lend their support; unfortunately the majority of them are waiting a time to make sure this game is going to be legitimate and not burn them like they've been burned on past pre-alpha games. I respect that decision, and know not everyone is willing to pay so far in advance. I'd probably consider myself crazy for doing so if after spending a lot of time in the IRC, being able to actually talk with Devs, and seeing all the progress made hadn't swayed me so heavily.

So I'll need YOUR support, friends! If you'd like to chat with me one on one to get to know me better or ask questions or whatever you want, feel free to fire me a message either here or on discord at Gwyn#0539.

More will be added when thought of or requested.

Join the discord here!