A tall Neran man sits in an expensive and strange looking elongated padded chair, fitted with To'Resk silk and gold inlay. His clothing almost reeks of wealth, highlighted by the many silver rings on each hand. His long black hair flows out behind him in two great streams, held up from the floor by two impeccably dressed Kypiq servants. His face is a strange blend of Neran, Brudvir and Waerd ancestry, dark rings under his eyes and fair skin betray many late nights reading tomes and scrolls in the Library.

"Welcome people of Oceanus!" he says with a strange and thick accent, focusing heavily on the rs and saying 'w' as 'v', his arms throw wide in a welcoming gesture. "If you do not already know me I am Count Taymurâz Zakâr, humble servant to the great King Emery Rêves of Aequitas, lover of fine literature and master of ceremony in the Aequitas Ducal Council, plus many other titles besides." He pauses as another Kypiq servant rushes up, kneeling before him and holding a silver goblet filled with Waerd wine. He takes a small delicate sip. "Ahh. A much undervalued drink. A bit strong to really get into though." He notes. "I am here today to discuss the options before us in the pursuit of the still missing crown and titles to the last of the great southern Kingdoms of Oceanus. Who should we all work with to support in this? For most of you, you throw your hands up and say "who cares! not my king!", and perhaps you make a good point. However, some of us - such as my humble self - are interested in the prosperity of this world and would like to take a careful considered and reasoned approach to who we would support, if indeed, any of them are worth supporting at all." the Kypiq servant with the cup backs away, silently leaving the room. "To that final end, I bring you my personal notes on each of the candidates. Note that these are merely my own feelings, and are not all subjective fact. So by all means I encourage each of you whom are interested in knowing more to seek out these candidates and get to know them, if you do not already." He nods slowly and carefully, making sure his long hair does not fall out of place. "To the candidates themselves, there may be some frank words in here about each of you, however I mean you no offence. We all have our good points, and our flaws, myself included. Sadly for me, it is a tendency to be far too humble in my manner and bearing, and also to be poor at self-appraisal. I offer each of you my friendship, and to the victor of this contest, I hope that we can work together for mutual profit at some point in the future."

"The Bushido Lord" - Hajime Saito

Forum Post

Haji’s EP Offer

Hajime Saito is an active member within my own kingdom and currently one of Aequitas' very own Dukes. Revently a member of Lor Voskara however. I personally spent time with him in lands far away (Wurm Unlimited) some years ago and found him to be a hard working, clever and reasonable fellow with a good eye for profit, and uncanny ability to make even the most boring footpath appear as a work of art. His vision for his kingdom is an Imperial 'Japanese'/'chinese' style, building on the existing aesthetics of the To'Resk and Janoa tribes. A land of learning and art. Man after my own taste.

• Community Haji has a good solid core community of counts, mayors and citizens underneath him, who display loyalty to their lord. He has good connections within Aequitas and Lor Voskara and is generally well known. 3/5
• Leadership Haji has displayed the ability to gather support, solve problems and inspire people on numerous occasions while within Aequitas. Throughout this event Haji has gradually rallied around himself a growing number of lotal supporters, and has consistently shown he can adapt to new ideas. 4/5
• Roleplaying Haji has an ability to use real world examples and draw from them to create inspiring scenes and encourage others to join him in his visions. He has a special talent for spotting something beautiful and drawing it out into his stories. The kingdom he envisages, while not overly unique, is well fleshed out and displays a clear vision and direction for others to follow. 4/5
• Organisation Haji is generally well organised, able to produce material and solve problems within a short period of time. His own candidacy for this was very last minute, and yet with only a small amount of assistance from Aux and a few others, he got up and running quickly. 3/5
• Personality Haji is a nice likeable fellow, he can tend toward the passionate side from time to time, however he is very easy to get along with so long as he feels he is being listened to, and in turn is polite and offers others their voices. 4/5
• Final Score 18/25 Average 3.6/5 Hajime Saito is a strong contender and I think would make an excellent King. He has already taken on the duties of a Duke and the move would not be that much of a step up for him. In fact I want Hajime to lose this, as I would dearly love him to remain focused on Aequitas. However if he does win the grand prize, Oceanus would struggle to find many better suited.

“King of the South” - Preacher

Forum Post

Oceanus FM Interview

Preacher (KingOfTheSouth) is not an Oceanus member I have spent a large volume of time dealing with. However, as ambassador to Lor Voskara I have had the pleasure of becoming at least passingly acquainted with him. He is dedicated to Oceanus and has a long standing relationship with most of the nobility in every kingdom, dating back to the ancient kingdom of Carpenteria. His work within Lor Voskara has been substantial and outstanding.

• Community Preacher perhaps has the strongest position for this category here, not only already an established Noble within Lor Voskara, but already with a thriving Discord community and extensive contacts. Numerous Nobles have already voiced a willingness to server under him, and he already has a council and other core essentials together. Preacher was one of the original backers who purchased a Kingdom Tier, but was forced to forfeit that. This has lead to widespread support for him in this event already. 5/5
• Leadership Preacher has shown a clear ability to lead and direct, and searching through archives he has been doing exactly that since the dawn of the Oceanus server. 4/5
• Roleplaying His Kingdom structure and style shows careful attention and a consistent theme. Going with an Aztec inspired theme, focusing heavily on the Dras and Janoa it is certainly one of the more unique among all of the contenders. 3/5
• Organisation Not only well organised but preemptively so. Preacher has been helping to organise Oceanus and Lor Voskara for some time and has always shown great talent. 4/5
• Personality Update: Had some great chats with preacher lately, and obersved a lot more of him, between that and his fantastic OCFM interview I am bumping him up a point here now. 3/5
• Final Score 19/25 Average 3.8/5 The clear leader of the field, with a solid legitimate claim to the throne, and with the personal backing of the Kings of Aequitas and Lor Voskara has ensured that even if he does not win, he will almost certainly be gaining the second place title. His vision and organisation certainly make him an excellent potential for future king, and the server wouldn't go wrong with him.

“The Black Queen” - Lady Grace

Forum Post

Oceanus FM Interview

I first met Lady Grace properly during the Searing Plague event, and she worked closely with me in one of my OCE server teams. I found her to be an excellent team player and a genuinely nice person to talk to on the Discord voice chat. She has been active in the community for some time, long before I showed up, and is one of the stronger role players on the server. Her vision is a kingdom worshiping Daemon and filled with horrors and evils. She wishes to present an option for the "bad guys" on the server to truly shine in their horrific glory.

• Community Grace has a small dedicated following already organised underneath her, and her own existing titles. 2/5
• Leadership Grace has shown the ability to lead groups as well as participate and inspire people with her story telling and role playing abilities. 3/5
• Roleplaying Grace has a lengthy, detailed and well thought out series of stories she has been writing for at least two years. Her contributions to Oceanus and the CoE community in general has been substantial. Her kingdom is for me personally the most interesting, and if I was interested in being a "bag guy", it is where I would want to be. 5/5
• Organisation Well organised and ready for the event, and has generally always shown an ability to organise herself and her work very competently. Grace certainly has the ability to organise a large kingdom underneath her. 4/5
• Personality I have always found her polite, friendly and cooperative. Lady Grace when in roleplaying mode is especially fun to be around, and she has the ability to make friends and allies easily. She tends to be a bit quiet though, and is sometimes drowned out by the louder and more noticeable members. 3/5
• Final Score 17/25 Average 3.4/5 A clear vision and ability to build up her concept of a story-driven kingdom focused on deep and well thought out RP. Grace would be a very interesting Queen who would add immense flavour to Oceanus that we might all enjoy.

“The Pirate King” - Ithikari

Forum Post

Oceanus FM Interview

Ithikari is a long standing fixture in the Oceanus community. Known for his love of PvP and medieval themed combat and strategy. I have personally spent many hours with Iithikari either role playing, fighting against him in grand strategy (Crusader Kings II) and many other places besides. A decent fellow, easy to get along with on a personal level, but with a reputation for being ruthless in gaming worlds which has earned him a bit of a reputation. He seeks to set up a pirate kingdom, friendly to raiders and pvp types.

• Community Ithikari has a small following of fellow pirates, which has now grown to a substantial support base, such that Ithi is now one of the top 3 contenders..3/5
• Leadership Ithikari hasn't displayed the strongest of leadership abilities in the past, however has never shown himself to be incompetent either. He prefers to let people use their own heads and work together toward common goals, or to drive people through competition instead of dictation. Those who want less control over them would find his leadership style more suitable than those of the other Kingdoms. 3/5
• Roleplaying A talented RPer with as taste for hard core and highly dramatic action. He runs a Cyberpunk game on Discord for anyone interested. His kingdom theme is thin on the ground for the Kingdom however. But then pirates, jungles and loot is really all the simple and to the point image needed, with Ithikari letting people guide themselves in whatever style they enjoy the most. 3/5
• Organisation I have witnessed Itihikari at work world building previously and he displays a great talent for detailed planning ahead of time. He has the ability to handle the tedium of being a ruler. 4/5
• Personality Once you get past the veneer of the hardcore pvper, Ithikari is soft as a marshmellow and a very decent fellow who genuinely cares about those around him. Always willing and able to actively listen to others, and with the strength to make sure his own opinions are heard. He prefers to keep things simple and direct. Not so good at managing perceptions of him though, but willing to capitalise on even misconceptions. What endeared me toward him originally was that during the Searing Plague, while he was a dirty traitorous pro-plaguer, he actually bought people packs and gifts, easily compensating and negating his pro-plague position, which ultimately was just about the RP, and not actually making life hard for anyone. A ruthless pvper who cares about the gaming experience for all other players is very rare. 5/5
• Final Score 18/25 Average 3.6/5 Ithikari could most certainly make this work if he won and has enough broad community support at the grassroots level. His pirate/bandit kingdom would be a source of constant conflict, but would do so without being a negative drag and causing drama. This source of constant conflict might be the only sticking point for stability however.

“The Jester King” - Reikan

Forum Post

Reikan is another long standing community member, being a dedicated member of the Oceanus community for some time, even going out in public to promote his community and the game itself. His vision here is for a realm of madness and chaos that can become a place dedicated to thievery, ninjas and assassins - and randomly helping people out!

EDIT: I had originally forgotten about Reikan's seperate organisation community Xorison, which he intends to continue to build even if he is not King. It is a very interesting concept which I urge you to read about here

• Community Reikan has a small dedicated community of his own, and has been well established within the broader Oceanus community for longer than I have even been about. 3/5
• Leadership I have witnessed Reikan display the ability to organise small groups and inspire his followers in the past. He is successfully managing his jester guild very well. 3/5
• Roleplaying I am not aware of much of Reikan roleplaying, however what I have seen has always been decent enough. His idea for his kingdom isn't the most original, however he has clearly spent some time fleshing it out in his mind. I'd like to see him talk more about his ideas though. EDIT: His guild/community ideas on the other hand are really great reading, well thought out and very original. I bumped him up for this. 4/5
• Organisation Reikan is a well organised fellow, prepared in advance for this event. He has put a lot of work into his core concepts. 3/5
• Personality A decent enough person in my limited interactions with him. Generally fun to game with. 3/5
• Final Score 16/25 Average 3.2/5 Reikan has a complex and interesting idea for his community, which I think will most certainly add something great to the game. He is a welcome addition to the Oceanus community. I am still not certain that his idea will translate well to a kingdom, it seems better suited to a guild than a particular title or region.

“Unknown” - Jason

[Forum Post](none yet)

o.O ... Some guy from the USA? I'll wait until I have more information. :) Expect lots of updates on this one.

EDIT: .. like.. we are down to our final 2/3, the community has about done chosing..

• Community 0/5
• Leadership 0/5
• Roleplaying 0/5
• Organisation I feel like a negative here might almost be warranted. 0/5
• Personality Seems nice enough. Bumped into him a few times now... 2/5
• Final Score 2/25 Average 0.4/5 Shows up out of the blue and wants to be king. I'm waiting to see his forum post before I judge him. He might be awesome, I just don't know. WE JUST DON'T KNOW stares

note: T= tied.

Final Score Ranking

• King of the South - Strongest point: Community. The backing of two kings and an established support community, is the reason he is in the lead for me.
• The Bushido Lord T - Strongest point: Personality.
• The Pirate King T - Strongest point: Personality
• The Black Queen - Strongest point: Roleplaying.
• The Jester King - Strongest Point: Community
• Unknown - Strongest Point: Wild Card