COMMUNITY - FORUMS - ANGELICA GENERAL
Vault Candidate Manus Dei of Hyperion

Today I am announcing to you my candidacy as a recipient for your ancient coins in the Vault Raiders contest. For twenty years I have led a clan centered in theme on the worship of the Sun. I also find myself entering land selection without a true duchy package for my clan, "the Duchy of Wessex", to hold in Chronicles of Elyria.

I am making a run at winning this month's contest event. Whether I can achieve the Sunstone prize or only the runner up prize of a duchy, both would be very fitting for us as custodians.

Twenty years ago I founded a clan for Asheron's Call called "Lumen Solis Victrix" - the Conquering Light of the Sun. Lumen Solis Victrix returned in Shadowbane, on the Death server, and then became the Kingdom of Hyperion (the Sun), where it achieved its greatest success in conquering half of the Darkfall world of Agon.

This is our first "Charter of the Sun", from nearly 20 years ago.

Wayback Machine

and if you still have Flash on your computer, this was our Shadowbane sun kingdom with a Flash movie:

Retro Shadowbane Sun Kingdom

And this is the sun banner of Hyperion, which we used to unite half of the Darkfall world of Agon in 2009, frequently followed on mmorpg.com and other sites.

It was one of those achievements that a clan can only dream of achieving when entering these kinds of strategy/MMO hybrids, and Darkfall was fun. It's just that Chronicles of Elyria promises to be so much more, and we would very much like to be as involved in it as we have been involved in games in the past. The lack of a duchy limits our influence and ability to participate to the same extent this time, however.

I am not just one player hoping to win a duchy, but instead I represent a whole clan with a twenty year history, with many players already bought in and pledged to Angelica, including 7 counts. We also have the experience and knowhow to make the best use of a duchy, and to enrich the server by our presence and thorough style at the same time. We have a long legacy of striving to implement real feudal nation building into games, and are old hands at bringing to other players the kinds of immersion building experiences that makes games truly rewarding.

I have been courted by players on the Angelica server who know what we accomplished in Hyperion and believe in our ability. I have been operating as Royal Hand to an Angelican kingdom and helping to shape and color their lore and operating plans. In return, they and many others have helped us get a respectable start in this contest:

But other than wishing to reach out to you and entreat you for your votes and your support, I also was inspired to make this post today because of something that I disapproved of. One of the better known candidates, Vaku, seemed earnest enough in his post on these forums, but has taken it upon himself to private message random people on these forums to badmouth SBS while at the same time asking for their coins. He described this event as "exploitative and consequently unacceptable" and described this community as "dormant, disillusioned, and dispassionate."

This cynical attempt to win by biting the very hand whose largesse one expects to win a prize from simply did not sit well with me. What's more, it showed a gross naïveté that would only squander anything so substantial as a duchy if it was so fortunate as to be blessed with one. While there are many worthy candidates, I have to say emphatically that this cat, Vaku, does not deserve to win.

Now that I have had the chance to get that off of my chest, I'll ask again for whatever help you can give my cause, for Hyperion and the Duchy of Wessex, to "Manus Dei."

Vault Page

If you remember me from Darkfall by any chance, I'd love it if you would shout out to me below, for old times' sake.

You can find our website at

The Duchy of Wessex

and you can reach me personally here or on Discord at

Wessex Discord

Duke Oriens/Manus Dei of Wessex#4315

Given by My Own Hand,

Wessex


12/25/2018 12:43:54 AM #1

Lol, I just replied to someone else saying I disapprove of people attacking other's campaigns, but still I wish you the best of luck.

Word of advice though. That banner you made is prolly gonna get cropped Super bad if you use it as a signature in these forums :D

Either way, if you gather the support, and your campaign comes out on top, I wish you the best in all your endeavors!


12/25/2018 12:55:30 AM #2

.


https://discord.gg/94nakDA

12/25/2018 1:34:10 AM #3

Hey, Manus Dei.

I'm familiar with your work, as we allied together in LiF. I understand being spurned into action because we view something as deserving change.

Unfortunately, it seems perhaps you're unfamiliar with the details of what exploitation looks like in this event. I suggest you begin reading here:

Casino or a Contest? Do We Want Either?

If you call this behavior acceptable in the context of this event, you and I have a fundamentally divergent understanding of money, impulsivity, and then exploitation as a feature of where they intersect.

Again, good luck. This is a competitive arena of good thought and not just reputation.


Below are Addresses to Subsequent Posts Targeting Vaku

This is a response to folk distressing over what 'attacks' look like and their usefulness in these environments.

To folk who seem to suspect there's anything lost from Manus attacking me as a person, probably, yeah—though to suggest there's anything wrong for him attacking my proposals—nah, I suggest reading this piece on the virtue of flaw-finding in a battleground of ideas in which there is no single arbiter of thought:

An Exercise in Feuding or Value-Finding?

12/25/2018 5:40:20 AM #4

Nita and Labbe: I salute you two and love your concept, which is something right after my own heart. And yeah, I am going to be the guy that goes there and attacks at least one othercampaign, because the one I have in mind definitely needs attacking.

Vaku: Why, you opportunistic young cad. How dare you go and hijack my thread by linking to one of your driveling entitled threads.

So what's the argument in a nutshell? SBS has sunk to a low by having random prizes to entice donations?

So let me get this straight: ACTUAL casinos, which favor the house and take money for nothing, are cool vacation destinations, but a startup software firm with a cool idea that could revolutionize the MMO genre is beneath our dignity when they host a clever raffle that yields real items of varying value for their upcoming game.

Have you read about the trouble these guys have had keeping their project funded, how they've had to let staff go, but they keep trucking on?

How they have done what they can to raise a meager 5.5 million dollars, while enterprises like Star Citizen, we all know, have done this many times over? And somehow, the irony is that you're dragging these people through the mud who are actually clever enough to come up with a fun way to make their ends meet and continue development... in order to win the contest item that they are going to be giving away to you for free?

You've got a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of drive, and apparently a lot of commitment, but to run one of these operations (a duchy, or a nation) when a game is live is like running a corporation. If you want to actually direct any great mass of people, and keep them on a single task, and have it be sustained enough to achieve something great, what you need to do is inspire, not bellyache and rabblerouse. Because if you're doing otherwise, you're not a leader, son. You're a complainer. And I say again, in that case, you do not deserve to win.

With this entitled attitude, a duchy would be plucked from your Gen Z fingers before you even knew what to do with it. The PVP clans forged of sterner stuff than you have got are out there, my man, and they're coming to CoE. Leave this contest to the grownups.


12/25/2018 5:57:07 AM #5

Attacking someone else, within your own running thread just seems something odd to do. Seems like it would have been better to rise above it or at least not name and shame the person. You know, basically be the mature person. So someone is running a way you don't like? Who cares, show people why you are better, without attacking the other person.

Posted By Manus Dei at 4:40 PM - Tue Dec 25 2018

Have you read about the trouble these guys have had keeping their project funded, how they've had to let staff go, but they keep trucking on?

Can you not lie, that would be nice. If you read that post, they hired people expecting to get a publisher. To naturally fund those extra people. Since they didn't find a publisher they liked. They had to let those extra people go.

You are making it out like they were about to shut down their doors. Which is so far from the truth.


12/25/2018 6:02:18 AM #6

No, that's not what I set out to do, Gunnlang. I come from a PVP background, and that's how I plan to play. Naming and shaming is exactly what needed to happen here. SBS also deserves a much better shake.


12/25/2018 6:03:06 AM #7

Disagreed, Gunnlang. It's one thing to go to other threads and spread rhetoric, but another entirely to defend your position and beliefs in your own. I commend Manus for not shying away from representing himself, his platform, and his beliefs in his own thread.



Ser Aeson Holf - Duke of Cereus, Duke-Consort of Fioralba

"For every nobleman that doesn't believe in min-maxing, there's a future nobleman underneath them that does."

12/25/2018 6:06:10 AM #8

Attacking someone else, within your own running thread just seems something odd to do. Seems like it would have been better to rise above it or at least not name and shame the person. You know, basically be the mature person. So someone is running a way you don't like? Who cares, show people why you are better, without attacking the other person.

I'm sorry Gunnlang, but this comment is a joke. If you read the post recent post by Vaku...he calls out a campaign within his own Kingdom and tries to pick it apart and ask why people would support it.

There is no high ground left to stand on. And it is unfortunate because That is not what Ashland represents.

I apologize Manus for the drama coming to your post. I think all your points are valid, and I wish you the best in your own campaign.


12/25/2018 6:09:46 AM #9

Edit: Quick reading Vaku thread, way too much drama. I just sit back and enjoy the show.


12/25/2018 6:12:53 AM #10

With the utmost respect, I'd highly recommend looking into it if you haven't. While I don't agree with a direct attack in the first post, I do understand the reasoning for it getting brought up.



Ser Aeson Holf - Duke of Cereus, Duke-Consort of Fioralba

"For every nobleman that doesn't believe in min-maxing, there's a future nobleman underneath them that does."

12/25/2018 6:25:14 AM #11

Good luck, Manus.


NA-W "Angelica"

12/25/2018 6:26:33 AM #12

I found this post refreshing to read. Even though I have commited money to help in the development of this game, as many of you have done, I find it in bad form to downplay what SBS is currently attempting to do.

I have my own thoughts and opinions on this event and previous events that SBS has run, but this isn't the platform I prefer to go into that. From candidate to another, Manus Dei, I wish you the best of luck in attaining votes. I'm pretty excited this race is getting even more exciting!

Happy holidays everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this.

~Huldric


https://discord.gg/esT7wMN

12/26/2018 6:11:24 AM #13

“KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our ancestors …”

No, that’s not it.

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to …”

Definitely not.

“We the People of the ..”

No, that’s not it either.

“In Valyria, we believe that the most stable government is …”

No. Another good, transparent read, but not what I was looking for exactly either. I better just get straight to it.

On the 12th of December, 2018, “Individual 1” sent me a private message that kicked this thing off. Now it is probable that I was not the first player to receive this message, but as a person who plays games solely for the relaxation factor, I found said private message grossly inappropriate and deceitful. To decry the current event as a money grab and to then righteously protest against it by encouraging participation. It’s almost as if I received a message from PETA imploring me to help stop the abuse of animals by humanely slaying all of them before they can be abused!

I can also add that I was somewhat confused as to why this was even sent to me. It should be fairly clear where my clan loyalty has been placed for the past 6 years. I mean, it’s not like I try to keep it secret or anything (I use the same character name in every game). I suppose if you wanted to extend that line of thinking a bit farther, you could probably question the competency of someone when they send a message requesting support to, you know, one of the leaders of a different, competing organization.

But I digress.

What we basically have here is “Individual 1” making claims that this is a campaign event, where, to summarize their apparent viewpoint: “All’s fair because I know I’m morally right and you’re not. I’m standing up for the abused masses who are being deprived of their god given right to play this game as equals so that I'm elevated to a higher position”. Which, frankly, is fine if they were being honest about it.

The issue is that “Individual 1” hasn’t seen fit to post his message anywhere that I can find, and the strongest, fairest organizations are those built on the foundations of truth and transparency.

I suppose I could have missed it. Frankly, my eyes glazed over multiple times reading that thread. I also suppose I could just post it here for everyone to read just to make sure everything was out in the open, but I’d like to be fair and give “Individual 1” a chance to post it first.

And again, if I'm being honest, because doing so at this moment may appear like I'm 'attacking' someone, even though they stepped over a line and deserve to be called out. Frankly I'm fairly disappointed in some of the hesitancy of others in this thread to do so.


12/27/2018 8:06:51 AM #14

Huh, I almost missed you in my rantings for the night.

My question good sir!

Where the fuck did you come from?

I just can't take a candidate serious who joins in the second half of things, and whose entire argument is "Don't vote for that one youngun"

You must be one of those love to hate me kind of people. Well on the off chance you aren't just doing all this to prove a point, good luck I suppose.

If you are trying to make a point, well you don't need freakin coins to do it. Just go attack the person in their thread instead of your own, and leave "I wanna win too!" out of it.


12/27/2018 1:39:33 PM #15

Posted By Malorn Dragonbane at 7:06 PM - Thu Dec 27 2018

Where the fuck did you come from?

Something I'm wondering about you. New account, only posted on people running for this event, no matter the server they are on. Wish you just posted on your main account.