agentleooc | (no subject)

(no subject)

Hey Gentle Players,

Today, we have to be the bearers of some bad news. After much consideration, the mod team has decided to put AGN to a gentle rest. From the start, we have had a very active core group of players, and we have adored every minute watching you guys play. But we’ve also been hemorrhaging characters from an initial max of nearly 50 circling down to a current count of 10.

Unfortunately, 10 characters aren’t enough to support the game’s plot and play.

As both players and mods in the past, we’ve seen many people refuse to take a chance on games that don’t fit the typically DW mold out of the fear that exactly this will happen. We want to take a moment to thank all of you for taking a chance on our weird little experiment, because we recognize this was truly a strange approach to DWRP.

Because we aren’t even a fourth of the way through the story, we don’t feel we can provide a satisfying conclusion to what you’ve played so far in a closing event. However, we’re going to open up this OOC post for questions. Ask us what you’d like to know about the future, and we’ll tell you how things might have panned out.

We also want to give some shoutouts. They’re too long and numerous for Plurk, so we invite you to head to the OOC post.

Again, you all took a chance on us and a strange game that didn’t fit into DW’s common settings, plots, and playstyles, and we cannot thank you enough for the stories you let us read. We will not remove journals from the game comms. Anyone who wants to continue to use the game communities as a sandbox are welcome to do so, today, tomorrow, or a year from now.

Allairavar would like to give a special shoutout to all of the Strangers (and their fantastic players) who came to him and offered to help defend the city. Mordred (Steve), Bucky (Cat), Daylight (Melly), Lalli (Elia), and Takame (Bon), and more! He is also most appreciative of all of the Strangers that didn't dodge practice :3 Aithne (Silent) - ya ran off after him when he said no, but you're all right in Al's eyes.

Verim, despite preferring to spend most of his time making eyes at Fay, definitely noticed the Strangers. Listing all of the ones that supported Queen would take up so much space, but he certainly noticed. Piper (Shira) ran the risk of adoption from him (sorry, Piper). Calvin (Leigh) along with the others who contributed to the conversation about the trial earned respect from Verim for not only bringing ideas to the table but also for being willing to adapt those ideas to the unique needs of the landen and the Blood.

Caleb: Your posts were always a joy to read, and between you and Molly, you were a big driving force in encouraging the canon-blind mods to give Critical Role a good listen (and we’re now hooked).

Cassandra: Coming from one of the old favorite fandoms of the mods, we got a kick whenever we saw her pop up on the TDM. It was a true shame our time and opportunities with her were so short.

Daylight: Your enthusiastic optimism was a bright spot for the NPCs of Fay’s Court. Fay especially appreciated how much you wanted to make things good and right. The Guilds will never forget the unique technology you provided to them.

Emil: We loved watching Emil teach magic in and around the city. We would have loved to continue watching him change the world in Draega as he learned more about his Jewel—and Lalli’s, too.

Guts: Guts was such an asset: to the court and to the game. We know you were on hiatus so this is a sad post to come back to, but we wholeheartedly enjoyed your presence in our little weird corner and so pleased that had fun with us.

Haein: What a unique character. What a crazy character. Haein came in with such an icy attitude, and we only started to see that ice melt. His willingness to speak plainly was such a value to Fay and her Court. People willing to speak hard truths are rare and precious in a world like Draega.

Jaime: Jaime’s addition to the Game of Thrones cast was one that we were excited about. His presence during the caravan event was incredibly helpful and great to bounce off of him. We loved giving him that horse and the interactions that did, and could have, ensued.

Jon: While you were here, you bridged a gap between landen and Blood and Stranger that no one else could have bridged by virtue of your vampiric nature. Though you struggled, you would have found acceptance among the Blood.

Katniss: Her righteous anger on behalf of the landens were so interesting to read and helped bring to forefront what a complicated and volatile city Draega was. Her inner fire was always a great asset to her and in this game, it was no acception.

Leo: You were always a delight! The Guilds never knew quite what to make of you, except that they wanted to be you. You scared Niall, and one day you would have found in him as powerful a rival as an ally.

Molly: Your support of the Queen and righteous anger towards those who harmed the innocent brought a strong sense of justice to Draega. Landens and Blood alike would have started to look toward Molly as a moral compass—for better or worse.

Mordred: The mod team loved you, Mordred. Your brash and headstrong approach to problem solving put you in a difficult place in Draega, and we only just started to see the effects of that. Surely, the Queen’s Court would have rallied around you to offer what support they could.

Percy: Our biggest regret is that you were gone so soon. Percy’s sense of justice and his singular reaction to Fay brought us great delight. Fay!Mod especially loved Percy, and we wish we could have shown him an ocean in need of revitalization.

Piper: You jumped into this scary setup, with a determination to understand both the landen and Blood and help heal the wide schism between them. Her insights and willingness inspired the Court as well.

Rhus: We truly enjoyed your efforts to create a serum to help grow the crops. Though you didn’t get a chance to see it in game, that would have played out as helping significantly. Fewer people would have died of starvation, and Draega would have had something unique to trade with other cities.

Sansa: Watching Sansa work to overcome her past and carve her own place in Draega was a true delight for us. She was always so quick to help out whenever and wherever she could; she truly engrained herself into the everyone’s hearts.

Takame: Like Jon, you were a unique fixture in Draega. At first, the Blood considered you a curiosity. You reminded them of what their legends said they were. Your stoic determination to do good showed them what they could be.

Tyrion: True to canon’s form, you always managed to ask the right questions at the right time. We were truly looking forward to you manipulating the politics of Draega, keeping the mods enthralled and on our toes.

Wanda: If there was a place to explore the interplay of power and how it was perceived, this was a good one. We hope we gave Wanda some interesting things to try as we enjoyed reading her during her short time with us.

Zita: Your heart for helping others never went unnoticed. In all situations, you were the among the first into the fray to lend assistance, even when you were tired or scared. Both landen and Blood trusted you as a healers—and as a Healers.

We’ve called out a number of characters in this post who had already made a large impact on Draega, but we loved to read threads from each and every one of you. We all spent late nights and early mornings reading your tags and delighting in the unique ways you and your characters chose to interact with the world of Terreille. Thank you again for taking a chance on AGN and for giving us 5 excellent months.

Remember, you’re welcome to ask questions about the fate of the world and your characters below, and we’ll be around to answer them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not a question about future plot things in the game but something I wanna get out there anyway for folks who may not have plurk or may not have found AGN plurk even.

Can we all just give a shout out to these wonderful mods? They're fantastic. Please keep on keeping on, mod friends.

And anyone who's tagged Takame at all, thank you. I'm like constantly scared of putting him into posts and everyone who's tagged me on here especially really made me comfortable with it. I said a lot of stuff on plurk already but just like.

Thank you guys. For real. <3 <3 <3

I really, really loved playing Katniss off Takame and I am so glad I took a chance on an unknown canon.

This was a wonderful game and such a positive experience for me. I haven't really stepped out of my comfort zone with games in a while, and this was such an interesting new environment with a great playerbase and wonderful mods who gave us a ton of neat options with pretty much everything.

I had an awesome time here and really enjoyed all the CR I managed to accrue. Seriously, thanks everyone for putting up with the garbage knight here, and thanks mods for providing such a good environment to throw her into!

Trash Knights Unite aww yea

I want to drop a thanks for making me feel welcome when I first got into AGN. It was nice seeing a familiar face and our first thread was a real delight! I’m only bummed we couldn’t mash them together more - if you’re ever feeling a game-setting thread I’d be happy to do some

I wish we'd gotten the chance to throw them together more, so I'd love to do something like that!

Thank you, mods, for creating such a wonderful game that really did new things with the mechanics and systems that we're so used to in roleplay. You bucked against trends and norms and I loved it every step of the way. Though my heart hurts that this amazing game has to close, the fact this game existed and I was lucky enough to experience it is amazing and something I do not take likely.

My time here in A Gentle Night is, hands down, one of my best experiences in a game as a roleplayer. The world really felt alive and your efforts to create an engaging plot with fully imagined NPCs for us to interact with are really appreciated. Your willingness to engage with the players and make their actions feel important and known, until the very end, felt so genuine and I appreciate it. It really felt like we were changing the events of the world and helping steer the plot into different directions. I'll be so curious to wonder what would have happened further down the line so I'll be making another comment that's solely about the fate of the characters and the game. But for now? This is all about my appreciation and thanks for your work ehre.

Again - This was an amazing game for me to be in and it was an honour to have been through the entire thing, since the plot and the sheer effort you guys gave is something I've never experienced before.

Your willingness to work with us and have us the effect the game's world and story is something I'll cherish and find myself comparing to in other games that I'll join later down the line, I'm sure of it. You had such a big world and heavy plot to steer while letting us take the wheel sometimes and you guys did it phenomenally. Your use of the canon background and worldbuilding of the Black Jewels Trilogy is spectacular because it felt so important to the plot, not just window dressing or decoration for a game setting.

I'm definitely going to take the time to find these books in real life and read them personally, since your love and effort in the game really sparked my interest. (And I'll no doubt be trying to find the names of Fayura and Allairavar and Loren during my reading, haha.)

Every time we spoke or interacted, be it questions or plot, it always felt like you were doing an amazing balancing act of keeping it fair while making sure I got a chance to do stuff when I asked what if Day or Zita did X or Y or Z. My characters were doing stuff that really tested their boundaries and limits but I never felt uncomfortable or were doing things OOC for them. It felt like a natural reaction/response to what was happening and ahhhhh I just? Love that to bits. ; o ;

And to everyone in the game...! Of course I'm going to give you a shoutout because you guys are also a big reason why I love this game to bits! I mentioned on my plurk that this game is an example of the perfect storm of mod reaction/interaction and player participation. The players who went above and beyond in the plots and the events made this shine for me, since you guys really thought out of the box in how your characters will interact with the world and it was such a joy to read all your threads and see how your characters tried to help the world and react to its surroundsings and situations.

Thank you for giving my characters - Zita Harringing and Daylight vis Lornlit - a chance. Whenever I join a game with my original characters, there's always a case of butterflies in my stomach since I don't know if they'll be well-liked or not due to the fact they're OCs. The response they had here is amazing and something that means so, so much to me.

A particularly special big shout out to Daylight's close CR - Takame and Mordred and others - and Zita's close CR - Sansa, Molly, Mordred, and others - for being delights to thread with. You made my characters change and act in subtle ways that made all the difference in their development. I'm definitely keeping you guys in my timeline if possible because I loved speaking with you whether it was simple tag chatter or plotting. I hope to be in a game with you guys again in the near future but, if that won't be happening anytime soon, please know that your characters meant the world to mine.

(And, yes, Zita would have inevitably shanked someone for Sansa or Molly. We were getting pretty close to that I'm not gonna lie.)

Thank you for everything and I wish everyone involved with this game until the very end the best roleplay karma for being such wonderful, wonderful individuals.

Thank you so much for Zita. I really loved playing with her and I loved her relationship with Sansa so much. Sansa canonically doesn't have many friends or trusts easily and she certainly doesn't have any female friends aside from Brienne and her own sister. Zita was someone she could let in and I loved playing that dynamic.

So I just got off hiatus and I want to leave a proper send off here.

While I'm sad to see AGN close, I'm really glad I got a chance to play for the few months I was here. I've felt very welcomed since my first TDM thread and really liked the close-knit and engaging community here courtesy of both our incredible mod team and player base.

This has been my favorite game experience by far and the most I’ve been involved in the plot and world for a game. You guys made it such a pleasure to hop on and stay engaged in the story, and I want to thank everyone for bringing that bit of joy. Seriously. <3

Going in canon-blind, it was a lot of fun exploring the world through the excellent, fully realized NPCs and plot events. I was lucky to have Guts come in during the Spring Festival at the peak of his No-Fun Revenge Time canon point, and things just bounced off from there. The game has definitely made me curious about the Black Jewels trilogy and I will be checking out on my own in the meantime.

Although things were still starting out for Guts, it was rewarding for his new game pals to see past his Existentially Grumpy face and make him feel the power of friendship again (shout out to Sansa, Zita, Lalli and yes, even Emil). Special shout out to Jaime, too, though you just got here. I was looking forward to continuing their CR after that uh, very bloody introduction.

Plot-wise, he would have most likely honored his promise with Fayura and her Court ‘til the very end, but enough personal growth would have him set aside his revenge quest. Instead, he’d want to seek for a way to regain someone’s lost memories for important Personal Reasons. Things haven’t gotten far enough for anyone to do their Offerings yet, but that would be the character moment that I would be aiming to have his centered around.

To wrap this up: Thanks so much for all the fun in this game. I love all y’all and would be happy to do PSLs, memes, or game setting threads if you’ll have me. Mods - you guys are so awesome, thank you for taking the time and effort to realize your game ideas. It is a lot of work and I just want you to know it is wholly appreciated. I’d be happy to participate in any future games you have a hand in in the future.

And here is my comment about my questions for the plot. This got. Super long and I apologise for that. I just got super excited when you guys said you would be willing to answer questions still and I started making a list and it got away from me. I'm so sorry and I hope this is cool to put up here. (And if there are some questions you’ll like to not answer, that’s totally understandable.)

- Right off the bat — What would have been the conclusion of the caravan attack plot be, if the characters were able to track down the mercenaries and attempt to save the missing women? Was Daylight’s thoughts that this is related to the Black Widows true or is this another issue altogether that would have lead to other events? (Also it must be known that Demo will be loved forever by Daylight. Best dog.)

- What would have been the roadmap of the rest of the plot? You said that we were only a fourth through the plot and with how exciting and intense the events we had were, I was wondering what else our characters would have faced down the line. Would it have depended on our characters' actions like how the Accusation Plot went down?

- In your opinion, mods, what would have been the Golden/Best Ending for the game for the setting and the characters (players' and NPCs alike) involved? What would have been the most likely ending, given what characters were doing so far and how they were siding more and more with the Courts and the Guilds and not the Council over time?

And it is alright if we asked questions about our characters' fates/own endings if we inquired what would have happened to them? Like what would have happened if they sided with this faction or pushed for this thing? If not I totally get that since there's a lot of things to factor in but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Caravan Conclusion
The Strangers eventually would have discovered that the mercenary group in question was an off-shoot of the Shorn Crescent. They were kidnapping women primarily to grow their numbers, and their interest wasn't so much in Black Widows as it was in the Master Tinker Devyra Blik. Devyra was working on a new engine in a joint project with the Tinker Guilds in Draega and Allowary that would have made autocars (automobiles) viable in Terreille. Devyra's success would have bolstered the Guilds but enraged the Council, as the cars would have been very dangerous for the already wrecked environment.

This also would have opened up a new threat, from the outside this time. The Shorn Crescent is an especially dangerous foe, capable of terrible things in their own self-interest. Growing a relationship with Loren would have eventually revealed that he was a high-ranking member of the Shorn Crescent prior to meeting Fayura.... /checks notes/ Like 200 years ago.

Plot
The plot was driven primarily by which faction had gained the most support from the Strangers in the previous months, with tension mounting each time. We had critical tipping points in mind where large, sweeping changes would have effected Draega. At 25% support for the Guilds, for example, Devyra's tinkering would have been a success. At 25% support for the Ebon Council, the land immediately around Draega would have begun to restore itself and produce more viable crops. We also had cases for when the gaps between the groups grew too large. If support for either the Ebon Council or the Guilds ever grew 50 points greater than the support for Fayura's Court, we would have moved immediately into end game. The stronger side would have moved to depose her, which would trigger another civil war.

Saying we were only a fourth of the way through was something of a ballpark, because you could have pushed the plot along through strong interaction with the NPCs, too. Learning more about them would have also triggered certain events. For instance, Piper was on course in a conversation with Fayura to get the chance to see the massive tangled web Fay had woven in the catacombs beneath the city. That would have triggered an attempt by either the Ebon Council or the Guilds to try to destroy those webs.

All the NPCs had hooks and plots that could have been uncovered to move the overall story along.

The Golden Ending
There were pretty much three possible endings:

The Council gaining the most support would have been the Good End, surprisingly. The Council and Blood would have eventually accepted the Strangers as kin, but not kind (something the Blood are fond of saying; Fayura in particular). But, with too much support, they would have used their power to destroy the Guilds. From their perspective (and this is something that I don't know we made clear enough at the start), the landens are killing the land with polluting technology. A lot of the damage to the area around Draega is a result of the Guilds' technology being toxic (and also a bunch of bad Craft from 5000+ years ago). The Blood would have risen up at the Council's command and purged the landens from Terreille in a vicious genocide. Without the landens, society would have slid into more of a medieval world, but Terreille would survive. Not a great ending for the landens, but not everyone's dead, so that's a win?

The Guilds gaining the most support would have been the Bad End. While some of the landens advocated responsibility in the use of technology, many invented just for the sake of inventing, and that never goes well. But more than that: Grand Master Niall was not a good man. Players could have uncovered this fact about him: when he was younger, he went to Ebon Askavi, the place that Fayura calls her home. He was welcomed as a guest by its seneschal and allowed to stay and study, and he learned that the world could not continue without the Blood. Their powers are inextricably tied to the land. They are its caretakers. Players also could have learned that his sister was raped and brutally murdered by Blood males, and that fueled his hatred for them (he took revenge on them by killing them in his capacity as a Hunter; turned out one of the males he killed was Grejor's brother and that brother was actually innocent oops). With his hatred for the Blood and his knowledge that the world needed the Blood to continue on, he would have allowed his people to commit genocide against the Blood in the end game. The world would have survived for another 200 years or so, but life would have been restricted more and more to just Draega, and then Draega, too, would have died.

Niall was a disaster of a person. That said! There also would have been opportunities to stage a coup against him to prevent that stuff, too.

The Courts gaining the most support would have been the Golden Ending. Eventually, both Niall and Grejor would likely have been killed and replaced by Strangers or, if Strangers hadn't wanted to commit to staying in Terreille past the job, an NPC. Through all their work and supporting the Queen, the Strangers would have proven out the fact that Blood and landen could work together if only they'd stop shitting on each other long enough to learn about each other's cultures and needs. Part of doing this would have required Strangers to address some of the vicious truths about the Court, too: Loren was responsible for the death of Fayura's mother; Allairavar was once part of a roving group of wild men and was nearly killed by them when he refused to hunt landen children for food; Verim and Fayura were both paralyzed by a lot of self-doubt. In Verim's case, he always waited too long to use his power to protect people. In Fay's case, she believed her desire to help people was at once nothing more than her nature but also completely self-serving.

Fayura, it would eventually be revealed, was an incarnation of Witch. She was dreams made flesh: the dreams of Blood and landen people that had hoped for a new future. Unfortunately, she was also their last chance. Terreille wouldn't get another Witch after Fay, and without her to see the need to bridge the distance between Blood and landen, and her ability to bring the Strangers to Terreille, problems would never have been solved. But because she was literally formed from the dreams of people who wanted to save the world, she felt trapped by that, too. She knew she had to do it and it was the right thing to do, but she often wondered how much that was actually her acting out of kindness verses her own nature. She had a lot of deep conflict and trauma.

By all means, ask us questions about Day and Zita! We for sure saw Daylight eventually becoming a trusted friend to Niall before Niall soured on him and saw him as a rival instead. Day's knowledge impressed the Grand Master, but it also frightened him—and so did Day's optimism. The fact that Day believed strongly in Fayura's mission (and remember, Niall hated her as much as any other member of the Blood) whilst also doing Guild work proved to everyone that Blood and landen could work together and understand each other. Niall Did Not Like That At All.

I'm butting in here and I'm sorry but oh my god this is all so fabulous and badass and it would have been SO AWESOME TO SEE IT ALL HAPPEN AS THE GAME PROGRESSED IT WOULD BE SO COOL okayi'llstopnowbye

I KNEW FAYURA WAS WITCH I KNEW IT! Hahha sorry I just...I am so happy I was right about this.

YEP!

The only thing we hadn't really decided on was whether or not to give her a Black Jewel or pull a Twilight's Dawn. I'd been going back and forth on it for a looong time while the other mods were like "no no just do it." Twilight's Dawn wasn't appropriate for her, but the other mods were like WEIRD JEWELS FOR WITCH ARE CANON FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS while I quibbled about it.

either would have been so beautiful ;;

Because you're canon familiar and will get it:

Fay did something very similar for herself to what Jaenelle's boyos did for her at the end of QotD. My thought was that she'd have a Jewel made up of Gray, Ebon-gray, and Black, so she's not as strong as someone who wore the Black, but was still stronger than pretty much everyone in Terreille. That unique Jewel lets her do unique magics, as Jaenelle did in some of the side stories, like u kno summoning the Strangers. I was debating calling it Gloaming but man I didn't want to upset anyone by looking like I was violating the rules of the universe. That works in a novel, but is harder to pull off in a game.

omg i love this. it's so perfect ;_______;

I SHOULD HAVE COMMITTED FROM THE START CLENCHES FIST

YOU MODS ARE TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD

Also, selfishly, I would love to know if Sansa ever got to descend to Sapphire

When - not if!! - Zita saw Sansa got to rise to Sapphire status and show off her amazing politicking skills:

I thought I was in the right account for that account but you know what I meant. /o\

Zita cares for Sansa so much.

I’m crying ugly tears in mass rn

That would depend entirely on you! From what we saw, we wouldn't have a reason to deny her that progression so far :)

It’s been three days since you wonderful, wonderful mods answered me and I still vaguely shake in shock and joy over this information. This is all amazing and the Guilds Ending really threw my voice for Daylight off when reading it. Daylight’s Poor Reading of People and the Situation continues and I love it so much.

And the plot twist about Fayura being a Witch made me holler. I actually paused whenever I read applications or the application samples, due to the wording of what they wanted the most. Dreams made flesh. I felt like there had to be meaning for that because that was so specific. Knowing the truth about those words now that I have a little bit more canon knowledge of the setting slammed me like a freight train and, like the others who have been yelling with me about this, cry over the what could have beens and over the fact you guys are such terrific mods…!

I love how much effort the Courts Ending would have taken but, at the same time, how we were achieving it like with the Guilds. I saw the relationships develop between the other players’ characters and the NPCS - especially Piper and Molly with Verrim and Fayura!! - in other threads, so I like to think we were making progress towards it. It's actually exciting to look back and see how neck-and-neck the best and the bad ending were.

(And a moment of silence for the poor Council Ending possibly not being reached at all with how they lagged behind in terms of influence oh my gosh.)

For Zita questions/inquiries:

I was… actually planning to start an arc for Zita to become very suspicious of the Guild, when she learned more about what their technology was doing to the environment. Plus the fact she was slowly beginning to realise they were/are entering a cycle that was very similar to that of her home: Which resulted in those who have magic going into hiding, afraid of being hurt or worse by those who don't understand. Zita loves the fact magic being used so openly, so freely amongst the people and that it's respected in a way. She wouldn't want that to take the turn for the worse.

She also saw a lot of the other Strangers seemingly favourable/warm towards Courts so- Zita would have tried to hold charity programs and continue to aid those in need, no matter who they were, using that as a way to expand her influence and reputation. First the smaller folk and begin to build that up. How would have Zita been treated it was eventually found out that she was attempting to ask others in different factions to consider throwing their lot with the Courts proper? Especially in the Guilds if she could sniff out those who were still hesitant/easily swayed on their position? If there was a chance of her getting in trouble or killed for those actions, I would have been fine with that since my biggest arc for Zita was for her to finally start taking action to prevent a disaster she sees coming - Even if it means moving out of her boundaries and risking danger for others’ sake.

Daylight specific questions/inquiries:

Daylight in the Guilds Ending: It is I, Booboo the Fool.

Seriously- He definitely would have continued to help ramp support/backing of the Guilds and the Courts, thinking that, yes, this is the best way to prove Fayura's message that everyone can work together! Mostly in the form of not only providing them technology - he would have actually submitted his completion of the portable muters and offered his jetpack for research in the month! - for the Guilds but also talking about the laws and organisations his mother set up and how she helped usher in a peaceful age from his universe for the Courts. All in an attempt to share what he can so they can pick and choose from what he has and adapt it to their world as they saw fit. He mostly would have been very sympathetic and supportive of the Guilds throughout his time with them. Though... He would be suspicious of the Medico Guilds after seeing what happened to Little Blue, and wanting to figure out what's going on there. (What were you planning, scary Guild Master Medic Man.)

When Niall began to see Daylight as a rival, that would have confused the poor boy and he would have tried to reach out to him several times so they could work together. Would have there been any chance for Daylight to try and talk him out of his? Or sway the Guilds to deescalate the situation in something that didn't result in Niall being overthrown/killed? He would have struggled with overthrowing Niall but if was obvious Niall was going to Do Drastic Things... Sorry, Niall. ; o ;

A final general question, I swear: Would there have been an opportunity for the others to go back home or stay in Draega for the rest of their life? If Zita had made it until the end, I think she would realise she changed too much to return home and believe Draega would need her help the most.

For Zita
At first, people would have been suspicious of Zita's attempts to get them to play nice. Each side would have viewed it as another attempt to weaken them, though were those among the populace who held with Fayura's perspective (few and far between) who would have supported her, too. The Guildmembers would have been the most difficult to persuade because of the inherent animosity between landens and Blood and the fact that the Blood have been pretty terrible to them throughout the ages.

However, Master Tinker Mari would have been an excellent ally. She was always the most concerned about the boundaries that Guild tech pushed. Zita probaly would have been able to uncover some really wild, unfortunate truths about the Medicos in so doing. Little Blue, for instance, had been tortured by the Medicos after marrying her landen husband.

Good stuff.

Some might have tried to kill Zita for sure, as often happens when someone proposes pseudo-revolutionary views. The Court would have protected her as best they could.

Daylight
He meant so well, and was always pushing everyone closer to disaster lmao

YES GOOD HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUSS. The Medicos were Not Nice People and were fond of capturing Blood children and vivisecting them. Lam was a monster of a human being. So was Raya, and I'm sad we didn't have the time to dedicate to her. I always wanted her using the Farcasters to advocate genocide against the Blood. Raya also had no redeeming backstory; she was just a hateful monster.

As for Niall, there would have been no talking him out of destroying the Blood. While he isn't a complete monster, he would never have forgiven them as a whole for killing his sister, and Fayura frankly terrified him. Witch, in canon, is more or less the Blood's version of a savior, and Niall rejected that and everything she stood for. If someone ever told him that his dreams of a peaceful society helped create her, he would have said no dream of his conjured a monster like her.

The Guilds could have been convinced to depose Niall, which would have resulted in a schism between the Tinkers, Elektrics, and Transporters and the Hunters and Crafters, with the Medicos hanging out on the sidelines chopping up the corpses. The Crafters could probably be swayed to team TTE with some doing, but the Hunters would always be fiercely loyal to Raya and Niall.

In the end, Niall and Raya both would probably have to die. Thinking about it now, I can't imagine a scenario in which Raya lived. Niall... maybe? Just because I can't think of something doesn't mean you guys wouldn't have come up with a cool solution, and we were always wiling to adapt and flex to what the players were doing in game. But Niall, like Raya, was fueled by hatred, and very little would have changed his worldview.

Going home
At the end, Fayura would have agreed to let the Strangers stay if they wanted, absolutely. Found family is important to her, and she'd never ask anyone to leave that family against their will.

I lied, I'm back with a question cause I'm curious and self indulgent.

So like in regards to this hypothetical Golden Ending and you guys mentioning that Niall and Grejor would have likely been killed. Who would be most likely to end up killing both of them? Would you think like one of the other NPC's, the general population of the realm coming together to form a mob to kill them or would one of the Strangers have the opportunity if one decided to be so bold?

I'm not saying they like have to be killed by the same person or in the same situation but you know.

Oh, wow, that's a good question.

It's hard to say who might have killed them, but the entire mod team would have worked their asses off to ensure that players had that opportunity before and of the NPCs.

In the event of a schism between the Tinkers/Transporters/Elektrics and the Hunters/Crafters, it's entirely possible Mari, Doriah, or Sorrel could be the NPCs to do Niall in. But we really would have tried to structure things so that a PC could have that opportunity first, and we would have tried to position the NPCs in such a way that they went to PCs to be like "Do you wanna kill Master Niall? Do you want to stab him dead?"

Grejor is even harder to talk about since we didn't get to do too much with him—which is on me, he was hard to trot out for me since he was such a meticulous planner and slow to act. His Jewel was light enough that most of the Strangers could have taken him out, and none of the Blood would have had too terribly much to say about it. His allies would have been angry, of course, but often executions are taken in stride.

We tried our best to structure events in such a way that you guys could get information and also impact the direction of events. Some of that would be immediate, some of it would only pan out in the future.

That would have been neat to see the other Guilds basically stage an assassination plot against Niall, that sounds like the beautiful hot mess that I've come to love from this game's IC nonsense.

Admittedly I was super curious just because I really really loved Grejor and Takame's thread and in the back of my silly Bon head I was like Takame would probably love to kill that man dead at some point. His second Jewel and Takame's were the same so I was also looking at that but you know.

What sort of plans did you have for Grejor later down the line? Or would that also have heavily depended on how the plot panned out.

As of now, Grejor and Takame had the most interaction, so if we were going to try to subtly push someone into the position to murder him, it would've been Takame :D

Grejor's issues were a little harder to work into the game because they were so subtle and character driven. Back in the day, his brother had an affair with a landen woman. The woman eventually gave birth to a young boy, Miklaus, who was in his early teens during the game but had no idea who his family is. Grejor killed the landen woman and framed his brother from Niall's sister's rape and murder, because that's what you do with the family shame. AS a half-Blood, Miklaus never would have worn Jewels and so in Grejor's eyes would never amount to anything. He worked as a servant in Grejor's home.

Grejor's biggest problem was that he didn't think Queens were necessary within Blood society, and the Blood could manage just darn fine with a council. Alas, that's not true at all.

Hilariously, he was much more likely to come around to support the Strangers than anyone else, even though he was very against them initially. Grejor wanted to help the Blood, he was arrogant, old, and set in his ways, but he wasn't a monster.

mods, i'm commenting almost an entire year later because i missed this post, but stumbled upon it while going through a nostalgia trip and let me tell you i'm emotional all over again...

i don't know if you'll see this, but i felt like i had to say something. agn remains one of the high points of my rp career. i wish i could've stuck around for longer, but every memory i have of this game is so incredibly fond. you all did your damned best to work with players and their characters and i'm never going to forget how i felt so cared for in this game. i hope you are all doing well now wherever you are!! i hope you're all safe and healthy as well! thank you again for such a wonderful game experience, and thank you for the kind words about haein and allowing me to develop him the way i did in game. i think about agn all the time.

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