Faction Future

[Sarge Potteiger]

Alright guys, I knew coming into this job that the faction was floundering. I hadn't realized just how stiff it had become. We had a good burst of activity for a bit with the dominions but I think, ultimately, the event signaled the end of the Protectorate as a major faction. 16 people voted in the election to put me in charge, and I don't think I've seen half that in a thread since then.

Some of that, of course, comes from those people having real life to take care of. Some of that comes from people mentally checking out.

Either way, it's time this faction moves on in some fashion.

So click your answer on the poll. I'll only be considering the votes for those who were active in the past few weeks; I feel that will provide a more accurate representation of what's going on here. By active, of course, I mean posting in a faction related thread in the last two weeks.

The only answers put up here are ones that make IC sense for how the faction has handled itself in the past; so there won't be a 'oh, lets merge with the Primeval' in this list anywhere.

My opinion is likely fairly clear at this point; I don't think a new leader would save this faction as a major entity. HK did a good job for a bit, but his sudden departure killed the momentum built up and we've been up the creek without a paddle since.

As we did not meet the minimum requirements for participation in the Eriadu invasion, either, that has been forfeit. Cast your votes, I'll give this a few days to see what the votes are before putting the outcome into action. If there's a viable alternative that would make sense IC feel free to propose it and i'll add it to the voting list.

Regardless of how this goes I'll likely be stepping down as faction leader once this is complete.

Note: The merger with the Republic won't require you to move your character over there. It's mostly just to make sure the territory doesn't disappear into the void in some fashion.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

I haven't been active enough in the last couple of months that I feel comfortable voting; I basically show up for big invasions and the occasional dominion and that's about it. I'd say merge, but that's just me.

 

[Cira]

Id rather go minor and back to being Omega Pyre.

But that's just me

Or -- merge but things are split.

As in this forum turns into a minor faction of omega pyre and anything that can belong to a major faction per rules ( over the limit of a company stats as a tier 5 with omega star corp or minor faction ) can go to the republic as territory and property.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Id rather go minor and back to being Omega Pyre.

But that's just me

Or -- merge but things are split.

As in this forum turns into a minor faction of omega pyre and anything that can belong to a major faction per rules ( over the limit of a company stats as a tier 5 with omega star corp or minor faction ) can go to the republic as territory and property.

That was basically the idea, yeah.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

Is there no one willing to step up and lead?

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Coryth said she would, but she basically said it would only be to see through a merger or a transition to minor.

At this point it's clear there's not enough care to stay major. The only reasons we have to stay major so far are;

1. We are presently major
2. We don't want Kaeshana to wind up in the hands of Sith or Fringe
3. We don't want Naboo to go to other people

Those are the reasons that I've inferred from the people we have left being active as writers.

All three of them are absolute nonsense.

It's not about leading.

It's about not having active membership. It's about not caring about the faction as a whole. It's a whole host of problems exacerbated by everyone playing in their own little corners while sometimes glaring at the others. I'm guilty of it myself. At this point we're better off going mercenary again and just giving the territory to someone else. That's my opinion, at least, given what I've seen in the last month or so.

 

[Ayden Cater]

My own two cents is that this has been a long time coming. We haven't been deserving of Major for a while now.

People like having their toys to play with, but don't want to help other people play with their toys.

The last three months I was Lord Protector, the only thing that was really done for the faction were invasions with the CIS/ASA that I organized. We had one Dominion that lasted for something like four or five months.

Four or five. Months.

At least a third, if not half, of it was pulled along by Cira and her alts. There were training threads, terrorist attacks. All manner of threads designed to try and get people active and writing stories together within the faction and even from outside of it.

Just about all of them flopped.

And why? Because people didn't show up. This isn't on Cira. It's not on me. It's not on Sarge. A faction is only as powerful and active as its members are, and you guys just stopped caring. That's why this is happening. That's why, for the third time, we've come to talks of a merger in one degree on another.

You want to talk about how we've done all this work and how we deserve to be major. Prove it. Go out there and actually freaking do something without having to have Sarge string you all along. Activity and threads on -one- planet are not enough. We need activity across the board. And if we don't get it, then OP is gonna disappear. And no one will mourn it.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]
I'm not doubting I play in my corner. And so yes, I'd very much like Kaeshana not to fall under Fringe control. We've gotten to the point sadly where OP is so weakened that that's really the only practical objective I can have.

So from my perspective I think we should have a leader stay on and provide an IC transition.

I would be willing to have Anya (briefly) to take control in order to wind down the faction. That would allow us to RP the disengaging of the Pyre from the Protectorate, negotiations with the Republic etc.

It'll take no more than a month and then OP will vanish from the map and more things will be settled.

I know as an Admin I can't make a permanent faction commitment, but in order to close it down then I can do so.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Having spoken with Illie, what I'd like to see happen - and this was essentially the thought with Merge with the Republic - was that we would go mercenary again. OmegaPyre would take over so people could RP to help out the factions they wanted and if not could continue to RP. We would keep the Omega company sub to keep the cash flow going and essentially go back to what we were when we started out as a major faction.

The only difference being we aren't on the map. That's the simplest way to surmise the idea, but it would allow us to keep most of our tech and identity while just stripping ourselves from the map and the outside pressures it presents.

At this point the Protectorate exists to protect special interest projects and it's not presently capable of doing so.

Otherwise, Ayden has hit the nail on the head.

I'm going to oversee this transition to minor. But I'm not stringing it out over the next month or longer. That's just stupid. You've got plenty of time to do past RP once it's done.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"]
As you wish. Thank you, it's not going to be a fun task.

 

[Cira]

We don't have to rush into anything.

Let's see what everyone else thinks.

 

[Cira]

Also- I would like to use the event over the next month to transition for story.

Especially if people want to merge.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Also- I would like to use the event over the next month to transition for story.

Event last two weeks longer.

Once it's over, I'd like to have this settled. I'm not saying we drop tomorrow.

I'm just saying I don't want to drag it out should this go down.

 

[Artemis Vahl'Nyx]

Ya know, I've kept saying things like "We can stay major," "We're awesome," "We can get our activity back up," and I don't think I've really done anything to help. I brought Kronk (the alt who is made of thousands of NPCs brought to life) in for what, two dominions? Nyx and Ven stepped into a few faction threads for like, ten seconds. I've always been a fan of the Protectorate. Ever since I first joined the site. My issue hasn't been loving it. It's been showing that I love it. Part of me feels like the same goes for some of the others. We love the Protectorate. We love the stories that we've done, the friends we've made, the characters that were brought to life.

But when it comes to showing it...
For the longest time I've put side-characters into the Protectorate. Sure, Ven (my first ever Main) was in OP. Did I ever do anything with her here? A couple times. That's it though. The others were people I barely used or only ever had spurts of muse for. Modern Ven. Dr. Stormson. The 10,000 Kronks. And then there's Nyx here. She's my newest Main, a character I love perhaps more than I ever loved Ven. Yet I haven't thrown her into much of what the Protectorate is doing. She's popped in here. Sometimes there. But most of the time she's nowhere. I thought I'd get her going great with us. Really, I did. And then story happened and I found myself staring at the screen going "I don't even know anymore."

Do I know now? After... five-ish days of thinking? Nah. Not really. Knowing stuff hasn't ever really been my thing. Poking the keys on a piano in rhythmic and pleasant patterns is. If I could just write an epic theme song for the Protectorate and fix everything I would. I'd be working on it right now. Hell, I probably already have something I could use as a base for it. The damn thing would be epic! But writing us music isn't going to help. We've been avoiding this point for awhile now. We've been dwindling, falling, desperately trying to get some activity going again. Has it worked? Not really. We've only managed to delay the inevitable.

It's time those of us actually left move on to greener pastures. What does that mean? Do we go minor and see if that works out any better? Do we merge with our allies, the Republic? Or do we just let everything we built crumble?...

Obviously I'm not the person who should ask or answer these questions, being the semi-inactive (in general) teenager who is currently a part of the Republic (and is, therefore, quite biased). So honestly I'd take my opinion with a grain of salt (I messed that phrase up, didn't I?) and let the big dogs figure things out. If for some reason I was allowed to assist in the decision-making process...
Well, as previously noted, I'm with the Pubs. Having the Protectorate in some way, shape, or form become a sub-division of the GR would be fine with me. If we just wanted to give them our territory and reforge ourselves into a small mercenary group... I'd be fine with that to.

I guess I'd be fine with a lot of things.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

If a merger goes down we have to take the time to properly rp it to do this major faction justice.

I would much rather use the event, take our time to rp the nuances of changes so it makes sense.

Besides. The map maker in charge is more pro to merging more territory if we actually rp it out.

 

[Onrai]

I'd rather see this stay major, for the simple fact that it was the site's first non-canon-based major, a major with a completely unique basis, and a faction generally differentiated from much else going on. Heck, I'd step up to the plate and lead things...

If I knew I wasn't going to be dragged away Monty Python-style as a witch >_>

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Who will help me grow the faction, said the little red hen.
Not I, not I, not I.

Who will help me write the faction, said the little red hen.
Not I, not I, not I.

Who will help me defend the faction, said the little red hen.
Not I, not I, not I.

Who will LEAD the faction, said the little red hen.
MEMEMEME!

...nope. Not how it works. And that applies to me as much as anyone.

 

[Uriel]

So we played this game in skype chat a bit. I played devil's advocate-- what we're doing wrong, what could be our major downfalls, et cetera. I identified the fact that we have a very dedicated core of active writers, but that core isn't quite big enough to sustain us.What we're really lacking in otherwise is currently our major weakness. We don't quite have the same pull as we used to - we don't exactly play to our unique strength.

One thing I remember before OP was Major was the fact that we didn't just cater to Force-users. We played with armies, we had great tech, and our plotlines didn't just revolve around us dealing with the fun of the Force. That's what we've lost, recently. Sure, we have Force-users (that will be an irrevocable part of every faction of this board, trust me) - but we catered to non-Forcies better than any goddamn faction ever. It didn't matter if you were a Private surrounded by Masters - you had as much impact as everyone else. That rings less true in factions like the Republic (who are, as much as anyone else, Jedi-dominated) and the One Sith (sorta duh). It was a lot easier for a random to jump in. Even the Mandalorians are very Force-centric now, purely by accident.

So what we're going to do is keep chugging on.

We had a bit of a chat and there's a few of us willing to goddamn try. We have a plotline we're launching with some adaptable stuff so that we can cater to everyone. You'll see this rolled out thread by thread so that we can see where the interest is. If we end up going Minor, we'll have an organic plotline with which to do so. If we find the interest and stay Major, then we'll have a plotline to show the RPJs that we have the activity to do so.

I figure that as we go, we'll naturally work out a leader, or someone will step up. We have some people with real drive for OP and one of them can certainly do it. I'd volunteer, but tbh I don't have the time, and most of you know me well enough. 'nuff said on that one, really.

Here's the first thread. Post. If you want OP to stay Major, don't just say gormless crap in here. Show us. Post. Help us do this.

 

[Felicity Mason]

Yeah guys, if you think we have an honest chance here at making this faction work, stop discussing how much you -want- it to work and DO something. Like Uriel said, I posted a thread last night. This might be our last shot. I left it as vague as possible to let as many of you guys jump on board as possible. I want us to work, but it can only work if you step outside your comfort zone and help move the faction as a whole. Let's get it moving.
I have to say, so far I'm really disappointed. I left it up last night, and as of right now there are no new replies from anyone in that thread, OR in the Naboo invasion. Come on. We're better than this. What do I have to do to make you guys actually want to RP? It's the whole reason that we're here.

 

[Roth Tillian]

I'm working on replies to both. Just been really sick this past week.