What three things make you a good faction owner?
The tough questions are always the ones directed at identifying strength for me - but I'll do my best. First, I have experience - be it on other boards such as Chronicles, Vaerik, Game of Thrones, or any number of roleplaying sites I have over 10 years of experience running RP stories with others, writing characters, and helping to administrate entire websites. It's given me the diplomatic sensabilities to have tough conversations, the writing skill to back up creative ideas I have, and a vast sensibility for what could be considered 'right' choices in the moment.
Second, I am well connected. Be it to the various other faction owners on the board, innumerable writers to come to me for both advice and threads, or the staff I speak to daily; I have a great many people that I both trust and that trust me in playing into this hobby we all collectively share. Notably it comes in handy in traversing the complicated world of OOC politics, helping to set up threads and ideas with other groups, and otherwise getting the 'dig' on things going down long before they happen.
Third, I'm very open minded. Besides what lore has been set down, much of this has been left to the imagination of its people; what everyone in the faction wants to see, what they want to do, and how they intend to go about it. At the end of the day the position of owner isn't a grab at pride or a position of authority as much as it is subjecting oneself to the duty that is the overall group. I have a full and well rounded understanding of the tribulations that come with such and fully intend to hold myself accountable to the whims of the group.
What are your plans for the faction going forward?
Expanding upon our current lore is is a large priority, to help people understand the position we are currently in and where we intend to go. It's come up previously confusion on how it all has gone down, so bringing that to the forefront of everyone's understanding is paramount in continued success for the faction as a whole. While that is the primary goal for myself at present, the concurrent goal is to bring storylines people enjoy into the mix.
Narratively, I hope to see the Empire-In-Exile begin to work on the manipulation factors we loved to read about from the Bane to Sidious era, with a tight cast of characters to back it up. For the time being, I want us to expand our IC reach, speak to the up and coming groups about cohesive narratives we can make regarding this - along with political maneuvering with larger groups such as the Galactic Alliance, until we can eventually have the IC rationale, and the OOC energy to bring ourselves back to the position of Major.
Once Major, then we simply reestablish galactic dominance, of course.
What are some narrative ideas you want to bring to the board?
While I have already mentioned the political manipulation aspect as something I love to see, one thing I think many people missed from the old Sith Days was actually the infighting. For the last few years we have had a very cohesive Sith Order who has not so much as attempted a coup let alone fought between one another. While many have seen this as a boon,, I want to bring back the days of Sith being ambitious for ambitions sake.
I want cool threads involving the collective ambushing of an Emperor or Dark Council member in the hopes of replacing them with someone younger and more powerful. Undermining one another in secret to ensure a marriage goes in the direction one wants - aligning one self into political blocs specifically to bring back feudalistic tendencies, and more. Having the ability to compete with one another is idealic to what it is to be Sith, and the narratives we can run with such would be outstanding.
Will your character be Dark Lord IC? How will you handle eventual conflicts between IC and OOC leadership?
Currently, I am the primary (and presently only) writer of the Worm Emperor. Mysterious, unknowable, and downright terrifying - he is a great NPC to write and one I enjoy profusely; however, with that said,, I have no intentions of keeping him. The whole goal from the very beginning was to see the Worm be killed by another Sith who should earn his title, his power, and move forward accordingly. While there are strengths in having him as an NPC not controlled by any single individual, I would rather reward writers for pushing a narrative like that with the position and title than restrict them from such.
Not to mention, it's cool to have a story about how you usurped the previous Dark Lord of the Sith to gain the new mantle.
As far as my PC's, none of them are necessarily close to taking on the Worm Emperor, and I have no intentions of writing a duel between my NPC and my PC. While someday I would like to see Maliphant rise to the rank of Dark Lord of the Sith, at present I will not have him do such while the Worm is in charge, but rather when another person takes over and I have the fun of writing cohesively with another.
That being said, the secret knowledge and the power of the Worm is something I've kept reasonably close to my chest. For anyone who becomes the next Dark Lord, I hope to help guide them with the narrative we have crafted around the Worm, the Ritual to take his mantle, and the powers that one would gain from such. Even without having the Worm, I would love to help the next Emperor fit their throne comfortably.
We are not the only Sith faction on the board. How will you bring new members to our faction?
A tough question, especially considering the competition is steep. The primary contender would likely be the Maw and the New Sith Order; who have great storylines, great connectiosn with the NIO, AC, and GA, along with a wonderful aesthetic. I hope to match them in at least some of these regards - but the true strength of where we will build ourselves is in the differences one might want from the groups.
While the NSO is much more Bainite and secretive, the Empire-In-Exile will be a fuedal empire in the shadows. Imperialistic, all consuming, large and waiting for the right Sith to grab it by the reigns and lead it to the next era of their evolution. Many have wanted the TSE to create a number of subgroups, attempt to compete with every faction for all their writers, but I simply don't see it as realistic nor a good idea.
A mile wide and an inch deep isn't something I want us to become. I would prefer we wouldn't create yet another Mandalorian sub faction in the hopes of bringing mando's to our group, nor would I want us to bring tons of focus on NFU characters - who have much greater opportunities elsewhere. I don't want it to seem like I am against these characters joining, only that I believe we should play to the strengths of our group - and that is as the Empire-In-Exile, the Sith Eternals bound to their singular goal of righting the Force, spreading their cult like religion to all that would have them, and using it's zealotry as a means to an end.
I want us to be the pool who knows no bottom, so that when the Sith who join us want to be Sith, they have no end to the stories they can write; and as we expand in writers, and in narratives, we slowly encompass more focuses into our overall narrative designs.
I hope that answers all your questions well!
