Possible RP Server (Religious Wars)

[FatherMcGnutty]

So, I am currently running a private server that I am considering opening up to the public. This is/would be a role playing server, in which aside from the class each person chooses in-game, each character would also be expected to choose a "religion" based on the in-game lore. Bear with me because not every little detail of this idea has been perfectly fleshed out, and I am more or less just getting a gauge on how many people would be interested in this idea in general,  but the basic rundown is this--

There are 2 main factions of players. The first we'll refer to as "Falxians", who believe more or less than Jonas Falx was/is the living embodiment of God in our world. Falxians believe that everything Jonas Falx did and everything he invented was inspired by the one true God, who granted him the special ability for invention to endow the world with the tools necessary to defeat the evil dimensional forces just beyond the fabric and space and time, which first manifested as "the rot". Falxians believe that temporal rifts, and the rust dimension are literally hell. They believe Jonas Falx is not only the one true savior, but is also still alive somewhere, waiting for his followers to locate him so that they can transcend with him to another, more peaceful dimension (the direct inverse of the rust world) in which they can live with him and his creations eternally forever. All non-believers will be left behind in the current world to fight and likely die as the world becomes less stable and eventually is overtaken by the rust dimension. 

Opposite of Falxians would be those who believe that the rot, Rust dimension and all the creatures therein are, in fact, God revealing himself and punishing a previously wicked world. We'll call them "Rustafarians". The Rustafarians not only believe that the previous plague and the constant dimensional rifts that occur are God punishing them, but they also hate Jonas Falx for attempting to reverse God's plan by curing the rot. They believe Jonas Falx was actually Satan. They believe that were it not for Satan (Jonas Falx), they would have perished in the rot too, and would now be living in God's heaven dimension. Since Jonas Falx challenged God, God punished the world even further by opening the rust dimension and creating temporal instability for those who remain. Rustafarians believe that the mere existence of Falxians is a mockery of God, and that their only purpose now is to finish God's plan by killing off the remaining Falxians, and then committing ritualistic suicide afterwards to recieve God's ultimate reward for doing his bidding. 

Of course there would be room for any and all other religious analogues in the server with their own backstory and reasons for fighting in the war, I just haven't thought of them yet. 

Anyway, this would more or less be a PVP situation, where Falxians and Rustafarians typically kill each other on sight, and destroy (aka grief) each other's churches and monuments. There of course would be the ability to claim certain sections of lands in the name of either religion, making these specific areas "grief proof", but the majority of the world would be open and therefore fair game to build up and conquer. Kind of like how these things work out IRL. 

Anyway, that's an extremely rough idea, and I'm sure there's a lot of holes in it. Feel free to tell me this is the dumbest idea ever, or if you like it maybe throw some suggestions for the general rules of engagement/useful MODS to implement/ideal world settings/etc. If enough people are interested in playing in this particular way, I'll host it 24/7. 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Temporal Christ said:

Feel free to tell me this is the dumbest idea ever, or if you like it maybe throw some suggestions for the general rules of engagement/useful MODS to implement/ideal world settings/etc.

I don't usually comment in this part of the forums, however...I think what you've got here is either going to be an interesting success or one of the world's fastest dumpster fires. The concepts you've presented are interesting, and solid regarding the lore--no problems there. However, the hazard of getting into religious themes is that it tends to be a rather polarizing topic(similar to politics) and can devolve rather quickly into heated arguments outside of the game. Doesn't matter if the religious themes are tied to any real world religion, or completely made up for the setting--in the case of the latter there's always someone to start an argument with a real world comparison. And given that Vintage Story's setting is(or was) real world medieval times, there's not really any way to avoid real world religious references if you're going to stick to the game's lore instead of writing your own setting.

I'm not saying you shouldn't attempt this server idea, mind you; I'm saying the main hurdle I see is dealing with all the drama that will inevitably stem from running with the theme. That being said, if you're up to the challenge and can keep a lid on the drama, I think the idea will do well.

[FatherMcGnutty]

19 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

I don't usually comment in this part of the forums, however...I think what you've got here is either going to be an interesting success or one of the world's fastest dumpster fires. The concepts you've presented are interesting, and solid regarding the lore--no problems there. However, the hazard of getting into religious themes is that it tends to be a rather polarizing topic(similar to politics) and can devolve rather quickly into heated arguments outside of the game. Doesn't matter if the religious themes are tied to any real world religion, or completely made up for the setting--in the case of the latter there's always someone to start an argument with a real world comparison. And given that Vintage Story's setting is(or was) real world medieval times, there's not really any way to avoid real world religious references if you're going to stick to the game's lore instead of writing your own setting.

I'm not saying you shouldn't attempt this server idea, mind you; I'm saying the main hurdle I see is dealing with all the drama that will inevitably stem from running with the theme. That being said, if you're up to the challenge and can keep a lid on the drama, I think the idea will do well.

This is kind of why I want to do it. I guess I'm in the minority on this, but an online "dumpster fire" in which people flame each other over their beliefs, fictitious or not, doesn't particularly bother me or scare me. This is only a video game, after all. Like it or not, people have disagreements and actually do hate each other in real life over their spiritual beliefs, so if they have an opportunity to relieve that sort of energy in a non-violent way by acting it out virtually in a video game, then there's no real harm in my opinion. Keep in mind, My idea is to specifically make up the religions people play as, not make make a server in which people fight or argue over real world beliefs, such as Christianity or Judaism.

Now, I do understand your point, in that people would possibly use the fictitious religions as a stand-in for their own actual personal beliefs, and begin flaming each other on that sort of real personal level. I would not condone that, nor would I find it interesting. In fact, I think it would be fairly easy to circumvent that sort of behaviour-- Any player who disparages any actual, real world religion is banned. There would be no Christians, no Muslims, and no Jewish characters in the world at all, so to bring any of that sort of thing up would be antithetical to the role everybody is playing anyway. Now, it would be hard to control what people do outside of the context of playing in the server, but then again i'm not sure it's my or anybody's place to police or worry about that. In the end, this to me it is just an interesting way to play in that it would add some extra weight to each action and choice the player makes, in such a way that there could be correlations drawn to the real world, but in the end is still just a video game. It is big boy game, so I think adults should be able to handle big boy themes without getting out of control, or having it bleed into the real world. 

[Azi Karnage]

I think my Buddhist fantasy based nation could beat em both