What´s wrong with the official factions?

[Maedhros]

I´ve been thinking pretty much while reading the RP characters page and I must say that I´m a bit annoyed by all these "no faction" characters. To me it seems that almost every other character "comes from a far away island (or continent) and no one knows anything about his motivations etc etc"

Well, it´s your choice after all but I just wonder why it´s so hard to stick to the real factions? I mean, you can do a lot of customization within the factions, especially the ones which haven´t been roleplayed much.

I hope no one will be offended, I just wanted to tell you my opinion, and I´d be happy to hear yours as well

[Chancellor Erik]

Well, considering I used to Roleplay, I think I'm in a relatively good position to respond to this:

First off, I don't want my character to be associated with faction colors. A dark and scary rogue can't be seen as wearing white and red (just an example) in the eyes of fellow RPers.

Second, my character already belongs to my custom Lego faction. Why would I want to associate him with another one?

And third, its kind of the stereotypical hero/adventurer way. Not knowing where you were born of who your family was (or in some cases what you're fighting for, read my last post in the CCRP...back in July or August 2004).

[Formendacil]

An excellent question...

Technically speaking, most of those "no faction" people belong to one of two categories:

Category A is composed of extra-Dametreosians, like Sir Dractor, the Wanderer, Aiden and Kae-Os, or Sheath. These characters are an "no faction" in the meaning that they don't (at least at the time of registering) belong to a Dametreosian faction.

Category B is somewhat different. For the most part, these are wanderers or rogues who were obviously born from a Dametreosian faction, but no longer really belong to them. These people flit from faction to faction, not really belonging to any. Perhaps the best example would be Reno. Something to note about this category is the most of these No-Factioneers were registered in the early era of the Roleplay, when plots tended a lot more towards roving adventures. It's not for no reason that this is known as the Misfits Era.

As the Roleplay progressed and became more complex, the factions fleshed out, and as a natural progression of this, it has become a good deal more natural for one's characters to associate with their faction of birth. At the beginning of the Roleplay, this was somewhat more difficult due to a lot less knowledge/ideas about what each faction was like.

If you look in this topic of mine, you will see that the numbers of No Factioneers grew a great deal less slowly in the second half of the Roleplay (more or less) than in the first. 32 in the first compared with a mere 8 in the second.

~Michael A. Joosten - Gaming Moderator~

[Lord_Of_The_LEGO]

And excellent topic with excellent replies.

I just want to explain my characters. Looking at my member page (which is horribly out of date, like everyone else's, no thanks to me), I have:

2 Forestmen (Bjarn, Gonderin)
2 Crusaders (Shainya, Rosa)
3 Dragon Masters (Lord Void, Ajaxx, Japheth)
2 Black Falcons (The Lone Falcon, Vanderdious)
1 Bull (Gerrik)
1 Eastern Knight's Kingdomer (Viktor)
1 Fright Knight (Opal)
1 Wolfpack (Morgue)
1 Classic LEGOlander (Hans Lentawl)
2 Dark Foresters (Dale, Alice)

And 3 No Faction (Rodurik, Bourne, Elsa Byrd)

Now, I've been meaning to get this updated properly. This is what the list SHOULD look like:

4 Forestmen (Bjarn, Gonderin, Shainya, Rodurik)
1 Crusader (Rosa)
3 Dragon Masters (Lord Void, Ajaxx, Japheth)
2 Black Falcons (The Lone Falcon, Vanderdious)
1 Bull (Gerrik)
1 Eastern Knight's Kingdomer (Viktor)
1 Fright Knight (Opal)
1 Wolfpack (Morgue)
1 Classic LEGOlander (Hans Lentawl)
2 Dark Foresters (Dale, Alice)

And 2 No Faction (Bourne, Elsa Byrd)

That still leaves me with Bourne and Elsa Byrd. For Bourne I plea the Foriegner excuse. Bourne came from some distant land far, far away and therefore belongs to no Dametreosian faction. Elsa Byrd, on the other hand, is a bit tougher. She is a Dametreosian, but I honestly don't know which faction she should be. That's why I've listed her as "None/Unknown". If I roleplay her further, I might determine her faction, but right now I don't think she "fits" into any faction.

On a side note, I found it interesting to note what a wide range of characters I have. I've got a character in every faction except Ninja, Western Knight's Kingdomer, Shadow Knights, Royal Knights and the Black Knights (Though no Viking character is officially registered, I do have one). Hmm...I need to change that. Time to register some more characters....

[Sir Kohran]

Well, Jaythus van Hawkonus and Santis Rufusclaw are both Eastern Knights' Kingdomers, through and through. (on an off tooic note, I think I ought to make them more Easterer-ish. At the moment, they're both a bit lacking in personality )

As for Solesstorn, I admit that he is exactly what you're talking about: a strange traveller from across the seas. However, this is what I wanted him to be right from his creation back in April, before I even thought of joining the CCRP.

And about my two newest characters, Storm and Mikelen. Both of them are still technically Western Knights' Kingdomers, though they have since left that land, and Mikelen has probably been outlawerd for helping Storm leave.

Watch this space!