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A Story as Old as Time ....

They come from places both strange and familiar. From other lands of magic and war. Drawn here to play a role in a never ending struggle for supremacy. The natives know of them, soldiers will follow them, and kings and queens vie for their loyalty. Travelers the Grey Rider calls them, but truly what they are are heroes. Heroes culled from many dimensions and alternate planes. Heroes who can change the very flow and fabric of war.

The war for the five thrones has been going on for millennia and was once very nearly won…

Nearly two thousand years ago the Andals came into a land far stranger than their home land and set about to conquer the entirety of Cuiveinen in the name of their god, the Thorn King. They nearly quelled the non-humans, nearly controlled the great magics, and nearly broke all of the alters to pagan gods.

Eighty years ago, the great dragons Ancalagon and Jormungander invoked their enormous will and destroyed a powerful cabal of magicians who had found a way to harness magic so vast it would have ravaged the world.

This was the chance the rebellion needed.

It began in the deep southern desert of Andus, it would flow into Raeyithia and into the hearts of the fey, it would find power and determination among the men of the North, and finally the Thorn King would fall to the great bows of Emlyn. The non-humans would reclaim their ancestral homes and demand their rights.

It’s been seventy years since the rebellion, but the five kingdoms struggle with internal conflict as ancient ways compete with new traditions . The Thorn King has left a legacy of distrust and discordance. And his followers ever whisper in shadows …

As of July 2024, RPCSS and Estates will not be active. Any information found in the wiki regarding holding estates and playing within the RPCSS system is archived and should not be used towards the current era of Sanctuary.

Table Top War Gaming not PvP

Aquire land, recruit spies, muster armies, establish alliances and navigate a world of conflict and politics.

The complexities of feudal estates and their virtual armies and are best managed by an online webbased tabletop war gaming system, that we call RPCSS, where each Estate Owner has private control over his or her armies, spies, and treasury.

PvP is not a realistic solution for such a storyline.

In fact, there is little PvP on our shard, and we do not feel that it is an accurate nor fair method for the settlement of battles between armies. A medieval army is not few a brutes duking it out in the street, but rather hundreds if not thousands of soldiers following the commands of a general who is skilled in both politics and tactics.

Our custom written RPCSS system manages all of those details both fairly and efficently. Every week, like clock work, the outcome of battles, army movements, soldier recruitment, taxes, up keep, saleries, and much more, is handled by the system -- freeing seers to support the kingdoms and players rather then waste their time playing accountant.

From the Players

RPCSS requires players to cooperate on a Kingdom level to be of any use. Of course, a player could still decide to ignore everything and focus on growing their own land but then he could get shit from the other Lords & King/Queen which drives more RP integration/interaction. Nothing prevents betrayal, playing a double agent, ignoring orders, attack allies or whatever. It is encouraged by the kingdom rulers to act unified but nothing prevent divergeant RPs to my knowledge as long as the player is OK with consequences.

I don't care how good you are in PVP, you are not an army unto yourself, you can not affect realm wide politics. That's so simple minded. But, it's a common theme amongst kids and online gamers. No thought to strategy or the greater world around them. Just what they want personally. As if the planet revolves around them.

RPCSS and the conflict are your oportunity to, as a player, generate a significant world-wide impact. This is the shard's greatest differential and has unlimited potential for providing an exciting, unpredictable and interactive environment.

Coming from another shard where the storyline was deceided by staff, this is better because we can feel the results of our decisions affect the world. This can make us to think more than just follow the crowd. The political alliences and land ownership truely change and thus change the perpective on the game.

Advice to New Players

The fiction of this world should feel familiar. It is taken from many popular medieval fantasy sources including Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Conan, Narnia and similiar. However, most new players begin with a character called a Traveler ... as in a traveler from another dimension or plane of existance. While we will accept any reasonable medieval fantasy race it is our intention that you will participate in the storyline -- leading armies and playing politics. Even if this isn't your cup of tea, we strongly encourage you to have at least one character who can and will participate. The shard plot line, and all of the seers, are focused on this player run story.