Voxumo wrote:I can understand the removal of the Regency, but I'd like to remind that the court guild did exist before the role of regent, so it's not like the court guild is tied to the role of regent. I mean before this announcement I had imagined that once Caitrin came to age, that staff would do something like what is done with the Order and Cardinal, where the true head figure of the guild is a npc, but there are two distinct GLs still in control of it.
FWIW, I hope the Court continues in some capacity, but I do really like the general idea of the City Council. Putting power in the hands of those that have power is something I've been wanting for a long time, and I think the Council is a way to expand on the presumed function of Court so long as people who want to play that type of character still have a means of doing it in the 'City Management' aspect. Comparing the Court to the Order isn't entirely comparable as the Order has a very specific function in-game that players are able to accomplish generally on their own. The Court's role has always been to organize and direct resources and responses while also being a place for nobles to hang out and rub elbows with.
The Council shift still does the second part of that, I think. Nobles can still meet up, and having codified policy allows more freedom in allowing people to make plans and influence the city. As a personal example, it was very difficult to have Farra do anything against-the-grain in the Court, which was ultimately dominated by a few people who always got their way. Which is fine and dandy, but it made having an undercurrent kind of lame and unappealing when it was literally impossible to have a minor impact on anything. When the Court GLs were the literal Rule of Law — disobeying Tomas or Margaux is literally treason — it suppressed people trying to do something different; if they said 'Put your resources into Defense' you had few options of doing something else. With a change-up, there's more room for wiggle, more room for Guild Leaders to do what they want, for nobles to do what they want, and to allow politicians room to really work against someone else. As I understand it, the "Seneschal" role will have very little actual power to do anything and is more a head-figure who should be trying to keep people working together rather than having the authority to -order- people to work together. I like that. I like the idea of Farra being able to be like 'You know what? I think defenses are fine, I'm going to invest my resources into improving relations.' I do worry about the predictability of the execution, after reading Kinaed's specifications, and would rather see a system that's a bit more chaotic and even still benefits more the odd-ball who goes off on their own, but that's mostly just me. I think having clear-cut and expected "9th place loses 20 points. 3rd place gain 5 points." will make things grow stale and predictive and would love it if more randomness was brought into the equation.
BUT, I don't think the Council addresses at all the other function Court had, of organize and direct. While it's all well-and-good to focus theme in on the city, just because there's a focus there shouldn't mean there's nothing elsewhere. The role of High Steward, as Margaux has played it, has in my opinion added a lot to the game, and I think removing the role, or making it be -a lot- more difficult to work with, is a bad thing. The same for things like Court Chamberlain as Ofelia has done it, along with other non-titled nobility in the Court who have always expressed an interest in working either on the forefront of city management or behind the scenes in soothing egos. I think there's plenty of room for a smaller, less powerful Court whose function is to try to work with the Seneschal to request outside aide when absolutely necessary, manage longer-term city projects, and keep city functions like balls, feasts, and other ST-events rolling and coordinating with Guilds to that effect.
Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic about the suggestions. I'm VERY concerned with the timeframe and wish we would start at a longer timeframe and scale it down if people want it, and I continue to really hope that those of us who like playing people who don't play as well with others have the ability to make a meaningful impact (and thus give people a reason to better work
against us!) to create a more chaotic and divided theme; I really worry that this'll just become a system of 'mail Council: vote for Defense this cycle. Next cycle vote for Religion. Next cycle vote for...' but I'm hopeful it'll be implemented in ways that remove the predictability or mundaneness of this.
