I have similar concerns over the name "Black Star" kind of overlaps with the "Star Army" and the "Black Claw" and as Zack mentioned, there's already a faction that uses a black star, which is Nepleslia. Side note: And I wouldn't suggest a red star either because it's so connected with IRL communism. I spoke with Arieg about that the other day.
...
But also I'm worried about the site being big enough to support all these new factions springing up, as the overall amount of players hasn't really grown since the time when there were only a few factions around. Balkanization of the plots, I worry, is trapping characters in factions where they can't easily leave a plot when they end or die out, like what happened with the Neshaten, and players are creating more characters in general, so they can put a foot in each faction, causing more posting responsibilities, which in turn may lead to burnout.
I think great factions great because they can work out their problems instead of everyone splitting off to do their own thing, thinking they can do better...because the endgame of that sort of thinking is everyone running their own little faction, factions that are weak because they don't have a sufficient amount of people running their workings. It's a classic "too many chiefs, not enough indians," scenario. And those type of factions in SARP have a proven history of dying as soon as the core creators become inactive (Abwehrans, UOC, Neshaten, Freespacers, Iroma, etc). Factions ending isn't necessarily bad if their story has been told and the RP was fun and has a conclusion, but in these examples they had players abandoned in the middle of unfinished RPs.
I would like to address this concern directly and as politely as possible, since it's a concern that I feel that this website shares communally; it's not just Wes. Over the past few days, I have been half parts infuriated, and half parts mortified, at the reaction to what I might as well just confirm is #Nepexit, to reach the hip, culturally-now folk.
First, there's an assumption in what you just wrote; it's the assumption that the website as it currently stands isn't divided into these Balkan states already. The mainchat is the haunt of the USO Organization and they have made that their vetting ground for new players. From what I have gathered over several months of observation, this is why most of us stay away from it, in third party channels like the Skype channels I keep active for my plots, Junpu and Scythe. It's impossible to exist for such extreme lengths of time in one place, and not have a few people that you don't like, or who don't like you, and lately it feels as though there's been no mercy, no courtesy, and no quarter given. That's why I stay out of the Mainchat, and that's how those states form behind the scenes.
Second, this is not a weak faction. We are approximately 12-14 strong, if the roll call is to be believed. History revisionists - lets' just be blunt here, they exist on this website and don't know what they're talking about and the term is scarily accurate - love to try to downplay the stuff we've done, the ability we had, and the players we're entertaining, but any objective observation would reveal that it's all a complete load. Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, we
were Nepleslia. That Ten-year long faction you're talking about here was us. What you're looking at, now, when you stare at the Nepleslia faction subforum, is a new faction with new players and new leadership, and you have elected to keep it that way, which is your decision. Nepleslia, right now, wants to bring in the fresh air, the new players, the rest of it - and we say, fine. But we don't want that, didn't want that, wanted our vision of it to stay, and we lost. Again, fine.
But that doesn't mean that we're quitting the website, throwing in the towel, or that we're ever going to go back to being led by people who purposefully undervalued and demonized us.
I admit wrongdoing in spearheading the effort to exit Nepleslia. But my wrongdoing is in not letting the other people with more investment stand up first and write that vitrol for themselves. I only joined this last year, but Cadet has been around far longer, and for a long time he was the only running plot in Nepleslia. People who say otherwise are frankly lying through their teeth, or trying to simply repeat something often enough that the new players and the impressionable believe it like gospel. It's a patented, tried and true method to screw with people, and well, it's worked. Look at how dedicated they happen to be.
As far as the BSA goes, it's difficult to describe the feeling of liberation that I got when, finally, you shared your final ruling - it's over. It's dead. It's done. No more fighting, no more politics, no more kowtowing. The BSA is our faction. It's not a balkanization, it's us finally getting the chance to write our visions, and have them both used and respected, and I would highly appreciate it if people would quit spreading this idea that we're out to screw all other factions.
If we wanted to screw other factions we'd have specifically made our own starmap and placed it so far off the map that we might as well have been the north, east, or southern version of USO.
We are not that. Rather, we enjoy the setting, enjoy Yamatai - I was, and still am, a Yamataian GM. We enjoyed Nepleslia. Between Cadet and I, we've a long history of interacting with almost every single setting element on this website, and trust me when I say that we've enjoyed them. We love the little third parties. I am super in love with the Gartagens, and the Vekimen have a lot of promise. Rather than balkanizing and saying "we refuse we refuse" to interact with everyone, by contrast what we want to do is we want to take the best of what we've seen, from Yamatai, from Nepleslia, from all of these other factions, and we want to make our own story with it.
I have been on this website since 06, and when we quit Nepleslia, I realized something; for
eleven years, I have wanted to make my own mark on this website, somehow. I have been a player through some of the hardest times of my life. I've been on this website longer than I've been in the service, and through two stints at college. This 'clique' that people are so derisive of - these are my friends, my confidants, and my internet family. I will accept no derision, no condecision, from people who have no idea what we've done or written, who can frankly can't, not even to themselves, objectively justify the urge to make claims as though our activity, our ideas, are bad for the website.
Of all the people on this website, we are the least that you have to worry about, and the faction that we create is not something that we have spontaneously decided upon 'around a couple of beers', as the saying goes. We love your website, and we want to be a well recognized part of it, and I think that's one of the highest forms of flattery that anyone, individually or communally, can offer. I realize, Wes, that you might be wary of another UOC or any of the factions that you have mentioned, but it's our intention not to go so far out on the fringe that it will be impossible for character travel to happen. We're not building a wall, here.
I wanted to make that plain to you and to everyone reading this - that's why I signed on with this concept, this idea, and why I'm in wholehearted support of it, enough that I put my face out there as the person delivering that message.
