I decided toplay PS recently after a long hiatus. I have logged onto this game for a bit recently and have seen 30 to 45 players online at any given time.  It uses to be much higher years ago. Had this game's heyday come and gone and is it pretty much dead or is there an underlying problem and everyone will return shortly?  The problem I see is that this game is largely based on RP and the community bit currently it does not seem to have much of one. Is there hope?

LORE:  The End is just the Beginning

    "Masoj! They are going after the priests!"

    Masoj looks around.  An enemy archmage has finally managed to cast a powerful meteor shower on the fortress.  He knows the defenses will not hold for long.  He watches as the enemy pours through the gate below and makes their way through the stone corridors and onto the Southern Wall where the priests stand trapped.  He quickly lets out a couple fireballs, but the enemy is too many.

    "Masoj! Retreat to the tunnels! Save yourself! RETREAT!"

     Masoj wheels around and runs to the back of the fortress.  The ground rumbles as he sprints down the back stairs, pushing his way through the horde of retreating soldiers.  Finally he reaches the dungeon hole, the passage to the realm of caves and caverns, the realm Masoj had left only a few months ago.

    "Lord Teres.  What of the Council of the Phoenix?" Masoj asks the leader of the guild, holding the hidden door open for the soldiers to retreat.

     "We will hold them off as best we can to give you time to escape.  You must make haste.  This is not your day to die, Masoj; this is not your battle.  The Council of the Phoenix is destroyed along with everything we have fought for.  Remember what we have taught you, Masoj, and take it with you where ever you go.  Now hurry!"

    Masoj takes a step through the tunnel, knowing this will probably be the last time he will see the surface realm again.  It has been a great and majestic adventure, but everything that has a beginning also has an end. Weeks go by and the number of survivors wane.  Some decided to go back up a different root to the surface.  Others died in the perils of the dark.  The remaining make a steady course to a land known well to Masoj: His previous home.  They are heading for Yliakum.  At last they reach the land, but they are few in number.  They make for Hydlaa where Masoj is greeted with warm welcome after his long absence from this place.  The survivors decide to live a peaceful life, and a life of solitude and remembrance for those who they loved and are now gone.

    Playing with a stick in fire, Masoj remembers his promise to teach others of respect, honor, and leadership.  His promise to never forget what he has learned.  His old vow of protecting Yliakum still sits in his mind now that he has returned.  When the last smolders go out, Masoj stands up, knowing what he must do.  The Council of the Phoenix has passed.  The Flames of the Phoenix are now at hand.



Who We Are:

    We are the Flames of the Phoenix.  We will always stand together no matter the circumstances, for togetherwe are strong.  We try to protect our members from any threat that may come to them and actively seek out evil.  We are here to respond quickly to events that may unfold and provide assistance to those who ask of it.  We are a very close-knit community and will not break apart.  We look after the interest of our members and will put down any who try to harm them.  If you are not in the guild, do not expect us to help in your quarrels until you have gained our respect, for respect is important in this guild.

    Our guild does not have many ranks [each respective rank in each wing is equal to each other] and therefore everyone's word counts, even the lowest ranks.  It is due to this that every member can affect the guild, bring about changes, make suggestions, and evolve from lesser men into valiant leaders.

GUILD INFO

Alignment: Neutral-Good

                 We will always hold our fellow members above anyone else, but do not wish to cause harm onto others if they have not done so to us. We wish to help fight any evil and crime that threatens the land and in turn threatens us.

 

Recruiting: Yes

                We are actively recruiting, however there are limitations.   We will only recruit/accept others into the guild who show promise, hope, and potential to be good leaders and members.  [We will ONLY accept those who can Role-Play adequately and therefore will have to have a brief RP duel before being accepted.  This is HIGHLY enforced]

 

Goals:     We strive for a few things.  First and most importantly we look to protect our members from any harm that they did not rightfully instigate.  Therefore, if any threat rises we will do our best to take it down. We wish to teach new citizens to become great leaders so they can make a name for themselves in Yliakum.  We hold respect to the highest level and will not tolerate a lack of it from our members or outsiders.  We wish to help the other guilds in taking down threats, however we will wish to act quickly instead of waiting around for executive meetings.  We wish to create a guild where every member deserves equal respect to each other member regardless of rank, and therefore every member is important in our guild.  Ranks show experience, not worth of an individual.

RANKS

1)                                                       Lord of the Phoenix

2)            Wing of Insight                  Master of the Phoenix                 Wing of Weaponry

3)                          Head of the Phoenix                                Claw of the Phoenix

4)                          Flame of Insight                                       Flame of Weaponry

5)                          Ember of Insight                                      Ember of Weaponry

6)                                                       Heat of the Phoenix

RANK INFORMATION
First off, every guild member is considered equal of value regardless of rank.  A member's rank shows experience in the guild and in the the land of Yliakum, it does not reflect the worth of an individual.  If a Heat of the Phoenix is attacked, it will be treated equally as if the Lord of the Phoenix is attacked.  Each member is important to the guild!

 1) Lord of the Phoenix: The leader of the guild.  Looked up to by all and can overrule any decision made by the other members.

2) Master of the Phoenix: Can make executive decisions for the guild when the leader is not around [online].  Looked up to by all and only takes orders from the Lord of the Phoenix.  Has both intelligence of the world around him and experience in combat.

3) The Head and Claw of the Phoenix:  The Head of the Phoenix is the leader of the mages in the guild whereas the Claw is the leader of the melee combatants.  Note there can be multiple people with each title.  They are strong and knowlegeable and council the Lord and Master about the progress of each "wing" of the guild.  His word holds strong in making guild decisions.

4) The Flames of the respective wings are adept at their skills and know what they are doing.  They must prove leadership abilities and  attitudes as well as gain experience in the guild to move to the next rank.

 5) Embers are the beginners in the respective wings of the guild.  They are gaining knowlege about their specific wing and grow strong everyday.  They look up to the Flames in respect and aspire to either become a Head or Claw of the Phoenix. Experience in the guild is required to rank up from this rank to the Flames as well as skill,

6) Heat of the Phoenix: These members are the newest to the guild and may not necessarily be too strong.  They must choose a wing to join and begin training and learning about the guild.


We take Role-Playing seriously and any unnecessary OOC [except in guild chat] will not be tolerated lightly.

For more information please visit our site [i dont want to create a huge long post lol]"
www.freewebs.com/flamesphoenix

Just to get this straight, the difference between this guild and many guilds that say they are going to defend hydlaa from evil is that we plan on bringing the fight to their doorsteps.  We are actively going to chase down evil, hopefully before it strikes instead of waiting for it to come to us.

***note pls feel free to make comments, suggestions, and thoughts on the story in between my posts of the story of the time Masoj trains under Jurguth


Masoj Foret walks out of his house onto the dirt road to the edge of the Yirod Woods,  a medium sized forest with tall trees, mostly pines, that only blocked about one half to a third of the light shining down upon it leaving a nice layer of grass below.  Masoj is wearing some light leather armor, tan in color, and carries his sheathed axes on his hips.  He brings a backpack with lunch and dinner for that day and a notebook so he will not forget anything he is taught in it.  The road to the woods is long, but it is worth it thinks Masoj.  He knows that not many mages who try to become adept in two ways of magic find a master in his or her two ways.  Masoj does, and his name is Jorguth.

The sun is rising above Kloredell up the deep blue sky.  There is a slight wind, just enough to rustle the leaves in the trees and kick up some dust once in a while on the dirt road.

“How kind and forgiving will this Master be?” “How many students will be training with me for the next week?”  “Is this Master Jorguth even good, or is he one of evil?”

These are the questions Masoj asks himself as he walks along the path, kicking a stone around on the way.  Eager to meet his master and learn great magic from him, he picks his pace up to a jog.  Finally he reaches the edge of the woods.  He sees three other students waiting for Jorguth, who will start in about five minutes.  Masoj introduces himself to the other students, all around his age at 16.  Their names are Fluric, Dotriler, and Xajon.

At last a man appears out of the woods.  He is wearing a robe with images of purple flames emerging from the bottom and what appears to a phoenix spreading out on the back.  His has red eyes and stands about six feet, four inches tall, towering over the four of the trainees. 

“I am Master Jorguth.  I am an expert in both the red and azure fields of magic, yet concentrate higher in red.  For the time of your stay, I will be your master and you all shall be my apprentices.  I expect nothing but the highest respect for yourselves, each other, and most importantly for me.  Now follow me into the woods.”

The four students follow Jorguth into the woods.  They hear howling in the distance and rustling in the bushes.  They stay close to each other and to their master until they come to a stop.  Masoj looks around the clearing they are now in.  It is fairly small and has a human sized rock in the middle.

“This is where you will be staying for your stay.  You should appoint one of you to stand guard each night so the wolves won’t eat you in your sleep.  The students look at each other wearily.  Now let’s move on.  We have much to do and little time.  The more you pay attention and try, the more material we will cover and the more you will learn. Much of what we do will be in the forest, yet some will be outside on the edge so we don’t burn it down.”  The master grins. “I hope everyone has fulfilled their prerequisite to start this training.  I asked all of you to learn how to focus your energy in a sphere, a task you probably learned in your schooling. I want you to first focus on your red way magic, and then start to admit your azure way into the sphere.”

Each student holds out his hand.  As they concentrate their bodies start to gain a red glow and a redish orange sphere about a foot and a half in diameter appears hovering above each hand.  As each student focuses azure energy into the sphere, light translucent waves flow from their head to the sphere, which in turn starts to turn a deep purple.

“Good.”  Jorguth watches as the spheres disappear.  “I want you to focus your energy, both magics at the same time, into every spell you cast.  It will make it stronger and have better effects.  I will teach you on spell today.  Then I will allow you to scout the area and get a good sleep for a hard work tomorrow…and may just save your life tonight.”

Jorguth takes a step back and casts a shockwave emerging from all sides of him, knocking the students over, but not injuring them.

“That is a simple spell! Only a fool wouldn’t know that spell by now,” exclaims Dotriler.

Jorguth casts it again, except this time the shockwave only shoots out in the overly confident student, blasting him a few feet on his back.  “The shockwave spell is a simple azure spell that can be very useful in some sticky situations when alone.  However, it can become useful and versatile in groups when learned how to use it correctly, and strengthened with red magic.  Focus your mind on an object and block everything else from it.  Then cast your spell.”

Masoj tries the spell, focusing on the rock in the center of the clearing.  However, the shockwave emits from him in all directions, knocking everyone down.

“You have to block everything else from your mind and focus purely on your target.  And please don’t fire a strong wave so if you screw up again we only are forced a step back at most.”

Masoj tries again and is more successful.  A shockwave shoots forward to the rock and blows the grass around it down momentarily.  The other students cast the spell, and they all repeat it to get practices at it.

“Now, creatures around here are not very brilliant, but they are not dumb either.  They know that a shockwave won’t kill them and will still press on to eat you if hungry enough.  This time focus in your red magic in addition to azure.  This will create a shockwave with a small wall of fire on the edges, burning everything it blows over.  When you become stronger in your ways, you may create streams of fire emerging outwards as well within the shockwave.  However, if you concentrate too much of your red way in, you will just create a small harmless spark or flare. Most creatures around here will not tamper with you if you burn them.”

Xajon is the first to successfully cast the burning shockwave.  Within five minutes, there is no grass left around the rock.

“Well done.  The sun will set in two hours at most.  I highly suggest you map out the woods in the meantime and learn about each other.  Then, as soon as it is dark enough, I suggest you get to sleep quickly for the long day tomorrow.”

The students go together in a group and scout the area for an hour before returning to the clearing to wait the onset of the dark.  They speak and learn much about each other.  They decide to switch out the guard throughout the night.  Fluric volunteered to go first followed by Xajon, Jorguth, and then Masoj.

I am not sure whether I can/should use the updater or not.  I didn't think so but when I logged in it said to update.  Do is the updater safe and should I use it?

Hello fellow Guild Leaders and Representatives.  As you know times change, and with this change guilds must evolve and adapt.  Here is a place for you to tell how your guild is doing, changes that have occured since the start of your guilds and its current state of being.

[basically i've had this idea for a while now of just telling the public how your guild or organization has changed since its creation to give people an idea of where your guild is at and how it has changed in the past.]

Here is mine.

   Since the creation of the Dark Shadows guild, or DSG for short, over 1.5 years ago much has changed.  At first we gathered some strong members and made many friends.  We had a great understanding of our goal and a basic understanding of how to accomplish it.  I myself, being the leader, was looking forward to leading a group of great friends.  Together we learned how to better the guild and accopmlish it's goals.  Our allies and friends grew quickly.  Then however, the first 'wave' as I called it hit.  Many many members of the guild along with many friends I have met left Yliakum.  It was time to start building the guild up again.  Allies were changing, new friends were made as the old remained in memory.
   For  a few months, the guild was steady.  A rivalry arose among us and the Thieves of Yliakum.  Slowly members of the guild also left the land in search for another, but new people took their place. A couple members left to create new guilds.  We gained some strong dedicated members.  We met new allies with similar goals to us.  Our goals at the time became more relaxed and focused on helping others and having fun rather than protecting from evil vigilantly.  Our methods to gain rank in the guild also changed. The guild went through some ups and downs later on and started to go into inactiveness.
   I then came back and began to rebuild the guild.  Our allies and friends of old had left the land and new ones were found.  As our ranks grew so did our allies, but what grew the fastest was our network of friends.  Some change had happened.  The methods to gain rank were revised once again including the ranks themselves.  Our goals put more focused on protecting from evil.  Crafters became a large part of our guild as well.  Our allies were constantly changing in this period, but our network of friends never lessened.  This is the era we are in right now.  Recently, we voted to remove the sects in our guild structure, but leaving the divisions.  With great members and friends at our back, our future looks bright.

Hello

I think that, if it is at all possible, someone should reset the 'downtimes' of the quests so people can reget the ones they discarded or had problems with.  I know that people, including myself, have discarded quests becasue they overlapped others.  Another incident happening to people was crashing at key times during a quest so it then cannot be completed.  I am mainly talking about the BD area quests because it seems these are the ones that cannot be regotten.

1) There should be an option to use a tree-system for guild ranks.  What I mean is instead of having the usual 1 --> 2 --> 3....-->9 ranks, you could select an option to have ranks 1a, 2a, 3a, ... 9,  1b, 2b, 3b,...9 and 1c, 2c, 3c...9 .  Why? This would give some guilds a better structure.  You could have crafters have a different set of ranks than magicians and melee fighters.  If you try to do this now, each "tree" [ie. caster, fighter, crafter, etc] would only have about 2 ranks in each, which doesn't give a lot of diversity in who has more authority than who.

2) alliance chat window.  This would help so much.  Then in the permissions perhaps have a check off of who is allowed to use it.  It is very annoying trying to group with all of your allies when you want to speak with your whole alliance, and /tells just doesn't work.

***Masoj Hunett posts a piece of paper next to harnquist***
***It reads:

I was adventuring in my off time one day when I met a lady preparing an herbal mixture of some kind.  I asked her what it was, for I was curious, and she said it was to make her tree seedlings grow much faster so she could corner off a small section in the wilds as hers.  She said she learned it from her mother, who said that it originated from intelligent members of the Mystics, a guild who's members were supposedly knowlegeable about all of the surroundings and were very wealthy, but had died out a long time ago in a huge war.

I was interested in learning about this guild.  Perhaps they have some information that could help the sickest of people live and the most grievous wounds heal.  Perhaps they had magical weapons that could perform amazing feats.  I went to Jayose and he gave me a book written at around that time that talked about the Mystics guild.  It gave examples of some great work that they had accomplished and good they have performed.  It mentioned about their knowlege and treasure being locked away in their lair, but said not of where it was. 

I read on and found that the only way that a person during those times could have gotten into the guild was to follow a poem that lead to their home.  I myself am having a very hard time figuring it out and would like some help.  I am offering a reward to the first person/people who find the Mystic's lair.

The poem is:

From where Laanx's watch emerge
One must follow the water’s surge.
Travel Hydlaa with a mind of bold
The last Way, Mystic’s house unfold.

Backwards from earth one must go.
Backtrack fire maybe towards crystal’s flow.
Flow straight in the blank direction.
Straight through ice’s gush is your next revelation.
To find the Mystic house at length.
Reverse the azure sun, rest now and find your strength.

[pls contact me in-game only regarding this info  IGN: masoj hunett]