It's a nice, promising beginning but I do spot some inconsistencies in your thread:


Wanna throw a prank on the guards? Why not!    <=>    Dont disrespect a guard or anyone else


Never back down a duel        <=>       Never duel in any cities no matter what. Take it outside the walls


Might want to fix those and avoid confusing people. Then maybe one other suggestion, mention something in your goals about actually worshipping Talad. For example regular gatherings/masses,  required daily prayers, an altar, anything to add more religion to the guild would be nice. Talad is about helping people and getting along but he's still a god so he likes worship.

Blue: The amount of progression points you posses.
Yellow: The part that you need to train with a trainer. You'll need at least an equally long blue bar to fill it up and enough tria.
Red: The part that you need to gain through practical experience. For mining it means going out there and mine.
Green: The part that you have currently learned, either from a trainer or from practical experience. If the bar is completely green you level up.

Skills all require theoretical training from that skill's trainer (NPC) and then some practice where you use that skill. Stats only require theoretical training.

You have a one button mouse by any chance?

Go to your options, mouse tab and try switching the controls for 'context menu' and 'entity select' then try again. The button you have behind 'entity select' should allow you to pick up and move items around in your inventory and into other windows.

how is it we are all still in the dark that we are actually living inside of a very small space

The gas can be diffused through the soil or crystal or vented through the many caverns that eventually connect to the upper world. Ventilation through a network of cracks, caves and whatnot also arises. A portion of it is caught in the rain and brought back down to the surface of Yliakum to keep the soil fertile.

Some more intelligent and influential Yliakeans do know we're inside a stalagtite of sorts, the general population is just oblivious to this. Also keep in mind that the space isn't that small from our character's point of view. In the middle ages people's world was also small compared to current knowledge but they just didn't have any means to communicate or travel further away.

Digging below the first level is strictly regulated by the Octarchy and forbidden most of the time. The first level is above the cave-level, where the stalagtite is still connected to the rocks that make up the cave so digging there won't easily lead you to the cavern.

The surface world would be far, far away .. without doubt several times the distance of Yliakum's 8 levels. Nobody is swimming that far upstream without tiring. They'd get tired and be flushed down again if there is a lack of resting places out of the water. Underground rivers also tend to be ice cold causing undercooling and I wouldn't recommend swimming in them for anyone. Following the water down will result into a long joyride to your death.

Basically the proportions are huge enough for nobody to bother finding out, there are more worrisome things happening inside the stalagtite and those that do know may want to keep a lid on it to prevent mass hysteria?

• The most efficient and most widely shared "underground" concept of consistent role playing (underground, since it's not supported by the developers or moderators in any way, because there is not a notion of what consistent role playing is in PlaneShift) includes ignoring parts of the game system. That's right. If you go in-game and meet players who are either used to role playing or who are widely (community wise, of course) considered to be consistent role players you'll notice that they ignore some game mechanics (the fighting system for example), rather than using them in their play. This obviously creates sources of tension between players that rightfully want to make use of the game mechanics. Everyone has probably given their opinion as to why they do what they do, but they won't know if the developers are actually going to do anything about it;

That is probably one of the more essential points of your whole critique. Until the game's mechanics can suit the roleplayer's need for diversity instead of a grind based system there will always be a gap between RP and leveling.

In my opinion both the RP community and the developers could make a greater effort to level the field in this area. Since I'm sure the devs have heard everything they're doing 'wrong' on numerous occasions I'll focus on us here for a moment.

What can we as the community do to make sure the mechanics connect with our roleplay more?

The answer is obvious but apparently not so easy. Start using the mechanics in our roleplay. Here I'm thinking of the most 'in-my-face' neglect of our community: mage characters. How many of you who have magic wielding characters have RPed a spell or magic ability that doesn't exist within the mechanics? I think it's pretty safe to assume that about 90% have .. without even having to take a poll. So is it really that hard to stick to the spells that the Developers create for us? Do we really have to shoot bolts of lightning across hundreds of meters or enslave people's minds with an evil stare? :P Personally I've only rarely played a mage but I found it fun and challenging to limit myself to spells he actually has the glyphs for. Especially when the RP is enriched by actually casting those spells at eachother.

Sure you can't work out your deepest fantasies in every detail but sticking to the rules (read: mechanics) avoids things of getting out of hand, people accusing eachother of godmodding and whatnot.

So why not use some game mechanics more often in our roleplay? Especially when the mechanics are decently developed, which is the case with the magic system for example .. when seen separate from the overpowered combat system and ignoring temporary bugs.

This just seems an excuse to troll people and say it's IC, even if it's trolling trolls ... you don't put out a fire by starting an even bigger fire.

I'd say if they have died and people know about it a successor will be elected .. so they better make it back to the realm of the living before that successor is appointed. Of course if you're going to kill a vigesimi, you better do it right the first time and make sure this can't happen.

You make a good point though, settings will need to come up with an answer for situations like this.

The less difference there is between NPC and player characters the better!

As for the voting .. keep in mind that Vigesimi is a hereditary position and also a lifelong one. Elections occur and I wouldn't mind seeing one here but monthly or regular elections make no sense with the current settings. Also keep in mind that in a world like Yliakum there would be a lot of corruption, manipulation and cheating going on in any election. If we have a vote I'd like to see illegal options to increase one's chance to win.