I have to admit that Minuteman is not the best title for the rank. I myself don't like it, but couldn't think of anything else (I know that isn't a very good excuse). I am, however, looking to renew and edit The Brigade a bit as soon as I get the time away from RL. Your concern is taken into account and I will address that, hopefully this weekend.

As for others, thank you for your support and comments.

Lastly (and I wish I really didn't have to say this) I have noticed how...heated the forums have gotten, especially the guild forums. Some of the blame can be given to me, rightfully so. However, I ask that all replies here on The Brigade's post stay relevant to the guild as much as possible and are not viewed/intended as attacks against the guild or another poster*. I will get this thread locked if I see it heading in that direction. Thank you.

(*I'm not saying there have been posts intended as attacks on this thread yet, I am just giving a warning as to not fall victim to the same sort of arguments other guild threads have)

I think it is important to have the OSP to help fill in the gaps of the game with players rather than npcs and GMs. However, to answer the question from a personal perspective I am not ready for another contest. Now I'm not saying that others might not be ready, but I am saying that if there were to be a OSP contest I would not have my guild put forth an area for sponsorship, despite my interest in it. The reason being, I am still organizing a project of my own and having a hard enough time with that as it is. Perhaps in some months time I, and my guild, would be ready for such a responsibility. But right now it is not realistically possible for The Brigade and I wouldn't think for one minute I could pull it off.

With that answer I would also like to comment on some of the things said in the previous posts, hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread too much .

I would have to agree with the player population and the numbers of players who are willing to actually make an attempt to RP and follow settings. I would second (or third) Aiwendil's post about the amount of work needed and the amount of work hands willing to do it (although I can't say too much because I haven't volunteered the most time to the Den, hopefully I can do so more in the future  ). But I noticed in their previous event (the fashion parade) they had to use multiple characters from one player to fulfill the staff required for such an event. Also the audience, although significant at the beginning, was only a handful of people at the end. So the amount of players willing to contribute to an OSP event and the players willing to use a OSP resource doesn't really justify another one at the moment.

But I would like to say something about the direction the Stonehead has taken. I think it is a fantastic way of contributing to the RP environment in a (for lack of a better term) less demanding way. I would encourage those who have voted 'yes' and have a project they want to start, first take the path the Stonehead has. It's still a lot of work but you won't be held to the same standards and requirements an OSP project will and gives you an opportunity to show the community your plans and commitment.

I think we will need OSP projects, 'Vigesimi' sponsored projects, and regular players holding events/projects to fill in the gaps in the game world. I think player run everything could be the best thing ever if players are responsible. But I think it needs to be a gradual transition, replacing npcs with players in small amounts over a longer duration. Think about it, there is probably as many npcs (not including monsters) in the game than there are players on most of the time. Most jobs in Yliakum are probably already covered by two or three npcs at least (however getting rid of them would be tricky because of how training works right now).

Right now there is a lot of unused space in Yliakum right now. Hydlaa alone has lots of building I could see as being something like the Den or other player run business/establishment. Perhaps instead of having another OSP contest buildings that are around the plaza should be auctioned off to groups of players who have put forth some sort of project they would like to have a building for. Although I can see this seriously back firing, I think if these are auctioned off to people that have shown they are responsible it could work. Perhaps these buildings could always be left unlocked and serve as various buildings you would find around towns: Inns, taverns, shops, etc. (But this would require some work for the devs too, by making different types of insides of buildings)

Although I've almost certainly swayed from the original topic of the thread I hope my post was worth something to someone, even if it is just a congrats for reading the lengthy reply.

Well I don't know much about Sapere Magi or Hokyba da Ojaveda, so my comments are just on what you have said in this thread so far.

Now it's great to help out the newbies and all, and I understand you won't just be giving them advice, but perhaps it is better to have a solid IC reason. Since this will be on Laanx I would think it would be necessary to have some sort of RP as background. Perhaps if you provided what ideas you had for it so far then more people would be inclined to join.

I hate to be the center of attention all the time, but I'll bring up something I did for my guild; Before it was even created I made a post on the guild forums here about it. I provided IC goals and requirements as well as OOC ones. Now I'm not saying that that is the best way to do it and I did it 100% perfect (because I didn't by a long shot). But I think if people see what the guild is about and what it's purpose is then they can see if their character(s) fit in with it. And if you do a real good job with your post then they may even be more eager to help you and your project.

Remember, a guild isn't just about getting 20k, five people, and a name. What kind of IC purpose will your guild serve? Perhaps you could share some of the details (even if you haven't gotten everything ironed out) as to what you have planned. Then people will see if it's something interesting they want to be involved in.

I'm pretty sure all races have the same year/cycle. Although I've seen a lot of people say their character is X number of "human years". To me this doesn't make sense (in the RL dog example as well) because all the races live under the same crystal and the world experiences years the same way.

The reason (I think  ) why we have dog years versus human years is to simply convert it easily and understand what ages are to different species of animals. For instance, in your example (and I don't know too much about dog's ages too be honest) perhaps a human lives 7 times longer than a dog. For that reason it is necessary to say that a dog ages 7 times a year where as a human get older only be one year.

The Brigade has gone through some big steps the last couple days. First off is we have decided to keep the name of the guild to The Brigade. For better or worse that will remain the name in the foreseeable future. As of now we do not intend to change it anymore, however I do refer to the guild sometimes as Yliakum's militia and The Domes Defenders.

Another important resource I have set up are the guild forums. Found here http://thebrigade.myfreeforum.org/ I welcome anyone who wishes to interact with us register there. Please feel free to look around at what I have set up so far, but again I ask you to be patient as it is still a work in progress. I also ask that you hold off on posting for the time being.

Now I'm going to release some more information on things I have been working on. Two things; one directly related info, the other is a subgroup I hope for The Brigade to establish in the future.

First, I have added some minor things on how troops start and end conversations with each other. These are formal greetings to sound more official and pay each other IC respect (we are a military organization). It involves a /salute or a /bow command depending on the ranks and situation. It is detailed on the forums and I hope to add it to the IC hierarchy system I will establish. Other things I have been working on are uniforms (will begin working with a tailor IG soon) and nicknames. I also plan on coming up with a war cry, chant, and standing orders.

Secondly, I'd like to address an organization that The Brigade will be sponsoring in the near future. This will be known as 'Citizens Watch' and will contain both Brigade members and non-Brigade members. Its objective will be to provide security for business and events in the Hydlaa and Gugrontid area. If it is within these towns then we will provide our services free of charge. If the event or business is outside of these limits then we will negotiate with mangers/planners on a fair deal. Obviously we will only be providing security to lawful events and establishments. We will be training members to work with staffs and shields as to deal with a disruption in a nonlethal way. However, those methods will be second to commands and attempts to dissolve a situation before it becomes dangerous.

Currently applications for Citizens Watch are not being excepted. This is due to the lack of resources I can set aside for it at the moment. When Citizens Watch is set up you will find a thread for it in our forums. However, I cannot say exactly when we will organize it. Right now the service will be made available by members of The Brigade and earn them guild points.

Now I tried to make myself available IC around Hydlaa these last few days. I wanted to give people a chance to interact with me and see what kind of player I was. Really I feel like it was mixed comments, but not the best first couple days. However, I am optimistic about this coming week. I tried to stay in character and play with the people who had obvious insults like "you're a bunch of noobs", "my guilds better than yours" and the challenges to duels and guild wars with no IC reason. But in the coming days I think I may just ignore them and not even try to RP it out. So thanks to the constant IG interruption I ask that the best way of providing feedback to me is via posting here, PMing me on this forum (which I can now respond to) or registering on our own forums. Thank you for those who did constructively criticize and support me. I will be posting more in the next couple days and look forward to the next week.

Well I wanted to discuss this(but I see no one else really wants to). I don't know if the devs have an answer for this and why should I wait months (or even longer) until they come up with this? Besides, if they answered my question personally what about everyone else? Shouldn't they know as well? If only a few people know about knowledge that should be fairly common in Yliakum then what's the point of having different ages at all? If people will just use there own system to age their character than why have the settings team come up with details about ages?

I'm interested on the general interpretation of this. If a settings team member sees this and can release an official comment then that would be great! It would allow everyone to see and know what their characters should know, which allows us to play them more true and (for me at least) enhance the experience.

Please, if anyone has something to add or comment on...

Thank you Jarexia. I was planning on trying to go for a OSP sponsorship as well as organizing events with Outlaws. However, you will have to be patient with me as the guild does not have enough resources (Both IC and OOC) to plan for these in the near future. My priorities now is getting new recruits who already have a good knowledge of RP and setting up guild resources (like our Oath, name change, chain of command, background information, as well as lessons for the hopefully new recruits I will be finding)

I am screening all recruits myself right now. They will be asked a few questions IC and I will judge them OOC on how they respond in terms of playing their character in an appropriate way. After that there's a few OOC things I'll go over with them in /tells. I'll basically be telling them what is expected of them as a player and my OOC requirements and goals. If everything is excellent then I will invite them there. If I suspect that either the player or character doesn't fit into the guild then I will take a few days to gather information (IC or OOC, respectfully) and decide after that.

Members should not be running through Hydlaa with there weapons drawn. I address recruits both IC and OOC on this. Breaking this rule will receive an IC punishment and I will talk to them OOC to make sure they understand what they did wrong, but this really is an IC matter I believe, so it will be handled IC. Militiamen are not above the law nor should ever claim to be! (also note I may end up "banning" other things from the guild as well. Such as Dark magic or gambling. These aren't illegal activities but my character looks down upon them. Of course this doesn't stop your character from doing so, just don't let Havuik find out .

Kiou, I've tried looking out for you IG but didn't see you online when I was. I'll get forum posts up soon enough, don't worry.

I need some help and would like to ask a few questions to the settings team and the players. I hope this will spark a discussion and help RP by keeping everyone on the same page. This is about ages, not so much lifespans as that is already covered in a book.

I see lots of players in the game playing a variety of different aged characters. What I would like to understand is at what point do different races develop? What is considered "adulthood"? What is considered "elderly"? Who would be a "youth"? I see a lot of players going by human years in regards to their character.

For the sake of this discussion I will post typical lifespans for different races. This, I would assume, is common knowledge to our characters, they would at least know roughly how long they live for. These are in years/cycles:
Ylians - 80
Xacha - 70
Dermorian and Nolthrir - 200
Hammerwielder and Stonebreaker - 120
Kran -150
Klyros - 50
Lemurs - 100
Enki - 60
Diaboli - 45-50
Ynnwn - 100 (but "varies wildly")

Also from this book  I was able to get that Dermorian 'youths' are 30 years and under.

So with this information comes questions...

Should we assume that all races develop and mature at the same rate? Are ages of adulthood proportional to lifespans?

If the latter is true and 30 cycles and under for Dermorians and Nolthrirs are 'youths' than this would make the proportion 3/20 for all races. With the math done (hopefully correctly) this would equal 12 years of age for Ylians. Now is that considered the age for 'adulthood'?

However, would could also take cultural influences. Dermorians and Nolthrirs have the same lifespan, so would that mean they both consider their children no longer youths at 30 cycles? Is it possible that Nolthrirs consider there offspring to be children until 50 cycles? Perhaps do to harsher conditions, traditions, and other culture upbringings?

Other things to think/discuss:
What would be the ages for races to drink at the tavern?
What would be the ages for races to join a military guild?
What would be the ages for races to learn out to fight? The Octarchy Decree says as soon they are able to, they are taught to throw stones and fight with sticks. What age is that for different races?

I hope I explained this well enough. It was tough for me to put some thoughts into words. In your responses perhaps you could use Dermorians for a base example because we KNOW that they live to roughly be 200 cycles old and they consider 30 and under to be 'youth'. Please post your thoughts and share any information you have.