RP on the ‘hard shard’?
When Siege Perilous was started, many players stayed away. “It will all be PKs” is what people said. The shard began and yes, the PKs showed up in full force. Anti-PK teams were formed to combat them. Eventually the line between anti and PK became blurred as former PKs joined the anti cause to fight blue members of PK guilds. All the while, RP flourished with guilds of orcs, dwarves, undead of several sorts, assorted empires, various religious orders, noble houses, and assassin guilds. All of these guilds participated in the fighting. Alliances not based on anti or PK were formed.
As time passed, the Renaissance changes occurred on the regular shards and the Felucca facets seemed rather empty as PKs were confined and safety was guaranteed in Trammel. On Siege, alliances rose and fell, guilds disappeared, red or blue color no longer determined what kind of person a character was. Large scale guild battles slowed in favor or more tactical ambushes and fast attacks. The town of Safe Haven, founded in the shard’s earliest days, be came a hot point of battle and conflict.
The town of Safe Haven was formed as a neutral ground for all players to meet and buy good from a variety of vendors. The rule was no fighting in SH, everyone is welcome. This broke down as determined grief players forced the formation of Safe Haven defenses. Fighting occurs nightly between attackers and defenders.
Outside of Safe Haven, limited Faction fighting raged and guild wars continue unabated. Numerous events occur from battles to control the Shadowclan’s Keep to helping lost people with purple names find mysterious objects.
Currently, an election is taking place in Safe Haven for Mayor. The topic of mayor is at the top of the discussion on the shard’s “war” messageboards at battlevortex.com. Take a look at the candidates. BTW, the current mayor is Vaniir, a former PK and member of GC, now leader Temple of the Ronin.
Debain Zataurous – former PK, advocates a strong defense with no mercy for SH enemies
Kelly Kindred – advocate of relaxing the laws and for having tolerance on how people play the game.
Gorg’da’guud – a partially deaf Shadowclan orc, advocates razing most Safe Haven buildings and putting and end to the human’s practice of eating their children.
Ammar of NAO – member of an outlaw hillbilly guild that advocates reducing the fighting and encouraging the vendors.
Glendor – leader of a anti-grief player guild, advocates the reduction of fighting and the increase of shard wide events.
Of these candidates, most of them are red. All of them engage in roleplay and are backed by groups in the various PvP alliances on the shard.
I submit to you that Siege Perilous, “the hard shard”, it actually the last bastion of real roleplay in Ultima Online. Without the artificial restrictions of Trammel and stat loss, the importance of guilds, alliances, and fights, takes on importance to players in the game. Where else can groups claim and defend territory? Where else are the top PvP guilds also strict roleplay guilds? Where else are players judged by their actions and not their hue? Where else do the large guilds fund a guild run specifically for the benefit of new players and PKs avoid attacking these new players?
On Siege Perilous you find the player justice and real diplomacy that has been lost in most online games. For the shard that was viewed as “PK heaven”, it has become anything but.
