Town Recognition Applications given to Queen Dawn

We of PaxLair participated in another Township Recognition workshop at the Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 9 PM ET House of Commons meeting with EMs Dudley and Vladimere and more citizens of Sosaria. Afterwards, Ambassador Tavalia Zodok entered the HOC and invited us all to the Britain Castle to have an audience with Queen Dawn.

The Queen asked for town leaders or representatives to step forward and submit an application for their townships to be recognized by the Queen. This is for the "banner system of recognition" only, not for declaring loyalty to the Queen. However, some townships did verbally declare their loyalty to the Queen with their recognition application.

The townships that applied to the Queen tonight were:

• Gyldenfeld, Trammel
• Cimmerian Pass, Malas
• PaxOku, Tokuno
• Torchwood, Ter Mur
• PaxLair City, Felucca
• Dragons Watch, Felucca
• Guardians Gate, Trammel
• Moria, Felucca
• Kijustsu Anei Village, Tokuno

There may be more townships applying for town banners in the future. This week, we need to create and submit designs for our town banners, make our buildings consistent with house signs, house banners or symbolic items so it's easy to see what buildings belong to a town.

For the PaxLair Statehood and our three cities of PaxLair City, Dragons Watch, and PaxOku, we continue to immerse ourselves in the community of peoples in this Realm with enthusiasm, respect, and humility.

Decisions to make about Loyalties in the Realm

November 22, 2009 - From the Governor's Desk

We citizens, allies, and friends of the PaxLair Statehood have some thinking to do. We will be asked at some point in the near future (a couple of days or weeks) to whom we give our loyalty ... to which monarch ... or to none.

Why? Well, as an example, we are told that attacks ("spawns") may occur in cities and towns that have declared loyalty to or against Queen Dawn. If against Queen Dawn, the royal guard might attack the city. If for Queen Dawn, enemies of Britannia might attack the city. If a city does not declare a fealty, then it might not be attacked (by a "spawn").

The three current monarchs of the Realm are:

• Queen Dawn of Britannia - Rules Britannia. Stands for good and virtuous. Friend of Lord British. Friendly with Queen Zhah of Ter Mur. Enemy of the deceased King Casca.
• Queen Zhah of Ter Mur - Rules Ter Mur. Friendly with Queen Dawn of Britannia.
• Empress of Tokuno - Rules the Tokuno Isles.

This "loyalty to a monarch" question may not be simple for us. PaxLair Statehood has three uniquely different cities (PaxLair City, Dragons Watch, PaxOku). We have good, neutral, and evil people, beings, and races as citizens. We have a large alliance with a mixture of good, neutral, and evil; and not everyone in the alliance are "citizens" of the Statehood -- some are allies or friends, or even "evil enemies".

To add more to the equation, we have our long-established tenets of our PaxLair Statehood:

• Peace
• Neutrality
• [Role-playing]

All cities obligated themselves to support these tenets. Yet, this does not mean everyone needs to be peaceful and neutral. It means when all our cities and citizens are combined, our Statehood balances out as a peaceful and neutral community within the Realm. Good and evil have a place in our Statehood. War-like and peaceful people have a place too.

Well, enough of the background. On with some ideas.

I think it is inappropriate to have our entire Statehood loyal to a single monarch and have that loyalty impressed on each of our cities and citizens. However, to keep us unified as a Statehood (a community), our cities and citizens need to keep fealty to the PaxLair Statehood and its governor.

• Loyalty has to do with sentiment and a feeling of devotion to someone -- to follow their ways and principles. Can be loyal or not loyal to one of the monarchs.
• Fealty has to do with an obligation or commitment to someone -- to owe or offer service. Can hold fealty to the PaxLair Governor and the Statehood, thus be part of the the Statehood.

So our statehood, cities, guilds and even individuals might have loyalties to different monarchs, or against the monarchs.

PaxLair Statehood (all three cities combined) might be Neutral to all monarchs. This is consistent with our nearly 12 years of history. The city was distinguished by Lord British long ago, yet he did not ask for our loyalty or fealty; the city remained Neutral. This neutrality mainly affects the Statehood officials, e.g. the Governor and Pax and some other neutral guilds. As our custom dictates, this would allow our "community" leaders to mediate situations and use all or a portion of our capital (PaxLair City) as neutral grounds for all friends and foes. (The neutral grounds idea was part of the original PaxLair fostering an "open to all" concept.)

PaxLair City. It may be complicated to declare loyalty. PaxLair City could be an "open to all" microcosm area for a loyal-or-not-loyal, good-neutral-evil environment. This is typical of the PaxLair City area with good and evil living very close to each other.

• Statehood capital portion of PaxLair City might be Neutral (around the Twin Towers and outdoor arena/cafe).
• East Meadow might be a conflict area where we have Paladins (loyal to Queen Dawn?), and orcs (not loyal to Queen Dawn?).
• Olag Hai Orc Fort further to the East is controlled by the orcs (not loyal to Queen Dawn?).

Dragons Watch. DW has a long history of following the virtues and defending villains against Britannia.

PaxOku. PaxOku is turning into a cultural center for the PaxLair Statehood and perhaps the Realm. So it is generally neutral, but might prefer to be loyal to Queen Dawn and not the Empress of Tokuno.

There is an EM Workshop again tonight, Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 9 PM ET at the House of Commons north of the Britain Moongate in Trammel.

We have a PaxLair Statehood meeting on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 9 PM ET at the Silent Rose Library in PaxOku.

What makes a Player Statehood

Well, since I republished my article about "What makes a Player Town", I should do the same about Statehoods. PaxLair, on Chesapeake Shard, started out as a Player Town, grew to a City (with functional government), and eventually to a Statehood (with multiple Towns/Cities). So I base much about my definition from actual working experience in UO, not imagination.

Statehoods

Statehoods are groups of Cities or Towns united together as a community with a form of government overseeing the Cities and Towns. Statehoods are not generally characterized by a single or any [mechanical] alliance or guild, but may contain many alliances and guilds to serve the functioning of the Statehood. There are usually several qualities that make a statehood:

• Housing exists in many places, set up as cities and/or towns. There may be a few distant locations for special purposes (like a building near the ocean to offer dock services). This housing in cities and towns is organized in ways that reflect that the city or town is part of the larger Statehood. The operating capital of the Statehood could be designated in one particular city of the Statehood, or an independent location such as a castle not within one of the Statehood's cities or towns.
• A working Government, usually with a leader to organize the cities and towns. The government style varies by Statehood. Some are diplomatic with elected leaders, others are a monarchies or oligarchies. The Statehood is best defined and esablished where its government is clearly defined, has a regular presence, and is acknowledge and followed by its citizens.
• Citizens and/or Citizen-Guild(s), who make up the Citizenry of the Statehood. The Statehood will generally have many guilds as citizens. Some citizens become citizens of the Statehood by virtue of their guild's citizenship status with one of the Statehood's cities or towns.
• Statehood Culture, where each Statehood is usually unique in some fashion from other Statehoods. Statehoods themselves may be aligned to evil, good, or neutrality. Their cities and towns may each have a quality of evil, good, or neutral different from the Statehood. The Statehood generally strives for unity of its cities and towns. It also usually engages in external diplomacy with other Statehoods and independent cities and towns.
• Statehood Activity, where the statehood does have citizens around at least a few times each week, usually with some announced meetings or events.
• Web Sites and/or Message Boards, where there is a way to communicate with their cities, towns, citizens, patrons, and visitors. The web site or board usually gives information about what the Statehood, its government, and each city or town.

Originally published on http://www.paxlair.com, December 2, 2006, by Winfield_Pax. Republished with permission.

What makes a Player Town

There's been a renewed interest recently in Ultima Online Player Towns on some shards. Without getting into specifics of this renewed interest, I thought I'd start by re-publishing one of my old player community articles. This one helps define player cities and towns. There can be be variations to this definition of course, like for "guild towns", but this one seems to work pretty well especially for Role-playing.

Cities and Towns

Player Cities and Towns are wonderful places of activity, comraderie, organization, and overall fun! Many times, the activity in a player town rivals activity in a town of the Realm, such as Jhelom or Serpents Hold. There are usually several qualities that make a player city or town:

• Housing exists in a central area, sometimes also with a few distant locations for special purposes (like a building near the ocean to offer dock services). This housing is organized in ways that make sense for overall town management. There are usually a town hall, tavern, commercial vendor establishments, monuments, and sometimes even a jail!
• A working Government, usually with a mayor to organize the citizens and guild(s) so decisions can be made on the progress of the town.
• Citizens and/or Citizen-Guild(s), who make up the Citizenry of the town. Some towns will have several Citizen-Guilds or just one. Others will also have a town guild for people who wish to just join the Town, but not a specific Citizen-Guild.
• Town Culture, where each town is usually unique in some fashion. Some are role-playing towns aligned to evil, good, or neutrality. Some are focused on events. Others are combat (PvP) or adventure (PvM) towns. Still others are quest towns. Many combine aspects of two of more of these qualities in their culture. The common denominator in most towns is they have a sense of respect and comradarie.
• Town Activity, where the town does have citizens around at least a few times each week, usually with some announced meetings or events.
• Web Sites and/or Message Boards, where there is a way to communicate with their citizens, patrons, and visitors. The web site or board usually gives information about what the town is designed for, who the mayor is, and how people can get involved with the town.

The difference between a city and town is usually size and/or type of government. Cities usually have a very structured government, where towns are possibly less structured.

Originally published on http://www.paxlair.com, December 2, 2006, by Winfield_Pax. Republished with permission.