State of the Alliance | PLEASE READ

[Zark San Tekka]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU[/youtube]​

STATE OF THE ALLIANCE​

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How did we get here?

Hey all it's been a while since the last time I wrote one of these, my apologies that it took a moment like this to give people an update on what is going on behind the scenes at the GA.

In the past month we have lost two quite active staff members and the remaining faction admins are all at various levels of limited commitment as far as direct contribution due to availability/other projects. Where that leaves us is at a critical point for the faction, as we have now reached the point where we no longer have enough content creators to keep the faction engaged to the extent our members would expect from a major of the GA’s size and scope.

Despite best efforts, our activity overall has been on a steady downward trend since the end of the war with the First Order, and while I'm proud of all the work you've done to keep us alive we are now at the point where staff feels we need to examine our options going forward with the Alliance. I'll list what I think our best choices are, but if you have an idea that isn't included feel free to bring it up here.

Extreme Makeover: Staff Edition

To keep the GA running as it is now, we would need to bring on more staff. This includes at least one more admin, a mod/event coordinator or two, and possibly a new faction owner if [member="Keric Dynt"] feels it's time to pass on the torch. Prior experience running RP groups would be nice, but we'll consider all candidates, however you would be expected to actively contribute to faction planning and projects. These are not advisory roles.

Minor Vote

I know this is a scary conversation to have, but if we are unable to maintain major faction activity levels it is a necessary one. There are a few ways this could shake out IC, and if it's decided to hold a vote I will share some of my thoughts there, but it would likely involve a name change to the Alliance-in-Exile and a serious reexamination of the faction’s place on Chaos, as our current role is reliant on major faction mechanics in many ways.

I know this is not the ideal choice, but Chaos factions have life spans and the GA has proven particularly long lived. If it is our time, so be it, and I at least will do my part to keep the Alliance alive IC in some capacity.

Galactic Nomads

So the SJO stole my thunder a little with this plan (grr Stephanie), but an option considered in the event of this type of scenario by staff in the past is to change mandates to Galactic Nomads, and reboot the faction as a major on a much smaller scale. This would also include a name change to something like Alliance-in-Exile or the Resistance, and would allow us to move forward without an expectation of extreme activity beyond which the current crew is capable of at this time.

All is Lost!

Don't freak out, nothing is changing right away. It will take some time to sort out where we go from here, and until then the faction will operate business as usual. But I would very much like to hear everyone's feedback on the future, so please don't wait to say your piece if you wish. I know I say that every time, but this time I really mean it when I say prompt thoughts could play a crucial role in determining what the GA will look like a month from now.

 

[Zanza Hijikata]

I just joined, and its probably not my place at all, but, perhaps a rebranding and re-strategizing the goals of the faction may help rejuvenate interest. I mean, iirc GA was created as a resistance against the One Sith and for the liberation of the Core. Now that, that has been achieved besides an eternal war against the FO, GA has lost some of its initial zeal and thunder. Well why not re-invent the M.O. of the faction - why not graduate from Alliance to Galactic Federation or Commonwealth (I think Republic might be a bit tainted >_>). Reorganize into a faction who's goals are to fill the democratic gap left by the fall of the Republic, begin diplomacy missions with the various core world factions, maybe even propose a sort of United Nations of Core Factions to facilitate dialogue and co-existence? Hell even do some physical rebranding, new emblem, new theme etc.

 

[Aryn Teth]

I've been around for the bit, though albeit not the most involved - so I hope i'm not too out of place speaking up with my opinion on the matter. I think the GA is an important faction, and it's a real shame considering the fact that there has been a fair bit of inactivity in the faction for some time. However, as it stands, the way that Chaos is at the moment, light-side factions are kind of getting the short end of the stick.

With the SJO going galactic nomads, the GA would be the only really large, major light-side faction left, with three major dark-side empires literally all around it. From both a story stand-point, and looking at the actual map game, things look pretty dire. However, I think it might actually be worthwhile letting things get dire. Star Wars settings and RPs tend to go through phases between light and dark-side dominance. Perhaps it's just time to let the dark-sided factions fight among themselves for a bit.

Whether the GA goes minor or galactic nomads, I think either a weakened Alliance or Alliance-in-Exile type situation would be immensely enjoyable for roleplay. I know a large number of people have been invested recently in the idea of a dedicated and united rebellion faction, and if the GA were to go in this direction, it would really feed into this idea, allow for some really engaging and enjoyable roleplay of rebellion against the increasing number of darkside factions in the galaxy (now a fourth empire likely to spring up with the Mandalorians, too.)

Ultimately I feel like whatever decision the admin team makes here will be great, but it might be best to re-size and re-brand, as well as to consolidate a new and renewed staff team and playerbase to ensure the GA has the playerbase and activity it deserves. I've got two characters who can easily fit in with any direction, including Aryn Teth - more the rebel, and Cal Tamplin - a politician who'd be happy to help out.

 

[Choli Vyn]

I'm amiable to either rebrand or be more like a Resistance nomad style.

As long as we are all having fun.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

As long as we are all having fun.

This.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Assuming GA goes nomad, what's the plan? Will it stick to the present corner of space, or will it move elsewhere? And if it moves, what would the IC justification be?


SJO going on a small 'exodus' to Kashyyyk already didn't make much sense, but they'd been hammered with several invasions and had done poorly in all of them. While GA lost the war with FO, the First Order only made minor territorial gains. It's been a white peace beyond that. And GA's existence has never been at risk from an IC standpoint.


I understand that the main issues are finding people to run things OOCly and giving the faction direction.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

A big trick with the ground work that was created initally, the GA is designed to be at war. It was formed to take down the One Sith, and provide the galaxy with a more militant Republic-style faction. Having pulled in the Omega Pyre worlds a bit early boosted the places it could settle.

Having a larger light-side faction on the gameboard is fun, and it provides great content, but only if the light siders are fighting.

Having a treaty and a ceasefire does remove the more militant (look at the three NPCs that were originally created to lead), aspect of the faction. That removes a lot of combat. Going minor and a resistance style could help it, or creating a similar relationship of the TFA's Republic/Resistance, where its a state-sponsored strike force out of the GA, could also help.

There are targets, this is Star Wars.

Just two cents

 

[Jsc]

The Silver Jedi recently faced a very similar situation among our own little community. So we kinda know what some of you guys are feeling right now.

Our approach? Well. It was decided we all needed some space and time to redefine what we wanted our faction, and our character's near future stories, to really be about. Time to develop a more concrete image about what the Silver Jedi really want to be without anybody to contrast against. Our rallying slogan couldn't be: "We're not the Pubs" or, "We're not the GA vs OS war," anymore. We needed something we could love ourselves for. And, that was a surprising hard thing to all agree on.

Our decision. OOC, this eventually meant the Admins deciding to go Nomad, stay Major, and give their members some breathing room on the map. Buy time. Now IC was much harder to explain. It kinda meant coming up with any crazy reason we could think of to achieve our own OOC goals. We settled on 'give the Silver Worlds more freedom.' Good enough. Slap it on. We moved shop. Who cares.

Our conclusions. Nomad brought the anxiety down. Major gave our PvPers hope. And changing our focus inward, (rather than outwards towards endless war,) has given all our writers a brighter opportunity to love the faction, and their characters, for reasons that they've never had before.

What does this all mean for the GA? Welp. Whatever you want it to. That change is hard. That PvP doesn't have to define you. That maybe fresh paint is exactly what fresh writers need. At the end of the day we'll just goofy writers writing goofy stories. And we Silvers love you guys and wish you all the best. No matter where the future takes you.

Cheers fam. You got this!

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Going to give more time for people to share their thoughts and submit applications for staff (none have been received so far), but a couple of points have been raised that probably warrant addressing so people have all the information.

PvP and Faction Theme

To be clear, personally I am a big fan of the GA's current theme, and in an ideal scenario I wouldn't change a thing except how actively engaged we are with the factions around us. This is not about that, its about not having the people to manage such a large swathe of the galaxy, and how fair that is to other writers on the board who want to thread with us but can't because too few people are in charge of coordinating.

Regarding the points [member="Coren Starchaser"] made about the Alliance and PvP, I pretty much agree with all of them. I can only say that the treaty with the First Order wasn't supposed to last this long, but invasion burnout combined with a rule set change combined with a slowly paced peace conference culminated in a perfect storm of sorts, and by the time staff got around to thinking about PvP again there were already too few of us left. The recent skirmishes with the GE and TSE have been an effort to turn that around, but I am beginning to fear its too little too late.

What Things Would Look Like IC

I would also like to make clear that if we were to go nomad or a minor vote were to occur, serious effort would be made on part of the staff to make this as logical as possible in character. We would not just hold a minor vote and then submit the results to the map update thread, or switch mandates without warning anybody. There are a few of ways we could go about this, but I'll just describe the two I've been thinking about the most.

Economic Disaster: Not really the ideal choice, but possibly the easiest to execute. War with the One Sith, war on Atrisia, war with the First Order, and now pressure from all sides, we would do a thread or perhaps a series of threads describing the collapse of the Alliance government. People often mention that the GA wasn't designed to be a galactic governing body, and this plot would deal with that imperfect machine unraveling under the immense pressure of current events.

Not With a Whimper: The other alternative that springs to mind, and the one I frankly prefer, would be to arrange with a Darkside faction staff, most likely the Sith Empire or the First Order, for them to invade either Sullust or Coruscant. As we are currently defensive stronghold, I think that would be a good show, and while we'd have to hammer out the details, personally I'd be in favor of lifting the ally limits on both sides and turning the thread into a kind of battle royale, essentially a public invasion.

Either scenario would end with us going nomads or minor, and would hopefully provide some closure for people beyond "the Alliance existed and things were great but now its gone."

I also want to take a moment to thank everyone for all the kind words of support and offers of suggestions and collaboration to help us through this tough time. But while our activity isn't top tier its actually pretty solid, sadly it really is just a matter of getting more people into faction management. If that doesn't happen, my fear is that our activity will soon follow.

 

[RC 212]

Restart the GA/FO war. Both factions seem to be suffering as we are militant factions, not peaceful ones. I am heavily invested in GA, having helped Corren when I was still writing Vassara Raxis and the faction was first begging.

Unfortunately due to deployments every six months it been a rough ride of back and gone again. I can throw in additional time.

I'd also recommend recruiting more admins, let them take some of the load of your shoulders. Writers who are down to write their mains with GA.

As a last note, as writer I have several characters here who need war to be able to function effectively. The human element of interaction is what has driven Ga for so long.

It's time to break the peace, and writers will flock to us.

I'd be very disappointed to see us just throw in the towel and go minor. I like the militant light side thing we have and we are the last one on the board with the power to help out allies with big guns and the like.

SJO has fallen. It's up to us now.

 

[RC 212]

Alos I just started basic leadership school in the army, which his why my time has been scarce. In about a month I can contribute more.

 

[Aryn Teth]

[member='Zark']

The system that the Alliance has at the moment is great, but the unfortunate aspect is that the faction is just too big and has too few people willing to commit regularly to it, so I think the option of going nomad would be best, especially if we follow the second of your ideas. Having some (or hell, most) of the dark-sided factions jumping in for a major assault on the Alliance to 'finish us off' would make for some great roleplay. Similarly, the IC process of going nomad and turning into a kind of Alliance-in-Exile would be equally as enjoyable.

It allows the Alliance to continue as a major, but gives it the fresh start that it needs at this point for the playerbase to regrow and re-develop itself with those who are most interested in seeing its future.

As for the issue of faction management, i'm happy to step up and take some role in that if it's needed, as I said before I have a political character - Cal Tamplin who can ICly fit in with leadership, and i'm going to be done with finals soon so I will have the time needed to commit to running things here. I would very much like to see the Alliance continue, but from a story-telling perspective, I think it's best we embrace the idea of going nomad, and allow ourselves to spring back over time.

 

[Placeholder 0128]

All the main good/LS factions are reseting. Why not have this capital invasion, see what happens, use it as motivation to combine resources with those other factions, and reform some semblance of a united anti-imperialist front.

 

[Zanza Hijikata]

[member="Zark"]

I think re-branding as a Galactic Commonwealth or going Omega Pyre route would help rejuvenate interest and action in the faction. Also it would open grand cross-faction RPing as the newly established Commonwealth or Federation would have to delve into diplomacy talks with Core Factions to create a mutually beneficial alliance against the new dark forces in the galaxy.

It could all be kicked off in a huge open-to-faction thread that takes place on Sullust and acts as a grand political reformation into a Galactic Commonwealth/Federation - a FACTION EVENT - that can muster all the RPers back. The thread could have political intrigue and debates and a grand ending scene reminiscent of the founding of the rebellion or the Throne Room in a New Hope.

I honestly believe if you rebrand as a Galactic Federation and as the LAST bulwark against the tyranny of Imperial and Sith rule, the faction will regain its momentum as a Pan-Galactic Peace and Fighting Force - there by preserving the GA's RP heritage as a militant and legacy republic faction.

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To this end, if this route is chosen by admin or admin are interesting in brainstorming a Faction Event like this one - I would be 100 PERCENT DOWN to character gen a politician to lead this transformation and apply to staff.

I have played a Sith ever since I got her 4 years ago. But, hot damn do I wish I could be a part of the other side some times. Anyways. I am down to help.

 

[Seamus Valik]

I forgot I was a member.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

To the extent going nomad may allow us a breath of fresh air, there is one caveat I have to raise.

If we go nomad, choosing where to go requires that we need to pay attention to our IC relationships with other dark-sider groups: SE, GE to name the main ones we have IC histories (GE dating as far back as Mustafar) with, while being fully aware that a war against the First Order is a ticking bomb of drama waiting to happen. Because the story that will result will be, well, quite different depending on which faction(s) we focus on.

That said, I'm willing to throw my hat into the administrative ring.