First off let me say I don't have a major problem with the logs on Dio's because they don't tell the full story and are generally posted to portray villagers in a bad light.

That being said, I figured I'd throw in my own two ideas about Villagers.

>What is it? When do you display it? Who defines it? What are examples of Courage? <

Courage is the ability to stand tall when it might be more prudent to stand small (so to speak).

You display it all the time if you are a berserker, and nearly all the time if you are a villager period.

It is defined by the massive giant who guards the village. Standing tall for the beliefs of his brothers in the War against Magic, through thick and thin, ages and eons untold.

Examples of courage would be:
Regaining the head from Empire when a lowbie; if hero range villagers face Empire Dread Lord/War Master combo or the like; odds are you may die horribly behind centurions, but if you regain the head, then your brothers can continue their war against the Magi unchecked.

Harrying a group of raiders at the giant if others ragers are coming from somewhere further (IE to buy them time to defend the Destructor).

Attacking a mage in town with Tribunal when the mage thinks himself safe (though courage does not = suicidal, and I'll get to that later).

To me courage is the most important aspect of being of villager. HOWEVER, courage does not = stupid. Courage means always having an exit strategy. Courage does not fighting when you have a 1% chance of survival. Courage means fighting when you have a 10-25% chance of survival. Courage does not mean attack the Provost Healer in front of the Vindicator. Courage means attacking the invoker Justiciar who is sitting in Market Square with no shields and no wands when two Magistrates are in their guild.


>What is it? When do you display it? Who defines it? What are examples of Parity?<

I always looked at Parity as meaning, not literally, "Bringing a bazooka to a knife fight". Parity basically means being able to take care of yourself.

As a villager, you display it often. For scouts and defenders, parity is less than important in the overwhelming numbers meaning as opposed to berserkers. I see parity more for scouts and defenders as meaning don't be the fifth man in on a five man gang.

It would be defined by the pillar. Each and every villager on the pillar was known by their name and what their name meant. None of those names were "The Weak" or "The Cowardly".

Examples of parity re: Berserkers: Not attacking prey another berserker has called out, unless attacked; not attacking anyone while they fight another (though no qualms about attacking someone who is hurt). Re: Defenders: As stated before, if you see the Empire WarMaster bardsing the Nexus Meter to sleep, you shouldn't wait for the Entire Empire to be called in and tripping down the Meter to jump in. You should try and beat down the WarMaster before the cavalry arrives, and jump the Meter after the WarMaster flees.

All in all, my biggest problems with villagers are the people who don't understand how the cabal works and the downsides. These are also usually the people who expect ragers to fight stupid, fall for set-ups, and never ever deviate from the course in which they THINK the ragers should play. It pisses me off to no end that people would run up to a group of ragers and attack them all and then have the gall to complain when the three ragers paste them.

PS A seperate answer to Daurwyn re: that last bit, since I know he and I differ. For people that have difficulty with this line of thinking, how about telling the rager you're going to attack him and to get his friends the #### out since you want a one on one. Most ragers I know will cream their pants for a shot at a one on one, and so odds are he'll tell his mates to GTFO. Now, you are probably saying "Well I lost the element of surprise"; and that is true, but not really. You still can make him wait a bit, or tell him where you are (and lay traps) etc. And if he turns you down, you can get a bard to send a note to all that's he a giant coward (which will more than likely either get him booted or cause him to try and kill you everytime he sees you).