So I'm just creating an official post for anyone who agrees that some cabals should be consolidated. There are likely people on either side of the debate. I personally am pro-consolidation. Here are my reasons why:

1. Certain cabals have enough similar ideals/enemies that outside of a few outliers they are practically one cabal already at times

2. Power swings would be less dramatic if there were fewer cabals because people would have more clear-cut choices and things (imho) would even out. In other words, power swings happen because some folks all join the same or similar cabals at the same time. Less dilution is basically what im getting at here. Having one or two people in scion, another two or three in scarab is nice for diversity but sucks in terms of promoting cabal warfare.

3. All those extra leftover cabal powers (if you consolidated things) could be used as rewards or integrated elsewhere somehow. As leader powers for example.

Here is my suggestion for consolidation:

A. Empire/Tribunal - this one has been suggested many times by many people for obvious reasons. It gives the Empire actual territory, actual enforcement mechansims within those territories and a real purpose.

B. Battle/Outlander - Though they have different causes it isnt a far leap to integrate those two causes. For one, most outlander powers are non-magical. This is why when a villager wants to fly he makes friendly with an outlander. Secondly the overall thematic backdrop of nature vs. magic is an easy one to make. Barbarians/Savages are what most folks call BOTH outlanders and villagers already. The main problem I see is the strong dwarvish influence within the village which would conflict with outlander dogma, but im sure that could be figured out somehow.

C. Scion/Scarab - end of the world cult seeking to purge the world of the profane and worships denizens of another plane.

D. Fortress/Heralds - With few exceptions most heralds are good/neutral anyways so not a huge leap. Preserving knowledge that would otherwise be destroyed by the Empire, etc. as theme. A beacon of safety and refuge in the dark days of Empire as theme.

And I'd just get rid of nexus altogether. So four cabals down from nine right now.Seriously, nine cabals in a game that on a really good day has about forty people on at once. That means if you had equal represenation on a really good day you would have roughly four to five people in each cabal right now and we won't even go into how that plays out by rank,etc.

Generally I like variety but the combinations you suggest probably would work.

However, I think you need to address the following issues, even if only to say you can live with them:
A) when you're outnumbered, there's no other cabal around your strength to compete with. You're just defensive.
B) many combos have no real choice of pk cabal. Good align Mage is forced into the fort band etc.
C) balance is potentially damaged because empire can now attract invokers and outlander cannot (just one example). Cabal class restrictions are fairly key to balance.

As a final observation, I'd not tie rewards to leadership unless the leader does well. Quite a high proportion of the mud is leaders compared to the old days, and non leaders would find that around a third of their enemies have extra power boosts.

Overall though, despite the fact that I like being in small cabals, I like the detail of your suggestion a lot more than I was expecting to.

A - I can live with that, think it plays out like that now alot anyways. I think having a larger more diverse set of people playing in the same cabal (less dilution) would allieviate part of that issue also.

B. True. Good-aligned mage could go solo and still associate with Fort and not worry (because their good) about being led somewhere and ambushed and robbed though. And combining Fort/Herald still allows for a variety of accomadating roles.

C. Id still not have the arcane sect in the main body (see empire/tribunal) so given that any invoker would strictly be a 'citizen' the effects on actual raiding/retrieiving should be negligible.




EDITED TO ADD:

Just had some fallout pop into my head as ideas.....

What if being Anathema meant you could be attacked in cities by sect members and it isnt a crime? Thats the potential fallout of having the Empire and Tribunal be part of the same hierarchy. Anathema would be considered without having the same rights afforded even to enemies of the Empire. It wouldn't be a 'wanted' flag for Imperials. Manacles wouldn't work on them, but if they are in town and attacked - no flag as long as they are attacked by a member of one of the Sects. Even better, they can be made wanted if they attack (their course would be to flee and get out of town). Citiazens wouldn't have the right to attack in the city (even if they are a magistrate) unless the anathema is also wanted.

To make this work and include neutrals I'd make the tribunal part an actual sect and it would be the only sect neutrals could join. In fact it could be the 'Citizen' Sect and all citizens would be tasked with protecting order within the cities. So their powers just like with tribunals now only work in the cities, unless theyy reach a high enough station.

Hierarchy would be like this...

The Empire Imms

The Emporer

The Four Main sects of the Empire as they are now and the Sect Leader of each/Provost

Vindicator/Justiciar

The Elites of each Sect/Provincials

The full Members of each Sect at their various levels in current hierarchy.

Msgistrates/Bloodoaths

Also I'd make it so Citizens aren't allowed the 'honor' of raiding/retrieving. Since most tribunal powers work without the item anyways. This creates the necessary distance between the tribunal sect and the rest so that goods don't view them necesarily as direct enemies but more of 'conquered' people. To make it really look like an empire id make the highest position a Citizen could get to be either the Justiciar or the Vindicator. The Provost would be chosen by the Emporer from one of the Sect Leaders.