I can't say I see the point... there IS a relation between Maran and MARAN. Shokai is the main guy in both. I've always thought of the cabal as almost "Maran lite" (Shokai can obviously correct me here, this is Aarn-think only!)... you're following the general precepts, but not a priestly zealt type. Someone who follows Shokai's religion is going to take his teachings (not necessarily being a goodie, but *specifically* Shokai's teachings) a degree further then someone just in the cabal. On the surface they're both similar though.

I kinda like the connection like it is personally.

Aarn

My issue is that its pretty hard to be a fantastic Maran and not a fantastic MARAN and vice versa. The religion aspect almost seems redundant as well as almost confusing in that, if you're a great Maran-cabal there's really a good chance you're a great Maran-religion, the only real difference being that you don't worship as often or talk about Shokai as much.

Maran and MARAN are very closely tied together, however MARAN (or the Brigade) is more the 'generic good army'. It's a large collection of people of various beliefs and what not that are all about the common goal...ie: whackin' evil. Maran, on the other hand (or Shok's followers) are very specific in how they persue evil and more or less devote themselves entirely to that cause. To further break this down....

If we were to look at the living quarters of two MARAN I'd imagine it'd be completely different. Let's use one guy who is an Aarn follower and the other who is a Maran. The Maran's room would be amazingly spartan with weapons, armor and possibly the occasional holy text laying around. The true Maran would have little time or concern for issues outside the battle. The Aarn follower on the other hand would probably have some adornments of creature comforts...or at the very least, some well forged knick-knacks here and there. (angry knick-knacks at that)

As for changing the name, I think the semi-minor confusion at first helps in the long run, and the name sorta defines the cabal a lot more in the end.

I should point out that while logical, a Maran can be almost any cabal (Scion and Empire being two exceptions) and over the years I've had successful followers in other cabals. Admittedly, being in MARAN as a Maran is obviously the easier choice. However....easy isn't always where the most fun is.

I don't really see the point - everyone pretty much knows Maran = Crusader ++ so...why? I think the way Shokai has it set up with different kinds of Maran and Tara'bel and all that is neat. Good story, great history addition to the mud.

FORTRESS seems to miss a little panache compared to the other mainstream Cabals. And this is strange when you consider how Dawn and the Maran, in themselves, are very interesting religions that are certainly worth basing a (joint) Cabal on.

The basic idea behind FORTRESS is sound. It could however stand to be a little bit more fleshed out in various ways. Mekantos his idea is very interesting.