revamping Elysium?

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]howdy y'all
  I've been considering making some changes to Elysium's theme, but I wanted to discuss this with everyone before making any changes- if everyone's cool with how things are, I'm down to keep it that way, and if not, I'd like to hear some ideas ^^

  essentially I feel like having both the justice and the trading aspects at the same time, with equal focus, is a lot to have on our plates at once
  while we could do events that fit both of them, that's a lot of events to run for not a lot of people
  plus, the two of them don't really synergize well- while it's possible to mix both the justice and the trading together, right now they seem like separate things that are both pushed into the same clan

  if we were to keep one of them and discard the other, I personally would prefer the trading/community aspect
  the justice aspect isn't really getting to do much, and unless the other clans have a sudden influx of criminals that need to be tried, it probably won't anytime soon
  the trading aspect would provide much more event/inter-clan interaction fuel, and it has some history with Sunhaven that could be paid homage to
  and even then, justice could be one of the things Elysium values strongly, it just wouldn't be a theme if that makes sense

  if we did still want to do two themes, we could consider dropping one of the original aspects and replacing it with another that has more synergy
  for instance, we could bring back the star theme from the Ascendants- because there, we could have star-based currency (e.g. star-shaped coins, constellation-based denominations of currency) for the trading aspect, or constellation/zodiac-based traditions regarding when to hold trials or how to find people guilty/innocent for the justice aspect, so we could pretty easily blend the themes
  we could also do a completely new and original theme, if anyone has any ideas for that

[Cosmic]

I personally really enjoyed the Ascendants’ aesthetics, but I’m unsure of what aspects of Elysium to drop to make this change. It would be great to incorporate little tiny aspects of both Sunhaven and The Ascendants, but that’s just my opinion. c:

[GuardianAngel]

Considering the fact that I’m still fairly new, I don’t exactly know all the customs of Sunhaven or the Ascendents...however I do feel like becoming a bit more focused on trading would make for some more interesting interactions. Perhaps ranks based on traveling merchants that go from clan to clan in order to trade?

Also wasn’t the beads a thing? I really liked the idea of beads but it seems like we haven’t done anything with it really. It would be interesting for that to be a sort of identifier when an Elysium caravan rolls into a different clan. Kinda like Tanglewood’s masks?

It also makes it so that there are no “Albert the Albetross” situations happening in other clans. (Other people faking being from Elysium in order to scam other groups.)

I don’t know...I’m just spouting ideas. I do like the trading idea though. I think it would be cool to roll with that. And the beads. :3

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]yeah, I'd definitely like to incorporate elements of both of them into the clan, which is why I like the star/trading hybrid so much- the stars from Ascendants, and the trading from Sunhaven

  & ooh, using the beads to identify members, particularly in trading caravans, would actually be a great idea
  and maybe, for instance, each person who appears at Elysium is given a wooden bead or something, and then members who swear in are given a metal bead to signify their status + beads of certain stones to denote HPs, shopkeepers, etc.
  the metal beads could even be forged out of the meteorite shards at Starpool like the Ascendants' old pendants were, that way they aren't easy for outsiders to fake
  the only thing is that Rin isn't likely to suggest this herself due to her hangups over the Ascendants, but I think if someone else suggested it ICly she would come around to the idea, both for practical purposes and because in a way it's like the Ascendants are living on in them

[axiom]

[align=center]

wheezes as an oldie member coming back, i may be a bit biased.

but i loved madi's original aesthetic with the ascendants. they had really awesome titles with beads based on the astrology signs, as well as titles you could 'earn' through making meeting certain milestones (ex -- welcome three joiners).

as a founding member of sunhaven, i also loved the trading aspect.

i think there's a lot that can be done to combine the trading aspect of sunhaven with the star aesthetic of the ascendants. they can compliment each other really well -- a bunch of crafters that etch star patterns into their work? hell yeah, those are my favorite artists to check out when i go to makers' fairs and things like that.

icly, vale could definitely help suggest this to rin. vale doesn't particularly like that elysium changed so much after clarence disappeared, after all.

[Alastor]

I definitely agree that Elysium does have two coinciding themes that clash. Trading and justice are both great sub -themes/ideas to have in mind, but ultimately we should definitely have the group focused on one thing for certain. For example, The Pitt focuses on their ruthless tendencies or The Typhoon is based on their ocean pride. Even Tanglewood is known for being a true neutral. Elysium, in my mind, is one of the groups that remain to be a pacifist clan (minus the recent The Pitt/Typhoon war).

Trading, in my mind, isn't very popular. For a character to be a merchant, they usually have to be centered around that and I do not see many characters here interested in such a thing (especially as it is apart of the current group's theme). Along with that, currency is not very existent in game. I think we should stray from this topic.

I'm going to ditto Axiom. I really enjoy the original Ascendants star concept, along with Sunhaven's lot for nature. I think instead of focusing directly on astrology, we should focus more on nature in general. For example, worshipping the sun / moon as two different entities. Another thing is that Elysium's night life can differ from the day (and holding events according to each). A lot more plants, animal praise, and generalized wholesomeness. This also enforces the pacifist group narrative.

I would definitely have Alastor get involved.

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]yeah, the crafting-with-star-patterns thing and beads stuff would be really neat, and getting Vale involved would help a lot

  I also think the day-night duality would be neat for a theme, and a nature/plant-based focus would be cool too
  my only issue with the "worshiping the sun and moon" bit is that I don't think that's something Rin would even approve of, let alone actually support, since in her mind she would associate such a thing with two of the fallen gods that tried to kill her before
  but once she's out of the way, the next leader could definitely suggest that

[guts]

mostly just a track, but i wanted to put in my two cents!
personally i'm not that interested in a trade or currency system. i also agree with the point that it doesn't seem that popular, either. no one seemed that intrigued by the system sunhaven had when it was around, and i don't really see anyone being interested in it now. plus there's the fact that if someone wanted a merchant character they could simply make one that travels and trades on their own.
but i did really like the astrology theme the ascendants had! i like the idea of combining that with sunhaven's love of nature, as orion suggested, and that elyisum is pretty much a pacifist clan. it would be interesting to see what kind of conflicts and plots arise in the future because of this, too. an adoration of nature + pacifism = a great dynamic!

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]yeah, thinking about it more I do think a nature-nerds aesthetic would be pretty neat, especially if combined with the scholarly thing that Grimm mentioned
  and boosting the astrology bit as a thematic thing would be cool too

  plus Elysium always did strike me as the "we don't start fights, but we aren't afraid to finish them" types
  because like, aside from the Pitt, we've never really found any reasons for raids
  being a safe haven, in that regard, that makes it their goal to help people and foster a community would be pretty neat

[GuardianAngel]

Everything else that others have suggested has sounded pretty cool! I quite enjoy the historical references of the merged groups and I’m sorry that I couldn’t suggest anything more group related myself. I also find it okay that everyone disregarded my idea, I’m actually glad because they were really just spit balled ideas and it gave me an idea of what everyone else liked as well!

That’s really all I had to say...sorry for a seeming lack of contribution.