Since we have Balefire, a city devoted to evil, I think it should be fitting that we should have Celestia back as well. However, rather than have Celestia as 4 cities like it was last time, I think it would do good if it were just the one forum plus a sub-forum for say... a holy chapel or something. Then it would be pretty balanced. We would have...

Celestia - City of good
Balefire - City of evil
Taras - City for both

I don't think I like that idea, though bringing back the Outer Planes (which can still be played in if you have the link) is an interesting idea. It's just hard to figure out where they are exactly....

I do have a city called Striberg that will be added... it's a magic city floating in the sea, some of the time. Other times it ends up being land locked.

I've never seen the city of Balefire as evil though. How is it an evil place? :huh:

I agree with AD on Balefire. The best way to bring alignment to cities is by instituting royalty. It's given though, that all of the cities are more lawful and the pirates cove and bandit's hideaway are chaotic. Taras will always follow Veronna, but that leaves Balefire, Cascadia, Istan, and Striberg to be open control by deities, demi-deities, or simply royalty.

It reappeared from the Plane of Shadows... that indicates that it is predominantly evil. While not everyone _needs_ to be evil to inhabit the city, there is a large trend. Just like there _may_ be evil angels, the primary, and correct, assumption is that they are good in nature. After all, Demonic Infused and Shadowdancers tend to gravitate toward Balefire, while those with good hearts are not suprisingly drawn to Celestia or are even part Celestial.

This would be why Celestia would be a proper balance to the addition of Balefire. While I may not necessarily agree that Taras is in the same league as these other two cities, it is fairly close to the theme. There are so many "Celestial" type characters floating around Imythess anyway that it would make perfect sense to add it to the boards. It is always possible to rename it and make it a refuge for Celestials on Imythess, given the difference in planes. Balefire is a similar co-existance between planes as well, after all.

As far as "where things are" in general, there is a distinct lack of information regarding that anyway. While some of the larger areas are plunked down on the map, we do not exactly have a road map between forums and sub-forums to use for journeys. There would be a similar amount of disinformation regarding the location of Striberg.

In all, I believe there are valid points toward adding some form of Celestia back to the boards. There is a bit of a bias in the direction of evil as it is on the board currently. I will not loose sleep at night if it was not added, mind you, but I believe it has been justified enough to figure out a place to locate it. Striberg also sounds interesting. These are simple forum addtions, the only bad thing that can come of adding an additional area is that no one RPs there.

Solara pretty much took the words out of my mouth.

Now I understand that there is a lot of problems with bringing back a place called Celestia, when the main focus of the board is trying to shift away from D&D. So maybe we could make a new city for the good instead or maybe make Striberg a dominantly good place?

False. Balefire has always maintained neutrality which would hint at a more or less neutral alignment despite their interest in shadows and the dark arts. They used the power of shadow to hide themselves from the war which would otherwise make them choose a side. The plane of shadow is actually, contrary to popular belief rather neutrally aligned. Though it has ties to the plane of negative energy which give it the large amount of undead (Which scared them out of the plane of shadow), it is also tied to every plane you can make a shadow on.

Balefire is attractive to dark-loving sorts, but not necessarily evil doers in general. As for the shadow dancer which balefire is home to, it is not evil either. It's tie to the darkness often leaves it to be misrepresented much like the city itself.

As much as Balefire an be insinuated as an evil city, Cascadia can be insinuated as a city of good. It is a peaceful city of the arts that is home to a few holy sites and has seen many a miracle (though they were in fact performed by a demon). The black river is a notable site of benign magical powers.

But as I was saying, the best way to bring alignment to the cities would be to identify rulers for each city.

Figured I'd throw my opinion in here. I think it would be nice to see a more "good" based city in Imythess. Although Balefire is apparently Neutral I've always seen it as a darker, "evil" based city. It is on the edges of the Dark Lands and it also says...

"The city is known for it's dark reputation and dark magic. Any dark-loving creature can find a home here, where they can be true to their nature."

So I think that bringing it a "good-aligned" city would be a nice touch.

The Shadow Plane is not Evil at all, just like the Planes of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, etc. It is the Celestial plane that is Lawful Good, another who's name I can't remember that is Chaotic Good, Hell that is Lawful Evil, and the Abyss that is Chaotic Evil.

Cities themselves are not evil or good, chaotic or lawful by nature, but because of the people there. The history of Balefire has is as distinctly Neutral. The Dark Lands are the evil ones, as they are inhabited by the Drow who are predominantly Evil by nature. I do think that it would be the ruler (or Demigod?) of the city that would represent to people of that city the bast, aka the ruler would have a strong influence over those who follow them and so their own alignment would then effect the alignment of the city.

As I said before though, the Planes can still be played in if you make sure you have a link should you wish to post there.

Terry Goodkind found it worth his time to write a novel describing how neutrality is the most evil position of all.

This is a debate of semantics at this point. It appears that Celestia was deemed not appropriate due to relation to pre-existing location, and because no one could figure out where it was from a spacial standpoint. I, personally, cannot think of a reason not to reinstate the area with a different name, given the simplicity of adding a new forum/sub-forum through the admin controls. It would be RP'd in by at least one person, given that this thread exists, which would make it more popular and some other areas of the forum.

I will have to toss my vote in with the "increase the number of good-aligned areas" push, since good-alignment does appear to be at a disadvantage, as it has been for a good while.

We are talking D&D Neutral, not true Neutrality. There is a difference. But...

I'm working on getting a good aligned area already!!! I'm just rather slow at it, mostly due to school. Ace was helping... It's city is called Striberg and the entire place is white! It's part of something else though... and I'm not supposed to give it away. :(

Ace is still helping! And you indeed have given away too much XP! *pulls out the men in Black*

Oh No!!! *hides* :ph43r: