Faction Advice

[Maladus]

So I have an idea to create a faction and I am having a hard time getting it off the ground. The problem I'm facing is quite literally square one, I don't know where to start or how to recruit. The problem is this faction is for followers of Vhaeraun, which in the current Drow climate, is considered a crime punishable by death. So, how do I recruit for something like this? If I post about a meeting place, the yathrin will show up and kill or maim everyone and my character becomes exiled from the Table, gets stripped of all titles, loses his house affiliation, etc. If I quietly approach someone about it and they happen to be loyal to Lolth, then my character gets exiled, stripped of titles an so on. I'm at a real loss here and am hoping that someone with past experience with a Vhaerunite or otherwise clandestine faction had some ideas.

Thanks

[Hazard]

Quietly approaching is the best way. There's risks involved, yes.

[Lexx]

Welcome to the games of subtlety and shadow play. This will take time when you're basically recruiting among what is a hostile base potentially if you read people wrong and alert those of an opposing god. I would start small and keep your eye out for similar folk. Get to know them and see where things go. It takes time to build up a secret society and you will get burned here and there inevitably. The main thing is doing it in a way that can be entertaining not just for you but antagonists to your cause that get involved in a way that encourages them to RP in good faith to you also. These games are about learning to read people, see what makes them tick as a person more than build spreads and mechanical things.

You also have the option of alter egos and disguises. Even if you don't have high skill in bluff you can post to the boards when no one is looking under an assumed identity, Callouts to those of the faith, signals to those who have sympathies they aren't alone. There's a lot you can get done under an assumed name posting messages carefully.

Most of all. Good luck and I hope it is a fun time regardless the outcome! Just know you're playing a high stakes game with this concept and accept that certain undesirable actions may come as a result. But it's not necessarily the end of the story if such happens and you can take it if such comes to pass as a catalyst for your characters growth and development over adversity.

[magistrasa]

Probably the "safest" way to go about it (though I still wouldn't say it's safe) is to simply make a faction of like-minded individuals, without making it explicitly tied to the faith. If you play the role right, Vhaeraunite friends will be a natural consequence of the effort.

Beyond that, just go around talking to people about philosophy and theology, and if you sense some heretical leanings in response to your questions, drop a few hints and see what slips out into the open.

For a very easy solution though, other followers of the secretive shadowy gods usually end up getting into contact with their neighboring communities, either for alliance or blackmail or whatever other reasons. If you don't know where to find Vhaeraunites, you can always ask around among the allies of Vhaeraun to see what information they'd be willing to part with.

It's worth saying, I think, that making a faction should never be the outright goal. There's a good chance that there's simply not enough Vhaeraunites to cobble a faction together from, so you might just be setting yourself up for failure. It's really all about making connections and getting to know people. For like the first year of my playing on Arelith, I may as well have been the only player on the server that worshipped my shadowy secret heretical deity of choice. That doesn't mean I couldn't roleplay that aspect of the character, or work towards that deity's goal in suitably subtle ways. It's all about playing the long game, getting to know people for who they really are, exposing and exploiting hidden facets of society. That's where the real fun is. Hanging out with ya boiz is typically secondary. (Disclaimer: Opinion, I guess)

[Good Character]

While the immediate recommendation is to join forces with other subtle, secretive, evil factions, it's a bit difficult as a true follower of Vhaeraun given his racist/supremacist ideals. However, his openness to seeing both male and female drow as equals does open up another branch not usually afforded to Llothites.

Avoid chasing down existing Vhaeraunans but rather aid weaker, downtrodden female and male drow alike. Your good deeds can eventually lead you to converting them to be Vhaeaunans.

Aside from that advice, have patience. Be diligent. Once you have the members, what only really matters is you providing enough content and interest to keep them. More individuals will flock to you if you do that without needing to recruit as you initially had to.

[Sigmar Revenge]

I had some experience playing as Vhaeraunite on Arelith and other RP servers in nwn. Quickest way is to join one of existing drow houses/factions and get to know them, play it smart and corrupt them from inside, slowly converting members to your faith.

Thing to note is fact its quite risky game, having high disguise would be adviced. Ideally you want to misguide your future "members" and make them commit treachery to Lolth so theres no return. Also, once you get somewhat estabilished, you NEVER want to be open about being Vhaeraunite to public, there always gonna be someone ready to kill you just to make themselves a hero and gain favor of clergy/matrons. Only you and your faction members should truly know who you are and what are your motives, keep it that way.

Best shot is to spread mayhem around opposite factions so people are not so eager to join them etc. and slowly decreasing power of clergy over drow males.

[Curve]

If it were me doing this I would make my first priority to be the best Lolthite possible. I would commit fully to the temple, your house, and city plots and goings on. I would make the thing other characters say when your character's name comes up be 'holy hell that is one good drow'. I would rat out other heretics even. I would do everything I could to make myself an indispensable member of drow society. I would keep it in mind what my secret motivations are, but I would hold back from acting on them in any way until I felt that I was so important as an assassin, or mage, or warrior, or spy, or whatever that the powers that be trust my character fully. Only then would I start acting. Even then I would act small, and be careful. Treat the thing with respect, even if you are a monster PvPer who could kill twenty other drow at once act as if you can not do that. Care that you don't get caught. Do bad things to people who question your character.

And, if it was me I would not use disguise to do Vhaeraunite things. The issue with -disguise is that it is kind of meant to be broken and you are going for ultra-secret drow guy. I would not want to risk that kind of thing by allowing any old spot invested character to spoil it. There are plenty of uses of disguise, I just don't think this is one of them.

Oh, and I would not talk about it ooc. I would not get on discord and say, 'boy I am fooling everyone with my secret Vhaeraun worshipper.' I would treat ooc as secretly as I do ic.

Also! I would watch spy movies, read spy novels. Especially 70s era spy novels. This is a really cool chance to do dead drops, and have secret codes, and double and triple cross.

[Ork]

Invest in bluff and create an alternate persona that can have these discussions. I find that religious factions (specifically racially motivated religious factions) are difficult to get off the ground because you're excluding a lot of other players by focusing on one race. Make a faction not associated with Vhaeraun, and invite people deeper into the cult as they advance in the organization. The inner circle can know it is vhaeraun-driven, but the rest might just know it as a merchantile faction or a militant faction.

[xanrael]

I think what Ork proposed is a great idea and can be a lot of fun to RP whether you're in the inner circle, outer circle, or trying to infiltrate the organization.

Do try to make sure the divide isn't driven by anything OOC and is determined by IC tests/chats. They could just be simple questions to see how amenable one would be to the core goals of the cult or something more involved.

Also accept that it will be exposed at some point and have an RP plan in place for that, ideally you'll have a foothold so its not you v world.