One of our main past times is determining and negotiating alliances with other factions and determining enemies and neutral factions. I feel this is a very confusing area at the moment. Allies are formed and broken very fast and with little or no deliberation with the Council ((Malk Leaders)). Faction groups change their names, merge, break up, ally with others, etc., also very fast and frequently.
So I'd like to propose the following FAQ on the topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Malkavian Allies / Enemies / Neutrals
1. Without metagaming, how do I know if the person in front of me is an Ally or Enemy or Neutral?
You cannot simply read their tag; as you pointed out, that is metagaming. You may know this person and their faction from a previous encounter. If not, you need to role play it. You cannot assume anything. Just ask the person questions or get the information through your senses. You might be able to smell if the person is a demon or lycan and you can then go with that to determine their faction.
Once you know the faction, you need to figure out if that faction is Ally or Enemy or Neutral.
In fast-paced, chaotic group battles, it's a different story. You may need to briefly metagame in the moment to determine if you should attack a person or not. There really is no other way.
2. How do I find out which factions are our Allies, Enemies or Neutrals?
We will be incorporating a prim in the Embassy that will give a notecard ONLY to Dark Malkavians with the current list of Allies and Enemies (all others being Neutrals). This notecard will be frequently updated with the update date on it so make sure you are using the most up to date by touching the Embassy prim frequently, perhaps daily, but definitely before each time you set out for LOSS or or any other CCS sim.
3. How do I treat an Ally?
An Ally, you should treat almost as well as you treat your family. If you see an Ally being attacked, you should help them out (you might ask in IM because they may not want assistance). If an Allies base is being attacked, Malks as a group will go and help them too. If Malks are attacked or their base invaded, the Allies will help us too. The only difference is if you see a Malk in trouble and an Ally in trouble, for goodness sake, help the Malk out first. If you have time, it's good to throw out a little rp first before assisting. For example, /me spies a loyal MnM friend being attacked by a gang of demons. She unsheaths her sword and gun and leaps to the neko's defense."
4. How do I treat a Neutral Faction?
Well, neutrally! We neither assist them or attack them unless you have some personal, one-to-one, in-character reason to do so.
5. How do I treat an Enemy Faction?
It depends on if we are at war with them or not. If we are at war, you may attack on site. If we are not at war, you may ignore them, attack them or insult them at your whim. Be forewarned though, if you are frequently getting yourself into trouble (defeated, captured, etc.) needlessly and calling for help, it is highly possible that your family will get tired of saving your ass and ignore your pleas. Be prudent.
If the Enemy lands on our shores, role play with them as enemies landing on our shores. Don't metagame and call in the entire family. If they attack, THEN call in the family….or not…it's up to the leader who is present.
Sometimes parties of Malks, either large or small, may invade our enemies lands and wreak havoc. Have fun, try not to die, be brave. Role play before combat.
6. How do I know if we are at war or not?
When we declare war, we will send out a notice or series of notices. We try to have our Ambassador deliver a War Declaration, drafted up by a Malk leader, to the enemy's leaders. We sometimes post it in our Embassy. Regardless, the NC delivered to you by the prim in the Embassy will list the declaration.
7. How are Alliances formed and broken?
Dark Malkavians RARELY seek out alliances with other factions. Usually another faction approaches us and asked to form an alliance. Whichever Dark Malk the faction representative approaches, it should be referred immediately to a leader (Elder, Advisor or Royal). The leaders will then discuss the pros and cons of allying with the faction in question. There will be some going back and forth talking with the faction and either we will ally or not. An announcement will be made and the Faction Notecard in the Embassy prim updated.
