Settlement: Blackfeather Keep


Pathfinder Online

Goblinworks Executive Founder

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Settlement Name: Blackfeather Keep
Settlement Philosophies: Parables of Erastil
Government Type: Theocracy (Church of Erastil)
Alignment of Settlement: LG
Alignment of Citizens: LG, NG, LN
Alignment of Visitors: All but CE
Favored Classes: Clerics, Paladins, Rangers, Druids

Blackfeather Keep is a simple but uncannily unyielding wilderness stronghold. It was established as a defensible foothold for the local hunting, farming and logging hamlets. The Keep’s current stewards, the Agents of Erastil, actively patrol its vicinity with righteous zeal, making free the neighboring lands of barbarous or unnatural interlopers.

Services:
In addition to fine wares, the Keep provides facilities and training on crafts and skills befitting of Erastil. For the general public, those trades include woodworking, tanning and provisioning. For the Keep’s honored citizens, training in archery, axe-wielding, wilderness survival and divine spellcasting domains (Animal, Community, Good, Law and Plant) are extended as well.

Governance:
The Keep’s leadership is composed primarily of high ranking clergy, compelled to conduct themselves in alignment with their deity. A modicum of leeway is granted for the behavior of the Keep’s citizens, as the extremely hostile surroundings sometime call for less than savory acts to maintain peace. Infamously chaotic, evil individuals trespassing within the Keep’s borders are given fair warning--once. Thereafter, the individual’s safety cannot be guaranteed.

Trade is the lifeblood of Blackfeather. Forces that would menace local roads, and thereby commerce, are warned, then bountied. By the same token, Keep citizens (or leadership) convicted of similar nefarious acts against neighboring allied hubs face stringent consequences, up to and including exile.

As followers of Erastil, the Keep’s leaders have no penchant for senseless acts of aggression, demonstrations of power, or waging war. But they are not naïve to imminent threats; have orchestrated treaties with local allies, and prepared numerous defensive countermeasures. Diplomacy will be exhausted before any offensive is ever undertaken against a neighboring unfriendly settlement. Blights however will be purged as presented.

Holidays:
Harsh times weather the soul. However Blackfeather is not all toil and strife. The Keep celebrates Planting Week on the Vernal Equinox, Archer's Day on the 3rd of Erastus and Harvest Feast on the Autumnal Equinox.

Goblin Squad Member

A most hearty congrats on the announcement. It is truly nice to see another LG settlement pop up! We should talk and see how much we might have in common regarding ideals, goals, etc... at your convenience. :)

Bringslite
Ambassador
Ozem's Vigil

Goblin Squad Member

Welcome, Blackfeathers!

Goblin Squad Member

Yes! A most hearty welcome indeed!

Goblin Squad Member

I've added your Settlement to the Guild Recruitment & Helpful Links list. If you have a brief description you'd like to appear there to let people know about your guild while they're browsing that list, please PM me.

The Seventh Veil welcomes you to the community.

Goblinworks Executive Founder

Hail fellow well met.

OOC: I've created a special "Alliance Member" role on our guild site to distinguish alliance from guild members.

For those authorized representatives of non-CE settlements interested in establishing relations with Blackfeather Keep, please hit me up via our recruiting form, if you have not already done so.

Thanks!

Chris

Goblin Squad Member

Welcome aboard...& good luck to all yer endeavor's.

Goblin Squad Member

Greetings from the Keepers of the Circle. I placed my official application at your site. We look forward to future conversations with you fine folks.

Squaring the Circle,

Erian El'ranelen, Guardian of Gold

Goblin Squad Member

So you guys always were Good, just not Chaotic. It's nice to have some holy warriors in the neighborhood. :)

The Exchange Goblin Squad Member

Welcome and good luck in the rush!

Goblin Squad Member

1 person marked this as a favorite.

A friendly bump for the other Lawful Good guys!

Goblin Squad Member

We Elves have little understanding for the relentless struggle of humans to harness the wilderness instead of flowing with it. But of all the human ways, we appreciate the philosophy of moderation and simplicity of Old Deadeye's followers and hope their way of life will attract as much as possible of their brethren.

Druids of the Viridian Circle will probably visit you, like us elves many have respect for Old Deadeye's teachings. Should wilderness defiling occur not too far away from Blackfeather Keep, my hope is that they may find help among your ranks. The Viridian Circle share your principle of diplomacy before offensive actions, and your example of Erastil's good stewardship could help them get their point made before more radical acts.

----------- OOC
Nice to see another settlement with roots in Golarion Lore. I wish you a lot of success :)
Also you may want to update your Landrush Guild page, obviously your motto is not from the Parables of Erastil :D

Goblinworks Executive Founder

The Druids of the Viridian Circle would be honored guests.

/OOC - lol, yeah "All your base are belong to us" was surprisingly absent from Erastil's teachings.

Grand Lodge

Gale Windswept offers his bow to your defenses. I would be honored to help defend your walls and wilds, as well as serve as explorer and guide to the deep-wilderness.

(Application submitted)


To join this settlement, go here and apply!

Goblin Squad Member

While I'm not from this settlement, I'm a neighbor and I wish them well if you're wanting to home in a crafting settlement.


I'm not sure the BFK is safe place for new players wanting to do crafting to start out, especially if those players are genuinely excited about the game. For the sake of Forgeholm, I hope BFK shows up in EE. But I suspect that will not happen as the leadership of BFK did not seem to be that interested in or impressed with the game. Callembea, Guardheim, Keepers Pass and Hammerfall are all good places to go for crafting in the most populated parts of the map, the SE and the Central North. They also have a stronger community of active and engaged players and leadership that cares.


At some point GW may need to consider reassigning control of settlements from groups that are AWOL/not showing up/not coming back to active groups that formed after the land rush thing.

Goblin Squad Member

Yeah I'm not real thrilled with the turn out of BFK. There is starting to be some chatter on their website but so far it's just the owner and our guys reaching out.

Goblin Squad Member

I'm having a blast and I love the SE. But it's bit hard to deny the game would be better off with 2/3 of the map and 15 settlements right now. Of course it's way too early and panic over that, I'm expecting a publicity push from GW in a couple months.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Doc || Allegiant Gemstone Co. wrote:
At some point GW may need to consider reassigning control of settlements from groups that are AWOL/not showing up/not coming back to active groups that formed after the land rush thing.

Indeed. I think it is important to note that GW did not sell settlements slots. They were earned and are a privilege to have at this stage in the game. As such, I believe groups that earned them in the Land Rush are beholden to continue to earn their privilege to hold a settlement in EE. The success of the game will depend in part on it.

Goblin Squad Member

I think a system needs to be put in place were a settlement can be taken from a company. If nothing else from inactivity at the minimum. I doubt that will happen until well after War of Towers when those settlements will be driven into the ground by others exploiting the inactivity.

Grand Lodge

Hmm... It troubles me that my first home is doing so poorly- especially since Blackfeather Keep has such tremendous potential to do good and be a safe harbor in the realm. I have some ideas about what to do with the settlement, if Scorchbark or the gods are willing to turn control over to me.

-Immediately move to make the BlackFeather Keep Auction House the go-to place for quickly purchasing stockpiled resources in the region.

-Reach out to every merchant company in the River Kingdoms in an effort to facilitate inter-regional trade and build-up the BFK AH.

-Recruit gatherers, crafters, refiners, and soldiers who are devoted to the values of community and cooperation.

-Establish a firm control of enough towers in the mountains to help provide Forgeholm with access to the high quality crafting facilities and trainers it needs.

-Establish a leadership system for the settlement with a focus on service to the BFK community first and the PFO community second.

On reflection, the first four of these I can accomplish regardless of who sits in the high chair at the Keep. All I need is the support of the community.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hmm... It troubles me that my first home is doing so poorly- especially since Blackfeather Keep has such tremendous potential to do good and be a safe harbor in the realm. I have some ideas about what to do with the settlement, if Scorchbark or the gods are willing to turn control over to me.

-Immediately move to make the BlackFeather Keep Auction House the go-to place for quickly purchasing stockpiled resources in the region.

-Reach out to every merchant company in the River Kingdoms in an effort to facilitate inter-regional trade and build-up the BFK AH.

-Recruit gatherers, crafters, refiners, and soldiers who are devoted to the values of community and cooperation.

-Establish a firm control of enough towers in the mountains to help provide Forgeholm with access to the high quality crafting facilities and trainers it needs.

-Establish a leadership system for the settlement with a focus on service to the BFK community first and the PFO community second.

On reflection, the first four of these I can accomplish regardless of who sits in the high chair at the Keep. All I need is the support of the community.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

What Blackfeather and Forgehelm really need IMHO, heck most of the northern settlements, is a threat, or some kind of rivalry to deal with.

Brighthaven and Golgotha will quickly become the places to be (already are really) because they are relatively close in proximity, and have set themselves up to be rivals - ensuring PvP but also a need for new gear (ie. to support PvP) and thus crafting and non-combatants.

Without that kind of dynamic in the north, I doubt you'll ever see a significant population. I could be wrong (sure hope so).

Goblin Squad Member

2 people marked this as a favorite.

The difficulty is that there are too many places that want to make their "Auction House the go-to place for quickly purchasing stockpiled resources in the region"

The first thing we need to do is get rid of auction houses in the NPC/Starter settlements. Eleven Player settlements have put their faith in being markets, and are faced wtih competition from five starter settlements that were not in the mix when they made their decision.

If the starter settlements can't go (except Thornkeep and a stand-in for Fort inevitable) then at the very least they should lose their auction houses immediately.

Goblin Squad Member

Doc || Allegiant Gemstone Co. wrote:
What Blackfeather and Forgehelm really need IMHO, heck most of the northern settlements, is a threat, or some kind of rivalry to deal with.

I think you're forgetting that while PvP is essential to the design, there are still lots of people who don't want very much of it, or any. I think there will be enough for everybody in the long run, but a lot of us need to get our feet under us before we start testing those waters.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Quote:
I think you're forgetting that while PvP is essential to the design, there are still lots of people who don't want very much of it, or any.

Personally, I don't expect those people to stick around for very long once PvP starts in earnest. It would be nice to have enough PvE content for non PvP folks, but if GoblinWorks is already spread thin, I hope they eschew escalation stuff for adding sandbox stuff (and sandbox ultimately means Settlement conflict and trade).

Either way, my main point was, war (PvP) is what I'd expect would drive the need for better gear, or replacement gear, and as such - materials for crafting.

Without that, what are you crafting for except gear for doing escalations and/or fashion shows?

I'm just saying, interesting things happening will tend to make people want to play in an area.

Lack of people can be a self-reinforcing feedback loop, just as it can be in the opposite area when a region or group already has gravity (like Golgotha and Brighthaven).

You need the north to be interesting. I'm quite sure all these protective alliances and everybody playing good guys will hamper that.

Goblin Squad Member

PFO is an experiment. The people it was most advertised to is Table-Top players of Pathfinder. PvP will be essential, but the game will start with a larger portion of people who are new to MMORP than any game recently. Yes, many of them will drop out when they see that they have little choice but to PvP, but I'm not as convinced as you are that we can't transition from a peaceful north to a war footing successfully. We'll find out in a few months.

Goblin Squad Member

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Doc || Allegiant Gemstone Co. wrote:
You need the north to be interesting. I'm quite sure all these protective alliances and everybody playing good guys will hamper that.

There is the potential for a decent Good vs. Good conflict in the North. The culture & player bases of Ozem's Vigil/Blackfeather Keep/Forgehelm is different that of High Road Covenant (Talonguard/Stoneroot Glade/Tavernhold). It would pit two Lawful leaning settlements against two Neutral to Chaotic leaning settlements. Imagine the Merry Men vs. the Knights of the Round Table.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Quote:
PFO is an experiment. The people it was most advertised to is Table-Top players of Pathfinder. PvP will be essential, but the game will start with a larger portion of people who are new to MMORP than any game recently.

It seems to me that the people becoming most disillusioned with PFO are the table toppers. There really isn't that much binding it to the table top experience from what I can see. If this is their first MMORPG, I pity them, it will be a brutal experience. It has complex mechanics and the UI is not that helpful. They should start with something like Neverwinter Online instead.

Quote:
Yes, many of them will drop out when they see that they have little choice but to PvP, but I'm not as convinced as you are that we can't transition from a peaceful north to a war footing successfully. We'll find out in a few months.

My point isn't about transitioning from peace to war, it's about not having any players up there because nothing is going on, and there weren't a lot of people there to start with.

If GoblinWorks added a really cool unique escalation that could damage your town, and/or had some kind of GM controlled boss mobs that interacted with the players, I could see that keeping the non-pvp folks pretty entertained, and the co-op would probably even entertain hard core pvp folks too.

Goblin Squad Member

Pity me not. While experienced MMORPGers are complaining about the inadequacies, every day's an interesting adventure for me. From my point of view, it's the people who have played other games and this doesn't do things exactly the way they want that are becoming most disillusioned.

You could be right about the number of players, but we are picking up a new friend every day or two. I think by the time they get close to their 4500 active accounts in a month or two, we'll have enough people to enjoy ourselves. And they've already promised that if we don't control our escalations they'll start to over-run the settlement.

Again, time will tell, but I don't think that anyone's predictions of doom and gloom are fair to anyone else.

Goblin Squad Member

Well we do have ogres as our normal mobs in our hexes. bandits and gobs are few and far between. I've not seen that elsewhere.


Ok Doc and Cal, you're both right, thread jacking over, please!

Goblin Squad Member

I apologize if this was anything like a thread-jacking. Blackfeather Keep is a core part of our alliance. Ozem's Vigil is always pleased to have discussions that involve our good friends in the North. We anticipate that Blackfeather Keep will form one of the single most important stops on the Northern Trade Route from Forgeholm to Talonguard.

Grand Lodge

Caldeathe Baequiannia wrote:
We anticipate that Blackfeather Keep will form one of the single most important stops on the Northern Trade Route from Forgeholm to Talonguard.

With strong leadership, yes. Otherwise, Blackfeather Keep will be made obsolete by Thornkeep's might. I'll see what I can do push BFK up a notch on the trade routes. For now, please post your settlement's primary needs here so that I and other traders can better target our efforts. If you do not see your settlement, please PM me so that I can add it.

(You will need a Shivtr account to post there; but you do not need to be a member of the Wilderness Wanderers.)

Goblin Squad Member

My crew will not be listing anything for sale in any npc auction house.

Grand Lodge

*An animal messenger brings news to each of the company and settlement leaders within a days run of Blackfeather Keep*

I am here for the next few days and have small quantities of Bloodstone, Gentian, pelts, and wool for trade, as well as 100 units of Greenweed, Silver Ore and Antithesis Essence. I may be out surveying in the surrounding mountains; but feel free to drop me a message if you are interested in trade. In particular I am looking to trade recipes.

Goblin Squad Member

Per pm. I'd like to option your greenweed for Ozem's Vigil.

Goblin Squad Member

I'd like to cast my vote for longer auction house listing times. 48 hours is almost useless with the amount of running we have to do to get anywhere. Seven days would be much more appropriate. Forgeholm will largely be using BFKs AH once we have the goods we need and develop some surpluses (not too many at this early date though).

Grand Lodge

I am buying any and all Apothecary mats.

Community / Forums / Paizo / Licensed Products / Digital Games / Pathfinder Online / Settlement: Blackfeather Keep All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Pathfinder Online