Welcome to the beginning of the political system in TERA!

Starting today, TERA players who meet certain requirements can register as candidates for vanarch. It's not always easy to convince everyone to vote for you instead of your esteemed opponents, though, so we'd like to provide you with a place to discuss your plans, make campaign promises, and show that you are the best-suited character to become a vanarch.

Think of this thread as a televised debate. Everyone's eyes are on you and they're eager to hear what you have to say. They're all waiting for you to assure them you are their champion, and that you will work to make their lives better in TERA!

So if you are a vanarch candidate on Celestial Hills, give a short introduction of yourself and your vanarchy platform. Heck, start an actual debate if you like. Has another candidate said that good vanarchs should look after their guild first? State why you think that's a bad idea! Do you think declaring war against a smaller guild is great way to promote PvP? Make a stance! The people deserve to know what you believe in. If you aren't running this time, this is an excellent opportunity to find out about the candidate to make an informed choice!

Better yet, challenge the other candidates with your own questions! This is a public debate! Here are some sample questions you can use as a starting point for political discussion:

• What are your priorities for using policy points? Skill trainers? Specialty stores? Raise or lower tax rates first?
  
• What would be your agenda as a vanarch? How do you plan to enact this agenda? With force? With rewards? Will your guild members help with enforcement?
  
• How do you plan to receive feedback or questions on your rule?
  
• If a conflict arises between what's best for the province and what's best for your guild, what will you do?
  
• What makes you the best candidate?

This thread is for vanarch candidates to discuss their stances on various political items. Feel free to address other candidates directly and answer their questions, but please remember to follow the official TERA forum rules. We want a healthy and courteous debate, so be respectful to the other candidates. Remember, the public is watching you!

Greetings, my name is Ravant and I represent the Dawnrose Brotherhood. I am campaigning for the province of Essenia in Southern Shara.

http://dawnrosebrotherhood.com/
http://dawnrosebrotherhood.com/vanarch

I'll start with the sample questions and broaden it a little from there:

-What are your priorities for using policy points? Skill trainers? Specialty stores? Raise or lower tax rates first?

Teleporters and Skill Trainers first off as well as lowering taxes to zero to their lowest cap. Being able to pick up new skills or skill ranks and traveling quickly will be what people ask for first. I'm willing to listen to the people's requests.

-What would be your agenda as a vanarch? How do you plan to enact this agenda? With force? With rewards? Will your guild members help with enforcement?

My agenda is to assist the community. The zone I'm campaigning for, Essenia, is a leveling zone and not an end-game zone. I will ask the community what they believe the best use of policy points will be to add the most convenience to the zone. I'd also like to provide an area that the RP community can enjoy via events and keeping the zone atmosphere respectful and helpful.

As for how to enforce it? Since I am on an RP server, obviously rewards. I will use tax money to fund events such as buying rare items for prizes or simply giving out gold awards for tournaments or BAM killing contests and the like. These events would not need to solely involve my guild or Essenia. Working with other guilds and the rest of the community should be paramount to our type of server. Obviously my guild stands behind me in my decisions. We've gathered together a bunch of friendly and helpful people whose company I enjoy greatly.

-How do you plan to receive feedback or questions on your rule?

If elected I plan on starting some form of blog so that I take and answer questions on. I welcome all feedback, negative or positive, so that I might better conduct myself and assist the people of the realm.

-If a conflict arises between what's best for the province and what's best for your guild, what will you do?

I don't believe these ideas are mutually exclusive. But in my case the province will take presidence. This has already been discussed with my guild and they trust my decisions and stand behind me. Like I said before I have been blessed with finding some nice people.

-What makes you the best candidate?

This is subject to personal interpretation I suppose. One thing that I believe makes me a good candidate is that I actually have served a community as a political power for many years in another game. I have actually had years of experience being in political power in a game world. There is a little known game called Dark Ages run by Kru Interactive (formerly Nexon inc). If you are still reading, I will explain the process.

After many years of playing Dark Ages, I was elected by the community to become a Knight of Temuair. We were the ambassadors of the two nations of the game world. Our job was to solve disputes between both nations by taking a stance on equal and non-bias ground. We had the power to petition the game management when we did not have sufficient in-game power to solve such disputes.

To be elected a Knight one had to first fulfill two requirements: four terms as a Guard (think Police Officer) which lasted two weeks each term, and four terms as a Guard Captain (think Police Chief) which lasted two weeks each. Each term had to be campaigned for and votes collected. After I had fulfilled these requirements, I was put up for Knighthood by the other Knights. The community then had a chance to vote via posting their reasons for or against. In the end there just really wasn't anything negative anyone could say about me, and I was elected. I have served as a Knight for almost four years now (There are images in my guild website gallery of my Dark Ages character and his Legend).

So as for my debate question, I would ask the other candidates this:

What can you bring to the community?

Legion Anthem

Greetings! I am Markaeus of the Legions of the Black Phoenix, and I'm here to answer some questions about issues that have been raised to me. Furthermore, I'm here to point out why I'm a suitable candidate for the Vanarchy of Val Kaeli, in Northern Shara.

I suppose, like my associate Ravant, I'll start with the sample questions.

(Q) What are your priorities for using policy points? Skill trainers? Specialty stores? Raise or lower tax rates first?
(A) My priorities for policy points are first and foremost the lowering of tax rates, followed by the opening of skill trainers. Especially in a place like Northern Shara, skill trainers are essential -- and the lack of them can be incredibly frustrating. To this effect, I will be focusing on their maintenance, as well as the maintenance of the Trade Brokers and Speciality Stores.

(Q) What would be your agenda as a vanarch? How do you plan to enact this agenda? With force? With rewards? Will your guild members help with enforcement?
(A) My Agenda as Vanarch is to encourage roleplay, and provide roleplay-non roleplay relations. I wish to integrate the non-RPers with the RPers in a way that appeals to all players. Many Heavy RP guilds dislike non-RPers. I, however, have come to see -- with time -- that opposing them leads only to communal schisms. While I expressed sympathy towards segregation earlier, I now understand that unity is the only path to progress. Together, we can forge a respectful and active community. Apart, we are all but lions battling over meat that is more than large enough for all to share happily.

As to how I will 'enforce' this; my guild is not a traders' union, a merchant caravan or some sort of supply agency. We're soldiers. That's all we are and the sum of our existence. We don't broker deals, or trade in goods -- our only profession, to quote 300, is war. You can be guaranteed that the Legions will be the prevalent presence in Val Kaeli, regardless of if we win or lose. We will be there, and we will campaign every cycle to retain and/or win the Vanarchy. Not because we want it for aesthetic reasons, but because we will prove that we deserve it.

(Q) How do you plan to receive feedback or questions on your rule?
(A) I will open up a specific thread on my guild forums; Legions of the Black Phoenix, designed purely to receive and answer questions and critique from the community.

(Q) If a conflict arises between what's best for the province and what's best for your guild, what will you do?
(A) What is best for the province is what is best for my guild, for we are its guardians and denizens both. If there was ever a case of my guild's interest contending with my province's, I would resign, for I do not believe any guild in contention with its provinces needs should have power.

(Q) What makes you the best candidate?
(A) To answer this, first ask, what is roleplay in an MMO setting? Roleplay is the act of creating a character or artificial individual to use as a means to facilitate a story-telling feeling within the reality of the world of TERA and more specifically, Arborea. Thereby, it is implied that adherence to established Lore is a requirement for this to be proper roleplay, as well as the respect to other individuals that your character is not assumed to be somehow superior to theirs in a way that is over-bearing or obtuse. Example of this are; assuming relation to a Lore character like Kaia, Velik, Seir, Samael, etc. Another example is making oneself untouchable or political impenetrable. All characters should have weaknesses, and believable stories: The perfect toon is an imperfect one.

To continue my answer more directly, I will also address an issue that many have discussed; I roleplay as a Prince, but not in the conventional sense. This I must stress. My character's title is one that denotes High Nobility, or a prestigious bloodline. He is not the son of a King, nor heir to a Kingdom. It is a title of wealth and power, derived from the now-defunct former Velikan oligarchy. My character has little to no political influence as a Prince alone, but instead relies on his personality, sincerity, charisma and status as a Military Commander to allow him influence. I do not tout myself to be royalty, nor a relation of a Lore-character, in order to demand respect: I work for it, tirelessly, to the best of my ability.

This is what makes me the ideal candidate; that I need no crutch. I play my concept to the best of my ability, and hope only to provide a believable story which people can become involved in. If anything, I believe it is my duty and privilege to bring something special to the community, for the community, that can involve dozens of others in intricate plot. After all, is the duty of a Vanarch and guild leader not to encourage interaction and, as it is called in story structure, the 'plot complication'?

(Q) What can you bring to the community?
(A) Intelligence, dedication, lore-obedient roleplay and a level of maturity and responsibility, as well as a story-driven reason for Vanarchy that cannot be truly questioned.

In closing, my guild has proven itself to be heavily dedicated to the Celestial Hills community enough to no longer be questioned. My query to the other candidates is this: How strong is your Lore, and what can you do for both the roleplayers and non-roleplayers on this server?

Sort of an addition to my post in response to the honorable Markaeus and a response. My guild does indeed have lore with ties to Essenia and Vanarcy. All of which is not currently written online but it does exist.

However, I think he brings up a good point though in that our server is the only roleplay server and thus to give oneself a grander scope in purpose is logical.

The goal should be to bring the non-roleplayers into the fold and introduce them to the concept of roleplaying and to treat them as respectfully as we desire to be treated. An example being Markaeus himself, who held a dueling tournament(which I received second place in, I might add) wrapped in a sort of non-roleplay(strictly speaking) event there was a chance for guilds to gather together in a central location and members of guilds could get to know others, converse, and engage in roleplay.

My question would then be, are we going to go on the assumption that any guild seeking Vanarchy must write their own lore and be roleplayers to be accepted as legit candidates?

Also a disclaimer: I wish that nothing I post be considered slanderous or an attack against any one person or their ideas, just friendly debating.

http://www.snugglesguild.com

In the famous words of a particular pirate..... Good moooooooooooooorning Celestial Hills! For those that do not know me, I am Takarazuka - proud guild leader of Snuggles. I am a simple, humble person looking to provide the people of Northern Shara with a Vanarch who looks out for them and treats them as equals. My first choice as province is the beautiful region of Sylvanoth. This diverse and unique land provides many opportunities for the adventuring souls in the world. The city of Scythera Fae and the fae-lands of Seeliwood, in particular, fit our guild quite well and will be the seat of the Vanarchy.

Let me give some insight in to how I will best serve you:

- Policy points will be used to reopen the specialty stores and skill trainers. No one likes having to go far to increase their skills and find rare goods, least of all me! I want to be sure everyone has quick access to vendors and trainers in towns. After this is established, I want to secure a small but fair tax rate for the people. Unfortunately, taxes are a necessary evil in life. The money, however, will be used to directly support the Vanarchy with it's goals for the people and no more. Your hard earned gold will not be used to line the pockets of a greedy ruler. Events and parades will also be held within the province to allow for an opportunity to give back to those that were kind enough to help me in to the position.

- My agenda as Vanarch is simple... ensure the people come first. No grand schemes, no political drama or intrigue, and no greedy or corrupt leader to ruin the enjoyment of your adventures.

- I am a very open-minded person and enjoy doing the best I can for people. My guild members know that they have a voice within our community and the same holds true for the provinces. Those people within my lands will be able to talk with me directly to ask about current events, aid in questing or otherwise, or just general discussion. I am not so high and mighty that I feel the need to hide away from the public and let other people do the job for me. I am always eager to hear what others have to say.

- My guild is extremely self-sufficient. At no point has anything that would be a gain for them in the Vanarchy becomes a negative issue. As a Vanarch, the province and the people are OUR main concern, not just mine. We all want what is best for people.. it is part of our guild mentality. Being helpful and doing the right thing is what makes Snuggles such a great guild and I am proud to lead them.

- In closing, I am no one special truly. I do my best and ensure people feel good about issues when I am done helping them. I embrace new challenges eagerly and go out of my way to overcome them. If I am Vanarch then I will carry those same ideals and virtues in to my leadership. I do not wish to see every province go to large guilds just because of numbers. Sometimes it's the small guys with the big dreams that carry the best message and will do the best that they can. We are the ones that have to work hardest to gain the trust of the community and I hope I can do that for you.

Greetings Celestial Hills!

My name is Arenthas and I am the GM of The Empyrean Divine.
http://empyreandivine.com



The Federation Needs Your Support

We are a well established guild that's had its roots since early closed beta. Our Mission Statement within the Divines are words that hold very true, and probably best represent my feelings and attitude towards other members, as well as the community as a whole. I seek to strengthen the community, as well as the fans by providing a great medium for expression, lore, and gaming environment. The Empyrean Divine seek to share experiences with like minded individuals. The success of my leadership is bolstered by it’s Creed. Honor, Loyalty, Faith. Honoring our friends and families by giving them the respect, patience and honesty that they deserve. Loyalty in members by remaining 100% committed to the well being of the guild and it’s family. Faith in seeking patience and positivity in one another. This means lending a hand to our members, and offering support when needed. With our creed we hope to host a highly evolved, committed and stable community for folks around the world to share an amazing experience in our games together.

"The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

So what province am I running for?

Helkam Province

Here are some reasons you should vote for me as your Vanarch.

I plan on providing a solid end game environment for those traveling to the frontlines of the Argonian Battles, with lowered taxes to reputation/shop/vendors, I'll be able to raise money to continue a campaign outside of Vanarchy to keep our community on their toes.

How have I contributed to this community already?

For Starters, I am the Author who regularly updates Celestials Hills Official Guild list. http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/celestial-hills/topics/Celestial-Hills-RPPVE-Official-Guild-List

By Maintaining this Master Guild list, it is my way of giving back to the community in real time, and organizing a one stop shop for everyone that is interested in finding a guild for them. I honestly feel that everyone should be part of a guild, to enjoy Tera to its fullest extend. Finding "that" guild is the only tough part. Organizing list is something I expect would make lives easier.

Also, I have created the "Champions of the Arena" Ladder Bracket tournament for our competitive players in Celestial Hills, which you can find here http://www.empyreandivine.com/cota

The reason i've done this is because everyone should be able to enjoy PVP in a PVE environment, for those who desire so. With my funds gathered from taxes, a lot of it will be given to teams from other guilds as rewards and incentives to create new, and participate in server wide events.

By forming these events and tournaments, while I maintain the flagship of Vanarchy over desired provinces, I can assure you more events to come that yield even greater rewards.

For our RP community, we have made a server launch event that was fun and exciting. Sure it had its faults, but we had quite the outcome and that type of population was not expected. Here is the link to the event http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/celestial-hills/topics/Empyrean-Fair-Open-RP-Event

These are TANGIBLE events, events that absolutely everyone can participate in, and thats what separates my leadership from everyone else. It's not all about ME It's about taking matters in my own hands, and shaping a community that knows how to have a good time.

When it comes down to it, there is no greater reward than giving back to the community. And this is how I handle Leadership, and this is how I would handle Vanarch rule.

What's do we offer in our Provinces?

1) Weekly Patrol Eventsto help travelers in our province farm BAMS and quests that NEVER get done.

2) Lowered Taxrates - Let's keep those shops open and not have some greedy Vanarch hoard it.

3) Keep those Flight Paths Open - We like to travel and we like to travel quickly.

4) A Natural Hub for Roleplayers on the Frontlines against the Argons.

5) Provincial Events that include PVP/RP and Alliance Battles against the Argons.

6) Reputation Farming Assistance - Nobody likes to Rep Grind, let us help.

I intend to keep my goals as Vanarch transparent to the community. If I am elected I will of course try to keep taxes low, and I have a wonderful guild to help me achieve that goal, but I also hope that each and every one of you will visit my website with any questions you might have, as well as your suggestions on how we can improve your stay in Westonia, and our community as a whole. I am here to help, it is what I enjoy doing, and it is why I am running for Vanarch; not as a king, but as a servant of, and for, the people.

Also i made a short campaign Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGBdyPIjHY&feature=youtu.be

Name: Whitethorn -- The White Rabbit
http://youtu.be/5bYtLnlYjE8 (Video Campaign)

Guild: Eclipse (Casual Non-RP however we understand and respect the RP community)
No website address. We do have Vent and Mumble. Current size 79 members.

What provinces you are interested in governing:

I have asked my guild which they would like me to look into. I have also asked any small guilds that would like someone to represent them which zones they would be interested in. We feel that no matter how large your guild (5 members or 100 members) you should have the same rights and standing in the community as the 200+ guilds do.

I am 100% for sure not looking towards Westonia. I myself will be using my one vote on someone that I feel would be a great leader. I base this on the fact that even though this person was leveling as fast as they could to 60, they stopped a few times to help out lower level individuals that asked for help in Area Chat.

Besides benefiting your guild, what can we expect from you as a Vanarch?

I would like to make sure any and all trainers as well as merchants in the province that I control are open for the public. Of course, all the individuals running will tell you this same thing.

We have come up with a few ideas in regards to events we want to run in the province. I want to run a race each week in which the winner will receive a % of the taxes collected. A few of my members have also requested DM's since PvP matches are not enabled, in which tax money will be used for prizes.

If required, I will have a small group of individuals who have told me they will be willing to help out solo or small group individuals that require assistance in the Province with BAM's or any quests that might be stalling a persons progression. However, I will not send a lvl 60 to assist a lvl 40 as that will remove all XP that the person might of gained as well as any loot.

What qualifies you to be a Vanarch other than you level fast and have 3000 gold?

Honestly no one will have a 100% perfect answer to this question. This is the 1st election for the NA Version of Tera on an RP PvE server. No one is certain how things will play out. What I can tell you is that no matter what happens I will enjoy the experience and I hope that everyone else has a good time as well.

Whether you have a question about Vanarch or something you would like to know about in game, please feel free to contact me at anytime. I am usually online from 8 AM PST till late at night.

Thank you and Good Luck to everyone that runs.

I believe in being a servant of the people.Its lost on some people some think the people serve them but that's not true i believe that the true king and queen are not the ones on the thrown but are the children and the future of ones culture. A king and queen can be replaced ones culture con not.So i believe as vanarch it is my duty to serve you the Future the culture the people. thank you for letting me serve you =)


Vote Traven.kirkwall Vanarch of westonia