Question About Sith Acolyte Initiation

[RedneckLoves]

@Sapphire Storm @Dakota @Saul

So me, @ZabrakBustati and @James Steel started a thread just for our characters to all meet and it happened to be Bustati's initiation into the Sith as an acolyte. So here's what we've discussed...

Me: Question: Where exactly are we going with this? James, you mentioned trials in your last post. Are we saying there's going to be some sort of initiation battle/trial of some sort before they are accepted as acolytes or is it just like the first introduction to training as a sith acolyte?

James: I thought there were trials, there were in SWTOR at least. An Acolyte would have to defeat all other Acolytes in their group to pass.

I'd like to know if this is accurate for us in this TL, if faction leadership had a different idea in mind, or if it's just up to us. I never played TOR so I didn't even know about this until James brought it to my attention. I think it'd be interesting, but again wanted to know what you three thought before jumping in with something like that.

Thread So Far

 

[ZabrakBustati]

If need be I can totally edit my most recent post to fit this rp, that is not a problem :)

 

[Sapphire Storm]

In this timeline there is no official method of training. Acolyte is a completely optional rank, and the burden of training and all of that is on you, so you can take it at your own pace and craft the story however you like, as opposed to doing training threads to grind threads that allow you to rank up, which is what happened last time. If you want to do some kind of initiation, feel free to make up whatever you like, but it's not something you have to do. You're completely free to just say that your character is an acolyte now and be done with it.

In short, the way it's handled is left entirely up to how you want to handle it.

 

[Shoggoth]

Wait so acolyte is optional through the whole timeline. Won't that over populate the full sith? Imean that removes much of the dedication doesnt it? Before acolytes had to train to become sith and thats a good idea i think because of then you'll smoke out the ones that arent willing to spend time rping which ultimately lowers the probability of metagaming and such later in big post, increasing the overall rp quality. Also will there be more ranks comming other than "sith lord" possible for aspiring sith?

@Sapphire Storm

 

[Gamov]

@Shoggoth

I don't intend to speak for @Sapphire Storm or any other member of the Sith leadership, but the decision to make Acolyte an optional rank in this timeline was due, in part, to the fact that people in the last timeline became so bogged down in grinding through repetitive training missions and classes that it killed much of the momentum both in the RP and the faction. In this timeline, and with the new focus on PvP as the primary means of advancement through a faction, allowing people to start at Sith or Jedi Knight allows them to get right into the heart of the action without getting left behind in a litany of training threads.

To expand on that, in the last timeline rank was equated to a character's power level. The unintended consequence of this "video game mechanic" approach to handling Force powers and character skills ultimately meant duels and battles were less about the actual content of the writing and more about comparing stats. Doubtless there will still be some OOC debates over this, that or the other thing with the new system. You'll have that, no system is perfect. But at least the current method of handling character skills and abilities in relation to their rank is making an honest attempt at leveling the playing field so everyone can be part of the story without feeling obligated to fulfill some arbitrary requirements before they can be considered "good enough" to participate.

 

[Shoggoth]

I see your point completely. I wasn't aware that the acolyte path was repetitive and long in the last timeline. But now I understand.
And I assume if there's going to be extra ranks, they will be requested and written into the roster if accepted. it would make sense at least.
cheers mate.
@Gamov

 

[RedneckLoves]

@Shoggoth I don't think there will be any added official title, but if you go to the sith ranks post you'll notice that in both the Sith rank and the Sith Lord rank there are mentions that individuals may add titles to themselves that are not considered official. For example, my sith character considers herself a Sith Sorcerer. That's not an official title, but it's still what she calls herself. If you were to gain the title of Sith Lord, that's the only time a character is allowed to add "Darth" to their title. However, if you wanted to be Darth X, Master of This or That, You could it would just be unofficial.