[IMPORTANT] Server Info and Backstory

This thread has about everything you could want to know about the server. If you want to know something that's not in here, just shoot me an email at whizkid8888@hotmail.com!

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LanceCraft Technical: We're hosted from a server in Chicago, with an insane bandwidth, 12 3.04GHz cores, and 48GB of RAM (No, not all of it is ours! =P). We've got 24/7 uptime!

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Now, a (very long) bit about the 'backstory' of the server.

Thousands of years ago there were a group of desert-dwelling folk, who called themselves Mer, residing in a great temple. They jealously guarded their sandy home, believing it to be sacred. They had lived there for centuries, peacefully, caring little for the concerns of the outside world… until they were set upon by an enemy bent on capturing their land.

A dwarven citadel had been established in the north, funded and supplied by a vast dwarven empire, stretching thousands of chunks north. These dwarves had heard rumors of a vast deposit of precious ores and gems beneath the desert, and thinking the nomads to be little more than savages, set about to capture it.

However, the dwarves severely underestimated the Mer. Using techniques taught as part of their rigorous religious training, they created brews endowing them with incredible strength, speed, and agility; combined with magic unlocked after centuries of work by their scribes, and with the great motivation those folk had, they pushed back the dwarves, eventually forcing them into their citadel; knowing the threat would never be gone until the dwarves were fully defeated, the folk settled in for a long wait.

Ten years passed, and the siege finally ended. By then, a thriving little town had arisen near the keep; when most of the remaining dwarves retreated north, soundly defeated and very hungry, the citizens were expected to return to the desert, to their ancestral home. After ten years outside the desert, they were unwilling to leave their homes and abandon everything they now knew; they were cast out of the tribe and branded traitors to their own race. No longer concerned for their religious creeds, they interbred with the few remaining dwarves, creating a race of stout, sturdy men.

Some centuries after that war, a new group arose; from the far east came a race of clever, dexterous men. They settled on a peninsula far to the south; branded ‘Hume-men’ by the nomads and dwarf-mer for their love of more temperate climates, they did little to attract the attention of the other races. The three civilizations lived, and evolved, in relative isolation for millennia. The dwarf-mer, who came to be known as dwemer, became a structured, efficient kingdom, capable of incredible feats of engineering and production, similar to their ancient ancestors from the north. The hume-men, whose name gradually evolved to human, became known for their works of art and commerce; it was primarily their influence which led to the construction of the Grand Exchange, hundreds of years ago, before the current conflict began. Lastly, the Mer changed little over the years; they honed their alchemy, enchanting, and combat techniques, but remained a peaceful society, living near the same temple as their ancestors.

Three hundred years ago, the dwemer and the humans clashed over land; the initial squabbles were petty, but the conflict escalated over the decades. Finally, growing out of hand, and threatening to spread to their precious desert, the Mer stepped in, trying to force a treaty. Unfortunately, all they succeeded in doing was making an enemy of both the dwemer and humans. Thus began the War of Three Races. It lasted almost a quarter of a millennia. Finally, after having ravaged each other’s populations, the three met at a small village in a neutral location to form a treaty. The village, known as Cobble, became the site of a new monument to promote inter-kingdom peace and trade; the Grand Exchange. Ever since then, Cobble Town has been a neutral place, inhabited by all three races, where peace and harmony rule. Sadly, the same is not true outside that little town. The dwemer, whose kingdom became known as Castle, and the humans, whose empire was named Crimson, began fortifying along the treaty line. This armament continued for several decades, until finally one side (no one knows who) broke the treaty with a small assault on the other’s line. Never having escalated further than small squabbles along that treaty line, and remembering what happened the last time they tried to help, the Mer declined to get involved; they simply shut themselves away in their desert. The two kingdoms, not openly at war, still traded, almost pretending the skirmishes between them weren’t happening.

And it is there we find ourselves now.

Both Crimson and Castle are looking for citizens to swell their ranks, and while the Mer are not involving themselves in the fights, they are accepting any refugees who enter, even training those who show aptitude and desire in their ways of religion. It is up to you to decide if you wish to join Castle, Crimson, or take refuge with the Mer; or, if you so desire, none of the above. It is not an easy life for any who live outside the shelter of a kingdom, but in light of the conflict, small mercenary bands have sprung up across the world; there are rumors of a guild of assassins who kill for the highest bidder; and many small towns have sprung up, filled with humans, dwemer, and Mer who find themselves desiring a new life independent of the superpowers.

You, a settler from a distant land, have the freedom to choose… and that’s what LanceCraft is all about.

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LanceCraft is an RP server, but one unlike anything you've likely been on before. On LanceCraft, we usually don't /me every action or things like that... we roleplay by actually filling a role. You see, what we're aiming to do is replicate the world described above. There will be governments, economies, discipline in general - will all be handled by the players. If you're roleplaying as a guard, you don't play at fighting off mobs and hostile players - you DO it. If you're roleplaying as a tax collector, you don't pretend to do it - you actually DO it. Don't you see? Every job will be filled by a player, forming a complete, coherent world. Each player will be fighting his own battles, whether they be actual battles or simply trying to move up in the world, and that's what makes this server so incredible... you play an integral part in this world. If the shopkeepers just up and quit, we'd have a serious problem!

A quick note on discipline. Nothing outside the biggest cities is build-protected, meaning (strictly) everything else is fair game. The thing is, any protection of anything outside the protected areas must be handled by players. If it's within a kingdom, it is up to the king or the city guard to handle it. If it's an independent town, it's up to the members of the town. If it's a single house in the wilderness... well, it's up to you as an individual. There is a plugin - LWC - which allows you to lock doors and chests, but you only get three locks, unless you donate. Anything beyond that is fair game. Yes, that means stealing and destruction is allowed, technically - but with a caveat. If it's done purely for the sake of breaking things, it is termed GRIEFING, and is thus a bannable offense. And while I don't approve of people who steal, if you make a house in the middle of nowhere, it's not a staff problem... so don't bug us. =P

But, what's the biggest problem? Well, simply put, this idea would take players. A LOT of them. What's that mean for you? Well, first of all, we NEED you - each and every individual player. This dream of ours isn't possible yet because we simply don't have the player backing - that's all we need! If you're concerned about it, this server isn't going anywhere but up... My staff and I are totally dedicated to this project, and the server will soon be celebrating its first birthday to prove it. As we grow and expand, we'll need intelligent players who are dedicated enough to stick around through it all, and they will be rewarded!

This is a difficult concept to explain, I have to say... if you have any questions at all, post them in this thread or email me!