Heralds. Why none plays them, and what can be fixed.

Drastically reduce the cost of scribing a tome.

Apologies.  I tried to edit my previous post, but apparently I can't.

Herald identity has long been one of scholar and knowledge.  There are several great ideas in this thread already.  Multiple times it has been discussed to have a cabal with a special bard or Herald.  My suggestion is to not give the cabals a Herald, but to have an Immortal sponsor a Herald.  This way, a Herald is divinely chosen and act as a conduit between the Heavens (Nine Circles of Hell, whatever, or Anume's House for Abandoned Cats) and the mortals of the realms.  As Herald is by no means limited in alignment, neither should the alignment of the character being chosen have a reflection on the pairing up with the IMM.  This serves two purposes:  First, it helps both the IMM and the player who cannot dedicate as much time as they would desire to the game coordinate within their time limits.  Also, since IMMs have a decent idea of when which player logs, it also allows for better match ups when the IMM chooses the Herald.  Secondly, since Herald is all alignment and most of our IMM staff leans to the Darker side, this would bring up interesting RP aspects should a pairing of Dark IMM and Light Player occur.  My intent with the second is to show off a little of what happens when Good vs. Evil RP can reach into greater depths.

The Academy is practically dead.  It is not from a lack of students, but from a lack of what a player believes they can receive from this.  As someone who believes no one ever stops being a student (face it, there's too much to learn and too much no one else knows), some small form of a boost could help the Academy get a spark.  Mind you, it only needs a spark until we receive more players, but when we do get an influx, this is also where part of the Herald/IMM relationship could continue to build.  Between a half full Herald cabal and the IMM staff, newbie integration could be greatly eased.  You can laugh at half full Herald cabal, but I've seen it happen...I watched Herald outdo Savant in members a few months coughlosersavantscough

While I have nothing to offer in the form of specifics, I do enjoy Aulian's thoughts on the process for Herald.  I would also recommend Heralds gain an innate bonus to RP rewards (no, I don't care if you don't like that idea, fire away) as they tend to be the work horses of Aabahran when it comes to mapping, organizing, and generally dispensing knowledge straight to the library.  Heralds can and should be the window through which others get to see the RP so many people don't get to see when PK takes a front row when, I don't know, people are blowing off steam or whatever it is they do when they go on a silent killing spree.  Let's alleviate the situation of feeling like you're staring at a cabal tag with a name attached to a race/class.  Let's make people ****ing shine!  

All right, I'm done for now.

Hammered out ideas and put em through the pipeline for a new Herald, almost entirely different than current. Won't go in to specifics cuz it isn't 100% yet, but if it works out I'm pretty sure everyone will want a Herald.

I will say that scribing tomes will GIVE CPs instead of costing them. We want to reward sharing knowledge, not charge for being creative.

Their cabal items have also all been overhauled, and are awaiting some tweeks before hitting main port.

Maybe let Heralds contribute to the MUD content pool itself directly. Let them rework/write room/obj/mob descs and and set them to be approved by the builder imm before implementation. So many stock/horrible descs and typos out there.

There is a lot of potential in RP craft skills as well. Let them cook or make other flavor items. More advanced gambling skills (roulette, whatever)...

But the best way to make Heralds useful would to give them a dominant rather than their current subordinate position, even if mostly by RP. Scribes, liasons...bleh...sounds like work, not fun. Make them the royal family of Aabahran. Let them be the glue that connects all the RP of other cabals together. Tribunal nobles are a lower caste concerned with such things as collecting taxes and city governance. Not Herald...Herald sees a higher purpose than that...they are the guides of Aabahran's destiny..not just urban peoples. Knight/Nexus wishes to place their own scion on the throne. Syndicate works for and against them. Warmasters and Watchers are the barbarians of the frontiers. Savants have great stores of knowledge, but they don't have the critical secret knowledge that Herald does that truly rules the world.

Herald uses the other cabals and provides a reason for THEIR existence..not the other way around. Perhaps back up their position with some power to cause some serious trouble with characters that mess with them without necessarily giving strong direct PK skills. Mob spawning, exile or no shopping...really bad luck curse, long-term regen impairment...stuff like that.

People want to be elite..to play things that make them cool. Make Herald both.

Werd, we're gunna try and implement a lot of those concepts. But I've said too much, shush!

What we need now if for you guys to apply your wonderful minds to NECROS and BARDS. We have outlines for both, but want to update and improve them! Again, anything goes!