[Wids]

Okay, so now my stable has grown to five characters, and I've considered trying to rein in my altaholism by focusing more on one or two of them. Weedy and Jaliskar have displeased me by getting their butts kicked a few too many times; apparently, Jaliskar is deathly allergic to vampires (whom she attracts in droves), and Weedy is deathly allergic to, well, anything which has more than two points in Listen. So now I'm focusing on Zelis, who has already proven to be considerably more immortal than the rest of my stable combined (even if her Will saves suck). Meanwhile, Eilbren's still fairly hard to kill, and Corella routinely spends her R&R time in the most horrid nadirs of crypts everywhere.

This leads me back to the idea of founding a new faction. Regarding that end, Corella's already devoted to Bezantur's Temple of Leira, and Weedy's earmarked for Eltabbar's Thieves Guild. So they're out of the running, which leaves the other three, who all so happen to be going the merchant/mercenary/freelancer/unaffiliated route. And oh, do I have ideas for them:

Eilbren: A new temple, lodge or feasthall to Eilistraee (a faction for non-Evil elves (drow or otherwise) and/or non-Evil and non-Lawful Rangers, Bards, Clerics and/or Druids, to be located in some quasi-uncivilized outlying settlement (like Nethjet) or one of those houses in the Forested Valley. As per Eilistraeen custom, non-drow worshippers should be prepared to darken their skin with charcoal or whatever, dye their hair white or silver and generally act like drow elf wannabes in Eilistraee's honor; yes, that goes for the rare human or forest gnome among the ranks too. Members should also expect such practices as getting together on every full moon, tossing off any heavy armor or clothing, forming a hunting party, choosing some sort of random prey critter (such as a bear, a werewolf or a Lolth worshipper) and rushing out to find one and kill it. While butt naked. So make sure your survival skills don't suck. The hunt is then followed by the traditional Circle of Song, where all the Eilistraeens sit together, get drunk, dance around and sing bloody awful jam sessions. So if you're just itching to air your quasi-medieval parody of Fifty Cent's "In Da Club," this is the place to do it. :P )

Jaliskar: The aforementioned new monastery or cloister (a faction for non-Good monks. While the Order of the Dark Moon (Shar's monastic order) will obviously hold a certain preference, the monastery can also be availed to other non-Good orders, such as the Disciples of the White Rod (Loviatar's order), the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Scourge (Yurtrus' order) or the Order of the Long Death (those pesky nutters who think that death is the coolest thing ever). Gathering for group prayer at dusk is expected (except for those Long Death monks, who are free to skulk around and stomp on whatever rats and mice are scurrying about the place), as is punctual attendance at nightly ascetic sessions involving a regimen of exercise, training and sparring; the practice dummies may occasionally be replaced with captured Sun Soul monks or monks from one of Ilmater's fifty-billion monastic orders, so don't wear anything fancy, expensive or difficult to wash.)

Zelis: The "Barbarians of Love" Matchmaking Service (Thay's first dating agency (!), a faction for Sunites, Sharessans, Hanali-Celanil-ite-ian-whatevers or other touchy-feely sorts who are interested in helping other people find that special someone to make their lives complete. This one should be the easiest one to set up: take a house, add stuff that gives the house a warm or romantic atmosphere, add a merchant, stock that merchant with a bunch of blank sealed letters and writing stuff, then leave instructions for any would-be clients to fill out a form, seal it with wax and sell it back to the merchant, where Zelis or some other Barbarians of Love associate will review the form, compare it against all the other clients and try to arrange meetings, dates and the occasional spontaneous marriage between whatever clients match up. The merchant will also be stocked with wine, food, jewelry and gift items, the better to make that first romantic encounter memorable. (And the merchant's payouts will be very friggin' low, so all the lamers out there can find some other place to get rid of their glowing daggers, weight-reduced rings, Tower Shields of Ambidexterity and other such junk.) But be warned that Zelis is a brash, nosy, uncultured, semi-illiterate Uthgardt barbarian teenager, so her ideas on how to help people find their soul mates can be a bit...weird.)

So which of these factions in the rough do you suppose would benefit the server most?