ABOUT MERIDIAN 59: Guild System

Make Meridian 59 better with friends and enemies
You’ve been playing Meridian 59 for a while and have become quite adept at playing the game. Several mummies have met their final fate at your hands, and you have helped quite a few fellow players with your amazing spellcasting abilities. Perhaps you have even fought a giant ant or cave orc and have come away victorious. You are feeling confident in your abilities in the game, so what can you do now?

It is time to make some friends.

Guilds are organizations of players that work together. Most people find that playing the game becomes much more enjoyable once you have found some friends to share your experiences with, and joining a guild can introduce you to a lot of new friends.

Guilds are completely player controlled so each one is unique. One guild may be interested in role-playing within the Meridian 59 setting. Another guild might have been formed to protect weaker players from player-killers (PKs). Or, that guild might have been formed by PKs interested in preying upon other players. Or, one guild might just be a group of people that like to chat with other interesting and friendly people while out adventuring.

It is important to pick a guild that suits you. This guild will be your closest friends while you adventure. If you do not share a common goal with your guild, you will find it hard to make the good friends you need in order to thrive.

The basics
Guild members enjoy many benefits. They can easily see which guildmates are currently online. They have a private chat channel on which they can chat with their guildmates. You can ask questions of other people, and can easily request help should you need it. This private guild channel does not use mana like other forms of communication do.

The player that creates a guild can also define up to five "ranks" within the guild. Upon creation of the guild, the player is able to define custom titles for each rank. The default names of the ranks are Initiate, Member, Lord or Lady, Hero or Heroine, and Guildmaster or Guildmistress. Each rank has different guild related abilities.

• Initiates can only vote for Guildmaster. This rank is commonly used for members that are joining the guild on a trial basis or that need to be approved by the highest ranks before becoming a full member.
• Members can also open the guildhall doors.
• Lords and Ladies are allowed to invite others into the guild.
• Heroes and Heroines have many more abilities than the lower ranks. In addition to all of the abilities of the lower ranks, they can also exile lower-ranking members from the guild. They can promote or demote lower-ranking members. They can rent a guildhall for the guild. Heroes and Heroines also have the ability to mange the political relationships with other guilds by officially declaring friends and enemies.
• A Guildmaster or Guildmistress has full administrative control over a guild including designing the guild shield, abdicating to a chosen successor, abandoning a guildhall, and disbanding the guild. This position is elected by the guildmembers. Each guildmember can show support for their chosen leader. As long as a guildleader has the favor of his guildmates, he remains as guildleader.

The cool perks
A very cool perk of being in a guild are Herald Shields. Guildmasters can design a unique guild shield that the guild can use to differentiate itself from others. This does not have to be done upon creation of the guild, but can be done any time after the guild has been formed. This guild shield can have one of four patterns that can display a combination of two of the ten available colors. Once the pattern and colors have been selected, they cannot be changed and they cannot be claimed by another guild. Members of the guild can go on a special quest in order to get shields of their own made with the guild’s design. These shields are a great addition to the flexible character appearance customization allowing guilds to create full uniforms.

Guilds can also rent one of the world’s many unique guildhalls. From the massive Wryn’s Keep to the secluded Den of Shadows, your guild can call one piece of the world your own. Guilds often store valuable items in the guildhalls for use by members of the guild. Some storage areas are also protected by a definable password to help guild leaders manage the guild inventory. Guildhalls also provide members with their own newsglobe, Meridian 59’s internal message board system. With all of these great benefits, guilds are very proud of their halls and the prestige that ownership brings.

An ingame view of the Guildmaster's Podium in the Wryn's Keep guildhall

With each reward, there comes some risk
Belonging to a guild carries with it some risks. Guilds sometimes come into conflict with other guilds. Heated words are exchanged, and attacks against the enemy are fast and furious. Should both guilds declare each other as enemies, you could be attacked and killed without your enemy taking some of the penalties normally associated with attacking another player. Of course, the same freedom from penalties applies to you as well.

For some people, however, these guild wars are some of the most exciting times in the game. The excitement of hunting down the enemies of your guild gives the Meridian 59 experience more meaning. Perhaps you will prove that your ability is greater by defeating an opponent with a seemingly more powerful character. Since the game mechanics are not level-based, your skill as a player helps determine your success almost as much as the abilities of your character. Although a more experienced character will often win a conflict with another character with less potent abilities, sometimes skill and a bit of luck will turn the tides on someone that gets too complacent.

Speaking of complacency… you had better be vigilant when opening your guildhall door because another guild can conquer your guildhall and claim it as their own! The conquering of a guildhall is a complex operation with many possible outcomes. Although only a guildmember may open a guildhall door, the member could be followed in by a character lurking behind. Or the member could be bribed by another guild or could even be a spy placed by an enemy guild to gain your guild’s trust and then betray you by opening your guildhall door. Once the door has been opened, the conquerors need to get to the mystical shield deactivator. Once the shield has been turned off the hall is considered officially under attack and anyone may enter the guildhall door. All members of the defending guild are notified and can then rush to the defense of their home. Depending on who turns off the shield, all allied guilds may also be alerted of the attack. In the case of betrayal, the message may be delayed by as much as three minutes.

Now the pressure is on and you can believe the adrenaline is rushing. Server-wide broadcasts often ensue as the defenders alert the world of the battle. At this point any help is welcomed because if ten minutes pass without the shield being reactivated, the hall is considered conquered. Although a hall cannot be conquered when all members of the guild that currently owns the hall are offline, the defenders can certainly be outnumbered. Once a hall has been conquered the hall may be rented by the conquering guild, or any guild depending on who initiated the attack by turning off the guild shield. For example, if an unguilded mercenary conquered the hall, the hall can then be rented by any guild except for the conquered guild.

Take all of this into account when renting a guildhall. Owning a guildhall isn’t about who has the most items or money, but rather who is strong enough to hold that hall. One way to prepare your ranks for these battles is by fighting against opponents in the arena without penalty. The arena supports a wide variety of fight options, including one-on-one, team vs. team, and last man standing battle royals. Arena battles make great practice for future guild wars.

Beyond simple fighting skills, the politics between different guilds adds much interest to a guild war. Since guilds are entirely player controlled, you get real interaction between your allies and your enemies that you cannot get from purely AI opponents. You must work to forge a strong bond between your allies. The political support of an allied guild can often make or break a guild war against an enemy. If enough guilds band together even the mightiest bully can be taken down.

Your life in Meridian 59 will never be the same
Through all of the good times or lost battles, almost every guild shares a sense of camaraderie. It is often comforting to know that a group of like-minded players are waiting for you when you enter the world of Meridian 59. Whether you want to role-play a brave knight or chat about which skills are the best for your character, there is almost certainly a guild that will welcome you into its ranks.

Almost anyone that plays the game has a story about the time their guild did this great event, or the time that their most hated enemy attacked them, and how fighting against that intelligent and clever opponent was the most exciting time of their life. In the end, the friends and enemies that you make in the game are what make Meridian 59 such a deep and rewarding experience.