SotA (Player) Owned Cities and Towns
by Fireangel

The lady smiled brightly at her new acquaintance. The two ladies met in one of the side parlors of the tavern, and each curtseyed in turn. “Thank you so much, Soleidad, for agreeing to be interviewed. It was very good of my old friend, Lord Beli, to make our introductions. I am so happy to get to know a new friend, and you must be, I think, to open yourself to our old guild so kindly. Really, it is more than generous of you, Soleidad.”

Fireangel’s eyes shone as she motioned for the other lady to take a seat in one of the chairs around the little prepared table. “I hope this food and drink is to your liking. I had them prepare a small variety of things. I can vouch for the cook.” She laughed lightly.

“Nice to meet you finally Fireangel. I have heard so much about you, feels like we are already old friends. These small cakes and buiscuits look so delicious, I’m sure they will taste as good as they look.” Soleidad walked with an athletic bounce to the hot tea, and poured some into a cup with a flourish. She sipped some of it, and tasted a biscuit where she stood. “Yes, they are very tasty. I’d love to get the recipe!” Taking up the cup and biscuit onto a plate, Soleidad sat down with the ease of a cat.

Fireangel took out her pen and parchment, as she sat down near Soleidad. “I hope you don’t mind if I’ve scribbled some notes to keep me on track. I also like to make notes as we go along, so that I may recall what your full reactions were. I do like to leave a true representation of people for the readers.”

“Oh, not at all. By all means!” Her dark green eyes smiled back at the bright blue of Fireangel’s.

“Shall we begin?” Fireangel watched her new friend, waiting for some indication to continue before she asked her first barrage of questions.

Soleidad nodded. Her dark, upswept hair slightly bobbed.

“Soleidad, please tell me about yourself. What interaction with other adventurers do you prefer? What I mean is, do you consider yourself as one who is serious about immersing yourself in New Britannia, one who is more casual about playing that role,” the lady emphasizes the last word purposefully, “or one who openly speaks about things in the earthly realm, without concern for confusion in jumping back and forth between them? Also, for you personally, do you sometimes engage in battle with other adventurers, avoid it entirely, or find yourself living out in a combination of these?”

“I’m very laid-back person and I don’t mind if people want to talk about things in the eartly realm. I do enjoy having duels with other adventurer, it’s a great opportunity to learn something new.”

“Thank you. I wonder. What led you to take the step of gaining control of a housing area in New Britannia when the ability presented itself? Did you do this on your own, or was it a joint action with others?” Fireangel paused, and said, “Oh. What is the name of your area?”

“I’s a long story, but in short I gained control of that area on my own, but building the city will be a huge joined effort. The city will be full of amazing structures, such as the largest maze in New Britannia and Net will be the head architect. We hope to get an island, town’s name is Islands of Wonders.” Her lovely face was very animated with excitement.

“Do you belong to a guild, Soleidad?”

“Actually I do, in fact two; Order of the Dragon Flame and Moongate Travelers. And I’m actually also a PaxLair citizen and part of Britannia’s Builders of Bemusing Bewilderments group.”

“You have some very interesting images at section/shroud-of-the-avatar-bg2XQb for Shroud of the Avatar. Would you like to tell myself and our readers more about that? Do you have other images to share with us from your time in New Britannia so far?”

Soleidad purred enthusiastically, “Daven Rock (Moongate Travelers) started to collect Shroud of the Avatar tips & tricks, tutorials etc to Flipboard magazine and I have been helping him with it.”

“Please tell me about your area. Is there a back-story or history of the area itself? If so, will this unfold as players interact with your citizens? Does your town or city have a direction it is coming from and where it is going in general with individuals?”
“I found the island on my travels far and beyond. (Maybe you could check my bio ) It will be a home for us living there, but we are building kind of amusement park too for all to enjoy.”

The lady adjusted her green cloak, taking a long drink of tea. She smiled softly. “I like getting to know you, and learning what the different adventurers will bring to New Britannia. I know this is just the beginning, and it stirs my excitement where it has been waning. Let me get back to my questions,” Fireangel laughed, “after all, you do have other things to do, I’m sure.”

“Sure, but no need to hurry!” she replied, as lively as Fireangel.

The lady pushed her red curls back, as she quickly glanced at her notes. “Do you have an idea for what participants that will live in your area? Is there a structure to your city, or for the people that will participate within it, such as Mayors or Ranks?”

“I hope we can keep it all very informal, time will tell what we need.”

“Let’s move on to buildings. Is the housing for your area already planned out and filled? Do you have requirements for filling in empty lots? Will you advertise for citizens to live in your area on a site or on the SotA forums? Will you only allow friends or recommended adventurers of friends into your area, or will lots be open for claiming?”

“We still have room for new citizens and we try to leave few empty lots for the future. We have’t been advertising Islands of Wonders that much, actually I told about it in public just few days ago. All citizens are friends or friends friends. If you want to live there, you need to get to know us first.”

Fireangel listened, and sipped at her tea, tipping the barmaid a few coins when her cup was refilled. The lady watched with amusement when the barmaid jingled the coins in her pocket as she walked away. When her new friend paused and waited, the lady said, “Please tell me about how you see your area as it evolves. How will you manage taxes? Do you see the area in a certain style, such as one that is made up of mostly peaceful folk who never battle other adventurers, or one that includes all types?”

Soleidad looked at Fireangel quizzically. “Taxes? We dont have taxes. As I understand lot owners have to pay that tax to Portalarium, if those lots are not tax free. I just own the town where players can place their lots.”

She paused, gesturing with a graceful hand as she continued, “We all are quite like minded people, thats the beauty of this town. We might have PvP events and such, but most of the time it will just be a peaceful place to live for us all.”

“That’s great, Soleidad. I thought you would say that, knowing Lord Beli. Do you expect your area will hold celebrations, events or other activities? What about disruptive people in your community, whether they have placed a house or are just traveling through the area; will there be measures to deal with them? Do you have some building plans already made, such as taverns and the like?”

“We are planing to hold celebrations and events; really looking forward to that! Disruptive people?”

Fireangel elaborated, “By trouble makers, I mean people who would try to exploit your events or interrupt them by taking off with items, or blocking others from interacting, or yelling obscenities at people, or being general nuisances, or hostile in any and every way for know reason. I know you can report them, but I wondered if you had any ideas on how to control that.”

Soleidad nodded thoughtfully, taking a sip of tea. “That is a good and tricky question, and I don’t have any good answers yet. Maybe just ban then from town, if that will be possible.”

She set the cup down and looked directly at Fireangel. “You said building plans. Hmm.. some, but the whole situation is still a quite open.” Soleidad began gesturing with her hands as she spoke, “Arena would be nice, or maybe an Inn? Bank? Spooky house? The biggest streucture will be the maze. It will take ages to build it. That’s why we are going to expand it little by little adding one lot at time.”

“Thank you, Soleidad. Do you have images of your time in the forming New Britannia to share with me for the public? We would like to post some with this interview if you would be so generous.”

“Yes,” Soleidad smiled, pulling out items and passing them to Fireangel. “I hope these will help.”

Fireangel happily accepted the images. “Thank you for these. They will help!” She put them away carefully, and returned to her parchment notes. “Please tell me what you see for your area during the Releases in the forming New Britannia. Will there be events to coincide with SotA Releases?”

“At this moment our citizens are scattered around the Hidden Vale testing what is possible to do and we haven’t planned, at least yet, to build our city during testing time. However, probably Net’s maze will be part of Welcome Quest in the future, maybe already in Release 11?”

“Soleidad, I appreciate what you are doing so much. I am tickled to have met you, and I hope to get to know you better in the future, by all means. Thank you again, for your personal generosity toward our old guild, and for this interview. Please tell me and our readers anything else you would like for us to know. I am happy to let you have the last word.” Fireangel scooted back her chair a bit and relaxed, waiting to hear what her new friend would say.

Soleidad stood in one graceful movement and flourished a bow. “Travel safe and have fun!”