Idea: Gaea Balancing Act

[Zeik]

Note: wasn't sure where to post this, feel free to move.

I saw that there has been some mention of changing how the Gaea works, I'm not entirely sure what those changes entail but I was thinking of an idea and I thought I would throw it out. Some of my reasoning for the idea was 1. the current small amount of things that I know of that are done by the Udemi in regards to the Gaea (I'm not sure if the Dunwyr is an actual guild and if so what they do) 2. the fact that so many of us suggest logging or mining to newbies without much warning (I've heard one person say that there can be IC consequences to logging over the Question channel) 3. the idea of Karma world wide 4. a little of our own Earthly political/environmental debates.

I am not involved in the druid guilds much at this time so I apologize if I get any of this incorrect but it seems our current system involves more consequences for the druids if the Gaea is disturbed and not for the person committing the action (I was under the impression from esp that the spiders/scarabs are not a direct result of the Gaea but I could be wrong). Also it seems like the entire Lost Lands should be aware of the Gaea which would imply that the Gaea really has more function than just poking a druid every once in a while but instead we get a majority of people that either don't know (mostly newbies), don't care and aren't really effected or care but don't know why. this has led to some interesting RP but I think it could actually stir up more with a few tweaks, so with that in mind I came up with this...

Basically if we consider the distress call from the Gaea as more of a warning that the area is becoming unbalanced and is more middle of the road and possibly add some more mines into the equation we could have it do something like this:

So before distress call in a single area you would have:

-Area is populated with a wide variety of animals in which to hunt
-Foraging is enhanced (more to forage, quicker growth times?)
-Amount of trees to log is in abundance (more species, more trees?)
-Normal amount of mining elements
-Less mine-cave ins
-Abundance of foraging branches for woodworking and/or firewood
-Abundance of fish
-Better harvesting on farm plots
-Perhaps even a negative effect on the amount/strength of Nether/Infested

After distress call:

Basically a decrease in everything that came as a benefit but with RP in mind I thought having a few perks to it could cause some tension, things like:

-A few harder to find gems in mines coming up more often despite the added danger of more cave-ins
-If alchemy is added then perhaps something like a bit more ingredients for poison or whatever
-Markets paying out more for items effected (trees, plants, fish and professions involving such)
-Positive effects on Nether/Infested (off the top of my head, more infested out in winter due to a warmth in climate or whatever)
-I also wanted to involve the Dwaedn Wyr since they are a form of druid so I was also going to say something about the animals not only becoming less prolific but less of a challenge. Not sure how that would work but maybe something in the mechanics for honoring them or whatnot, this way all druids are effected and not just those with druidry.

Also this would give druids something more than just cultivating herbs, but to actually get in there and try to heal an area, perhaps even making a group mechanic out of it, i.e. the more druids you can get to a spot the quicker/higher the rate of regeneration. Which also gives those factions not interested in seeing it restored more RP opportunities. Perhaps some greedy so and so hiring a few mercs to go stop the druids which could then possibly be countered by Dwaedn Wyr or some such.

Perks of the negative aspect might need to be tweaked some how to have a bit more "good" things come out of it but this is all I've come up with so far. Basically to me I wanted to see more of a reason to either over log or over mine or stop doing it than a Udemi saying they are getting a headache. On the flip side I wanted to see them have more of a reason to tell people to knock it off. While I've never been much for random conflict (I don't willy nilly want to kick someones butt just because they come from "over there") I'm all for defending a cause no matter what side I take and I think this is a good base for it.

[Kiyaani]

Mining has nothing to do with Gaea as far as I know. Some of this seems interesting, but I don't do much with druidry either so I won't say much else.

[Kunren]

I like the ideas but I don't know if connecting them to the Gaea or Druids is necessary. Seems closer to a "danger level" mechanic or something, Idk

[Zeik]

Mining has nothing to do with Gaea as far as I know. Some of this seems interesting, but I don't do much with druidry either so I won't say much else.

Yep, I know that as far as it is right now but it seems limited if we are saying that the Gaea is only affected by what is above ground or just trees. Probably wouldn't work if player mines weren't put back in, although there are a few mines outside of towns that might add to the area.

I like the ideas but I don't know if connecting them to the Gaea or Druids is necessary. Seems closer to a "danger level" mechanic or something, Idk

Nope it doesn't have to, I connected them because I was basing it around the idea of the Gaea as it is perceived as the "soul of the planet itself" (as listed in the wiki) and therefore it seemed to me that anything that affected the nature of the planet would also affect the Gaea. Druidry, in my reasoning, would then be the thing used to heal the Gaea since it is used as the communication between the Gaea and the druids themselves.

[Kiyaani]

I think the point is Gaea is for living things, not rocks. There generally aren't subterranean creatures in clok that aren't infested so the Gaea doesn't care much for mines, and I doubt it would have any impact on rocks. These are just my thoughts on it though.

[Fayne]

Yeah, the Gaea involves living material, not the ground or rocks or anything, and once the thing is dead, it's no longer connected to the Gaea.

Honestly, while these are all good ideas for not knowing much about druidry or the Gaea in general, I'm afraid it doesn't really work like this.

To help you out, think of the Gaea as another Immortal seperate from the rest. Rias does not want any firm conclusion as to "Yes, this Immortal definitely exists," or "No, this Immortal is not real."

Basically, yes, we know that druids have special abilities, and we know that they feel something when overlogging or overhunting occurs, but one cannot say for sure that it comes from a sentient entity known as the Gaea, nor that it is in pain or angry. It could very well be as simple as druids have a special connection to the life-force of all living things, and the distress they feel is their mind trying to cope with or interpret the feelings of many of those connections getting severed from one location fairly close to each other.

As for benefits, druids already get that in the form of their abilities, and I see no reason for anyone else to get benefits from it. Dwaedn Wyr aren't druids, they are something else entirely. They don't believe in or worship the Gaea as an organization. Dunwyr are druids, as they have druidry and believe in the Gaea, though I won't go into any more detail about them here (if you want to know more about them, I suggest sniffing around ICly).

TL;DR: The Gaea is supposed to be yet another questionable entity, and I do not believe anything should or will be added to either support or disclaim its existance.

[Rias]

Dwaedn Wyr aren't druids, they are something else entirely.

Dwaedn Wyr are considered druidic. They have a respect for the land and believe it has much power in it, primarily manifested through the Great Animal Spirits and, through them, "regular" animals. While passive life such as plants and fungi are certainly to be respected for their place and role in the overall living world, it's the animals who have the power and the strength to affect the land immediately and potentially drastically, be that by cultivating, protecting, altering, or purging it as necessary.

The Dwaedn Wyr tend to leave stewardship over the flora world to the animals who are more in touch with the subtler cycles and flows of life, while they (the Dwaedn) focus on strengthening the Animal Spirits (as they strengthen themselves) who can then do a better job in their stewardship.

I imagine the Dwaedn Wyr involve themselves when there are significant threats to the natural world at large. Some individual logging ventures aren't typically enough to alarm the Dwaedn, but if some concentrated effort and catastrophe was threatening to destroy the balance of life, the Dwaedn would, as an organization, get themselves involved.

... as long as they had someone/something to physically fight (or intimidate), of course. If it was a matter of tending to trees and planting flowers and that other sissy stuff, they'd leave it to the Animal Spirits (their sphere of influence being over all animal life) whose wisdom far exceeds that of humans in such matters, as well as the more plant-affine druids whose area of expertise that is.

The concept of druidry encompasses more than just one view of "Gaea-ism" and isn't strictly a focus on plant life. At its broadest, I suppose it's a belief in the power and balance of the natural, primal world, heedless of any human meddling. Humans are just another creature sharing the land with everything else, and they should try to be a part of it, rather than dominate or control it and see themselves as superior to other life. All creatures should use their individual strengths to ultimately help maintain the balance of life that exists. Disruption of that balance leads to destruction for all.