Kami or Karavan?

[whiterider]

I'm not neutral, but I can pretend I am

The Karavan are a race of aliens; highly advanced technologically, who brought to Atys the only metal present on the planet (in the form of their technology). Their goddess is Jena, who looks like a malnourished bat (ok, I'm a bit biased). The Karavan claim to care only for the interests of homins.

The Kami are a bit more mysterious, they're usually described as nature spirits - certainly they are native to Atys. They worship Ma'Duk, who/which is equally mysterious, being invisible and so far undefined in physical terms. They are creatures of magic, and have a strong bond with Atys; sometimes favouring its wellbeing over the wellbeing of homins upon it.

In other words, the karas are evil aliens, and the kamis are repulsive tree-huggers. To be honest, the practical differences are minimal - you will of course fall in with a different crowd, as your faction affects the guilds you can join and thus the people you'll spend most of your time with; but both sides have roughly equal measure of awesome people and utter twazzocks. Locations of Kami and Kara teleporters differ, too.

Most people choose their faction based on their guild; but if you prefer to choose faction first, go with whichever you feel suits you best ideologically.

[acridiel]

Thanks, so I'm guessing most people join as neutral, then as they find a guild they like, they choose that way, hmm, I would have to say Kami, because I like nature, but I'm not that into magic, how advanced are Karavans tech? (2 foot long missile launcher?) and are there any other good sources of weaponry for Kami? (bows swords the medival works) or can I still be Kami and use the advanced tech. and maybe have to pay more for it, or it be hard to come by, how is power distripbution work?

Its funny to notice how often Players choose the Kami based on "I like nature", or "those guys are just cute"

And yes, they are.
What the Kami have in cuteness, the Karavan has in style. (If you like latex and leather, that is )
They´re two sides of a coin. And that´s what I love about the background lore in Ryzom. It´s all in shades of gray and very little is purely black and white.

The Karavan don´t preach egotism.
They preach individuality and love for all Homin life.
And while they place the value of all Homin life above that of a plant, they don´t lead the Homins to destroy the very planet they live on.
And while they claim to tend and care for the Homins, they actually do little to protect them from harm, except defending their "shrines" and ordering them around to "exploit" certain areas.
They do seem to be dependent upon the Homins to sustain them and while powerful, they need breathing apparatus' to survive in the atmosphere of Atys. It appears they´re stranded on the planet Jena is supposed to have "created". They can be both, powerful oppressors and gentle advisers, as all beings of power have always been throughout legend and history.
(They remind me a bit of the Aliens in "V, for Visitor". But we don´t yet know if they´re lizards *LOL*)

The Kami don´t preach "natural preservation for all.".
They preach against the supposed destruction of their home and for the spiritual "unification" of all Homins within Ma`Duk. They severely punish Homins who transgress against their laws, but at the same time can be very gentle and mischievous. (legend and history again). They too do very little to actually protect Homins from harm, but defending their own sanctuaries.
They too seem to be dependent upon the Homins, but not it the physical sense the Karavan might be, more in the sense of spiritual vessels and energy.
(A bit like "spiritual Borg" to me )

Both do seem to manipulate the Homin races to their own ends of their own great conflict. With the Kami originally being subservient to Jena too in the task of caring for the great plant (and probably having been "created" by her too) and later rising up under the banner of Ma´Duk against her and her "messengers" the Karavan, who were supposed to "care for" the Homins.

Both Sides do extract natural resources of the great plant for their own gain and that of the homins they nurture under their aegis. Both sides provide weapons for the great conflict and both sides offer healing and resurrection from the brink of death.
Both sides definitely know more than they let on to the Homins and both sides are very reluctant to give up this knowledge.

Both sides helped the homins in the "great Swarm".
A huge cataclysmic event in which the Kitin, giant Insects, rose from the depth and nearly annihilated all known Homin life on Atys.
With the Karavan springing into action right away and the Kami joining only at the last possible moment, to help protect the Karavans "Rainbows" (Teleporters) to the safety of underground caverns that were free of Kitin and later the "New Lands" in which the Game takes place.

The Kami gave Homins Magic, the Karavan gave them Technology. (rustic, but its there )

At the onset of and during the "Temple Wars" Event, a few years back, the Kami called out through their Priesthood to "destroy the opposition" (which may in fact be due to corruption on the priests part, but that´s one of the great mysteries yet to be revealed).
The Karavan merely called out to protect oneself and those around from these attacks. Interestingly enough they never openly spoke of "destroying the Kami", or their followers.
Only through the players actions came the real conflict and all out war started. Which I find extremely thrilling
All of us could have chosen not to fight, but few did. (of course)

We´ll see if such an Event will come again in the future and it is once again in the hands of the Homins to decide the fate of their races.


Important: This is my view of things. Which may well be subject to errors.
I tried to be as objective as I can be, but many may claim otherwise, either having not witnessed what I have in my time with the game, or having heard different tales from older players. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and views upon things, but for the sake of helping a new player decide.
Let´s be fair and as objective as possible on things.

CU
Acridiel

[gralen]

[RP off]

Don't tell Gorran any of this, I'm still unsure how he'll react.......

Pulling bits from here there and everywhere, here is what I've pieced together:

Atys is a manufactured planet. I doubt it was created ex nihilo but was likely terraformed. I doubt, however, that the rootball we call Atys was exactly what was intended so I think the terraforming process went wrong (Mistake #1). I further think that the fauna of the planet were injected as part of the terraforming process rather than actually evolving which is why we don't see any clear evolutionary lines between the various critters.

Homins and primitives: I think that both the primitives and the homins are genetically re-engineered humans. The primitives were experiments went wrong (Mistake #2) and the first homins were those same experiments "perfected." The original seeds of the homin races were humans, perhaps criminals or other "undesirables."

Elias Tryton and Jena: Humans, true humans like you and me. Elias is the mastermind behind it all and Jena heads up the enforcers/politico side of the experiment. These two are now at loggerheads with each other. Atys and its lifeforms have now existed for a number of centuries and, at the least, Elias has found means of prolonging his life. As Jena has not interacted directly with homins in recent history (that we know), it is possible that she died and the Karavan simply carry on her legacy.

Ryzom: Ryzom != Atys but rather Atys is a part of Ryzom and is just one of a number of existing or planned terraformed worlds. Ryzom is the network of terraformed worlds masterminded by Elias Tryton.

Karavan: True humans, military/police force headed by Jena. The reason they wear body suits and reflective masks is to hide the fact that they are not homins. They use homins to gather resources to support themselves and other true humans/Jena.

Kitin: Mistake #3. Insects that were unintentionally injected into the terraforming process. Unlike homins or the other flora/fauna, they are truly foreign with no true connection to the planet other than the terraforming process that mutated them. Evidence for this is that they have no magical abilities at all, the closest is the Kipee's ability to stun but that is more a function of knocking their attackers on the head than magic. They do have acid sprays and similar but that is no more magical than our own bombardier beetles.

Kami: Mystery #1. The kami seem to be part and parcel with Atys itself as evidenced by their knowing about the foraging going on around the planet and their ability to immediately punish those who ravage areas rather than harvest them. Perhaps they are a physical manifestation of the organic programming used to terraform the planet. Ma-Duk would then be the central core of that programming. The magic the Kami taught to early homins is actually a process of homins being integrated into the organic programming, allowing them access to the powers of that programming.

Goo: Mystery #2. A virus in the programming? A recycling routine? An actual failure of the terraforming process?

Before you decide I'm nuts with all of the above, see if the above explanations shed any light on one of the most mysterious bits of lore, the famous quote from Elias Tryton:

For many centuries I have voyaged through the quiescent corridors of Ryzom. I bore witness to the Green Rising of Atys, and the birth of hominkind. I witnessed their striving for survival in a merciless world of killing plants and swarming beasts. Worse, entrenched in their brutish ignorance they gave themselves to bloodshed in their vying for power with their own kin. Thus weakened by interracial warfare and bound to their territories in their self-imposed segregation, they fell victim to a terrible swarming of kitins.

Even the great Atysian forces of the Kamis and the Karavan put together were powerless against the kitin onslaughts in that calamitous year. Entire populations perished. When the dreadful news came to my ears, I did not delay in giving all the assistance I could to save the last survivors, many of whom had dispersed and fled into the wilderness.

Three generations have since passed for healing wounds, rebuilding lives, for introspection and rekindling the spirit of hominkind. The time has now come for the wise and the brave to take up the reins of ambition, to blaze the trail to a new order, to span the rifts between continents and forge the destinies of their civilizations.

This is my one hope, for in unity will we best be armed to repel the tide of advancing evil. Certainly, I already hear the ominous rumblings of the Enemy that, alas, shall one day rock the very bowels of the green planet.

But I have faith yet in this, the New Beginning of Mankind...

Personally, I think the smart route is to follow Tryton, use the Kami/Karavan to ones own advantage and prepare against the Kitin. Of course, there is another possibility: The Enemy he mentions might not be the kitin but some force outside Atys or even outside the Ryzom network. Where did Jena, Elias and the Karavan originate, Earth? Why are they using homins to gather resources? Are they/we cut off from our true point of origin? Who or what is the Enemy?

Having said that, Gorran is a true blue Zoraï who loves the Kami and wears his kinship mask with great humility. He would tell you that the Kami are the true protectors of the planet and want only the best for homins everywhere and, in part, I think he is right. However, I think (and hope to be honest) that Gorran and the Kami's vision is limited in its scope and that there are greater dangers than the Karavan's use of the homins or the threat of death under kitin claws.

Thanks for your time, gralen out.....

[RP on]

[danolt]

Unfortunately, the factions have become little more then window dressing for TP’s. There is really no telling which parts of the old lore will be incorporated into new story lines or even if the "missing" lore is a part of the official history of our reborn Atys.

For now, I assume that the writings on the four temples that are in the game will be part of any rp based storyline and are established history.

There are some little discussed tidbits on those walls; for instance, the one I find most surprising, is that according to the Zoari temple, a Homin who demonstrates sufficient merit will be reincarnated as a Kami on another world in order that they may continue their spiritual journey to become an eternal Kami-Ko.

Anyway, I suggest interested parties read the temple steles in game at least once. You can right click them from a very long distance to read them without getting slaughtered by the guards. Another option, a comparative breakdown of the writings that I have found helpful for my "studies".

I am quite sure, I would be much more active in game if the Lore, once again, had meaning.

Pero

[fiach]

Unless you are heavily into RP, it shouldnt make any difference which side you join, I'm guessing each factions population is pretty similar.

The weapons/spells are all the same, just visually slightly different and anyone can use either factions equipment as long as you meet the requirements.

As Nysha said, play for awhile, make friends, then settle on a guild and go with that guilds faction choice, there is a thread in the guilds section, on advice on joining guilds, but basically make friends and hang out, there will be lots of time for you to choose a guild.

Welcome to Atys