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Message: <blockquote data-quote="A'koss" data-source="post: 1251311" data-attributes="member: 840">Thought provoking stuff... It's interesting to see the range in impact that people here think HLers will have on a world - everything from negligable to profound. Altalazar, the question of authority is still very much in the air IMC, and how much say commoners would actually have in it. I honestly suspect very little to none... To put it in a little perspective IMC, settlements are built into remote locations such as cliff-sides, tall pinnacles, isolated mesas, underground and on small islands. It's too dangerous to build settlements out in the open due to a variety of threats (mostly from monstrous, surprisingly intelligent, but non-magical beasts, giants and a few more powerful magical critters) And I'm using these threats as the "glue" to keep it all together - everybody has to pitch in and do their part. However, as settlements have developed to become more secure and trade is becoming more reliable, the powerful now have more time to persue... other goals.  Kamikaze Midget, I agree that (barring "divine right to rule") that rulership would naturally evolve into meritocracies of one sort or another. Retired, but powerful, former adventurers who have strong ties to their homelands (or conquerers) would naturally find themselves in these positions. They would rule because they have the total package - they are the wisest, the most charismatic, the most intelligent and of course, the most powerful. They would rule because it would be very difficult to remove them, especially in a (more conventional) world where resurrection is so easy.  Of course, the potential for abusing that power must be considered as well. You can do essentially... whatever you wanted and no peasant uprising is going to stop you. Power will reveal your true character like nothing else. On the psychological side I gotta wonder if a lot of HLers wouldn't engage in some serious navel-gazing... as in, "How is such a thing possible?" "How can four farmboys from Torsten's Brook travel to the Abyss, defeat an army of demons, cross rivers of blood and lakes of fire, breach a mountain-sized fortress of skulls and slay a plane-ruling Demon Prince in his own throne room... and return home for tea and biscuits." I'll get to the rest of the comments shortly... Keep 'em comin'! A'koss.</blockquote>

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