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Community:PaxLair

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Town Data
Name: PaxLair
Leader: Winfield
Established: 2014/04/24
Biome: Forest 01
Size: 142,200 m2
Avatars: 35
NPCs: 12
PvP: RP-Only
Roleplay: Immersive
Location: Grunvald
Coordinates: 265.8, 12.8, 96.4
PaxLair
Location: Brisach River

Region: Grunvald

Continent: Novia

Release: Release 17
Positions
Governor Winfield
Mayor none
Town Manager Sean Silverfoot
Captain of the Guard none
Cartographer none
Historian none
Quartermaster Cambria Stormlin
Webmaster Winfield, Sean Silverfoot, Acaelus Fireharp


Warrant


Paxsotabanner2.jpg

New to Shroud of the Avatar or need Help?? - go to Community:Player support index for plenty of links to help you!!!

NOTE: This page contains a lot of ideas for PaxLair. It is still being drafted and subject to changes.

PaxLair is a full-spectrum, role-played city in Novia consisting of several player owned towns of Metropolis to Holdfast size. Thus, PaxLair is a town "cluster". It is governed and operated by the players and consists of many guilds, citizens, allies, and friends. It follows the tenets of peace, neutrality, and role-playing. The city government and societies offer many opportunities for people to enjoy their specific interests and participate with many other people. PaxLair is not a guild; it is a city.

PaxLair is:

  • a city of many people and guilds
  • a vibrant cross-roads on the landscape
  • a market of great taverns, halls, and establishments
  • a cornerstone of prosperity and opportunity
  • a crafting center for products and goods
  • a pathway to culture and knowledge
  • a place to be defended and to launch the offensive
  • a chorus of actors, writers, librarians, and story-tellers
  • a band of adventurers and questers
  • a great group of friends
  • and of course a place anyone can call home!


PaxLair will be a special place I think. It will cater to many folk yet have a bit of old school mystery about it. We built PaxLair in UO (still there and active) yet in SotA, we can actually "build". I think about so much that PaxLair can be, can demonstrate, can encourage others, can risk going where few towns have gone before ... and it will be a multi-year adventure. That's what I see. Achieving even a small portion of that is worth the time and effort we do. PaxLair is open for anyone to live in -- we are not a guild, we are a town to be lived in. Winfield (talk) 12:53, 24 February 2016 (UTC)


History

PaxLair was established in Ultima Online on the Chesapeake Shard on January 19, 1998, and is possibly the oldest continuously operated Player Town. In UO, PaxLair is a full statehood, consisting of 4 citizen cities (PaxLair City, Dragons Watch, PaxOku, and Nidaros) and two allied cities (Gyldenfeld and Pitmuck).

PaxLair was established in Shroud of the Avatar during pre-Alpha Release 5 on April 24, 2014 with the first PaxLair town hall and a visit by Lord British. Lord British declared PaxLair as the first player town in New Britannia.[1]

During the Shroud of the Avatar Pre-Alpha Releases, PaxLair settled in the town of Valemark. See: Building PaxLair in Pre-Alpha Releases

Timeline of Key Events

See also: PaxLair Timeline
  • April 24, 2014 - PaxLair established itself as a player town in Valemark at the beginning of Release 5.
  • April 30, 2015 - Shroud of the Avatar created PaxLair as the first Player Owned Town in Novia in Release 17; located east of Brittany and north of the Grunvald desert.
  • May 4, 2019 - PaxLair hosted the Release 65 Dance Party on a Baron 2 Frigate on a keep water isle lot.

Culture

PaxLair is a vibrant town of many diverse peoples, groups, guilds, and establishments. The culture is based primarily on its old long-standing tenets of Peace, Neutrality, and Role-playing. The attitude in PaxLair among the citizenry is easy-going, helpful, and open-minded.

Building PaxLair

PaxLair is destined to be built in ways that give it stability, continual freshness, adaptability, and help people have fun doing things they might not normally do in their real lives or other games. An example might be putting on a theatrical play or leading an alliance to outsmart the enemy and win the day in an epic campaign.

Residing in PaxLair may provide a very fluid opportunity for people, particularly for travelers across Novia and new Outlanders entering Novia. Guest houses are planned along with lots that are re-usable by traveling faires and groups. So people can wander around Novia and live in PaxLair for a few days, weeks, months or longer, then get up and move somewhere else if they desire.

Prior to Episode One

PaxLair is using the pre-Episode One period to learn, test, and help developers develop the game. PaxLair is also involved in community-building and discussion as neutral people working with many people, guilds, and groups.

Also, PaxLair is not entering any formal agreements, treaties, alliances, or structures prior to Episode One launch. These will be done in Episode One when the game mechanics are stable, the realm's communities are launched and operating in earnest, and PaxLair has more new people to consider and consult.

The Settler Period in Episode One

PaxLair is planning to start its development with a settler period in Episode 1. During that time, PaxLair veterans and various people met during the pre-alpha releases will start building the town. There will be structures and houses created, settler-oriented events, stories written and news reported, trade agreements made, allies and enemies found, and whatever else is done to build a realistic town.

Government

Many people may become involved in and help lead PaxLair. The government is set up to involve as many people as possible and interested in realistically helping operate and build PaxLair as a town. Positions and roles are being defined and may change as the town is built.

Since PaxLair is in Novia which has a world-wide audience, PaxLair will seek to have leaders and establishments who can be around at multiple times and multiple day.

Position Name(s) Description Building
Leadership Lead the town. Town Hall
- Governor Winfield Ensure the town is well taken care of for years to come. Serve as caretaker, spokesman, and authority. Castle
- Mayor Lead the town and organizes and oversees all areas. Appointed by the Governor. Town Hall
- Court Member Work together on specific areas of interest, typically from each area of government (e.g., Diplomacy, Commerce, Military). Castle
- Council Chairman Help the citizens have a voice in the PaxLair government. Can be elected by the citizens. Town Hall
Commerce Organize, train, and inspire local crafters, merchants, and trade events. Develop and nurture trade alliances. Merchant Hall
- Auctioneer Organize and run auctions. Merchant Hall
- Tavern Master Organize and run the town tavern. Has a staff of cooks and barkeep. Tavern
- Foreman Maintain and operate the crafter hall. Lead the making of necessary items for citizens. Train people to be crafters. Crafter Hall
- Tradesman Organize commercial events. Develop and nurther trade alliances, agreements, and orders. Merchant Hall
Culture Organize and inspire town cultural houses, associations, and activities. Theater
- Historian Winmere Research, document, and record town history. Organize museums and assist libraries. Museum
- Librarian Organize and maintain town library servicing the public and the university. Library
- Playwright Organize, run and write plays for the theater. Theater
Diplomacy Manage alliances, treaties, and extra-town affairs. Work with Town Manager regarding Embassy Row. Town Hall
- Ambassador Foster and maintain relations with specific towns and non-citizen guilds. Embassies
- Diplomat Winfield Foster and maintain relations with various towns and non-citizen guilds. Town Hall
Education and Training Organize, train, and educate citizens, new citizens, and visitors. Organize research and exploration activities and projects. School
- Headmaster Organize and lead the PaxLair education and training programs and oversee the PaxLair School. School
- Instructor Prepare classes and instruction material. Teach classes. School
- Explorer Explore new ideas and help organize information for the instructors. Lead activities supporting the instructors. School
- Practice House Owner Own and operate a house in PaxLair that is used for classes such as decorations, trying out different house and basement types, and educating others on the ideas and concepts of housing. Practice House
Information Organize and maintain town information and transport capabilities for people to use. Welcome Center
- Postmaster Organize, maintain, and operate in-town (in-game) information and delivery systems (boards, mailboxes, etc.). Welcome Center
- Webmaster Winfield, Ashlynn, Sean Silverfoot Organize, maintain, and operate (out-of-game) information systems (web sites, blogs, forums, portals, twitter, google+, etc.). Welcome Center
Justice Organize and operate the judicial system. Courthouse
- Judge Judge cases and render verdicts. Courthouse
- Prosecutor Prosecute criminals in the court of justice. Courthouse
- Public Defender Defend criminals in the court of justice. Courthouse
- Jailor Organize and operate the jail and oversee justice sentences. Courthouse
Military Organize, train, and equip the town military. Develop and nurture military alliances. Barracks
- General of the Army Organize, train, and equip the town defenses. Work with the military alliance. Barracks
- Admiral of the Fleet Organize, train, and equip the town fleet of ships and sailors. Work with the military alliance. Fleet House
- Quartermaster Grimlar Mithrax Organize and manage supplies and equipment for citizens and the military. Armory
- Arena Manager Organize and manage the arena. Plan tournaments and become involved in tournaments outside the town. Arena
Public Relations Organize welcome centers and reporters. Maintain town calendars. Welcome Center
- Publisher Ashlynn, Winfield Design news publishing areas (in and out of game), recruit reporters, set guidelines, review and publish articles as needed. Welcome Center
- Reporter Ashlynn, Winfield Report news by observing events, conducting interviews, and researching special interest topics. Welcome Center
Town Management Organize and manage town housing and facilities. Town Hall
- Town Manager Sean Silverfoot Organize, allocate, monitor, and improve town housing and the geography. Town Hall
- Cartographer Ashlynn Survey, create, and maintain maps of the town and other areas of interest. Library
- Undertaker Organize and operate the town cemetery. Cemetery

Diplomacy

PaxLair will have many diplomatic relations in Episode 1 and beyond. However, prior to Episode 1, here is our approach to alliances, treaties and relations:

Our vision for PaxLair diplomacy is pretty simple right now. We want to support everyone we encounter, we want to get to know each other, and then we want to discover the people, towns, and communities in Novia in a natural way during Episode 1. We will start as settlers and our scenes will likely be less than 33% filled with housing on Day 1. We want to find old friends and new friends in Episode 1. We want plenty of room for embassies and opportunities to work together with other towns and communities as we "discover" each other in Episode 1.

We've been treating pre-Alpha as experimentation and getting to know a lot of people and groups. How that transforms into in-game role-playing and relations, we don't know yet. We will leverage our pre-Alpha relations of course as we meet "for real" in Episode 1.

Geography and Map

See the PaxLair Map here: http://www.sotamap.com/?map_id=128

PaxLair (owned by Winfield) is a player owned town with 8 boroughs (other Player Owned Towns):

Removed boroughs (left PaxLair):

  • Lockbrier (Themo Lock) - Forest01 - Crossroads
  • Tenakill (Sean Silverfoot) - Grasslands
  • Da New Pitmuck (Fionwyn Wyldemane) - Underground (nested in Serenity Isle) - CHANGED to Starfield

Features

This is notional information based on pre-alpha release using Valemark. This will change upon Public Release.

PaxLair's geography consists of wooded areas with three open meadows named the lower, middle, and central meadows. Each meadow is surrounded by buildings facing the center of each meadow. The meadows tend to attract house owners of similar interests, such as the PaxLair government in the upper meadow. At one time, many large landholders built several tall towers and keeps in the middle meadow, and then naming the meadow as the "Nobles Meadow".

The meadows are connected by dirt roads and also have more roads leading out of PaxLair or dead-ends. The entrance to PaxLair is the western entrance where a town crier tells people how many house lots are available.

Near the center of PaxLair is a notable rock called the "Sunset Rock". It has become a popular place to view the sunset to the west and the tavern to the east.

Buildings

PaxLair buildings are not fully established yet since New Britannia is still in pre-public release. However, the following buildings are being designed, tested and used in different pre-Alpha releases. These are town buildings for public use, not private residences. Placing and decorating houses with a theme helps us decide what lots sizes and lot deeds are needed for the town. Several people will likely operate each building as an establishment.

Building Lot Size House Type Test Notes and Comments
Arena City Basement Basement Can't really test yet without a basement arena… however, could test running a tournament in a PVP location.
Armory Village TBD Not sure yet how this would operate… multiple citizens with access to equipment, or would have the quartermasters issue equipment. Depends on house permissions.
Auction House Village TBD Can't place items on tables yet to be seen by other players. Could combine this in Merchant Hall on a Town Lot.
Barracks Village Village Pavilion Used two pavilions, beds, chests. Best to have additional empty lot for outside items (tents, training dummies, etc.)
Café Village TBD Being tested in R10.
Castle Castle TBD
Cemetery Village Empty Lot Variety of ways to make cemetery on empty lot. Added a small tent.
Church of the Dark Star Town Benefactor Lord Town Home Design is near complete. Amber Raine is designer and proprietor.
Courthouse Village TBD Would like to test a "Trial" in one of the upcoming Releases and design a courthouse. To be large enough inside, may need to be a town lot building with a large hall. Perhaps, it would be in the Castle in the future.
Crafter Hall Village TBD Could be combined with Merchant Hall.
Embassies Row House Row Level Housing Want to test this in R10 in Valemark; maybe in Owl's Head in R11.
Fleet House Village TBD
Hospital Village TBD Small house was tested for decorations. Not sure of functionality yet.
Houseboat Town Lord Town Waterfront Houseboat Can test this in R11 outside Valemark. Could become the Night Club, Tavern, Dining Hall.
Library Village TBD Decorated once. Awaiting functionality of in-game books to test more.
Merchant Hall Village TBD Designed 5 merchant stalls with all equipment on empty village lot. Tight fit. If also adding equipment, use a town lot.
Museum Village Knight Village Waterfront Lighthouse Planning to have a village basement for the museum. Can't test yet.
Practice House Village TBD This is to kindred new players or our citizens to practice house design and decorations. So this would be a community lot for mulitple people to use.
School Town TBD Need ideas for classroom, books, lecture hall, etc. Will be a small part of a larger multi-town university consortium.
Tavern Town TBD Variety of designs: tavern building, druid tree, empty lot. Will be a central hangout spot nearly 24/7 to find people.
Theater Town Empty Lot Designed small stage behind tavern building on town lot. Also designed grand theater on 2/3 of town lot. This is a worthy building/construction as can be a place for many large gatherings.
Town Hall Village Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Great Hall Village Home Fully designed with notes. Need more item features. Winfield is designer. Will be used in Releases to meet with people.
Travelling Faire Town Lot Town Empty Lot A re-usable lot without a deed. A travelling group can come in weekly or monthly and use the lot with their deed and put on a show, sell things, make a maze, etc. This would be perfectly adjacent with the two Village lots so three lots could be integrated for large travelling group events.
Travelling Faire Village Lot Village Empty Lot See the Travelling Faire Town Lot.
Travelling Faire Village Lot Village Empty Lot See the Travelling Faire Town Lot.
Virtue Tower Town Lord Marshal Great Hall Decorated with Ankhs, round table, preaching area, dinner table. Not sure yet how this will be used.
Welcome Center Village TBD Can't test until we have books to write about PaxLair, some trophies from tournaments, etc.

See the housing List and Layouts in the following releases:

Attractions

PaxLair is filled with special attractions. Some are buildings. Others are geographical marvels.

People

People are vital to PaxLair's activity and prosperity. While PaxLair is a role-played town, not everyone needs to be a role-player.

PaxLair's citizenship is mainly based on a person living in or working in PaxLair. The person does not need to own a house to be a citizen. The person may also be a citizen if they belong to a guild that is declared as a citizen guild. Citizens may serve on the town council. Citizens usually fill the various government and community positions. Citizenship is declared by the Mayor of PaxLair.

PaxLair's alliances are still being defined. Alliances can exist due to different reasons (e.g., military, economic, cultural) and PaxLair may have more than one alliance that it leads. PaxLair may also be a member of other towns' or community alliances.

Citizen guilds

Citizen Guilds (these are guilds where the entire guild has citizen status in PaxLair):

  • PaxLair Citizens - a general guild for citizens
  • PaxLair Guards - focused on military aspects of PaxLair (additional guards may be enlisted for short periods during times of war)
  • PaxLair Reporters - focused on news reporting in PaxLair and throughout Novia (some reporters may be hired and not need to be citizens)
  • PaxLair Knights - protects the leadership, participates in ceremonies and tournaments, and perform chivalrous acts.
  • PaxLair Bandits - a rogue group mainly out for self-interests while having fair respect for PaxLair laws and justice.

Alliance guilds and towns

Alliance Guilds (these guilds have treaties and special relations with PaxLair):

  • Military
    • a guild or town
  • Economic
    • a guild or town
  • Cultural
    • a guild or town

Combat in and by PaxLair

The town of PaxLair physical location has not been defined as a combat area yet. More details are needed on how combat can affect the player owned town, visitors, citizens, events, and establishments.

PaxLair is neutral to good and evil, knights and assassins, but is not neutral to griefers. Multiple PaxLair combat forces (and probably their allies) will put aside any differences to combat griefers. PaxLair's goal regarding combat is realism and immersion (and no drama).

PaxLair may have the following combat groups (PVP and PVE):

PaxLair Guards will engage in combat as needed wherever and against whoever it makes sense. They are entrusted to protect PaxLair's citizens, property, and interests. The Guards are not considered PK or Anti-PK. They are just a combat force. Therefore, it does not matter if they are good or evil in their actions as long as they execute and complete the combat missions assigned.

NOTE FOR PRE-ALPHA RELEASES: The PaxLair Guards will be testing all aspects of PVP, so they are not honor-bound to their oaths to only attack in the interests of PaxLair. Please don't take offense to being killed by a PaxLair Guard in an open combat situation.

PaxLair Knights will engage in combat to protect the town's leadership, perform acts of heroism, participate in royal tournaments, and attend to various ceremonies and chivalrous activities.

PaxLair Bandits will take on combat as rogues and evil-doers. They are mainly out for their own self-interests while having fair respect for PaxLair laws and justice. They may tend to attack the town guards with discretion and venture outside PaxLair on their own to fight others who are willing to fight.

Joining PaxLair

PaxLair is not actively recruiting new people at this time. As the SotA public release approaches, more defined ways to join PaxLair will be stated.

Interested people should get involved with PaxLair during the pre-alpha releases and keep an eye on the main SotA Forum PaxLair thread. That thread also links to each "Building PaxLair Player Town - Release XX" thread. Doing things with PaxLair during these releases does not commit anyone to joining PaxLair.

PaxLair is always dedicated to meeting people, getting fresh ideas, and finding out who is interested and what they want to do in and around PaxLair. A person does not need to own a house in PaxLair to be a citizen or friend in order to participate. People may also have their houses in other towns and still be a part of PaxLair in some manner.

People wanting to be part of the PaxLair town should think about a few things:

  • Why do you want to be a resident, citizen, shop-worker, knight, ally (or even enemy), ... of PaxLair? What interests you?
  • What type of "avatar" are you?
  • How can PaxLair help you meet your goals?
  • What can you contribute to the town?
  • Are you a role-player? If so, in what manner?
  • If you want to place a house, what will you do with it? Set up a shop? Have a private home? Kindred several people to live in your house?

Town development

PaxLair is a player owned town of metropolis size. Lots are not allocated yet for the public release of Episode 1. Town development is in progress and focused on:

  • participating in the pre-alpha releases
  • designing the PaxLair town government, guilds, societies, and cultural opportunities
  • working with our PaxLair veterans from Old Britannia
  • meeting new people who may be interested in becoming future citizens or friends of PaxLair
  • getting to know other towns and many guilds
  • creating and lot decoration designs and concepts
  • experimenting with various types of events
  • working on publicity and news reporting techniques
  • developing concepts for a player-owned town to design its scene
  • designing the PaxLair scene and defining lot sizes to best match all of the above

Also see PaxLair Building Plan - a listing of lots approved

Building PaxLair in pre-alpha releases

PaxLair uses the Pre-Alpha Releases to experiment with player town concepts and meet many people, guilds, and towns. Each Release, PaxLair attempts to do something new and different. It might be a new type of event, creating a new type of house with decorations, or working with many people in new ways. Here are some of PaxLair's past developments and participation with others in the Pre-Alpha Releases:

  • Get to know many people
  • Hold some gatherings and meetings
  • Interact with other towns
  • Create Avatars Radio news
  • Build some Mazes
  • Royal Tour by Lord British, DarkStarr, and Lady FireLotus
  • Help create and participate in the Welcome Quest
  • Document the houses people build
  • Build a Town Hall and meet with citizens and towns (role-playing)
  • Run gatherings 3x per day for world-wide audience (US, Europe, Australia)
  • Build a Stage and hold a play (role-playing)
  • Form the PaxLair Guards and test combat situations
  • Combine three lots together and decorate a market, pub, and grand theater
  • Participate in PVP testing and PVP tournaments
  • Start Explore Novia! event series

During the pre-Alpha releases, PaxLair experimented with building the town in the open player-run town of Valemark.

Valemarkpaxmarked.jpg

Specific Information about PaxLair each Pre-Alpha Release:


In the news

Tour of PaxLair in Release 6 with Lord British, DarkStarr, and FireLotus

Tour of Duke Tower in Ardoris, commissioned by Governor Winfield, decorated by Gaelis Trajan, Duke Keep provided by Spero Gottskraft - Professional video created by TheMadHermit


"We turned on persistent housing that would not roll-over every hour and added quite a few new player towns, and you ran with it! The RP’ers and homesteaders could finally begin to dig in, and what they created was outstanding! We even saw the 1st player town, Pax Lair, which was also the 1st player town in Ultima Online."
I continue to be stunned by the power of this community. One of the most compelling examples of this was the building of Pax Lair in the player town of Valemark. Lord British and I took a tour on Sunday and the sheer creativity on display with the simple tools we provided really showed what is possible with our housing system. Of course my personal highlight was Amberraine’s Church of Darkstarr in Valemark where I was able to ascend to the podium and pontificate about the benefits of Chaos!
During R6, we saw our very first, fully realized player town, PaxLair. The PaxLair community spent many hours scoping out a place to call home, laying their claims and building homes of all shapes and sizes, and crafting together in order for the whole community to be able to decorate their mantles in New Britannia. And when they were done, Lord British, Lord Darkstarr and I had the happy privilege of receiving a Royal Tour! (more)
Garriott: Player towns have already begun to pop up. There’s a place called PaxLair, which was the first town in any online game. It was built in the beta of Ultima Online and it still exists to this day. PaxLair is already now in Shroud of the Avatar. They’ll have a continuity to the first virtual city in the history of gaming. It’s the same people building their same general floor plans. We consider this a spiritual successor to Ultima. It’s New Britannia instead of Britannia. They feel, and we agree, that there’s a continuity of purpose here.
What a great community we have! The growth of guilds and townships has already begun, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to shape the world of New Britannia. The City of Pax Lair completed even more creative and astounding construction in Valemark, but we also had the chance to see other great cities emerge (including the Celtic Holdfast which was a personal favorite of mine). I was also able to participate in a delightful community run quest, as well as orate onstage about the history of the Fauns and Satyrs of New Britannia. While participating in those activities I had the chance to brainstorm with the community about player run quests and how we can best support them.
And so for example I was in on this last play session. There was a group -- two groups, two new towns were forming. One was the Celtic town -- I don't know if they're going to have a more formal name in the future, but they called themselves the Celtic town for this round -- and PaxLair, got together to run some quests.

See also

PaxLair in social media services

PaxLair official sites

External links

Contact Information and Methods

  • Reach Winfield, Sean Silverfoot, or Themo Lock on the SotA Forums via conversation.
  • Join Themo Lock's TeamSpeak server at 43.245.163.15:10099 (no password) and talk to (or ask for) us.
  • Come to PaxLair meetings on Sundays (two are held) and other activities throughout the week. See Avatars Circle Calendar for the dates/times for PaxLair activities.

References

  1. ↑ A Royal Illumination on Release 5, by Richard Garriott (Lord British)
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