Iron Knights question... "how do I get chosen?"

[Ben]

I was speaking with my mortal friend Cordelia the other day, and she mentioned that people are always asking her HOW exactly Iron Knights are chosen. I realize that this is a bit of a mystery to most, so I thought I'd put down some vague guidelines to help people shape their characters if Iron Knight is their game goal.

First of all, for the easy stuff, you must be at least level 48 or almost level 48 before you are considered, so fighting monsters and leveling up is a prerequisite. =) I'm sure people have noticed by now that the earliest Knight armor is level 48 and that everybody who has joined has been right at that level, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything there. So if you are level 32 and wondering why you aren't being asked to join... there you go.

Second, for the rest of the easy stuff, you have to be a warrior. But you knew that.

Third, EVERYTHING besides the two things above is about roleplaying. What that means, basically, is that some people are just destined to NOT be Iron Knights. I hesitate to put this list down, because we DO NOT want people changing their character's entire personality just so they can become a Knight......... but the types of characters that have these characteristics (or don't have, in the case of the negative examples,) are more likely to be chosen.
1. Selflessness and helpfulness to others.
2. An even temper and fairness to others.
3. Participation in the community both during events and in everyday life (ROLEPLAYING, in-character, often. Compulsive levelers and farmers are at a disadvantage here.)
4. A lack of greediness (greediness, ie: hoarding info or items, a "race to the finish" mentality, a preoccupation with in-game fame)
5. Courage
6. Showing concern for Valorn and its citizens as a whole
7. Clean appearance
8. No character quirks that are overly negative or would be seen as "evilish", dark, obnoxious, or distracting.
9. Normal citizen worship/love of the gods. (No weird hatred of the gods, no overly exuberant love of the gods.)
10. Attention to and participation in raid defense.
11. Helpfulness to n00bs.
12. Consistent playing (disappearing for months or playing one night a week, unfortunately, can hurt your chances. Iron Knights are ALMOST like NPCs... they represent an NPC organization in-game. As such, members should be active and in-game often)
13. Respect and a proper kind noble attitude (lack of public drunkenness, lack of PDA, etc)

You do not have to be all these things, but these are the things that draw the Iron Knights' attentions, both positively and negatively. As you can see, many people don't want to play a character that does all these things or even any of them... that's fine. Be at peace being your own character and not being a Knight. Being an Iron Knight gets you some cool armor and weapons and a few perks, but it also really does strap you into a specific kind of roleplaying and puts expectations and pressures on you that a normal player does not have.

We don't want a game where people only do certain things for the ph8t l3wt. If you are the type of person who wants to be a Knight just to get the cool stuff, you will not be very happy being a Knight and you will likely make history by being the first player-character Knight to be ejected from the organization. =)

Most importantly, YOU MUST BE NOTICED. Whenever anybody reaches level 46-48 and is a warrior, I ask my little group of people who help roleplay the Iron Knights Leadership what they think of that person and if they think that person should become an Iron Knight. The NUMBER ONE reason for rejection is that everybody in the conversation says, "Who? I've never had a conversation with that person," or "I've seen that person out hunting, but I don't think I've ever talked to them, so I really don't know if they'd be good or not."

Anyway, I hope this helps clear things up.

[Ben]

By the way, if your character suddenly has a personality change, we are going to notice, and you still are not going to be a Knight. This is a "lifelong", (since level 10 or so, when you stopped acting like a fool n00b =),) process.

Trying to "conform to the system to get me some ph8t l3wt" will just result in you destroying the character personality you've worked so hard to create, and you still WILL NOT BE A KNIGHT.

What this list is for is to help people who are already like this and to encourage them to continue on their path and to not go friggin crazy one day, because that might spoil their chances.

It also is meant to explain to people who aren't knights just why they aren't knights. ONCE AGAIN, it is OKAY if you aren't an Iron Knight. The roleplaying is very specific... the organization is very specific. It would be stupid if all level 48+ warriors acted like this. And if they start all acting like this because of this thread, we will just stop adding Knights. =)

[Ben]

Oh yea... WHINING about not being an Iron Knight will also make you disqualified. There are people who probably would have been made Knights, but they are so whiny about it to their friends, NPCs, or even the public that it annoys me. =)

That tells me that basically these people only care about the loot and the prestige, not about the roleplaying opportunity. Wouldn't make a good Knight, then, in our minds.