Cold, Damp, and Complex (2)
But this place was different from the other districts. It wasn't built around massive mega-clans with layers of subordinate clans underneath them. The small clans and solo players here simply had no higher clan above them at all.
Which was why, unlike every other district, the map had just... gone rancid. Like a rotten orange.
[rotten_orange.jpg]
[]
the wild part is the more you dig the more you realize these bastards aren't cleanly cut off from each other — they're all organically tangled together
and then on the flip side there are cases where you have no idea why people treat them as separate groups instead of the same faction
take the Icarus Kingdom for example. it's tied into the neighboring Four Great Clans, sure, but the merc players are basically business partners too so shouldn't that all just count as one power bloc
the Free Legion sits right on the line between merc players and regular players
and the guys who actually hold outposts — you'd assume they're Outpost Alliance, right? except no. the mercs just seized those places on their own and live off them
holy shit my head is breaking
The problem was that buried inside every one of those posts was the same recurring phrase: the Icarus Kingdom.
I stared at it long enough that a string of curses tore out of me before I even realized it.
"Would you people stop calling it the goddamn Icarus Kingdom already!!"
"Wha—?!"
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Of course, no amount of thrashing around in a full-blown meltdown was going to make anyone on the other side of the screen hear me.
Kids, please. Just stop.
The longer time dragged on, the more pure nonsense flooded in, and all I could do was sit there and cry.
And so I either buried myself in the gallery reading these random faction deep-dives, or — same as always — went around blocking every gallery rat causing yet another disaster...
[image of two Krakens nuzzling and suckling a slightly smaller Kraken.jpg]
WAKYAPAHUK NUOOOOONG
[toad image screaming "Krakens get upvotes"]
Nuoooong... nong... wait no?
[recommend_upvote_Kraken_whatever.jpg]
NOM lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOM lmao NOOOOOOM lmaooo
The moment word got out that a brand-new third Kraken had appeared, deranged fetishists having what looked like full-blown seizures started erupting all over the gallery.
[Furry Commander and Argonian Maid getting intensely fluffy.jpg]
it dropped so I'm posting it
look your fill and leave
While every flavor of chaos kicked off from the new year onward — while player mods like our own Icarus, and the burned-out staff who'd dumped free events on everyone as a reward, all suffered under the combined assault of grandpas, grandmas, gay pedo furries, and every other variety of deviant — something genuinely interesting was unfolding inside the so-called "Icarus Kingdom."
Of course, "interesting" did not apply in the slightest to the man who had been forcibly crowned its king...
So what exactly was this interesting development? Well—