Population
From Barbarians of Gor
For most things, including population, we follow the rule of WYSIWYG which means "What you see is what you get". Consequently, the population of World's End is directly related to the number of hostile NPCs, NPC thralls and players found in the game world. All players may count their fictional clan size to include themselves, their actual player clan members, and any human combat/craft companions (aka thralls) the clan members actually have, including those on crafting benches.
- Note
- As of Season 2, the number of bench thralls can not exceed 2 per player for the profession stations, and a handful of others on the crafted stations - assuming they ARE on those stations at the clan's base. The current thrall count per player is set at 3 in game, that is in addition to the bench thralls mentioned here.
WYSIWYG
"What you see is what you get"
There are dozens of ways that role-players adapt their understanding of a world within online gaming communities. Some say there are as many as 10 NPCs per player, or even 100 or a 1000. Some say that every town or city in a game is more than a day from each other. The examples of this are endless and if you think for a moment I'm sure you can think of ones you've used. We use the WYSIWYG model which says that the game world as visually represented in game is open to near exact interpretation. However, there are exceptions so please: <Read Me>
NPCs
There is a variety of mechanic NPCs in Conan Exiles.
- Human Combat Companions are a type of CE Thrall that can be captured with a truncheon, brought back to a wheel of pain and broken to fight along side you.
- Non-Human Combat Companions are CE Pets that can be captured as babies and raised to fight along side you.
- Crafting Thralls are a type of CE Thrall that can be captured with a truncheon, brought back to a wheel of pain and broken to work at a crafting station.
- Thespians are a type of NPC provided by the mod Pippi and can be used for a variety of things such as a buy/sell vendor, a banker or if active, as interactive dialog NPCs.
Guards
We feel that with the mechanics of the NPCs and their limit cap that the actual NPCs in game are the best and only viable option for the use of NPCs in our role-play. While I'm sure no one will mind hand waving the occasional slave at the local drinking establishment, all NPCs should be physically represented by in game thralls.
This means that if you are going to claim you have guards, you better actually have NPC thrall guards (Human Combat-Companions).
Role-Playing your NPCs
The NPCs owned by you or your clan are yours to role-play. This means you can dress them how you wish, name them how you wish, make up back stories for them, even give them personalities and have them speak and emote in game. (We have the /do command which allows you to emote/speak for the NPC.)
Players may represent their NPCs as anything plausible to Gor or World's End - this is the established premise on all Conan Exile roleplay servers. Your NPC - Your fiction. If another player god-mods the fiction of your NPCs it is the same as them god-moding your character directly. <See: RP Etiquette>
- Thrall
- The term thrall in Conan Exiles has a different meaning then term thrall in Torvaldsland of Gor, just as the Conan Exile term for Priest King is obviously not the same Priest Kings in the Gorean fiction.
Population Estimates
I'm going to try and break this down as logically as possible so that it seems reasonable to everyone. That maybe impossible, but we need a generally agreed upon premise so as not to cause confusion between players.
- In a Scene
- This means you are actively engaged in role-play with other players in game.
- For Combat
- This means you are engaged in Mechanical PvP combat with another player.
- For General Estimates
- This is for the purposes generalizing how many NPCs are part of your clan.
Personal/Clan
- How many NPCs can I claim to have in a scene
- If you are in a scene you can only claim to have as many NPCs as are physically represented in game, which for the purposes of BoG is the two NPCs who can follow you. If you are standing near your thespian vendor you can claim they are part of the scene. If you are standing near a DISPLAYED crafting thrall you can include then in the scene. If the player can see them, then you can include them.
- Which NPCs can fight for me?
- Because players are under NO obligation to accept free-form role-play as conflict resolution you may only use non-combat NPCs for conflict resolution if the other players agree. Otherwise, only mechanical combat companions can be used to fight - as they can actually fight. All other NPCs are assumed to be non-combatants. (Don't have your thespian, which can not fight and can not be damaged, man-handle a player without their agreement.)
- How many NPCs do I or my clan have a right to claim?
- It's a basic formula. Open your follower window and see how many maximum followers are allowed for your clan. Add 2 crafting thralls PER PERSON, plus 5 to represent the the NPCs from the craftable crafting stations and thespians. So a clan of 10 can have 30 followers + 20 crafting thralls + 5 other for a total of 55 NPCs in their clan. Plus players that is a total of 65 NPCs in a clan of 10.
- Pets and Mounts are not counted additionally. The follower count already includes pets and mounts, and I don't actually care what the specific break down is because this is generalized.
- Only the follower count can be used to estimate/generalize NPCs that can fight. (We are not requiring players to detail free NPCs from slave NPCS like we are with the Hubs (below), instead we are limiting the warrior numbers to the actual mechanical followers.)
- Craft NPCs and Thespians can not be "used" to perform things out side of their nature. (I realize that in some places on Gor all men are warriors, even crafters. For the purposes of fair play, this can not be used to loop hole these estimates.)
- The use of NPCs to "fight" in this situation is only for the purposes of off-screen negotiated conflict such as the news and rumors channel in discord and has NO impact on actual in game situations. If for any reason there would be an expectation to SEE the NPCs in game you can not use them. For example, you can not claim to have a dozen men scouting another clan base and claim that they should have read the news and rumors board to know they were there. Remember WYSIWYG!
Server Hubs
Torvald's Landing, Turan Cove and Port Argentum
This is my current estimates for the hub populations. It is based on Baene and I's "feel good" estimates for a WYSIWYG setting. From: https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/demographics/. Which I have used consistently before
Each Hub is 4 tiles, each tile is 1 pasang (.7 miles), so a hub is 2.8 square miles, or approx 250 people.
- Our Estimates
- 125 women
- 125 men
- Approx 50% men to women
- Approx 50% free to slave
Unlike clans, all free men of the hub are assumed to be able to fight or they wouldn't really have survived. Additionally, 10% are red caste/elite warriors from non-caste cultures. These are the captains/lieutenants. All kajirus/thralls can be counted in defensive or combat support, such as rowing ships or canon fodder. They can also be freed if the plot requires such a drastic solution.
Ships
Available Ships for the "out of game" resolution of roleplay conflict between clans or hubs.
So the medium ships in game, take between 20 and 30 "people" to man. That could be less as they do have sails, or more because some have more oars, but lets just estimate at 25.
A clan can have ONE medium ship (and one large which are not yet craftable so they don't count), but needs at least 25 "warriors" to man the ship. Those men can be a mix of Mech-NPC thralls and PC players. But essentially you need enough players to justify that many men to row the ship.
(I'm fine with less being able to "sail" the ship (i.e. moving under wind power), but this is about conflict that will essentially be armed.)
Hubs This means each hub can have up to 5 ship (not counting clans) but to man those ships would effectively leave the city empty of defenses. Regenerating Population Lets start with 10 a week for the city, and for clans they will actually HAVE to replace the mechanical thralls.