Crossroads of Yew

From MoongatesWiki

Part of the Ultima Online series on Europa

History of Europa Europa events Notable towns and villages Britain Cedarwood Cove Deepwater Deepwood Elven Quarter New Paws Rhovanion Skara Brae Stonekeep Strongholt Spiritwood Trinsic Valoria Vesper Yew Role-playing Associations CoRE · ERPA · CoY ORCA · FREE · Aralate

The Crossroads of Yew (abbr. CoY) was a role-playing association based in the northern part of both Trammel and Felucca especially known for its firm restrictions on characters and equipment, which was intended to enhance the role-play to a more realistic level. The Crossroads of Yew developed the first Laws of War (LoW) (based on the ERPA RoE), now in use by some RP-guilds on Europa, in particular the Guardsmen Militia (Grd).

The Crossroads of Yew stayed out of the ERPA/CoRE-conflict but disbanded around the end of 2005 after a decline in the activity in Yew and the northern lands.

Contents 1 Founding 2 Criticism 3 Member guilds 3.1 Active Guilds Prior to Disbandenment 3.2 Past Guilds 3.3 Guilds of the War Ring 4 See also 5 External links

Founding

The idea of a Yew-centric community had been considered in private and publicly well prior to the founding of CoY. Numerous discussions were held between Damien of the Guardsmen Militia and Saktoth of the Orcish Severed Heads Clan (Orc), both members of ERPA, regarding the creation of a community called simply (but ambiguously) 'Yew'. These plans never came to complete fruition and it was never clear if this would be a group separate from or a part of ERPA. Orc entered into a decline and Grd a rapid period of growth in membership and activity, and the relevance of Orc within such an arrangement became less significant. Grd came into OOC conflict over ideology and playstyle with Deepwater creating much antagonism within the broadly Deepwater-centric ERPA.

Around this time, many non-RP PK guilds began to prey more heavily on Grd. Though this sort of behaviour was common prior to Renaissance, it greatly accellerated during this period. This was due to Grd's heavy restrictions (Making them easy prey), vast numbers and most controversially the antagonism towards Grd's perceieved elitism. Due to Deepwaters close connections with the PK scene through the Deepwater Fighting school, some of these attacks were seens as reprisals, which further fed anomisity between ERPA and Grd. The Guardsmen resigned from the ERPA, though they continued their arrangements, wars, and adherence to the RoE with several ERPA guilds for some years. As Renaissance approached, the PK's attacking Grd reached outrageous levels, with their base being almost constantly camped by large groups of player killers. Their move to Trammel was therefore practically mandatory, but it set them up in a strong position in the new facet, with the capability to isolate themselves from whomever they chose. CoY was founded in this environment. Orc declined the offer to join the organisation, feeling too strong a commitment towards the ERPA.

Criticism

While the CoY scenario was a well thought out role-playing framework, its exclusive nature was seen as elitism and centralized management (so-called elders) caused an exceeding amount of politics. Considering the amount of work required to build a guild, being turned down after having applied caused a wasted effort on the part of those creating guilds. At the time, however the three strikes policy was considered adequate and necessary to maintain the integrity and standards of the scenario.

Member guilds

Active Guilds Prior to Disbandenment

• The Black Caste [Thf]
• The Celts of Kallahar [Cel]
• The Guardsmen Militia [Grd]
• The Highwaymen [=H=]
• The Kotodama Clan [KTD]
• The Orcs of Tolagâl [Tgl]
• The People of Yew [PoY]
• The Shirefolk of Yew [SoY]
• The Tel'marian Mercenary Company [T*M]
• The Undead [UD]

Past Guilds

• The Amazon Nation/The Tal Kryte [AMN/TAL]
• The Bujin'Kai Shogunate [TBK]
• The Council of Thieves [CT]
• The Crimson Rogues [TCR]
• The Daemon Inquisition/Sanctum Town [Inq/Snt]
• The Guardians of the Forest [IGF]
• The Lost Marauders [T*M]
• The Wildwood Elves [Elf]
• The Village of Osridian [*O*]

Guilds of the War Ring

• The Acolytes of Legend
• The House of Blackstone
• The Black Boar Clan
• The Dwarves of Shame
• The First Cohort
• The Forgotten Ones
• The Order of Lord Argonis
• The Tribe of the Black Raven [Rav]
• The Tuath De Boii [TUB]
• The Yew Liberation Front

See also

• CoRE — Community of Roleplayers, Europa
• ERPA — Europa Roleplaying Association

External links

• The Yew-project
• CoY version 1
• CoY version 2 (through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)