How does your faction/city intimidate others?

[Irriari]

Hello everyone!

I'm currently working on a lore article on intimidation. It's nearly ready for peer review (it even got approved by Goss to go to peer review)! Before I take it to the development forum to get picked over, I think it would be great to include some a section on faction/city/race based intimidation. Do the Syliran knights have methods that they learn in training? How about the Ebonstryfe? I honestly don't know, so I wanted to reach out to the community so that the lore article can be more Mizahar themed. Thanks!

Edit: I realized 'how does your faction intimidate others might sound a little vague/weird, so if needed, I can finish the article and post it to peer review so you guys understand what I mean by intimidation. Let me know if you think I should do this!

[Aidara]

Two Words: Wind Eagles.

[Limey]

Myrians Since long before the Valterrian, Myrians have been the boogeymen of Mizahar. Reviled as savages, cannibals, mindless murderers and just plain barbarians, they have made the vast jungles of Falyndar a definite "no-go" area for centuries. Their tendency to mutilate and devour their victims is particularly chilling, contributing heavily to their nightmarish reputation. Their very appearance is horrifying to many other races. Heavily-tattooed, often depicting monsters, legends and memorable kills... often scarred a dozen, a score times over from skirmishes and battles... pierced with bone and metal and sometimes even stone... eschewing most clothing, typically dressed only in the bare minimum, a hangover from their perpetually-humid home... glaring outwards at a hostile world. But their attitude is perhaps what inspires most fear of Myrians. Every Myrian considers themselves children of the Goddess of War, and honoring her in battle is that which most aspire to. Myrian culture is inextricably devoted and directed towards warfare: against the Dhani and remnants of the Charoda, human interlopers, barbarian explorers and anyone else who desecrates their jungle. They do not care what other races think of them; all other races are inferior in their eyes, as they "live beyond the light of Myri". Aside from the handful of deities that Myri has alliances with, they do not care for the heathen gods. Barbarian laws and lives mean nothing to them, and the wholesale slaughter of every living thing that trespasses in their jungle is not just common, but practically standard military practice. Myrians love their families, their people; they have hobbies and friends and past times; hopes and fears like all other beings. But this side is never shown to the outside world. All the other races of Mizahar sees of the Children of Myri are sellswords clad in gruesome trophies that walk the world to claim blood and death for their Goddess-Queen... or screaming wraiths that materialize from the Falyndar jungle, bent on slaughter and nothing else.

[Mirage]

So I found this question interesting, and it made me think a minute on why Sahova is considered intimidating to many on the outside who know if it. It is not really that it looks frightening, or that it does anything specifically to BE intimidating. Instead it is more like the rumors of it, and the fact that they experiment on living creatures, sentient races too, in order to produce their magical items and such that does the trick. Maybe even the fact that Sahvoa is well known for twisting the natural world, distorting and perverting everything the living seem to hold sacred.

I know Nuits themselves are often intimidating because they are known to steal people's bodies. No one likes the thought of being killed and then something puking black blood into their gaping mouths to take over their empty carcass

[Verilian]

Outside of Ravok the Ebonstryfe have a sinister reputation, and that can be intimidating to people. They are servants of the god of evil. They are all trained killers. They are skilled in magic. They have terrible monsters at their disposal. And of course, this is all backed up by fact. Every soldier of the Ebonstryfe is trained in warfare. Every Paladin or higher is offered magical training. They do serve the god of evil. And they have the Dravlak, terrifying monsters imbued with raw chaos, to wreak havoc on their enemies. They are mysterious and frightening. They are said to exist within every city, hidden away, waiting to do whatever evil things it is they do. In Ravok, the Ebonstryfe are respected, but also feared. Nobody wants to cross them. It is rumored that they have a massive prison beneath the lake where terrible things can happen to enemies and traitors of Rhysol. Again, this is true. There is a large prison deep beneath the waters of Ravok. People are taken below, and often never seen again.. or at least not until they have been forgotten about. People are tortured, just as often as they are nurtured. The Ebonstryfe can take a devout Syliran knight, and if he manages to stay alive long enough, erase everything he ever was an turn him into a devoted servant of Rhysol. So the Ebonstryfe is intimidating in that nobody really knows what they do, and there are lots of scary rumors about them... and those rumors are all true.

[Paragon]

Zeltiva doesn't really fit the bill perfectly, but I would say it does like to purvey a sense of superiority (which could be considered intimidation) over other domains through its knowledge and university, and that includes the super secret artefacts buried away in its archives. Beyond that, it could bully others with its naval strength.

[Twister]

Sunberth undoubtedly has a reputation these days. Both discouraging, disappointing and slightly intimidating depending on who and where you are. Seeing as the city has no formal authority and the streets are a free-for-all, the city has a reputation of being deadly and unreliable. You don't go there unless you've nothing to lose or you're just overly confident in your abilities. The tales of muggings and murders in the streets may be intimidating to some, and a Sunberthian abroad might be treated with some suspicion due to where they came from; A disregard for law and personal security follows in their wake, after all. Along with a fear of all things magical, if they're natives.

[Accolade]

Strangely enough, or maybe not so strangely, the word HONOR and JUSTICE are very intimidating to others, and the Knights are about those in full. I would say that one of the intimidating things about the Knights is their numbers, and seeing a large group of heavily armed people charging is pretty scary. If people knew about the Windoak that would surely add to the intimidation factor, but that is kept a SECRET.

[Irriari]

Well, uh... when I went to my posts, I saw that Accolade responded and I was all excited. Then I realized the scrollbar was a lot longer than it should have been for 2 or 3 posts.

Thank you all for the awesome responses- I'll be trying to incorporate them into the lore.

[Gossamer]

I think Riverfall has a situation where all the men within the city are incredibly physically fit and all trained as warriors. If they aren't, they don't survive. And they don't mistreat others. They intimidate because any Akalak I think can take care of anyone weaker than they are with an ease that is so instilled its cultural. That' goes for women, children, and even other men.

Kenash deals with a really really wealthy people. Depending on the season, the location, etc certain people can do whatever they want and are utterly above the law. That's intimidating.

In terms of Mura, the Konti see things coming. They have the visionary gift to prepare for the future. Often they know what turning over a small pebble can make a tidalwave elsewhere, so they can avoid most conflict through secret quiet non-violent manipulations etc.