I'm aware that these changes require a lot of work from the developers so I have reason to believe it will come from a later update than an immediate update. but even so I hope that this becomes a reality and further flush out the world of sea of thieves
here in the land of Sea of Thieves where Pirates are labeled as heroes and riches favor the risk takers and ship raiders a distant (or not so distant) land has taken note of this lawless land where the most cutthroat and the most devious of pirates plague their merchant vessels and raid for riches and notoriety but due to the local populace this distant land cant send their personal fleet or even attempt immediate control. lets face it apparently these scoundrels who sail the seas are Welcomed and have free reign to do as they please with the merchants and peaceful sailors whom leave our distant land to envoy to other great and not so wild lands. Needles to say there is word of a secret place where only Pirate legends may reach, perhaps the source of why this land is as wild as it is...
This will not stand and we have devised our plan in order to better tame these waters for our personal gain. we have sent Envoys to the various forts and outposts to establish our own "Guild" so to speak and speak to the locals to better seek the most devilish of men and women and clear the way for our fellow sailors to complete our missions. Our scouts have identified that The Order of Souls may be of use to us. Their crude (and slightly disturbing) research may lead to ways of catching a few of the pirates whom seem to vanish in a blink of an eye and in terms of finding men willing to do this work well I'm sure a good natured Pirate here or there would be good to hire lord knows there are plenty of Pirates in the sea and needless to say there may be a few diamonds in the shipwrecks who can be convinced that by capturing their fellows that they may become Pirate Legend themselves.
We are the Conclave of Blades and this "Sea of Theives" will know law
so the Conclave of Blades in my mind will essentially be the evil faction of the game (just look at their methods and intent) but will also serve as a way to add some law to the game that will be enforced by its player base with only minor interaction from the developers themselves this helps keep the community free, prevent the need to ban people from the game or any number of problems with the amount of "greifers" found In the game
as a forethought the Grifers are not bad as a matter of fact they enhance the game and will help make this possible update even more interesting if it is implemented. this is just a way to lower the amount of greifers and give others a PvP centric guild without purposely killing and greifing players whom are just out to sail and explore.
The Conclave is a bounty hunting system that includes a special item known as Soul Shackels (more on that in a moment) where based on your acts in sea of thieves you will accrue a bounty. these are primarily pvp related as the list of triggers will be listed below for review and updates. the general idea is as follows: attack a ship unprovoked? bounty, kill a player as he is turning in loot? bounty, turn in treasure from another crew's quest? bounty. (this will not include random chests and items found on random lands or any chest that are indeed yours) as these bounties rise the outposts may have some special gear as the people of the land see what the Conclave is doing as a fun way to see, joke, and laugh at who has been causing a lot of trouble. so Greifers keep Greifing there are positives to getting a bounty. and don't worry too much on losing your progress, your bounty carries from Server to Server. you are a wanted man, on all the seas
those seeking to benefit from the Conclave are in luck as those bounties are your paydirt. the higher the bounty the better your pay and you can pick and choose whos name you wish to hunt. you may only hunt one person at a time and you will be given a pair of soul shackles to go for this person. be wary though other hunters may want the same prize and will also be identified on your bounty notice...
speaking of the map/skull bounty/merchant shopping list, is the bounty notice (name pending) on it gives you description of the person. i.e. Full Beard, Black Dog Jacket and Bilge Rat peg leg (not remembering names atm) as well as the description of the ship they are on or currently with, i.e. Galleon with an Admiral's hull, Sovereign Sails and Seadog figurehead. if the character changes clothing or ship the notice changes with so even if your quarry tries to disguise themselves if you are diligent on your bounty you will be able to keep hunting. this gives no island location or even if they are on the island so finding requires travel and even if the ship is found you may still have to search the island.
The hunted are also partially alerted. when a bounty hunter is in the area. within a certain range you will begin to hear whispers if a bounty hunter with your shackles is nearby (souls are rather noisy things especially when imbued to a chain) and as the hunter gets closer the sounds will increase until the shackles are applied. if Captured your Crew will be notified of your capture. it is up to them to save you and your bounty
the Soul Shackles being the unique item is only available to those hunting and will be added to your inventory upon taking a bounty. this item will allow the player if they come within Melee range of their target (only their target) to capture them and this immediately teleports the bounty from their location to the Brig of whichever ship the hunter owns. I already see the problem with this and this is the trick of the soul shackles. if the player leaves after being shackled their Spirit stays in the brig, their soul still captured to the ship till either the ship sinks, the bounty is turned in, or the crew the soul belongs to save them if you leave and return to the game your soul finds you and tethers you back to the ship (i.e still in the same server still stuck in the brig) until one of the three requirements are met.
Turning in the quest. one you have your bounty in your brig you must now take it to one of the outposts (you'll come to find the Conclave's attempt of a base at a fort didn't pan out) and rush to the building for the Conclave with your prisoner in the hold. giving you the bounty and sending the bounty to the jailhouse for 30 Sec to a minute (I forget how long that is as in game time) this also reduces their bounty to Zero and all available rewards for a high bounty are off the table until brought back up again. don't worry if you are hunted if you already bought the reward you still get to keep it and use it but you will have to start from square one if there is a bounty item that you still have yet to reach. Also a note to the hunted after your time in the brig is done you will be fined a cash amount (based on your bounty) but wont exceed 1000 or 2000 Gp this means your wrongdoings and money gain from your wrongdoings will only be set back a little and you can go back to your bounty raising mayhem later. also Yay no bounty, no one will be hunting you for a while
Rewards from the Conclave will be of course a new looking shackle and their own cosmetics and will lvl up like any other guild though may or may not be required for the pirate legend status (most likely completely optional due to the special rule section) you will also get the satisfaction that you probably managed to grief the griefer for a good while as you go to turn in.
Special Rules: you will not be able to start a bounty mission if you have a bounty. if you wish to begin bounty hunting you must clear your bounty first and this has no limit on the cash you must pay. your bounty is your price for your name to be cleared. you made the bounty you pay off the bounty so if you have a small one (you just happened to have a crewmember who caused some problems and you were affected) you can quickly pay it off and continue on when you come into port. if you have a huge bounty it will be hard to pay off and will set you back quite a lot of cash (its better to be captured than to self turn in if you have a high bounty)
You will also be unable to hunt a bounty of a person in your crew. if you have a crewmate that has a bounty expect to see a bounty hunter and you may choose to defend your crewmate or suffer being out a crew member until he is turned in and takes a mermaid back.
Finally you cannot go bounty hunting if a member of your Crew has a bounty that way there is no round about way to have a bounty and still hunt bounties bounty hunters can have the benefits of being a bounty hunter hand having a bounty. though you may start as a bounty hunter for the guild rewards then later gain a bounty to start trying to get bounty rewards.
if you or your crew has a bounty a Bounty hunter attacking your ship cannot gain bounty as long as he is hunting a member of your crew and may attack your ship still if they have your crew on their ship.
since the bounty hunt is a quest a ship with one bounty hunter is a crew of bounty hunters you must vote and agree for it and all of you will have shakles for the same target.
these missions are timed but it is only by players. the hunt ends if someone turned in your quary or if your quary leaves the server. you do have a last minute chance however if they leave while you are close in that the soul will be left where is stands a line will be teathered (directing you to) the shackles for 1 to 5 minutes giving you a last ditch chance to make the capture
if a bounty is accrued though attack the attacker gains the bounty and the two ships will now be in Deadlock. the bounty accruing ship will continue to gain bounties based on set rules and the defender is free of conviction (it is self defense) for 10 to 30 minutes of the last cannonball or bullet thrown (and hits) in combat. if you engage in a ship battle in progress you also gain a bounty as you could have steered clear before and both ships attacked will have defender from you.
There will be one place where you cannot accrue a bounty and that is within Range of a Fort active or not the Conclave steers clear of all business handled there. so peaceful sailors stay away even more from the forts Greifers may be partying there.... or perhaps if you wish to settle a duel. within range means if you would hear the music of an active fort you are clear to do villainous things again this is whether the fort is active or not
Ways to Accrue bounty: these are subject to change and are split between Crew wide and member specific these punish and change dependant on if it could have been prevented by the team or just one man.
as a reference a small bounty is anywhere from 20 to 80 gold medium is 100 to 400 large is 600+ also subject to change.
Deadlock is a state of combat described in special rules
Attacking a ship unprovoked: Crew wide small (cant be stacked during deadlock, initiates deadlock)
Sinking a ship that is now defending: Crew wide Medium to large (stacks with attacking a ship)
Killing a crewmember (individual, small, stacks with deadlock)
attacking a player unprovoked (individual, small to medium, does not stack with deadlock, initiates deadlock. for killing see killing a Crewmember above)
Attacking a crewmember carrying a chest (Individual, medium to Large)
turning in a chest that is from another players crew or quest (Crew, small to medium)
Killing captured animals belonging to another crew (medium to large individual)
Turning in an animal from another crew (Crew, small to large (still really not sure on this one)
**ways to check your bounty: next to your gold you will have a bounty score visible from the escape menu as well as if you want to see how high your bounty is compared to other players the Conclave has a bounty board next to the building where you may see how much you are worth, other players in the server and others overall. if you are top of the overall standing you must be active at least once a month or possibly later, or your bounty may be forgotten due to inactivity
Benefits of this System: Honestly the goal is to lower the amount of greifing or at least allow some pirate revenge upon greifers. it punishes greifers slightly by inconveniencing them a little but it doesn't deter them as you can still collect money faster through attacking other ships. players who are tired of greifers may now have an extra income by chasing after players but they must also spend their time to do so. it may be a slower pay rate but with a larger reward it may keep players interested in the hunt especially if it can be done quickly. because bounties mostly start when the cannonball flies and hits this also promotes players to talk to eachother and have a few more friendly interactions. a ship coming in from a distance could be friendly and willing to trade supplies. and also lead to a question as to whether the ship coming in is friend or foe making it so some ships will hesitate allowing attackers to get close
The downside: this may come as a slight cost to the player count as some greifers may not like being hunted but it is fair to allow a more interactive experience. because of the nature of the quest this does mean that more bounty crews will be relegated to sloops but I do have hope to see Galleon hunters out in the seas as well. since this will likely to be optional players might not even take this route but who knows its worth giving a shot.
Again this may take a while to implement and again this is subject for changes I would love some feedback and to hopefully have some developer interaction in hopes that we may be able to implement a proper bounty system to balance out the number of attacks across the sea and hopefully bring some player law into the game.
Options brought up and by who:
@SwankyAflag
instead of Chains making noise they are silent (possible encounters of surprise or fake friendliness from hunters)
Hunted players can check the bounty board for who is hunting them (added defence from hunters as well as balance to silent chains)
Hunters can use bounty board for a Last seen location to an Island (gives starting point for hunters to look)
Possible NPC Escort mission when no bounties are available (flavor to the guild in that they are sending Envoys and other things to different locations. as well as giving hunters a chance to continue building incase there is no possible targets at the time.)
Currently discussing the idea of letting hunted join in bounties but with drawbacks
