Indeed I am coming in late to this discussion, having only just found my feet again after being away from you all for so long. Many interesting and valid points have been raised in previous messages and all view points have a certain validity. Here however, are some of the thoughts that occurred to me as I read these back posts.

1) The DEME project in AS, whilst functional; was a little short sighted. True, no one expected the huge popularity that was to come; nor the degree to which the DEMEs became a type of class structure. As we can see from some of these back posts, these classist sentiments (whether REAL or just PERCIEVED) last even today. Of course, it would be impossible to make the DEMEs completely free for anyone to join as they will as this runs the risk of having some top-heavy and others under-manned. But perhaps some middle road can be achieved. By drawing the lines around CITY-STATES, I believe this can be accommodated. The citizenry can choose which CITY-STATE they would like to settle in, but should that CITY-STATE find itself under-manned, then they could approach the Citizenry and try to entice them to move to their CITY-STATE. For example if one has three or four healers and another has none, then perhaps they could entice one of those healers to move. Simple economics! Market forces can be an effective tool for evening out the CITY-STATES, particularly if the CITY-STATES utilise the tools of civic duty.

2) Personally, I like the idea of having CITY-STATES rather than DEMES. This has numerous benefits in that not only does it allow those amongst us with a particular passion to delve more deeply into a particular CITY-STATE that interests them, but indeed allows us to spread our ATHENIAN FAMILIES out a little more. Those of you who are members of the ICTINUS family or who knew me of old; would know that I do not believe we develop our FAMILIES as much as we could. There is a whole world of social interaction that is undeveloped because we do not monopolise on our FAMILIES. By creating CITY-STATES, then we open up avenues in our ROLE-PLAY areas for visiting kin in other CITY-STATES as well as by learning and discovering other CITY-STATES through the eyes of such kin.

3) I also believe that CITY-STATES can also be used to seperate out the interest groups. Again, this leads to openings for the ROLE PLAYERS, who can visit those counterparts in other CITY-STATES. Again, using AS as an example, I recall that I visited the CELTS and the ROMAN healers in role-play and frequently "swapped notes". This led not only to a cross cultural pollination, but an exchange of ideas and led to better and greater depth to our researches into Ancient Medicine.


I am aware that I have been more verbose than I would have liked, so allow me to summarise in conclusion. The benefits behind a CITY-STATE ideal would be three fold:

1) - Greater participation in the CITY-STATE and more even
distribution of Civic Duties.
2) - Greater role-play opportunities and opportunities to
develop familial ties.
3) - Greater degree of co-operation and facilitation of
research in varied areas of Ancient Lore.


I am most excited about this current project and will happily answer any further questions about anything I have raised here. I will also be reading YOUR posts with the same degree of interest and excitment.

Now is the time that we can institute some truly innovative designs. We have a history and we have a legacy. Let us not waste this singular opportunity to rise to greatness. Let us unveil the great light that was Greece and shine forth to all the world.