The recent invasion of Moghedu by Mhaldor was a player-initiated event
that we supported (with a LOT of behind the scenes work) as soon as it
started happening, and which could have gone either way. We had victory
conditions for both Mhaldor and Moghedu+allies and whichever side met
those victory conditions won. Player characters on both sides suffered a
fair amount of loss in xp, equipment, and so on. This was an example of
an event that's player-driven with a variable outcome and ideally it's
the kind of thing we want to do more of.

In the past, however, there have been events we've run in which we
encouraged group(s) of players to oppose, with great personal sacrifice,
an outcome that was pre-ordained, typically because there's no way we're
NOT putting in that new class or guild we've planned and prepared for.
This is really unfair insofar as if the Garden as a whole encourages and
expects a group of players to make sacrifices (in the general sense, not
the shrine sense), the Garden should provide a way for those sacrifices
to have an impact.

So here's a pledge: There will be no more events in which the Garden
basically coerces a group of players into dying/sacrificing/working/etc
towards a goal when the inability to meet that goal is preordained.
That's not to say there won't be roleplaying events in which the goal is
pre-ordained (such as the introduction of a new area or class), but is
rather to say that if players choose to do things that lead to loss on
their part in such events it will not be because the Garden planned for
them to do so.

Penned by my hand on the 3rd of Ero, in the year 355 AF.