The Divine Metropolis and A Promise of Power (Fan Suggestion)
Setting the tone:
The ruler of one of the Divine nodes has been making choices and rising in power. The citizens of the node have been questioning his choices at times, but it is all in the name of the divines, their leader says.
Ever since it was a small town, there was something eerie about its progression, but it certainly did rise in power rather quickly, and although the citizens have been doubtful, they too enjoyed the power that their state had over its surrounding towns and in the region.
Now a huge metropolis, the leader's thirst for power has reached its conclusion, or so did everyone believe.
Not much is known about the deal that was made, or with which divine that deal was made...all that is known is that one day, this divine metropolis suddenly burst with dark powers that engulfed the entire region, and what was once divine was now a twisted dark metropolis.
Suggestion:
As a leader of a divine node, the player will be making choices that will affect their city and the direction in which it will evolve. These choices should be based on morality and some of the choices should be questionable, leading to higher increases in power at the risk of losing the loyalty of your citizens. If a leader manages to pick certain choices throughout all stages of the node's development, while also maintaining the loyalty of their citizens and their seat of power, a new hidden path will be unlocked that would allow this type of node to advance one step beyond the divine metropolis level...and that level is the dark metropolis.
Once a divine metropolis turns into a dark metropolis, it will automatically be considered an enemy state by all other nodes, and all citizens will be given a choice of remaining as citizens and becoming enemies of the rest of the world, or abandoning their citizenship and joining the other states in their fight against this unholy abomination.
Additionally, the dark metropolis would gain new and immense power, and its power will grow rapidly and will begin to engulf its surrounding areas. Lush forests become corrupt, the wild life begins to flee, die, or becomes twisted by darkness, and the surrounding nodes begin to be raided and assaulted by the forces of the dark metropolis.
Unlike other types of nodes, when the surrounding nodes are completely corrupted (destroyed and engulfed by the growing corruption), they merge with the dark metropolis node to form a larger node. Meaning, the only way for the other states to take back these nodes is to manage to destroy the dark metropolis in order to restore the entire region and the original node borders.
Mechanics:
When it transforms, the dark metropolis's appearance will change entirely. The main temples will be destroyed, and new dark temples or pyramids will rise instead. The surrounding area will be engulfed in darkness, skeletons and ghosts will roam the lands, and fallen players and NPCs will rise as zombies in their endless marsh to conquer the surrounding areas.
Only one divine node can become a dark metropolis at a time, and the process is extremely hard to achieve and will require immense cooperation between a large number of players as well as a great management by the leader in order to maintain the loyalty of the citizens. There should be long quest lines that need to be completed in very specific ways, and very specific leadership choices in terms of the advancement of the node. It shouldn't be something that happens overnight, but something which would take months of work and cooperation to achieve, and players from other nodes should be able to influence it and try to prevent it if they realize that it's happening.
Once it happens and the dark metropolis is born, all players in the region or across the entire continent should become aware of it. This could be through a visual indicator for nearby players, or through the news traveling across the world and NPCs talking about it, or simply through a global notification.
Players who choose to side with the dark metropolis could gain certain benefits or buffs to help them fight against the world. Maybe even twist their classes to reflect the dark side that they have chosen (especially clerics).
When a nearby node falls and becomes corrupted by the dark metropolis (and merges with it), new world bosses will spawn in that node's area to defend against attackers that might try to assault the dark metropolis and end its dark reign. This way, assaulting the dark metropolis would be a challenging task that would require the cooperation of players of that server, and it would be like a massive raid where they have to go through bosses and monsters before finally reaching the metropolis and laying siege to it.
Let me know what you think about this idea! It could be included as an expansion to the game at some point in the future, with similar mechanics being added to the other node types as well! An expansion that focuses on advancing nodes beyond lvl 6 in unique and epic ways that would affect the entire world!
