Fluffle

Or we could wait for our forum badge and model our Jolly Roger after it.

Yeahh whohoooo, thank you Aarik! Since I assume that it is rather unlikely that the vote is going to change I expect us to be in fact the "Black Isle Bastards". I can leave the poll running until Sunday because I should stick to my word. I don't expect much to change though. Anyway, now that the current preferred name has been greenlit, we need a Jolly Roger And if the vote indeed sticks with "Black Isle Bastards" then I would like to use the Black Isle Studio logo. Not as a standalone of course, but somehow incorporated into a proper Jolly Roger. However, that may infringe copyright. Does anyone have thoughts on that? How could we handle that if we wanted to use that logo? And more importantly DO we want to use the logo at all?

I understood "by the end of the week" as sunday hence the date for the ending of the poll then

One more voice in favor of the old system. But hey there'll be a Beta where we can try out the new system. So before condemning the new system I'd like to try it out first. That said I DO like the split system in PoE1.

Aarik already knows, he was the one who told me that he wanted to ask the team first Ah fair enough. I still think if it turns out to be taboo we should re do the vote, or let people change their responses first. Oh yes of course. I had overlooked that. Since this is not a multiple choice poll, I'd make a new poll of course.

Okay, fair point. To those who have voted "yes", how much would you be ready to donate for an actual "Black Isle" ?

Should for some reason one of the backers for the island tiers cancel that pledge and you see a free island tier slot then I beg you, GRAB IT ASAP. Or should Obsidian decide to make a new free island slot, no matter the cost, GRAB IT ASAP. You can then later on hand it over to me and I will make this work as crowdfunding (in case you don't want to).

Aarik already knows, he was the one who told me that he wanted to ask the team first

I really doubt this polling deadline is necessary anymore, given how the poll's looking... I wish this was a done deal sooner, so that we get to back Obsidian the pirate way pronto. First we need confirmation that Obsidian is okay with a crew called "Black Isle Bastards" on their forum. I mean, they could rather not want that and it would be totally understandable. The word "Bastard" has a negative connotation of course. But we don't mean it that way. We don't want to disrespect the former Black Isle Studios that way, quite the opposite. Still, if they'd rather we don't use that name, then we'd need a new one. Or we would simply pick the second highest vote.

Well we do know one group who is crowd funding an island, see here. To me, it doesn't look like they're going to make a "Black Isle". That leaves Obsidian themselves and the other Island backer group (if that also is a group which I'd assume).

I asked Faergus on the Fig campaign: Question: "The question has come up why Obsidian Entertainment is named the way it is. It may be a far stretch but may one reason be that a black isle (volcanic isle) could consist of obsidian...?" Answer by Faergus: ":) When we were starting Obsidian in 2003, we came up with a lot of names - "Scortched Earth", "Three Clown Software", etc.. One of those names was Obsidian, and it was the one that our significant others (wives and girlfriends) said was the least lame one. We also like it because it was a black rock, so there was that reference to Black Isle. Black Isle being the homeland of the Urquharts...."

Damn that Fire Godlike looks awesome. On the other damn I can forget about the Death Godlike portrait...

Is that why Obsidian are named Obsidian? "The translation into English of Natural History written by Pliny the Elder of Rome shows a few sentences on the subject of a volcanic glass called Obsian, so named from its resemblance to a stone (obsiānus lapis) found in Ethiopia by Obsius, a Roman explorer." Source Ah I misunderstood. You would like to know why Obsidian Entertainment is called that way. I dunno^^ I mean, yes, because of Obsidian, I guess. But I don't know the reason WHY they chose that name.

However, to be fair, they've already used the Obsidian Order of Eternity and it exists as an entity "in-game". Other than creating a pirate branch, a good argument could exist that having two Obsidian groups seems odd - what is this obsession with Obsidian named groups in Eora? So in that sense I understand the preference to step away from Obsidian with Black Isle. The alternative would be using some synonym for Obsidian (colour: Onyx, Raven, Atramentus; stone - Agate, Chalcedony, Silica) over just using Obsidian. Other ways to tie it back to Obsidian would be to do some sort of weird internal reference that might be more obscure that Black Isle. "The Alpha Sea Agents"? "South Sea Parkas"? "The Ocean Siegers"? "The Always Day Sailors"? "Knights of the Old Valian Republic"? "The Sea POEts"? That is exactly my line of reasoning. Also who says that the Black Isle isn't black because of obsidian...

It could be made of obsidian... just saying...

For me Black Isle now is Obsidian Entertainment. I know, I know there are new "Black Isle Studios" but as far as I know those have nothing to do with Obsidian Entertainment. The original Black Isle Studios were funded by Feargus Urquhart if I am not mistaken. So for me I don't want to imply that Obsidian is inferior to the original Black Isle Studios or vice versa. For me Obsidian Entertainment is the original Black Isle Studios. Just wanted to share my point of view on that. The name "Black Isle Bastards" should in no way be seen to disrespect or disregard Obsidian Entertainment. Quite the opposite because it's a way to acknowledge the roots, the heritage of Obsidian Entertainment.

So, there were quite a lot of "yes" votes on this poll. I would just like to inform everybody who was in support of this, that Obsidian has decided to give us a Black Isle for free: So now we are going to pursue crowd funding the Black Isle Bastards a pirate crew that is associated with the Black Isle! Obsidian supports our project, if you'd like to know more about it, check it out here.

You know, it's too bad we can't back an Island anymore. We actually could have had a "Black Isle" in the game... That's really a shame. Had I thought sooner of that I would have opted for it!

The poll is up and running, see here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/91397-vote-for-the-name-of-our-community-pirate-order/

Note: Pirate language is strongly encouraged in this thread (as long as it is PG13 )

Ahoy backos, (bucko, backer, and maybe wacko in one word) We are going to found a community pirate order. It is going to be the spiritual successor of the "Obsidian Order of Eternity" from the Kickstarter campaign for Pillars of Eternity 1. As soon as we have decided on a name for this pirate order, Obsidian will add the option to pay 8$ dollars extra on the Fig campaign for Pillars of Eternity 2 and let you join this community pirate crew. You will get a pirate themed forum badge in return. So make your decision! What should we call our community pirate crew? The poll will end on Sunday 5th February, 2017 at 11:59 PM GMT+0

Yep, I'm also still in

Okay everyone, please let us post each our three favorite choices for the name. Also please consider character length. The name should not be too long. I will start. My three choices: 1.) Obsidian Marauders 2.) Black Isle Bastards 3.) Deadfire Pirates I will set up a poll on this forum with the choices that are mentioned most often by you. I will also consider the options in the straw poll.

What is the maximum number of options on a forum poll here? And what should the character limit be for the name?

Well we certainly are bickering, aren't we? The Bickering Bastards