In Meridian 59, after you are 30+ (50+ hit points on server 103) hit points you can become a member of a faction by saying "Join" in front of a specific leader and then following their instructions and completing the task laid out for you.
When you hit 75 Hit Points and are in a faction, you have the ability to go to any of the three faction leaders in Meridian 59 Jonas D'Accor, Princess Kateriina, or Duke Akardius, and become a different type of member - you can become a Soldier for their cause.
To become a soldier, you say the word "Soldier" in front of the leader. They will then ask you to go out and kill an NPC soldier of an opposing faction.
EX: Duke will ask you to kill a Princess Soldier, who are usually found around Barloque and her castle.
Kill the NPC Soldier, just one, then return to the Faction Leader. If they don't notice you, say anything, and they will then ask you to kill ONE MORE SOLDIER from the OTHER opposing faction.
After you have completed this task, return to the Faction Leader once more and engage them in conversation if they didn't already notice you when you entered the room.
The Faction Leader will immediately give you a Soldier Shield. You are now a fighting member of their faction and have been given certain abilities beyond a regular faction member!
The Shield will remain on you at all times and will only be lost if you take many unsafe logoff penalties and don't stay active by regularly killing an NPC or Player Soldier.
If you equip a Bow while using a shield, it will automatically be flipped on your back - this is very helpful in PvP combat and reduces time spent switching a shield on and off to change melee/long-range tactics. For this reason alone the shields are a no-brainer item for many players despite the high-risk involved [anyone with an opposing shield can attack you even if you are in a town and not guilded!!!]
An in-game mail will be sent to your character further detailing your abilities and what you must do to remain an active soldier.
Here are some specifics however so you can decide what Faction you would want to join as a Soldier and how it will benefit your character while building:
When you first get the Soldier Shield, your shield will say (by right clicking and looking at it's information) that you are an "Average Soldier".
If you kill PLAYERS who are using a Faction Shield from an opposing Faction, you will move up in rank and become "A Notable Fighter". If you kill another player you will become "A Great Warrior" - one more and you will become "A Supreme Hero".
The same bonuses apply on server 103 only you do not have to kill PLAYERS just NPC soldiers. However, killing PLAYERS with soldier shields will still work.
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Each one of these RANKS will give you a specific boost to your character stats. Here they are:
+0 stats - A Lowly Peon
[Kill an NPC Soldier to go to "Average Soldier"
+3 stats - An Average Soldier/Notable Fighter
[Kill 1 Player Soldier to become a Notable Fighter - you will still have +3...]
+5 stats - A Great Warrior/A Supreme Hero
[Kill a 2nd then 3rd Player Soldier - both ranks have +5]
Princess: mysticism, intellect
Duke: stamina, agility
Jonas: might, aim
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You can maintain +3 stats/"Average Soldier" at all times by killing faction soldier NPC's.
You cannot raise above Average Soldier by killing NPC's (except on server 103) - to get above that you will need to kill PLAYERS with an opposing Faction Shield.
You will go down to "Lowly Peon" if you do not kill soldiers often enough to match your play time, but it's unknown at what rate the ranks depreciate in value.
If you take an unsafe log off penalty more than once your rank will go down, or, if you were already close to going down a rank due to not killing soldiers, the penalty will send it over the threshold and you will drop rank.
The first kill will bring you to notable, the second to great warrior (+5), and a third kill will make you supreme hero.
A NOTABLE FIGHTER AND SUPREME HERO BOTH GIVE THE SAME STAT AS AVERAGE SOLDIER/GREAT WARRIOR, but it will leave your shield/rank boon up for a longer period of time AND more protection of keeping your rank/stat when taking an unsafe logoff penalty, which is useful.
Keep in mind when you kill Soldier Shield carrying players, you will also increase your risk of taking a logoff penalty if you log unsafely - it is similar to randomly killing a player in terms of that effect - but your name won't change color of course.
There are extra HIDDEN bonuses with each shield rank as you progress to supreme hero.
Princess shields when maxed out Reduce Mana Cost of all spells and increase dodging. They are extremely powerful.
Jonas shields maxed out give a persistent Armor of Gort effect (-1 damage).
It's unknown what a maxed out/Supreme Hero Duke Akardius Faction Shield does but can be safely assumed it gives a bonus to spellpower from Kraanan, Qor, and Riija.
Player Comments:
"The average soldier ranks of Jonas and Princess shields are pretty good...Don't underestimate the fact that they act as shields that are always there. A Jonas character typically will be bowing, but for Cess mages, soldier shields or Herald Shield are a must or you will get eaten alive by Jonas soldiers. Even if you put up winds, a holding sword [it says "Zjiria on it]] will take you out with 1 proc [of the hold spell] without a shield equipped."
I forget what the extra bonus is for duke shields. Duke is just the weakest pvp faction. It's primarily a defensive and support faction. It's just not as fun playing support, people want kills. There's not many duke soldiers out there getting kills. It's all Jonas bowers, and cess farens." Aero [101]