How the ”Plot wheel” broke, and the “Winner mentality” took over
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Going to chip in in regards of Divine Marches.
Team Bane won the favour of Lord Mertoi ONLY cause Team Tempus dissed House Mertoi's praises and dismissed their approach towards them, Team Bane was respectful in RP towards House Mertoi and thus gained Lord Mertoi's favour instead. Their mechanical power had nothing to do with it, one player declined a NPCs approach and another player picked it up seeing an opportunity.
A few days before the Divine March, Team Bane won over Team Tempus in an battle and no one was FD'd. Which was a build up towards the event in a sense.
If a player didn't want to attend the Divine March Tempus vs Bane, they didn't have to and some chose not to. Similarly when the Brethren came down upon the Temple of Darmos, everything was announced and optional. That march was in fact almost purely PCs vs NPCs, but some players chose to stand against the march cause they didn't think it was right.
If Tempus had had more support in Old Town, they would had easily won by NPC support.
Militia/Tempus march against Temple of Eternal Night/Bane was also optional, in fact the Militia didn't want people to attend.
In these divine marches, NPC support was reflected and considered, PC action was noted and the risk of death announced. Many players encourage more permadeath events in fact, some like it some don't.
I think the most important thing to consider here is if a player DONT want to attend a perma death event, they can choose not to. If they don't feel it is right, they can always discuss it with a DM before hand. Communication is key with perma death events, both from the DM(s) and players. I have raised people during perma death events if I saw them die to a bug, or if the NPCs were too powerful for a reasonable chance. In fact the death of the Sibilant Shade was almost purely won by RP and player actions which they had worked on for quite some time to achieve. As well as some last minute heroic approaches and sacrifices.
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In regards to Perma-death events: I love them and want more so long as the deaths are for RP and not just "DM spawned 20 Balors on my head and killed me with no chance on my end" (not saying you guys would). Personally that is the kind of tense conflict I love.