To hopefully distract some people from general online degeneracy:
You guys got houses? I am currently sharing a medium plot with a good friend of mine and we are having a blast, just slowly building up a respectably looking house! The house itself is gonna be a sort of relaxing and small club house (I guess that's the right word). After learning the hard way how ridiculously restrictive glitchless decorating can be, we eperimented with some simple glitching to create a sorta open-air bath on the top floor.
Next, we wanted to create a party cellar. I wanted it to look a bit shabby/seedy with more of a standard fantasy vibe, but my friend wanted it to look modern, so we came to agreement to just mix elements of both together. I think it came out nicely.
The middle floor is still being worked on, but it's not gonna be too fancy, since we only have 50 items remaining until we reached the furniture limit.
I never imagined it could be so relaxing to just casually craft or buy some furniture and try and make something halfway unique and decent looking. Forgive my autistic need to share this kinda stuff with you guys, but maybe you find it a bit interesting, idk. I'm also interested in getting some inspiration from your houses, if you are willing to share.
Oh and Gravemind, after playing through the whole story, I can fully understand your dislike for the Maelstrom. Out of all the Grand Companies, the Maelstrom is probably the most flawed one. By that I mean that they could have prevented their current problems the most realistically, but chose not to. Or rather, Merlwyb should have probably taken the initiative to keep the pirates in check and negotiate with beast tribes way earlier. Unfortunately I am still a sucker for their aesthetics, but hey, baby steps. The Immortal Flames got some cool sets too. And Raubahn.