Janggut:
though your plot suggests more linearity than DD or BD, i think it will make the story tight & cohesive.
Errh. no, then I was misunderstood. I pointed out that only act 1 would be linear, so both chars steered by gamer would learn their specialities. As soon as both chars are together after the Council Mage intervention, they are free to roam, solve sub quests in any order - I think only the end (with a decision and 2 differing cut scenes) would be "linear". So, even landing a blow at the Black Mages (maybe with Damian as protagonist) would not be the end.
The Verdistis char wants to set up an assassin merchant empire (a sort of Mafia)
The Warrior Guild char needs to set up an army, or at least a functioning Order (would require settle points as well?)
In both cases negotiations, quests and settling points would be necessary, the races have to decide => humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, lizards and the imps (in a new region). It would be nice, if the 2 chars need not be human.
Yes, guilds attached to the races would be nice - and some are hostile to each other. So, if char 1 managed to bribe/coax/threaten the lizards on her/his side - the imps would only side up with char 2 e.g. - but not automatically, this depends on the sub quests and settle points. Linearity would only be in the amount of quests per race, should be an irregular number, so a stalemate is impossible (correct word? In any case, 3,5,7 etc.)
Hm, if I remember the lizards... maybe they are in Council Hall and act as mage teachers.
So the end could be that the ruler youth they found would either give the official certificate to side 1 or 2.
Or, the inhabitants of this world would make an election, depending on how many deeds served the one or other side. This would be done in 2 different quest logs for a better overview - or in one with different colours, so the gamer can see, which quest would serve which side and keep balance if she/he can't decide.
I have no clue how difficult this would be for a script or programming
