Hello.
It's a little harder to kingdom hop to higher quality kingdoms because of the "wall" mechanic. Most everyone uses munkbot and 3rd party chat, which shouldn't be a challenge for most. I don't like it.
Rituals are similar to stances that require you to cast like a spell. It's a kingdom tool so the individual rune expense is rather high. The more you cast the longer the effect can last. Stances are gone but meter(friendly to hostile to war) are intact.
Paladins have fluctuated a bit since introduced and they're more like they were when they were originally launched. They can cast fading self spells on other kingdom provinces. Last age the shared spell casting was on faery and paladin was plague immune with reduced combat losses.
You can still play like you want, it's just more difficult to find a home.
PS Apparently there's more active conversation on Discord, but I can't use it because my iPad is too old to use apps or the browser version.
Welcome back. I remember you ran a mean elf hybrid.