Thu Jan 14 22:21:43 2021

At 7 o'clock AM, Day of Deception, 2nd of the Month of the Grand Struggle
on the Theran calendar Zraldar perished, never to return.

Race:	frost
Class:	shaman
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	EMPIRE, the Empire
Age:	500
Hours:	659

Really liked you as Emperor, like was said in Discord, perhaps too nice of an evil, but still great job.

I had already seen most of the places I wanted to when you came along but I enjoyed the trips we did take. Good to see an explore type character that doesn't loose interest quickly and goes beyond just exploring but actually is a well fleshed out character in their own right.

Never interacted with you at hero but heard good things. Only criticism was your handling of the Trib war. Gnimos really punked you and I'm shocked you made it through that without someone getting the imms to call a vote.

But hey at least you didn't pay them 500 gold to stop.

I started playing again in April after about a 4 year layoff with the intention of playing some things I had not tried before. 5 Months of trying new things had netted me around 10 PKW, so for this Char I decided to go back to things I was more familiar with. I never felt like I was living up to the potential of this build, especially with Emperor Powers, but I at least got into double digit PKWs again.

I’ve had success with vengeance shaman before (this is my third one) so went frost giant to maximize eye for an eye. I did not know eye for an eye was no longer a ranged attack. It is a bit of a punch in the gut to find out the entire basis for your build no longer works (at least not like it did), but things had been mostly positive to that point so I decided to stick it out.

To get it out of the way I will mention the Spire Empire War which I lost. Zraldar had been clamoring for a war with the Spire since before he was High Priest, so it seemed disingenuous to turn it off once he was Emperor. However In a very short time span, the Spire had 26 member and 6 or 7 heroes who were showing regularly and Empire had 3 Heroes who were showing regularly (Jalaric was not in hero range yet) and the other 2 didn’t seem like they were having much fun at that point (neither was I). At that point, keeping it going just seemed like it would keep the huge Spire population interested and showing up, so I admitted defeat. It seemed like Empire numbers started growing after that, so overall I would say it was the right call.

This was actually the 3rd Spire/Empire War I had been involved in. I had one with Kraldinor that I won in about 4 days (actually probably more accurate to say Jeberal won) when a new Provost was granted, and one with Darvoderis that was the main reason that Darvoderis called for a vote against Caecilus and then ended once he became Emperor.

I think Talleyrand’s quote of “This is worse than a crime, it's a mistake” was very applicable to this whole affair.

Goodbyes:

To keep this from getting too long, I am not mentioning chars whose death threads I responded to previously and limiting it primarily to Empire leaders and enemies/allies whose interactions ranged across the majority of Zraldar’s life. I had hundreds of incredible interactions over 600+ hours and appreciate all the kind words on discord. Post here and I will reply.

Panmorne: I rolled a dwarf shaman that was going fort earlier this year that got initial empowerment from you, but then killed the wrong flavor of guard on the docks. Since he was in the teens, I decided to cut bait. However, the awesome interaction definitely left me wanting to come back for more. I was hoping for a third path, but liked what you gave me a whole lot more. I am disappointed I never succeeded in any of the targeted pk tasks, although I did get very close a few times on the final one.

Jormyr: Thanks for the great interactions. Of note, I specifically went sphere Combat vs War to cut down on the temptation to flip to Jormyr at some point. I think I had one of your first followers with another Frost Giant shaman when you were pretty new (the outlander you wanted to give demonspawn to).

Gaspare: Think you were still a hero imm when I stopped playing so great to see you running the show now in Empire now. We fought a bit with my last nightreaver and I had a High Priest under you when you were Emperor. We didn’t interact much but thanks for the opportunity.

Sebenso: We came up together and the way I saw it we were the ones responsible for bringing Empire back. I was fine with being your High Priest and figured we would probably both age die around the same time. I liked being Emperor, but would have traded it for another 500 hours of running with you. I had an Axe/Flail War Master before and I con killed it in 150 hours, even with leader con (I think Destuvious even slipped me a few extra), so kudos on how good you made it look.

Ahinu: This was one of the few places where I had multiple good options to choose a leader, and I never regretted giving you the time to rank up so it could be you. You are a great shadow and great shadow lord. I hope to see Empire remain viable you are while under you and…

Jalaric: The transition to you from Inacha occurred before the vote. With the slow ranking and initially not seeing you much (I think your play time is probably different than mine) I was initially hesitant about keeping you as War Master, but you really came on to a fearsome presence for the Empire and an excellent leader for the cabal. Anytime you were one, it felt like we could count on enemies melting away and all items of power being in the throne room in about 20 minutes.

Frawnk: Good to see you still kicking. We did some big things when we were around together. Thanks for showing up for the Spire War.

Zodslag: Great to see a tough orc. You were one of my 4 wins as Galvinar, so I was shocked at how tough. Great ally (at times) and even better enemy (at other times).

Omugug (spelling) We ran a lot together when we didn’t have anyone else to run with. We had some pretty good kills/interactions.

Neajess: My 2nd Favorite Char in CF right now. I love the concept of Chaos APs and I don’t think I have ever seen it done better.

Primdella: Low key my Favorite Char in CF right now. I don’t think a lot of people have reasons to interact with you as introverted as Prim seems to be so probably don’t realize what a well fleshed out char you are (I just killed people then told them good job). I loved you as Galvinar and continued to enjoy hour interactions as Zraldar. The 5 gold you gave me when I was level 6 really set the stage for all of my future success.

Kira: I liked that we always kept our communications open even during the Trib/Empire War. Wish you had taken me up on that offer, but in the end it worked out ok for everyone that you didn’t.

Maeneoki: Great to see somone playing a successful elf ranger which is such a fantasy archetype. You have been a constant presence during my return to CF both as an ally and enemy (I played that centaur ranger that kept stepping out of camo)

Alendross: We had some epic fights and getting to tangle with you was one of my main motivations to try to sneak off at lunch and log on when I could. Pretty sure our fight that took place in elemental temple, high tower, shadow grove, weald, and ended you dying to poison outside the tree was the longest I had, althought I did have a fight with Iliomynr in the waste and one with CkJorj in the mist on the way to Thar Acacia that were in that range.

Itz: Can’t say I am sorry our paths have not crossed recently as I had no answer for you but all of our interactions were great. I typically agreed with other criticism of behavior I read about, but none of that was pointed my way. Also, there is probably a direct lines events from you looting Wijara’s sword to Zraldar becoming Emperor so…..

I interacted with Zraldar across multiple contexts and each one was positive.

Only criticism: I noticed a couple of times where you were discussing some game mechanic related topic and the level of detail seemed vaguely OOC. But it wasn't common, and certainly wasn't egregious.

Very fair criticism and I would fall into very often and sure there were many more times I didn’t notice I was doing it. I also had a habit of referring to things from cf past the char should have no knowledge of. I have stopped calling voralia Tar Valon (I think).

Will try to improve on that in the future.

That fight was very likely my favorite fight on this character. We were bantering and it lasted like a literal hour. Really set the bar for how much I liked you as an enemy. You were such a hard counter to me with the ability to see me always and to give me my insects back lol. Always made it a real gamble to fight you but I enjoyed every single time. GLWYN.

Zraldar was always down for a fight, a good fight. You don't know how much fun I had fighting you and how close you were to getting me so many times. I'm left early on a lot of fights because I also thought eye for an eye was ranged, explains why I wasn't dead! Like your RP also and glad to see you get Emperor. You weren't cruel but still respected. Well done all around and again great job, and I'm glad I can be your 2nd favorite char. Our play times haven't lined up recently and/or the Empire greatly outnumbered me so we haven't had a recent fight but I certainly missed them. Good job sticking it out and it seemed you were super frustrated that time I was in the Spire trying to kill you. TBH that and those circumstances blew my mind, too. Loved all the banter. See you around.

The frustration came from that particular magistrate making a habit of letting others enter the spire to fight me, but never getting caught and a general lack of interest from Spire leadership in the matter.

Age death is no small feat, especially with how much you mixed it up. Good job!

Despite not having a shout-out in your death thread (tsk tsk), we tangled plenty and I admired your willingness to always throw down. Both as tanky as we are, our fights never ended in death unless others were involved (sometimes many), but I still appreciated how game you were to fight.

Impressive char, looking forward to your next.

Thanks for the comments. With Vizzar it really got to the point that someone one would tell me where you were and my reaction was along the lines of "we aren't going to kill him, so it doesn't really matter."

I was shocked we got you in the 4 on 1 or whatever it was outside of the chasm and came down to someone noticing you flight was dispelled immediately and catching you in porcupine. Its good to have a few Scions around again.

I mentioned how much I liked Zraldar in my death thread, but definitely worth reiterating. Its rare you can be like "sweet" when someone not you wins the vote, and even rarer you can be even happier they did later on. 10/10, good job dude.

Well I voted for you and would have had no issues if you had gotten Emperor as well. You were a great presence and I am still curious what we could have accomplished together. Imperial Shaman/AP is my number one pick for the best gank duo in CF.

n/t

Our paths crossed many times over Zraldar's lifetime and I must say all the interactions were great. Relationship wise, there was a shift from enemies to sort of friend-emies. Man what a shift from one character to the next, this is what makes this game great. Come back soon!

Very well done. Yes, perhaps you are lucky that I'll unable to play (as usual at this time of the year), or I wouldn't let you repair Empire son badly 😖

Enjoyed our talk, you were a rare exception from "anathema must die" trashtalks and insults that imperials takes for RP when they talks to anathema characters. You wasn't easy to catch, and some of my wins were just because you suddenly were there, not because I've intentionally was looking for you. Great after death RP too! About the looting thing, you haven't seen it because it's a fake rumours, but while Itz is active I can't say more. I'll post a while story of this thing when I'll gone, though, and that will be an interesting read, trust me.

So, good luck with your next and see you in the fields, you sure do a characters that are great and to the players, and to the whole game! 👍

PS: I've got your PBF, so don't worry about it!

Didn't you yourself say you fulled a Paladin and intentionally drop all his gear around the Sands of Sorrow, leading to him rage deleting?

Was that a rumor you were starting about yourself?

Thanks for the PBF pickup!

As far as our talks, as I mentioned at the time, discussing how weak you were over my corpse didn't seem quite appropriate.

Actually, I tried to make you feel better, but it would be weird if I'd cheer you up! Had to use my creepy, dark and evil ways to do that :P See you there :)

Zraldar intimidated Primdella a bit in how ready you were to go to war. Prim wasn't so much worried about death, but rather what a division in the Order factions of Thera would mean for the citizens. She was elated to have the sit down in the Eternal Library (thanks for indulging her) so that you two could hash things out and get a good relationship back on track. You and Prim didn't fight much, but when you did you made an impression. I might be crazy, but something tells me you were holding back a bit when we fought. :)

From a players perspective, wow what a great job to make it to age death. Hopefully, I'll make it too. It's no easy accomplishment so kudos to that. Also, thank you for the high praise. Zraldar was one of my favs too. Take care and GLWYN.

- Primdella Stormwind

I was trying to keep some channels open to the Spire throughout, and you were one of the members I Was closest to prior, so I was not overly interested in fighting you.

Oh dear,
I really did not see this coming as I did not realize how old you were as the character. You were a real pain in the ass and made it difficult for me. I would try to think of new approaches and get nuked half the time, and your tool kit tore me up a few times when I thought I had gotten away! I had hoped to have more of an RP opportunity with you.

Great job.

Our last interaction gave me a much better appreciation of who Tissie was and I think we would have had many more interactions other than fights if I had more time. Maybe in another life.

Although I could not get you

You almost had me that last time appropriately because of the flaw I picked up in Morius' holiday event. If emetic poison had lasted one more hour I was done.

You glacier of a bastard, dying from old age! You think you're some bearded old man bound by a well off walking staff? hrm hrm.
Had lots of fun with Zraldar and your Empire's war, thought it was grand as a guppy that you knew when to state your war with Tribunal weren't doing too well. All in all I was was definitely fond of you and your scuffling, and I think most the folks I heard from liked you too. Hope you liked my gift, it was that or some more prayers and I was hoping you'd get more a kick out of it given your fondness for frost. I ain't disappointed in you none, so keep that head high cause you did swell!

Thanks for everything again. I definitely loved the last gift you gave me and was pretty blown away that I got it and figuring out how to best incorporate it definitely added some new life to am old character and was a lot of fun to use. Being a Panomorne follower exceeded my expectation which were already high going in.

Well done. I didn't realize how old you were.

I really enjoyed our dynamic. You were a nice, evil Imperial. It was fun while it lasted.

A very interesting character. I will hold off on saying anymore until Leuoa is gone.

I mostly left you alone since in forever you seemed to be alone and piled on. Good job with sticking it out, glwyn and i'll never forgive you for surviving where you should have died. But alas, shifters can be limited by what they can do.