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…..