Rejoice, people.
I got some free time in May and decided to play a serious char. I had several ideas but since I could only afford one char I rolled an anti-paladin. Why? Because of their versatility. It's a hard class to play, but also is fun and capable doing things solo.

Not long before that the new wand system went in, so the timing for playing a wand dependant class wasn't great and it contributed to the slow start. I found my sienna and amber sleeks in 120-150 hours and my black sleek in 220+ hours. Finding my black sleek was a pure fluke and I can easily imagine myself never finding it. The luck based wand system suck balls.
I also don't consider myself a spam killer (don't really enjoy stomping newbies) so I think it's cool that the unholy weapon system gives me incentive to hunt strong enemies and makes killing newbies useless.
Idea to immortals: spread this approach further. Don't publish or use raw PK ratio for induction/rewards/etc. Adopt a"PK score" instead that is calculated similarly to unholy charges. It would make pk harvesting and levelsitting less appealing. Of course it still needs some tweaking. Increase charges for hard-to-kill classes and decrease for warriors, for example.

Building a big unholy wasn't my original plan, as I'm a veteran player and know very well what happens to all unholy weapons. At best, you can hope to delete early before losing it. However, at some point I hit a lucky stride and decided to use this opportunity to "abuse" big unholy. Too bad it's hard to gather exploration parties nowadays. I really hoped to explore Hell/dragons/whatever with my strongest unholy (which had 301 charges).

I certainly wasn't suicidal, but still took more risks than an AP should. And me building that big unholy was somewhat lucky. I died 9 times and only lost 2 unholy weapons. I can't really blame the fate. It could be worse.

After I hit 200+ charges my unholy wasn't growing that fast anymore. Several factors contributed to it:
- it became widely known and people started to avoid me or come with well prepared gangs.
- CF hit the dull point. Less people online, less actions.
- those fat ragers died. Hehe. I was getting one charge for most people lately.

At the same time some of anti-paladin skills that I actively used got nerfed. I apologize for bringing that upon you, young anti-paladins.
Damage output of "lashes of the slave" was halved.
"Faceslash" is now less reliable and "Slasher" edge doesn't work 100% of the time as before.
Thus, I decided to try something new and switched to swords. Had some fun with them but if you're going to follow my steps keep in mind that the ghostly scimitar prog (critical hit) doesn't work anymore if you make it unholy. As far I know other progged weapons are still working, so use your imagination.

Don't be fooled by the power of a big unholy. 200 charges will make you twice as healthy and hit twice as hard. But that only means you are equal to a two person gang (assuming decent players). Three or more people still have better chances to kick your ass. Anti-paladins also have to be careful about enemies with pets. They aren't great tanks so fighting many mobs is often bad idea even with abs. Jumping on necromancers with zombies, druids, conjurers, etc, requires additional preparation.

I found out that anti-paladins nowadays have big troubles with regen. Bloodlust and wands last for a while and make regeneration painfully slow. Perhaps, this issue should be looked at by coders. It also made solo raiding hard for me. If I can't raid without resting (and I needed 50+ charges for that) it turns into a big waste of time and wand charges. And then middle ranks retrieve right away. Our imperial healers probably noticed how often I would ask them for a healing sleep. Now you know why.


Unholy weapons

Got fumbled/sacrificed, 301 charges:
This weapon, a ghostly scimitar, can be referred to as 'curving blade scimitar ghostly'.
It is imbued with a terrible, unholy blessing.
It is worth 39000 copper, and is of the 50th level of power.
It can cause 6d6 points of damage, at average 21.
When worn, it affects your mental power by 1450 points, your durability by 1450 points,
your ability to land accurate blows by 156 points and your ability to do damage by 156 points.

Died in the Fortress, 64 charges:
This weapon, a whip made of six living snakes, can be referred to as 'whip snake-headed'.
It is imbued with a terrible, unholy blessing.
It is worth 54000 copper, and is of the 51st level of power.
It can cause 11d5 points of damage, at average 33.
When worn, it affects your ability to do damage by 33 points, your ability to land accurate blows by 33 points,
your durability by 310 points and your mental power by 310 points.

Aged died with, 67 charges:
a ghostly scimitar named 'Sandstorm' can be referred to as
'curving blade scimitar ghostly sandstorm'.
It is worth 5000 copper, and is of the 55th level of power.
It is a sword with an attack type of shocking bite.
It is made of energy and weighs 2 pounds 11 ounces.
It can cause 9d5 points of damage, at average 27.
When worn, it affects your damage roll by 37 points,
your hit roll by 37 points, your hp by 300 points and
your mana by 300 points.
It is imbued with a terrible, unholy blessing.


Immortals

I decided that with this character I will do what is fun and I will not do what is not fun. Simple, eh?
I'm not a emote-in-the-Inn type, so essentially I left you alone. In general, I like the immortals presence over cb or switching to mobs here and there, but I wasn't looking for religious talks. Thus, no prays. I also purposely didn't set my last name. I liked my first enough.


Twist - We had a couple interactions though they usually went ill. I would just blame unlucky timing. Not really your or my fault. I think you presence is good for the Empire, I just wish that you and other imms would put more investigation into circumstances before punishing/rewarding people to avoid weird remarks like:
Lornis's PBF: Wed Jul 29 21:00:21 2009 by 'An Immortal' at level 51 (134 hrs):
An Immortal added 1000 exp for: Really nice counter raid against the 12 empire that were on...got their item back and took the Codex while they raided battle
It would good to add how many of them were in his PK and also add that Enlilth forced imperials to raid battle and it is not that hard to walk from Hamsah (where he's safe) to the Palace while they are busy.
Or comments about a gutsy retrievals when many imperials are online and not mentioning that those imperials were deep in Inferno or in Yzekon.

Just an example:
I logged on and retrieved the codex (while having 3 forties in PK). They organized and took it back, plus there was an air major following me and some bored outlanders. I decided to bide my time and went to an obscure area to gather some gold. A bit later, when only two forties left I decided it's time for the retrieval. I rested up and started to move out. And right when I was at the entrance you popped over cb with "Go phucking retrieve", sadly, it annoyed me and I over reacted (poor on my side) with "Bub, that's what I'm doing". We ended up with you ordering me to raid all cabals. Thanks for wasted wands and hours (and of course we immediately lost most of the items anyway).


Empire

Unlike Scion, this cabal has a well defined purpose and I like the system too. Those obsolete interview/recommendations systems of other cabals are not fun anymore and only result an additional burden for applicants and leaders. I mean, come on, nobody truly enjoys the process. Why keep it? I praise Zulg for taking it away. The Empire is the role model for future cabals.

During my lifetime Empire had it rough, we had few active heroes while our enemies had their peaks. Woldrun rager crew, later massive fortress gangs, scions and outlanders had strong presence at times as well. It was funny that after I got promoted to the Dreadlord position I kept forgetting about sigil because I got used to not having the codex.
According to my PBF it was something like this:
# of logins with their cabal item 212
# of logins without their cabal item 120

In my first voting (when Tarleton became the Emperor) I wasn't really gunning for the Throne. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind additional powers, but I hadn't seen any real chance for me to get several votes (also, people didn't want the lich to raise again) and in case of split votes I wasn't going to be the immortals' pick. Plus, I wanted to stay under the radar so I didn't bother with any conspiracies and just voted for Tarleton.
In the second voting a few days ago I actually made a shot, but my chances to get the Throne were low as well and the age death at first login after the voting made it pointless anyway.

Tarleton - I liked you. you were fun to explore and gang with. People kept telling me why I tolerate a clown as the Emperor, but I didn't really mind. You were a good Emperor. Thanks for being AFK since the 7th circle of Hell. This is the first time I reached Satan.

Ahtieli - You get a bad rap (and I shared it with you) and the reason for that is simply: "envy". You demotion was a ####ty move as well. And while I believe that liches have no place in today's CF it's not your fault to play one. We had fun together and bumped up our gank-0-meters. When just two of us defend against 5 enemies and still manage to kill some of them the fact they were "five" is omitted and the fact "we killed someone together" is recorded for future trolling. The Black Sect was the real strength and spine of the Empire. I heard the buzz that your emperorship led to stagnation and weak Empire, but we all saw that nothing really changed when Tarleton took the Throne. In truth, this sort of things rarely depends on the leadership. Sometimes decent people decide to join cabals and sometimes they play something else.

Ithe, Talund, Obsoab - to some extent, liked you all. Anti-paladins don't really need a healer as their healing is not very effective under abs and in many cases barrier is better than sanc, but your presence makes those blades brave and certainly helps in building strong empire. Talund, at first you irritated me with your slowness, it's annoying to tell a healer what and when to commune, but later you'd learned your stuff and I had none of those issues anymore. Don't listen to haters and lamers. You played a healer as a healer and that is exactly what they are designed for. Not sure what happened between you and Obsoab, but I was disappointed with your demotion and I didn't feel that Obsoab will stay for a long. Talking from behind and actually carrying the burden are two different things.

Hanstian - The swordmaster’s gauntlets were mine! I liked you and found your demotion somewhat fishy. Oh well.

Glurgick - The replacement for Hanstian. At first, I didn't find you very exceptional, but you grew on me. Very solid War Master and good luck with the emperorship. Show them that a cow on the throne is not the utter nonsense.


Battle

After a few death you guys learned to avoid me. I don't remember the last time when you tried to raid/retrieve against me, that pretty much stopped once Woldrun crew died. Now you can safely walk/hunt on the Eastern road again.

Woldrun - You gave me some hell times on the way up. Sword/Polearm/drive giant berserker is a tough match for a tiny duergar ap with nasty vulnerabilities and physical damage unholy. And I couldn't use the inner guards to my advantage because I would be driven out in a few rounds. I even carried a second unholy weapon with defilement damage for your kin, hehe. Respected you for bringing war and actually doing retrievals even when other ragers backed off.
Thank you for those suicidal runs when you were looking for a con death. An AP doesn't get charges for killing someone several times in a row, but taking your soul here and there was helpful.
According to my logs your contribution to my unholy was:
06/05/09 - 7 charges. Dolce and me in the imperial lands.
07/01/09 - 8 charges. Mass fights with the Fort at the Palace.
07/02/09 - 8+8 charges. Got charges twice on your suicidal runs with Lohik for the head.
Total: 31

Malakhi - I believe you are deadly and brave... against weaker mages. As for fights between us, they pretty much stopped several months ago. After that you avoided me at all cost and logged out within 15-30 minutes almost every time you saw me online (even if you just logged in). Those late deaths to me happened only because you would fall into clever traps, not because you were actually trying to fight. This behavior is probably alright for a scion mage, but less so for the Battle Commander. It could be justified when I had a big unholy, but I saw no difference when I lost it (and lost another one after that).

Ghrummin, Bartis, Quas - notable villagers. Enjoyed kicking your butts.

Azemaerlor - You surprised me. I was already used to villagers that avoid me at all cost and you actually kept jumping on me. Props for that.


Fortress

Arrna - See Woldrun. A strong warrior and a tough match for me until I built my unholy. I also think you were a worthy Marshall even though I had issues with your perception of the reality and various dirty tricks
You rallied the maran forces as the Marshall should.

Lornkanamas - God damned elven healers with a clue. That means damn good work. There is notable difference between jumping on unprepared group of mooks and fighting a fortlander gang supported by a annoyingly skilled healer . Sanc, protection evil, aegis against my controls, heals and a big scary AP is not that scary anymore. It is also funny that you could keep raiding parties alive for a while and our imperial healers usually say "I'm spent" shortly after the beginning of each raid.

Dupmasione - Another beacon of goodness that made other people to flock around it. Notable character and overall good work. A shield dedicated temperance paladin with proper gear is always hard to kill and when played very conservatively it becomes unkillable. You almost never put yourself in situations where you could die, however, the paladins aren't the best killers too so our fights were going nowhere for the most part. With enough patience you could eventually wear down cabal guardians even with me being around, though I usually could retrieve the same way.
I wish you wouldn't be so gay at times. I mean that stuff where you would do intruder and recall before anybody comes or sitting in Voralian and summoning zombies for a real time hour. While it's perfectly acceptable IC, from the OOC point it looks like one player is just trying to annoy other player without doing anything constructive in IC sense.

Kzardr - Hehe, I guess all temperance paladins become gays eventually. That's a part of their design. And while you were really annoying I don't blame you. You were always up for retrievals (unlike many other forties).

Frorania - Bitch. At first, I liked you. But once you became a maran you started to talk that #### about me cowardly not going to raid/kill (while I actually didn't press on you because I didn't want to spam kill you) and playing very conservatively at the same time.

Aeinrez, Liethkim, Shadrist, Crespel, Zutod, Zruggle - indistinguishable storm giant bashers/drivers. You played while having healer/bard/trans supporting you and you were logging out when they did. And at the same time you were mouthing at me. Wtf?

Tangni - You were born as a fortlander and it's cool that you actually moved to the Fort. Relentless hunter.

Nyshvaar, Castiel, Elghinn, Balten, Brillem, Eleazer, Dargin - We had fun fights. Enjoyed killing you... Wait, more often it was me running from uber prepared fortlander gangs. Mass support classes make the Fortress really strong.


Outlander

In general, you didn't bother me. I couldn't hunt you because I can't see camo, and you were not jumping on me alone that often too. Outlanders usually don't raid the Empire if there are defenders online. Nor they retrieve, unless it is 5 to 1. The only exception: those goddamned fortlander gangs.
Fortlander exists. So many times you would come *grouped* to the Fort, to the Palace and to the Tree.

Sulye - I would choke if I were forced to sit camoed for 700 hours I applaud your patience. Other than that, a very creepy ranger. I found only one PK encounter with you in a civilized place (and we both had about 700 hours).
When four outlanders came to raid me while the warmaster was a ghost.


Scion

Frismund - Undeads are overpowered. Considering that most of my spells and some of my skills don't affect you I was pretty much a crippled warrior without dodge against the undead's army. No need to bring gangs where you could do things solo. And those raids were damn fast. Most of the time scions would finish raiding by the time I finish zapping wands.

Drustrui - sacrificing a 301 charges unholy is vandalism.
Isildur said: A big unholy weapon isn't the chief basis for rewards.
I can only add: However, sacrificing a big unholy weapon *is*.
Other than that, very much an insignificant character.

Kalisda - Cool one. Join the Empire next time.


Nexus

As an AP you should never trust nexuns

Calbaseeti, Kyaltaru - Nice perma there. Not very often I see permas that include immortals and give each other crazy rewards. To be honest, you did positive thing in containing those mass villagers, though probably it would better if you would split up earlier, before completely destroying the village.

Rhyaldrin - geared dwarves with dam reduction are unfair. Har. I couldn't even finish you after landing that sleep.


Maybe I will return some day when all liches delete.

Dwoggurd