And I've come to the conclusion that you're suffering the same lack of knowledge about just how inactive Kelin was at times. Let me put things into perspective, because I'm not trying to be a ####. I just genuinely don't think you understand where I am coming from on this whole Kelin deal.

When I, as a cabal leader induct someone and then I don't see them again for nearly a month, I would have expectations in the intervening time. I don't think a few simple expectations like a tangable presence or some sort of effort or progress even of their own character is asking too much or out of line. If these few expectations aren't being met, something has to give.

It's not simply a matter of "I don't see Bob on, so I want to toss him" it's a multitude of things. It's asking others in the cabal "Hey have you seen Bob?" and being told not one person has seen them. It's sending them notes asking for updates on what they have been doing, and never getting a reply. It's finally running into this person weeks later, and seeing them at the same rank they were when you inducted them. All of this together says to me this character isn't something they want to put any effort whatsoever into.

Now we fast forward nearly a year. This character finally age dies. This character has in the intervening time become well known for being unreliable, not taking his cabal duties (like defending) seriously, or even making a modicum of effort to be a presence. This characters repeated absences EVEN WHEN ON have led to the deaths of multiple cabal mates. As someone looking back to a time where I could have nipped this in the bud by removing him to make him think about how hard he wanted to work to be in the cabal, I think I am perfectly justified in saying "Looking back, I think it would have been best had I removed you".

It's not about expecting people to play insane amounts of time. Hell, even with 24 free hours 7 free days a week, I mud an average of 2-3 hours a day, frequently less. I (despite things I may joke about to the contrary) have a life outside of CF. I may not work, but I still have responsibilities and I take them seriously. Sure there are times where I'll bust out something like an 18 hour day, but those days are pretty damned rare, and I have to be either deathly ill and not wanting to move, or just too drained to be bothered to do anything else.

What my point, my original and constant point has been, was that the time logged was just one factor. There were other things that showed me Kelin lacked the desire to put any effort into being in the Fortress. He wanted the powers, he wanted the backup if he needed it, and I just didn't see anything more. It's easy to be a beast when you have cabalmates backing you up, you have a numbers edge, and you hide out in places where you can't hear your cabalmates asking for help. There's no risk in this style of play, and to me thats just not compatible to being in a cabal.

Cabals give extra powers to players. The cost of those powers is increased risk, and a certain amount of responsibility to your cabal. I just never saw Kelin ever take a risk, or one iota of responsibility.

I'm hoping this (way too long) explaination clears things up a bit about where I was coming from. I thought I made it pretty clear with my first post, but apparently I was somehow vague. My point wasn't about time played alone, but a combination of things like what was done in the time that WAS played.

On a side note, we had a Fortress member named Linwe about the same time as Kelin. She approached me IC one day and told me she may not be around for a long time. I never once considered booting her. Why? Because she did the responsible thing, and let me know ahead of time that I couldn't count on her being around. I've also never regretted not booting her. Why? Because she took ten seconds and a little responsibility and let me know she may not be around much.

Am I asking too much of my cabalmates as a leader? Thats open for debate, but in my opinion, I don't think asking for a little reliability in one form or another is asking too much.