Sat Mar 17 03:16:18 2012

At 11 o'clock PM, Day of Freedom, 11th of the Month of the Battle
on the Theran calendar Skeeta perished, never to return.

Race:	arial
Class:	bard
Level:	51
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	HERALD, the Heralds of the Eternal Star
Age:	29
Hours:	245

Your autograph....*swoon*

Really wish I could have stayed in Herald and done more with you but the uninduct with no RP from Iunna really soured me.

Skeeta is my all time favorite Herald as many others have said.

Please make another char!!!

Fantastic character! I would NEVER have guessed. I so looked forward to Skeeta's weekly updates, which turned into monthly updates, then bi-annual! Doh!

I seriously loved me some Skeeta so much I was like, "HOW, How, how can I make this one Sapper-Trained!" BOOM!

Thank you so much for giving us a dose of Amaranthisim. I am anxiously looking forward to the next.

I could tell you didn't know. :) I always hate those awkward moments when a fellow imm is talking to you about your own mortal and you have to be all "Oh, really? Yeah, I guess Skeeta seems cool."

...I seem to remember interacting with another of your superbly RP'd bards wayyyyy back in the day. :P

Tavlin enjoyed Ms. Twitterlark as much as any flesh-and-blood mortal could be enjoyed.

It's a pity you never took him up on his offer to witness the Method first-hand.

I was SO tempted, but I had a hard time coming up with a RP justification for doing so. Ha!

Skeeta would have been, the way I saw her, an excellent way to try out Reksah religion as a neutral. If only I could have corrupted you just a little bit ;)

I thought about it, but I was scared! :)

Wow. I interacted with you long when I was leveling in Aldevari and we started to talk. I was thinking to put that in my role, but never got around to it.

I loved providing you bits and pieces of info. But never got paid for it. Best part was taking part in the events and talking to you.

Thank you for few awesome RP sessions and all the fun.

Well that explains the imba RP, I guess it should have been clearer to me earlier lol :P I tried to hit you up with each char and RP at you from a different angle, and to keep drawing you into things when it was plausible to do so I'm not even sure which set of interactions I liked better, also I cant believe you only had 245 hours, my fear for Skeeta was age death hahahah and instead autodeletion.

I havent read the hairy plopper books so I was only aware of the similiarities through ooc comments and I loved the heraldic post and its a real shame to see Skeeta go like this. Still RL takes priority and I can understand how this happens. Totally cool, totally missed :(

The KEY to being a successful Herald is focusing on the roles of OTHERS, not just your own role. In roleplaying in other cabals, people come up with their own little narcissistic story, and that's fine. They then proceed spin off that role into other aspects of play - smiting their enemies and whatnot.

With a Herald, it's different. Have your own role, but for every bit of time you focus on your own story, you must spend ten times that effort focusing on the stories of OTHERS. You're a conduit for the stories and achievements of others.

Note that the most successful Heralds have done this in some way.

Remember, very few players REALLY want to read non-topical poetry or watch you emote your dance, or care if you serve them your exquisitely-described beer. All those Herald abilities are just spices. Those things are not the "meat". Ultimately, you have to have something interesting or useful or amusing that they want to hear, and in the CFverse, that means getting outside yourself and listen, retell, and jest about others.

It's not performing. It's not brewing beer and cooking. It's not "running the inn". I think that is where Heralds fall short, because people might be attracted to the cabal because they want the spotlight. They mistakenly think that if they just emote their dance cleverly enough, the spotlight will be on them.

But the best way to get in the spotlight is to yield that spotlight to others, through whatever your RP device happens to be.

Very well put and spot on.

=w=

This jives with how I view Herald and I'd like to ask about some Skeeta experiences without giving away my upcoming character on the boards.

EDIT: Forgot to add, do you prefer just Amaranthe@carrionfields.com or something else?

Go ahead. The CF address is fine - it forwards straight to my regular e-mail.

I just went in to log in today to keep her from auto-deleting! Guess I was too late.

This was me. I had a LOT of fun with this character. She was the first mortal I had seriously played in almost 10 years. I just rarely have time to play anymore (in addition to my other hobbies and time-wasters) - the exception is the summer, which is when I made her. I homeschool my kiddos these days, and during the summer they are off at camps, activities, and playing, so summer is my big leisure time.

I tried to keep her going after the summer but all the real-life stuff made it tough to keep up. My intention was to just keep her from auto'ing and then play her again this summer, but out of sight, out of mind, I guess. Maybe it is for the best.. this summer if I want to play CF, I can try something new.

Anyways, it was a pleasure to see CF still is a place for fun and roleplay, even for someone 10 years out of the game. Skeeta's activity is too far-gone for me to post a big meaningful goodbye with call-outs, but thanks to everyone who made playing Skeeta fun, for humoring my little spin, and for all those who just left me out of the PK mania since I obviously designed the character to give me every reason to stay out of it.

And I have to defend my name once again: It was NOT inspired by Rita Skeeter. I had actually just read "the Help" (this was pre-movie), and the main character in that book, Skeeter Phelan, is an aspiring journalist that uses cleverness and wit to voice certain messages to the world. I figured the author chose the name Skeeter, short for "mosquito" as a "buzz in the ear", appropriate for an arial journalist with wings. If Rita Skeeter name had been on my radar, trust me, I wouldn't have chosen it!

I was a huge fan of this character.

I interacted with you as Gurzgred(Tiamat story), Garwern(Iunna story), and if you remember a lowbie no-named shaman, Erzgarn.

Just masterfully well roleplayed. Every interview and interaction was impressive.

I loved all your characters. I even remember Erzgarn - a fire giant if I recall. One of my goals with Skeeta was to treat each and every character as an interesting person to interact with, whether they were level 1 or 51, unless they gave me reason to think they were a bore.

Good job with Garwern especially - you did a very convincing job of making Skeeta earn your trust and respect.

making a char so interesting, fun, and real? Good job.

I thought this character was a total throwback to 15 years ago before bards became swashbuckling rager killing machines :) With the rise of ooc communication mechanisms you don't see this type of IC RP character as much.

I greatly appreciated the effort that went into your notes, and think there was some level of inspiration for people to do something noteworthy to have it published in them. I also couldn't wait for your swan song so I could tell the cotzibue story, but now a lot of time has passed and knowing skeeta is you gives the story a heroimmspiracy bent!

Did you ever get eavesdrop?

I did get eavesdrop, and it was OH so much fun and probably the #1 reason I wanted to hang on to the character for another summer, because I'd probably never be able to pull off an eavesdropping Herald again.

I had no idea you were Cotzi.. I am probably the least-informed of the upper-level immstaff in terms of knowing who plays who. I'm really more Immortal Emeritus at this point.

Haha no, I wasn't Cotzi, I played a mortal that had a minor role in a "betrayal" (ultimately unsuccessful) Skeeta pulled off against Cotzi's mummy quest that Cotzi never got the full story on. :)

No one ever suspected the gossipy herald.

I usually find Herald's to be mostly gear-locker-ish and semi-annoying due to their uninvolvement in anything that happens outside of the Inn. This character, with their gossip gathering and whatnot really made me re-think my position. Even with a character like Olum, where the RP of the character didn't lend itself to gossiping with Skeeta, I found that as a player I couldn't resist the urge.

Those notes are some of the few I've really read and enjoyed. I only wish someone had taken up the mantle of the Heraldic Post when you disappeared. It was a great way for information to flow in an IC manner and was something I really enjoyed.

Best. Herald. Eva!

Thanks! When I first started the idea, I was *very* conscious of not being obnoxious with the bardnotes. I know some people still didn't like them, but fortunately they appeared to be in the minority.

For the record, I would not be opposed to another Herald picking up where Skeeta left off, in their own way. In fact, I would encourage it. What I did should not be considered a Skeeta-trademarked trick that can never be emulated any more than killing mages should be considered a trademark of a particular Battlerager. Collecting stories and gossip and distributing it in an amusing way SHOULD be something that Heralds do, it's just that very few Heralds have done it.

Wow, what a great char. Seriously, one of my fav cf chars EVAR! Never before in the 15ish years I've played have I been so excited about reading notes.

Also enjoyed the arpee and ranking. Skeeta was just a totally fun character to be around. Sorry she slipped away, Oryn had some ideas rattling around in his noggin if he could have ever found you.

GLWYN (Summer is closer than you think!)

Oryntohr was one of my solidly-favorite Outlanders, from both the imm and mortal perspective. While not around much, always consistent and drama-free.

Outlanders made really ####TY interviees, however. No small wonder that the Outlanders wouldn't be a big fan of a syndicated publication. :)

Its good to see you back in the game and having a blast, Amaranthe. :-)

...that one of the most compelling aspects of CF is that players (both mortal and IMM) can collaborate to make a hack n' slash text based game into a profoundly deep and immersive environment.

Skeeta was the gold standard of this.

I think you interviewed two of my characters and each time it felt like I was talking to a real reporter.

I'm another one of those people who doesn't read most of the notes I get, but loved when yours would come in.

Outstanding.

I said this in another response, but it bears repeating... I know players sometimes get noses turned up for being emulators, but really. I support and encourage bards and/or Heralds to do more of this. I was trying to make a demonstration piece of what Heralds (and bards) can and should do, but rarely do.

Roleplaying should not be confined to one-on-one interactions for Heralds. Taking the result of roleplaying and spinning it back out into something that makes CF richer, more dramatic, and more story-driven for everyone involved should be what Heralds focus on. It's not about "performing" or "running the inn". Those are just devices to facilitate the real job!

I think everyone did, actually. The fact that Skeeta stopped logging on so often I think was part of the impetuous that pushed Quixotic (Crid) and I delete. You were huge and made herald a great place to be, and one of the first things I'd do every time I logged on Kel was check whether Skeeta was around. Really sad that you couldn't quite bring the Skeeta back.

I looked forward to your notes every log in. When they stopped coming I feared the worse.

I made sure my thief kept you happy with lots of gold. (Rourk)
You were someone I wanted to make sure had an easy life so you would stick around.

How deep i was in my role with a character and how I came to you with the warning: There are those that will want to infiltrate the heraldic view for their own purposes and propaganda. Scarab and other top notch rpers were making me see ansi delux that year. Love Jal.

Loved this character. Really dug the newspaper style notes.

Normally I skip most notes, but damn, yours were sooooo good! A pity that it stopped.

GLWYN

And it was always a pleasure interacting with you, Ms. Twitterlark.

Sad to see this, but this was an all-around awesome job.

Almost everyone I ranked with played along with me. Tons of fun! Wish I hadn't auto'ed, for sure!

Loved your writings and your RP was spot on.

dff s

That's a huge compliment, because there have been some pretty awesome Heralds!

This has washed away some of my moody blues about CF lately. I am glad you are still around!