Wed Aug 15 17:48:09 2001


9 o''clock PM, Day of the Moon, 28th of the Month of the Spring on the Theran calendar Benlunkda perished, never to return.

Race:	gnome
Class:	transmuter
Level:	51
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	NEXUS, Nexus, Seekers of Balance
Age:	283
Hours:	221
PK Ratio:	25% (closer to 100% is better)

Well, I realised after rolling up my first character in many years that Thera had changed a lot, and I couldn't even remember the bits that hadn't.

I could only take this for a limited time, so Benlunkda was born, to explore the lands, and gather knowledge. I like to think that I was effective at that. At least, I tend to lead groups now instead of being the one who is stuck if the rest of the group recalls somewhere.

This was also my first mage, and despite my abysmal pk ratio (excuses/explanation will follow below) I have to say that trannies are easy to play. Benlunkda made it to hero with only one death, and that was because I messed up and tried to word while still in form. (I thought I'd been tiger clawed and that that was the reason I "couldn't form the words".)

This character was an explorer, not a pk'er, so never initiated a fight until the final hours of his life. I think my 25% ratio came from the death mentioned above, one kill of a rager, and two deaths just after I joined the nexus. (I went on two raids before finding out how the bond affected mages, so messed up on both. Bloody lions with all three protections on.) I hope I'll be reporting that Benlunkda's successor, already with as many hours under his/her belt, has a much better pk ratio.

Part of the reason I deleted was because while I think the nexus is a great cabal, it really didn't suit this character's role, and I think I destroyed what he stood for by joining it.

Anyway, farewells and thoughts...

Eryndorial: Well, you were another part of the reason I deleted. I enjoyed our brief interaction (a symptom of our playing times), but I felt that because I was playing at ridiculous hours I was too tired to put in the roleplay I felt you deserved. Rather than play a cr*p disciple I thought I'd be better to throw in the towel.

Satinka: enjoyed our conversations, though I'm sure you were far stranger when I deleted than when I first met you.

Caelph: I would have liked to speak more with you, as we seemed to think along similar lines. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Brovartic: Thanks for trying to rescue me from those mines when I ran out of water. That was a bizarre situation to be in. I had the choice between remaining in form, knowing I'd live indefinitely (because of a bug, but I could never reproduce it so I didn't report it) but unable to move or call for help, or I could revert and get help, but die if it took too long. It was a little ironic that I managed to live for about half an hour, but died about 30 seconds before you broke through to me.

Armand: You never did explain why my magic was an offense to the gods when my god himself had marked me with a sign of his approval. Still, I was only giving vent to my characters' annoyance with the village.

ummm, honestly, I did interact more than this with Benlunkda, but it was so long ago I've forgotten everybody's names. Yet another reason to delete.

As far as forms go, mine were great. I had a couple of regrets though:

I always pray for tiger with my other offense trannie because my connection is usually to slow to pursue anyone, and I desperately needed to be able to pounce.

Jaguar's ambush is really designed to initiate attacks, which went against my role so I never got to use it in pk. I did manage to erradicate a mob through sanc with it once (lucky blow), so OOC I really wanted to try it out. I also felt that the lack of an ability to see camo was a let down, since while you patiently wait to ambush someone, a horde of rangers could be creeping up on you.

I think the lowbie forms newfound usefulness was a godsend (literally) to spice up a somewhat monotonous class.

Any comments from those who knew me (desperately looks around for all those people he's just offended by forgetting their names) would be welcome.

All you vultures who I gave my stuff to at the end, hope you enjoy it.

Well.. I think that you must not've been around much at all lately, since the first time I saw you was when you logged on to delete. It was kind of ironic, me, burtykin, and yarron had all died within maybe the past ten minutes, I had just retrieved the link with zroken and terenvil, and then you logged on and were like, "Hi, I'm deleting, who wants gear?"

Kind of annoying to see you delete, especially with the village beating us up so bad :P

heh. I hope I roleplayed it a bit better than saying "I'm deleting".

As far as being short of numbers, I've never been convinced that the nexus/village/good/evil thing quite works. It is quite annoying to be constantly raided by the village and not be allowed to do a pre-emptive strike first, because they are not our enemies per se. I think any cabal (except perhaps dawn) should be allowed to show aggression towards any other cabal who considers them to be enemies. The best defense is a good offense seems to be true in CF.

I think the nexus needs to be quite small numerically in order to avoid making the side that tips the balance grossly outnumbered. Nexus shouldn't need numbers because they are always allied with either good or evil against the other side.

However, when the village comes to attack, we don't usually have enough numbers to defend, because the good/evil side we're allied with usually isn't interested in us when we're not directly involved in helping/hindering their cause. That is why I'm not sure it works that nexus cabal should be raided by the village. I think if village raids on nexus are permitted, then nexans should be allowed to become aggressive towards the village.

>Armand: You never did explain why
>my magic was an offense
>to the gods when my
>god himself had marked me
>with a sign of his
>approval. Still, I was
>only giving vent to my
>characters' annoyance with the village.
>


I remember interacting with you briefly.. Armand
usually made the point of seeing people at his shrine
when they questioned him in such a way.. he didn't like
the simple answers over tell.. he liked to tell his story..
unfortunatly we never got to doing that...I remember killing
you alot.. *snicker*... Thanks for remembering me.. I hope to see you again.. good luck in the fields.

Armand

Well, you are right in that you killed me a lot, but never as Benlunkda. However, you did kill me several times in another life. As Benlunkda, we never fought, just talked from a distance. You did try to persuade me to come and fight you, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting ganged so I stayed clear.