Tue Sep 14 22:45:56 2004

At 5 o'clock AM, Day of the Moon, 28th of the Month of the Ancient Darkness
on the Theran calendar Mekantos perished, never to return.

Race:	arial
Class:	anti-paladin
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	SCION, the Scions of Eternal Night
Age:	73
Hours:	845

Hey all, just thought I'd tell you how much I enjoyed being a HeroImm here in the Carrion Fields. Sure, I have deleted now, but it's not because being part of the staff isn't worth it...on the contrary, I found everything that I did very rewarding. I got to work on an original area - my own creation. I made a handful of changes to the game itself via pet-projects handed out by the senior staff, which I can always look at and say "Ah, that's mine." I helped out gajillions of newbies, which was more good than bad, but work all around (work I enjoyed). On top of all that, I met some of the smartest, most creative, and like-minded people ever, while up in Immland. So why, with so much good stuff going for me, would I up and delete? Well, it's not something that can be easily condensed into a few sentences, or even a paragraph...so I'll just say that I am feeling a strong pull to go out and make something of my life, and unfortunately that involves a lot of prioritizing, and even more unfortunate is CF's place on that list of things-to-do. But hey, dry your eyes! I'm sure I'll be around, hacking up people from time to time with some kind of power-character (hmmm, I hear gnome thieves are pretty deathfull).


As much as I like giving out goodbyes to people, I don't think I could possibly do everyone justice. I'll just name some of the ones that really stand out in my mind...

Velkurah! Shokai, Obaznuk, Andrlos, Lyristeon, Qaledus, Phaelim, Grurk, Khaso, Amaranthe, B! Vyn, Sab, Soucivi...you guys all made it really fun with our talks, whether it be discussing recipes, the Atkins diet (and all of its flaws ;-)), asian chicks, politics, or WHATEVER! It was always a pleasure. Lyristeon, Qaledus, Phaelim, Grurk and Velkurah (you too Soucivi): You guys are the new wave...you are all very capable and creative, and I am happy to see that CF can still draw this calibre of dedication from such talented individuals. Shokai: You rock. You will continue to rock, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Keep on depantsing midgets, you badass you ;-). Khaso: No one puts the theatrics in geriatrics quite like you, my friend. You also rock. Well, enough compliments and ####. I've got an evil rep' to maintain.



Valg - Hey man, I'm sorry I didn't get everything done, but ya gotta believe I tried (when the motivation was there). It sucks a lot to not live up to your expectations...I guess you have some kind of "fatherly" thing about you (is it because you smack me around with the practiced perfection that only a middle-aged man can have? }(). Anyways, I look forward to seeing whatever your next creation is.

Arv - Thanks for being a genuinely supportive and cool cat. You were always there to offer advice and make witty comments.

Zulg and Seb - We didn't talk much, but I don't remember having a bad conversation whenever we did.


Final Thought:

Some people might look over our shoulders as we type laboriously into the green-and-black void that is the landscape of the Carrion Fields and shake their heads, pitying we who gleefully give hours, days, weeks, or in Zulg's case, decades of our lives to something as fleeting as a breeze; a fantasy land that gives no reward to the body, and certainly nothing that anyone not indoctrinated into its ways could grasp. What they fail to see is that this game is unlike anything that has ever been designed by man. It encompasses more than a graphics-based "shoot em' up" ever could dream to, and offers endless variety. There is no shame in being a part of living literature.


Ok, ok, the pretty-speech is making my brain bleed.


-Mek, signing off.

Well, that truly sucks, I remember back when you were a mort and I was my idiotic, bitch-healer Odelius. We'd go everywhere checking stuff out and you showed me a lot, for that I could never thank you enough. A shame you had to delete, though you put on that facade whenever you were around others, I knew you were a good guy behind there and it's gonna suck without you ordering people around. Good luck with whatever it is you pursue out there in the big bad world and whatever you do, take care.

Greg

You were definitely a goof-off, but I like that. I'm glad you learned a lot and I hope you become one of those "L77t d00dZ" (or however the hell that crap is spelled) in the future and obliterate anyone who opposes you.

nt

...following the course of action that I specifically stated in my post...uh, sure?


I know you've been waiting months and months to try and ding me on that, since it seems to be your bag to make inflammatory remarks just about everywhere you can. Are you into Michael Moore's work by any chance? Eh, whatever.

nt

You absolutely cannot stand when others have success. Mekantos played, by all accounts, an exceptional mortal. He joined the staff, had a good experience, contributed to Scion/newbies/etc., and decided to leave because he lacked the time to do the job. He had no martyrdom story, no half-cocked rumors for you to parrot for 10 years, and he's not a young woman. So you have to dig and dig and dig to find something to try to drag him down closer to you, instead of just saying "Good job."

Yes, Mekantos used the rage-delete code for all of a day on one occasion. Then he came back. That's why it's there. This was roughly a year ago, and you still had to blurt out "Ha! Look at me! I'm a celebrity!" It's getting sad.

You constantly pipe up to flame people for the smallest issues. You obsess over perceived slights from 1994 or so. You loudly proclaim the flaws of others, completely oblivious to the fact that your own characters abound with more glaring issues. No one reads your posts and sees Anger. They see Envy.

You're not a clever commentator, dazzling us with your wit. You're not some Che Guevara revolutionary of the people, leading them towards the truth. You're a guy yelling on a corner, hoping someone will listen. Knock it off, and leave the well-played characters the hell alone.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

... tell us how you 'really' feel Valg. ;)
Sadly for Vladamir's sake, you're right.
There comes a time when you have to learn to let things go Vlad. If you dislike him personally but he doesn't seem to have an issue with it, you're the one with the problem. Relax, life's too short to spend so much time obsessing about other people and how you can funk with them.

>You absolutely cannot stand when others have success.

Sure I can. I don't care if other people do well.

>Mekantos played, by all accounts, an exceptional mortal. He
>joined the staff, had a good experience, contributed to
>Scion/newbies/etc., and decided to leave because he lacked the
>time to do the job. He had no martyrdom story, no half-cocked
>rumors for you to parrot for 10 years, and he's not a young
>woman. So you have to dig and dig and dig to find
>something to try to drag him down closer to you,
>instead of just saying "Good job."

You attribute way too much motivation to me.

>Yes, Mekantos used the rage-delete code for all of a day on
>one occasion. Then he came back. That's why it's
>there. This was roughly a year ago, and you still
>had to blurt out "Ha! Look at me! I'm a celebrity!" It's
>getting sad.

Nah, I just like to point out how inconsistent you are. You flame other people for deleting, posting and reactivating.

>
>You constantly pipe up to flame people for the smallest
>issues. You obsess over perceived slights from 1994 or so.
>You loudly proclaim the flaws of others, completely oblivious
>to the fact that your own characters abound with more glaring
>issues. No one reads your posts and sees Anger. They see
>Envy.

And you pretend everything is aboveboard and that these things people talk about don't and didn't happen.

>>You absolutely cannot stand when others have success.

>Sure I can. I don't care if other people do well.

No, you can't. I surf the boards every other day or so and still see you accusing me and a character I deleted 3 months ago of perma-ing, hoping to get a rise out of me and/or tear me.

Pretty sad really. But I have to wholeheartedly agree with Valg on this one.

How´s your Tomato coming along Enbuergo? :)

`

Never underestimate the number of things people will claim they've witnessed that never happened.

Calling you a permaing little bitch has nothing to do with caring if other people do well. Lots of people have "done well" and I had nothing but praise for them. Were all of them friends? Nope. One was even played by someone who I, on a personal level, can't stand. But he "did well" and so I had nothing but nice things to say.

Just because I think you were a little OOC abusing, permaing bitch doesn't mean I think the same thing about everyone. In this case, I just happen to have run into some of the people playing your support characters. Guess what? The ones who I knew, also knew you. Now, an untrusting person might call this more than coincidence. I think even a trusting person would wonder to themselves "If he knows these guys, I wonder how many of the ones I don't know are in OOC contact with him?". The fact that some of them autodeleted and deleted within hours of each other is just the icing on the suspicion cake for me.

Now, if it's your opinion that I somehow went back in time, and changed records and manipulated events just because I wanted to cast doubt on your ability to "do well on CF" then you are even more paranoid than I am accused of being. And if not, then it is what it is.

Saying that because I call you on things, just because I care if you "do well at CF" is as retarded as saying homophobic people all secretly want to be gay. Thats like saying the KKK members all want to be black, Hitler wanted to be Jewish, or people who dislike screaming babies in diners also secretly want to be screaming babies. I don't care if you "do well at CF". Thats all relative.

.

nt

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I'd like to see more posts like these.

Well, I fought you as a mortal, goaded and schemed with you as an immortal, and respect you as a person. I think I had a pretty full range of Mekantos interaction, progressing from the foul-mouthed, arrogant, nasty mortal to the foul-mouthed, arrogant, nasty immortal (although I felt the talks between Kung and Mek at the end were more of a dialogue between like minded connivers vs. master and worm).

I for one look forward to meeting that gnome thief and either grinding him under my steel-shod boot or becoming the trusted ally that you don't steal from...much.

I felt the talks between Kung and Mek at the end were more of a dialogue between like minded connivers vs. master and worm

Couldn't they have been both? :P

I enjoyed our talks, and though I can't recall who you were when I was a mortal, I'm sure the fights were fun. We'll definitely run into each other at some point.

~

Valg - Hey man, I'm sorry I didn't get everything done, but ya gotta believe I tried (when the motivation was there). It sucks a lot to not live up to your expectations...I guess you have some kind of "fatherly" thing about you (is it because you smack me around with the practiced perfection that only a middle-aged man can have? ). Anyways, I look forward to seeing whatever your next creation is.


Well, I never thought you lacked the ability or ideas to do well within the staff. I do think you ran into some problems with trying to do lots of little things at once, and not having the time available to get them done. As I mentioned in our email conversation, I thought the area you turned in for testing looked good and reflected a lot of effort, and I was looking forward to you submitting it to the area team.

I got on your case about deadlines, but there was significant concern that you were never going to finish the area project, and end up as the Eternal Heroimm. In those situations, my goal is to give you a way out of a situation that isn't going well, and I'm glad that you did hit the deadlines you set for yourself, and took our talks the right way.

Anyway, if your schedule frees up some day, don't be a stranger.

- Valg

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Well, I never thought you lacked the ability or ideas to do well within the staff. I do think you ran into some problems with trying to do lots of little things at once, and not having the time available to get them done. As I mentioned in our email conversation, I thought the area you turned in for testing looked good and reflected a lot of effort, and I was looking forward to you submitting it to the area team.


I'm glad you liked the initial model of the area. And yeah, you're right about me trying to do too much at once. But if I had been able to stay on track and not be pestered by real life, I think I could have handled most, if not all of what I was juggling. Regardless, learning to manage time is a valuable skill...one that I am still working on.


I got on your case about deadlines, but there was significant concern that you were never going to finish the area project, and end up as the Eternal Heroimm. In those situations, my goal is to give you a way out of a situation that isn't going well, and I'm glad that you did hit the deadlines you set for yourself, and took our talks the right way.


I could see how someone in a worse frame of mind could take a conversation like that the wrong way. But (this goes out to you who have taken them badly in the past) the thing people should remember is that it is 99% more likely that you are trying to be genuinely helpful by setting a deadline, which adds positive stress (yes, it's a real thing, people.) I mean, how the hell can someone believe you're "out to get them" when you, more than likely, had a large hand in dealing with their promotion to the Staff? It just doesn't make sense. It would be like an employer hiring someone with the sole intention of hovering over them every day and telling them how much they suck. Maybe Wal-Mart works that way, but I'd like to think that most businesses would consider that to be inefficient.


Lastly, I'll definitely be back in a serious way if my schedule frees up. Thanks for that.

I enjoyed the interaction we had when I was Trotat. Sorry to see you leave the pantheon, as you were definitely one of the more popular IMMs from a mortal standpoint. Wish you had time to interact with those of the Chasm more.

If you wouldn't mind hitting me up with an email regarding me seeking the Advisor position, I would really appreciate it. drinkbeastandlikeit@yahoo.com

Lastly,

I would also give a lot to know what other characters you've played.

You'll be missed. Come back soon.

Nivek

Mek, you were one of the coolest up in the heavens and it has been a pleasure to have made your aquaintance. I hope things go smoother for you now and in the future.

--Quezz

I got along with you perfectly fine, Quezz. Hell, my computer might be completely inoperable right now if it weren't for your (very) useful aid when I had that repeating-crash problem. I'm real sorry about how stuff has gone (or is still going...?) in your personal life, and I'm hoping everything turns out as well as it can.

I'm sad to have seen your deletion, however, because for a while there it seemed like there was this big surge in your playing time, and I was hoping that meant some quick promotions for you. Oh well dude. I hope you can still enjoy the game at some point, and if you can't...well it's just a game so no biggie.


Keep in touch, fella.

I thought you did a good job up in the Immortaldom. Even when you immorted and I still bothered you, you replied with the same snide ass remarks that I would have expected from mortal Mekantos. You were a good enemy and I think you would have been a great immortal.

Honestly, I can't remember how many times I died, let alone who got the killing blow. I do recall there were a LOT of deaths to nightgaunting conjurers who had 8+ ranks on me, however. Also, I wouldn't trust those stats on the PBF about me all too well. For instance, the PK record includes all the deaths I ate after immorting, which is a...considerable amount. It was all in good fun though.

Thanks for being a pain in the ass during my mortal life, and I'm glad you had a consistent experience with Mek over the months.

I'm glad I got to say goodbye before you checked out.

Sorry I hassled you so much about your area, but I
didn't want to see you end up.. well.. here.

Take care of yourself.

Qaledus

Funny how often the 'other life' interfers with fun. Well to put in perspective, you maintained a very cool outhouse, and I will remember our visits there...you can do some monumental brainstorming in such places.

Later

Eshval

Was just curious, did real life intervene or is this a character shift or? Was curious how you as a full-fledged imm would interact with Scion. Anyway, good luck whatever the case.
Aytak

sd