Sun May 29 21:44:22 2005

At 10 o'clock PM, Day of the Great Gods, 26th of the Month of the Sun
on the Theran calendar Llusan perished, never to return.

Race:	elf
Class:	paladin
Level:	42
Alignment:	Good
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	None, None
Age:	297
Hours:	92

Well I had some really great ideas with this character, but I didn't even have time last month to log in to keep him from auto-deleting. This is really disappointing, I was hoping to at least take him to hero.

Anyway, I got the concept for Llusan back in January. There had been a lot of talk about "why isn't there a mage cabal?" Well, I've always said to stop talking and do it, so I wanted to use Llusan to stir up some interest in a new Mage Cabal. I had tried the Battle Paladin thing with Tahren a few years back...so why not a Paladin of Magic? Ideally, he'd end up jumpstarting a group that could potentially turn into a mage cabal, and then after a crisis of character, nobly bow out of the picture, understanding that it is his purpose to protect magi, not be one of them. I wrote a role that won first place in the January role contest (first three chapters) and added to it through Llusan's life.

I took a twist on the magic vs. religion thing...being sphere Magic, I used the angle that his powers were granted by Magic itself, rather than manipulating the ether as a trained sorceror would. Thus, the vast part of Llusan's life was learning the different ways magic influences the world. I spoke with many, many mage types as Llusan "learned" that he was a bit different.

He was empowered by Phaelim, and spent a lot of time researching runes, crystal, and the magical arts in the Infinite Library of Phaelim's shrine. Then Ordasen slew Phaelim. I tried not to despair, and took refuge in the crystal tower for a time. Several things happened at once.

First, Llusan concluded that unbound, unthinking, ignorant rage is the evil that destroyed his god. Followers of Ordasen would be eternal enemies, and the Battleragers (being the mortal embodiement of this mentality) would also be enemies. (I just autodeleted before I could flesh this out).

Second, Llusan determined that mages needed a safe harbour, a place to study silently and see these enraged, ignorant enemies approaching. What better place than the Crystal Tower?

Llusan studied the magical properties of crystal and the Crystal Tower itself, and concluded that if it could be overcome and held, it would be the perfect location to focus magical studies. It would also be greatly defensible. The catch was that he would NEED an army to take and hold it from its current inhabitants. He never was able to grow an army, though, because he found a new importance in the vacant, undefended shrine of his god.

Even after the death of Phaelim, the shrine, and its Infinite Library, still stood. Llusan put his quest to conquer the Crystal Tower on hold, putting religion first, and named himself the curator of the Infinite Library. It was all he could do to continue to gather knowledge, particularly of the magical variety, to fill the library. No doubt, the Ragers would discover its location in time and destroy it. Obviously, he would need help.

So Llusan drew up the plans for a brotherhood of mages who would search and gather knowledge to keep the Library growing, in the name of his fallen god. He discovered that this was his true drive, his true motivation.

I wrote a full description of the Scholars of the Infinite Athenaeum in my role and had a "recruiting note" ready to post, as soon as I could be sure that I'd be available more often. I hit up a couple of high- and low- level mages to start stirring up interest, but had a hard time getting anyone to bite.

Then I auto'd.

Anyway, there was an ale-swillin' dwarf a time back that travelled with Llusan in his early days...we had fun, but I don't have any logs and I can't remember your name. Tiera was another great interaction that made it into Llusan's role, involving the merging of divine and magical powers and the complications and dangers inherent in the process. Phaelim was fun to interact with for the short time that I knew him, although the reward for winning the role contest (an impressive spiritual warhammer) ironically was counter-intuitive to a paladin whose core belief was that combat was a distraction from his studies. There were others, too, with whom I travelled now and then. It's been too long, though, so please don't take offense.

I did think of a mistake that I made with Llusan...the Fortress asked me for help defending several times, assuming that I was a prospective new member. I declined, saying that it was not my battle to fight. However true that was, I thought about it and realized that I should have been fighting Scions, certainly, if they were to attack, wherever they may go. They were the epitome of "tainted magic". I adjusted Llusan's RP a bit to reflect this but never had the opportunity to act.

I really, really wish I had had more time to play this character. In five months, I didn't even break 100 hours of play time. It's a far cry from the 50+ hour weeks of college :). But life calls. I got engaged during Llusan's life and have simply not had the time to play CF. It's a shame, and I'll probably be back at some point. Maybe by then someone with more time will have taken the initiative to get a mage cabal rolling.

See you in the fields, and time for me to learn how to obtain a PBF... :)

Llusan the Paladin of Magic, Curator of the Infinite Athenaeum

Well, I just wanted to say that I loved your character and reading your goodbye I can see you had put a lot of thought into it. I really enjoyed the times we went out together. When you disappeared, I sorta lost interest in Dhurin.

The other guys were just not half as fun to hang out with as you. I have played a few times with him still, but I haven't really been able to get into him again. Sometimes you just click with people.

Thank you for the enjoyment. A shame you don't have that much time (yeah, college was a different story), you sure are able to make some memorable characters.

Dhurin, that's the guy :)

My play times were just too erratic and sparse to make good friends and enemies, or get much mortal or immortal notice. I think I set my sights a little high for my availability, and I had some interesting ways to work you into Llusan's master plan. But, alas...

If there's one thing I can say from Llusan's experience with Dhurin, it's to roleplay from the start. Dhurin was an exceptional example of this, and it makes the character feel alive, not just like a bunch of 1's and 0's racing to level 51 so they can start the game.