Sorry that it's taken me so long to do this, but I did not want to let go of the character until it was absolutely clear I couldn't touch it for a month. And now it's pretty clear to me that I won't be able to. Basically, I had to take a major three-day professional examination, and as it neared (the last 2-3 weeks), I couldn't afford any distractions - because it's a monster of a test. And then, I just found out my wife surprised me with an almost immediate two week trip to China to celebrate. So there you go - that's why I haven't been around and why I won't be able to get back to Qing. :) Unfortunately, I can't telnet at the moment to delete him, but even if I could, I don't have it in me to "pull the trigger."

ON SHAMANS:
Man, this was a fun and exciting class to play. My last shaman was Khiravn - pretty much most of what I did was dispel/demon with the odd malediction thrown in. This time I played it different - I sat there sucking up punishment while trying to land key maledicts. The idea was that if the other guy was convinced he was winning (and more importantly that he could always get away) he wouldn't flee. It worked off and on, I didn't bring down that many people, but it sure was a fun way to play a shaman. There were a bunch of times where it would have been better to spam demonfire than sit there energy draining :P

And FINALLY, I played a class that could stand up and fight against Tribunal in a city with their guards. After playing two Outlander Rangers, it was MUCH better and MUCH more fun PK'ing wise this time around. Given how few the tribunal/imperials were and how reluctant this crop was to leave the cities, it would have been awful playing a ranger.

BACKGROUND
Qing took form during a trip I took to Taiwan. I went to Sun Moon Lake and came to a temple dedicated to this incredible 9 foot tall giant of a man with a red face and wielding this massive halberd. And my first thought was "Wow. What a CF character that guy would make!" Later I found out that his name was "Guan Gong aka Guan Yu aka a bunch of other names. He's basically worshipped/respected by gangsters and police officers because of his martial skills and his fierce loyalty.

I couldn't use his real name because the character would probably get denied, so I wrote up the desc and used the name of his sword/falchion: "The Green Dragon Falchion", or Qing Long.

This character was a failure in almost every way (not a great PKer, not a good example of Guan-Yu-style RP, etc.) except the one that mattered most: I had a blast playing him. I even got to wield Bal'Talon again for the first time in four years.. until it blew up five minutes later.

So, with all that being said: Goodbyes. It's been a while so I'll miss a bunch. Also, I always write too-long goodbyes, so I'll try to restrain myself.

IMMORTALS
Ordasen: Thanks a bunch. When I first took a look at your shrine and compared it to my idea of the RP for this character, I thought I'd made a big mistake - it wasn't a clear match. Also, I rolled this char hoping to con-die him, wanting to play my "first rager." So I was surprised when you gave me the tattoo because it seemed to me like I was still being too cautious to be an example of "Courage". Maybe my self-perception is warped :P I greatly appreciated all the little things you did. I was planning to delete after that raid when I killed Lunach .. but then you gave me the poncho and I thought "Ah hell, I'll see if I can come back."

Innis: Hahaha. Thank you, too. I was certain you would uninduct me by the time I was done (after my plague accidentally killed a rabbit), but instead you were always pushing me to expand my list of enemies. Just one comment: You may want to revisit the discussions re: Good-Aligned Outlanders on Amaranthe's board. I was going along those lines when I chose not to outright kill paladins/dwarves on sight.

Lyristeon: Much fun, enjoyed your presence. You tattoo'd most of my favorite characters in Outlanders - whether or not they were following you.

OUTLANDER
OK. I rolled Qing thinking the cabal would be down. Ranked up heavily outnumbered. And suddenly, we were trouncing the snot out of Tribunal and Empire - for the next 200 hours of this character. To anyone who thinks playing this cabal is easy: try bartering a Spiritbreaker for a crucial cure in the middle of a cabal raid because you don't have anything else in your inventory worth enough. That being said, having played all three paths now, the Good Aligns definately get the best powers (though they're tailor made for a shaman). Still, the RP-conflicts between align and cabal are difficult enough to manage that I'd probably go evil if I rolled another Outlander.

Salvrath: You were very fun to watch. Just fearless and unstoppable. I compared you to a bundled ball of raging chaos and destruction. I can't imagine what it was like for you when your enemies were dead. Probably why you stopped showing as much.

Fereksah, Dalbiddle, Mikatra - you all predeceased me and I gave you much respect in your goodbyes, but once again, great characters. It cracks me up to think you were Manden, Fereksah.

Arminas: I'm not sure we always saw eye-to-eye but I think you'd make a great Sunwarden. You seemed to have a clear idea of who your character was and didn't depart from that. It must be fun to play a skirt-chasing drunken elf.

Baltherias: I was wary of you since the first time I met you, when we were both around level 20. Something about you seemed closed-off and dangerous. As an Outlander, you were a true individual, which may have reflected that dangerousness, but I'm convinced there's something still in store.

Thiziloins: Haha. You started one war with Scion, and nearly started another. Great fearless aggression intermingled with good RP. From what I saw, the type of character that makes CF fun. Of course, you also walked Livion into briars over and over - getting briars nerfed.. but I'll just forget about that because I didn't "see" it ;)

Gurayn. Man. Do you know how many swords I saved for you?!! Never saw you when I had 'em, damnit.

Dez and Picateol - you're both gone. Dez, I hoped you learned a lot from the character. Good attitude. Picateol, it was always a breath of fresh air to see you logged on. You were a bundled ball like Salvrath, except Picateol was a bundled-up ball of effusive, positive energy.

Kazren: I didn't have it in me to actually hand you those pendants, so I left them in the Refuge on the ground - so I could .. uh .. raid Scion without them getting stolen. Man, you hit hard. I don't think an Outlander warrior is an easy road to walk down, but you do well with that, and are a good Nightreaver.

Qilibra: I knew you were Mikatra :P But juding by your goodbye, you pegged me, too, damnit. You got guts, next time play a shaman.

There are a bunch more, but it's been a full 2-3 weeks since I played this character, and my memory's spotty.

TRIBUNAL

Emmonev: OK, you first. I couldn't say this before, but the reason why Qing wasn't denied was my role. It was four lines:

role subject Qing and Chaos
role + I am chaotic. So I do not see things as "good" or "evil."
role + I may express chaos through things like giving unholy weapons to lowbie AP's.
role add

That's why I wasn't pun... OK. Just kidding! Haha. The sad thing is I'm sure I got ya with that. Seriously, you sound a lot like Drucyrus, so you know a couple of my past characters: Balrahd and Johan. You know I've never been anything but honest in playing this game. That should be enough for you.

Dazan: Last I looked, you had your work cut out for you. Good luck! Clever choice of legacy/specialization, too. Fortunately for me, I ran a shaman up against you. You were the first Tribunal I witnessed where I finally realized the IMMs really did take a loose approach to Tribunal and citylaws. I finally got it. And, hey - sorry for going off on you for full looting another Outlander, but the guy was a newbie.

Ylyssia: Ranking up, I thought Tribunal would be crushing us, with you as the lynchpin. Didn't turn out that way, and at some points you seemed outright frustrated. Congrats on sticking through it.

I think the other ones I knew/remember are dead and gone.

EMPIRE:
I still think emperor powers are outta whack, and dreaded the day when I fought a lich with them. But, 300 hours passed without me ever facing one. Someone has to abuse these things or they'll never be tweaked!

Yagharek: HAHA. You got determination, man. 99% of the MUD would have thrown in the towel facing some of what you did.

Aurilinius: That must have been the fastest rise to power in the history of Empire. You saw an opportunity and grabbed a hold of it. Good job.

Dulmisa: Nice shot :P I was relying on that darn ranger. Raiding empire with you around was always a gut-check unless we could take the inners fast, for obvious reasons.

SCION:
At first, that war looked really good for the MUD. Empire and Tribunal were hurting, and both our cabals could use an extra enemy in the vacuum. Then both your powerhouses deleted. Ah well. I still had the opportunity to be reminded of how much I hate dealing with Scion cabal powers.

Runaktla: Like I said, the only guy I was ever "mean" to ;)

Azakard: Pretty impressive. There's no way I would have traded information with you, though.

FORTRESS:
Kiel: Awww. What happened? Kiel was much fun to run with ranking up and fighting the Imperials together. We made a good team.

Solosarath: Alright. Didn't interact with you, much. But this is the best Maran Paladin I've seen in a long time. I really liked everything I saw of your character, and your role background was imaginative.


Alright, this is already getting long so I'll just wrap it up. Thanks for the fun - may or may not be back in a few weeks to start up a new character.

Well played. You really seemed to me what a lightwalking Outlander should be, other than another Outlander Sunwarden, who will remain nameless, who has attacked me next to Paladins at least five times, conjurers three times, and with Scion nightwalkers a couple of times. You stuck to your role and we battled a couple of times, but then we just didn't see each other any more, it seemed. I liked Qing, and I'm sure I would have gotten along well with him, had we ever been allies. You reacted well to me sleeping you out of the blue when we first met, but I really did think you had been part of that group of five that had jumped me. Anyway, good luck with the next when you have time. Ciao

I have a lot of adoration and love for you, Qing. All your characters are impressive, and always somehow end up adumbrating the rest of us.

Was Qing in reference to the dynasty (my Chinese history is a bit rough) that sprung up from after the Three Kingdoms Era? Rather droll, if so, that you would choose to name a Guan Yu character after the dynasty of one of his chief rivals.

Haha. Well, having just come back from that country and armed with a handful of pamphlets laying out the series of Chinese dynasties ...

>Was Qing in reference to the dynasty (my Chinese history is a
>bit rough) that sprung up from after the Three Kingdoms Era?
>Rather droll, if so, that you would choose to name a Guan Yu
>character after the dynasty of one of his chief rivals.

The Qing was the last Chinese dynasty which fell to the Nationalists. So, it didn't follow the period of the Three Kingdoms (which came around 200 AD). But, even so, I didn't name the character after the Qing Dynasty. "Qing Long" was the name of the famed blade that only Guan Yu could wield (it was too heavy for a normal man to use in battle).

I thought I could use the Thunderlance and pretend it was that weapon, but (1) the weapon itself didn't prog enough to satisfy my evil powergaming side, and (2) when I went into how it was created by molding steel six times while a dragon flew overhead and it was accidentally pierc.. Fereksah interrupted and said "isn't it made from dragonbone?" And I realized I couldn't get away with it :P So I dropped the Thunderlance angle and just pretended that Qing's leader weapon looked exactly like Guan Yu's falchion.

Maybe I'll appeal to Nepenthe by email to rename the Thunderlance "a polearm shaped like a crescent moon named 'Blue Dragon Falchion'". Nahh.

The funny/ironic part is I could have named the character "Guan Yu" and no one would have cared. Instead I ended up invoking bad 70's porno cliches. Haha.

If anyone was ever a thorn in my side, it was you. Every time I came up with a new plan, you had something to guard against it. I've never had such a problem with any other shaman. The one thing that had me PO'd with Qing, though, is that combat always seemed to start with a wither. That's part of the reason you probably didn't kill Daz as much as you could have. It left me with no choice but to try to get away... and pissed me off every time I lost years :P.

On another note, have you ever heard how much fun it is to play a Tribunal healer...?

I enjoyed watching you and as a few others said, your name DID make me cringe. However it wasnt something that would have required a name change (though I am glad you fixed the desc per that suggestion). You were a diffrent flavor of follower, the first non rager (yay!) so I was letting you do your own thing so long as you held to your role and courage at the heart of it. As I tell many, courage and war in my religion can take many forms...I'm just glad you did one of them.

Good luck on your next character and I'm glad you had fun with this one.

Ordasen

Khiravn, I remember that one. I can't give you anything but props, you had most of the shinies I dream/dreamed of and then the Ranger grabs it all! Pooh! When you were about I was allways very weary, you pretty much handed me my ass everytime and it got ugly fast. Big props to you and Dulmisa feels quite a bit safer with you out of the picture.

When you showed up in Calarandaryl with Kazren to summon/bash me it was one of the wackest things I've seen in a long long time. A storm giant and a fire giant working together to gank down a good dwarf.

*sigh*

Yeah. I forgot to mention this in the above goodbye, but I felt increasingly pressure to rachet up the aggression against dwarves. Until then, having read the discussions on Amaranthe's board, I was content to let the little ground dwellers be and deal with the "Ancients" on their own - focusing instead on the tribunal and imperials. The Ancients pushed me to put dwarves up on the same level as the cabal enemies, and that's why the aggressiveness increased that you commented on in your farewell.

As for attacking you "with" Kazren, sure that was wacky (if by "whacky" you mean "shady" or "borderline bad RP") - but I wasn't quite "with" him. We'd both been urged to kill you and promised rewards for the first one to do it - and damned if I'd let Kazren do it first!

I really liked this character. There was a quest skill in a batch I finished up about a week ago that, in my mind at least, was earmarked for him.

Enjoy your vacation!

Remorse because no one loves the opportunity to earn quest skills more than I!

Relief because had I gotten one, I surely would have failed that three-day meat-grinder test..

Thanks for the compliment. I liked the character, also, but I just wish I'd rented a bunch of kung-fu movies to brush up on my psuedo-heroic-chi-master speech.

You barnacle-encrusted vagabond..

I came into the outlanders because they were severely outnumbered at the time, especially due to the empire. Your character impressed me beyond belief and I wanted to see what it would be like playing a goodie alongside you. Plus, this is my first shot honestly at an outlander. When you said you were taking a haiatus I think I knew you wouldn't be back, but I was routing for you to return. I understand fully real life obligations however. Enjoy yourself in whatever you do and on your trip. I hope we cross paths again.

(I still agree with Aarn and the Imp on your name though. I go bad 70's porn music running through my head when I saw you log on.)

Arminas

Azakard just wanted to be your friend ...
I enjoyed talking to you even if I could never get you to see eye to eye with me.
And your tactics could have used a slight change against me, though rot was your best option sometimes =P *bleh*
Hope to see more characters from you, hah.

Heh, you made playing Brodie a lot more fun, especially since I seemed to lose swords at an alarming rate. Of course you did push me off that cliff one time, or was it in front of that king? Probably balanced out by the times you summoned me out of harm's way.

Much props to you.

First and foremost I would like to say I have had a lot of memorial moments with you involved in some way or another.

The particular one I remember was when you found out Runaktla died.
You were grumbling and dropping all this uber-gear you collected to fight him. And grumbling even more. Like a dwarf deprived of his favorite ale.
Another one would be when I found out how Kazren got hold of pendants we obtained from Tiamat.

Your name did rub me in a wrong way. I just could not figure out why.
I guess I am not an asian/american.

Good luck with your trip,

Bliaha

I was going to induct you just before the Outlander Imm did it. We were raiding Tribunal together and I had this clever plan to have you bring the scales to the Huntress to meet me and hand 'em over. When you got there, I'd induct you and say "give them to the Spirit yourself!" Haha. Yes, then we'd all laugh at my cleverness.

The problem was.. you told me you had all this gold on you! And I couldn't rightly induct you while you were carrying this gold.. before I could get you to drop it and meet me at the Huntress you logged off, and the next time I saw you, you were already an Outlander. So, my plan was moot. But there it is.

Anyway, it was fun. I remember that Runaktla moment, too -- I'd finally amassed over 90 para saves and then that bum deletes! :(

>SCION:
>At first, that war looked really good for the MUD. Empire and
>Tribunal were hurting, and both our cabals could use an extra
>enemy in the vacuum. Then both your powerhouses deleted. Ah
>well. I still had the opportunity to be reminded of how much
>I hate dealing with Scion cabal powers.
>
>Runaktla: Like I said, the only guy I was ever "mean" to ;)

Okay okay... number one, Scion didn't have an enemy vacuum :) We had
Villagers and Fortress to deal with. Saying that, I still thought
we could slam you guys, but then Nhil/Viscar/Lumiere/Rastorenn/
Jhyrdaer were gone one way or another age death/delete/not show, not
to mention a few like Krilcov with the snares and others I thought
would rank and come into power but didn't.

However, even with that I was generally the lone hero for a long
period of time, and since Battle was in power and I really couldn't
do anything to them, the Village *always* had the Scepter, so I
really didn't have to worry about raids from you guys. Because of
duo, I could care less. You couldn't find me unless I wanted you
to, for the most part. Now that sitting at my altar waiting to rot
me was pretty slick, but in every other scenario we fought because I
wanted us to fight, even at the Maran Tar'abal when I was retrieving
and killed you mid-retrieve when you came in and "ambushed" me with a
rot. I knew you were camping out there =)

Next, Fortress had nobody for awhile, it was only Battle. I was
begging to have an enemy that didn't spellbane everything I sent
at them. While your rots were frustrating, having Battle be in power
and nobody else while you're Mr. lone transmuter Scion at hero range
is even worse. Just horrible. I was like, wow there's my Scepter, and
I can't do a damned thing about it. I tried and sometimes got it and
sometimes died, but when certain folks logged in (Bahal, for one) I
just said screw it. If I did retrieve it another would eventually log
on and take it back (not insinuating any cheating or nothing, just
saying odds were simply that if there's only one Villager it's rare
and a second one would show fairly quick).

Last, I think I was 4/5 against Outlander, your lead. I think three
were Dezekayla and one was Baltherias. Of the five times I died four
were rot from you, one was that initial raid. If I didn't have such
stinking low con to begin with, I could have easily been 4 and 1. Oh
yeah you got me once on Eastern when you fogged me out of duo and I
stayed for way too long (didn't know that assassin would jump in, who
the hell was he?). He got the kill though :).

Anyways yeah, there was frustration else I wouldn't be writing a
freakin essay on someone else's graveyard post, but all in all I don't
think you guys got us as much as you think you did. It's not like you
had taken the Scepter often. You couldn't. Battle already had it =).

Enough about that though, in a way I'm *slightly* honored to be worth
being hated and mean to, I really tried to play the villain type when
I communicated with enemies, and I tried my hardest to make you look
bad with that note I sent :) I mean if my sardonic evil character can
get a rise out of the player behind my enemy, and not in the "OMG
H3'Z A F00L L00T3R 5CI0N H0M0FA6" kinda way, then I'm chill.

As with what I say about the Fortress types, wish I was on the other
side of the fence sometimes so I got to see the RPer instead of being
only on the business end of the wrath/rot/deathblow.

- Runaktla

It was like you said. The cool arrogance really made things interesting. And no one can deny you had a tough row to hoe. Despite that relatively poor position, you were one of only two characters I specifically gathered gear for (Ithzaruul being the other).

Suffice to say, our conflict made things much more interesting for me than they otherwise would have been. In fact, had you never taken the fetish that first time, I think both our characters could have perished without more than a passing interaction. And that would have been a damned shame!

I kind of figured this would happen to you. As far as your pk record goes, I bet it's quite a bit better then average. And yes, doing an evil warrior in Outlander is very tough...especially with a war going on with scion. :P Fortunately, there has been a good influx of evil Outlanders ever since you went away. Thanks for the props, you did an awesome job as Sunwarden and I am glad that there were a few of us who did stick it out through some tough times to help turn things around. Come back soon, CF can always use good players to help set an example.

Well, you certainly made Fereksah one of my most enjoyable characters to date. It's always nice to have a competent, experienced player to push you off cliffs when you're bored or get assassinated with as you finish raiding ;)

I think my character complimented yours well in making you quite a bit more deathful when with you (remember that High Priest? hehe) but you were certainly always stronger on your own than I.

I'm guessing you played Tjok, then? As Manden, I was so fearful of those unspeak ambushes when trying to raid that I was far more timid than I should have been. It did give me good insight into what could possibly going through Tribs' heads pre-raid though.

Anyway, excellent job with Qing Long. Have fun in China!

Glad to see an enemy go. Sad to see a good player take their bow. You gave me more problems than anyone in my cf career. I usually don't post on any forums for various reasons. But when someone really catches my eye, I come out of my cave to say well done. Nasty nasty char man. Good luck.

PS: Glad to see someone recognizes Yagharek had some tough tough times for a long long time.

What are we going to call our goodies now, if not Qing's flower sniffers?


Good luck with your next.

I too was not at all a fan of your name, I must admit. I figured there was NO WAY naming yourself "King Long" wasn't an intentional porn reference... but I suppose I'll believe your explanation :P

Anyhow, I was disappointed with Qing, because whenever I watched you, I felt like I was watching a neutral character. It did seem to get a bit better toward the end though, maybe... at least you stopped wearing evil gear after being warned. I do understand that in cabals like Outlander, Battle and Tribs, the good/evil line is a tough one to juggle, but if it had been solely up to me I probably would have turned Qing neutral. I did think you played a fine Outlander... I just thought you played a fine NEUTRAL Outlander. I'm even more surprised upon learning that you played Khrivan, Balrahad and Johan, three awesome goodies. :P

What's with all these Outlanders recently anyway?!?! We're not good enough for you anymore? :P

Have a good trip to China you commie bastard! Hopefully we'll see you around the fields when you get back.

Aarn

Sheesh!

The whole porn star angle never occurred to me. :P Yeah, as for the good/neutral issue - it was challenging. There were lines I'd crossed that I would not have if I wasn't sure the Outlander Imms would have my back. It's much easier to roleplay a good align when your enemies and allies are more clear-cut.

>Sheesh!
>
>The whole porn star angle never occurred to me. :P

Only after you die or whatever, does the porn thing sink it. Enjoyed what limited interactions we did, enjoy your next.

You were a big part of the Outlander turn around that seems to be ever blossoming into even more. Even if someone giving you your last name was kind of funny. King Long just sounds like a bad 70's name from a certain genre. Good luck with everthing.