So, personal life got me once again. New very time consuming job, new house/appartment, girlfriend that wants/needs attention, friends I've been neglecting because of the game.. it's just impossible to combine all of this with the Fields.

Seltun was already a bit neglected during the last months: I kinda lost interest due to a lack of enemies (so I joined Empire, first with Zjlarraff, later Xarga), and the repetition of last characters (Gorach, Elstratuviel, Liandrumiel, Ilmora and a couple more, all of them fortressites, all of them 'dwarves'...) Still, I think I like bards best because they're a jack of all trades: they can do sufficient damage, can sufficiently defend, excellent explorers, can heal, staves, scrolls... And the 'dwarfish' roleplay just suits me best: the swearing, the grumpiness, the burping, the boozing, the 'lad-bugger-####e-fark-bloody'-roleplay. Seltun had no role, but I hope that my roleplaying was sufficient enough to reflect the role I had in mind (and have played before). As I said, I had a role created, but every time I logged on, I just couldn't put to typing 10 minutes. In short she grew up as a child of elven wine merchants, who stationed near the dwarven village. I grew up amongst dwarves and fell in love with a captain of the third brigade, who than ran into an ambush while protecting my father's caravan while traveling to Darsylon. Along the way I had some entries concerning the fort, Hrugald and Aarn.

Xarga came ater Zjlarraff, an arial assassin that completely missed the goal for which I had created him: a Dulmisa-style like assassin, a messenger of death. I am just not good enough at playing asssassins, although I learned a lot (also: since then assassinating didn't bother me much with Seltun or later on Xarga, seen the many easy ways around it). Also, in Zjlarraff's time Empire was in ruins, and it's just annoying being full looted time and time again, since everyone expected me to do the same. Every character I had only full looted in defense situations, then again, I returned some things later on out of guilt (since I know what a pain in the ass it is to gather the same starter set over and over again).
So I stopped playing Zjlarraff all together and created Xarga. Bards are my thing, but I wanted to play the underdog, and put/help putting Empire back where I wanted it to be. And it seemed to be going the right way: e new emperor when I was sheathed blade, a shadow lord when elite, a new war master myself, a new healer... I went from 35-ish to 51 in a week, from sheated to war master in 3-4 days, and from crap eq to a decent enough set to do more than a defense, style 'sing symphonic echoes-flee-quaff teleportation'. Concerning that defense: it's really annoying how many of you come to the Palace, attack the Vanquisher, flee and wait for me to return once I gained Elite blade and War Master: Outlander, Fortress, Scion, Village, Anathema, non-caballed goodies... Aaargh! Frustrating having to return when you are either exploring, getting back those staves and scrolls you just depleted, or ranking, and then only to see that there's no one there any longer. So I gave up returning when I knew he/she wasn't going for the codex. The crap I had to hear than! OMG!

About bards and the changed repertoire. As with many changes with things you like, I was rather sceptical when repertoires were introducted, though I could see the rp-issue/possibilities. Seen my 'role' I stuck with comedic pretty much all the time, as well as with Seltun as with Xarga. Mainly for two reasons. 1: with the right instrument you get a 130hp dance with jack and heals of 80+, which saved my life more than once. 2: changing repertoires is such a pain in the ass, because you have to wait so long to be able to change it again. Also, I'd like to see either a visible counter mentioning how long it will be till you can change again or some kind of echo that you can change it again. If I'm not wrong, the last time I changed it I had to wait 50+ hours to be able to change repertoire. The repertoires were, with what I know now, a good change, but you should be able to 'play' with it more: a mood change within a day's time doesn't seem all that impossible to me, even in RL.

Onto some goodbyes.
Aarn: man, thanks so much for all the attention you wished to spend on me. It kept me hanging in there the whole time. Also, f*ck you for the daisies and the headbutts :)
Grurk: sorry I couldn't stick with it longer, I was training my blades to build an army that would wash over Thera and create that Empire for you. Also thanks for the very quick promotions. Gave me the feeling I was doing something good for the Empire.
Corrlaan (sp?): thanks for the change of title, it reflected the role I had in mind/tried to play.
Imms in general: this is soooo great a game, it hooks me every time I start. 99% of the changes in the last 8 years have been for good, and made this game what it is now: outstanding.
Hrugald: My lover. How I missed you when you were gone. I tried to be even more of a maran in your honor.
Khargurln: At first I was like 'WTF, a 33lvl getting Emperor???', but when I started to interact with you, I had such a great time! And I started to comprehend the Imms choice a bit better. With the changing to (you know what I'm talking about), I really laughed my ass off: babies, crying, sobbing ... just plain wonderful, way to deal with my mistake!!! I hope it will get alright in the end. (though, for a moment I thought you were anathemazing me there).
Saroiya: you're a beast woman, a beast I tell you, both from fighting with you and against you I can tell you know what you're doing.
Adalanthal: I'm still prettier ;). Thanks for making my time just a little more pleasant than it was
Mongothka, Tashera: you two will get there, just hang on to it.
Hyzin: Dude, you're doing a great thing, both in actions and in words. Wish I was that good.
Kavan: I just don't know about you, you seem like a really good captain, but well.. I don't know.. there is this something which I don't get about you (will probably be just a thing in my head, though)
Lerimos: Nice fights man, worthy of being commander, always hanging in there and knowing when to continue, and when to retreat at the right times.
Delakan: You were one of those annoying flies I tried to ignore, immediately going to calling me coward and whatnot when I rested up with the council, instead of fighting you. You don't know what I've been doing before, nor do you seem to understand that I know when to charge or when to retreat. It has nothing to do with cowardice, but everything with being cautious.

Hmm. Now that I start mentioning all the names, it would seem this post will become yet twice as long as it is already. Feel free to post your opinions and I'll reply.

Seltun aka Xarga aka Gorach

ps I'll be back but not in the near future just yet.

Awesome char, but you know that. Total asskicker, and fun RP.

I avoid mud-romance as much as possible, but I also try to rp as hard as I can with my chars. Hrugald couldn't help falling in love with you because you were the only Maran as foul mouthed and as drunken as he was. Good times, and good luck with real life.

-Larcat

>Khargurln: At first I was like 'WTF, a 33lvl getting
>Emperor???', but when I started to interact with you, I had
>such a great time! And I started to comprehend the Imms choice
>a bit better. With the changing to (you know what I'm talking
>about), I really laughed my ass off: babies, crying, sobbing
>... just plain wonderful, way to deal with my mistake!!! I
>hope it will get alright in the end. (though, for a moment I
>thought you were anathemazing me there).

Man, a competent bard is a great ally, especially for Empire, when you were on I knew we would have a shot at raiding whatever Cabal we wanted to. I'll miss your songs!

You still owe me a statue or somethig!

Xarga looked to have a ton of potential. I enjoyed our little interaction via Lianton when you took the oath.

Bloody daisy sniffing flower hugging dwarven accent speaker! Cool character, well done and damn you're around for a damn bloody long time!

Damnit now who is supposed to help me spectre? Its a shame I didnt get to group up with you as much as I would have liked to. Still Kudos for a well played bard. Good luck with everything come back sometime.

Nysrogh

.

What a shame first of all. You were a very very effective bard. Even though we didnt interact too much I enjoyed what talks we had and the fighting was ofcourse interesting. Good luck with real life and everything and hope to see you soon

Just wanted to say I really liked Seltun :) Really good job with the char..one of those chars where people cheered and danced for whenever the char logged in, no matter how little you do. The free hastes, reliable alliance and endless entertainment were appreciated :)

Have fun with rl then! I'm sure I'll catch you when you/I return.

p.s.Btw, do you happen to be from Belgium?

Kitty! I liked your I-can-take-them-all way of fighting at all times, and damn, you were good at it. Although you became captain, you were still the same, teasing me with the flowers and all. Thanks, it was great.
Yep, Leuven it is man!

*****Kavan: I just don't know about you, you seem like a really good captain, but well.. I don't know.. there is this something which I don't get about you (will probably be just a thing in my head, though)*****

Not sure what to think here. Woulda been nice if you had said what that one thing was!

As it stands, I'll say this.

Seltun - Seemed like a good maran, and I know from past experience you can play the hell out of elven bards(knew it was you again). Only thing that I didn't like was you sitting so inactive with a really nice set. Some of the things you had(heartseeker mostly) I had been looking for for a decent amount of time to no avail. Sorry about the day you logged into cabdru raiding. That was about the 3rd time in the last hour he raided with 2 other people, and when you did I had already tigerclawed the nightwalker. Sorry if you think not returning to the maran was a cowardly thing to do, but well as me, I saw no chance of defending that raid, so I just started setting up counter-raids as easily as possible.

Zjlarraff - Fought this dude a couple of times, shame you disappeared. Not much to say except that I didn't find you to be much of a threat with him. Assassin vs. assassin fights are pretty damned boring too man :(.

Xarga - Had one retrieval against you, and that was it. Otherwise I couldn't find you. Also, knowing how people like to come and hit the maran and back off and wait for me(they've been doing it since I was level 30 or so) has made me not act in the same way. I'll likely take down centurions just to go see if you're in the palace, but I would rarely just strike the vanquisher. Also, if logging in while you were mid raid against Anaisah is that *thing* you were talking about, its total coincidence.

Anyway, good luck with buying your house.
Hope you make it back to the fields soon.
Kavan

Perhaps my opinion was a bit biased because of fighting you/having to deal with your seeing hidden as Zjlarraff. You always turned up when I was ready to assassinate, warning the stalked prey. As Seltun, I found there was .. I don't know.. perhaps a certain silence (which goes with the assassin class of course, I know), whereas Seltun was always shouting out loud, making lots of noise and all that. Or perhaps it was that you didn't join me and the rest all that much in the daisy-dwarven discussions, if you know what I am talking about. I don't know, you seemed serious at all times. The fact that you didn't show up when someone raids is fine, there's always something that can go wrong.
I wasn't talking at all about that time Anaisah logged on when I was fighting the Maran, such things happen dude, they happen to all of us, so that's cool. About the nice set, had you asked for the this or that, you'd probably have gotten it, since I knew that I hardly ever logged on. The only thing you wouldn't have received was con-related eq and the Lyre. The rest, sure thing. As for Zjlarraff, yes those fights are god damn boring, and no, assassins are just not my cup of tea. You seemed to get the first crunch the whole time, and that was bloody annoying for me ;)

With the assassin fights its all about who gets the crunch man, and I definitely seemed to be lucky in that regard.

As for not talking, I do talk. I have been known to ignore people a lot though when I'm stalking or trying for the assassinate which I do when the occasion presents itself. So yeah, thats probably what it was. I had nothing against your as a player and I definitely liked your character. Sorry I was so quiet, I've been known to cut down elves and dwarves occasionally myself, so I was likely laughing from the shadows while watching some badguy.

Anyway, glad we got this all cleared up.
Good luck with everything.

Kavan

Ok, not really.. you were pretty cool actually. You knew your bards,
so it was fun watching you pull off some nice victories.. especially
against those two villagers recently - which pushed you over the top
for earning War Master in my eyes.

Good luck with all your real life stuff, we all know how that goes,
but then get your ass back here when you can!


G.

Sorry man, I had great plans for the Empire in general, and more specifically, the Blades. When you made me Emperor I even started thinking of usurping the Emperor in time. I tried to enforce the 'we're the best (sect) f*ck the rest', but being so little, it was a bit hard; we all needed to cling to each other in any raid or defense (which is fine of course), but also the rest of the time. I loved the remark 'the one that never sleeps': yeah last week was really not normal/representative for my playing times before. I was kinda amazed that I was able to sing two fiends, two strong ones at that, halfway during the raid, which made it a little easier. Still, that defense made me proud, even though I knew I had been lucky.

nt

I don't know whether that was ironical or not. In any case, it's still a hard time for Empire, but it's getting better. You've been around for some time, and I found you did a good very good job at both defending and scouting. Stick in there, you're doing just fine.
Be quick with promotions, but quicker with demotions. I demoted an elite that I had made elite like half an hour before. I explained the reasons though (that's how I am in real life as well ;), you've got to let people know why they're doing something or what they have done wrong in order for them to grow). Also, I started to ask 'sect-entering/leaving' questions over the sect channel, just so that they'd live up to what they normally either say automatically or have in a macro - like me;), same thing with the Laws. 'Ignorance is not an excuse' was a sentence I used a lot, and I was planning on sticking with it. Weed out the bad guys to end with the best. I'm sure you'd have seen more Anathema blades than ever, but the blades that would have lasted would have taken care easily of them (or at least, that was the goal)

I was in no way being sarcastic. I always found Seltun awe inspiring. And though I didn't spend much time with Xarga, I could sense something in Xarga as well. I was happy to see you become War Master. I am limited on words until I die, though. Have fun!

Man you kept Seltun going a long time.

I remember fighting you back with Harkan for gods sake. Fun fights and nice work all around.

LM

Seltun lived long yes, but I played far less than before.. college time's over, man, I've been working for almost two years at carrefour, the 'european' counterpart of Walmart, where I just got promoted (yesterday) to leading the non-food part of a store (everything that is electronical stuff, textiles, householding stuff, petfood and seasonal events like Christmas, Santa Claus, Back to School and Garden): working 6 out of 7 there from 6 in the morning till 6 in the evening, and on Sundays I work in a bar as a waiter, so there you go ;). I remember playing Gorach to age death in less than 3 months.. those were the days. Fought with you and against you, and enjoyed every moment.

I'll see you around, you'll know when I have returned