What shall follow is a brief summary of my career on CF. There may be stuff you disagree with, agree with stuff you laugh at. This is only my opinion. I don’t care if you wish to repost but feel free to. You more then not wont change my opinion.

What can I say? I’ve been playing this game since 95/95 and have seen it go through a lot of things. I came along in a time where I had Twist, Cador, Nep, Ra####on, Bria, Raisa, Shokai and Pico as mentors. Looking back I know some people have negative things for some of those, but in truth they helped make the game fun in their own ways. They each helped mold me into what I had learned and would continue to pass along in my own ways to the mud and player base. I remember the day where a good friend named Jason introduced me to this weird game on the computer in high school, which our other friend Dustin was an Immortal on. Asking where was the graphics, how do I wear a sword...etc.

I remember getting into Battle as Kadizine and running around first with Cravenwulf and other Aiel Glanduin, and that fateful day where I blindly prayed for a god. When Twist decided to take some time out of his day and interact with me, forever changing my path on CF. From being a rager to being a masters bitch who died left and right that would one day Imm. These were the days that live in my memory as I would log on and the fun would hit you from the go. Where you would crave to log on and skip class, stay up till 5am on a 20 hour playing spree. There has been so many fun times which I’ve experienced on CF, and so much pain it caused me through the years. Years of bad grades and stunted social life outside the game for starters :P However I did make some cool friends along the way which I had the honor of meeting in person.

I have cherished my time as a member of the CF admin staff and have gone through changes and matured from my early years (or so I would like to believe). I stumbled now and then and grew as those around me back then helped and guided me to see how the game was suppose to be. I remember the awe and amazement from my first few days as a hero Imm. The constant slayings and steaks which flowed freely from my dead corpse. The ass chewing I took from Cador and how he explained he expected me to do an area made for hero’s my first go around. It was a damn daunting task having never written an area before, so it should be no surprise it was crap and filled with a lot of death traps :P. I had always ment to re-write it into a cool area since I made so much back story and history for it. Hell, even Stellyx took from it and made Whistlewood. For those of you who died to these pointless traps, I’m sorry and looking back now I see that it wasn’t the best judgment in area writing. In truth I should have started on something smaller and easier to write before being thrown into the deep end. However I did survive and strangely enough the area is still in the game (minus the death traps). I then was allowed as I grew in ranks to become Lanthaeren who I still think is perhaps one of my fav Imms I’ve done with his religion and all. I remember watching over my little hippie children who were too busy camo and having mud sex with anyone and everyone to protect the forest. There are two episodes which I shall never forget during this time as Lanthaeren. The first was snooping a ranger sylvan and all of the sudden watch her starting to mudsex with a knight at the time. Ok gross, but what is even more so wrong… She got her BEARS into the action!!! Thank you Viviane(Cat Cat) for that horrible memory. The second was from a pray from this guy saying he liked to take rabbits and rub them all over his crotch. Needless to say I made him a defiler for that :P. During this time however I was off at college and my grades were suffering bad. I decided that I needed to quit CF and try to focus on my real life, though there was so much more there that I had to work out for myself. But as they say life is an adventure and shapes us to what we will become.

Anyway, after a year or two I was hanging out with Shokai and Tallanvor and they were talking about CF once again. They peeked my curiosity and interest with CF again and I decided to start with something simple. A neutral human sword spec. Nexus comes along and I figure “What the hell, I might as well give this a shot”. I was plagued with a damn gnome who was annoying as ####ing hell with him playing with his sack. However in truth I loved Sanorik. You had a grumpy old warrior like me with this kender like gnome running around with me. It was funny at times to watch the interactions, and also scary to see a lion who had someone bonded to him that could parry for him. Many a ragers died during this time (and many a Vahlens died too! :P) I was given another chance during this time to Imm, cause hell I was already running the cabal it seemed. Nol pulled a dead beat dad and went out for some cigs and milk and never returned home. I HATE YOU DADDY NOL! (Just kidding chief, glad you are doing well in your career). However Jazur soon left as well and I was left running a cabal as a HeroImm. Let me tell you, that was painful and draining. I perhaps shortened my Imm career by a few years from all that strain and stress. From morts to Imms not wanting to aid in anything dealing with the cabal. It was a cool cabal and had its nitch but in the end it wasn’t suited for CF and how it swings back and forth on the bandwagon dime. It was during this time I had a conversation with Droky about how I would love to be a Dragon as well having always loved and had a concept of a neutral wise earth dragon. He told me should I ever hit 55/56 as an Imm he would see no problem with trying it. However he did warn me that it would come back and bite me in the ass (and it did). He warned that it was hard interacting with mortals because you have to put on a different type of RP. You can’t be as hands on, and people will never really treat you like the god/dragon you are. However while I loved him, this was during the waning days of Nexus and soon I saw no need for him. Empire had just re-emerged from the ethereal and I was asked by Thror if I would help run them as the shadow sect Imm. I was down with that and thus Tanadin was born in my mind. A sphere chaos god who worked from the shadows and never revealed himself as the true hand behind the Imperial Shadow sect. Was a cool religion and concept..however I soon discovered that I had the same problems as I did with Kahosarian. I could never interact within the cabal and be as hands on, other then just as ‘a shadowy voice”. That really distanced me from the workings of the cabal, and it didn’t help I was sort of pushed out of the cabal and decisions were made for me concerning the sect.

So here I was floundering around trying to find my nitch after all these years, and something that has always nagged at me and had always been told “you should go battle”. I have always loved those crazy guys and they were sort of floundering as well with Thror gone and Kasty all alone with them. I had an image of the classic kill them all barbarian, drunk and fun. Thus Ordasen was born. I know he was rough with some, but in the end he tried to make it fun for most. Sometimes it took putting a boot in the ass of someone or smacking them around but hopefully they got it and it was cool from that point on. Ordasen viewed things as earned, in a day and age where most things were just handed out like candy. You had to prove to him (sometimes beyond reasonable means I will admit) that you could talk and walk the walk. People early on in their lives would #### up and he would ream them out and not give them the time of day for his religion. However if they improved and showed themselves to have learned he would give them a second chance (unless they had a major attitude problem. You don’t sass talk a god of war :P)

So what brings me to this after that long rambling of my career? Well, someone was talking about real life careers the other day and something struck a cord with me. They simply stated “Why would anyone waste their life doing something they no longer found fun and enjoyed? Life is too short to waste on such things” And there you have it folks. That is the primary thing among the multitude of issues. CF simply put, is no longer fun. You have to pour too much damn time into it to even begin to start to get rewards from it. Gone are the days where you can log on and within 10 mins be within the thick of things. Play for 30mins to an hour an half and had an enjoyable day and quit. Now it is a career both from the players side and from the admin side. The attitude from the Imm side is it went from being a game we donated our time to because it was fun, to having to do things because it is now a job and things are expected of us. If you don’t make it a job, you have no place among the staff.

The second issue which gnawed at me which I finally cant take is I can no longer defend all the actions done by the staff. It is a hard thing, because I’ve been ridden so damn hard over my career with BS and claims of what I have done, only to watch others do so much more and never be given a damn word. Truthfully yes I ####ed up twice and I will fully admit to it. But as well it was things that others have done countless times before however I was nailed to the cross. Does it make what I did back then right? Nope. But it was forever hung around my neck and I was always seen as such. Does it make one bitter? Hell yes. I would never wish to place upon anyone else all the #### I’ve had to endure. It was almost like people would always ignore the positive #### you do, however if you sneeze they would look at it seven different ways to see if you did anything wrong. And should you have sneezed and not covered your mouth…they nail you for that and make claims of how ####ed up you are.

What is to follow is my goodbyes both good and bad to the fellow and ex staff members. Some might be glowing, and some might be down right mean..but you know what? I’ve never pulled punches and this is how I see things. And let me be the first to say I’m not the only one who has this opinion of some people. Just some are afraid to say it due to retribution and their career as an Imm.

Old Imms:
Twist: Dude, I love you in a non gay way. You were the epitome of what a CF Imm was all about. You enjoyed the game from both the Imm side by running quest, interacting with morts and cabals. And on the flip side you played morts. You knew what was going on in the game because you were playing it. When we lost you, we lost the fun stick. Ever since you left there was a void which was never truly filled, as the CF ship drifted aimless and wrecked upon the shoals. Thank you for the original shot at Imming and everything you have done for this game.

Cador: You were one gruff as hell Imm. You would chew someone out, however everything you did was heartfelt. You called things as they were and never pulled your punches. For that I think you created a much stronger staff as they learned how to have a thick skin and able to take criticisms. When you left, the staff did get more mellow…but it also became soft and things were never the same. No longer did ranks mean anything as you would have lower Imms negging something a higher was wanting to do.

Bria: You helped me the second go around by being my mentor. I knew I could count on you to tell me where I was ####ing up and how to fix it without trying to be mushy. I’m truly sorry how you were treated like #### after putting so many years into the game. What they did to you was ####ing wrong. You don’t tell a 59 Imm “I know you auto deleted by a few days because you have Internet problems..but we are going to be nice and allow you to come back as a rank 55! Instead of having to re Imm all over! We are soo nice to you!” That was utter BS, especially how some others were brought back after a year gone and shot up to a high rank. Ah well. You are in a better place now anyway.

Cyradia: Ms Spooky Beatle Chick. What can I say, you were a great friend and you were an awesome Imm with a ####ing cool religion. Granted, it was funny watching you try to PK as Bereous but then you made up for it in cool points. I am truly sorry we had a falling out, and while we don’t always view things in the same eye, I am glad we are talking again.

Phaelim: You were an asshole and a cheater. You treated people like #### and personally I never though you should have made it past 52. That is my opinion.

Andaren/one half of the wonder twins: A hell of an area writer, however you would do anything for the women. Your life was ruled by your cock and the never ending pursuit of trying to get into someones pantys. However I hope you are doing well and thank you for serving our country.

Ilhrath: Other half of the wonder twins. One hell of an artist and you were good. However I always had this feeling you were using being a woman to get things out of Andaren.

Jacynth: Dramaqueen.

Active Imms by the alphabet:

Amaranthe: You are great with descriptive and RP aspects of the game, however you are bad in the long run for CF if left unchecked. CF at its core will always be a pking mud, however you try to turn it into a MUSH. You have changed so many tenants of CF to fit with the views you have of something, even if it means screwing over planed out work that was a consensus of other Imms. While you do have some cool ideas at time, you truly have no sense of game balance. Also sometimes your logic leaves a lot to be desired. Outlanders case in point. You changed the total history of many races to fit your view of them for outlanders even though we had a group of Imms who came up with the history already. You name some defilers while others who have the same charastics as fine. But whatev panda bear. Its your cabal, do as you wish. The only other irking thing was how you came back after so long away and moved up to 58 so damn fast. Sure you put in some hours but not hard when 90% of the time when looking you are idle. Anyone else who left a cabal to flounder like you did, leave for a year and then come back would have had a #### ton or rings to jump through (if they were even allowed back)

Aarn: Chief, you are a good friend and thank you for the time spent on CF. However as with a few others you need to get off the pot or ####. If you are truly annoyed or disillusioned with CF either play more and try to change it, or quit. Being in dormancy doesn’t help either the mud or your own sanity. I gave it a shot after being annoyed and disillusioned and it didn’t work. So I’m taking my own advise. However if you stick it out, keep on trucking with Maran and the game. The mud needs more people like you who want to make it fun. You are always welcomed at my house.

Arvam : Ah Arvam. Chief you were a close friend as well as we grew up on the staff as Team Goofy Hero Imm. You shot through the ranks and while some might be jealous, I was glad to have you up there as a reasonable sane voice for the game. You never forgot that it was suppose to be about fun. I just wish you would be more active as well and try to make it fun for the mortals. However I can understand your frustration and views as I think we both saw a lot of the same things. You are always welcomed at my house, though you better be wearing pants.

Corrlaan: You rock, keep on trucking dude with Acolytes. They need someone steady like you to give them hope and a guiding hand.

Crysseara: An interesting person and good natured. Has a lot of potential however I think you’ve been given much of it on a silver platter. Only time will tell what kind of Imm you are. However a piece of advice. Quit trying to act like you know everything, chicka. You are young and have much to learn *shrug*

Dalteric: I’m glad your back on staff, but chief you need to interact with the others more. You can’t hide yourself away in Cyradias old room all the time, its not good for you and the others who never get to know you. You are always welcomed at my house though watch the knives.

Eshval/Innis: Ok…before I rip into you I should say something nice I guess. You give a lot of interaction to mortals and try to make it fun for them. Now the gritty. You have some ####ed up judgement in things. Things that I would get nailed for, are blown over when you do them, and how you made it this far I don’t know. Yes you do a lot of interaction with mortals but I’ll put it this way. Its like the Town whore. Anyone who wants a piece of action can get it, however when you walk away you can’t but help feel cheap, itchy and dirty. But for those who enjoy such things, keep on itching?

Guerric/Sebeok: A cheating ####. What is scary about this however is that I know many wont ever say a word out of fear that you would #### over the game via code. Yes, I do remember that night when you were drunk and made the statement “If I wanted to, I could #### over CF and bring it down in under 2 mins”. What was the final straw for me concerning you was when you played Yanacek and other Imms(mid/high ranking ones at that) brought up “X is overpowered and needs to be changed on poisoners”. While playing an active poisoner, you posted “X isn’t overpowered and wont be changed” However as soon as you were done abusing them, they were changed. Whatev

Grurk: Don’t know what I really think of you chief. At times you have ####ed up judgment and wacky thoughts, and other times you are cool. Perhaps the only advise I can give is don’t micro manage the cabals as much.

Khasotholas: This is a tough one. I had been great friends with you for a while as Intronan and even got to meet you and hang out. Though as you gained in ranks you seem to become sour and jaded. I miss the old Khas/Inty, perhaps you will find him in there somewhere.

Lyristeon: Another hard one like Grurk. I had my moments where I thought you were ####ed up, and then I’ve had my moments were I thought you were great. I’ll remain neutral to you :P

Muuloc: A good up coming Imm. Don’t get sucked into politics and play the game to have fun and make it fun for mortals.

Nepenthe: You were one of the few ones I could always look towards for advice. Your judgment was never questioned and I could always count on you for valid views. Thank you for the times you came to my defense in some of the issues which happened on the mud. However I think you need to make a stance in either direction, and quit riding the fence so often. Everything else, I’ll just leave at that.


Qaledus: Why so blue panda bear? :P Anyway when you came to me asking if it would be ok to take over a religion like Tanadins, I couldn’t see anyone else doing it as great as you have made it. You have a lot of potential and you are a great addition to the mud. Hopefully you will find more time to play since you remember the fun stick. Keep on trucking Mr Panda

Scarabaeus (Dormant): You are truly an artist, what can I say. However you do have an inflated ego of yourself. Just because you say something does not mean you are always right. No matter what things I could provide as proof to my stance on an issue, you would write it off as “Shokai’s Lacky” which was utter BS. But you will be who you are, and you are a talented peson, just a prick sometimes :P

Shokai: Damn, what can I say. One of the guys who started me on CF and kept me addicted. The father figure to so many mortals who has his religion and image so interwoven into the game and its past. You have been ####ed with so many damn times its hard to believe you are still around. So much #### is tossed on your shoulders and you only shrug and trudge along. You would think someone who has been around since 94/95 and an Imm almost the whole time, beloved by the playerbase and is a 59 would have a lot more respect then what you currently are given. I can see why you grow apathetic when your post are always ignored or you are called “crazy uncle shokai” patted on the head and then told you have a beak. The only thing I can say chief is what I told Aarn. You need to get your ass in gear and make a choice. Either pick up the game again and bring the fun back, or walk away. By being semi dormant like you are, you are giving false hope to many of the players out there looking for your tattoo or empowerment. Its not fair for the mud in truth. I say this as a friend. You need a kick in the ass.

Thrakburzug : You aren’t around enough to get a current feel for you.

Valguarnera: You do a #### ton for the mud and people don’t give you credit. Many want to give you #### for your old Dio’s handle but you are one hell of a person. You picked up the mud when it was sort of aimless without direction and for good or bad, you made a choice. Which was more then others were willing to do. Now the bad. That direction I personally feel wasn’t the right one. You have taken the game away from what it use to be and fun and made it into a job. You have the attitude of that if you have to work on something, that everyone else should have the work ethic that this is a job that should be done 40 hours a week. While you are a great task master and pusher to get things done, I honestly don’t think you were the right choice to take over at the helm. Yes it was needed at the time, however you have this driving goal to make it more of a task. You need to be able to step back and admit that we the Imm staff ####s up now and then with our decisions.

Yanoreth/BT/Galadrial/Jullias: I put you four together as you do a lot of the mud behind the scenes. I thank each and everyone of you guys. Enough can’t be said.

Zulghinlour: You I have a #### ton of respect for. You are one hell of a guy who calls it as it is and willing to admit when something isn’t working. You should take a more active role when time permits into the game, I think it would be better off if you did.


(Edited since I forgot some)
Pico: I admire you and what you did for the game. I was sort of always scared when having to deal with you, but you were always very polite and professional. You were another great blow to CF when you left the game. You are missed.

Thror: Stumpy. You were a fun and great foe as a mortal, and a good friend my little mexican. I hope life is treating you well with your little one. Some say you changed battle for the worse..eh, some good some bad. We all do what we think needs to be done.

Kasty: One hell of an Imm. Keep on rocking dude. Though sometimes you need to sit back and enjoy the game for what it is..and allow some of the other stuff to go bye. I didn't agree with everything on the standardising..but it was your ball of wax. Thank you for allowing me to play within Battle. I had fun.

Holtzendorf: How could I have forgotten you?!? One of the major reasons I wanted to Imm was my battles with you as Kadizine! You were a great player and a great Imm. Hope you are doing well up there in NC still. Later Pall Ott

Ishmael: Truely a great chaotic player. I miss you and what fun you brought to CF. Though you were sort of responsible for stupid silly chaos :P

Grummy: My little gnome of destruction! You were funny as hell and I think it was a great loss when you were sort of pushed out. However you did sort of #### up now and then and killed WAY too many mortals with your stump. But over all chief, glad you were up here for when you were.

The player base:
You guys are why we are here. Thank you for allowing me to have fun on this game. Some of you however take things too damn serious and think the ends justify the end. To those of you who hated me ah well. To those of you who loved me, thank you. I never went out of my way to #### with someone or deny them something and I was 75% of the time willing to give someone a second chance. They just had to stick it out.

nt

You've been funny, though very very subjective.
I remember one of imperials got ganked by three ragers in balator, and you said that was a 'raid situation' and not even punished them. This is wrong - so if they going to raid and gang someone on eastern road it is allowed as well?
You were a battle imm, you should not only reward, but also punish.
Oh well. =)

P.S. Pikel! Damn you! Contact me, I've been looking for you during last years! And though I do not play now, I'll gladely talk to you... You taught me so much about sylvans (and cabals) long long long time ago! =)

ICQ: 44283310

It's sad for me to see this, because I thought Ordasen was where you belonged as far as religion goes. From what I'd seen, that's what fit you most, and seemed to inspire you most. As for individual comments, I won't deny there's some truth to your comments on me.

Keep well down there, and enjoy your family. Things sound like they're going nicely on that front, and that's the most important thing.

You and Lyristeon are pretty much the only imms who have interacted with me in person during the past four years. It's really sad to see you go; the fact that you chose to talk to the players on a live forum made you so much more of an actual person than what can be conveyed through these brown and white pages.

Oh, and despite the whines about it I really liked that you flamed when it was deserved, and gave credit where credit was due. Even if I got my fair share of criticism :p

Anyways, good luck with your new hobby

You were good for the Village in a lot of ways, and I appreciate the support and ideas you threw out there to make it better. At times, your vision and mine didn't quite mesh, but I *always* took your input and applied it to what I was thinking, and I honestly believe the end product was much better for having your viewpoint attached to it. You brought the barbarian back to the Village, something I think BT, Thror and I should have left in place when we did the initial rework. Your RP among the Village (and your followers, of which I did have one) was spot on and consistent (though inconsistently applied at times). Thank you for your contributions in the Cabal and the religion, they will be missed.

Beyond that, you weren't really a factor in the rest of the game on the Immortal side of the house. A handful of posts on suggested tweaks to Battle, minimial contribution to other discussion threads. Always good thoughts (in my opinion), but so few and far between it was difficult to determine how serious they should be taken, or where you were coming from. You had your baggage, but never seemed to rise above it; I personally didn't give a #### about what you had done wrong in the past, but I think that subconsciously it always tainted your opinion of yourself. Maybe that's why your contributions to the game were always on your level, in spheres of influence that you could pretty much control completely without really interacting with other Imms. Just my opinion.

As for your comments on the other Imms, I have a hard time taking most of them seriously because it seems like you're holding them up to a much higher standard than you held yourself to. That always rubs me the wrong way.

As for your comments on the game, hey, it changes. I don't view it as a business, or work; it'll always be a hobby to me, and I can still play it like that. I don't think the majority of the staff views it as work, either. You contribute when you can in what ways you can, without anyone holding a gun to your head telling you to get it done now. Some people have more time, or more creativity, or find their niche early, or have better timing, and move upward through the ranks quicker than others. Big deal. One thing I've learned from playing so long is that level doesn't really matter once you hit 56 - at that point, you have all the tools you need to do whatever it is you really want to do. If you're comfortable at that level, awesome, you don't *need* to promote anymore to enjoy yourself.

All that being said, if you're not having fun, and don't feel like working for the changes that will make the game fun for you internally, yeah, it's time to throw in the towel. And you will be missed, because the contributions you did make were worthwhile and lasting. I really hope you keep playing mortals; you had some excellent ones.

I just gotta add, it was real cool to meet you and Shok in Tallahasee so many years ago. I'll always remember that!

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

I never really had a problem with you until my last char which turns out will most likely be my last char since you pretty much completely turned me off to the mud. I came back after a year, year and a half off. Figured I would make a shaman seeing as if I spent the time and got empowered I wouldn't be so quick to throw it away. I spent 30 some odd hours as a dwarf shaman praying at your shrine, hunting down evil's, helping other lowbie goodies rank up to pk and rping constantly. Sent numerous notes and a few emails. Then one day after ranking some lowbies and rping with them one of them being Gasalonius(sp?) and being an unempowered dwarf healer at level 17 with a few kick pks under my belt I go to pray and still get nothing(Note I tried finding you at every feasable our of the day). Then some other Imm took pity on me and partially empowers me. I spend another 30 hours ranking, hunting and rping and praying to speak to you. When I finally get the nerve to ask you a question you went completely ape#### on me and the Imm who I partial empowered me OOC. Saying how it was blatantly wrong and how you were gonna unempower me completely. That completely ruined my comeback attempt on CF and I doubt that I will ever come back for that especially now that you are gonna because the only reason I was gonna come back was to make an uncaballed evil shaman who hunted ragers.
And now that you are gone there is no reason to do it. That and seeing things through the Forum like Nep/Cabdru and what he did with his ooc knowledge of the game. I understand that Imm's wanna play morts too but when I see things like that even just from a third person perspective through the forums it turns me off to playing. Good Luck outside of CF and I am letting you know I harbor no ill will for what I perceived months ago as a slight. Now I just have more time to play CS:S and BF2.

Well I'm still going to invoke the pointy teeth.
I am truly sorry to see you go. The big grumpy bear was a great influence on the village.
I understand that when it aint fun on more, or when you're not getting any fulfillment then its time to go.
I wish you the best.

Darn, I know this was a long time coming, but it's still a bummer for the game. I agree with some of what you said, though I wouldn't have been quite as blunt as you I'm sure :P (It's a little-known fact that I only play a gruff dwarf on tv).

I don't necessarily share your gloomy outlook on the game as a whole, for one. I think there have been a lot of changes over time to CF, and a lot of it is beyond just imm control. Yes, CFs numbers are down slightly from its heyday. I think there's a very good reason for that, though. Why yes, I'll be happy to tell you what it is!

CF is in a very unique niche. For the purposes of this essay, we'll divide the gaming community into two groups: The "roleplayers" and the "hack n' slashers". The roleplayers gravitate toward MUSH's and the like, where there isn't any killing and they can spend all day emoting out every little action with each other. Hack n' slashers are the types that would rather be playing Quake. There are far more of the hack 'n slash type players. Just look at games like WoW.

Back in the day, CF leaned more toward an action "hack n' slash" type game, with optional or "lite" roleplaying. Look back at old logs if you doubt it, roleplay standards were no where NEAR what they are today. OOC talk was quite common. Players could come in and get all bloody, and not have to worry about all the other crap. CF appealed to the hack n' slash community, while at the same time holding some appeal to the roleplay community.

Today CF culture has moved to a point where the only people who can play are people that like to roleplay AND hack n' slash. Many of the pure roleplayers don't tend to like it because they get mowed down in PK. The hack n' slashers don't like it because, well, they don't want to be distracted from a bloodbath. We only appeal to a very small nich community. Frankly, I like it that way. But no question it changes the environment that we all grew up with. It has been a natural evolution over time, however, not some sudden change led by one implementor or the like. Also, speaking just for myself, I'm 27 years old, not 19. Undoubtedly that has changed the way I look at and experience the game drastically.

Anyway, I feel like I've started to ramble slightly off course! Sorry. That's what came to mind after reading all of this stuff though. I'm glad I got to know you, and I'm sure we'll be staying in touch.

Aarn!

p.s. Don't bother me while I'm on the pot, I'm reading a good magazine.

I've been playing CF since 94/95 too, and I'm not going anywhere, that said:

In my CF experience, I've seen players and Imms come and go. Some go gracefully, some earn TLB monikers. Taking your statements at face value, with the sentiments you've expressed, I'm surprised you spent as much time as you did on staff. If circumstances were that bad for you, its difficult to understand why you would continue to expose yourself to them.

The longevity of the Mud speaks to the manner of professionalism with which the Admins run the game.

My opinion is that the manner in which you've have chosen to take your leave is completely unprofessional and borders on childish.

My grandfather told me once that the first thing you do when you realize you're in a hole is stop digging.

From my perspective, all you're accomplishing by leaving like this is mud slingging, and while that might need doing from time to time, I disagree with the forum in which you chose to do it.

Thanks for the time and effort you put in, and best wishes in whatever you choose to do.

Moridin, Morgiane, Mierin, Pikel, Voss, Hilcroft, Caradoc, Strouth et al.

At your discretion, would you e-mail/message me? I've some roundabout questions on things that are pretty counter to the topics/opinions at hand and other stuff it'd be flat a pain to expect you to sift through the spam to answer. Profile ought to be up to date.

scrimbul@gmail.com

"I have to admit I hate pretty much all of these ideas. :)" - Nepenthe, on New Ranger Skills

I guess from outside, looking in, you always get the impression the imms are one big happy family. I think this sheds a lot of light on the human factor and somewhat makes me glad I got turned down a while back to imm, because I probably just wouldn't be able to make the cut. Time restraints and all. I can see where the staff burnout comes in.

I wish you the best of luck, it must have felt nice to get that all off your chest ;).

I do remember a while ago, when you and I were the only visible imms on late at night/early in the morning. It took a while to get you to even talk... you were somewhat intimidating. After a while, we began to speak, and it you weren't nearly as mean as your gruffness suggested. Oddly, I will miss knowing you are about.

As the 'town whore': Yes, I try to make it fun for the players and staff alike. If it means empowering folks that are less than perfect so they can have fun...that's the way it is. The players are allowed and encouraged to find what works for them. Do I step in...often yes, but more often I nudge them if needed.

When it comes down to my play style, I would rather the players have the fun, and I do the work. If my immness isn't perfect, that's okay, I make errors (sometimes big ones!), I learn, I do what I can to make it all work.

Take care, and I am pleased to have interacted with you on those nights when no one was about. There is something about shared eye-rolling at player actions (knowing that I did much the same thing as a mortal...and still do).

I've heard a lot of #### about you, IC, OOC, but I wanted to keep my mind open. What Odarsen says, I can see his point, but Odarsen, you need to understand, THAT's GOOD FOR THE GAME in certain instances. For every veteran turned off, there are three newbies turned on by the attention that Eshval/Innis shows them. Who knows, maybe these newbies will be the next Istendil, or maybe the next Ryu?

I know I appreciated what Eshval did for my character, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed Odarsen as well ( I enjoyed most of the characters Odarsen liked ).

In closing, thank you Odarsen for your candor, thanks you Eshval for being you, and thank you all Immortals. For every player who resents you and starts conspiracy theories, there are many like me who just wish to play....

When my girl lets me.

nt

I like whores, metaphorically speaking.

For someone like me, whom has very limited playing times, I was pleased to find an imm whom was both cool and very active. So, I like you at least ;).

And on a sidenote, I got empowered by you once as Eshval, with a druid that I accidentally auto'd. I had originally pegged Amaranthe, but she turned me down for reasons which I fully understand. Then I wanted to get empowered by an Imm who was in my role (who, I initially intended to be my vision of Amaranthe, but I was a bit too violent for that). Anyway, as a last ditch effort, I took the only person who represented my sphere, which was you. Anyway, I appreciated the chance you gave me, and RP, even though by all rights I probably should've had to delete and start over.

Long story short, that was fun for me, I don't think everyone finds being cast into the sea for a mistake or two as a good thing.

Eshy, what you do it great for the PB. If it wasn't for your interations, I would of deleted Cytherea, and never immed and got to know you and the rest of the staff. For that, I thank you and give you a <hug> from the past.

Ordasen, I took you like a grain of salt, we had our little clashes, but over all, I respected you. Hopefully, I gained a little respect from you, if not, life goes on. I wish you the best with what you do. Be safe on those streets you work.

P.S. If I googled the name, I would of deleted :P

Perhaps "Town Whore" was a harsh analogy but in truth I was trying to come up with words to put a feeling. (And you have to admit, it is rather amusing). The post wasnt made to tear you down, hurt your feelings but rather to give you an insight as to how I see things and the way a few others do.

If anything maybe you will take what I said and give it some thought. Players having fun IS I would say the ultimate goal, but you don't have to be TOO easy. Some players value the feeling of achievement in accomplishing something. There is a diffrence in re-enforcing a sence of entitlement and then there is being selective and turning someone down. Just because you turn someone down doesn't mean you never give them a second chance. Nudging after such is something you have to decide.

Ultimatly you will play it how you wish, just giving you some of my personal views for what its worth. You have potential to be something great minus the #### ups, I just think you are wasting it away by focusing upon quanity over quality.

.

"Crysseara: An interesting person and good natured. Has a lot of potential however I think you’ve been given much of it on a silver platter. Only time will tell what kind of Imm you are. However a piece of advice. Quit trying to act like you know everything, chicka. You are young and have much to learn *shrug*"


Wow. It's pretty obvious that you have no idea what I have and haven't worked on since I immed. I've really worked as hard as I possibly can since I immed to make this work and to hear you say that really hurts. You're just running your mouth off and I don't appreciate it at all. I can't imagine that anyone who actually knows what I've been working on would agree with you and you're just talking here to talk #### and make other people look bad. You know what? These people aren't that bad. They're people. They mess up just like you do. They are just the ones who were able to take their licks for it, take their punishment like a man and move on. Learn something from it. The only one holding things over your head all these years was you.

I'm sorry if I have to show you the not 'good natured' side of my personality on this but I'm not the one here who thought he was too good to listen to plain common sense.

AMARANTHE ÜBER ALLES

<3

At first I was inclined to say "It's really a sad indictment against the game that every immortal that deletes ends up making a post like this." However, after some further consideration I realized that perhaps more than not immortals just fade to black and the ones I'm remembering are the ones that went out with a bang...much like you have here.

I was an immortal for like less than a minute, but in that short period I came to some of the same conclusions that you did about some of the people you spoke about. I guess I'm pleased to have some of that corroborated, even if only by a disgruntled employee.

Now for the reframe....

If there has been one thing that the CF collective has lost sight of, it's that positive change has to begin at the top. Don't read that as a slap at Valguarnera, Sebeok, or any other implementor, it's not. However, a lot of times I feel as though the immortals place sole blame for what CF has become on the mort-players. I don't feel it is solely our fault, though we certainly deserve some of the blame. What your post does is kinda shed light on the fact that the immortals are deserving of at least some of the blame for what CF is today.

Sadly, it seems to me that the immortal staff is generally pretty slow to adapt to the changing CF environment. A lot of changes have gone in fairly recently where I said, "It's too late for that. That would have been the perfect change 2 years ago." Examples include improving at weapons worn by your opponents, the anti-gang code, and the rolling change. The rolling change in particular. How long did the players bitch about that and receive only scorn for suggesting the system sucked? Now it's exactly as it should have been years ago when the first person typed "You know what...the rolling system blows! I just spent 3 hours rolling for max."

Lately, though, it seems as if the immortals are taking the right steps. I only wonder if it's too little too late. I've noticed a slightly different vibe coming from the staff in general. Replies to posts have been a little more cordial of late and some things are being allowed (posts of thief items) that would not have been allowed 2 years ago.

PR begins at home and positive change begins from above. If your current batch of players (and imms) are unhappy, no amount of newbie influx is going to be useful.

Have fun or let somebody else who will take your place up there. We'll notice.

Now who's gonna be the imm in the loosers lounge aka Dangeroom? I liked having you there, don't be a stranger and visit us as often as you can.

Well if the worst thing anyone can say about me is that I'm a micro-manager
of cabals I've been in charge of, then I think I'm doing ok. :)

Overall, you and I didn't have many exchanges, because I got the sense
from you, if I wasn't Shokai or Aarn, you didn't want anything
to do with me. Which is too bad, given our similar backgrounds, we
have quite a bit in common- we might have communicated better otherwise.
Maybe I just hit you during your "I'm not having fun, don't
wanna be here phase," which was pretty much the whole time I have been
up here (March 04?).

Anyways, good luck to you with life and all that.


-Grurk

Sorry to see another Tallahassee man go, belive it or not you started me on Cf in Late 96', been addicted still. Even with long breaks inbetween. Remeber those nights when you stayed up late with me and another young one and showed us on the mac how things were done. Always thought you had a great grip on role play and the basic, took it a bit farther with Kadizine. Sorry to see you go, and just wanted to say Best of Luck.

Jarrod

Woh, woh, woh... "another Tallahassee man"? Who all is from Tally? Now I'm gonna be walking around the grocery store, looking at people and thinking "Is this girl an imm? Maybe she's just a hero." and "Oh, look at that guy... he looks kinda shady. Bet he's in Scion." :(

what did I do wrong ??

Not a word on PBF comments not a single interaction with me either. You have said your self you give seccond chances 75% of the time but I never got a first chance at all.

Not sure what you saw in Krag that you hated but would like to know why you were not willing to interact at all with me or most of the village for that matter. you said your self the game is about fun, but with 4 followers of yours I have had 1 interaction which was "your wasting your time" and that was with Krag.

(this is excluding rites and virgin steaks and so on.)

you would not be the first battle imm that did not have a reason at all why they wanted no part of one of my chars and I Will assume its just cus either I or you was a prick for our own reasons... or whatever.. Just would really be nice to have some idea..

There is an email in this thread that I left for the purpose of discussing stuff. You are free to contact me, but I'm not using my goodbye thread to answer other chars goodbyes.

>Lyristeon: Another hard one like Grurk. I had my moments where
>I thought you were ####ed up, and then I’ve had my moments
>were I thought you were great. I’ll remain neutral to you :P

You sound like one of my followers after they decide to delete. "I don't know what happened, but it was fun!...I think." Hopefully the :P was for the times when we joked around.

As for the other stuff you posted, there is very little for me to say about your experiences. I haven't been an imm as long as you, but my experiences as for how I have been treated compared to how others who came up after me are consistent with business.

Granted, I have had to deal with two years of hurricanes which cut into my time and my in between times haven't really been all that productive. I have watched several heroimms pass me right by in the promotion process. I can honestly say, during those times, I did not deserve any promotion of any sort. I have a lot of hours at my current status and have had it explained to me during promotion times why I didn't get one. I was sincere when I told them I didn't expect it.

Before the storms, I was planning on continuing my upward progress and now that I have been back since December, I am doing what I wanted to do all along. Build a better place to hang out. When I log on, I log on to create, teach, rp. The response I am getting now for the work I am doing compared to before when I was only able to pop in now and then is quite different. I had been relegated to being strictly a rp imm and that just isn't enough to get the bump nor was it enough to even get an attaboy every now and then. I feel like I am part of the team again since I have been able to contribute more than just time. In the few years I have been around as an imm, I saw Ordasen as a rp imm. Don't take that the wrong way. I liked you as a person and imm. I just didn't see any of the teaching and creating part. You were higher level than me and for all I know you could have been doing areas, coding, writing, mentoring etc without me having known about it.

But, if you weren't doing the writing, mentoring, coding, etc., and thinking that a promotion should have happened just because of time at that level, I have to disagree.

I do agree with you 100% on the issue of fun. If you aren't having it, there is no reason to stick with it. This is meant to be fun. I wish you the very best in all that you do.

Thank you for the responce in advance.

I had a lot in mind that I could respond to this (non negative towards you) however in the end it would only make it sound like a 'poor me' and I dont want that. Rather, I will just pick out one thing you did mention and a quick responce.

Concerning promotions you stated have had it explained to me during promotion times why I didn't get one.

That is good and I'm glad to see they were doing that. However how would you have felt if you were ignored, saw others promoted past you and never heard a word. Never told what to improve upon, where to make changes? That would have been what I had. *shrug*

Good luck and hopefully you've sheltered down for the up coming Hurricane season.

>Never told what to
>improve upon, where to make changes? That would have been what
>I had. *shrug*

To be fair, you and I did talk about this informally a month or two ago.

Was that as soon as you could've hoped for? Probably not, but I didn't really know there was an issue there until we talked.

I didn't get any talks regarding what I needed to do to improve. I just hadn't been around and didn't expect a promotion. So, when I was told why, the talks lasted two minutes. I think we all know what is expected for a promotion. By watching what everyone else was doing to get the promotions, I knew I had not earned it. Their taking their time to tell me was very cool though, I have to admit.

My house is already to be huffed and puffed upon again. :)

Is that what this is really about? Not being promoted?

While I agree we owe some level of guidance for most levels of the immortal hierarchy, I don't think anyone has to apologize to you for not giving you instructions for how to get promoted to an administration-level as an imm. It's designated as administration level, because that point you are expected to be the kind of person that takes initiative, beyond just doing the basics.

That's like a salesman working his way up to his maximum salary cap and max vacation time by meeting minimum sales quotas and nothing else. There's nothing wrong with that, but for him to then complain about not being promoted to Vice-Present of Sales would be ludicrous. Everyone knows what he has to do if that's his ambition.. he has to landing deals, being a sales leader, he has to go above and beyond. I think that is what Lyristeon is getting here, and you aren't.

Based on your post you took it to heart that I am one of the people that got promoted past you, after a return from long absence (for uh, mostly pregnancy-related health problems and childbirth, I might add. Even a paying job recognizes that as a valid reason to take a year off.), but I will point out that I averaged the authorship or heavy involvement of 1 area per level, including 3 repeated levels. And that's aside from anything else I did, which itself amounts to large, measureable chunks of material. Much of which I churned out without even being asked. I won't argue that my time online is more often idle than not (let's see how you do with a preschooler and toddler underfoot!), but the point is that some point, your contributions should be able to be measured in visible output, not hours on your score sheet.

Now if you don't find that stuff rewarding or enjoyable, that's just fine. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But then you either A) shouldn't be an imm or B) accept that your interest in being an imm has its limits in RP/whatever, and accept the limits of recognition that go along with that.

I think the fact that you got to the level you did, doing what you did, shows that you were generally liked and appreciated well enough in spite of whatever else. It's too bad you can't see that. Now if you legitimately weren't enjoying immhood anymore, well, it's time to move on, absolutely. But if this is really just about not being promoted, well that's a shame.

Uh no. It has nothing to do with being promoted or not being promoted so I'm not sure why Lyrs brought it up. However my responce was just a small point I noticed and thought I would throw out there. I left for the simple fact that I'm done with being a CF Immortal. What was posted was my thoughts, views and beliefs of what needed to be said in hopes that it is taken to heart.

First, let me just say that for the most part I liked Ordasen, but honestly, I didn't see you much when I was in battle. I also felt ignored most of the time if I tried to interact.

Personaly I have to call bull on this post because there was a considerable amount of whining, wether warranted or not, within your original post about getting passed up, or screwed over for certain things. It shined through and I think Lyristeon nailed it honestly.

I don't think the game is better off without you, but I'm honestly surprised that you thought bringing this to the general base was the right idea. Just throwing some gasoline on the fire.

Good luck with whatever,
Aaron

Not anything that I haven't said to you already, but y'know...public deletion begets a public response. As someone who, admittedly, isn't around that much...most of your contributions I saw through our chats over coffee as well as posts from happy mortals. However, I remember your 'return' to CF when you stuck your neck out to try to keep an abandoned cabal running as a heroimm. Nep called some things right...though, at first you were pretty bullheaded and stubborn in your judgement of people...but in time that changed. Or at least *I* saw a change. Regardless of anything else that could be said positive or negative...when you were good, you were a wonderful asset to the game. As far as an actual response to the comments you made...well...what can I say, you nailed me pretty accurately...and from my point of view you hit some other nails on the head as well.

>Qaledus: Why so blue panda bear? :P Anyway when you came to me
>asking if it would be ok to take over a religion like
>Tanadins, I couldn’t see anyone else doing it as great as you
>have made it. You have a lot of potential and you are a great
>addition to the mud. Hopefully you will find more time to play
>since you remember the fun stick. Keep on trucking Mr Panda

Whatev. :P

And thanks for the kind words, sorry that I wrote you in as a
chubster when I killed you. I figure it will eventually come
around on me one way or another.

I'll do my best to keep an eye on the fun stick and raise another
generation of Pandas.

Who knows, now that you're gone I might find the courage to play
a rager, you scary bastard.

Good luck in whatever comes next for you.

Qaledus
qaledus@carrionfields.com

You and I have always got along personally, so if I disagree with some of this, don't take it as a sign that I'm going to try to hit you with my car or anything.

>This is only my opinion. I don’t care if you wish to
>repost but feel free to. You more then not wont change my
>opinion.

You've always been that way, and honestly, man, that's always been part of the problem. Sometimes you made up your mind without knowing the whole story, and then it never changed.

>It is a hard thing, because I’ve been ridden so damn hard over
>my career with BS and claims of what I have done, only to
>watch others do so much more and never be given a damn word.

That's not true; the words just weren't public.

>Truthfully yes I ####ed up twice and I will fully admit to it.

On at least one of those cases, we chose to back you, and we lost other staff because of it, either in dramatic fashion like this or because they just stopped playing. I always wondered if we made the right choice. I spoke for what I thought was right at the time and if there was fallout, that was just the way it had to be.

You made some bad judgement calls, and some other people decided that you were scum and just couldn't admit that maybe you were better than your worst day. I always believed you were. But really, you were just as harsh and judgemental on other people.

There isn't anyone here who's perfect. We need to make the best game we can out of the people we have to work with.

>But as well it was things that others have done countless
>times before however I was nailed to the cross. Does it make
>what I did back then right? Nope. But it was forever hung
>around my neck and I was always seen as such. Does it make one
>bitter? Hell yes. I would never wish to place upon anyone else
>all the #### I’ve had to endure.

But here, you're doing just that.

Don't worry chief, I don't take honest discussion and debate personal. I reserved myself that half will hate what I have to say and think I'm trash for it, while the other half will praise me. *shrug* Everyone is entitled to their opinion and in truth the ultimate goal of my original post isn't to bash anything in paticular, but to post what is. If people take offense to the truth (or at least percieved truth by one person) then so be it. I hope the one thing that may come out of this is what I said is looked over and realized that it IS a concern out there by many people. And perhaps CF will grow stronger and realize the issues and become fun again.

I am going to respond to some people, and some I'm going to just let them say their peace and be done with it. I have no desire to truly start a flame or argument over things.

You've always been that way, and honestly, man, that's always been part of the problem. Sometimes you made up your mind without knowing the whole story, and then it never changed.

It might seem that way, however how can someone make the 'right' decision about something if they are never given the whole story. You can only go by what you are given. If a wrong judgement was made, I can live with that so long as it was told why. But I called it as best I could with what was given.

That's not true; the words just weren't public.

Ok, I will give you that as I know I wasnt given privy to such things. Thats cool. However the issue becomes those who did make such mistakes were never really hindered by their actions. They continued to raise through the ranks or maintained that which they already achieved. Look at it from this angle. You see someone make X,Y,Z mistake and report it. You never see any side affect or action done, what do you think that does to the moral of others who watched it happened? Not saying I am correct in this, just that as you pointed out..there are diffrent views.

On at least one of those cases, we chose to back you, and we lost other staff because of it, either in dramatic fashion like this or because they just stopped playing. I always wondered if we made the right choice. I spoke for what I thought was right at the time and if there was fallout, that was just the way it had to be.

And I thank you, however I would rather hope you chose to back the person who was right in the matter. Not who you thought would have been the better Imm. That person could have easily been better I will fully admit. However in a case as such, you chose as the rules dictate.

Can I be hard headed and have a bias view of someone? Sure, just like everyone else. However at an early point I was pulled aside and told that I really should give people a chance to redeem themselves to which I honestly did. As to the eariler comment, you didn't see the whole story. I would interact and allow the person to have a clean slate. Does this mean I'm all buddy buddy? No. HOwever you can ask someone like Iunna. I was willing to give her a second chance and prove herself (along with a few other Imms that returned). And honestly she proved a lot of maturity in what she did. I give props to people like that.

However, thank you for your thoughtful post. Good luck in your endevors.

Just wanted to thank you for making Battle seem so alive and fun when I played..You never failed to inject some true Barbaric rp or some sort of hunt which involves all the villagers, or even just taking over the Destructor's personna. All these certainly helped to liven up the cabal and make it what it's supposed to be..fun and enjoyable.

I'm sure you'll enjoy life out of CFs..take care and I really hope to meet you in some form or another someday. You will be missed.

I'm not going into the specifics of some of your claims, though I admit a couple have me puzzled. But a general note on what (at least to me) pervaded your post:

Suffice to say that if no one pushed anyone and internal authority had nothing to do with projects completed, there wouldn't be a game.

Logging in occasionally, running a cabal and religion, and handling some prays and newbie questions is in no way harmful to the game, and we've never demoted or fired anyone who was doing that. It's generally all we ask of people to advance through the first couple Immortal ranks, in fact.

But the higher ranks come with the ability to do both great and horrible things. So when we're looking for a new admin-level person, and the choice looks like:

1) Logs in periodically, runs cabal, runs religion, doesn't cause damage.
2) Does what #1 does, also designs new content, wrote two areas since last promotion, does PR work, chips in on coding...

... well, it's a short discussion. If the IMPs don't do that sort of administration, and just promote everyone, sooner or later everyone's in charge, the most productive people feel underappreciated, and no one has any practical experience with half the game. Basically, someone has to get their hands dirty. It's a capitalist system, and staff members find that out early, just as I did when I heroimmed a month before you.

Anything else, I'd appreciate being said in private.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I got the feeling his real issue was with the game turning into a "job" that may or may not bring enjoyment. Then again, that's what's keeping me from returning to the game, so perhaps I just zeroed in on that point at the expense of others.

You would be correct sir. That was in fact one of the points I was bringing up.

Complaining about things is easy, but fixing them is hard.

I want to play more right now than I have in a long ass time, and think I have a better attitude about it than I have in a long time.

But every time I try to make a char or consider rolling one, it just seems like a slog.

Think about what you accomplished with Cabdru in 175 hours. That is not possible for the vast majority of us. I'm lucky if I hero in that time. On the other hand, I'm pretty bad at this game :)

Come to dangeroom! Tell me how wrong I am!

-Larcat

Finish off the wanking *before* you start playing, you'll be surprised what you can accomplish with both hands on the keyboard ;)

To echo kragathian I had at least a dozen followers of yours that sent up well over a hundred prays combined and you answered exactly one.

Any time I needed a battle imm for anything i knew I would have to wait for kasty even if you were active and vis because you just treated everyone like dirt. The exception to this case was when I knew someone who had you on their aim list or what not and then you responded pretty fast.


I am still sour that you were sharing my role ooc with other people as well.

CF will be better without you.

"I am still sour that you were sharing my role ooc with other people as well."

I don't necessarily agree that the game will be better without you, Ordasen, but I have to admit that I still remember quite bitterly hearing about you mocking a character of mine that you had just empowered as Lanthaeran on irc. Reading this, though, I'm not sure if you've matured as much as I thought you had.

Ordasen's little problem about discussing active characters in those kinds of channels did not go unnoticed or without consequences.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Didn't know you much as a hero imm, but I've interacted with you in many forms (rites with my villagers, Ulothrye a paladin of yours etc..).

I really hope your post isn't deleted, as though there are certainly some controversial things in it, it outlines something that I think is very true. Being an IMM is a tough job! Certainly not what I expected and it made me hate logging in. I'm amazed you all still put the hours in that you do considering the dedication it now takes. It's definitely intended for a certain type of person. I also think it's great that you were open and honest about things that went on in the background, as that's the best way to deal with things. The playerbase DOES realize that noone's perfect and that you as well as us make mistakes and abuse power from time to time while doing your best to control that and keeps things fair. It's only natural, and the best way to deal with it is to keep things out in the open.

Great post, and good luck with life after CF. It's enjoyable.

Wow, dude, you give me credit for WAY more power than I have.

Whatever faults I have, they are quite handily kept in check by the rest of the staff. I don't have nearly the influence you suggest I do, and the vast majority of my contributions are cosmetic and support. I'm extremely aware of the kind of MUD Carrion Fields is, as well as the kind of player I am. I bring the perspective of my kind of player to the table, some of which is given consideration, a whole lot of which is dismissed, and only bit of which is implemented. And that's the way it should be.

As for your comments on everyone else, wow, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I too, have immortal experience from the days of Cador and Twist, you know. Some of your comments just... baffle me. While the old days were fun, I think you're romanticizing the past and have a completely disorted view of the present.

Perhaps if you had judged what the active imms are doing more by actual involvement in their projects and less by watching from the sidelines, you'd have a more accurate perspective on what is *actually* being done, what is filtered out, and who actually steps up to the plate and puts themselves out there.

I suppose it's no big surprise that the people who you chop at the hardest are the people who are willing put out their necks.

All the best to you, dear. I know your involvement had a positive impact on the MUD and that your contributions for what they were had deserved appreciation from the players. I always assumed you must have been content with what you did.. but if you weren't, then you should have stepped up and dug your hands in the dirt a bit more.

This is for those who want a responce to chars they have played or such. Keep in touch

yarter@tampabay.rr.com

Vahlen was the first imm, I ever received any quality immteraction from, and as such will always be fondly remembered. Knowing now that you remorted into Ordasen makes me regret never getting around to rolling a follower.

It's summer, the warm weather is now here, chill out, drink a beer, and if you ever feel like coming back as a mort I'm sure you'll make a positive contribution to that place we call Thera.

An inspiring force for the Village that did alot of stuff that made people proud and excited to play villagers. Cant say we interacted alot, but I still enjoyed knowing you were up there watching some of the other guys. I have a few questions and was curious if I could contact you to discuss them.

This makes me sad.

All the paladin roles I ever wanted to play were under Ordassen, and now he is gone. Thanks for kicking the #### out of villagers when they needed it. I was in a newly purged village several times, and you kept a good tabs on those zerkers.

Enjoy reallife.com

-Larcat

Well I hate to see this as you being one of my fav. Imm's in my fav. Cabal, but it's over. :( Fun Imm in character and a pretty funny guy OOC. Enjoyed all the CF moments from inside and out and wish you the best.
P.S.
Battle is now going to the ####ter!! FFS, Should have atleast left the bears to watch over the Village. :(
BattleScout

Lot of respect for you. As an Imm you always were so intimidating to my chars. I usually play mages mind you. The few villagers I played I got to see you in action and liked what i saw. You put alot of time into rites and chewing us out when we ####ed up.

Man you need a long vacation, and a well diserved one. Thanks for all the time you put in.

What mortals have you played over the years? I must have interacted with you before. Do you have fun playing mortals still?

Man you were a great imm and this is a HUGE loss to not only Battle but CF as a whole. You'll be missed. Much luv and I wish you all the best.

While I haven't been around as long as the ancients (jhyrb I think labels me a "mid-oldbie"), I was fortunate to interact with Vahlen with some of my earlier characters. As Ordasen, you were great to my Villagers.

Thanks for my only real empowerment ever. I enjoyed it, even though my shaman sucked.

You've been a good presence both IC and OOC. Thanks for it all.

Nivek

Bad to see a good religion go but hopefully this will spawn a discussion about the direction of cf.