Fri Apr 1 01:34:49 2011

At 1 o'clock AM, Day of the Sun, 13th of the Month of the Frost Giant
on the Theran calendar Zasowski perished, never to return.

Race:	human
Class:	bard
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	EMPIRE, the Empire
Age:	55
Hours:	325

Looking back on it, I don’t even know why I rolled up a bard. I had played one pretty well many years ago. I thought I would see what it was like playing one in the newer age. Most of my characters over the years have been basically pkers. To me, the best part of the game is pking and the big fights. I guess in my old age, I tried to RP a little more than normal. In the beginning it was fun doing so, but I had no real ambitions with this character so I just made stuff up along the way.

Then all of a sudden Gvantulak was named Emperor and I knew almost everyone in the Empire didn’t like Targrala other than his stellar ability to pk. A lucky few events took place in my favor with the combination that every blade kept saying over the cabal channel they would quit if Targrala was named War Master basically forced Gvantulak’s to name me. I have a full time job with close to 60 people that work for me so obviously I was not able to play near as much as a leader should but I felt like I did a good enough job with the time I had. I worked until 9pm central almost every night except Friday so that's why I was never around until 9pm or later.

I have had several leaders in the past, and typically I was a young immature jerk. I probably didn’t fit the mold of what a true Imperial should be, but I didn’t want to be a jerk to the ever fading population. I was way to nice to my enemies. I was a part of many gangks but I think in my entire 351 hours of time, I looted maybe 10 pieces of clothing. Heck, half the time I didn’t even examine the corpse. Granted with that being said, it is easy to not loot when you have a pretty nice set yourself. I felt like I was pretty fair at helping newer younger inexperienced players with knowledge of nice intel in the game. I remember when I was a newbie and the veterans wouldn’t give me any hints or help find things, so my last few characters have helped out as best I can without spoiling too many things.

A large part of that was to Gaplemo (aka Mujarin/Omork) I knew you were one in the same(based on you leading the hell trips) but I acted like I didn’t know. I liked both of your characters and really enjoyed the trips to Hell. I had been several times over the years but always got caught up right around Dis. It was so much fun. I did feel bad for Targralla dieing three paces from the end(OUCH). In real life I felt bad for you. Then the second time we made it all the way through, I was going to be so pissed after we got through and were out when the world crashed and we were scattered in the last level all separated. If I didn’t make it back for the second tattoo, I was no doubtably going to be praying to the gods on that one. But since you had shown me the way as Mujarin, I was able to get to the end on my own. I must say getting all the way through the Inferno once is exciting, but doing it twice was hard to imagine in my eyes. If they didn’t take 8 hours I would have gone for the third and final venture. Not many can say they went to Hell 3 times and only died once :)

I lost lots of interest in the character when Faolai(Twist) deleted. You were my main partner in crime and once you deleted, I lost all ambition to finish out the character. While I truthfully think I could have beaten you out for Emperor, I had hinted to the other council members I didn’t want it. I truthfully didn’t want Emperor mainly because I work too many hours and I knew I didn’t have the time for a higher leader position. In addition, I was looking forward to following your lead knowing you would do a good job as always and make things interesting. That one time we were gathering gold and you eluded to some suspicions you had about something, I wanted to say, “Don’t worry, the God of Magic will take care of it” to hint to you that I knew who you were towards the end. I have played against you and with you, and I must say it has been the most enjoyable experiences. Even when you beat me down as an enemy I truly enjoy it. With Zasowski, I tried to follow your example when it came to game play. It was a pleasure.

Some may speculate that I deleted because Sivyh was named Emperor over me. Again, that is not the case. I honestly believe that the Immortals played a larger part than they should have and rigged the vote, but needless to say, it wasn’t the reason I deleted. I didn’t vote for Sivyh so best case it would have been a tie, but I just doubt it was even a tie. Either Pandol lied to me and then deleted which makes very little sense or one of us actually won the vote and the Immortals cast a vote themselves to change the vote. I had already told several people IC that my days were coming to an end before the vote was announced. Good thing it only took 3 weeks to calculate those three votes! In all seriousness, I understand why the Immortals probably intervened and am fine with it. I was deleting Monday even if I was named Emperor that night anyhow so for the Empire’s sake it probably worked out better. When the initial vote was declared I would have enjoyed being Emperor for the 3-4 weeks I had left but it just didn’t work out.

Specific Farewells…

Enlilth – The only regret I have with this character is not becoming a follower of yours. Truthfully I didn’t know of your shrine location until after I had been branded with the mark of Satan. I had a feeling that as a ‘follower of Satan’ I wouldn’t be able to follow you as well. I have heard of great experiences from all those who follow your religion. Hopefully, I get the opportunity someday.

Zulgy – I played against you as a mortal many years ago. And yes, you kicked my butt. That was back in the good old days when you could put up two sets of centurions on eastern and summon a villager between them and gangk him down there. At least I recall you doing that well!  I tried to interact with you several times. I know you are very busy. Thanks for all you do for the game. I was however hoping to get a little bit of interaction one of the few times I stopped off at your place.

Gvantulak – Thanks for the opportunity to be War Master. I thought you did a good job as Emperor. I felt your pain in the fact that working full-time and other commitments sucked up a lot of actually playing time. I must admit, you did teach me a few things I didn’t know, so thanks for that.

Jharzoul – I really liked you, might be hard to believe, but I did. I was completely fine with you being Emperor as well (as soon as Targrala deleted) I knew that you would replace me with him so I never could support your chance to overthrow the Empress. When Targralla deleted and you approached us to overthrow the Empress I was fine with it IC, but OOC I just didn’t feel comfortable getting someone kicked out knowing they would age-die in what I thought was going to be a weeks time. Damn was I wrong! Three weeks or so later, thanks to Norrington giving some younger clothes! :) Honestly, had you just waited until the Empress age-died, I would have voted for you with Targrala gone. BTW, I hope things are still going well with the RL issues you hinted at that one night.

Targralla – You were a super skilled pker. I was honestly hoping Gvantulak didn’t call for us to duel. I knew my build had very little chance against yours.

Pandol – We did well fighting together in most situations. I felt confident going into a fight that you would fight smart and we’d win. Towards the end of Zasowski’s life we didn’t group as much which hurt my pking ability. Having you around sure helped. It was hard juggling things at the end when I was friends with several villagers so I was half-assing it when we hunted. I hope you don’t take that personal. I really did enjoy hunting with you.

Kyrilios – The original Shadow Lord I was War Master with. I remember gathering gold with you that one day and Twee… It was lots of fun. I wanted to know always if you really lost the key as you claimed you did :)

Norrington – Enjoy the presents. I felt like I owed you something since you always got me gold for no reason. I have no doubts you will do well as Shadow Lord.

Sivyh – I really liked you as an Elite when you were below Faolai and even recommended you for Shadow Lord. I don’t know what took place after that but I was un-impressed from then on. You never would join in raids, you just seemed so distant from what was going on in the Empire. I understand having played several assassins that playing assassins means a lot of lonely time stalking, etc but you were just odd after becoming Shadow Lord. You wouldn’t fight in big fights and got the reputation from many as being a coward. I had numerous people complain about you each time I logged on. I hope you turn it back around into the mentality you had when you were just and Elite. The first day as Emperor, I will say that I started to see some of the old Sivyh.

Liosothen – Not sure why I didn’t get along with you. You were very competent and did lots of good things for the Empire, but I just didn’t like Liosothen. Mainly because I felt like you were OOC with several of the blades during that quick stint. Hralpelk seemed to be more like a divine than a blade as much as he followed you around.

Mundin – Only real friend outside of the Empire. I enjoyed our trip to the Inferno and our chats outside of it.

Ebele (Think that was the spelling) – Thanks for the fun at the Inn that one night. It was a lot of fun to get out of the Empire mentality for a few minutes.

Onya – I still think it is wrong to be able to have quicksand at an Inner guardian, and especially one that can call bees and dispel flights. I’d be surprised if that is not changed. Because of you, I can say that I did research and found some better preps. I was ready for you but you stopped showing up so I could pay you back. I am not sure how many times I died by pk, but I am guessing around 7, which I believe you played a part in 2 or 3 of them. Nice work.

Lam – You were probably my favorite blade of all the ones. Just something about the way you handled yourself and how you played that made Lam my favorite blade.

Sekry, Quay – I really liked both of you. Not sure what happened to you Sekry.

Jerrorkrar – You were almost too gutsy at times. As an Imperial you have to play like a chicken sometimes when the odds are way against you. Would have liked to still see you around.

Karkarrak – It was fun conspiring with you at the end. I don’t know why I liked you as much as I did. Since I could be fully prepped, I knew I could beat you but for some reason I liked you so tried avoiding you, for your sake! With that being said, you fight very well and I would never risk fighting you unprepared, it would mean death for me.

Salachilcid – aka Cid – We basically grew up together so would fight in the 40s and hero range. You and Onya laid the trap for me one time and I learned from that. Don’t mess with you and an invoker on a full moon :) I thought you did a great job.

Ghrim – I felt like you really disliked me. I don’t know if it was just because your character hated Empire or what. I had no problems with you at all, but I felt like I had to dislike you back because you appeared to hate me so much!

Brom – Complete worthless character. If I could say anything nice about you, I’d be lieing. The Immortals should have stripped you of your powers long ago. Coming to the Palace, killing Centurions with known criminals. Always running with previous criminals, hunting Imperials with wanted people in the same room…I could go on an on about how you played a great MARAN, but as a tribunal, you sucked! The Immortals should be ashamed about one thing, and that is for not stripping you of their powers. Granted you never came close to killing me so don’t think that is why I am hating on you. The one thing I did consider doing is becoming Emperor and watching you do the crap you did and declaring war on the Tribunals until they kicked you out.

Rhone – I always liked you. I did question a few times you and Athioles logged on right in the middle of raids but it was more Athioles than you. You were very skilled and fun opponent.

Athioles – You sure were not afraid to never defend and always hide in your guild. I am assuming that is why you got stripped of leader position and rightfully so.

Miyatzi – You were a very good ally to have. A shame you were not able to stick it out longer.

Cawr – I must admit when I saw what went on in Hell, my first thought was never that you and Targrala knew each other and had cheated to gather souls. From an outsider who knew none of you, I would say everything about that night was legit. It was unfortunate that group leader died at the end of the fight thus halting our trip. I said I wasn’t going to be the one to go back and bring him to where we were, so Targrala was voted too. After that the trade that took place was honestly legit in my eyes. I hope you didn’t take too much criticism for that. Anyone that wasn’t there that night, can’t truly understand what actually took place. Had I been a true jerk like I was in my youth, I would have allowed the trade to take place, then took the mask from Targrala’s corpse :) Stupid conscious with old age!

Sherys – You were a crazy one. I laughed everytime we had our interactions. Too bad you had to quit when you did. I think we could have had much more fun!

Kjaz – Sorry I deleted there on you. Honestly, I felt like you and I could take on almost anyone and win. You were very smart in combat situations and we complemented each other well. I had just grown so bored with the character and I knew my time was coming to an end with work getting insane. Congrats on the High Priest.

Farror – Good luck. I know you had such a long journey early on. I always liked you.

If anyone else had anything I have no problems replying.

You played a good bard. Not bad at all. Performed well in the inferno, did the bard thing as well as bards do it.

I have a feeling you and pandol were the ones bugging Gvantualk to make me give up the armor i kept for me, but fat chance of that happening if you guys wanted more trips :) I know some devious #### I could have led you all to down there :P

Anyhow, having a good bard definately makes hell easier, and you were present for some fairly good runs, and for some Thera firsts. Have fun with the next.

Actually, I never told Gvantulak or anyone I wanted anything from the Inferno. Truthfully, all I wanted was to make it through since I hadn't done it before.

Deep down I wanted the mask and Rod of Corruption, but there weren't many thieves or assassins so I didn't care as much.

That first trip, I was amazed at how well we did with everyone being so greedy and impatient. I think you and I were the only two that just wanted to get through alive. You did an excellent job with that.

You would laugh at how I lost the Rod as well. I died to Onya and his quicksand at the inner. I was able to get the rod back to only have it stoneshattered gathering a prep item 5 minutes later. I put my head down and just thought, "How fitting was that".

Zas

Yeah that rod is a bitch. I think i've lost it to stoneshatter about five times? Anyhow, its quite the nice item for a bard, but not so nice for a necro because it messes up vamp touches overheals. No biggie.

My all time facepalm moment was how I lost that super special item that I was thrilled about getting. I thought I mentioned after I lost it and how I lost it and what it did, and then I was sure I would never be able to keep it for myself again, so I never bothered with that particular mob again.

And yeah, you're right about the just making it through. Generally I keep very little for myself, an item or two over multiple trips. I get my kicks from going to the mobs that have never even been fought before and giving them a crack. It's my hope that more people start using their loggers and taking notes, honestly I learned how to lead to satan in about 2 trips and I would be thrilled if more people would try and take up the mantle of hell trip leader. It would tickle me fancy for once to not have to lead one and just be a follower.

Anyways, excellent bard again. Very fun to play beside. Now Im curious who was in Gvans ear :P

I could lead a hell trip now after your guidance :) When August roles around and I'm not working 70+ hours a week like I will be between now and then maybe you will get the chance!

Thanks for the good times!

nt

After the denial with Torak, that stuff is behind me.

I do not even talk to Torak anymore after finding out he is an egotistical tool with no respect for anyone.

I think he just has no respect for you. :P

For the record Ghrimriddor is of chaotic good align.

Empire was not one of his favorite cabals, obviously.

You were tough. Tougher than Gvantulak actually. I'm so sad I couldn't kill you in the ruins that day I got Sivyh and Pandol. It would have been the cherry on the top of the sundae, so to speak. I know you had feign weakness, but how many health points did you have left there? I just wonder because I hit you with a deathblow after you were convulsing.

Good luck with the next.

I will admit, I thought it was quite funny how many times people would send me tells in the game saying, "You were so lucky!" Oh if they only knew how awesome Feign Weakness is. I was not 'close' in most fights people think I was. I would leave with close to 300 hp when they thought I was near dead.

However, that time you killed the entire council except me I admit I was so lucky. I knew I was deleting in about a week so I was playing more aggressive than normal and also more stupid. I believe I was around 80 hp when I got away that fight. One more hit and I would have died in my opinion.

Even though IC we may have hated you, I did like your character alot.

By the way, How many times did I fail to sleep you in a row....I had 8 times in a row when I deleted :)

Zas

I'm honestly kind of confused by the not defending statement. I always make at least one stand against raiders (unless the army is unreasonably large as yours sometimes were). I have at least two logs of dying at the Watcher to four and then five Imperials which I'll be happy to post when I delete/age die.

As for losing my position of Marshall it had nothing to do with the above. I'll be happy the share the story when the time comes.

All of that aside I honestly enjoyed your character. I interacted with you earlier on in your life as an alt as I was genuinely impressed with your roleplay as a bard in the Empire. You always changed our tactics while raiding/reraiding as well. It got to the point where I was never surprised to see you escape near death. Well done all around.

Good luck with the next.

You very well may be right on defending earlier on. I just remember more towards the end. Some of the big groups we brought and the fact that we did kill you at the watcher earlier on is legit reasons to not show up.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have shown up with some of the hoards we brought so hope you didn't take it the wrong way.

Funny you mention the RP, I probably only had 3 previous characters I'd say I did a really good job RPing.

Thanks. I know its not easy sticking out a character as long as the one you have had.

Good Luck

Zas

I don't feel like I changed how I play when I was appointed Shadow Lord. Some of the times I didn't enter fights I was stalking one of the raiders. Other times I was just late to arrive; I'm not a fan of hovering near Imperial Lands waiting for people to retrieve.

Your remark about things changing since I got Emperor is funny, though, since all I've done is die in two especially moronic ways. People seem to have a much more favorable opinion of you when you're dying a lot.

I would agree people do have a more favorable opinion of you when you die. All I was trying to suggest was more of a better leader mentality.

Sometimes we would say over the cabal channel to meet somewhere so we could prepare to make a unified strike, and we would be waiting on you for awhile then you would say Hurry I am here fighting. Those situations really put us at a disadvantage when we are not all on the same page and have battle plans ready.

As Emperor, you have the ability to lead successful raids and counter-raids. Those are the fun fights so I hope you take my observations and use them.

Thanks for finding that talisman I searched everywhere for. I owed you big time for that!

One thing I was very curious about, Did you or Pandol just not vote when the vote was cast? I never could figure out why it took so long and my assumption was that one of you two just didn't vote. You don't have to say now if you don't want, but I am curious about that. My other thought was that the vote was messed up. When I voted it said I had no vote, which was very odd.

Good luck as Emperor. As anything new it will take you a little while to get settled into it.

Zas

I voted.

I really did lose it. I was pretty upset about it too. I wasn't paying enough attention to realize that there were two keys in the first place. So when I couldn't get in, I figured Tweeglik handed me the wrong key so I just went about my day. I felt like such an ass after he told me that I had blown that opportunity. I planned on gathering a few million gold there. Oh well. You live, you learn. Thanks again for showing me a few things. As I had never before worried about preps in the slightest, Kyrilos was a good learning char for me, and you helped. Anyways, good job, I never really got to fight you with Volundr or Zaahir. See you with the next!

That sucks! I had visions of making like 2 million gold so I'd never have to collect gold!

At least I feel better that you didn't just get super greedy and try to keep it all for yourself.

Zaahir was a strong fighter from all the things I saw. Probably a good thing I didn't have to fight him much.

I liked Zasowski as Faolai a lot, and my later chars attempted to RP with you a bit and it was...ok. You definitely seem to be more willing to like people that are either on your side or that you're going to smoke in a 1v1.

Which is cool. I'm probably that way too. Though I generally got on quite well with Ahtieli as enemy chars and no way were any of my chars going to smoke her. :P


As for the Vote. Essentially, Enlilth called the vote, but as far as I understand it simply didn't work without a High Priest. The results didn't seem to go anywhere.

I got tired of seeing Empire go rudderless for weeks on end. I also got tired of seeing Sivyh as the only active Sect leader (and, to begin with, the only active hero at all - thankfully that came to a close when Kjaz and a few Blades heroed).

So finally the other day I told Enlilth "Look, I think you should just make Sivyh Emperor. Pandol hasn't played in a week, and Zasowski the same. And when they WERE on, they were on at the same time, for like 2 hours, then one logged off within 20 minutes of the other."

I asked for opinions from other Imms to see if anyone else saw anything different, and nobody voiced anything. Enlilth agreed with my assessment, I assume, because after I brought it up, that's what he did.

So maybe you feel like you got screwed. If so, sorry. Maybe Pandol does too. But in the end, Sivyh's had a hell of a lot more presence since Gvantulak left than the two of you combined. I'd say 10 times more is a safe estimate.

No worries like I said. I really didn't want the Emperor spot. Deep down I am thankful that it happened the way it did. Otherwise I would have been Emperor for three weeks and deleted which is not good for the game.

I felt like I liked Rhone and Onya and some berserker villagers even though I knew I had little chance of winning 1v1. Faolai would have smoked me 1v1 as well. :) Let this hopefully be a lesson to some that when you have mentally checked out, it is best to give it a week and if nothing is sparked, let it go. Holding out affects too many people.

I have no doubts that any characters after Faolai basically got a half-hearted attempt of RP or interaction. I really was sad to see you go. I should have just deleted after you deleted and Gvantulak age-died. Mainly because I knew then that I was next in line for Emperor and I didn't want it. A leader other than Sect Leader needs to be able to be present at more times than I could allow. I had a feeling I would win the vote so indirectly I found RL things to do to force me not to log in as much. It also helped I had a week long business trip I had to take so was gone for a week right after the vote was cast. So I hope you don't feel bad about anything that transpired at the end.

Question for you though...How would the Immortals want someone in my position who through age and experience could easily be a leader and based on votes would win, but doesn't want the position? It is so hard for me to imagine how Zasowski (IC) would not want to be Emperor, but OOC I didn't want it. Is it suggested that IC one send a note to the Immortals that says, If I win, I feel I am better off staying in the spot I am in and that be acceptable?

Thanks for everything Twist.

Realistically I think a guy like Zasowski would be ok with saying that while he knows he deserves the Emperor spot, he does not feel the Empire would be best served by him, due to his infrequent waking times.

It's a fine line though, because yeah, there are very few roles that allow an Imperial to not want the throne.

for me to give up and autodelete my imperial. Glad someone finally did something.

You were a likable enemy. And if your playtimes were longer, you would have probably made a big impact on the game. As luck would have it, though, you and Pandol shared the exact same playtimes (almost within 10 minutes of each other) - and when you two were not around, Empire was a wasteland in the hero range. Which almost put Fortress and Battle in power positions by default :P All in all, a weird time for all three cabals IMO.

I hope to see you again in the 'Fields soon!

Thanks for the compliemnt!

As Twist mentions further down, there really wasn't a hero presence in Empire for a long time. Alot of the times if you or the Emperor wasn't around it would be against the hordes of fort and battle.

When we finally got to hang out I realize how competant you were and that was missing for a long time. Some competant allies. Nothing against Sivyh his build just isn't mean to wade into groups like you and I were.

Hopefully I see you around soon.

There were a few times I probably wouldn't have gone into a situation if it hadn't been for your persistent push. I think you and I took on 5-6 Marans/Outlanders the day we killed Rhone. Granted we did have Farror which was a huge help.

In my middle years I would have chickened out. Thanks for helping keep me more balsy at times.

I bet it sucked with no hero presence. Apologies for that, but there was little I could do personally.

If the Playerbase tends to get older over time with more adult responsibilities, one thought would be to have 2 shifts. By doing that you could have leaders for 12 hour shifts. For example, having two separate War Masters. I know the logistics would be a nightmare but just something to think about. I knew full well, I really would never be able to play from 8am - 6pm, unless we got iced in or some weird event occurred. I am sure several others that are out there couldn't play 7pm- 7am since they might be in other parts of the world etc.

It is either that or people like myself who are filled with more adult responsibilities take it upon ourselves to not accept leadership type positions.

Congratz on the High Priest.

Would've cool to see what we'd have done, but ultimately, I was just going to demand you to do about insanely things once I ground your troops into dust. Things no Emperor in his right mind would acknowledge, unless he actually wanted to RP something outside the norm. Anyways, seeing as I was Jerrokrar and Karkarrak, it's not hard to understand why we get along well in every incarnation, I had a healthy measure of respect for you, knowing the kind of player you were and was wanting to interact. When people can't even bother to begin a sentence with a capitol letter, I just don't see the point of them even playing CF. Anyways, good luck with your next.

I had often wondered what would have actually taken place too.

I debated on trying something completely different. I could see Empire going to war with Tribunals over my hatred for Brom and I even considered the thought of dis banning the Black Sect. Having played several Dread Lords in the past would have tested my ability to actually follow through with that, but I was thinking a shake up from the norm might have been fun.

Then again, I knew best case scenario I would only until mid-April so I probably wouldn't have done anything dramatic knowing I couldn't have followed it through.

More than likely things would have been the same with us doing our normal bantering back and forth. Either way it was fun.

When you were Jerrokrar - a few times I wanted to say tone it down with the orders, but I knew you were just trying to give your input to helping our side win so I didn't have a big problem with it.

Really don't like it. Volkov too, that one's perhaps even worse.

You'll see a comment from me about what I thought every damn time I saw Zasowski logged in.

You were a tough fight for sure, and when there were like five of you I would definatly avoid you at all costs. But in a solo fight, I wouldn't be worried about a bard. I've played too many bards to worry about dieing to them as an invoker. But I'm sure you would have given me hell anyways. GLWYN

NT