I honestly don't understand why people don't like the name. Once you actually say it, it's easy and not like anything else. And to me it sounds perfectly drowish. In any event, I got plenty of flack for it and that helped lessen the fun, sadly.

But not too much. It was a fun ride for the most part. I wanted Enlilth's tattoo, I wanted an Emperor and I wanted a pk capable character after having played two non-pk chars in a row; those were my three goals when I rolled it up and I satisfied them all, so I'm happy.

A few things. First, the full loot comment from Knacnar. The irony here is that I don't think I ever full looted. Ever. Not once. I came close, and certainly tried a few times, but couldn't carry or drop. I mention that because I was full looted - truly full looted -and it's only those people that got the treatment in return. Zri, Zinsizin and one or two others. Which you, Knacnar, know, because when you died I took what, three things? And when you whined about Zins being full'd, I reminded you of that. In fact all the ragers I killed came back to nearly full corpses. But for some reason the 1% overshadows the 99%.

Second, Daev, I don't know why you say what you do, but it's simply not true. I rarely lied about taking things. The few times I did there were specific reasons. And, as the usual experience was for the person to come back to a nearly full corpse, it seems a bit strange you'd make a comment like that. Whatever.

Third, I had a real problem with some of how empire is hardcoded. She was what really should be the standard Imperial. Almost everyone plays without truly roleplaying everything because to do so would make things harder than they want. I've said it before and I say it again, people cut corners to make things easier/powergame/whatever, coming up with rationalizations and justifications to allow them to do something that the character wouldn't. In any event, basic imperial doctrine is to make everyone bloodoath. It's the foundation of the entire cabal. It is the chief reason imperials are supposed to kill. So, great. I go ahead and do that. And then demand/offer the bloodoath. But guess what? The oath can't be sworn to anyone who isn't evil and orderly already. Do you know how stupid and pathetic it looks when someone you just killed says "Ok, fine, I'll do it and join" or something like that, then follows you, and you can't in fact give the oath? It's hardcoded making it impossible. It kinda makes it ridiculous. The laws of the empire command you to make people accept order and darkness, and swear the bloodoath, but you can't do it. I know the rationale, that newbies were screwing up by taking the bloodoath, but I think it's too restrictive now. Perhaps put in an echo that the person about to swear would see, before saying the oath, that doing so will change their alignment and/or ethos and this may have significant and negative effects on the character. Something to warn them at least a bit. But not letting imperials do the very thing they are commanded to do is the wrong resolution.

Fourth, people need to really stop whining about class abilities. In fact when I leveled to 42 Enlilth and I joked that the whining would begin about rot, and someone would invariably complain that all I do is rot and run, never fight, etc. Sure enough, two days later, that's exactly what somone said. Later, a prominent character, a cabal leader, said that using rot was cheap and somehow lesser than using other class abilities, and that he was going to change how he fought because of it, bringing more people, taking more items, etc. People who complain about rot, and more specifically people who decry a shaman that uses rot, are morons, plain and simple. Rot, like bash, like neuro, like frightful fiend, like bearcharge, like any other class ability, is just that, something a character gets and that everyone knows they get. Complaining about someone using it is absurd. What's more, people who complain about someone using are also ill informed players. Rot does more than simply reduce constitution, possibly killing you. It has significant other effects that make it a key power for a shaman. So next time you want to whine about a shaman who uses it for a "cheap" kill, don't. Like you don't complain about entwine or quicksand or the hunt or whatever.

Fifth, I absolutely loved the imperial politics. I knew the plots against me both before and after becoming Empress. I loved spending time talking to people instead of hunting sometimes. It's a unique part of the Empire cabal and I wanted to drink it up. A couple people think they fooled me, but didn't, and a couple people did fool me but didn't take advantage of it. For the most part she didn't trust anyone, except Damgril, though with the limitation that she knew she would be loyal only so long as Mel was both able to keep her in power as high priestess, and in good standing with Enlilth. Adarmar turned out to be the only real challenge for Empress at the end, and for whatever reasons Jeikdurr and Jazon kept their words to Mel. They can explain why if they want, I'd be interested to know.

Sixth, Enlilth man, good times. Thanks for the empowerment and the talks. Shame we never did get around to that chain damnation or chain blindness or something. That would be cool for a shaman. You can groom your next one. I'm glad you enjoyed the logs I sent (I'll probably get around to posting logs for the rest of you, don't worry), I certainly enjoyed starring in them. I heartily recommend playing an Enlilth character to everyone out there. It's a good experience. Was there anything else you thought I could/should have done? Anything about the religion I flubbed? Would love to hear any other feedback.

Obviously I met and dealt with a lot of people, so I'll just respond to any who post. I logged most of my kills and deaths, so give me some time and I'll get around to posting some. If you have a specific request though, let me know.

Lastly, I deleted because frankly I just got bored. 80% of my deaths came because sanctuary fell at the wrong moment. Seriously. It was so frustrating. 15% came from the same reason most of my characters die: I stay too long and keep fighting when I shouldn't. It's fun, but it gets me killed when I otherwise wouldn't. Oh well. The last 5% were the few times I simply got beat, even when I didn't think there was a chance I'd get beat. Kudos to those few. In the end though, once I got Emperor powers and my full set of eq (which I held onto for about 125 hours I think), I didn't feel like there was any single person I couldn't beat and no one really inspired any fear. One of the few I was looking forward to was Nurok who had killed me when we were younger but who stopped showing up just as I had everything in line. Oh well. Anyway, at that point I'd gone most places, got the eq I wanted, killed virtually everyone, and just didn't fancy another three or four hundred hours of lather, rinse, repeat. I know there would have been a few interesting things along the way, but I was no longer feeling that real excitement and anticipation every time I logged on. Now it was more tedium and fun combined. That's the sign a char is over for me.

And so it is. Thanks for the fun.

Graatch

ps People thought I was Knacnar. People thought I was Russian. People thought I was Arlettien. Over the course of the character I counted 14 different times people said to me (on irc or email and once actually in character) that "graatch is X", and not Melememelem. Some of course did think I was Mem. As enlilth mentioned, she was a drow imperial shaman. Arrogant and abrasive and well spoken (ha!) is prototypical. Evidently I did it well...