Thank you all for bringing so much fun, wonder and inspiration to this game and to my life.

Rahsael was a strange idea and I was never sure how players would react to it.

I tried to surprise and confuse people, and I was often surprised back. So many people jumped in and put some real, personal feeling into it: Humor, grief, joy, existential dread. It's so special when things click like that in this game. And it's really the kind of thing that very few other forms of entertainment in any medium can offer.

I'm really proud of the work I've done for the game, in terms of areas, quests, the Mudlet skin, etc.

However, to put it bluntly, I don't like how I left. I vanished for days or weeks, came back and vanished again, and feel like I let some players and IMM colleagues down.

The writing was on the wall for a while: A few things in my personal and professional lives have changed in the past year and a half or so, which have made it nearly impossible for me to be available to play for reasonably long stretches. But I was in denial - I can't throw away all that time! - and then I felt guilty for not being able to do everything I thought this game and its players deserved. Here's hoping that one day, I will be able to return as a player or an IMM.

(Insert Loss joke here.)

I started playing CF around 1997 and have a true love for the game. The people who are keeping it running now are genuinely good people who feel the same way and work a lot of unpaid, unseen and unappreciated hours. Be kind to them.

Writing goodbyes because it always feels insufficient. How do you honor thousands of hours over years in just a sentence or two? I started to type a few out, but I knew I'd inevitably forget something or someone. So I'll cop out and just say that I will do my best to respond to anyone who posts.

Thanks again, everyone.