Sat Mar 10 19:03:16 2012

At 4 o'clock PM, Day of Deception, 16th of the Month of Nature
on the Theran calendar Mauz perished, never to return.

I just read your role on PBF and I thought it was terrifically creative. Two cents from someone who managed to get on the pillar before roles even existed.

T

I felt like Mauz's role was one of the least creative ones I've come up with. I didn't even enter a role contest with it because I felt it wasn't up to par with Homard or Eck, both of whom were role contest winners.

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Sometimes a quirky, cute role that's elegantly done hits home for me more than some of the long, overwrought, and in some cases self-masturbatory roles that proliferate these days.

HAW! Bloody figures I was your last kill. I even went out and was collecting "specialty" items to kill you! Bastard, revenge taken away again.... Not that it probably would have happened but us short gnome can have dreams too!

**Does his best Daevie impession screaming "MORTAL KOMBAT!.... errr MAUZ KOMKAT!" **

GLWYN!

From what I saw you did a great job. Always a quality character from you, keep them coming!

-----------------
"My view of Borkahd IC"
If you anger him, he'll rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin into his clothing. And if you're very, very lucky, he'll do it in that order. ~Twist

So, after playing Shinju, my ESL Maran Elf Invoker, I was all ready to hit the Fortress again with what I
believe is an absolutely killer role. Then I got a bunch of PMs on Dios about how The Village was really
sucking wind and needed someone to come in and be a role model.

I adapted a role I had written that very heavily relied on the old Chess Tower that I thought I would have
to scrap because I really don't know too much about the new Game Garden, but decided to run with it.

Mauz represents over 2000 Village hours for me and is far and away, in my opinion, the closest I have come
to playing a Pillar-worthy character. He represents the best aspects of Homard and Eck, who were each successes
in their own right, as far as I'm concerned, but taken to a new level.

-Where I went wrong 1: In hastily throwing together this character I, as I always do, picked a Thror sphere,
hoping to shoehorn him into something possibly tat-worthy. As he evolved I tremendously regretted not taking
a more honest approach and making him sphere Love, as his love for The Village was his defining characteristic.

To make a long story short, he was conceived as sort of an Acolyte of Battle. It was extremely important that
he not be a Defender, though, as it would be too easy for the huts to confuse his care for them as simply care
of their bodies. He wasn't concerned with their health at all. He was concerned about their hearts, souls, and
huts. Which leads me to...

-My views on The Tablet and Plaque: My interpretation of these writings is that a Villager should not ever
initiate combat against a non-mage, other than a Scion, Nexun, or someone titled "Hunted by Battle." The only
exception to this is the tactic of attacking a groupmate (usually a support class) so that another Villager
can kill a mage, though in this case the goal should be to drive them off if possible without killing them.

This took me to a place that, as far as I know, I killed exactly one person not condoned by Village Dogma.
Rogran came to retrieve the Scales and I killed him. If one other character who attacked me was not a Scion
Pledge, as I thought, that number rises to two. Just for the record I made my peace with Rogran and I'm pretty
sure I helped him hero.

-My Views on The Siege and Skirmish: I interpret the writings of Thror to mean that The Ruins are as good as
The Village proper when it comes to parity. That said, I would warn almost anyone who was not an enemy to
leave The Ruins. Very often those who did not wished they had, though rarely by my hand. I also don't believe
that a knocked out PC is part of a "claimed fight" unless there has been blood drawn. I see no breach of parity
in waking up someone knocked out by bardsong or a thief or unbinding someone bound. I also don't really see
things that don't initiate combat as being enough to warrant a fight being "claimed." This includes faerie fog
and poison darts.

These views, along with my role, put me in some extremely awkward situations. Most notably was Atracius's death to
Bolvik in The Ruins. Basically, I watched a close fight between the two without stepping in and Bolvik killed
Atracius. It didn't seem to me that Atracius had a chance in hell of losing the fight (I didn't realize he was
slowed) and I personally hated it when I was fighting someone in The Ruins and someone would run in, cranial them
and take the kill from me. Lohakhan (a ghost at the time) lambasted me over CB, but then Atracius, in an awesome showing,
reformed and went to kill Bolvik at his inners to get his rings back. This proved to me that I was correct in not
stepping in and Atracius (a Fjarn follower, nonetheless) had proven his mettle tenfold and done it with the utmost
honor, too.

Then there was the time I let Xazzax die. First I have to say: holy crap, Maran, can you guys chill out? After
seeing what you've been doing I am so glad I didn't go with my initial idea and roll another Fortie. Do you really
need to bring such numbers against a Defender? In any event, a time or two Xazzax would be getting ganged and I'd
jump in, dust the crowd and we'd run off. I desperately didn't want to kill any Forties as Mauz felt that there was
a slippery slope involved where it would be too easy to start preemptively killing certain non-enemies and it was
just a line he didn't want to cross. In any event, one time at The Inn I dusted and then fled when I saw that one of the
Forties was near death and I was about to kill him. I don't have the mental acuity to make humongous moral decisions
in the timespan of one round of CF combat. I erred on the side of caution and fled, and he died and I felt like a
heel, but hoped that history would repeat itself and some greater lesson would be learned.

No lesson was learned, but in what ended up being one of the great moments of this character's life (despite the shame
I, the player, felt) just about every Village mob discussed the situation over CB with myself and the Drow. Foolishly
I thought I was logging it, but I didn't. I assume it was Thror behind the mobs, but whomever it was I applaud you.
That is one of the reasons that I play this game, for moments like that. Thank you so much, and Xazzax, I'm sorry.

-On The Rites: This was a little complicated. I wanted Commander, but I also knew that Salyeris was, far and away, the
best candidate. I decided ahead of time that if she didn't show up I was going to give it my all, if she did, I was
going to do what I had to do to make sure she got the position. Then I beat her in the single-combat portion, which was
stupid on my part, but in the end I was mostly happy with the way it turned out. By no means did I want Drillmaster,
so Iepnier, I was legitimately happy for you, but more on that later. Finally, finally, finally getting a "Veteran"
title meant much more to me, in the end, then getting Drillmaster again would have.

Mauz had a very specific position in The Village, to support the huts. I don't know if anyone noticed this, but 95% of
the time that a Villager directly asked me for help with something I jumped on it as quick as possible, no matter
what it was. A couple of times I could not help people rank and I generally wouldn't open a guild if there were a bunch
of Tribunal standing around as the mage almost always teleports anyway and there's not much gain. It's easy to support
the huts from among them. I first tried to do this with Eck, in the last fifty hours of his life, and it resulted in a
shift in my perception of how much influence a player can have on this game. It's also possible to support the huts from
the position of Commander, but the Drillmaster needs to keep the huts in line, not support them, and that was anathema
to Mauz's role.

-On Titular Rewards: I've desperately wanted "Veteran of Battle" for Eck, so was extremely happy to get the title with
Mauz. As for Mageslayer, I was thrilled beyond belief, but Lohakhan's sour grapes tainted it significantly for me. All in
all, I really, really appreciate the recognition.

I know I didn't have as many kills as many Villagers in the past, but it can be difficult when The Village is this strong.
Going head to head with so many skilled players for the handful of magi who are brave enough to not log off is tough. Also,
I tried my damdest to make sure that the end result was a dead mage, not necessarially by my hand. If there was a gnome
shifter gambling at the Inn, I'd try to call in a mace or axe spec as I had no way to effectively guarantee that kill.
Likewise, I'd try to keep tabs on who I thought was in Arial city and let flying or climbing guys know who I thought was
up there, rather than waiting below the canyon. All in all, I hope I had a lot of PK assists via CB, not just via
"murder mage."

-On a couple of other times I dropped the ball. I got snarky with Eleagra one time and got admonished for it by a voice.
I just can't stand Eleagra. The good news is that she seemed to be too dumb to know I was being snarky with her. I also
was having an extremely bad day the time the lowbie Felar snagged some nice gear out of my corpse. I don't mind getting
looted, but lowbie looters bug the crap out of me, as it's been my experience that nine times out of ten I will never see
them again. I got snarky with the lowbie. The lowbie was granted Nightreaver. I congratulated the lowbie. The lowbie then
deleted a few days later. The end result was not far off from what I expected.

Goodbyes:

-IMMS:

Thror: Thanks for Everything. You remain my absolute favorite. Thank you for the interactions (I assume some were you.)
Thanks for the Con quest. Every time I need a Con quest my brain starts screaming at me to just go to Iunna. Just go to
Iunna (or in this case Iunna or Fjarn.) But then the masochist in me takes hold and I climb the mountain and start praying
for Thror. I initially thought I'd go for your tattoo, but in the end my beliefs were too in conflict with your religion
to go for it. I'm glad to see that there are more and more sappers around. I think when I came to you for con you thought
I was going to ask for some training. Perhaps I should have. I'm appreciated your words of support just before The Rites.
You are a tremendous boon for the game and I support the way you run the cabal fully.

Fjarn: Sooner or later I'm coming for you with a full-on empowerment class. I have thought you're fantastic for a long time
now. I know you're busy, but when you are around it's always good. The time I came to your shrine I wasn't looking for any
real interaction, just more of a "hey, I finally found it," but I appreciate that you reached out and offered me a chance
to catch up with you.

Marcatis: Immolating me for killing a Trib was awesome. More of this, please.

Scarabeus: The three minutes I spent in your presence left me wanting more.

Neltouda: I really wanted to partake more in your gourmet food event at the Inn, unfortunately my girlfriend wanted to
watch a movie and she trumps the wishes of both a God and a Veteran of Battle, but I wanted to thank you for dumping
way too much IMMxp on me the next time I logged in. It was very much appreciated, though completely undeserved.

-Battle:

Salyeris: You are tremendous. From our first interactions I had you pegged as a future leader. It was a pleasure and an
honor to run around with you so much. Having a bard in The Village is always a game changer, but you were enough to swing
the entire length of the spectrum. If you were on, we were going to dominate. That's awesome. I also am deeply appreciative
that you would weigh my decision as equal to your own or The Drillmaster's. I always try to play a decent Villager, and
realizing that made me feel like I had truly succeeded with this character. The thing that I will miss most about Mauz is
running around with you.

Iepnier: People are ####s. I got a lot of tells after you were chosen saying that I should have been DM. I told everyone
that while I could see where they were coming from, you were a fine choice. Then you actually started drilling and I
became convinced that you were going to be great in the position. Personally I think you're doing an awesome job. I'd
invite anyone critical of you to play an assassinate-y Village assassin and walk a mile in your shoes before they
criticize you.

Lohakhan: You are a ####. I like you, but you are a ####. As you can see from Salyeris's post in the other thread, my
defense of you was the only reason you had a hut. Yet you got extremely pissy with me over the MageSlayer title. The truth
is that Mauz, the character, was willing to defend you, but me, the player, would have booted you ten times over. I defended
you to our enemies, to our comrades, to our leaders, to everyone and you repaid me by being a ####. Thanks. Also, I know how
the friggin' "War on Magic" list visible to Village leaders works. However, the fact is that you throwing around terms like
"Butcher," "Executioner," and "MageSlayer" as if they were on the stats page in the newspaper is blatantly OOC and bugged
the crap out of me during that one conversation. You're doing much, much better with each progressive character, but you need
to relax and spend some time thinking about things before you act or speak. There is a mountain of nuance to this game that
you simply do not get. I want to see you succeed in your endeavors, but you need to reflect on things a lot more than you do
currently. Which brings us to

Boggom: I don't know if you were drunk or stoned the night that it was just you and I on and you basically went through
half the cabal leaders back to and including Ahteli and told me how much better you were than all of them. It was sorely
tempting to break role and assassinate you. Eck probably would have, but Mauz simply could not, so I coddled your insanity
and agreed with everything you said. However, I knew many of those characters and I'm sorry, you stood no chance against most
of them. Your inflated ego, both in game and on the forums is why you don't get the things you want. You are your own worst
enemy.

Xazzax: You are an absolute beast and it is extremely tempting for me to roll up an evil Defender to give you some support,
because I know how hard it is for you, in a full Village, to be one of two Defenders. I'm sorry I screwed up that time with
the Maran. It was, again, one of those moments where I struggled to make a moral judgment in a matter of seconds. After the
fact I can admit that I, the player, made the wrong choice. I apologize for that. You are doing a great job.

Zasmos: One of my favorite Villagers of all time. There have been few people to make me laugh in this game as consistently as
you have managed. Thank you. Your RP is absolutely top notch.

Jastyna: You are a tremendous boon to the Village.

Djetmai: I have a Berserker Thief role in the works and watching you has helped me think about how to best approach the tactical
side of things. Since day one my brain insists that you are a Duergar, but I don't think I ever made that mistake IC. I really
liked running around with you.

Drothgar: You are the future of The Village. Your RP is superb and since before you were an applicant I have taken your words as
sage wisdom. I have nothing but love for this character.

Caitlyan: Kudos on choosing a rough path into The Village. One of the reasons I've become a serial Thror follower (in one way
or another) is because I've found that overcoming obstacles makes for better, more interesting characters. I'm not saying that
everyone should get 100 hours of syphilis as a character builder, but it worked for me and hooked me on suffering through
hardships on the way to greatness. I think you'll do tremendous things for The Village.

Akedeh: Thank you for the induct. It was an honor to serve with you, however briefly.

Tontik: I think I said everything I needed to say in your thread, but you were awesome.

Bolzhor: Asking me to kill all six types of magi before you'd speak for me was one of those character builders I was going on
about above. Mauz, though, was too soft on the applicants, and never asked any of them to replicate this task, but thank you
for asking it of me.

Ileurha/Mamangava/the rest: Thank you for providing me with an awesome experience. I hope I didn't get too many of you killed
too many times or lead you astray. It would be nice if someone would continue my work on The Powers of The Head.

Faulkren: I broke my promise to you. I swore I'd never speak of luck again, but after fighting Solec a million times it became
clear that luck has its place in Thera. Unfortunately, that place is tattooed on a manticore's ass.

-Nexus:

Solec: Loved the character, hated the forms. Porcupine was bad enough for a Felar (and every time I died to it, someone in
the peanut gallery would tell me to "just use a spear or a staff") but Manticore was ridiculous. Eventually I got to the point
where nothing you could do with it would surprise me. It poops quicksand and entwines me with its wang? Wouldn't have
surprised me a bit. You were the only one that really, really super had my number. Getting away from you was a victory, making
you run (required full health + trance + thirst + luck) would make my day. I'm generally reluctant to call anything OP, but
manticore comes close in my book. You're doing a great job leading Nexus, by the way.

Ghafler: Absolutely stand up. Killer character, Dwarfy as all hell. Most of the time amazing players end up as Rhyme, and I
have had tremendous respect for most of them, but you take the cake. Keep up the good work.

Cersee: I'm generally fond of you, but sometimes you come across as inebriated. That's okay, but it left me scratching my
head once or twice. I think you're the reason that Quicksand (thankfully) got toned down a bunch.

Kii: As annoying as a thief should be. You're doing it successfully, but it's annoying, so good job.

Arigan: Probably my favorite current Nexun. I've been known to make snarky comments about you on CB, and at least one of them
ended up in a log on Dio's. I want you to know that it was all IC. Mauz didn't think you were a great healer, but he and I
respect the hell out of you. You're a game changer, but you're fallible, which is very humanizing and makes me root for you.
It's clear that you respect The Village, especially in a time when there's a lot of hatred towards us, and I appreciate that.
Thank you.

Wouso: It saddened me that you passed with no fanfare.

Petcher: I know what it said, but I refuse to believe for a minute that you were not the mastermind behind every nefarious
deed perpetrated by The Nexuns in the fifth age. The idea that you were not a member of the Island is absurd. I am sorely
disappointed that I never got you.

Jhen: Keep it up and you'll do great things eventually. Your lack of fear is refreshing and I hope you learned a thing or
two from our fights.

Shiul: Your comments and subsequent rage delete bothered me tremendously. I was 100% completely unaware that you were
awake. Mauz never once "rang the bell" to get the attention of a caballed enemy. I, the player, find that to be pretty
lazy. If I'm attacking your guardian it's because I'm here for your item. The day of your rage-delete I tried to drum
up support for taking the Key, as I often did and got a couple of people to agree to join me. Unfortunately, they were
warranted and got stuck along the way due to trouble with the law. I struck the Guardian. You evidently thought I was
there for you, which I wasn't. We fought a bit. Lohakhan logged on, I told him I needed help taking the Key, he ran in
and cranialed you as he did to a bunch of other people. I didn't "call him in" to our fight. I wanted the Key, you
weren't even part of the plan. I didn't even know you were around. I'm sorry you thought I'd call someone in to gang
you down.

-Scion:

Rindros: Amazing. I hated your familiar with a passion. You play the Chancellor like he is supposed to be played. I can't
believe how fast you got that nightgaunt after me that one time on Eastern. I ran for the water and it was on me before
I hit the gates of Hamsah. Nasty, nasty stuff, but you have done it extremely well.

Kiraava: I hardly think that having Djetmai wake me up one time is "breaking the tablet." I'm sorry he chose to garotte you,
but the fact is that we had not yet crossed blade with claw, so as far as I'm concerned if he wanted a shot at you it was
his prerogative. Also, why does the second most evil mortal in the lands give a whit about about some barbarian dogma?
Also, one time you made a comment about how I prevented you from fighting Lohakhan "alone" when it was clearly you and
Krunk vs. him. I think you tend to exaggerate a lot.

Scree: I wish things had gone differently with you. I'm sorry for the part I played in your demise. I ran up to the Fort
thinking that I could get the drop on you or Eachainn, or both. I failed to account for quicksand at The Maran, but once
I fell in I had little choice but to thirst. There was no way I could stand in front of two invokers and hope to live without
it. I would have guarded your corpse, but The Maran got the last shot in. I'm sorry you let yourself auto over losing some
gear as it was clear that you were probably capable of eating faces naked.

Feyhan: I liked you. A lot. I enjoyed talking to you and generally wasn't looking to get into a fight with you, as you often
had Maran to contend with and I didn't want to contribute to your woes. There were some slightly compromising situations with
you, like when we were both stuck at level 48 and you asked me to hit the storm giants with you. I was very, very tempted,
as a player, but Mauz couldn't let himself be seen in that sort of light. I'm sorry, I really would have liked to have ranked
a bit with you, if only to say that we had. As for Maran raiding the Chasm, while I didn't want to be seen as defending the
Scepter ever, I wish I had been able to pick off a mage or two and help you out. You're doing a killer job.

The Scion Zoo: You guys are tough and I'm proud of myself for often being able to hold my own against you.

-Fort:

Vallinane: I liked our relationship. I'm sorry you guys have gone so over the top with ganging evils. I realize the RP of it
being totally on the up and up and, especially in your case, how your skills lend themselves to it, but man, cut some of those
dudes some slack. All in all, I think you're doing a killer job.

Eachy: The time you came and attacked Eleagra who was attacking the giant you put me in an awkward situation. I decided to just
thirst and see what happened, as I couldn't decide who was better to go after, the raider or the mage. I know you didn't like
that, but hey, you're a mage.

Cardinal: Thanks for that talk that one night.

Vozmuir: I dug you, but it was only in the past few days that I realized (via a log) that you're a fela. Sorry I never picked
up on that. I'm glad it was only you and I contending for all the high end felar_only gear. I think we each held a bunch of it
for a good long time.

Uncaballed:

Krunk: You are the Fwipplethunt of Orcs. It is a terrible injustice that you're not running the Grinning Skulls. You make
orcing look easy, when I know it's anything but. Your RP is superb and you are a total badass. I hated seeing you around,
but I love seeing you around, if you know what I mean.

Eleagra: I hear good things about you, but all I ever got was bash. To me you came across like an aggro mob, nothing more.

Petcher: You're up with the Nexuns. You know why.

-It's been a long run and I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of folks, and probably only said a fifth of what I originally intended
to say, but this is getting long enough, so I just want to thank everyone for making this such a great game. I hope I've helped
make it as fun for you as you have for me. I owe each and every one of you.

My caballed heroes have been:
Mauz Komkat, the Unremitting Leopard, Veteran of the Great Siege, MageSlayer
Shinju Grapetender the Weaver of the Elements
Eck Nestless Dai Sensei of the Miyama Ryu
Homard Brokenstone the Sapper-Trained of the Forge, Drillmaster of Battle
Macaca Oxtail the Legend of the Battlefield
Landser Lunikoff the Legend of the Battlefield

-Homard, Wrathpuppet on Dio's

So I literally stopped what I was doing...

- Administrating CF
- Troubleshooting two Computer Systems
- Watching Immortals

...to drop your global death echoes. That's how much I enjoyed this character. He was fantastic. I've got to get back to several of these things but you'll get a measure of how I felt for Mauz based on his echoes. Outstanding job.

I'll post more thoughts/input soon.

Damn. I just got back from a day spent at a volleyball tourney, and I receive this horrible news. I loved Mauz and his great presence, and although I never thought of Mauz as soft, I did think of him as mothering and oddly soothing to have around, which is strange to feel when near a shield-chewing raging feline of death. GLWYN.

I felt like an idiot trying to get my role across to Akedeh, but I was really going for an Acolyte of War. He questioned how he could possibly expect to have a non-combatant in The Village (as Fort Acolytes tend to take a backseat to the killing) and I hope I got across that I had already spilled a bunch of blood and was definitely going to spill a bunch more.

If you were soothed, I feel that I succeeded.

Thank you.

I could be mistaken but you were the only one to get Bolzhor's recommendation, and this was at a time Tontik had said no more berserkers.

Great character, make more soon!

He had excellent presence and never set a single foot into the land of really questionable village behavior, which is really a lot harder than it looks. I thought he was a really quality character.


Regarding ganging: I really don't have a problem with ganging, especially when its on character I stand very little chance of beating alone. Xazzax is one of those characters: he's played by a fairly experienced player, and all he needs to do to kill me was type entwine, and maybe eyejab, and then wield his daggers and go grab coffee. Meanwhile, if I want to kill Xazzax, I have to garrotte him, get EVERY bind to connect, drag him to a favorable position, steal all his weapons, recite several preparations, and only then do I have a reasonable chance of killing him without getting my face torn off. Not only is this a lot of trouble and time, its also very difficult to set up, and would be annoying for both Xazzax's player and me to deal with.

Against a build like Iepnier's, for example, I'm more willing to go 1v1 because I'm not guaranteed death in one command and I actually have a chance at beating him. There's a lot less risk, and a much higher chance of success. So I didn't try to gang him down all the time, like I do with entwine characters.

That being said, I thought Vallinane was pretty nice to evils in the village. Yes, he did gang them down, but thats part and parcel of playing village. Vallinane could have been SO much meaner. I'd walk past evil villagers to attack scion or empire, I'd ignore evil villagers at their most vulnerable (retrieving the head from nexus, or fleeing the village at low hp after an unsuccessful defense) when I could have happily farmed them for some of the easiest peekays ever. If I killed an evil villager previously in the login, I would try to leave them alone unless something else forced my hand, like them attacking me or the people I was with. I didn't even steal from them unless I had a really good justification to (example: Xazzax jacked my weapons first )

I could have knocked out villagers that I had no chance of killing and left them fully bound on eastern for nexus/chasm/empire gangs to tear apart, I could have dragged them to a river and stolen all their boats, given their locations away to their enemies, etcetera and so forth.

Long story short, from my perspective, for every massive gang I set up on villagers, I walked past several opportunities for more easy peekays and didn't lift a finger. You don't see that part as easily.

I don't even know why I'm trying to justify it: villagers are vuln_gank, its part of the package they get for permanent aura/shield. It's only perfectly natural that their enemies would try and take advantage of that, especially when their enemies are at a disadvantage in 1v1 situations.

"I'm sorry he chose to garotte you, but the fact is that we had not yet crossed blade with claw."

I was 60% health when I recalled from Yindathos to begin with which you attacked me instantly as if you were pit sitting, second off you were convulsing after I retaliated and we had been fighting for hours in Hamsah before he garrotted and bound me so you could get away scott free, and I saved the log so lying is kind of poor taste on your part. I had a previous rager and I liked you, opposite side just didn't match that experience and that's why I was so surprised I guess.

Either way, no need to not be constructive on an obviously decorated con death so good luck with your next.

I'm going to see if I have it logged.

I'll get back to you.

I glimpse you in Arkham.

Find you in Hamsah.

Attempt to dart you. (Again, I don't consider this an attack any more than faerie fog, but YMMV.)

You sleep me.

I request help from Djetmai.

He shows up and attacks you (Would have preferred he just wake me up.)

He wakes me up and runs off.

You attack me and nearly kill me.

I escape.

He knocks you out and ties you up. (The implication of this escaped my attention at the time, what with all the vanishing and waiting for fantasia of illusion to fall, but you have a valid point, however accusing anyone of "breaking the Tablet" over one instance isn't a valid complaint as the Tablet itself states that "repeated" instances are a violation. I'm sorry that I missed the full implications of this, but you had done a pretty good job of making sure that I was incredibly distracted with all the bardsong.)

I'm far from perfect, but I was trying to play as close to perfect as I could with this character. I ####ed up a few times and I admit it, but on the whole think I did better than most Villagers manage.

So I'll admit that I screwed this one up, but not as badly as you seem to think, as I don't think that by darting you I make you "mine." But I suspect we're going to disagree on that one.

Congratulations on getting Advisor.

I can't say how much I, as a player, respect you, as a player, for successfully playing something like Mauz. Mauz was a villager that no one should complain about, and one that any village player would be well served by attempting to emulate.

Krunk even had a soft spot for Mauz. Mauz wasn't part of the trio that ended up with Krunk as "Hunted", despite being around during that time. Mauz seemed willing to fight, even knowing how badly that would turn out a good portion of the time. I certainly felt bad for you more or less any time Krunk ended up killing you, or worse, ganging you down from time to time. Krunk definitely targeted other villager before you and the only reason he came after you as much as he did was you were so damn slippery that actually landing a kill felt like an accomplishment. That and Mauz make gud arts.

If you are wondering what to play next, there is another village that can always use new whelps. Whatever you play, good luck, and Mauz was awesome. Thanks for playing him, you made everyone's CF experience better in my opinion.

Wow of all the good things I can say about you, I think the best would be that I wanted to kill you more than any other, not out of hatred but out of respect. Anyone who wishes to excel in the fields should have taken notes from Mauz. Ghafler being all about respect, respected Mauz more than any other villager. I am quite sad for the village and myself, because having an enemy such as you is what makes the fields special. I can only hope that Ghafler made your time as enjoyable as you have his. /Bow GLWYN

"Arigan: Probably my favorite current Nexun. I've been known to make snarky comments about you on CB, and at least one of them
ended up in a log on Dio's. I want you to know that it was all IC. Mauz didn't think you were a great healer, but he and I
respect the hell out of you. You're a game changer, but you're fallible, which is very humanizing and makes me root for you.
It's clear that you respect The Village, especially in a time when there's a lot of hatred towards us, and I appreciate that.
Thank you."

Thanks for the words. Mauz was one of those feared guys that I always knew was going to be a complete class act. I wish I had been around for your last death, I would have written something for you as well, now I'll just have to think of incorporating you into something somehow. Good luck with the next.

I can just say that I hope to build a character like Mauz (not race/class) in the future. GLWYN

...and was always impressed. Very well done.

=w=

I mean that in the best sense. I was trying my own felar rager assassin at the time, and I definitely felt like a second-class Mauz at best. In seriousness, I was frustrated with my character already, and with Mauz around it certainly didn't feel like I was leaving anyone hanging. Since then, I've only had a sideline view of Mauz, but you were always just as classy as ever.

I'm sure you'll be back around shortly, hopefully it'll be on my side!

Really sad to see you go. I learned a lot watching you in action and truly enjoyed our interactions and adventures. From everything that I saw, you were as honorable as they come. Solid.

As for the battle with Kiraava, I acted on my own there and did things differently than you would have, no doubt, but I also thought you would understand. Never got the chance to catch up after that day. Pretty sure I never initiated combat (didn't log the fight, I guess I could be wrong about that; all happened pretty quick)--thinking I walked into a song when I came to wake you up. I knocked Kiraava out to slow him down, as you had fallen back, and had no intentions of doing anything more. As I saw it, it was well within role and duty. Others may have different opinions and I can understand that. Regardless, anything Kiraava would criticize about that fight had nothing to do with your actions--those were mine. You were solid as always.

The practical implications and interpretations of the Tablet, the interactions of other players, and the RP aspects of why things are done as they are are not always clear cut. It can be easy for any of us to pass judgements on complex situations--not so much unlike real life.

Anyhow, really well done. I look forward to crossing paths in the future. Best of luck with your next character(s) and in all aspects of real life.

Losing a stand out villager like Mauz is going to hurt the village, no doubt about that. From day one among the Battleragers for me to the very end Mauz was pretty much always on point, and you made my life a lot easier at times. And you would occassionaly just say things on CB that would have me laughing, a felar lends itself to some fun jokes and I'm glad you always played along with it.

That fight in the Rites was utterly painful though I am glad it was you I got to fight. But damn were you beating my ass, I am guessing martial trance was involved, but small areas were just not suited for me to fight you. But I did fiend Thror by mistake at least before you whipped me down.

More than welcome to come back to the village you know, I would enjoy seeing what you bring next to the Battleragers.

I laughed at the line in your role about Salyeris as commander or someone more fuzzy. I couldn't have agreed more, fuzzy would have been fine with me. You earned a voice that I respected, there is no doubt about that.

Good luck with whatever comes next. (BATTLERAGER please.)

It had to happen sooner or later. Mauz was a standup villager, and I very much enjoyed and appreciated what you brought to the village. For a little while I thought you were a fjarn follower . Those hard rp decisions are what makes a character, and it was nice to see you stick to your guns.

I'm actually pretty sad that mauz kicked the bucket. He was a great influence.

I truly liked Mauz. Congratulations on the success you had with him, I am sure it is a good feeling as it sounds from your echoes your name will grace the pillar. I thought we got along great and you seem to have the general consensus that you were one tough cat. Good luck with your next!

A couple of thoughts from this old Dog.

Mauz was a treat to watch. In fact, I didn't start really paying him attention until the later parts of his life (mostly due to my availability) but what I saw was consistency. A measure of a character is usually based on how consistently they can portray their role. You did this perfectly.

Three highlights of this character's life:

1: Interacting as the village mobs with what was obviously a conflicted Felar. You made that interaction happen. Xazzax played a large role in it also. I hope you understand that there is NO wrong, but justification of what you feel is right is always important.

2: The Rites. You age/con really didn't help you in this situation. While you didn't do exceptional in the Rites, you did contribute in all of the day to day areas of Battle and thus earned the title as Veteran. We haven't given that out as of late so take it for the honor it is. Your role started reminding me of Daerkshyn, an exceptional Felar in Battle. Read up on him if you don't know his story.

3: Con Quest - I generally don't like giving these out but you made it worthwhile. It was easy to decide what would work well for you. My interactions are meant to be rare and full of depth. They are meant to be thought-inspiring. I have changed from being the always visible, constantly present Immortal to the one that watches silently, putting trials in front of you to determine whether your consistent with your beliefs. I find it refreshing to approach mortals with a different persona, as would the Greek Gods. I most enjoy when players embrace this and reward them handsomely for their efforts.

In short, this was a fantastic character. You always manage to get your character's personality out to the rest of the characters in the mud and with that you will continue to be a successful contribution to this game.

Great job!

I think it's important for characters to have conflicts. Otherwise you should just be playing Call of Duty. Sometimes this affects other players' funsticks, but on the whole I think that having complex interactions provides a far superior experience overall than just playing My Team vs. Their Team.

Actually Graatch helped shape my views on this when I was playing Macaca. He was playing his Herald bard whom I had always been friendly with and I sent him a tell one day and he drunkenly told me (basically) to screw off and leave him alone. Later it was revealed that he was RPing a bender after killing a sentient being, something that was anathema to his role. If I wanted cut and dried interactions I'd play some other game.

I totally support you being an invisible presence in the game as one thing that there is simply not enough of (in my opinion) is player/mob interactions.

Thank you again for everything.

I'm glad someone appreciated that. Thank you and I'm even more glad it inspired you. That's something I can feel good about.

Limited but thought provoking interactions with Bezzilian have definitely helped shape my approach to RP.

And Susu was Drillmaster as I was cutting my teeth in Battle with my first hero and remains a tremendous influence on ever one of my Villagers. There's no way Mauz comes into existence, never mind makes it to The Pillar without me spending those harsh hours under Susu.

You take a lot of crap, but you've always done right by me, both in game and on the forums.

nt