Sun Mar 15 19:29:10 2015

At 3 o'clock PM, Day of the Sun, 27th of the Month of the Dark Shades
on the Theran calendar Altariel perished, never to return.

I really liked this character, but unfortunately I had to delete due to a combination of taking a holiday for 2 weeks, and then coming back to a pile of work which leaves me with little time for CF. Not that it couldn't be strictly done, but with the time constraint it does take the fun out of the game quite a bit.

Mechanics of the build - I don't think I played the build to its full potential. I suspect that I am rusty and no longer as good as I was, so my ratio was lower than it should be given the strength of the build. It's not as OP as many people imagine it to be, because I found it very hard to seal kills. If I wanted to lag, I had to switch to whips - and whips are awful in melee compared to swords. So if you were a melee character you would not want to fight me, and I would not be able to kill you either most of the time. A bit like playing a shield dedicant paladin.

That said when a dex sword STSF warrior has HumanSunder and +15-20 str/dex, she can feel ####ing invincible against many enemies. I had a long streak of uninterrupted PKWins with an amazing set, which I eventually lost when I made some stupid mistakes.

Imperial Offense/Defense is awesome. Blade of the Codex is powerful. Tactics is insanely good. Blade powers are in general really overpowering on a warrior. Even Shove is extremely powerful in its niche. Add to it the fact that there is a largely automated induction process and promotions usually come quick when the cabal is not full, I can see why Empire is the choice of Russian powergamers everywhere. I will try again some day, and hopefully make Emperor.

Thanks and Goodbyes:

Imperials - I went from being alone against multiple enemies most of the time to becoming one member of your massive army. It was alright playing alongside most of you, and I grew to like Khalmarnasa and Kregan.

Khal - wicked emotes. Very flavourful.

Kregan - I liked your attitude as a player, you seemed very decent, positive, and just all-around a good player.

eneth - I remember you took time out to help me when I was just inducted, so it was rather a surprise when Reegun made me War Master over you. Of course you got your own back on Reegun in the end so that was all good.

Auudreyz - you were really helpful and up for anything, and the gear/exploration trips you enabled probably strengthened the Empire as much as your amazingly clutch healing skills did. If only you perma-ed with me, entwine and a healer could've made the entire MUD ragequit

Some Imperials tended to have a rather negative attitude about enemies, which I didn't agree with. Most of the enemies I've faced were sportsmanlike, ready to fight, and some just fought smarter than others, which seems to often arouse complaints about cowardice and such. I'm not sure if it's just RP, but if you guys really believe it - don't. Get better at PK and beat the enemy instead.

Drevzuhl - Hell trip was quite an eye-opening experience for me, so thank you for the invite. It was the first time I've ever even been into Dis, on any character. It was a remarkably well-led trip, and of course it had to be the Gaplemo. Well played and I hope you come back to CF with a major character soon.

I didn't like Reegun, for reasons I think many other players can guess so I will not go into here. I have also a more serious concern about the player, but since the character is active I won't go into that (and I hope no-one on this thread goes into that as well). Of course as a non-IMM I don't have the full picture so take that as you will.

Destuvius - I really wanted to follow you but I think for most of my early life I could never catch you, so we had our first religion chat really late in my life (I was War Master then). It was sad to turn down Satan because of faithfulness to you, since it's perhaps not very likely for me to see Satan again on a future character. You had very good, atmospheric RP, and that added to the experience of interacting with an evil Order god. Thanks for taking the time with me, and I'm sorry the project I wanted to do with you never quite panned out. It would have been a lovely addition.

Avderlain (who gave me an RC contest win) - thanks for liking the role, I thought it was a fairly simple role that gave a straight, convincing one-dimensional sort of background to the character, which really gave me a lot of fuel to RP with. So it turned out to be a good one-dimensional sort of Orderly Bureaucrat/Dictator role. +1 str was my mechanical reward, and it is quite useful without being overpowered. If I didn't tell anyone, my enemies would not even have noticed the difference - yet it does give that small mechanical edge which is nice. For those who might've wondered why I could wield two nightmare swords - that's why.

Enemies - practically all of you were awesome. I can't remember an enemy I thought too badly of.

Aoirse, Magner, battleragers in general, were all good sports and good fights. Magner would destroy me if I were not decked, and would sometimes get destroyed by me as well (especially if I had good gear). Aoirse was surprisingly strong against me with polearms and Trapping. I had to be on Imperial Defense against Aoirse at all times, and even my "offensive mode" had to be Imperial None rather than Offense.

Erouinon - I am extremely pleased to have killed a Jalim Paladin. Well done me. We had good fights, and I think you got me once with a summon into Ostalagiah's arena, which I didn't know was possible. You were clearly a very skilled paladin and I enjoyed our fights. 1-round offhand disarm with whips (high success rate with whips) were clutch against shield Paladins.

Hoysepis - I am very curious who you are and who you've played. You are an amazingly good player. You take controlled risks right on the perfect edge for a tight-aggressive player, and you remind me of Nepenthe, Tongni, and whoever played Flaaayin/Beureunus/Paraloiut/Hexugar.

Liantae - also extremely skilled, if not quite as good as Hoysepis in my opinion. We had a few fights, and they tended to go one way or the other. Assuming equal gear I think I would have the advantage in a cage fight because of Imperial Defense (reduces ripostes from enemy), and whip eyejab/offhand. You and Lilyth were great pains in the posterior.

Raeth - great fights, too bad we didn't have more because it was either you piling too much damage in the wilds on me, or you (correctly) not choosing to fight me in civilized at all. Very talented ranger player, and given the player not at all a surprise.

Outlanders in general were my greatest threats. I can't remember seriously fearing the Fort at all, except for a brief moment when I thought Aelamaelus might be particularly skilled but he didn't turn out to be. (He's pretty good, just not super-elite enough to strike fear with an invoker.)

Elf version of Liantae guy - can't remember your name, but you were shamanman. Great skills, I could not get you. You made the build really shine. You were particularly good at using your axes too.

Sam's 2 goodies - great fights, I like how you're always ready to throw down. However you should exercise more caution

Thanks everyone,
Humbert (starbright on Dio's)

Your skills were obvious. You, Vhelicia and Xeneth all at the same time. I was riddled with supremely competent blades.

You were a class act, and it was a pleasure to take you on your first Satan experience. If I am recalling correctly you were a part of a failed trip a few years ago with a scion maybe and never got to go back. Glad I could accommodate.

Come on back when work is out of the way, CF isn't going anywhere and neither are most of us.

I have always enjoyed your goodies. I enjoyed this evil. Minus of course knowing if I saw you with others online I was likely dead. Or running hard.

I fully understand too the player base getting exceptionally more skilled and me not improving.

Best of luck with the next, whenever it happens.

K

You were awesome and super tough. This is a huge loss.

Hope you had fun while it lasted GLWYN

You were ####ing awesome though.

gr

But you were Erounion. So there.