Tue Apr 21 18:22:34 2020

At 12 o'clock PM, Day of Deception, 16th of the Month of the Ancient Darkness
on the Theran calendar Angaph perished, never to return.

This one hurts. Angaph probably had the best character arc of any character I've ever played, and I was really hoping to age die him. C'est la vie!

In my mind's eye, I like to think he finally left the Empire, decamped to some anonymous villa in the Angaph region, and enjoyed a short moment of peace before being found and murdered in his sleep. That would be the "happy" version of how his life could have ended. The sad version I'll post later in the form of what would have been my final role entry had I ever managed to seize the throne.

The TL;DR version of my role is that "Angaph" (real name: Joric) tried to cheat the Empire, which responded by murdering his whole family. He survived only through sheer luck, and concluded (correctly) that the he would be hunted for the rest of his life. So he took the Oath under an assumed name ("Angaph") in order to locate and destroy the records implicating him. "Angaph" was the name of a wine region near Tir-Talath whose vintage he had imported in an attempt to undercut Imperial trade interests in Galadon. It blossomed into a whole wine motif that ran throughout my role.

This is also why I never picked a last name. If I'd become Emperor and finally been able to destroy the records, I was going to pick the last name "Joricsson" as an ironic nod to my original given name.

Mechanics wise, I was surprised by how frustrating it was to play Angaph. Really did not anticipate how many of my enemies would have perma-flight, perma-protection, or would be builds that totally outclassed me even under ideal circumstances.

I tried to adopt a posture in raid situations that was informed by the text in the Shadow sect hall. Basically "you're a spy not a soldier". I would almost always try to hang back and steal because it was usually a binary choice between that and direct opposition. Of the two, stealing seemed like it offered much higher odds of thwarting the attackers' goals.

A few personal notes:

Gaspare: Thank you for being awesome. Sorry we didn't get to see how things turned out.

Xiqoanna: Sorry for the cheap kill! In my defense, you were spamming down Eastern Road, not flying, and without Shield of Air. That's just asking to be tripped to death! Nine times out of ten I miss one of those cheap shots and you get away.

Imogrezio: Seems like you know this already, but I was tasked by an NPC with collecting that item of yours (plus two others like it). I got them all, then had to carry them around in my inventory for weeks. Trust me: I wanted to be rid of it as much as you wanted it back! I will add: when you threatened me after the episode in the mausoleum, that was maybe not the wisest thing to do. Most players in my position would have responded by making a point of cleaning your inventory at every possible opportunity.

Nossos: Man did you enjoy defending the Fortress! You really should have gotten me a couple times. Lash/entwine was basically "slay". I could never figure out if you were leading with cranial because you pitied my situation and didn't actually want to kill me, or if it was intentional.

Itzen/Zaol/Inaj: I'm happy to talk about the first vote, but only after Itzen and Inaj are both gone. The details might have implications for one or both of them. Soon maybe!

Ysforgul: Remember when I hinted at how miraculous it was that I managed to get that item from your corpse that one time, but couldn't explain why? The "e" key on my laptop had been coming loose and it fell all the way off during that fight. I was trying to type "get item corpse", "flee" and "tele" by mashing down on the little rubber knob underneath the key cover, which was no longer there.

I didn't blame you for that last death, I could have had trip protection. But I do think it's lame that a hero invoker can be taken out by a lone thief, from full health, with 6-shields up, and not a single chance to put in a command. I thought cheapshot should have been changed after Marcus' thief, but that's just my opinion.

I thought Angaph was classy. I enjoyed our interactions and look forward to your next character.

See you in the fields.

You were the only person I managed to knock out and it only took a level 76 poison to do it. Fighting you made me wish I had gone full thug so that I wasn't a complete punching bag. There is no shame in deleting at 500+ hours. It gets harder as the hours continue.

Since the PBF is now up, here's what I was going to put in as my final entry. This is the "sad" version of Angaph's final days: pyrrhic victory.


role subject Heavy is the Head

Angaph stares at the thin ribbon of smoke as it rises into the air. His
gaze is capture by it, until, at last, torn from his reverie by the heat
at his finger tips, he tosses the last bundle of papers into the
fireplace before him.

It is over. The last record of his treachery reduced to ash. The men
who executed his parents having long since been eliminated, there is now
no longer any living memory of that day save for his own. No memory of
the son who was never found. No memory of Joric. No memory of him.

It occurs to him that it is as if Joric never existed. As if he were
the true fiction and not "Angaph". Was he ever that boy? Or is the
sum of his existence the charade that came after?

The old Shadow Lord leans back in his chair and stretches his legs.

They ache. They never used to do that.

In looking forward to this moment he had always expected it to feel as
if a great weight were lifted from his shoulders, but, now that it's
arrived, if anything he feels even more encumbered.

Holding up the crown in his hand, he tells himself the discomfort is
merely due to the newness of its weight upon his brow, but even as the
thought occurs to him he knows it for a lie. To admit that, however, would
be the end of him. Or, at least, it would be the end of "Angaph".

Gingerly setting the crown upon his head, Angaph takes a deep breath.
For a brief moment he imagines that he detects a new scent on the air.
One of freshly tilled earth and green growing things; of honest work
and aged oak casks. But then, just as quickly, it is gone, replaced by
the familiar sterile smell of the Imperial Throneroom.

Didn't interact with you much but definitely feared you. I was looking forward to some fights but not when I have none of my songs up. When you found me in Aturi scared the ## out of me.

Sad to see you go, seemed like a solid char and good fun opposition where I might have had a slim chance.

See you around.

I really loved Angaph. There was a ton of drama to the character owing to the deception in the role, and he was a very good Shadow Lord. Great roleplay, great Shadow Lord scheming. I could go on -- nothing but great things to say about this character.

I get so excited when I see a thief steal from an overwhelming raiding force. A few times I actually clapped. Great job!

I don't know why each time there is a chance to take the throne everyone are deleting.

I really liked you, though our times never matched and I don't think we ever been together in a fight against enemies. That bear... Still feel guilty for not killing him first. A good lesson of logic - kill a bodyguard first, and his master second!

Enjoyed your works a lot. Pity it couldn't get into the game, would definitely make CF a tiny bit better, but when there are plenty of such 'tiny' inputs, such droplets would create an ocean. This is why I am always trying to add something to the game.

Anyways, good luck with your next nd stay safe!

You certainly kept me on my toes when you were online. I appreciate an enemy that is willing to talk and rp. You deleting caught me totally off guard, especially now seeing how many hours you put in. I wish you good luck on your next and thanks for being a cool player.

I loved how we met (Mausoleum) and how we were able to grow it into something different. Really enjoyed seeing you around (I mean knowing that you were lurking in the shadows somewhere). Big loss for the Empire IMHO.

Nobody other than Angaph would reliably show up with odds against and no codex. Respect for that. Seemingly you avoided a lot of raids, but you were a thief, your class is not especially suited to it. There were some people that you entirely avoided, even if they raided solo, but once again, you were the wrong class to be that solo guy in empire. Reliably stealing the codex from the raiding party was highly amusing, especially when at least one of them could see you.

I would be interested to hear your perspective on the last vote for Emperor.