Thu May 12 12:56:29 2022

At 7 o'clock PM, Day of the Sun, 20th of the Month of the Dark Shades
on the Theran calendar Rahsael perished, never to return.

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.

Thank you for the truly great experiences you contributed to a few years ago. Rahsael was a great idea and an even better implementation of that idea. If I ever return to CF I hope you're around in mortal form. Cheers!

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

If this is your vision of a strange idea, I'd like to petition that you eschew normal ideas entirely. Jokes aside, I think that this idea of your touched on something that I love in fantasy religions, whether they're interactive (via tabletop/mud) or static (in novels or other games). I have always loved gods and religions that exude an aura of mystery and 'otherness'. From what little I saw of the faith, I felt that in spades. Every time I RPed with someone about this religion, it felt like I was stumbling upon an Eldritch cult with enough pull that I coiuldn't help but to pause. It made sense. It drew me in. Most importantly, it gave me questions that were difficult (and exciting) to answer. My only regret is that I was too cowardly to make a follower sooner. I missed my chance to find out the secrets of the religion that I was so curious about. (Insert Loss joke here).

If I ever decide to heroimm in CF, this religion will always be an anchoring inspiration for me.

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

Is this where I spend five or so paragraphs going on and on about the character challenge, the manor, and your areas? Probably not, since it's all on Discord already. They're all amazing.

The Mudlet skin has done more to improve my experience than anything else in CF, and it lowered the barrier to entry for new players by a substantial margin.

Thanks so much for all you've done. I hope you get a chance to come back sometime in the future, even if it's just a throwaway character or two.

I don't know how you do/did it. You brought things to life and made them drip with emotion. Whether it was your roleplay, your stories, or your areas, you set the bar at every level and put the AWE in awesome.

I regret two failed attempts at a Rahsael follower. Each time I felt paper thin and that I'd never reach that level of character depth needed. I wish I could have done it.

I was serious when I teased you about a Netflix D&D tabletop show. You'd be so perfect at it.

I hope you make it back in some shape. Cheers and all the best!

The intensity and quality of your interactions were second-to-none, leading a person from glimpses of joy to earth-shattering emotional devastation and beyond (sometimes all in the span of 10 minutes). An unforgettable time for me. You were the best immortal CarrionFields had to offer, and I'm grateful to have experienced it when I did.

A huge loss to the game, but maybe that's the lesson we all needed.

I totally enjoyed working with you in immland and even butting heads in Empire.
Helping you in quests was a blast and I swear whatever mob I was always in got plastered one way or another. Your creativity and knack for storytelling is a loss for the game. Enjoy CF retirement.. I have done the same too and hung it up.

You might think you've escaped, but there is no rest for the wicked.

Thank you for the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of fun. You brought the world to life, and your character challenges will stand out as the best time I've had in CF.

I hope all is well with you and yours. Buy yourself a beer and pretend it is from me. You deserve a lot of those.

All the best, friend.

Hope you're still involved with the game going forward. Great job on the mudlet gui

Sent from my Iphone