Posted by Imbrogno(VIP) on December 21, 2000 at 18:22:06:
I don't know how many remember this character, or care. But to simply lapse into silence does not seem right for an avatar that I have cherished for so long. I have been on CF for about five years now, on and off. And Vaelyn was my second BattleRager (the first being a dwarf named Kelthor, during the time of Abernyte). On the whole, I am a perpetual newbie with little or no PK skills... hence, Battle was not the natural choice. I had an RP idea however, I wanted to play Vaelyn... and so I rolled him up and Aniedra admitted him :) Probably going to embarass myself by saying this, but I had harboured hopes of immorting Vaelyn. With the dismal PK record and poor area (and game mechanics) knowledge though, I kind of knew it wasn't going to happen. Even so, I enjoyed the character and really liked some of the people I encountered in the Village... so I remained. 237 hours, not long - I know. But for someone with a short attention span... not bad. The only other char I'd ever invested about as much time in was Ursak, an obscure Knight character. What prompted me to go? Well, work commitments and other IRL matters have not left me with the time and mental/emotional fortitude for long hours of MUDding. And for someone playing a caballed character, that is not a good thing. Add to that the fact that Battle has, it seems, been going through a rough patch of late and... Well, I recently logged on hoping to fight a few fights and immerse myself in the feel of Vaelyn again. Encountered Hymshrawr who questioned my absence but welcomed me back quite warmly. The next day, I logged on and encountered Brakak... a decently RPed character (whose player I bear no ill will against) who again questioned me and kept questioning me throughout my stay. I'm sure the problem of absentee Ragers must chafe on the nerves of those who show greatly... I've felt the same before, when I was active with Vaelyn and the Village was empty during the hours I kept. So Brakak expressed his sentiments to me. I reflected, and ultimately, I realised that he was right. It's not fair to other players to maintain a hero Rager when you know you cannot put in the hours required of you. That hut should be cleared to make room for others. I would have deleted but, a long time ago, Vaelyn vowed to himself not to go the way of Barsimmon and Vizarsh (great leaders and players both, mind you - but for IRL reasons they deleted). The other thing I could have done would have been to retire from the Village and keep Vaelyn around as an independent. But I'd always envisioned him dying in service of the cause... con-dieing won't happen with my limited time on Thera though. So, I've simply taken the decision to let him autodelete. In my mind, for the sake of story continuity, I say to myself that he's still out there, fighting for what he believes in... an old 'warrior' riding off into the sunset. Never to be seen again. One thing I wish to make clear, it was not the 'bad times' that kept me from the Village... that came about quite a while after Vaelyn's hiatuses started to grow in length. With Ursak I learned early on not to cherish gear and not to fear for life but to simply do what felt right RP wise. Ack, this is getting longish. Time for my goodbyes: BATTLE - A great cabal, the RP standards aren't as sucky as some might think :P So many to thank, Aniedra for inducting and inspiring me, Kealiran and Hratnak for being 'mentors' in a fashion, Tyranathas, Varg and Rio for friendship. So many other names and interesting characters come to mind that I would have liked to have interacted with more: Ikemasuka, Barsimmon, Jorg, Kaejof, Vizarsh, Tarakh etc MASTERS - Most of you that I encountered have good RP... I enjoyed a few very memorable conversations with the likes of Bfarido, Valguarnerra and Annabelle (that one was more of a brief exchange actually - but still :P). Never did learn to fight the Planewalkers e.g. Balkesar, Joeter. Had an interesting run-in with Rywald one day, in cabal limbo *sighs* *winks* Note that I don't comment on PK fights much because I was usually on the losing side and rarely hunted you anyway... I preferred to restrict my 'Rager RP' to fighting the golem and Archmage and having discussions with assorted mage characters. SYLVAN - Didn't know many of you... chameleoned/camo'ed the one thing that an assassin can't see. There was Evelyn. EMPIRE - I respected Drindremre alot somehow... and there was Joshu's conjurer who dealt me some serious hurt one day. Generally didn't have much of a problem fighting the Empire though, and I ended up killing the Vanquisher and Omegus alot more than I did the Archmage. SCARAB - Didn't know you guys, really... Would have liked to. Tried to hunt Rituraaj one day but that's about it. Killing the gargoyle for ponchos was one of my favourite past times at one time. ARBITER - Calarathiel... hated you at first, thought you were kind of snobby. But liked you alot later, though we didn't interact all that much. That eagle flying up to me was a quaint hello and a nice touch :P Left a strange impression in my mind. Had some run-ins with two cloud warrior Elders (?) and that tiger muter... hmm, Trasthe. That was about it. The Arbiter guardians are about as easy to kill as the Empire ones. ENTROPY - Why can't I remember your name, felar? Kllea? :) Vaelyn always remembered you as a friendly face, if not a very familiar one. DAWN - I really liked that storm giant knight hero... grr, my memory sucks - I think you know who you are. Didn't know very many of you. TROUPE - Horstivo was a buddy and travelling companion early in life... lost touch later though :) IMMORTALS - Well, you do all the great behind the scenes work and thanks for that. My imm interaction has always been limited though. Never been empowered, only once tattooed by Guerric as another assassin, Ayol. Met Thror a few times as Vaelyn... needless to say, he RPs so damn well :P Hated how I bungled the chance to do the Hammersong quest... my newbierificness really betrayed me there. Clueless. Ah, and bloodthirsting into your lost dwarf mob was hilarious :P Had to work hard at keeping my RP composure there. Prayed at Shokai's shrine a few times and exchanged tells with Vaelyn's Lord once. That's about it. Ah, what a long boring note. Sorry. And sorry to all those that I forgot. Have not been Vaelyn for so long anyway :P Love CF and love those I've met generally. See you in the fields.
So I will say a few words.