Posted by Malaeth on June 25, 2000 at 03:35:49:
In Reply to: Well posted by Me on June 24, 2000 at 17:28:41:
It did occur to me a few times to wonder how, exactly, I avoided the mallet when I was indeed a hapless magician both in combat and politics. Also I'm surprised no mortal leader ever took it on himself to anath me for only showing up every couple of weeks for an hour or so, these last two months. The division between me and those that fell by the wayside, I eventually concluded, was that I was, at least, an adequate and utterly nonthreatening citizen. When I was around I had zilch of a backbone, donated regularly, defended quite competently, bloodoathed or offered the oath, toadied to the appropriate people, and kept the Laws with an anal retentiveness that would do the Vanquisher proud. Also I kept my numerous defeats and suicidal tendancies as strictly private as possible; it's important to note that weakness is almost always only punished when it's shown or witnessed publically. That, or, yeah, he never saw me in 'action' :P There's a chance I was just lucky. Even if Zulgh does anath loosely, though, I'll give him this... he's passionate about his cabal and religion, and even if the bulk of his involvement tends by necessity to be on the negative side, it's important to remember he also roleplays on an individual level, constructively, with about anyone who approaches him with that desire; something I've observed only circumspectly with Malaeth (the politics of Empire and his religion are interesting together), and somewhat more directly with past chars.