Yes, my legendary pretension has allowed for me to use Latin for my good-bye log's title. Rejoice. I know people always come back, especially if they post good-bye logs. But there's no way in hell I could be back, even if I wanted to. And to be honest, I don't want to. Thank you to everyone, for everything. Good times. Take care. On a side-note, this is where all the spineless law reporting bastards that couldn't deal with me within the sphere of the game because they lacked the ability or courage, get to clap enthusiastically. Yay, Aryl's gone for good!
I'll try and keep this short, but its not going to be.
I am officially an unwanted citizen of Arda, as announced by the current Administration.
I'm not going to plead my case one way or another. If you're reading this, you've already
formulated your own opinion about me based on actual encouters, rumours, logpage antics,
or any number of things, true or false. It is rather unlikely that a final fare well is
going to sway how you consider me. To some I am a genuinely nice guy, down to earth and
fairly considerate and nice. To others I am an absolute asshole, some selfish sociopath
that cheated endlessly and hurt hundreds of other typists with no regard for either my peers
or the rules. Or maybe you just think I'm an idiot. Who cares. Enjoy your misperceptions, one
way or the other. Feel free to vent some pent up hatred or condescending judgements in the
comment section of this log. Go out on a limb and construct some clever comments, hurtful or
otherwise. Describe me how you will. That's your right, and I promise it will all amuse me.
The only thing I will mention, concerning my comportment in the public forum or on this very
logpage, is something that I think only maybe Etrius or Hirgail ever picked up on: A lot of
self-deprecation is pretty evident in the majority of my comments, let alone the very way I
acted on many occasions. Sometimes it was mocking instigation as well. You see, at one point
in time, a few years ago, I had a strong tendency to take this all rather seriously.
Being a flaming, juvenille asshole is fun and all, but we all grow up sometime, and as soon
as I realized how RIDICULOUS it all was, well, I indulged in promoting my own facade as a
jerk, simply to see how infuriated other people would get. Or at least disgusted, whatever.
In the end people that didn't really ever get to know me took it seriously, and actually
believed me to be some deranged asshole. This of course precluded them getting to know me as
a friend and seeing my real personality. Clearly shot myself in the foot on that one, but
I suppose I didn't think it through or care all that much in the beginning anyway. I only
have myself to blame for this, and hold very little resentment toward any of you foolish
people that misconstrued a fictional online persona for my true self :P
Concerning me and cheating, let me give you a few facts now that the dust has settled and
I am gone forever. Did I cheat as an ainu? As far as I am concerned, never. There is a fine
line between intentional rule-breaking and abusing my character's privileges for my own
benefit. If anyone would care to explain how ruining everything I had achieved on the game
in order to prevent myself from ever playing again was beneficial in context of my experience
of the MUD, feel free. Otherwise, PLEASE notice the CLEAR distinction between CHEATING and
RULE-BREAKING. The terms are NOT interchangeable in this scenario, and never have been.
I broke rules, and after TNT came out and I reflected on a lot of things, I came back to the
game. Draugluin and Drogian both understood the motives behind my actions, and after reviewing
my efforts to redeem myself on Castamud, allowed me to come back with 0 problems. The stigma
of my rather poor reputation was not so easily absolved though, and stuck with me until the
very end obviously.
The only legitimate instance of me cheating up until this 'bug abuse' of a few days ago
was a gold transfer I did naively between 2 low level alts, Inglor and Kvasir. I traded
50,000 gold between them. Both characters were nuked. I was allowed to immort afterward
on merit of my apology and my talent for writing descriptions. What a fucking heinous crime.
So why did you have 5 maxxed characters nuked in December, and why was Fyng suspended for 180d?
I was going to give this game up in the immediate aftermath of that mini-holocaust, which was
evidently the beginning of the end, but decided against it because I still had some work to do.
Tulkas explicitly informed me that the only cheating I ever did consisted of using an idle-trigger
on Ochyrocera once to lose secondary skills overnight, and evading the profanity filter on the comm.
My characters were removed because of popular opinion, and the massive deluge of FALSE law reports
filed by the mortals that hated me for one reason or another. Exhalev had more law reports filed
against him alone than all other law reports against separate individuals combined. Valinor disliked
it when I did such things as getting within one point of winning comm trivia with one character, then
switching characters to prolong the game. This kind of atrocity was labeled as playing against the
spirit of the game, and OBVIOUSLY warranted the deletion of 6 maxxed characters, 1 of which had over
13 million experience, and another which was level 22. You want to say I didn't separate my characters
perfectly? I can provide you with 10 examples off the top of my head of typists in the current playerbase
that do EXACTLY what I did. Do they get punished? Of course not. The final reason presented to me by Tulkas
for the removal of all my investment and time in the game was simple, and I will quote him.
Tulkas tells you: This wasn't just my decision, this was a group vote. You killed a Power's alt, be assured
that didn't help your case :)
So there you go with Valinor appeasing the masses by removing the 'villain'. Who the hell would ever
defend me against this idiotic and unfounded punishment? No one would see me as a victim, they'd be
glad to see me fucked over to this extent. Go Valinor! But I guess that's either too subtle for the
average MUDder to see, or they can't believe how unfair that kind of bullshit is. Trust me, I still
can't believe it myself.
So I talked to Tulkas for a good 2 hours, totally incredulous, trying to salvage something from all
those hours spent levelling my characters. Tulkas knew I was a good guy and felt guilty about the
absurd severity of what had happened to me. He decided to suspend Fyng for 6 months after I named
him my favourite character for sentimental reasons, as well as the fact he was a top leveller. In
the interim, I was to be on 'probation'. This was a period of time to prove I was in fact anything
but a cheater, and to contribute to the community with a single character I was permitted to level
from scratch. I was pretty jaded and fed up at this point, but I had responsibilities in my guild,
and still found enjoyment once in a while from playing. I levelled Magnus, namechanged to Exhalev
and rejoined the Durmanhoth.
Don't even think for a second I'm going to get into that whole thing, I have held my tongue rather
well and I don't even care anymore at this point. I helped the newer players learn about PK and
huntbreaking, I took them around and showed them the mechanics behind triggering breaks, and
surviving attempts. I never hosted a QI site, or even logged into the Durmanhoth forums ONCE. I
never even registered a god damn account. Waste has me mistaken with someone else :P I had a slew
of lowbie characters I used to play with new players with. I used to lead them on RP-oriented
excursions through good lowbie golding areas, especially Deadman's Dike. I always taught while
keeping the imagination of the game in mind, and tried to instill that value in the people I
influenced. That was my genuine intent behind tutoring and teaching players, and still would be if
I wasn't done playing now. Call it a crock of shit, but I was well rewarded by the thanks from, and
evident improvement in my charges. If you're on the hating bandwagon, you don't know me, so I don't
expect you to believe the truth. Near the end of the Durmanhoth dynasty, I became rather disillusioned
with the direction they were moving, and left on my own peaceful terms to play a free-lance, and get
back in touch with the ER side of Arda. I was well removed from the Durmanhoth hierarchy when the nukes
dropped, and my character remained intact. It was only a few weeks later though, during a debate on
the comm concerning mundane topics, that Aule got angry at me and nuked me as either a joke, or an
'example'. Tulkas was pissed because he knew I was innocent and he was proud of how I had been holding
up my end of the deal. I was reinstated after an 'apology' in 10 days.
It was at this time I told Tulkas that I wished to be totally removed from my history with the Durmanhoth.
I LOVED that guild, it was my home for ages, and with its dissolution, all I had left was the ER community
which I also cherished dearly. Nazg Haitol/Gor Burzgoth was something I had been a part of in some capacity
for almost 4 years at that point, and Tulkas and I both agreed that my efforts to be constructive in Arda
would be better in that realm. Strengthening the ER side of things, and promoting a less hostile style
of ER v FR interaction. Since this was part of the 'deal' I had with Tulkas, and he probably still felt
bad about kicking me in the teeth so badly a few months earlier, he changed my character's name and race
secretly. Ooooooh what a GIANT SPECIAL BONUS. Look at my SPECIAL TREATMENT!!! I lost a level 22 and 5 max
chars for basically NOTHING, and the Power of Law felt my talents and contributions would be better for
the community on the ER side of things... An identity change is such a big deal? Didn't think so.
Rhakyrh did nothing but slave away and work to bring GB into fruition with my close friends Zandramas
and Montog, as well as a few other key people that got it off the ground. Narshock for one, Aslan, Zaellyer,
the list goes on... Anyway, I wrote descs for the GH, planned its layout, working on liasons with a few
guilds, although I neglected my relations with the Amruin when I spent a few days mastering Ghorin's quest
for Isilme. I was very active, and made over 900,000 gold for the vault, my own accounts, and for a few
friends. I did nothing but kill NPCs, steal gold, RP in tells and in combat, and spend time with my friends.
The only PK I was ever involved in was on Volun and Kargorth when they attacked Mourngrym. I even spent time
as a GM and did some nice diplomatic work with the other GMs to work toward unity in the community. I was
looking forward to getting Fyng back, was going to be cool having 2 level 22 characters, and I really enjoyed
the thematic potential of his character. 1 hour before the 6 months passed, Osse approached me.
A few days before I got Fyng back, Osse deleted all of Ravathir's alts, and all of Cruice's characters.
I defended them on the logpage, since they're my good friends and the unjustified bullshit behind at
least the removal of Cruice's characters (someone with -0- warnings on ANY alt), stank all too familiar
of what had happened to my chars. Osse told me he thought I was an asshole and he didn't appreciate all
the 'shit' I posted on the logpage. He professed that he didn't actually read any of it, nor did he
know very much about me at all. He constantly referred to me as a Valinor cheater, and said he just didn't
like my personality. At this point in time, Rhakyrh had amassed 3 comm warnings. The first was for saying
'shit' on the comm. The second was for saying, 'f u rickul'. The third was discussed by Tulkas when he came
back and was all but dismissed. Osse, taking over the PoL role, brought it back to the surface and warned
me for it. Someone reported me for revealing their alts with some super vague reference that was actually
a joke that had NOTHING to do with them. Idiocy abound! Osse told me that these 3 HORRIBLE warnings were
testament to the CLEAR fact that I had not played within the bounds of the rules over the -6- months I
had patiently waited to get my level 22 character back. He said he felt I should only be ever allowed to
have 1 character because I was such a blight on the community. I could not believe it, and protested.
These were the details of my deal with Tulkas: Allowed to level and actively play 1 character. No MPing
or cheating. I WAS permitted to remake all the other characters I had over time so people wouldn't take
my names. I at no time gained any exp or gold on any of my level 1s, and most of them were no older
than 6s old. Osse said it was his job as the new PoL to 'interpret' my deal with Tulkas, and he 'felt'
I had violated the terms. Imagine how frustrated and jaded I was. Sympathize for one god damn moment.
He forced me to choose one character to play. I said that this was totally wrong and I'd like to talk
to Tulkas about it. In the interim, I chose to play Fyng, since I missed PK, missed the character himself
(since he was the third version of the first I'd ever made), and wanted a change from constant thief
grinding. I was also under the impression that as soon as Tulkas logged in, everything would be going
according to how it logically should have been going. Osse suspended Rhakyrh until August (Tulkas's
anticipated return date). Meanwhile, Osse decided that Fyng was a notorious and repugnant name that
shouldn't be seen in Arda, and asked me which new name my character should take. He felt that I would
be a less volatile threat to the community with a new identity, and altered my age/race and suggested I
didn't reveal to anyone who I was. Anyway, making a long story short, apparently Tulkas logged in when
I wasn't online. Osse and him had a conversation, of which I was not a part whatsoever. I have no idea
what happened, and I STRONGLY DOUBT things would have gone the way they did if I was there to argue my
case. Regardless, in the end, I was restricted to one character. Aryl it was.
That's pretty much my story, I'm not going to get into it anymore. That's as much explanation as you're
going to get, and hopefully it clears up whatever rumours or thoughts were circling around concerning
this stuff. I hope it adjusts your image of me as some evil cheater that got a lot of second chances
from Valinor... I got robbed for little reason and suffered over-the-top punishment and victimization.
I'm not complaining, simply setting your facts straight. I'm not crying about it, trust me. This was
actually good for me. I'm sure you've all already realized that this is a dying game. Everything is
hollow, there are no real achievements on there. Top leveller, top killer, top experience, what have you.
The only thing that counts here are the memories and good times, and the friendships and good conversations.
I had my fair share of all of the above, and I'm satisfied. In the end, I had a HELL of a lot of fun.
That's a win in my book, because it -is- a GAME after all.
I don't even know where to start with thanking my many friends here over the years. Like any list, many
people are probably going to be left out and forgotten. If this is the case, I apologize! You know who
you are anyway guys!
The following people were my close friends in Arda over the years. My time here wouldn't have been
the same without them. Some names are more current, some I'm grabbing from like 7 years ago... They
appear in no particular order of favouritism, I love you all equally my friends.
Ravathir Jerf Imrazor Mute Swiper Amearn Serex
Cruice Daywalker Laon Manni Warmonger Curr Deadlok
Avirex Baklen Diminius Delkin Anorack Josi Urgnath
Zandramas Imrath Xorox Huvintude Kiviel Sunflash Shalligan
Xaron Zaellyer Yuber Panayoti Alcavant Kaelyn Archon
Alkath Hikaru Lordevil Gloar Anvik Zalyhiel Pabst
Demis Necsipaal Armand Ardnas Rau Curubal Norric
Tiresias Hirgail Warrax Darmot Papaq Demandred Svenj
Lobo Nildnab Etrius Montog Anarfin Rush Catrin
Calicious Draco Khaled Jukka Abborre Adoni Grick
Nethcal Korbin
There is another category here that I think at least 2 of my friends here fall under. If Alkath and I
weren't so tight OOC, he'd fall under this category as well. Total and forever enemies IC, but friends
OOC. People who can understand that your character is nothing more than a chess piece, and that checkmate
doesn't mean a friendship is over. The main friend I'm thinking of is Skyman. I've had some of my most
heart-pounding, epic battles with him. He is also the only person I ever soloed wielding a head on a pike,
so for that alone he will always be special to me :P Great guy, great player. If I had to nominate the best
PKer for at least the past half decade, I would rank him among the top 1-3. The other acquaintance of mine
that fits into this category is Spartan. Definitely another top killer of all time, regardless of the fact
he stopped giving a shit about this MUD about 4 years ago. He and I also killed each other many times in
the course of our bloody history, but at the end of the day, there was always mutual respect. Other than
Duncan, he was the first person to kill me in a 1 on 1 PK that I initiated for over 3 and a half years.
Gotta love the guy for that! And finally I'll give a shout out to Falgor himself. Nowhere near the best
killer, but a dedicated player that had balls. That's admirable in itself. We always had an equilibrium
of mistrust, and Mark, I enjoyed it. I don't think we ever harboured any genuine feelings of dislike, and
even though I killed you 3 times for it, you are the one responsible for knocking Azrylar off of the top
EXP list and always will be you bastard.
And here is a special thank you to Duncan. I enjoyed battling him because he was like my jinxed
nemesis. The only PKer that ever killed me more than I killed them. It was nice to witness such incredible
luck - battle, after battle, after battle. Kept the old saying fresh and true. There were never any hurt
feelings on my part, and I hope that one day you can resolve whichever issues you've created in yourself
that prevent you from seeing the error of your ways. Something else that quickly comes to mind is the
absolutely negative stream of bullshit that was on constant slipstream from Lucky's mouth for the past
few years when it came to me as a person. All I can say is that I'm sorry for soloing you as a naked thief
wielding a torch, but get over it and move on man. I still to this day believe you weren't taking
yourself seriously whenever we bitched at each other, and I pray you didn't take ME seriously. It was all
a joke man, so smile!
On a final note, to my enemies both on the battle-field and off, I tip my hat to you and thank you all
for the battles and challenges you helped create for me to enjoy. I learned a lot about the pathetic
propensity to think along with the mob and believe rumours that many people possess, intelligent or
otherwise. I learned that some people take things over-seriously, and enjoy the mask of anonymity
provided by the online medium of this game to be complete and utter douchebags. Simply mindless in their
hatred and spite. I wish you all the best of luck, and apologize that I'm not around anymore for a few
more good PKs. I'm sure you'll find a way to keep it interesting with respect to PK when there are now
maybe 2-3 active PKers, that happen to be friends with each other. I don't mind seeing that die, as long
as people focus back on the imagination that this place inspires. I can't remember who I'm quoting, it
might even be the legendinfo of Aule's obnoxious wife, but it went along the lines of decay setting in
once the magic of this place dies for each respective player. Take all that energy you waste hating
your enemies or PKing them etc, and put it toward something constructive. Help the newer generation of
players embrace the unique and engaging atmosphere of this game, and it will last a lot longer. Or
keep driving away some of the most dedicated and active members, people who actually provide stimulating
opposition to established groups, and watch it become nothing more than a husk of a game. Idlers sitting
in GHs, 90% of the population alts of already established characters... People bantering on the comm, RP
unencouraged and isolated, a stagnant Administration, a less than active team of coders that create things
with very little regard to player needs or wants, let alone the actual reality of mortal playability...
Oh wait....
Take care everyone,
Sean Griffin
Fyng x 3 Exhalev x 4 Daeril Ochyrocera Azrylar x 2 Maelvor Berzelius x 2 Vijraihn Aryl
Tuatha Magnus Ingitasi Dufaroth Inglor Kvasir Carthac Ariakas Estarriol Rhakyrh Hithor
Faelri Rhaliel Crthakvor Vindin...
The list goes on, but these are my most well known chars,
just in case you didn't already know my alts! Peace.