Shattered Kingdoms

Since I clearly am unable to make my own decisions about how I play my character I've elected to retire her early. I got tarnished by the other tribunal leader for absolute BS reasons, so I wrote an IC note detailing why I did the actions that I did. Apparently I violated rules 1 and 10 which is absolute garbage. I don't care to appeal the ruling since it's been quite obvious that the imms have been watching me and going out on a limb to get me for any perceived infraction which is okay. They can run the game that way. I'll simply elect to step away and take myself elsewhere. I uninducted most of the tribunal and tarnished Ezmir in a political gambit. Of course this is anathema to the coddling attitude that is pervasive amongst the immstaff and they hate roleplay so they undid all of my actions, took down my note, took away my leadership flag, and stuck me in hell. I was told to appeal to Sadr, but I'm simply not going to waste my time. I know the score.

I don't regret any of the actions I did on my characters. I would do them again. I'm not a childish baby like the rest of the people here that lose their [REDACTED] at the slightest thing and run crying because you may have a disagreement on views or opinions. I was here to play a character, and I did. Unfortunately, I have to accept the fact that I am not welcome here.

Tolene was probably my favorite character of all time. I had a blast on her playing with many people. She had her best friend Caerthynna that she ran around with in her early life, and though I might have had my interest wane over time I had a good time over the 3 years that I played her.

Anyway, I'll leave you guys with this video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH0nP4NzS9M

Tolene was a frustratingly difficult character to try and PK against, kudos on rolling and playing a character that did an excellent job of defending Taslamar: I always like to see when people fill that role effectively, however frustrating it can be if I'm the person they're defending against.

I always enjoyed my interactions with Tolene. I liked that she was crass and foul mouthed.
I am so used to folk being mild in their player's countenance or expressions that it surprised me when she was so "vulgar" about how she said things.
In honor of Tolene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk
This song always reminded me of her.

Things I liked about Tolene:
Blunt, direct honesty.
Had no tolerance for drama.
Knew her tactics, shared them readily.
Even if she did not like your character for some reason, if you could handle the bluntness of things, it made for fine interactions.
Exceptionally tried to influence the realms in positive and constructive ways.
Her decisions/ways were not always popular, but her decisions weren't based on popularity.
When she made decisions, she was all in.
Courage to make hard choices.
A mentor. Sometimes short on patience, but always willing to try and help.
Longevity.
A leader.

Things that I didn't like about Tolene.
Challenging the system in ways that negatively impacted her character & sometimes those around her.
Always the right reasons to raise a fuss - but sometimes seemed to go about it in a way deemed controversial - they could be frustrating.
The edges were rough. Abrasively so. Perhaps why things only seemed to go down so badly, despite what seemed like good intent.
Ultimately the fuzzy lines between abrasive character and frustrated player brought about an anti-climatic and dissatisfying end.

Despite ninja_ardith's forward forum presence - there WAS a distinct difference between the forum persona and the character.
Tolene always had strong reasons behind her actions and decisions, that I saw. Bear in mind, folks, Tolene & Gailehn rarely saw things eye to eye.
As a player, though, I had an exceptionally strong appreciation for the character, and am dissatisfied how things ended. I was looking forward to the completion of this week & some role play with her. She was a positive influence to me, and probably to many people to whom I had said, 'I'm not sure, but Tolene is who you should talk to. She's quite knowledgeable about such things.'

There are players whose actions have made me cringe in the past. Sometimes characters mine did not interact well with, or who I was uncomfortable around. And characters who would do some things so wildly 'off-base' where after a long time and much protest from a majority, some kind of intervention may take place, either by other characters, or admin. I'll close with this. The realms were better with this player, then without.

There are a lot of vets who won't play unless they're playing with person X, Y, or Z.

There are a lot of players who like to pile onto somebody else's successful coat-tails, creating wild imbalances between a flavor of the month large faction and the small factions getting their teeth stomped in.

Tolene and her player were one of the counterbalances to this trend. Tolene (and Ardith) was typically not afraid to take on a larger faction, was typically not afraid to be the one active + skilled vet supporting and defending some of those small factions from getting their teeth stomped in. Despite any OOC personality conflicts or personal attacks one may have endured from Ardith over the years, these are qualities that I've appreciated in this player. Even though Tolene has spent the better part of the past 6 months inactive, I will still miss these contributions brought by Ardith.

Tolene was awesome, I'm sad you're leaving and taking such a vast amount of knowledge with you. I would have never made it to the Iron Citadel or Dreamscape if it weren't for people like you. I hope you can come back and enjoy another character. Until then...