Shattered Kingdoms

So it ended with a whimper instead of a bang. This concludes about 16+ months of playing which can't be really summed up in a single post or even a whole thread but I'll do my best to remember the most important things and people. But first a little bit of background.

Reinald was the son of a Taslamaran noble who had married the daughter of an Imperial duke. His father inherited the title and tried to improve the living conditions of the surfs and retinue while also increasing his holdings but his stance on slavery and especially the increased profits his methods were bringing in worried the baronage under him who eventually conspired to bring him down. Eventually, he was accused of betraying the Emperor so he was hanged, drawn and quartered in Menegroth. Reinald had to witness that at a very young age, very shortly before he, his sister and his mother were exiled to Taslamar. While there, he was given the traditional education that his father's House gave to all the children which consisted of secrecy, intense mistrust of outsiders and courtly espionage.

At the age of twelve or thirteen he had the bright idea of sneaking back to his father's Imperial estates to see what rightfully belonged to him. His disguise however was not as good as he thought which led to his arrest as a possible spy and his torture at the Imperial dungeons. This made his hate for everything Imperial even more deep and tangible than what it already was. He was rescued by his relatives and the castellan of his manor who happened to be a rogue. That inspired him to follow that profession although he never saw it as being a thief or an assassin but a combination of being an agent, a statesman and a lightly armored warrior/skirmisher. (Even though he had mastered the steal skill, I think I used it on PCs less than five times in total and even then, never on any light auras.) Eventually, after meeting a fellow noble daughter and being rejected by her parents for not having any land holdings besides his empty title, he left the sheltered environment of his manor and headed to Exile with his sister.

The actual background I had written for him is pages long with too many details that don't need to go in here unless someone really wants to know them. To simplify things, his entire life's goal was to cause problems to the Emperor which he followed until his death. I based him off real outlaw nobles (and too many actual historical figures that no one here will have heard before), the best known of them being a fictitious one, Robin Hood. Unfortunately there wasn't an alignment that was as chaotic good as I wanted so I had to make do with scrupulous and follow the helpfile to the letter. Certain ignorant people will disagree and I'm really hoping that they do just to give me a chance to show how much gossip and [REDACTED] this "community" can generate.

Unfortunately I won't be able to remember all the characters that I liked over the course of his lifetime so forgive any omissions or simply assume they are fully intended.

For the first period of his life there was Galiene (his long lost sister), Lonny (constant pain in the [REDACTED]), that priest and rogue that vanished too soon, Noellyia and later Tensarie. I'm probably forgetting too many here but it's been a while.

The second period of his life after joining the Talons was much more eventful and full. There were his favorite allies, Bhaja (who along with Avril, Peplyn and Wudan was my favorite Fist leader), Larkos (best Druid leader, hands down), all the Fist and Druid members were awesome during that time even if I can't remember many names beyond Zyander, Symon and Arkanas. Can't forget the best mr griffons either, Qahz and Queltakahn and pretty much every other character who joined the Talons either by accident or to help with the endless MC wars. You guys were all awesome and the Talons always felt great to be in even when everything else was going downhill. Aurenna was very well played as an anarchist and they had this amazing efficiency together even if it got frustrating at times, the Talons were far more quiet without her. There was always Tavia around to give Reinald crap about his manners but hey, you're supposed to show ID to law-keepers! Caerthynna was fun to be around even if maddeningly stubborn at times as was Gailehn and his nosey tendencies. Have to mention Pernyma for making me laugh with her crazy so much, shame I could never see more of her and sorry for that jloot, I wanted to return things but the reboot ate it. Selyne was funny when she wanted to show that, Davarius was maddening but at least we got into some nice trouble together, must mention Alisu because she was one of the characters that really added something different to the game ..and again I'm probably forgetting way too many characters.

Veloras was always a cool opponent who stretched rogue counter-measures to the limit, which eventually led me to start thinking properly about class weaknesses and strengths. Thanks, it's been a blast learning that way. I'll mention Alaric even if I still think his constant zerging was lame. There were various reasons Reinald never tried to go to a truce and being able to gather up all the scattered lighty forces to fight back was pretty much his dream come true. Shame that a certain spazz put an end to that. There was also Toji who had such a taste for drama I couldn't stop laughing oocly when someone described him IC as "the essence of drama". It's was a bit naive to expect to see Reinald's good side when being his enemy, so yes I can understand why his enemies would think of him as a bad lighty. To be honest, not many characters saw him from all his sides which was both intended and a bit sad.

The third period of his life was a bit unexpected. Tyto pissed him off enough to bring him back into the Talons after his more or less involuntary retirement, Kougyoku wtfretired and pushed him into the leadership position yet again and he was stuck there for ages. Vyraxi was awesome during that time and it's a shame she's not around anymore, Rinnax was a great help (I changed my mind about the player, but dude just reply to tells, some people just want to take no for an answer and log out), Raguel made the keepers bearable again and that was a huge task, Vikhael was great, Xiaolian turned out to be impressively awesome as the Talon delf mr Spock, and Eoghan is simply too cool for this mud and an absolutely great leader so far. Thanks to syn for rolling all those headache characters, it's a shame you went so nuts but the few times you weren't nuts were funny as hell, especially on Carelia. And finally, Tatiana for being awesome enough to give him the best epilogue I could imagine. Again, I'm forgetting way too many characters.

Reinald was my first character on SK and my first attempt to play in a mud in general (excluding a 20 day attempt I made to play SK again ten years ago). I was determined from the start to see everything that a mud had to offer through this one character and eventually reach age death and overall I think I did pretty well for a complete newbie. I GM'd him mostly alone, led a tribunal for far longer than I really wanted, killed almost all of his main enemies at least once, made paragon more than six or seven times, had at least eleven verified children (my secret plan was to dominate pyrathia through breeding, it might yet work) and if you exclude the ton of negative things that happened to him, it was all good.

Here are the stats right after his death, the age ticks don't do much good to rogues. For anyone who might wander, he had strength, constitution and dexterity maxed with all his mentor points thrown into hp. Yes, he could actually tank rampagers and golems in the wastelands at his prime.

oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo
o [Attributes] Reinald de Rochefort - Lord of the Western White Cliffs o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Status: Grand Master(1) Race: Human Class: Rogue o
o Age: 92 Sex: Male Size: Medium o
o Alignment: Scrupulous Handiness: Right handed Religion: Achernar o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o STR: Powerful INT: Smart WIS: Clever o
o DEX: Acrobatic CON: Durable CHA: Influential o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Carrying capacity: 21 items with a maximum weight of 265.0 pounds. o
oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo

oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo
o [Scores] Reinald, de Rochefort - Lord of the Western White Cliffs o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Status: Grand Master(1) Race: Human Class: Rogue o
o Kingdom: Zhenshi Cabal: Talon of the Feathered Dragon (Leader) o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Coins: zero o
o Carrying: 0/21 items Load: 0.0/265.0 pounds o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Health: Excellent Mental: Pulsating Physical: Fresh o
o Attribute points: 0 Wimpy: 30 percent Mode: Kill/aggressive o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o You are standing. o
o You are over three-fourths of the way to the next level. o
o You have played 2808 hour(s) so far. o
o You have 0 of 116 loyalty tokens available to spend. o
oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo

Amateur - dagger (mastered) mace (very good)
siegecraft (average) sling (good)
sword (mastered) whip (mastered)
backstab (mastered) dodge (mastered)
trip (mastered) haggle (mastered)
hide (mastered) peek (mastered)
swim (mastered) taslamaran tongue (mastered)
uxmaln tongue (mastered) zhensh tongue (mastered)
empire tongue (mastered) aghelian tongue (mastered)
sylvan tongue (mastered) firmyrn tongue (mastered)
deep tongue (mastered) taslamaran writing (mastered)
uxmaln writing (mastered) zhensh writing (mastered)
empire writing (mastered) aghelian writing (mastered)
sylvan writing (mastered) firmyrn writing (mastered)
deep writing (mastered)
Novice - dirt kicking (mastered) pick lock (mastered)
sneak (mastered) steal (mastered)
Initiate - parry (superb) shield block (mastered)
second attack (mastered) climb (mastered)
Apprentice- disguise (mastered) crossbow (mastered)
circle stab (mastered) fast healing (mastered)
Journeyman- disarm (mastered) self defense (mastered)
endurance (mastered) plant (superb)
Veteran - brawling (superb) hamstring (mastered)
enhanced damage (mastered) third attack (mastered)
Expert - dual backstab (mastered) leadership (mastered)
scrolls (superb)
Mentor - skirmish (mastered)

I still think I'm leaving way too many things out but I'll try to clarify if anyone wants to know what actually happened. So, love or hate, bring it on.

That's actually pretty impressive. Would have never taken you for a newb at all. Looking forward to your next!


Okay, okay we get it.

I liked the fact that Reinald attempted to break the mold and get past the whole light vs dark part of the game. The fact he would work with darkies and in some case snub the zealous lighties was one thing I admired even though most people said things like that made him a horrible lightie. I don't really agree with it as it, in my opinion, made him seem like he wanted to try to find the good in people and noticed the darkness inside others, looking past auras. That's just me.

Props either way regardless of what people say.

It has truly been a blast playing with you, Erik. Never a dull moment, and I look forward to seeing more from you. Cheers!

I enjoyed our interactions, I hope you roll another creative character.

Your awesome, that is all!

I think you really added something to the SK environment that was missing and even through the controversies, continue to stir things up in an exciting way and break the mold. Sure threw all the vets for a loop, and that's always fun. An excellent first character - I hope you'll be back with another.

I've said my piece about Reinald in Toji's afterlife thread and truly, I do believe it was a very good character. However, I still believe that the fact that "few people saw his good side" was the reason why should should - in my opinion - go grey. You played a very good character, but perhaps our views on alignments don't quite .... align. In my book, good aligned characters only have a good side.

Anyway, good luck with your next.

Reinald was great and loved all of my interactions. The fact that you refused to play the red vs blue style of alignments created controversy but was necessary to an otherwise stagnant game of where everyone was jumping sides to whomever made their 15min miracle GM lately. In terms of alignment, definitely better than too many of the lighties out there that should have greybie instead of lightie. You resisted the dogma of, "My might makes me right."

Kudos and see you around!

I had a wonderful time interacting with Reinald as Vikhael. He was Vikhael's closest ally for sure. I wish I would have been more interested to play Vikhael longer, but I just couldn't deal with the Syn beast at the time. I hope to interact with your new character soon!