As of just a little while ago, I rolled my two long-running characters Lloyd Grimm and Sai Aung-K'yi. Well, I quietly rolled Sai a few months ago but never gave her a kudos of her own, so I'm piggybacking here.
I played Lloyd and Sai on and off since 2021, bouncing between the two for several-month stretches. What a time it's been! It's hard to quantize or sum up 3+ years of roleplaying, something that is qualitive in its very nature. It would be an exhausting task to name every one of the the hundreds of characters who had an impact on Lloyd and Sai's journeys and the hundreds of players who had an impact on me. I want to give some laurels to the ones I remember most.
Still, this is really a thank you to the wider Arelith community. Thanks for being part of what I'm sure is a one-of-a-kind experience for all of us. That these two characters I played, so deeply different in tone, one aggressively, gritty, mundane low fantasy and the other utterly, unabashedly, dimension-traveling high fantasy, existed in the same setting and both had meaningful experiences? What a testament to how rad Arelith is a storytelling medium, and it's one that's impossible without all of us doing it together.
Lloyd Grimm
THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD: An orchestrator like Lloyd was no one without his partners in crime. Thank you to everyone who Lloyd interacted in the world of the less-than-legal, from the Moonlighters to the Lantern Fleet to everyone in between. Some of my favourites in no particular order: Zemys, Jane Jay, Digo Hillofies, Arabella, Silfein, Sili Aseph, Ivrathe Kazaraat, Wyatt Ever, Meil, Samara Rashah, Licit, Maxine Majesta, Everett Adams, Marcus Hewse, Mouse, Charissa Seper, Clarisse Ashton, Hanna, Gabriel Freeman, Ekrid Aulanthar, Lucretia, and Laberia.
Perhaps my proudest achievement on Lloyd is that even though he and his various crews stole what must have added up to 100+ items from players & quarters over the years I played him, I never received a single OOC message from someone who felt like they hadn't gotten something engaging out of the experience. A special thank you to everyone who ever worked with Lloyd to make thief RP fun for the other side too.
THE LAW: An overarching thank you and kudos to the various administrations of all the isles' governments who Lloyd interacted with, particularly the Cordor government. I very pointedly wanted to play a thief - and later on, a guildmaster of thieves - who interacted with people on a face to face level rather than sneaking around. I was always deeply grateful for how the chancellors, ministers, and guards I interacted with gave a crook a little leeway to tell a story - whether Lloyd was being questioned or whether he was being requisitioned, I absolutely adored getting to be someone who you knew was a criminal, but for one reason or another was never in jail.
Two special thank yous: Thomas Castemont, who (no surprise, given how legendarily inclusive and supportive Dawn is as a player) tangled with Lloyd in a very real way, and was a driver of more of Lloyd's character development than Lloyd would ever let on. Ginny Rivorndir, who was Lloyd's enemy, rival, coworker, and friend. What a complex and meaningful relationship they had. Thank you.
THE REST: Whether as trade minister, museum director, or just your neighbourhood's cranky old man, there are a few others worth mentioning, particularly Grymmiirn, Snorri Wordsmith, Kathryn Eldren, Salasker Dusk and Flamma. Thanks for the interesting relationships we had!
Sai Aung-K'yi
Sai the Spiritfarer is an odd one to say goodbye to. She was possessed by a dozen restless spirits, each using her shifter's form to morph her into their lost bodies and try to live the lives they no longer had. So saying goodbye to Sai is not just to her, but to all these other characters. I feel like I played a dozen characters as Sai. It was a very strange way to roleplay someone. Sai was more a quest than a person, a massive puzzle to solve rather than someone who could just exist. I got to have a very unique life on Arelith, living in one place and interacting for months with a single player group, then resolving that spirit's story and moving onto the next spirit, the next location. It was, frankly, exhausting. I don't think I'll ever do it again. But she was compelling to me.
Particularly special people for Sai (or for Spiritfarer, as she often went by), and people I absolutely want to single out as terrific roleplayers, are Ayiesha Dahyarif, Angela Amana, Flavius Florus, Lefric Ruston, Frandor Carcel, Olissa, Sigurd Bloodhand, Oak Mountainbrew/Vintergard, John Salamander, Lyssa, Yuanjun Lai and Caldurian Wyndyr.
The rest of the kudos will go by sub-character, at least from what I can remember after these years of play. Is it a little self-indulgent? Yes. Onwards!
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IPTACI
Undoubtedly the spirit who got the most playtime over the years was the capricious socialite Iptaci, the rakshasa, particularly towards the end. I can't thank John Salamander enough for our emotional intertwining. What a story! Everyone else in the Erudite Arcanum at that time deserves their laurels as well for rolling with Sai and Iptaci's story, whether you interacted with Iptaci as herself or as her Andunorian alter-ego Hwang Yun. Special shoutout to Faeris Xun'viir for the inclusive welcome into skullduggerous things with Hwang Yun.
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OZUKKA MARBLEHEART
The azer artificer appeared throughout all of Sai's journey, but I want to give a heartfelt thanks for the people of Guldorand who welcomed Ozukka when she and Sai moved to Guldorand, particularly Itzal Mayar who allowed an azer to walk the streets. I got such a kick out of just hanging out in town; thank you for making that possible.
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QAZ'QZAASHZZUK
A genuine thrill to roleplay a mindflayer. And absolute shoutouts to everyone in the Erudite Arcanum who took part in Qaz's quest; the reactions and treatment of Qaz as a parasite on Sai were everything I hoped for not only as people existing in the Forgotten Realms, but as Andunorians who'd fought mindflayers before. Really, a special thank you for letting me do something pretty audacious and weaving a great story together.
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ROOT
Playing Root felt like I was a DM running a quest. He made only four appearances, each a scheduled event with the Skull Crags Rangers and the people of Westcliff, who puzzled out how this mute shambling monstrosity who spoke through pictures drawn on the ground had become cursed and who eventually freed him. This contained subplot was an experience I've never had on Arelith. Thank you to all who were involved!
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THE MANEATER OF NASHKEL
Shoutout to Neverwinter Nights for letting me be a manticore, and especially Sigurd Bloodhand, Olivia van Graf , and the gang of the Icehold Citadel for getting into a few adventures with this self-absorbed idiot.
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THE REST
A few spirits only made brief appearances: Tagraask Goldscale, the reptilian strategist, early on in Skal. Felicity Fenkeep, aka the Wailing Widow, a medusa who made one appearance in Cordor that resulted in Sai getting briefly exiled. Zek, a kleptomaniac kobold who popped down to Andunor once or twice and also tried to rob Angela Amana. Flintmantle, a black wyrmling who lazed about at the Icehold Citadel. Ygreyk, a black slaad who tried to break free of containment in the Boreal Keep.
And, although only a handful of people ever saw him, Azarakas, Risen Scrivener of Jergal, the architect of Sai's possessions.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you again everyone who I've gotten to play with over the years on Lloyd & Sai. With both rolled, my vault is completely clean and a great catharsis is washing over me. See ya next time, maybe!
