What? Scurvy Kudos? HERESY
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:58 am
Alright, so I never write these things, but I think it’s time to make an exception for current circumstances.
With Torstein leaving Cordor in an official capacity, for an assortment of IC and OOC reasons, I’d like to take a moment to recognize just a few of the people that have made my time there as fun as it has been. This is by no means a retirement kudos; Torstein will remain my primary character for the forseeable future, though I may be pretty scarce in game for a bit.
The Old Crowd
Marcus Demarin: It’s been a while since I’ve knowingly played with one of your characters, and I remember some of the first characters you’ve ever run. You’ve come a tremendously long way. Marcus has been enjoyable to deal with the entire time I’ve been around him, and it’s a mark of your growth as a player that you’ve moved so well as an RPer into a niche where you can play a believable, detailed, but ultimately straightforward character, and make him so enjoyable to be around.
Etana Faruq: Holy crap, I cannot say enough about this character. She plays way less than I wish she did, and I remain convinced that if you have the chance to interact with her and pass it up for any reason, you’ve lost Arelith so hard that you should probably uninstall NWN. A lot of people are going to miss the impact this character has had, both on my character, and on the environment of the server, particularly around Cordor, because she’s pretty damned quiet about what she does and why. Still, she has always managed to be an ethical, moral, and philosophical foundation everywhere she’s been seriously heavily involved.
When you see team good discussing why it is that good-aligned values are important, and what the practical aim of those values is, rather than just boiling it down to “evil must be eradicated”, it’s likely to be Etana’s handiwork. When Cordor’s law and culture have been focused not on a long list of “thou shalt not”s, but on building a healthy, prosperous, nurturing society, of which the law and government are stewards and guides, it’s likely to be Etana’s handiwork. This character manages to walk the line between the most compelling aspects of the LG alignment, and embody both simultaneously: compassion and a desire to nurture growth balanced with a staunch belief that there are principles on which one cannot compromise, without surrendering the entire motivating spirit behind doing good works in the first place. This is one of the most challenging aspects of this alignment to balance, and this character does so with aplomb. Kudos, for one of the most enjoyable characters who makes Lawful Good RP a unique and rich thing that runs so much deeper than simultaneously RPing as lawful and good on their own.
Also, confirmed Favored Enemy: Paperwork Demons.
Adalbrandt: A character who gets a lot of hate, but honestly deserves as much, if not more praise. Adalbrandt, in his best moments, is courageous principled, and utterly dauntless. In his worst moments, he’s stubborn, arrogant, and more than a little miserly. This is great to watch, both from an IC and OOC standpoint. This character has been, through high and low points, one of the cornerstones of Cordor’s dealing with the rest of the island for a very long time, and one of those people you could just depend on to bring RP to Cordor. A major kudos as well for sticking to the principles governing a relatively challenging character concept, even when it causes OOC grumbling at perceived heavy-handedness. So well done, both for the times he made me cheer, and the times he has induced epic facepalm.
Laura Sinclair: You sell yourself way too short. I’ll just get that out there now. The entire time I interacted with Laura while in the Cordor scene, she has been excellent. Not always right, occasionally temperamental, but always getting things done. For months, Laura was the dynamic driving force that made the guard feel alive. I know the player behind the character has had some serious doubts as to whether or not she did a good job with the faction; I can assure her that she did. You need to get back in game soon, so you can be abducted for more ill-advised adventures of the well-meaning.
The New Crowd
Tynan (Disguised): This character took me by surprise, and I’m glad she did. A masterfully-done job of riding the line between just morally suspicious enough that Torstein always felt she had to be watched carefully, and not outright wicked enough to be actively addressed. That was a very fine piece of maneuvering, and it served as a case example, to me, of the very finest sort of complex evil. Tynan has occupied neither the “subtle” evil camp, nor the “overtly villainous” evil camp, managing to always be unambiguously a bad person, but both useful enough and never quite bad enough to throw away a hostile and wary personal relationship that grew into “friendship with promises of murder”. Seriously well done. I have had a lot of fun with this character
Buster Roberts: You also get a mention here for a character and a player that has come a great way since your first appearance on the server. Buster is far and away my favorite of your characters, and surprised me with the subtle complexities of a man who wants to do the right thing, but can’t make absolute commitments with family and home on the line.
Baby Guardlings: Included as one entry because they are a hivemind I have not had as much time to interact with them as much as I would normally like to. The guard at present has incredible potential in all its new members, all of whom have flaws, challenges, and foibles that made Torstein occasionally want to strangle them, but all of whom are characters that leave me wishing I had had just a little more time to watch them grow and develop.
This list is by no means comprehensive. There are so many other people who have made Cordor fun for me over the last months, from the tower folks who Torstein developed a personal and professional fondness for, to friends in Cordor but uninvolved with the government, such as Buppi and Zankas.
Again, this is not a retirement kudos. Torstein still, with any luck, has a long story ahead of him. I’ve enjoyed writing it so far, and it wouldn’t be the same without all the people I’ve bounced him off of.
With Torstein leaving Cordor in an official capacity, for an assortment of IC and OOC reasons, I’d like to take a moment to recognize just a few of the people that have made my time there as fun as it has been. This is by no means a retirement kudos; Torstein will remain my primary character for the forseeable future, though I may be pretty scarce in game for a bit.
The Old Crowd
Marcus Demarin: It’s been a while since I’ve knowingly played with one of your characters, and I remember some of the first characters you’ve ever run. You’ve come a tremendously long way. Marcus has been enjoyable to deal with the entire time I’ve been around him, and it’s a mark of your growth as a player that you’ve moved so well as an RPer into a niche where you can play a believable, detailed, but ultimately straightforward character, and make him so enjoyable to be around.
Etana Faruq: Holy crap, I cannot say enough about this character. She plays way less than I wish she did, and I remain convinced that if you have the chance to interact with her and pass it up for any reason, you’ve lost Arelith so hard that you should probably uninstall NWN. A lot of people are going to miss the impact this character has had, both on my character, and on the environment of the server, particularly around Cordor, because she’s pretty damned quiet about what she does and why. Still, she has always managed to be an ethical, moral, and philosophical foundation everywhere she’s been seriously heavily involved.
When you see team good discussing why it is that good-aligned values are important, and what the practical aim of those values is, rather than just boiling it down to “evil must be eradicated”, it’s likely to be Etana’s handiwork. When Cordor’s law and culture have been focused not on a long list of “thou shalt not”s, but on building a healthy, prosperous, nurturing society, of which the law and government are stewards and guides, it’s likely to be Etana’s handiwork. This character manages to walk the line between the most compelling aspects of the LG alignment, and embody both simultaneously: compassion and a desire to nurture growth balanced with a staunch belief that there are principles on which one cannot compromise, without surrendering the entire motivating spirit behind doing good works in the first place. This is one of the most challenging aspects of this alignment to balance, and this character does so with aplomb. Kudos, for one of the most enjoyable characters who makes Lawful Good RP a unique and rich thing that runs so much deeper than simultaneously RPing as lawful and good on their own.
Also, confirmed Favored Enemy: Paperwork Demons.
Adalbrandt: A character who gets a lot of hate, but honestly deserves as much, if not more praise. Adalbrandt, in his best moments, is courageous principled, and utterly dauntless. In his worst moments, he’s stubborn, arrogant, and more than a little miserly. This is great to watch, both from an IC and OOC standpoint. This character has been, through high and low points, one of the cornerstones of Cordor’s dealing with the rest of the island for a very long time, and one of those people you could just depend on to bring RP to Cordor. A major kudos as well for sticking to the principles governing a relatively challenging character concept, even when it causes OOC grumbling at perceived heavy-handedness. So well done, both for the times he made me cheer, and the times he has induced epic facepalm.
Laura Sinclair: You sell yourself way too short. I’ll just get that out there now. The entire time I interacted with Laura while in the Cordor scene, she has been excellent. Not always right, occasionally temperamental, but always getting things done. For months, Laura was the dynamic driving force that made the guard feel alive. I know the player behind the character has had some serious doubts as to whether or not she did a good job with the faction; I can assure her that she did. You need to get back in game soon, so you can be abducted for more ill-advised adventures of the well-meaning.
The New Crowd
Tynan (Disguised): This character took me by surprise, and I’m glad she did. A masterfully-done job of riding the line between just morally suspicious enough that Torstein always felt she had to be watched carefully, and not outright wicked enough to be actively addressed. That was a very fine piece of maneuvering, and it served as a case example, to me, of the very finest sort of complex evil. Tynan has occupied neither the “subtle” evil camp, nor the “overtly villainous” evil camp, managing to always be unambiguously a bad person, but both useful enough and never quite bad enough to throw away a hostile and wary personal relationship that grew into “friendship with promises of murder”. Seriously well done. I have had a lot of fun with this character
Buster Roberts: You also get a mention here for a character and a player that has come a great way since your first appearance on the server. Buster is far and away my favorite of your characters, and surprised me with the subtle complexities of a man who wants to do the right thing, but can’t make absolute commitments with family and home on the line.
Baby Guardlings: Included as one entry because they are a hivemind I have not had as much time to interact with them as much as I would normally like to. The guard at present has incredible potential in all its new members, all of whom have flaws, challenges, and foibles that made Torstein occasionally want to strangle them, but all of whom are characters that leave me wishing I had had just a little more time to watch them grow and develop.
This list is by no means comprehensive. There are so many other people who have made Cordor fun for me over the last months, from the tower folks who Torstein developed a personal and professional fondness for, to friends in Cordor but uninvolved with the government, such as Buppi and Zankas.
Again, this is not a retirement kudos. Torstein still, with any luck, has a long story ahead of him. I’ve enjoyed writing it so far, and it wouldn’t be the same without all the people I’ve bounced him off of.
