[PK] Otto´s Last Farewell

[Etow 181]

[PK] Otto´s Last Farewell

Intro:

This Letter is Published posthumously by Otto´s Great grandchildren several years after Otto´s passing.

Spoiler

This is a Long overdue PK and farewell post to my longest played character on LOTC, Otto Wittenbach. I started playing him many years ago back in Arcas. I had just returned to LOTC after a long Hiatus and I didn't really know that many people there anymore so I ventured out with Otto as a 16 year old Adunian going around the map and meeting new peoples.. I didn ́t know what his journey would be but I surely did not expect to have the most amazing adventures with him, meeting so peoples who have become friends and created so many fun stories and memories. For that I want to thank everyone that I played with over the years and who like me enjoyed having Otto around as a great character !

It is thus now that Otto has gotten over 200 years old, and me returning to LOTC again after another Hiatus that I found that it is time to give this character a proper PK post and farewell before starting new awesome adventures on the next character

 

Otto Wittenbach, Personal Memoires of my life.

This is a first person Account of my own Life. My name is Otto Wittenbach and I know I am coming close to the end of my life as I recently celebrated my 216th Birthday! Quite the age even for an Adunian like me. It is in that light that I have finally decided to sit down and write down my own life story, Finally writing down my memoires! I have pushed this off for far too long but now that my frail old body doesn't allow me to go out in the world and travel I am finally forced quite literally to sit down and get these memoires done. So let me get started, trying to remember the earliest days of my life

Part 1 My Birth and Childhood:

I was born sometime in the year 1743 in Arcas.. Where exactly? On what day? Honestly I don't know it myself since I was found as a young baby by Traveling Waldenian Merchants near an abandoned Adunian Encampment. From what my Adoptive Waldenian Family told me it looked very much like the camp was raided and everyone had to leave in a hurry. I was found just off the camp near a little river. My new Waldenian Family decided to name me Otto and took me in as one of their own Traveling from market to market around the world. 

I think it was these early days in my life that gave me my first and never ending taste for traveling, at a young age I already met all kinds of peoples and cultures from different Human kingdoms to dwarves and elves and so much more. 

It was a carefree time for me but around my 16th birthday I began to forge my own plans for my life and with a heavy heart decided to leave my Waldenian family to start my own life. It was at that point where I decided to create my own family name, as again I had no idea who my birth family was. There were many names that I thought about but I decided to go for something simple trying to get as close to my birth family as I could. Simply, I was found near a creek called Witten by my Adoptive Waldenian family. A creek in Waldenian is Bach hence I named myself Wittenbach. I was ready now a self made man coming from nowhere having even crafted his very own family name, it was now time to make my mark in this world and call somewhere home! Boy didn´t I know what a journey I had started

Part 2 My Early Adult Life

Spoiler

This is the moment from which I started playing Otto, the moment I had returned to LOTC after being away. Started a new, fresh car, 16 year old Adunian and hoped to play with him for a long time while still having no real idea where to start and what to do exactly.

Ah the early days… I remember them well. It took me a couple years to find a good place to settle down, still traveling from towns and cities temporarily even working in a small local tavern! It was an enjoyable experience though sadly guests were few but it did give me a great opportunity to start learning brewing Beer and Wines! While also snatching a look at some History books at the local library. 

But being a tavern keeper just wasn't it for me and I decided to pack up and travel some more this time further North in Arcas specifically I first ventured to Helena the Imperial Capital city. It was quite the stark difference ! so much life to many peoples there it was a truly bustling metropolis. It could have surely been a great place to settle down but it was hard to find a place to live there and even harder to start a business so I decided to continue further North this time to New Reza the Capital City of Haense. 

Boy do I remember that city still to this day, it wasn´t as large as Helena with its tall houses reaching to the skies but it lived in and was lively with many shops and businesses lining the streets and so many great peoples calling this city their Home.

So I contacted the local stewards and looked at possible places to live and work at. I settled on a former little restaurant located at the end of a little alleyway. It was a very cute little thing and the perfect place to open up a small store ! 

Yes I opened a store of all things ! The Wittenbach Warehaus. A small store to start selling all the things I collect from all my voyages as well as all the things I have learned to craft and brew on my many journeys. Hence I would build a grand wine Cellar to sell all my own brews and upstairs sell many crafted Items like waldenian clocks and of course various items collected from around the world. The only thing that was missing was some sort of Sign or crest above the door. Something to greet my customers and stand out in that little alleyway.

So I went into my workshop and started to work on a crest.
 

Wittenbach Warehaus Door Crest

I put quite a lot of thought and effort into this store crest as I wanted it to be a proper representation of myself and my store. So I of course first used a shield with a balance to represent commerce and trade this being the business I am in after all. Then I put the scale on a Black and white background for various reasons, for it to be good and bad, or ying and yang, showing differences but balance centered on it to balance out the black and white. Lastly enveloping the whole a green dragon, now here there is some bias as I have always admired dragons, always reading about them so why not use one of my Store crests? Surely it would look great! The dragon would also symbolize my love for adventure, the fantastical, the mysterious as well as the strength. 

Finally in 1761 I got to Open my store. I won't write to you that it was an instant success! And that all the people were lining up the street! Oh no far from it. It was a slow start but people did come and buy things, I advised them on gifts, presented them with my various items or talked to them about wines. This got me to know more and more people of New Reza and during my time off I would explore the city more, going into my neighbors stores and chatting with them and participating in various city wide events ! It was a lovely time only interrupted by smaller conflicts or the Imperial guards entering the city on horseback.  Aye these were crazy and interesting times to live in, I must admit I did try to get into the local politics candidacy in one of the elections, although I did manage to get some votes it still wasn't enough. 

 

So politics was not my calling… Faith I suppose had other plans for me. It wasn't long until I came across a flier about the Opening of a Museum in the city. It immediately caught my attention, I was always very passionate about History. After all, I spend many hours reading various books on days of old. The Flier said that the museum would soon open but was still looking for artifacts for its exhibits as well as staff to help run the museum and guide museum guests. I of course immediately applied and managed to get myself an interview with the organization managing the Museum.. A so-called.. Northern Geographical Society? (NGS). Little did I know that the NGS would become part of the majority of my entire life… It didn't start out perfectly though…

The Members of the NGS did not quite trust me at first. I was very enthusiastic and all but still very new to all these people.. Most of all the president of the NGS, Celestine Herbert did not really know what to do with me. 

Ah Celestine… I still miss you every day, while you didn't really know me at first and what to do with me, I was impressed by you from the start. So I doubled down and did my utmost best to give a great impression! I worked hard on the research and writing assignment for the museum exhibits, traveling around the city gathering all historical information possible. I helped out setting up the final pieces and finally on opening day I was the best tour guide possible touring several groups from start to finish through the entire museum. And it worked! I gained the trust of the NGS members and most importantly of Celestine. It wouldn't be long until I would become a member myself and even become curator of the Museum in New Reza. I will admit it was a lot of effort for me, I even sidelined my little shop for a while but it was really worth it. I had found myself a great group of people who I could call my friend, true friends with friendships that would last whole lifetimes. All this thanks to the dream of one person, my dearest Celestine you made it all possible and brought so many passionate people together including myself, who knows where I would have ended up had the NGS but I certainly know I may have missed out on so much had I not decided to join it. 

 

Part 3 Scholar, Adventurer and inventor

Now it's time to write about probably the most exciting part of my entire life… Although don´t tell this to my wife or children, I fear Celestine is already condemned from heaven just for writing this. Please Celestine if you're reading this don't take it too hard I do love you still with all my heart ! 

Little joking aside, each part of my life was special in its own way but this truly was an amazing time for me and the most adventurous and inventive part of my life. 

Remember I had just become curator of the NGS Museum in New Reza, I was writing and researching things but also starting on my first construction work designing a new room for the museum. I will admit I never thought I would become an architect but here I was designing new exhibit halls and new meeting rooms for the Society. 

In addition I started to put my crafting skills that I used for creating various things in my shop to start tinkering on important equipment for expeditions ! Celestine even gave me permission to build an entire laboratory to start inventing new useful tools for the many NGS expeditions and adventures. And yes all these expeditions.. There were so many! We quite literally went to every corner of the known world! But one expedition stuck out from all the others, the NGS expedition to the Nether.. Or also known to most simply as Hell. 

I remember it well. We were investigating strange old ruins to the far North of the continent trying to figure out their meaning, it was only through luck that some of us managed to figure out what they were for and how to make use of them… simply said they were a portal to the Nether.. And one had to die to enter them.. Yes Die! We all went to the lake surrounding the old portal and went into it to drown ourselves. It was… a very traumatic and painful thing to do and I still wonder today whether I am still truly alive or dead, Although my aching back and tired legs seem to remind me that I am very much still alive and also very old. Either way once we drowned and died that's when the Portal opened for us and from then on the Portal would always be visible to us. From then on the NGS would make several expeditions into the nether. Our first expeditions were just there to explore the first surroundings and then with each expedition we would go deeper and deeper… I didn't even mention yet that the Nether had no air at all! We had to wear helmets with a limited supply and the heat or the heat was unbearably hot! I am still amazed that my young self back then was able to survive through that ordeal. But enough about the nether, you are here to read about my life story and there is much more to tell, if you want to read about the nether or so many other NGS expeditions, just hop over to the NGS museums they have so many books and studies about their exploits!

Painting of the first generation of NGS Members

Now believe it or not but the NGS was not the only organization I had joined at that time, it certainly the one I am most known for but there was another organization or more precisely a guild that I had joined and that was quite a formative part of my young adult life, The Orrir’Ullral Monster and demon hunting guild. 

Now the Guild had existed for a while before but they were looking to upgrade their headquarters as their current ones were too small… Since I was now in the business of construction and architecture both upgrading the NGS museums and my own home, it seems that the Guild got wind of it and decided to recruit me to design their new Guild headquarters. So I took a several year hiatus from the NGS and moved to the furthest eastern part of Arcas to start on the construction of the new Home of the Orrir’Ullral Guild. As construction progressed I became more acquainted with all the guild members and started to get involved in their work. Having had quite an adventuring career by then it was no issue for me to join them on their various adventures going out to Hunt Monsters and demons. 2 years went by and their new Headquarters was fully built and I was offered a position as their Librarian to document all their travels, the Demons and Monsters they encountered and teach this valuable information to new recruits. I of course said yes as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to take. In addition I had also impressed them with my inventions, which pushed them to give me a large space as a laboratory to research and tinker around for new useful inventions like the Orrir´s Hidden Blade but also my studies on Air balloons which at the time believe it or not no one really knew how they worked, I was just very lucky to be part of an adventure which a very mysterious guide who owned several of these air balloons, giving me a first eye account on how they worked.

Sketches of Otto Wittenbach made during time at the Guild

And yes, there were so many and all of them dangerous! I remember us flying with these very same balloons to floating islands in the sky… my balloon unfortunately had crashed and I ended up hanging upside down with my leg caught in one of the crashed balloon cords. But even more so I remembered one adventure again with the balloons where we approached a mysterious tower in the sky´s.. Guarded by a gigantic Thunder Dragon! Now remember back then no one had seen dragons in ages it was quite astonishing for us to see they still existed and for me a childhood dream come true, Although I had always hoped I could talk or even ride a dragon… but that thunder dragon instead seemed more concerned shooting out balloons down and protecting what was in that tower. At least I can say that I fought a dragon and survived! Sure that not many in this world even today could say that. 

Once we had survived our many adventures we would all go back to the Guild Headquarters and write down all our findings. It is during that time that I wrote several studies on all these various creatures. I had become quite the expert on demonic creatures and monsters teaching it to new and old Guild members alike to prepare them on facing these monsters in battle. I think, no I know that these times as a librarian and teacher were one of the most exciting and fulfilling times in my life.. I wish I could have done that again but sadly I had to move on and after several years at the guild it was time for me to return to the NGS and continue my important work there mostly since some things had changed…

Part 4 Husband & Father 

I don't think I have ever said this to anyone, but the construction job at the Orrir’Ullral Guild and the job position there weren't the only reasons that I left the NGS for a few years.. No. There was another reason, Celestine. I already told you that from the first time I met Celestine I was deeply in awe and impressed by her and her work… Well, having worked over the years with her just made that grow more and more  as I just completely admired and fell for her. Unfortunately Celestine did not feel the same way.. At least not completely and she also had another love interest at the time, Juan. I of course respected all of it but it was still very hard for me to be around because of it, hence why I left for the Orrir’Ullral Guild. 

But something had happened, Juan had died. When I heard the news I rushed back to comfort Celestine as I knew it would be hard times for her. I of course immediately started work on various NGS projects supporting Celestine in all things. But this time our relationship grew much closer than before and through friendship and love we finally decided to be together, to start a new life together as Partners now, and out of a troubled time grew a new great time with a bright future and a family together.

It wasn't long until our wonderful children were born, Elizaveta, Dannika and Wolfgang. I loved each of them and they filled our little House in New Reza with so much love and laughter. I never thought really that I would have a family of my own but now I did and now all that I cared for suddenly was to make sure that they had a great future ahead of them. This is probably also why I took on the job as Jovenaar(Judge) in Haense to help guarantee justice, security and freedom for my young children. 

It was a hard blow then when The world of Arcas neared it end and we all had to flee it to Almaris, but to me it just gave me more purpose to build a new and brighter future for my children, so I decided to help in the Haense effort to build their new City in Almaris, Karosgrad. Designing there the main Shop street in its entirety while of course also designing a grand new Flagship Museum for the NGS. It was a lot of work but it was done. 

What a city Karosgrad was, much grander and larger than New Reza had ever been. Everything was grandeur now, even my shop. No Longer was it a small back alley shop no no ! Now it was one of if not the Largest shop in all of Karosgrad right in the center of the main street. This new grandeur Store would help me secure a great future for my children gathering enough money to guarantee any future they might want. And I was very proud of that store, I still miss it to this day one of my biggest achievements as a business owner. I also miss our Little Home above it. It was small, yes but it was a loving home for a young family. What a great start for all of us in this new world of Almaris, so much still laid ahead of us. 

Part 5 President, Builder & Family

Part 5 of my memoires, While my early adulthood was characterized by many dangerous adventurers, fighting monsters but also traveling the world and researching and writing even teaching, this part of my life got to be characterized by new things, that of Building, leadership and family. The Early days of Almaris truly were a Golden age for the NGS. We for the first time had a proper flagship museum, a purpose built museum with state of the art facilities. And with that came a large influx of new members who made the NGS family even bigger. All that is what characterized my life. Now I was working hard administering things at the NGS as its Vice-President helping my wife Celestine with all the work. At the same time I would run the shop and take care of our kids. I would at times still go out on expeditions but they were far fewer for me and only joined the ones that were less dangerous, after all I had a family now I could be as careless as I was before. 

The years passed and the NGS Golden age continued, it wouldn't be long until I would become the President of the NGS, as my wife Celestine had decided to give over the reins and prepare for her own retirement. It was a true honor for me to Preside over the NGS, this society that had given me a home and where I have made so many friends that I thought of as part of my family. 

What symbolized my tenure as President of the NGS was of course buildings, I oversaw the construction of several museums for it and the renovations of them. I no longer explored or wrote as much as I used to. I took great care of the NGS. My proudest moment was the NGS 100th Anniversary, one of the last exhibits where I still actively wrote the studies for. It was an exhibit that was very important to me since I myself had now been with the NGS for 100 years!

At the same time of course my children grew up to be the most amazing people, one in particular, Eliza. I know a parent should not have a favorite but the relationship with my daughter Eliza was the strongest with all my kids. We worked together quite often on NGS projects but also in our store. I supported her in all her endeavors and decisions. The Good and the bad ones. She even opened her very own store with magical items right next to my own. It was a proud moment for a father, but I was even prouder when she would become President of the NGS herself after me. 

Another Proud moment came when our Family continued to grow and my daughter Eliza managed to get ourselves a small plot of land to build a manor on. I of course went right to work and design and build us a beautiful Manor. We together aptly named it “Witten´s End”

 

Witten´s End

That Manor became the center of our Family and now even of our Adunian Clan, Yes our Clan. Adunians had over centuries been dispersed but slowly started to come back. Most notably several clans started to settle nearby and invited us to join their community, even giving our Family the status of an Adunian Clan. It truly was an amazing time for our entire family. 

And I remind everyone that my Family was not just me, my wife, children and grandchildren but this also includes all of my friends that I made around the world. Several of these friends even became official members of our Clan as they truly were family. It still brings me joy that my descendants decided to bring this view of family as the Motto for the House of Wittenbach. “My Friends are my Family” words to which I truly live by.

Part 6 My dark Days

I won't lie but writing this part of my life is difficult, but so is life.. Your youth will be full of adventures and laughter but as you age..well age can be a cruel thing. First it was my wife. I am of course Adunian but Celestine was not, she was a strong woman at that but it was only a matter of time until I had to say goodbye to her, sadly in the most painful way possible. A dear family friend of ours had left years before, Tanith Vursur, and my old wife had decided to go out and search for her. We both knew this would very well be a journey she would not return from. But as always I respected My wife and supported her with her decision.

Many other of my Human friends also passed away while I still went on, it was a cruel time during which I secluded myself more and more as I stepped down as NGS President but also had to close down my store permanently. 

Yes, my store was no more… Crime had gotten rampant in the city and I wasn't spared. After I refused to pay for protection I was brutally maimed and my store was set on fire. I did rebuild but it just wasn't the same anymore and eventually closed the store down for good. 

Lastly the entire world seemed to erupt in wars and chaos… for nearly a century things had been peaceful or at least only smaller local conflicts but now wars engulfed the whole world which of course destroyed so much including our Manor Witten´s end. Our Family had lost its home and my grandchildren fled to find a new one. It was a very very sad time.

Part 7 Old age

And here I am now. Aevos.. This is my third world that I have lived in. After the ordeals I lived through I managed to find peace here in Aevos. I still visited my family from time to time of course but I decided to spend my remaining years traveling around while I still could. Before I was an active part of the world, engaging with it and its peoples, now I am just an old man standing by and watching as the younger generation now is taking care of the world. 

It was good to see for me that Adunians finally managed to have a Home again. I spent many days here with my fellow Adunian. Hard to believe that when I was born something like an Adunian Kingdom was just an old tale or a far fetched dream. At least I can call myself lucky to have been able to see this dream become reality.

216 years, what an age to be. I fear though my end is near so I wish you all goodbye my dear family, my dear friends, my Journey may end but I wish you all the best for all of your journeys, trust me you can have the most amazing adventures if you end up finding an amazing group of peoples to share them with.

 

Spoiler

And with that its goodbye to Otto Wittenbach. I will truly miss this character. He was such a loving, passionate and optimistic family man. He never had any desires or need for power nor wealth. Don´t get me wrong he was pretty wealthy the shop buisnes went well but he never spend much of that wealth on himself prefering to live as a simple man in a simple home. In fact he donated so much of his money to Charities and projects, it was a true joy for him to do so. One thing I also wanted to do with Otto was to show that one does not need to have a noble character to have a great time on LOTC, While I left option open for his descendence to rise to nobility I made sure that Otto would never get any such rank or even engage in politics but just be a scholar, an adventurers, buisnessman and family man. And man did that work I have the most awesome time playing him and was carefree of any political entaglements that ive known before. It is good to just play a commoner and you can still have an impact in the world and mostly a long amazing life with amazing stories to tell.

 

So I bid farewell to you Otto, you will always remain in my memories of course, I will miss you old man, youll live on in crazy stories forever though.

I also want to thank everyone that I have engaged with over the years through Otto, so many of you have become my friends and still are to this day all thanks to that Waldenian-Adunian old man :)

 

Thank you for reading this, it was long overdue. Goodbye Otto I will miss you dearly.

 

Picture of Otto I had commissioned, loved it so much I got it framed and is now always visible for me at home :)

 

[Werew0lf 12024]

With talons clutched around the autobiography of the man, the owl could do nothing but read, in interest, at the fulfilling life and regaling stories of a descendant. There was a hideous leer present within his eyes, as wide and knowing as they were, filled with certain envy and jealous. "How annoying," 

 

Although his wings bristled in rage, the owl could not stop reading, and only dreamt of a life he could have lived instead. If only he was in the boots of Otto Wittenbach. 

 

[Malins Welcome 739]

The current president of the Northern Geographical Society reads through the final words of his predecessor and, when done, files them safely in the NGS Archives, so that the story the humble man's life will be preserved as long as the society he serves continues to exist.

[DahStalker 2856]

Somewhere far during her travels... Lhoris removed her tricorne, paying respects to Otto once hearing about his passing. "Should the universe be kind, may we meet once more in what comes after our morality." Otherwise, she ensured to cherish the time they spent, and remember his memory fondly.