Frostdrop1

No, people have been batting an eye but they just aren't making a fuss about it on the forums. I haven't particularly heard anything - and I do mean anything - good about the voidal re-writes.

I agree that having a cooldown would be great. I'm not particularly angry I just think it's worth noting on the biggest city and very central roleplay spot in the server and when it's noticeable it's a problem. The Empire is not the only place that does this - vassal builds also frequently incorporate /break avoidant means. And I don't mean walls. I don't mean walls even built with very tiny windows to give the impression that arrows can be shot from them. I mean, quite specifically, chains, those transparent copper blocks, and utilising the debug stick to change the properies of walls/fences which modifies their hitbox. My fundamental point, to clarify, is more akin to 'It is bad to loophole' not '/break is fair and balanced'. In other words, two wrongs don't make a right and its part of fixing the attitude problem as a whole which is my foundational point as it relates to buildings and other aspects of 'MRP' of which PVP is a part. I think the rules would be best with this: Add a cooldown to thievery; Update the build regulations to handle mass instances of alternative windows OR make the command work on all things window-blocking. For the sake of this particular dicussion, I think it's also worth looking to people who are actually on the other side and what they think might balance it out though it is a slightly different debate, so I think this reponse on here is nice for that purpose, even I don't agree on every point. This is not my zone, but I do believe there are people on both sides and they both deserve the chance for this part of the server to be fair. I would like to find a middle ground but I'm wondering if we're really looking at the same list of people here who we consider the top-dogs. So, unfortunately, I still do disagree but I think I can find an avenue to give some lee-way. There are plenty of actual ST and people pretty well-known and a small minority who have frankly actively thrown their weight around with ST weapons even recently had some impact on drawing attention to such materials (i.e. the boomsteel nerf regarding child characters). The ruling class, as it were, who are at least public and appear to driving things are fairly big names who have been known for plenty of stuff before. There may be some lesser-known names who are getting lots of sway behind the scenes - and if they are, that's great. I wouldn't say it's particularly apparent from the outside, though or even when roleplaying within The Empire. ------ chunking this together because multiple quotes ----- That would be, if that were the main complaint. Admittedly, reading back I can't find my direct wording to this but I think it's related to using the Empire as an example but to re-iterate my main complaint is the following which is a more expansive issue that just PVP on its own: Which I clarify in the original post it is not an Empire issue, that I only used the Empire as a example to point at because its very current and is a great hotspot for these issues. None of the things I've discussed of Empire-only issues they are just there a lot: ------- End of chunk & new chunk ------- No, it's a little more nuanced and here's where I touch on it: So I agree. It's both sides. And then I go on to clarify this about the difference between how this behaviour materialies in PVP v CRP: To say this another way for clarity, I think the 'out-grouping' of PVP is so bad because it attacks the person behind the screen. CRP powergaming and being underhanded etc, can more easily be set onto my character and not see it as a direct offense to my person and oftentimes you can even have a fairly reasonable discussion about it. However, there is certainly the argument to be made that such things in CRP could be seen as a lack of respect for the other person although I think they certainly both stem from the same kind of 'winner' attitude, even if it comes out differently which I think is encouraged and prompted by the medium. I could elaborate on PVP behaviours a lot but I think I've done this already in the first comment which was pre-faced with 'The Empire' but in actulity they're just PVP complaints but on a bigger scale. It's just easier to point to stuff familiar but But this is just every shot-caller I've ever heard, which in incredibly obnoxious and I'd love it if someone were different, This deals with the attitude problem even among ST hording which already begins to touch on the cross-over that Tide highlighted much better, This is pretty much every PVP rally, etc. Nor is that an exhaustive list but what I thought of at the time of writing. I could go on but I don't really think anyone needs me to illustrate more, --- End of chunk 2---- Walls aren't part of the issue nor is entering the Empire as a whole. Those aren't the point at all and weren't being spoken about by any party and I don't care for the impact aesthetically. As I kind of cover earlier but once more specifically this list: chains, those transparent copper blocks, and utilising the debug stick to change the properies of walls/fences which modifies their hitbox - two of which do look nice. Essentially, things which function as windows but can't be accessed like windows. While I'm not a fan myself, I just think it's blatantly unfair and ties in with general poor attitudes in regard to the broader umbrella of MRP. While I can see that there is definitely a fairly strong chance it wasn't intentional and because the build-style started that way so it just kept going, which is pretty logical, I think the potential rule changes still need to be looked at both for cooldowns and for building regulations or expanding the use of /break which would remove the loopholes, intentional or not. The Empire build, again, is not the only place utilising stuff like this when I wrote it I mentioned chains not because The Empire really uses that but I recall seeing it on Garenbrig. Vassal builds use these even more, sometimes for the whole build. However, The Empire is more important and is the example as a point that everyone could reference. However, no, it is also not a direct tie into PVP but leaking out into where else might be affected by 'winner' attitudes, just coming out in a different way.

Then the building style was somehow missed. Most buildings had windows, they just didnt have accessible windows. They just have ways of skirting around /break. This included, but we not limited to, the use of copper blocks, chains and even using the debug stick to make arches that fundamentally looked pretty but were inpassable by player model. This occurs in every city, but the sheer amount in the Empire build was shockingly egregious to the point where it was obnoxiously noticeable. And while it may be to your surprise, no - I am not a player who regularly steals anything. In my full span on time in the server i've taken roughly four or five items with only one of which in the past full year which was a letter of interest. I take note because even I, as someone who doesn't really engage in the mechanic without a very particular roleplay drive to do so, thought it was blatantly unfair and strongly believe the rules and mechanics should be updated to prevent this kind of mass mechanic-avoidant spam. These kind of mechanical aspects also reserve their right to be protected as valid, just like PVP, not matter how much I or you personally dislike it. It is, inherently, part of the mechanical side of the server and no amount of attempting X style should be an acceptable when it doesn't achieve the aim and also is inherently hindering to certain groups. Side note: with the addition of /persona scale this may fix the issue with the debut stick arches. /break just needs to be added to the rest. Or some kind of tool to break and then the style is fine and the mechanic remains okay. ""In-group" of RP CA/MA-stackers, or folks toting 500 ST-items - this isn't a phenomenon unique to PvP or nation-building, but instead a common facet of MCRP. " I fundamentally agree. Albeit, I do find it somewhat disingenuous when I look at the top-dogs of the Empire to claim this group doesn't include a good selection of these people. In my experience, ST tend to have a lot of this stuff, as do a good chunk of the big PVPers. There is a fairly large overlap between 'top PVPer' and 'ST hoarder'. Correlation does not equal causation though. And a good chunk of the truly best do engage well in both areas, which naturally leads them to reap benefits because they're good at it. Although, for a certain sub-section I, personally, would pin this on some particularly disagreeable 'winner' attitudes. The same thing that makes PVP in general so icky, just more brazenly and more directly person-to-person, not character-to-character. Personally, I do at least find it somewhat more tolerable when it is something I can project to the character I have rather than having to engage with something rather demeaning as myself.

Frankly, I don't like PVP. PVP is, at current, a big back-patting contest of the same players who loop around and give each other stuff for being great at PVP, then memeing about it. You can see this very same attitude in the Empire, which is more or less the most grand coalition of PVP-centric mindset right now, with their post about naming the badlands after the player with the most kills ( which is not inherently bad it just happens to be another thing on the big list of stuff which piles up); that every shot-caller acts like a teenager when in VC, drunk of having a little control; how the same players loop around their boomsteel weaponry and we're seeing the same sorts of people temp banned over the behaviour and arguing that 10 year old Timmy can totally manage it; how their rallies within the city were pitifully poor emote quality and then instead just had a massive gang of people PVP some folks who were communicating pretty fairly; how their sheer architecture was built with dodging the /break of windows because they're so utterly mechanically 'win' oriented - these things are not isolated. It is, at heart, a culture with the inability to allow your imagination to do all the work, a lack of care towards the every day interactions on the server perhaps stemming from an inability to map empathy onto how they interact(?) which pushes for bigger-scale conflict because not much else is engaging to them and leaving the day-to-day rp to rot in its wake. As a result, this has left Empire RP to suck unless you're part of the 'in' group, and this is how PVP has always been because it's far more focused on OOC relationships and the general mentality of palling about with the lads. These people sit and congratulate each other and can manage to rp with each other really quite well (the empire, given that its the current state, is really great at rp but ONLY top-down... and guess whose at the top?) while alienating a large group of people who, frankly, feel anxious, worried and upset with the state and inclination for PVP. Nobody should be forced into a system that fosters this kind of in v out grouping because it feels distinctly gross. I use the Empire because its super current, but this is not an Empire issue. It's a PVP culture issue which has extended into the Empire due to who's involved. This doesn't mean that I can't point to individuals that I know operate in great faith and have whoever they're interacting with at heart - but they are the exception imo, not the rule. I think the culture of PVP on the server is the single biggest issue as someone so ardently against it because its a social system built around peer pressure, excessive demands, evening gaslighting and insulting, mockery and diminishment of others OOCly which leaks into so much of the server until certain sections just feel icky. Secondly, the fact that the top PVPers want to genuinely want to engage people with the system is nice because they're relaxed and can have fun with the system for what it is. But people also need to see that this relaxed and chilled state is not a universal truth for lots of people on the server regarding PVP, which can leave quite the viscal and raw impact for a myriad of reasons over what should fundamentally be nothing difficult (and this is why the 'I would rather get the fight over with' argument isn't exactly working to convince lots of folk). However, this is only a first step and the engagement has to last - and it can't properly be sustained without smashing apart this thorn that makes PVP and its adjacent groups so intolerable and without having the empathy to realise that putting people in states of adrenaline can be a distressing experience, not merely just unfun, that can be very suddenly dropped on you at any point. In other words, it's just volatile and likely kind of nasty unless its directly between friends. The majority of players are not, in fact, hurrendously nasty but they can start engaging with rather unwelcoming behaviours when they're immersed in the PVP culture side of the server. I don't really know how one goes about solving this - but I greatly suspect it would be to do with breaking up the gang of top-dogs who routinely big-up each other and pull the same kind of nonsense in regard to PVP. I think to do that the PVP system would quite literally need a complete re-work from the ground up to incorporate things beyond normal minecraft mechanics and encourage it to simply play different to minecraft. To be your character, not your super-sweaty PVP clicker self. To incorporate things like magic - even animii and defense systems, things which are otherwise COMPLETELY discarded by the mechanical systems we're provided at current, which would likely in turn make these things less of a butt-of-the-server joke. I also think we need to take on board a culture that holds the more mean-spirited people fully accountable because the damage they do just isn't worth it. Although, being real, I don't think the entirely mechanically-focused players would play ball. I think they'd just min-max and continue to do as they're doing now and I'm even more unsure how one could avoid someone just min-maxing.

Reinhard snorted in some dismal, vague amusement. The author had quite the abrasive ego. Naturally, he did nothing but be faintly and fleetingly amused by the missive.

Considering this a contradiction means you didn't read it as intended because I am not presenting this viewpoint from the same standpoint that others here have been and fundamentally you've misunderstood. So here: Because they're greedy. The lords don't exactly have a pride or agenda to keep by witholding the magic. It's pretty much built on the premise of exploiting the weak. There is nothing to gain from permanent DCs other than losing out on that last little soul fragment and the chance to corrupt it. The souls, in essence, are only partly promised and gradually dealt through subsequent deals with the lord. That's the whole point of boons & banes/cursing. The character, instead, has everything to lose by keeping the chance open. They only fail to return the soul segments already claimed, tearing the soul forever. Any disconnected character has at least part of their own soul remaining.

Addition, frankly, that the ritual right now is too low cost to justify permanent disconnection the first time round especially when the MA itself consumes slots permanently. I think it makes sense for the hells to continue to invite people back. You know. It's a little something called temptation??? The hells were already unforgiving when not returning anything. The more I think about this the more it just feels out of key.

This kind of undermines the storylines involved in many folk's journey. While a first disconnection is somewhat free, the rite is regularly used as a manipulative tool to tie people back to the hells which is, frankly, quite cool and compelling. This amendment basically just removes that chance entirely.

Reinhard hummed, "Except they aren't remotely united ag keep killing each other to make The Mountain's job easier. Incompetent, the whole Empire, painted up in flowery words and pretty missives." He settled his cheek to his fist, his gaze dragging out of the window unto the rain that poured, and poured, and poured. It couldn't be helped, the low festering in his chest. "Genocide on genocide on cleansing." Lightly did he scoff, "Who's next?" Then, however, after a moment of pause, did he smile faintly, "At least this Mountain daemon ist pretty pathetic if he can't win while we're so divided. One bright side, in et all."

As Reinhard watched the small pyre burn, part of him seethed. It was a personal anger, and yet not for himself. But the sweet girl he had accepted as his own. The one who he could not even remember his first meet of, settling down for hot cocoa in a little tavern to shelter from the cold. The one who cried how how she had none of love, and their harmed, lost brother. Aedith had come in tears once more, her mind set to that which was gone. It was the beginning and end of the curse that was Wick, was familial heart-ache. The mother that had left her, abandoned her. The one that mauled her; and yet, the delusion of love remained. He could not deny it, not fight it. He knew that delusion all too well and how its claws wrenched beneath one's skin. Agony it was as it weighed on the heart, but addictive. He knew how cruelty was a temptation to look harder for the love that was supposed to lay beneath. And yet, it was never really there. It was possession. He should perhaps have seen it earlier in all that she wrote, rather than beliving in some naive ability for her to love. Better, he hoped for Aedith. She wlways deserved better. Glimmering cinders reflected off of his eyes as he watched the fire grow, alit by the lonesome daughter. Within so burned that which was a tie, and a letter secret to only her. As much as he silently spited the matter, it was all he could offer their dear Star. It was all they could gift her, for he knew she needed it and so they gave it. Closure. He had spoken first. Such was not easy for one so slighted, but he forced it so. Partly, he had need to respect the lost. Mostly, he yearned to do right for Aedith, even if she understood how difficult they perhaps found the small proceedings. Respect was given to her determination, even if he thought it wayward. And, a hope that she had escaped the chains that made her so cowardly. Perhaps if not in life, then in death.

MC Name: frostdrop1 Discord: frostdrop1 Image: Description of Image: Coat of Arms - celebratory edition Dimensions: 1 wide, 1 high

MC Name: frostdrop1 Discord: frostdrop1 Image: Description of Image: Coat fo Arms, invis background Dimensions: 1 wide, 1 high

Reinhard eyed the missive, naturally low upon such reading. "Ah, poor woman. Ester." He muttered, a horned devil himself - much marred, and aged. Subtly did a tsk follow, recounting that he had certainly heard of this one - and how terribly unlikely it was for there to be two cursed Esters. "...Wait- seeking respite...? Did they just ransom a Norlandic devil to Numendil?" A grimace cast over him. "And I thought it was stupid to detest devils." Lowly did he chortle to himself, before the thing was folded.

MC Name: frostdrop1 Discord: frostdrop1 Image: Description of Image: portait. Dimensions: 1 wide, 1 high

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Very frankly, I don't come to a roleplay server which is primarily text-based to click and hurt my finger so PVP discussion is a poor fit for me. I like to be immersed in my character, not be made to reflect on how my ping is not the absolute best, how I can't click super fast and how I just feel bad that I can't do it as good as the next guy. I do not spent hours or days or weeks invested into an arc to devolve into drivel with PVP where both sides just make it up for clout, post their PVP goonfest pictures of this one guy I know and got (look at me I'm so cool), vaguepost and insult each other. The best thing to come out of such things are the memes and most of those are about the narrative. I have sunk countless hours into PVP that I never enjoyed, for it to be either: a) Too laggy to be meaningful b) Too stally to be meaningful c) Realise numbers simply matter more, the end If I could avoid all PVP on the server, I would. I am, however, simply forced to deal with it and the baggage that comes along with it. One cannot simply avoid PVP and the innate effect it has on how the server works. Ultimately, when RP makes my character feel bad that's great. PVP makes me feel bad for being skillfully inferior and simply not enjoying PVP regardless of win or loss. In essance, making it a complete waste of my time that I need to just perpetually worry about because there is no good outcome for me. Great. This is not to say I do not enjoy PVP games at all - minecraft just isn't it mechanically for me. Ultimately, there is literally no way to level the playing field so as a Level 1 NPC in combat my PVP concerns are pretty simple: a) I want to access PVP stuff without scarificing my RP gear that I prefer to have b) I don't want to deal with that attitude of goons. It is, quite frankly, the most off-putting thing about PVP to me c) I want one armour set and one weapon d) I want it to be over fast e) I frankly don't want to be involved in consequences for something I'm 100% getting dragged into by someone else in the first place. Having to pop or have a roleplay death, or any kind of rp aftermath for you not roleplaying with me is entirely unattractive. I will legitimately sit through a 3 hour CRP slog over a 10 second PVP fight all because I would rather have the reason of loss f) I would prefer important RP things to always be entirely divorced from PVP (E.g. hard and soft PK clauses, loss of MARTs, even acknowledgable character death [unless agreed] etc) Does CRP suck sometimes? Yes. A lot of the time, really. People simply don't take hits like they should and I'm also usually on the rough end of CRP for over-hyping injuries dealt - but I enjoy losing that way and that makes all the difference. People can't handle what is "reasonable" in CRP. Your greatsword cannot move as fast a dagger when the opponent was prepared, and you are not. Sorry, no. And, frankly, moderation is not great when moderation what is reasonable either - in CRP or PVP - unless it is brazenly wrong. They only moderate what is directly in front of them and do not take into account the backlog of the fight. They change and twist rules on-the-fly and make some weird frankenstein combo between CRP and PVP when relevant. Honestly, it's very odd moderation from my perspective. This puts CRP in this really stupid conundrum where no one trusts mods and to beat powergaming you have to powergame back! CRP rules should be improved as should the general way in which moderation actually handle fights. They also need to stop silently changing rules and leaving people confused. TL;DR I'm entirely in CRP camp owing to getting zero enjoyment from PVP no matter the circumstances and anything I do care about is really only to make it less of a drag to co-exist with.

Reinhard followed the war from a distance, tentatively hoping the best. Silence. It had been, for many a year. Dropped like a weight. And when given the chance years ofconnection. With so many years to catch up on he was treated like rubbish. Given material gains like a beggar. Undermined and insulted in front of Bron. Betrayed. He had set up Bron's safety up, of course. They liked to forget it, he was sure. Not that such was the point, but he certainly longed for a thank you, papej. Just one. A hug. He longed to see his son and for once understand his motives. And through that, he wished he could remind him that he was proud. He did what he could as a preventative measure, for he lofted no blade here. It was his plan and his fretting and his insistence that drove finding a route, even if it had left him in miserable shreds. Even if it had put him at the brink, dancing with Death, as the boy had done time and time again. It had to be worth it. Even now, his hand walks not stilled for it was sanctuary that he offered. He could only hope that now, in the most dire of times, the plan would work against the intended extremes. The ones Roran didn't believe. And he could only hope that one day Roran would pull through as more than a failure.

Celica blinked doe-eyed at the missive. Compared to the last it read in an awfully treason-adjacent manner! She wondered, bitterly, why the archduke still had his head.

They say a parent was not supposed to hold favourites. Perhaps such was true, and yet he had one anyway - and for the first few years, upon his first taste of such an experience that he had craved so long, it was her. It mattered not that the relationship was something he had suddenly found himself loaded with, built upon lies he could not have forseen. She was the first, and she was perfect. When she cried in distress of her brother's hurt, it was he who moved after her. It was he who tried to tame the wrath and guide each to love themselves - each, to deaf ears. When danger knocked, it was he who found them protection, whether they liked it or not. Their room was decorated with gifts from festivities, their hands laid with permits he had stretched himself to acquire. Each step out to market was consumed in thought of what each would like, utterly enthralled in giving them everything he never had. He was proud enough to share them with his family eagerly - to seek them connection beyond their town and be his own. He was proud, too, that their future would be theirs - or so he thought. No matter what lay beyond, he knew himself able to guide them - it was, afterall, what all his early years had been for. It came naturally as a shock how things shattered so abruptly. That he, in his scouring for help, had let slip to the wrong person and was thusly confronted by her. That all of a sudden, affection had turned to malice. And it was his own fault, for daring to scream for help. He should always, perhaps, have been quiet and then it never would have been so. In some firm manner, he offered honesty. Honesty. He had come to believe in it, yet the first telling of how wrong he was to do so was apparent at her reaction. He had never hurt anyone; rather, it was he who was threatened. It was often he who was hurt. He who was used. He had even loved his own father despite the things he did, in what ways he could manage. And yet, she held wrath for him in a way he simply could not understand, and would hear nothing of the truth further. She was the first to see him as dead for that which was inflicted upon him, but not the last. He loved her unconditionally, even through it. He departed with a heart-felt gift to her mother, something which he had clung to in wait for just the right night. It was not to come, and so he gave it then. Reinhard had been distant many years - or he assumed so, from her perspective. Of course, he was anything but distant to those that knew him, and anything but one to give in. It was not uncommon that his thoughts would drift to Nocte and how she was doing, then be reminded of her silence. He thought sometimes he might ask Melia how she was doing, and then found himself tongue-tied, reminded of the last thing she had given him. Not a gift was ever recieved from her, of course, but he kept that blood-written letter all those years, as he had Telemachus'. It was a response for attempting to remind her that she was loved, even when he himself was crumbling at the seams, languishing in substances without support in some attempt to live up to what his wife expected of him. Often had he fiddled with parchment in his hands, then scolded himself in reminder that it was not his choice to make. He feared for her, after he learned of what had happened to Melia. He feared for each of them, and yet was stuck in an impossible position. He aided what he could, of those who allowed - and the rest was hopes and prayers. He feared so much, back then. No matter what he thought, or when he thought, connection did not lay within his palm. It was unto her that the address was left, that he may merely be a letter away if she so required. Never, had that changed. Never would it change, for any of them. As always, he was a bleeding heart no matter his jading. She never heard, and yet it was he who murmured on the side-lines, wary of her mother and the place she had come to be. Each rare time she came to be in his vacinity, there had come to be concern just as there had for Melia. But Nocte would never know it. Still, presently, were there days when he rifled through the mail and imagined names signed that were not there, hers included. Yet, after all his long years of fighting for something better, things had finally began to be better. He could only hope the same for the little girl he came to love as his own first. And so each morning, he sorted though his mail and did not find her name. And, each morning, he would do the same again and again as he had for the decades prior.

Reinhard huffed at the stray missive, snatched from its barreling in the winds. "This ist the new world order, ich suppose. War here, war there. People didn't fight hard enough for peace when they had the chance." His hand lowered the ink away, as ash-flecked features peered out to the sun that sank below the distant waves. Some part of him still longed for the success of his heitage; yet, it was a far-away dream now - all of it.

The devil, not quite small yet not quite old, a teenager by any stretch, sat at the outer tavern tables. One might think Reinhard to bask in the sun of the day which beamed on the square of New Valdev, yet the drink in the bottom of his glass reeked of spirits. It was a thing often unnoticed by all but his closest, who knew to what extent his drinking consumed him. For what was a Haeseni, if not one who drank? Even if that one did not like Carrion as their so-called kin might. Each dirty look, each damnation of his health, each call of demon was a drop more in the glass. When Alaric sat, the devil's hands moved below to bring cuffs down and stifle sight to the black-stained nature of his gloves. Not ink of course: blood. He thought little of it now, for it was second nature to hide it. It was second nature to secrecy of his affairs, while supporting others. He had a wariness of those of the cloth - it was blades they came with usually. But this one, he learned, was related. A distant cousin. Alaric supported him. He came to the only clergy Reinhard saw value in. --- When he was older, but not so much wiser, Reinhard had led himself into some difficult territory. Secrecy remained, as did his desire to aid others. It weighed him greatly, trapped him in a manner he could not quite forsee. When he heard of the transformation Alaric had suffered, it was his first instinct to lend his support - and so he did. Not him alone, of course, there were two who so suffered and he reached to both he could. He would have leapt the world to aid him - anyone, really. And he did, each time. Alaric saw that he was cured, and once the devil knew the man was well he was glad. Reinhard spoke no word of it to anyone. --- It was some years between their sightings of one another. Things were surely spread of heard during that time. Eventually, they had been apart for quite a while. Distrust had leaked into the devil through no fault of Alaric himself. Reinhard was with a child, a cursed child, as he, frankly, often was. He murmured who the man was, and that child was oh-so-eager to meet Alaric. With a pensive breath, the devil made his was over. He seated, to talk. Enough trust remained that it was this man he allowed the boy to meet. All came to a frozen, abrupt halt at the mention of warlockism. In a tavern, in the midst of Petra. The devil's gaze scoured the surroundings, evidentally having been quite lucky at their lack eavesdroppers. Denial, simply, met to accusation. He was never checked, of course - not once. He was running. However, Alaric could not help him. Nor, either, did he seem to care to try with an utterance so brazenly dangerous. This only continued, with the devil coming to suspect a certain cardinal of attempting to take the boy - to pull him from parents that loved him dearly. What little remnant of trust remained was shattered, for decades. And for such an act that Alaric perhaps thought little of, the devil seethed. Such a small slight could easily have cost his life. Perhaps, he considered many-a time, that was the intent. He came to believe that in full, eventually. --- Reinhard languished on the death he so heard of. It was something which in his initial moments brought him satisfaction, which dribbled into frustration. He never would see closure. He never would know why when the tables had turned, Alaric could not stay true. He was only left with questions, and the affimation that all clergy were not to trusted.

Reinhard raised brows in surprise at the missive. He had seen Alaric only earlier, of course, from afar. Albeit, he was not sad. Perhaps if the priest had dared to understand what he could not, then he might have remembered the man Alaric was to his youth. Alas, such memories had long been stripped away by an unwanted gift. He was not soon to remember that man that tried to kill him so openly, so freely, before his son. Like a monster. His assumptions were made, and life did the rest. Perhaps it hurt more than the devil would admit, for a great trust had been shattered that day. Instead, a brisk chortle left him, half hissed in what was an unbecoming satisfaction. "Finally got what vy deserve, Vampyre?" Chortles soon turned to something less graceful as a churning gut kicked in. A realisation that he was robbed of closure. Yet, rather than express it, such a thing was masked with a simple bark: "Hypocrite!"