Caelria

All requests for roleplay must be filed by direct message at least 24 hours prior and include assurances of perceptible financial or emotional benefit to me and/or my peers (listed at time of scheduling). Applications that fail to assure accommodations which lead to my character's success will be ignored. You gave your communities to wannabe lawyers with no scruples or social skills because they promised you success, knew how to argue, and were good at sounding smart; and a society of wannabe lawyers with scruples no social skills you received. This is all your fault!

This is going to sound dismissive, but I really would recommend that if you have a problem you vote with your feet and move on rather than complaining endlessly into the void. This goes for you and for every serial complainer on this server, myself included. There has been demonstrable unwillingness to change for, or to give respect to, the player base from any of the members of the core leadership body for years now. It's only gotten worse over the course of recent months. Manic execution of power, outright hostility, and resentment towards players looking for safety or solutions is the norm here. It's astonishing what a long-lasting culture of toxicity has cultivated among the staff meant to be protecting you from this behavior. The delinquents of yesterday are the leaders of today, so it's no surprise that a delinquent attitude prevails, and you really shouldn't subject yourself to it as a consumer. I'm not going to advertise anywhere else, but I've personally stayed away from LotC staff (and found other avenues of roleplay elsewhere) and I've been much, much happier. You really don't realize how bad it is here until you've touched some other grass and seen what it's like in other places. I promise this isn't the best place on the internet to roleplay, or even to hang out, as someone especially invested -- even if it can be a nice place to blow off steam from time to time if you're not too attached. That is to say, it can be fun but it's worth stepping back from time to time. The PvP is funny too.

Much respect. Much support. Stepped away myself a while back and have been much happier. It's a shame everything is the way it is, but I'm glad you're focusing on yourself rather than your commitments to strangers making strange demands.

You want money, dude? Sure. How much to remove plugins? How much do I pay to get fast travels to nation capitals from CT? Can I pay to remove activity checks?

I'm not really complaining that you made it. It really hasn't affected me in the slightest that I have to stand somewhere instead of right clicking a sign, unless it's the five minute Haelun'or ferry that we put in a while back for some reason, but that's kind of the problem. I'm more complaining that you wasted your time doing that when you could've been doing something impactful to the server that didn't cause as much bloat. Surface level content like this is what drives LotC right now, and it's why our server is struggling to stay above water in a release edition that we're not ready to provide for with plugins like vortex, surge, and command point PvP which we created to be a spectacle but wound up breaking our game. It's why we've got stupid anti-player systems like nation tax and activity tax to give teenage NLs mental illness over their performance on building blocks. Everyone is so preoccupied with making sure things look like they're going great and wowing new players that they're either too lazy or too unaware to pay attention to the rot, and staff wallpapering over the mold that's growing on this server is suffocating all the players. Our server gets TONS of applications a month on the back of this spectacle, and we retain almost nobody because the moment you peel it back it's sticky and wet. (Players who have been here for months or even as much as nearly a year are considered "new" because we have such a new player drought). Everywhere I go, it's the same familiar faces with a couple of new ones. I've made about a million enemies on teams just by pointing out that bad things happen and make players feel like shit on this game. Everyone here is expected to ignore the degradation until big explosive events like this warclaim happen and blow over in two weeks while the staff dogmatically repeats "we're sorry" to drown out dissent until a point that players lose interest or hope of change. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry you can't make warclaims work. I'm sorry your server has been a haven for child predators and grooming from the player governments all the way up to your administration (sorry, that's old news, it's been two weeks by now and all the rep/clout has been collected so we're back to normal on that front again). I'm sorry your volunteer staff is so hostile to its playerbase, and I'm sorry that I have to put up with it and be so regularly engaged in staff trying to "gotcha" me instead of just taking my criticism as that of a player who isn't having fun. I'm attached to this game by a thread and very ready to move on. I've been logging in less and less these past few weeks. A lot of people are. These kind of threads don't make these events ok.

LotC staff trying to make any system, coded or bureaucratic, accommodate more than 20 players actively using it at a time. We should probably try to code things that make roleplay work better rather than coding node crafting plugins, fast travel teleportation circle plugins, and command post PvP plugins like Runescape, World of Warcraft, and Battlefront II. This is still a roleplay server, right? I was told this was the world's #1 Minecraft Roleplaying Server.

To Haelun'or 12th of Malin's Welcome, 57 S.E. And what sayeth I, whereupon these stones we walk To what end shall words of old leaders evoke? Pride and virtue? Joy and halcyon? Raiseth I from the decrepit rid of death? Bringeth I sanctuary? As some forgotten carrion man? Some corpse? If so, will ye not worship me? For is this not a city of the dead? Lead by the dead? Worshipping the dead? To thee I sayeth Ye worshipper of the deceased. Ye servant of the forgotten. Change. Look not back. But ever forward. To progress. To health. To Haelun'or, Why did I die? What purpose did the death of Othelu Orrar serve? Being born a High Elf, a creature sanctified by the waters of Larihei to possess the coveted blessing of eternal youth, offers some benefit to the mortal scholar. Particularly to the historian, for this blessing ensures the Elf might not only catalog the history of others, but also of themselves. The second benefit of Larihei’s decision is one less visible to the covetous descendant. The blessing of will, and intellectual dedication to strive as close as one might come to the impossible goal of impartial recollection, such that the people of Larihei might stand as preservers of mortal knowledge. This document -- as is the case with any document -- will not be impartial, and so I implore the people of Haelun'or to use caution in their reading. My words are not by their nature sacrosanct, nor were they ever. When I became ill, it was the obligation of my council to maintain order and peace. The foundations of my tenure as Sohaer, at the time, were strong. Our relationship with the Grand Kingdom of Urguan, in the wake of the failed Norlandic War and the dissolved Iron Accord, was flourishing bountifully under agreements wrought between myself and their crown. Haense, who had proven themselves untrustworthy and capricious both at the war table of the Iron Accord and at the diplomatic table regarding our own pacts regarding state terrorists; had been sated for a time even as they plotted in secrecy. Most importantly, least to me, Elvenkind had grown united under mutual accord and shed no longer one another’s blood; leaving the followers of the sagely Elf Malin and the scholar Larihei conjoined in favorable union, albeit one that was tenuous in regards to matters of blood and purity. For the first time in recent history Elves raised blades together against enemies on the premise of mutual respect rather than coercion and necessity, and for a time to me it appeared we could maintain lasting unity among our peoples without the need for further war. Illness took me then. Though I had broken our country’s enemies, it was the will of the world that I be brought low by something that cannot be fought on a battlefield, and that my tenure would not last beyond thirty years. Bedridden and unable to walk the streets to maintain our progress, for a time I watched helplessly on the back of my trusted agents’ reports. That is, until the state began to waste without a leader. Since the beginning of my reign, the corporeal rot of the absentee demagogue and the intellectual rot spurned from worshipping figures past had been a bane I sought to cleanse within the walls of Haelun’or. Such was part of why we scrubbed those walls clean and replaced their stones upon my order, why we shifted our banners, and why we denied at every turn the favorable labels of diarchy or republic both; but in a cruel twist of irony history had dictated that I would leave a state that was headless despite my best intentions. My people begged me, for a time, to remain in my position in spite of my inability to lead our people. For some years, I did. It became clear, though, that such things were not in the best interests of the state. The High Elven people have never needed an idol. They have needed a leader. My death was not a decision made by the state, nor one shared with even the highest echelons of my council. My death was a personal and philosophical affair that I intended to serve as a parting gift to a state I could no longer serve. One final sacrifice, a denial of the fruits of my labors and the fame of my success, in exchange for a country that would not look back to me but instead look forward to building upon the foundations that were created during my regime. A state that was not enslaved doggedly to its history, but instead let its history serve its modern needs. In my mind, this would help to cure the greatest rot of Haelun’or. An ideological rot, grounded not in the notions of justified purity that have made us so infamous and obstinate among descendant life, but instead in our dogmatic shackling to figures about whom we know little. Figures Sullas. Uradir. Elervathar. Visaj. Orrar. You speak of Lucion, but who was Lucion? You speak of Kalenz, or Iatrilemar? Did you know them? You speak of Dimaethor, but did you ever call him friend? You speak of Orrar, and yet who was I to you? The nation of Haelun’or does not need ghosts, nor does it need to venerate the descendants of great men as if knowledge is somehow carried in blood rather than ink. Haelun’or needs visionaries and philosophers. Speakers of truth, and impassioned souls longing as desperately as I did for the good of Elvenkind. People who rise to leadership rather than claim or take it. People who see Haelun’or not as a series of crumbling stones to be sat upon like some fool tyrant, or a pedestal upon which to aggrandize the self, but a sanctuary of thought and virtue to be maintained and defended. To you, the rulers of Haelun’or, I say this. Your claims do not make you needed. You will never be necessary to our people until you make yourselves necessary. You will never be their leader until you lead them. You will never be their savior until you save them. You will not be Sohaer because you say you are, and you will not be Maheral until you have shown you are above the one Maheral whose name is Larihei through deed and action. You will not find success through building a larger tower, by heightening the city walls, by buying new land, or by maintaining this foppish status of ‘nationhood’ to the turrir of our world by filling our city with bored and useless Elves, but by inspiring them with new and brilliant ideas. By delivering upon them culture, knowledge, protection, progress, and pleasure. To you, the people of Haelun’or, I say this. Do not listen to the demagogue who speaks of grandeur but has delivered you nothing, for their words are as sawdust bread to you. Do not listen to the tyrant who declares themselves your king, for bondage is your choice and our people ought never choose to be slaves. Do not be distracted by the newest building, or their artful words, for these things mean as much as the stone and ink of their composition. Plentiful and accessible. Love not the speech, but the ideas that those speeches render. Love not the speaker, but what they teach to you. Love not the Sohaer, but what that Sohaer provides. Ambition without purpose is greed, wrath, lust, envy and gluttony combined. The signifier of the self-loathing, the mentally ill, and the unfulfilled; unfit to rule you or this blessed country. Do not succumb to this curse. Do not let the death I gave to the state these many years have been for nothing, and do not let my return poison you to self-sufficiency. I am not here to be your leader, or to steal your thrones. Cast off the shackles of dogmatic service to the idea of great men and women, and turn your eyes from the stone and marble to look ahead towards the horizon. Be brave, kin. Find faith in yourselves rather than in the opinions of others, do not cling to title or rank, seek no reward but the benefit of your kind, and contribute to society your own value rather than doggedly following in the footsteps of those who would deem themselves your superior; for progress is not wrought from a single man or woman, but from a people. Progress and health forever and always, - O.O.

A short work is left attached to the bottom of the notice. And who, I pray, shall I kill for this present day? Be it the man, or GOD, or for his liegemen? For is there not a GOD for every man? And is there not a faith for every nation And is there not a priest for every people; People; acclaiming titles and flying banners of their gentle lords of MAN -- who all do claim, by righteous decoration or by spirit of justice yond they all speak with the voice of GOD -- so that THEIR servants, not GOD's, might be rightfully to justify in doing the things yond benefit THEM and take upon themselves absolution nonetheless in the eyes of the almighty? And so I pray to you, the man, the GOD, the liegeman, allow me raise my blade for thee allow me sack for thee and allow me steal for thee and allow me kill for thee allow me show ye' my devotion through dark deeds for is not the path to virtue yond I might bear the blood of the innocent, the virgin what matters hither from whither 'tis born from mine own veins or mine own sword? - H.H

"With the new Emperor, it seems the Holy -- or perhaps it is so now Unholy -- Orenian Empire forgot the golden rule that a declaration of war 'pon anyone or anything means every nation on the planet will form coalition against you... Phillip III should've asked a historian, rather than stocking his cabinet with the ambitious and the capricious." Considered Hugo Horst. "Alas. So 'tis the nature of bawbling men to quest forever to bring down the giant, of so dormouse valor and unashamed yond those gentle fools would flock like rats to a pack and gloat all the same as fattened hogs, ripe with lard and bluster, red of cheek, to indulge greedily in the blood of fellow men. There is no pride in war. No valor. No glory to be had or to be shared. The act of killing is simple, but 'tis the act of building that poses dare, and so when men speak words of violence you shall know this: 'tis of failure to create rather than of means to destroy, for war is the principle of the oaf and of the infant, and we as men shall all outlast."

Hugo Horst found this topic very interesting.

Hugo Horst snorted. A short misstep, but an embarrassing one. Only time would tell what would come of such a capricious decision so early in the reign of Emperor Phillip III.

The effect is perminate.

Hugo Horst stares in agony at the mounting page count of his manuscript on the conflict.

Going through months/years old evidence and banning two additional people isn't an achievement, and should be seen as a dramatic failure of your team that you allowed these people to exist on your server preying on children for as long as they did. Thanks though. If you want to cultivate a better culture regarding safety, the beginning of that is actually super easy. Just believe victims. Literally just believe victims. I have only ever known of one case on LotC where someone made an allegation like that which was false, and hard evidence existed to the contrary of their claim. Just believe victims.

Hugo Horst at once saw the letter, dreary eyes rolling towards his calendar and back to the missive. "Must be close to winter break."

They may have fixed the Dynamap but have they fixed Second Elysium?

Staff will read this post, post a witty reply like they owned you, and go back to their failcopter. Soisoisoisoisoisoisoisoisoisoisoisoi GOSH the Player Enjoyment & Nice Interactions Syndicate makes good, true, and high effort posts. Just one banger after another. I wonder who could be the genius behind that project... I wonder why all these small independent settlements get no activity though. Maybe if we brought back freebuild and built another hundred of them it'd solve the problem.

Map antags stink. Freebuild is trash. Smallholdings are trash. RP needs to be centralized and not split into a million mini locations. I'm not even going to argue this point with the like four loud advocates again because we've seen it fail and catastrophically harm the server like 3 times now. Go play Rust or survival factions. Ligma. Why is CT not just laser focused on getting new players into LotC through guidance and events that keep people logging in exclusively? It's kind of the only thing we need, with exception for Treshure's [redacted] island project. I love the Wiki but why is this something that has a subsection of a team who aren't tasked with helping noobs like the team is supposed to be doing? Why is the Wiki even such a focus when so much of our lore is exclusively on the forums through pins and subforums? If it's too big to handle why not just cut a bunch of the chaff and turn it into the wiki equivalent of a new player handbook covering nonsense like "what is Almaris, what are Aenguls, four brothers, the races," etc instead of throwing resources into a project most people don't read? Feels like people are just looking for more fun work to do rather than doing the admittedly exhausting job of handling noobs all the time. WT working on transport sounds awesome. If it's more 5 minute wait timer boat rides it's decidedly not awesome. Your 5 minute boat to Haelun'or makes new players quit and occasionally my friends camp it to see people get bored waiting and log out/give up because the fact you did that is so hilariously bizarre. When is WT going to fix all the dead settlement land scars on LotC? Those entrap new players and make your world look like a DayZ server. Why do you make people pay you minas to beautify the world when that's your job? When are you going to make Cloud Temple easy to navigate, conducive to the functions it provides rather than being a visual spectacle by virtue of its size, and not look like a depressing, empty Hypixel lobby?