Shikari Part 2: Becoming God
I said in my last post that the process of becoming an ephemeral is both easy and difficult. So is the life of an ephemeral.
On one hand, you have a fairly good time. There are lots of eye-opening things you learn while up in the Upper Havens, like how to create mobiles and make them react to certain phrases and actions. You start to feel like you can do just about anything, and it’s almost true.
Life in the Upper Havens isn’t as lonely as Lyreth claims it is, either. Ephemerals come up in groups that vary in number depending on how many people are accepted, and those groups usually form close bonds in the strangest of situations. Nothing turns two people into best friends quite like running around an area dropping fifty mobiles at a time. At the end of the day, you have two giggling, breathless, exultant ephemerals bumping fists together and drawing plans for their next adventure.
But life as an ephemeral isn’t all tea and cakes, either. You’re a volunteer, but you’re still expected to do your work. A pocket is fairly simple and gets you acquainted with every aspect of building; it’s the area that makes or breaks you. You start saying things like:
“What can I do to make this part of the quest even harder?”
“I want to use this puzzle, but… oh wow, that code looks… dangerous…”
“I will never describe cave rooms again.”
I think I turned that last quote into a mantra.
You’re also never quite sure how an event goes until you do it. Pocket events are fun and usually short, but generally, the god in charge won’t expect to eat, sleep, or use the toilet during an area event. It gets pretty intense, especially when PK is thrown into the mix.
Oh, speaking of gods, that’s the hardest part about being an ephemeral: choosing your god. It’s advised not to think too hard about it until you’re almost finished your area, but that’s never how it goes. Ephemerals come up dreaming of becoming a god one day, entertaining ideas of being X or Y or changing certain aspects of Z’s tenets.
Very rarely, however, does an ephemeral have an idea of what god they want and stick to it. Usually, there’s a lot of indecision and self-doubt. Many wonder if they even have what it takes to become a god, especially after tagging along with Fain and watching him roleplay with his Order. That kind of stuff blows you out of the water, makes you wonder if you really have the balls for this sort of job, and usually leaves you wishing you could practice your own roleplay, too.
I became an ephemeral with the idea that I would become Isune. A few people supported the idea, though warned me it would be difficult. After the previous Lisaera stepped down, I considered that role as well, especially because I do love her character concept.
And then I cracked a joke: “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I became Shikari? No one would ever guess who I was.”
Needless to say, that idea stuck, and after I started doing research on tribal cultures, I became fixed upon the idea of bringing Shikari back. I had a lot of doubts, of course; before my release, Shikari’s image was simply what people remembered – legend, so to speak. Would I be able to live up to the name? What if I couldn’t pull off the sheer level of awesome that the old Shikari seemed to constantly exude? What if I let Glomdoring down?
After consulting my peers for a bit, I was reassured. I would simply do my best. My determination renewed, I devoted much of my time into finishing my area. I reentered Lusternia as the Predator, reestablished myself in Glomdoring, and reopened my Order.
And I don’t regret a thing.
