Flowers and Open Ends

Let’s face it. However you feel about Maylea, she was an ephemeral-fueled concept from start to finish. Estarra mentioned an idea in passing–wasn’t it something about a Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired Goddess? Other than that, there was no guidance. There’s no mention of Maylea in the Elder Wars, something unusual in the current Pantheon. Everything about her history and vision has been drawn together from the person playing her and then approved by Estarra. Questions remain, however. Where was she when the Soulless came? How did she react to the various events of Elder Wars lore?

Part of my vision for taking on this role is to sort out the questions. There are copious notes left from the last time Maylea was played, a lot of details about things that could be explained or explored, angles that were thought of and never taken, things agreed with the other Gods.

Coming out as a returning God isn’t the easiest thing on earth, though. There are Expectations at best, Assumptions at worst. But the role of Maylea is dynamic and thrilling to me. Without spilling any secrets, there are a lot of aspects that were written into the original concept and never explored. I intend to follow through with these, and shed light upon the ultimate story behind the flower Goddess.

I feel I should comment on the strange little release event that I had. What the average player has to understand is that the planning of most events is at best an educated guess as to what players will think of, where they will try to go, who they will talk to. I’ve formed a certain preference for leaving these details highly open-ended instead of deciding beforehand. Estarra tells us this is a dangerous practice, because sometimes it really leads a whole lot of no where, and she is absolutely right that it is a risk, but with involved players it can work out.

So for those of you who watched Allessa sacrifice herself, that was planned, yes, but did I know you were going to bring her to Bandrui? Absolutely not. Did I even know where I would end up putting the sick plant? Not really. All of that ended up fueled by the players, and my challenge was of course rising to the occasion. I decided day by day, just prior to showing up, how old Lisey would appear and what she would be interested in. Thankfully Serenwilde was as interested in playing as I was! I hope they were as amused as I was, too!

Usually it isn’t precisely good to publically claim credit for an event, but who would you expect to be behind the ultimate release of Maylea except the player behind Maylea? Don’t expect me to be so transparent in the future! But if you do find yourself in an event with little guidance, participate! You may just be able to influence the entire scope of the event.