Thanks to Elryn for providing me the title of this random post!

When Lusternia began its open beta phase, I chose the Celestines because my character in Achaea was a priest and I figured I couldn't go wrong playing it safe. After going through the nightmare of being stomped on day in and day out, having -1000 power in the Pool, estranged patrons, dead fae on our hands, and all the other events that you all know about I had pretty much grown to despise Celest.

I knew that I liked its name and the name of its patron, Auseklis. I didn't know much else about the Serenwilde but the idea of it took hold of my mind and I couldn't let it go. Forestal knights struck me as being rather cool and the wiccan priesthood of the Moondancers I thought had promise, especially since I saw them as the inheritors of the skills of the Occultists from Achaea. The druids I didn't care much for at the time, again probably because of the Achaean tradition of druids.

Over time, as I hunted astral with my Master level skills (barely enough for a specialisation, let alone having the skills to put in said specialisations!) and influenced city guards for safe experience I learned bits and pieces about the commune. After watching Princess Mononoke the idea of living in a forest with 'great spirits' was firmly entrenched in my mind. I had to do it.

And then I just stopped coming around to Lusternia at all. My interest plummeted in the face of what to do with my enchanting skills, not having a personal pentagram, alienating myself from my guild and city, having my friends quit playing and various other concerns. In spite of this however, my interest in the Serenwilde remained.

After coming back to Lusternia long enough to enchant for Nejii a few times I decided to just throw caution to the wind and do whatever I wanted. I had little invested in the character anyway after all and if I ended up wasting my time then so be it. I wrapped up some loose ends and then joined the Serenwilde.

I've not regretted doing so in the least bit. I do a lot of things to make sure I only have enjoyable experiences while logged in and as of yet I still know next to nothing about the Faethorn conflict, but I'm amazed at how rich the experience has been so far. I was welcomed into the commune with open arms after listening to Ibaesha recount the story of the origin of the Shadowdancers (thoroughly and completely entertaining to the last syllable) and since then its been one good experience after another. Through the eyes of my character who is still something of an outsider looking in, I see the defence of the Ethereal plane against enemies, the unity of the commune when someone is in need, the brilliant planning and feel of the commune in terms of game mechanics; I see Serenguard warriors holding to their roleplay at the nexus instead of devolving into random snuggling and pouncing, I see priestesses teaching people of the Moondancer rituals and I see ordinary day to day behaviour of notable citizens interacting with each other with perfect consistency and credibility.

The point in all this is that I love the Serenwilde and roleplay and the people that play there and I'm happy to have found something worthwhile to keep me coming back, albeit not for long periods of time in each sitting, to Lusternia.

And yes, I know I'm speaking in praise far too glowing and exaggerated to be realistic but for the moment, this is how I feel and I wanted to celebrate that. I can afford to keep myself ignorant of a great many things that would strike me as less than superb roleplay because I don't have to do anything while I'm logged in and I never spend as much time here as I used to in the first place. I'm just enjoying looking at things through rose-coloured sunglasses at the moment.

I'm glad Serenwilde has apparently evolved into something that everyone can stomach. When I left, it was a place where people argued constantly, the newsboards were filled with crap, I was one of the few actively trying to RP, and there were at least five idiots at the nexus at all time, pinching and spanking thier way through the online time thier mommies let them have.

That is certainly a glowing review, Anarias, and I'm glad to see something positive on these forums for a bit of change. I'm also glad you're enjoying the game, which is something too many of us forget to do.

Richter, no offense but you left the Serenwilde a long time ago, and everyone was still wild from having all stepped out of the Portal. We were all trying to find our place in the world, no matter with which city or commune we were aligned. From what I've seen, the 'idiocy' has calmed down almost completely. There are still those who roleplay themselves as children or foolish, but we can usually take them in stride.

Yeah. I was only a novice when Nikua was around, but there seems to be a HUGE improvement from what the Serenwilde was before.

You're right, it was a long time ago.

Now we see Serenwild being represented by those most outspoken. Gwylifar (good), Munsia (bad), Narsrim (bad) to name a few.

Narsrim isn't bad. He's just outspoken and out there.

Thank you Anarias. You've just vindicated for me the faith I've held in that organization for the entire time I've played Lusternia. Yes we have our rough points in Serenwilde *thwap Munsia and Narsrim* but we're working on it hard, some of us harder than others *smile at Gwylifar*. Give us time, things are getting better and better every day, as more people begin to try to work on their roleplaying, and less on random mindless bashing.

Now if only they could do that with New Celest...

For someone who deletes entire thread for being remotely inflamatory Richter, I object to you calling me bad

Pssh what are you talking about, New Celest has ALWAYS been awsome!

It is definitely improving anyway... only a few minor tweaks left.

Stop degenerating a topic, the original poster is giving us praise!

Go and stroke your ego elsewhere, young padawan.

Part of the reason why the Serenwilde probably improved alot is that almost all of those who caused most of the whining bitching and moaning eventually either quit the game or moved over to Glomdoring.

Glad to see good things are happening over there.