Romero. He's just awesome, and helped me finish up my last collegium quest. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and rave for all the Nihilists I've met so far. They all rawk.

Rereading the Histories (which deserve a rave on their own), I found this gem of a quote:

“Celest still stands,” I said. “Princess Marilynth is there, and she does not know that the Undead Emperor is leading his army there. Perhaps if you ally with Celest, together you can . . .”

“No!” snapped the High Priestess of the Moon. “Serenwilde will not ally with Celest. We will never trust Celest again. I have told you what we will do. You are welcome to come to the safety of the Serenwilde but do not expect us to help any city ever again.”

And a second rave:
You point the tip of your athame at a spawn of the horde's heart and make a sudden stabbing motion. A glowing pentagram shoots from the tip of the athame and slams into his chest, making him gasp in pain.
You have scored a WORLD-SHATTERING CRITICAL HIT!!!
A spawn of the horde falls to his knees and blood gushes from his eyes, ears and nose. He gives one final gasp before falling faceward in death.
You have slain a spawn of the horde.

My first WORLD-SHATTERING CRITICAL HIT!!!

Where is this "Tahtetso Roleplay" which you speak about?

I was chiefly referring to the fact that in order to advance past Zetetic-hood and be considered a full-blown Tahtetso, you have to hold a discussion with a higher-up on various Tahtetso principles, such as the Three Virtues. One can also write papers on various Tahtetso principles to help advance oneself further.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that kinda cool. Perhaps other guilds have similar requirements, but still, being asked to do that minimum of roleplay is infinitely better than just bashing and grinding one's way to the top.

It's a popular quote, but really, find any decree made by any leader of any nation, real or imaginary, that wasn't changed or broken by a later generation. Farella would have been delighted to be able to set policy for all time thenceforth, but she was also very quick to change past policies to adapt to changing times. No one expects that current Warlords would never change anything set up by Chade, so why should current High Priests never change things set up by Farella -- because she was an NPC? Should that matter?

(Speaking of which, Farella wasn't even the Seneschal at the time. The tradition of Moondancers thinking they run the commune dates back pretty far!)

The tradition of everyone else THINKING we don't REALLY dates back almost as far as that one.

I like that, too, and I think the cosmology of Tahtetso is quite interesting and has potential for good roleplaying, in general. I don't know how people do it in practice, though. There seems to be too many people in the monk guilds who have no idea about the philosophy behind the guilds but are just grinding with the op skills. I might be wrong, though, I don't really know that many people personally.

There isn't that much philosophy to go around. Goodness knows I've tried, but it takes more than just effort to be "sticky."

Alas, that is probably true.

We have that kind of advancement in the Celestines too. I was hoping that this would be a more sort of outwards RP, because I'm more likely to find water in Sahara than Tahtetso RP as a Celestine.

I have quite a few raves:

Serenguard - Number one, for having such a firm sense of brotherhood in the guild. Our Roleplay is great and we're very close-knit. The little bit of drama that pops up from time to time can be a nuisance, but it's good to see a lot of the Guard actively pursuing stuff like the Stripes, Spirit Paths, and so forth. Cheers.

Starfalls/Talnaras - Family, 'nough said. You're all awesome.

Serenwilde - 2009/02/27 07:12:30 - Xiel confirmed Tael as Minister of Power.

Lisaera - For being the lovely Goddess that you are. Encouraging Tael to do more despite him sometimes being the black sheep in the Order.

Ah, yes, you do have a point there. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear and/or got your hopes up. But yes, more guild outwards RP would be nifty.

*ostracize Farella*


LONG LIVE CELENWILDE.

Meh. Disappointing. Oh well, it's never too late to change.

I love the idea of encouraging this just as much as I dislike the idea of requiring it. People do things more when they're rewarded for it than when they're limited by its lack. Required essays and interviews are one of the things where Lusternia beats the other IREs for not having too much of them.

Down with Celenwilde!

I meant to add a rave to that, so here it is. Putting things behind me and getting back to writing. One play done (and getting some pleased comments about it, even though it's expressly not designed to be a crowd-pleaser) and another one already in the formative stages. Both are, yet again, breaking new ground for me.

I also want to rave about the criticism of Separate Lives I got last night. If you don't know the play, it's a Bollywood-style musical, a larger than life love story, highly stylized; it has production numbers and people breaking out into song for no apparent reason, including one dance number representing a monk fight a la West Side Story, and another representing a debate during village influencing. The person who watched it with me last night objected that the dialogue seemed "exaggerated", that real people don't talk that way. What's even more delicious is I think she was serious! I was laughing so hard it hurt.

I got my customized mage staff!

People I rave about:
Inagin.
Nice guy for a human.
EDIT: :censored: Inagin.

Lawliet.
Of course. <3

Telperion.
Someone I admire greatly.

Meprion.
My hero. Seriously. For one of the exam questions I said that he was my hero or something and why.

Kialkarkea.
My best friend.

Pharamon.
The bear

...Gods and Goddesses? Psh. Everyone else raves about them.