I'd tap that.

^{with my jeweler's hammer}

Just don't get yourself a reputation as 'that Shevat harlot.'

/me watches non-coms start to vigorously argue about combat

Damn. That's what I get for mentioning the Ninja Screech Owl of Hallifax in front of someone who can actually get it removed.

Sylandra, get us a new screech owl, please.

I think someday I'm going to become even more of a RP-nazi. If you're not in character for every second that you're on, if you've never written up intricate rituals or events for your guild, written multible books, been a part of political councils, if you've done none of those then your obvious role in the game is to shut up and kill the stuff I tell you to. The RP'ers and the politicians can do all the hard thinking.

Othero, you're already an RP-nazi:

Death to whoever keeps killing Lanikai.

• Lothringen

What do I look like, PetSmart?

No, but you look like PersonWithPositionToBribeThePatron.

"Hey Elostian I'm really happy for You and I'ma let You finish being incorporeal but that owl was the best Hallifaxian creeper of all time. Of ALL TIME."

(Yes/no?)

I laughed.

Marry me.

I'm slightly confused by this statement. Hallifax in general places some value on martial strength, as evidenced by warriors being on a higher social standing than brainless servants. It may not be touted as the org's be-all and end-all, but saying it has no value is definitely a stretch. I've been in enough orgs in this game who place an enormous value on martial strength (Magnagora from open beta until the Harbs came out, Glomdoring from Harb release until the Shaylethos Revolution, Serenwilde from Shaylethos overthrow until the bitterness from that ordeal faded, Glomdoring until Hallifax was released) and have never mystically developed any sort of combat prowess (unless you count buying Palisade to cure for me), despite those orgs placing a high value on being the biggest and baddest kid on the playground. Everyone in Halli who bothers to defend/raid/wildnodes/whatever counts as combat these days gets favoured (all the way up to CR5, and its been said a few times that we're looking into trying to increase that without destroying a unique and interesting RP system).

The only renowned "warrior types" Halli has had (that I can think of right now) have been Rika, Incabulos, and Geb. Rika left and I rarely see Incabulos and Geb, and when I do I usually don't see them teaching the rest of us clueless non-comms how things work. So unless you're asserting that the CR5 caste system restriction for pure combatants is keeping those famous combatants like Vadi, Xiel, Shuyin, Xenthos, etc from transferring over, I fail to see how Hallifax if actively or passively discouraging its own citizens from being combatants. That is, unless not being able to reach CR6 just off of combat is actually just completely shutting off anyone in Halli's desire to be a combatant. That or all the city leaders just haven't bothered to train themselves in being super combatants so they can teach of the rest of the city.

Your list of names is really off, Arel, probably because you've been busy with stuff outside of Lusternia lately.

I've come to notice that in Hallifax, the upper castes don't fight simply because they can't get past that big entrance barrier. A lot of Hallifax's leaders are simply, relative to the other leaders of the Basin, new at the game which makes getting into combat even more difficult. This barrier is doubly so present because they aren't all Demigods, are all pansy untanky trill that drop at a dime and are all much better at influencing anyways.

I mean really, I still see Orventa/Maellio coming out for raid defenses and village revolts and everywhere it matters. Top-tier combatants? Not really. Trying? Definitely, and that's what counts. If I had to name Hallifax's most capable fighters right now it'd probably be Phoebus and Prav. No offense to everyone else that shows.

Having someone say that is actually really depressing when I think about how terribly ditzy I am when it comes to combat.

Well yeah, that is a pretty old list. I'm not up to date on the current combat who's-who. I also meant to include Fillin, since I assume he is still around.

I don't claim to know much about combat, but I'm pretty sure I've surpassed the entrance barrier since I'm omni-trans, have a decent selection of arties, and have Vadi's system... but I still suck at combat and I'm completely non-functional if someone isn't telling me what to do. Also, I type slowly and don't really understand what's going on because all I see is random scrolling on my screen during conflict with more than one person involved. So, I don't know that the entrance barrier is true in all cases (or even most), but I really just don't understand combat.

That's what pretty colorful highlights are for.

Yeah, I...really don't understand combat either. I'm trying to learn, but there's so much to learn, and since we have nearly no skilled fighters who actually show up when we need to defend (many hearts to the people who do help) I usually have to lead things, especially since I'm oftentimes the only one who can walk on Air without wanting to throw their computer out the window, and it's just...it's a little stressful!

But someone has to do it. And I've got a real bad habit of doing things when no one else will.

Wasn't meaning to diss any of you.

And if Phoebus is one of the leaders, I guess that just means everyone in Hallifax is at least willing to learn.

Edit: And yes, Air needs to die in a fire, pun not intended.

Oh, we will 8e seeing who does not understand what. Just you w8.

::::>

Aicuthi's combat stint foundation. Donate now.

........

This sketch by The Huss Himself sums up how I'm feeling right about now: