Hellos from a nostalgic cultist.
Zymeth
Right here.
Hey folks. Got some appreciation to show and storytime I'd like to share, if you care to read some wall-o-text.
I'd be amazed if anyone's around who remembers me, but I used to play Imperian a few years ago as a scruffy Malignist novice named Zymeth. Pretty sure it was Zymeth. Something with a Z, but in any case I could be seen skulking around Stavenn reading things intently, almost forgetting to eat, taking notes (Anything to keep from forgetting the route to the guildhall) and generally striving not to give my betters a reason to use me for blood rituals. I was plenty new across the board, though I'd played some other characters both in Imperian and other IRE titles (my newness to MUDs was ever the main issue) and I was well aware ahead of character creation that Stavenn wasn't the place for the hapless or annoying. I liked its history and place in the world and I had no issue with respecting authority.
I won't lie, part of the Malignists appeal was rawr, demons. But what I liked most was the scholastic approach. We weren't a band of crazed bloodletters then. Maybe in our spare time, but everything I read and then experienced showed me a group of confident and intelligent scholars. So I signed up with the image of a progressively ruthless-yet-hospitable character in mind, challenged by day-to-day survival decisions rather than some traumatic past or background. I don't know if I pulled it off at all but I can proudly say I was never sacrificed during my time in Stavenn.
I can't say I ever made a name for myself though. I remember I got a rank or two past Tainted, but not what my last rank was called. Paid my taxes on time. I was shy about interaction back then so I spent most of my time in help menus and IC books to keep from pestering anyone. Something about the atmosphere of Stavenn made it fun. Studying in the guild Library, walking along the Vias with quills and hunks of cheese, hanging around the Imperial Parade before too many intimidating people showed up. Listening to city chat giggle about someone leaving a Marauder in the Kinsarmar inn. It might not have been the best place for me but after so many times shooing the vagrant NPCs, it felt like home.
It bothers me most that I can't remember the name of the Malignistibus (back when that was the honorific, no idea what people say these days) with the patience to mentor me. They offered help where I otherwise couldn't find any, gave me the tools to advance and held me to doing so. I still regret the trouble I caused them. Like the time my corpse ended up in the Noctusari guild hall due to a mixup, or when I accidentally killed the wrong person in Caanae and pissed off the Magi during a period of neutrality. Tried getting out of that last one myself with one of those teleport-to-friend tattoos, but my only other friend was far from Stavenn at the time and I ended up needing a rescue. Still surprised I survived. And that I wasn't kicked out of Stavenn for incompetence. If you're out there, Honored Malignistibus, thank you for not eating my heart on the spot when we got back to the gates.
Eventually I ran up against RL problems and couldn't continue playing on a regular basis, so I put together my books and money and amateur writing and gave them to the guild. I don't know if I ever helped Stavenn. I certainly wasn't much of a fighter. But I was loyal from character gen to finish, and I'm still proud of my aggressively survivalist home. :P
I was reminded of all this recently and checked to see how Imperian's doing, I'm glad people are still having fun with it. I see the Malignists fused under the Diavlous though. I can't say I'm surprised, and I always had good relations with the Diavlous I interacted with, but a part of me is still sad. I just hope the Library's being treated with the respect it deserves.
Sad to hear about the gods, too. I never really got to interact with them, but I met Thanatos once when he was in Stavenn being cantankerous about something. I was tempted to ask for an autograph. Survival instinct urged against it, but it was cool. I tried to pay respect somehow whenever I wound up in and out of Dis after that.
This has gotten longer than planned already, so I'll just say thanks for the good memories and for reading this far. I might give Imperian another shot at some point but only if I have the time to dedicate to it. And some knowledge of code beyond basic potato-eating syntax. Advanced potato mechanics are still beyond me.
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"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."