Death of a Dream (Requiem for a Ratlon)

That's correct. There's a log just above your post of Grom's death.

Near the end of Grom's tenure with the unit, he brought in who turned out to be an OOC friend of his. This half-giant, I later learned, had played a d-elf that Nadhir also killed.

When Grom died, Grom worked really hard OOCly on this new half-giant to kill Nadhir. A couple people tried to warn me about their connection, but at the time, there was only one person I was having any meaningful OOC talks with about Arm. And since that one person doesn't know the facts of this situation (as demonstrated by a recent post of his), even after all this time, that can inform someone as to how seriously I took the IC/OOC separation.

Nadhir wasn't bashed. He wasn't three-shotted.

It was late at night. He had just finished interview/interrogating the horned-half giant, after learning one or two weird things ICly, regarding his relationship with the Tuluki noble. Unknown to me, the half-giant had taken 4 pinches of agility spice, which he hadn't bothered to emote about, even though Nadhir emoted many things like looking deeply into his eyes and studying him for reactions. The newbie Salarri family member logged on. So Nadhir offered to show her some training.

It had been a long time, at this point, since Nadhir had ever been hit in sparring. Especially by another ranger. He had sparred Grom, a 100 day+ HG warrior, maybe 20-30 times. He had done it without weapons, and even without a shield. He let the half-giant swing away for a bit.

Then, completely out of nowhere, the half-giant landed a blow on Nadhir's head. This surprised me at the time, and still does. Because I had trained so many people, that I knew very well what was possible and what wasn't. Nadhir wasn't just a Byn sergeant. He was about as maxed Defense wise as it's possible for a character to be. He could beat maxed warriors.

But somehow, the half-giant landed a blow, with a blunt weapon, that sent Nadhir unconscious. After swinging 40 times and whiffing. Nadhir, who had solo'd something like 7-10 tarantulas without being hit once.

While Nadhir was unconscious, without posing, saying, or doing anything else, the horned half-giant waited about 20-30 seconds, then killed Nadhir while unconscious, before fleeing the compound. Our imaginations will have to run wild with could have been going on during that 30 seconds of silence on the half-giant's end.

The Salarri family newb wasn't able to do anything but watch. Staff did nothing about it. The end.

CONCLUSIONS:

Was I overconfident, and in my overconfidence, borne from successfully sparring and training half-giants over several dozen sessions, lead me to be a little careless with the half-giant ranger newb? Yes (Although in my defense, if I'd known he was tripping on spice, I'd have killed him rather than demonstrate training with him...alas, he RP'd being completely normal). I still don't know how his hit landing was even mathematically possible, and as I've maxed and trained maxed characters many times, I'm still not sure how it took place, except for some quirk of the code which simulates beginner's luck (and he did swing 40 times, while Nadhir stood there disengaged, without weapon or shield in his hand).

Did I have an unrealistic high expectation of integrity from other people? Yes.

Did I even go so far as to disregard advice from X-D to never have a half-giant in my unit because it never ends well? Yes. I regret that the most.

Is Grom and his friends a prime example of everything that tainted Armageddon by their OOC fuckery? Yes.

All of this got exhaustively reported to staff, who did fuck-all about it. Although, someone did helpfully message me here, who used to staff on Arm, that the players in question later got karma docked for doing other things, afterwards.

I also felt unrealistically safe, because I didn't think it was possible for someone to blatantly kill another unconscious player, while a Salarri family member looked on, with dozens of NPCs present, then manage to successfully flee by spam-running out of the compound and never suffer any IC or OOC consequence. Staff taught me that this was more acceptable than killing a few NPC gate guards that started the fight. 


I have good memories of Armageddon. But many of the staffers at the time, like Nyr, Adhira and Olgaris have been blatantly unethical and incompetent. 

Interestingly enough, you come across many of the same personality archetypes working as an auditor, as you do among mud staffers.

Sniff giant would have done wonders buddy. I have no pity for you. lawl.

Half-giants are overpowered. Have been for a while. I would hire half-giants but I would also instantly kill them if they showed the slightest hint of malice or betrayal. I had several HG minions over the years that were awesomely well played. The best I ever encountered was a guy that helped me murder my way to the top of the food chain in AoD. I can't remember his name but he eventually grew a beard and cut his hair like Argyles and got the changes put in. Never knew who played that guy but he was a very well played HG.

There's a whole spectrum of what goes into it. In some ways, the code aspect is the least of it. A big part of it is mentality. What kind of player is playing that half-giant. Is this someone you OOCly know, and they just want to play with you cause you're buddies? Sure. That works. That's Arm as usual.

Is this someone a stranger? Well. Then you gotta wonder...Is he a newbie, who might do some random shit and get you all killed? Or someone that'll just check out after getting a taste of HG roleplay? And what about this person. If he's a veteran...why is he playing with you, instead of with his OOC crew? Is it possible that he's one of the few good players? But those guys typically only play one half-giant role before moving on.

Even I played a half-giant after all, and I hate them. I was a good minion, but I stored him.

So I guess if you luck into the right situation - and you're as knowledgeable, careful and ruthless as delerak, all three attributes of which he genuinely possesses - then it can work out. But the rest is like you said. And training them? Fuck no. I did work with quite a few other half-giants after Nadhir, and whenever they tromped up to me with the droopy, hopeful retard-eyes and the sparring swords, I just laughed at them. Or had other people do it, who I didn't care for. Hey you, Baobab Bill? You stupid fucker. Go play with the half-giant, I can't be arsed.

I never had another character who was as fanatically devoted to training and mentoring other players as I had with Nadhir. It's a considerable, long-term time investment. And then one day, they throw their lives away cause they want to app a new noble spot, that they'll grow tired of in a month, anyways. Or ride off a cliff.

I spent at least 20-30 days of play time with Grom, and I hated almost every minute of interacting with him, that didn't involve him carrying heavy shit for me. And yet, I trained him religiously. That's some goddamn dedication. By the time I stabbed him to death, it was more catharsis than punishment.

Always thought they should be karma 6-7.  But then again, muls at least have something compelling about them, and can be fully-fleshed characters. I have very positive memories of the muls I interacted with (even if I did kill them at any chance I got...karma 7 fuckers). 

Muls suffered a little from half-elf syndrome. In that you knew each one was probably going to be a sullen cocksucker unless they imprinted on you like a baby lamb. But they were much better to have around than HGs.

Funny stuff tho. Not a big fan of sirra's chars, like them on the forums. Not a big fan of drunken on the forums, like his char's in-game.

Overall, fuck marry kill?

Fuck topkek, marry drunken, kill anaiah

Sorry sirra I'll fit you in next time

If you really liked me, you'd do none of that to me, anyways. 

Drunken,

I don't know if it's a direct attack on you, so much as your judge of character. But I guess only you know for certain, if Grom has ever brought up IC stuff to you OOCly, or talked/conspired about in game events outside the game. Or maybe you were using the word 'friend' when you really meant acquaintance. Besides accusing you of bestiality, it wasn't actually my intention to denigrate you, inasmuch as you stood to receive collateral from my strong disgust at Grom's player.