Maxwell Artfall - He Had Too Many Fingers

[Maxwell Artfall]

Maxwell Artfall in his natural state: Bleeding to Death.

This obit is still a work in progress and I'll be updating, fixing, and changing things in the next day or two but I wanted to put it out there with what I've got so far before I and everyone else loses all interest. It was a long and fun run of about sixth months, and I'm glad I was able to survive until things heated up. I would have loved to ride out the concept's story all the way to the end with the awesome Moonspear plot that showed up. The obit took long because I had so much I wanted to share and explain about the character, and it made the obituary is unnecessarily comprehensive and incredibly boring, so I've hunted through 6 months of videos to find screenshots related to the arc of the character to sprinkle in to give people a reason to stick around through the rambling. Feel free to just click the links most of the 20 page book I've written here was more for myself than anyone else. In the end Max accomplished the goal I had set for him, but not in a way anything like I'd expected when I created the character. It was a satisfying story, and my big thanks to all DMs who invested their time and attention into a story for the Moonspear family, and to the Moonspear loyalist PCs, all the Orzan PCs post-Moonspear announcement, Drusilla Peake, Saint Outis, Arakvos, Mairead Glitt, and dozens of others.


THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT:
[hide]A super ugly inbred peerage noble guy who was abandoned by his family for being an inbred mutant, but was normal enough to blend into society and was trying to get revenge on the Peerage or reclaim a noble House or something. Maybe tie in the 9 Faced God somehow its supposed to be the biggest religion but nobody has worshiped it since Glyph[/hide]

THE CONCEPT APPLIED FOR:
[hide]Maxwell Artfall was the son of Tamara Moonspear, a noble lady in House Moonspear, and the shiftless Daniel Artfall a sellsword who occasionally served the House. When she became pregnant Moonspear insisted they wed, confirmed the pregnancy with the Archivist, and were prepared to bring Daniel and the child into House Moonspear. Plans changed when the child was born with a hideously deformed polydactyl sixth finger, and useless left leg. The family prepared to give Max to the Mongrelwoods but Tamara insisted accommodations be made, and so Max and a decent sum of money were given to Daniel Artfall to raise Max in seclusion and keep quiet about the whole embarrassment. Some time after House Moonspear departed.

Daniel Artfall quickly blew through the small fortune gamblings and drinking, and spent his life an abusive and spiteful drunken father figure who blamed Max and his deformity for ruining his one shot at the good life. He raised Max basically in a secluded locked room like Harry Potter living under the stairs with the Dursley's. Eventually when Max was old enough Daniel wrapped his arm in bandages and sent him off to the Shrine to be raised by the Numerologists where he found stimulation and indifference refreshing enough that he fondly remembered it as love. With the clear impression that anyone who discovered his deformity no matter how kindly would immediately resent him the way his father did he clung to his secret desperately. He would manage to avoid showing a living soul his creepy hand until the day he'd lose it to Gregori Orza's axe. Max was given leave to visit his dying father when Daniel became ill and on his deathbed his father confessed the above story to Maxwell and imparted to him the only token he had of Tamara Moonspear; Her House Moonspear Signet Ring.

When approved I was informed that all, or none of the above might actually be true but it is the story my character believes and was given the Ring back it up.[/hide]

BASIC PERSONALITY FUNDAMENTALS:
(The three tiers of Maxwell's personality that defined who he was and all his actions, religion, his chosen goals, and how he pursued them. Every bit of context you need for understanding anything he ever did is right here.)

[hide]Maxwell is three personality concepts that are intertwined and tangled into each other to form the person he is. In order from most important to least in terms of how they shape his day-to-day actions and outlook they are 1. A Self-Loathing Neurotic Freak, 2. A Priest of the Nine Faced God, and 3. Destined Lord of Castle Moonspear.

1. A Self-Loathing Neurotic Freak is the most basic bedrock foundation of the person that Maxwell is and will always be. The way he expresses it may change and his level of self-loathing may vary based on his position and status in society but every decision he makes and his personal and religious philosophy rise entirely from the internalized disgust and anger his miserable father (And the Peerage's residents in his youth during the very few times he was allowed to encounter them) heaped on him until he was sent to the Church. Rather than turning his anger outward at society he's turned it inward on himself and his perceived imperfections. He longs for acceptance not in a desperate needy way, but strongly and responds to most criticism of anything he's invested in very poorly and as personal attacks against his value for these reasons. Maxwell's deepest goal and motivation is to feel that he's connected with normal people, to be understood by normal people, and to be recognized as a good and valued person by normal people so he can finally approve of himself.

2. As a Priest of the Nine Faced God Maxwell's religious outlook is tied in thoroughly with his need to understand and be understood and accepted by society, and to connect personally with others. Unknown to himself his Dogma is slanted in a direction that allows him to have personal and probing philosophic conversations with others, ostensibly in an attempt to better understand the 9 Faces of God's Faces through others' understandings of those concept, to reach closer to God's objective truth. He is very fond of the Church and has a strong desire to better understand and serve the Nine Faced God, which stems from the Shrine being the first place to feel like a home, and a desire to please the Numerologists who raised him.

3. He believes (true or not) that he is Destined to be Lord of Castle Moonspear. This springs from the root idea that once he is Lord of Moonspear and acknowledged as among society's highest tier of perfection he'll have definitive proof for himself and society that he is acceptable. He's able to deny this motivation by tying it to his faith as a religious obligation to the First Face. With his bloodline as proof of his birthright he chooses to believe his destiny and intended place in God's plan is restoring faith in Numerology and fixing the City as Lord Moonspear. Deep down he believes that once he has solidified himself as the highest tier of Peerage status as a Lord the envy and respect of the populace will allow him to like himself, but regardless of success he is incapable of reaching this goal.[/hide]

THE THREE PHASES OF MAXWELL'S ORIGINAL GOALS
PRIMARY GOAL: Earn Acceptance through Restoring House Moonspear

Maxwell Chapter One:
APP AMBITIONS:
[hide]Enter Ticker Square as a Numerologist and rise to a prominent religious and political figure there by appealing to the majority of unrepresented population that are faithful to the Nine Faced God, as well as the PC and major NPCs by using church services and brewing to become affluent. This serves two purposes: 1. Establishing himself as a recognizable brand of influence personally as a figure of wealth, as the most prominent voice of the faith, and as a charismatic leader with a following for later all for use in later chapters of the plans.  2. Funding a dedicated group of mercenaries/personal companions/Nine Face faithful as a ringrunning group. The primary goal of this portion of his story will be gaining influence and ringrunning as hard and fast as possible for the sake of finding proof of House Moonspear's death. When the remnants or (more likely) remains of Moonspear's House are found Max will confess to the ringrunning companions (who he has hopefully grown close to) the secret of his heritage and ask them to join him in restoring House Moonspear and his birthright: The title of Lord Moonspear, and the familial seat in Castle Moonspear.[/hide]

Maxwell Chapter One
REALITY:
[hide]The first part of this plan went really well. Their weren't really and other religions moving and shaking, and potion selling back in the days when Brew Potion cost 5,000 gold to purchase let Max pretty much corner the market. Getting mercenaries and faithful longterm allies was rough though with RwG and Lannister forming House Ebersol and Max's IG wealth not being able to compensate for the character's reserved and neurotic personality, and his fairly neutral take on the Nine Faced God lacking a ton of conflict of pizzazz to generate the drawing power to bring together a PC faction. It was a very fun and philosophic personality to roleplay but I really quickly realized that while he'd have a lot of engaging and memorable interactions and I'd fleshed out a version of the religion I enjoyed neither were bombastic, digestible, or conflict heavy enough to be a great magnet for long-term loyal followers and I struggled trying to compensate being faithful to Max as a character and my ambitious plans the entire lifespan of the character. These early days were hard on the overarching goals but big on trying to understand theology and gently guide people into the understanding Max's take on the Nine Faced God reasonably over time. Although he'd never quite form the close relationships he was after some particularly memorable encounters of theology in these early days were ones like:

Tilda Haze

Stywel

Merry Winespill

Jendal Stutterstep

and especially Eirikr and Outis though I didn't get any good shots of them.

If I could do this again I'd definitely gone a less complex and self crippling route when it came to personality, and gone less broad and tolerant with the religion. I spent a lot of time on and off vaguely hiring The Sacrificial Groat mercenaries but they'd always be more their own thing than mine, and more often than not they'd be very vocally serving someone else at the time as well which was partially an issue of our timezones being fairly different, other employers being really interesting in that era, and the nature of mercenaries.

Eventually I ran into Arakvos (during a quest for Oscar Tchammorar who Maxwell had hoped to use as an in into the Merchant's Guild, but instead rewarded him with some cool bracers) who was a godsend. He had the mechanical power as a player, and the drive and single-minded battle focus as a character that pulled together the group of ringrunners I was looking for. He didn't dance around issues and try to build deep meaningful relationships before the invitation came to join him in charging at a problem, and he didn't spend all his time questioning the morality of his actions. He was everything my concept needed and most importantly of all from day one (I suspect from seeing Max use Divine Might) he recognized Max as the charismatic commander of men that Arakvos himself had been searching to serve under as a soldier-captain. His goal was to be a part of a fraternity of warriors he could call brothers that were fighting for a cause he considered a challenge. One day he grabbed together every random person he defeated at a dispensary and charged off into the Rings with them, and this untested band of unassociated warriors would become his brotherhood; The Untested, who would go on to reach the deepest rings ever seen and join the likes of the Tears of Blood as some of the most accomplished ringrunner companies.

Arakvos was a Chessentan warrior born into the barracks and raised for the singular purpose of fighting for their country at the command of their leaders. He was fiercely and unquestioningly loyal to his cause and his brothers, and would die for his commander. Post-Awakening Arakvos was at a loss for the pillars he'd built his identity around and sought to replace them. In the Untested he found his brotherhood. In Maxwell he found a leader to fight and die for. His cause was Maxwell's, Ringrunning, but soon that would change. Although they would never grow close enough to inspire the feelings of family Maxwell spent his life searching for Arakvos' loyalty, culture, and circumstancially dedicating himself to Maxwell that Max considered it more than a blessing, it was a direct sign and gift of the First Face. Maxwell was convinced that Arakvos' destiny was to serve as the captain of Moonspear's returned retainers and to be alongside Max from beginning to end of his hereditary destiny, and as a result he revealed to him his birthright and gave Arakvos the cause he sought to fight for.


This chapter would go out with a fizzle more than a bang. Playtimes and tough schedules involved in a group composed of completely random characters made organization hell, and Max ended up trailing behind for most of the grand adventures through the Rings. It was only by the grace of DeltaTime's Hakiim and Scrappayeti's Saint Outis' frequent trips backwards to babysit Max that he ever managed to make progress. I'd see the others for some of the bigger challenges, but for the most part it was Hakiim, Outis (Who would become one of the two people Maxwell would have honestly called a friend in those early days), and on occasion a spunky little gnomish lunatic calling himself the High Potatotate that were Maxwell's company. Eventually the full group hit a roadblock out in the rings and interest shifted back to 99. The watershed moment of this arc's end is probably Arakvos' death in a duel against Visimar Stormchild, played by Lannister, after which the Untested began to one by one fade away or integrate into other groups. Max had hope of joining the Tears of Blood in their attempt to pass the challenge both groups were stuck on with a few other former Untested but the roster filled up quickly and he was never able to grow too close to the Tears. Perhaps for the best, as there were few survivors from the attempt. The first Ring Rush had come to an end.[/hide]

Maxwell Chapter Two:
APP AMBITIONS:
[hide]Return to the 99th Ring with himself and his allies loaded up with old Moonspear stuff. Publicly renounce Ticker Square citizenship. Meet with the Royal Archivist to present him proof confirming Maxwell as the last living heir to House Moonspear, and have the Archivist announce that the Archives confirm Maxwell to be a Lord and Peer of the Ward without specifying further. The primary goal of this portion of his story will be to lay the groundwork and prepare for the final conflict driven chapter of war. Rebranding away from merchant into devout noble who defended the City's traditional faith in Ticker Square. Making allies as the Nine Faced God's Noble House similar to Nephezar's connection to The Lord Departed and fully embroiling into Peerage politics among the other noble Houses. Hopefully coming to some arrangement with House Sunpurse for custody of the Ponds Manor as base of operations for the Household. The end goal of this portion being to build up "House Artfall" and grow close enough to one of the noble Houses to marry into a powerful family and gain their mandatory support and forces.[/hide]

Maxwell Chapter Two:
REALITY:
[hide]The loss of Arakvos, the Untested, and the Tears of blood signified the beginning of a long period of aimless drifting in Ticker Square with forays into the Peerage Ward attempting to grow closer to House Velstra through Visimar Stormchild, Arakvos' killer, of all people. This was a period of politics, House conflict, and attempting to build and strengthen the Nine Faced God's faith into either a faction of its own or at least a faith with influence among some players and groups. The conflict between Sunpurse and Velstra had launched into full swing and Maxwell had strong ties to Velstra and Visimar through the old Ringrunning days where Visimar and Velastra were common and friendly faces in the deeper rings, and through the memory of Merry Winespill. In this period Maxwell converted a few people (at least one of which, Eirikr who was my personal favorite, I feel was earned entirely by Max's proselytizing), had a tense confrontation with the Church of Yvethax over a killed guy I never met that ultimately the Arbiters settled, and  had a hand in Visimar's own conversion to the Nine Faced God. He joined in Velstra war councils, and also provided auguries and potions for battle, and did everything he could short of officially taking a side in combat to grow closer to the House. This was a chance to solidify ties with a Peerage House for an eventual marriage, and because of Nephezar's religious leanings, Glitt's unappealing condition, and Lady Sunpurse being too lofty a goal Lord Norbert's legitimized NPC Velstran daughter seemed like a perfect target. During this time Max renounced his Guild Membership and moved residence back to the Shrine in the Commons as dice rolls regarding the Peerage kept coming up as the number one, which he associated with progress toward his destiny, and he believed the time had come to focus all his attentions there. Visimar Stormchild, the High Potatotate, Angvald and Outis all gave Max hope of someday continuing toward finding House Moonspear in the Rings but it had really taken a backseat while we awaited other ringrunners to catch up.

This period eventually ended with a trio of unexpected events which would serve as the beginning for the climax of Maxwell's story. Some time after Velstra and Sunpurse had finally made a peace Visimar Stormchild was killed by Solveig of House Orza which, although crushing the hopes for progress ringrunning and severing Max's final firm ally in the House, put tensions between House Velstra and House Orza on the brink of war with a crippled Red Lion to carry that enmity on forever. The stage was perfectly set for Maxwell's war, but the choice had to be made whether to attempt to declare himself without his proof, or continue to delay. This issue settled itself with the announcement from Prince Trystan's herald that House Moonspear was returning, and not only were they bringing an Orza sized army, but the declaration that Moonspear was the Royal Family. Uncertain whether he would be recognized for a Moonspear, or possibly shunned and reviled by the only men who knew his hideous secret, Maxwell resolved to approach the Prince as a Numerologist and appraise the man and be appraised by him. Finally the transition between the second and third periods wasn't a gradual one, but sharp and distinct and punctuated with Maxwell's maiming.

I really regret that I wasn't capturing video during the events surrounding losing Max's freaky hand and Tamara Moonspear's Signet Ring because they were some of the best. I did manage to grab not one, not two, not three, not four, but five whole screenshots after the fact. I have said it before in various places on the forums and discord but I can't express how crucial to the enjoyment of those days Drusilla Peake as a character and player were. Catching her in the act cutting up that body in the Temple was pure luck by the happenstance of my spawnpoint being the scene of the crime, and it sparked a great political rivalry that breathed a lot of life into the Nine Faced God's religion. The conflict with Drusilla also allowed Max one of his few encounters with the High Numerologist Adna Quillgross and promotion to High Numerologist which came with a badge of office in the form of a cool ring (I'm concealing the stats for the sake of any future High Numerologists who might receive the same, but its great!). The only screenshots I took at the time describing Max's hand was this one, and then this is something I took at a later date to send to the characters present for Gregori Orza's crippling of Max. At the time I was so wrapped up in the moment and surprised by the turns of events that my original emote was focused more on trying to explain to the players who were baffled that I wasn't emoting openly wearing the Signet Ring about his thick concealing hand bandage that was so vital to the character, that I entirely missed out on the crucial character defining public revelation that Max was a hideous freak with a mutant finger. He would then announce to the City the secret of his heritage that Gregori had revealed to all his enemies, as there was no more reason to conceal himself. The time for actively preparing for House Moonspear's return and the glorious epic siege of Castle Moonspear was upon us! [/hide]

Maxwell Chapter Three:
APP AMBITIONS:
[hide]Maxwell will hopefully reveal to the House he's marrying into about his heritage and used the promise of the Castle and prestige of Moonspear to secure the marriage. Have the wedding be a huge public event for all the Peerage and movers and shakers and the Royal Archivist to make the marriage official. At the conclusion of the wedding have the Royal Archivist make the announcement that House X and House Moonspear have been joined, and reveal himself publicly to be the Lord of House Moonspear and rightful heir to Castle Moonspear. Placing Orza in the awkward spot of being officially illegitimate squatters we'd begin a tense cold war in the Peerage between House Orza and the alliance of the Moonspear PC faction and the Peerage Noble House he married into against House Orza: Securing alliances and currying favor with the other Houses, scheming and secretly removing each other's important figures, and drawing in former allies and contacts from Ticker Square's Guild and the Church as in the conflict. The end goal being an eventual all-out "Peerage War" where the slow boiling pot finally boils over into a siege/series of battles by House Moonspear and Allies against House Orza and allies for occupation of Castle Moonspear.[/hide]

Maxwell Chapter Three:
REALITY:
[hide]The capture of Drusilla Peake, and subsequent capture and maiming by House Orza was a sudden and unexpected kick out of what had become a sort of stagnant limbo period. Maxwell's merchanting and Ticker Square days were done, as were his Ringrunning attempts, he'd reached a level where questing wasn't really appealing, and attempts to break into the Peerage as a priest of the Nine Faced God with all his former contacts and allies having vanished and an obscure timezone was proving slow going. I was mostly just sitting on my hands waiting for Trystan to arrive and provide me the answer to the question: Will he welcome Max, or hate him? Losing a hand was a small price to pay for the godsend of being forced to reveal the more active and dynamic half of Maxwell's concept, (and eventually getting a really nice small shield helped soften that blow). I was finally free to get proactive and show off my flashy and more attractive conflict-driving aspects of the character, had been thrust into the attention of the Peerage Ward, and had a rogues gallery of interesting villains to engage with. Preparing for war with House Orza and establishing Maxwell's weird "House Moonspear" offshoot, and the following Prince Moonspear events made this period entirely worth the months of build up. Furthermore with Gregori Orza's offhand decision to cut off Maxwell's hand for his mother Signet Ring it opened up some new dimensions for the character that I had never really considered a possibility when I created him: The hand that made him a monster, the talismanic representation of his permanent self-loathing, was gone. It didn't miraculously transform him in his own eyes into a "person", but I thought for the character it would open the previously impossible option of actually achieving his primary motivating goal of finding and accepting the approval of others, and seeing himself as a good person.

In this period prior to Trystan's arrival I had begun to lean away from the Nine Faced God's religious aspect of the character and lean heavily into the "Prodigal Returning Son of House Moonspear" aspect, and even had a belt to prove it. Again these two halves of the character kept proving to be a hat on a hat. It was really hard to juggle the two concepts when honestly each one deserved to have a character's concept fully dedicated to one idea or the other. There were a lot of tense engagements with House Orza, and House Sunpurse. Cool political meetings, and a cast of fun Moonspear loyalists like Grim, Paps, Adelia, the controversial Nicolette, and even for a brief and shining moment an elf. During this time I did some rebranding of Max as a character but felt satisfied with it as in character growth. It wasn't me suddenly changing his personality to better suit being a leader and a worthy Moonspear, but rather it was a Maxwell suddenly freed from his cursed hand trying to change as a person and live up to the person he had always imagined he might have been if he hadn't been born with his deformity. With a romanticized approximation of an actual noble knight he attempted to be a Moonspear through noble and courageous deeds, and to prove to himself that he was no longer a monster(And earned a cool sword). While these are some uninteresting details they were hugely important to the character and points of personal pride for myself as steps toward achieving the actual character's overall goal. Some steps along that path that were especially memorable were: Drusilla Peake revealing to the crowded Glitt Hall the shameful secret of Maxwell's mongrel hand and Bernard's flying into a rage and casting her out (I wish I had a screenshot. Somehow I missed recording every Drusilla encounter which collectively made the best experiences of my PC). The subsequent gathering of Maxwell's PC retainers who showed Max that he truly was no longer a monster when they reaffirmed their oaths to him even knowing his secret (Max was hugged for the first time in his life here and it was a sweet little moment). Detective Wakefield approaching Max with deep lore theories about his mutation and family, Max threatening that if Wakefield ever mentioned his hand again any friendship they once had was forever ended, and eventually casting Wakefield out of the Temple for bringing up the painful past. Mairead Glitt learning of Max's deformity and treat the whole situation with such an intensely blase attitude, and eventually bonding over spoilerific events that would go a long distance in healing some of Maxwell's emotional wounds (There was some cool armor from an event surrounding those spoilers but I forgot to take a picture).

When Trystan finally arrived we were in for a few surprises. Thankfully, out of all the huge life-changing pieces of Maxwell's story where the records were corrupted, recorded nothing but the NWN Menu Screen, or simply weren't recorded at all, the two big Trystan events are ones which I did manage to record and so I have plenty of screencaps. A large crowd arrived to see the Silver March finally reach its destination, and among the highly divided reception were Max and his loyalist friends. The first words from the Silver Marcher relieved a lot of fears when he seemed to express that the Prince was not horribly offended or enraged that Max and his friends had been parading around under his banner without his approval fucking things up and pissing off his Peers in the Ring he planned to rule in. Max and his close companions, and several of the more sympathetic onlookers, boarded the boats and were ferried over to Moonspear's flagship. This was for everyone else the least interesting and dreaded portion of the event to follow, but for Maxwell this meeting was the culmination of entire character arc and the crucible for shaping the character's remaining future. When called in to meet with the Prince he entered apprehensive and his emotional walls built up as tall as possible; Prepared to probe the Prince with questions to ensure he was really Trystan Moonspear, prepared for his own identity and claim to the bloodline to be doubted or denied, and most dreaded of all prepared to meet a Prince Trystan Moonspear who knew exactly who Max was and was disgusted by the surviving monster that the House had abandoned for dead.

What he wasn't prepared for was when Trystan and the rest of his legitimate family warmly and unquestioningly welcomed him as their beloved kin and equal. Unknown to any of them or Maxwell this reception of unconditional approval from these exact sort of figures was what he had been questing for his whole life. The immediate acceptance from the patron of House Moonspear and his sons as if he'd been one of them all long gave Maxwell a closure that I never expected the character to find at creation. He had the acceptance of a father figure from his family, which tied up his issues inherited from Daniel Artfall. He had a family of his own to connect with who were glad to see him, which tied up his issues with trying to build a surrogate family from other characters. He had a social pardon for his existence by the highest Lord of the Peerage and by extension approval from the society which would finish tying up his issue with feeling justifiably hated and shunned. The ultimate coincidental cherry on top being with his monstrous hand chopped off by Gregori Orza he no longer was anchoring himself to his self-image as monster incapable of being given any of these things. Through a series of events I couldn't have anticipated being in the realm of possibility when creating the character Maxwell all at once accomplished his primary goal and purpose as a character: He had permission to be happy with the person he was.

From that moment on Maxwell's life would be committed to these people. That is short of Trystan and the others proving to be frauds, which would have been an interesting direction too because it would have utterly destroyed Maxwell to have let his guard down this once and allowed himself to feel human only to have his worst fears confirmed that he truly was incapable of being anything to anyone but an unwanted monster. I don't know where his story would have gone if things had taken that direction, but it seemed to be that House Moonspear was legit and Maxwell would gladly lay down his life for the first and only legitimate family he had ever known. Eventually he would. There was adventure to be had, and far more exciting external adventures to happen with far more interesting screenshots.[/hide]

THE FIRST LIZARDMAN EVENT
I took lots of screenshots of this one and worked to try to include the thematic setting descriptions. So as one of two rewards for possibly reading some of this here's the pictures in non-link form.

[hide]
The intrepid band sets off with confidence and high spirits on a small boat manned my elite Silver Marcher sailors to sneak past enemy lines, land on a thinly defended beach, and free enough slaves to stall the ritual. Things are looking good!


Sibilants from the water! All our sailors are dead. Our boat is out of control. This was a terrible mistake!


Storming the beach side camps! Our loses are heavy and all ground gained is hard fought... And our losses are heavy. Look at all those dead guys. Seriously we were not the best group for this. But if we didn't try no one would.


With the outer camps defeated we took in the horrible view of the Ziggurats and prepared to sneak through the ceremony to free the slaves; Ring 99's last chance at buying for time.


We had made it to the slave Ziggurat without further attack... Almost too easy.


Into the dark Ziggurat to locate the slaves. The Silver Marchers would gain new subjects and we would gain the 99th Ring time to rally behind their Prince to correct the terrible errors that allowed things to grow so grim. A last chance at hope.


With the ritual beginning all but a singular champion were absent from the guardposts. A dangerous foe but soon dispatched!


We had found the prisoners! Now back to the boat--! A TRAP! The sibilant defenders are alerted!


Oh. My. Gawd.


OM MY GAWD!

I have one or two more from this event to upload but I need to grab them up from my home computer. Much of this obit is still a work in progress.[/hide]


THE FINAL DAYS
(THE SECOND LIZARDMAN EVENT VIDEO FORM)
[hide]With my wacky playtimes and strange Aussie gaming hours the few weeks between the arrival of the Silver March and the Sibilant Empire finale that would be the end of Max were spent pulling focus back away from representing House Moonspear and back toward the Church of the Nine Faced God. Trystan had arrived and could represent himself, and loyalist PC allies like Paps and Grim were able to fill in for the roll of representative during the more standard timezones with Max's involvement fading back to being the occasional ominous or terrifying encounter with Vladislav and one amazing bit of hour long PvP against Gisea de Fiore. Maxwell's own purpose for being driven so hard to restore and represent House Moonspear were tied hand-in-hand to his personal believe legitimizing himself to the world as a Moonspear would allow him to accept himself and that unattainable goal had been unexpectedly reached.

I felt I'd been doing a disservice to being a prominent and high level cleric by not making the faith my primary focus anyway, and with the intentional destruction of the Temple of the Nine Faced God in Ticker Square it gave me an excuse to take the preaching in a new direction. Rather than relying on open communication and rationally teaching Numerology to the people on an individual basis (Which failed to win over a meaningful portion of the population to the point a mob sacked the Temple unopposed) he resolved that teaching individuals a true understanding of Numerology had to come second to reestablishing the faith as a numerous and influential force in the 99th Ring for its own preservation. This involved adopting the trappings of authority, coating everything in expected ecclesiastic jargon, and presenting a mysterious and commanding face for the Church and pointing a direct finger at enemies and obligations for the faithful. This was actually really fun, and what I should have been doing from the beginning even though it wouldn't have made a lot of sense for the character looking to connect with others and form a family to be a screaming hellfire dice-pope for no reason. The whole facade was based on the old school catholic church and I was really looking forward to trying to get an inquisition style thing going with the Most Numeric Knightly Order of Templar-Confessors of Saint Magnus and Saint Kowl. I wanted to link the reforming Church of the Nine Faced God to Prince Trystan the way that old catholic monarch in Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were linked to the Pope and Catholic Church, which I thought was a great way to serve both halves of the core concept that had always been divided between Nine Faced God and Moonspear. Trystan would be the living champion of the 6th Face to the Church and necessary for the salvation of the City and therefore holy and with the full backing of the faith. During this time I also had a ton of fun after a few characters such as Saint Outis and Acathos gave Max reasons to look more closely into Drusilla Peake's writings and her Tenth Face Heresy. Picking them apart and trying to reverse engineer her crazy theories was a blast and I'm proud to say I think I figured a lot of it out just from the text alone, but one of my two biggest regrets for the character's death is dying before I could finish snooping around and questioning some other characters, and finally approaching High Numerologist Adna Quillgross to see if there was any deep lore connected to some of the conclusions Max was heading toward.

Finally, there was the last event. It was announced right at the end of my shift at work and I watched in very loud agony thinking there was a huge Moonspear event happening just two hours prior to my prime playtime hours and afraid I was going to miss out. I shot home like a rocket the moment the final group meeting of the day ended (My boss would NOT stop talking he needs to realize Moonspear is more important than the Corona Virus) and I must have been driving 120 mph the entire way. Thank god I wasn't pulled over because I made it right in time. Arc gave me fair warning that I was probably going to get my dumb ass killed, but honor demanded I ride into battle with Unkie Trystan!

From the very first moments of the fight I spent more time bleeding out than actually in combat. The healing crew was on point they saved my life over and over. I did die and lose 2 levels pretty early by being dumb, and I wish I knew if those lost levels might have saved me. Those dispels were brutal on Max. When he fully buffed and lucky with his rolls at level 10 he was walking around with 36AC before haste, 114HP, and 18/11AB screaming like the Incredible Hulk, but unbuffed he's got 23AC, 100ishHP and 11AB and it took him like 8 rounds of potion chugging and casting to get back to fighting condition. Every dispel while tanking the big boys was almost a guaranteed death unless the healers were on point or I got lucky. In the end it was a cool hero lizard who got me down with some crits, but I at least lived long enough to seem like I was helping in the dragon fight and got this cool shout.[/hide]

[Poolson]

A Lord, a leader and above all, a friend.

Paps' story came to a wholesome conclusion, once they were joined. All this time, she had wanted to belong- just as Maxwell did- and despite the fumbles of the past (her fascination with Solvegia turning sour, chiefly), she did come to learn to love again. She learned to love the family she had made along the way, not yearn for one born of her blood. Maxwell Artfall, alongside their companions that they had grown close to, was that family she wanted all along- and that realization was what gave her peace.

Maxwell was a highly charismatic character and the way he jelled with the gang demonstrated this perfectly. He wasn't charismatic because he was a orderly noble of high bearing, careful in his words and wise in his deeds, but because beneath the guise of professionalism was a man, just as flawed as everyone else, and fell into the place with the rest of his motley bunch. If you're into that philosophical whimsy-whamsy, it is the flaws that make something a masterpiece. He was masterfully expressed and both his motives, his wants, his dreams, hopes, hatreds and onwards were quite lifelike.

You did phenomenal, homie. You made the ride to the end a worthwhile endeavor and it was cinematic, for our characters to end alongside each other as the last of the Moonspears on that bloody march. I would've done it all over again, if given the chance. Every second kicked so much ass. A lot of it is thanks to you.

[Cat]

Maxwell by far has been the most iconic priest for me so far this chapter, and I loved the few moments we had to rp. I wish we had had more, but such is often the way of things. But it makes me happy to see you saved the conversation that definitely helped shaped Merry to take the path that she did.

Continue to do good rpg, I'm excited to see what comes next.

[Random_White_Guy]

As always my joy with PCs is somehow finding myself at their beginning, and their end.

Our numerous late night debates with Ebersol and Maxwell was great when you first arrived to ticker square but the biggest impact was obviously Fynn. It was funny how we both barely ever met each other but when we did shit was so tense and hostile and just- blatantly antagonistic against one another.  One of the single most character building moments was when I first came to buy potions from you and lingered in your door way menacingly while you were counseling a gnomish PC on the state of affairs and dealings in Ticker Square. Early on in the PC I tried so hard to play up that silent menace and I was confronted with this just warm, kinda weird, odd little dude who just seemed to love the world.

"You can get blessing, strength, favoring, and mindwardings. You could get aidings too but most people complain about the cost"

[Drops a stack of ill gotten groat]

"I'm not most people. Ten."

"[The man gazes down at the pouch then to the mask offering a smile] No... No I suppose you are not."

Coming and going, timezones overlapping, but every time just these two patently opposite people who, in another time or place, would have probably been the best of friends.

Another stellar job man, from start to finish.

Credit to Pool for the A+ line to walk into as I transitioned to find my ARCH NEMEFRENEMY.

[Richørd]

You know, I like to jokingly call some people the "main character of EfU".

But really though? For once?
Out of all the characters that were under player control that I have seen since I joined EfU last year I must say ...
... Maxwell Artfall-Moonspear was a damn fine main lad.

Thanks for having Grim along.

[Nazey]

Great character and great write up!  For the record I don't think this style of obit thread is boring at all, I'm always very interested to see how other players have different processes for developing their characters.

[EverDRothe]

Exceptional character, exceptional obituary.

[Wench]

I absolutely loved all my experiences with Maxwell, he was a great character who felt very real and vulnerable, while also being the hero the Peerage needed.

[hide=Images]

[Wakefield]

I was gutted that Max fell during the attack on the lizards. I really wanted you to get that last battle and see the payoff for all the time you spent as Moonspear's flagship. He was super complex as a character and slowly finding out more about him in conversations or rumors was constantly rewarding. Between his efforts with the Nine-Faced God and House Moonspear, I feel like you did a ton of heavy lifting for the storyline and server lore. We need more guys like Artfall! When you get a chance, move to a new timezone so we can play together more. <3

[Drink With Me]

I never had the pleasure of interacting too many times with the character directly but heard plenty of good things and saw plenty of them as well. Well done.

[zerotje]

For some reason I only encountered him once. But I read most the forum posts etc. You made alot of good RP and stories available for a broader amount of players than average. I hope you stay so inclusive in your next projects! A very positive trait. Thank you for the good PC. :)

[The Second Helping Boys]

I'm really happy so many players enjoyed their encounters with Max.
While trying to find a Song of the Day I found a music video which perfectly describes Max's perfectly normal relationship with Trystan.

[Blue41]

Running into your PC with Cedric Fulmar was a source of early inspiration for me. I enjoy playing clerics, but they're in a different place this setting, and it was nice seeing someone (in my opinion) doing it right. While I don't think I did as good a job of proselytizing as you did, thanks for the encouragement- just by playing your PC to the best of your ability. Sad we didn't get to run into each other as often as I would've liked, but timezones are a bitch.

Also, I enjoy reading about the thought process behind PC's. Always interesting to see how much that groundwork matters vs. what gets tossed out in the world.

[Scrappa-yeti]

A complex character, leaning more towards the serious than some of your others. It really showed off your RPing depth.

[Dillusionist]

Fabulous PC to watch and one of your best so far.  Good mixture of personal stories and carrying a big plot both at once. There's a lot of things to love about Maxwell, but it was especially impressive how you pulled newer and less connected people into House Moonspear. Always fantastic when you give other people a chance to join your story and shine.

A+++