Ser Malik Adalya, Knight of Trystan Moonspear, The Last Inquisitor

[nelly]

*Disclaimer 1 - The Elephant in the Room is addressed at the very end in the last segment!
*Disclaimer 2 -  Aatish and Malik had different backstories and while they shared many goals, they had very different goals too. I have not spoiled anything here for Aatish's backstory or current goals. And I urge you to not think anything of Malik (especially his ending & the Nothing) is reflective of Aatish. Malik and Aatish argued a lot behind the scenes. They were designed to be two forces in balance. You should FOIG what Aatish is up to and assume nothing from this post.


And of course, I'd like to begin by saying thank you to everyone involved. In no particular order - and if I have missed someone, please know I am writing this after spending 3 hours on this OBIT and my brain is muddled.

All of Moonspear - AGNES, Aatish, Wednesday, Gwendoline, Vivian, Lissandra, Artul, Elleanor, Emelyn, Erikir, Symmone
All of Orza - Anastasia Orza (The ultimate Third that we never replaced, I missed her greatly), Rankov, Karakov, (I am misspelling - sorry Crow), Morvoren, May Kassis
Glitt - Tristram, Harlan, Cordelia, Cairbre, Aoife
Sunpurse - Sidonie, Akesh, Tudur, Vasinigiv the Knave, oh, I guess Eris Hale too (Lord Malik Hale RIP)
Velstra - Fleta, Egbert, Tetrallia, Adrian, Circe, Henry
My enemies, my favorite category, you were all amazing - Thorgred, Crookjaw, Yictanaghz, Brick, Japes, The Malagor (shout out to Akron and our 90min deep ring bridge duel)
And of course... Buonfiglio, Loria, Meredina, Gethin
And of course the DM team that indulged all our crazy ideas. Thank you all!
... and extra shout out to Stranger, Cat, and Cmenden who tie for most entries =)

THE STATS & LOOT
[hide] *note Malik was LN at start;)




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THE BACK STORY
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Malik was born to the Peerage Ward and of a middle class family. His father was a very skilled carpenter whom Malik revered in his obsession for his craft, thus Malik's natural predisposition for hammers and detail. However, at a very young age, he witnessed his father mistreat his family in violent mood swings, thus Malik's impetus towards Order and Judgement. As a result, he spent most of his childhood justifying the duality of how a man he could revere during the day he could despise in the evenings, thus Malik's skewed acceptance of the cohabitation of Darkness and Light.

One day, as a teenage boy running errands for his father in the Steadings, Malik came across a young girl being beat by a pack of local boys. Malik, having the benefit of age on these young tyrants, immediately went to save the defenseless girl. After his first successful combat, Malik, the victor, looked upon the beaten girl. She had bright red hair and unparalleled fire in her eyes. A coy innocence to her struck him, and it was love, truly, at first sight. He knew not that she was far from innocent. She was receiving judgement for just last eve she had burnt alive a young boy- too young yet to control her Gift the Promise.

Malik, looking at his first love as she lie beaten and broken, swore then his first Oath - to protect Aatish Aldebrand for as long as she might live. And thus, well, the story to become a Moonspear in Orzan Colors began...

And well, the rest of the story I am thankful I was able to tell IG... thus better told in pictures... [/hide]

THE STORY - IC
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[hide=It begins... a Trystan Loyalist meets an old Moonspear Captain that remains in Orza's command after their siege of Castle Moonspear...]
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[hide=Malik beheads an Oathbreaker Orzan as one of his first missions... Ominous foretelling of his own end.]
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[hide=Swearing Oath to be Inquisitor as a Moonspear agent in disguise]
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[hide=Lady Sunpurse has her suspicions after he takes the Cowl]
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[hide=Confronting the only other Moonspear, Agnes, and trying to keep her alive in tricky scenarios...]
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[hide=Ultimately witnessing the destruction of 94... Who knows what Malik would have done if he didn't lose?]
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[hide=The moments of plotting right before killing Anastasia Orza]
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[hide=The Reveal, and being scolded by Ser Lyon in their Methods]
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[hide=Moonspear: Returned Banner but House in Exile, The Haft is Built]
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[hide=Hosting House Moonspear's first Tournament in their return]
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[hide=Performing Inquisitorial duties of Judgement and Order, even over the Knaves]
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[hide=Paying respects to Maxwell, Malik's first Hero]
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[hide=Plotting to legitimize Ser Lyon's return]
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[hide=Exile No More - A boy returns home alone, but only on invitation]
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[hide=A brief return that was not without tension...]
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[hide=But not in vain - Ser Lyon returns]
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[hide=At long last, Moonspear returns to its rightful seat]
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[hide=A seat that Malik would soon fill himself in lower Councils]
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[hide=With Lyon having sworn to the Count, Malik does the Count's biddings]
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[hide=But at what cost? Remorse, contemplation begins...]
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[hide=But Resentment tempers to Apathy as Malik begins to believe the Nothing is the endgame, not the Count]
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[hide=The Nothing finds its way to Malik too often...]
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[hide=So he embarks on a path to get the Houses to fight against the Mists]
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[hide=A path that would end with him leading forces against the Mists, within the Mists... and to his ultimate death in a Dream]
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[hide=Knighted after his Death in a Dream, he is brought to the side of his Prince Trystan at long last]
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Did you think I forgot? VANILLA PUDDING - I'll miss you, buddy. There's no commemorating Malik without Aatish. <3
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[hide=You hated all the times I took Power Couple shots ;) ][/hide]
[hide=But they WERE a power couple][/hide]
[hide=True Love is a Jealous Woman][/hide]
[hide=I love that you always kept things light & fun, even though Malik is a huge grump][/hide]
[hide=Aatish even let Malik hold the staff sometimes][/hide]
[hide=Aatish, Malik's Wildfire turned Bedside Candle (and now Wildfire once more?)][/hide]

But seriously, thanks man for all the fun and awesome times. And for putting up with me when I get my surliest. =) You are an amazing partner, and you made things so incredibly fun for me. I can't wait to see what Aatish does next.
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And please forgive, but here's a big RANDOM PHOTO PILE OF FUN TIMES =)
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*Lol. Cannot find where I failed reflex Critical Failure and got DM click killed.





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OK, now probably a moment too long delayed. But! I am revealing my identity as well in this post.
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It was me, Nelly! This whole time. Ok, this is probably shocking for some so I'll just list it out as quick as possible.

Why? Three reasons.
(1) Gender bending is hard, and I wanted to be taken seriously on a male PC. I am a female but I have a lot of male personality traits and I knew I could do a good job portraying it, but not if people were treating me like a woman, which leads me to...
(2) My prior PCs were being treated like Nelly IC and not like my PCs. I guess this might happen to everyone. But Nelly (my OOC self) is goofy because I am playing a video game. Because I am in Discord and having a fun time. I am incredibly different at work and in most of my personal relationships. Please take me seriously, even if I like to goof off xD
(3) Society unfortunately has its biases. We all do. I'm not saltin', this is just life, IRL and here in EFU. We have a great community and I am sadly just referring to the world at large here. So I wanted to avoid some of those biases. And well, if you need this one spelled out for you any more - sorry, I can't help xD but here's a song that might.

How? Honestly, Roman82 exists. That tone is my "Corporate voice". I act that way at work. =) When I have to be serious and professional. I live my life 99% of the time like Roman82. Nelly is just me having fun online with friends <3 unfortunately I cannot be that goofy all the time!

Last thing - I don't think anyone would, but it makes *me* feel better to say this. Please don't belittle Malik's accomplishments or my own because now suddenly you know I am Nelly. Malik was feared, rightfully so. He was a beast of a PC both mechanically and in RP prominence. I have played nwn since I was nine years old. I have role played since before then. While "new-er" to EFU, I am certainly not new to any of these fundamentals. The biggest thing I had to learn was PVP culture (which I admit I had failed at several times while trying to learn, and still fail at sometimes) and managing PvP jitters. The rest was pretty the same for me. So please don't shake your head or change the past. Malik, how you all treated him, and how his story happened is the same as he was, with or without me being Nelly.

Please feel free to reach out to me via PMs if you have any questions or comments you'd like to make. Never was it my intention to offend or manipulate anyone. Just a necessary thing for total RP IC immersion for me. Thanks!
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Whew, what a post. Thank you all for indulging me! I hope you enjoyed Malik as much as I did. I know I enjoyed roleplaying with all of you! This server is awesome, looking forward to more fun times ahead.

---- THE END ----

[Father Time]

Well played! I wouldn't have known because I'm an idiot.

You crushed that PC!

[Glomping Bandit]

Malik was an excellent character whose presence contributed to the server a lot. I am looking forward to the fun times ahead.

[SalveForThePeople]

I've only just met you and Malik and I've been missing out.

His tale and your craft is incredible.

[Styngraven]

Had some awesome interactions when i played Eztli, got a little more interesting when I moved on to Gilthalas.

Looking forward to what comes next!

[Cat]

Should have drank that tonic smh

[SamB123]

Very well done PC. Betraying Orza, bringing back Moonspear, starting a fight with the Nothing... all very big moments.

[Axioein]

Malik was truly an exceptional character. I played against him both as a foe and as a friend. The word that comes to mind the most is class, as in a very well thought out and very well played character.

Best of luck with your next!

[Torrance]

Fantastic PC and that nelly = Malik reveal is absolutely incredible.

Looking forward to your next character.

[TheCisco]

I've always kept an ear out with Tiktika of what Malik was up to, at the same time predicting what his current movements were while staying in the shadow of the druids.  Though we did not interact directly through our characters, Tik was always watching  and listening since before Malik became the inquisitor. He was always the person she needed to hide herself from the most.

Malik was a magnificent character to be respected, enjoyed, and feared. I really look forward to your next character!

[cmenden]

I wonder how often this happened that I WASN'T around for!

But in all seriousness, I enjoyed Malik a lot! Great PC!

[Pandip]

Really stellar PC! It was great to watch his tribulations up close and from afar.

[Slithy Tove]

Very well played, and truly living up to the higher standards of RP on EfU! Well done!

[Poolson]

good hustle, bud.

[Diabl0658]

Malik was a scary guy, I got to know him on two different PCs (Phlox and Tudur). Phlox managed to anger him twice and ended up hiding from him in a cave in a very deep ring until that ring killed him. Tudur feared Malik despite being his ally. He always had this tone of voice like he was looking for a reason to smite me.