Exclusiveness and RP - the other side

[Postmaster]

Originally posted by Tharizdun

Greetings Gorboth, Motimor, and others of this thread.
I feel a need to chime in, as I have been on both sides of this
situation.

Let me start by giving the answer first... Patience.

That being out of the way, I next present a few snippets of my life.
From my rebirth, after a couple year hiatus, I desired nothing more
than to become a ranger. Along the way I began study as a Herald of
the Valar, and then traced back my Dunedan history and connection
to the House of Hallacar. At that time, not a single member of
Hallacar was active and there was not a lord, so I contacted
every Dunedan I had met and mailed every lord and lady asking for
their endorsement to allow my entrance to my family. Eventually I
ascended to the lordship of that house, but I was still only an
applicant to the rangers. To proceed further there I needed
positive referrals from 4 active, non-pupil rangers. I am sure you
are aware of what it is like trying to get a ranger to even intro
to you, let alone take you along with him on a patrol and impress
them to the point where they will give you a referral to their
captain.

So I finally get my referrals, even after the previous Lord of
Hallacar, Kirgwath, who was also a ranger, assassinated the captain
of the Gondor company. Next I had to find someone to mentor me. The
only rangers who could mentor at that time were the officers and
the master rangers. Even an ogre could easily count how many of
those were kicking around. There was even an applicant I allowed
to be taken as a pupil before me since he had applied before me
and the mentor told us to decide among ourselves. Then this other
applicant decided to become an immortal without even completing
his pupil training! So finally Captain Iliana decided I was
worthy of her instruction. This took somewhere in the area of two
years and I was a fairly active player.

I rise to the point where I am but 1 level below a master ranger,
and now all I want to do is become a mentor, but I am told I can't
by Captain Lysander. I know there are a dozen worthy applicants, but
I am not allowed to take one on as my pupil.

Difference of opinion, blah, blah, blah, I'm expelled from the rangers.

I had been recruited by the Tower for quite a while, starting with
Moth and continuing all the way to Navarre. After being given access
to the lower shelves of the library in Minas Morgul, I realize that
the driving force behind my wanting to be a ranger in the first place
is all a lie. Not only that, it was perpetrated by the former captain
of the, at that time defunct, North company.

I am finally accepted as an apprentice to the Tower. Mind you, I am
the lord of a Dunedan house and was a very high ranking ranger not
too long ago. Now, I am forced to grovel before the very being I had
plotted to kill not so long ago. I even got into some heated arguments
with Sly, Gadez, and Navarre about the respect I was due because of
my previous accomplishments. Let's put it this way, I learned the
sting of the lash. I got to experience the purifying fires of demotion
from hard earned rank in the Tower. I ate hemlock and died at the feet
of my Master to atone for sorting gear improperly. A year and a half
later I become a full mage. A year and a five months after that I
became a wraith. I have now had quite a few apprentices of my own.
I can think of at least 5 off the top of my head. From the lessons
I learned from my masters and what is hardwired into the Tower, I
am able to effectively manage them.

Most of this is all based on roleplay. At any point I could have
pulled in personal favor to shortcut my application to the rangers.
I could have flat out told Gadez to stick his hemlock as far up
under his robes as he could shove it. I could have "played the game"
and jumped and danced to the tune of the mages without any reference
to my former feats. I did this because it is what Tharizdun would
do. He is brash, hot-headed, and for the most part feels superior
to his so-called seniors, unless they can prove themself to him
and that their way is actually better than his instincts. He has
a soft spot for the young and frequently donates to the cadets or
takes them hunting. He has a swashbuckling side that the young ladies
sometimes get to see. He enjoys the solitude of gathering herbs and
working in libraries.

If he were solely here to get big and amass a collection of 1's and
0's on some computing device halfway around the world from where his
soul sits behind a monitor, trying to change more of those 0's to 1's,
no amount of roleplay on the part of any other guildmate would be
able to do anything. Eventually a reputation would spread and changing
guilds would become very hard, but some poor group would be stuck
with him. The Dunedan, rangers, and mages all have the ability to
do something about this. They can prevent a previously proven jerk
from joining, they can punish a newly proven jerk, and can police their
own ranks fairly efficiently. Other guilds, for example the
gladiators, are not quite so easily controlled. One rogue overseer
ends up getting them in a war with the Tower that costs their ranks
dearly.

As a Dunedan lord, I have interviewed quite a few who claim to have
blood ties to my family. I regard only their blood lines, not their
moral outlook, and always have. But let's keep one thing in mind. I
am the lord of a Dunedan house. I am the head of the entire family
of Hallacar. If you believe you have that blood, it is your job to
prove it and fit your schedule to my convenience that I may verify it.
If your proof is not convincing, I don't owe you an explanation. I
don't even owe you a reply. Learn your place, knave. When I tell
you I am available for the next 15 minutes to meet with you, you
drop everything you are doing and get yourself to Pelargir so that
you can plead your case. When 15 minutes are up, so are your chances.
Only the few lucky enough to be accepted as my apprentice within the
Tower get to feel the wrath of what a total domineering, unpleasable,
overbearing taskmaster I can truly be. I am a Ringwraith of Morgul.
I am one of the 9 hand picked, elite, history changing tools of the
Dark Lord Sauron, servant to only the Giver of Freedoms Melkor
himself. Unless you are the King of Minas Morgul or an immortal, you
should consider yourself blessed beyond comprehension that I deign to
befoul my tongue with speech low enough for you to understand to even
acknowledge your existence.

If someone plans to impress a guild leader with similar views ( and I
am pretty certain there are more, rather than fewer, of them out there)
then you put in the time, you have patience, and you come to grips with
the reality that the only thing you can control is your own actions. If
you try to control someone who else's behavior that is not having any
of it, you are just going to become frustrated and angry. So instead
of having angry guild leaders wondering how this fool became a member
of his guild, devices are put in place for him to control it mechanically
instead of having to do it in less effective ways.

Tharizdun