"A few years ago, but still before you were born, my boy, we had somethin' strange happen in the Kada-El tavern. Most of the guild won't talk about it, but I think it's about time you know.

Me and Hom Sawers were standin' at the bar with the rest o' the crew, tellin' stories and exchangin' laughs with each 'otha. It was a normal day, as normal as most days in Hydlaa. Young boys were searchin' for drop bears under the trees near Harnquist's forge, the guards were makin' their daily rounds. Even that strange Diaboli fella was walkin' aimlessly around, pointin' at people like some cleric of Talad sayin' "repent!", tellin' people that they weren't 'The One.' Strange fella, prob'ly spent too much time with those serpent gobbles. Thems boys gobbles mess with your head like none under the crystal."

Grandfather Laras laughed, obviously in remembrance of his time spent with the strange gobble-folk near the rivers of Yliakum.

"Well, in otha' words, the day was pretty darned normal. I remember it like it was yesterday:

So thar's we were, sittin' at the bar"

–––"I thought you were standing, grandfather!"

"Ah, aren't you a smart 'un. Yeah, we was standin'. Maybe I don' remember it as much as I thought!" Grandfather chuckled again, then continued. "So we was sittin'"

–––"Standing!"

"... at the bar, orderin' our drinks. I don't know about that new barmaid there, she seems a bit shifty, but back in the day we had a mean old Kran named Momma Kozo. And by Talad, she served the best brandy in the top layer!

But now I'm a'gettin' off topic. So there's we was, standin' at the bar, orderin' them brandy we was so darned fond of, when suddenly, a wind–a strong wind, unlike anythin' we had eva seen before–blew through the tavern and shook us to our very bones! 'Sept for Momma Kozo, she din't have bones!"

–––"Why didn't Momma Kozo have any bones grandfather?"

"Boy, what's gotten into you? You so darn dumb that you don't know what Kran is made out of?" Grandfather Laras slapped the young lad in the back of the head. "Now pay attention, the story's just about pickin' up...

Now, this wind harkn'ed a storm, and a storm it was! We darned found ourselves takin' shelter inside the Kada-El while the crystal poured down water and lightnin.' And with that storm, a little small man came in."

Now, this little small man was a tiny fella, wrapped in a big ol' cloak that looked like it could fit a 'ulbernut on his figure. Acturely, I still ain't sure he was a man. Nobody really knows who he is, he just blew in the doorway with his little head all hidden in that big ol' cloak. So this small little man stepped up to the bar, all yonder eyes watchin' his ev'ry move as he stepped across the room. He stood up at the bar and ordered one of the very brandy we was drinkin.' After he got his booze, he sat down at a table, eyes scannin' the room like some darned rogue. After an awkward silence that wus only prolonged by the noises of that storm a'outside, some brave Ynnwn decided to a'ask this stranger a question."

Grandfather's eyes darkened.

The Ynnwn asked: 'Now, a'where did ya come from, sir?' And ya know what the little small man said? He just said that he come from Yliakum. Well, duh! Who don't come from Yliakum? After implorin' a bit further, the Ynnwn finally got an answer from the little small man. He asked what layer the little small man a'came from, and you know what the little small man said?"

–––"What did he say, grandfather?"

"The darned soul said he din't come from no layers. He said he come from places where water don't drip, where people don't sleep. I remember his words like it was yesterday. Those was his exact words, and theys shook me to the bone! But not Momma Kozo, o'course. She din't have bones.

And then you know what the little small man did then? He stood up, all his height. Darn, he looked like a dwarf! His little head was still cover'd by that little cloak, so as you could only see his eyes peekin' out from between the covers. And when he stood up on the top of that table, he said these words:

'Gather 'round, all ye peoples of Yliakum! Fer I come to entertain ye!' We all a'cautiously as klyros came 'round the table he was a'standin' on, wondrin' what he means. The little small man continued:
'Ye is about to see what nobody has seen on this side of the world before! Ye gonna see thins that might shake ye, things that might make ye fear, things that might make ye scream.'
A deadthly hush went over the crowd as the little small man plucked out a small, red ribbon from insides his cloak. And ya know what he did with this ribbon? He a'took it, and a'snapped it in 'is hands, and there was two ribbons! Howeva, the crowd was unimpressed. The little small man was as undaunted as an arangma lookin' down the gullet of a consumer. More borin' tricks occurred, an' people started ta leave, but me and an around twenty-so othas still stayed. We knowed the little small man was obviously an amature, he din't know how to work magics. But we sat on, findin' this a bit humerus. The little small man then went an' pulled a small yulber out ah' his cloak. We all a' gasped in astownisment: it can't have had a'been thar before! But it was, and it wiggled an' squirmed on the ground like some crazy man from a gobble town. I tell you, boy, thems boys gobbles mess with your head like none under the crystal."
"Now ah' what he did with this little yulber was somethin' truly amazin!' For lo an' behold, he grabbed the yulber below the jaw an' pulled its skin clean off! But when the ah' skin came off, so did the yulber, meanin' the yulber disappeared, poor thin'! It plain out disappeared into thin-air! It was the most darned amazin' thin' we had eva seen. Hearing our ex'laimations of awe, people started a'comin' back. But you know what the little small man did then?"

–––"What did he do, grandfather?"

Quiet up an' let me tell the story. The little small man said these same words: 'Now, I'm a-going to perform the greatest trick yet, the greatest trick of all.' He pulled out a little pouch from inside that mysterious cloak of 'is..."

Suddenly, grandfather's eyes darkened. He continued at a slow, monotonous pace.

"The little small man told us he was goin' to.... he was goin' to.... souls...., just like that. We was all mezmerized... so mezmerized. I don' very much remember much afta that, though, not much afta that. Neitha did anybody else. All I rememba is that after he did what he did, the little man snapped his fingas and disappeared, just like that." Grandfather's eyes wandered.
"... just like that. Just... like..."

–––"Grandfather?"

Grandfather's eyes were blank and expressionless. His mouth hung ajar, and no words came out. I stared on at his face.

–––"Grandfather!"

In the back of my mind, I swore I could hear someone laughing. "Just like that!" It said, cackling, "Just like that, just like that, just like that, just like that, just like that, just like that..."

–––"Make it stop!" I screamed, clutching my ears so hard my knuckles turned white and my fingernails dug ruts in my skull, drawing blood that poured down my face. And still, the menacing cackle continued. I still hear that cackle to this day. It haunts my dreams and memories. And since then, I will hunt him. The one who takes souls. I would avenge what happened to my clan that fateful night. My name is Azeragh, and this is my story.

The following is a story I thought of. It is inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh and also my experiences in Planeshift.

Kaibane was a young Dermorian who grew up in a clan that worshipped the Black Flame reverently. Because his childhood was so involved in such affairs, he bore many stains and blows to his inner soul, which could never be healed. They say part of his soul dwells in the Death Realm as a spirit which guides others to the light. It takes the form of a young Dermorian who travels as a wisp of light.

The life of the Dermorian took a turn when he witnessed a ritual that was so twisted and awful that he was mentally scarred by it. The ritual was meant to only be performed by the highest of the Black Flame order, so Kaibane was kicked out of his village, left to wander a world which he had little knowledge of.

During his wanderings, Kaibane came upon the grand city of Hydlaa, where he was taken in by the Hydlaa Guardsmen, who renamed him Avathius and trained him to be one of the most skilled fighters of the land. He learned of the crystal ways of magic from Levrus the old mage, while he regularly ventured into the Death Realm in secret to learn more of the Dark Way.

Eventually Avathius set out to the Bronze Doors, the home of all the most honored warriors. He created a great and honored guild, which lasted for five glorious years. Avathius was respected, feared, and highly decorated.

But there was another guild which hated him: a mercenary guild composing of only corrupt Klyros. A thick and bloody guild war between Avathius' guild and this one began, which ended in victory. However, during the great final battle which took place on the plains outside the Bronze Doors, Avathius' greatest friend, Ereressel, was slain. Overcome with fury and sadness, Avathius summoned the dark magic in his soul and sucked the life force out of all of the enemy guild members, as well as his own.

And so began the story: Avathius took back the name he bore in the Black Flame, Kaibane, and went on a soulless rampage, mercilessly killing all who stood in his way. At last, he was brought down by those in the Bronze Doors, after hours of struggle and brain-crushing lag. Kaibane was forced to wander the Labyrinths of Yliakum forever, along with others who followed the Dark Way.

Many creatures he fought, many foes he slew in the lands beyond the walls of the stalactite. During his travels Kaibane went so high as to touch the rim of the Crystal, and so low that he witnessed the waterfall from which all water in Yliakum flowed down and through, into the abyss. The few inhabitants of the Labyrinths began to know him far and wide as a powerful companion, and those dwelling back in Yliakum itself found that there was a slight lack of ulbernauts and tefusang wandering the plains.

And so many years of Kaibane's long life flew past, seeing things none had ever seen before, discovering new worlds inside and beyond the stalactite itself. And at last he found himself at the edge of the world. In front of him there was a long, empty void. Kaibane had the feeling that there was something out there, and yet it was a presence so large that his eyes could not sense it as a thing, but rather a thought. In fear, he began to draw his blade, but sheathed it once again when the fear subsided, and gazed once again at the expanse beyond his comprehension.

Long hours he sat there, contemplating. The hours turned to days, the days turned to months, the months turned to years. Kaibane's thoughts kept him alive, his emotions kept him sane. Out there in the formless void, he changed. Kaibane was no longer Dermorian. He no longer dwelt in the terrestrial realm.

The caverns and caves he dwelt inside
In the stones and ruins Kaibane did hide
Yliakum had bound him in chains
Thrown him away to lands unnamed
Woe be onto the cities of shift and plane
If ever Kaibane wanders there again

Levrus the mage sat in the top of his tower in contemplation. A few months ago, he had felt something in the air of Yliakum, something that shook him to the very soul. And then he remembered what had happened so very many years ago. A voice echoed in his mind.
"I'm coming, Levrus. I'm coming back."
In that night, the great mage did not sleep. A cold wind whistled through the trees, and all of Yliakum was astir. The universe around them was upset, the very boundaries of space and time had been broken. And as they stepped out of their homes and into the city streets, they realized that they were no longer alone.

I was awesome. I could kill anything that walked the face of Yliakum. I spent a hell of a long time getting to that point. Then 0.5 came out. Can't manage to bring down a tefusang. I sit around b1ch-slapping arangmas and rats all day, until I try to kill a rogue (the one I used to beat the crap out of) and then die and get so pi**ed off that I log. Yeah, my sword skill isn't maxed. My stats aren't AMAZING (has the cap really been raised to 400???). That shouldn't matter too much. Yes, before 0.5 the 3 stats that mattered seemed to be endurance, strength, and agility, and I maxed all of those except endurance, which I got to 150 (this is with a 200 level cap). And then there were weapons skills. Those were the stats that mattered in PvP and PvE. And the player's skill in using offensive/defense stances mattered a lot also. It was this combat system that made Planeshift worth playing compared to many other MMORPG's "click-and-wait" system.
Now I just walk up to any mob and get 3-hit killed, no matter how much dodging, running, and defense I put into the equation, the mob still manages to cut through the heavy armor which is now at horribly low quality because (since the Gugrontid mining spot disappeared) I haven't been able to earn 20k to buy a new set. And now the sabres I used to be able to repair are at half quality and can't dent the tough hide of a consumer (and yes, I used to kill those all the time, too).
Planeshift was never easy. Killing mobs always presented some skill. But now even the stupid riverlings are able to kick my @$$.

Hey guys, I'm Kaibane. I quit PS something like a month ago and uninstalled it from my computer. There were 3 reasons behind this:
1) The lag. Hydlaa took 10 minutes to load, and after that the game would freeze up constantly. The entire game, from when I clicked the application to when I pressed the "W" key to move, took literally 20 minutes to start up. I DONT HAVE A CRAP COMPUTER. It's a 2-year-old Macbook that runs WoW very well without lag. This is not a problem with my computer, it's a problem with Planeshift.
2) The changes to gameplay. This might be better if it wasn't for the lag. I wanted to do the winch quests and get a mount (why can't you just buy one???  ) but I couldn't because with the lag in place, it would take too much time.
3) The community. After 0.5 was released, all my friends/a bunch of long-time players who everyone looked up to quit the game, and were replaced by some.... ahem.... less desirable people. Kind of like WotLK. I recall one time when people were making fun of me and calling me a noob, just because I still had stats of 200 after they were supposedly raised. Way to piss off a person who played PS for 3 years

So feel free to comment on this, but my main 2 questions are:
Can I reduce the lag?
Is the game still running/worth playing?

First of all, hi Planeshift. Some of you might know me as Kaibane, because I changed my character name. I have been playing for around 3 years, but the activation email for the forums never worked. Finally, I tried again, and it did. I have been wanting to post this for a while, ever since I got my name changed:

The point of this topic is discussion of "evil" characters. As some of my friends know, I changed my name for roleplay purposes: Avathius was his name as a noble leader of the Legacy guild (it had a different name, but it's conterversial), but then his best friend was killed in a war and he turned to darkness and chaos. He was banished from the guild (which he later "killed." Actually, everyone just left lol, but whatever) and then, in his anger, completely annihilated the guild that slew his friend (actually, the guild war made the enemy guild break up, so this is almost partly true). Avathius then delved into the darkness of his past and his Black Flame name, Kaibane (pronounced "kaibayne," for those in-game who were wondering. It's not "kaibanay") he changed to be his real name. Now he is feared and hated by all, wanted by law, and his only true home is the death realm among the death mages who seek shelter there. When he travels through Hydlaa he is forced to walk in the shadows, blade drawn, lest a guard or citizen see him.

People read my description (which isn't entirely like that, but it's close) and then decide that they want to hate my character. Now, I'm ok with that. An evil character should be hated. But then, they start insulting ME as a person, because of what I say in my character description. Some of the comments were:

"Noob!" (of course, *ugh*-are there even noobs in PS?)
"Don't talk about how powerful you are! I can get my guild to gang up on you and kill you any time!"
"You suck. Characters aren't supposed to be evil." (no joke here. Someone actually said that. A character can be whatever you want it to be, jeez)
"I could kill you in a duel. Don't threaten me."

People don't understand: I don't duel anymore. I used to have killer stats, but because of 0.5 my character now sucks (at least he can wear heavy armor and has some half-decent gear). My "threats" are for RP purposes only.

The overall point of this thread is that there are too many character descriptions that go like this:

"He always has a twinkle in his eye and a good story to tell"
"She is always willing to party or have a keg of beer in Gugrontid"
"An old, crusty warrior who is always telling stories of past battles"
"A friendly blacksmith who likes to start conversation"
"A tricksy and humorous prankster who loves to laugh"
"The proud leader (or officer) of his guild, who is skilled in combat"
"A fine warrior, he is always for justice!"

No offense to people who's descriptions are like this: I'm fine with a few of these in PS. But when 90% of PS's population has a description that resembles one listed above, that's when I can't take it anymore. I remember a year ago, there was some guy named Xul or something, who would wander around to people asking if they were "the One." Anyone else remember him? Personally, I think that is a great and original RP idea. Just saying that you are a champion of good, or that you like to party, or that you're friendly, is honestly kind of boring if overused.

But really, the point of this topic is that I think it is ok for PS to have evil characters. I don't think everybody should be an evil character. I don't think MOST people should be evil. In fact, I think only around 25% at max should be evil or lawbreakers. But that's not my point. My point is that people need to stop hating the evil characters. Evil is a part of PS rather you like it or not. Deal with it. It's hard enough to play an evil character without haters breathing down my neck, telling me that I suck.

Those few who have evil characters, let's raise our RP chalices and have a toast to pretend hatred! Just remember to keep that hatred in-game only =D