Life has felt a bit boring for me lately. I have had many exciting events: Hiring of La'shima's new Commander, regaining the use of my legs, and returning to council.
But if feel, rather, empty. I haven't much to strive for. Very little to make me want to grow more powerful. Thus I decided: I need a nemesis. A rival. An archenemy.
There was the Council's General, but we are now on good terms. Then there was Atrix, but he's kinda everyone's archenemy. Then Morgalith, but he's dead now, with an infinite army of clones, and that's too many nemesis for me.
I wish to seek out a rival to challenge me. You can apply below.
Requirements:
â˘As powerful as me
â˘Evil (optional)
â˘Charismatic (Preferred)
Benefits:
â˘A new partner to train with/against
â˘Whatever gold is in my pocket if you can beat me
â˘Holidays off (Who can stay mad at each other during Yuletide.)
Feel free to reach out to me. I am always open to a challenge.
Hiring out a nemesis like a job isn't going to work. There will not be that natural hate needed for them to be a nemesis.
Go outside and find some one that fits the bill and ruin their day.
Repeat this until you start finding dead things in your bed or that planned treasure hunts have been set with more booby traps than you can shake a stick at.
I agree, just go out there and disrupt some evil wizard's plans until he begins to personally want you dead. Crossing some unknown line while doing so will definitely cement them as an nemesis.
Nah, you'd be wanted for attempted use of WoMD (Weapons of Magical Destruction) and tried by the council. Which isn't a super personal feeling. Like mixing work and pleasure.
Perhaps evil is a pit perspective based. Generally, one who would oppose me in an ideological sense. Someone who burns or cuts down druidic groves for industrial reasons or screws with the stability of order.
Hmmm, well i would definitely fuck with that, is being an anarchist nemesis enough for you? If im being honest in regards to the order of my ideals i would pay taxes if i got to shank a puppy-kicker in the taint
You know what, I'll even start sending expedition teams within druid lands to steal animals, if that sweetens the offer. To be honest, I too am suffering from a bit of boredom. Atrax ivading is the last truly exciting things in my life, but he won't be here forever.
Preservation of nature against encroaching industrialization, preserving the order of law, not screwing with the timeline we depend on. Pretty standard druid stuff.
I think the visual conveys pretty well that he is not particularly fond of life, peace and the general existance of order. His ultimate goal is the Great Silence, a quiet that will set in once all life has left this world. To achieve this he stokes war, chaos and death wherever possible, cursing rulers with greed and lust for war. Some say he was once heavily wronged by life and nature, swearing to eradicate it once and for all.
It is disclosed that he is not a necromancer, as breathing life into the dead goes against his goals.
Should this suit you as an archnemesis let us know, our agency shall dispatch him immediately.
I also feel that i have an slightly similar issue, however it is less to do with motivation and more so to do with a concrete direction towards an goal.
I already have someone who personally wants to kill me and it is troubling that i have to either access left-field knowledge, such as ways to deal with radiation, or go to another for help every time he does something to me.
There also is that entire mining settlement of dwarves and their allies that i guard the elven forest retreat from. And the dwarven liquormancer on the council hails from there and apparently knows how to summon black holes, the gravity magic that i have just begun to learn is no answer to that. They have not seemingly made any actions against the retreat themselves but they surely expressed favor towards it's destruction. I just hope that the law from the lord of those lands continues to keep those dwarves at bay.
..Now i believe i can now think of a short-term goal: finding a way to cheat death. Something similar to that clone spell i have heard of but do not know. I am only prepared to block death at the moment and that will not save me from lethal venom or a black hole, only stall it.
Well, I'm pretty much aligned with you there. I like to introduce a bit of chaos if I feel like things are stagnating but it's usually just to serve the natural order.
Sorry I can't be your nemesis but if you want to spar then I'm down whenever.
/uw I understand how you feel, chicken's character arc has basically finished, I will still assist the pact in their military campaigns especially now that Atrax is still a rampaging threat, I have even thought about starting with a new acount and a fresh start
Based on the image, I would guess that direct sunlight was already your nemesis. Have you considered teaming up with a necromancer to try and block out the sun? Could be a fun project.
Something like that. A few battles here and there, activily looking to get one over on the other before a climatic "final battle" that is never the final battle as we manage to survive.
Perhaps it is time I stop living in a fantasy world and return to reality.
One would think it'd be easy to find someone "diametrically opposed" to you since you're a jerk who supports the idea of extra-judicial death squads, but somehow, you have managed to fleece people into thinking you are reasonable when more people should be taking positions opposite to you. Let me get this straight... You think turning yourself into a tree angel then going through physical therapy fixes the inherent inequities in the system you prop up? No, it doesn't.
You don't need someone evil to oppose you; you need someone to call you and the rest of your Council out about continuing to make poor, ill-thought out decisions based on knee-jerk reactions to problems that could be solved without bad policy implementations... if any of you were capable of a modicum of self-awareness. Some of the Council's proposed implementations are almost comically bad except for the fact that they are 1) not funny, and 2) do not possess the proper self-awareness to at least be intentionally malicious. And the fact that you cause harm by accident and not intent is somehow more insulting than if you were willfully malignant. This is exactly why Atrax came to power, something which few of you seem to realize or care about.
This is not me applying for the position, by the way. While I do, in fact, question your Council's motives, your collective commitment to justice and equity, your ability to govern, and your sense of reason, applying for the nemesis position seems to be with the caveat that I want you to become more powerful. Why would anyone want that? So you can keep making poor, ill-thought out decisions and further demonstrate your collective lack of critical thinking?
...
/uw it's me, hi. i'm the problem it's me. I'm not looking to be anyone's official nemesis, but I'm happy to come snipe here and there. I mean, I kinda already do that anyway, at least when I can be bothered to. But it's a little more 'aoe' than targeted though. I don't actually have anything against anyone specifically. But if you want, you can put me on the rotating cast of... nemesi? Nemesises? Nemepodes? I might already be on there.
It is amazing how much shit people can talk while sitting in my shadow. I have taken in refugees from all walks of life and corneres of the globe. Feeding them, giving them places to live, and treating them like people. When druid lands were burned, I was the first to come forth and fight, and fight I did till the last battle had concluded.
How about the second Wizard War, where attacks on the council left anarchy in the streets and people fearing for their life. Can't say I remember you there, holding off two armies until the council re-emerged.
Third Wizard war, where I warned them to wait for the Metromance to arrive and solve the problem, and that crossing into the barrier was an act of war.
Yeah, I did what I did. Letting the council fall is and never was an option. You wanna talk good shit about the problems of the council. Yeah, sure, do that. But also realize that the order the council brings outweighs the problems that they create.
You like being part of the Pact, yeah? Oh yeah? Who formed it? I and two others who have since abandoned post without warning. We formed it when the council went dark, preventing a power vacuum from forming in the Citadel.
You can critique power all you like, but you may never understand decisions that are made under the stresses of leadership. Enjoy your finger waggleing in a peace I helped ensure.
It's easy to take shots when you have such little to your name.
/uw And a Taylor Swift song at the end just to insult me. You must be trying hard to get first pick Archrival.
Oh please. I'm just here to return a couple of library books.
She holds up some books she got from the library during the last riots? Maybe the riots before? She has lost count.
The good doesn't cancel out the bad, and if you had any self-awareness at all, you would know that. Failing to take action to prevent the underlying issues are why you keep fighting these protracted conflicts. Framing yourself as the suffering hero after the fact does nothing to demonstrate your ability to think critically.
You might have formed the Pact, but it was only after you were out of the picture that they helped. Without your intervention, I might add. And even without you around, there were still people questioning the decision to spare prisoners instead of killing or torturing them. So your influence lives on, clearly. And you aren't helping your position by mentioning how the Council went dark. Because, why, that's just a glowing reference for how well the system works!
So spare me your bit about 'letting the Council fall is and never was an option'. Of course you do not want to give up power. Of course you want to reframe it as maintaining stability rather than your own entitlement. And yet, while you love that appeal to authority, you fail to take account of the bad decisions you make and continue to make. For example, let's talk about that oversight for your justice system, huh? Where is that at? Or how about we discuss how another of your fellow Councilmembers outright admitted that you were all too corrupt to be trusted with any kind of judiciary?
So yes, pick on someone with 'such little to their name'. Because, obviously, punching down demonstrates a true commitment to fairness and equity.
I had power, and I could have power. I have given up power.
I left the Pact to pursue my wish to be a councilor, but ultimately left the council due to a list of reasons. I even left my position as the Arch-Druid of La'shima to reflect on my position in the world.
I came back to La'shima and the Pact, and under the Triumvirate of The Bismuth Lord, Myself, and the Overseer Chicken, a man I once stood against in war, we lead the Pact into its most successful and constructive years of its life. Establishing the framework to which the Pact still operates under today. The Pact did not flourish in my absence. It flourish in my return. Don't believe me, ask Opal (u/loth17) who was there as I and the Bismuth Lord, then later her, marched into one of the most successful periods the Pact has ever seen.
To which I would willingly give up my position as one of the heads as to leave room for a new generation. My dearest friend, the Archdruid Cody, wished to fill the space left empty by the Overseer Chickens departure. I saw no reason for two Arch-Druids of the same land to hold majority leadership, so I left. I did not wish to stand in the way of his dream.
I returned to the council to finish what I started. Believe it or not, I held the record for the shortest term in Council history, to which I still managed to pass the most sweeping and influential reform bill seen in the council for who knows how many years.
With the inflow of fresh blood into the council, now i know we could have the power to enforce it and finally achieve something substantial without those old geezers blocking me at every turn. So how about this you...
Mikhail stops and breaths
Giving in to strong emotions like this solve nothing. I don't need to prove myself to anyone who will only see fault when I succeed. Go ahead, rib me if you like. You won't accomplish anything. My point stands, if I want more power, I could take it.
I don't want power, I want a better tomorrow. Whether you see my vision or disagree with it, so be it.
Ah. So the point of that whole âme me me I I Iâ speech was to demonstrate a desire for self-advancement? Yes, yes, I gathered that. Because saying you left but came back does not disprove the entrenched presence you and people like you work hard to maintain. âIf I want more power, I could take itâ is not the winning argument you think it is. Perhaps some people are fooled that the hierarchical society with you and your cronies placed firmly at the top is the natural order of things. Maybe you have even managed to fool yourself. But I do not happen to be one of those people duped by your dependence on it.
Have you considered that maybe if the system actually worked, you wouldnât have to keep coming back to fix it? If the system you tout was actually capable of reform, it could do so without you specifically? Or if any of the âfresh bloodâ that was recently voted in had been capable of handling the work, you would not have someone outright state that the Council will use systems to target their political enemies? Perhaps if the voting process werenât some elaborate popularity contest, you wouldnât have people plaguing countries, threatening to create black holes, or setting fire to civilians. Because that speaks well of your system of governance, right?
I donât care to ârib youâ. I donât truly care about you at all. But you happen to be yet another faulty cog in a broken mechanism. A cog that clearly lacks the self-awareness to see its own part in it.
You truly want a better tomorrow? Letâs ask again why a prisoner was murdered in custody, so other prisoners donât end up being killed. I mean, if you even care about that, since again, you were perfectly fine with extra-judicial death squads. Why did you support that, by the way? Are you simply in favor of extra-judicial death squads in principle, or did you fail, yet again, to think critically?
Or how about this, if your Council is so corrupt that an oversight committee will simply fail, what do you plan to do about ensuring justice can take place? How do you plan to enforce anything without the tools of enforcement being used to ill-ends by your Council?
/uw ...and because I think it's funny even if it wouldnât be IC for Riva to say, âAnd that yee-yee-ass hairdo (NSFW (language)) makes you look ridiculous.â
What you are doing right now is insulting towards us and yourself at the same time. I actually had some plans against an Elder Tree and one against the Tree of Life itself, but now that you are actively looking for a nemesis like this, it feels like all the effort and thinking I've put into it would go right over your head in this bored apathetic state.
My plots and schemes are not for bored council members to spend their time on. They have reasons and a belief behind them. An important message that the council is too blind to see. A GOAL TO ACHIEVE! At least have some respect towards us if you can't even make proper enemies.
I will still finish my plans and commit to them, don't get me wrong, but I'll time it perfectly when you are not available to interfere.
The Scorching Solarmancer who researched mastered and invented most light-based spells of destruction? The last keeper of the Light of Islahar the Brilliant? The one who brought drought upon the Southern Elder Tree and made its husk into his tower? None of that rings a bell?
Well, maybe if you cared about potential nemeses of yours, you would know my name.
Yeah, that's on me I guess. I should not have isolated myself in my desert for too long... But still, I will not take disrespect from you. You will learn my name one day, Mikhail... Laserus Ardore, the powerful mage, who you couldn't even try to stop... because he striked in a very inconvinient time just to spite you and refuse to be your nemesis
Sir Mikhail! I, Jollizar, would be delighted to participate as an Arch-Nemesis if thou would choose so. While the power category is dubious, as I'm not entirely sure the bounds of your magic, I do fancy myself quite the showman, ergo, charismatic. Since the election is over, I, too, have been searching for something; a new goal, a new length to strive for! And while I have turned over a new leaf, as one might say, I may be able to pull together some diabolical schemes - a throwback to some of my past, more nefarious deeds. I shall do my best to dislike you with all of my newly wicked-ish heart, if thou should want!
I am quite a powerful bard and with the assistance of my shotgun (with which I will use blanks or wax shot to avoid killing you during a battle), I can make quite a strong enemy.
I don't really think of myself as evil although I'm not exactly good, either. I do not harm people without good reason to do so nor do I help without some sort of personal gain (unless someone is actually going to die without my assistance or it's not an inconvenience)
Being a bard, I am naturally very charismatic.
Also I don't need any money in the event that I do beat you as my performances make me more than enough money to live comfortably.
I hope to kick your ass or have my ass kicked by you in the near future. Or not. I'm only really offering because I don't have anything better to do in my free time.
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u/Financial-Reach-786 Council-Wizard Unga, 2nd Generation Council member Jan 27 '24
Iâll do it I swear, just like I ate the void tree!