Many Gods have directed us to the attention of the HELP CONCEPTS file here within the game.

It states that this world is a harsh one, sometimes fair and sometimes unfair depending on the

changing tides of good and evil within the land. In salesman's lingo, this simply translates to:

\"Buyers' Beware. \"

We, as players, have choices within this game. To choose 'good' and stay within the philosophies

of what is deemed 'good' by the status quo, or to choose 'evil' and break any rules that may hinder

our characters when trying to achieve power. If for example, a character of neutral alignment

is suddenly blocked by Domaphcles in the Eleusis Bar, one has a fork in the road set upon him.

Each branch from this main crossroad gives us the opportunity to make more choices provided we stay

along that path. If a character decides to remain unenemied from Eleusis and keep his neutral

status, then he/she will find a way to get past Domaphcles without killing him. In the most extreme

of cases, the character may choose to die by his hands rather than kill him in self-defense and risk

enemy status. (For theoretical purposes we will say that Damophcles does not run away when on low

health so to keep the options more closely binary in nature). The other option is to kill him

which would lead the character into a change of city status and perhaps personal alignment.

All things considered, this example is simple yet all-encompassing of all of Avalon's choices.

The Gods of Avalon do not have these options to change in character. Their mortal evolution has

since ceased and their role now is unchangeable. Apollo, the God of Light, will not suddenly decide

to become The God of Neutrality and piss off a lot of dedicated followers. Likewise, Damocles,

The God of Chaos will not sip at a cup of hot cocoa and decide that perhaps he has been a tad harsh

in his dealings with Mortals and change his alignment.

A Paradise Lost scenario has occured in Avalon, though, and it seems that there is now a Goddess

creating discourse amongst the heavens and separating the rifts of heavenly idealism even farther

apart. Again, however, we as Mortals have choice on our side.

We can choose the side of Damocles and Xanthe making sure that the Gods of the Light and Moon

cease to shine. We can choose Inshallah or Apollo and see to it that the darker side of

existential thought are extinguished forever. We can also choose Proteus or Orthwein and remain

more neutral to the aforementioned (Wraith as well *wink*). And finally we can choose no Patron

at all.

Each choice branches off into other choices and I believe that this was what Dartanian was trying

to say simply. Kes's point was about non-mortal choices. It seems as if there is only ONE God

in here that can make any sort of choice at all and that would be Genesis, the God of all Time.

For it was he that removed the actions of Damocles when he stripped Rhapsody of her Pacifism.

It was He that ordained the rest of the Gods to the positions they hold now, and it was He that

can destroy the World as we know it should he choose. What one must remember though, is that

the \"Buyers' Beware\" pitch that we all get is something that cannot be fully realized until one has

experience firsthand the things in this game that need 'bewaring.' It is a soft disclaimer that

in no way can reproduce the intensity of human emotion when it comes to competition.

Agrias made his choices when the Gods against him did what they did, be them unfair or not by the

judgement of status quo. Babidi made his choices as well, apparently, as did many others which

ultimately led to their 'extinction' (this word being as loosely defined as 'eternal')

Now all this being said, what were the reasons behind Damocle's decision to interfere in the duel

between Agrias, Joely and Kodiak? It cannot possibly be because Damocles wants to simply make the

lives of Inshallah's followers hard, because he wants more than that. He wants her out of Olympus.

In order to do that, he must find ways to drain her essence as efficiently as possible. Therefore,

making someone's character unplayable in this game is not the answer as you would want a fighter such

as Agrias to continue fighting, but remain handicapped and non-DP so to cost Inshallah more essence

everytime he is killed. Being that Inshallah has a fair amount of Pacifist followers, this seems to

block e

be' the efficient way to handle her fighting force. So on grounds of this fact alone, Damocles

must have decided to perform these actions by a will that was not related to essence-draining

principles, but to his own personal accord. These actions resulted in a consequence: a player

unsubscribing. If these actions were to continue and result in more players leaving then it is safe

to say that if nothing is still done about it, the players that had left were, in actuality,

expendable players.

It would only make sense that in the long term, these trends would stain Avalon as an ill-

reputable MUD. There are ways to find balance in everything, and Avalon is no different. Therefore,

Dartanian and Kes are both correct in their arguments, but only Time will really tell which

arguement holds fast in Avalon's current condition.

Written by my hand on the 14th of Springflower, in the year 1059.