Zaliszaen Mal'Orguul, the Exalted Defender of Nature

[Enethier]

Part of me wanted to ask the immortals to post this on my behalf, if at all - due in part to how much of a negative reaction I got involving some RP, and then later with my joining Syndicate. Ultimately , though, I decided to post it myself. 

That's not to say I didn't have fantastic interactions. Many of you have been nothing but stellar, and I certainly loved playing this dude. He was very private, so very few people knew any of the reasons he did the things he did, and all but one or two of them were the immortals. Hopefully, a brief summary can help on that end.

Zaliszaen became a druid after being sent on a pilgrimage to commune with the elemental spirits of Aabahran, and find a way to reverse the magics that created the Forsaken Lands. He had a very young brother, who he loved dearly. He reluctantly left, even though he believed that his tribal Elder, Skaal'thir, was just a doddering fool. While he didn't think it would actually be a fruitful journey, he wanted to try anything he could to give his brother a better life.

As he journeyed, he discovered  - often first hand - the the elemental spirits were indeed real, and that they were repulsed by the corruption that the ferals had been afflicted with due to the magical nature of the Forsaken Lands. In order to commune with them, Zaliszaen had to find a way to work past that barrier, and thus he sought out the druids of the circle. He struggled with learning druidism, due to his rash nature and the tainted body of a feral. Still, with no small amount of inner reflection and patience, he was able to find peace in himself. The fruit of his studies was naught but a tiny little sapling in the Elderwood, but it was enough to show the earnest nature of his plea to the elemental spirits.

He ventured back home to find that in his absence, his tribe had fallen to ruin. Only a handful remained, and he quickly found how insane they had been driven. Many had resorted to canablism, and a fanatic belief in Skaal'thir as a prophet of sorts, to the God of the Desert. A shrill sound caught his attention, though the tribe had seemingly been familiar with it, even anxious after hearing. Zaliszaen followed them, and found Skaal'thir standing on a ledge above, addressing the tribe. Skaal'thir announced a sacrifice to the Desert, and when Zaliszaen was able to push through the small crowd, it was his brother he saw tied to a stone pillar.

Try as he might, Zaliszaen could not make it in time to stop Skaal'thir, who plunged a dagger into his brother's heart, to the cheer and applause of his tribe. In a fit of rage, Zaliszaen called the power of the elements down on his tribe, and buried his own blade into Skaal'thir. He took his brother's body to the Elderwood, but left the rest to rot in the sun - disgraced forever in the eyes of their ancestors.

Overcome with grief, Zaliszaen made a grave for his brother in the roots of the very sapling he had grown as he learned the druidic arts. If his brother could not live, perhaps at least his soul could find peace in the Elderwood, and his body might live on in the next generation of the forest.

As time went on, the elemental spirits called him into the Watchers, where he would serve Gaia. He poured everything he had into this new purpose, clamoring to escape the depths of the depression into which he had sunk. Ulmusdorn the Tree Father gave him the task of finding a cure of Drkshtyre, but ultimately he proved unsuccessful. Something remained in the wood, a source of corruption that repelled all efforts to bring life back to the diseased land. 

Zaliszaen uprooted his sapling, and his brother's grave, moving them both into Drkshtyre. He had to gamble it all, if it meant saving Aabahran. Pouring all of his power, and many weeks, into the sapling, he was able to save it from the taint that had killed so many plants before it. What's more, it even took root. Through constant care, he was able to keep it alive. A display of his wisdom, and understanding of the curse. After all, he knew it better than any of them. He lived in it, both now and in his time within the desert.

Zaliszaen made the Drkshtyre his new home as he studied the corruption in self-imposed hermitage for centuries. Finally, he came to a very disturbing conclusion -  that the taint present in Drkshtyre was almost exactly the same as the taint of the Forsaken Lands, only in a relatively infantile stage. This indicated that it was demonic in nature. Chaos without life. Nobody else seemed to understand, though. He tried kind words of caution, only to be ignored. Then the invasion of Val Miran came. A conflict that fed the twisted energies that had taken root in Drkshtyre, making the curse stronger and stronger with each passing day.

Then the Watchers, who he had devoted much of his life to, joined in the fray. Was he confrontational? Of course. The very forest was at stake, and more. Perhaps even Aabahran as a whole. Conflict to the north had continued to feed the taint, and it was close to blossoming into a horrific cacophony of desolation. His tone angered the Watchers, who doubled down on their beliefs that some conflict was necessary, even if it risked the whole of nature. Zaliszaen pleaded with them to give him time, but they did not, and so he stood between them and the forest, prepared to drive them out if necessary.

Still, they would not listen. It was not until Zaliszaen stood in opposition, and threatened to kill them for stepping foot in, that his words were met with meaningfulness. Torbalan shared his desire to heal the forest, but still believed that breaking through Val Miran was the best way. Zaliszaen asked for a chance to prove himself, and after some convincing, Torbalan agreed to meet him in the wood. 

Zaliszaen revealed his sapling, and demonstrated its resiliance to the taint. "Give me time, and I can grow a forest again." Zaliszaen asked. Torbalan agreed. The rest, though, remained unconvinced. Seeking a higher voice to see his reasoning, Zaliszaen called to Ulmusdorn, demonstrating again his understanding of the blight, and how to counteract it. He did it for himself. He did it for the sapling. He could do it for the Drkshtyre. Ulmusdorn agreed, and the Watchers reluctantly listened to their leader.

Zaliszaen continued to experiment with the taint, and came to the conclusion that he would also need to study the Desert. He journeyed into Caranduin, where it struck him. Plants still lived in the heart of that corrupted wasteland. Taking some samples back with him to Drkshtyre, he confirmed his suspicion. These plants had actually mutated to feed on the corruption. Zaliszaen used his magic to grant that property to his sapling. 

It was not an easy choice. That sapling was all that was left of his brother. His brother's body had fed it for centuries. In many ways, the sapling was his brother. In many ways... Zaliszaen had to sentence his brother to eternal torment and corruption - instead of the peace he had promised his corpse. 

Upon imbuing the sapling with the ability to feed on the corruption, it rampantly began to grow, until it had devoured all of the demonic taint in Drkshtyre, with its roots covering the whole of the wood. But the growth was not natural. The tree was black. The sap was alive, and it burned to the touch. Still, Drkshtyre was saved. The wood, now clean and pure again, burst into life as Gaia's resurging power created a wild growth never seen before. Drkshtyre had returned. Zaliszaen was broken.




Zaliszaen's mind had been in a fragile state after watching his brother die. This played out a lot in his actions, but he would never say why he acted how he did. His hostility came, especially towards the Watchers, from the sense of them trampling over his brother's resting place. He felt that they had politicized nature, and didn't actually care what damage they caused it, if they were able to say they bested the Empire. This was all very troubling for him, and it's ultimately what led him to leave Sacred Oak.

He joined the Syndicate, because he saw it as a more pure service to nature. Like pruning branches so that they don't cast too much shade for the younger trees to grow beneath them. The dead forest returns to the soil and gives it nutrients to foster the growth of the new forest. That sort of mentality.

I could write for days about this character, as it was truly a lot of fun. 

Sadly, though, it got a lot less fun as Syndicate, for game mechanics reason. The combo was entirely designed around being a Stalker, and lost a tremendous amount of power. As a player trying to develop my PK chops, it really sucked all the fun out to have essentially only 3 spells I could use in 90% of the engagements with any real effectiveness. Very tedious. 

Props go out to so many of you. Cervall, Torbalan, Ulmusdorn, Alexzandra, just to name a few. 


(+329 rp, -62 rp, [391 rp] lifetime)

[Aidon]

I admit, your RP confused me, but I was looking forward to more of it. I admit I was very skeptical of the idea of a druid bounty hunter. Your RP was also very...dark tinged, I was wondering if you were going for an outcast to evil from some of the things you were saying. Never knew you as a watcher but our 15 minutes of interaction were fun. 

[Enethier]

The original goal was to push a qclass idea i submitted a few years ago. Essentially corrupted druids that focus more on the darker aspects of nature like rot and death.

[Trick]

An interesting concept and character that I feel like fell into a negative space. Zaliszaen was a very troubled and angry person and it was felt with every interaction. The character had an excellent depth in that he had reasons for his offputting attitude, but I feel as though he become one dimensional and confined by that very same attitude.

There is a fine line between anger and asshole and there were times when I just said “fuck this guy” because no matter what I said it generated an angry response that usually ended the conversation. Now, I can’t speak for everyone’s interaction, just my own. No one is angry ALL the time and to be happy or show a different emotion will make the times of anger that much more powerful.

 Very creative character conceptually, but the delivery was off. Far from your best. Can’t wait to see how you develop character RP in the future!

[Enethier]

I definitely agree, @Fireman. After coming back to him, I was finding it very hard to show his lighter side. Before, he was a bit of a prankster. But I felt that the event drained that side of him until it was gone completely. Certainly not a RP favorite of my own, either. I hate being a jerk, and this dude had definitely become one.

[Mali]

Excellent writing above. Enjoyed the story immensely.