Post by Aroh on Nov 4, 2009 15:11:51 GMT 1
After long consideration, I have made the hard decision to step down from Elder council.
I have been in this guild for 4 years now, most of the time an elder of chieftain. Over such a long period, there have been good time and bad times. I love this guild, which makes the decision even harder.
But as they say, in order to produce great things, sometimes you just need to kill your darlings and make space for something new. At this point I feel I don't have much more to offer, so it is high time. More over, I unfortunately don't enjoy being an elder anymore and that, if any is a clear sign to step down. It is time for new people and new ideas.
This is not me leaving the guild, this is me giving room to others to take the guild into new directions. If the current elder council so decides, there is a spot open for a new elder.
Here is a little something I wrote about Aroh's current state of mind and what caused him to make the decision IC. It'll make alot more sense if you have read the story about Aroh's vision and his later interpretation of it, or even if you were present on the Barrens tour when Aroh told about his life before Mistrunners.
***
Kill your darlings
It was Day of the Dead evening. Aroh sat by himself at his tribe's burial site. It was not his tradition to remember the departed on this day, but seeing a Forsaken selling meaningless artifacts to greet the dead made him think of his lost family none the less.
He rode across Barrens from Camp Taurajo to the place where he had waited for his own so many times. Maybe they'd come tonight. He felt a little foolish even thinking it possible. This was not the way to honor them.
The place took him back in time, to the death of his paternal grandparents. The strange sickness had taken them. Here he was forced to give them the death rites when there was no one else to do it. This was also the place where he last saw his parents before they disappeared. He did not know if they were dead or alive, but surely where ever they were, there was no one to give them a proper burial.
Aroh sat there for hours in deep thought without noticing the sun go down. It was a clear and very cool night- Winter was coming. It was time to go home. He smiled to himself for his own childishness.
"No visitors for me, it seems.”
He rode his kodo back to Thunder Bluff, went to bed and was soon fast asleep.
***
Aroh jumped up from his sleeping rug violently. He was stumbling around disoriented and breathing fast. Aroh's hyena was so alarmed and confused by his strange behavior that it bit Aroh in the shin. That was enough to snap him out of his stupor. He had again dreamed of the bear.
***
He was like a fly on the wall or star in the sky, seeing the event unfold but unable to do anything about it. He saw a bear's den, with three little cubs playing, climbing over each other and biting each other's ears. There was no sign of their mother. Time went by and the cubs got tired. They had no more energy to play. One of them fell asleep while the others cried for their mother to come and feed them. Soon they gave up, one by one.
Suddenly Aroh was not in the cave anymore. He saw a tauren hunter stalking his prey in the bush. It was a large bear catching fish at a river. The hunter stretched his bow ready to fire a shot. A crack of a twig, an alarmed animal, a missed shot. It was all too late. The wounded bear ran and disappeared into the forest. The bear was bleeding heavily and the hunter had no trouble following the tracks. They stopped at a cave. The bear was cornered.
The hunter treaded carefully checking the direction of the wind and avoiding the blasted twigs that got him in this mess. He closed in on the cave ready to fire his killing shot. As he got closer he could hear the cubs. They were crying and whining, clearly scared. Their mother was acting very strange and they did not understand what was happening. Hunter's heart skipped a few beats as he understood what he had done. But it was too late to hesitate now. The beast was already dying.
A sudden change in the wind's direction caught the hunter off guard. His sent flowed into the cave and into the den mother's nose. She smelled her death coming and went into a rage. To Aroh's great surprise the beast did not attack the hunter but her own cubs. She maimed and mauled them do death. The hunter had no difficulty taking the shot and soon all of the bears laid dead in the cave.
***
Shocked Aroh sat on his sleeping rug holding his aching shin. He could taste blood in his mouth. He rocked back and forth, repeating out loud: ”No. No. No.”
The morning came and went. Aroh still sat on his rug trying to gather his thoughts. The dream had shaken him to the core. What he had thought to be his vision, his spirit guide, was gone. He had dreamed of the bear lately, ominous dreams, dreams that made him anxious, but not like this.
Slowly he allowed himself to think it. He knew he had been wrong all this time about the meaning of the bear. It was time to stop following others, time to stop thinking he could lead others. He was finally ready to say it out loud:
”I will never be happy unless I find out what happened to my parents.”
It was time to cut all safety nets and to dare for the first time in his life. It was time to find out the truth.
I have been in this guild for 4 years now, most of the time an elder of chieftain. Over such a long period, there have been good time and bad times. I love this guild, which makes the decision even harder.
But as they say, in order to produce great things, sometimes you just need to kill your darlings and make space for something new. At this point I feel I don't have much more to offer, so it is high time. More over, I unfortunately don't enjoy being an elder anymore and that, if any is a clear sign to step down. It is time for new people and new ideas.
This is not me leaving the guild, this is me giving room to others to take the guild into new directions. If the current elder council so decides, there is a spot open for a new elder.
Here is a little something I wrote about Aroh's current state of mind and what caused him to make the decision IC. It'll make alot more sense if you have read the story about Aroh's vision and his later interpretation of it, or even if you were present on the Barrens tour when Aroh told about his life before Mistrunners.
***
Kill your darlings
It was Day of the Dead evening. Aroh sat by himself at his tribe's burial site. It was not his tradition to remember the departed on this day, but seeing a Forsaken selling meaningless artifacts to greet the dead made him think of his lost family none the less.
He rode across Barrens from Camp Taurajo to the place where he had waited for his own so many times. Maybe they'd come tonight. He felt a little foolish even thinking it possible. This was not the way to honor them.
The place took him back in time, to the death of his paternal grandparents. The strange sickness had taken them. Here he was forced to give them the death rites when there was no one else to do it. This was also the place where he last saw his parents before they disappeared. He did not know if they were dead or alive, but surely where ever they were, there was no one to give them a proper burial.
Aroh sat there for hours in deep thought without noticing the sun go down. It was a clear and very cool night- Winter was coming. It was time to go home. He smiled to himself for his own childishness.
"No visitors for me, it seems.”
He rode his kodo back to Thunder Bluff, went to bed and was soon fast asleep.
***
Aroh jumped up from his sleeping rug violently. He was stumbling around disoriented and breathing fast. Aroh's hyena was so alarmed and confused by his strange behavior that it bit Aroh in the shin. That was enough to snap him out of his stupor. He had again dreamed of the bear.
***
He was like a fly on the wall or star in the sky, seeing the event unfold but unable to do anything about it. He saw a bear's den, with three little cubs playing, climbing over each other and biting each other's ears. There was no sign of their mother. Time went by and the cubs got tired. They had no more energy to play. One of them fell asleep while the others cried for their mother to come and feed them. Soon they gave up, one by one.
Suddenly Aroh was not in the cave anymore. He saw a tauren hunter stalking his prey in the bush. It was a large bear catching fish at a river. The hunter stretched his bow ready to fire a shot. A crack of a twig, an alarmed animal, a missed shot. It was all too late. The wounded bear ran and disappeared into the forest. The bear was bleeding heavily and the hunter had no trouble following the tracks. They stopped at a cave. The bear was cornered.
The hunter treaded carefully checking the direction of the wind and avoiding the blasted twigs that got him in this mess. He closed in on the cave ready to fire his killing shot. As he got closer he could hear the cubs. They were crying and whining, clearly scared. Their mother was acting very strange and they did not understand what was happening. Hunter's heart skipped a few beats as he understood what he had done. But it was too late to hesitate now. The beast was already dying.
A sudden change in the wind's direction caught the hunter off guard. His sent flowed into the cave and into the den mother's nose. She smelled her death coming and went into a rage. To Aroh's great surprise the beast did not attack the hunter but her own cubs. She maimed and mauled them do death. The hunter had no difficulty taking the shot and soon all of the bears laid dead in the cave.
***
Shocked Aroh sat on his sleeping rug holding his aching shin. He could taste blood in his mouth. He rocked back and forth, repeating out loud: ”No. No. No.”
The morning came and went. Aroh still sat on his rug trying to gather his thoughts. The dream had shaken him to the core. What he had thought to be his vision, his spirit guide, was gone. He had dreamed of the bear lately, ominous dreams, dreams that made him anxious, but not like this.
Slowly he allowed himself to think it. He knew he had been wrong all this time about the meaning of the bear. It was time to stop following others, time to stop thinking he could lead others. He was finally ready to say it out loud:
”I will never be happy unless I find out what happened to my parents.”
It was time to cut all safety nets and to dare for the first time in his life. It was time to find out the truth.
