Complaint - {Paragon}

[Dreyfus]

So I don't normally complain about anything that goes on here but this instance seems a bit like I am being made an example of. In the thread Inquisitive Inquiries being run by Talisman, Dreyfus is being interrogated by the sentinels of Solunarium after the thread Care for a Bite. Now the latter thread was supposed to be the conclusion of a two-part meet and greet with Dreyfus and Hilana. However, the new thread of the former seemed out of place to me at first cause I thought we had finished everything. I wasn't given any heads up or anything before this thread happened as all I was told when I asked to throw the Care for a Bite thread up for review was that there had to be one more post made.

Now as I stated it wasnt an issue until it became one, as the city moderator of Zaichaer has stated they didnt want to move forward with any more of Dreyfus's plots until it's concluded. Now that's not to say that I'm complaining because the thread is taking too long as this thread started back on Nov 28th. However, the further we got into the thread the further I began to feel as though this thread was not even relevant to Dreyfus now granted if he were given a consequence of some kind from this thread it would be 2 years old as we are currently in the year 124. Now I have said all of that to say this, my issue is that I feel as though I am being made an example of.

• One example of this is when his rune of Vitalis was cut off from him it was made very apparent that Dreyfus was to begin to become feryl leading to overstepping. I had confirmed before that post that Dreyfus, as a master, could go 4 to 5 weeks before that would begin to occur. More importantly, it was also previously confirmed that he could go 7 days without feeding before he would have to feed again and be fine. I showed Talisman this and was given a "duly noted" reply. So to get a post where all that seemed to not be taken into consideration was mind bogling to me. That isn't to mention that was given a breakdown of how much he would need exactly and why he should be going feryl and overstepping made me believe that I didn't comprehend how much blood it takes to feed him. I assume this was because they couldn't get a proper response from the Author of Vitalis and just went with and I quote "My best guess based on the lore".
  
  {Screenshot of Paragon Confirming length before ferylness & death}
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  {showing Talisman the above confirmation and her acknowledging it}
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  {Said explination}
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  A Master Vitalitasi needs to consume at their body's capacity in blood every day, more if they are utilizing Vitalis. The average body contains approximately 5.5 litres of blood. Dreyfus is a solidly built man, but we will go with 5.5 litres of blood.
  
  The average safe donation that a human can give when they donate blood is 450 millilitres.
  
  If they were to donate one litre, not quite 20% of what Dreyfus needs on the daily, the blood bag would go into shock. The organs fail, the heart stops beating. They will most likely die without medical intervention. Further, while blood volume may recover in a week or so, the proteins and red blood cells of the blood will not recover properly for approximately 56 days for a man, or 84 days for a woman. This is due to the fact that red blood cells need time (months!) to replenish. This can of course be lessened if alchemical restoratives are ingested, or they are treated by a Mendicant.
  
  That being said, 450 millilitres is not even 10% of what Dreyfus needs on a daily basis. He would need at least 13 people to eat from every day to avoid killing them, and they would all have to be different and could not provide blood again for months unless they are being treated.
  
  Dreyfus needs 5,500 millilitres each day, or 38,500 millilitres each week. 450 millilitres is 1.17% of his required MINIMUM weekly intake. This means he is chronically starving.
  
  A rat contains maybe 18 millilitres of blood, and a seagull 180 millilitres. And they do not provide any aether recovery for the magic he must utilize in order to catch them to feed.
  
  Not only is he chronically starving, but he is also near the threshold of overstepping. The regular avenues of recuperating aether are not available to vampyres - they do not function the way a normal living being does anymore, so eating and drinking does not help them recover. They need either alchemical assistance or they require the blood of beings capable of wielding aether, or even better, those that actually do.
  
  As such, Dreyfus is getting closer to the Feryl state, and feeling the beginning symptoms of overstepping.
  
  
  I was never asked beforehand about my understanding of how the rune worked, I wasn't given anything in terms of how to play being a vampyre except for what was written in the article about the magic. Not to mention Dreyfus was the first PC to receive this lost magic, he is the guinea pig so it is only natural he has no clue how his rune works but given confirmed information from the author himself I feel like there was no consideration in some of these post especially when it was shown otherwise So to do this in this way seems a bit much to me, but then again what do I know?
• Another issue I have is being told that I'm being passive aggressive when giving nudges about posts. Not once in my poking for a post or an update was I being passive aggressive about any of it. I wasn't being condescending, I wasn't trying to rush. I understood they had other IRL things to take care of and more important plots and threads to attend to, so it wasn't a big deal. They were simple nudges to see when there would be another post. Now what I find to be ironic is that they then made a comment that could easily be seen as passive-aggressive in my eyes one of the players on site was trying to figure out what 5th magic to take and they mentioned wanting Vitalis and during the conversation, another player said "You have to drink a lot of blood to be a vampyre" to which Talisman said, "As someone else learned, #mathed yo". Now I don't know about you but that feels pointed and direct as I would know exactly what they meant by that. I'm not rude to anyone and I would rather leave the discord all altogether than lash out from anger or feeling slighted but I dont thing saying something like that was necessary or professional and comes off passive aggressive.
  {Being called passive aggressive for nudging}
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  {The quote in question}
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Now granted while writing this I still feel as though I couldn't articulate how I'm feeling, and maybe this is all being blown out of proportion on my end. But I would rather do this than not say anything and respond in a way that could be trouble for me. I love this site and writing here but I have trauma from past sites and I just can't shake the feeling that I'm being made an example of for not knowing or playing with limited info. Dreyfus has been using Vitalis with no clear instructions and following his instincts in using the magic.

At this point, this is too reminiscent of how I was treated elsewhere having my characters stalled or barred or made an example of. I apologize as I feel like I'm rambling and blowing this out of proportion but at this point, I feel as though if I don't get this out now, I will keep this bottled up and respond in a way that could harm my pcs chances of doing other things later like ascending or such. And as I stated before many times, if this is just a misunderstanding or I'm blowing it out of proportion that's fine I'll accept that but I would rather not continue this thread at this point cause I feel as though it would undermine everything else Dreyfus has gone through and is trying to accomplish currently in Zaichaer.

[Paragon]

This is under review. Please give me at least 2-3 days to process.

[Dreyfus]

I know i should probably should put this in the original post but it has just come to my attention that the lore for Vitalis is being ignored by the mod running it for some reason as well as some other things I missed in my initial post. So in the one post where I am #mathed, they note that animals don't have aether. The lore write up for Vitalis clearly states that all people and things have aether in them, but sentient beings have a higher concentration of it in their body.

• {Where Talisman states that animals have no aether}
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  A rat contains maybe 18 millilitres of blood, and a seagull 180 millilitres. And they do not provide any aether recovery for the magic he must utilize in order to catch them to feed.
• {Vitalis blurb refuting that}
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  All people and things have aether within them, however sentient creatures have the highest concentration of aether and thus are naturally the primary sources of vampyric sustenance. Mages or those who are continually working with and channeling aether, have the highest concentration of aether in their blood. They are thus considered prime targets for feedings whenever a vampyre can manage it.

Another thing that has come to my attention is that there is an assumption on many parts regarding my PC. First, is the assumption he only fed on rats and seagulls while on the boat to the Tetrium. If we are to agree that animals do indeed retain aether, then it is feasible to believe that there are other animals in the ocean that he could have dove in to feed on, not to mention the wild fauna that walked the desert and waters near the Tetrium. Another thing is the assumption that he would kill a solunarium citizen after Dimitri's final feeding. In this thread An Enthusiastic Stroll, he contemplated feasting on the umbrium citizens but refraimed from it. So to think that he would go and feed on a citizen is beyond wild as he would go find an animal or beast of some kinf and gorge himself on that instead.

• {Example of him rufusing to feed on Solu citizens}
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  This one was rather interesting to the vampyre, the way he casually discussed another from across the sea. The name didn't ring any bells for the man, but he shook his head no as they continued to walk. When he mentioned feeding on Dimitri it made the vampyre laugh. "His blood is sweet, but I won't feed on him if I can help it, even when he insists. He finds my prey for me, normally picking criminals or those who won't be missed."
  
  "As far as why didn't feast on them..." he began, running his hand through his hair as he looked at the area they had come to. "The reason I'm here requires that I am on my best behavior, so I can't do anything that could jeopardize why I am here. I didn't want to frighten you more than I already have, given your heart rate has increased since we started talking." he chuckled.

Again I apologize cause I feel as though im being a headache to you, but i appreciate your time for looking at this for me.

[Paragon]

Thank you for this information. Expect my response within the next day! Apologies for taking some time. I am just wanting to be thorough.

[Paragon]

Well howdy!

Thank you for registering your concerns with me. I take each matter brought to my attention very seriously. I apologize for sitting on this, but I wanted to make sure that I could compile a well-informed response. After speaking to all of the involved parties and reviewing relevant material, I have come to a few conclusions. Please be advised of the following:

A. In regard to the timing of matters that have played out.

We apologize for the delay in responses, but the ball does not fall squarely in the staff’s court. As someone who has been chronically unavailable for what has essentially been the past year, I understand the frustrations coming from my respective players involved in plots entrusted to me. That being said, that is a road that goes both ways. In reviewing the material, there are periods of inactivity on both sides, but the overall response rate from both yourself and the involved parties remains fairly consistent when posts are made.

People’s muses, lives, and responsibilities fluctuate. I have always maintained that Ransera is a hobby and takes a back seat to the priorities of real life.


B. Vitalis and blood/aether consumption.

Aether exists on a spectrum. Something stressed and outlined across every article pertaining to the subject and expressly detailed on the Religion page of the wiki (Aetheric Potential Scale). The quantity and purity of the aether contained in a rat or a seagull is not the same quantity and purity contained in a person, a mage, or a magical creature.

Talisman is misinformed in saying that animals don’t have aether, but her point of a diet consisting of only lesser animals being insufficient to sustain Dreyfus is correct.

My response to you regarding the rate of deterioration assumes that Dreyfus is well-fed and healthy in terms of his vampyric existence. He is far from well-fed if he has only been consuming base animals. While I won’t get into the numbers of it and will likely need to adjust the lore so that it can be more succinct, the fact that Dreyfus needs to actually feed on humans, humanoids, sentient people, etc., remains unchanged. Such is the price of entering the vampyre life. The amount of base animals he would need to consume to maintain himself is a much more vast and large quantity than just one human. Because it’s not just blood you’re consuming, you’re sustaining the aether that your Vitalis rune needs in order to subsist.

Saying that you are ill-informed and that the Wiki article is the only source of information available to you is, to be blunt, not going to cut it. Throughout the duration of your play as a vampyre and in many settings, it is stressed that discretion is the better part of valor. To be plain, openly displaying that you ARE a vampyre, is ill-advised to the extreme degree. Vitalis is not a magic that is well-known, but vampyres are mythological, and stories exist in all corners of the world about them. Most of them are negative. That is not a stretch, and you know that. Furthermore, you have a wealth of resources available to you.

Staff often go out of their way to answer questions, especially about Lost Magics. And have answered those questions with regularity.

Further still, in the initial thread where Venetia initiated and welcomed Dreyfus into the life of a vampyre she explicitly gave him tools to succeed and navigate his new life. A blood dragonshard to help with his hunger, a servant with ties to her that could help him learn things, and instructions that if he had a need for her, he could reach out to her, and she would answer.

From what I have observed of the materials presented here and in the review, you have not utilized those tools and resources effectively despite having every opportunity to do so.

C. Passive Aggressiveness

I have expressed that the comment regarding “math” is unnecessary. I apologize for this on behalf of staff. That is not appropriate.

Everyone responds to internet communication differently. I am aware that you have a tendency to respond to and approach people with an emote style of communication. In the future, I recommend being more direct with your inquiries. Not everyone responds to that communication style the same way.

D. Overall Circumstance

Dreyfus did not randomly garner the attention of the Solunarian authorities. He disclosed that he is a vampyre. It came to light that he was in Solunarium with ties to Arcas, who at the time was the equivalent of the Devil. For those two things alone, he was bound to get confronted due to the very heavy police state that is Solunarium.

First, I extend my apologies to you as the only reason Dreyfus was in Solunarium to begin with was because he was supposed to get involved in stuff related to my player-character. That never manifested for a number of reasons. That is my fault.

However, that does not excuse the reality of what played out with Dreyfus on his own. You were cautioned, multiple, multiple times about the very strict nature of Solunarium’s setting. This consequence is not random but a direct result of what Dreyfus the character has done while there.

It may have taken a while and that is due to a lot of factors, your absence, my absence, people’s families ending up in the hospital, and a general lull in activity overall, but this situation is not being used as a targeted effort to punish you as an individual. It is not a punishment at all. It is the natural culmination of a series of events that have played out over time.

Final Thoughts and Administrative Action

I have spoken to the Solunarium Moderation Team. I have directed them to conclude the current thread with Dreyfus expediently with the recommendation that Dreyfus discontinue any further direct interaction with the Solunarium setting.

However, HOW that thread concludes and its ensuing consequences are still very much at the discretion of the Solunarium Moderation Team.

My final recommendation is that you speak to Pharaoh directly regarding its path forward.

Thank you again for registering your concerns. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me or Pharaoh directly.

Respectfully,
Paragon

Chief Author of Ransera
Administrator, Creative Director