On challenges for Cadentia....or lack thereof.

[Anubis Karos]

Normally, these nights irritate me.

The midwinter wind rips through the darkness like a snake, nibbling and piercing my flesh. But it does have it's benefits. It whispers into the cusp of my ear, even as it nips at the shell. I hear how judgemental morons speak ill of my meetings with the delicious cambion Mira Burke, as if anyone can comprehend what she truly is but me.

You criticize my dalliance with Tetra, an archaic beauty set in ivory who strikes down the worthless so that she can continue to thrive and enlighten the world with her existence. Because none of you are worthy of her. And the ring of Cadentia, an ancient and proud ring that has been draped in blood from wars with Dalamar Ar'Daumon and Athlstan. None of you dogs are worthy of it but me.

Yet the useless moron Jackson Payne wishes to challenge me, despite being such a poison that criminals cause explosions in his wake. The warrior Neo Eternity, a true man if there ever was one and a hero worth the name, wishes to challenge me as well, for his greatest weakness is his rashness.

So be it. I am Renegade, and I invite a queue of challenge. Who better to emulate Billy Ray Karnafexx than he who caused Billy Ray Karnafexx to draw a gun?

[Morgan LaLuna]

Good. When you lose, maybe you'll stop sticking your head in the sand... and come see me in the water.

Looking forward to it.

M. LaFey

[Ellie Luisante]

Lord Karos,

I don't have any quarrel with you. Our first meeting, you treated me with kindness and respect, and I have no intention of treating you with any less than that in kind. But there is one particular matter that I wanted to speak up on, and that is the claim that you are the only one who can really understand what my partner Mira truly is. It is true that you and she share the quality of godhood. In that manner, you are uniquely positioned to understand her in a way that I, a mortal human, cannot.

But what I take specific issue with is this interpretation of that facet of her as her truest self. While that particular part of your posting has inspired me to speak up, it is not targeted solely at you; it seems that there are a lot of people lately trying to coerce interpretations of Mira as her "true" self, and for a wide variety of reasons, I do not appreciate that.

Mira is a multi-faceted and complex individual with a wide variety of lived experiences, passions, and convictions, and each relationship and friendship she has, including hers with you, reflects and enriches a different facet of who she is. She is a person of multitudes, and I imagine that you are just as well, Lord Karos. The only "true" Mira Burke is her own interpretation of the sum of all of her facets. Nobody gets to decide that except her.

I would kindly ask of you and everyone else, please stop trying to push narratives of the "truest" Mira. Thank you.

Regards,
Ellie Luisante

P.S.: Mira is delicious, that part simply is objectively true, thank you for recognizing that, and last I saw her, she was still blushing about it.

[Neo Eternity]

Good. When you lose, maybe you'll stop sticking your head in the sand... and come see me in the water.

Looking forward to it.

M. LaFey

Morgan,

That's extremely unlikely to happen. I remember when he spoke a big game to Sivanna when she was Archmage and just... never followed through with any of it. Not a single magic duel, not a challenge to anyone. He will not be seeing you in the water. I would love to be proven wrong, but I strongly doubt that will happen.

Anubis,

Indeed you are right: my rashness is my most critical weakness, and has been such for my entire career as an adventurer. It is a severe weakness and in the right situations, it can impact my ability to help others, or prevent it outright. That is one reason of a great many why I have started an adventurer's guild, the new bearer of the name Seraphim Knights. The adventurers under my employ and mentorship have demonstrated a wide variety of strengths. Most of them aren't nearly as rash as I was in my prime, which is something I am very thankful for! And as I teach them, they teach me in kind, and make our guild stronger and more capable.

Many of them have strengths that I lack completely. For example, if you know what people have been talking about, then you are certainly already aware that the former Baroness who posted before me is a Seraphim Knight. I can't believe she had the stones to speak out to you as she did, but the profound grace with which she did so does not surprise me at all. I am not capable of such grace, and that is one of many talents my guild has that I personally do not.

While my time running the new Seraphim Knights has tamed my rashness considerably, it seems it did not quite get worked out of my eager tongue. I'm sure you also heard that I would have liked to be Archmage before challenging you, since it'd piss you off all the more. After all, there need be no pretense between the two of us. You and I do not like each other, to put it lightly. We don't need a reason to fight other than the years of bad blood between us, so why not get under your skin while I'm at it, by holding the highest title of the sport you have such disdain for that you cannot bring yourself to fight a single duel to make good upon the cowardly threats you used to make? I don't believe I need to worry about any such threats from you anymore. It does seem like you have legitimately grown past such tactics, and I am almost certain you want this fight just as much as I do.

You have invited me to fight, and I am not one to turn down such invitations. So you will have your challenge from me. However. As I am running an adventurer's guild, I have a profound investment in the future and those who are making it. While there is a unique satisfaction that I would take from defeating you for your title myself, it is not as strong as that which I would get from watching someone else do it.

So I will wait a few days to render challenge such that I am at the end of the queue, and I will allow anyone who challenges after I do to preempt me if they wish, until you and I schedule our challenge. After we set a date, anyone else has to go after me.

If you want the satisfaction of brutalizing me in challenge, you will have to earn it. I, on the other hand, will pretty much be happy no matter who kicks your ass.

[Kruger]

Baron Karos, dare I say Anubis?

I understand your frustration with the current events which have bubbled to the surface like dross corrupting a proper alloy. I do implore you to refrain from letting the distractions divert you from the matter which is first at hand. Please let the napalm slung your way on the coattails of The Anvil's challenge fall from consideration until we've met on the appointed night. The Anvil wishes to face you at your absolute best. These simple add on's from challengers who only thought to strike after you had been approached by me first, are unworthy of consideration. They ought to be, until such time as you have bested the first and bravest of them, summarily ignored. I do not hold the ancient animosity of Neo Eternity, and while I may be similar to Jackson in punching above my weight class, I respectfully request that you focus first on The Anvil.

Jackson, your presupposition would be offensive to The Anvil, if he knew what that word meant. Sit down, wait your turn... and maybe if The Anvil is victorious, he will oblige you with your shot at the title.

Neo, I don't pretend to know the depths of your disregard for the baron, and I respect your willingness to wait and see what happens. The Anvil ducks no one, regardless of their celestial ties. Assuming that my endeavor succeeds, once The Anvil disposes of Jackson, please send your request to procure the ring.

Yours in faith,

Kruger 'The Anvil' Allen