Posted by Not An Immortal on June 9, 2000 at 12:51:33:
In Reply to: recently, with the spate of Anaths, (perspective offered within) posted by Grallon on June 9, 2000 at 11:45:00:
> More than a few people has said "This will destroy empire" "Empire is going to fall" "the imms just want empire to be weak" to "The imms are doing this now to restructure the empire to make it not so newbie friendly." I even know of people who refuse to roll an empire because of the "recent spate of random aneths"
>
> Well, this was posted by Narev, in october of LAST YEAR!!!.
>
> " Add that to the fact that Imperial Imms randomly Anathema people just cause they want to, and you have the formula for a cabal no one wants to play."
>
> The immortal anething people is not new. Nothing has changed. They have always anethed people they have seen as not worthy/weak. It is just recently, with the gained popularity of forum complaining(yes I have done my share), everyone who is bitter about getting anethed has aired it here, thus making people think that it is a recent phenom.
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> It is not.
>
> If you don't deserve anething, chances are you will not be.
>
> ....
>
> That being said...what is this I hear about a full sect anething?
I agree, mostly. My comments below aren't necessarily to refute your note, just my thoughts since I don't want to start a new thread on it.
IMHO, the best way to look at Anathema is as a retroactive cabal interview. If you do or say things during an interview with a leader/imm that makes them wary of you, you probably won't get inducted. Anath just accomplishes the same thing, without wasting precious time interviewing people until they paint a huge 'notice me, I screwed up' sign.
Now, there's alot of people who might argue their lives were better once they were anath'd. I remember I was practically begging for it with my first Imperial at one point. Considering you lose, what, a couple of minor skills, what real consequences are there nowadays? You just need to beware not to wander into any centurions and you'll probably get more excitement out of your character's life.
Think of the people who don't get anath'd as being the most successful at keeping a low profile and not making their blunders public knowledge. Your image is everything in the Empire, and if you can play a bastardly, no-regrets, stand-alone kind of char that doesn't let on when he is lost, you can do pretty well.
If you are looking for a cabal where you can rely on cabalmates for a hand, or you absolutely need additional powers to kill or survive, or you like to chat on the cabal channel... well, save yourself alot of grief and don't take that oath.
But, I haven't had an Imperial in over a year. I may be singing a different song once I get my current char anath'd. We'll see.
NAI Ex-Lloth