The cabal historically has had a major motif, magic hating, and a leitmotif, greatest warriors in thera. Thror bumped the second one up so that this elitist characteristic essentially became equal to magic hating. So there was never a time it wasn't elitist, but the part about being the best of the best fighters, while old at this point, was heightened sometime back in the mid 00's.

Nothing I've seen indicates rager applicants have to do anything more than they did in the past, in fact it appears they have to do much less, but that seems reasonable given the descriptions of how few people play, of which only a subset would be mages. I can't imagine how a non-hiding non-svirf applicant gets a kill if there really are only one or two mages in range, and often none at all. But of course for most of my rager lifetime, the requirement was to kill one of each type of mage, or at least two or three. Going down to just one also was a change - and a good change, for the most part.

Requiring an interview to demonstrate some rp has always been valid, for every cabal. I don't see why it would be challenged for ragers. With Susubienko and even Vershelt we would make them go get items for the veil, or identify boss mobs in very mage-centric areas, or provide directions to all enemy cabals, etc. Still seems reasonable. And recommendations. If there are so few ragers, then only one should suffice, or, if the applicant can't even find one, then perhaps inform the leaders and the leaders should do so directly.

Finally, regarding the subthread about rager powers, a few points. First, you're really only talking about berserkers, not scouts or defenders. Admittedly there always were a lot more berserkers, but let's just at least acknowledge that no one should ever think a defender or scout is OP.

Second, someone commented that spellbane takes care of mages. That statement makes clear that this person has never played a battlerager. Spellbane is not nearly as effective as you think. I suspect current village players could show you logs of spellbane not working for a whole fight, round after round.

Third, deathblow is great, when it hits, and when it hits on unprotected people. How often is that? It's great for tipping balances and getting some great deathblow parting blows, and it is a great power, but it is not as great as you think.

Fourth, bloodthirst is more dangerous to the rager than to the enemy. Just one example, you mentioned when a villager thirsts his enemy loses the ability to charge. True. But the enemy now can just enter and retreat and the villager eats charge sets. There are a host of drawbacks to thirst, both while thirsting and after, that are eminently expoloitable.

Fifth, rager powers are good. But they top out far below the powers of other cabals and even non-caballed, who prep. Take an imperial blade, and let's just say a regular imperial blade, not even emperor or sect leader. With people getting preps from all over, that warrior will more often than not defeat the rager. There are a lot of historical examples and I have to imagine that hasn't changed. In fact, given that most of the players now seem to be experienced, ragers will be fighting people with various preps, including dam redux. Best non-rager warriors (and others) are just more powerful than best ragers.

Sixth and finally, a general point. With a few exceptions, any kill a rager gets - any kill - is the result of the dead person's mistake. The reality is no rager should ever get a kill, at all. That's because again, with a few exceptions, no one needs to fight a rager, and anyone can simply move away by magic, either recall or teleport. People who die to ragers die because they made the choice to fight a rager. You see a rager in the area, go away. They can't follow. They have your cabal item? Wait until they are gone, or go and then just teleport, and whittle the giant down. If they aren't svirf and below level 25. Yes, hiders and rangers may surprise you, but they really shouldn't, you should be spamming who and where often enough that you see them awake, and then it's your fault if they catch you.

Every rager win is a gift, plain and simple. The thing is, people *like* fighting ragers, because when they win, they feel they have accomplished something. It's just that when they die, they blame the rager or rager powers. They shouldn't. They should blame themselves.

Ok, off to dinner with the wife.