Friday, March 24, 2017

10 More Questions with Callahan "Syruss" Marsden


Photo by Jesse Gifford

1)    What achievement either in or out of character are you most proud of?
There are a few things that stand out to me both IC and OOC. IC I am proud to have won Champion of Queen of Hearts, Order of the List, gone through Dog Status to earn my way into Grimloch, but recently IC I am most proud of helping Nymbous guide Neden into a new era with new members. It was important to me to help this group get back to throwing multiple events, training members to NPC and staff others events as well as helping evolve the petitioners process.

OOC two things stand out, I will forever be proud of the fact that Eddie Reed, Kyle Vaihinger and myself as squires to the Blue Rose helped bring back Blue Rose into event-holding. Because of this I got to help out with many of the Blue Rose charity events raising money for members of the community who have suffered loss or illness. It was through these charity events that I got to see the strength of this community.

2)    Are you a fighter or a caster? Have you always been? How did you choose?
Throughout my career I have been everything. From fighter to three path, from support caster to quest build, I have very much enjoy trying new things in this game to see what I can excel at and improve upon. 

I chose my paths of magic based off of challenges I want to give myself (seeing how good I could get with magic missile and lightning bolt, coming up with fantastic Shaman builds, writing great rituals when I was a Channeler). Whatever I think I can have fun with, push myself to experience new things with or what I think I can add a new spin on I will try.

3)    Have you ever owned an artifact, memento, or magic item  that has meant a lot to you, and why?
I have been fortunate enough to own a lot of magic items in my career, at the height of my magic item collecting I believe I was around 22.

Magic items are fun, neat trinkets that can help remind you of a story, quest or challenge that you excelled at. Two items that stand out to me are the Mask Rohde gave to me when he ascended to be the New Dark One, and The Champion of Chaos sword given to me by Jaha that I got to design in a R2D2 looking robot sword.  But despite all of that I cherish artifacts much more.

I have this tambourine I got at a Newbie event that Janna Oakfellow-Pushee threw that I still carry to this day, multiple belt favors from various Queen of Hearts teams that still make me smile, an amazing treasure chest I got from an Awesome Lady (Areni) as a Cecil gift that Andy and I use to store the New Eden Casino funds in, and of course my Knightly Hilt given to me by Eddie Reed when he, Emilio Jimenez and myself launched our Knighthood back 2013.

4)    What group of people do you spend the most time with and why?
I generally hang out with everyone, I am a social butterfly that way. I enjoy Realms as my extended family and enjoy hanging out with many different pockets of friends. However, these days I find my time being spent a lot both IC and OOC with the Neden Boys. Whether we are event prepping, building new artifacts for our museum, working on the Hardware for Heroes bins, NPCing, questing, or weekends/weekdays get-togethers (for game nights, karaoke, dinners etc.), the Neden Crew truly is family to me and I look forward to seeing our crew all together at every opportunity we can.


5)    Who is your best friend in character and why?
My best friend IC is Nymbous O’Leary (shocker, I know). We have accomplished so many goals together and are constantly pushing each other to come up with the next crazy project or business venture.

My other best friend is Rohde, now the Dark One or Dark Rohde. Rohde (Ben Grant) pushed me so hard when I was new, his constant growth as a fighter pushed me to try and keep up, a lot of where I am skill-wise today is because of that motivation (that and late night practice with him and Jaha).
Finally Grebinar is someone who rejuvenated my Realms career, his time as my squire taught me to teach, set goals for others, but most importantly have fun with the game again. Grebinar will always have a huge special space in my heart.


6)    What event or moment had the greatest impact on you as a player?
This question is a doozy. I think the greatest moment was my first Green and Gold. Seeing the game in its large majesty with huge armies pining for the win, the epic night quest, the BBQ, my first time camping - everything about the flow of that event had me hooked.

I would also say watching the community come together for the Massey Family with Blue Rose's first charity event. It was the first time I got to see our community's charitable heart in effect, I saw the community come together for one of their own, raise much more than expected and prove to me that this community truly is a family.

7)    What event or moment had the greatest impact on your character?
Three things stand out. Rohde ascending to become the new Dark One, it was the first time I lost someone IC, he also beat me to the punch to becoming a god lol.

Jaha and I going on the quest Now To 'Scape the Serpents Tongue. Still by far one of the best quests I have ever been on. It pushed Jaha and myself with all of the fighting challenges and was one of the first times I felt that I was having an impact on the quest. This event I also got my first magic item by myself which was the Shield of Air. One of the coolest shields I ever had.

Squiring Grebinar however was the biggest impact on my character. It cause me to step up and be something for someone else, it allowed me the opportunity to pass down a wealth of knowledge I had stored up from everyone who helped me grow into the role of Knight. But as I said it reinvigorated me as a player.


8)    What is your most embarrassing moment, either IC or OOC?
Man there are so many moments….. I have never shied away from a NPC role thus having been involved in many a dresses, diapers, various body paint.
There was the Min Banana Hammock, splitting my pants crotch while commando during a Victory Ball match at Queen of Hearts, or at my first feast event (Feast of Rhiassa) signing up for a Bardic Tourney without knowing what a bardic was, I got to play a terrible impromptu game of charades to which I chose a random answer from the crowd to get off of stage as quick as possible. I just saw tourney and signed up…actually signing up for things I didn’t have the details on have lead me to many great memories.





9)    What is the best piece of advice you'd give to other players?
Get out there and learn from everyone…..There is so much to do and try so don’t be afraid to have new experiences. Everyone has something to teach and everyone has something new to learn.

10)What is the most important thing you've learned through the game?
The most important thing I have learned from the game is that if I step outside of my comfort zone, work with others, and push myself in everything I do then there is very little I can't achieve.

11) BONUS QUESTION #1: Who would you like to see the next interview be with?
Christopher Marques (Jaha)

12) BONUS QUESTION #2: Anything else you'd like to take the opportunity to put into print?
Yeah if you haven’t checked out a Neden event in awhile give it a shot, we are doing some really interesting things mwa ha ha . Also if you want to know more about your Friendly Neighborhood Neden boys check out:   http://thenationofneden.weebly.com/


Photo by Casey Lemay