I've been meaning to post something like this for some time, and in light of the several flag bearing posts, figure I would express my own opinion on it.

Back before the server merge I didn't hear or care much about server names or anything of the like. I liked Thelanis because we ended up being one of the more famous thanks to Merlask's work, other then that, I knew of Lhazzar because a friend joined there simply because they were the first to have beaten the Titan raid. He figured they knew their stuff and it would be more likely to have other such knowledge, etc.

After the server merge it seemed to become more important what server you were from. Xorians especially seem to have had an identity crisis and worry about people forgetting about them, evidenced by the "Remember the Alamo" type entries I see in so many bios. Thelanians on the other hand rarely seem to have to announce that they were natives. I think I added it to one sig or bio, but that was about it, shortly after the merge when it seemed there was a fear of being trampled by the newcomers.

That's the part that specifically piques my interests. Thelanians, are widely viewed as roleplayers. A large part to the large, active, and publicity oriented guilds that we house. Fellowship of the Golden Night was lucky to have members and leaders that were into hosting events and posting videos and generally having non-quest related fun. A lot of that was what drew me to the server, that and I have an uncle who played here. Thelanis was never exclusively role-playing, but it had the most publicized guilds for it, if not the largest, in DDO.

Enter Xoriat. They chafe at the fact that they might ever be touched by a butterfly, let alone have one join in a pug. Thanks largely to Lessah's role in a video posted around the time of the merge, we have taken or were given the title "Butterfly Hunters". I personally like it, it gives us flavor. What is funny to me is the flag of Xoriat won't be let down. They were merged into the server. Nothing left of that former lifestyle but they're own memories, and this server is now "New Xoriat".

Thank you Columbus, you "found" America, thus replacing its natives. Well dirty blankets aside, Xorians brought their game knowledge and culture to this new land, merging it with Tharashk and Thelanis. Xorians having power struggles and pride issues though refuse to be anything but Xorians, and that is fine, it gives them identity. I found that many Tharashkians seemed to want to jump on the band wagon and not be mixed in with the Butterfly Hunters, decided that they should be remembered too.

I post this mostly because I find it interesting and mostly because I want to separate the negative connotations that the server has towards one word or another. "Roleplayer" is a word that is used in the derogative by many natives of Xoriat and "Xorian" is often explained without definition as a zerger that is every bit the mindless drone that the word originates from.

I don't fear Xorians, I've run with plenty of them. I don't particularly like the elitism, I think more than enough of them are jerks, but to each his own. They are somehow afraid of the Roleplaying, but I think have a larger problem with the fact that Roleplayers seem to take things slower, and as we've seen the posts, that can't be tolerated.

What I think seems to be without understanding is that each side has something to offer the other. Many former Xorians are very versed in quest knowledge. One advantage of wanting to do things as fast as possible is wanting to learn as much as you can to facilitate that. Roleplayers however provide a new insight and finesse that has never been seen before. My first experience with anyone using Intimidate was a roleplayer. In fact, that was the norm for a year before these last mods. I've had members from the Xorian side of the fence mention the same to me. More then that though, I prefer the Roleplaying standpoint as it adds a flavor to the game that you won't otherwise receive.

Many with a zerger mindset would laugh at you if you mentioned that you read the dialogue for a quest, but many a roleplayer has actually sat down and read the manual restart guide to the Pit with all seriousness, and that helped them greatly to understand the quest. When not running some new quest in the grind that upper levels become in between mods, you can find us spending at least our Thursdays, but often many days in the Phoenix, or anywhere really. When things change for the game, we incorporate that into play, when we need to make our own fun, we are there hosting events and carrying on.

I suppose the essence of this post is: Live and let live. Thelanians seem to be content to let the Xorians think that they are in charge and be Xorians. The Xorians like to pretend to terrorize us and look mean, eat butterflies, etc.

What I would like to see is the two find a more common ground. There are roleplayers in our alliance that refuse to PUG for the fear of being treated as dimwitted for not knowing a quest. I know there are members of some of the more raid-minded guilds that are curious about what roleplaying involves. Some of the more fun members of the alliance have come from these roots.

If you're one of the Xorians, then I hope that you take the time to at least be courteous to your fellow gamers. All this big talk and land grabbing seems to do little to endear the population. If you're a roleplayer than I would hope that you get to know more of the quests and show them that you don't need Haste and Firewall to get the job done. (And for pities sake, show the poor sorcerer that PKing 12 bats one at a time is not the best option).

We are all Thelanians now. If you must, keep your Xorian flag, but don't put it down in my home and expect me to worry about who owns it. Xoriat is a memory, many of the attitudes that come with that have no place here and should be relegated to history. We are Thelanis, and yes, our server is better than yours.