From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/21 20:00Greetings.
I'm a bit cranky this morning. It could be because I woke up on the wrong side of bed, but I think it has more to do with being tired, sore, and a bit battered from moving the castle yesterday. And probably even more to do with the fact that in addition to myself we only had 5 other people. Thank you Moss, Kota, Cullum, River, Kord and Casca.
The rest of you, I know, had various reasons that you couldn't be there. I'm not sure I really care what they are, but I do need you to all know the stark reality of the situation.
If the Empire continues to not care what happens to the castle, we aren't going to have one any more. The reasons for this are many but the simplest is that if the castle isn't important enough for us to maintain then it obviously isn't important enough for us to have to fight on. That's perfectly acceptable to me. If we don't want it, great, there is no reason to keep it, and certainly no reason for 6 people to haul that two ton monstrosity around the Metro area.
The simple truth is that the castle is falling apart and as of right now we lack both the funds and the enthusiasm to repair, or rebuild it. It costs us almost a thousand dollars a year just to store the damn thing. Above and beyond that if we want it to be usable we need to restore it to working order. At this point, in it's current incarnation, we will be lucky to get one more year out of it. Then I'm likely going to hand Z a can of gasoline, a bic lighter and possibly a blow torch and let him take any post Rakis frustrations out on it.
SO the question that we need to answer as a group is whether we want to have a castle to play on. Truth be told it is one of the biggest draws at Rakis each year, but it also adds to our event fees. It costs us about 2 grand a year to store and transport it back and forth just to Rakis. That's 100 gate fees. Or about a third of our Rakis income. But another way that is almost twice the amount we spend on feasts each Rakis, or enough to pay for all of the feasts at Rakis and the other three Imperial events a year.
Rakis certianly won't be the same without a castle, but I won't miss taking it down and putting it away, nor do I imagine will the same 10 people who have been doing it for the past 8 years.
Do you want a castle at Rakis? If so let me know. I am happy to organize fundraisers and the rebuild (I think I just threw myself under the bus), but I WILL NOT do it by myself. Nor will I do it if there are only a handlful of folks willing to donate time and/or money to the cause.
So if you want the Empire to have a castle you need to get off your asses and let me know about it. Fundraising ideas and assistance will be more than welcome.
Let me know. Otherwise I'll be shopping for Z's blow torch.
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Brynjulfr
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/21 20:10You'll have my hammer should you wish it to rebuild/repair. Pitching in a few bucks wouldnt hurt me either.
A thought on fundraising which you probably considered already is raising Rakis prices. Maybe even have an event where you can buy a hit with a hammer or axe against the old castle. Auction the right to burn it down at the end. Give it a viking funeral.
Post edited by: Brynjulfr, at: 2008/07/21 20:10Brothers shall fight, and fell each other, And sisters sons , shall kinship stain; Hard is it on earth, with mighty whoredom; Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered, Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world falls; Nor ever shall men, each other spare.
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Grendel
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/21 20:39let it burn!!Dragoon Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy. Hús Vetra Skald IMU
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mOZZferatu
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 01:28Now see what's happened here, everyone? Good Prince Medryn is so upset that he's lost the ability to do math!! (There were actually 7 of us there, the list contained 6 people, instead of "5" as was posted.)
And, no. We will not likely *actually burn* the Castle - that requires a special fire permit (if it can even be had in any of the places the Castle is likely to be at) which itself probably costs a fair amount of money. And burning off all the paint, if for no other reason, would likely be a fair toxic hazard to anything, living or otherwise present, in the near vicinity. We may have a small representative sacrifice hit a fire, though, to keep the spirit of it heading in the right direction if the vote/final decision is to destroy it.
However, $1/hit with a 2-H Sledgehammer and/or Axe just means we have to clean it up and pack it up one last time - to the dump. Which will also cost money, but will probably have a little bit better fund raising potential, at least.
This situation is accurately stated by Medryn, and it's pretty bad. There is some work that *needs* to be done to use the castle again, and that will require not only money, but people to do that work.
I am glad some folks showed on Sunday, sad it couldn't have been more. Many Thanks! from me as well to those who came to assist! (Your Barkskin tokens, as promised by Medryn, are already being prepared for you and will arrive to you all after Clan..)
The castle is truly one of the big draws for Rakis, but it isn't worth it to those of us in that small group who end up having to deal every year with it.
SO, If you care, one way or the other, at least post your feelings here so we can try - as a Kingdom - to figure out what to do with this thing.
(AND, for any of you putting together Rakis bids, you might consider this discussion and its course, as you finalize those bids for submission.. =)
Thx, mOZz
Edited for spelling typos, minor additions -moss
Post edited by: mOZZferatu, at: 2008/07/22 01:31----------------------------------------------------------------------
But kill me ...and the Curse will go on forever...
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Grendel
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 14:19noted Moss, noted.
all I can hope is that the wicked witch doesn't napalm the castle before hand. (she loves the smell of napalm in the morning)Dragoon Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy. Hús Vetra Skald IMU
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Medryn
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 15:16I didn't say anything about burning the castle. I just suggested that I might provide some interesting toys for folks to play with
I'm dead serious, I want to rebuild the castle. The current incarnation is about done, and from the responses here I don't have a whole lot of faith that we will have a new one.
So G man maybe you bill Rakis XX as "Last Rakis Castle Battles EVAR!"
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Rafeki
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Posts: 338
Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 15:46I am willing to help rebuild and chip in. but that current castle?
can suck it.
also if we set it up at the landfill, then we charge people to swing at it, we wouldn't have any post-destruction cleanup or movingKung Fu is about the cultivation of the spirit.
"After all, all Dragoons are stupid and lazy" -Cruz
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Lokin
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 17:54Overall... I'm always willing to help, no matter the situation. The thing is bound to end up on the place that I spend most of my time (Ditch/Battlefield).
The feeling I'm getting though is... I think the general consensus is that the castle in its current incarnation is not really worth saving be it for one reason or other... (too old/warped to hell)
When's the last time ALL of the castle was put up for Rakis and not just a couple towers? Would it be cheaper to repair half of the whole thing and make it a one ton monstrosity for the time being? Could we stagger the building process so the Empire's money won't take a huge hit one year?
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Rafeki
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 18:27Lokin we always set up the entire castle for rakis. We just have had it split for the last two years into different capture points. Every single tower is set up.Kung Fu is about the cultivation of the spirit.
"After all, all Dragoons are stupid and lazy" -Cruz
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Medryn
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 18:35I have a bunch of ideas for re-building the castle. By which I really mean making a new one.
As it currently stands we have 8 towers, only 6 of which we actively use. We have the Main Gate section which has two of those towers attached and then we have walls. We were thinking of doing 4 or six towers, including the gate and then walls.
I'm currenlty trying to get pricing so I can figure out how much money we need. Regardless if we decide to do a new castle it will be lighter, easier to store and move, and hopefully more stable.
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Korderellin
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 18:42Last year was the first time we'd broken the castle down into smaller sections for the Rakis set-up. Prior to that, it'd been set up as a single unit (although I don't know if we had room the set the entire thing up; we may have been down a few towers).
Frankly, I love the idea of rebuilding. I think that if we put the right planning into it, we could have a really cool castle that takes up a lot less room (for hauling and storing). This one has too many towers, and too much damage to the structure in a number of places. While some of the smaller towers are still usable (as we've seen from numerous uses of them at park days), the full set-up itself has kind of outlived its usefulness. But overall, I think the castle really is one of the things that makes the IM events somewhat unique, and I think it would be a real pity to lose it entirely.
On the other hand, I don't like the idea of just a handful of people constantly being the only ones who care enough to do the work on the castle. This is a symptom of a much larger problem of motivation, as we have this problem in pretty much every area of running things.
I'd be more than willing to assist in building a new castle. Casca and I are currently searching for a house, and if we find one with enough room, we'd be happy to volunteer the place for all of the construction work.Kord
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Lokin
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 18:49Rafeki wrote: Lokin we always set up the entire castle for rakis. We just have had it split for the last two years into different capture points. Every single tower is set up.
Ah, just wondering... thank you.
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cio cio
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 18:50I have to say that the Castle has been a nice feature. I don't know if it's a true draw but it certainly makes Rakis feel like Rakis.
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Lokin
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/22 20:21Korderellin wrote:
On the other hand, I don't like the idea of just a handful of people constantly being the only ones who care enough to do the work on the castle. This is a symptom of a much larger problem of motivation, as we have this problem in pretty much every area of running things.
Then I guess the next question is... how do we get people motivated enough to actually care about the castle at least?
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Hoshi Akuma
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Re:From your less than happy Prince - 2008/07/23 06:08Well, and this is just an option, if the empire would be willing to buy a storage shed (Probably one of the cheaper yet more durable against the elements and insect life) I do have about an acre and a half or more for the space for the storage shed. I would be more than willing to keep it/load it/take it anywhere it needs to be. Given I have fundage for a u-haul at the time. I'll even offer my carpentry skills in re-building it and finding ways to make it lighter/durable/better looking/less time consuming etc. I know the current set-up and take down is a pain in the ass.When there is no light, there is dark; When there is no dark, there is light; When there is both dark and light, there is Bendu
Did they look like psychos? They were f%$#in' vampires. Psychos don't explode when sunlight hits'em, I don't care how crazy they are. - S
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