You all know what this post is for...

[Damask the Minstrel]

Like "orange" with an sp-, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Spore-unj.

[Sycamore]

Not Spar-unj?

[Eliza Lacrimosa]

Wow. I can't believe there actually is one.

For an encore, anybody got anything to rhyme with "silver"?

[Damask the Minstrel]

Hmm... you can cross-rhyme, again: "Delver". "Kill her (vowel-rhyme)". Lots of -ver words... not many fit.

[Cairn Destop]

Since some of this thread has been about the character, I'll pose a few questions for our departed bird bard.

1 - How did you envision the resolution of the lover's triangle between your character, Venril, and Eliza?

2 - If you envisioned neither making inroads with the lady, what were your plans for the final two weeks where a death post would happen?

3 - Was the feigning death at the beginning of Week Five intended as a way of easing your character out of the story?

4 - Without revealing what forced you to surrender, when did you realize you could not finish the competition?

5 - Tara mentioned your objection to a substitute writer.  Any reason why?

6 - Is there anything you wished you had done during the competition?  This also begs the question as to was there anything you didn't want to do, but had to do because of the story?  And the final part, is there anything you would change if you could?

7 - Had you won the competition, did you have a finale planned?  And no, I'm not asking what that entails.

[Damask the Minstrel]

Woo! Lotsa questions!

1) Well, I had envisioned it as Damask "winning" over Venril -- Venril's smart enough to realize that she's a bad investment, for one -- and then essentially following Liza around as her personal poet/courtier for the rest of her days. As I tried to reiterate time and again: Venril's question of "what would they do" is moot. Damask thought he was in a romantic tale. None of -those- explain what happens in a boudoir, so he didn't know, either.

2) Not terribly sure, here. I mentioned having a Terry from QBIII-esque sacrifice-post. If you meant, what if Liza had died. Well... I didn't even plan for that, I find it so unlikely.

3) It was a way of slowing down the love triangle. I thought it was over-riding the rest of the story. And while I do love it as a sideplot, it was very exclusive. I didn't want to shove Bells, Revel, and Rath out of the way. So I came up with a convenient way to wind up with Revel. Also, absence makes the heart grow fonder. If Eliza thought Damask had died, she might have cherished him a little more.

4) Goodness... three days ago, maybe? And after I reveal who I am, I can say why I couldn't continue.

5) Well, for a couple of reasons. One, Dammy's really, really unique. As I've mentioned before, he almost writes himself. I do broad plots for him, but within the post I'm almost on autopilot. Also, I've intentionally done quite a few nuances that I'll eventually point out, but they'd be hard to pick up as a new writer. Also, every line of verse he's uttered is original -- it'd be hard to write a new character and new poetry all at once. It's near the end, so the sub -- whose writing would be pretty out-of-place anyway -- would have very little time to either get right in the flow or die. Also, it doesn't save me much time, as the time I'd have to take to get a sub up to speed would be just as much time to write a post. (And I'd like to clarify that I requested no sub. I don't object to them -- Oni's proof they can be fantastic -- I just don't think Damask is built for a sub to write *shrug*).

6) Cor... I wish Damask had gotten to meet Su, for one. I wish I could've done the one post I really wanted to -- one in all verse-form. Also, I wish the last few posts hadn't forced me to do so much exposition in prose-form. Err... I wish I had handled the caves better. The intermittent claustrophobia was bad. If I could change anything, I'd turn it from a contest to a chain story. Seriously, almost immediately I was complaining to Revel that it was horrible we had to lose people 'cause we're all so, well, good. Even ones who got voted off early had enormous potential.

7) I had a couple of ideas for the finale, like I posted before -- sacrifice, running off with Liza, or kind of teaming up with Bells and making a little family-unit with her.

(Quick edit: he does have one line of rhyme that I didn't write. In Bell's post. The "Friends come to blows are heroes in death throes" line I can't take credit for.)

[Sycamore]

How did you come up with Damask?

[Cairn Destop]

How did you come up with Damask?

I couldn't resist the punning opportunity Sycamore offered.  Sorry Damask.

As everyone knows, an actor has da - mask on at all times.

[Sycamore]

Umm, I don't get it...

[Revel]

Damask is Jim Carrey.  ;D

[Cairn Destop]

Umm, I don't get it...

An actor wears a mask when onstage, that is, a different personna.  As a minstral, our bird was not only a bard, but an actor.  Hence he wore the mask, which is corrupted to da mask.

:hedgehog:  puns lose their zing when you have to explain them.   :hamster:

[Damask the Minstrel]

Well, the name just, well, sounded good. I might've done the old dictionary-dive (randomly open a page and bastardize the first word that pops out at you).

As for the character. Well... Old Damask -- the minstrel turned spy -- is a direct remake of my very first ROC character, who I never RPed as. He was simply a name on a group's register. So, in honor of him, that was how Damask was born.

Then, like I mentioned above, I was brainstorming ideas on how to make the birdy's life miserable when I came up with the crazybird idea. First I was going to go with simple dementia: a couple members of my family are showing early signs of it, so I thought writing it would be an interesting exercise, as well as some catharsis for any fears I had over the disease. During my research on dementia, I came up with the Don Quixote idea. Well, it didn't quite fit classic dementia, but it -did- fit traumatic head injuries, especially those that leave long-term bruising on the brain (which Damask has). So, our Hero bird is nothing but brain damage, in the end. The fun would have been if I had lasted through to the end. If the bruising had healed, would he still love Liza? Question for the ages.

[Sycamore]

An actor wears a mask when onstage, that is, a different personna.  As a minstral, our bird was not only a bard, but an actor.  Hence he wore the mask, which is corrupted to da mask.

But his name isn't Themask...?

[Revel]

Well, the name just, well, sounded good. I might've done the old dictionary-dive (randomly open a page and bastardize the first word that pops out at you).

I'm surprised no one has given me any heckling for doing the same thing and just leaving the word as it is.  ;D

[Birch]

*heckle heckle heckle*

I can write a post about it if you'd like!