Let me tell you a story.

[Random_White_Guy]

Rufus J. Mackarthur was born on May 21st, 2014. The original concept had been for an Alchemical Screw-UP from the Sanctuary that Was who would be discovered by Adventurers deep in the machine entombed in a block of solid ice as part of a DM quest, thawed out, and engaged in racially charged hijinks throughout the Final Sanctuary as the crotchedy old man out of time and place.

However that was deemed difficult to convey so instead Rufus J. Mackarthur was born in Waterdeep to a pair of moonshining parents. A farmer who got fed up with breaking his back to make ends meet he got into the moonshining business. His wife decided instead of butchering pigs she could butcher men and the duo became a criminal power couple on the outskirts of Waterdeep, quickly taking over their village through vice and corruption. Their slack-jawed five year old son found himself playing one day in their still and they discovered he had a knack- So much so that they let him keep playing until at age seven through strong arm tactics they got him raised as an apprentice within a prestigious Magical Academy of Waterdeep.

A cosmopolitan school of various races and peoples coming together to study magic, Rufus was widely reviled as an idiot, a failure, and a waste of space. His only reprieve came in the field of Alchemy where he excelled but over time he began to realize why everyone hated him so: His parents criminals and by proxy he had no place amongst the elite mages as a Moonshine maker.

Eventually one fateful day Rufus J. Mackarthur was mixing a particularly dangerous recipe that backfired. He was entombed in ice and one by one was visited and taunted, mocked and jeered, by all manner of student. Figments of his imagination when in truth he had killed his entire class. Perhaps a coping mechanism for his sizable failure. The Non-Humans though he thought responsible as he was trapped in a fever dream for an unknown number of years, his masters unable to thaw him. He slowly watched as the world around him was destroyed, overlooked by the Dread with the collapse of the world.

He found himself out of place and time, and upon visiting his family farm he found everyone missing, presumed dead, and a strange portal outside his parent's old distillery.

In a half-crazed state he found himself in the Underdark. For three months he tried to adjust to the new world living in a bottle of moonshine. He dwelled in Starag's Rest nursing a particularly infected worm bit and before long he found a family at long last amongst the borderline criminal, rustic, down to earth worm-hunting dregs of Upper Sanctuary.

His secret though a sizable one:

He was going to save the world. Alchemist when alone, xenophobic drunken lout in public, this began the dual life of Rufus J. Mackarthur that lead to one of my most interesting, intrigue-filled, and exciting chapters of EFU history.

This is the story of Rufus Justine Mackarthur. A paranoid alchemist who made his way up the ladder to rise to the heights of "cranky mage in a tower". A classic D&D Trope.

Screenshots to follow.

[hide=Worming Ain't Easy]


The concept was simple. I felt that the Black Guild wasn't overly represented at the time and when I think small village I think the insular, isolated, and fearful for the world Black Guild. The idea of a xenophobic PC is something I always loved in EFU and to no small extent I did everything I could to make Rufus a widely hated son of a bitch.



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[hide=From Slack jaw to Spy]

As an Alchemist though he fully felt it was his job to save the world, that through his talents and magics he could make an impact in the Reformed Order of the Spellguard using his magical research talents and his overly inflated ego to pursue all manner of research projects, crazy undertaking, pro-human experimentation, and otherwise.

Contrary to popular belief Rufus wasn't -AS- Xenophobic as he was played up to be. Oh he was a bastard for certain. And he hated many people. Most of them non-human. But I cooked up a scheme to be an Agent Provocateur. To become so hated, in so many circles, that people who hated Sanctuary would find Rufus thinking him a pariah and social outcast.

Since day 2 of the PC though he worked for the Reformed Order of the Spellguard as an apprentice and an informant. The Humanity Herald a vessel to get into contact with all sorts of people, push a pro-human agenda, and ultimately cultivate his position as "Most hated man in Sanctuary".





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[hide=From Spy to Spellguard]
After a grueling 33 days of trying to join the Reformed Order of the Spellguard I was granted a permadeath style suicide mission by an NPC. This lead to one of my most favorite events ever: The creation of Beauford which Rufus held near and dear to his heart. Other high profile events such as being turned into a wererat, helping battle the One Hundred Hounds, spying on Lower in all capacities, and more lead him to the Reformed Order of the Spellguard.





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[hide=The Reformed Order of the Spellguard]
Having finally reached the promised land I was thrown into the ring at day three with Agent Robal's demise. Rufus was never formally trained to be an Agent of the Spellguard so there was about a week long "Growing period" where everything I did was scrutinized by the NPCs, I was threatened with death and more for my insolence and failures, and eventually started to get the hang of things.




[/hide]

Hundreds of forum posts of schemes and research plans, dominating the spellguard archives to the point of D_I weeping blood, endless hijinks, countless schemes, wanton criminal enterprises, saving lives on the surface like a super-hero, playing dress up super villain in Lower Sanctuary, a shit-load of alchemy, political intrigue, xenophobia, specks, kinnies, fey-lays, knife-ears, pinchers, worminger life, black guild, spellguard, Falconer and Rufus sharing hunting stories, getting drunk as hell with Ksenia, Exiling the withered with Abala, causing mayhem with Cordelia, sending wars with most of Lower Sanctuary, and more. Scheming with Chand and the Apprentices. Causing mayhem with Signe and the Auxiliary

A giant coward who wanted to save the world with cool research and non-evil maskarran manipulation. He never bought potions, he barely ran any scripted quest, had very few DM quests, most of his time was spent steepling his fingers figuring out his next move, using his authority and slush funds to cause mayhem for the Spellguard, and was all around good fun.

A wild ride and maybe one of the best I've had so far on EFU. Thanks for making a hermit fun. He never started any PvP, lost a fair bit, escaped often by being the first to flee from a fight and was a giant coward.

[hide=The End]


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[MaimedGod]

What?

[NamelessSong]

Did he die or what?

[MexicanGunslinger]

Good riddance :) xo

[The Old Hack]

Argh! Whom will we hate now! >.<

[cmenden]

*slow clap* Bravo, sir, bravo.

[granny]

I gotta miss this guy. He has brought to Sanctuary an era of abuse of authority never seen before.

[Battle Beetles]

A stellar PC.

[Pandip]

dick.

ilu tho Rufus was swagalicious. The dichotomy between these two was very much a swap of what we had with Khavenko and Claxton, and the change was no doubt an interesting, intriguing, and inevitably exciting one. He was certainly a large factor in what has helped Ksenia grow out of her secret dilapidation and worry over divine edicts, for better or worse!

[el groso]

A stellar PC.

*slow clap* Bravo, sir, bravo.

Good riddance :) xo

[Moonlighter]

Had a great time interacting directly with Rufus over the course of two PCs. RIP in peace.

[Dillusionist]

Watching Rufus from afar was extraordinary by itself, sadly my PC couldn't get very close to him, but he was a fantastically characterized agent. Absolutely amazing how much havoc and intrigue you were able to accomplish with free sendings and a place to safely work some alchemy! Both of which you used to create the feeling of an overbearing Orwellian state and an industrial genius.

Difficult PC to top. But then every obituary of yours says that.

[Haer Dalis 83]

I had a few chances to interact with Rufus and all of them left me with a desire to meet again, to be part of his story a little bit more.

[goate]

I'm going to miss the tyranny and the racism.  RIP for the second time Rufus, you were too good for this world full of Specks, Kinnys, Pinchers, Knife-Ears, Fey-Lays, and Tuskers.

[redo]

Original one! Good job!