Suicide.

[Nyanko]

I'm just wondering if anyone out there has ever had their character commit suicide, and under what circumstances?

[mansa]

There have been cases of suicide throughout the whole extremes.

Over jobs, over lovers, over everything you can think of in the real life.

[jstorrie]

According to the documentation, though, Zalanthans are far less inclinced than Earthers to commit suicide due to stronger survival instincts.

[Morfeus]

...if you don't count this "But going there is a real suicide!" situations.

With a small nod, the strong, militia man says: "I know. But we all serve to the higher purpose."

EDITed to add: Indeed, that might be just my opinion. But I was in few RPTs which seemed to be a real suicide... and somewhat survived most of them.

[UnderSeven]

Most suicides are ooc motivated.

Like I'm sick of this char and therefore I will kill it.

Some are actually icly motivated, out of loyalty, or despair.  Those can actually be kind of cool.. But even then most of them are oocly motivated, as in, this char sucks, but I'll at least rp it.

[Rindan]

The closest thing I have had a character do to suicide is when he was captured by a very powerful organization that he had pissed off beyond all words.  When I say pissed off, I really mean that there is not much more I could have done to send them more into a rage.  I was corned by them, and instead of giving up despite being locked in a room with no hope of escape, I attacked a magiker and a pile of warriors with my bare hands.  Why?  I was 100% sure that I was going to die, and my only real options at that point was going out in flames, or going out tied to a stake and publicly tortured and humiliated before having my head removed.  I went with the former.  

Other then that, I just "store" (delete) characters I get sick of playing.  The staff will delete your character with 24 hours most of the time, so it is no large burden.

[spawnloser]

I know a character that suicided for purely IC reasons...to spite the character's captors from the opposing city-state.

[Halaster]

I had a character a long time ago who was very long-lived, and in the end he committed suicide.  He was captured by templars, and they wanted information from him.  He knew he couldn't resist torture for very long and would give up what he knew (which would result in many of his friends' death) to them, so while in jail he poisoned himself with some poison he had hidden on him.

[LauraMars]

I've committed character assassination, where I knew death after a certain point was inevitable.  I could have codedly gotten away, but it would have been out of character to make a break for it.  I think that's the closest I've ever come to suicide in the game.

[Bebop]

I had a character that once she was betrayed by her mate and after being pretty much tramatized by magickal and psionic events, gave herself over to the templarate.  She was trying to stick up for her beliefs and tell off the templarate, but once they put a sword to her throat, she chickened out, spilled her guts and was killed.

Of course, she would have never been captured if she hadn't given herself over in despair.  So that's kind of like suicide.

[Djarjak]

Another thing to consider, and I know that parts of this can be argued, is:

It's not only a survival instinct that keeps a lot of Zalanthans alive. Modern suicide, which involves a razor, gentle sleeping pills, or the quick blast of a gun is far more quick, painless, and sanitized than the type of suicide available from poisons that wrench your guts and make you suffer to death; dull, jagged, dirty blades made of animal chitin, bone, and stone; being mauled by alien animals; or inhaling thick, sludgy quicksand-like silt.

So, if you have a strong IC motivation to do this to preserve others or a way of life, sure, suicide is probably appropriate. If you're 'depressive' in character, you'd have to be -really- depressed to find something like this more palatable, especially given the concept that few have any type of religion that includes the prospect of an afterlife. If you're just don't like your reroll or your class or your subclass or something.... well, we'll find you eventually.

[Agent_137]

My first char had a brother, who was played by one of my good friends. The brother died in a freak accident, and my character was appropriately distraught. I OOCly wasn't really excited about playing without my friend anymore, and so I emailed the imms about suicide.

They basically said, "people die in zalanthas. Have your char suck it up."

So my character sucked it up, and went on to become a great Byn Sergeant, and died in a swirling PC on PC battle where the legend Lord Templar Kishime also fell.

[bardbard#4]

Noted sociologists have shown that elevated suicide rates occur when people are divorced from their societies.  This happens because there is a bond between strong cultural beliefs and the ability of people to carry on through terrible hardship.  I suggest that people in Zalanthas are very much integrated in their societies, be they tribal, caste, or some other form.  It is that, and not a general survival instinct, which can be said to keep suicide rates low.

That and it's a game, and who really wants to kill off their beloved character?

[titansfan]

I remember having this one character that ran away from House Winrothol in the North because of reasons IC, but he was such a good fighter that every time I tried to suicide he just wouldn't die. I ended up taking out a templar and four guards before i died in the south......I had fun

[Larrath]

One of my characters went willingly to a city-state and revealed a damning secret, fully knowing it should result in a swift death.
This was done because of a guilty conscience; he unintentionally blurted out this secret to a random stranger and then, to keep himself safe, had the stranger killed at the same day.

He was also responsible for a lot of deaths, and was generally never comfortable with the prospect of killing someone that meant him no harm.

And he was frustrated, too, about a few plans of his that never quite worked out.

I miss that guy.

[Gunnerblaster]

I was typed:

Code Select Expand

>Kill self

Out've pure boredom and it said:

Code Select Expand

>You swing futily [sp?] through the air.

Up to this day, I wonder what the hell it meant. Did my character just get bored and codedly swing a sword at himself? Lol.

[bloodfromstone]

I had a character consider suicide, though she was too much of a coward to go through with it. A lot of really horrible things had happened prior, but then the House she worked for put her best friend (also a House member) to death over something fairly stupid, actually. She became terrified of her superior officer, who was fairly notorious for killing people under her command. My poor PC wanted to run away, but she was actually really horrible at taking care of herself and rather emotionally unstable. She rode part way to Luir's before breaking down and considering throwing herself off the Shield Wall. In the end, she chicked out and rode back, and no one was the wiser. Man, I loved that PC.

For all the talk of Zalanthans being made of tougher stuff and all that, I do think that suicide is not out of the question for Zalanthans, especially PCs. Maybe farmers don't put a crossbow bolt in their head every time there is a bad crop or anything like that, but, really, a lot of our PCs end up seeing horribly traumatic, emotionally scarring situations beyond the norm of Zalanthas. Just like most commoners don't work for noble Houses and XX% of the population isn't magickers, our PCs represent something beyond the norm of Zalanthas.