A thread for tributes to Nathvaan. See this announcement: https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,60252.0.html
I remember first hearing about him being ill and being heartbroken.
Hate Arm. Love Arm. Whatever feelings people may have about the game, Nathvaan made it better every time he touched it.
I didn't know the guy really.
But it's sad to hear whenever someone falls ill and dies early.
R.I.P.
Well fuck.
In terms of Armageddon, I have a couple of fond memories of him. Back in the late 90's/early 00's, he played a character named Radoon who was a guard/soldier working with Medichi Kadius. I was staffing them at the time, and remember that he was always great to work with. Easy going, pleasant, just a joy to staff over, and someone I'd ask opinions of about random game stuff.
When I came back on staff, he'd just taken absence due to illness, but I would occasionally reach out to him with questions or a need for help on some random technical thing with the game. Despite being away from the game, he was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. I am grateful and honored for all the interactions I had with him way back then, and more recently.
I met Nathvaan back in '00 on ISCA. We spoke about ArmageddonMUD, and his character, 'Captain Radoon of Kadius'. Kadius staff member Jolanda asked me if I wanted to play a child character, who was an NPC previously, and I said "Sure!"
The NPC turned PC was an adoptive child of Radoon, and I asked him all about the old histories of Kadius. He played my character's adoptive father, and we had a weird father/son relationship in game until Radoon finally died. He told me the secret to having a long-lived character - "Take breaks and deal with real life, and when you come back to the game all your enemies are dead!"
I never (knowingly) played another character with Nathvaan again, but I reflect back to the times that I did with Loras and realize that he helped me really "get it" within the culture of the game.
We met in real life in 2003 during an APM in Atlanta, and was such a fun guy to be around.. I sometimes followed him like a lost puppy during the DragonCon convention.
Life happens, and people lose connections and drift away, but it was always great to see Nathvaan still at this game we both have played for a long long time. I am greatly saddened.
That is truly sad to hear. He was kind to me.
Sadly my years playing largely missed interacting with him, but he sounds awesome and I'm glad to share a community and experience his contributions.
Nathvaan came up to Staff first as a Coder before moving into more Storyteller/Administrator/Producer roles. His kind attitude and respectful demeanor were positively infectious, which was a breath of fresh air. He always held the benefit of the doubt and was truly a player advocate in a way that was inspiring.
It's hard to come up with words that encapsulate how much of a loss this is and what a positive force he was in this community and likely in any community he was a part of. He really fought hard for his life, for his friends and family, and held such a positive outlook despite the many setbacks and tribulations. He will be sorely, sorely missed.
I met him back in the late 90s and we were good friends for many years. He came down to visit a few times over the years and we always had fun. I'll miss our long talks and bouncing IT and network ideas off of each other when we would encounter an issue.
We drifted apart over the last five years or so and it was a shame. He will still be loved and missed, however.
Fun fact! He and I created our own MUD once! We didn't let anyone else play...but we had a blast goofing off with each other!
Radoon's Walk ought to be a perminate road in Tuluk in his honor.
I met Nathvaan in 2013. We played in a tabletop group together for many years, meeting in person almost every week up until the COVID pandemic hit. Relatively recently, we drifted apart after we both moved long distances. I was extremely lucky that he reached out to me several weeks ago, and we were able to catch up.
He was constantly positive, interesting, and fun to be around. He was very good at being a friend. I'm very sad about his passing, and my thoughts go out to all of his friends and loved ones.
Truly sad news. My condolences to his friends and family in this time of grief.
R.I.P.
Didn't interact with Nathvaan that I can remember, but he was a fixture here. Travel well, man.
This is sad news. He will be missed.
RIP Nath!
I'd been messaging him since mid-2022, wishing him well.
I'm happy he held on as long as he did! A titan among Armers.
I knew via the grape vine he had been struggling with illness and it wasn't looking good. Really sorry to hear this. I hope his family is holding up alright. I didn't know him well but I really enjoyed having him as a staffer. Sending love to everyone that's grieving.