It is with a heavy heart that I am forced to announce that the recent allegations against Raajin are true. He stood accused of having blatantly plagarized his winning entry in the February bardic contest. I am the last person in the world who wanted to believe that, as I and all the other Gods thought very well of Raajin, and some of us would probably have gone so far as to say that he's Achaea's best roleplayer currently.

I journeyed to a local bookseller's this afternoon in order to hopefully prove this accusation against Raajin false. To my horror though, I discovered exactly the opposite. His entry was blatantly plagarized. Upon returning, I found that I had an e-mail from him admitting that he lied when he denied the veracity of the accusation in an e-mail to me earlier.

Thus, I am forced to turn him into a shrub as HELP BARDIC_CONTESTS promises. My feelings on this are mixed. On the one hand, I liked him personally both in-character and in real life. On the other hand, I am outraged to the core of my soul at his actions. The sanctity of intellectual creation should remain free of the taint of plagarism, and I cannot forgive or forget this action. In any case, I believe I know him well enough to guess that he will never be back, as I do not think he would wish to endure the shame that his actions have brought upon himself and his family.

Sigh. Cheating is so stupid. Some of you look for opportunities to cheat. I wouldn't have guessed it of Raajin, but certainly I'm aware that some few of you do look for circumstances that you can abuse. He probably thought himself fairly safe. How many of you have read the collection of essays entitled "Meditations from a Moveable Chair" by Andre Dubus? I haven't, and I'm fairly well-read. I'm sure Raajin thought he wouldn't get caught, yet there you have it. When you are trying to cheat in front of thousands of people, expect to get caught.


Penned by my hand on the 7th of Aeguary, in the year 275 AF.