[Raya]

Part 4 of Straha Speaks Out!1 finally gets to talk with the immensely popular, one-and-only ARSHISS BLADEBRINGER, the dark elf warrior featured in many adventures of WTF Comics. Arshiss also shares about her reaction at being propelled to stardom on her EverQuest server, how it almost contributed to her quitting the game forever, and what she has learned from that brush with fame. And of course, the incredible EXCLUSIVE interview of Jeremy Waller, creator of the hugely popular cartoon strip, WTF Comics, by Raya, continues.

My first two interviews with Mr. Waller were fraught with excitement and peril. (Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) In my third interview with Mr. Waller, we explored the financial situation behind WTF Comics (it’s more-or-less a non-profit enterprise), the life expectancy of the current comic strips (hours and hours of belly-laughing fun), and Anna and Raydiance got together and had a few laughs over a friendly glass of blue elven wine, watching the moon rise over Plane of Knowledge. Anna told what she really thought of Straha, Smoke and Kiran, and when pressed for an answer for what goddess she would be, answered Goddess of Newbies. It was a fitting answer.

I started off this interview with a demure visit to Mr. Waller’s art studio. I manfully (um…okay, womanfully) refrained from spilling his coffee this time, mainly because he had Raya-proofed the room. Everything spillable was either removed out of reach or put away. Everything breakable was moved out of reach or protected somehow…he even had a padded plastic hood over his computer. Surely he didn’t think I was going to break that…oops! gosh darn notebook…gets jumpy around interview time. I will really have to investigate getting a soft-cover notebook, even if the pages do curl up in my purse. And Mr. Waller almost, but not quite, glared at me, and moved his chair in front of his computer after retrieving my notebook and handing it to me. Not wanting to push him any further, I scurried to my customary spot more or less marooned on my chair in the middle of the room. He was looking pointedly at the clock, which reminded me of a question I had wanted to ask last time.

Raya: I would imagine that drawing that cartoon strip takes a huge amount of time. How long does it take you to draw one issue?

JW: How long a strip takes depends on a lot of factors, how much time I have to work straight, how much energy or interest I have in the current story arc or strip in particular, what's in the strip and how complicated it is, etc., etc. If I had to narrow it down to bare bones time, start to finish, uninterrupted, I'd say about three or four hours. That doesn't include time I'm mulling over the story or how to set things up of course, just from pencil and ink to finished color.

Raya: What is the most fun part of drawing WTF Comics for you?

JW: The most fun? hmm…well, just doing it really. Putting the movies that play in my head down on paper or in a .jpg, as the case may be, and sharing them with others is a great thing. Plus the fact they can brighten so many people’s day and put a smile on a stranger’s face. I get a lot of mail from people all over the world thanking me for just that, including a lot from people serving in the middle east who deserve a good laugh. I'm glad I can help give it to them.

Raya: What is the most challenging part of the job?

JW: The most challenging part I suppose would be getting it done and fighting my natural tendency of believing it to not be good enough. This is something I think all artists and performers face. Baring a part of yourself and being so open to ridicule is nerve-wracking. I've never met another artist who didn't think they weren't good enough and were nervous about sharing with others what they did. It's hard to get strips done in a timely manner, write the dialog and pace the overall story and hope people like it.

Raya: Okay, the most tiresome?

JW: The most tiresome is easy, what the folks on my boards refer to as rules lawyers. WTF Comics is based on Everquest, but I take a lot of liberties with how things work in game to translate it to a working comic world. Every time I deviate with the exact way EQ works, there are always some people who have to point out the discrepancies and list exact levels, mob locations, spell lists, equipment, etc., etc., etc., from in-game, as if the comic should reflect EQ exactly. The fact that a comic based on EQ exactly would be pretty boring seems less important than my deviation from the game to the rules lawyers, so I always hear from them with each strip. All I can say is it's a comic…suspend disbelief already...

Raya: If you had it to do all over again, what would you do differently? What would you improve? What would you absolutely leave alone because it really works?

JW: If I had to do it all over again...well I'd not use some in-game character names for some cameos to spare the players a lot of grief. [Raya’s note: see interview with Arshiss’s alter ego below for more on this.] Other than, of course, starting the strip out at the current level of artwork and improving from there. There has been a vast improvement in the quality of the work between the first strips and the most recent, and when I look back at those early ones they make my eyes bleed. Other than that, well, for whatever reasons, people really seem to like the strip and care about the characters. I can't see any reasons I'd want to change anything.

I couldn’t think of anything more to ask this great and funny artist, so I thanked him and backed out of the room so as not to break anything…and I almost succeeded, although I did hear something crash as I closed the door, followed by a strangled sob.

It was time for me to step into my pixelated telephone booth and change into the mighty…okay, not mighty maybe…masterful…well, reasonably nice…Raydiance and rush to meet the great dark elf warrior Arshiss. She was waiting for me near the Felwithe stone in Plane of Knowledge (PoK).

Arshiss says, 'Hi there!'2
You have formed the group.
Arshiss has joined the group.
Arshiss tells the group, 'You must be Raya!'
You tell your party, 'Yes, my EQ alter ego is Raydiance. So nice to meet you '
Arshiss tells the group, 'It's nice to meet you as well
You tell your party, 'Shall we find the building where I grilled...er interviewed Straha?'
Raydiance opens the door for Arshiss.
You tell your party, 'heh you first - always give way to dark elves with flamey swords'

Arshiss laughed, brandished her swords and went into the building where I had interviewed Straha and Anna. We got comfy, although I have to admit those two fiery warrior epic swords were making me a tad uneasy. I got out the blue elven wine and poured a drink, then had a sudden fearful thought that Arshiss might think I was making fun of dark (blue) elves. I asked her if she minded. She told me, not at all, as long as I poured her good slug of it too, if I didn’t have anything stronger. I shook my head, got another glass out of my backpack and pour her a stiff wine. We settled our buns, took a few sips, and both cleared our throats at the same time.

Arshiss tells the group, 'I've never been interviewed before, so be gentle!'
Arshiss scowls at Raydiance.
You tell your party, 'Oh really, you are a virgin interviewee? - I'm always gentle...I adore my interviewees cuz they always give me such great stories /hug'
3 Arshiss tells the group, '<sighs in relief!>'
Arshiss stops scowling.
Raydiance sighs in relief!
You tell your party, 'That's better - just us girls together '
Arshiss tells the group, 'Aye!'
You tell your party, 'And sliding gently out of left field, here is question #1 '
You tell your party, 'Arshiss, I wonder if you could introduce yourself and tell us a little about you - where you started out, your background, I see you have your warrior's epic swords, how you got them?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Well my name is Arshiss Bladebringer, and I'm originally from Neriak of course. However, I had a bit of a disagreement with the Indigo Brotherhood and was forced to...well..relocate. I currently reside in a small apartment in Cabilis'
You tell your party, 'Is your family still in Neriak?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'My mother is, my sister moves about quite a bit preaching the will of Innoruuk.'
You tell your party, 'Ah, I see...and your father?'
4 Arshiss tells the group, 'Sadly, I never knew him. As you know, Neriak has some strange practices on coupling and views on relationships. I like to think he may have been one of the guardsmen of our homeland, as I once was. I forgot to mention my son, who is currently training under my good friend Dragoonblood somewhere in Kunark. He is a Crusader of the Greenmist'
Arshiss tells the group, '<smiles> Adopted of course'
You tell your party, 'Ah, congratulations on such a fine young offspring. I'm sure he does you proud.'
Arshiss tells the group, 'He does. Tarsis is the light of my life.'
You tell your party, 'Oh, adopted...what race is he?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'He is an Iksar, I found his egg among the slaughtered remains of an Iksar adventure group, deep in Sebilis'
You tell your party, 'It seems that you and Straha have a lot in common, including both never having known your fathers.'
Arshiss tells the group, '<smiles> Aye, we are similar in many ways. I think that is why we are such close friends.'

There were so many questions I wanted to ask this fascinating female. I had just gotten a new female dark elf assistant, necro, name of Dharkness. Maybe Arshiss could help me understand the species a little better. I never knew what Dharkness was thinking...and now I didn't really know what Arshiss was thinking, but she surely intrigued me. I tried to keep the questions compact, but you know how it is...questions are like pretzels, you dangle one in front of your eyes, and just can't help reaching for the next...

You tell your party, 'Before we get onto that close friendship, would you care to elucidate on the disagreement with the Indigo Brotherhood? Or are you not in a position to do that?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Well I couldn't make them hate me any more! <winks!> First off, I've never quite agreed with the teachings of my home town. I am not a follower of Innoruuk [God of Hate], and certainly don't agree with his legacy of hate. Other then that, I helped several close friends of mine quest for their Naturewalker's Scimitar, and news of my helping the "lesser" races travelled to Neriak. I'm sort of a "Do unto Others" person, I never quite fit in at home'
You tell your party, 'I had a suspicion that you were one of the "good guys" (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), when I saw how you helped Annashi out when she was captured and brought to Neriak as a "bunny" girl.'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Well I have to tell you I was in a tight spot there, I had less chance of being caught then Scaley and Anna...but one wrong move and we would have all been on our way to the happy hunting ground! I do like Anna tho, she's sweet. I didn't mind helping her out one bit =)'
You tell your party, 'Actually, that was my next question--your thoughts on Anna and her penchant for always getting into trouble.'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Well...she does have a knack for getting in trouble...I mostly chalk it up to her innocence. It's refreshing in a way. I'm a bit sadistic tho, thinking of Grumpy going through so much trouble does amuse me <winks!>'
You tell your party, 'rofl - you call Straha "Grumpy'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Oh yes, Grumpy...Scaley...I have tons of nicknames for him. Most of them are like "Grumpy" tho!'
Arshiss tells the group, 'He is a grump! But he really is a teddybear once you get past that gruff outer shell'
You tell your party, 'I do like that - although you wouldn't catch ME saying that to his face -- uh uh! this cleric doesn't want to end up as a leftover in some Iksar's pantry!'

I had started getting pretty comfortable with Arshiss. This “girls will be girls” ambience was lulling me into a false sense of security. See, the thing is, a warrior is a warrior. And that teddybear reference to Straha didn’t fool me one bit. I saw how he gave Anna wood elf parts to eat that time. Okay, he tried to stop her from eating them, but it didn’t stop him, did it? So you don’t ever relax with a warrior, cuz their whole mission in life is to cut and slash and do nasty things to other people’s body parts…and a girl warrior was no different, especially a DARK elf girl warrior. I offered Arshiss another glass of elven wine to pacify her and took one myself to dull the sound of those flaming blades popping and crackling. You didn’t see HER putting the durned things out, didya?

You tell your party, 'So tell me then, how did you and Straha meet and get to be such close friends?'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> Oh wow, that was ages ago. You see, I was on my way to Stonebrunt. Ajian, a halfling friend of mine, had said it was a fantastic place with more treasure then any inkie could carry home. Unfortunately he gave me the wrong directions on how to actually GET there...<sighs>...'
You tell your party, 'Don't ya just hate when they say, "You can't miss it"?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'So here I was deep in the warrens, hungry <shudders> Dirty...but mostly hungry. Totally lost…when I hear the sounds of fighting ahead of me. Oh yes, I could strangle him!'
You tell your party, 'Ewww, dirty and hungry and lost in the warrens - not my idea of a good time.'
4 Arshiss tells the group, 'At the time I used a present from my mother, the legendary Incarnadine Breastplate, and was able to cast a spell of invisibility on myself. I crept ahead and saw two figures locked in combat, the Kobold's King, and a strange figure in a dark cloak. Eventually the hulking figure triumphed over the Kobold King, and turned to look straight at me! You can imagine how frightened I was!'
You tell your party, 'Ohhhhh yes, I'm quaking in my boots as you speak '
Arshiss tells the group, 'He pulled back his hood and, to make it even worse, he was an Iksar, a badly scarred one at that. Now I have my fair share of Iksar friends, but meeting one alone in the dank dark of the Warrens is not my idea of a picnic in Nektulos Forest. I was terrified!'
You tell your party, 'No kidding!'
You tell your party, 'How old were you then?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Oh 142 or so...<laughs> Well about 20 in human years (okay, about level 40, I guess). I was very young and it was one of my first adventures alone. He then called out to me, saying he could "smell" me. I dropped the invis spell, and seemingly in no time at all we were sitting down sharing some of Straha's exquisite cooking. He was nice enough to share his marmalade sandwiches with me. We've been friend's ever since! It's amazing how many friendships are forged in the most unlikely of places'
You tell your party, 'Straha makes marmalade? o_O'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs and winks> And root beer! You wouldn't know it to look at him =) '
You tell your party, 'No, I sure wouldn't lol'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs!>'

I had to pause to try and imagine gruff, crusty, okay…grumpy Straha Ironscale with an apron on, making marmalade and root beer. I wondered if he stirred with his sword. The image just wasn’t coming together for me. I laughed for a while as Arshiss watched me a little uneasily. I tried to explain…Straha and marmalade…but I was gasping too much. You don’t want to make any warrior uneasy, either by laughing at him/her or by laughing when they don’t know what you are laughing about. Regaining control of myself, I took a sip of blue elven wine and continued the interview.

You tell your party, 'You were the one most likely to help Straha out with rescuing Anna from Neriak...would you care to comment on that little escapade?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Well I actually was on my way there anyway…my mother had sent me on an errand for some Wizardy Runes or some such…bah! it's all Magic to me <grins>…when I happened upon Straha. He told me what happened, and we devised the plan that eventually freed Anna. I had been to the Maiden's Fancy in Neriak several times and knew the barkeep wouldn't give me too much trouble. He's a bit of a coward'
You tell your party, 'Yes, we all saw that - you certainly handled him well!'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> Well, he didn't want to get hurt. And I didn't really feel like hurting him anyway <grins>'
You tell your party, 'Exactly! Tell me, did you know that you were going to inspire one of the most famous sayings on a lot of the EQ servers? I'm talking about the "Blargh! Death death death, Fear me!" one, of course.'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> No, actually. I really wouldn't say I inspired it...Anna takes all the credit for that =)'
You tell your party, 'Well, you disguised her as a dark elf - I would say the inspiration came from that but yes, she is a funny little thing, isn't she? Anyhow, on server after server, all you had to say was "Blargh" and people would start laughing their helmets off '
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> The popularity never ceases to amaze me!'
You tell your party, 'Yes, and I want to ask some questions of your RL alter ego about that in a few minutes. However, first, you say you are now living in a small apartment in Cabilis. What's going on in Arshiss's life these days?'
Arshiss tells the group, 'Oh well, I spend most of my time in Cabilis now. I've taken a bit of a vacation from the adventuring lifestyle since my son is so actively pursuing it. I enjoy getting his letters and marking his progress. When I do get in the mood to do a bit of adventuring, I mostly go with my good friends Balas and Dragonblood. We have been friends since the dawn of time it seems. I used to adventure quite a bit with Straha, but looking after Anna takes up much of his time now =)'
You tell your party, 'It is wonderful to have such adventuring companions.'
Arshiss tells the group, 'It is =) I wouldn't wish for any others'
You tell your party, 'I do think Straha could probably use a hand now and then. Any thought of getting involved and helping old Straha out again. Anna and Smoke together may be just too much for him to handle (although I wouldn't say that to HIM of course).'
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> Stra knows that I'm here whenever he needs me. I'd certainly lend a hand if the situation arises!'

The hour was getting late and the moon was starting to rise again – it seems to do that every night. I asked Arshiss if she had ever thought of what life would be like if she played other games…she said she was pretty happy with Norrath and the Everquestian ways, although once she had envisioned herself as a Jedi in Star Wars…but somehow that was too much of a stretch for Arshiss. I sympathized but thought a dark elf jedi would be quite a novelty. Arshiss agreed and said she didn’t much like being a novelty. I dropped the subject.

You tell your party, 'Okay, I wonder if I can prevail upon you to call up your alter ego. And thank you, Arshiss, for such a lovely chat. It didn’t hurt much at all, now, did it? '
Arshiss tells the group, '<laughs> You were gentle as promised…and the elven wine helped. Strangely enough, I enjoyed the interview. Any time, Raydiance. And I don't mind stating my alter ego’s name. It's Chelle Hooper.

Arshiss and Raydiance each stepped into their respective telephone booths, hit some keys and transformed magically into Chelle Hopper, the animator behind Arshiss, and Raya, supposedly the force behind Raydiance, although there has been some dispute about who is animating whom. We happened to materialize in my cramped little editor’s cubbyhole at Warcry. I swept a half dozen files off a chair, before remembering they were the questionnaires on the Female Perspective on Online Gaming that I had spent hours organizing. I gulped and offer the chair to Chelle. She saw the labels on the files and whispered, “I’ll help you sort them after, Raya.” Dang, she was just as nice as Arshiss had been. How about that? We got settled, and I started grilling…er, questioning her.

Raya: Chelle, just to set some background, can you tell me how long you have been playing EverQuest?

CH: Since March of 2000.

Raya: And was Arshiss your main character since then?

CH: Oh no, my first character was a Wizard named Dawning. The same character I roleplay as Arshiss' mother. I actually used Arshiss as a tunnel mule for a long time. One day I was traded some crafted armor [warrior armor] for some of my tailored goods, and I decided to go kill some things. I’ve never looked back. In fact Dawning remained level 24.

Raya: Poor mum heh heh - and now Arshiss is a level what dark elf warrior?

CH: 64 with 33 AA's [alternate advancement points]. Sadly my alt outgrew her for raiding purposes. My cleric is now the main I suppose. 65 with 30 some odd AA's. Altho I still enjoy playing Arshiss and Tarsis most...Tarsis being the SK I mentioned as my adopted son for roleplaying purposes.

Raya: You have such a great in-game friendship with Straha. Tell me, do you and Jeremy Waller know each other in RL and are you friends in RL?

CH: Actually we met in EQ and have talked a few times...but mostly EQ friends. We actually met while I was running a website for EQ-related artwork, and he sent me some of his stuff. Later on, I was auctioning in the market channel for a price check on something, and he sent me a direct tell. Anxious to meet the creator of such fine artwork, I went to the Warrens where he was factioning [killing kobolds to raise faction in Paineel]. And twinked him [gave him higher class armor and weapons than ordinarily available to him] shortly after! He had such very bad equipment, I am a horrible shopper so I've twinked him for ages against his wishes.

Raya: How kind of you! So you are an artist too?'

CH: I dabble and doodle a lot. Nowhere near Jeremey's caliber of course.

Raya: So, were you the first in-game character that Jeremy immortalized in um...cartoon?'

CH: No actually, I believe several other people from a guild I was in at the time made appearances. Neotrunx as the paladin in Freeport, Aste and Saraney passed by Anna in BB...so I guess I would be 4th! He put them in as the need arose for that sort of character I think.

Raya: Ah okay, but you were the first with a somewhat starring role, i.e. more than a cameo?

CH: Oh aye, I guess I was.

Raya: Can you tell us what happened after your appearance in WTF Comics? I'm talking now about your visibility on the server.

CH: Well I started to receive a massive amount of tells from fans, which was fine...but some of them where actually quite strange. Those were the ones that got to me. A lot of them were perverse, making lewd comments regarding me and Stra. One asked what size shoe I wore in real life. Anyway it got a bit much for me…I couldn't even play the game anymore without being bombarded by tells, so we did the name change. Since then things have been quieter.

Raya: That sounds quite scary, actually. How long did this harassment go on before you decided to go the name change route, and did Sony help you out here?

CH: I didn't ask them to actually. A friend of mine did it for me because I had actually stopped logging in. This is Cycle who also does the artwork for many of my signatures. It was just horrible logging in like that. I would say it went on a few months before I just couldn't take it anymore. Cycle is a RL friend also by the way.

Raya: Ah, I see. Nice to have friends like that. I believe Jeremy also learned a big lesson on that...he said he didn't want to use real characters in the comic anymore because of that trouble you had, and now only uses characters who are already celebs (or I think who don't play anymore).

4 CH: Aye =) It really wasn't his fault, I'm just kind of a wimp and couldn't take telling people to bugger off. I've grown a lot thicker skin because of it tho, and if the situation ever arose again I think I would be much better equipped to deal with it. I actually sort of miss people knowing who I am in a way, the normal fans didn't bug me. Just the perverse ones.

Raya: Would you mind telling us a little about yourself in real life? Age, occupation, etc.? Whatever you feel comfortable with.

CH: Oh sure. I'm 23 and I live in Washington State. I'm currently a waitress at a family-owned Chinese restaurant. I'm recently divorced, but am now dating a wonderful guy named Mike. He is from Australia and plays EQ on Tribunal as Naena. Hmm I do some odd work as far as art goes…I paint walls for murals and things and also do holiday window art on occasion. And the odd EQ commission picture or two. I am also Straha's personal secretary for commissions and handle all that for him.

Raya: Personal secretary?

CH: Aye, I take care of all his correspondence. Set up his commissions, get the information needed, etc.

The hour was late and both Chelle and I had dates to keep. She thanked me for the interview. I was astounded, when I was the one privileged to be doing the interview. She grinned and said with a laugh, “And you were quite gentle!” Ah yes, but were my motives ulterior? You bet…now I get to interview her again if I want, I bet. Muahahahaahaaaaaaaa. (I glanced nervously around in case Arshiss reappeared, brandishing her flamey swords.)


Next week, in Part 5 of Straha Speaks Out!, the conclusion of this great series of interviews, we will get to meet the wonderfully evil Gomphe, who in real life became a proud papa shortly before the interview was conducted. Strangely, this does nothing to ameliorate his ebilness as he gives Dharkness (Raydiance’s dark elf staff reporter) the lowdown on how to take over Raydiance’s mind and soul in a step to dark elf world domination. Please note that, except where otherwise indicated, all comic strip and single cartoons in this article are copyright © 2002-2005 by J. Waller. All rights reserved.

Footnotes:
1This article was originally published at Warcry in August/04.
2All dialogue between Arshiss (C. Hooper) and Raydiance (Raya) is from an in-game meeting between the two.
3All screenshots were taken by Raydiance/Raya in EverQuest's Plane of Knowlege, Lanys T'vyl server, with the exception of the two Jedi versions of Arshiss, which were taken by ... and used with permission.
4This drawing was created by Chelle Hooper and is copyright 2001-2005 by her, with all rights reserved.

Links to full comic strips:
Arshiss and Straha plot strategy
Arshiss and Straha back to back
Anna-Straha-Arshiss
Blargh! Death Death!
Arshiss Steps In
Enter Gomphe, the Evil Necro

Copyright © 2004-2005 by Raya. All rights reserved.