In case it wasn't clear from my previous post I don't [I]want[/I] to do this, but I just realized that we can't just keep hoping that "soon" will finally come. I don't simply erase characters from existence, either, even if they are written out of the story; every character abandoned by its player is still around in one way or another (though some more intact than others... a certain character abandoned mid-fight, for instance, is less than recognizable at this point), nor would I simply cast any characters purged during this attempt at reviving the RP into the abyss. I might not elaborate on what happens to them, but they still exist.

And yeah, sounds like a plan.

As for the Zerul City-group, you can do that if you prefer, yoshua, as long as it gets things moving. I will have to introduce one of my characters regardless, I feel, but I suppose it doesn't have to happen as the first thing of the day. It'd be no trouble, either; I have (and have had for a [I]long[/I] time) a couple of characters standing by in Zerul City that'd have been potential recruits for the party once they got there anyway, one of which unsurprisingly is the previously-acquainted-with-I'on Thomas Remdal. Who could conveniently point the three of them in the right direction to continue the other groups' quest, if such became necessary.