How have you retired a character?

Since this is mostly an RP question, I figured it fit here better than in general (where I'd foresee about 20 "I deleted them" answers.)

Have you "retired" a character, and how did you do it - preferrably other than death?

Of my 50s, I've only intentionally done this with one - my Earth/FF Controller. Not even for play reasons, just that it sounded like an interesting way to keep her in "administrative" duties for the SG.

Essentially, after a fairly intense super-career, she got injured - and wasn't healing properly. Or rather, healing abilities weren't "sticking" for her. She'd been exposed to so much - tech, Kheldian energy, dark energy, etc. - that she'd actually managed to build up a resistance to it, and that putting enough healing "energy" of *any* sort into her system would run the risk of doing more, and probably irreparable damage, to her system. Too much of a good thing, in other words.

So, RP wise (and I wish I could do this in game!) she now walks with a limp and needs the help of a cane for any longer walks. "Healing," for her, is now good old fashioned bed rest, casts if anything gets broken and the like.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I've retired a few of my 50s IC once I felt that their story was told. A lot of the time, rather than death, I prefer to just move them on to other activies. They had lives before becoming heroes and often have lives afterwards too.

The Amber Banshee became the administrator and figurehead for The Militia, using her status to run the group, report to the FSBA and keep an eye on the Academy, the sub-group we created for new starters.

Karnac returned to his love of genetics and works at the Militia's Hyperion Clinic to help civillians (and potentially new heroes) to understand their mutations and incorporate them into their lives. Not all mutations are helpful of course.

Dragonstar only became a hero because of a girl he was after who left to travel around the world. Once he felt he'd paid his dues as a hero, he took his bike and rode off into the sunset, hoping to find her again.

I'm sure there's more but I can remember them all. I dislike killing off characters wholesale as I can never bring them back without turning death into the revolving door that it is in comics. And that always annoys me no end. I'd far rather have the potential to bring them back if I chose to.

I recently retired my former main, Crystal Smoke. She's gone back to her Dimension Walking ways, and resumed her exploration of the multiverse, but this time with the partner she met on Primal Earth. Much of her story while they were active was really about supporting his story, which was a conscious choice I made and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Once his story was wrapped up, however, there was little to keep them tied to one place. The possibiity is open for them to return from time to time, though, and the other player and I still talk about what might be going on with them, especially since I have another character who is Primal Earth's analogue of Crystal (well actually Crystal is the analogue).

Winter Kills of the Paragon University thread moved to England to further her college education. Nothing really awful happened to her, she just wanted a better education and to see more of the world.

Simon-Says of the Whitmoore Apartments thread moved to England with her fiancee following getting pregnant, the death of her father, her capture by the 5th Column, hospitalization after a drug overdose, and a traumatizing psychic battle with Vanessa DeVore. From there she moved to her home in France and entered a quiet retirement until the 2nd Rikti Invasion.

Steele-Magnolia of the Whitmoore Apartments thread got married and moved to Founders Falls (coincidentally the home was a wedding gift from Simon-Says, her old teammate. She became so busy with R & D for MetaForces (her new group) and Portal Corps that she was too valuable to risk doing hero work.

Sgt Pandora of the Whitmoore Apartments thread got too busy doing her work for FBSA.

Artemis 2020 of the Whitmoore Apartments thread went undercover in the Rogue Isles in pursuit of revenge following a horrible fight with her father (sort of, he's the Primal Earth version of her father from an alternate future).

2020 Vision of the Whitmoore Apartments thread moved to Council Empire with his friend Kid Valorto help the resistance there and evade repercussions for some of their actions here.

Cassandra Seer of the Whitmoore Apartments thread got married and settled into domestic bliss.

This Woman's Work, a ghost, of the Paragon University thread just wandered off in ghost-like fashion.

Maxwell Croninger of the Whitmoore Apartments thread died defending a Crey facility from rogue heroes.

Sword of Solomon and Exodus Reborn of the Whitmoore Apartments thread returned to Israel.

That's all I can remember.

Code Vatyna After appearing in "A Few Points to Ponder" my group and I played out the entire Bounty Hunter's War. At the end of it, he vanished, so I moved him to a different server. After "The Herald of Hamidon" arcs, he was brought back briefly so that we could play through those AE missions, and then retired again, moved to another server again.

Forlorn Waif After "A Few Points to Ponder", "From Death to Unlife", and "The Herald of Hamidon" Forlorn Waif went torpid once she managed to get through the portal with the rest of the heroes. The rest of the players involved in our ongoing mission arcs keep a wary out, knowing that she can return.

Usually, I just transfer the character to another server. Lately, that's been Champion.

Otherwise, I probably just rarely play the character, usually only turning to it if I'm in that particular mood.

As far as RP, like any good comic book character, my characters never REALLY retire...

Though my main tank now has white hair and looks like a gigantic, angry Santa Claus in plain clothes...