I blame you for that, you sold it too well.
I don't think that's the case. I don't think it needed much selling at all.
The truth is, there is a subset of the voters on the 'Dex that want something
different. Doesn't matter what it is, or whether it has any justification, as long as it just is. Character consistency, a vision of future development? Sophisticated, brain-based villainy of a perverted DDC scholar? LOLWUT, fagit! Gimme back my Edgy Grim Mercenary Rapelord! And turn it back into a hedonist noble after that. Bonus point if we genderswap somewhere in the process, wouldn't that be hilarious!
You can easily spot these votes. Did we ever mutilate ourselves? Well, wouldn't it be fun! Did we watch the potentially useful kids be murdered for our amusement (no real reason to distract the soldiers that we can kill with a touch)? Hey, that's a good idea! As long as it is something lulzy, there is always be a dress up, even if it is a complete 180 of what they argued yesterday - but sometimes it does not even have that.
Spiral died that way, when it reached the point no one (well, ok, 3.5 people) was playing the game anymore. Wouldn't be cool to make our shy character into a drill sergeant? Or should we give full control to our murderous alter-ego? Imagine the faces of our companions!
(and for the record, I am not talking about you, Lambchop - even though your argument led to our demise, at least you had a genuine one) What, continuing the current plotline? Nah, let's go pick up daisies in Ikei, we haven't visited in a while. Oh, dead end? Welp, next!
Rin is not only a pretty tsundere waifu. Rin accounts for half of our current power base, the other half being ourselves. She is our most valuable asset. One out of four, actually - the other three being gobbos, twins and Lucy. Take your pick who is the most useful out of the bunch. We are such a badass now that we can do without her!
Lol at Aria surpassing Rin. A child who is passable with a sword and does not have demonic special abilities. It will take years until you would be able to bring her even to your level - and do it by yourself, too, since the only other who could have taught her might be unavailable. And if you need a replacement for her so badly that you want to spend all these years teaching a peasant girl from ground up - maybe you should not have got rid of the original in the first place?
Crippling or killing her here is akin to self-mutilation, which I remember some of the same people voted for, just for kicks. It was different, we never tore off our limb before just to see if we could!
What exactly does the second choice offer? What do we exchange our
better fighter (who is stronger than ourselves, currently) for? Personal power? If you want personal power, why do you bother with building the Empire? Why do you need gobbos? They are meaningless even as a fodder, with the kind of firepower you bring to the table. Why bother training the twins? In the time you would waste on them you can become even more powerful by fighting even bigger threats. They won't ever catch up to you if you concentrate on your own development.
But I understand. The scholar and the subtle approach where we hide our most powerful abilities and do things through our minions, partners and emissaries got stale already. It has been 15 updates and we didn't rape anyone on top of the cadaver. That changes now! And then again after 5 updates, when it grows stale in turn.
The LPs where such an attitude takes the lead generally don't live long. I guess I don't have much to complain about since this didn't really take off yet.