I have two main issues with my RP and play in general:
1. I can't keep up with what I'm supposed to be, at least not yet. I am supposed to be a good FC, and I'm not yet as good as I used to be (not that I was a legend, but I was efficient). Working on it, but meanwhile it's frustrating.
2. Old-Seph still sits in me. And, unexpectedly, takes control of new-Seph and makes him say and do things I don't want him to say or do. Catillah was supposed to be a Commander in the Imperial Navy, and old-Seph got him to be a Commander but in Imperial Navy Intelligence. And things like that. Sometimes I have to erase what I just wrote to exorcise him, and sometmies I don't notice until it's too late, like the time I was drinking whiskey in AVCL and suddenly I said "I put down the tea cup" because that's the only thing old-Seph drank. It's not frustrating, though, but it is very very strange to see him show up in unexpected ways and moments.
Anything else depends on CCP interaction, and that's sure sign of a shitty plan from the start. When I kicked things off though, it seemed that interaction would be a real and constant thing, where properly placed folk could tip certain balances. This was not accurate, and too many decisions from the beginning were based on it.
Indeed, that was the main flaw in the design of Old-Seph and the Ordo Quaesitoris. Fortunately, back then, there were Aurora's live events, so I could make up a bit that way.
he has a thousand acquaintances, but none left who are loyal.
At least in this, you're wrong. Not saying I'm loyal to Graelyn because I'm in PIE (which helps, but would get us nowhere), but old-seph had an infinite respect for Graelyn and considered him one of the main loyalists to follow, together with Archbishop. And old-Seph is still inside Catillah, so when you call Catillah will come, not because of PIE or chain of command, but because of OOC bonds I can't break (same happens with Aldrith, for example, but that I've more or less justified ICly, though through old-seph). So, at the minimum, you have one loyal pilot to you not because of your rank or position, but because who you are.
So, at least a few of the pieces of that weapon are still in place, ready to be wielded if you need us.
He's outlived his enemies, but everyone else that mattered as well. It is not the victory he hoped for, and his dear Empire is absolutely none the better for it, or any of his efforts. His public RP is centered around portraying a has-been who is the only one who knows how completely he's failed.
The tragic destiny of heroes. I always thought most heroes in movies and books would end up this way, but the curtain falls before that's possible and doesn't show us what happens when there's no enemy, no need for allies, only a normal life. Dragonlance showed it a bit in the Legends of Dragonlance, when we meet a fat, drunken Caramon.