I'm glad you mentioned mod favoritism, because I want to make a point on that very clear: I get a lot of plot time and stuff because I ask the mods. I toss them suggestions I'd like to do, and if they find it interesting, it happens. My suggestions tend to be fairly large-scale because Zetta, in particular, is, well, Zetta; thus they turn into pretty significant plots, involving NPCs and machinations on a large scale.

They've told me 'no' when they thought it was necessary and made changes where they thought things would work better, so I'm definitely not running free with their rubberstamp approval. I just make a point of communicating with them and offering ideas and suggestions. That isn't unique to this game either.

With regards to Tartarus and NPC interaction, that was all them; they had the idea for Tirek quite some time ago, and just integrated my ideas for Zetta's ascension into it as a good fit.