First of all, i am sorry for what you're going through at the moment especially considering your family. That's difficult and extremely distracting which i understand completely because i've been through similar times.
Secondly, addressing what's bothering you is a good thing no matter if it sounds angry or not. There's no way of dealing with issues if nobody opens their mouth about them. So that was a step into the right direction.
I don't want anybody to take any of the next statements personal or something, i'm just trying to say my mind as plainly as possible. Now, to answer some of your critique.
-You won't be able to stop people from ghosting or stating their interest before disappearing. That's shit but it's how it is sadly. Especially in a group rp. Thought i admit i'd expect people to have the balls to simply state their disinterest in a story and excuse themselves before leaving so i am also pissed at certain individuals that haven't been part of this rp for a while. But there's nothing we can do about it.
-Not sure if that's meant for me but i'll clarify my point of view on this. Fleshing out characters isn't usually a bad thing. Every good story needs a bunch of interesting npcs or side characters to properly flesh out the world. But it has to be done right. A few sentences here and there don't make a character. Neither does a datasheet. They need their own stories. And they need their own time in each reply. You can't expect me to have any interest in a character that hasn't had more than three sentences to say or that has never interacted with my own character in a meaningful way, which isn't possible at this point. If you're asking me there have been too many characters introduced in too little time. Neither of them has been given a chance to properly introduce themselves and their story. What's weird about this is that i'm currently more interested in Captain Rosh than Leo who's a player character but comes weirdly short in terms of "screentime". I guess there's some sort of balance missing but i also have no idea how to fix that.
-Now that's one for me directly. Let me explain myself. I'm not adding any character because i can't guarantee to write more than one character with the quality i want to. English isn't my native language, i'm rereading my replys several times while also struggling with finding the right words for certain scenes which sometimes ends in weird ways of describing things. I fear i'm going down the same route as both of you by adding more characters. That route being a. very little parts to write for each character and b. completely disregarding any proof reading and termination of grammatical errors. Especially point b. is already quite time costly for me mind you. The question i have to ask myself is if i want to keep to Corellius and write him with what i believe is a fair bit of text and at least a bit of quality or do i risk disregarding that for more characters? I hope you can see why i'm not adding characters off of this explanation.
About not learning the existing ones, here's a small list instead of an entire essay. Little to no interaction with my pc, little screentime in general, no emotional connection. The biggest problem is that with one reply every three to four days it's quite difficult to stay on top of all the characters. But, i also don't see that as a problem because there's a npc gallery to check so its not like i can't write a scene with any of them i'll just have to look them up before and that's it. But i do expect that to change once they all start bothering the only real mage in the army for whatever it is they think he can do for them and mire interactions happen. Give it some time and that problem should take care of itself.
-You decided on Valtheim towers. That means Whiterun hold. It's either the crown or the siege. The only other way from out current position is back to Windhelm or do something in the Rift. Or Helgen i guess but Ulfric has to be there and i doubt he'd reach it faster considering the imperial ambush. Anyways, if you don't want to start the crown yet then don't. I admit i would have liked a chance for the pc characters to get some time to interact with each other on a mission but i'm not trying to force anyone into anything.
-elaborate please
I've complained and asked if i'm wrong to write Corellius as i have. I have not gotten an answer to this. The answer i got was that the skill system is supposed to be a guideline. I wasn't told a. yes it's realistic so it's fine. or b. no, go fucking nuts. Which makes me wonder if my texts are even completely read to be honest.
How about this, take every skill tree that we have and elaborate what you can do with how many points in it. Example:
One handed:
1 - looses against a legionarie
2 - draw against a legionarie
2 - win
4 - win against two
5 - win against three
There wouldn't be any open questions about what we can realistically do that way and we wouldn't have to bother with those kind of things.
As i said, don't take any of this the wrong way it's just me saying my mind. Both of you are welcome to do the same. I don't mind having a bunch of characters included and i don't mind cringe and edgy over the too violent characters but we'll need to clear those things up before continuing.