100 Issues! Tribute to 100 Staffers! Zombies! 17 Immortal Interviews!

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/ Contents \__________________________________________________________________
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   From the Editor and Publisher                     
     Zombies!                      - by Genge        
     A tribute to the CoD Staff    - by Alysira     

   Interviews                                          
     Nivek                         - by Mari          
     Alysira                       - by Mari     
     Loril                         - by Mari        
     Lopuis                        - by Mari         
     Akael                         - by Aslan      
     Gatersade                     - by Aslan       
     Gonnil                        - by Aslan       
     Meekon                        - by Aslan      
     Destre                        - by Babui      
     Romani                        - by Babui    
     Shadrack                      - by Babui   
     Stoneheft                     - by Babui   
     Kinux                         - by Vortok  
     Ceirana                       - by Vortok  
     Linda                         - by Vortok  
     Rhadamanthus                  - by Vortok 
     Korim                         - by Vortok 

   Fun and Entertainment                            
     Archives Poll Results         - by Alysira    
     Cry of Despair Quest          - by Alysira    

   PKill                                        
     PKill Status                  - by Vortok    
     PKill News                    - by Vortok     
     Join PKill                    - by Vortok     

   General Knowledge                                 
     Augurers                      - by Genge      

                                                                      
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 __________________
/ Zombies! - Genge \__________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

October is an excellent month. Do you know why? Halloween. How can you possibly
not enjoy a holiday where even normal people dress up like freaks, and candy is
cheap and plentiful? There are cult classic films on regular TV, it's an excuse
to set off fireworks, and little kids learn valuable life lessons about how it
is absolutely okay to take things from absolute strangers, as long as they're
not in an unmarked white van. Who doesn't like that? Lonely people with serious
issues, and people who don't want to get over themselves and just let everyone
else have fun, I reckon. I, however, adore halloween. I still get dressed up. I
am even getting dressed up for halloween and going to work kitted out as zombie
Jesus (if you get the reference, pat yourself on the back). In the spirit of 
the holiday, I will be giving out candy on RoD on occasion for this month, and
have written up a little proposal for a class I think we can all enjoy... I
present to you: The Zombie.
 
Genre: Aberrant - they're undead.
Primary Stat: Consitution - there are two kinds of zombies. There are the dime
 a dozen kind who die en masse like those in Evil Dead, and there those who 
 keep coming no matter what happens to them. They can be decapitated and still
 relentlessly continue towards their prey. Clearly, we're talking about the 
 latter - a more Jason-eqse zombie.
Secondary Stat: Strength - their rotting limbs are not moved by muscle, but by
 unearthly magics and foul curses. This lends them a certain measure of braun
 that most people can't obtain.
Deficient: Intelligence - unfortunately, due to the fact that their brains are
 rotting, zombies aren't terribly bright. Resident Evil 4 doesn't count.
HPMin: 10
HPMax: 14
EXPBase: 1500 - zombies take a long time to learn anything, what with their
 rotting brains.
Resist: Drain - can't really drain anything from a corpse.
Suscept: Holy - they're evil and undead.

Skills:
Chomp: Latches on to an opponent with your decaying zombie teeth and gnaws on 
them for several beats, doing a large measure of physical damage. This attack 
is constitution and strength based, as those dictate how well you can keep your
jaw latched onto a struggling and flailing opponent. This would be the class'
strongest attack skill.
Shamble: Removes fly and float, and slows your movement rate while this skill
is active, but you regenerate hitpoints and moves at an increased rate. 
Infect: Poisons the opponent by raking your filthy, disgusting zombie nails
into the flesh of your opponent and piercing into their veins.
Reconstruct: restores hp based on how long you've been fighting a single mob -
the longer you fight it, the more body parts there are to put back on, and the
more hp you regenerate.

There you have it, some basic ideas for a zombie class. I bet you want one.

(End)                                                                 
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 ______________________________________
/ A Tribute to the Cry Staff - Alysira \______________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

For six and a half years, over ONE HUNDRED MUD'ders have worked hard to
bring you the Cry of Despair every month. It would be a travesty to 
celebrate the 100th issue of the Cry of Despair and not celebrate the 100+
players who worked so hard on it all these years:

Aleir, Alendil, Alerious, Alisia, Allison, Alovea, Alysira, Amante, Amoria,
Anaisse, Angelea, Apollonia, Aragon, Aslan, Athuro, Aurelius, Ayesh, Aylssa,
Azrakare, Babui, Barentin, Bede, Begaria, Brakko, Carlie, Cassa, Cattrina,
Cersei, Cyniq, Conran, Dacoit, Deevlit, Dein, DekkatH, Diblin, Elaria, 
Elbannon, Elisabet, Faceripper, Faya, Gabac, Gawen, Ganemanoimu, Genge, 
Goomra, Grishnakh, Gurt, Hawpch, Iktome, Ilsensine, Indalecio, Jaryl,
Jevy, Juliana, Kannan, Karkarov, Kayah, Kellandra, Kentamya, Keroppi,
Khaimran, Korim, Kuah, Kyrnia, Kyrstal, Laine, Lascivias, Lex, Lohon, Lorel,
Loril, Louellin, Mauro, Maray, Mari, Mea, Morgane, Muiren, Mystaric, Myra, 
Naeblis, Naithalia, Nashua, Nimue, Nitsuj, Noplex, Odessyus, Oknelim, 
Qaulorn, Ranstlin, Redric, Romanu, Rosetta, Sarakin, Saraphin, Sarig, Sealom,
Severin, Shadia, Shadrack, Shamisen, Shingo, Silverwind, Simone, Stozzter,
Tatyana, Tical, Tinani, Thabo, Thalasian, Thivia, Tobie, Trinda, Tunclon,
Vaile, Vestia, Vladith, Vortok, Wiglaff, Wutanali, Yardan, Zishum, Zio.

While some are new names that many of you won't recognise, and some didn't
stay on the staff for long at all, there are others who contributed to the
Cry of Despair for years on end. They were passionate about the CoD and
worked hard to develop it and keep it alive. I couldn't possibly name them
all, but here are a few names that come to mind;

Mystaric and Bede - The first Editors of the Cry of Depsair who worked on it
together for over twenty issues. Without them, I doubt the Cry would have had
the boost it needed to get started.
Shingo - Read Issue 25 on the website. His article creepily predicts the
Shattering... Coincidence?
Conran - A member of the staff for around fifty issues, his dedication to
the CoD was only halted by his ascension to Immortality.
Juliana - A truly dedicated staff member and editor whom I do now regret
seeing leave. A player who earned her place as a Hero.
Kuah, Khaimran, Myra - All long-serving, dedicated editors in their time.
Where would the CoD be without them?
Elisabet - She served as the Immortal Sponsor for many, many issues, until
her retirement from the Realms. She helped me a great deal during my time as
Editor and I know she was a great supportive person to many other members in
her time.

As a writer, editor and Immortal of the Cry of Despair, I've been a part of
over twenty issues. Not a lot compared to these people, but I've seen it
through a lot of events. Controversial articles, dedicated staff... and not-
so-dedicated staff. The team we have now is fantastic, and I look forward to
working on many more issues of the Cry of Despair with them. If any past
writers are reading this, kudos to you for helping to make the Cry of Despair
the fantastic magazine that it is now.

(End)                                                                 Page: 006
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 _________________________
/ Interview: Nivek - Mari \___________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Mari:  What are some of your duties as an Immortal?
Nivek: I implement many of the coding projects, vote on changes to the
game, help other immortals and track down cheaters.  That isn't
everything I do, but it is a good portion of my work here.
Mari:  How long have you been a part of Realms, Immortal and Mortal?
Nivek thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Nivek: Been on Realms since 1995 or 1996 I forget exactly.
Nivek: Or maybe longer than that.
Nivek: I don't remember ;)
Nivek: I have been here since 1997 as an imm.
Mari:  There have been many changes in the past, are you happy with how
the game is going so far?
Nivek: You are never totally satisfied with all the changes.
Nivek: I think the majority of the changes were very successful and the mud
is much more robust and stable than it was at the beginning.
Nivek: That being said, there is plenty left to do.  And hopefully there 
will be many more changes down the line.
Mari:  If you could change just one thing what would it be?
Nivek thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Nivek: I would change the glory system, where people can get more glory and
glory can be used for other cool things.
Nivek: Maybe multiple types of glory, or caps on how much stats can be added
to an item.
Nivek: But it would be better to have more opportunities to get glory.
Mari:  What are your responsibilities in the CoE?
Nivek: To vote on proposed projects, vote on imm promotions, discuss rule
changes and indicate challenges code wise with various projects.
Mari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?
Nivek: Finding the various secrets in the realms.  Most I already know, so
it is less of an adventure.
Mari:  What part of being an Immortal do you like most?
Nivek: The ability to make Realms of Despair a better place for all to play.

Thanks to Nivek for taking the time to participate in the 100th issue of the
Cry!

(End)                                                                
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 ___________________________
/ Interview: Alysira - Mari \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Mari: how long have you been playing on realms?
Alysira: Since about October 2000, my first character was a warrior
which I only got to about level 20, then it deleted, after
a few months I began and completed Alysira.
Mari: how long have you been an Immortal?
Alysira: Since about March 2003
Mari: What are some of your duties as Imm?
Alysira: Well, as HA Head I'm responsible for maintaining communication
with players, marketing for the Realms, and a few various other
things...
Alysira: As Cry of Despair Immortal Sponsor (along with Korim) I'm
responsible for making sure that the CoD is posted every 
month and it is the best that it can be...
Mari: You have quite a bit of work to do around here, do you miss
being a Mortal or would you say you are happy with what you
are doing now?
Alysira: Nah, I'm happy where I am, I definitely do better as an Immortal
than I did as a player. I was a terrible player, I know that from
befriending a lot of very very skilled people...
Alysira: There's a lot more I wish to achieve as an Immortal, and sometimes
I regret not being a better player, but I have the ability to listen
to current players and help achieve what they want, and I'm happy 
doing that now.
Mari: There have been many changes in the Cry, are you happy with how it
is going so far?
Alysira: I am happy with how the Cry is doing, people seem to be reading it
a lot more now than they used to, I figure that from the amount of
great comments we're getting about certain articles lately. I know
the Cry has nowhere to go but up, especially with the mix of writers
we have now.
Mari: What plans do you have for the future, any other councils you are 
interested in?
Alysira: I spent some time in Quest Council before moving to the
Herald Assembly and I'd love to go back soon and work on
more quests, but I love the Herald Assembly also.
Alysira: It's a great council which is currently working on a lot of great
projects.
Mari: Have anything planned that you can share with us?
Alysira: Well if anyone remembers, a shop is being worked on to allow people
to buy products about Realms, the profits from which would go towards
advertising/hardware upgrades/etc...
Alysira: That's not directly being worked on by HA, more so indirectly and
being worked on by other Immortals.
Mari: Ok, we will have to watch for that then 
Mari: What part of your job here would you say you like most?
Alysira: The communication between myself and players, as HA Head it's
pretty much my duty to listen to people complain, and there are
a lot of intelligent players who have a lot of great ideas... 
Believe it or not.
Alysira: I love listening to people and their thoughts.
Mari:  What is your least favorite duty?
Alysira thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Alysira: I guess my LEAST favorite would be policing channels,
I hate punishing people but if they deserve it then you
don't have much choice.
Mari: What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?
Alysira: Hanging out with my friends and being able to run anything whenever
I was bored. I was never a GOOD runner but it was a lot of fun to be
able to just go kill something with some friends.
Mari: If you could change just one thing what would it be?
Alysira thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Alysira: I can't decide, to be honest I talk to a lot of people and I could
name several things I'd like to change =P
Alysira: The game is great, don't get me wrong.
Alysira: But I honestly believe there could be a few more things changed.
Alysira smiles happily.
Mari: Thanks for taking time to talk with me.
Alysira: Thank you for doing the interview!

(End)                                        
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 _________________________
/ Interview: Loril - Mari \___________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Mari:  How long have you been on Realms as an Imm and Mort? 
Loril: I've been playing since 1996. I immed in 1999.
Loril: ooo, Feb. '96 and June '99
Mari:  What are some of your duties as an Immortal?
Loril: Well... hmm...
Loril: Channel Nazi, listening to sad people, keeping up morale, and
General-Purpose-Secretary to the MUD.
Loril sits down and thinks deeply.
Loril: I've considered making that my Rank but it won't fit.
Loril: I also do numbers of those Mini-Quests that you might find here
and there.
Loril: Oh, and General-Purpose Sounding Board.
Loril: That might be it.
Mari: You know I had this idea once.....
You tease her playfully.
Mari:  I see you are Deity of the Order of Ringbearers, What are some of
your responsibilities as a Deity?
Loril: We need to work in there somewhere that I <3 the Ringbearers and
they roxoxors... 
Loril: Run 'er by me!
Mari:  that was awesome timing
Loril giggles.
Loril: I love how that can happen here, don't you?
Loril: That's one of the things that no graphical game can ever quite manage.
You seem to be in an agreeable mood.
Mari:  we are a class all our own in that respect =D
Loril nods eagerly.
Loril: It will never lose its magic for me. :)
Mari:  What does the Visionary Consortium do?
Loril: The VC considers ideas from TS and from other immortals.
They're considered, debated and voted on.
Loril: Well, the immortals aren't... the ideas are.
Loril rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.
Loril doesn't need her audience to laugh. She does it well-enough on her own!
Loril jumps up into the air and hollers, "Wheeeee!"
Loril: There are many ideas being considered at any time.
Loril: We do have numbers of items up for consideration at all times.
Cappa's been working on streamlining TS so, along with the normal
summer slowdown, it's been a bit quieter of late.
Loril: When a decision is made, we report back to TS.
Loril: Passes go to CoE for their consideration.
Loril: Not everything goes as smoothly as that, but that's the basic process.
Mari:  How is that working for you since NC?
Loril: It was quite the change for me.
Mari:  What part of your job here would you say you like most?
Loril: My job as a whole or just in VC?
Loril: Bah, the answer is the same, I think.
Loril: I like to engage with people. I like when I meet someone who is
really into this place. There's a lot here for anyone. I love
seeing it when someone's totally involved.
Loril: That's pretty vague but, it really is true that there's so much
here for anyone. So many different games that anyone might be playing.
Loril: I'm not much for the Big, Badass Avatar Game (tm) but I still love
to see how involved people can be with it.
Loril: When you consider that a real text-based MUD has lasted this long
and can, really, be considered past tense in terms of technology,
we still do keep getting new players.
Mari:  What is your least favorite duty? 
Loril: Least favorite... That's a toughie.
Loril: I don't appreciate when someone bitches about something without
considering what any possible 'solution' to their complaint
might be...
Loril: Declaring that something sucks doesn't cut it.
Loril: To try something and find that it doesn't behave the way you
expected then to cry, "That sucks" kind of hurts. I see how the
people here sweat to make something work. It hurts to see that
negated with one little phrase.
Mari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?
Loril: I miss my private life. You see when I immed and Stoneheft soon after,
two families were broken up. I am married to Grunthos and he is 
married to Lyra.
Loril: Each family had children, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Loril: It's very hard to keep up with friends and family when you imm.
Loril: It worked well. I think we've both managed to contribute... but
that bit was hard.
Loril: Change is not always comfie but it's always good to shake things
up a bit.
Loril: Besides, people always wonder about us. If nothing else, we
manage to start a few conversations. ;)
Mari: Are you happy with life as it is on Realms or do you have future
ideas, more than what you have to handle now?
Loril: There is always more to do that what one has to handle.
I'm sure you find that as well.
Loril: That's what makes us a real community. We want to contribute 
more and more but we all understand that there are simply
never enough hours.
Loril: A community strives together and understands each other - 
both for strengths and for weaknesses. We understand that
we are all contributing what we can.
Mari:  If you could change just one thing what would it be?
Loril: Big question. Pre-auth.
Loril: It needs to be more inviting.
Mari:  Any ideas as to how? 
Loril: I have an area in the works. And I like it a lot.
Loril: I never get the time I need to finish it.
Loril: It's based on the Sunless Sea idea.
Loril: It will get people doing what they want right away - 
killing stuff and finding stuff.
Loril: And it will do what the Perpetual Newbie thinks Newbies
need - help them to learn commands by using them.
Mari:  I agree, no better way to learn.
Loril: I really do think so.
Loril: What do you do when you find a new game? You start poking at
things and trying things.
Loril: You read the manual -after- you get stuck. Not before.
Mari:  How do you feel about all the changes Realms has been through,
say with the shattering?
Loril: The Shattering was fabulous. I've never personally experienced
so many volunteers giving everything in themselves and then 
100% more to a project.
Loril: The Shattering also had its downsides as everyone would agree.
Loril: Not the least of those was that it was a project that took far
too long to complete. People come and go in a community like
this. Projects naturally suffer when that happens.
Loril: In my mind, we're still working on it. It's not done yet as anyone
who understands the software development lifecycle can attest.
Loril: Everything here takes longer than anyone wants it to - even those
who are doing it.
Mari:  It's a lot of work on so few really.
Loril: The world had simply gotten too small. It needed to grow.
Loril: We grew the world - and like anything small that is stretched
that big - weak points became hugely obvious. TONS! of that
has been fixed.
Loril: But, that's part of a MUD that's not stagnate.
Loril: We've always been making changes and we'll always continue to do so.
Loril: Whether you call that 'completing the Shattering' or you call that
managing change and maintaining excitement - it all amounts to 
the same thing...
Loril: That is, let's keep moving forward. :) Backward is seldom a smart
choice.
Loril begins to pant loudly.

Many Thanks to Loril for the interview. It was a lot of fun.

(End)                                               
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 __________________________
/ Interview: Lopuis - Mari \__________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Mari: How long have you been playing on Realms, as a Mort and Immie 
Lopuis: Well, I've been playing for close to 9 years I think, It's a
little fuzzy about the beginning because I didn't really play
steady at the beginning.
Lopuis: And I’ve been an imm since about February. 2004, so little more than
a year and a half.
Mari: What are some of your duties as an Immortal?
Lopuis: Well, mostly still the basics. Authing, channel monitoring.
But beyond that I do most of my work on the building ports
Lopuis: Doing area checking when needed, building my own things and
helping out as much as I can on the public building port
Lopuis: And of course being in VC, voting and discussing ideas.
Mari: Are you enjoying what you do now or are there others councils
etc that you might like to try?
Lopuis: I enjoy what I do now, not sure how much more I could take on
at this point I have enough work to keep me busy when I have
the time to do them.
Mari: What are your responsibilities in Baali?
Lopuis: I keep the red meat coming so the order people don't feed on
each other
Lopuis: Actually Baali is pretty self-sufficient, I don't really have 
anything as of yet that they need from me, but when something
comes up I'll be here.
Mari: There have been many changes on Realms over the years, what would
you say your fav/least fav is?
Lopuis: Favorite change would have to be the removal of magic flags on
containers, just because it was so hilarious when people were
10-20x over carry weight.
Lopuis: Myself included of course.
Lopuis: Least favorite would be, the removal of item filled containers
from auction, it was just such a fun part of growing up on realms
that I think people miss out on now.
Mari: If you could change just one thing what would it be?
Lopuis: Probably the item container auction ban, just seems like one of
those "fixes" that the main problem was solved awhile ago and
any other problems can be fixed.
Mari: Would you rather have other restrictions or just revert it back?
Lopuis: Well I think the auction houses are a necessary evil for preventing
the transport of supplies instead of carrying them, so everything
can't be reverted back.
Lopuis: But being able to auction containers with items might seem like
a small deal but I always thought it was useful, there would need
to be a few restrictions added to the code to prevent the few
people who abused it and had it taken away for everyone.
Mari: What part of your job here would you say you like most? 
You hear Lopuis hrm.
Lopuis: It's probably the building aspect, being able to use the years and
years of experience I have and being able to also help others with
questions.
Mari: What is your least favorite duty?
Lopuis: Having to monitor channels, one person having a bad day or wanting
to get attention can prevent me from working on areas or other
useful things for realms, so it's quite frustrating having to baby-sit
certain people instead of doing something for the masses.
Mari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming if
anything?
Lopuis: I'd say being able to log on and not have to worry about missing
something on the screen. As a mort if someone sends me a tell it's
probably just someone saying hi.
Lopuis: Being an imm if someone sends me a tell, it might be because they
have 10seconds left before their corpse decays and if I'm checking
my email I might miss the tell.
Lopuis: Obviously that’s an extreme example but, you get the idea.
Mari:  Is there anything you would want to say to everyone that
wasn't covered?
You hear Lopuis hrm.
Lopuis: Probably just want to mention that I’m glad I got the opportunity
to become an imm because I like helping out realms, and that I hope
the players feel they are encouraged to help out too... and that
they notice their ideas logs do get read and implemented.
Lopuis: I guess that’s about it.
Mari: That's all I have hehe, I'll let you get back to work, Thanks for
taking time out for the interview.
Lopuis: Was fun, good questions. I look forward to seeing what the other
imms said in theirs when the CRY comes out.

(End)                                                         
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 __________________________
/ Interview: Akael - Aslan \__________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Aslan: Why did you decide to be an Immortal?
Akael: Because I love Realms, and want to learn more and do more!
Aslan: Explain what you think 'more' is?
Akael: Well, building, quests, maybe even coding if I ever learn it.
The ins and outs of everything. That might take a while...
Akael looks innocently about herself.
Aslan: How do you feel that Realms has changed since you Immed?
Akael: Well, since I Immed fairly recently, it really hasn't changed
much, yet.
Aslan: What, if anything, would you like to see changed in Realms?
Akael: There is one area, I won't name it right now... but I hope to
someday rewrite it. I feel it needs to be done.
Aslan: Do you find that there is a rift between Immortals and mortals? (i.e
a conflict of interests)
Akael: Not that I've noticed. I feel we're here to do what the players
need done to enjoy the game more.
Aslan: Do you find that you miss being a mortal in some cases?
Akael: It's a hard change, I'll admit, and I know that I miss actually
playing the game sometimes instead of supervising, but I wouldn't change
my mind about being an imm, ever. This is fun too, just different.
Aslan: Do you have any area ideas of your own that you'd love to create
for others to enjoy?
Akael: Yes, just one so far, but I'm such a beginner builder that it might
take eons to get to the stage where I'm able to build it.
Aslan: If you could have a message for everyone, what would it be? give us
an insight into your mind
Akael: It's a game, we're here to play and relax, not get stressed! 
Everyone have fun!  
Akael smiles happily.
You beam brightly at Akael.

(End)                                                       
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 ______________________________
/ Interview: Gatersade - Aslan \______________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Aslan: Greetings Gatersade, thanks for taking part in the interview today.
Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself first? Who are you and where 
are you going (as far as Immhood goes)?
Gatersade: No problem. Well I've been around the realm as Gatersade for a
good 5 years now, most of that time was spent in GoC.
Aslan: What made you decide to be an Imm?
Gatersade: Well, I was approached and asked if I would like to take on
the challenge. I guess it was a new set of hurdles for me to tackle, and I 
was up for the challenge. Plus it would allow me to help people on a new 
scale, as opposed to what I could do as a mortal.
Aslan: Before being asked to be an Imm, what did you think being an Imm
would entail, and have those thoughts remained consistent or do you feel 
let down?
Gatersade: I thought it would involve a lot of getting out there, creating
challenges and creating an exciting gaming experience for the Realms' 
players, and so far thats exactly what its been.
Gatersade beams brightly.  Why is that?
Aslan: Are you a creative person as in building? or are you more of a
thinker/helper-outter?
Gatersade: Without blowing my own horn, I like to consider myself a bit
of both. I enjoy getting in there and building exciting new quests for 
people to take part in, and also bogging down and helping people out as the
need arises; which is my day there, anyhow.
Aslan: Are there any times when you felt that you couldn't handle the job 
of being an imm, or do you feel in control always?
Gatersade: I don't think I've been challenged to a point where I have
felt that I couldn't handle the job. I'm a pretty easy going person, and I
love dealing with tricky situations.
Aslan: So what can we expect from you in the future?
Gatersade: You can expect an array of exciting quests that are going to
challenge people in some new ways. I have also been poking a lot, trying to
become a part of the deadly world, and hopefully that will happen sometime 
in the near future.
Aslan: I know that most Imms get asked this, but our readers do really
want to know, is there a defined rift between immortals and mortals?
Gatersade: I think there can be, but I wouldn't say it's the entire case.
Some personalities just clash and thats a part of life. In general, I feel 
the entire immortal team is willing to get out and have fun with the mortal
realm, no matter who they are.
Aslan: I know it is a tough question. Do you have any plans for new
areas of your own?
Gatersade: Hopefully, at the moment I have my hands tied getting quests
written up for all you guys. So we'll see what the future brings.
Aslan: Well I'll let you get back to work then, thanks for taking part in
this quest interview, on behalf of the cry and the players of realms, we 
wish you luck.
You thank Gatersade heartily.
Gatersade smiles happily.

(End)                                                     
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Gonnil - Aslan \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Aslan: So Gonnil, grats on Imming. Care to give us a brief intro? Who is
Gonnil?
Gonnil: Thanks... Well, I've played for quite a while on various chars.
As Gonnil, I've been in GoF since its inception and I have experience in
other areas of the Realms as well.
Aslan: Why do you think you were chosen to be an immortal?
Gonnil thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Gonnil: Sheesh... Well, I have a variety of interests here, and I think I
can definitely help out the Realms community, and I'm honored to be able to
serve. Plus I think certain imms needed someone new to abuse...
Gonnil seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Aslan: So what can we expect to see from you? Areas, quests etc?
Gonnil: Hopefully both, if given the chance. I've only been able to help
out on a few quests so far, but as I get more experience... we'll see.
Aslan: Do you have an interest in building or just helping and learning?
Gonnil: Well, both, but I think building/questing more so. Hopefully I
will turn out to be a good builder, because I have a lot of ideas that
have just kind of built up over the years.
Aslan: Do you feel that there is a clear divide between mortals and
immortals?
Gonnil: I think it's an area for improvement, sure. In my perfect world
there'd be clear communication between players and MUD admins, and it DOES
happen here sometimes, but can always be better.
Aslan: Have you been a member of any mainstream mud councils before? If so
which ones?
Gonnil: Well, some assorted Guild committees, and I was also a member of
PKC for a while back when it was active in bringing in the new clans... that
type of thing, but not Newbie Council or The Symposium, unfortunately.
Aslan: Did you ever want to join either the NC or TS?
Gonnil: Well, a long, long time ago, like years ago, I had some ideas
about joining NC, but it never really happened, although part of my job as
an imm now is to help newer people as well, which I don't mind at all, I 
think new people are crucial to keeping this MUD around and I don't think
people always realize that.
Aslan: Now that you are an Imm, later on you'll get to pick a council. Any 
thoughts on which you'd go for?
Gonnil: I've tried to avoid making any definite plans just yet. We'll
see what happens :P but there are definitely a lot of opportunities out 
there. I have quite a bit of learning to do before I can commit to anything
for now.
Aslan: Well on behalf of the mortals and the Cry of Despair, we wish you 
luck and good fortune in your long immly journey ahead.
You beam brightly at Gonnil.
Gonnil: Thanks! Let's hope it's long.
Aslan: Thanks for talking with us today.

(End)                                                          
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/




 ___________________________
/ Interview: Meekon - Aslan \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Aslan: How do you feel Realms has changed over the last few years since
the Shattering?'
Meekon: its big enough now that one individual cannot possibly know it
all. Before the Shattering you could walk just about anywhere without
needing to have written down directions. It was big enough that you
could know your way around.
Aslan: Why did you decide to become an Imm?
Meekon: Having spent a couple of years on TS I've seen a lot of good
ideas pass but stall for aparent lack of immpower to see them implemented.
I have coding skills and wish to put them to good use for Realms.
Aslan: Do you miss the mortal life?
Meekon: Not really... I still have a few chars I'd like to have time to
av at some point, but otherwise I've found imm life a load of fun.
Aslan: You must get asked this a lot, but do you find sometimes that
being an Imm wasn't what it said on the brochure?
Meekon: It's more or less as I expected really.
Aslan: So what can we expect of Meekon, who are you and where are you
going in Imm life?
Meekon: I just joined QC, so you can expect regular quests from me over
the coming months. With a bit of luck I might get to be a Clan or Order
Deity at some point. It would be good to belong to an org once again.
Aslan: Oh do give a sneak peek, what type of Quests is the great Meekon
known or will be known for?
Meekon: I'll be trying out a wide range of quest types, old favourites
and bringing in some fresh inventive ideas I hope. I need to find out 
what works, what people like and what can be run reasonably hassle-free.
The imm-life transcends such divisions.
Aslan: What things do you miss from mortal life?
Meekon: Not having mortal channels is annoying; I was in NC, TS, Asc and
various guilds and liked having those channels. Belonging to those groups
was fun.
Aslan: So you'd want to rejoin those groups possibly?
Meekon: No, it's all different now. All that is in the past, there are
plenty compensations. I have been assimilated.
Aslan: Do you find it hard sometimes, not being able to give the level of
help you did before to others?
Meekon: Not really. I can still help the hapless newbies when there 
aren't NC people about. As for other stuff, if I wait long enough I
usually find someone out there responds as I would have.
Aslan: If you were to be de-immed right now, how do you think you would
handle the return to mortal-hood?
Meekon: My future lies as an imm. I'd probably not want to play anymore
if I had to be a full time mortal.
Aslan: What do you see is the future for realms, and lastly how can
Meekon help to obtain this?
Meekon: We need to try and keep new players coming in, and staying.
One contribution is to help maintain a friendly atmosphere where people
are comfortable chatting and playing with other players. People get 
frustrated when good ideas take a long time to implement, by coding and 
thinking through projects I can help speed that process.
Aslan: What about the Meekon quests?
Meekon: There are lots of players who have explored and run all through
these realms, for them we need to keep a steady flow of new areas, and 
putting glory into the game through quests provides entertainment for the
duration of the quest. Glory that people can use to customize their
equipment and increase the value of their equipment is good for 
self-esteem and trading, so I strongly believe quests are good for Realms.
Aslan: Okay well I think I have taken up enough of your time, thanks again
for being interviewed today and I am sure we will all look foward to seeing
more of the Meekon in the future.
Meekon: Sure. Thanks for the interview.

(End)                                                         
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Destre - Babui \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Rumours say that Destre likes angel food cake....
Making sure I bought a big bag, I knocked on Destre's Door and was pulled in
by a godly force!
Seeing Destre's friendly smile and her cute little mug of a dinosaur in a
basketball uniform, I relaxed and over a cup of tea and angel food cake, 
began my interview with Destre...
 
Babui: How long have you been playing Realms for?
Destre: '7 years'
Babui: So, how long have you been an Immortal for?
Destre: 3 years.
Babui: Have you been a QC member for all 3 years?
Destre: Ever since I made level 53. An imm has to be level 53 to join
councils. It will be 3 years on QC in September.
Babui: What made you choose to join QC out of all the other councils?
Destre: I had been on the IGQC before I immed, and I liked writing quests.
Babui: So what are some of your favourite quests you've written so far?
Destre: My personal all-time favourite was the Cuddly Stuffed Dragons,
closely followed by the one Shadrack and I did together with the pirates 
invading Ocean Keep.
Babui: I don't think I was there for that. Could you briefly explain how 
it went please?
Destre: First, the questors had to find the dragon eggs, then if they 
hatched a Cuddly Stuffed Dragon, they had to ride the dragon to the dragon 
trainers, but the evil ice dragons attacked them along the road. We had ice
dragon and cuddly stuffed dragons all over Realms that night.
Babui: Did all the eggs hatch Cuddly Stuffed Dragons?
Destre shakes her head.
Destre: Some of the eggs only had rotten egg gas and some had ice dragons.
The dragon trainers were in 5 different locations, so people had to ride a 
long way fighting off ice dragons.
You go ooOOooOOooOOoo.
Babui: Realms-wide quest?
Destre: Yes, it was Realms wide.
Babui: Sounds very cute! I wish I was there for it.
Destre smiles happily.
Babui: How about the pirates one?
Destre: The pirate ship Skullblade landed at Ocean Keep. First the crew 
came ashore, and then the questors had to board the ship and defeat the 
Captain. In the end, the questors prevailed and the pirates where defeated.
Babui: Has there ever been a quest where the questors all die a horrible 
death and the quest mobs are triumphant?
Destre: So far, not on my quests. It has happened though. I should try it
sometime. And I will say afterwards it was your idea.
You laugh out loud!
Babui: I'll have people sending me hate tells.
Destre comforts you.
Babui: What do you think about the Shattering?'
Destre: It was great, Realms had gotten too small and the Shattering opened
up a whole new world.
Babui: Small in terms of areas, or player base, or...?
Destre: In terms of areas. Realms grew enormously after the shattering,
there was so much new stuff to do and see.
You nod solemnly.
Babui: What is your favourite area currently?
Destre: Currently I want to really explore Daichaal. I haven't had much 
time to mort lately, so that is still on my list of things to do, and
Nevermore too for that matter. That garden at the start of Nevermore is 
really great, so the rest of the area must be too.
You nod solemnly.
Babui: I haven't been to Daichaal either, but Nevermore has some pretty 
cool EQ and stuff.
Destre grins.
Babui: Since the Shattering, what do you think is the best change out of 
everything?
Destre: The buffing up of the Nephandi. 
Destre flexes. Must think she's buff.
Destre: I immed before the Shattering, at that time the nephandi couldn't 
kill much beyond bunnies.
You seem to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Destre: After the Shattering, the Nephandi could take on the world.
Babui: What's the best thing about being a Nephandi? For potential Nephs?
Destre: The overall class is really great, it is evil and the skills and 
spells are based on that. Originally we had the possess spell which enabled 
us to take over mobs, then with the Shattering we got Qlippothic which is an
awesome attack spell, so we have attitude and the power behind it. Great 
class.
You grin.
Babui: But I heard it's rather difficult to level?
Destre: It certainly was before the Shattering, way easier now. Still not
the easiest class in Realms to level, but no magic user is.
Babui: So what future plans do you have for Realms?
Destre: I'll keep writing quests, and working on things that come up. It 
all seems to take a lot of time, but it is fun.
Babui: And finally, is there anything you want to say to the whole of 
Realms?
Destre: Look after each other and keep exploring.

Giving Destre my sincere thanks for her time, tea and cake, this concludes 
our interview! Thanks Destre!

(End)                                                       
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Romani - Babui \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

In Romani's castle, we sat under the moonlight with a cup of coffee..(yes,
moonlight, coffee... morning) and began our little interview...
Babui: How long have you been an immortal for?
Romani: Since 5/4/03. They waited for Herne to leave on a month's vacation
before they immed me. He left that afternoon, they immed me that night.
Babui: Why wait for Herne to leave first?
Romani: Ceirana said that gave her a month to "whip" me into shape before
he got back.
Babui: And did she?
Romani grins.
Romani: She tried, I think it worked pretty well actually. Getting to know
the other immortals is important. I know if he had been here I would have
learned less of others than I did.
Babui: What is something interesting that you've got to know about someone?
Romani: Ceirana reads a story to her child every night before bed. I find
that admirable.
You smile and say 'awww'.
Romani: Kali doesn't like hugs. I think I was the only person/mort/imm that
did *not* know this.
Romani snorts in disgust.
You laugh out loud!
Romani found out the hard way.
Romani: Loril is adorable, and very intelligent. I never got to know her
before I immed. Hmm, the rest I think you know. Kali had done something for
me, so I hugged him. He said he was going to slay Ceirana since she did not
tell me about him not liking them. I begged him to slay me instead.
Babui: Awhh...that's sweet.
Romani: Finally he did. I did not want her to get slayed because of me.
Babui: It's amusing tho how most people enjoys getting slayed.
Romani: I never got into that. As a mort I had never been slayed. I watched
many. There were a couple morts that had a thing for either Kali or Moonbeam
to where they ended up slayed quite often. Calin, for example. 
Babui: I've never been slayed either. I think...
Romani: The morning is young.
Babui: My wedding did get bombed though.
You narrow your eyes at Romani
Romani: Don't blame me.
Romani looks innocently about herself.
You laugh.
Babui: You knew about it!
Romani did.
Romani: But it made RoD history.
You laugh.
Babui: So, in your time as imm, what do you find most enjoyable about
immhood?
Romani: I love building, it is my passion. I also love working with
roleplayers. Though, being able to help a true newbie still tops them all. 
They come into this world so fragile, and as you know they can't even figure
out how to talk or move. They bring such a fresh look on the world that it 
just amazes me. True newbies see things we take for granted. Even a simple
thing such as a repop message, or when I goto them becomes so fresh and new.
You laugh.
Babui: "Where did you appear from??!!!"
Romani seems to agree.
Romani: Many newbies actually thought that I was a part of the game living
in their pocket due to my bamf. I remember one little newbie that would send
me tells all the time saying "are you still in my pocket?". And he would, on
occasion, ask me to prove it to a friend of his that did not believe that I 
lived in his pocket.
Babui: Did he at least find out later that you weren't really in his 
pocket?
Romani: I think he eventually figured it out. I have not had messages from
that particular guy in a while. Though that kind of makes me sad. It is like
finding out the tooth fairy is not real.
Romani climbs back in your pocket and vanishes.
Romani climbs out of your pocket.
Romani: I actually got that from Herne.
Babui: Ohh?? How so?
Romani: When he was talking about going on vacation to Scotland I kept 
emoting that I was going with him and climbing into his pocket or suitcase. 
Romani sneaks into Herne's pocket and closes it tight.
Romani opens Herne's pocket and reaches out and gets a bottle of wine,
slipping it back into his pocket and closing it tightly.
Romani: Silly things like that. So when I immed, the bamf just seemed to 
fit. I changed it once, but people complained so I put it back.
You grin.
Babui: It sticks after a while.
Romani nods solemnly.
Babui: As a well known roleplayer, what is it about rp that keeps you 
there?
Romani: Roleplayers live the game, and, more people here RP than would ever
admit it. There are many levels of RP, but all in all people come here for 
RP.
Babui: Could you please explain the levels of RP?
Romani: When a group of runners, or PK'ers are hunting mobs or each other,
they are not doing what they would be in real life, they are part of the 
game, hence they are rp'ing a char. They create a character, which is what 
people do in RP. They may not take it to the same depth as a formal RP'er 
would, but it is still char development and participating in the game. They
are more casual rpers. Most of the game is written for rp, though many 
challenges set down require more resources than a rp'er normally has. When 
anyone participates in the game at any level, they are, in essence rp'ing, 
whether it be doing this interview, or brewing their own potions for runs. 
The level of character development often dictates whether they deem 
themselves a rp'er or not. When the focus moves to more character 
development and behavior, then they move from a casual rp'er to a more 
formal or freeform rper.
You nod solemnly.
Babui: What do you have planned in the future?
Romani: The rp'ers have talked, planned, even started a group rp area. I 
would really like to see that happen. While RP can occur anywhere, I would
like to see that project someday complete. I also hope to build more. I have
a few areas in works that need finishing, fleshing out.
Babui: A place where all rpers can gather to rp?
Romani nods solemnly.
Romani: Jexia had started one, but I fear that she is too busy with her rl
baby to do much now. I would also like to help find ways of people taking 
more pride in what is created here.
Babui: Is there anything that you want to say to Realms?
Romani: My door is always open. If anyone has a question about RP or just 
about anything, I either know the answer or where to find it, or who to go 
to find it. I pride myself on that. I know at times imms are so busy that 
they don't answer every tell. I always try to.
Babui: What is your most embarrasing moment on Realms?
Romani: There are many, 'smirk' Though the first one that comes to mind is 
just having authed someone when my cat jumped on the keyboard and landed on 
the enter key. I spammed 30ish times of "authing" that person, and of course
most of CoE was on to see me do that.
You laugh out loud!
Romani: I have also done the "goto" where you go to a room with no floor 
and fell more than once. I think every imm has done that.  land in the 
room and just fall. It is embarrassing.
Babui: Fly?
Romani: Imms do not have spells on them generally, so we fall.
Romani smirks.
You chuckle politely.
Babui: What's the most difficult aspect of being an imm?
Romani: I would have to say balancing everything. There are times you are 
so swamped in tells and spam on channels that you just do it as fast as you
can and try to keep up. It is during those times that you are also trying to
do something from your personal projects, like build, that it makes it very 
hard to get things done. And of course, this occurs when you have 
inspiration to build. I still answer every tell, I don't mind that, I just 
scan/read them as quick as I can.
Babui: What type of areas do you enjoy building the most?
Romani: Wicked puzzles that make people have to read and think, like in 
Wendle Mansion. I think lowbies need more areas like that, ones where they
can explore and learn how to solve puzzles. I would like to see more 
builders focusing on those type of areas. I know Kinux does an awesome job 
at building, his areas always inspire people to get involved in the area, 
like Nevermore. That area was so much fun to help build. Working with that 
team was an outstanding experience. I was sad to see Hoerkin retire though.
He has a very genuine personality, very playful. We have Hoerkin to thank 
for Bubba's existance.
Babui: Everyone likes Bubba and the soap...
Romani grins.
Romani: Yeroc is another that I was sad to see retire. He is a very 
talented man with so much to offer.
Romani digresses, sorry.
You giggle.
Romani: I get attached and don't like to see good people move on.
Babui: I understand, it sucks to see friends leave.
Romani nods solemnly.
Romani: Moonbeam for example, she can say she retired, but I refuse to 
admit it.
Romani looks innocently about herself.
You laugh.
Romani: Really, we have an awesome team. It is about like an extended 
family here. We see eachother through so much both here and in Rl.
Babui: If there was a flood in immland, and everyone was drowning, and you 
have this tiny little boat and you could only save ONE person... Who would 
it be?
Romani icks!
You throw back your head and cackle with insane glee!
Romani: Well, silly. I would have to save Herne, just don't tell Darsh.
Romani looks innocently about herself.
You laugh.
Babui: Why herne?! Other than the obvious.
Romani: The obvious. He completes me. He is like a big teddy bear, very 
snuggly. He and I both collect books, that is what we do on our vacations 
together. He collects any book that is rare, out of print, though his main
focus is on Scotland.
Babui: Is he from Scotland?
Romani: My focus is more on Gypsy culture and traditions.
Romani shakes her head.
Romani: He spends about a month there a year. He is canadian. I am 
Scottish. Contrary to popular rumors, we are not married.
Babui: An item though?
Romani seems to agree.
Romani: Very much so.
You smile and say 'awww'.
Romani: We met in Dunhill. He caught me and Rebeca stealing apples from 
his orchard.
Babui: As both mortals?
Romani shakes her head.
Romani: He was an imm at the time.
You nod solemnly.
Romani: Rebeca was all brave about it, yelling that she stole the apples 
and was proud of it. He appeared, looming over us over the theft. I was 
quiet, I did not know him, though I lived in Dunhill since I can remember. 
He was being his tough self over it, though something about him just seemed 
so sweet. I am not sure if that makes sense.
Babui: It must be a connection thing, sparks and stuff.
You seem to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Romani nods solemnly.
Romani: Then he mentioned that he was going to Scotland and would be gone 
for a month, so I climbed into his pocket. He smiled at me and the rest, as
they say, is history. We talked for a long time here before we did on the 
phone, then met at the airport near me.
Babui: I think that's sooo sweet.
Romani: When I looked into his eyes at the airport, I knew he was the one.
Babui: How people can meet here from across the world and manage to be 
together and stuff...
Your heart begins to melt as you think of someone special.
Romani: There is a danger that is associated with meeting people here on 
the net.  never know if the person you are meeting is really what they 
say they were.  hear about those horror stories all the time, so people 
have to be very careful. We had exchanged pictures, and did meet in a 
public place. The main thing is just to be completely honest.
Babui: And trust the other to be too.
Romani: In a fantasy world, it is very easy to get caught up in the 
fantasy and forget about real life. After all, that is what we came here 
for. If you were to listen to my mother she would tell you that all people
on the internet are axe murderers.
Babui hides her axe.
Romani: While we both know that is not the case, still people do need to 
be careful.
Romani grins evilly.
Romani makes chopping motions around her.
You gasp in astonishment.
Romani snickers softly.
Romani: I have known Lopuis online since, hmm....97?
Babui: On Realms?
Romani nods solemnly.
Romani: We have never met, but to me he is like my kid brother. He is one 
of my best friends here, him and Darsh.
Babui: How did you imm/what made you decide to take it?
Romani: I had been imming elsewhere, on a place that is now closed down. 
Many imms learn their skills on smaller muds before they come here to "run
with the big dogs" so to speak. We had lost many imms to here, Conran for 
example, Raltaris, Cersei, etc. When Conran came here, I just gave up 
working there for the most part.
Babui: Then you came here as a mortal and levelled around?
Romani: I turned my focus here, to where my friends all were, I had played 
here for ages and really wanted a place where things happened and people 
actually were able to see them implimented. I was here as a mort for years,
nods... I think since 97.
Babui: Ahh, so you were playing both at the same time?
Romani: Playing here, building there. I figured I would rather play here 
where there are people and things to do, than just build on a place where 
no one would ever see my work.
Babui: The advantages of a larger player base.
Romani seems to agree.
Romani: So I played here, focusing on just helping the Guild of Mages grow.
I had had offers to imm here, but really, until Moonbeam asked me I had not 
taken them seriously. No one tells her no.
Romani winks suggestively.
Romani: She asked, and I accepted and she sponsored me.
You grin.
You nod solemnly.
Romani: She has a kind of presence that you just can't ignore.
You laugh.
Romani is still trying to figure out how to make that boat larger to take 
everyone.
Babui: Ok! Pretend Herne is in your pocket. Who's next?
Romani: It would have to be Darsh, life would just be boring without her. 
We get in trouble together.
Babui: oOoo... Example!
Romani: Well, um...We toilet papered all the immortals offices once. We 
logged in the next day to find about 50 rolls of toilet paper in our 
inventory.
Romani smirks.
You laugh out loud!
Romani: So we had more tp to play with!
Babui: Did you use those 50 rolls too?
Romani: No, we were trying to be good after we got caught doing that. 
Though someday we will find a use for those.
Babui: Halloween... Mummy outfit!
Romani: My favorite holiday, people RP in real life!
Babui: Do you dress up and go trick and treat?
Romani: Not since I was a child. I do dress up to answer the door though 
for when kids come to get candy.
Babui: What do you plan to dress up as this year?
Romani: Oh, I haven't even thought about that yet. RL has been so demanding
lately that I haven't gotten that far. What do you suggest?
Romani thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Babui: I'm always partial to vamps.
Romani: I hope SI has a Halloween ball this year.
Babui: Then secondary, witches.
Romani: I am not normally a vampire, I was a mage before I immed. Have you 
ever seen the elves rp on race?
You shake your head.
Romani: There is an RP'er, phenomenal to watch. His name is Ryven, he is of
the darker side of rp and is a vampire. I was watching him rp one day, and 
he rp'd turning me. So, keeping true to form I changed into a vampire. So, 
Ryven is my sire. If you are ever looking for a player to interview, he 
would be one I recommend. Just get him IC.
Romani winks suggestively.
Babui: Sometimes RP'ers confuses me.
Romani: Why is that?
Babui: Because my English isn't that perfect, and they use these long 
confusing words =P I don't like going to dictionary.com every sentence.
Romani laughs.
Romani: So you are saying they are the nerds of RoD?
Romani smirks.
Babui: Not nerds, the more... Fluent languag-ey type people.
Romani: I like that about them.
Babui: Great writers.
Romani: They read, think.
Romani seems to agree.
You grin.

Finishing the last drop of coffee, I had no choice but to put down my cup,
thank Romani for such a pleasant chat and bid my leave. (JK... Romani was
more than welcoming!)
Remember, if you ever have a dire need for toilet paper..(I understand,
emergencies arises, we won't hold it against you...), Romani is the person
to contact.

(End)                                                 
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/




 _____________________________
/ Interview: Shadrack - Babui \_______________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

With a big smile, Shadrack's friendly nature is shown for the world to see...

Babui: How long have you been an imm for?
Shadrack: Around two and a half years now.
Babui: Oh wow. Was immortalhood what you thought it would be like?
Shadrack: In some ways... In others it turned out to be more interesting
than I expected.
Babui: Any examples?
Shadrack: Well, for instance, the chances to build and to participate in
making larger scale quests, such as the ioqc, and all :)
Babui: As a quest council member, what is it you do?
Shadrack: The QC work has several strands; players suggest quests, and
often these get taken up and become open quests. Then there are the 
organisation quests, the regular events, and the ones I dream up myself :)
Shadrack grins.
You grin.
Babui: How can a player suggest a quest? Just via tells?
Shadrack: They can either approach a member of QC direct, or post it to
the Hall of Heroes board in the Town Hall. First method is the most used
really.
Babui: Then they work together to produce a quest?
Shadrack: Well, to some extent... we more advise usually. The ideas and
concepts come from the players, and if it's accepted, that's what gets run.
You nod your head in understanding "Ahhh yes..."
Babui: What is your favourite quest?
Shadrack: One that has a good storyline. I quite like all types, though
as an exercise in bringing things together, complicated is always fun.
Babui: As deity of MS, what is your involvement?
Shadrack: The leaders do all the hard work, I just advise and help out
with anything that crops up. Sort of 'Immortal Cheerleader'.
Shadrack grins.
You grin.
gShadrack has pom poms.
Shadrack wiggles her bottom.
You go ooOOooOOooOOoo.
You clap at her actions.
Babui: Is there anything you would like to say for potential MS'ers?
Shadrack: It's a nice place to be, but then I expect everyone would feel
that about their own particular organisations as well.
Babui: What is your most memorable event in Realms?
Shadrack: Oh gah, it would be hard to chose just one... Though the
Shattering was pretty memorable.
Babui: What about it that made it so memorable?
Shadrack: Well, it was pretty exciting, and a nice suprise. Dying left 
right and centre is always fun.
Shadrack giggles.
You laugh.
Babui: You were there as a mortal?
Shadrack: Yes. Guess we had been gossiping for so long about what might
happen when it came, there was that 'ooo ahhh' factor when it did/
Babui: You knew it was going to happen?
Shadrack: Oh no, but everyone had been discussing the mythical 'port'
for what seemed like years. Gotta love speculation as a hobby.
Babui: That whole site on the port was moved into Realms as we know it?
Shadrack: No idea how it was done really... I was too busy running away
from godslayer minions at the time.
Shadrack giggles.
Babui: Sounds fun!! Then here's a random question thrown to you by the 
general public!
Shadrack says, 'ooOOooOOooOOoo.'
Babui: If you were a MOB somewhere in the realms, where would we find you? 
Would you be for leveling, golding, or running?'
Shadrack: Oh, I'd be for running... And living in Abbatoir Assylum if I
got the choice.
Shadrack grins evilly.
You laugh out loud!
Babui: Since the Shattering, what do you think has improved gameplay the
most for the average RoD'er?
Shadrack: Personally, the increased size of the MUD and the associated
new areas, but then i was always an explorer at heart.
Babui: oOO... Is there a particular area you like best? And why?
Shadrack: Of the new ones, MoLS is my favourite. Of the old areas, I'd
chose Antall.
Babui: Is there a reason why?
Shadrack: With MoLS, I love the story. In antall, the room descs.
Babui: Is there anything you would like to say to Realms?
Shadrack: Uhh... I'm terrible at speeches. How about "Don't forget sanc!"
since thats what I always do. Oh, and don't get lost, and don't forget
recalls... I do those too.

Many thanks to Shadrack for her time for this interview and bearing with my
sleepy state.
Oh oh! And if you ever want to treat the lovely immortal Shadrack to 
breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner whatever, "'those small lobster things...
crevettes?" are her favourites!
Wahahaha... I charge a 5% commission from all successful bribes.

(End)                                                      
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ______________________________
/ Interview: Stoneheft - Babui \______________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Stoneheft sits in a very comfortable chair.
Stoneheft settles into the chair which fits him perfectly.

sit chair
You sit in a very comfortable chair.
You sit on the stone floor.

Stoneheft: Welcome.

Babui: You only gave me a stone floor =(

Stoneheft fashions a sturdy wooden chair from ether!

sit chair
You sit in a very comfortable chair.
You sit on the stone floor.

sit wooden
You sit on a sturdy wooden chair.
You fold your arms and mutter "hmph"

And so, Stoneheft on his very comfortable chair and me on a wooden chair 
(well, it's better than the stone floor), we began the interview under the 
stony gaze of his stone owl.

An enormous stone statue of an owl has come to life under holy forces.

Babui: So, when did you become an imm?
Stoneheft: I don't remember... It has to have been at least 6 years ago.
I'm thinking that the first deadline I remember was in 1999, and now it's 
2005, but I could be so far off as to appear insane. I'm not good with 
timelines. Could have been 9 years ago. I'm terrible with dates.
Babui: How long ago did you start playing Realms?
Stoneheft: Oh sure, ask me a similar question because you know I'll look
stupid.
You stare at the sky.
Babui: And how long has it been since you've last ate ice cream?
Stoneheft: It was right after stat-training was removed. I remember it
was the hot-topic of the month when I started. So whenever that was, that
was then. Maybe 12 years ago?
Babui: Stat-training?
Stoneheft: I ate Ice Cream within the last three weeks, but you can't
prove a thing.
Babui: No, it doesn't go straight to your hips I see.
You are jealous of Stoneheft for stealing your love.
Stoneheft: Smaug is based on older codebases of MUDs, ie. MERC, in which
you can use up your practices to increase your Stats. In RoD's early years
(Smaug's Birth), it still resembled MERC as far as you could stat-train, or
use practices to increase Constitution, Strength or whatever.
Babui: What do you think of that change? Good? Bad? Other thoughts?
Stoneheft: Stat-training was removed a long time ago, but a bunch of
people are that old. You'll see them advertised in Traffic, Stat-trained
Thief, for Gazbillions of gold. I think it's good. It provides a broader
spectrum of characters throughout the world and in doing that, it gives
the players the opportunity to deal with and overcome their own specific
challenges and gain the good "Success" feeling of that, instead of having
a bunch of identical clones wandering around all living the same formula
until they become bored of it and have never felt 'success'. But I suppose
I see it through my own obscure point of view. I had crappy stats 
throughout my life and therefore was forced to try, if I was going to
get by. I was born after stat-training. There have been a lot of changes 
to how stats work over the years. For example, If you start a Dwarf Cleric 
right now, I think you find that all your stats added together will make
95... I grew up with stats totalling 87. Things were raised and lowered 
over the years to try to keep a good balance. Living 8 stat-points short
of the current norm can make a guy have to try.
Babui: Do you think that balance is achieved now in current stats system?
Stoneheft: I think it's currently too easy for all classes, and even
still, not evenly too easy. But that's probably better than erring in the
opposite direction and having to account for classes/races that just can't
do what they ought to be able to do to progress normally.
Babui: Do you have any ideas of changes for such?
Stoneheft: Currently no. Right now, I think that the classes and race
/class combinations are all fully capable of absolutely everything they need
be (And more). Right now the Realms needs to overcome some hastily made
decisions that were made to get "Shattering to happen without further delay.
There were some pretty crappy GEOs introduced that day. Kinux/Selina did 
great work making the trade routes to create a bearable passage through 
the problems, but it will be years (In my opinion) before this world
is as good as it should be, again.
Babui: I was never here pre-Shattering... What was the world like then?
Stoneheft: Before the shattering, the world was way too small. 
Unrealistically jammed with areas bordering each other step by step. 
Darkhaven and Ocean Keep, two huge cities that couldn't have grown to that
size as un-united cities shared an exit. Everything was over-crowded. I 
don't suppose that when Thoric first realized that he was going to make 
this place exist that he ever knew how populated it would become... But 
in my opinion, it was a psychology experiment in over-population. Nothing
but whining of one person claiming Killstealing by another, the other
claiming staking. Now only the Moron areas, like Coral Depths have that 
kind of problem. The enlarging of the world did drop a huge bag of 
confusion on the people that had a pretty good knowledge of the old world,
but I expect the capable ones amongst them are much happier with the new 
world. I've always loved this place. Before shattering, after, I probably
always will... It's horrible, I'll quit smoking before I'll ever be able
to quit this addiction. 
Stoneheft: I am still certain that this MUD is better than any other by
the standard for quality here. I have in the past had many looks at other
MUDs, to get an idea of what exists, (And to see how the humour value is
on ones with that angle), but on half of the copy-cat MUDs out there, the
ones that take SMAUG because some kid figures "I can do a MUD", you can't
even get through pre-auth before you're so irritated by the typos, 
incorrect room descriptions and straight-out mistakes...'
I don't know... Perhaps I put too much emphasis on quality when I am fully 
aware that we (I) still have plenty to do to bring this back to something
to be fully proud of... But I'm glad this doesn't appear to be a place 
that can't even try.
Babui: This MUD is something to be proud of.
Stoneheft: I love this MUD, I appreciate the years of enjoyment it has
provided me. I owe it something to try to keep the standards here as high as
the MUD deserves.
Babui: And likewise, I'm sure the MUD appreciates everything you've done
and owe you for it as such too.
Stoneheft: Well, Not everything. I'm a bit of an asshole... But I think
it appreciates a lot of the work. ("Bit" is an understatement).
Babui: What changes are you working on/hoping for?
Stoneheft: What I'm hoping for is simple. I hope to have this place
steadily progress for as long as I'm coherent so that I have a continuing
place to fiddle. What I'm working on now is an infinite number of little
building-related jobs, the type that just make small things look better,
mobs react more rationally, cities function as cities, etc.
Babui: From your love for this game, could you give us an insight as
to what keeps you here? Why you love this game so?
Stoneheft: I haven't yet completed everything I have thought of. I will
never complete it all, but I'm not quitting before I do. Beyond the little
projects that tidy up loose ends, I have a couple of big builds underway. 
Not huge like Southern Mountains, but building anything takes time if you
insist on quality. By the time I finish even one of the builds that are
underway, I'll have thought up at least three more. I'll be here long after
my RL death.'
A ghostly Stoneheft forms from the mists......
Stoneheft: But another part of me says I don't owe that damn game anything
anymore. I've made the deadlines that no one else made, I have given it more
than my share"... But it's like being angry at a puppy. You can't stay away
from anything that shares a fondness with you for long. Besides, without 
the MUD I'd have no way of reacting to and enjoying the intricate verbal 
humour that circulates here once in a while. There's a few really bright 
people here that should be heard. They should probably be locked up, but 
they're interesting and entertaining enough that they should be heard.
Babui: Before I waffle off again, how did you come to become head of NC?
Stoneheft: That's not a comfortable story... My prececessor made a stand
against the (populous) immortal community insisting that she not stand in
the way of the (populous) immortal community dessicating the (Lean) Newbie 
Council by repeatedly imming members of the NC. The council does a lot of 
work gathering capable people to do a job, finding, interviewing etc... Just
to have the lazy imms decide "Yes, You're right, I think I'll take that". 
Anyway, She took the stand that if the imms want to imm people to do it to
the people that were NOT needed to keep the NC alive... She was told "The 
door is that way" and out she walked. I am very proud of her. It made my 
life easier as "Next In Line". They ask me first, and we discuss who needs 
'em more. NC or imms. I still don't think any in CoE is going to tell me 
"The Door Is Over There"... But maybe they should. Then!!! (ooooh, here 
comes rant mode)... They do the Shattering thing, and overwork every imm 
that has any building skill to the point where they quit, the immortal 
population drops so low that now I agree that we need the NC to give them 
people so that the immortal ranks can stay alive, because the NC is still 
better at finding the capables than anyone else. Rant mode off.
Did I answer a real question or did I just rant?'
Oh, How I became head of NC. I was the obvious one to be at the time. I was
just the "other Imm" at the time Sarah left.
Stoneheft seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
You grin.
Babui: There are some people out there who thinks NC isn't a useful 
council. What do you think?
Stoneheft: It can't be useful to everyone. As far as I'm concerned, it is
useful to those who it should be useful to and that's all that's important.
Hell, How useful is any guild to classes other than it's own? I suppose 
everything has it's place. I think that NC is useful is that it can spot a 
struggling new player and offer advice that comes naturally after giving it
so many times. The new player benefits from accurate and instantaneous 
knowledge relating to the problem he/she needed to overcome. I'm sure that's
why I was originally talked into joining. A couple of really awesome NCers,
Jonqualyn and Mariyah, basically insisted that I join because I had gotten
past the habit of offering the habitual direct answers in channels and begun
answering correctly, but with the emphesis that the player take the 
knowledge and go gain their little bit of success applying it to find their
answer. So, I suppose, we should all blame them for me being so damn cryptic
when I know the bloody answer. They're the couple portrayed in the statue in
the Academy Fountain statue.
Babui: Being in NC all these years, has NC changed/developed in any way?
Stoneheft: The NC has had some rough times, some totally incapable 
councillors, some sub-capable heads... Jonqualyn and Mariyah were a beacon 
of hope to the people like me that wished it would improve. I like to 
believe that the council is... Well elitist is the view of many, but it's 
not elitist in a bad way, it is more "tightly reined" for the good of the 
MUD. If it can help a few players become long-time "Quality" players, this 
whole place has a better shot of remaining top-notch to those of us who 
really know it should be.
Stoneheft: I was probably the only "Future NC head" ever 
silenced by an NC head for insisting that the NC head not threaten to 
silence me for pointing out to newbies that just because that moron in NC,
doesn't mean they know what they're talking about". I did a lot of good for
the NC before I was ever a member. Not the NCers, but the NC as a whole.
Babui: Were you an NC member as a mortal, or an imm member of NC, or you
launched straight into head?
Stoneheft: Well, that's kind of funny, and kind of sad... I was probably 
around level 42 or 43 when Jonqualyn first started trying to get me to join, 
and I always insisted that I wasn't finished playing yet, but that I would 
consider joining when I was done "Playing My Game." Anyway, I rushed through
the last few levels, and still regret it. My sister, Loril, was NC and she 
loved it, so I thought I would "Finish Playing" quickly. Then, Because I had
submitted a couple build projects that I had completed (Or thought I had 
completed until I saw how stringent quality control was), I ended up getting
immed within the month that I avatared, because they wanted builders. 
(Shattering was looming on the horizon). They needed someone to build 
Southern Mountains, I guess they picked correctly. I loved the job, but I 
still wish I'd had more time to finish playing the game. I doubt there's 
anyone here that would venture to suggest that I don't know this world 
backward and forward, but I fear my knowledge of the level 40+ areas is no 
better than average. I rushed "middle-age".
Babui: You could still play around on mortal alts?
Stoneheft: I do have mortal alts, to test possibilities, to goof around
on, to see things from the appropriate perspective, but they're not me. I'm
the character that has done it, proven everything, succeeded. I don't have
that feeling of all alts being extensions of one. 
You nod solemnly.
Babui: I looked at the fountain, and indeed, Jonqualyn and Mariyah are 
there. Did something happen, or is that just an awesome tribute?
Stoneheft: My view of that is only my opinion. I don't think they would
have quit playing if I had refused Immortalhood. I think they wanted me to 
help them keep NC headstrong and I let them down. I make bad decisions too.
Johnny Q and Mariyah? If you ever in any way read this, I'm sorry.
Loril would have been an ideal NC head. Hell, she was before Sarah, but her 
RL was nuts and she had to forego all projects for a while and get time away.
In the absence of myself, someone else would have done fine. Besides. When I 
immed, I think I was supposed to be on the fast-track to working in the
Build Factory, whipped daily until I had produced my minimum 50 rooms a day,
then a stale meal of bread and water. Getting back into NC as a low-level 
imm and keeping building as a side-hobby has kept me sane. Building is 
mind-numbingly monotonous.
Babui: From what I gathered, it was... Leveling -> Imm -> Building -> NC
head?
Stoneheft: Yup. That's kind of funny, too, because Low-level imms are
supposed to report on what they're up to... They're supposed to keep in
contact with their mentors and discuss what they've easily learned on their
own and ask about any commands/tasks they've had any difficulty with...'
But I was immed, pretty specifically to produce quality into the largest area
yet to be built into this MUD. Southern Mountains...
And! I wasn't to discuss it with anybody except for Edmond, because the 
CoE wasn't intending to let the cat out of the bag about the upcoming 
Shattering. So. I built my ass off, trying to reach a seemingly impossible
deadline and still have a damn fine area, which meant that immediately after
imming, I was under lock and key, off on a secret building port churning 
out "An area with a description for every noun and a reason for every 
thought". And my mentor, Grishnakh, freaking out because his new Mentee
wasn't logging more than 3 hours a week on this port, the real game... And
Moonbeam Checking up on the activities of the new imms (I didn't know if she
could know or not) so I played dumb and just told her that I wasn't doing
anything at all except authing names a couple hours a week. That's a tough
life with someone who has my ferocious ego. But, It all seemed to work out.
They decided they liked me. Hopefully Edmond told Moonbeam that I was fulla
sh.. Oh, this is gonna be published, fulla shifeces, and that I actually
was producing. I still believe that Southern Mountains (The only Geo 
completed by the first deadline) is pretty much the best GEO in the game.
But I'm full of myself.
Babui: I thought all the imms were sent building! How could the Shattering
be kept a secret?
Stoneheft: I still have no idea who did and didn't know about it. I live
with Loril (Real Life) and she wasn't supposed to know... That was real easy.
"Stonesie? You playing Realms?", "Yep", "Who've you got on?", "Errrr. I don't
know... I'm just looking at something".
Babui: Is there anything else you want to say?'
Stoneheft thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Stoneheft: All you capable people out there, don't let the useless types
get you down. Keep enjoying the realms, you're the reason it's such a great
place. All you useless people out there, get capable. You'll notice how 
great a place it is.
As a final note.....
Stoneheft: The world needs an eccentric, spite-spewing god.
  
Many thanks to Stoneheft for his time, insights and of cuz, the chair!
And to the owl for watching...
You gently pet the stone owl.
The stone feathers are cold to the touch.

(End)                                                           
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Kinux - Vortok \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Kinux: So what does the Realm wish to know?
Vortok: They wish to know about the Enigma that is Kinux
Kinux chuckles politely: I just do what I do
Vortok: Let's travel back in time to _______ when you started playing RoD?
Kinux: Sure, I started playing here while at university in 96 for a few months,
then faded away. Came back in 99 and made a thief, joined GoT and rather
quickly rose up the ranks following Elisabet's departure to immortality.  It
might have been 98 I re-started. 
Vortok nods in agreement.
Vortok:  I remember that.  What made play anyhow?  You also mentioned
University, so I assume you are Swedish or something similar?
Kinux: Swedish?  I'm Canadian.
Vortok does his best to look utterly innocent. 
Vortok: Don't kill me during the interview, it was a guess
Kinux grins evilly.   
Vortok: Everyone has an interesting story of how they started playing a TEXT
game... I'd be interested in hearing yours.
Kinux: I once aided in an old bbs mud... 6 lines running circle mud. Got used to
it there... I've really no idea how I ended up landing here though... luck of
the draw I guess  By 6 lines, I mean 6 telephone lines, so 6 players at a
time.  Rather expensive thing to keep running... and rather redundant once the
internet came into play in the early 90's
Vortok rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.
Vortok: So connecting to that mud was like trying to connect to AOL? 
Kinux: Well, yeah... at midnight you got your account reset. So it was pretty
nutty around that time...  Tech has come a long, long way since then 
Vortok nods in agreement.
Kinux: So, did the guild leader thing for a couple years and was asked by
Selina to apply to immortality.  Did so (I'll note Cersei actually had me apply
once prior and I was denied... still a little bitter about that one ... so,
had to wait a year to get in... I can't complain. I really enjoyed my time with
GoT
Vortok: I bet they wish they had accepted you then, now that they know you.
Kinux grins.
Vortok: So you waited a year from the time you were sponsored until the time
you were picked up?
Kinux: Around that, nod. The first time I had just made GM a few months prior,
so I figure they wanted to watch for a while... I was GM of GoT for about 15
months or so.  I Immed in November of 2000 if I recall.
Vortok: Time goes by so fast, I remember when you Immed.
Kinux: Indeed, that was about 12 areas ago .  That's one thing I really like
about this place; lots of people, with lots of history.  Probably the thing
that attracted me to it the most.  There are peaks and dips, but people always
seem to find their way back... myself included.  Granted since 99' I don't
think I've gone more than a couple days without being on.
Vortok: Lots of people always wonder why you never to an order as an Imm.
Kinux: I was a guild guy... never had an ordered alt and firmly believed as a
leader that I shouldn't... i.e.: I should devote all my time to the guild. I was
by no means snubbing them, and was rather pleased when people asked me to
join... but I figured at the time it was meant not to be 
(Vortok's note: Kinux really likes smiley faces, wow, what a happy guy!)
Kinux: I was also guild advisor, so I got my share of organizational mayhem
there not to mention the deadly clans I worked with.
Vortok: Yeah, I remember that; let's talk about that for a bit...  Why did you
join Nomimus Umbra?  Wasn't that your first clan?
Kinux: Yep, I believe Iliana wanted some fresh meat to throw to the deadlies,
but I was pretty low in level... level 53, I think, and the thought of getting
into the deadly thing appealed to me, as I had little experience with them
before. I was never one to shirk a challenge.
Vortok: Well, you stayed with PK.
Kinux: Yep, I enjoy the banter.  You get used to the fight spam after a while
too.
Vortok: You're pretty familiar with the whole pk scene now, in fact, you're the
longest standing active deadly immortal we have. (CoE doesn't count)
Kinux: There are lots of great people in the deadly ranks, so it keeps things
interesting.
Vortok: What's your opinion of the PK system as a whole, not just it's current
state (dead), but overall since you've watched clans come and go, ideas come
and go, people come and go, etc?
Kinux: It's in a constant state of flux, but has improved in my opinion. I like
the fact we brought in deadly only areas, I think the deadly only skills are a
great addition. In my opinion there will always be deadlies, as people will
always want that challenge.  People have been saying PKill is 'dead' since they
removed full loot... it's 6-7 years later and I think it's still going well.
Vortok: Let's move onto another aspect of the mud that you're famous for,
unique quests.  Where do you get these damn area and quest ideas? 
Kinux: I was an uncoded member of QC for 2 years.  Uncoded because I was in TS
(can't be in both)... sec Phone.  (Apparently Kinux has the unique ability to
be on the phone, and connected to the internet at the same time)
Vortok: WOW, you can be on the net and the phone?!  That’s amazing.
Kinux twiddles Vortok's ears.  (Yeah, that was as disturbing as it looked)
(At this point Kinux spent a long time talking to someone on the phone, while I
went to McDonalds and got a 20 piece nugget meal)
Kinux: So, we were talking about quests?
Vortok: Correct, what made you get involved with QC?
Kinux: Well, it was pre-shattering and I had been working on some areas... Edo,
Wyvern's, Mahn-tor, the trade routes, etc... most of that stuff wouldn't been
seen by people until The Shattering happened, so, I volunteered to get involved
in some quests.  I either volunteered, or was asked, to help out with the deity
kills... we all took some of our favorite (<-- he spelled it the Canadian way, I
fixed it) deities.  For some reason I ended up getting involved in most of
them, and after The Shattering, people had enjoyed those quests so much that I
kept doing some bigger, theme quests... Jabberwocky, and such.  I always liked
doing things that people didn't expect; like having to have a certain sword, or
having to wear a shield, etc. to be able to do battle.  I always liked
storylines, so often threw those in to have people have to work to get to the
mob.
Vortok: Yes, you're the quest God.  Whenever I have a wacky idea for my areas,
I know I can always count on your to help me figure out how to make it a
reality.
Kinux chuckles politely.
Vortok: What was your favorite quest that you're administered?
Kinux: Probably either Ili'ara or the last one before the realms shattered.
Can't remember who we killed off there   That last one was fun because of the
mass scale... I know how much questors also liked how their actions had an
impact on the Realm. It was fun to be part of that. I also got promoted on that
last one.. so it was memorable  I remember having to bodybag about 200
corpses.. had so many that I crashed the mud every time I logged on.
Vortok laughs out loud!
Vortok: I hate that social, or maybe I use "lol" when I should use "heh"
Kinux: Can't say as I've ever used lol 
You tell Nivek 'Kinux says 'can't say as I've ever used lol'
You tell Nivek 'please for him to lol'
Kinux laughs out loud!
Vortok throws back his head and cackles with insane glee!
Kinux: No comment 
Ceirana gives a fungoid lozenge to Kinux.
Vortok: Last topic, Barbarians... I'm not exactly sure where to start with
these things...  Peacefuls don't seem to use them, and deadlies hate them.
Kinux: Well, barbarians were initially meant to come in with fathomers. They
were to be to the fighter class what mages are to magic.  Selina and I were
asked to give them a town and possibly some background. Most of the ideas for
the class had already come in from Kali, who did some excellent work.  To be
honest, I don't know why Barbarians never took off. There certainly is some
aspect of their separation that has caused issue. I do like playing them
though, and I think they are still a fundamentally good class.  I think we
could still do some work with them and make them better... I know the equipment
issues have certainly caused problems.  I look back to when I first started, in
96... thieves didn't have circle and there were never more than 3-4 online at
any one time.  Any class could technically be 1-2 skills away from being a
dominant force.  Took years for nephs to get where they are -  I don't believe
you've seen the last of barbarians.  I will say this... I didn't spend as much
time on the area and assisting the class development as I did to allow them to
die

A town crier yells 'If Romani gets 250 tells, Nivek will do a restore'
tell Romani hi
They aren't here.

Kinux: Sorry, Nivek is bored and we're finding things for him to break 
Currently we're discussing what we could do with Romani, we're thinking of
setting her up in DH[].
Vortok: Is there anything else you want to say to RoD about you, or the various
aspects of the game that you've been involved with?
Kinux: As far as the Realm goes... from the day I became immortal I've just
been fortunate or lucky enough to be able to do what I want to do... it's been
good that way. I don't push for promo's, I don't pester for responsibility...
it just sort of works out.

Editorial note: Vortok originalled challenged the readers to count the emoticons
in the above article - however, the script I run articles through before they're
finalized removes most emoticons. Apologies to anyone who was gung-ho to look
for colons, semi-colons, and parenthesis.

(End)                                                     
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _____________________________
/ Interview: Ceirana - Vortok \_______________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Players near you in Halfmoon Bay:
| Ceirana        (Greater God)           | Joie de Vivre
| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | Joie de Vivre

Joie de Vivre
.      *                   v`vvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvvvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvvvv``v
     *|*          *     vvvvvvvvvv``vvvvv`vvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvv```vvvvv
    *\|/*        *|*   vvvvvv``vvvvvvv`vvvvv`vvvvvvvvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`v
  *\**|**/*     *\|/*     ``vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`vvvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvvvv``vv
*\***\|/*o@@@@@@@@o*/*   * vvv`vvvvv``vvvvvvv``vvvvvvvv``vvvvv`vvvvvvvv
 **\**|o@@@@@@@@@@@@o*  *|* `vvvvvv``vvvvvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`vvvv```vv``v
*\***o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@o*\|/*    ``vvvvvv``````vvvvvvv````vvvvvvv`vvvvvv
 **\o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*\**|**/*    `vv``vvvvvvvvvvv``vvvvvvvv``vvvvvv
   o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@\***\|/***/*     vvv``v\_``\|  vv``vvvvvv/ /@@o
   @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@**\**|**/**              \  \     |____/ _/@@@@@o
    `@@@@@@`\\//'@@*\***\|/***/*              \      / _____/@@@@@@@@@o
     * #*+   ||  *\***\**|**/***/*             \      /   @@@@@@@@@@@@@
   +# *| **+ ||  . *\***\|/***/*     (        __|     |    `@@@`V'@@@'
 +*#_\ |*/_#*|| #|, **\**|**/**       )      ()_      |   #.`@@@|@@@'@o
  **#+\|/*+* ||*+|*# ***\|/***       (.,        ||    |  *+#*+ `|' @@@'
    ** |* *  || \|/     _|_         OoooO      /       \  `|'   |  `|'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exits: north 
(Greater Goddess) (Invis 51) (Translucent) Ceirana radiates with a godly light.

Ceirana: I can't wait to hear what highly amusing discourse you have prepared
Vortok: I'm trying to put my "see" button back on, I had to take it off and now
its a pain to get back on.  I'm really sorry, this button is acting horrible I
can’t get it back on.
Vortok: I fixed the "C"key!  ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
 Editor’s note: I changed the ‘c’s into ‘k’s for clarity - and because I’m a jerk.
Ceirana tweaks Vortok's nose.
Ceirana: I’m glad you're 'fixed
Ceirana pets Vortok.
Vortok gets a blank look on his face.
Vortok: Ok, let the interview begin. Are you actually going to stay here this
time?
Ceirana: probably, but I might send you away
Ceirana grins evilly.
Vortok: I remember when you first Immed, don't exactly remember the date, but
when did you start playing Rod?
Ceirana: Hmm, I don't recall the exact date either, but I remember pallies
coming in, so whatever year that was
Vortok: What made you start playing a text based game?  Especially after you
logged on and had the horror of the CHAT channel spamming you to death.
Ceirana: I used to play another game... they had a reunion one year I went to.
The coder for that game was Derek Snider. He didn't actually play the other
game, but did the coding on it.  He went to the reunion too, and didn't know
anyone, and I found myself talking to him.  He told me about the mud. I had to
ask him what a mud was, didn't know.  I promised him I'd go home and check it
out.  I printed off the help pages... was something like 100 pages.  Very, very
intimidating.  Made Ceirana and hung out in the tapestry room in preauth
waiting for Thoric to auth me.  After half hour I think someone told me to
move. I didn't know commands or anything, and I kept getting lost.
Vortok Laughs.
Ceirana: I remember another player coming up to me in preauth and saying 'you
suck'.  Wish I could remember who that was .... muhaha!  
Vortok: It was Kinux
Ceirana seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Ceirana: I should have made some declaration of becoming immortal some day on
newbiechat.  Given everyone within earshot a good laugh.  I took several times
through preauth too because I didn't save the char.  all the time I kept
expecting to run into Thoric. Figured he'd come visit and hang out.  He never
did, fancy that, but by then I was hooked.  
Vortok: So how did you evolve and develop while here?
Ceirana: I leveled up with some other people I met along the way that were
often online same time as me.  One of them, Tennyson, was a druid, and told me
that he was going to join the Guild, and that I should too.  I went to their
Warm Welcome room, but I didn't know how to write notes and frankly the whole
note system was terribly intimidating at that point in my life.  Later on I met
another druid who snagged an inductions person and I had my interview then and
there, without writing a note.  Did my quest (which was far too hard for
someone with my lack of experience) lala (note to guild leaders reading this)
lala, and I got into GoD.  This was a super fun time, great folks, very active,
knew everyone, did everything I could.  I was hesitant to make another
character, felt like I was betraying myself somehow, but after some cajoling I
leveled a mage.  In time in GoD I became a leader, then Guild master.  Then one
day.... stepping down and passing the mantle to someone else, giving others the
chance to lead became the right thing to do.  Then I immed and haven't looked
back.
Vortok: How has your development as an imm gone?
Ceirana: I love it, so fabulous, I guess   I've learned a ton.  When I immed,
I knew nothing about building or imm commands or anything like that.  A Moment
in Nature was my 'learn how to build' experience.  I was fortunate enough for
it to have been deemed good enough to port.
Vortok: As far as dealing with people, and being part of various councils, have
has your experience as an immortal allowed you to grow?
Ceirana: I would say so. I've been on a few different councils, had my hand in
many different aspects of the game.  That's the one thing about immortals, we
are all different people with different strengths and interests. None of us
could be an expert on every aspect of the game, but we all fill a niche.
Vortok nods in understanding.
Ceirana: Currently I work with the Guilds, which was a mandate I had for
myself when I immed, that that was what I wanted to do some day, I'm in
Ascendere as well, and they are an awesome bunch of folks, and I run the
Neophyte Council.  I used to be in VC, which I loved also.
Vortok: What do you do on the NeoC?
Ceirana: We have a mentorship programme for when someone imms, they are paired
with a more experienced immortal to settle in and learn the ropes. I oversee
the council that makes sure the new immortals get on track.
Vortok: Are you the only immortal on that council?  I never see anyone else
with the tag?
Ceirana: Ayep.  I can work out all my problems on counciltalk 
Vortok chuckles politely.
Ceirana: actually there are a number of uncoded people on that council, but
because you can only have one council tag, they are usually in something else
as a coded member.
Vortok: You've made it pretty far considering the amount of people that Immed
with, before, and after you.  How do you see yourself progressing from here on?
Ceirana: I don’t know, every level from 52 on I figured I'd maxed out.  I'll do some
more building, would like to finish up a few things I have on the go on the
build port.  I love the mud, and there are some awesome folks on here. It's also
neat to see all the behind the scenes stuff.  Recently I've become deadly too
so it's been interesting getting to know some of the committed pkillers.
Vortok: Interesting?  Don't you mean a headache?
Ceirana tweaks Vortok's nose.
Ceirana: They're oddly endearing.
Vortok: You have inspired my new title; Vortok, the Oddly Endearing.
Ceirana laughs.
Ceirana: I hadn't planned on being deadly or anything. It's one aspect of the
game I am not too up on.  One day one of the higher level imms balzhured me and
set me level 50 and deadly and said on war talk 'here you go' sort of thing. 
Guess you missed that day.
Vortok: Yeah, unfortunately.  Last time I saw that was when Lascivias did that
to Calis and we raped him.
Ceirana: After I got my self back, I didn't set myself out, I got talking to
one of the deadlies... actually I think it might have been you, and you said
something like 'it's awesome to see more imms support the deadly scene'.  Well,
how could I set myself out after hearing that?
Vortok nods in agreement to Ceirana.
Ceirana: So the deadly thing sort of just happened.  
Vortok: I think everyone likes you so far.  If you can get in good with the
pkillers, you're pretty much set.  They don't hold back like a lot of
peacefuls, and they're pretty nasty if they don't like you, ask Tiki, Lyrias,
or Valanna 
Ceirana: While I was balzed and deadly, another immortal logged on his pker and
nailed me.  
Ceirana hrms.
Ceirana: I'd forgotten about that... cough*lookoutRhadamanthus!*cough
Vortok seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Ceirana: Nods I find I'm getting along well with the deadly community.  I even
know some of their real names, that's how they know each other.  Of course you
knew that   I remember Pat's name the easiest.
Vortok: Do you plan to get more involved with the PK Community?  And if so,
how?
Ceirana: Someday I'll get around to leveling a deadly.  It's interesting to
delve into different aspects of the game.  
Vortok: What do you do with your time when you're online?
Ceirana: Depends. When I'm building I focus on that, but after the Shattering
I've done less building.  Some days I get so many tells and requests all I do
is answer them and admin stuff.  We all auth names, monitor channels etc.  The
other stuff I do is ultra top secret immstuff!
Vortok: Would you consider yourself a _NAME NAZI_ ?
Ceirana: Nope I'm probably one of the more lenient authers. I am not sure how
my auth skills are perceived in the mortal community.  I'm a sucker for punny
clever names.  I shouldn't have said that, now I'll be inundated ever time I'm
on solo.
Vortok seems to be in an agreeable mood.
Vortok: Conran is the easiest, so don't feel bad.  I think he has a trigger to
just accept anything on the auth channel.
Ceirana snickers softly.
Ceirana: The immortal scene has changed hugely since when I immed.  When I
immed all imm saw wartalk.  We didn't have a config +nice flags, so there were
waaaaay more illegal pks, it would happen all the time, accidentally.  People
would use one letter to target a mob and it would hit a char with same first
letter.  We used to have way more advertisers logging in and spamming chat, and
we didn't have reroll... auth was very very busy.  People would run a char
through numerous times before they got what they wanted.
Vortok: What's the funniest experience you've ever had as an immortal?
Ceirana: Kali will do something nasty to me if I told you.
Vortok: Please... do tell; besides, he's only scary on the outside.  Otherwise
he's a cuddly stuffed dragon.
Ceirana: Can I get that in writing?  (Here you go, Ceirana)
(I eventually use my irresistible charm to crack her...)
Ceirana: One day I was loading up a bunch of inactives for a guild leader to
outcast.  I was forcing each person to quit, individually, and there were like
45 of them or something.  Kali sends me a tell saying 'there's an easier way to
do that, you know', and he shows up in the room.  Next thing you know, I'm quit
out.  So I log back in and people are going nuts on channels.  He meant to show
me a way to force the players all in that one room to quit, but instead he did
a force all quit, so he quit out every single player on the mud.  So I sent him
a message 'I still think my way is better'  
Vortok rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.
Ceirana: It was hilarious. I hope Kali finds this hilarious too when he reads
it else I suspect I might find myself level 50 and deadly, naked with an slist
of 0.
Vortok: What has been your most upsetting experience as an immortal?
Ceirana: Oh there've been a few things over the years, but my choice is not to
dwell on them, bringing up the 'bad stuff' from the past serves no purpose.  As
an immortal, it is important to enjoy the game also too, you know? Just because
we're admin doesn't mean we can't enjoy our time here also.  
Vortok: How politically put.
Ceirana: As an immortal it is important to have thick skin.  I can't tell you
the number of times I've been cursed at and worse. Most of the time people that
react like that are upset for some reason.  I always try to find out why
someone is acting abusive...you never know where someone is coming from in
their real life.
Vortok: Yeah, I think some people forget that we have those.
Ceirana nods solemnly.
Vortok: Well, is there anything you'd like to add?  A message to the readers
perhaps, on anything we have or haven't talked about already?
Ceirana: Gosh I wonder if any have read this far.  (Another smiley, yet not
quite as many as Kinux).  Just to get out there and live in the world.  Explore
something new, read some room descriptions.  There's a lot of good stuff out
there.  My pet peeve is people who broadcast to the world that they are bored,
there is an amazing lot to see and do here.
Vortok: Well, thanks for your time, I'm sure the entire MUD has enjoyed
listening to the story about Kali forcing everyone to quit, and those that were
there most likely enjoyed it more.
Ceirana: If anything undesirable happens to me I hold you personally
responsible!
Vortok: K... Can't be worse than what he did to me 
Ceirana: So you've told funny stories about him too?
Ceirana grins evilly.
You seem to be in an agreeable mood.
Vortok: I was turned pk and killed 201 times by the imms.  Edmond was level 52
at the time, he's the only one that was too weak to one round me.  
Ceirana: Shhhhh!  That was out loud 
Vortok grins evilly.
Vortok: They bodybagged my corpses and put them all in DH[].  Not to mention
the multiple renames to Vorschmuck, freezings, slit throats, etc...
Ceirana: They are both great guys and honestly I see the hard work and
dedication that so many folks have put into this mud... and those two would be
top of my 'amazing' list.  
Vortok: Awww, ain't that touching.
Ceirana: And I'm not just saying that because I strongly suspect I might be
standing naked at my recall point for some time after this article is
published.
Vortok laughs.
Vortok: Ok, ill add that last comment.
Ceirana rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.
Ceirana: So that wasn't too painful an interview for you I hope.  I was going
to go for the 1 pager and just grunt every question.
Ceirana grunts like a pig. (Yes, she really did this)
You get a blank look on your face.

THE END (not really, but you don't want to see the rest, trust me)

(End)                                                        
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Linda - Vortok \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Players near you in Hellish Plane of the Maleficae:
| Linda          (Savior)                | The Wolf's Den
| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | The Wolf's Den
The Wolf's Den
The stars shine brightly upon this outcropping that overlooks the hellish
plane below.  Unlike the rest of the land, this tranquil setting flourishes
with the essence of life itself.  The radiance of the full moon overhead
illuminates the soft granite substrate strewn about this grassy plateau.
The gray clouds above that appear to be laced with strands of silver stars,
take the form of an aged wolf gazing down from the heavens.  As the cool
evening air blows over the plateau a soft howl can be heard in the distance.
Two large trees stand towards the edge of the cliff with a white mesh hammock
tied in between.  Dangling from the hammock is a silver bed sheet scented in
a fragrant perfume.
Exits: none
A small fountain taking the shape of a leaf rests along side the hammock.
A young wolf puppy sits upright beside the fountain peering about the plateau.
(Savior) (Maleficae) Linda radiates with a godly light.
Vortok: We covered a lot of the basic questions still in our last interview,
but you've come such a long way since then, so we will start in the middle.
Linda laughs.
Linda: That was what, a month or 2 after I became a deity?
Vortok: Jan 25, 2005
Linda: Really?  Wow!
Vortok: Shows how little attention you give me, we haven't talked since January
25 of 2005.
Linda: You are always afk. I still have your skins to remind me of the old
times.
Vortok: Haha, very funny. Since you've become deity, and our last interview
on 25 Jan 05, what changes or personal growths do you think you have made since
then?
Linda: That is a hard question.  I think I am more confident, but that is more
along the lines of just knowing people and having them trust you.  People have
learned where my line in the sand is, so to speak.  
Vortok: Along with your "acceptance" into the pkill community, you've also been
more accepted amongst the immortals, as you have advanced to level 54 since
then, what changes, if any has this brought about?
Linda: Actually in the immortal community there hasn't been a lot of changes. 
Although, there are a lot of newer imms that ask for advice and such.  Which is
amazing to me, as I still ask advice of a lot of the others.  I am able to do a
little more, but mostly it is just interacting with players and newbies.
Vortok: Speaking of newbies, has your role on NC changed?  And what exactly do
you do on NC as an immortal that is not the head?
Linda: My role hasn't changed that much.  When Ilsensine stepped down and
remorted, I took over her stuff, mainly just trying to keep induction dates and
NC roster updated.  Other than that, I just watch channels, and try to help NC
members when they need bodybags when they just cant get there.  I try to direct
newbies to where to find answers, mostly help files.
Vortok: Is NC your final stop, or do you ultimately want to be in VC, NeoC, or
something else?
Linda: When I first immed I wanted to go back to TS, however, I am not sure
about that now.  Right now, I am the only deadly in NC, and am trying to work
with them to better understand the true newbie as a deadly pitfalls.  As far as
VC or whatever, I am actually willing to go where they need me.
Vortok: I just cracked an egg into the pan, and it had 2 yokes... I killed
twins :(
Linda laughs.
Vortok: Ok, lets talk a little bit more about the PK side of the house.  Now
that you are a seasoned PK imm, and one who actually has morts and have
convinced your hubby to play, what are your opinions on the current pk status. 
Both ups, downs, and what you think it needs?
Linda: Well other than needing more players coming in, I am not sure.  I really
don't know how to accomplish that.  I finally convinced my husband to play, and
he says it isn't anything like what he thought of when he thought 'deadlies',
so I think it is mainly just talking to people, and getting them to try it. 
But if they do, they have to understand not to take anything said personally,
that is what gets most people I think.
Vortok: I forgot to put butter in my egg pan, that was a waste of 2 eggs and I
killed an innocent twin for nothing.
Linda comforts Vortok.
Vortok: Well, being NC and PK, what do you think the fate is for brand new
players trying to be deadly fro the start?
Linda: The way things stand right now, it is awful, they get little to no
help from anyone, they have to rely on wartalk for the most part, and deadlies
rarely log unless it is to actually pkill so there are few on at any given
time.  Not to mention the deadlies that rape newbs.
Linda grins at Vortok.
Vortok: Don't grin at me, that's Pat.
Linda: There are always people like that.  Even peacefuls have players that
will send newbies towards DTs or whatever, or tell them to tell froggie
'ribbit'.
Vortok laughs out loud.
Vortok: I used to charm the gargoyle in Zenothir's Tower and put it above the
academy, invis, then dismiss it.
Linda looks at Vortok, shakes her head and says 'tsk tsk tsk'.
Vortok: ... and, my favorite, was summoning a frost drake to kill Nelkum, cause
I really do dislike Nelkum
You hear some squeaking sounds...
Vortok: What's the funniest thing you've seen in both PK and NC side?
Linda: That is hard to say, to be honest it was the first time my husband
logged on a deadly he didn’t really do much, didn’t saying anything 'bad' though
some might have thought them offensive, but the person took it to chat, instead
of asking the husband to stop, and it escalated, and the other person ended up
silenced.
Vortok seems to get a laugh from something saying "heh heh heh".
Linda: As an imm, I was telling my husband 'be nice, don't do that' and such,
but at the same time I couldn't stop laughing.  Yes, that is wrong of me!  but
it was still funny.
Vortok: Do you think PK needs an intermediary council, such as VC, composed of
deadly imms that actually play the game?  If so, would you be interested in a
position on this council?
Linda: I would guess I would have to say I don’t think we really need an extra
council,  because I think mortal deadlies have a better idea than immortals
(even the few of us that log occasionally) about what is wrong/slightly off 
with a class or skill.  If there was such a council though, I would say like I
did before, that I would go where I am needed, if needed on that type of
council, I would be willing, but I think with our current set up, I am where I
am most useful, with my skills/personality.
Vortok: Ok, this is your chance.  What would you like to say to our readers? 
Anything we haven't already covered?
Linda: Remember this is a game above all else.  You are here to have fun. 
Others are here to have fun.  Don't take anything personally if you can help
it.  But remember there are other people on here trying to do the same thing. 
But it is a game!  Enjoy and have fun!
 
Vortok's PS: I had to capitalize EVERY "I" Linda typed
Editor's note: How do you think _I_ feel, Vortok?

(End)                                                  
_______________________________________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 __________________________________
/ Interview: Rhadamanthus - Vortok \__________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

You tell Rhadamanthus 'ready for your interview love?'
Rhadamanthus trudges up from the depths, coated in the sand of the Colosseum.
Counsel of the Conclave
Walls of frozen steel form the foundation of this circular chamber.
A black iron table with a red crest rests in the center of the room 
surrounded by ten, neatly arranged, black leather chairs.  The indigo
torches which line the walls give the room an eerie glow.  Directly
in the center of the room going from the ceiling, through the
table, and into the floor is a large crimson pillar with small notes
attached all around.  Stains of dried blood can be seen on the
crimson parchments, blood that came from the very thing that drives
the members that gather here.
Exits: none
(Glowing) A crimson pillar is covered with bloody parchments.
(Creator) Rhadamanthus is shrouded in a demonic aura.

Vortok: Also, because it will be boring to read, like all the ones I've seen
already posted, I'd like some RP type emotes at least to add something to the
bore-effect.
Rhadamanthus: You can do them, I'll pass  (boring, already )
Vortok: How long have you been playing RoD?
Rhadamanthus: 7 years now.  A friend of mine who no longer plays, found the
website by chance and got me involved.
Vortok: I'd be interested in hearing how that conversation went, every time I
try to show someone they laugh at me and call me a dork.
Rhadamanthus: I called him a dork and said that any text-based game had to be
stupid. 
Rhadamanthus coughs loudly.
Rhadamanthus: but enough coaxing finally got me started on it, and here I am
still.
Vortok: Ever think of quitting? (CoE won't read this, they are too busy)
Rhadamanthus:  I have before, just like anywhere, there are jerks on this game
who derive their fun from ruining that of others, and I've found there is a
tendency among the leader-type positions in this game to forget that we are
here to have fun (i.e., that it is, in fact, a game).  Things like that can
make a person forget that they are here to have fun, and if they are bad
enough cases they can make a person want to quit.
Vortok nods in agreement.
Vortok: Trust me, I know what you mean 
Rhadamanthus nods solemnly.
Vortok: What organizations have you been with in 7 years?
Rhadamanthus: Catarrh, Arcanes, IOQC, and PKC.
Vortok: You've never been in a guild?
Rhadamanthus: No sir.
Vortok: Interesting.
Rhadamanthus agrees with Vortok.
Vortok: How long were you in Arcanes?
Rhadamanthus: About 6 years now, confidentially, I still might be in Arcanes!
Rhadamanthus waggles his eyebrows mischievously.
Vortok: What is your chars password?
Rhadamanthus: vortokisgayballs
Vortok: Oh. Somehow I think that’s a lie.
Rhadamanthus shakes his head in response to your question.
Rhadamanthus: Scout's honor.
Vortok: You're ruining the interview by not answering honestly, but we can
press on.
Rhadamanthus rolls his eyes.
Vortok: Within this 7 year experience, at what point did you decide to try PK?
Rhadamanthus: About a year to a year and a half into my time here, if I recall
rightly.  I joined Phoenix on a character which has long since autodeleted, oh
I guess add that to my orgs .  I actively played pk for only about a month
after that first character, I didn't really like the things that went on in pk
then, certainly then it was much worse than it is now, with trigger abuse,
burying corpses, etc, so I quit for a couple years.  When I came back, I joined
Catarrh, found a totally different place than I left it, and have stayed since.
Vortok: Did you have a "role model" that kind of guided and trained you when you
started pk?
Rhadamanthus: I had a couple; Pat, who you might know as Talon or Mekir, was
the main person who coaxed me back into pk.  And once in Catarrh, he, along
with Jim (Akhemis) and Marcus (Badrol/Saki) got me back up to speed.
Vortok: Pat helped me a lot when I came back also.
Rhadamanthus nods in agreement to Vortok.
Vortok: I remember you being excited (and nervous) when you were selected as
PKC head, is it everything you though?
Rhadamanthus: It's been fun and a learning experience for sure, but it is good
to know that while I'm not exactly changing the pk world, PKC really helps push
progress along to make pk better on a weekly/daily basis.
Vortok: Was there another council you ultimately plan to make your way to after
PKC, or is this where you want to stay?
Rhadamanthus: I think I'd like to stay in PKC as long as they'd have me.
Vortok: Haha, good luck!  What's been your biggest challenge in this position?
Rhadamanthus: The biggest challenge would be sharing a channel with that Vortok
guy.
Rhadamanthus coughs loudly.
Vortok gets a blank look on his face.
Rhadamanthus: SERIOUSLY THOUGH, the biggest challenge is dealing with a huge
creative energy that comes out of PKC, and knowing that it can't be done as we
might like in the upper levels of administration.  Some things simply have too
broad a coding scope, and some changes that need immediate attention simply
don't get it.
Vortok: How do you feel about the amount of PK quests, or lack of, that are
currently administered?
Rhadamanthus: For sure there could be more... BUT, a lot of people fail to
realize that immortals may not award glory for actual pk events, and by the
logic that these people are on deadlies, item find and mkill get old quickly.
Vortok: What do you plan to do about it?
Rhadamanthus: Well, my main idea, which is certainly a long way off, is a new
game-type competition based somewhat off the "juggernaut" game you can find in
many first-person shooters.  Basically you have a 1v4 type competition where
one person is in some way, ridiculously overpowered, when someone kills that
person, they gain that overpowered...ness?
Vortok nods in agreement to Rhadamanthus.
Rhadamanthus: Another idea is building mkill mobs more like deadlies.  Writing
programs to actually make them pursue, fight in packs, re-target characters,
etc.  It's tough programming them, but I have at least one in progress 
(On a side note, last night, 28 Sep 05 at 8pm EST, he actually ran a quest
like this and it was great, 15 deadlies took part and loved it, go Rhad!)
Vortok: What do you think of the current pk areas, and are there going to be
more?
Rhadamanthus: I think the current pk areas need a little bit of tweaking as far
as mob difficulty goes still, but they are overall pretty excellent - they were
brought over from eclipse, which was a great development ground for all things
pk.  As far as new ones, I am working on one at least, I'm not sure who else
has stuff in the works.
Vortok: What are your opinion(s) on the current status of PKill and what do you
think it needs?
Rhadamanthus: Well, that depends on scope - this very second, pk is in a bit of
a trough, but in about a few weeks' or month's scope, it has really been
excellent lately.  As far as what it needs, as I've always said pk needs the
ability to be fluid and have changes made more often, and with a greater amount
of creativity and innovation.  
Vortok: amen (we need that as a social)
Rhadamanthus grins.
Vortok: Well, I was telling myself that after reading Babui's 23 page interview
on Stoneheft I wouldn't make this extremely long, and the 10 questions I asked
so far appear to be making a very long script already.  Is there anything you'd
like the readers to know about you and or pk?
Rhadamanthus laughs.
Rhadamanthus: One thing for sure, chances are good if you tried pk once and
didn't like it, it's a different place now than before, I am living proof.  And
if you have never tried it, absolutely do - your MUDding experience isn't
complete without it.  If you are patient and attentive, just ask questions and
definitely make a pkiller to come play on, because it is tons of fun.
Vortok nods and says "Amen brotha".
Vortok: Thanks Rhad, appreciate your time.
Rhadamanthus: My Pleasure, I always enjoy our conversations.
Rhadamanthus saunters back to the cages beneath the Colosseum.

(End)                                                              
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 ___________________________
/ Interview: Korim - Vortok \_________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Korim has transferred you.
 
Players near you in Gods:
| Korim          (Creator)               | Water
| Romani         (Demi God)              | The Chat Room
| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | Water
 
Water
Oh Spirit and Guardian of the West, 
Ancient one of Water, I call thee to 
come forth and charge this circle, with 
the power of the tides.
Exits: none
(Creator) Korim radiates with a godly light.

Vortok: Ok, I'm chan -all.
Korim: And I'm chan +all.
Vortok: I'll edit this, so don't worry about typos etc.
Korim: Good luck, typos are what I do best. 
Vortok: Ok, so the basic first few questions... What the hell made you start
playing a text based game? 
Korim: Well, you get the usual answer: friends
Vortok: There have been a few interesting ones, but if you say friends, how did
you react?  you didn’t think they were dorky?
Korim: My buddy back in high school dated a girl who played this game.  We both
picked it up from her.  It was a pretty cool and new concept to all of us.  We
could hang out and spend time doing stuff 'together'... in a way. 
Vortok: Do they still play?
Korim: Not the girl.  She had been playing from pretty early on, and didn't
like the changes so much or something.  She stopped a few months after my
friends and I started.
Vortok: Ironic.
Korim seems to agree.
Vortok: So what did you think when you first got here, or did your friends walk
you through it?  I know when I started I was lost, and pre auth took about 2
hrs. 
Korim: my first character was a Warrior, and I knew nothing about the game
except that to advance you had to kill things... so, that's essentially what I
did. I leveled pretty quickly for a first time player, but I paid no attention
to stats or anything aside from hp.  So essentially, I was very lost, I just
didn't know it at the time.
Vortok seems to get a laugh from something saying "heh heh heh".
Korim: But yes, starting out with friends made it easier because we were
discovering things together.
Vortok: Ardeth and I started the same day, we fought ASP together!
Korim cowers in the corner from claustrophobia.
Vortok agrees with Korim.
Vortok: So once you got the swing of things, how did you manage your way into
your first organization, and develop from then on?
Korim: Well, my friends started telling me about these things called 'guilds'
and eventually I started reading help files and thinking they might be a good
place to meet people and such so, after my friend got into GoD and told me how
great it was, I tried out for GoP on my newly created paladin.  GoP was great.
Turned out to be everything people had said.. 'family, home, friends' etc. 
That's really where I learned how to 'play' the game properly.
Vortok: So where does Arcanes fall in?
Korim: Arcanes I joined as an immortal.  As a mort, I was addicted to guilds,
but guilds don't have Deities, so when Arcanes offered me the spot, I thought
it'd be great to see things out and see how I can help an organization from
that position.
Vortok: And how is that going?
Korim: It's going well I'd say, some great people in here, so it's made my
'job' (if you can call it that) pretty easy.
Vortok: How about QC?  What made you join that, and what has been your most
exciting quest thus far?
Korim: QC always looked like a good place to help out to me, you can never have
too many quests, and it's an easy way to get some building done w/o having to
spend years adjusting an area.  The quest that I've had the most positive
feedback so far has probably been the GoV quest. was a fun little 'dress up as
Peter Pan and kill Captain Hook' quest.
Vortok seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".
Vortok: What about your involvement with CoD?
Korim: CoD has been more of an 'I'm here if you need me' deal. So far there
hasn't been too much practical application for it, but if Alysira needs a hand
with something, she lets me know and I help her out.
Vortok: I see, so what other behind the scene events are you involved with?
Korim: Well, aside from the standard monitoring and the like, I've helped out
with a few projects, but nothing major, just help files and such.
Vortok: With your awesome 53 powers and that's it?  I'm expecting you to be
folding areas by now. 
Vortok pats Korim on his back.
Korim: I'm saving that for tomorrow.
Vortok: So, who is Korim on the outside?  Hobbies, location, etc?
Korim: I've been living in Japan for over a year now, and my recent hobbies
have been mainly heading out to different events and places to try to
experience some the Japanese culture before heading home.  If you can call that
a hobby?  I was military in the Canadian reserves.
Vortok: More damn Canadians.
Vortok mutters distractedly.
Korim: Well, you are playing a *cough* Canadian game.
Korim looks innocently about himself.
Vortok: I think we had better end this before you come up missing... so...
Korim laughs.
Vortok: Thanks for the time, hope that wasn't too painful for you.  Is there
anything else you'd like our readers to know about you, or the game in general?
Last words, etc? 
Korim: Not really... although, if I had to give advice, it would be that I've
always found that for this game, you can only ever enjoy it as much as you put
into it... if that makes sense?
Vortok nods solemnly.

(End)                                                       
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _________________________________
/ Archives Poll Results - Alysira \___________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Earlier this month, I posted a short poll on the archives to add a bit of
fun to the 100th issue. Here are the results, and if you won a certain
quetion, congratulations! We'll try and arrange the ballerina outfit for
you.
Only one winner was chosen for each section, where two names are placed
this indicates a tie.

1. Who is your favourite Immortal?
a. Ceirana/Alysira
2. Who is your favourite player?
a. Lex (aka. Grontak)
3. If you could see any Immortal dressed in a ballerina outfit with 
   fluffy pink bunny slippers, who would it be?
a. Kali (Obviously!)
4. If you could see any player dressed in a ballerina outfit with
   fluffy pink bunny slippers, who would it be?
a. Genge/Artem/Anya
5. Which Immortal do you think has the most active social life?
a. Thoric/Rhadamanthus (Rhad? You guys don't know him too well.)
6. Which Immortal do you think has the least active social life?
a. Meekon
7. Which player do you think has the most active social life?
a. Skaphia/Mephie
8. Which player do you think has the least active social life?
a. Phyre/Artem
9. Which Immortal would you give the nickname "Gingerbread" to?
a. Ceirana
10. Which player would you give the nickname "Gingerbread" to?
a.  Excane
11. Which Immortal would you give the nickname "Hot sauce" to?
a.  Alysira 
12. Which player would you give the nickname "Hot sauce" to?
a.  Sinistro
13. Which Immortal would you give the nickname "Icy" to?
a.  Kali (Another obvious win.)
14. Which player would you give the nickname "Icy" to?
a.  Cresis/Artem/Genge
15. Which Immortal could one day rule the world?
a.  Kali/Kinux/Alysira
16. Which player could one day rule the world?
a.  Qaulorn
17. Which Immortal do you think still has a collection of pink stuffed
    teddy bears?
a.  Romani/Akael
18. Which player do you think still has a collection of pink stuffed
    teddy bears?
a.  Babui

Thanks to everyone who submitted their answers!

(End)                                                          
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _____________________________________________________
/ Cry of Despair Quest: September's Results - Alysira \_______________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Last month, your quest was to answer a few trivial questions about Realms.
I've selected two random correct answers. Congratulations to...

                                Norelle and Vivienne!

Please see me for your prizes ASAP! For everyone else, here are the correct
answers:

1. Name one weather-oriented deity and the weather they represent.
a. Cawyn (Storms), Masefi (Wind).
2. Name all of the paths that a Mage can adhere to.
a. Balance, Countermagick, Destruction, the Elder School, Defense, Prowess,
   and the Quill.
3. Which cleric spell renders a person resistant to draining attacks?
a. Resilience.
4. Which druid spell calls upon the spirits of nature to protect the
   druid from all manner of attacks?
a. Nadur Dion
5. Name an area in The Mire geo.
a. Dragon Tower, Dragon's Pass, Tribal Swamplands, etc. I can't give too
   many away in this answer, but an easy way to check your answer is to
   go to your area and type 'geo'.

Please try this month's quest! Good luck!


This issue, I couldn't decide between a Halloween-oriented quest, or a
special 100th Issue quest.

So, have one of each.

Firstly, answer these trivia questions about the Cry of Despair:
1. Who was the Editor of the Times of Despair?
2. In what year did the Cry of Despair begin?
3. Which issue was Elisabet's last issue as Immortal Sponsor?
4. Which issue was Kuah's last issue as Editor?

Now, design your own Halloween costume using items from around the
Realms. The most imaginative costume (or funniest) will be selected
as the Winner. You have until the 29th of October to MUDmail me your
answers and a copy/paste of your garb.

As an extra incentive to complete this quest, the prizes this month
will be the usual glory, plus gold and some nice av item. I'm not sure
what, I'll figure that out later.

Good luck and enjoy!
-Alysira
(End)                                                               
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _______________________
/ Pkill Status - Vortok \_____________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

General:
- PK player base up slightly, still low.
- Artifacts: Art (Exc/Mal), Dan (Fer), Marcus(Cat)
- New PKC making changes, activity increased.
- PK Geo almost complete, Vortok is still slow...
Editor's addition: Wes wants a non-av lizardman for pkill. Sell him one.
     
Catarrh:
- Art has returned, lost and regained Artis.
- Cat livens up a bit now that Art is back.
    
Excordis:
- Tim takes over Exc, Forrest selected as #1, Pat as #2.
- Will (Arrigorn/Atrayyu) has returned!
       
Feralis:
- Wes returns to PK and rejoins Feralis.
- Sid vanishes after dying :(
- Kulj is back!  Re-leveling his chars too!
      
Maleficae:
- Dre and Brad log more, Mal activity increased.
- Vortok goes to Mal.
       
Updated 29 Sep 2005 @ 9:18pm by Vortok
(End)                                                                
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/




 _____________________
/ Pkill News - Vortok \_______________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

PKC has been restructured by Rhadamanthus, and the results
can be viewed by typing HELP PKC.  So far this new group
is working out well. 
    
Ideas Awaiting PKC Vote:
- Reverting artifacts back to clan leaders
- Adding AC to PK EQ
- Reinstalling Myriad of Arenas
- More clan EQ into circulation
- Adren checks on safe rooms in DH
 
Ideas that have vanished:
- Removing or adjusting poison weapons
- Adjusting charge for barbs in PVP
- Reduce Barbarian suscept magic to 10% for deadlies
    
Denied by CoE/PKC:
-Reverting artifacts to clan leaders
     
Passed CoE, Awaiting Code:
- True sight potions sold in town
- PK GEO almost complete

Updated 29 Sep 2005 @ 10:01pm by Vortok

(End)                                                            
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _____________________
/ Join Pkill - Vortok \_______________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

Why Pkill?

What a great question, and hopefully I can provide you with a great
answer.  PKill, as many older players used to know it, has changed
dramatically.  These changes range from skills, classes, and areas to
leadership, PKC members, and overall pk mentality.

For those that haven't pkilled in a while, I encourage you to try pk
again, and for those that have never taken the plunge, you are in for
the ride of your life here on RoD!

We've made it simple for you.  Clans are more accepting of newbs now,
people aren't always spam killing levelers, we have a sign in the pk
store to help with item purchases, and there are two great websites
designed with the newbie in mind.

Start with a level 24 warrior, and learn PK from there.  To get a full
list of Level 24 PK-Warrior EQ, follow the link below and check out
the EQ->SETS link for 24 Warrior: http://hometown.aol.com/PKsCry
  
Also visit the Excordis homepage for more info:
http://www.excordis.silverwolf-den.com

(End)                                                            
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/



 _________________________
/ Guide: Augurers - Genge \___________________________________________________
|_____________________________________________________________________________\

 Remember when you joined the game, and you thought it'd be great to be able to
use magic AND have some measure of combat prowess? Did you make an augurer? Did
you cry yourself to sleep at night when the shattering hit and they were nerfed
something fierce?
 Me neither - but it has become kind of cliche to complain about augurers. They
drop potions like they're afraid of them and the new ones have less melee power
than the old ones due to the shuffling of attack adept rates. However, that all
aside, augurers main talent remains relatively intact - they're hitters. Sure,
they drop more mana potions and hence cost more to run, and the new ones don't
melee quite as well as the old ones, but they still have a huge amount of raw
damage dealing potential. They've also been given some equipment that helps to
shore up their hitpoints to add more damage to spiral. Really, life isn't all
that bad for the modern day augurer... unless, of course, you try to tank with
it.

SUPPORT:
  - Balm of time: Minor cure spell.
  - Inner Warmth: Stock res cold spell.
  - Shield: Stock shield spell.
  - Nostrum: Heal, self only. 
  - Prophetic Aura: Sanctuary and +3 lck - terribly useful.
  - Fireshield: Stock fireshield spell.
  - Herald Death: Curative spell, in berserk. Rah?

TACTICAL:
  - Weaken: Stock weaken spell.
  - Dispel Magic: Stock dispel spell.
  - Ritual Blessing: Bless, +7.
  - Sleep: Stock sleep spell.
  - Caustic Touch: A minor attack spell that causes poison. It's more useful 
                       than it sounds.
  - Bind Oracle: Blind.

UTILITIES:
  - Invis: Stock invis spell.
  - Hide: Stock hide skill.
  - Midas Touch: Stock midas spell.
  - Divination: Identify. Requires crystal.
  - Detect Hidden: You can detect hidden things.
  - Sleep: Stock sleep spell.
  - Fly: Stock fly spell.
  - Word of Recall: Stock recall spell.
  - Second Sight: Read: Locate object.
  - Enchant Weapon: Stock enchant spell.
  - Precient Sight: Farsight. Requires crystal.
  - Helical Flow: Astral walk.
  - Seek Passage: Invis/passdoor.

COMBAT:
Augurer's combat skills break down as follows:
 - Flexible arms: 95
 - Short blades:  85
 - Bludgeons:     75
 - Enhanced Dam:  75
 - Second attack: 60
 - Third attack:  66
 - Fourth attack: 40
 - Rescue:        50
 - Parry:         95
 - Dual wield:    80
 - Two handed:    50
 - Swap:          65

CONCLUSION:
 So, what exactly does all of this mean? Augurers do have a fair sized toolbox
of utility spells and skills - not as many as druids, but a good repertoire. In
fact, they used to also have create food and create spring, but they lost these
abilities during the shattering. Still, they're fairly useful to have around as
either a main (instead of a mage) due to farsight, id, astral, ecnhant, etc. - 
but their real calling is as hitters for specific types of mobs. Spiral blast 
and acceptable melee when wielding two weapons make them rather useful for some
run mobs. Spiral hits pretty much everything in the game, so you don't have to
worry about a mobile being immune. Each 100 hp adds about 9.5 damage to spiral,
and each spiral takes 4 beats. Circle takes 24 beats. If the mob doesn't save
versus breath, it'll deal more damage than anything else - if the mob does save
versus breath, it can still compete with circle if you have high hitpoints. Of
course, spiral does cost 35 mana, so 1200 mana will only last you 35ish casts, 
which is less than six circles. It goes by extremely quickly, so if you're on
a run with less than four people, you can bet on using mana potions. Since they
are a hitting class, you won't need too many heals, so feel free to carry over
100 mana potions on your augurers. Do not even try to tank anything on one - 
they lack dodge, having only parry, and 18 dex means they'll drop an annoying
amount of heal potions. One last thing - two powerful weapons are, without 
exception, better than a weapon/hold/shield on a mob that melee will hit. Yes,
even Nevermore chains. Even if you're wielding some cheap garbage like kau sin
kes, with a melere 105 dr, that's 255ish damage from the melee hit - even if
the shield/hold give you 200 hp more than the dual weapons, you'd need to hit
13+ spirals in order to equal a single melee hit, and you hit melee more often
when dual wielding. That's several rounds, and unless you have a magical uber
shield of doom, you're not going to get anywhere near 200 hp over two weapons.
Seriously, just trust me.

(End)                                                               
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|_____________________________________________________________________________/