{"id":1925,"date":"2024-03-20T13:46:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T13:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=1925"},"modified":"2024-03-20T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T13:46:10","slug":"cry-of-despair-100","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/cry-of-despair-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Cry of Despair #100"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color\">100 Issues! Tribute to 100 Staffers! Zombies! 17 Immortal Interviews!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"cryofdespair\">\n __________\n\/ Contents \\__________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\n   From the Editor and Publisher                     \n     Zombies!                      - by Genge        \n     A tribute to the CoD Staff    - by Alysira     \n\n   Interviews                                          \n     Nivek                         - by Mari          \n     Alysira                       - by Mari     \n     Loril                         - by Mari        \n     Lopuis                        - by Mari         \n     Akael                         - by Aslan      \n     Gatersade                     - by Aslan       \n     Gonnil                        - by Aslan       \n     Meekon                        - by Aslan      \n     Destre                        - by Babui      \n     Romani                        - by Babui    \n     Shadrack                      - by Babui   \n     Stoneheft                     - by Babui   \n     Kinux                         - by Vortok  \n     Ceirana                       - by Vortok  \n     Linda                         - by Vortok  \n     Rhadamanthus                  - by Vortok \n     Korim                         - by Vortok \n\n   Fun and Entertainment                            \n     Archives Poll Results         - by Alysira    \n     Cry of Despair Quest          - by Alysira    \n\n   PKill                                        \n     PKill Status                  - by Vortok    \n     PKill News                    - by Vortok     \n     Join PKill                    - by Vortok     \n\n   General Knowledge                                 \n     Augurers                      - by Genge      \n\n                                                                      \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n __________________\n\/ Zombies! - Genge \\__________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nOctober is an excellent month. Do you know why? Halloween. How can you possibly\nnot enjoy a holiday where even normal people dress up like freaks, and candy is\ncheap and plentiful? There are cult classic films on regular TV, it's an excuse\nto set off fireworks, and little kids learn valuable life lessons about how it\nis absolutely okay to take things from absolute strangers, as long as they're\nnot in an unmarked white van. Who doesn't like that? Lonely people with serious\nissues, and people who don't want to get over themselves and just let everyone\nelse have fun, I reckon. I, however, adore halloween. I still get dressed up. I\nam even getting dressed up for halloween and going to work kitted out as zombie\nJesus (if you get the reference, pat yourself on the back). In the spirit of \nthe holiday, I will be giving out candy on RoD on occasion for this month, and\nhave written up a little proposal for a class I think we can all enjoy... I\npresent to you: The Zombie.\n \nGenre: Aberrant - they're undead.\nPrimary Stat: Consitution - there are two kinds of zombies. There are the dime\n a dozen kind who die en masse like those in Evil Dead, and there those who \n keep coming no matter what happens to them. They can be decapitated and still\n relentlessly continue towards their prey. Clearly, we're talking about the \n latter - a more Jason-eqse zombie.\nSecondary Stat: Strength - their rotting limbs are not moved by muscle, but by\n unearthly magics and foul curses. This lends them a certain measure of braun\n that most people can't obtain.\nDeficient: Intelligence - unfortunately, due to the fact that their brains are\n rotting, zombies aren't terribly bright. Resident Evil 4 doesn't count.\nHPMin: 10\nHPMax: 14\nEXPBase: 1500 - zombies take a long time to learn anything, what with their\n rotting brains.\nResist: Drain - can't really drain anything from a corpse.\nSuscept: Holy - they're evil and undead.\n\nSkills:\nChomp: Latches on to an opponent with your decaying zombie teeth and gnaws on \nthem for several beats, doing a large measure of physical damage. This attack \nis constitution and strength based, as those dictate how well you can keep your\njaw latched onto a struggling and flailing opponent. This would be the class'\nstrongest attack skill.\nShamble: Removes fly and float, and slows your movement rate while this skill\nis active, but you regenerate hitpoints and moves at an increased rate. \nInfect: Poisons the opponent by raking your filthy, disgusting zombie nails\ninto the flesh of your opponent and piercing into their veins.\nReconstruct: restores hp based on how long you've been fighting a single mob -\nthe longer you fight it, the more body parts there are to put back on, and the\nmore hp you regenerate.\n\nThere you have it, some basic ideas for a zombie class. I bet you want one.\n\n(End)                                                                 \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ______________________________________\n\/ A Tribute to the Cry Staff - Alysira \\______________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nFor six and a half years, over ONE HUNDRED MUD'ders have worked hard to\nbring you the Cry of Despair every month. It would be a travesty to \ncelebrate the 100th issue of the Cry of Despair and not celebrate the 100+\nplayers who worked so hard on it all these years:\n\nAleir, Alendil, Alerious, Alisia, Allison, Alovea, Alysira, Amante, Amoria,\nAnaisse, Angelea, Apollonia, Aragon, Aslan, Athuro, Aurelius, Ayesh, Aylssa,\nAzrakare, Babui, Barentin, Bede, Begaria, Brakko, Carlie, Cassa, Cattrina,\nCersei, Cyniq, Conran, Dacoit, Deevlit, Dein, DekkatH, Diblin, Elaria, \nElbannon, Elisabet, Faceripper, Faya, Gabac, Gawen, Ganemanoimu, Genge, \nGoomra, Grishnakh, Gurt, Hawpch, Iktome, Ilsensine, Indalecio, Jaryl,\nJevy, Juliana, Kannan, Karkarov, Kayah, Kellandra, Kentamya, Keroppi,\nKhaimran, Korim, Kuah, Kyrnia, Kyrstal, Laine, Lascivias, Lex, Lohon, Lorel,\nLoril, Louellin, Mauro, Maray, Mari, Mea, Morgane, Muiren, Mystaric, Myra, \nNaeblis, Naithalia, Nashua, Nimue, Nitsuj, Noplex, Odessyus, Oknelim, \nQaulorn, Ranstlin, Redric, Romanu, Rosetta, Sarakin, Saraphin, Sarig, Sealom,\nSeverin, Shadia, Shadrack, Shamisen, Shingo, Silverwind, Simone, Stozzter,\nTatyana, Tical, Tinani, Thabo, Thalasian, Thivia, Tobie, Trinda, Tunclon,\nVaile, Vestia, Vladith, Vortok, Wiglaff, Wutanali, Yardan, Zishum, Zio.\n\nWhile some are new names that many of you won't recognise, and some didn't\nstay on the staff for long at all, there are others who contributed to the\nCry of Despair for years on end. They were passionate about the CoD and\nworked hard to develop it and keep it alive. I couldn't possibly name them\nall, but here are a few names that come to mind;\n\nMystaric and Bede - The first Editors of the Cry of Depsair who worked on it\ntogether for over twenty issues. Without them, I doubt the Cry would have had\nthe boost it needed to get started.\nShingo - Read Issue 25 on the website. His article creepily predicts the\nShattering... Coincidence?\nConran - A member of the staff for around fifty issues, his dedication to\nthe CoD was only halted by his ascension to Immortality.\nJuliana - A truly dedicated staff member and editor whom I do now regret\nseeing leave. A player who earned her place as a Hero.\nKuah, Khaimran, Myra - All long-serving, dedicated editors in their time.\nWhere would the CoD be without them?\nElisabet - She served as the Immortal Sponsor for many, many issues, until\nher retirement from the Realms. She helped me a great deal during my time as\nEditor and I know she was a great supportive person to many other members in\nher time.\n\nAs a writer, editor and Immortal of the Cry of Despair, I've been a part of\nover twenty issues. Not a lot compared to these people, but I've seen it\nthrough a lot of events. Controversial articles, dedicated staff... and not-\nso-dedicated staff. The team we have now is fantastic, and I look forward to\nworking on many more issues of the Cry of Despair with them. If any past\nwriters are reading this, kudos to you for helping to make the Cry of Despair\nthe fantastic magazine that it is now.\n\n(End)                                                                 Page: 006\n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _________________________\n\/ Interview: Nivek - Mari \\___________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nMari:  What are some of your duties as an Immortal?\nNivek: I implement many of the coding projects, vote on changes to the\ngame, help other immortals and track down cheaters.  That isn't\neverything I do, but it is a good portion of my work here.\nMari:  How long have you been a part of Realms, Immortal and Mortal?\nNivek thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nNivek: Been on Realms since 1995 or 1996 I forget exactly.\nNivek: Or maybe longer than that.\nNivek: I don't remember ;)\nNivek: I have been here since 1997 as an imm.\nMari:  There have been many changes in the past, are you happy with how\nthe game is going so far?\nNivek: You are never totally satisfied with all the changes.\nNivek: I think the majority of the changes were very successful and the mud\nis much more robust and stable than it was at the beginning.\nNivek: That being said, there is plenty left to do.  And hopefully there \nwill be many more changes down the line.\nMari:  If you could change just one thing what would it be?\nNivek thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nNivek: I would change the glory system, where people can get more glory and\nglory can be used for other cool things.\nNivek: Maybe multiple types of glory, or caps on how much stats can be added\nto an item.\nNivek: But it would be better to have more opportunities to get glory.\nMari:  What are your responsibilities in the CoE?\nNivek: To vote on proposed projects, vote on imm promotions, discuss rule\nchanges and indicate challenges code wise with various projects.\nMari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?\nNivek: Finding the various secrets in the realms.  Most I already know, so\nit is less of an adventure.\nMari:  What part of being an Immortal do you like most?\nNivek: The ability to make Realms of Despair a better place for all to play.\n\nThanks to Nivek for taking the time to participate in the 100th issue of the\nCry!\n\n(End)                                                                \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Alysira - Mari \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nMari: how long have you been playing on realms?\nAlysira: Since about October 2000, my first character was a warrior\nwhich I only got to about level 20, then it deleted, after\na few months I began and completed Alysira.\nMari: how long have you been an Immortal?\nAlysira: Since about March 2003\nMari: What are some of your duties as Imm?\nAlysira: Well, as HA Head I'm responsible for maintaining communication\nwith players, marketing for the Realms, and a few various other\nthings...\nAlysira: As Cry of Despair Immortal Sponsor (along with Korim) I'm\nresponsible for making sure that the CoD is posted every \nmonth and it is the best that it can be...\nMari: You have quite a bit of work to do around here, do you miss\nbeing a Mortal or would you say you are happy with what you\nare doing now?\nAlysira: Nah, I'm happy where I am, I definitely do better as an Immortal\nthan I did as a player. I was a terrible player, I know that from\nbefriending a lot of very very skilled people...\nAlysira: There's a lot more I wish to achieve as an Immortal, and sometimes\nI regret not being a better player, but I have the ability to listen\nto current players and help achieve what they want, and I'm happy \ndoing that now.\nMari: There have been many changes in the Cry, are you happy with how it\nis going so far?\nAlysira: I am happy with how the Cry is doing, people seem to be reading it\na lot more now than they used to, I figure that from the amount of\ngreat comments we're getting about certain articles lately. I know\nthe Cry has nowhere to go but up, especially with the mix of writers\nwe have now.\nMari: What plans do you have for the future, any other councils you are \ninterested in?\nAlysira: I spent some time in Quest Council before moving to the\nHerald Assembly and I'd love to go back soon and work on\nmore quests, but I love the Herald Assembly also.\nAlysira: It's a great council which is currently working on a lot of great\nprojects.\nMari: Have anything planned that you can share with us?\nAlysira: Well if anyone remembers, a shop is being worked on to allow people\nto buy products about Realms, the profits from which would go towards\nadvertising\/hardware upgrades\/etc...\nAlysira: That's not directly being worked on by HA, more so indirectly and\nbeing worked on by other Immortals.\nMari: Ok, we will have to watch for that then \nMari: What part of your job here would you say you like most?\nAlysira: The communication between myself and players, as HA Head it's\npretty much my duty to listen to people complain, and there are\na lot of intelligent players who have a lot of great ideas... \nBelieve it or not.\nAlysira: I love listening to people and their thoughts.\nMari:  What is your least favorite duty?\nAlysira thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nAlysira: I guess my LEAST favorite would be policing channels,\nI hate punishing people but if they deserve it then you\ndon't have much choice.\nMari: What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?\nAlysira: Hanging out with my friends and being able to run anything whenever\nI was bored. I was never a GOOD runner but it was a lot of fun to be\nable to just go kill something with some friends.\nMari: If you could change just one thing what would it be?\nAlysira thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nAlysira: I can't decide, to be honest I talk to a lot of people and I could\nname several things I'd like to change =P\nAlysira: The game is great, don't get me wrong.\nAlysira: But I honestly believe there could be a few more things changed.\nAlysira smiles happily.\nMari: Thanks for taking time to talk with me.\nAlysira: Thank you for doing the interview!\n\n(End)                                        \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _________________________\n\/ Interview: Loril - Mari \\___________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nMari:  How long have you been on Realms as an Imm and Mort? \nLoril: I've been playing since 1996. I immed in 1999.\nLoril: ooo, Feb. '96 and June '99\nMari:  What are some of your duties as an Immortal?\nLoril: Well... hmm...\nLoril: Channel Nazi, listening to sad people, keeping up morale, and\nGeneral-Purpose-Secretary to the MUD.\nLoril sits down and thinks deeply.\nLoril: I've considered making that my Rank but it won't fit.\nLoril: I also do numbers of those Mini-Quests that you might find here\nand there.\nLoril: Oh, and General-Purpose Sounding Board.\nLoril: That might be it.\nMari: You know I had this idea once.....\nYou tease her playfully.\nMari:  I see you are Deity of the Order of Ringbearers, What are some of\nyour responsibilities as a Deity?\nLoril: We need to work in there somewhere that I <3 the Ringbearers and\nthey roxoxors... \nLoril: Run 'er by me!\nMari:  that was awesome timing\nLoril giggles.\nLoril: I love how that can happen here, don't you?\nLoril: That's one of the things that no graphical game can ever quite manage.\nYou seem to be in an agreeable mood.\nMari:  we are a class all our own in that respect =D\nLoril nods eagerly.\nLoril: It will never lose its magic for me. :)\nMari:  What does the Visionary Consortium do?\nLoril: The VC considers ideas from TS and from other immortals.\nThey're considered, debated and voted on.\nLoril: Well, the immortals aren't... the ideas are.\nLoril rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.\nLoril doesn't need her audience to laugh. She does it well-enough on her own!\nLoril jumps up into the air and hollers, \"Wheeeee!\"\nLoril: There are many ideas being considered at any time.\nLoril: We do have numbers of items up for consideration at all times.\nCappa's been working on streamlining TS so, along with the normal\nsummer slowdown, it's been a bit quieter of late.\nLoril: When a decision is made, we report back to TS.\nLoril: Passes go to CoE for their consideration.\nLoril: Not everything goes as smoothly as that, but that's the basic process.\nMari:  How is that working for you since NC?\nLoril: It was quite the change for me.\nMari:  What part of your job here would you say you like most?\nLoril: My job as a whole or just in VC?\nLoril: Bah, the answer is the same, I think.\nLoril: I like to engage with people. I like when I meet someone who is\nreally into this place. There's a lot here for anyone. I love\nseeing it when someone's totally involved.\nLoril: That's pretty vague but, it really is true that there's so much\nhere for anyone. So many different games that anyone might be playing.\nLoril: I'm not much for the Big, Badass Avatar Game (tm) but I still love\nto see how involved people can be with it.\nLoril: When you consider that a real text-based MUD has lasted this long\nand can, really, be considered past tense in terms of technology,\nwe still do keep getting new players.\nMari:  What is your least favorite duty? \nLoril: Least favorite... That's a toughie.\nLoril: I don't appreciate when someone bitches about something without\nconsidering what any possible 'solution' to their complaint\nmight be...\nLoril: Declaring that something sucks doesn't cut it.\nLoril: To try something and find that it doesn't behave the way you\nexpected then to cry, \"That sucks\" kind of hurts. I see how the\npeople here sweat to make something work. It hurts to see that\nnegated with one little phrase.\nMari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming?\nLoril: I miss my private life. You see when I immed and Stoneheft soon after,\ntwo families were broken up. I am married to Grunthos and he is \nmarried to Lyra.\nLoril: Each family had children, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.\nLoril: It's very hard to keep up with friends and family when you imm.\nLoril: It worked well. I think we've both managed to contribute... but\nthat bit was hard.\nLoril: Change is not always comfie but it's always good to shake things\nup a bit.\nLoril: Besides, people always wonder about us. If nothing else, we\nmanage to start a few conversations. ;)\nMari: Are you happy with life as it is on Realms or do you have future\nideas, more than what you have to handle now?\nLoril: There is always more to do that what one has to handle.\nI'm sure you find that as well.\nLoril: That's what makes us a real community. We want to contribute \nmore and more but we all understand that there are simply\nnever enough hours.\nLoril: A community strives together and understands each other - \nboth for strengths and for weaknesses. We understand that\nwe are all contributing what we can.\nMari:  If you could change just one thing what would it be?\nLoril: Big question. Pre-auth.\nLoril: It needs to be more inviting.\nMari:  Any ideas as to how? \nLoril: I have an area in the works. And I like it a lot.\nLoril: I never get the time I need to finish it.\nLoril: It's based on the Sunless Sea idea.\nLoril: It will get people doing what they want right away - \nkilling stuff and finding stuff.\nLoril: And it will do what the Perpetual Newbie thinks Newbies\nneed - help them to learn commands by using them.\nMari:  I agree, no better way to learn.\nLoril: I really do think so.\nLoril: What do you do when you find a new game? You start poking at\nthings and trying things.\nLoril: You read the manual -after- you get stuck. Not before.\nMari:  How do you feel about all the changes Realms has been through,\nsay with the shattering?\nLoril: The Shattering was fabulous. I've never personally experienced\nso many volunteers giving everything in themselves and then \n100% more to a project.\nLoril: The Shattering also had its downsides as everyone would agree.\nLoril: Not the least of those was that it was a project that took far\ntoo long to complete. People come and go in a community like\nthis. Projects naturally suffer when that happens.\nLoril: In my mind, we're still working on it. It's not done yet as anyone\nwho understands the software development lifecycle can attest.\nLoril: Everything here takes longer than anyone wants it to - even those\nwho are doing it.\nMari:  It's a lot of work on so few really.\nLoril: The world had simply gotten too small. It needed to grow.\nLoril: We grew the world - and like anything small that is stretched\nthat big - weak points became hugely obvious. TONS! of that\nhas been fixed.\nLoril: But, that's part of a MUD that's not stagnate.\nLoril: We've always been making changes and we'll always continue to do so.\nLoril: Whether you call that 'completing the Shattering' or you call that\nmanaging change and maintaining excitement - it all amounts to \nthe same thing...\nLoril: That is, let's keep moving forward. :) Backward is seldom a smart\nchoice.\nLoril begins to pant loudly.\n\nMany Thanks to Loril for the interview. It was a lot of fun.\n\n(End)                                               \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n __________________________\n\/ Interview: Lopuis - Mari \\__________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nMari: How long have you been playing on Realms, as a Mort and Immie \nLopuis: Well, I've been playing for close to 9 years I think, It's a\nlittle fuzzy about the beginning because I didn't really play\nsteady at the beginning.\nLopuis: And I\u2019ve been an imm since about February. 2004, so little more than\na year and a half.\nMari: What are some of your duties as an Immortal?\nLopuis: Well, mostly still the basics. Authing, channel monitoring.\nBut beyond that I do most of my work on the building ports\nLopuis: Doing area checking when needed, building my own things and\nhelping out as much as I can on the public building port\nLopuis: And of course being in VC, voting and discussing ideas.\nMari: Are you enjoying what you do now or are there others councils\netc that you might like to try?\nLopuis: I enjoy what I do now, not sure how much more I could take on\nat this point I have enough work to keep me busy when I have\nthe time to do them.\nMari: What are your responsibilities in Baali?\nLopuis: I keep the red meat coming so the order people don't feed on\neach other\nLopuis: Actually Baali is pretty self-sufficient, I don't really have \nanything as of yet that they need from me, but when something\ncomes up I'll be here.\nMari: There have been many changes on Realms over the years, what would\nyou say your fav\/least fav is?\nLopuis: Favorite change would have to be the removal of magic flags on\ncontainers, just because it was so hilarious when people were\n10-20x over carry weight.\nLopuis: Myself included of course.\nLopuis: Least favorite would be, the removal of item filled containers\nfrom auction, it was just such a fun part of growing up on realms\nthat I think people miss out on now.\nMari: If you could change just one thing what would it be?\nLopuis: Probably the item container auction ban, just seems like one of\nthose \"fixes\" that the main problem was solved awhile ago and\nany other problems can be fixed.\nMari: Would you rather have other restrictions or just revert it back?\nLopuis: Well I think the auction houses are a necessary evil for preventing\nthe transport of supplies instead of carrying them, so everything\ncan't be reverted back.\nLopuis: But being able to auction containers with items might seem like\na small deal but I always thought it was useful, there would need\nto be a few restrictions added to the code to prevent the few\npeople who abused it and had it taken away for everyone.\nMari: What part of your job here would you say you like most? \nYou hear Lopuis hrm.\nLopuis: It's probably the building aspect, being able to use the years and\nyears of experience I have and being able to also help others with\nquestions.\nMari: What is your least favorite duty?\nLopuis: Having to monitor channels, one person having a bad day or wanting\nto get attention can prevent me from working on areas or other\nuseful things for realms, so it's quite frustrating having to baby-sit\ncertain people instead of doing something for the masses.\nMari:  What would you say you miss most of the Mortal life since Imming if\nanything?\nLopuis: I'd say being able to log on and not have to worry about missing\nsomething on the screen. As a mort if someone sends me a tell it's\nprobably just someone saying hi.\nLopuis: Being an imm if someone sends me a tell, it might be because they\nhave 10seconds left before their corpse decays and if I'm checking\nmy email I might miss the tell.\nLopuis: Obviously that\u2019s an extreme example but, you get the idea.\nMari:  Is there anything you would want to say to everyone that\nwasn't covered?\nYou hear Lopuis hrm.\nLopuis: Probably just want to mention that I\u2019m glad I got the opportunity\nto become an imm because I like helping out realms, and that I hope\nthe players feel they are encouraged to help out too... and that\nthey notice their ideas logs do get read and implemented.\nLopuis: I guess that\u2019s about it.\nMari: That's all I have hehe, I'll let you get back to work, Thanks for\ntaking time out for the interview.\nLopuis: Was fun, good questions. I look forward to seeing what the other\nimms said in theirs when the CRY comes out.\n\n(End)                                                         \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n __________________________\n\/ Interview: Akael - Aslan \\__________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nAslan: Why did you decide to be an Immortal?\nAkael: Because I love Realms, and want to learn more and do more!\nAslan: Explain what you think 'more' is?\nAkael: Well, building, quests, maybe even coding if I ever learn it.\nThe ins and outs of everything. That might take a while...\nAkael looks innocently about herself.\nAslan: How do you feel that Realms has changed since you Immed?\nAkael: Well, since I Immed fairly recently, it really hasn't changed\nmuch, yet.\nAslan: What, if anything, would you like to see changed in Realms?\nAkael: There is one area, I won't name it right now... but I hope to\nsomeday rewrite it. I feel it needs to be done.\nAslan: Do you find that there is a rift between Immortals and mortals? (i.e\na conflict of interests)\nAkael: Not that I've noticed. I feel we're here to do what the players\nneed done to enjoy the game more.\nAslan: Do you find that you miss being a mortal in some cases?\nAkael: It's a hard change, I'll admit, and I know that I miss actually\nplaying the game sometimes instead of supervising, but I wouldn't change\nmy mind about being an imm, ever. This is fun too, just different.\nAslan: Do you have any area ideas of your own that you'd love to create\nfor others to enjoy?\nAkael: Yes, just one so far, but I'm such a beginner builder that it might\ntake eons to get to the stage where I'm able to build it.\nAslan: If you could have a message for everyone, what would it be? give us\nan insight into your mind\nAkael: It's a game, we're here to play and relax, not get stressed! \nEveryone have fun!  \nAkael smiles happily.\nYou beam brightly at Akael.\n\n(End)                                                       \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ______________________________\n\/ Interview: Gatersade - Aslan \\______________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nAslan: Greetings Gatersade, thanks for taking part in the interview today.\nCan you tell our readers a bit about yourself first? Who are you and where \nare you going (as far as Immhood goes)?\nGatersade: No problem. Well I've been around the realm as Gatersade for a\ngood 5 years now, most of that time was spent in GoC.\nAslan: What made you decide to be an Imm?\nGatersade: Well, I was approached and asked if I would like to take on\nthe challenge. I guess it was a new set of hurdles for me to tackle, and I \nwas up for the challenge. Plus it would allow me to help people on a new \nscale, as opposed to what I could do as a mortal.\nAslan: Before being asked to be an Imm, what did you think being an Imm\nwould entail, and have those thoughts remained consistent or do you feel \nlet down?\nGatersade: I thought it would involve a lot of getting out there, creating\nchallenges and creating an exciting gaming experience for the Realms' \nplayers, and so far thats exactly what its been.\nGatersade beams brightly.  Why is that?\nAslan: Are you a creative person as in building? or are you more of a\nthinker\/helper-outter?\nGatersade: Without blowing my own horn, I like to consider myself a bit\nof both. I enjoy getting in there and building exciting new quests for \npeople to take part in, and also bogging down and helping people out as the\nneed arises; which is my day there, anyhow.\nAslan: Are there any times when you felt that you couldn't handle the job \nof being an imm, or do you feel in control always?\nGatersade: I don't think I've been challenged to a point where I have\nfelt that I couldn't handle the job. I'm a pretty easy going person, and I\nlove dealing with tricky situations.\nAslan: So what can we expect from you in the future?\nGatersade: You can expect an array of exciting quests that are going to\nchallenge people in some new ways. I have also been poking a lot, trying to\nbecome a part of the deadly world, and hopefully that will happen sometime \nin the near future.\nAslan: I know that most Imms get asked this, but our readers do really\nwant to know, is there a defined rift between immortals and mortals?\nGatersade: I think there can be, but I wouldn't say it's the entire case.\nSome personalities just clash and thats a part of life. In general, I feel \nthe entire immortal team is willing to get out and have fun with the mortal\nrealm, no matter who they are.\nAslan: I know it is a tough question. Do you have any plans for new\nareas of your own?\nGatersade: Hopefully, at the moment I have my hands tied getting quests\nwritten up for all you guys. So we'll see what the future brings.\nAslan: Well I'll let you get back to work then, thanks for taking part in\nthis quest interview, on behalf of the cry and the players of realms, we \nwish you luck.\nYou thank Gatersade heartily.\nGatersade smiles happily.\n\n(End)                                                     \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Gonnil - Aslan \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nAslan: So Gonnil, grats on Imming. Care to give us a brief intro? Who is\nGonnil?\nGonnil: Thanks... Well, I've played for quite a while on various chars.\nAs Gonnil, I've been in GoF since its inception and I have experience in\nother areas of the Realms as well.\nAslan: Why do you think you were chosen to be an immortal?\nGonnil thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nGonnil: Sheesh... Well, I have a variety of interests here, and I think I\ncan definitely help out the Realms community, and I'm honored to be able to\nserve. Plus I think certain imms needed someone new to abuse...\nGonnil seems to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nAslan: So what can we expect to see from you? Areas, quests etc?\nGonnil: Hopefully both, if given the chance. I've only been able to help\nout on a few quests so far, but as I get more experience... we'll see.\nAslan: Do you have an interest in building or just helping and learning?\nGonnil: Well, both, but I think building\/questing more so. Hopefully I\nwill turn out to be a good builder, because I have a lot of ideas that\nhave just kind of built up over the years.\nAslan: Do you feel that there is a clear divide between mortals and\nimmortals?\nGonnil: I think it's an area for improvement, sure. In my perfect world\nthere'd be clear communication between players and MUD admins, and it DOES\nhappen here sometimes, but can always be better.\nAslan: Have you been a member of any mainstream mud councils before? If so\nwhich ones?\nGonnil: Well, some assorted Guild committees, and I was also a member of\nPKC for a while back when it was active in bringing in the new clans... that\ntype of thing, but not Newbie Council or The Symposium, unfortunately.\nAslan: Did you ever want to join either the NC or TS?\nGonnil: Well, a long, long time ago, like years ago, I had some ideas\nabout joining NC, but it never really happened, although part of my job as\nan imm now is to help newer people as well, which I don't mind at all, I \nthink new people are crucial to keeping this MUD around and I don't think\npeople always realize that.\nAslan: Now that you are an Imm, later on you'll get to pick a council. Any \nthoughts on which you'd go for?\nGonnil: I've tried to avoid making any definite plans just yet. We'll\nsee what happens :P but there are definitely a lot of opportunities out \nthere. I have quite a bit of learning to do before I can commit to anything\nfor now.\nAslan: Well on behalf of the mortals and the Cry of Despair, we wish you \nluck and good fortune in your long immly journey ahead.\nYou beam brightly at Gonnil.\nGonnil: Thanks! Let's hope it's long.\nAslan: Thanks for talking with us today.\n\n(End)                                                          \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Meekon - Aslan \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nAslan: How do you feel Realms has changed over the last few years since\nthe Shattering?'\nMeekon: its big enough now that one individual cannot possibly know it\nall. Before the Shattering you could walk just about anywhere without\nneeding to have written down directions. It was big enough that you\ncould know your way around.\nAslan: Why did you decide to become an Imm?\nMeekon: Having spent a couple of years on TS I've seen a lot of good\nideas pass but stall for aparent lack of immpower to see them implemented.\nI have coding skills and wish to put them to good use for Realms.\nAslan: Do you miss the mortal life?\nMeekon: Not really... I still have a few chars I'd like to have time to\nav at some point, but otherwise I've found imm life a load of fun.\nAslan: You must get asked this a lot, but do you find sometimes that\nbeing an Imm wasn't what it said on the brochure?\nMeekon: It's more or less as I expected really.\nAslan: So what can we expect of Meekon, who are you and where are you\ngoing in Imm life?\nMeekon: I just joined QC, so you can expect regular quests from me over\nthe coming months. With a bit of luck I might get to be a Clan or Order\nDeity at some point. It would be good to belong to an org once again.\nAslan: Oh do give a sneak peek, what type of Quests is the great Meekon\nknown or will be known for?\nMeekon: I'll be trying out a wide range of quest types, old favourites\nand bringing in some fresh inventive ideas I hope. I need to find out \nwhat works, what people like and what can be run reasonably hassle-free.\nThe imm-life transcends such divisions.\nAslan: What things do you miss from mortal life?\nMeekon: Not having mortal channels is annoying; I was in NC, TS, Asc and\nvarious guilds and liked having those channels. Belonging to those groups\nwas fun.\nAslan: So you'd want to rejoin those groups possibly?\nMeekon: No, it's all different now. All that is in the past, there are\nplenty compensations. I have been assimilated.\nAslan: Do you find it hard sometimes, not being able to give the level of\nhelp you did before to others?\nMeekon: Not really. I can still help the hapless newbies when there \naren't NC people about. As for other stuff, if I wait long enough I\nusually find someone out there responds as I would have.\nAslan: If you were to be de-immed right now, how do you think you would\nhandle the return to mortal-hood?\nMeekon: My future lies as an imm. I'd probably not want to play anymore\nif I had to be a full time mortal.\nAslan: What do you see is the future for realms, and lastly how can\nMeekon help to obtain this?\nMeekon: We need to try and keep new players coming in, and staying.\nOne contribution is to help maintain a friendly atmosphere where people\nare comfortable chatting and playing with other players. People get \nfrustrated when good ideas take a long time to implement, by coding and \nthinking through projects I can help speed that process.\nAslan: What about the Meekon quests?\nMeekon: There are lots of players who have explored and run all through\nthese realms, for them we need to keep a steady flow of new areas, and \nputting glory into the game through quests provides entertainment for the\nduration of the quest. Glory that people can use to customize their\nequipment and increase the value of their equipment is good for \nself-esteem and trading, so I strongly believe quests are good for Realms.\nAslan: Okay well I think I have taken up enough of your time, thanks again\nfor being interviewed today and I am sure we will all look foward to seeing\nmore of the Meekon in the future.\nMeekon: Sure. Thanks for the interview.\n\n(End)                                                         \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Destre - Babui \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nRumours say that Destre likes angel food cake....\nMaking sure I bought a big bag, I knocked on Destre's Door and was pulled in\nby a godly force!\nSeeing Destre's friendly smile and her cute little mug of a dinosaur in a\nbasketball uniform, I relaxed and over a cup of tea and angel food cake, \nbegan my interview with Destre...\n \nBabui: How long have you been playing Realms for?\nDestre: '7 years'\nBabui: So, how long have you been an Immortal for?\nDestre: 3 years.\nBabui: Have you been a QC member for all 3 years?\nDestre: Ever since I made level 53. An imm has to be level 53 to join\ncouncils. It will be 3 years on QC in September.\nBabui: What made you choose to join QC out of all the other councils?\nDestre: I had been on the IGQC before I immed, and I liked writing quests.\nBabui: So what are some of your favourite quests you've written so far?\nDestre: My personal all-time favourite was the Cuddly Stuffed Dragons,\nclosely followed by the one Shadrack and I did together with the pirates \ninvading Ocean Keep.\nBabui: I don't think I was there for that. Could you briefly explain how \nit went please?\nDestre: First, the questors had to find the dragon eggs, then if they \nhatched a Cuddly Stuffed Dragon, they had to ride the dragon to the dragon \ntrainers, but the evil ice dragons attacked them along the road. We had ice\ndragon and cuddly stuffed dragons all over Realms that night.\nBabui: Did all the eggs hatch Cuddly Stuffed Dragons?\nDestre shakes her head.\nDestre: Some of the eggs only had rotten egg gas and some had ice dragons.\nThe dragon trainers were in 5 different locations, so people had to ride a \nlong way fighting off ice dragons.\nYou go ooOOooOOooOOoo.\nBabui: Realms-wide quest?\nDestre: Yes, it was Realms wide.\nBabui: Sounds very cute! I wish I was there for it.\nDestre smiles happily.\nBabui: How about the pirates one?\nDestre: The pirate ship Skullblade landed at Ocean Keep. First the crew \ncame ashore, and then the questors had to board the ship and defeat the \nCaptain. In the end, the questors prevailed and the pirates where defeated.\nBabui: Has there ever been a quest where the questors all die a horrible \ndeath and the quest mobs are triumphant?\nDestre: So far, not on my quests. It has happened though. I should try it\nsometime. And I will say afterwards it was your idea.\nYou laugh out loud!\nBabui: I'll have people sending me hate tells.\nDestre comforts you.\nBabui: What do you think about the Shattering?'\nDestre: It was great, Realms had gotten too small and the Shattering opened\nup a whole new world.\nBabui: Small in terms of areas, or player base, or...?\nDestre: In terms of areas. Realms grew enormously after the shattering,\nthere was so much new stuff to do and see.\nYou nod solemnly.\nBabui: What is your favourite area currently?\nDestre: Currently I want to really explore Daichaal. I haven't had much \ntime to mort lately, so that is still on my list of things to do, and\nNevermore too for that matter. That garden at the start of Nevermore is \nreally great, so the rest of the area must be too.\nYou nod solemnly.\nBabui: I haven't been to Daichaal either, but Nevermore has some pretty \ncool EQ and stuff.\nDestre grins.\nBabui: Since the Shattering, what do you think is the best change out of \neverything?\nDestre: The buffing up of the Nephandi. \nDestre flexes. Must think she's buff.\nDestre: I immed before the Shattering, at that time the nephandi couldn't \nkill much beyond bunnies.\nYou seem to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nDestre: After the Shattering, the Nephandi could take on the world.\nBabui: What's the best thing about being a Nephandi? For potential Nephs?\nDestre: The overall class is really great, it is evil and the skills and \nspells are based on that. Originally we had the possess spell which enabled \nus to take over mobs, then with the Shattering we got Qlippothic which is an\nawesome attack spell, so we have attitude and the power behind it. Great \nclass.\nYou grin.\nBabui: But I heard it's rather difficult to level?\nDestre: It certainly was before the Shattering, way easier now. Still not\nthe easiest class in Realms to level, but no magic user is.\nBabui: So what future plans do you have for Realms?\nDestre: I'll keep writing quests, and working on things that come up. It \nall seems to take a lot of time, but it is fun.\nBabui: And finally, is there anything you want to say to the whole of \nRealms?\nDestre: Look after each other and keep exploring.\n\nGiving Destre my sincere thanks for her time, tea and cake, this concludes \nour interview! Thanks Destre!\n\n(End)                                                       \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Romani - Babui \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nIn Romani's castle, we sat under the moonlight with a cup of coffee..(yes,\nmoonlight, coffee... morning) and began our little interview...\nBabui: How long have you been an immortal for?\nRomani: Since 5\/4\/03. They waited for Herne to leave on a month's vacation\nbefore they immed me. He left that afternoon, they immed me that night.\nBabui: Why wait for Herne to leave first?\nRomani: Ceirana said that gave her a month to \"whip\" me into shape before\nhe got back.\nBabui: And did she?\nRomani grins.\nRomani: She tried, I think it worked pretty well actually. Getting to know\nthe other immortals is important. I know if he had been here I would have\nlearned less of others than I did.\nBabui: What is something interesting that you've got to know about someone?\nRomani: Ceirana reads a story to her child every night before bed. I find\nthat admirable.\nYou smile and say 'awww'.\nRomani: Kali doesn't like hugs. I think I was the only person\/mort\/imm that\ndid *not* know this.\nRomani snorts in disgust.\nYou laugh out loud!\nRomani found out the hard way.\nRomani: Loril is adorable, and very intelligent. I never got to know her\nbefore I immed. Hmm, the rest I think you know. Kali had done something for\nme, so I hugged him. He said he was going to slay Ceirana since she did not\ntell me about him not liking them. I begged him to slay me instead.\nBabui: Awhh...that's sweet.\nRomani: Finally he did. I did not want her to get slayed because of me.\nBabui: It's amusing tho how most people enjoys getting slayed.\nRomani: I never got into that. As a mort I had never been slayed. I watched\nmany. There were a couple morts that had a thing for either Kali or Moonbeam\nto where they ended up slayed quite often. Calin, for example. \nBabui: I've never been slayed either. I think...\nRomani: The morning is young.\nBabui: My wedding did get bombed though.\nYou narrow your eyes at Romani\nRomani: Don't blame me.\nRomani looks innocently about herself.\nYou laugh.\nBabui: You knew about it!\nRomani did.\nRomani: But it made RoD history.\nYou laugh.\nBabui: So, in your time as imm, what do you find most enjoyable about\nimmhood?\nRomani: I love building, it is my passion. I also love working with\nroleplayers. Though, being able to help a true newbie still tops them all. \nThey come into this world so fragile, and as you know they can't even figure\nout how to talk or move. They bring such a fresh look on the world that it \njust amazes me. True newbies see things we take for granted. Even a simple\nthing such as a repop message, or when I goto them becomes so fresh and new.\nYou laugh.\nBabui: \"Where did you appear from??!!!\"\nRomani seems to agree.\nRomani: Many newbies actually thought that I was a part of the game living\nin their pocket due to my bamf. I remember one little newbie that would send\nme tells all the time saying \"are you still in my pocket?\". And he would, on\noccasion, ask me to prove it to a friend of his that did not believe that I \nlived in his pocket.\nBabui: Did he at least find out later that you weren't really in his \npocket?\nRomani: I think he eventually figured it out. I have not had messages from\nthat particular guy in a while. Though that kind of makes me sad. It is like\nfinding out the tooth fairy is not real.\nRomani climbs back in your pocket and vanishes.\nRomani climbs out of your pocket.\nRomani: I actually got that from Herne.\nBabui: Ohh?? How so?\nRomani: When he was talking about going on vacation to Scotland I kept \nemoting that I was going with him and climbing into his pocket or suitcase. \nRomani sneaks into Herne's pocket and closes it tight.\nRomani opens Herne's pocket and reaches out and gets a bottle of wine,\nslipping it back into his pocket and closing it tightly.\nRomani: Silly things like that. So when I immed, the bamf just seemed to \nfit. I changed it once, but people complained so I put it back.\nYou grin.\nBabui: It sticks after a while.\nRomani nods solemnly.\nBabui: As a well known roleplayer, what is it about rp that keeps you \nthere?\nRomani: Roleplayers live the game, and, more people here RP than would ever\nadmit it. There are many levels of RP, but all in all people come here for \nRP.\nBabui: Could you please explain the levels of RP?\nRomani: When a group of runners, or PK'ers are hunting mobs or each other,\nthey are not doing what they would be in real life, they are part of the \ngame, hence they are rp'ing a char. They create a character, which is what \npeople do in RP. They may not take it to the same depth as a formal RP'er \nwould, but it is still char development and participating in the game. They\nare more casual rpers. Most of the game is written for rp, though many \nchallenges set down require more resources than a rp'er normally has. When \nanyone participates in the game at any level, they are, in essence rp'ing, \nwhether it be doing this interview, or brewing their own potions for runs. \nThe level of character development often dictates whether they deem \nthemselves a rp'er or not. When the focus moves to more character \ndevelopment and behavior, then they move from a casual rp'er to a more \nformal or freeform rper.\nYou nod solemnly.\nBabui: What do you have planned in the future?\nRomani: The rp'ers have talked, planned, even started a group rp area. I \nwould really like to see that happen. While RP can occur anywhere, I would\nlike to see that project someday complete. I also hope to build more. I have\na few areas in works that need finishing, fleshing out.\nBabui: A place where all rpers can gather to rp?\nRomani nods solemnly.\nRomani: Jexia had started one, but I fear that she is too busy with her rl\nbaby to do much now. I would also like to help find ways of people taking \nmore pride in what is created here.\nBabui: Is there anything that you want to say to Realms?\nRomani: My door is always open. If anyone has a question about RP or just \nabout anything, I either know the answer or where to find it, or who to go \nto find it. I pride myself on that. I know at times imms are so busy that \nthey don't answer every tell. I always try to.\nBabui: What is your most embarrasing moment on Realms?\nRomani: There are many, 'smirk' Though the first one that comes to mind is \njust having authed someone when my cat jumped on the keyboard and landed on \nthe enter key. I spammed 30ish times of \"authing\" that person, and of course\nmost of CoE was on to see me do that.\nYou laugh out loud!\nRomani: I have also done the \"goto\" where you go to a room with no floor \nand fell more than once. I think every imm has done that.  land in the \nroom and just fall. It is embarrassing.\nBabui: Fly?\nRomani: Imms do not have spells on them generally, so we fall.\nRomani smirks.\nYou chuckle politely.\nBabui: What's the most difficult aspect of being an imm?\nRomani: I would have to say balancing everything. There are times you are \nso swamped in tells and spam on channels that you just do it as fast as you\ncan and try to keep up. It is during those times that you are also trying to\ndo something from your personal projects, like build, that it makes it very \nhard to get things done. And of course, this occurs when you have \ninspiration to build. I still answer every tell, I don't mind that, I just \nscan\/read them as quick as I can.\nBabui: What type of areas do you enjoy building the most?\nRomani: Wicked puzzles that make people have to read and think, like in \nWendle Mansion. I think lowbies need more areas like that, ones where they\ncan explore and learn how to solve puzzles. I would like to see more \nbuilders focusing on those type of areas. I know Kinux does an awesome job \nat building, his areas always inspire people to get involved in the area, \nlike Nevermore. That area was so much fun to help build. Working with that \nteam was an outstanding experience. I was sad to see Hoerkin retire though.\nHe has a very genuine personality, very playful. We have Hoerkin to thank \nfor Bubba's existance.\nBabui: Everyone likes Bubba and the soap...\nRomani grins.\nRomani: Yeroc is another that I was sad to see retire. He is a very \ntalented man with so much to offer.\nRomani digresses, sorry.\nYou giggle.\nRomani: I get attached and don't like to see good people move on.\nBabui: I understand, it sucks to see friends leave.\nRomani nods solemnly.\nRomani: Moonbeam for example, she can say she retired, but I refuse to \nadmit it.\nRomani looks innocently about herself.\nYou laugh.\nRomani: Really, we have an awesome team. It is about like an extended \nfamily here. We see eachother through so much both here and in Rl.\nBabui: If there was a flood in immland, and everyone was drowning, and you \nhave this tiny little boat and you could only save ONE person... Who would \nit be?\nRomani icks!\nYou throw back your head and cackle with insane glee!\nRomani: Well, silly. I would have to save Herne, just don't tell Darsh.\nRomani looks innocently about herself.\nYou laugh.\nBabui: Why herne?! Other than the obvious.\nRomani: The obvious. He completes me. He is like a big teddy bear, very \nsnuggly. He and I both collect books, that is what we do on our vacations \ntogether. He collects any book that is rare, out of print, though his main\nfocus is on Scotland.\nBabui: Is he from Scotland?\nRomani: My focus is more on Gypsy culture and traditions.\nRomani shakes her head.\nRomani: He spends about a month there a year. He is canadian. I am \nScottish. Contrary to popular rumors, we are not married.\nBabui: An item though?\nRomani seems to agree.\nRomani: Very much so.\nYou smile and say 'awww'.\nRomani: We met in Dunhill. He caught me and Rebeca stealing apples from \nhis orchard.\nBabui: As both mortals?\nRomani shakes her head.\nRomani: He was an imm at the time.\nYou nod solemnly.\nRomani: Rebeca was all brave about it, yelling that she stole the apples \nand was proud of it. He appeared, looming over us over the theft. I was \nquiet, I did not know him, though I lived in Dunhill since I can remember. \nHe was being his tough self over it, though something about him just seemed \nso sweet. I am not sure if that makes sense.\nBabui: It must be a connection thing, sparks and stuff.\nYou seem to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nRomani nods solemnly.\nRomani: Then he mentioned that he was going to Scotland and would be gone \nfor a month, so I climbed into his pocket. He smiled at me and the rest, as\nthey say, is history. We talked for a long time here before we did on the \nphone, then met at the airport near me.\nBabui: I think that's sooo sweet.\nRomani: When I looked into his eyes at the airport, I knew he was the one.\nBabui: How people can meet here from across the world and manage to be \ntogether and stuff...\nYour heart begins to melt as you think of someone special.\nRomani: There is a danger that is associated with meeting people here on \nthe net.  never know if the person you are meeting is really what they \nsay they were.  hear about those horror stories all the time, so people \nhave to be very careful. We had exchanged pictures, and did meet in a \npublic place. The main thing is just to be completely honest.\nBabui: And trust the other to be too.\nRomani: In a fantasy world, it is very easy to get caught up in the \nfantasy and forget about real life. After all, that is what we came here \nfor. If you were to listen to my mother she would tell you that all people\non the internet are axe murderers.\nBabui hides her axe.\nRomani: While we both know that is not the case, still people do need to \nbe careful.\nRomani grins evilly.\nRomani makes chopping motions around her.\nYou gasp in astonishment.\nRomani snickers softly.\nRomani: I have known Lopuis online since, hmm....97?\nBabui: On Realms?\nRomani nods solemnly.\nRomani: We have never met, but to me he is like my kid brother. He is one \nof my best friends here, him and Darsh.\nBabui: How did you imm\/what made you decide to take it?\nRomani: I had been imming elsewhere, on a place that is now closed down. \nMany imms learn their skills on smaller muds before they come here to \"run\nwith the big dogs\" so to speak. We had lost many imms to here, Conran for \nexample, Raltaris, Cersei, etc. When Conran came here, I just gave up \nworking there for the most part.\nBabui: Then you came here as a mortal and levelled around?\nRomani: I turned my focus here, to where my friends all were, I had played \nhere for ages and really wanted a place where things happened and people \nactually were able to see them implimented. I was here as a mort for years,\nnods... I think since 97.\nBabui: Ahh, so you were playing both at the same time?\nRomani: Playing here, building there. I figured I would rather play here \nwhere there are people and things to do, than just build on a place where \nno one would ever see my work.\nBabui: The advantages of a larger player base.\nRomani seems to agree.\nRomani: So I played here, focusing on just helping the Guild of Mages grow.\nI had had offers to imm here, but really, until Moonbeam asked me I had not \ntaken them seriously. No one tells her no.\nRomani winks suggestively.\nRomani: She asked, and I accepted and she sponsored me.\nYou grin.\nYou nod solemnly.\nRomani: She has a kind of presence that you just can't ignore.\nYou laugh.\nRomani is still trying to figure out how to make that boat larger to take \neveryone.\nBabui: Ok! Pretend Herne is in your pocket. Who's next?\nRomani: It would have to be Darsh, life would just be boring without her. \nWe get in trouble together.\nBabui: oOoo... Example!\nRomani: Well, um...We toilet papered all the immortals offices once. We \nlogged in the next day to find about 50 rolls of toilet paper in our \ninventory.\nRomani smirks.\nYou laugh out loud!\nRomani: So we had more tp to play with!\nBabui: Did you use those 50 rolls too?\nRomani: No, we were trying to be good after we got caught doing that. \nThough someday we will find a use for those.\nBabui: Halloween... Mummy outfit!\nRomani: My favorite holiday, people RP in real life!\nBabui: Do you dress up and go trick and treat?\nRomani: Not since I was a child. I do dress up to answer the door though \nfor when kids come to get candy.\nBabui: What do you plan to dress up as this year?\nRomani: Oh, I haven't even thought about that yet. RL has been so demanding\nlately that I haven't gotten that far. What do you suggest?\nRomani thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nBabui: I'm always partial to vamps.\nRomani: I hope SI has a Halloween ball this year.\nBabui: Then secondary, witches.\nRomani: I am not normally a vampire, I was a mage before I immed. Have you \never seen the elves rp on race?\nYou shake your head.\nRomani: There is an RP'er, phenomenal to watch. His name is Ryven, he is of\nthe darker side of rp and is a vampire. I was watching him rp one day, and \nhe rp'd turning me. So, keeping true to form I changed into a vampire. So, \nRyven is my sire. If you are ever looking for a player to interview, he \nwould be one I recommend. Just get him IC.\nRomani winks suggestively.\nBabui: Sometimes RP'ers confuses me.\nRomani: Why is that?\nBabui: Because my English isn't that perfect, and they use these long \nconfusing words =P I don't like going to dictionary.com every sentence.\nRomani laughs.\nRomani: So you are saying they are the nerds of RoD?\nRomani smirks.\nBabui: Not nerds, the more... Fluent languag-ey type people.\nRomani: I like that about them.\nBabui: Great writers.\nRomani: They read, think.\nRomani seems to agree.\nYou grin.\n\nFinishing the last drop of coffee, I had no choice but to put down my cup,\nthank Romani for such a pleasant chat and bid my leave. (JK... Romani was\nmore than welcoming!)\nRemember, if you ever have a dire need for toilet paper..(I understand,\nemergencies arises, we won't hold it against you...), Romani is the person\nto contact.\n\n(End)                                                 \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n\n _____________________________\n\/ Interview: Shadrack - Babui \\_______________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nWith a big smile, Shadrack's friendly nature is shown for the world to see...\n\nBabui: How long have you been an imm for?\nShadrack: Around two and a half years now.\nBabui: Oh wow. Was immortalhood what you thought it would be like?\nShadrack: In some ways... In others it turned out to be more interesting\nthan I expected.\nBabui: Any examples?\nShadrack: Well, for instance, the chances to build and to participate in\nmaking larger scale quests, such as the ioqc, and all :)\nBabui: As a quest council member, what is it you do?\nShadrack: The QC work has several strands; players suggest quests, and\noften these get taken up and become open quests. Then there are the \norganisation quests, the regular events, and the ones I dream up myself :)\nShadrack grins.\nYou grin.\nBabui: How can a player suggest a quest? Just via tells?\nShadrack: They can either approach a member of QC direct, or post it to\nthe Hall of Heroes board in the Town Hall. First method is the most used\nreally.\nBabui: Then they work together to produce a quest?\nShadrack: Well, to some extent... we more advise usually. The ideas and\nconcepts come from the players, and if it's accepted, that's what gets run.\nYou nod your head in understanding \"Ahhh yes...\"\nBabui: What is your favourite quest?\nShadrack: One that has a good storyline. I quite like all types, though\nas an exercise in bringing things together, complicated is always fun.\nBabui: As deity of MS, what is your involvement?\nShadrack: The leaders do all the hard work, I just advise and help out\nwith anything that crops up. Sort of 'Immortal Cheerleader'.\nShadrack grins.\nYou grin.\ngShadrack has pom poms.\nShadrack wiggles her bottom.\nYou go ooOOooOOooOOoo.\nYou clap at her actions.\nBabui: Is there anything you would like to say for potential MS'ers?\nShadrack: It's a nice place to be, but then I expect everyone would feel\nthat about their own particular organisations as well.\nBabui: What is your most memorable event in Realms?\nShadrack: Oh gah, it would be hard to chose just one... Though the\nShattering was pretty memorable.\nBabui: What about it that made it so memorable?\nShadrack: Well, it was pretty exciting, and a nice suprise. Dying left \nright and centre is always fun.\nShadrack giggles.\nYou laugh.\nBabui: You were there as a mortal?\nShadrack: Yes. Guess we had been gossiping for so long about what might\nhappen when it came, there was that 'ooo ahhh' factor when it did\/\nBabui: You knew it was going to happen?\nShadrack: Oh no, but everyone had been discussing the mythical 'port'\nfor what seemed like years. Gotta love speculation as a hobby.\nBabui: That whole site on the port was moved into Realms as we know it?\nShadrack: No idea how it was done really... I was too busy running away\nfrom godslayer minions at the time.\nShadrack giggles.\nBabui: Sounds fun!! Then here's a random question thrown to you by the \ngeneral public!\nShadrack says, 'ooOOooOOooOOoo.'\nBabui: If you were a MOB somewhere in the realms, where would we find you? \nWould you be for leveling, golding, or running?'\nShadrack: Oh, I'd be for running... And living in Abbatoir Assylum if I\ngot the choice.\nShadrack grins evilly.\nYou laugh out loud!\nBabui: Since the Shattering, what do you think has improved gameplay the\nmost for the average RoD'er?\nShadrack: Personally, the increased size of the MUD and the associated\nnew areas, but then i was always an explorer at heart.\nBabui: oOO... Is there a particular area you like best? And why?\nShadrack: Of the new ones, MoLS is my favourite. Of the old areas, I'd\nchose Antall.\nBabui: Is there a reason why?\nShadrack: With MoLS, I love the story. In antall, the room descs.\nBabui: Is there anything you would like to say to Realms?\nShadrack: Uhh... I'm terrible at speeches. How about \"Don't forget sanc!\"\nsince thats what I always do. Oh, and don't get lost, and don't forget\nrecalls... I do those too.\n\nMany thanks to Shadrack for her time for this interview and bearing with my\nsleepy state.\nOh oh! And if you ever want to treat the lovely immortal Shadrack to \nbreakfast\/lunch\/tea\/dinner whatever, \"'those small lobster things...\ncrevettes?\" are her favourites!\nWahahaha... I charge a 5% commission from all successful bribes.\n\n(End)                                                      \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ______________________________\n\/ Interview: Stoneheft - Babui \\______________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nStoneheft sits in a very comfortable chair.\nStoneheft settles into the chair which fits him perfectly.\n\nsit chair\nYou sit in a very comfortable chair.\nYou sit on the stone floor.\n\nStoneheft: Welcome.\n\nBabui: You only gave me a stone floor =(\n\nStoneheft fashions a sturdy wooden chair from ether!\n\nsit chair\nYou sit in a very comfortable chair.\nYou sit on the stone floor.\n\nsit wooden\nYou sit on a sturdy wooden chair.\nYou fold your arms and mutter \"hmph\"\n\nAnd so, Stoneheft on his very comfortable chair and me on a wooden chair \n(well, it's better than the stone floor), we began the interview under the \nstony gaze of his stone owl.\n\nAn enormous stone statue of an owl has come to life under holy forces.\n\nBabui: So, when did you become an imm?\nStoneheft: I don't remember... It has to have been at least 6 years ago.\nI'm thinking that the first deadline I remember was in 1999, and now it's \n2005, but I could be so far off as to appear insane. I'm not good with \ntimelines. Could have been 9 years ago. I'm terrible with dates.\nBabui: How long ago did you start playing Realms?\nStoneheft: Oh sure, ask me a similar question because you know I'll look\nstupid.\nYou stare at the sky.\nBabui: And how long has it been since you've last ate ice cream?\nStoneheft: It was right after stat-training was removed. I remember it\nwas the hot-topic of the month when I started. So whenever that was, that\nwas then. Maybe 12 years ago?\nBabui: Stat-training?\nStoneheft: I ate Ice Cream within the last three weeks, but you can't\nprove a thing.\nBabui: No, it doesn't go straight to your hips I see.\nYou are jealous of Stoneheft for stealing your love.\nStoneheft: Smaug is based on older codebases of MUDs, ie. MERC, in which\nyou can use up your practices to increase your Stats. In RoD's early years\n(Smaug's Birth), it still resembled MERC as far as you could stat-train, or\nuse practices to increase Constitution, Strength or whatever.\nBabui: What do you think of that change? Good? Bad? Other thoughts?\nStoneheft: Stat-training was removed a long time ago, but a bunch of\npeople are that old. You'll see them advertised in Traffic, Stat-trained\nThief, for Gazbillions of gold. I think it's good. It provides a broader\nspectrum of characters throughout the world and in doing that, it gives\nthe players the opportunity to deal with and overcome their own specific\nchallenges and gain the good \"Success\" feeling of that, instead of having\na bunch of identical clones wandering around all living the same formula\nuntil they become bored of it and have never felt 'success'. But I suppose\nI see it through my own obscure point of view. I had crappy stats \nthroughout my life and therefore was forced to try, if I was going to\nget by. I was born after stat-training. There have been a lot of changes \nto how stats work over the years. For example, If you start a Dwarf Cleric \nright now, I think you find that all your stats added together will make\n95... I grew up with stats totalling 87. Things were raised and lowered \nover the years to try to keep a good balance. Living 8 stat-points short\nof the current norm can make a guy have to try.\nBabui: Do you think that balance is achieved now in current stats system?\nStoneheft: I think it's currently too easy for all classes, and even\nstill, not evenly too easy. But that's probably better than erring in the\nopposite direction and having to account for classes\/races that just can't\ndo what they ought to be able to do to progress normally.\nBabui: Do you have any ideas of changes for such?\nStoneheft: Currently no. Right now, I think that the classes and race\n\/class combinations are all fully capable of absolutely everything they need\nbe (And more). Right now the Realms needs to overcome some hastily made\ndecisions that were made to get \"Shattering to happen without further delay.\nThere were some pretty crappy GEOs introduced that day. Kinux\/Selina did \ngreat work making the trade routes to create a bearable passage through \nthe problems, but it will be years (In my opinion) before this world\nis as good as it should be, again.\nBabui: I was never here pre-Shattering... What was the world like then?\nStoneheft: Before the shattering, the world was way too small. \nUnrealistically jammed with areas bordering each other step by step. \nDarkhaven and Ocean Keep, two huge cities that couldn't have grown to that\nsize as un-united cities shared an exit. Everything was over-crowded. I \ndon't suppose that when Thoric first realized that he was going to make \nthis place exist that he ever knew how populated it would become... But \nin my opinion, it was a psychology experiment in over-population. Nothing\nbut whining of one person claiming Killstealing by another, the other\nclaiming staking. Now only the Moron areas, like Coral Depths have that \nkind of problem. The enlarging of the world did drop a huge bag of \nconfusion on the people that had a pretty good knowledge of the old world,\nbut I expect the capable ones amongst them are much happier with the new \nworld. I've always loved this place. Before shattering, after, I probably\nalways will... It's horrible, I'll quit smoking before I'll ever be able\nto quit this addiction. \nStoneheft: I am still certain that this MUD is better than any other by\nthe standard for quality here. I have in the past had many looks at other\nMUDs, to get an idea of what exists, (And to see how the humour value is\non ones with that angle), but on half of the copy-cat MUDs out there, the\nones that take SMAUG because some kid figures \"I can do a MUD\", you can't\neven get through pre-auth before you're so irritated by the typos, \nincorrect room descriptions and straight-out mistakes...'\nI don't know... Perhaps I put too much emphasis on quality when I am fully \naware that we (I) still have plenty to do to bring this back to something\nto be fully proud of... But I'm glad this doesn't appear to be a place \nthat can't even try.\nBabui: This MUD is something to be proud of.\nStoneheft: I love this MUD, I appreciate the years of enjoyment it has\nprovided me. I owe it something to try to keep the standards here as high as\nthe MUD deserves.\nBabui: And likewise, I'm sure the MUD appreciates everything you've done\nand owe you for it as such too.\nStoneheft: Well, Not everything. I'm a bit of an asshole... But I think\nit appreciates a lot of the work. (\"Bit\" is an understatement).\nBabui: What changes are you working on\/hoping for?\nStoneheft: What I'm hoping for is simple. I hope to have this place\nsteadily progress for as long as I'm coherent so that I have a continuing\nplace to fiddle. What I'm working on now is an infinite number of little\nbuilding-related jobs, the type that just make small things look better,\nmobs react more rationally, cities function as cities, etc.\nBabui: From your love for this game, could you give us an insight as\nto what keeps you here? Why you love this game so?\nStoneheft: I haven't yet completed everything I have thought of. I will\nnever complete it all, but I'm not quitting before I do. Beyond the little\nprojects that tidy up loose ends, I have a couple of big builds underway. \nNot huge like Southern Mountains, but building anything takes time if you\ninsist on quality. By the time I finish even one of the builds that are\nunderway, I'll have thought up at least three more. I'll be here long after\nmy RL death.'\nA ghostly Stoneheft forms from the mists......\nStoneheft: But another part of me says I don't owe that damn game anything\nanymore. I've made the deadlines that no one else made, I have given it more\nthan my share\"... But it's like being angry at a puppy. You can't stay away\nfrom anything that shares a fondness with you for long. Besides, without \nthe MUD I'd have no way of reacting to and enjoying the intricate verbal \nhumour that circulates here once in a while. There's a few really bright \npeople here that should be heard. They should probably be locked up, but \nthey're interesting and entertaining enough that they should be heard.\nBabui: Before I waffle off again, how did you come to become head of NC?\nStoneheft: That's not a comfortable story... My prececessor made a stand\nagainst the (populous) immortal community insisting that she not stand in\nthe way of the (populous) immortal community dessicating the (Lean) Newbie \nCouncil by repeatedly imming members of the NC. The council does a lot of \nwork gathering capable people to do a job, finding, interviewing etc... Just\nto have the lazy imms decide \"Yes, You're right, I think I'll take that\". \nAnyway, She took the stand that if the imms want to imm people to do it to\nthe people that were NOT needed to keep the NC alive... She was told \"The \ndoor is that way\" and out she walked. I am very proud of her. It made my \nlife easier as \"Next In Line\". They ask me first, and we discuss who needs \n'em more. NC or imms. I still don't think any in CoE is going to tell me \n\"The Door Is Over There\"... But maybe they should. Then!!! (ooooh, here \ncomes rant mode)... They do the Shattering thing, and overwork every imm \nthat has any building skill to the point where they quit, the immortal \npopulation drops so low that now I agree that we need the NC to give them \npeople so that the immortal ranks can stay alive, because the NC is still \nbetter at finding the capables than anyone else. Rant mode off.\nDid I answer a real question or did I just rant?'\nOh, How I became head of NC. I was the obvious one to be at the time. I was\njust the \"other Imm\" at the time Sarah left.\nStoneheft seems to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nYou grin.\nBabui: There are some people out there who thinks NC isn't a useful \ncouncil. What do you think?\nStoneheft: It can't be useful to everyone. As far as I'm concerned, it is\nuseful to those who it should be useful to and that's all that's important.\nHell, How useful is any guild to classes other than it's own? I suppose \neverything has it's place. I think that NC is useful is that it can spot a \nstruggling new player and offer advice that comes naturally after giving it\nso many times. The new player benefits from accurate and instantaneous \nknowledge relating to the problem he\/she needed to overcome. I'm sure that's\nwhy I was originally talked into joining. A couple of really awesome NCers,\nJonqualyn and Mariyah, basically insisted that I join because I had gotten\npast the habit of offering the habitual direct answers in channels and begun\nanswering correctly, but with the emphesis that the player take the \nknowledge and go gain their little bit of success applying it to find their\nanswer. So, I suppose, we should all blame them for me being so damn cryptic\nwhen I know the bloody answer. They're the couple portrayed in the statue in\nthe Academy Fountain statue.\nBabui: Being in NC all these years, has NC changed\/developed in any way?\nStoneheft: The NC has had some rough times, some totally incapable \ncouncillors, some sub-capable heads... Jonqualyn and Mariyah were a beacon \nof hope to the people like me that wished it would improve. I like to \nbelieve that the council is... Well elitist is the view of many, but it's \nnot elitist in a bad way, it is more \"tightly reined\" for the good of the \nMUD. If it can help a few players become long-time \"Quality\" players, this \nwhole place has a better shot of remaining top-notch to those of us who \nreally know it should be.\nStoneheft: I was probably the only \"Future NC head\" ever \nsilenced by an NC head for insisting that the NC head not threaten to \nsilence me for pointing out to newbies that just because that moron in NC,\ndoesn't mean they know what they're talking about\". I did a lot of good for\nthe NC before I was ever a member. Not the NCers, but the NC as a whole.\nBabui: Were you an NC member as a mortal, or an imm member of NC, or you\nlaunched straight into head?\nStoneheft: Well, that's kind of funny, and kind of sad... I was probably \naround level 42 or 43 when Jonqualyn first started trying to get me to join, \nand I always insisted that I wasn't finished playing yet, but that I would \nconsider joining when I was done \"Playing My Game.\" Anyway, I rushed through\nthe last few levels, and still regret it. My sister, Loril, was NC and she \nloved it, so I thought I would \"Finish Playing\" quickly. Then, Because I had\nsubmitted a couple build projects that I had completed (Or thought I had \ncompleted until I saw how stringent quality control was), I ended up getting\nimmed within the month that I avatared, because they wanted builders. \n(Shattering was looming on the horizon). They needed someone to build \nSouthern Mountains, I guess they picked correctly. I loved the job, but I \nstill wish I'd had more time to finish playing the game. I doubt there's \nanyone here that would venture to suggest that I don't know this world \nbackward and forward, but I fear my knowledge of the level 40+ areas is no \nbetter than average. I rushed \"middle-age\".\nBabui: You could still play around on mortal alts?\nStoneheft: I do have mortal alts, to test possibilities, to goof around\non, to see things from the appropriate perspective, but they're not me. I'm\nthe character that has done it, proven everything, succeeded. I don't have\nthat feeling of all alts being extensions of one. \nYou nod solemnly.\nBabui: I looked at the fountain, and indeed, Jonqualyn and Mariyah are \nthere. Did something happen, or is that just an awesome tribute?\nStoneheft: My view of that is only my opinion. I don't think they would\nhave quit playing if I had refused Immortalhood. I think they wanted me to \nhelp them keep NC headstrong and I let them down. I make bad decisions too.\nJohnny Q and Mariyah? If you ever in any way read this, I'm sorry.\nLoril would have been an ideal NC head. Hell, she was before Sarah, but her \nRL was nuts and she had to forego all projects for a while and get time away.\nIn the absence of myself, someone else would have done fine. Besides. When I \nimmed, I think I was supposed to be on the fast-track to working in the\nBuild Factory, whipped daily until I had produced my minimum 50 rooms a day,\nthen a stale meal of bread and water. Getting back into NC as a low-level \nimm and keeping building as a side-hobby has kept me sane. Building is \nmind-numbingly monotonous.\nBabui: From what I gathered, it was... Leveling -> Imm -> Building -> NC\nhead?\nStoneheft: Yup. That's kind of funny, too, because Low-level imms are\nsupposed to report on what they're up to... They're supposed to keep in\ncontact with their mentors and discuss what they've easily learned on their\nown and ask about any commands\/tasks they've had any difficulty with...'\nBut I was immed, pretty specifically to produce quality into the largest area\nyet to be built into this MUD. Southern Mountains...\nAnd! I wasn't to discuss it with anybody except for Edmond, because the \nCoE wasn't intending to let the cat out of the bag about the upcoming \nShattering. So. I built my ass off, trying to reach a seemingly impossible\ndeadline and still have a damn fine area, which meant that immediately after\nimming, I was under lock and key, off on a secret building port churning \nout \"An area with a description for every noun and a reason for every \nthought\". And my mentor, Grishnakh, freaking out because his new Mentee\nwasn't logging more than 3 hours a week on this port, the real game... And\nMoonbeam Checking up on the activities of the new imms (I didn't know if she\ncould know or not) so I played dumb and just told her that I wasn't doing\nanything at all except authing names a couple hours a week. That's a tough\nlife with someone who has my ferocious ego. But, It all seemed to work out.\nThey decided they liked me. Hopefully Edmond told Moonbeam that I was fulla\nsh.. Oh, this is gonna be published, fulla shifeces, and that I actually\nwas producing. I still believe that Southern Mountains (The only Geo \ncompleted by the first deadline) is pretty much the best GEO in the game.\nBut I'm full of myself.\nBabui: I thought all the imms were sent building! How could the Shattering\nbe kept a secret?\nStoneheft: I still have no idea who did and didn't know about it. I live\nwith Loril (Real Life) and she wasn't supposed to know... That was real easy.\n\"Stonesie? You playing Realms?\", \"Yep\", \"Who've you got on?\", \"Errrr. I don't\nknow... I'm just looking at something\".\nBabui: Is there anything else you want to say?'\nStoneheft thinks, 'Hmmmm.'\nStoneheft: All you capable people out there, don't let the useless types\nget you down. Keep enjoying the realms, you're the reason it's such a great\nplace. All you useless people out there, get capable. You'll notice how \ngreat a place it is.\nAs a final note.....\nStoneheft: The world needs an eccentric, spite-spewing god.\n  \nMany thanks to Stoneheft for his time, insights and of cuz, the chair!\nAnd to the owl for watching...\nYou gently pet the stone owl.\nThe stone feathers are cold to the touch.\n\n(End)                                                           \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Kinux - Vortok \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nKinux: So what does the Realm wish to know?\nVortok: They wish to know about the Enigma that is Kinux\nKinux chuckles politely: I just do what I do\nVortok: Let's travel back in time to _______ when you started playing RoD?\nKinux: Sure, I started playing here while at university in 96 for a few months,\nthen faded away. Came back in 99 and made a thief, joined GoT and rather\nquickly rose up the ranks following Elisabet's departure to immortality.  It\nmight have been 98 I re-started. \nVortok nods in agreement.\nVortok:  I remember that.  What made play anyhow?  You also mentioned\nUniversity, so I assume you are Swedish or something similar?\nKinux: Swedish?  I'm Canadian.\nVortok does his best to look utterly innocent. \nVortok: Don't kill me during the interview, it was a guess\nKinux grins evilly.   \nVortok: Everyone has an interesting story of how they started playing a TEXT\ngame... I'd be interested in hearing yours.\nKinux: I once aided in an old bbs mud... 6 lines running circle mud. Got used to\nit there... I've really no idea how I ended up landing here though... luck of\nthe draw I guess  By 6 lines, I mean 6 telephone lines, so 6 players at a\ntime.  Rather expensive thing to keep running... and rather redundant once the\ninternet came into play in the early 90's\nVortok rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.\nVortok: So connecting to that mud was like trying to connect to AOL? \nKinux: Well, yeah... at midnight you got your account reset. So it was pretty\nnutty around that time...  Tech has come a long, long way since then \nVortok nods in agreement.\nKinux: So, did the guild leader thing for a couple years and was asked by\nSelina to apply to immortality.  Did so (I'll note Cersei actually had me apply\nonce prior and I was denied... still a little bitter about that one ... so,\nhad to wait a year to get in... I can't complain. I really enjoyed my time with\nGoT\nVortok: I bet they wish they had accepted you then, now that they know you.\nKinux grins.\nVortok: So you waited a year from the time you were sponsored until the time\nyou were picked up?\nKinux: Around that, nod. The first time I had just made GM a few months prior,\nso I figure they wanted to watch for a while... I was GM of GoT for about 15\nmonths or so.  I Immed in November of 2000 if I recall.\nVortok: Time goes by so fast, I remember when you Immed.\nKinux: Indeed, that was about 12 areas ago .  That's one thing I really like\nabout this place; lots of people, with lots of history.  Probably the thing\nthat attracted me to it the most.  There are peaks and dips, but people always\nseem to find their way back... myself included.  Granted since 99' I don't\nthink I've gone more than a couple days without being on.\nVortok: Lots of people always wonder why you never to an order as an Imm.\nKinux: I was a guild guy... never had an ordered alt and firmly believed as a\nleader that I shouldn't... i.e.: I should devote all my time to the guild. I was\nby no means snubbing them, and was rather pleased when people asked me to\njoin... but I figured at the time it was meant not to be \n(Vortok's note: Kinux really likes smiley faces, wow, what a happy guy!)\nKinux: I was also guild advisor, so I got my share of organizational mayhem\nthere not to mention the deadly clans I worked with.\nVortok: Yeah, I remember that; let's talk about that for a bit...  Why did you\njoin Nomimus Umbra?  Wasn't that your first clan?\nKinux: Yep, I believe Iliana wanted some fresh meat to throw to the deadlies,\nbut I was pretty low in level... level 53, I think, and the thought of getting\ninto the deadly thing appealed to me, as I had little experience with them\nbefore. I was never one to shirk a challenge.\nVortok: Well, you stayed with PK.\nKinux: Yep, I enjoy the banter.  You get used to the fight spam after a while\ntoo.\nVortok: You're pretty familiar with the whole pk scene now, in fact, you're the\nlongest standing active deadly immortal we have. (CoE doesn't count)\nKinux: There are lots of great people in the deadly ranks, so it keeps things\ninteresting.\nVortok: What's your opinion of the PK system as a whole, not just it's current\nstate (dead), but overall since you've watched clans come and go, ideas come\nand go, people come and go, etc?\nKinux: It's in a constant state of flux, but has improved in my opinion. I like\nthe fact we brought in deadly only areas, I think the deadly only skills are a\ngreat addition. In my opinion there will always be deadlies, as people will\nalways want that challenge.  People have been saying PKill is 'dead' since they\nremoved full loot... it's 6-7 years later and I think it's still going well.\nVortok: Let's move onto another aspect of the mud that you're famous for,\nunique quests.  Where do you get these damn area and quest ideas? \nKinux: I was an uncoded member of QC for 2 years.  Uncoded because I was in TS\n(can't be in both)... sec Phone.  (Apparently Kinux has the unique ability to\nbe on the phone, and connected to the internet at the same time)\nVortok: WOW, you can be on the net and the phone?!  That\u2019s amazing.\nKinux twiddles Vortok's ears.  (Yeah, that was as disturbing as it looked)\n(At this point Kinux spent a long time talking to someone on the phone, while I\nwent to McDonalds and got a 20 piece nugget meal)\nKinux: So, we were talking about quests?\nVortok: Correct, what made you get involved with QC?\nKinux: Well, it was pre-shattering and I had been working on some areas... Edo,\nWyvern's, Mahn-tor, the trade routes, etc... most of that stuff wouldn't been\nseen by people until The Shattering happened, so, I volunteered to get involved\nin some quests.  I either volunteered, or was asked, to help out with the deity\nkills... we all took some of our favorite (<-- he spelled it the Canadian way, I\nfixed it) deities.  For some reason I ended up getting involved in most of\nthem, and after The Shattering, people had enjoyed those quests so much that I\nkept doing some bigger, theme quests... Jabberwocky, and such.  I always liked\ndoing things that people didn't expect; like having to have a certain sword, or\nhaving to wear a shield, etc. to be able to do battle.  I always liked\nstorylines, so often threw those in to have people have to work to get to the\nmob.\nVortok: Yes, you're the quest God.  Whenever I have a wacky idea for my areas,\nI know I can always count on your to help me figure out how to make it a\nreality.\nKinux chuckles politely.\nVortok: What was your favorite quest that you're administered?\nKinux: Probably either Ili'ara or the last one before the realms shattered.\nCan't remember who we killed off there   That last one was fun because of the\nmass scale... I know how much questors also liked how their actions had an\nimpact on the Realm. It was fun to be part of that. I also got promoted on that\nlast one.. so it was memorable  I remember having to bodybag about 200\ncorpses.. had so many that I crashed the mud every time I logged on.\nVortok laughs out loud!\nVortok: I hate that social, or maybe I use \"lol\" when I should use \"heh\"\nKinux: Can't say as I've ever used lol \nYou tell Nivek 'Kinux says 'can't say as I've ever used lol'\nYou tell Nivek 'please for him to lol'\nKinux laughs out loud!\nVortok throws back his head and cackles with insane glee!\nKinux: No comment \nCeirana gives a fungoid lozenge to Kinux.\nVortok: Last topic, Barbarians... I'm not exactly sure where to start with\nthese things...  Peacefuls don't seem to use them, and deadlies hate them.\nKinux: Well, barbarians were initially meant to come in with fathomers. They\nwere to be to the fighter class what mages are to magic.  Selina and I were\nasked to give them a town and possibly some background. Most of the ideas for\nthe class had already come in from Kali, who did some excellent work.  To be\nhonest, I don't know why Barbarians never took off. There certainly is some\naspect of their separation that has caused issue. I do like playing them\nthough, and I think they are still a fundamentally good class.  I think we\ncould still do some work with them and make them better... I know the equipment\nissues have certainly caused problems.  I look back to when I first started, in\n96... thieves didn't have circle and there were never more than 3-4 online at\nany one time.  Any class could technically be 1-2 skills away from being a\ndominant force.  Took years for nephs to get where they are -  I don't believe\nyou've seen the last of barbarians.  I will say this... I didn't spend as much\ntime on the area and assisting the class development as I did to allow them to\ndie\n\nA town crier yells 'If Romani gets 250 tells, Nivek will do a restore'\ntell Romani hi\nThey aren't here.\n\nKinux: Sorry, Nivek is bored and we're finding things for him to break \nCurrently we're discussing what we could do with Romani, we're thinking of\nsetting her up in DH[].\nVortok: Is there anything else you want to say to RoD about you, or the various\naspects of the game that you've been involved with?\nKinux: As far as the Realm goes... from the day I became immortal I've just\nbeen fortunate or lucky enough to be able to do what I want to do... it's been\ngood that way. I don't push for promo's, I don't pester for responsibility...\nit just sort of works out.\n\nEditorial note: Vortok originalled challenged the readers to count the emoticons\nin the above article - however, the script I run articles through before they're\nfinalized removes most emoticons. Apologies to anyone who was gung-ho to look\nfor colons, semi-colons, and parenthesis.\n\n(End)                                                     \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _____________________________\n\/ Interview: Ceirana - Vortok \\_______________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nPlayers near you in Halfmoon Bay:\n| Ceirana        (Greater God)           | Joie de Vivre\n| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | Joie de Vivre\n\nJoie de Vivre\n.      *                   v`vvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvvvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvvvv``v\n     *|*          *     vvvvvvvvvv``vvvvv`vvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvv```vvvvv\n    *\\|\/*        *|*   vvvvvv``vvvvvvv`vvvvv`vvvvvvvvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`v\n  *\\**|**\/*     *\\|\/*     ``vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`vvvvvv```vvvvvvv`vvvvvvv``vv\n*\\***\\|\/*o@@@@@@@@o*\/*   * vvv`vvvvv``vvvvvvv``vvvvvvvv``vvvvv`vvvvvvvv\n **\\**|o@@@@@@@@@@@@o*  *|* `vvvvvv``vvvvvv`vvvvvv`vvvvvvv`vvvv```vv``v\n*\\***o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@o*\\|\/*    ``vvvvvv``````vvvvvvv````vvvvvvv`vvvvvv\n **\\o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*\\**|**\/*    `vv``vvvvvvvvvvv``vvvvvvvv``vvvvvv\n   o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@\\***\\|\/***\/*     vvv``v\\_``\\|  vv``vvvvvv\/ \/@@o\n   @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@**\\**|**\/**              \\  \\     |____\/ _\/@@@@@o\n    `@@@@@@`\\\\\/\/'@@*\\***\\|\/***\/*              \\      \/ _____\/@@@@@@@@@o\n     * #*+   ||  *\\***\\**|**\/***\/*             \\      \/   @@@@@@@@@@@@@\n   +# *| **+ ||  . *\\***\\|\/***\/*     (        __|     |    `@@@`V'@@@'\n +*#_\\ |*\/_#*|| #|, **\\**|**\/**       )      ()_      |   #.`@@@|@@@'@o\n  **#+\\|\/*+* ||*+|*# ***\\|\/***       (.,        ||    |  *+#*+ `|' @@@'\n    ** |* *  || \\|\/     _|_         OoooO      \/       \\  `|'   |  `|'\n----------------------------------------------------------------------\nExits: north \n(Greater Goddess) (Invis 51) (Translucent) Ceirana radiates with a godly light.\n\nCeirana: I can't wait to hear what highly amusing discourse you have prepared\nVortok: I'm trying to put my \"see\" button back on, I had to take it off and now\nits a pain to get back on.  I'm really sorry, this button is acting horrible I\ncan\u2019t get it back on.\nVortok: I fixed the \"C\"key!  ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc\n Editor\u2019s note: I changed the \u2018c\u2019s into \u2018k\u2019s for clarity - and because I\u2019m a jerk.\nCeirana tweaks Vortok's nose.\nCeirana: I\u2019m glad you're 'fixed\nCeirana pets Vortok.\nVortok gets a blank look on his face.\nVortok: Ok, let the interview begin. Are you actually going to stay here this\ntime?\nCeirana: probably, but I might send you away\nCeirana grins evilly.\nVortok: I remember when you first Immed, don't exactly remember the date, but\nwhen did you start playing Rod?\nCeirana: Hmm, I don't recall the exact date either, but I remember pallies\ncoming in, so whatever year that was\nVortok: What made you start playing a text based game?  Especially after you\nlogged on and had the horror of the CHAT channel spamming you to death.\nCeirana: I used to play another game... they had a reunion one year I went to.\nThe coder for that game was Derek Snider. He didn't actually play the other\ngame, but did the coding on it.  He went to the reunion too, and didn't know\nanyone, and I found myself talking to him.  He told me about the mud. I had to\nask him what a mud was, didn't know.  I promised him I'd go home and check it\nout.  I printed off the help pages... was something like 100 pages.  Very, very\nintimidating.  Made Ceirana and hung out in the tapestry room in preauth\nwaiting for Thoric to auth me.  After half hour I think someone told me to\nmove. I didn't know commands or anything, and I kept getting lost.\nVortok Laughs.\nCeirana: I remember another player coming up to me in preauth and saying 'you\nsuck'.  Wish I could remember who that was .... muhaha!  \nVortok: It was Kinux\nCeirana seems to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nCeirana: I should have made some declaration of becoming immortal some day on\nnewbiechat.  Given everyone within earshot a good laugh.  I took several times\nthrough preauth too because I didn't save the char.  all the time I kept\nexpecting to run into Thoric. Figured he'd come visit and hang out.  He never\ndid, fancy that, but by then I was hooked.  \nVortok: So how did you evolve and develop while here?\nCeirana: I leveled up with some other people I met along the way that were\noften online same time as me.  One of them, Tennyson, was a druid, and told me\nthat he was going to join the Guild, and that I should too.  I went to their\nWarm Welcome room, but I didn't know how to write notes and frankly the whole\nnote system was terribly intimidating at that point in my life.  Later on I met\nanother druid who snagged an inductions person and I had my interview then and\nthere, without writing a note.  Did my quest (which was far too hard for\nsomeone with my lack of experience) lala (note to guild leaders reading this)\nlala, and I got into GoD.  This was a super fun time, great folks, very active,\nknew everyone, did everything I could.  I was hesitant to make another\ncharacter, felt like I was betraying myself somehow, but after some cajoling I\nleveled a mage.  In time in GoD I became a leader, then Guild master.  Then one\nday.... stepping down and passing the mantle to someone else, giving others the\nchance to lead became the right thing to do.  Then I immed and haven't looked\nback.\nVortok: How has your development as an imm gone?\nCeirana: I love it, so fabulous, I guess   I've learned a ton.  When I immed,\nI knew nothing about building or imm commands or anything like that.  A Moment\nin Nature was my 'learn how to build' experience.  I was fortunate enough for\nit to have been deemed good enough to port.\nVortok: As far as dealing with people, and being part of various councils, have\nhas your experience as an immortal allowed you to grow?\nCeirana: I would say so. I've been on a few different councils, had my hand in\nmany different aspects of the game.  That's the one thing about immortals, we\nare all different people with different strengths and interests. None of us\ncould be an expert on every aspect of the game, but we all fill a niche.\nVortok nods in understanding.\nCeirana: Currently I work with the Guilds, which was a mandate I had for\nmyself when I immed, that that was what I wanted to do some day, I'm in\nAscendere as well, and they are an awesome bunch of folks, and I run the\nNeophyte Council.  I used to be in VC, which I loved also.\nVortok: What do you do on the NeoC?\nCeirana: We have a mentorship programme for when someone imms, they are paired\nwith a more experienced immortal to settle in and learn the ropes. I oversee\nthe council that makes sure the new immortals get on track.\nVortok: Are you the only immortal on that council?  I never see anyone else\nwith the tag?\nCeirana: Ayep.  I can work out all my problems on counciltalk \nVortok chuckles politely.\nCeirana: actually there are a number of uncoded people on that council, but\nbecause you can only have one council tag, they are usually in something else\nas a coded member.\nVortok: You've made it pretty far considering the amount of people that Immed\nwith, before, and after you.  How do you see yourself progressing from here on?\nCeirana: I don\u2019t know, every level from 52 on I figured I'd maxed out.  I'll do some\nmore building, would like to finish up a few things I have on the go on the\nbuild port.  I love the mud, and there are some awesome folks on here. It's also\nneat to see all the behind the scenes stuff.  Recently I've become deadly too\nso it's been interesting getting to know some of the committed pkillers.\nVortok: Interesting?  Don't you mean a headache?\nCeirana tweaks Vortok's nose.\nCeirana: They're oddly endearing.\nVortok: You have inspired my new title; Vortok, the Oddly Endearing.\nCeirana laughs.\nCeirana: I hadn't planned on being deadly or anything. It's one aspect of the\ngame I am not too up on.  One day one of the higher level imms balzhured me and\nset me level 50 and deadly and said on war talk 'here you go' sort of thing. \nGuess you missed that day.\nVortok: Yeah, unfortunately.  Last time I saw that was when Lascivias did that\nto Calis and we raped him.\nCeirana: After I got my self back, I didn't set myself out, I got talking to\none of the deadlies... actually I think it might have been you, and you said\nsomething like 'it's awesome to see more imms support the deadly scene'.  Well,\nhow could I set myself out after hearing that?\nVortok nods in agreement to Ceirana.\nCeirana: So the deadly thing sort of just happened.  \nVortok: I think everyone likes you so far.  If you can get in good with the\npkillers, you're pretty much set.  They don't hold back like a lot of\npeacefuls, and they're pretty nasty if they don't like you, ask Tiki, Lyrias,\nor Valanna \nCeirana: While I was balzed and deadly, another immortal logged on his pker and\nnailed me.  \nCeirana hrms.\nCeirana: I'd forgotten about that... cough*lookoutRhadamanthus!*cough\nVortok seems to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nCeirana: Nods I find I'm getting along well with the deadly community.  I even\nknow some of their real names, that's how they know each other.  Of course you\nknew that   I remember Pat's name the easiest.\nVortok: Do you plan to get more involved with the PK Community?  And if so,\nhow?\nCeirana: Someday I'll get around to leveling a deadly.  It's interesting to\ndelve into different aspects of the game.  \nVortok: What do you do with your time when you're online?\nCeirana: Depends. When I'm building I focus on that, but after the Shattering\nI've done less building.  Some days I get so many tells and requests all I do\nis answer them and admin stuff.  We all auth names, monitor channels etc.  The\nother stuff I do is ultra top secret immstuff!\nVortok: Would you consider yourself a _NAME NAZI_ ?\nCeirana: Nope I'm probably one of the more lenient authers. I am not sure how\nmy auth skills are perceived in the mortal community.  I'm a sucker for punny\nclever names.  I shouldn't have said that, now I'll be inundated ever time I'm\non solo.\nVortok seems to be in an agreeable mood.\nVortok: Conran is the easiest, so don't feel bad.  I think he has a trigger to\njust accept anything on the auth channel.\nCeirana snickers softly.\nCeirana: The immortal scene has changed hugely since when I immed.  When I\nimmed all imm saw wartalk.  We didn't have a config +nice flags, so there were\nwaaaaay more illegal pks, it would happen all the time, accidentally.  People\nwould use one letter to target a mob and it would hit a char with same first\nletter.  We used to have way more advertisers logging in and spamming chat, and\nwe didn't have reroll... auth was very very busy.  People would run a char\nthrough numerous times before they got what they wanted.\nVortok: What's the funniest experience you've ever had as an immortal?\nCeirana: Kali will do something nasty to me if I told you.\nVortok: Please... do tell; besides, he's only scary on the outside.  Otherwise\nhe's a cuddly stuffed dragon.\nCeirana: Can I get that in writing?  (Here you go, Ceirana)\n(I eventually use my irresistible charm to crack her...)\nCeirana: One day I was loading up a bunch of inactives for a guild leader to\noutcast.  I was forcing each person to quit, individually, and there were like\n45 of them or something.  Kali sends me a tell saying 'there's an easier way to\ndo that, you know', and he shows up in the room.  Next thing you know, I'm quit\nout.  So I log back in and people are going nuts on channels.  He meant to show\nme a way to force the players all in that one room to quit, but instead he did\na force all quit, so he quit out every single player on the mud.  So I sent him\na message 'I still think my way is better'  \nVortok rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.\nCeirana: It was hilarious. I hope Kali finds this hilarious too when he reads\nit else I suspect I might find myself level 50 and deadly, naked with an slist\nof 0.\nVortok: What has been your most upsetting experience as an immortal?\nCeirana: Oh there've been a few things over the years, but my choice is not to\ndwell on them, bringing up the 'bad stuff' from the past serves no purpose.  As\nan immortal, it is important to enjoy the game also too, you know? Just because\nwe're admin doesn't mean we can't enjoy our time here also.  \nVortok: How politically put.\nCeirana: As an immortal it is important to have thick skin.  I can't tell you\nthe number of times I've been cursed at and worse. Most of the time people that\nreact like that are upset for some reason.  I always try to find out why\nsomeone is acting abusive...you never know where someone is coming from in\ntheir real life.\nVortok: Yeah, I think some people forget that we have those.\nCeirana nods solemnly.\nVortok: Well, is there anything you'd like to add?  A message to the readers\nperhaps, on anything we have or haven't talked about already?\nCeirana: Gosh I wonder if any have read this far.  (Another smiley, yet not\nquite as many as Kinux).  Just to get out there and live in the world.  Explore\nsomething new, read some room descriptions.  There's a lot of good stuff out\nthere.  My pet peeve is people who broadcast to the world that they are bored,\nthere is an amazing lot to see and do here.\nVortok: Well, thanks for your time, I'm sure the entire MUD has enjoyed\nlistening to the story about Kali forcing everyone to quit, and those that were\nthere most likely enjoyed it more.\nCeirana: If anything undesirable happens to me I hold you personally\nresponsible!\nVortok: K... Can't be worse than what he did to me \nCeirana: So you've told funny stories about him too?\nCeirana grins evilly.\nYou seem to be in an agreeable mood.\nVortok: I was turned pk and killed 201 times by the imms.  Edmond was level 52\nat the time, he's the only one that was too weak to one round me.  \nCeirana: Shhhhh!  That was out loud \nVortok grins evilly.\nVortok: They bodybagged my corpses and put them all in DH[].  Not to mention\nthe multiple renames to Vorschmuck, freezings, slit throats, etc...\nCeirana: They are both great guys and honestly I see the hard work and\ndedication that so many folks have put into this mud... and those two would be\ntop of my 'amazing' list.  \nVortok: Awww, ain't that touching.\nCeirana: And I'm not just saying that because I strongly suspect I might be\nstanding naked at my recall point for some time after this article is\npublished.\nVortok laughs.\nVortok: Ok, ill add that last comment.\nCeirana rolls on the floor laughing hysterically.\nCeirana: So that wasn't too painful an interview for you I hope.  I was going\nto go for the 1 pager and just grunt every question.\nCeirana grunts like a pig. (Yes, she really did this)\nYou get a blank look on your face.\n\nTHE END (not really, but you don't want to see the rest, trust me)\n\n(End)                                                        \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Linda - Vortok \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nPlayers near you in Hellish Plane of the Maleficae:\n| Linda          (Savior)                | The Wolf's Den\n| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | The Wolf's Den\nThe Wolf's Den\nThe stars shine brightly upon this outcropping that overlooks the hellish\nplane below.  Unlike the rest of the land, this tranquil setting flourishes\nwith the essence of life itself.  The radiance of the full moon overhead\nilluminates the soft granite substrate strewn about this grassy plateau.\nThe gray clouds above that appear to be laced with strands of silver stars,\ntake the form of an aged wolf gazing down from the heavens.  As the cool\nevening air blows over the plateau a soft howl can be heard in the distance.\nTwo large trees stand towards the edge of the cliff with a white mesh hammock\ntied in between.  Dangling from the hammock is a silver bed sheet scented in\na fragrant perfume.\nExits: none\nA small fountain taking the shape of a leaf rests along side the hammock.\nA young wolf puppy sits upright beside the fountain peering about the plateau.\n(Savior) (Maleficae) Linda radiates with a godly light.\nVortok: We covered a lot of the basic questions still in our last interview,\nbut you've come such a long way since then, so we will start in the middle.\nLinda laughs.\nLinda: That was what, a month or 2 after I became a deity?\nVortok: Jan 25, 2005\nLinda: Really?  Wow!\nVortok: Shows how little attention you give me, we haven't talked since January\n25 of 2005.\nLinda: You are always afk. I still have your skins to remind me of the old\ntimes.\nVortok: Haha, very funny. Since you've become deity, and our last interview\non 25 Jan 05, what changes or personal growths do you think you have made since\nthen?\nLinda: That is a hard question.  I think I am more confident, but that is more\nalong the lines of just knowing people and having them trust you.  People have\nlearned where my line in the sand is, so to speak.  \nVortok: Along with your \"acceptance\" into the pkill community, you've also been\nmore accepted amongst the immortals, as you have advanced to level 54 since\nthen, what changes, if any has this brought about?\nLinda: Actually in the immortal community there hasn't been a lot of changes. \nAlthough, there are a lot of newer imms that ask for advice and such.  Which is\namazing to me, as I still ask advice of a lot of the others.  I am able to do a\nlittle more, but mostly it is just interacting with players and newbies.\nVortok: Speaking of newbies, has your role on NC changed?  And what exactly do\nyou do on NC as an immortal that is not the head?\nLinda: My role hasn't changed that much.  When Ilsensine stepped down and\nremorted, I took over her stuff, mainly just trying to keep induction dates and\nNC roster updated.  Other than that, I just watch channels, and try to help NC\nmembers when they need bodybags when they just cant get there.  I try to direct\nnewbies to where to find answers, mostly help files.\nVortok: Is NC your final stop, or do you ultimately want to be in VC, NeoC, or\nsomething else?\nLinda: When I first immed I wanted to go back to TS, however, I am not sure\nabout that now.  Right now, I am the only deadly in NC, and am trying to work\nwith them to better understand the true newbie as a deadly pitfalls.  As far as\nVC or whatever, I am actually willing to go where they need me.\nVortok: I just cracked an egg into the pan, and it had 2 yokes... I killed\ntwins :(\nLinda laughs.\nVortok: Ok, lets talk a little bit more about the PK side of the house.  Now\nthat you are a seasoned PK imm, and one who actually has morts and have\nconvinced your hubby to play, what are your opinions on the current pk status. \nBoth ups, downs, and what you think it needs?\nLinda: Well other than needing more players coming in, I am not sure.  I really\ndon't know how to accomplish that.  I finally convinced my husband to play, and\nhe says it isn't anything like what he thought of when he thought 'deadlies',\nso I think it is mainly just talking to people, and getting them to try it. \nBut if they do, they have to understand not to take anything said personally,\nthat is what gets most people I think.\nVortok: I forgot to put butter in my egg pan, that was a waste of 2 eggs and I\nkilled an innocent twin for nothing.\nLinda comforts Vortok.\nVortok: Well, being NC and PK, what do you think the fate is for brand new\nplayers trying to be deadly fro the start?\nLinda: The way things stand right now, it is awful, they get little to no\nhelp from anyone, they have to rely on wartalk for the most part, and deadlies\nrarely log unless it is to actually pkill so there are few on at any given\ntime.  Not to mention the deadlies that rape newbs.\nLinda grins at Vortok.\nVortok: Don't grin at me, that's Pat.\nLinda: There are always people like that.  Even peacefuls have players that\nwill send newbies towards DTs or whatever, or tell them to tell froggie\n'ribbit'.\nVortok laughs out loud.\nVortok: I used to charm the gargoyle in Zenothir's Tower and put it above the\nacademy, invis, then dismiss it.\nLinda looks at Vortok, shakes her head and says 'tsk tsk tsk'.\nVortok: ... and, my favorite, was summoning a frost drake to kill Nelkum, cause\nI really do dislike Nelkum\nYou hear some squeaking sounds...\nVortok: What's the funniest thing you've seen in both PK and NC side?\nLinda: That is hard to say, to be honest it was the first time my husband\nlogged on a deadly he didn\u2019t really do much, didn\u2019t saying anything 'bad' though\nsome might have thought them offensive, but the person took it to chat, instead\nof asking the husband to stop, and it escalated, and the other person ended up\nsilenced.\nVortok seems to get a laugh from something saying \"heh heh heh\".\nLinda: As an imm, I was telling my husband 'be nice, don't do that' and such,\nbut at the same time I couldn't stop laughing.  Yes, that is wrong of me!  but\nit was still funny.\nVortok: Do you think PK needs an intermediary council, such as VC, composed of\ndeadly imms that actually play the game?  If so, would you be interested in a\nposition on this council?\nLinda: I would guess I would have to say I don\u2019t think we really need an extra\ncouncil,  because I think mortal deadlies have a better idea than immortals\n(even the few of us that log occasionally) about what is wrong\/slightly off \nwith a class or skill.  If there was such a council though, I would say like I\ndid before, that I would go where I am needed, if needed on that type of\ncouncil, I would be willing, but I think with our current set up, I am where I\nam most useful, with my skills\/personality.\nVortok: Ok, this is your chance.  What would you like to say to our readers? \nAnything we haven't already covered?\nLinda: Remember this is a game above all else.  You are here to have fun. \nOthers are here to have fun.  Don't take anything personally if you can help\nit.  But remember there are other people on here trying to do the same thing. \nBut it is a game!  Enjoy and have fun!\n \nVortok's PS: I had to capitalize EVERY \"I\" Linda typed\nEditor's note: How do you think _I_ feel, Vortok?\n\n(End)                                                  \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n __________________________________\n\/ Interview: Rhadamanthus - Vortok \\__________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nYou tell Rhadamanthus 'ready for your interview love?'\nRhadamanthus trudges up from the depths, coated in the sand of the Colosseum.\nCounsel of the Conclave\nWalls of frozen steel form the foundation of this circular chamber.\nA black iron table with a red crest rests in the center of the room \nsurrounded by ten, neatly arranged, black leather chairs.  The indigo\ntorches which line the walls give the room an eerie glow.  Directly\nin the center of the room going from the ceiling, through the\ntable, and into the floor is a large crimson pillar with small notes\nattached all around.  Stains of dried blood can be seen on the\ncrimson parchments, blood that came from the very thing that drives\nthe members that gather here.\nExits: none\n(Glowing) A crimson pillar is covered with bloody parchments.\n(Creator) Rhadamanthus is shrouded in a demonic aura.\n\nVortok: Also, because it will be boring to read, like all the ones I've seen\nalready posted, I'd like some RP type emotes at least to add something to the\nbore-effect.\nRhadamanthus: You can do them, I'll pass  (boring, already )\nVortok: How long have you been playing RoD?\nRhadamanthus: 7 years now.  A friend of mine who no longer plays, found the\nwebsite by chance and got me involved.\nVortok: I'd be interested in hearing how that conversation went, every time I\ntry to show someone they laugh at me and call me a dork.\nRhadamanthus: I called him a dork and said that any text-based game had to be\nstupid. \nRhadamanthus coughs loudly.\nRhadamanthus: but enough coaxing finally got me started on it, and here I am\nstill.\nVortok: Ever think of quitting? (CoE won't read this, they are too busy)\nRhadamanthus:  I have before, just like anywhere, there are jerks on this game\nwho derive their fun from ruining that of others, and I've found there is a\ntendency among the leader-type positions in this game to forget that we are\nhere to have fun (i.e., that it is, in fact, a game).  Things like that can\nmake a person forget that they are here to have fun, and if they are bad\nenough cases they can make a person want to quit.\nVortok nods in agreement.\nVortok: Trust me, I know what you mean \nRhadamanthus nods solemnly.\nVortok: What organizations have you been with in 7 years?\nRhadamanthus: Catarrh, Arcanes, IOQC, and PKC.\nVortok: You've never been in a guild?\nRhadamanthus: No sir.\nVortok: Interesting.\nRhadamanthus agrees with Vortok.\nVortok: How long were you in Arcanes?\nRhadamanthus: About 6 years now, confidentially, I still might be in Arcanes!\nRhadamanthus waggles his eyebrows mischievously.\nVortok: What is your chars password?\nRhadamanthus: vortokisgayballs\nVortok: Oh. Somehow I think that\u2019s a lie.\nRhadamanthus shakes his head in response to your question.\nRhadamanthus: Scout's honor.\nVortok: You're ruining the interview by not answering honestly, but we can\npress on.\nRhadamanthus rolls his eyes.\nVortok: Within this 7 year experience, at what point did you decide to try PK?\nRhadamanthus: About a year to a year and a half into my time here, if I recall\nrightly.  I joined Phoenix on a character which has long since autodeleted, oh\nI guess add that to my orgs .  I actively played pk for only about a month\nafter that first character, I didn't really like the things that went on in pk\nthen, certainly then it was much worse than it is now, with trigger abuse,\nburying corpses, etc, so I quit for a couple years.  When I came back, I joined\nCatarrh, found a totally different place than I left it, and have stayed since.\nVortok: Did you have a \"role model\" that kind of guided and trained you when you\nstarted pk?\nRhadamanthus: I had a couple; Pat, who you might know as Talon or Mekir, was\nthe main person who coaxed me back into pk.  And once in Catarrh, he, along\nwith Jim (Akhemis) and Marcus (Badrol\/Saki) got me back up to speed.\nVortok: Pat helped me a lot when I came back also.\nRhadamanthus nods in agreement to Vortok.\nVortok: I remember you being excited (and nervous) when you were selected as\nPKC head, is it everything you though?\nRhadamanthus: It's been fun and a learning experience for sure, but it is good\nto know that while I'm not exactly changing the pk world, PKC really helps push\nprogress along to make pk better on a weekly\/daily basis.\nVortok: Was there another council you ultimately plan to make your way to after\nPKC, or is this where you want to stay?\nRhadamanthus: I think I'd like to stay in PKC as long as they'd have me.\nVortok: Haha, good luck!  What's been your biggest challenge in this position?\nRhadamanthus: The biggest challenge would be sharing a channel with that Vortok\nguy.\nRhadamanthus coughs loudly.\nVortok gets a blank look on his face.\nRhadamanthus: SERIOUSLY THOUGH, the biggest challenge is dealing with a huge\ncreative energy that comes out of PKC, and knowing that it can't be done as we\nmight like in the upper levels of administration.  Some things simply have too\nbroad a coding scope, and some changes that need immediate attention simply\ndon't get it.\nVortok: How do you feel about the amount of PK quests, or lack of, that are\ncurrently administered?\nRhadamanthus: For sure there could be more... BUT, a lot of people fail to\nrealize that immortals may not award glory for actual pk events, and by the\nlogic that these people are on deadlies, item find and mkill get old quickly.\nVortok: What do you plan to do about it?\nRhadamanthus: Well, my main idea, which is certainly a long way off, is a new\ngame-type competition based somewhat off the \"juggernaut\" game you can find in\nmany first-person shooters.  Basically you have a 1v4 type competition where\none person is in some way, ridiculously overpowered, when someone kills that\nperson, they gain that overpowered...ness?\nVortok nods in agreement to Rhadamanthus.\nRhadamanthus: Another idea is building mkill mobs more like deadlies.  Writing\nprograms to actually make them pursue, fight in packs, re-target characters,\netc.  It's tough programming them, but I have at least one in progress \n(On a side note, last night, 28 Sep 05 at 8pm EST, he actually ran a quest\nlike this and it was great, 15 deadlies took part and loved it, go Rhad!)\nVortok: What do you think of the current pk areas, and are there going to be\nmore?\nRhadamanthus: I think the current pk areas need a little bit of tweaking as far\nas mob difficulty goes still, but they are overall pretty excellent - they were\nbrought over from eclipse, which was a great development ground for all things\npk.  As far as new ones, I am working on one at least, I'm not sure who else\nhas stuff in the works.\nVortok: What are your opinion(s) on the current status of PKill and what do you\nthink it needs?\nRhadamanthus: Well, that depends on scope - this very second, pk is in a bit of\na trough, but in about a few weeks' or month's scope, it has really been\nexcellent lately.  As far as what it needs, as I've always said pk needs the\nability to be fluid and have changes made more often, and with a greater amount\nof creativity and innovation.  \nVortok: amen (we need that as a social)\nRhadamanthus grins.\nVortok: Well, I was telling myself that after reading Babui's 23 page interview\non Stoneheft I wouldn't make this extremely long, and the 10 questions I asked\nso far appear to be making a very long script already.  Is there anything you'd\nlike the readers to know about you and or pk?\nRhadamanthus laughs.\nRhadamanthus: One thing for sure, chances are good if you tried pk once and\ndidn't like it, it's a different place now than before, I am living proof.  And\nif you have never tried it, absolutely do - your MUDding experience isn't\ncomplete without it.  If you are patient and attentive, just ask questions and\ndefinitely make a pkiller to come play on, because it is tons of fun.\nVortok nods and says \"Amen brotha\".\nVortok: Thanks Rhad, appreciate your time.\nRhadamanthus: My Pleasure, I always enjoy our conversations.\nRhadamanthus saunters back to the cages beneath the Colosseum.\n\n(End)                                                              \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n ___________________________\n\/ Interview: Korim - Vortok \\_________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nKorim has transferred you.\n \nPlayers near you in Gods:\n| Korim          (Creator)               | Water\n| Romani         (Demi God)              | The Chat Room\n| Vortok         (Maleficae)             | Water\n \nWater\nOh Spirit and Guardian of the West, \nAncient one of Water, I call thee to \ncome forth and charge this circle, with \nthe power of the tides.\nExits: none\n(Creator) Korim radiates with a godly light.\n\nVortok: Ok, I'm chan -all.\nKorim: And I'm chan +all.\nVortok: I'll edit this, so don't worry about typos etc.\nKorim: Good luck, typos are what I do best. \nVortok: Ok, so the basic first few questions... What the hell made you start\nplaying a text based game? \nKorim: Well, you get the usual answer: friends\nVortok: There have been a few interesting ones, but if you say friends, how did\nyou react?  you didn\u2019t think they were dorky?\nKorim: My buddy back in high school dated a girl who played this game.  We both\npicked it up from her.  It was a pretty cool and new concept to all of us.  We\ncould hang out and spend time doing stuff 'together'... in a way. \nVortok: Do they still play?\nKorim: Not the girl.  She had been playing from pretty early on, and didn't\nlike the changes so much or something.  She stopped a few months after my\nfriends and I started.\nVortok: Ironic.\nKorim seems to agree.\nVortok: So what did you think when you first got here, or did your friends walk\nyou through it?  I know when I started I was lost, and pre auth took about 2\nhrs. \nKorim: my first character was a Warrior, and I knew nothing about the game\nexcept that to advance you had to kill things... so, that's essentially what I\ndid. I leveled pretty quickly for a first time player, but I paid no attention\nto stats or anything aside from hp.  So essentially, I was very lost, I just\ndidn't know it at the time.\nVortok seems to get a laugh from something saying \"heh heh heh\".\nKorim: But yes, starting out with friends made it easier because we were\ndiscovering things together.\nVortok: Ardeth and I started the same day, we fought ASP together!\nKorim cowers in the corner from claustrophobia.\nVortok agrees with Korim.\nVortok: So once you got the swing of things, how did you manage your way into\nyour first organization, and develop from then on?\nKorim: Well, my friends started telling me about these things called 'guilds'\nand eventually I started reading help files and thinking they might be a good\nplace to meet people and such so, after my friend got into GoD and told me how\ngreat it was, I tried out for GoP on my newly created paladin.  GoP was great.\nTurned out to be everything people had said.. 'family, home, friends' etc. \nThat's really where I learned how to 'play' the game properly.\nVortok: So where does Arcanes fall in?\nKorim: Arcanes I joined as an immortal.  As a mort, I was addicted to guilds,\nbut guilds don't have Deities, so when Arcanes offered me the spot, I thought\nit'd be great to see things out and see how I can help an organization from\nthat position.\nVortok: And how is that going?\nKorim: It's going well I'd say, some great people in here, so it's made my\n'job' (if you can call it that) pretty easy.\nVortok: How about QC?  What made you join that, and what has been your most\nexciting quest thus far?\nKorim: QC always looked like a good place to help out to me, you can never have\ntoo many quests, and it's an easy way to get some building done w\/o having to\nspend years adjusting an area.  The quest that I've had the most positive\nfeedback so far has probably been the GoV quest. was a fun little 'dress up as\nPeter Pan and kill Captain Hook' quest.\nVortok seems to get a laugh from something saying, \"heh heh heh\".\nVortok: What about your involvement with CoD?\nKorim: CoD has been more of an 'I'm here if you need me' deal. So far there\nhasn't been too much practical application for it, but if Alysira needs a hand\nwith something, she lets me know and I help her out.\nVortok: I see, so what other behind the scene events are you involved with?\nKorim: Well, aside from the standard monitoring and the like, I've helped out\nwith a few projects, but nothing major, just help files and such.\nVortok: With your awesome 53 powers and that's it?  I'm expecting you to be\nfolding areas by now. \nVortok pats Korim on his back.\nKorim: I'm saving that for tomorrow.\nVortok: So, who is Korim on the outside?  Hobbies, location, etc?\nKorim: I've been living in Japan for over a year now, and my recent hobbies\nhave been mainly heading out to different events and places to try to\nexperience some the Japanese culture before heading home.  If you can call that\na hobby?  I was military in the Canadian reserves.\nVortok: More damn Canadians.\nVortok mutters distractedly.\nKorim: Well, you are playing a *cough* Canadian game.\nKorim looks innocently about himself.\nVortok: I think we had better end this before you come up missing... so...\nKorim laughs.\nVortok: Thanks for the time, hope that wasn't too painful for you.  Is there\nanything else you'd like our readers to know about you, or the game in general?\nLast words, etc? \nKorim: Not really... although, if I had to give advice, it would be that I've\nalways found that for this game, you can only ever enjoy it as much as you put\ninto it... if that makes sense?\nVortok nods solemnly.\n\n(End)                                                       \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _________________________________\n\/ Archives Poll Results - Alysira \\___________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nEarlier this month, I posted a short poll on the archives to add a bit of\nfun to the 100th issue. Here are the results, and if you won a certain\nquetion, congratulations! We'll try and arrange the ballerina outfit for\nyou.\nOnly one winner was chosen for each section, where two names are placed\nthis indicates a tie.\n\n1. Who is your favourite Immortal?\na. Ceirana\/Alysira\n2. Who is your favourite player?\na. Lex (aka. Grontak)\n3. If you could see any Immortal dressed in a ballerina outfit with \n   fluffy pink bunny slippers, who would it be?\na. Kali (Obviously!)\n4. If you could see any player dressed in a ballerina outfit with\n   fluffy pink bunny slippers, who would it be?\na. Genge\/Artem\/Anya\n5. Which Immortal do you think has the most active social life?\na. Thoric\/Rhadamanthus (Rhad? You guys don't know him too well.)\n6. Which Immortal do you think has the least active social life?\na. Meekon\n7. Which player do you think has the most active social life?\na. Skaphia\/Mephie\n8. Which player do you think has the least active social life?\na. Phyre\/Artem\n9. Which Immortal would you give the nickname \"Gingerbread\" to?\na. Ceirana\n10. Which player would you give the nickname \"Gingerbread\" to?\na.  Excane\n11. Which Immortal would you give the nickname \"Hot sauce\" to?\na.  Alysira \n12. Which player would you give the nickname \"Hot sauce\" to?\na.  Sinistro\n13. Which Immortal would you give the nickname \"Icy\" to?\na.  Kali (Another obvious win.)\n14. Which player would you give the nickname \"Icy\" to?\na.  Cresis\/Artem\/Genge\n15. Which Immortal could one day rule the world?\na.  Kali\/Kinux\/Alysira\n16. Which player could one day rule the world?\na.  Qaulorn\n17. Which Immortal do you think still has a collection of pink stuffed\n    teddy bears?\na.  Romani\/Akael\n18. Which player do you think still has a collection of pink stuffed\n    teddy bears?\na.  Babui\n\nThanks to everyone who submitted their answers!\n\n(End)                                                          \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _____________________________________________________\n\/ Cry of Despair Quest: September's Results - Alysira \\_______________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nLast month, your quest was to answer a few trivial questions about Realms.\nI've selected two random correct answers. Congratulations to...\n\n                                Norelle and Vivienne!\n\nPlease see me for your prizes ASAP! For everyone else, here are the correct\nanswers:\n\n1. Name one weather-oriented deity and the weather they represent.\na. Cawyn (Storms), Masefi (Wind).\n2. Name all of the paths that a Mage can adhere to.\na. Balance, Countermagick, Destruction, the Elder School, Defense, Prowess,\n   and the Quill.\n3. Which cleric spell renders a person resistant to draining attacks?\na. Resilience.\n4. Which druid spell calls upon the spirits of nature to protect the\n   druid from all manner of attacks?\na. Nadur Dion\n5. Name an area in The Mire geo.\na. Dragon Tower, Dragon's Pass, Tribal Swamplands, etc. I can't give too\n   many away in this answer, but an easy way to check your answer is to\n   go to your area and type 'geo'.\n\nPlease try this month's quest! Good luck!\n\n\nThis issue, I couldn't decide between a Halloween-oriented quest, or a\nspecial 100th Issue quest.\n\nSo, have one of each.\n\nFirstly, answer these trivia questions about the Cry of Despair:\n1. Who was the Editor of the Times of Despair?\n2. In what year did the Cry of Despair begin?\n3. Which issue was Elisabet's last issue as Immortal Sponsor?\n4. Which issue was Kuah's last issue as Editor?\n\nNow, design your own Halloween costume using items from around the\nRealms. The most imaginative costume (or funniest) will be selected\nas the Winner. You have until the 29th of October to MUDmail me your\nanswers and a copy\/paste of your garb.\n\nAs an extra incentive to complete this quest, the prizes this month\nwill be the usual glory, plus gold and some nice av item. I'm not sure\nwhat, I'll figure that out later.\n\nGood luck and enjoy!\n-Alysira\n(End)                                                               \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _______________________\n\/ Pkill Status - Vortok \\_____________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nGeneral:\n- PK player base up slightly, still low.\n- Artifacts: Art (Exc\/Mal), Dan (Fer), Marcus(Cat)\n- New PKC making changes, activity increased.\n- PK Geo almost complete, Vortok is still slow...\nEditor's addition: Wes wants a non-av lizardman for pkill. Sell him one.\n     \nCatarrh:\n- Art has returned, lost and regained Artis.\n- Cat livens up a bit now that Art is back.\n    \nExcordis:\n- Tim takes over Exc, Forrest selected as #1, Pat as #2.\n- Will (Arrigorn\/Atrayyu) has returned!\n       \nFeralis:\n- Wes returns to PK and rejoins Feralis.\n- Sid vanishes after dying :(\n- Kulj is back!  Re-leveling his chars too!\n      \nMaleficae:\n- Dre and Brad log more, Mal activity increased.\n- Vortok goes to Mal.\n       \nUpdated 29 Sep 2005 @ 9:18pm by Vortok\n(End)                                                                \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n\n _____________________\n\/ Pkill News - Vortok \\_______________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nPKC has been restructured by Rhadamanthus, and the results\ncan be viewed by typing HELP PKC.  So far this new group\nis working out well. \n    \nIdeas Awaiting PKC Vote:\n- Reverting artifacts back to clan leaders\n- Adding AC to PK EQ\n- Reinstalling Myriad of Arenas\n- More clan EQ into circulation\n- Adren checks on safe rooms in DH\n \nIdeas that have vanished:\n- Removing or adjusting poison weapons\n- Adjusting charge for barbs in PVP\n- Reduce Barbarian suscept magic to 10% for deadlies\n    \nDenied by CoE\/PKC:\n-Reverting artifacts to clan leaders\n     \nPassed CoE, Awaiting Code:\n- True sight potions sold in town\n- PK GEO almost complete\n\nUpdated 29 Sep 2005 @ 10:01pm by Vortok\n\n(End)                                                            \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _____________________\n\/ Join Pkill - Vortok \\_______________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\nWhy Pkill?\n\nWhat a great question, and hopefully I can provide you with a great\nanswer.  PKill, as many older players used to know it, has changed\ndramatically.  These changes range from skills, classes, and areas to\nleadership, PKC members, and overall pk mentality.\n\nFor those that haven't pkilled in a while, I encourage you to try pk\nagain, and for those that have never taken the plunge, you are in for\nthe ride of your life here on RoD!\n\nWe've made it simple for you.  Clans are more accepting of newbs now,\npeople aren't always spam killing levelers, we have a sign in the pk\nstore to help with item purchases, and there are two great websites\ndesigned with the newbie in mind.\n\nStart with a level 24 warrior, and learn PK from there.  To get a full\nlist of Level 24 PK-Warrior EQ, follow the link below and check out\nthe EQ->SETS link for 24 Warrior: http:\/\/hometown.aol.com\/PKsCry\n  \nAlso visit the Excordis homepage for more info:\nhttp:\/\/www.excordis.silverwolf-den.com\n\n(End)                                                            \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/\n\n\n\n _________________________\n\/ Guide: Augurers - Genge \\___________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\\\n\n Remember when you joined the game, and you thought it'd be great to be able to\nuse magic AND have some measure of combat prowess? Did you make an augurer? Did\nyou cry yourself to sleep at night when the shattering hit and they were nerfed\nsomething fierce?\n Me neither - but it has become kind of cliche to complain about augurers. They\ndrop potions like they're afraid of them and the new ones have less melee power\nthan the old ones due to the shuffling of attack adept rates. However, that all\naside, augurers main talent remains relatively intact - they're hitters. Sure,\nthey drop more mana potions and hence cost more to run, and the new ones don't\nmelee quite as well as the old ones, but they still have a huge amount of raw\ndamage dealing potential. They've also been given some equipment that helps to\nshore up their hitpoints to add more damage to spiral. Really, life isn't all\nthat bad for the modern day augurer... unless, of course, you try to tank with\nit.\n\nSUPPORT:\n  - Balm of time: Minor cure spell.\n  - Inner Warmth: Stock res cold spell.\n  - Shield: Stock shield spell.\n  - Nostrum: Heal, self only. \n  - Prophetic Aura: Sanctuary and +3 lck - terribly useful.\n  - Fireshield: Stock fireshield spell.\n  - Herald Death: Curative spell, in berserk. Rah?\n\nTACTICAL:\n  - Weaken: Stock weaken spell.\n  - Dispel Magic: Stock dispel spell.\n  - Ritual Blessing: Bless, +7.\n  - Sleep: Stock sleep spell.\n  - Caustic Touch: A minor attack spell that causes poison. It's more useful \n                       than it sounds.\n  - Bind Oracle: Blind.\n\nUTILITIES:\n  - Invis: Stock invis spell.\n  - Hide: Stock hide skill.\n  - Midas Touch: Stock midas spell.\n  - Divination: Identify. Requires crystal.\n  - Detect Hidden: You can detect hidden things.\n  - Sleep: Stock sleep spell.\n  - Fly: Stock fly spell.\n  - Word of Recall: Stock recall spell.\n  - Second Sight: Read: Locate object.\n  - Enchant Weapon: Stock enchant spell.\n  - Precient Sight: Farsight. Requires crystal.\n  - Helical Flow: Astral walk.\n  - Seek Passage: Invis\/passdoor.\n\nCOMBAT:\nAugurer's combat skills break down as follows:\n - Flexible arms: 95\n - Short blades:  85\n - Bludgeons:     75\n - Enhanced Dam:  75\n - Second attack: 60\n - Third attack:  66\n - Fourth attack: 40\n - Rescue:        50\n - Parry:         95\n - Dual wield:    80\n - Two handed:    50\n - Swap:          65\n\nCONCLUSION:\n So, what exactly does all of this mean? Augurers do have a fair sized toolbox\nof utility spells and skills - not as many as druids, but a good repertoire. In\nfact, they used to also have create food and create spring, but they lost these\nabilities during the shattering. Still, they're fairly useful to have around as\neither a main (instead of a mage) due to farsight, id, astral, ecnhant, etc. - \nbut their real calling is as hitters for specific types of mobs. Spiral blast \nand acceptable melee when wielding two weapons make them rather useful for some\nrun mobs. Spiral hits pretty much everything in the game, so you don't have to\nworry about a mobile being immune. Each 100 hp adds about 9.5 damage to spiral,\nand each spiral takes 4 beats. Circle takes 24 beats. If the mob doesn't save\nversus breath, it'll deal more damage than anything else - if the mob does save\nversus breath, it can still compete with circle if you have high hitpoints. Of\ncourse, spiral does cost 35 mana, so 1200 mana will only last you 35ish casts, \nwhich is less than six circles. It goes by extremely quickly, so if you're on\na run with less than four people, you can bet on using mana potions. Since they\nare a hitting class, you won't need too many heals, so feel free to carry over\n100 mana potions on your augurers. Do not even try to tank anything on one - \nthey lack dodge, having only parry, and 18 dex means they'll drop an annoying\namount of heal potions. One last thing - two powerful weapons are, without \nexception, better than a weapon\/hold\/shield on a mob that melee will hit. Yes,\neven Nevermore chains. Even if you're wielding some cheap garbage like kau sin\nkes, with a melere 105 dr, that's 255ish damage from the melee hit - even if\nthe shield\/hold give you 200 hp more than the dual weapons, you'd need to hit\n13+ spirals in order to equal a single melee hit, and you hit melee more often\nwhen dual wielding. That's several rounds, and unless you have a magical uber\nshield of doom, you're not going to get anywhere near 200 hp over two weapons.\nSeriously, just trust me.\n\n(End)                                                               \n_______________________________________________________________________________\n|_____________________________________________________________________________\/<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>100 Issues! Tribute to 100 Staffers! Zombies! 17 Immortal Interviews! __________ \/ Contents \\__________________________________________________________________ |_____________________________________________________________________________\\ From the Editor and Publisher Zombies! &#8211; by Genge A tribute to the CoD Staff &#8211; by Alysira Interviews Nivek &#8211; by Mari Alysira &#8211; by Mari Loril &#8211; by Mari Lopuis &#8211; by Mari Akael &#8211; by Aslan Gatersade&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-1925","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1936,"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1925\/revisions\/1936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realmsofdespair.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}