Legendary Times vol.6 no.39
Previous Issue Main Index Next Issue =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./ / THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/ / .........../ /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____ ........../ /...../ /./ \.../ /./ \...../ \ ........./ /...../ ___/./ ____/../ ___/./ __. \.../ /\ \ ......../ /...../ /_.../ /....../ /_.../ /..\>./ /./ / ......./ /...../ __/../ /____../ __/../ /.../ /./ /./ / ....../ /_____/__/__../ \_\ /./ /__../ /.../ /./ /_/ / ...../ / /./ /./ /./ /.../ /./ / ..../ /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD .../________________/ running on mud.sig.net 9999 199.1.78.16 9999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://mud.sig.net/ ftp://mud.sig.net/pub =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= VOLUME SIX, ISSUE THIRTY-NINE October 4th, 1999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS & REPORTS - The Immortal Report - - A Call to Action: Editorial - LEGENDITES - Announcements - - Letters.... - - What have I done? - - Who? - CLeo interviews Rufus - ___ ___ \ |------------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| UPCOMING CALENDAR OF EVENTS |__\ '------------------------------------------------------------------' [All times are system time unless otherwise specified]>-/\*/\-/\*/\-/\*/\-/\ October /\-/\*/\-/\*/\-/\*/\- The McDougans Clan formed this week. FOR SALE Stylish 4 room villa in Lima's fashionable San Isidro district. A pickproof wrought iron gate leads to a garden courtyard, complete with reflecting pool. Fireplace in the kitchen, with an oven that can make a better cook out of anyone! Elegant bedroom suite, spacious enough for you and all your friends to go to sleep in. An upstairs balcony overlooking the street rounds out this home's luxurious offerings. Plenty of storage space, including hidden cabinets in two rooms. Cat may or may not come with the house (it's hard to tell with cats). Former owner gained celebrity status for popularizing trips to the Pirate's Den, but has since thrown over the life of luxury, and gone camping instead. Assumable mortgage, available for the bargain price of 6754 gold per day. Contact Cyanide for a tour; serious inquiries only, please. Do You Wish to Serve our Lord Savior? In recent times, the Saracen presence in the Holy Land has become more of a threat to our good pilgrims and noble residents of the Latin Kingdom. 'Tis time once again to sound the bugles to rally up all good men and women who wish to dedicate their lives and souls to the service of Christ. Don thy father's armor and stand forth now, all ye who art brave, and take the oaths of servitude. Dost thou wish to walk the path of the angels with Sir Eadric? Wouldst thou want to wander with the knowledgeable Sister Becket or brave Lady Elaria? Wouldst thou explore the realms and help the needy with young Lady Juliana? Wouldst thou fight the evil Grendels with Lady Diamond? Heed the holy call and sharpen thy weapon to shed the Infidel blood and protect those who are needy of our strong arms! Please find more information upon the Knights Templar and the application procedure at: www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/4119 Yours faithfully in Christ, Tancred de Gisborne, Master of the Temple. oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo Letters..... Mitra Ajami some horrid little inn in Klein February 7, 1150 AD Dearest Thalia, I suppose that you have been dead for some three thousand years now, and hence might not receive this, but I feel I must confide in someone. And Fred, that splendid fellow that works for me, has proven himself to be amazingly good at finding obscure addresses. Last week he even got a party invitation delivered to Alexander the Great (who had to decline, of course, as he had more Olympian commitments). Thalia, I am so very perplexed. Only last week, you and I were temple girls together (yes, I know that I still owe you 10 denaira!). And now so many strange things have happened, and I am so very, very confused. Last week, I was in the temple, planning to run away, and doing rather well at it I think. And this week I find myself in some strange new place where the words are unfamiliar and the people even more so (by the mysterious grace of Asarte, may She be All Merciful!). Except for my landlord, oddly enough. Who turns out not to have quite been my landlord, only I do not recall exactly. Apparently I have been alive these three thousand years, who could have guessed it? I found a pile of old journals in the cabinet of my room, but they are woefully incomplete. Entire centuries are casually skipped. Judging from the large pile of receipts and unpaid bills, it seems that I was more interested in shopping than in keeping records. I write this because I need to ask your advice on a certain matter. This landlord, this Marcel Alexander, who drinks vile coffee and smells like a desert spirit, this man had apparently asked for my hand in marriage some weeks ago in the new past that I do not know. Or at least all those nice people who wrote references for him seemed to think so. Although they disagreed on his character, they were quite clear on his intent. You can imagine my surprise. Who in his right mind would want to marry a temple girl? I mean, certainly, we were praised and given expensive perfumes, but really, darling, we knew our place! And he seems to have known my past life quite well, certainly better than I do now. Being naturally curious as to who should want to marry a temple girl, I have endeavored to spend time in his company. He is a paradox. Generous to all and even handed on the one, yet oddly brooding on the other, as though some great thing worried at him. I am fascinated by him. And I feel all sorts of memories begin to stir when I look upon his shadowed face, tantalizing me with their near presence. And Thalia, he not an unattractive man. Rich. Flowery in tongue if not intent. And strange as it may sound, I think that I care for him. But what can a temple girl know of such things? Perhaps I delude myself. And I wonder how the old me differs from the new, and what he must think of that change. He claims that he will be "friend" to me, which would seem an obligation. And yet when he says "friend," his eyes light up and glow like the amethyst that I wear, and it seems such a lovely, lovely word, the most beautiful word that I have ever heard. Dearest Thalia, my dearest, oldest friend, I want to marry this man. I want to know what it is to be married (especially as they don't seem to go for 40 wives here, a decided advantage I think). I want to be more than a concubine to suffered at a man's pleasure or a temple girl to serve her master's goddess. I doubt that he would ask again; such men are too proud to ask twice, and it sounds as though I suffered doubts before, marvelous as that seems to me now. And so I think to ask him. And I do not know whether to do so would be wrong in this world. It would be in ours, but this one is so strange, with so many new things, that I really do not know. I have consulted all my guide books for this era, and none mentions my question nor gives a satisfying answer. Please advise me, dear friend, for I do not wish to offend either this world's mores or this charming, but perplexing man. After all, he is my landlord! - Mitra A letter carrying the Alexander noble crest was 'accidentally' opened by the mailman this week. The mailman's cousin who writes for The Sun is pleased to share the contents: Lady Nancy Alexander Alexander Manor, Suffolk, UK Dear Mother; Yes, I know it has been a while since you heard from me. Things have been busy, and I've had some things to see to in the family business. I write you now to share the wonderful news that I intend to marry within the year. I know you always have desired for me to make a good marriage to a girl of wealth and name. It is with absolute delight I can impart that my Mitra is poor as a church mouse and has no noble relations whatsoever. You have always asked of me to spend my time only on women of good bearing and good manners. I am pleased to tell you that my lady has the best of manners you could ever expect in a Persian temple girl. I'm certainly smiling at the thought of the look on your face when you realize what that means. Regarding the money you have set aside to celebrate a huge church wedding and banquet for your eldest son, spend them on Sydney instead - if you can find out what London whorehouse he's currently enjoying himself in. I have no intentions of bringing my Mitra home so that you may meet her; I see no reason to expose her to your vicious tongue and pathetic attempts to run my life. She hardly deserves to have to listen to sermons of morale and what 'decent people do', coming from a countryside noblewoman who was so bored she began practicing black magic and sleeping with demons just to get some action into her life. Please share the news with your husband if you can find him. Last I heard he was in Bali, enjoying his freedom immensely. Oh, and I heard little Fifi died. I know how much she meant to you. Please teach your next lapdog to avoid my rooms. Yours, Marcel Alexander, Esquire. oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo_oOo What have I done? I ask myself that question day and night, night and day, hour after hour, minute after minute...I have got to calm myself, there's no sense in me losing the sanity that I just regained. I am no longer a vampire. The Demon Xianadu, which had a stronghold on my soul, has released his grip on me...but at what cost have I saved myself and regained my sanity? What monster have I unleashed on this world? I grip my head in pain and agony as I sit reeling from fright and worry. I cannot, will not once again have the blood of countless souls on my hands...worse the blood of the one to whom I owe my very existence, the one who is closer to me than a brother...my Master Xerox. It was Sunday afternoon. I had just awoken from a restless sleep that was plagued by nightmares...nightmares that the demon inside of me had me almost believing.. I was sitting in the Tara Reception in a quiet, deep, meditation. As I sat around the table my meditation turned my thought to my wife WhiteRose whom I sent away for a few months, while I tried to regain my sanity, not knowing if the demon inside of me would drive me to kill again. then my thoughts turned to my precious twin children. Brianna, who is a spitting image of her mother, and my son, my poor son Xianadu, who at birth was claimed by the demon and given his name. Then my thoughts turned to my Master Xerox, to whom I owe everything. Xerox was the one who had taken me in after I was bitten by that forsaken creature of the night. He helped me to stave my craving for blood, taught me how to be strong against the demon inside of me. I owe him my life. It had come to my attention that, after saving her from a life threatening disease, my master had fallen deeply in love with one named Gallowglass. I, in my travels, had heard many things about Gallowglass. Some have said that she was nothing but a confused, deranged, husband-leaving lunatic. Some said that she was only out to satisfy herself. After hearing these things I told Xerox as such. But, and I guess this is what makes him who he is, despite all of the rantings going on about Gallowglass he still refused to stop loving and cherishing her. It, as he put it, was her whom brought an inner peace to his troubled soul. I had, until that fateful Sunday, only casually spoken with Gallowglass. I too, as my Master had done, tried to keep my opinion about her neutral. That was no easy task seeing that I despised what I had become and what she had been since birth. Well into my period of meditation, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. Natural instinct caused me to jerk up and out of my meditation and be on my guard, but it was only Gallowglass. 'I need to talk to you.' she said in almost a whisper. 'About what?' I said. 'I cannot marry your master.' 'Why?' 'Um, can we find a better place to talk? It is kind of noisy in here...' she replied. She was right, it was kind of noisy -- children and patrons running in and out, and people who came from all over the world to use the services of the resident Create Mage Marauder. So I suggested we move further in to the Reception, and into the Wild Boar Tavern. I opened the door into the library and sat down on the couch and she followed suit. 'Now can you please tell me why you cannot marry Xerox?' She seemed distant for a while then she screams and grabs her head in pain. 'Don't you see,' she says angrily. 'This is why I cannot marry Xerox. I will destroy him.' All of a sudden I felt it happening again... My light blue eyes turned flaming red, I drew my fangs and felt completely evil. 'You have nothing on me wench! I have this soul and will not be stopped. You are not as powerful as you think. In fact your power will be mine as well.' She fainted dramatically. 'No you mustn't bite, I will not allow myself to bite her.' The demon inside of me forced my hands to her throat and bent her head slightly to the side. 'No, I will not let you get the best of me!' The next thing I know, I am on the ground coming to. "What happened..." I was surprised. I no longer felt the burning in my body, I no longer craved blood. The cries I heard constantly in my ears were gone. Then I looked up and there was Gallowglass towering over me... 'Do you like what you created?' she asked with a sneer. 'What do you mean I created...oh my god. No! I didn't bite you!' 'That is what you say.' She then showed me two small pinpricks on her neck. 'Oh no.' I moaned and fell to my knees. 'What have I done?' She then grabbed me by my neck and forced me to my feet and above her head. 'I have the power to kill you right now and finish what Xianadu started, but for the sake of Xerox I will not.' I fell to my knees. I looked up and she had vanished. So now you know my story. I feel now the need to apologize to you all who may read this. I know not what I unleashed onto this land. No longer will I be a man who has the blood of many flowing through him, no I will now be seen as a wise, aged man with a snowy white beard and to those of you who are near-sighted, a wise, aged old man... Genocide ____________________________________________________________ / \ / __ __ __ __ __ ______ WHY? WHERE? / / / / / / / / / / / / / __ / WHEN? / / / / / / / / / /_/ / / / / / WHAT? WITH? / / / / / / / / / __ / / / / / / / / \/ \/ / / / / / / /_/ / We've got the answers! / / \________/ /_/ /_/ /_____/ / / - By the angel CLeo - / \____________________________________________________________/ Hello readers! Yesterday, I was walking by the immortal office building and I heard a repetitive noise coming from the coding hall... I walked and walked... and found myself in front of Rufus' office door. There was already a crack in the door, so I opened it to find Rufus, staring at the computer screen and repeating (in a slow mumble) "Skilltrees code... Skilltrees code..." I guess he just needed a break :) So I interviewed him. Although... He did repeat it a few times more during the interview... Enjoy the reading! Full name: Rufus Littlebottom, Arabian Poolshark from Hell Occupation: Architect. Currently I'm in charge of doing the final implementation of skilltrees code along with whatever else needs to be done coding or buildingwise. Q - 'When you first started to play on muds, did you ever think you'd end up being an immortal on LegendMUD (or any muds)?' A - 'LegendMUD was the first mud I played, and I had an pretty good idea that I'd like to be part of the immortal staff after about three or four months. Out of the dozen or so muds I've played regularly over the years, I've been an immortal on three. But Legend's the only one left. Q - 'What is one of the biggest challenge you ever had on LegendMUD?' A - 'As a player, I think one of the biggest challenges getting used to the player behind the keyboard idea. I used to take many things personally... too personally, and that would show in my playing. Kiera kindly cured me of that. As an immortal, the biggest challenge I had was finding a balance between being familiar with the playerbase and keeping a professional distance. In the past two years or so, I've been slowly pulling away from being personally involved with the day to day operations of the mud. It's given me time to focus more on large scale building and coding issues, but it does mean I've lost touch with a great deal of the playerbase. It's something that's challenging me to this day. Q - 'If there would be one piece of code you could create to simplify something that can't be done under the current coding system, what would it be?' A - 'I would rewrite all the skills, spells and most other game systems in a scripting language, either proprietary or using an established language such as TCL or Python -- likely Python. That way balance adjustments and skills could be changed while the mud was running, without having to recompile or restart the mud.' Q - 'What is your favorite animal?' A - 'A cat. My fiance and I have three of them.' Q - 'If you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be?' A - 'A pasta ladle. Why? because, by law of averages, that's what I would be. Over the last few years, people have apparently thought that I was somehow pasta-ladle deficient, so as stocking stuffers, birthday presents, just about any holiday where you give something away, I received pasta ladles. Then I moved in with my fiance, and she already had three. I swear, they breed. I think that if I were somehow magically transformed into a utensil, the pasta ladles would have their own vote, and I would be subject to their whims.' Q - 'If you could build the house of your dream what would it be?' A - 'Large, very large. Each room would have a different theme, though the only room which I have detailed in my mind would be the piano room. White walls, black, modern style furniture, white and black tiled floor with a 9' Bosendorfer grand piano centered in the room.' Q - 'Where in the world would you like to go, if you'd have a free travel pass?' A - 'India, Tibet, China, Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, any place where Buddhism and Hinduism has great influence. My personal beliefs being a blend of Western logic and Eastern metaphysics, I think it would be something very spiritual to me.' Q - 'If you could go in the future and you could bring only 1 thing back, what would it be?' A - 'Skilltrees code, finished.' Q - 'If you could create a new word what would it be and mean?' A - 'Tandemtanunbaumentoten. German for two people carrying a Christmas tree.' Q - 'If I could grant you a wish, what would it be?' A - 'Skilltrees code, finished.' Q - 'A few last words of advice for our readers?' A - 'Think. Always think. I know I don't take my advice sometimes, we all need to blow up occasionally, but think about the consequences of your actions and weigh your decision based on all involved. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD. Please send all replies, additions, or corrections to our address at lt@mud.sig.net for inclusion in the next edition. We, however, reserve the right to moderate this discussion, and may object to some submissions. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Previous Issue Main Index Next Issue
