September 7, 2011 Issue

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                             TABLE OF CONTENTS

                          A Note from the Editor
                     The Nth Coffee Cup with Maharet

                          UPDATES FROM THE STAFF:
                        LegendMUD Calendar of Events
                            Area & Code Updates

                               PLAYER NEWS:
                             XP Achievements
                             The Pkill Front
                                Clan News
                        Description Change: Nelson
                       Description Change : Shrieve

                            Player Submissions:
                          Communion with the Dead

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                           A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

It's been awhile since the last LT. I don't have an excuse, as always. I only
waited to send one out because I don't enjoy the thought of sending an LT out
without any actual submissions. Thankfully Kristian saved the day and emailed
one a bit ago.

Now, for something a bit more personal. 

I started playing Legend in March of 2005. It was my first time playing a MUD
or MUSH or whatever text games exist. At frist I was hesitant, unsure, shy.
Dak (a friend from high school) dragged me, as Nadia, from my Arabian hometown
to Tara. I spent ages there, killing goats and sheep, listening to John Mayer.

Soon, however, I was making friends. Lethe, Shivan, Dogbert... they were my
first Legehd friends, though only one really remains in my life. But that's
how life works. People are there one moment, then they're not, and you can
either let that loss consume you or you can move on.

More friends came and went; Joel and Malia, Korgan, Carnegie, Autumn, Zillah,
and Anadreva... Ransom, Retsu. But it wasn't always about just my friends. It
was about the players. One would vanish without a word to anybody, and when
he or she returned months later, it was always... nice, to see their name once
again.

I've name dropped quite a bit here, I understand that. But this is not from
Lamia the Immortal. This is from Lamia's player, Ruth. This is my goodbye. I'm
now one of those people who has been here, and takes her leave. You guys have
made the game worthwhile. I may have huffed and puffed, I may have been snippy
and a bitch, or shy and reclusive, but I'll always remember you.

It's been fun, Legend. I hope for the best for all of you.

-Lamia

                             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                             
                       The Nth Coffee Cup with Maharet

I found myself pondering my RP origins, prior to assuming the 'C'. I relate my
nostalgia here.

  Beckoning embrace
  Traipsing fate, tremulous smile
  A lifetime of strife

*

The vial was kind of steaming. It was like looking at a desert at lunchtime. My
room was clean. Well, kind of. My Cheshire plushie was on the bed, looking
really smiley. Everything in order? I asked myself. I guess so, I answered.

Amducious had helped. Mommy had helped-- she gave her soul! Everyone had helped
Maha. But it was wrong. Luci was right. My place was with him.

The whispers were still there, but it was like at one of Mommy's parties-- I
could always go to my other bedroom at the chateau (Uncle Row said it was
French). But here it was. Luci had given it to me in a dream.  I woke up
clutching it in my hand months after... "it" happened. The daemon. A weird,
steaming pewter vial. My fate.

I opened the vial. It was like being in a warm house and taking one step into
ice water. I breathed. More of the steam came into me, and it burned hot
sometimes, cold other times. I cried, and then my back hurt. Like I was a
costume that was too tight and someone wanted out. I fell.

I was on the floor. I felt weird. Over my shoulders, I saw I had gross black
wings. Like a bat's, only more gross. Someone was running up the stairs. Mommy
steps. Oh no.

The door burst open, and Mommy was there, with her Mommy face on. "Ma-ha-ret
Alex-ander!" she yelled. She blinked, and then she looked again. She stood very
still. And then her face blanched (thank you, Uncle Row).

Have you ever had a conversation that hurt so bad you can only remember the
hurt, and not what anyone said? It was like that. But I do remember crying, and
Mommy crying. But Mommy was crying so hard she had to sit on my bed. It creaked
when she sat on it.

The angries were coming. Mommy was right there, crying. No! I fought the
angries. But Mommy was right there. Her guard was down. Tempting. So very
tempting. I was losing again. Luci called. I thought hard, and a door appeared
in the middle of my room. When I grabbed the doorknob, I saw my hand was a
twisted thing. I thought harder, and a mirror appeared on the door. I made it
go away real fast.

I stepped through. The icy hot winds. The cries. The eternal agony.

I was home.
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/__|                       Updates from the Staff                      |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------------'

                         LEGENDMUD CALENDAR OF EVENTS

                            Remaining September and
                            all October  Events TBA

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                              AREA & CODE UPDATES

Code Updates (8-1-11)
------------
+ Score:  'score' has been replaced by what you probably knew as 'scorexp'. 
  That means 'score' will now take the format-name as parameter (e.g. 'score 
  default'). While we switched scorexp into score's place, we also introduced 
  a configuration setting 'scoreformat' which was automatically set to 
  '(null)'. That means typing 'score' if you have not already set that config 
  option will end in a message that you have to determine your scoreformat. To
  do that have a look at which scoreformats exist: 'score list', choose one 
  and set it as your default scoreformat by 'config scoreformat 
  <your-chosen-format>'.
+ NEW scoreformat: 'compact' its a combination of 'jqs' and some ideas from 
  Alias and Xuvenia
+ Donated Item Timers: As already planned when we introduced timers on donated
  items, they will now countdown wherever they are. For that reason they also 
  have been raised.
+ Crashing bug connected to grouptell has been fixed
+ Several fixes for immortal commands


Area Updates (8-1-11)
------------
+ Cheese's office can now be found on the PR floor
+ Two new chants can be found: Secretive & Qi Energy
+ Relearning rudh shouldn't act up if you've done a citzenship quest
+ The fierce mountain cat should heal correctly
+ The General should properly fight now
+ Mobs should no longer try to teach skin
+ Rhino shouldnt stun as frequently or for as long
+ Lots of typo fixes!
+ The PR Mansion has been finished and now awaits final review
+ Titanic had a ton of work committed.
+ Nestor and Straussy have been up to something, too. Good thing LadyAce is is
  testing it.

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/__|                            Player News                             |__\
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                              XP ACHIEVEMENTS

Fail has reached 100 million experience!
Minetta has reached 100 million experience!
Murderface has reached 100 million experience!
Kullervus has reached 400 million experience!
Liel has reached 400 million experience!
Raghnall has reached 500 million experience!

                             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                               THE PKILL FRONT

I don't know if PK picked up since the last issue of the LT, or if it was just
the time between this and that, but the number of PK battles has gone up.

The top 5 winners are:

Divine had 11 wins.
Alias had 8 wins.
Boosh had 5 wins.
Ra'id had 4 wins.
Caja had 3 wins.

Thanks for all of those who partook in PK. ^^

-Lamia

                             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                                 CLAN NEWS

The Better Than You Crew has been formed.
Oppressed Snipers of the World has been formed.
The Grand Coven has been disbanded.

                             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                        Description Change: Nelson

A malodorous smell wafts through the air, like a mass of concentrated body 
odor. Every single anime nerd in the world must be gathered here for the 
stench of old sweat and virginity to be so strong.

Suddenly a mass of cheering and clapping erupts! Followed by a mass of 
complaining and loud utterances of the word 'noob'. 

It seems that in honor of his years of dedication Nelson the previously self
proclaimed "ultimate anime fan" was awarded the title of ultimate respect 
among the pock marked and dateless, he has been promoted to THE OTAKING!

Crowds cheer, champagne bottles are opened, and women prostrate themselves at
his feet...well, large hairy men dressed as Sailor Moon prostrate themselves
at his feet, since no actual woman would be within 100 miles of this gathering
of stench and desperation.

A stream of angry and jealous haters filter out now as the celebration dies
down, muttering 'noob' and 'pwn' and comments about going back to gaea.
However do not let the green with envy haters fool you, Nelson is hereto and
forever more the OTAKING! KING OF THE OTAKU!

Nelson will now be known as:
the Otatku among Otaku, the OTAKING
An Otaku with physically impossible hair lounges here waiting to pwn you, noob.


                             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                        Description Change: Shrieve

Shrieve had been hiding out in London for quite some time, but it took many 
years before she had decided that it was safe to come out of hiding. There was
one who used to call her his love, who adored her.  But he was not there any 
more...

Shrieve reloaded her gun and smiled.  It was time to take them all out... all 
of them who had ever opposed her and her love all those years ago. The Ruiner 
is what they had called her... yes, she ruined everything. She would be more 
than happy to gather up all those from her old gang to take out those who had 
opposed her in the past... Everyone she had known was dead... but it didn't 
matter now.  She would kill them all...

Shrieve will no longer be known as:
a malevolent beauty
You fight to catch your breath at the sight of this nimble, dark-eyed beauty.

Shrieve will now be known as:
The Ruiner
You blanch and wonder how long this mafioso's had that rifle aimed at you.


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               ______________________
             /                       \
         o O | Wonder what folks are  |
   `\|||/    |doing over at LegendMUD?|
   (o o)     \_______________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
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__|_____|_____|_____|_____|__PLAYER SUBMISSIONS___|_____|_____|_____|_____|

Communion with the Dead
By Kristian Emmerson

I come from a rich heritage of undertakers, going back five generations all of
the men in my family have worked in this most honourable profession. You see 
the handling of the dead is a task which many are not capable of, they have 
too much sentiment to handle a body ravaged by violence, and the calm required
to bury a child which has died in its crib.

So it came to be that at one time I came upon a most unusual corpse, it seemed
to have been ripped limb from limb by some cruel savage, or savages as was 
more likely the case given the state of the remains.

They told me that the man on my slab was once known as Dr Herbert West, who I 
had of course been told about, in my line of work if a crazed man has been 
reanimating the dead we tend to hear about it.

However unlike most undertakers who viewed him as a defiler of corpses, I 
admired his resolve to conquer death and to save those who should not have 
died he was after all a medical doctor and his oaths clearly stated that he 
should always endeavour to save life.  He took that ideal to its extreme 
surely but I thought it was worthy of respect.

As my needle sank into his flesh and my thread pulled the sagging lumps of 
flesh back against bones I thought about what it was that this man and his 
work.

I was slow and methodical in my work, with a touch more reverence than I 
usually held, the dead speak to us without their mouths being capable of 
producing a sound.

Dr West's corpse told me that while he may have crudely conquered death for 
his patients, he could not prevent his own death at his creations, if one is 
to attempt this type of work they must adequately prepare themselves.

But why should I be considering all of this even as I wire his jawbone back 
into a shattered skull?

Why because I was growing tired of the influx of corpses requiring 
preparation, the constant digging and grave filth, and the lack of respect 
which my position commands.

Only when it came time to dress the poor doctor for burial did I find a heavy 
black leather notebook tucked into his pocket, it was filled with strange 
writings and formulae I could barely comprehend, and yet my basic 
understanding of anatomy told me that these were the mad doctor's 
experimentation notes, within this journal I could learn, I could become a 
master of death such as he had been!

When my work was done for the night and before me lay a dead man, dressed in 
his scientific garb, and laying as though resting.

I blew out my work lantern, and with journal in hand I returned to my lodgings
to study.

My sleep came fitfully, and upon my return in the morning I found that the 
great doctors body was gone, and only a small pool of blood and a strangely 
glowing green fluid remained.

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