Volume Seven Issue Nine

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VOLUME SEVEN, ISSUE NINE                                  March 22nd, 2000
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                            TABLE OF CONTENTS

                           Calendar of Events

                             NEWS & REPORTS

                         New Immortals Announced
                        Hospitaller Malta Installed
                            RP Tips Contest!

                              LEGENDITES
                             Announcements
                           The McDougan Report
                       Concerning the Ruin of Britain 
                             A Dark Ritual
                         

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          [All times are system time unless otherwise specified]

          \/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/ March \/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/*\/

           Thursday,  March 23,  7:00 pm        Q & A Session
           Thursday,  March 30,  7:00 pm        Q & A Session

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                              New Immortals!

Our voting process is concluded -- the newest members of the immortal staff
have been chosen. They are: Danar, Perseus, and Straussy! All three of them
are joining the building department. More information about each of them is
coming soon, in the meantime I hope you'll all congratulate them.


        <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> 

                                New Area!

By now, you should all be exploring and enjoying Kae's wonderful new area,
Hospitaller Malta. Here's a little background on the area (also available
ingame via 'help malta').

During the years 1530-1798, the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino in the
Mediterranean south of Sicily retained a unique position, forming a sovereign
state of a military ecclesiastical order, rather than a republic or kingdom
as was custom in contemporary Europe - as opposed to Rhodes and Cyprus which
both served the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar as headquarters
at some point, but which were also kingdoms in their own right.

After the fall of Acre in 1291, Palestine was lost to the Christian
crusaders, and the chivalric and crusading ideals gradually faded into
obscurity. In Lithuania and Prussia, the Knights Teutonic formed an
ecclesiastical state (and the Templars were hoping to form one in Languedoc),
but this soon became ridden by internal conflict, war with the Polacks and
pagan Celtic tribes, and too influenced by German nobility to truly be unique
in this respect. Malta remained strictly the seat of a crusading order until
the arrival of Napoleon underway to Egypt in 1798.

During the 350 years of Hospitaller reign, Maltese sailors were among the
best seamen of the Levant. Maltese galleys were feared everywhere, and Malta
engaged in multiple wars with the chief competition for Levant control, the
Republic of Venice, with Turkish pirates and princes, and with the Ottoman
Empire. This is an era of naval warfare, chivalric courage, gruesome villainy
on all sides, and a constant struggle for control of commerce and religion.
Malta was not hospitable. It was - and is - a barren archipelago, comprising
three larger islands and a number of smaller uninhabited, some of them not
large enough to build a house on. The soil is meager, the crops sparse, and
at the time the Hospitallers arrived, the island could not support them -
they had to import food from Sicily. Malta's chief crops at the time were
oranges, honey, rabbits, and obviously, seafood.

Malta proved a challenge to the Hospitallers. They managed to turn the
medieval state into a modern Renaissance state with one of the most powerful
fleets of the Mediterranean. They were feared by their enemies and they
demanded respect and support from the European sovereigns. Through heroic
battles - most famous the Great Siege - and sheer stubbornness and loyalty to
the now all but forgotten crusading ideal, the Knights of Malta maintained a
medieval ideal and culture well into the 18th century.


                 - - - * * * Role Play Tips Contest * * * - - -

Got your attitude all sorted out? Know how to write really cool RP triggers
and when to use them? Manage to stay IC even when dying or DT'ing? In short,
think you really got it all down where it matters? This is your chance to
make something off your skills.

Not everyone is a role-play expert, and not everyone feel comfortable asking
more experienced role-players for tips and ideas. Now we're asking you to
write up your best tip and send it in for this contest. Describe your tip in
approx. 5-50 lines (please, no more, other people want to write in the LT
too!). Send it to [email protected]. The best three entries (judged by an
informal gathering of caffeine-overdosed immortals) will be rewarded a prize
token.

Tips may include anything - a listing of your favorite role-play triggers -
how to introduce yourself to new people - how to keep game statistics and
data IC when discussing them - how to write up a cool description - how to
use moods and socials for maximum effect - you name it, we print it.

-Kae




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                              Announcements

The Castlerock RP clan was formed on March 21. The Damage Inc. RP clan was
formed on March 17. There are currently 20 RP clans and 8 PK clans. For more
information on clans and how you can join them, type "help clan" from within
the game and follow the references.

                              Beweer o' doom.
                                    or
                             The McDoogan Report

    Och lads, sae ye think tha' Scotland be a safe, nishe plashe?  Och,
beweer!  We hae muir beashtiesh than ye can shake a shellelaigh at.  Weel,
more than ye cauld shake it at and live, at leasht.  Kelpiesh, giantsh, wee
three-legged haggishesh (weel, the tourishtsh are toold they're beashtiesh),
Nessie, and the like.  Och!  We hae muir waysh tae get rid o' the
unshushpectin' Shaxshon than ye hae o' harrming us!  Sae dunnae ye coom neer,
we're quite deedly!  We hae bagpipesh tae play, ushquebeg tae drink, and
haggish tae eat.  We hae fairiesh o' the nashtier shrrt, witchesh, sheersh,
prophetsh, and aul shrrtsh!

    Let ush luik at the fate o' the evil A. Englishman, wha came tae
Shcotland tae be offenshive.  He died!  Och! shae it wash a while after he
goot back!  But he shtill died!  Och, gin Tutekhmenakemmen can dae it, shae
can we!


       <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> 




De Excidio Britanniae, concerning the Ruin of Britain.

I am St. Gildas, 6th century monk.  My goal is to inform you of the foul
occurances before me, the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain.  The story begins
with a man as deceitful as he was charming, Vortigern Vorteneu.

Vortigern attained his royal stature through the use of his irresistable
charm.  The Emperor's daughter, the fair Severa, could not resist.  The two
were to be wed at once.  The marriage resulted in his immediate promotion to
the rank of chief advisor to the court of the Emperor of Britain.  The greedy
Vortigern had the Emperor disposed of while he was away campaigning the
continent.  After the terrible news found it's way to the court, the
Emperor's eldest son Constans signed his death warrant by taking the throne.
At this time, Vortigern brought his Pictish relatives to the court and used
the Northern henchmen to assassinate Constans and the three men standing
between him and the Crown.  It was the High-King of Britain's next move that
would lead to his downfall.

>From De Excidio Britanniae I quote, 

"Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Vortigern, the
British king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they
sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold),
the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel
the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our
country, nothing was ever so unlucky. They first landed on the eastern side
of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky king, and there fixed their
sharp talons, apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas, more
truly against it."

Until next time, this is all you shall know of the Betrayer of Britain.  In
time, more will be revealed.

-St. Gildas, In the year of our Lord 546.


       <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> <-I-> 


                             A Dark Ritual

Our current writer on the Dark Enforcers beat recently wired us this story
from Pittsburgh after stumbling on a quite bizarre situation.

--

"These mortals are a continuous hassle to me."

Such were the first words I heard that night out of Aginor Chuain Shadowmage,
the villanous and half-insane leader of the Dark Enforcers.  It was at a
dingy bar, a few blocks away from the house rumored to be a layover point for
the Enforcers, and the self-proclaimed Dark Messiah was sitting at a table in
the corner with a bewitching young woman clothed in latex: Lilian McGinty.
Seeing this situation, I jotted notes as quickly as I could.

"What's the problem, Aggy?" Lilian asked of him.

"This place stinks."

"You chose to come here, you know."

"I'm not talking about the bar, dammit, I'm talking about the world.  There's
a feel, here. Something isn't right."

Lilian looked a bit upset, but quickly covered it up with a somewhat
flirtatious look.  "Well, whatever feeling it is you're having, I'm sure I
could make it better," she said with a smile so innocent you could prosecute
her on that alone.

Aginor looked at her closely and muttered something.  I wasn't close enough
to hear it, but I think he said something about, "can't trust them."  I
didn't have much time to think about it, because at that point Aginor was
kneeling before Lilian.

A marriage proposal?  Possible, but not likely; Aginor wasn't the marrying
type after his...issues...with Gallowglass, and Lilian had never been the
type at all.  Then I heard what he said.

"Lilian McGinty, as the Avatar of the Dark Lord, I entrust you to maintain
and advance the presence of the Darkness and all of His followers."

Lilian looked as surprised as I felt.  "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I think that I may go away for a while," Aginor responded.  "The Dark Lord
has other places that could use my attention for a time, and there's little
here for me these days."

Lilian nodded slowly.  "If it is the will of the Dark Lord, so be it."

Aginor stood, put his hand over the emblem on his coat.  "So be it."  And
then he...faded, shimmering, and was gone.

What does this mean for the Enforcers?  With the Dark Messiah gone and Lilian
in command, anything could happen.  I'll have more as soon as it develops.

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Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD. Please send
all replies, additions, or corrections to our address at [email protected]
for inclusion in the next edition. We, however, reserve the right to
moderate this discussion, and may object to some submissions.
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