Tom's
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Valar Guild > Histories > Tom Bombadil-(Valar)
Heya Heya Heya Valar Buddies,
Today I am writing this letter to tell a tale. Not a very long one, but just a memoir of a long-time member. I joined in the summer of '98, and that was three years ago or more now. I have seen many members come and many members go, but the feeling in the Valar Guild still lives on.
When I joined, Eru was still the leader. He had set up quite a place, and I stumbled in because I was looking for a home. I had been a member of another Tolkien guild but the people had not a tenth of the quality that the people I found did. I was met in the channel by several friendly faces, namely Grima-(V) and Ulmo. Ulmo tested me, I remember being nervous in channel Eldar. I scored a 4/5, missing the last question which was the good olde' "Who killed the Witch King of Angmar?" I guessed Merry, but Ulmo stood fast on Eowyn. I am still not sure who it was today, even though the popular opinion is Eowyn. After that, I played a bit, my name was Beleg Cuthalion, known as Cuthalion-(V). Soon, I dropped out for computer reasons, but I still received e-mail from Eru, one I remember was about a cyber-wedding, another was about a new hierarchy to manage the guild. Then the e-mails went dead. I came back that December, Christmas Day as a matter of fact, and found the new council governing the guild. I immediately jumped back in and worked on achieving my Maiar. I regularly attended the meetings, and did any extra work that I could, hoping for the now free name of Saruman. The day finally came, and I went to the Ring of Doom for my test. I do not remember who was on my board, but I know that Varda was there, supportive as ever. I answered 5/5 and christened the new name, Tom Bombadil. I have had that name ever since.
The next few years were filled with StarCraft and Broodwar. I remember playing many late night games with Aule and Manwe. It took a couple of hours to build a drone, but it was great fun anyway. We would sit and talk about all sorts of stuff, from life to cars to B.net. I really had some great times in the channel during these periods. Then, the Middle-earth Mod came out for Diablo. The entire PC-playing guild was again hacking away at monsters below Tristram. I, using a Mac, couldn't use the mod, so again I slipped into decay as far as meetings go. Finally the cure to my problems was released by Blizzard. The crown jewel, Diablo II. I was back with renewed vigor, playing with my Paladin until the end. Soon, I bored of this also and slipped away. That leads me up to today.
My history is not the point of this letter. The point is just how great a place the Valar Guild is. I have seen much, but whenever I enter channel Valar, I meet the same warm faces as before. Some of the new-un's might not appreciate this as much as us old-timers, but there is no better place on B.net, or even beyond than the Valar Guild. And without all of the hard labor done by all of those, past and present, we would not be the place we are today. Varda with the weaving and marshalling; Ulmo with his Tourneys and discussions; Aule with his channel-warming; Irmo with his intelligence; Manwe with is high-spirits and typos; Melkor and his wisdom; Makar and his ideas and web pages; and not to forget Orome with his whole deal (wink). All of these Vala and many of the members and Maia have done much for this guild.
When I think of the Valar Guild and how it has been a regular part of my life for the past three years, it makes me misty-eyed. We have a great thing here, and it is our duty to protect it. The Valar Guild is a light of intelligence. A light amongst the mass of darkness that inhabits the internet. I hope we all can share and protect it.
Your fellow member,
Tom
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