What You Can Do in the Valar Guild

Eonwe's 13th Anniversary Guild-wide Mails 

by Eonwe-(Valar)
September 2010

Back to News

Sept.  6  Intro
Sept.  9  Gaming
Sept. 13 Talk Tolkien
Sept. 16 Tolkien Site
Sept. 20 AIM, AIM Meetings, Meeting Transcripts, Forum, Community Pages, News
Sept. 26 Scouting 
Sept. 27 Officer
Sept. 29 New Stuff

What You Can Do in the Valar Guild: Intro

Sept. 6, 2010

Aiya all!

 

As you all hopefully know, the Valar Guild's 13th anniversary is Oct 4th. In celebration, I've decided to spend this month composing a letter series with the above title based on our website's FAQ section by the same name. I plan to send two out through kinship mail each week. I'll try to make sure each fits into a single mail :}

 

We provide a family friendly atmosphere for members to game with honorable and courteous people, a haven from the profanity and rudeness found in many other places on the internet. The LotRO community is fairly tame, but you likely know that it's not quite so polite everywhere. Our channels are places where members wouldn't object to their children reading, as we have and have had parents in the guild who felt safe enough to do so. However, this isn't the only thing our guild does.

 

With the great, talented people we've had over the last 13 years, and the many ways to contribute we have, it'd be a shame for you not to at least know about them :}

 

Namarië :}

Eonwë

top

What You Can Do in the Valar Guild: Gaming

Sept. 9, 2010

Aiya all!

 

We're all courteous, friendly gamers who like fair play. The main purpose of the Games Site's annual update letter is to help us find eachother in any game we play. Moreover, we can all offer something.

 

Want to tell others how great/horrible a game is? Send in a review for the Games Site. Want to give some pointers about a game to other members? Member-written Strategies/starter guides are also welcome. The game has a map editor? Make some maps for us to play together! We even have some LotR-themed tourney maps for the original Starcraft.

 

At its most basic, game together and help eachother. I'd like to wax nostalgic, but the letter limit saved you from it :} Suffice to say, we're a friendly lot as far back as we go. I do my best to help where I can, as we all do. If we help eachother and have fun together, we all benefit. We can all help out in some way. There's always something we can do. We're not about hardcore/casual; we're about people, about friendship.

 

Namarië :}

Eonwë
top

Talk Tolkien

Sept. 13, 2010 11:21 pm

Aiya all!

As I said in the last mail, we're a guild of courteous, friendly gamers who like fair play. We're also a guild of Tolkien Fans, and the two are NOT mutually exclusive :}

We have plenty of places to discuss Tolkien: in-game (of course :}), on our Forum (also available for alot of other stuff), at our weekly meetings (and in AIM anytime during the week), and even in e-mails, hehe. If we’re gaming, delays are understandable, but don’t let that deter you :}

Got another author you like? We’re all readers to varying degrees. There’s a chance others have read stuff by that author. Except for the weekly meetings, where we have Tolkien chat specifically, any other authors can be discussed in-game, on our forum (we have a specific board for it even), etc. Reading is encouraged in this guild :}

Namarië :}
Eonwë
top

Tolkien Site

Sept. 16, 2010 2:12 pm

Aiya all!

As a Tolkien guild, we endeavor to further our own knowledge and that of other Tolkien fans. To that goal, we have a Tolkien Encyclopedia, maintained by Varda and built with articles sent in by members. That's not all, though :} We encourage creativity, so we also have sections for Tolkien-inspired stories, poetry, artwork, and humor.

There's ample room to contribute to any section of the Tolkien Site. Like to do research? We always need more articles. Got a knack for fiction? Stories and poems are welcome. Like to draw, paint or otherwise create original artwork? We can always use some good illustrations of people and landscapes in Arda.

If you have any questions about the Tolkien site, just contact Varda. All contributions also go to her. Don't forget to include original sources for articles and papers. Proofreading can be provided, so don't let grammar or syntax errors stop you from contributing. If something as worded is hard to read, you'll get to fix it :}
 
Namarië
Eonwë
top

AIM, AIM Meetings, Meeting Transcripts, Forum, Community Pages, News

Sept. 20, 2010 7:50 pm

Aiya All!

AIM, our Forum, and our website: our Ekkaia, our Outer Sea surrounding and connecting our gaming worlds. Through these, we can come together across games to share our love of Tolkien.

Meetings are held every Sunday at 5pm USA Eastern time on AIM in channel Valar Guild Meetingplace. All members are invited to attend. We discuss Guild business and events, then move to Tolkien Discussion. Sometimes important topics are brought up at meetings. You can also come in to meet and chat with members any time of the week.

The Forum is open to all members to discuss anything we discuss :} If you don't have an account already, make one, and set your screen name to your Guild name so we can recognize you :}

Our Community pages are maintained by Varda, who is also our general contact person. Meeting transcripts are found on the News Page for those who can't attend. All Guild-related news is found on the News Page.

www.valarguild.org to see it all.

Namarië :}
Eonwë
top

Scouting

Sept. 26 12:10 pm

Aiya all!

This is a tough topic to crunch down into a single mail, so I recommend taking a look at the Recruiting Handbook on our site for a more complete view (www.valarguild.org to access all pages).

Scouting is looking for more members. Any member can scout, but only Maiar and Valar can test for membership. You should have a general idea of what we look for in members, as you've managed to become members yourselves. You know our Rules and CoC. You know what we expect from members.

Scouting is NOT spamming an ad for our guild in every channel 100 times a day. It's finding people who are Tolkien fans and have shown the courtesy we require. This can be done by simply playing the game with people. They can be pointed to our pages to get a feel for what we do. If they like what we're about, find a Maia or Vala to meet with them. At the worst, you can give them the name of one to contact.

There's plenty more to be said, but I've no more room :} When in doubt, ask :}

Namarië :}
Eonwë
top

Officer

Sept. 27, 2010 10:24 pm

Aiya All!

So, for some reason, being a "regular" member isn't enough. You want to be an officer :}

Maia and Vala honors are earned through commitment shown to the Valar Guild. Commitment is shown through service to the Guild. Availability and knowledge of Tolkien are also factors considered.

Other factors considered: Working knowledge of LotR; willingness to take thought for the Guild as a whole; patience to deal with impolite people without sinking to their level; knowledge and practice of our CoC and Rules (which should be done anyway); willingness to step up and help out.

As officers, you have a greater responsibility to exemplify what we're about. You have the privilege to recruit new members, and need to make sure they can fit with us (know LotR minimum, follow our rules and CoC). Maiar and Valar must show a working knowledge of LotR. Valar must also show a working knowledge of the Silmarillion.

If none of this has scared you off, you might consider working for Maia honor.

Namarië :}
Eonwë
top

New Stuff

Sept. 29, 2010 9:06 pm

Aiya all!

Members are always coming up with something new, whether it's providing web space, our domain name (thanks Alatar :}), or almost anything else.

Each of our pages was someone's idea. The News Page, Varda started to keep us informed and connected. The Encyclopedia - to provide a resource of accurate information drawn directly from Tolkien's works. The Guild Histories page - an effort to preserve our founding principles and the struggles we've endured to provide the haven we have today, to chronicle our history through the eyes of our members. Many things, the enumeration of which cannot be contained in this letter, are through the ideas and efforts of members.

As the final letter of the series, I offer some final thoughts. We have many ways to be involved, limited only by your interest. Many more will come through the suggestions and efforts of members. So if you were to ask "What can I do in the Valar Guild?" I'd answer, "What do you want to do?" :}

Namarië all and Happy Anniversary :}
Eonwë
top