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16th Anniversary of the Valar Guild

October 4, 2013


Phial of Galadriel movie poster
Phial of Galadriel
Click to enlarge the movie poster image.


Intro
AIM Marathon chat
Forum
Light Shots
    LotRO
    WoW
Tolkien Site
Gamers
    LotRO: fireworks at the capitol cities. Oct 4
    WoW: fireworks at the capitol cities. Oct 2
    Games Site Mass Update 2013, aka GSMU
    State of Valar Gaming 2013 (uses info from above GSMU)
Letter from Eru-(Valar)

Intro:

When is the 16th Anniversary?

    October 4, 2013. That's a Friday.

Do we have a theme?

    The theme this year is Light. This can be light vs the absence of light (darkness) or light as in beauty. Thank you to Eonwe-(Valar) for proposing the theme.

What happened worthy of an anniversary celebration?

    We were founded October 4, 1997  in our current form by Eru-(Valar) with the able assistance of Manwe-(Valar). Eru-(Valar) set the vision of a haven from the unpleasantness ruining the Diablo 1 community by bringing together like-minded folk who were literate, courteous and wanted to actually play the game. He set the goal of literacy and similar ideals and tastes by requiring that members must have completed reading the Lord of the Rings and liked it (It's hard to finish for people who don't like it!) Manwe-(Valar) set the ambience of friendly  light-heartedness, remembering that we are *playing a game* with other good folk.
    From there we went on as a co-operating, communicating unit into new games while working together to create a Tolkien Site as a service to all other fans of Tolkien's works. This business of creating is why we are called a "guild".
    As the group became larger and included more areas, organization passed to the Council of Mahanaxar. Some members helped the Council even as the Maiar and Free Peoples helped their brothers, the Valar, in the books.
    Just being around this long still including original members as well as new blood is pretty amazing for any online group.
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Marathon Chat:

    Where? AIM room (reachable also by Trillian and Pidgin) Valar Guild Meetingplace
    When? Starting Sunday meeting Sept. 29, ending after the Sunday meeting Oct. 8.
    Who? All members of any kind and guild-friends.
    Doing what?  Guild members and guild-friends endeavor to keep our AIM meeting place continuously open or as near to it as possible from one Sunday meeting through the next to include the anniversary date. This is a way to participate in the anniversary nuttiness with other members even if you can't game or put up anything for the Tolkien Site, and is credit for participating in the guild that gives membership extension into the next year as well. This is also a nifty way to see members from all parts of our pan-game or Tolkien Site only, international guild. At times we will just chat or do trivia or quotes for fun.
    The main chat theme this year is coming up with anything concerning light or the absence thereof (darkness) in Tolkiien's works.

    Participants we know of, huzzah!:
        Arien-(Valar), Ar-Pharazon-(V), Eonwe-(Valar), Fladrif-(V), Gilraen-(V), Gwaihir-(Valar), Indis-(V), Ioreth-(V), Menelvagor-(Valar), Nerdanel-(V), and Varda-(Valar).

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Forum:

    We have a thread where you can say plan, report, or say things like "Yay 15th!" and "howdy".
    Here's the Light or Absence Thereof thread, which can be added to from now on as we please, but is a special project starting for this anniversary. It can be used as "prompts" to help think up more goodies to put on the Tolkien Site.

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Light Shots:

    We're showing some of the screenshots demonstrating light or darkness effects in our games to go with the theme for this year's anniversary.
    Click to enlarge thumbnail images.

Lord of the Rings Online, aka LotRO:

Rivendell evening stars
Rivendell evening stars. The lady claims to be the elf, Glindanor, but one wonders.
Shot by Varda.







Rivendell stars
Rivendell evening stars with another constellation.
Shot by Varda.







Trollshaws golden dawn
Trollshaws clouds of gold at dawn.
Shot by Varda.







Vault of Celebrian's Legacy
Trollshaws: Vault of Celebrian's Legacy to her daughter Arwen.
Shot by Varda.








Tomb of Maenadar
Tomb of Maenadar, lit by braziers, being examined by dwarf Timbridhil the Short. LotRO-wiki.com link to the place it's in.
Shot by Varda.






Ents of Balewood
These Ents of Balewood in Wildermore have awakened, more or less. Ok, so that one on the right is still yawning. They are the lights of the forest, not to be confused with kindling at one's own risk.
Shot by Varda.






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World of Warcraft, aka WoW:

WoW's White Tree
    The White Tree in the courtyard, suspiciously similar to the White Tree in the courtyard of Gondor.
    Screenshot by Varda-(Valar) on Holy Priest Varda.







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Tolkien Site Contributions:

    Art:


    Articles:


    Poetry

        Light and Dark by Varda-(Valar)

    Stories:


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Gaming:

Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO):

Fireworks runs went off at noon and 8pm Eastern, October 4th. Blasting time! Many screenies were taken by us all, so more will be going up over time.
Click thumbnails to see larger images.

Noon
Evening
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Noon run with Dis-(V) as Disvandl, Nerdanel-(V) as Fylla, and Varda-(Valar) as Fainan. We drank from the Sinister Keg afterwards, o my!

Evening run with Fangorn-(Valar) as Fangbark, Hurin-(V) as Hiurred, Ioreth-(V) as Aleyne, and Varda-(Valar) as Fainan. We enjoyed music and dancing afterwards.

Noon LotRO run:
    Those that came for the noon fireworks were Dis-(V) as Disvandl, Nerdanel-(V) as Fylla, and Varda-(Valar) as Fainan.
    We shot fireworks from Bree, Michel Delving, Thorin's Hall, Esteldin, Rivendell, Ost Guruth, and the kin house.
    Then we drank from the Sinister Keg, from which Dis woke in scary Angmar, Nerdanel woke in Dead Man's Perch in the Barrow Downs, and Varda woke in Evendim at Tyl Annun (Angmarim fortress).


Shots by Nerdanel:

Gathering outside Bree
    Gathering outside Bree.
    Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Entering Bree
Look out, Bree! Here we come!
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Bree fireworks
Shooting for the sky!
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks
Fiery eyes in the sky.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks
Outside Thorin's Hall.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks
Esteldin
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks outside Rivendell
Fireworks outside Rivendell.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks outside Ost Guruth
Fireworks outside Ost Guruth.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Fireworks at the kin house
Fireworks at the kin house.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








Kinhouse black bear
Black bear at the kin house.
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).








One sip was too much
One sip from the Sinister Keg is too much!
Shot by Nerdanel-(V).







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Evening LotRO run:
    The pyromaniacs for this event were Fangorn-(Valar) as Fangbark, Hurin-(V) as Hiurred, Ioreth-(V) as Aleyne, and Varda-(Valar) as Fainan.
    We shot fireworks while at the kin house, Bree, Ost Guruth, Thorin's Hall, Rivendell, Galtrev, and Michel Delving.
    Then we topped it off with a little music and dancing.

Galtrev fireworks by the stable
Galtrev fireworks near the stable.
Left to right: Varda, Ioreth, Hurin, and Fangorn.
Shot by Hurin-(V).





Rivendell - evening fireworks
Rivendell fireworks from the bridge looking towards the Last Homely House.
Left to right: Fangorn, Hurin, Varda, and Ioreth.
Shot by Hurin-(V).





Rivendell fireworks
Rivendell fireworks showing the waterfall..
Left to right: Fangorn, Hurin, Varda, and Ioreth.
Shot by Fangorn-(Valar).




Link to Ioreth-(V)'s photo gallery to enjoy her slide show of 74 screenshots for the evening LotRO fireworks run.

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World of WarCraft (WoW):

Fireworks shot off in the capitol cities! Here's proof! More incoming from Eonwe.
    Click to enlarge thumbnail images.
    If you were there snapping screenies, please email your favorites to Varda.
    These are screenshots of the anniversary run that was held early on October 2, for those who could not come Oct. 4 due to work.

WoW shrine courtyard
The Valar Guild assembles at the Shrine in Pandaria in the courtyard by the White Tree, our second stop.
From left to right, Eowyn (Aeowyn), Eonwe (Auros), Varda (Varda), Elwing (Whitetower), and Bofur (Diziet).
Screenshot by Varda.






Bridge under the stars
On the bridge looking up at the stars.
From left to right: Eowyn, Bofur, Elwing, Auros, and Varda.
Screenshot by Varda.






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Letter from Eru on October 4, 2013:

Too all of you, congratulations on reaching this anniversary, you deserve so much praise for keeping the Valar Guild alive for so long.

I never dreamed that it would endure, and you good people are the reason why it has and continues to do so.

With you in spirit,
Eru-Iluvatar, The One.

page by Varda-(Valar)
begun Sept. 30, 2013
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