Home > Histories > Varda's history
There I was, about to start my morning game of Diablo
1, Ithilien, when Manwe whispered to me. You now know him as Eru.
He had picked out the name of my warrior, Faramir, from
the mob of non-Tolkien names in the public bnet (Battle.net) channel and asked if I would
like to join a Tolkien, legit, co-op guild. I told him I'd think about it
and he gave me his email.
It took a few days of mulling. Other guilds I had laughed
off. I already had the unpassworded Ithilien, a game that I opened every
morning to which some regulars came and frequently new people. How could
I drop it and them? It was a place where I had some very close friends and
personal territory. I protected it and the actual gamers who came to the
best of my little bit of knowledge, using such hacks as "drop pk" and getting
in the way of the daily creepazoids. It was an attempt at a haven on bnet
while meeting new people, a point of light for the lights of bnet. But this
place Eru described could be even better for what I wanted.
So I figured I would check it out and, if good, would ask the regulars if
they wanted to come along with me. One was the very first friend I had made
on bnet, and who was the best friend I've ever had in our beloved pixel world.
Luckily, he still is. You probably know him now as Namo or Mandos, although
he came in as SamWise (same birthday as Faramir in the books, btw, also one
of the few people who can tell Faramir what-for). He never liked the name
change and had done it while in shock, and after about four years returned
to the Samwise guild name. He had been playing Diablo since its earliest
beginning, preferring legit co-op but learning to be a brilliant hacker in
self and friend's defense. My "brother" Boromir at the time was another,
now known as Tilion. And the amazing, noble purist in a world of hackers,
who became Beregond and is now known as Galadriel, with his wonderful manner
of speech and being an all around nice guy, simply could not be left behind.
After a bit of emailing, I entered my very first guild
game as a Diablo One, level one warrior, Faramir-(V). I had barely made it to the fountain
when a stranger came in: Sauron. Major pulse rate speed-up! This guy was
very high level! With that kind of name and if he felt like role-playing
and me with no hacking, I was sooo toast.
He was an absolute doll. Very funny, never ever talked
down to the newbie, and was willing to go right into a game with me, this guy
you now know as Manwe. He was the main recruiter for the guild and had recruited
nearly all the other people; turned out I was a bit of an anomoly to be recruited
by Manwe now known as Eru. Sauron had not played in a while and needed
to get back in the groove. Together we managed to die, collecting every monster
for rooms around by the cave stairs and losing our ports. (Caves? So we liked
to play for hours.) Unfortunately, he ran out of time and had to leave before
getting his items. I managed to collect a few items of my own, spending days trying
to replace his with my own efforts and enlisting everyone I could. Naturally
what I could get could not compare, but other guild members took care of
us. I met such great lights as Earendil, who became Ulmo and a close
friend. Somehow we seem to agree on nearly everything, and what little is
left is easily worked out.
The buddies I could drag in from Ithilien who knew enough
Tolkien (many were attracted by the game name) were now in a far better world
than I could have ever made for them in the public world. Other people out
there needed this kind of thing - bnet as it always should have been!
So I became a recruiter. Big time. Of course those from
Ithilien who I could bring came first. Then I drug in the family over time,
now known as the Layton host or Laytonriim: my husband, Fangorn; our three kids Eowyn,
Beorn/Sauron, and Fingon/Bilbo. My best real life friend, Elwing. My brother, Meriadoc.
As Manwe had done, I watched the channel for Tolkien names while on the way
to the guild. That was so great that I went cruising the channels. Tolkien-named
people generally had some contact with the books and had a chord struck in
their sense of honor or they would not have read the whole thing. Figuring
that other people were out there of the same nature but not sporting a recognizable
tag, I would sit in a channel and watch what was being said for a bit, then
ask if anyone was a Tolkien fan. There were a lot of them! We would have
a blast chatting Tolkien, then I would see if they also liked legit co-op
play. If they did, they were invited the rest of the way. They could also
be pointed to Manwe's (Eru's) Valar Guild web page, very helpful!
The guild prospered. This was called the second theme of the music of creation, as an earlier guild Manwe (Eru) had started had cratered due to lack of Tolkien knowledge and communication, with only Sauron surviving. We learned from that earlier time, and stuck together. No one entered now unless they had read the basic Lord of the Rings and we all used the same channel and game name. Other members from the first theme eventually came in such as Ingwe and Ragnor. (Ragnor had computer problems later and dropped from inactivity, but is welcome to return.) Orome returned later and became a long-time member.
Manwe gave Tolkien tests to those who asked for them to
see if they could attain Maiar status, whatever that was. I flunked royally,
as he asked me about places. I was pretty good at people and events, but
places? Oboy. A new guy named Aragorn brilliantly passed me in zero time
to become Gandalf. (You know him now as Aule.) Turned out he was also a talented
Diablo player and he became a wonderful friend, dragging me out of trouble time after time.
As far as I could tell, we had no actual difference in
rank in the guild. We had a leader, Manwe (later Eru), and his second-in-command who
didn't see himself that way, Sauron (later Manwe) and then there were the rest of us.
The leader didn't play games, but he knew so much about Tolkien! As a member
of the Tolkien Society in England, he had access to material the rest of
us didn't as well as having read everything. He also remembered it.
Then Manwe's comp conked out. During an emailed Tolkien quiz of many parts. Gak!
Meanwhile, Sauron had met a girl and wandered off into that other world called "Real" for
quite some time, dropping by once in a while. That left us without someone
to point at as leader or web page handler. At this point, most guilds would
curl up and die. No center.
But we had more than just a leader, for ours had given us
a vision. We were Tolkien fans with a Tolkien theme and the honor Tolkien
had shown us in his books who played in our own passworded games in our own channel. We were
not giving up our point of light to return to the ugly-talking, pk'ing, cheating
part of bnet!
So Gandalf copied Manwe's web page and kept it updated,
as befits a learned one. Earendil suggested that we start meeting on Sunday
and we picked 6pm EST. He also suggested to Sauron that we have a Council
to run things, including them, Gandalf, Eomer (now Melkor), Samwise, and me.
I recruited. The others did what they could as well, Samwise being especially
good at rescues and re-supplying the dead (often me!). Other members kept
us going, having as many as five games up at once. Talk about active!
Right before our first meeting, Manwe returned.
Earendil was one nervous cat, as Manwe might think he
overstepped his bounds by organizing. Manwe, however, liked the ideas and
had it proceed as planned. At the meeting, he dropped his bomb.
He gave everybody in the guild who had kept it going a
rank. Any who had stuck by the guild earned the Maiar honor for loyalty. The
insane ones who had done the organizing work he made into Valar, and those
were the ones who became the Council of Mahanaxar.
The mariner Earendil became the Lord of Waters, Ulmo.
He started organizing Tourneys. Gandalf, page maker, became
Aule the Crafter. The incredibly generous and capable Samwise we hit over
the head with shock and made him Namo before he came out of it. He may never
forgive us. Sauron had returned as well, and was made head of the Council
with the name of Manwe. Our old Manwe had no name left to go to but Eru,
very appropriate for the founder of the guild and let him be outside the
Council. Eru held the gavel at meetings.
At this first meeting, Eru whispered me asking which Vala
name I wanted. I remembered Elbereth being used as a war cry in Lord of
the Rings, very appropriate for a female warrior, and that she was associated
with stars (I've been an amateur astronomer) and had not yet read the
Silmarillion. (So sue me!) He said that was a feminine name, one of the
Valier, and we were going to use correct gender now. I said that's right.
Of all the guild, only Namo had known I was a girl Mandos knows all secrets
ahead of time in the books too. (Hey! Do you know what it's like in the
public channels if they think you're a girl, and I was there often as a recruiter?)
So I got to drop my own bomb! That was fun, and a great way to show the guild
folks that I trusted them and considered them honorable. I found out later
that Varda/Elbereth is the top Valie and the most beautiful woman in the universe.
Nice perks.
This was called the third theme. If we had been in good
shape before, we were a locomotive now! We grew, we played, we had a meeting
every Sunday without fail. We added Tuesday/Thursday night Tolkien chats
hosted by Tulkas (now retired to Beren, who has the LoreBook page), an incredible
feat considering that it was very late at night in Argentina for him and
he had school the next day. As if all that wasn't enough, he also added
a message board! A new bright light of the Valar, Irmo, hosted Saturday 1pm
EST Tolkien chats, with the Europeans in mind who had difficulty coming so
late on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I went to them all rarely missing,
a real trick when juggling work, school, and a family of six.
I wanted to make a level 50 warrior, a feat most people
said could not be done if only for the patience it requires. Legit 50's of
any kind were nearly unheard of. So our guild came up with tevery type. Namo was
first, then repeated the feat! Ulmo and Aule made 50 as well. Melkor made
it too. When I finally trudged my warrior boots into the game that would
bring 50, all four of them came in their 50 suits for the occasion! That
may have been the only game in all of bnet history holding four legit level
50 players in a regular Diablo game, one switching out so we actually had
five. Hell had no chance before us!
Those are the kinds of joys that I still saw coming ahead,
when we hit Diablo II with this incredible guild. Hmm - eight top level legits
in one game? We could do it!
This is supposed to be a history, so I'll get to the rest
of it right quick before you slump over and get keyboard face from the length.
Eru and the Council eventually got crosswise, as I'm sure
anyone would expect if they had thought about it. Manwe had always been available
before to sort of translate between us and keep the mood light, but he had
moved from Virginia to his old home in California, not having a computer
for nearly a year after. Eru had let his power go to the Council and we were
used to making our own decisions, no longer able to accept simply being told
what to do, even if Eru had promised confidentiality to someone. We had always
needed proof before making any decision to kick anyone, not taking even our
own word for it. I don't even take my own word without proof. He had
been disconnected from Council activities and understandably thought his
honor was being questioned. Words led to words, none communicating accurately.
Poor souls were caught in the crunch.
At the same time, Aule was in the middle of several real
life crises, on top of the pain of being looked at with fear by some members
since he was Security, and became unable to behave in the channel, scary
since he was head of security, and we were forced to kick him once it was
proven. But we required proof for him as for the others under question at
the time. When Eru managed to get under even kindly Namo's skin with that
"my way or the highway" so that he quit, that proved we were truly messed
up. People (amazingly large number) asked Ulmo and myself separately and
on their own to start a new, different guild; this was not suggested by the
Council. We considered it seriously and decided we wanted to salvage the
old guild. This discussion took time and became emotional, so that parts were
misreported to Eru. Eru threw out the Council and appointed Advisors. People
were quitting during the mess.
We had a confrontation, those three Valar who had kids
(even grandkids) in the guild (Ulmo, Varda, and Melkor) with Eru, and that,
unbeknownst to us, was the end. To our surprise, at the next meeting Eru
left, dropping the Advisors and saying the Council should get back to work.
Some of the Council had already quit the guild or shifted back to regular
member or Maiar status. The Advisors were in the most uncomfortable position
of anybody, although they had done what they could to help rebuild the guild
and bore no shame, only honor. We cajoled or nagged the rest of the Council
back on board, with Ulmo and Varda as co-chairs. We incorporated some of
the ideas the Advisors suggested. Since both our webmasters were gone at
that time - Aule and Eru - and we needed a web page to help center us and
give communication, I threw one onto the web the best as I could and as fast
as I could before the week was half over, using the same connections as for
the Tolkien Encyclopedia guild project which I had been running. It helped. The guild never missed a meeting.
The funniest thing about all this? Quite a few members
never knew there had been a ruckus! Shows how important politics really is.
If the guild members just keep on with their activities as usual, the Council
only has to keep things pleasant as possible and stay out of their way to
let the place function.
Ulmo doesn't like taking the gavel at meetings and stuck
me with it. I said okay, but I intended to be a good steward and return the
gavel to Manwe, the King of Arda when he came back. A year later he did, but told
me to keep the gavel when I tried to present it to him. Book Faramir had it easier!
So that's how I wound up with the gavel and the
web pages.
Thank goodness there are tons of talented people to shove work onto! I
try
to coordinate the web pages and get other people to take some of them,
adding
in the work the members do whenever they give me the URL. Amillo did a
brilliant
job with the Members page, possibly the most important page we had as
it
allows us all to communicate and know who else is out there. I added a
News
page, to which anyone may send comments. (When are you sending your
comment,
gentle reader?) I added a Discussion Board which became one of the top
Yahoo
Tolkien boards rapidly, since we no longer had Tulkas's available after
he
left the guild. Thank goodness he came back! For a while Tulkas
continued on
the Council, then found he wished to pursue an rpg game more and
retired
to the name of Beren, although he is still with us. He is truly
brilliant
with Quenya, if you wish to email him after looking at his Lore Book .
Aule solved his real life problems and came back to us as
his old sweet self, no longer stuck with being sole security person as
now everyone is involved. No one person should be stuck with that
painful duty
alone! He also kept up his very valuable set of pages, including the
rules
and free downloads. Eventually even Eru came back, to my great delight!
I
hope he understands now that his honor was never in question, that his
system
of English politics merely collided into the American type, and that
his
brilliance with Tolkien lore is one of the very greatest assets our
guild
has! He then came to meetings regularly, especially gracing the Tolkien
section. He keeps his name as Eru, to show that we honor him as our
founder and for his vision which we all love. He even went through the
entry test under another name, so he is back with us in every way. (Now
we have to figure out a way to get him into a game and play! This has
been our challenge since the beginning - hehe.)
So now we are a thriving guild once more, very much larger
than at the time of the break-up even with the removal of the inactive every
few months, and understanding a good deal more. We have some new Valar doing
great work! We have a pool of Maiar now, some of whom will eventually be
running this place. We have mods (modifications) of Diablo to play with Tolkien
themes by the team of Elrohir and Fingolfin (whom the public knows as Varaya
and Khan), Tolkien mods of StarCraft/BroodWar by Ulmo and Beren, and others
in the works.
Take a minute to learn by reading what we learned by hard
knocks, and have it easier! This guild will only continue to be busy. We
have Diablo II Expansion to beat, guys! WarCraft 3 is crying for Tolkien maps and Tourneys. We also have an increasing
number of online places to go if something unlikely happens to bnet, including EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot. Never
despair completely! There are always those around who can pull us out of
any mess, if we but try. You're probably one of those. Notice that after
every so-called crisis, we came back bigger and stronger.
For those of you who actually stuck it out through reading
this whole long history, I hope very much for a chance to play with you and
to chat, especially about our common love of Tolkien and his ideas. My current favorite game is Lord of the Rings Online.
Namarie my friends, for now!
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