My first post took place back on that same date, and unknowingly I used a theory Icon, being as I’m kind of a philosopher by nature I figured that one would be the most representative of me, looking back on that now I gotta laugh, but at the time I felt like the biggest idiot in the world when I found out about Icons and stuff like that.   Anyway within minutes of posting I was contacted by Drevanus Milar, who was at that time the Lord Captain of the Children of the Light.  So think about this, I’m sitting at my computer after just having joined my first ever online community, and literally within minutes I’m talking to a leader of my new Org.  Needless to say I was impressed, and thought DM must be some kind of supercommunity to be able to get to new members so fast.  Now I realize that it was just coincidence he was on and contacted me, but at the time I had an almost super human impression of DM.  This was also my first, and therefore worst ICQ conversation ever, if I was talking to me that day I’d avoid me for the rest of my life.  Again looking back now it’s funny, but at the time I was embarrassed at not being able to sound interesting.  I’m a fun guy irl, but for some reason that didn’t translate into talking on ICQ.  Anyway with my first day under my cap, I pressed on.

So now two days later, on the 8^th of February, I got to the second person I’d ever met on ICQ, Bolahn Gregorian, who at the time wanted me to join the Eyes of the Light, again I was a newbie at the time, with no real idea what was going on, and so I kind of got pushed into joining the EoL, because quite frankly the conversation with Bolahn was the first one I’d actually held my own in.  So I said I’d join, and the very next thing he asked is if I would help him overthrow current Spymaster Aurora Stargazer.  So remember now, I’m still a newbie; I’ve never RPed anything on line in my life, and didn’t have the first clue what it was.  I didn’t know this was an approved RP, or really what the heck was going on, but still, this was the first person I’d actually made a good impression with, and being a chatting newbie I didn’t want to ruin that.  So I said okay, sure I’ll help you out.  I couldn’t believe it was gonna go down that way, and was worried we’d both get in trouble haha, I was a moron back that, but an innocent one.  A couple of the Hand were going to accuse Aurora of being a darkfriend, I was gonna fabricate evidence, and then Bolahn would be Spymaster.

So what would happen the very next day?  Well the plan was about to go ahead when Bolahn unfortunately had to leave DM for a time, so it never took place.  Now again I was left with no idea what I was doing.  I posted a couple times in the next week, though nothing major, for the most part I just read other posts and got used to the stuff that went on at DM.  Never having been in any sort of chatting before it took me forever to learn what * g * meant, or anything along those lines.  So I learned the lingo, and I attempted to figure out just what in the world was going on. Now sometime around that time DM went down, might have been the 9^th or the 10^th I’m not sure, anyway DM was down for a while, which is when I got a message from Azazal (Lord Captain) saying where the temp boards were located.  Now the temp boards I could deal with, there didn’t seem to be the seriousness that there was at DM proper, and I felt the community stronger there, so in the following week I made drastic movements towards actually breaking out of my shell.  My posts became relatively more confident, and I became more confident in my online abilities.  I was always good with people, but now all of the sudden I was getting okay at dealing with online people.  So when DM came back up on the 19^th I posted my bio, my first post on the CoL private board.  I’d sent it to Yveva’s page and Koe, but still most of the CoL hadn’t seen it, so I posted it there, and it was there I mentioned that I was now in the EoL.  It was three days later that I first talked to Elriond on ICQ, who because Drivanus was leaving, was taking over as Lord Captain Commander.   He mentioned Bolahn’s attempt, and asked me if I’d be willing to become Spymaster.  So without doing anything RP wise, which I was still uncomfortable with, I was being offered the Spymaster position for the CoL. Perhaps as a newbie I over estimated it’s importance, but I jumped at the chance.  So the next day, Koe set up the CoL’s temp board, and the first order of business was to make me Spymaster.  It was very odd, as many of the CoL didn’t stop by the temp boards often, and I think I spent almost a month as Spymaster before a lot of people in my own org. knew I was.  * g* and that, is the story of how I became Spymaster.  Soon after I started my foray into the all board posting crazy man that I am now, and also began to become Spymaster in fact, as I started to do things for the Org. I thought a Spymaster would do.  I don’t know if I earned the position when it was given me, but since then I’ve tried my best to make that decision one that neither Koe or Elriond regret.  But both of those are different stories, and maybe I’ll send them to you sometime, if you liked this one anyway.  Looking back on it all DM has shaped me into the online persona I am today.  Never had I spoken to someone online, now I do so regularly, I could barely turn my computer on when I joined, now I know HTML, I love DM, and remember those first days with a lot of fondness, admittedly it was only three months ago but hey, give me break, I’m a sentimental guy.

Note ~ feel free to edit this essay/testimony as you will, I don’t know what makes good story and what doesn’t. I was just recapping and remembering, so do with this as you will, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to look back at some old posts, and revisit some very old ICQ conversations.

Justen Diablos,

Spymaster for the CoL.

community board and thought I’d help out

I joined at the very beginning of 2000. I think I was the first DMer of the Millenium. I don’t quite remember how exactly I found DM, but I do remember posting on the ezboards asking for Demandred’s email. It was actually the Amyrlin who helped me out, So she’s been on my Good List ever since I found Demandred and became a Darkfriend.

Once DM was back up, I stayed mostly on the Shayol Ghul and Silly boards. Here, Memnoch the Devil found me and took me under his wing. I became a Shar Mahdi Trainee after a couple of weeks here. I quicky became a regular at the Silly boards. I am now a veteran of the Wedgie Wars, Food War, and Death Match.

It was in the Silly boards that I met people from other Orgs. Seraph and Falcolneyes form the White Tower, Cora and Ehlana from the Band, and various other silly DMers.

Soon I was a Shar Mahdi Apprentice under Memnoch. But the Shar Mahdi disbanded the day after, so I became an Apprentice Assassin (no big difference) Also around this time, I created a new char; Jaem Caran, a Band Recruit.

Now that I’ve been here a while, things have gotten even better. The Don is a full Assassin, Jaem is a Cavalry Recruit for the Band, and I’m meeting even more people.

If I had to pick a worst experience here at DM, I’d have to say it was this little recruiting war between DM and TW. I am a proud member of both sites, but that was just plain childish. Not only that but it took away permenantly two of the best writers I’ve ever seen; Memnoch and Jardel/J’Ryth.

My best experience was probably the Food War, where I met several really cool people. Other than that, doing my training posts in the Tower of the Black Dawn.

I have yet to be in a huge RP, but I think my current one is sort of melting into a bigger one. The biggest one I have so far was my first DF post, when I went to the TotBD.

If I had to give advice to newbies it would be this: Make yourself known. Plain and simple. This is a large community, if you don’t want to get lost in it, you can’t take the back seat. I’ve seen several newbies quit because they couldn’t find their notch in an RP. If you can’t find one, make one. Through DM, I have greatly increased my writing skill. In the beginning, I just wrote them down off the top of my head, leaving spelling and grammatical errors. I quickly learned that to get ahead, good posts were critical.

As for good friends, yeah, I have found some here. From my own Org.: Memnoch, Janar Jagita; the Band: Lilli Mandragoran, Cora Sara, Ehlana Toredall; Freelanders: Joker; White Tower: Seraph, Falcolneyes; Black Tower: Garen; even the Children: Justen Diablos. There are also several other names of people I have befriended Paityr, Demandred, Karldin, Willow, among others. Sorry if this sounds too much like an awards speech; feel free to cut it down

There you go. The history of the Don. Hope thats what you wanted. Again, feel free to edit whatever you want. This is just another one of those things that I’m writing off the top of my head.

Peaten al’Kar/Jaem Caran

Assassin/Cavalry Recruit

Shayol Ghul/Band of the Red Hand

books. I moved to Mississippi for him, and when he stopped speaking to me, I

started reading the books and then shortly after the 4th book, he reopened

his mouth to me, to tell me about Dragonmount. He had found it before,

and told me I should join.I loved it from the day one. Everyone was so nice

and welcoming. Made me feel as though I had been there forever. My best

experience is when I earned the title of Aes Sedai.That and when I found out

that people REALLY did like me. The worst was the controversy over the sex

scene between my Freelander character, Taviani and Lord Calain. It was over

in a week though.. so that was good.

The advice I have to give to the newbies is that, Dragonmount is a great

place, aside from the Incarns and the one or two jerks there. The lessons

and the things you do as your character DO sometimes affect you.

Don’t get all pouty if you don’t get raised right away. I was an Accepted

for 5 months IRL time.

In my time at Dragonmount, I have been in alot of RP’s. And most people

at DM are VERY talented writers. It’s a wonderful system.

My RP’s have all been kind of small. I haven’t been involved in any of

the big ones. But I am a repeat offender of the Silly RP.

Since I have been at Dragonmount, since September of ‘99, I found a

part of me, a writer in me that I didn’t know exsisted. I have tons of friends,

most of whom would give their eyeteeth for me, even though I wouldn’t ever

dream of asking for anything more than they have done already. I found great

friends with DM, and I hope you newbies do too.

In the Light,

Ladria Damin

Sister of the Green

Future bondholder and best friend to Celton Riordon

Emmie’s Goth Sedai

Tymian’s fave-o-rite Green

Zedora al’Aeon’s mentor

Lorelia was a good quiet novice. Her accepted status was also a quiet one.

My other character, Faeryl, a Ward just came to be in January 2000, but she

is the one most active.

I barely remember how I found DM. I used to be in a RL roleplaying group. We played Shadowrun, Rifts, Vampire, Mage the Ascension, Forgotten Realms, Planescape, and Ravenloft. I had to move and I didn’t have a computer

at the time. I tried to find RL players, but I live in a small town where

these things are considered Satanic (yes people still think that way). After

my fiance moved in, I got a computer. I was surfing the net looking for

some kind of on-line RP. Mainly Forgotten Realms. I had just found out

Robert Jordan even existed and my dad lent me his RJ books telling me that

They were some of the best fantasy he had ever read. My dad and I love all

fantasy. Anyway, I was looking for some RP sites. I had heard they all

sucked, but I hoped I would find something I could at least live with.

I had become addicted to RP’ing. *L*

In the list of sites for RP, I caught site of a White Tower site.

Just wanting to see what the White Tower had to do with my search for good Forgotten Realms RP, I went to check it out. I do not remember what the site looked like anymore, but I saw that it had a link called Dragonmount. Well, RJ is one of the best authors I have read and I wanted to check this out. I signed up purely on a “I’ll take a look and go back to what I was doing” kind of thing. I had no intentions of

sticking around to actually play. (Sorry guys, I’m hard to grab.) But that nite,

someone icq’ed me looking to kidnap an Aes Sedai. Well, I told them sorry, I

was a novice. This was back in October of 1999. Aviendha was the person’s

name. Totally confusing me, *L* she was trying to get me to do something

(join her org it turned out) and it took me weeks to reestablish poor Lorelia’s identity properly and fix the confusion. Anyway, Aviendha hooked me up with Jimmy the Hand, and I listened to him talk on icq. I had to come back to this place. With characters like them, this might be fun. Poor Jimmy, I think I bugged him for a week trying to learn about DM. *LOL*

Finally, though, Lorelia was established. And boy did I get messages.

Jhaenara and Ja’varan were the first to message me to say hi, and then it

was an avalanche. Everyone talked like they had been friends for years!! It

took me a few months to feel welcome here cuz of that, but they tried like

hell! I was amazed at the friendliness and only really stayed because of

that. Now, DM broke two weeks after I joined, and we were on the Bravenet

boards. The RP was a bit blech because of that. But it got better, and better, and better. Before I knew it, in January of 2000, I created Faeryl to be a Ward and twin sister to Lilliana DeLeVee, an novice in the Tower. I have had my arguments with members of DM. A misunderstanding between Yveva

and myself, and pushy Reile or was it Kartos to fix it. (Thank you, and

Yveva, I love you *L*) Arguments about RP mainly. I stand solely on

fairness, and I am always the loudest to speak against it. Trying to

word my arguments to get across a good poiont. I have been so angry at DM I

wanted to put my fist through the computer. But that’s why I stay. This is the

first time I have played with others, and they grab my emotions and my assion.

I have sit at this computer and cried when Evara bonded Matthias.

Yelled when Lasir left us. I have found a family that I fit perfectly in. And though my brothers and sisters fight with me and others, Mommy (the Amyrlin) and Daddy (Phoenix) sit us down and give us the sharp edge of their

tongues and calm us down for mature explanations, because of that, we only grow closer. Mommy and Daddy have expanded. Mommy is now usually the

Amyrlin, or Phrygiana, and yes, Matalina and Radzynne. Daddy is Phoenix (though this daddy has been working alot lately), Segurant, and Ben T-Gaidin. And DM may piss me off at times, but I wouldn’t want to be elsewhere. I have

thought of quitting it, but you can’t quit your family. I am more than glad I

didn’t.

other things:

Lorelia came to be from a terrible family. Minor nobles, her father killed

her true love. A soldier named Lars. She ran away to the White Tower to

see if she could channel and lo and behold, she could. She was quiet and

good.

She never had a punishment. She was raised to Aes Sedai of the White

Ajah. Shortly thereafter, Karana became Head of the Browns and passed to

Lorelia (cuz she always was good at trying to help the novices) the mantle of

Head of the Welcoming Committee. I love doing that both IC and OOC. I love

my girls. Because until the pass to Phrygiana, they are mine. I enjoy

being their first contact with the Tower. I have added to the Welcoming

Letter I send them to cause less confusion. Between myself, Mother, and

Phrygiana, our novices are well setup. And I am proud of that. But I really want

to share the memory of when I bonded Tymian. I know it’s a game, but we

are a family, and our bonding was well written (shines fingernails on

blouse), it was emotional for me in RL. RL doesn’t pull my real life emotions much.

I am a hard-ass, cynical, overly realistic. But DM does only too often. Most

Of my DM friends still can’t believe that I am mean. *L*

Our Bonding:

Lorelia was very excited about her raising. She put on her clothes from

Arad Doman and swore that as soon as she talked to Tymian she would go buy

more. She ran through the Warder’s Yards until she realized it wasn’t exactly

dignified and slowed down. Please let him say yes! She thought excitedly.

She finally found him and rushed over to him.

“Tymian, I really want to talk to you. I’ve been raised Aes Sedai. And

I want to discuss something with you.”

She waited, hoping he would take the hint.

Tymian worked the froms. One smooth and fluid form into another. A

Dance of Death. He parried invisible swords and lopped heads off invisible

opponents. He was a torrent of unparralleled desruction. He fought with every

fiber in his body. Well at least in practice. He had never had a live battle

before. He idly wondered how it felt to kill a man. But he guessed it didn’t

matter if you were wrapped in the Void. But you would have to deal with it

later… Someone called his name and he turned to see Lorelia trotting over to

him.

“Tymian, I really want to talk to you. I’ve been raised Aes Sedai. And

I want to discuss something with you.” She blurted out before he could

Say anything. He looked up into his eyes, searchingly. Then it hit him. She

wanted to Bond him! He couldn’t believe it! He got looks from Accepted

all the time and even promised to Bond someone before. That is long past,

he thought. Gwenorf would want me to Bond a good person and Lorelia was

that.

“Yes.” he said quietly. She looked at him surprised.

“Yes…?” She started.

“Yes I’ll Bond you.” He interupted. “if you’ll have me.”

Lorelia was surprised that Tymian had picked up on her hint so easily.

When he said yes, all she could do at first was stare in shock. She didn’t

know what to say or do.

“Um..well…do you want to do it here and now?”

She looked around to see other warders looking at her and him standing

there. As long as I don’t embarass him or me, now would never be too

soon!She thought happily.

“Um..well…do you want to do it here and now?” she asked looking

around.

“Why not?” Tymian grinned, looking around himself. He would be proud

for her to do it in front of all his fellow Warders. Tym smiled down at her.

“Now how do we go about this?”

“Well, kneel down in front of me,” she said. Tymian kneeled and Lorelia

began to weave Spirit. She settled it on him and felt him enter her

mind. She glanced down at Tymian and watched him shiver. She felt his

feelings, some she couldn’t quite identify, cuz there were so many.

We have no secrets anymore. But I’ll never be alone. She was surprised

that the thought cheered her so. She knelt beside Tymian and turned his chin

toward her to see him better. She let the tears course down her cheeks,

uncaring of those who watched them.

Lorelia began to decipher the feelings coming through to her. He was

Happy with her, and he believed in her. She smiled a beaming smile at him and

heard the others congratulate them. Of course since they were in the

Warder’s Yards, he got slapped on the back by all his friends. He was

happy.

She couldn’t get over that feeling. Someone is happy with me! she

thought. He leaned over and said something to her, about food.

“Oh, yes, I am so hungry. As soon as I was let go, I came to find you!”

she said laughing.

It was short, I had no idea exactly what to write. *L* I read other

bondings a hundred times. But for someone like Lorelia, who has always been

alone, it was very emotional. Lorelia has made several friends since then. Ladria

of the Green Ajah. They are bloodbound. The whole prick your fingers and

everything. They shop incessantly, and Lorelia was very upset when Sol,

Ladria’s Warder had to take off for a while. Hopefully he will be back.

Now, I must go tend to my Aspirants. They need me to get them settled.

Faeryl’s other things:

I wanted another Novice. One to be a twin to another Novice played by

someone else. I thought that would be cool. DM hasn’t any twin Novices.

But that was right after the rule was made that you cannot have two

Channeling characters. Well, what other thing to do, but have twin girls, one a

Novice and one a Ward, to bond later. We could take advantage of the twin

bond, and then the AS/Warder bond as well. The roleplay possibilities are

endless. The trouble we will get into when we get back to the Tower. (My darling

twin has run away and we are chasing her down.) I advertised for any very new

novices to email me if they were interested in a proposal. One wonderful person

answered who was perfect. Several answered, but only Lilliana was

perfect.

Faeryl was born. Chasing after her sister who had run away to the White

Tower (and then later runs away FROM the WT), she appeared promising to

be Lilliana’s Warder and continue to protect her through everything.

Exactly alike, except Lilliana is right handed, and Faeryl is left handed.

Faeryl came in with an attitude toward men that they were dogs. To be ignored

when they did wrong and looked down upon, or patted on the head with

wariness if they did right. Always suspecting of a man’s motivations for being

nice. She is getting better. Although a minor setback in the form of another Ward

has occured. Tomaz. He ran away to the Tower to escape a father’s wrath for

impregnating the man’s daughter. He is the epitome of the womanizing,

disrespectful…*L* and poor Faeryl is falling in love. She doesn’t

know it, but they are working on it. They fight constantly, and have already ran

first to first in sword play. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

So I will say no more for now. Tomaz and my story may be in here another

time…..

Tonali, a gleeman for the Freelander is new. As in days, I’ll let you

know what happens to her.

Lorelia Jhalevar Faeryl DeLeVee Tonali

White Tower Ward Gleeman and Hunter of the Horn

Twin to Lilliana

Ok, Lanfir, I hope you approve of it. It’s rather long I know, but once

I got started it was hard to stop! *L* I will have more for you as DM

progresses if it is welcome.

Too bad, the angreal chase was a great RP and a lot of fun.

There is a new Ja’varan, a dreadlord, with a markedly similar background. her fictional past is very interesting, she was Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah and turned to the Shadow. but she is so new, there are few things to tell about her yet.

DM is a place I still enjoy, but it has changed and not all for the better. It seems that the Admins are inhibiting RP, too much nit picking. We need more RP like the Chaos ascendent–that was outstanding. I almost cried when Jardel left DM.

But the good out weighs the bad. I do like the orgs doing the graphics for the site, that is a nice touch. For the most part, DM is a great community. I’ve met people from all over the world, which has been great fun. The members of the Chase were spread out accross the globe.

Ja’varan the Bad

started back at Dragonmount near the end of May, early June of 1999. At that time, DM was in a constant flux of moving from the real boards to the temp Bravenet boards. My first post was on the Bravenet board and I remember Phoenix and I believe Lanfir posting a welcome. *g*

I had just finished reading all eight books and was looking around for some good WoT websites I could get involved in. I decided to join the White Tower, and at the time DM was also going through the change of adding the novice Accepted system, so I was one of the first ginuea pigs for that. *g*

I think I ended up being a novice for a good three months and an Accepted for about two, maybe? Anyway, I knew a lot of people were upset with this, especially because a lot of inactive members were demoted to novice or Accepted ranks. With the rules changing so much, even I got perturbed sometimes, but I figured this was a whole new system they were implementing, and there was bound to be bumps, so I’d go with the flow. Let’s see, my novice days… *eg*

Many people who know me at DM, know I can be a huge flirt. Usually this was OOC or SIC (Silly IC). My actual character of Jhae is a rather quiet, nice girl, not as you see me on the chats. But anyway, the chats is where I love to hang out most. At that time DM was using a HTML based chat room that was a real pain in the bum, but it became home to a lot of us anyway. It was called ‘Spring of the Morning Inn.’ We RPed there and chatted OOC. The RP we did was based on our DM characters, but could not be used for the real RP. That was to remain on the message boards. Which is another thing. There was only one set of boards, though I don’t recall this all too well. Only one was actually used for role-playing (well, for the major RP) and it was called the Role-Playing Board. Classes and other small RPs within the Org were taken to Bravenet boards started by the MoN. As time went on, they tried to add java chat rooms to DM and they majorly sucked! LOL.

Most of us stayed at the Inn, and a few of us who knew IRC well, moved to a server and started a channel. I opened #WoT and for awhile, not many would come, but eventually we started to get a good base of people, including Joram, Lasir, Cynewolfe, Jeni, Naeron, Demmy25 and a few others. Then DM changed it’s java to the Microsoft chat and used it’s server to let people join with actual chat clients like mIRC. And people started to filter back, but then it broke. lol.

Anyway, my chat still exists and when we feel like it, we go back there to hang out, or if DM breaks, we go back. *g* Enough about the chats. *g*

What did I actually do as a novice? lol… Well, at first I wanted to be a Brown. Before they started the Mentoring Program, Serafelle Sedai took me on as an assistant to her, so it was sort of like the same thing. I did a few chores for her, etc. She would have remained my ‘mentor’ but I was sent to the Farm for a rather mean prank I did. Actually, Lasir started it. I think she was jealous of my long, beautiful red-gold hair, *G* and so she found some blue dye and added it to my shampoo. My hair became a lovely shade of blue (and maybe that’s when I decided to be a Blue?! lol, j/k). I was so upset, that without thinking, I charged to her room while she slept and glued her eyepatch to her face (ouch, that was so mean, but funny.) She of course played it as ripping the patch from her face and bleeding all over, so I felt awful and soon the dye in my hair was causing me to break out in a terrible rash on my head. I was allergic. *weg* I couldn’t let Lasir get all the sympathy. We were both healed by a Yellow and sent to the MoN. She gave us a week at the farm. So we headed off.

We were supposed to be at separate farms, but this is when ‘Norell’s Pasture’ started up. This was one of the only times they let us RP at the Inn and use it in the real RP on the boards. Lasir and I went to the Inn to get some wine barrals for the farmer (or something like that). It was there that I met Jarron, the Dragon Reborn. To make this short and b/c I don’t recall all the details, Lanfir Sedai was arguing with a Wolfsister, I think. Rahvin, was compelling the WS, I believe. Then Ishamael showed up. A fight broke out using the One Power. Lanfir got injured and I tried to help her, and as I was about to be killed, Jarron threw himself in front of me. As the fight wore down, the two Forsaken fled, but not before letting Jarron know they had Matalina Gaidin and Maarin Sedai (Maarin was Jarron’s first love, but things were sort of changing there). (I think, this is all really hazy.) Jarron asked Lasir and I to take Lanfir back to the Tower and let the Amyrlin know what had happened and that he would come and discuss matters with her. We got out of the Farm punishment, woohoo! After we got back, the Amyrlin instructed me to wait for Jarron’s arrival and bring him to her. I met him in the courtyard and they spoke a little. It was at this time we knew there was something sparking between us. At the Amyrlin’s study, I was allowed to remain and in fact, became part of the their big plot. Ish wanted the Dragon and Amyrlin in exchange for Mat and Maarin. Jarron would go, but the real Amyrlin would not. That’s where I came in. They disguised me as her with Illusion and I accompanied Jarron, must to his dismay. I got to have Josef as my Warder and the Amyrlin took my place doing my classes and chores. Woohoo! At this time, Lasir had her first Foretelling and scrawled and drew pictures with her blood. At the actual fight, I ended up using the One Power a lot, but I was only a novice, so I weakened quickly, but learned so much. Ish was taken down by Jarron, which almost caused him to burn himself out. Rahvin fled. I didn’t get hurt, but finally collapsed from exhaustion and was placed in the tent with Jarron. Finally, once our party (including Lanfir, Sam Shadar (once a false Dragon), Lasir, the rescued Mat and Maarin, Yveva Sedai, Josef and myself) were gathered and okay, we headed back to Tar Valon. After that, things went normally for awhile.

I met my future Warder, Jayce, in a Ward raid on the WT one night. *g* I also met her brother, Jaksyn, with whom I started a short romance with until Jarron came back into my life… One day I received a letter. It was from Jarron asking me to meet him in one of the Tower gardens one night. I did, and we Travelled to have an evening picnic on some cliffs overlooking the Aryth Ocean in the west. We talked of all kinds of things and promised to be friends, even if Jarron acted ‘differently’ towards me. It would only be because of what he had become. We kissed and returned to the White Tower. I had to keep it a secret, but Lasir suspected something. As the days went on, I didn’t get to see him, but he sent a letter saying how much he enjoyed our ‘date.’ Finally, Lasir and I were raised Accepted. The Amyrlin became our Mentor (the program had now just started.) We decided to room together, and soon after Lasir had a second Foretelling. She said we needed to warn the Dragon about what was to happen. Having been with Jarron, I knew where he was. So we convinced Jayce and Jaksyn to accompany us in running away from the White Tower. We got to Tear without much of a problem. Anong the way, we met Darksmoon, an old friend of Jarron’s as well as another ta’veren from the Two Rivers. He had golden eyes, marking him as a Wolfbrother. Upon arriving in Tear, Lasir bullied her way in to warn Jarron. I barely got to say two words to him, but defintely saw his surprise at me being there.

Then, without much warning, the Stone was attacked by Trollocs and Myrddraal. Once again, I was in the middle of serious fighting, but with a little more experience. I was knocked out somewhere in the fighting and dragged to safety. The Amyrlin and a party of Sedai arrived (soon after Sam Shadar, Lasir’s love interest at the time) claiming to come get us runaway Accepted, but were probably checking out what the Dragon was doing in Tear. I was Healed, then Lasir and I reprimanded and beaten by the Amyrlin herself. (ouchies lol)

The night before leaving, I met Jarron by chance in the halls of the Stone and he told me he loved me, but to look for someone else and forget him. He kissed me and ran off. I was devastated, and quite angry because we vowed to be friends no matter what. It was later that I realized he was doing this on purpose to protect me. The next day we returned to Tar Valon. Even though Lasir and I were punished, we also were raised to Aes Sedai soon after because we had exceeded in our learning. Lasir became a White and I a Blue. I Bonded Jayce soon after taking the three Oaths. I vowed that I would help Jarron do what he needed even if he didn’t want my help. I had my cause. Then the figgin RP was restarted!!!!!!

LOL… Jarron is no more, I had to change some history, etc, etc. My next task was to work on the Bowl of Winds RP, but that made no sense with the RP restarting to before the EotW, so that’s on hold. I took part in the Angreal Chase in which my party discovered an organized group of male channelers. The Black Tower. Currently, I’m back at the White Tower, and the Hall is debating what to do about this new discovery. On the romantic side, I was slowly falling for a new Ward, Celton. (You might know him better as Michael Drakaard of the Black Tower.) I didn’t have time for men in my life, but he had really peaked my interest. But, unfortunately, Celton has to take a leave of absence from DM, so I am once again a free woman… lol. My Talents include Cloud Dancing, which I have yet to discover. Travelling, though not considered an actual Talent, but a weave talent, which I know having learned from Lanfir *g*. (Editor’s note: The ability to make Gateways does not exist for the Aes Sedai anymore) And I’m quite skilled in Healing, but haven’t been trained much in it. My OP score is 32. I believe I’m 3rd or 4th strongest in the WT. My skill is currently 11. I’m fairly young for an Aes Sedai, 24 (I’m one of the exceptions, though I think I might raise it a bit soon.) Hmmm, what else?

Physical features: long red-gold hair, green eyes, tallish, about 5′7″ to 5′8″, slim, considered pretty by most. An only child from two parents who were not Darkfriends or killed by Trollocs… LOL. Originally from Whitebridge, Andor.

I have truly enjoyed being at DM, even during the bad times. I have met so many great friends and I’m still meeting more. I could start naming them all, but I’d surely leave someone out, so I won’t. Besides the list is as long as this letter! lol And I think that’s about it! At least the major points. *g*

Thanks to all who have made DM what it is.

Long live Dragonmount!

Jhaenara “HotLips” Sedai

of the Blue Ajah

Bonded to Jayce Gaidin

Currently Mento® of Arianya,

Former Mento® of Bryli who passed away

Keeper of and Bonded to the Chicken Reborn

Ownder of a new baby squirrel, Bryli, fathered by Slappy McNutty

That was august and DM was still back on the Bravenet boards in those days. Not only that, be we were still at the point where we could be on the Bravenet boards and not have to worry about the messages disappearing before you got a chance to get there and read them. I posted a five part, yes, five part introduction before I even got to the Tower. That was August.

And then came September. This was back in the day when the raising system was new and still having the bugs worked out of it. There were fewer things for Novices to do back then as far as classes went. I took a few of the earlier classes which were on an entirely separate board and really had a good time with them. But there was a catch to the whole thing. Ah yes! These were the days when Alosha was the Mistress of Novices (insert scary, doom-filled music here). The first big problem I ran into was getting raised.

Anyone who was around back in the days of Alosha knows how that was without me having to relate the whole thing here. There was an interesting catch to the whole thing from my side though. Alosha was the only active member of the Gray Ajah at the time and I was definitely bound for Gray myself. This was also the early days of the mentor program, and Alosha was my mentor. Things started out fine at first. I talked to her a few times and thought I was sorting things out. But once I had completed all of the requirements for being raised and was still not raised, I started to get nervous. Then I got annoyed. Then I got downright pissed off.

There was something else going on at this time, early October now, as well. One night when I was sitting around in real life minding my own business I got a phone call. It was Miriam, the alter ego of Yveva. She called me up and said in a very excited voice, “Guess what?” I said, “What?” She said, “You’re Saidar!” I said “What the heck are you talking about?” Well, she explained to me that I had just been voted to be the newest Incarnation. I was taking the place of Serafelle, who had stepped down for personal reasons. (note: this becomes important later on).

So there I was, the newest Incarnation and a Novice in the White Tower, in a huge fight over being raised. Looking back now I have to smile, but only because I know things turned out just fine in the end. I ended up in a chat finally when I was ready to explode over the whole thing. It was me, Alosha, and Kathana, duking it out in an ICQ chat. The actual events and details of that chat will remain forever a mystery between me, Kat, and Alosha herself. But the irony of the whole situation was this: There I was, arguing with two people who had no idea that that very day I had been voted to a position that, as far as RP went, was above them. It was surreal to say the least.

That whole event actually started a chain reaction that had far-reaching effects. Apparently, after I left the chat, Alosha and Kat continued to talk. I’m not sure what they talked about, but the week after that the strange story of Alosha walking out in front of a bus came into being. For those of you who weren’t there, someone claiming to be Alosha’s brother (later proved to be Alosha herself) sent an ICQ message out to everyone saying that because of the pressures she was under at DM, she had purposely walked out in front of the school bus. Ooo! Attempted suicide! What a convenient way to make people feel sorry for you in a hurry! It would have been great, except for the fact that no one bought it. To make a long story short, Alosha was fired and excommunicated soon after that.

At this point I was an Accepted. Being raised was fun in that I got to write a great three arches post! Anyone who wants to know why I hate the Green Ajah IC so much should go read the three arches post. Heh heh heh. But before I go on to my short but memorable Acceptedhood, I have to go back to the pranks. Yes, I was the queen of pranks! I was responsible for about two dozen froggies being liberated from the Tower pond and plunked into the bathtub of an unlucky Green Sister. That was a prank that lived in infamy! After that I was responsible for baking several loafs of bread with two cups of salt instead of two cups of sugar. That was actually a legitimate mistake IC though. Not only did every Sister in the Tower end up eating bread that was so salty it inspired the most stalwart sister to scream profanities at the dinner table, it marked the end of Phryg being allowed to do chores in the kitchen.

And then there was the prank that went too far. (insert doom-filled music here) It was actually a group prank. Believe it or not, I can’t remember all the people involved. I’m sure they would all volunteer to come forward if you asked them. There was a small group of Novices in the laundry room getting themselves into a bunch of trouble. I think Markieta was there. They had been told to do the laundry and for some reason thought it would be loads of fun to pull bottles of dye off the shelves to tie-dye all of the Accepted dresses with. Phryg was out in the garden at the time, digging up a bunch of worms. The two pranks intersected when Phryg came dashing down the hall with a covered bucket and ran into the tie-dyed Novices in the laundry room. She spilled the worms briefly before running on to the kitchen and plopping them all in the soup! Yes, the soup.

Needless to say, the Amrylin and the Mistress of Novices were not happy with the whole thing. They had about half of the Novices at the time involved in being very very bad. It was a short time after that that the announcement was made that all pranks were forbidden from that point until further notice. Yes folks, you can partially blame me for that one. It was months later that the rule of having pranks allowed if they were cleared by the MoN and the Amrylin came into being. But the reason why you need to check now is because a few of us, all respectable Sedai now, got way out of hand.

I think I hold the record for shortest amount of time spent as an Accepted. A lot of you know that I am a teacher and a writer in real life (whatever that is) and the idea of being able to teach a class really appealed to me. So I whipped up some classes speedy quick and taught them very fast. But the thing which really made me able to be an Accepted for the shortest amount of time ever was the fact that I did a project (I highly recommend this, by the way). And then I was an Aes Sedai.

And then there was Winter. November, December, and early January consisted of one major thing for me: Incarndom. You all have no idea what it was like to be an Incarn back in those days (unless you were one!) For the record, because it isn’t very well or widely known, this was what the Incarns did. We were in charge of coming up with ideas for the “major plotline” of the Dragon Reborn. Phoenix would ask for out opinion about what he thought he should do, specifically as far as the Rhuidean RP went (but that’s another story all to itself). What we did more than anything though was to OK or No-No various things that people wanted to do. People used to appeal to the Incarns when they wanted to have a certain character trait or item in their possession, or if they wanted to do a certain RP. We, all 9 of us, would discuss the benefits and drawbacks to the request, both in terms of reality and in terms of how it would effect the overall atmosphere of DM, and especially whether the requester would be able to handle the added element or power they would have. Some people were denied things because we knew they would not be able to handle it seriously. Contrary to popular opinion, the Incarns were not the RP police and we did not make our judgements based solely on whether or not it would happen in the book. Reality was not an issue as much as you might think. The main concern we had was for the benefit and furtherment of DM.

That said *smirks* oh boy did we fight! Man! You wouldn’t believe the things that people said to one another! There were low blows and stirringly emotional pleas. There were short, sharp rebuttals and long, humorous explanations. All of this took place over the Onelist list that all of the Incarns belonged to. If you think some of the things that people post on the boards now in anger or frustration are shocking, you should have seen what we all said to each other on this list! And more than anyone else, the people who fought, who were on the opposite side of every issue, and who said things to each other that even butch Australian rugby players would blanche at were *drumroll* me and Serafelle. Yes folks, we fought like alley cats! And I’m sure Sera would admit it too. We really got into it, but underneath it all was the mutual understanding that we both cared so much about Dm and wanted what was best for it to such a degree that we would stop at nothing to make sure it was as perfect as we could make it. If you ever worry and think that the people at the top don’t care or only have their own interest at heart, let me assure you that this is so far from the truth as to be unimaginable. Sera and I cared so much, and still do, that we both ended up in very vocal tears on many occasions. We tried so hard to make things as perfect for the average DMer that we drove ourselves crazy. It was a highly emotional time, the worst of which came in the very last week of the 20th century. But more about that in a minute.

The worst fight that the Incarns ever got into was not with each other, although there were some legendary ones there, but with the Aiel. And it was all a misunderstanding. Pay attention. This is how one harmless assumption can turn into a tooth and nail fight with many casualties. It all started when Phoenix, the Dragon Reborn, wanted to go into Rhuidean to fulfill the prophecy of the Dragon, just like in the books. There was a lot of concern that this important event be kept as close to the books as possible, and as a part of that there was a desire on the part of the Incarns to have a woman enter Rhuidean as well, just like Moiraine did in the books. And so Yveva was chosen. The Aiel were grumpy because they felt as through they were being left out of the decision process to a certain extent, but at this point they were still willing to go along with it. Let me make the important note at this point that the Incarns were talking about this RP intensely every day for a while. We all got about 30 emails a day from each other discussing the situation. It didn’t all just happen on a whim.

And then all hell broke loose. Andrew, whose character name was something along the lines of Sam Sadar, decided that he wanted to enter Rhuidean too. I actually don’t know what the details of the whole thing were or are. Andrew had this way of not telling the rest of us what was going on. (When I took over his title of “Saidar” and the email account to go with it, I found there were over 80 emails of requests and the like that he had never forwarded to Yveva or myself and never told us about. The name Andrew is now synonymous with bullshit to me) When I first started to become aware of things it was because the Aiel were suddenly, in my perception, flaming mad for no reason at all. I couldn’t understand what in the heck had happened. Hadn’t they agreed to the whole Rhuidean RP? Weren’t they just as much a part of this whole thing as us Incarns? Well, the answer turned out to be no, they weren’t. I made a little visit to the Aiel board as “White Blossom” to see what people were all upset about. I read their posts of outrage and tried to think if there was something I could do about it. I read what was written on the staff RP board and tried to see if there was a common ground. My personal conclusions? The Incarns were giving the Aiel the brush-off and the Aiel were over-reacting.

This is where I became personally involved in the fiasco. I decided, being the Gray that I am at heart, to try to find the middle ground. I posted on the Aiel board as “White Blossom” trying to state our side of the story, our ignorance of what was going on, and trying to help the Aiel calm down and not to feel so much like they had been stepped on. And for a moment there it looked like it was going to work! I got a positive response from one of the Aiel where others had been getting attacked. But then I was attacked to, and how! I had a post directed to me that was very bitter and spiteful. Nothing at DM had really upset me until that point. Suddenly I was livid, but mostly because a post that I had put on the staff board had been copied and cut and pasted out of context and my words had been twisted to make it sound like I meant something entirely different. Let this be a note to you. Never ever do that to anyone! It’s a sure fire way to really piss someone off, and I was!

It is very important to note that all of that was sorted out eventually and I did receive and apology. It’s all water under the bridge, but it was a sharp lesson that we all had to learn about where the boundaries between orgs and the overall RP administration lay. This was also the beginning of the end for the Incarns as we knew them. We basically tied ourselves up in a knot that couldn’t be untied. The Aiel controversy brought up the very valuable question of how much influence should an anonymous group of unrelated people have in the workings of a single org. Federal versus state government. We were in the middle of trying to figure out how in the heck we could prevent something like the Aiel controversy from happening again when Drea, out fearless Incarn leader, quit. That was the first death toll. She came back for a while, but by then it was pretty much a given that something was going to fall. Phoenix apparently had ideas about how to better run the RP and the Incarns as a part of it.

There was one very intense day at the very end of December where it all came down to the line. I was online for hours that day, way past my bedtime. We were all about to be fired and we knew it. Never in my life have I seen a group of people react to the prospect of the axe being dropped. It was fascinating actually. A few of the Incarns were relieved. They didn’t really have the time to be Incarns anyhow and this would be a load off their backs. But at the other spectrum you had those of us who were slapped in the face by abject fear. This meant the end of all that we had been trying to do. I know that I panicked. I wrote a heartfelt plea for the Incarns to stay alive and emailed it all over the place. There were eleventh hour plans on how to rework the current structure. More emails hit the list that night than I have ever seen before. And then a complete miracle happened: Serafelle and I became friends! It was as if all the fog and dust of anger and opposition had been cleared away and for the first time we saw that our powers could be used together for an even greater effect. We became allies that night and have remained so ever since.

Of course, about an hour later an email came over the wire from Phoenix with the title “The Incarns are Hereby Disbanded”. Well, that was it. We were history, and ancient history at that. The storm of anger and conflict and fear that had been swirling around all of us came to a sudden and shattering stop. I read the email a few times, took a deep breath, then let it out and all of the emotion I had been holding with it. It was all done. I was no longer “Saidar”. Everything that I had been responsible for was now lifted off my shoulders and given away to someone else. The plot of the RP would be reset and the very face of RP as we knew it would be reworked. And much to my surprise, I didn’t really care anymore.

I did a lot of DM soul-searching that night. Everything had become so political and so much a matter of having my voice heard above the clamor of everyone else’s voice. I had lost sight of what made me want to join DM, and even to be an Incarn, in the first place. DM was supposed to be fun. DM was supposed to be a place where you could come apart from the rest of the world and have friends of a like mind. It wasn’t about the books. It wasn’t about the RP even. It wasn’t about having the most impressive title or having people do my ideas instead of someone else’s. For the first time I had to admit that what Phoenix had been saying all along was, in fact, the truth. DM was a community, not a game. It was the place where all of my friends were and where we could dress up and put on costumes and characters without people looking at us funny. DM was a dreamworld, and it was time to be a part of the dream again, not the mastermind behind it.

I was really happy to be Phrygiana again. So happy, in fact, that I put some serious thought to running an RP of my own. The Incarns were restructured, and , what do ya know, I was still one of them. Things had changed though. Our role was greatly reduced to that of a benevolent judge who sits back and makes sure all the kiddies are playing nice. I was much more excited about planning a diplomatic mission to Mayene. The mission was a test for the new system. Could RP work if it was contained within one org and control was handed over to the RP admin for the org and an RP director for the plot? Well, the Mayene mission worked pretty damned good, if I do say so myself. Of course, it mostly worked thanks to the craziness of two very silly Novices, Ryell and Reile, who caused more trouble than I ever had!

Now we are still at the beginning of this new era of DM. Time has passed, true, but the point of the whole enterprise is still being ironed out and solidified. I think this system works very well, thank you very much! I’d like to think that all the trials I went through as an Incarn were just the birth pangs of bringing this new system into being. Of course, as fun as the RP here is, the most important thing to remember is not what your OP score is (25) but who your friends are. I have visited Jenn, Mary, and Jimmy in Atlanta and had a great lunch with them at the Atlanta airport. Heidi, Mary (other Mary) and Jess have all come here to Bryn Athyn to visit me. This summer I am flying, which I fear like death, to Seattle to visit Bren. And did I mention that there will be 13 other DMers there too? My latest dream is to go to Australia to visit Steve and to the Netherlands to bug Caroline for a while. All of these things are far more important to me than whether or not Phryg will ever get to leave the Tower again to go on the elusive mission to Ebou Dar. I have friends here, that’s all that counts.