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Just plain old regular...

Tue Apr 26, 2005, 7:40 AM
Well, my subscription ran out. Quite a while ago, actually. In fact, I'd fix it up right now except that the Verified by Visa thing's blocking me out - this is the first time I've come up against it, so I need to muck around with my bank to get the registration number, to set up the password... Netbanking doesn't give me an option to set it up through there, either (which would make sense)... Not sure it's worth the effort, since this is the first time I've met it.

Not that I was using the site for too much lately - WoW is still a big time sink. I'm yet to experience the end game content - I'm having fun trying the various character types out. Most of my activity is on the Proudmore server, because that's where most of my friends play.

Proudmore is a Normal Server, that is, a Player vs Environment server. There are two other server types - PvP (Player vs Player - when you're outside of your faction's home territories, you are PvP flagged and can be attacked) and RP (Role Playing servers, where you need to stay in character - it's designed as an immersive experience, but in reality, it's a Normal Server with rules about the topics you're allowed to talk about.

Coming from a Role Playing background (I'm talking pen and paper here, remember), my characters tend to grow beyond the screen.I'm primarily focused on my Alliance characters (since that's where most of my friends play), so they're the most developed at this time.

Current Character Roster

Requiam (Night Elf Hunter) (Yes, I know her name is misspelled - the server wouldn't let me use Requiem). Requiem hasn't used her real name for a long time. Always an explorer, when the shipping lanes between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms opened up, she didn't even hesitate to take the trip, to see what new fields were there to discover. She and her trusty companion, Gizmo, a thistle bear tamed in Darkshore, are frequent travellers between the two continents, as well as being frequent fliers on the Gryphon and Hippogriff flight services. She has repeatedly expressed interest in joining Ironforge's Explorer's Guild, but has yet to be accepted as a member. On occasion, she heeds the call to return to her native lands, most recently in investigation of the Worgen that plague Ashenvale and Duskwood, and has recently discovered a further infestation in Silverpine Forest, and laments her inability to speak Gutterspeak to be able to obtain further information from the locals, but is determined to find out more...

Leandra (Night Elf Druid) Leandra Nightwhisper is the only relative that Requiem will admit to. A Druid of the Claw, she tends to spend more time in animal form (Recently, her cat form has been preferred over her bear form) than she does in human form. She shares some of the wunderlust that her cousin has, but her ties to the land of Kalimdor ensure that she doesn't wander too long. That is not to say that she does't help out the other members of the Alliance. She is currently involved in operations against the Venture Co., a concern set up by goblins in opposition to the Steamwheedle Cartel (another faction of goblins). They first came to her attention in Stonetalon Peak, where she came across their deforestation programme. She has also engaged in covert operations against them in The Barrens, right under the noses of the Horde, saotaging their efforts in the region. In additon to that, she has also recieved word of Venture Co. operations in Stranglethorn Vale, south of the Human Kingdom of Stormwind, suggesting that her desire to remain in Kalimdor may have to be ceded to the greater good...

Allanna (Night Elf Rogue) Allanna Nightsong is a cousin to Leandra (On the other side of the family to Requiem, however). Her stealth abilities brought her to the attention of Stormwind Intelligence Department 7, headed by Mathias Shaw. Seconded and reccomended by the Sentinels of Darnassus and Grayan Stoutmantle of the People's Militia in Westfall, she is currently involved in efforts to take down the Defias Brotherhood, an organisation set up over a percieved betrayal by Stormwind. Her current avenues of investigation point to Edwin VanCleef, former head of the Stonemason's Guild of Stormwind, being the mastermind of the Brotherhood, who are believed to have interests in virtually all of Westfall, Elwynn and Stormwind. She knows where the headquarters of the Brotherhood are located, and is currently assembling a team to go in and assassinate the Head of the Brotherhood...

Elindor (Human Warlock) A Warlock was the last thing people expected from Elric Telandar. His father was the last of a long line of Knights from Lordaeron, while his mother was fromn a line of Mages, and believed to have a touch of High Elven blood in their line. He had barely begun his studies into Arcane Magic, however, when Lordaeron fell, he and his twin sister, Delchara, evacuated to Dalaran, only to have to evacuate again when the demon Archimonde was summoned, the two of them barely escaping with their lives. They then stopped at Gnomeregan, capital of the Gnomish race, only to have to leave there when the Grand Betrayal occured. Throughout al this, Elric found that his magic was changing, becoming more tainted. He quickly ascertained that he needed assistance, and after placing several discrete queries, he was pointed to Drusilla La Salle, residing in Northshire, who began the process of training him to use his powers...

Delchara (Human Paladin) Surprising all who knew of their family history, Delchara follows in her father's footsteps, keeping the Martial Tradition of the Telandar Line alive. Before the fall of Lordaeron, she met Uther the Lightbringer, a meeting which had a profound effect on her future path. With the disasters that befell her and her brother since then, while he depended on his growing magic, she drew through it with her faith in the Light, a belief that has since materialised. When her brother's magic started twisting itself, she travelled from Ironforge to Stormwind to seek the counsel of the Cathedral of Light. There she was advised to send him to Drusilla La Salle, and contact was arranged through a third party, as she didn't want him to think she was going behind his back (Which, of course, she was). This didn't come without a price, however - In order to get her brother the help he needed, she had to undergo training with the Silver Hand, and pledge herself to the service of the Light...

Hmm... plot bunnies sure are all over the place... and it's almost midnight (Damn...)

Distractions

Sat Jan 29, 2005, 11:35 PM
To anyone who actually reads this, I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while. I've been a litlle...

Mood: Busy Distracted

By what? World of Warcraft. It's got it's problems (I've actually mostly-written a piece about that, and I'm not talking about the publicised server problems they've been having, either. Although I am writing this quick note while sitting in a queue to login...)

Basic, capsule review. Great Computer Game, bad Role Playing Game. But I suppose I come at it from a different angle to most people playing the game.

Summary at the end of my free month

Proudmoore Realm
Elindor : Level 26 Human Warlock. My primary character. Has completed Deadmines and Blackfathom Depths, intends to go onto Stranglethorn Keep and to complete The Stockades (Still got one quest to do in there). A Proud member of the Black Swan Guardians.

Detritous : Level 11 Troll Shaman. My Horde Alternate character, currently working on his Fire Totem. Need to go kill some Quillboars... Is a proud member of Clan Nexus.

Nathrezim Realm
Elindor : Level 9 Human Mage. This is a character I made on a PvP server, just because I could. No guild as yet.

Just got logged in, so cutting it shorter than normal. Later!

I believe...

Thu Dec 9, 2004, 2:23 PM
I believe in destiny
I believe in magic
I believe in love
I believe in truth
I believe in now
I believe in heroes

Listening to: My heart and soul

It's amazing what one word can do. Seeing it there makes a big change to my outlook. I've been baksliding a bit. I've seen people coming closer together. I see people drifting further apart. I've been swamped with work. I've been trained at work. But nothing has had more of an impact on my life than one single word, which graced my monitor at 6:30 this morning.

I've sat down several times to write this journal entry. Not these exact words, or indeed the same general message. I could never finish, because the words didn't have a cause behind them. I've drifted for so long, because there was no long term cause to drive me. Sure, I maintain my tasks at work, but I've been at something of an ebb.

How have I survived with my sanity intact? It's actually ties up with another aspect of my personality. I honestly cannot name anyone that I really hate. Sure, I get people who annoy me so much that I'll mutter "I really hate suchandsuch..." but I won't actually mean it. That ties into another aspect of myself - if anyone I trust really needs help (I'm not talking helping someone move house, it's more the matters of the heart, mind and soul) then I'm there, without question.

Why? Because I believe in you. Even if you don't believe, and no matter what you put me through, I will continue to believe.

(adendum : The other thing to note is that every time I try to live for myself, it has a tendancy to backfire. Sometimes in small ways, but sometimes it backfires bigtime. I'm yet to see how this one turns out)


Next RDO - 10th December 2004, then 31st December 2004
Contract Countdown - 6th January 2005

Piercing the Silence

Sat Oct 16, 2004, 4:38 AM
The future is a road with many branches, always leading us forward. Once you choose a branch, you can never go backwards, and try to fix something that went wrong. Every instant, of every day, people are choosing branches to follow. With those branches being chosen, how can anyone claim to know what the future holds for anyone, even themselves? It's because we are people, and we tend to make similar decisions based on who we are.

Mood: Invisible / Ignored Looking for sound
Watching: The 4400

For quite some time, I've merely been flowing with the tide. Drifting from day to day, surviving, nothing more.Why? Quite simply, for the last nine months, I've felt like nothing matters. Because of a choice I made over a year ago, I had bound my path with someone elses. When that went south (and it went south quite badly), I literally fell apart. It's part of what drove me to start putting writings up. At first, it was something to do, to distract me from the direction that my life had taken. I was expressing my own creativity (and that's something that I possess in spades... in fact, I may have it in excess). But, I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

The most important reason for writing is to express myself. That's why I'm not too upset that there's no feedback (and, in some cases, no views) of my written work here. I've come to the conclusion that DeviantArt doesn't really cater to writers. The mindset here seems to be that if it isn't an image, it isn't worth checking out. Which is a mindset that I find extremely tragic.

The saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" is true, but only if the words are poorly chosen. If the words are well chosen, then three lines can paint a thousand pictures. But only if they are seen. Did I find what I was looking for here? I'm trying to expand my horizons. Is DeviantArt helping me? Sadly, the answer is no. In fact, it is singularly frustrating seeing those View/Download numbers for things I have created constantly staying in single digits, whereas I upload a screenshot of my desktop, and it gets ten times as many hits. It's very discouraging, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Personal expression exists to be heard. Problem is that around here, no-one seems to be listening to the words.


Next RDO - 1st November 2004
Contract Countdown - 4th November 2004
Banked up time off : 0.5 days

Doom is upon us...

Fri Oct 8, 2004, 7:48 PM
Well, I've had my suggested 30 minutes of exercise walking down to the polling booth (which means I'm either in Australia or in Afganistan, and since I'm on the net, only one of those is likely to apply...) Despite that, I'm feeling...

Mood: Cool Cool

I direct you Here to see what I'm very happy about - the Linux version of Doom 3. It is with no small degree of satisfaction that I note that the system requirements are approximately 2/3 of the requirements for it to run under Windows. I got hold of the demo, and the shell output has told me one thing - my bottleneck is my Graphics Card. I'll have to look at getting a new on. Maybe next pay - I've got something else pre-ordered (X-Men Legends for the Gamecube) to be picked up next week.

But, what's am I REALLY happy about? Well, it's a B5 Wargaming box set called "A Call To Arms" from Mongoose Publishing - It has some hooks into the B5 RPG (also from Mongoose Publishing), although I'd hardly call 2 pages of "Here's the effect that having certain skills will have if you have characters on a ship" - such as being able to about face without taking an action if you have a sufficiently well trained pilot on board. There's a couple of suggestions for how to mix the two, (Such as having an infiltration mission in the RPG affecting the setup for a wargame scenario afterwards), but I find the changing gears effect somewhat jarring. So, I'm looking at adapting it a bit. Then again, I'm also looking at adapting the Babylon 5 RPG a bit (The Psionics System's fairly good, while the classes are fairly bad - I much prefer the D20 Modern version)

The other book I got hold of is Mr Johnson's Little Black Book for Shadowrun. For those not in the know (which includes most of the people who I anticipate will be reading this), Shadowrun is set about 60 years into the future, magic has come back into the world, dragons are all about, so on and so forth. Mr Johnson is the generic name for someone who is hiring shadowrunners (Think along the lines of The A-Team, without the gold chains) to perform some task (which doesn't have to be dangerous or illegal, but it helps :) ). Mr Johnson's Little Black Book is a toolkit for GMs, including optional rules, alternate character creation methods, and whos and wheres for the game.

Now all I have to do is stabilise my game playing - at the moment, I've only got 1 active game (My Warcraft game), the Shadowgate game is on hold before it starts (Due to one of my players having to buckle down and study harder). Maybe I should do something with that dungeon I have sitting behind me.


Contract Countdown - 4th November 2004
Banked up time off : 0.5 days

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