February 2003

From BNN:

"Malas?" Greyn scanned the horizon. The sun made quick mirages flash and fade over the hot sands, but other than his brother, the two strangers and their horses, no sign of life could be seen. "I've never heard of such a place."

Fallah avoided meeting eyes with Greyn. "You wouldn't have." She stared at her feet.

Grevel cleared his throat and looked at the boys with sadness in his eyes. "Lads, there's something I must tell you of this place and it is not going to be easy to hear. You're both very lucky to be alive after traveling through the whirlpool."

"How did you know about the whirlpool?" Mordin asked. "We saw no other ships nearby and we were so far out at sea that…"

"Everyone in Malas knows of the whirlpool," Grevel interrupted. "It sends people here. That's why we call this lake the Gatewater, everyone caught in the whirlpool arrives on these shores." Grevel paused. "For decades now people have searched for a way to return to Britannia but no one has found one. I'm afraid you boys are trapped here."

Mordin's eyes widened and he hopped backwards beside Greyn. "You mean we're prisoners?!"

"No, son, no. You're in no danger from the people here. You're cast-a-ways, not prisoners." Grevel held a jug of water out to Mordin who slowly took it from him and then slurped down the contents. "Fallah and I were brought here 10 years ago. Some have been here only a few years, others have been here for more than 20. We have a village a short ride from here."

Greyn walked back towards the edge of the water. "But it was just a storm at sea! A large one to be sure, but how could it have brought us so far that we could not sail home again…wait, did you say lake?"

"We have no seas here," Fallah said softly.

Grevel clasped one of his hands on each of the boys' shoulders. "We have a great deal to tell you and show you, and we can get you both some clean clothes and a hot meal. I know this is quite a bit to take in for you, but we should start heading back, the desert gets rather cold at night."

Greyn nodded. "Your generosity honors us, Grevel." He shook hands with his rescuer. "My name is Greyn Grimmswind, and this is my brother, Mordin."

Both Fallah and Grevel froze and their faces went blank.

"Grimmswind, you say?" Grevel paused and sadly looked at Greyn. "As in, Brevinor Grimmswind?"

Mordin spun around. "You know father! He's here!" Mordin grabbed Greyn by the shoulders. "I told you, Greyn! You wanted to give up, but I told you we would find him!"

"He was here, lad. I hate to bear terrible news twice in one day but…he's gone now."

"But you said there was no way to leave this place!" Mordin said.

"Son, your father, Brevinor, he was killed 4 months ago. I wish I could tell you otherwise. We think a crystal elemental got to him on his way back from one of his cartography outings. When we found him he was far beyond our help. Your father was very important to our village; he did a great deal for us in the time he was here. We would have done anything to bring him back, and we know he would have done anything to see you lads again. He never lost hope that he would find a way home again to see you both."

Tears streaked down Mordin's face as he buried his head in his hands and sunk to his knees.

* * *

The four rode slowly back to the village, with Mordin riding in front of Grevel on one horse and Greyn behind Fallah on the other. As they traveled further north, the desert gave way to fields of grass and flowers.

"It sounds like father has done his usual bragging for his sons," Greyn smiled. "As much as he could go on about us I'm surprised he didn't have paintings of us made up so everyone would know what we looked like before we arrived."

"He couldn't have been more proud of you both," Grevel said. "You were going to be Britannia's greatest Knight and Mordin here was going to turn the world on its ear with his magic--the man was sure of it! By the way, we have a decent blacksmith here; Greyn, you could probably get a good sword from him. There's also a cache of magic supplies we found on shore a few years ago that I'm sure no one would mind Mordin having."

Mordin's face remained blank as his head loosely bobbed with the walking of the horse. "Perhaps."

"One thing still confuses me," Greyn said. "Fallah, you said there are no seas here? Is Malas surrounded by mountains?"

Fallah's large brown eyes looked towards her father for help. He grinned and looked forward again. Fallah leaned back slightly and whispered to Greyn, "You're about to find out."

As the horses came over a slight hill, Greyn's eyes grew to the size of plates. "By the light of the virtues!" He kicked the horse into a gallop as Fallah yelped with surprise and laughed. In the distance, he could see the small village Fallah and Grevel spoke of, resting on the edge of a cliff, but beyond the cliff he saw nothing. Leaning over Fallah, Greyn rode the horse harder and harder, right through the middle of the village, before pulling on the reins once they were near the edge of the cliff and leaping off. He ran the rest of the way and skidded to a halt on his hands and knees, looking over the edge. It looked as if all of Malas floated above the night sky. "By the virtues--by the virtues, it's a sea of stars! Mordin come quickly, it's a sea of stars!"

Greyn felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Fallah smiling at him. "Perhaps we do have a sea here, depending on how you look at it." She blushed slightly and turned to watch her father and Mordin approaching.

"I'll let the village know you lads are here," Grevel said. "People will hardly believe me when I tell them Brevinor's boys have arrived."

Mordin walked slowly to Greyn's side and stood beside him, gazing into the void of stars.

"Greyn?"

"Yes Mordin?"

"Grevel said father made many maps of this place, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. He said we could have them."

Mordin stared for ages into the emptiness, contemplating what he had been through this day and thinking of his father.

"Greyn?"

"Yes?"

"Let's explore this place."

* * *

In the blackest part of the darkness, the minds of shadows joined together to create one harmonious thought… Use them, and it all begins again!

Greetings Citizens of Britania

I would like to extend an invitation to one and all, to the first
Open House for the Academy of Higher Learning. The event will take
place on Monday March 3rd at 8pm under the central skies. This Open
House will give you the chance to meet myself and my current staff so
that you may ask questions and generally get to know us and the purpose
of the Academy. There shall be food and drink available and there shall be plenty of ways for us to enjoy ourselves. Gates will be provided from the Umbra moongate in Malas to the Academy. For more information conatct me at 18756405.

-Poet
Head Master of the Academy of Higher Learing

From Vlandra:

Vlandra walks from town to town that she knows the alliance guilds visit and leaves a note at each bank for them to read. “Military training this Wednesday at 8 pm under the eastern skies. We will meet in the city of Cove and travel to our destinations from there. We will go through a few drills which will be explained after we begin, please be timely because we will not be waiting.”

Later this week, I myself will be interviewing the Programmer currently known as Mr. Tact (TPCKAMT). MR. Tact (or Mr. T as I like to call him, sucka) is the Lead Server Programmer for Ultima Online. He handles things like server maintainance, publishes, and that kinda whatnot.

Here's the part where YOU come in: have you ever wanted to ask the devs a question? Maybe you're cheesed off and want to stick it to the man! Maybe youre just wondering about something or another and can't find an answer anywhere else. Whatever your question, all you need to do is post it on our special questions thread, and I'll make sure it gets asked! Remember though, Mr. Tact is a Server Programmer, so he probably dosen't know about stuff he isn't involved with.

Place your ponderances here!

Form Keheleyr:

IanStorm is pleased to announce another UO StormChat with the teams from OSI. It will take place at 7pm CST (5pm PST, 8pm EST, 12noon AEST) on WEDNESDAY, 26th of February in #StormEvent. To access the network, you will need an IRC Client (like mIRC or Pirch) and use one of the following servers:

irc.ianstorm.com

irc2.ianstorm.com

The old man was still in shock as he looked around his make-shift cell.
He was found guilty on all counts, and was sentenced to no less then 25
years incarceration in this city he so loved and cared for. Did he do
something wrong? Not in his mind, he was sure of it. He would do the
same thing again if it was called for. Now he had bigger problems.

Checking the bars on the window and the lock on the door Tyrone, formor
mayor of the city of Trinsic, still felt a bit uneasy at the sight of
the few members of the mercenary group known as Bregan D'aerth at his
trial. He was afraid they would try and exact payment from him for his
failure to pay them for their help in Trinsic. He had struck a bargain
with the drow group. Gold for the safety of the citizens of Trinsic from
the forces of the Atalans that threatened to take over the city and use
it as their own base of operations.

Checking everything for what must have been the hundreth time, Tryone
laid down on the bed and tried to rest his weary mind. This would prove
a very bad idea.

A slight fog came in through the window, this fog held the shape of a
wraith. Silently the wraith came towards the bed and its sleeping
occupant. Going first to the foot of the bed and slowly working its way up
towards the headboard.

"Tyrone..Tyrone its time to awaken" came a soft voice from the wraith.

"Wha.. who is it! What are you!?" Tyrone stammered upon seeing the
wraith hovering above his head. "How did you get in here? GUARDS GUARDS!"
he shouted.

"Hush Noble Tyrone, for your guards cannot hear past the heavy iron
door they so thoughtfully installed for your protection" the form said.
"Now we have something to discuss."

With that the wraith settled to the ground and started to shimmer, and
its form became that of a woman, a beautiful woman with dark features
and instantly Tyrone knew who his visitor was.

"Lust!" He shouted.

"Yes Tyrone it is me, and I have but one question for you now, Do you
have the money promised to BDA for the cleansing of this city? Lord Caleb
been most patient with you old one, he has sent me to settle the
dept." she said with a gleam in her eye.

"I do not have it lady, though I wish I did. I meant to pay you
honestly, but with the troubles here in the city, and the loss of memory due
to age, I'm afraid it slipped my mind, and the bankers tell me my coffers
are empty." Tyrone said quietly.

Eyes glowing a deep green and a slight smiles across her lips Lust began to
speak.

"Tyrone for your lack of honoring the deal you made with the drow, you
are forever cursed to live your days following the paths of darkness. A
being of evil you will now become!"

With these words spoken a green light came from the drow females
fingertips and hit Tyrone square in the chest. Twisting his form and burning
the skin from his bones. He was no longer the man he knew, he was now a
creature of the darkest evils. The powers coursing throughout his body was
twisting his mind. Tyrone formor mayor of Trinsic was no more.

"Come Tyrone, we leave this place. You are now mine to command at a time I
see fit. You will learn of your powers through me. You now serve me.
The debt is paid in full" Lust said changing back into the form of the
wraith.

Tyrone followed suit following an instinct he know could call his own
and they floated out the window, a faint chuckle could be heard coming
from the form of Lust.

All that remained of Tyrone, was a set of burned clothing
left beside the bed.

From UO.com:

The Age of Shadows launch has obviously been a hectic one. I’ve put together this State of the Service address to give you an idea of how we got here, what’s currently going on, and what the near future will bring. Our Online Community Relations team has been posting on individual items, so I may not cover everything explicitly but I do want you to know that we are working to fix things as quickly as possible.

The UO team knew that the AoS expansion was going to be a big one from very the beginning. The feature set was well received and everyone was really excited about the possibilities. What we didn’t know is how big it was going to be! We planned for increased memory usage on the hardware, and we upgraded almost all of our servers to their physical maximum for memory. We spent a lot of time upgrading the housing database and server applications to be able to handle the higher load. But it wasn’t until the weeks before launch that the real implication of this expansion’s success began to come to light – and even in the last week before launch, our numbers rose significantly higher. Our pre-orders soared to company record levels.

We looked at our capacity for handling logins and registration, and felt that, while stressed, it should be able to handle the load. As it turns out, we were wrong. It took us 2 or 3 days of working 24/7 to iron out all the capacity issues regarding registering and logging in after our North America launch. We built up the login servers beyond their normal maximum capacity, and for the next 4 or 5 days the login servers were slow, but many players were definitely getting through. I personally spent several hours touring different shards and checking out some of the customized houses.

Despite all the upgrading we’ve done, the launch of AoS in Japan has once again put us beyond our max capacity for the login servers, and we found some new bugs in the system that were not revealed until we hit such high usage. We’re still working on the problem, and we also expect the peak usage to drop off over the next few days.

Beyond the log-in servers, our biggest priority right now is shard stability. As our shards hit their peak loads, we found a problem with our shard memory usage, which can cause a server to become unstable after a few hours and then restart. We have partially addressed that problem already, and now the servers are quite a bit more stable, but we still have one major memory problem that we are trying to solve. We’ve isolated the area where the problem occurs, and are working right now to fix it. Again, these problems are related to the load exceeding our forecast, which is both a blessing and a curse.

We’re also fully aware that the memory issues on the shards are more than just an inconvenience – they’re also causing some people to have major problems getting through the long wait time in the GM queue. We’re working on this in two ways – one, we’re fixing the memory issues at the core of the problem. And two, we’re working on two of the biggest call generators right now, which are “black holes” (see below) and issues with the Hooded Shroud of Shadows. I understand that it is frustrating to wait in the GM queue for several hours, only to get kicked out when a server goes down. Again, stability is our top priority and we will fix this as soon as possible.

Next in line to the shard stability problem are “black holes” as they’ve been nicknamed. A “black hole” occurs when the server crosses a threshold of network traffic being sent to the client, usually related to a large number of items in the area. The player gets disconnected and when they try to reconnect, the same problem occurs. The result is that the player is stuck. Fertbert, one of our server programmers, is working on this problem full time (he managed the Japan launch yesterday). We have a temporary solution in the works that will “telestorm” any player that gets stuck in a black hole, but this is not a permanent fix and we’re still working on it.

There are definitely other issues that we are working to fix, especially those related to housing and vendors, but that’s not the point of this message. I want to make it clear that we are listening to you and paying attention. We have been working literally 24/7 for a few weeks on the game and will continue to do so until we have these primary issues resolved. We’ve said many times that the beauty of an online game is that we can continue to grow, and that’s what Age of Shadows will do for UO. Granted, there are bugs, and we’re fixing them. We’ve experienced problems keeping up with the traffic that’s hitting us right now, but these problems are temporary.

I know many of you are already playing and enjoying the new expansion, and our goal is to get all of you to that point. We won’t rest until then. After that, we are going to get back to the nitty-gritty of fixing long standing issues, and adding features iteratively for a while. I think the pattern of seeing nothing for a few months and then having a huge change dropped on the game is going to go away for a while. We’re going to be asking you what you want, talking to you about it, and then giving it to you. But that’s a little ways off. For now, we’re committed to Age of Shadows, and we’re working to make sure every one of you gets a chance to experience it its full glory for themselves.

Thanks for your time; I’m sure you have many additional questions and comments.

Anthony "SunSword" Castoro
Producer, Ultima Online

The Lycaeum Fellowship of Scholars presents the second installment of the the Atalan History Lectures. The seminar will be conducted by the historian Arman Kharas. Arman has served as a resource attache on the Atalan to the High Council. While he is not a spokesperson for the Atalan, Arman is a valuable source of knowledge on this militant race of elves. The second installment "The Fall of Tenebrous: Rise of the Last Order" will be held at the Lycaeum in Moonglow, Trammel Facet on MONDAY 2/24 at 8:30pm EST. Scholars will be at the Moonglow Hedgemaze entrance to escort parties wishing to attend. This seminar was rescheuduled ue to turbulent storms across Sosaria over the last two weeks.

The City of Trinsic will continue forth with its prosecution of Tyrone on Saturday February 22nd at 7pm cst in the new Trinsic courts building located just outside the western gate

Tired of sitting at a bank for hours on end hawking your wares? Tired of posting on websites without that instant response you need to get the items you want? Tired of not being able to find a crafter when you need them? Join #gl-traders on the Stratics irc server. Here you can sell, buy, trade or advertise your crafter's services!

No spamming is allowed. If you spam more than twice, you will be banned.

Scammers will be sniffed out and banned.

Currently looking for volunteer staff members to keep the room safe!

~Lydia Brightblade

OK, we jest, but for many who've wondered...we did recently break the 2 billion gold piece benchmark we'd set for ourselves!

Yes, Impy's Arctic Faire has always tracked exact auction sales figures. As of February 8th, 2003 we assisted in the sales of your goods to the tune of 2,287,840,316gp! To the staff, congrats. To the people submitting, thanks much. To the patrons who've been attending for almost 3 years, a hearty thanks to you, from both the submitters & from the staff at the Faire. Without you all, the good people of Great Lakes would just have been bored on Wednesday & Thursday nights every week...lol. To those who've never attended or submitted items to the auctions, you don't know what you're missing! It's a blast. Stop by this week and we'll show you why GL denizens have worked their RL schedules around Impy's events for so many years!

More figures, for those who've asked:

Total Auctions Since Inception: 178
Average Sales per Auction: 12,853,035gp
Total Hits to the Castle: 55, 853
GP Spent on Non-Auction Events 11,439,201gp
Paid to the Public in Weekly Games 17,874,898gp
Paid to Vendor Owners 8,037,896gp

Yes, we pay the owners of over 50 vendors to work hard weekly for you. It's our way of ensuring that we are able to provide every craftable in UO to the public consistently, and with certainty. Yes, we hold weekly games & prize give-aways also. Over 17 million in prizes have been awarded to those attending an event at least once. Does Impy's only host auctions? Nay...while it's the mainstay of the event diet, Impy's Arctic Faire was designed to host a variety of events. Examples of some would include Dungeon Crawls, Scavenger Hunts, and Net Throws. We've chucked a lot of gold out there to ensure that the people of GL stay active with something other than PvP & PvM. Impy's Staff thoroughly enjoys UO, Great Lakes, and the people who call them both home. We're looking forward to another 3 years, with many more events, and many more new faces.

What's next on the horizon? Well, it's sort of a secret, but all will be revealed at an upcoming event between now and the end of the month. :P

For now, we're going to offer 2 lucky individuals an opportunity to win a special Customer Appreciation prize this week only. We'll be handing over a check for 500,000gp, on each event night this week, to one lucky individual sitting in the auction room. You must be seated to win, because our auctioneers have picked the winning seats for each night already. Anyone standing will not be eligible, unfortunately. The winning seat will not be announced until the final bid has been placed, but a person will be chosen at a random time throughout the two events.

For information on the weekly auctions, and other Impy's sponsored events, please keep an eye out at www.impys.net. A complete listing of all items up for grabs at a given auction is always posted there. While there, check the Help Wanted section for any staff openings. We're always on the lookout for people truly interested in dedicating their time to the Great Lakes Community. If you have questions, comments, or perhaps even advice on events you'd like to see sponsored by Impy's, please tack a note to the Bulletin Board. Instructions on how to submit items to the auctions are listed, as well as descriptions of the weekly Runes to Riches & Mystery Chest games.

If you like a little action in your auctions...Impy's is the place to be! We're there every week from 9-11pm eastern, on both Wednesday's & Thursdays. Gates are always available from the W.Brit bank in Trammel 30 minutes prior to event time. Perhaps we'll even have a few of those nifty new artifacts that OSI dropped on us this past week! See you then...and once again GL, thanks for three years of fun and enjoyment!

~Impy's Staff

The 33rd Meeting of the High Council will take place on Sunday, February 16, 2003 at 6:00 PM (CST) in the North Dining Room of Castle Britain on the Trammel facet. Time will be given at the beginning of the meeting for members of the public to bring item forth before the Council.

Thank you,


Ra'Dian Fl'Gith
Chancellor of Virtue
High Council of Britannia

The Expedition into the Heart of Darkness

Due to the instability associated with the alignment of our world with Malas, the scholars of the Lycaeum have rescheduled their expedition into that world until Monday, February 17 at 8pm. The scholars still invite all brave men and women to join and escort them into the this strange new world. Please meet us at the Lycaeum Courtyard northwest of Moonglow, Trammel. We will then all gate to Malas.

Walk in Honesty and Truth,

Tarondor, High Magister of the Lycaeum

OOC: This will be an RP dungeon crawl.

From UO.com:

The new house customization feature brings an unlimited number of wonderful new decoration possibilities into UO. Custom homes, forts, gardens, arenas, and ceremony areas are already beginning to brighten up Britannia. We love seeing all the terrific new designs everyone is playing with, but we also want to caution players against designs that use inappropriate text or symbols.

Customizing houses to display racial or hateful text or imagery will not be tolerated in game. Inappropriate (racist, discriminatory, sexually explicit, derogatory, or offensive in any way) text and symbols are in violation of both the spirit of the Ultima Online community and the Ultima Online Service Agreement.

Please be aware that if you customize your house to spell out offensive or inappropriate words or symbols, your customization will be removed and the house/foundation itself may be deleted. Your account will also be subject to discipline and may even be subject to permanent suspension.

For detailed information on language considered inappropriate for Ultima Online, please review the Ultima Online Rules of Conduct.

A rant from Radian Flgith:

Here we are, another expansion to Ultima Online, and officially, by all reports rolling in, the absolute worst expansion to tear the shards to shreds. Lord Blackthorne's Revenge was riddled in the 2D client with missing tiles, Third Dawn's client was mostly unplayable, Renaissance was published without many of the features it was expected to be published with... Which officially makes The Second Age the only fairly smooth expansion to Ultima Online (and even it had some hiccups).

You would think that OSI would have learned that communication to its playerbase is important, particularly after the blatant lie that was known as "It's not a mirror..." (Think Arnold Schwarzenegger from Kindergarten Cop... "It's not a tumor..."), but they haven't. While personally, I don't think that reduction in vendor-count across the shards is a bad thing (heck, I think removing them altogether would be the right path, as I have fond memories of the days when if I needed a Mark scroll, I went to the Britain Mage Shop and asked a player standing there if they were scribing sixth circle... interaction that is all but gone, save for bank-sitters selling uber-rares and such). The excuse that people would have gone rushing out to place vendors in their houses so that they could get them grandfathered is ridiculous both by the fact that it is unlikely to have been the wide-scope problem that they thought it would be, and by the fact that players who knew nothing about the grandfather issue, but had heard that space was to be taken by vendors, dismissed their soon-to-be-grandfathered employees because they didn't want to take the chance that something might go wrong.

And maybe OSI thinks that logic is silly, because after all, nothing ever goes wrong with publishes.

We've now got the worst set of bugs in the game since Christmas 1997 when the shards were filled with black holes, and walking outside of Britain was a nightmare. Backpacks... not just any backpacks, mind you, but the primary backpacks of characters... backpacks are falling to the ground. For the first time in OSI history, they're working on replacing items. Of course, hey, who knows if the items were in your backpack, or your runebook, which has suddenly become a new container, if held in your hands during a trade. Monsters are tougher, which is good, but tamed creatures are being killed quickly... there's a reported incident of a lizardman killing a nightmare in one hit. I guess this is balance. Your enemies are now your friends, recall is going to the wrong facet... You name it, it seems to be broken...

But hey... it's not like you can play Age of Shadows anyway. After all, you're unlikely to be able to upgrade your account unless you sit on their server refreshing endlessly, and praying that it doesn't dump you one screen before you're finished. I know. I did with one account, and now two more are sitting around waiting to be upgrade. If you thought that the housing fiasco of Trammel was bad, this one's worse. Not because all the houses are being taken, but because you can't get into the game. Once you're account is upgraded though, it could take two hours for that upgrade to propegate, which means you're standing at your moongate thinking, hey, I'm going to Malas, and learning you're not quite getting there yet. It makes you wonder why they don't have multiple registration servers that they can bring online for something like this. It makes you wonder why they don't have multiple login servers too. As the day goes on, the reliability of being able to login or even pray that you get to upgrade... well, it seems to be getting worse.

Don't bother calling customer support either. They can't get to the website either, and that means they can't upgrade your account. Supposedly a GM can if you can get into game and page a GM, but I'm not counting on it, because the customer support rep that told me this also told me the game servers had been down for the past 48 hours -- a revelation to me, since I'd been on (sans-AoS) just an hour before. It'd be nice if customer support could bring up your account, enter in your key, and voila, you're upgraded... but then, that would be customer service, and as we all painfully know, OSI has no clue what that is.

I think the saddest testimony to all of this however, is that I can't help but laugh. There's a smile on my face between cursing OSI for this mess. A smile because hey, we've been down this road before. There were a few weeks where UO was largely unplayable due to lag. It took them forever to fix rubber-banding (I can already hear the newer folks out there wondering what rubber-banding is). I was killed in one of the Ilshenar dungeons the day LBR released because I walked through a tileless area, and my computer went whacko, and I lagged out and died (only to page a GM who told me they do nothing for death due to bugs, and then took me hounding him until he finally appeared so that he would at least take down the coordinates of the missing tiles... as I said to him at the time, "You know, it's sad when I care more about the game than you do."). Renaissance house-placement was a joke (and telestorming was just a brilliant idea). It's all par for the course.

Except for one thing. At least with all other releases, once the initial excitement died down, the game was playable (or if you had an uber-leet system for UO:TD)... The issues that are plaguing Age of Shadows are so staggering, and so numerous, and so painfully destructive to the experience of the game, that it has to be wondered if they bothered to test this before release, or if they simply came down to the wire, and had to publish, and decided, "Hey, we'll fix these bugs later." I'm going to take a stab and guess it's the latter, because I remember the nightmare that was the release of Renaissance. The game went gold, and it was on the shelves, and people could buy it, and Trammel didn't appear until a month later. Factions didn't appear until two or three months after that. So I can see why they'd be afraid to have the game hit shelves and have unpublished servers... but in retrospect, the state the shards are in right now makes one wonder if it was worth it.

Still, like I say, I've been down this road before. They'll patch it, they'll tweak things, and it'll all get better... eventually. They'll probably be on 24-hour duty until the huge issues are corrected, and they can kiss their weekends goodbye. And they'll want our pity, because they're doing it for us. Well, I for one will be smiling knowing they're working their butts off to fix this, because this, far more than any other release to Ultima Online, is unacceptable. Here, when most of us thought UO:R was the low point in expansions, we learn that AoS is here to correct that thought. Now, I'll be honest here... I think AoS has a lot more potential for fun, once they get all the kinks worked out. It's just that, well, the kinks should have been worked out before they made it live.

On the plus side, statloss is gone. ;)

This one goes out to all my homies! Those homies at work, and those homies who haven't gotten their copies of Age of Shadows yet, but are dying to know what it's all about. This ones for you!

I recieved my copy just this morning, bright and early. In the hand of my local neighborhod FedEx guy. With curiosity, I dug the heralded box from it's packng material confines.

The first thing that I noticed was that the box was defective. Like most EA games, it has that front flap that opens up to give you pretty screenshots. My flap was glued almost completely shut. Using a knife to pry the flap resulted in a sheet of posterboard that would probably fold up into a box. So much for opening software the proper way.

Inside the remains of what used to be my AoS box, I discovered a paper map of Malas (gone are the days of cloth maps) which doubled as a house construction FAQ on the back. An instruction pamphlet, containing information that I already know, and a keyboard shortcut card which also held no revelations. Then, of course, was the CD itself. This time in an actual plastic jewel case, and not in a paper envelope as LBR had come.

I noted the notable abscence of a warranty registration card, though I suppose my UO Account would suffice as registration.

I wrestled the CD from its Jewel case prison, and placed it in the vast freedom of my 24x DVD-ROM drive, and soon I was prompeted for which version I wanted to install. Like most people, chose 2d, and away we went. I was greeted this time by pictures describing features of the new expansion. I was glad that EA had omitted any pictures of insane people playing UO with their cats. Interspersed in the installation program, I was suprised to see an ad for UOAM.

The background of the installation program turned out to be that all-famous Hildebrandt lithogram painting that was released with the charter edition some 6 years ago.

It was at this time I realized, "Hey, wheres my freaking Hooded Shroud of Shadows redemption code sticker anyways?" I scoured the box, unable to find it. I resolved to send my proof of purchase somewhere in the near future for legal contract pwnage.

After about 5 minutes of playing, I can tell you of some neato features that youre going to notice, even without that new client. First, theres an annoying thing in the bottom right corner that will not go away. Secondly, when you hit something, the damage done appears above it's head a la final Fantasy. And Third, That annoying thing in the corner changes when you click on it, it actually controls how you see the descriptions of things.. either by tool-tips or by clicking.

Like LBR, this upgrade requires that you update your account with a special code, so don't freak out when your new junk dosen't appear immediately.

Enjoy!

Here is my interview with Emperor Tenebrous of the Atalans. I sat down with the Emperor to discuss a bit of Atalan history and current events in Britannia as well.
I must admit, this was one of the best interviews I have ever done. I had a great time chatting with player that is Emperor Tenebrous after the roleplay portion of the interview and even asked him a few questions gathered from other roleplayers in the community...read on !


Syrisi :Tell me first of all Emperor a bit about yourself and how you came to be leader of the Atalans.

Emperor Tenebrous : The race of the Atalan were borne 1400 years ago, and I was the product of the "faith they placed in a "Higher Being". After the slaughter of the First Order of the Atalan, there were few Atalan left to "worship me". *eyes shimmer* And a god with no worshippers is no go at all. I was faced with a choice...remain a spectre and watch my people die off...or come to this realm as a MORTAL and set things right ...personally. My choice was clear.

....Finish reading the Interview section of the message boards !

Previously it was stated that it would be necessary to clear the ban and friend lists of all houses due to an issue that arose during the conversion process. We’re happy to say that we’ve found another way, and that earlier statement won’t exactly be true.

Since the Lake Austin shard has been up and running long enough for the data to be saved, we’re afraid that both friend and ban lists will still need to be cleared on that shard. However, on all other North American shards, we will be able to fix this before they are made live to the public. It’s likely that this fix will add some additional downtime, which we would prefer to avoid, but it’s preferable to the inconvenience to the players of having to rebuild those lists.

We'll keep you informed as we know more, and thank you very much for your patience.

Great Lakes remains down as of me posting this. While I am sure some of you are very disappointed that the shard is not back up, all I can honestly do is smile. Why? Because while I am sure some of us want our individual houses, I can't bear to think how all this shipping mess has probably almost killed any chance of player run cities being placed in good spots.

I think we should be happy for those like Outremer and other roleplaying towns. If the shards had been up today, only those with AoS today would have gotten the prime locations. Now, our fellow roleplayers will now have a chance.

The word from an EA rep that I talked to is that unless you live on the West Coast (pre-ordered from the web) or the store you intend to buy from is near the California hub, you won't be able to get AoS until tommorow (12th).

Of course, leave it to OSI not to bother to tell their playerbase when they all ordered next day shipping that people on the west coast would have a full days head start to place housing.

While this makes me want to rant, considering how unfair this is to people in the bread basket of our country and on the East Coast, I won't.

I think just saying "we got screwed" will suffice.

Every UO Expansion brings with it ridiculous advertisements trying to get you to join, and this one is no exception!

Greetings Citizens of Britannia,

The Scholars of the Lycaeum extend an invitiation to all brave and able citizens to escort the scholars in their expedition into the newly found land of Malas. Bring your best weapon or spellbook and meet at the Lycaeum in Moonglow on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 8:30 pm by the Central Stars. All citizens are welcome to join as we explore the new wonders and knowledge of this strange dark land, which the Lycaeum's diviners have seen ill omens about.

May Honesty and Knowledge guide you,
Tarondor
High Magister L
High Councillor of Moonglow

OOC: This is an RP dungeon crawl for all who would like to attend.
OOC: This is an RP dungeon crawl for all who would like to attend.

Back in the 20th century, in a world where Windows 95 was the latest operating system, and the 266 Mhz Pentium II processor was the top of the line there were no MMORPG's. Sure, we had MUD's, we had multiplayer games, but there was no real massively multiplayer game out there. Origin promised to set this systme on it's edge.

In September of 1997 it released Ultima Online.. the original. You might have heard it called Ultima: Shattered Legacy, but no matter what you called it, it was a hit.


When you walked into your local computer store, you could buy one of two flavors of UO: The Charter Edition, or the normal edition. The Charter edition being the more expensive of the two. Weighing in at $92, the Charter Edition gave you extras like a cloth map, a pewter pin, a lithograph poster, and 3 months of UO service (the normal box only came with one month) Check out these features and system requirements published at the time:

Ultima Online is a massive online role-playing adventure in which players interact with other players and complete quests and adventures while building up their character. Features include a continuous, ever-changing game world, complete with day and night, a persistent world in which players build cities, run taverns, and wage wars, an immense, evolving environment with over a dozen cities and vast dungeons spanning over 200 million square feet of 3D terrain.

Minimum Requirements:Pentium 200 MHz, 32 MB RAM, Windows 95, DirectX 5.0, 2 MB DirectX-compatible video card, 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM drive, 383 MB hard-disk space, and 28.8 kbps modem.

Origin was unprepared for the masses who would fervently play the game. UO was released early, and so bugs, lag, and exploiting were huge problems. After a time, the shards became more stable, but the exploiting and bugs continued. Then, Origin announced their first expansion, Ultima Online: The Second Age.


The Second Age, among all the expansions, probably provided the least features. Second Age purchasers gained the ability to visit the Lost Lands, they got new mounts, and were able to fight new creatures like Ophidians and Terathans. Excluding these, the Secong Age expansion focussed on the UO Client. Players could now put the client in windowed mode. They could expand their game area to 800 by 600 resolution, and they could use the "big window" mode, which would be that black area below and to the right of the gameplay screen in windowed mode. Most players nowadays take that for granted.

For all it's new land and client innovation, The Second Age didn't really pack much of a punch comparatively, but at the time fans just gobbled it up. It was perhaps the golden age in UO history, but all the different play-types shifting against one another would result in the next expansion.


Ultima Online: Reniassance was both the best, and worst expansion to UO in the entire series. Before it's invention, UO was still suffering from bugs and lag problems that it had been having evern since it's release. During the Reniassance development, Origin made a huge effort to solve these problems and in this regard they were pretty successful.

Other circumstances though would give taint to this expansion, before it's release, Origin touted a new feature as "Double the landmass for housing". Everyone knew the easiest way to do this was by mirroring the existing lands. The Development Team denied this was the case for months, but when the expansion finally did come, it did, in fact, turn out to be a mirror.

This turned into a Public Relations nightmare for Origin, the new lands of Trammel offered a vastly superior experience for just about everything except PvP. The people who had built communities in Felucca now discovered that they were sitting on depreciated real-estate. Added to the mix was that the fact that the Development Team had blatantly, flat-out lied to them and you have a lot of unhappy players.

Despite all this, Reniassance had succeeded well at one very important thing: it had quashed virtually all bugs at it's time. It was so effective at this that Lum the Mad proclaimed that this was the game that should have been released originally.

Nobody knows exact numbers, but it's a sure bet that more people left UO over this expansion than left over all the other expansions. In time though, it didn't really matter. New players loved Trammel, and with this added revenue, UO was able to continue. This time they decided to get ambitious.. they decided to update UO into the world of 3d.


Ultima Online: Third Dawn was not only a clever play on words (Third Dawn.. 3D.. get it?) It also promised to add eyecandy to the aging UO client. Most everyone at the time thought this was a good idea, and "underground" screenshots were leaked which showed impresive 3D graphics to everyone's favorite hobby. Faibois everywhere drooled in anticipation.

Unfortunately for them, Third Dawn would not be the droids they were looking for. The initial client was slow, buggy, and switching from windowed mode to fullscreen or back just wasn't happening. On some systems, the client would take over 20 minutes, just to shut down.

There were also cries of concern about the paperdoll and character images, as most people regarded them as extremely ugly. None of the wearables really look like it's 2d counterpart, and to top it all off, the client was laggy.

Most people viewed UO's new 3d innovation as just "something to play with" as they did all their serious gaming in the old 2d client. Third Dawn wasn't all about 3d though, it did add new lands to the map. The lands of Ilshenar.

Ilshenar suffered a horrendous birth, because the only people who could visit it were the ones using the Third Dawn client. Hardly anyone visited these fresh lands, and fewer still returned after their first visit. the instability of the 3D client just overpowered gamers desires to visit.. but Origin had a plan to remedy this.


Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's revenge was a generally well-recieved expansion. In fact, it is probably the best-recieved expansion in UO history. It added mp3 support to the 2d and 3d client, and updated the 2d client with the first new maps, art, and monsters that it had seen since The Second Age. 2d Players could now visit Ilshenar.. but in addition to that, the 3d client also got some important upgrades which made it more stable, and thus more popular.

This expansion also offered new armor and items for players to use, as well as golems, and arcane clothing. Most people were pretty supportive of this expansion.

That brings us to the latest expansion, which though technically was released today, you wont see it until tomorrow at the earliest. Ultima Online: Age of Shadows. How will it stack up to the previous expansions? I suppose we will ponder that question in a year, when the next expansion is released after that.

Discuss

The Lycaeum Scholars of Sosaria Presents….

The second installment of the Atalan History Seminars will be held on TUESDAY, FEB 11th, 8:30 EST at the Lycaeum in Moonglow. This second installment, “The Fall of Tenebrous” run approximately 30-45 minutes, with an an oppourtunity for open discussion at the conclusion.

This seminar is being hosted by the Lycaeum Scholars, and will be conducted by Arman Kharas. Arman has served as an analyst of Atalan culture and has lectured at the High Coucil of Brittania. While he is not a spokesman for the Atalans, Arman serves as a valuable resource on this militant race of elves.

Scholars of the Lycaeum will be at the Hedge Maze entrance of Moonglow to escort those who wish to attend.

Here are the results of the tournament sponsored by The Keepers of Virtue:
Vlandra of {Order of the Black Rose} took first place.
Dekeyon of {Highland Guard} took second.
Papa Palapa of {Highland Guard} and Thraka Gangaskul of {Bloodrock Clan} tied for third.

First place reeived 312500 Gold.
Second place 187500 Gold.
Third place 125000 Gold.


Ambassador Thann asked that a list of those who donated be posted. They are as follows:

Thunder--100k
Roxanne RES--100k
Boromir--75k
BDA--50k
Nate Byrd--50k
Papa Palapa--25k
Ariyana Sune--10k
Dervka--5k
Dekeyon--5k
Ash and Dublin--total of 3 virtue bows (demon dismissal, dragon slaying and earth shatter)


A good time was had by all. Thank you Keepers of Virtue !

From Dawn via Stratics:

*bows*

Hail to you all, Britannians!

I am Dawn, Royal Knight of Britain and aide to those who have protected our kingdom since the absence of our King. For far too long the traitor Blackthorn and his henchmen the Juka threatened our lands from Ilshenar. Ever since the Juka made their first strike on the innocents of Britannia, I have worked and fought for this land alongside great men such as the noble paladin Dupre and the ancient Eternal Adranath, Watcher of the Meer. Time and again you, the people of our realm, turned back Blackthorn's forces and gave your strength and your lives to send the Juka running back to their shadowy master, Exodus.

For many weeks now a silence has come from Ilshenar. The Juka no longer terrorize our towns. The whispers of "Exodus" no longer linger on every breeze. Meer scouts have seen no trace of a coming attack. Spies around the castle have reported hearing the Juka speak of Blackthorn's death. The betrayers who followed Blackthorn will not again venture forth from their dark castle, and our greatest wizards have studied the magical ether to see that Exodus' evil presence is now waning. In short, the evil that Blackthorn wrought upon Britannia is gone, leaving only traces of the Jukan forces in Ilshenar and in the dungeon of Wrong.

Evil still exists in our world...

But thanks to the people of Britannia, the times of savage attacks upon our homes and our civilization have ended. As Britannians we must stay ever vigilant against the threat of evil. The time will come again when our peace will be challenged and we will again as a people take up our swords to defend our lands.

My grandfather once told me...
that great virtue thrives where great evil once fell. We are strong in the virtues, and they have defended our land against Mondain, Minax, Blackthorn and countless others who would see us defeated and broken. But though we are victorious, I ask that you all keep the safety of Britannia and its people close to your heart, for it is you who will be called should our land find itself again cast into shadow and darkness. Until that day comes, we shall strive to bring peace and virtue to all corners of Britannia and move forward into an age of prosperity! Thank you!

From Lilly Thann:

The following is the list of the first Tier battle for Saturday Night. All of the following guilds MUST MUST MUST Be warred to each other at least an HOUR (Preferably much more than that) before the battle begins.

The fourth Trinsic General meeting will be held this Saturday at 7 PM CST, that's the 8th. The meeting will be presided over by Lieutenant Governor Dupree (unless of course the Governor makes it back in time), and other officials.

Currently, the agenda is wide open.

The meeting will be held in the South East Chambers of the Trinsic Town Hall. Arrive early, and grab a good seat!

This meeting will be open to the public for presentation of local issues. We had a really good meeting last week, with several guilds in attendance.

-Lt. Gov. Dupree

Time is drawing near, and we will soon elect a governor to Skara Brae. It is you the citizen that should have the final say in who will be leading your city. We have two fine candidates, and there is little time to nominate any others. We will not accept write in votes so if you have a nominee in mind you have a very small window of opportunity to enter it. We will be holding a meeting at Skara Brae Community Building next to the bank on Monday February 10th at 8:00 pm under the central sky, this meeting will be your last opportunity to add a nominee, and we will open the floor to the citizens to ask the hopefuls any questions they may have. We will allow only two minutes to each citizen for questions and two minutes for the candidate to reply. If the candidate wishes they may talk with citizens freely after the official meeting. Interviews for the two candidates are up in the Skara City Forum and can be viewed by all, the locations is:
http://pub44.ezboard.com/fqfbfrm28.

On Monday February 17th we will hold a meeting in the same location and time we will allow interviews of any new nominees by the citizens the same rules will apply to this meeting, two minutes per question and two for answers, so come prepared.

On Monday February 24th, we will hold a public election at the same place and time. All who wish to vote must be present and must voice their votes to the panel that will be counting the votes. If you wish your vote to be secret we will party you to the panel to collect your vote. The panel will be made up of three neutral non residents who will simply collect and tally the votes.

If there are any new nominees they will be interviewed by Maldicta and added to the Skara Forum at the location provided above. Thank you all for your participation and lets make your town what you want it to be.

Destiny
Executive Officer
Skara Brae

Hear ye, hear ye,

The 32nd Meeting of the High Council of Britannia will take place on Sunday, February 9, 2003 at 6:00 PM CST in the North Dining Room at Castle Britain upon the Trammel Facet. There will be time granted prior to the close of the meeting for members of the public to bring issue before the High Council.

Additionally, I would like to welcome Britannia's two newest Councilors to the High Council. Winning the Seat of Trinsic, Randolph Mars joins the Council to represent the City of Honor. Representing Moonglow, the City of Honesty, is Tarondor. Congratulations to both!

Thank you,


Ra'Dian Fl'Gith
Chancellor of Virtue
High Council of Britannia

From Lilly Thann:

We have 18 of 24 potential slots for the tournament filled. Only 8 slots remaining. If you want to participate please contact Lilly Thann ASAP via pigeon at 6840996. On Friday a list of guilds that need to be warred to each other will be posted here. Good luck and thanks to those that have signed up already. Looking forward to a fun filled night. And the grudge match is still open....only 2 challengers...

Stratics has posted two interviews with two Skara Governor hopefuls, heres a tidbit:

Syrisi Thank you Stigo for taking a moment to speak with me. I'm sure you must be very busy with the elections approaching. I'd like to start by asking you a bit about yourself.

Stigo*laughs* Its been kind of busy,not too bad though *smiles* There's not really a lot to tell actually..... I was born in Brittain,lived there for a few months,then made my home in Skara Brae...I've lived there almost five years now. My guild is also based in Skara Brae. Other than getting good people for WheelHouse I'd say I've not done a terrible lot in the way other of accomplishments....... I'm just an ordinary guy willing to help with what skills I have. *smiles*

Syrisi*smile* I see... You've got a pretty large guild...how have you managed to keep all of those folks busy and happy for such a long time ?

Stigo*laughs* I must say that can be an interesting chore......When we first started it was easy to do,lots of training,but once the training wasn't needed I had to start thinking of other ways to keep them busy and interested.We do a lot of guild hunts,dungeon crawls,treasure maps,scavenger hunts
Unfortunately at one time an old friend/rival found some sort of spell to possess one of my sons,and they helped save him,then my sister.That was a scary time,but fortunately they came through for me.


Syrisi (OOC question here) Wheelhouse is a role-play guild ?

Stigono ma'am....Although I am slowly getting more and more involved,WheelHouse is a guild made of friends only.That's the only requirement,you have to have at least one friend in the guild. I do look forward to the time when the majority of the guild will participate though.

Syrisi *nods* I read your letter of acceptance and in it you said "have seen this quiet lovely town turn into a raucous playground for bullies and cutthroats.Its time for the citizens to stand up and be counted.I am not a man for politics,but rather than see the "control from afar" continue as it has,I am willing to attempt the job as Mayor of Skara Brae." Could you maybe elaborate on this statement ?

Stigo I think the statement is fairly clear. Most of the citizens that I talk to (and myself) think that the so called "guard" that has been posted by the high council do nothing but cause trouble in the town. Personally I have never know a guard to patrol a town by sitting at the bank and waiting for bad guys to come to them.Patrol means walking your beat,not sitting still at the bank. It also pains me to see them talking down to the people of Skara Brae.They are no better than we,actually I think they aren't as good,yet they sit at the bank and prance and preen as though they are beauty queens.....

Syrisi *nods* You said "My goal is to return Skara Brae to the quiet town it was years ago..." Skara Brae is the center of most of the activity between the Virtue and less virtuous groups, how do you intend to accomplish the goal ?

Stigo There are a few ways that this could be done I believe....The most promising to me comes from an old friend that makes the study of magery her life.She has told me that she is currently researching an old tome that may hold a spell that would ward the town proper from evil intentioned people.It would not stop them from coming into town,but would stop a gate from appearing in the town.If it works the way she believes it will,enemies of the state will be restricted to entering the town through the public moongate or the docks.....Right now this is my best hope for stopping the fighting in the streets.

Syrisi: Thanks for taking a moment to speak with me, your name is Trunks, correct ?

Trunks: Aye m'lady

Syrisi: *smile* Let's start by you telling us a bit about yourself..

Trunks: Well I grew up in the mining town of Minoc. There I spent my days wishing for adventure. I changed my ways many times during my life. I went through mining proudly as my farther did until he died. Then I traveled to Vesper and sailed too Serpents Hold too become a knight of some sort. They turned me down for my lack of sword skills. So I moved to Moonglow too try for a mage, I didn't know not being able to read and write was a problem.. *smiles* From there I joined a group of thieves, I was good at it but it didn't feel right so I soon quit that. I met the Order of the Crimson Wolves and they taught me reading, and writing and fighting. I have been there ever since. Its been about a year now, since I last joined..

Syrisi: Ahh, Order of the Crimson Wolves...Tell me how you came to be a citizen of Skara Brae ?

Trunks: Actually that is a fairly short tale. You see this pack of wolves I like to call it, saw the troubles of Skara and decided they should help out and defending the fine city. So they created a militia and asked if the town needed a few extra swords. We started guarding them and that is when I started staying with the citizens of Skara.

Syrisi: I see...so you've already done some time defending Skara. It has been said by your opponent that the current guard situation is not suitable for the city...that they are lazy and do not patrol...offending the citizens and such. Do you agree ? Why or why not ?

Trunks: I agree fully. Most of the time even our own soldiers are hanging about the bank talking and joking instead of looking out for enemies. Our leaders are putting a stop to that. We want to patrol the area and watch the moongates closely. We are beginning to constantly raid the URK so they have no time to bother Skara Brae. Yet we are training our men and women and we're going to begin to patrol the city and its out skirts.Too be honest I find myself hanging around the bank at times too. Though we have to pull ourselves together and start getting things done.

Syrisi: *nods* No one will rob the Skara bank..that's for sure ! *grin* Skara Brae is a very busy place...the hub of activity for most groups..whether evil or good...what plans do you have to keep the fair citizens of Skara Brae occupied ?

Trunks: Well we can create monthly festivals with contests and prizes. Like a tournament for our fighters. Maybe a race for the tamers, even chicken fights if they wish it *smiles*

Special Patch and Publish info from UO.com:

It's time for the Age of Shadows patch! Remember that before Age of Shadows can work, we'll need to release both a patch and a publish. The patch will put the necessary art files and client-side files on your computer, while the publish will allow our servers to run the Age of Shadows code. Patches require a download on your part, while publishes do not.



The patch is scheduled to go live Wednesday, Feb. 5 at approximately 2:00 PM CST (you can find more info below on what to expect from this patch). The publish will be made live on each shard on the same day UO: Age of Shadows is released in its respective territory.



Note below that most of the changes in this patch will only affect AoS-enabled servers, which means that they will only be live on servers that have received the Age of Shadows publish.



This patch contains the following: (for more information about these features, you can read about them href="http://www.uo.com/ageofshadows/">here)



Both 2D and 3D clients

• New Item Properties System (Only on AoS-enabled servers)
  
• House Customization System (Only on AoS-enabled servers)
  
• Support for Weapon Abilities System (Only on AoS-enabled servers)
  
• New Landmass: Malas (Only on AoS-enabled servers, and only for AoS-upgraded customers)
  
• Necromancy System (Only on AoS-enabled servers, and only for AoS-upgraded customers)
  
• Chivalry System (Only on AoS-enabled servers, and only for AoS-upgraded customers)
  
• New Monsters (Only on AoS-enabled servers, and only for AoS-upgraded
  customers)
  
• New Localization Data Format (On ALL servers)
  

Last night the Coven of the Secret Shadow under the leadership of Priestess Ariyana Sune, had their ceremony for kicking off new ranks within the guild. The ceremony was to celebrate the advancement of Avalon, Kane,Drakmathus and Aj as they accepted their leadership roles. They each now lead a sect based on the Tower positions, they are; Avalon, representing the Eastern Tower and the Element of Air. Drakmathus, representing the Southern Tower and the Element of Fire. Kane, Representing the Western Tower and the element of Water. Aj, representing the Northern Tower and the Element of Earth.
The Priestess Sune also appointed an assistant Guildmaster. Congratulations Demitrathel as well as the others on your advancement in the Coven !

Hail, Citizens of Britannia,

Just a reminder that this eve is a Private meeting of the High Council, and according to our newly ratified amendment to the Royal Charter, the first meeting of each month shall be held in a private location. Thus, the public will be let know via meeting minutes of the events of such meeting. For any Counselors and Ambassadors and so forth, please stop by the Council's Private Chambers to learn of the location of the meeting.

The next Public Meeting of the High Council will be the 32nd Meeting, and will take place on Sunday, February 9, 2003 at 6:00 PM CST in the North Dining Room of Castle Britain. The public is invited to attend this meeting, and time will be granted prior to the close of the meeting for item to be brought forth by the public.

Thank you,


Ra'Dian Fl'Gith
Chancellor of Virtue
High Council of Britannia

A very special guest article from Arcadian Del Sol (arcadian@arcadiandelsol.com):

It was as cold saturday morning in January when the crew for STS-88 boarded what would become the final journey of the Space Shuttle Challenger. They would not return home.

Today, this morning, our nation and our world struggles to make sense of the news that only four days after the 17th anniversary of this sad day, it has come again.

In 1986, the heart-breaking task of commemorating the loss of the Challenger crew fell to President Ronald Reagan. He would confess later that it was the hardest moment of his entire two-term Presidential career. How do you heal a hurt felt by a nation, and shared by an entire world? After an embrace with members of the families, he paused to gather his emotions, and offered the following.

"The future is not free; the story of all human progress is one of a struggle against all odds. We learned again that this America was built on heroism and noble sacrifice. It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty."

All of human history has been a pilgrimage for truth. We are a species that questions everything, and seeks to explain what cannot be exlplained. This quest has taken us across unknown oceans to catalog undiscovered continents. Our unquenchable thirst to pioneer the murky darkness made families leave their homes to carve out new colonies in hostile landscapes, to dive to the belly of the oceans, and to fly beyond our planet - all without a second thought to the certain and immediate peril, the fact that such efforts were practically suicidal endeavors was dismissed as silly paranoia. And yet we continue to risk life and health in selfless efforts to propell our quest for truth, this tome of human history, to the next chapter.

Today, we lost seven explorers. Isreal has lost its first astronaut. The loss is unbearable, and the grief is strong - and as we as a species struggle to find an acceptable justification, I can only offer to you the tragically futile words Ronald Reagan offered to the families of STS-88 in January of 1986.

The future is not free, and the debt is most often paid by our bravest and strongest. And in their sacrifice, they achieve something that surpasses bravery and strength - they have slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God - and have become our noblest.

When time judges the whole of human achievement, and when history documents this century and the last, it will not be marked by great achievements in medicine, or agriculture, or even in space flight. It will be remembered in the names of our noblest martyrs; names like Scobee, Resnick, Onizuka will dot the timeline of our great quest for answers and explanations. And this day will be remembered not as a day where we learned how preciously vulnerable the re-entry into our atomosphere actually is - but will be known as the day that seven pioneers, on behalf of humanity, reached out into the unknown and touched the face of God.

With reluctance, we surrender them up.

You probably knew it better as USS Columbia, the 24 year old American Spacecraft.

Get the Scoop here