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 .............._______
 ............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES
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 .........../      /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____
 ........../      /...../     /./     \.../     /./     \...../    \
 ........./      /...../  ___/./  ____/../  ___/./  __   \.../  /\  \
 ......../      /...../  /_.../  /....../  /_.../  /..\   >./  /./  /
 ......./      /...../  __/../  /____../  __/../  /.../  /./  /./  /
 ....../      /_____/__/__../  \_\  /./  /__../  /.../  /./  /_/  /
 ...../                / /./       /./     /./  /.../  /./       /
 ..../                /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD
 .../________________/      running on         mud.legendmud.org 9999

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http://www.legendmud.org/                       ftp://ftp.legendmud.org/pub
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
VOLUME NINE, NUMBER FIFTEEN                                  April 13, 2002
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                          TABLE OF CONTENTS

                          The Editor's Note

                        NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES
                          Calendar of Events

                         A Gathering of the Clans
                            Recent Updates
                           Recent Q&A Topics
                    DID YOU KNOW: OPTIONS & CONFIGURE

                              LEGENDITES
                            Announcements
                              Clan News
                    Sweet dreams are made of this...
                          Rise of the Champion
                       The Price of Knowledge
               A Cobbler's Dabble: The Lost Dabblements
                               Imagine
___                                                                   ___
\  |-----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                        The Editor's Note                        |__\
   '-----------------------------------------------------------------'

I know it's been a rough week for players. It's been a rough week for
everyone, but especially the coders as they've scrambled to diagnose, fix
and install those fixes to keep the server from crashing every time we
turn around. Thanks to everyone who has been so understanding and
forgiving as we try to work through the problems.

I've heard various people asking, 'Why don't they just LOOK at the code
and fix it?!?' Ahh... if it were only that simple. The mud code notifies
the coders when a crash occurs and sends along a snapshot of the info it
had at the time it crashed. So it's not for a lack of looking or trying.

The bad news is that with memory bugs, the problems start well before the
crash happens so that the information from when it crashed isn't always
useful in telling where the problem started. So you end up chasing
symptoms instead of being able to diagnose and treat the disease directly.

The good news is that in spite of this, the coders (mostly Snapper,
*cheer*!) have managed to squish around 15 fatal bugs since the 5th. And
as a result our uptime is increasing again. We experienced a backslide
yesterday when one of the fixes got undone by the weekly code update, but
that's back in place again as well.

I've also heard several suggestions of "Why don't they just shut down for
a couple of hours until they can get it fixed?!!?"

Another unfortunate aspect of memory bugs is that unless you're stressing
the memory used and poking and prodding a lot of different functions
repeatedly as happens with a normal load of players online, they don't
tend to surface. So a coder off running a testmud for several hours may
never experience the same problems the running mud does with active
players going about their normal actions. If and when problems show up on
a testmud, we do try fix them before they can get to the running code, but
it's nearly impossible for one person at a time to duplicate the load and
range of actions that come with a full running mud with players on it.

If you haven't read Ea!'s post "A Note on the Recent Crashes" from the
11th on the welcome board, please do so. It probably explains some of this
better than I've done.

The other news is that LadyAce should be getting her new DSL line
installed today, so as soon as we have details on moving the machine to
that, we'll pass those along to you.

-Kaige
___                                                                   ___
\  |-----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                   LegendMUD Calendar of Events                  |__\
   '-----------------------------------------------------------------'
            [All times are system time unless otherwise specified]
   
                April 2002                   May 2002
          S  M Tu  W Th  F  S         Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
             1  2  3  4  5  6                   1  2  3  4
          7  8  9 10 11 12 13          5  6  7  8  9 10 11
         14 15 16 17 18 19 20         12 13 14 15 16 17 18  
         21 22 23 24 25 26 27         19 20 21 22 23 24 25
                                      26 27 28 29 30 31
  
Saturday,  April    13th   9:00 pm           Jiriki & Chahira's Wedding  
Wednesday, April    17th   9:00 pm           Cooking Contest
Thursday,  April    18th   6:00 pm           Q & A in the OOC Auditorium
Wednesday, April    24th   9:00 pm           Randomized Limericks Contest
Thursday,  April    25th   6:00 pm           Q & A in the OOC Auditorium
Friday,    April    26th  11:59 pm           PK Tourney Registr. Deadline 
 
Saturday,  May       4th   6:00 pm           Gathering of Clan Pk Tourney

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Just a reminder that due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, we have
to postone our wedding until Saturday the 13th at the same time and
place...our sinceriest apologies to those who took time to make it. These
things do happen, and we will just have to change the date a little
-chuckle-

- Jiriki and Cahira

___                                                                   ___
\  |-----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                     A Gathering of the Clans                    |__\
   '-----------------------------------------------------------------'

On May 4th, 2002, a clan pkill tournament will be held.  All aspiring
pk'ers are welcome. The theme is clan warfare and the teams (of 3 members
each) should be drawn from among the ranks of your respective clans. 
Divisions will be set up as follows:

                    Featherweight:      levels 10 - 20
                    Lightweight:        levels 21 - 30
                    Middleweight:       levels 31 - 40
                    Heavyweight:        levels 41 - 50

Registration will be held for the next two weeks (deadline: midnight April
26, 2002).  To enter please mudmail me the following :

       - team name
       - the names of the three team members
       - each member's level
       - approximate level each member will be at the entry deadline

The tournament will be held Saturday, May 4th, at 6pm system time (7pm
eastern).

Hope to see you all there!

-Natalia

___                                                                   ___
\  |-----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                          Recent Updates                         |__\
   '-----------------------------------------------------------------'

    /\                         CODE UPDATES
   /  \     
  /    \    MISC CHANGES
 /_    _\     o 40*send no longer works (mail must be sent one at a time)
   |  |     BUG FIXES    
   |  |       o Calming oneself while not fighting no longer stops the
   |  |         affects of item-caused rage
   |__|     TYPO FIXES
    /\        o "challneges" fixed
   /  \       o Line break added before the farewell message
  /    \    
 /_    _\   
   |  |                        HELP FILE UPDATES  
   |  |     
   |  |     The following helpfiles were recently added or updated:
   |__|     
    /\          General Info: COOKING-CONTEST, HEALING BALM, HERBALISM, 
   /  \                       HOUSING, LANGUAGE, RANDOMIZED-LIMERICKS, 
  /    \                      REDEEM, TROPHY, WIZINVIS
 /_    _\   
   |  |     Thanks to all the players & imms who assisted in this update! 
   |  |     
   |  |     
   |__|                          AREA UPDATES 
    /\      
   /  \     If you want to suggest specific improvements or new additions  
  /    \    to existing areas please don't hesitate to submit them with
 /_    _\   the idea/bug/typo commands or drop mudmail to the builder
   |  |     responsible for the area (check AREAINFO to find out!)
   |  |     
   |  |                       Installed Area Updates
   |__|     
    /\      BENGAL  
   /  \          If the animal handler's not in his usual spot, fixes the
  /    \         handler disappearing for no reason and he'll return there
 /_    _\        if he's not fighting.
   |  |     CELTIC IRELAND
   |  |          Be careful with the angry sidhe--he does more damage now.
   |  |          Various bugs and typos fixed.
   |__|     THE CRUSADES
    /\           The mobs that assist realize they're not defending their
   /  \          homeland and will return more often.
  /    \    MELBOURNE
 /_    _\        Shouldn't see so many well-crafted punts piling up these
   |  |          days. Various bugs and typos fixed.
   |  |     PORT OF LONDON
   |  |          Big Jim Southland tweaked slightly.
   |__|     ROMAN BRITAIN
    /\           The wench now flounces away from the drunks properly.
   /  \     ST DENIS ABBEY
  /    \         The Almsgiving Room should be working again.
 /_    _\   SEONI JUNGLE
   |  |          Tweaked the apes some.
   |  |     SHERWOOD
   |  |          Tweaked the black knight some be careful. The quivers
   |__|          there now newstyle and will only hold arrows and crossbow
    /\           bolts (which will now go in all newstyle quivers also). 
   /  \          Various bugs and typos fixed.
  /    \    ABORIGINAL DREAMTIME, ANCIENT GREECE, ARABIAN NIGHTS, AZTECS,
 /_    _\   GYPSY CARNIVAL, LEGENDS OF THE PAST, and TORTUGA
   |  |          Various bugs and typos fixed.
   |  |     
   |  |                    In Progress Area Updates 
   |__|     
    /\      This section is intended to let everyone know what builders 
   /  \     are working on behind the scenes. It is not a perfect record
  /    \    of progress as all builders will not make updates every week.
 /_    _\   Players badgering builders about progress or a perceived lack
   |  |     thereof will be flogged. Remember, the longer spent answering
   |  |     questions, the longer the project takes to complete.
   |  |     
   |__|             Kae          Larderello (Dante's Hell)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  _______   ____    _______
 /  ___  \ / __ \  /  ___  \  Logs of Q&A sessions are available on the
 | /   \ | \ \/ /  | /   \ |  web pages for those who are unable to attend
 | |   | |  \  /   | \___/ |  or had to leave early. The most recent ones
 | |   | |  /  \/\ |  ___  |  are listed on the sitemap page or you can
 | | /\| | / /\  / | /   \ |  get a complete list on the Q&A index page
 | \_\ \ | \ \/  \ | \   / |  at the url below.
  \___\/_/  \__/\/ \_/   \_|

     http://www.legendmud.org/Community/lectures/QandA/QA_index.html

                              RECENT TOPICS

 o How do you become an Imm?         o Changes to Housing Costs?
 o Learning Spells?                  o Timing of Autorenting?
 o Redeem/Pretitle Reimb?            o Crashes: STOP THEM! Please?
 o Reimbs/Overrent/Housing Bug?      o Bug with Deposit & Currency?
 o Vehicles like Carts & Wagons?     o Why are mundane items so pricey?
 o Help Files for New Positions?     o Archiving a House?
 o Importance of Position?           o MudMail to Whole Clan at Once?
 o Events Schedule?                  o Zmud & MCCP Help?
 o What Does Wizlocked Mean?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
   _____       
  /  _  \   DID YOU KNOW: Tips and tricks and little-used features
 /__/ \  \  
      /  /  Ever feel that the way the mud sent things to you just wasn't
     /  /   as nice or as efficient as it could be? Ever found yourself 
    /__/    wishing the output was set up differently? Wondered if you had
    __      new mudmail waiting and didn't want to rent to find out?
   /  \     
   \__/     Then the OPTIONS and CONFIGURE commmands will be helpful ones.
   _____    
  /  _  \   OPTIONS basically shows you how many of your settings have
 /__/ \  \  been configured. It also informs you if you have new mail.
      /  /  The tags shown in this command are meant to be descriptive.
     /  /   
    /__/    CONFIGURE is the command that you use to change your settings.
    __      Most are set up as simple toggles, so typing CONFIG 
   /  \     repeatedly will turn it off and on repeatedly. The tag list
   \__/     when you type CONFIG by itself, is the 
   _____    
  /  _  \   Most of these tags have help files but a few don't still, but
 /__/ \  \  we're working on fixing that.
      /  /  
     /  /   There are a few other toggles that haven't been put into the
    /__/    OPTION/CONFIG framework, but work just by typing the command
    __      by itself: AUCTION, AUTOEXITS, BLANK, BRIEF, CHAT, GOSSIP, and
   /  \     INFO. You can also type HELP INFORMATION while online for more
   \__/     info on what commands provide you with various types of info.

  ___                                                                  ___
  \  |----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
  /__|    LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World   |__\
     '----------------------------------------------------------------'

Now that Jiriki's house had been released from it's vows the the courts,
and seeing some of the confusion his title has created, Jiriki had decided
to no longer use it in everyday life. While you will still see "As pale as
moonlight, a slender lord of the forests calmly pauses here" you will no
longer be able to refer to him as "Jiriki i-Sa'onserei". Instead, simply
"a slender lord of the forests" will be seen...

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A golden-haired woman filled with grace and serenity, wandered
purposefully down the shadowy hallway towards her chambers. She stopped
when she heard a familiar voice call out to her. 'Emry!'

The grace-filled woman turned to see MoiraGwyn hurrying down the hall
after her.

Slightly breathless from hurrying to catch up with Emrysia, MoiraGwyn took
a deep breath before continuing. 'Emrysia, I just wanted to let you know
we've decided on a candidate for the High Chancellor position.'

'Oh?' Emrysia ask, looking somewhat curious.

The Queen nodded. 'Yes, You!'

Emrysia beamed and hugged her good friend enthusiastically. 'Really?' she
asked. Queen MoiraGwyn nodded and smiled happily.

'I'll do my best to serve you well.' Emrysia said.

'I know you will.' MoiraGwyn said, 'It will be formally announced at the
opening of court, but for now... '

Queen MoiraGwyn then summoned her herald, and announced 'Let it be known
that Lady Emrysia O'Cuinn Royce is now High Chancellor of Carian Trag'

  ___                                                                  ___
  \  |----------------------------------------------------------------|  /
  /__|                         Clan News                              |__\
     '----------------------------------------------------------------'

This week, the Grendels maintained the most active members of the PK
clans. However, that doesn't appear to be saying much, as relatively few
members of all the clans combined were actively involved in pkill this
week. Only 18 PK clan members had their timer's tripped in the past week.
That's only 1 in every 5 PK clan members total. Of course, one can hope
this lull is because of the difficulties presented by the instability and
possible the oddities noted with the timestamps on roster long and not
reflective of intentions, right? *wink*

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Like seeing your name up in lights on INFO when you "bag a kill"? Take a
second and drop us a note about it here and you can see it etched a little
more permanently in Legend's history. Looking to stir up some action? Drop
us some rumors and we'll gladly spread the good-spirited ones along!

Have you witnessed any glorious or nefarious deeds? Send a short report to
us at the LT. If you are looking for a fight, recruiting, or anything else
related to the pk world, advertise with us! It's free and you get to see
your name in print! Be a celebrity, the envy of all your friends, tick off
your enemies! The possibilities are endless -- act today!!!!

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

There are currently 17 RP clans and 9 PK clans. This leaves open slots for
six (6) more clans to form. For more information, read HELP CLAN and see
the clan information list via the CLANS command while logged into the game.
For a basic handbook and reference for players interested in founding and
running a clan, visit http://www.legendmud.org/Reference/gm.html.

              _______________________
             /                       \
        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMUD?|
   (o o)     \_______________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|

                   Sweet dreams are made of this...

Nathan would never forget, as long as he lived, the look on his oldest
daughter's face as the illness squeezed the last breath from her body...
the look in her eyes screaming 'Daddy, help me' even as her lungs failed
her, while he could only sit and watch helplessly. His wife and youngest
daughter were sick too, a terrible plague sweeping through the area and
leaving entire villages dead...villages like his own.

He was one of the lucky few... those people born with whatever it took to
resist the plague. He had been sick, very sick, but he had survived, as
had a handful of others... but the village was dying.

Only a day after his oldest daughter died ('oldest' he thought bitterly...
'8 years of age isn't old enough to die...'), a wizard happened to travel
through the village. Most of the others shunned this wizard, blaming him,
or at least magic, as the root of the problem, as was the case with
anything bad that happened. As Nathan looked at this wizard, he knew the
other villagers were wrong, but he also knew that they wouldn't listen to
him... so he approached the wizard, pleading with him to save the village,
the friends and family he cared for so much. The wizard looked at him, and
in a quiet voice asked 'What would their lives be worth to you?'  His
heart sank... were the other villagers right?  He swallowed the pain and
sorrow rising in his heart and, nearly in tears, replied 'I have only my
life to offer... if that were enough, I would give it... I don't want my
family to die!'

Again the wizard looked him over, and his hopes begain to die within him,
when the wizard spoke again 'That is a very high price. If you are willing
to pay it, I will help your village.'

Confused and afraid, Nathan nodded, and the wizard set about his
preparations. The process was long, complicated, and entirely
incomprehensible to Nathan, but the wizard seemed to know what he was
doing, so Nathan waited and watched.

By morning, the most ill of the villagers were recovering swiftly, and
Nathan's wife and daugher were getting better by the hour.

The wizard called Nathan to him. 'It is time for us to leave... I have
healed your village. Now you must come with me, for you have given your
life to me for this, and you cannot remain here now.' For a moment, Nathan
was torn... his family was getting better, he had so much to leave behind
now... but he knew he couldn't refuse to go. So, while his family was
asleep, he quietly packed some clothes and left the village with the
wizard. Days passed as they traveled, with the wizard explaining that,
until he had reached the village Nathan had lived in, he hadn't realized
how bad the plague was, and that he had decided to do what he could to
slow its advance and protect those not already hit by it when they reached
his tower. Nathan didn't know what to say to this, so he remained quiet,
not daring to offend this man who had cured in a matter of hours an
illness that took weeks to recover from, if you lived through it at all.

                         ...to be continued...

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                          Rise of the Champion

A boy opens his eyes...
No one is around, the boy is alone once more...
'He Who Stands Here Alone, Stands Always Alone'
Thus the words that seal a boy to what he will be as a man...
He glances around...
Memories flash through his mind like rabbits through long grass... Only
slight flashes of visibility and never clear enough to touch...
Reaching over his shoulder, he traces the scars of a word...
'Sinner'
His face twists in pain of memories...
Then he remembers the voice... Opening his mouth, these words issue
forth...
'I AM NOCH, BUT WHOM DO I SERVE??'
In a voice that is not his own.
'My voice...'
A deep rumbling voice speaks his words...
He looks to his hands...
Huge... The size of platters...
Glancing all over his body he realises it is not someone else's voice but
his own...
His own as a man...
No boy stands here now, only a full grown man, a _very_ large man...
Slowly memories of growing up in Kleinstadt return to him, He imagins he
had a mother and father but when he looks for there faces only a fond
memory of nothing is there...
'Whoa Whoa Whoa... Julius and Cleopatra! Look at the size of him paw!'
A wagon rolls up and past, the passengers all steering directly at him the
whole time, jaws agape like your average contry rednecks...
'Ave, big fella you look a little lost?'
'I... uh... I... Where am I? Am I near Klien?'
In a vague attempt at being secretive, the son whispers to the father...
'Watch out dad I think he must be crazy, like the old woman in town...'
'I AM NOT CRAZY, YOU TWIT... I'm just a little lost, if you could please
direct me to the nearest city and tell me what day it is, I will be on my
way.'
The father glances at him and replies, 'Well you are big, but you don't
look none too crazy... Just dressed a little funny... Just head north from
here and turn west at the next intersection, can't miss the place... Muddy
little hole, but if ya buy a boat you can move on to Tara accross the
way... Much nicer there... Gotta watch out for them Celts though, they can
be mighty boistruss, but you look like you can handle yourself...'
'And the day?'
'Ohhh Ohh... I though ye was jokin' about that, heh, why it's Saturday of
course, Saturday the 12th o' March... Year 300.'
'Uh, Wha, Uh? 300? uh...'
Calming his features, he sets his chiseled jaw in a determined fassion,
'Thank you, good sir... May you and your family have a safe journey...'
and after a moments thought 'And may the blessings of the lost god go with
you...'
'Uh, Yeah you too feller... Ave.'
The father looks to the boy and wispers, 'Let's get outta here boy, I
think he might just be crazy...'
Noch shakes his head in exasperation, waves them off and looks north...
'On to Tara then, let us go visit these Celts...'

               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                       The Price of Knowledge

The Mohawk Clan holds numerous secrets, many of which they will not
divulge to any except their closest friends. But it is well known that
they have produced many a fine warrior, mostly for defense against the
'evil' white men who dare to venture into their enormous longhouse and
bribe their chief, who had a weakness for tobacco smoked in a pipe.

Hah-Gweh-Di-Yu was the Chief of this fine clan and smoking the peace pipe
was something he liked to partake of several times a day, feeling it would
ward off the evil war spirits threatening his tiny community.

Ahhh, but this story is not meant to be about him. This story deals with
one so very close to him, one who may walk in his father's footsteps. Yes,
the one I speak of is Perigriene, the son of Hah-Gweh-Di-Yu.

Perigriene was born under a waxing summer moon and the tribe's elder had
bathed the newborn in the blood of a great hunting hawk. The hawk had been
caught raiding the hunters' traps and slain in the hope that his great
spirit would infuse that of the small babe.

Growing up in the village, Perigriene got to see many aspects of tribal
life. Some days, he would sit by his mother's side and watch intently as
she taught the young girls to cure and tan animal hides for the purpose of
becoming moccasins, blankets, packs, jerkins, and even tethers.

Other times, Perigriene would follow the hunters deep into the forests
around the village. Perigriene was much too young to go on a hunt, but his
curiosity always got the best of him, and he would sneak after them. 

On one of these particular 'snoops', he stumbled across a beautiful plant
-- a single flower, growing on a single stem. Perigriene had seen these
particular flowers ingested by the village elder and it was believed that
the flower linked him to the spirit world. Curiosity got the better of the
young boy. He plucked the flower from its thorny stem and began removing
the petals from the flower head. After he had removed nine petals from the
flower head, he placed them in the small pouch he wore at his belt and
tossed the flower head to the forest floor.

Thus, Perigriene began to take an interest not in hunting animals, but in
collecting plants and flowers. The boy was almost positive that none of
the squaws ventured quite so deep into the forest to harvest for the elder
and by following the men out to hunt he had learned the many trails that
led back to the village.

Perigriene soon had a collection of flowers and plants to rival that of
the village elder, Gym-ngy. Many of the plants, the boy had never seen
before and was afraid to use them himself for fear of poisoning. He was no
idiot and knew that certain plants were not to be eaten.

Perigriene realized he could do nothing with these herbs if he knew
nothing about them or their uses. This realization gave him the courage to
approach the elder to see if he would teach him the ways of the plants. At
first, the elder was very hesitant to show any kind of 'magic' to the
chief's son, who was destined to be a great hunter and warrior.

Perigriene persisted and decided to show the elder his collection of
plants. The elder was amazed at the variety of plants and knew that the
boy displayed a braveness about him that could be rivaled by no other.
After all, the forests around the village were wrought will peril and this
young boy ignored them in pursuit of knowledge, and no doubt, power.

This peaked the elder's curiosity about the boy and he told him that if he
came every day, he would teach him about the plants he found. Perigriene
was overjoyed at this. No longer did he need to go watch his mother and
the boring squaws jibber jabber as they tanned yet another hide. He felt
he had purpose suddenly.

Faithfully, Perigriene visited the elder every morning and began to learn
the uses, names, and dangers of the plants he had gathered. Soon, the
elder was confident enough to make lists of plants he needed and send
Perigriene out to search for them. This fueled the boy's thirst for
knowledge and also let the old man rest. Not that Perigriene always went
by himself, as upon many a journey the elder would accompany him into the
forest and point out things as they walked.

However, this did not please Perigriene's mother, a suspicious old squaw,
named Yemma. She did not care for the wiles of the elder and she believed
Perigriene was destined to become a great warrior. She did not want that
old foolish man, Gym-ngy, spoiling that. She knew, given the chance, he
would teach young Perigriene as he had already lost 3 sons to the cold of
winter and his hopes of another were all but dashed by old age.

One day as she saw the two leaving the village together, she had her
brother, a cold-hearted hunter named Defrin-sha, follow them. Defrin-Sha
followed Perigriene and the elder all day and returned to confirm Yemma's
greatest fear, Gym-ngy was teaching Perigriene the ways of a shaman.

Yemma immediately went to her husband, Chief Hah-Gweh-Di-Yu, and told him
of the betrayal, adding a few things into the story to sway it more to her
side. Hah-Gweh-Di-yu was easily convinced by his squaw and he was furious
that his own elder would try to teach his warrior son how to become a
shaman. Perigriene had not a shaman bone in his body, he was meant and
born to be a great warrior.

That night, Hah-Gweh-Di-Yu confronted Gym-ngy. The elder denied teaching
shaman ways to the Chief's son. He was fully aware of the penalty of death
that would come with shamaning a potential warrior. The Chief would have
none of it and ordered his men to stake the elder on the spot. Gym-ngy's
soul screamed as the hunters went at him with their spears, puncturing his
body, viciously hacking at his until Chief Hah-Gweh-Di-Yu ordered them
away. Gym-ngy was quite clearly dead. For betraying the Chief, he would be
left to rot inside his tightly closed tent.

                         ...to be continued...

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               A Cobbler's Dabble: The Lost Dabblements

---. ,----------------------------------------------._
    |                                               | |_
    |   My Dear Catherine                           | | |
    |                                               | | |
    |      I findament myself twirling my beard at  | | |
    |   thinkaments of your absence. I sigh         | | |
    |   timeament to timeament as my heart feels    | | |
    |   like bamblesteed leather, torn and          | | |
    |   poundament with the very tack hammer at my  | | |
    |   waist.                                      | | |
    |      The tall ones are more humblement than   | | |
    |   I had thinkament. I miss your cookament     | | |
    |   and findment myself eating their foodee.    | | |
    |      I longament for the day we meet again,   | | |
    |   my dear. As I breathament the air of this   | | |
    |   world, I can almost smellament the          | | |
    |   delicious scent of your fresh baked cabble  | | |
    |   deeblee pie.                                | | |
    |      I must go, for I fearament if I stay in  | | |
    |   one place for too longament I might get     | | |
    |   stomplement and flattened like a gablee     | | |
    |   gooblee!                                    | | |
    |                                               | | |
    |   --Trunks Dumplesworth, a cobbler            | | |
    |                                               | | |
--. | ,---------------------------------------------'_| |
---\|/--------------------------------------------------'
====.===================================================

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                               Imagine

Imagine this: you are a youth living in a great mountain castle.

Your father and mother are the rulers of a small kingdom nestled in a
valley in the Pyrenees in the Year of Our Lord 1519, and you are the heir
to that land. The people you will one day rule are strong and proud; they
live by the sword well enough that they rarely die by it. You have been
raised from the day of your birth to be the strongest and proudest among
them.

Then one day, your life erupts into chaos. The rhythmic tromp of soldiers'
boots still rings in your ears as warriors march past you down flickering
hallways, bearing shining battle-scythes and intentful grimaces. Shouts of
alarm from somewhere vaguely below are followed by twang of bow and clash
of blade. You make your way to the royal chamber, where your father, the
King, is no doubt making ready to mow down the fools who dare make war
upon your mighty land. But on your arrival, you are met with a scene out
of Hell.

Your great father is beaten and bloodied, and hangs with either arm
arrested by enemy soldiers. Castilians. Pacing in front of him is a wicked
apparition of a man in very fine armaments. He raves about defiance, about
unity, and why can the King not see what he is trying to accomplish? Your
redoubtable father refuses his demands, your strong and noble father. And
then--how your blood boils!--the wicked man draws his sword and runs your
father through before your eyes.

Your cry is loud, your attack lethal. But you are small and the murderer
is quick, and he sends you sprawling to the floor with a bloodied lip.
'Take the boy,' he laughs mockingly, 'I will need many pages when I am
Emperor!' As you are pushed at a run through corridor after corridor, you
glimpse the broken and burnt ruins of the kingdom you were to inherit, and
the ravaged corpses of the people you were to rule. Even then, the rage is
a white hot flame in your mind.

Many years after are spent in forced servantry to the very man who stole
everything away: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor who seeks to conquer all of
Europe. Your mother is held prisoner as well and made to serve every
gruesome desire of Charles' Flemish advisors, wearing her down until she
dies of exhaustion and despair. And through it all, two things keep you
focused and determined: the desire for brutal revenge and the knowledge
that you are strong and proud--just like your father taught you--and when
you are grown, they will all pay.

Imagine all of this; imagine the memory of all that was meant to be yours
and was ripped away, eating away at you... twisting your mind until the
rage consumes you like a cancer. Imagine it well, and you will know
something of the life of Bruson Carthine.

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