First off, thanks to Naka for suggesting folks write these! There are a lot of old-folks still rattling around who had an impact on Solclaim and it's great to hear their stories.

I've never been much for talking about myself publicly, but Naka's been threatening to log back in and herring the mansion if I don't put something together here!

My introduction to AC was in late beta. The interactive aspects of an MMO just really grabbed me and I quickly made friends and began looking forward to logging in and running amuck with them. I think my character was probably only 15 when the all hell broke loose in that beta-world, but I was hooked and couldn't wait for release. We ran out and got the box the first day.

I actually started on Frostfell with a character named Sua'dela. She was the 'Self-proclaimed Muse of Bad Poetry' and spent most of her time with Bortin the artist (he did *wonderful* ASCII-art renditions of Dereth's less friendly members of the population). Sua's works can still be found today on my web-site, and I have a full set of Bortin's early works stored away in her packs. :)

When Solclaim came about, some friends suggested that we move over there and start a monarchy. I wasn't much into being a part of a monarchy, but it sounded like fun and the suggestion was made by the person I am most fond of in real life, sooooo off I went to the new server! The guys had suggested we base the monarchy on The Knights Who Say Ni! of Monty Python fame and it sounded like fun to RP it a bit, so Dingo was created. (As was her bad, evil sister Zoot- Ni's character.) My official capacity was as quest-mistress, and this was in the days when re-spawns on things like major atlan stones were 15 minutes, thus many rousing choruses of D-I-N-G-O were sung- much to my chagrin. (On an unrelated note: It must have taken me 3 months to figure out why people kept saying 'A Dingo ate my baby!!!' to me...) Beyond my role-playing experiences on Frostfell, those early days on Solclaim are undoubtedly my best memories of AC. The camaraderie our group experienced early on in figuring out how to get through those old dungeons alive before everyone knew all the tricks and had the skill-sets we all do now was huge fun. I am blessed that many of those old personalities are still kicking about! To name just a few of our early guild members: Tim the Enchanter, Z'athros, (both co-monarchs), Mercucio, Theala, Adi (Cindril), Random Nemesis, Danilo Thann, Rob the Helpless, Mark the Target, Kuma, Farakan, Star Storm, Wolf the Strong, Lothar the Protector, & Frisium Smith. Much time was also spent with Shaharidan & the Fiddler's Green, Aryanna, Hazridi, Basha, and Nature & the Starshadow crew. There are so many others whom it's been far too long since I have seen! Every once and a while an old name pops back up that brings back great memories and it's always a pleasure!

By far, the most memorable questing experience I have was the frustration and thrill of learning Aerlinthe the hard way. This was back before corpse recovery by a fellowship member was possible and we all had a half-a-pack of D notes along in case we died. An all night struggle would end in failure, and we'd come back the next day and Nature's body (ies) would still be strewn all over the island as it was not much traveled. Nearly a months-worth of efforts later, we had our first success, and the quest became a weekly thing for well over a year after. The members of that crew got countless people their scrolls, as Shaharidan & crew (a Fiddler's Green/Starshadow/Ni team) lead a weekly quest on a different night than I did.

This was when the quest was truly in its heyday, and as time passed, literally everyone it seemed was running it. Clashes ensued. I learned of an effort to organize things, headed up by Uncas & Drixx on their forums. (Ja'afar al-Saladin had a part in my understanding with the original idea, as did other old-schoolers- Nakamuro & Zeral were there!) Due to the needs of our guild to run this quest regularly, and our desire to: a) avoid the hassle of getting run into/jumped after a long setup process, and b) cooperate with other members of the server, I signed up and got involved. Interest in the quest was exploding, and it quickly became apparent that the boards needed more organization than just a forum-type set up, so I got more involved, and compiled and maintained a list of quests which were being run regularly to help folks trying to figure out when they could schedule something. Incredibly, (perhaps not when you recognize this was *the* big quest goal back then) interest continued to boom. The quest timer was a significant source of difficulty, as it created a situation in which you could only run the quest once every 4 hours. Younger monarchies that wanted to learn the quest or were just starting to be able to run it screamed when they got to the Aerlinthe forums and saw that the older groups (Ni included) were running weekly quests and they couldn't find a spot. Change was called for in order to be fair to all of the groups wanting to do the quest.

This led to the effort which I consider my involvement in to be one of my greatest achievements on Solclaim, and is a huge part of Solclaim's history: The revised Aerlinthe Calendar. The effort itself can hardly be attributed to a single person- it was being a part of it that was such an enriching (if infuriating at times) experience. What was so impressive about it to me was the level of cooperation a large group of people (the community of Solclaim itself) endeavored towards in a game they played in their free-time. There was a huge amount of controversy surrounding the Aerlinthe quest and scheduling. The majority of folks posting on VN wanted to cooperate, and wanted a way to avoid bumping into each other and screwing each other up. Then you had the groups that had only their own self-interests at heart and refused to participate in such an effort. Much drama ensued. Those of us that got involved to help got to stand right in the middle of it all. Needless to say, everyone tried really hard- even those unsupportive of the effort, making Solclaim's attempt at organization surrounding this quest one of the most successful (so I hear) of similar efforts made on any server. I still have a list of the nearly 150 monarchs/guild representatives that signed up for the calendar system Dezran Rogue set up for folks to post their quests on. Those who directly worked on this effort were: Constantine, Dezran Rogue, Jena, Kid Kodiak (Taranis al-Sidhe), Sienna the Brave, Suzette, Wolf the Strong, & I. (Dezran did the calendar, and & I set up the forums.) Just to give you an idea of what these people donated to the community- I spent no less than an hour a day (probably more) while the calendar was in heavy-usage on this project. There were so many other names involved in getting the revised calendar motivated... Laris Bloodsong, Audra Braveheart... and countless others who spoke up and offered their comments and support whom I am forgetting unjustly here and who I hope will accept my apologies on that account as their voices were no less important! Fortunately, as folks began to get their scroll-needs met things started to calm down, and Turbine (don't ever tell me the devs don't listen to player concerns) got the quest fixed such that the calendar became obsolete. I hold to this day that everyone involved on *any* level with the original and revised calendar effort deserves a huge congratulations for being a part of it. It was a truly incredible effort to have been a part of.

With the Aerlinthe calendar days in the past, I was really allowed to focus on the guild, and we've had a better run than I think any of us ever expected. This is the other great personal accomplishment I've realized while playing on Solclaim: Being a part of The Knights Who Say Ni!, in all kinds of weather. I have learned more about people and in a sense politics than I could have dreamed would have been possible as part of a video-game community. I am most proud and blessed to have made such incredible friends, many of whom have been there to see it all, and have become real-life friends. You can't do better than that kind of loyalty and commitment to each other, and we just keep meeting new, neat folks!!

The highlight of my really active AC Ni-years was leading a weekly quest for two years straight (nearly) uninterrupted. (Gah, not the focusing stone, again!!!) Our little quest leaving from the Glenden Wood lifestone went from a few attendees to nearly 30 guild members at times when we ran more popular quests. This was a lot of fun, and allowed me to touch the lives of a lot of people, however remotely. I'm really pleased to have been a part of it and grateful that folks took such an interest! (Especially grateful to my right hands such as Sangre Fria & J'ordvik, and all of those wonderful vassals and friends who showed up weekly whose mere presence was more appreciated than they know... thanks Tangie, Leska, Suhl-tan, Fizzi, etc., etc.!!)

In my time in Ni, I've watched our little group of friends swell to 3000 members, and drop back to a more manageable 1500 as many of us became less active and folks moved on. Ni and I retired from Solclaim, and now Tai'shar heads up the Solclaim AC group which is still quite alive and kicking after all these years, and is one of the oldest and best respected monarchies on the server. People have come, and people have gone. I've enjoyed nearly all of them during their stay with very few exceptions. (Beasty managed to sneak in once and was quickly booted!) I've watched my ideas be used by other guilds successfully and am proud and honored that it is so. I am excited to see our guild branching out to new games and to be a part of that. Ni now has a presence in Star Wars Galaxies (I got to help build one of the first player cities on the Kauri server with that bunch), and in City of Heros... and because AC is the addiction that it is, Ni & I have both come back for a new start on Verdantine where we are running into many old friends, finding many new ones, and having a blast! I know it is a safe bet to look forward to building many more memories with our members from all games! See you in Dereth!

Awi'tch