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Gazette 2003-10-01
Articles | Archives | Gazette | 2003 Gazettes | Gazette 2003-10-01
___The New Official AVATAR___________________________________
    ________                          __     __
   /  _____/ _____   ________  ____ _/  |_ _/  |_   ____
  /     ___ __    ____  /_/ __ \   __\   ___/ __ 
      _   / __ _ /    /   ___/ |  |   |  |    ___/
   ______  /(____  //_____  ___  >|__|   |__|   ___  >
          /      /       /     /                   /
__________________________________October 1, 2003____________

               ____ 
              /.--.              The Avatar Gazette
              |====|              For subscription info,
              |`::`|              read HELP GAZETTE
          .-;`..../`;_.-^-._    
   /\   /  |...::..|`  | |  `|   Produced by Angel Kenji
   |:' |   /'''::''|   | |   |   With assistance from
  @| /;-,/   ::  |=========|   Fernando (Lord alt)  
  `|| <` >  >._::_.|=========|     New Hero/Lord stats
   || `""`  /   ^^  |   | |   |   
   ||       |          | |   /     
                                 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Submissions are starting to roll in! Thanks to everyone who
has submitted a story, article or idea! The Gazette will only
get better with your input. As always, if you have any ideas,
submissions or feedback, please email me at
gazinput@outland.org

This Gazette is more what you can expect on a regular basis. 
The last couple months were a bit pressed for time, but I 
started earlier this month, and managed to put together a 
fairly decent-sized Gazette. However, I'm sill looking for 
a few players to step up and write stories, articles, any-
thing that you think would go good in YOUR Gazette. Email me
at gazinput@outland.org if you have an idea. Or just speak
to me in-game.

This month, we are fortunate to get a sneak peek at a 
novel that has been written by our very own Buntess! His 
novel should be released some time this year. Thanks for 
letting us get the first read of your novel, Buntess!

Here's what you can look forward to this month:

Latest news

The Spider and the Creeper by Buntess, from his novel,
'The Chronicles of Nevryth : Pt.1 - The Whispers of War'

New Hero / Lord Stats by Fernando (Lord Alt)

Grandfathered Items and Areas by Angel Kenji

Area Review - Enchanter's Tower by Angel Kenji

NPC Races Quest by Angel Kenji

An Interview with Gorlok by Ebnodon the Dreamer

A very personal story - Christine Hanson by Angel Kenji 

Website of the Month - Sandgroper's Avatar Mud Page

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Latest News

Per DaWiz, there are still some problems being worked out
with the Locker Code. Until further notice, all locker
commands except for RETRIEVE have been disabled. So, if you
take it out, you won't be able to put it back in!

Final preparations are being made for Ubercon II in New
Jersey. This year looks to be even bigger than Ubercon I 
was. Make your reservations now. Go to www.ubercon.com 
for more information.

We will be holding our annual Halloween quest again this 
year. Times and dates are to be announced. Watch the 
Immortal postings for more information, and get ready to
build your costumes!

Also, a sincere thanks to Angel Saavedra, who recently
retired and now wanders the realm as a Hero. Her 
contributions to the mud will never be forgotten, and her
presence here on the cloud is sorely missed.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

If you haven't already heard, our beloved Buntess has a book
that is expected to be published sometime around December of
this year. Buntess has graciously agreed to an excerpt of
his pending novel.

- exerpt from Chapter 117 "The Spider and the Creeper"
'The Chronicles of Nevryth : Pt.1 - The Whispers of War'

All across the marble foyer bodies lay scattered like so much 
debris. Some were broken and lay twisted in a bloody mess, 
while many more among them bore the violent strokes of sword 
blows and lance thrusts. Smoke curled around the arched 
doorway. It crept along the high ceiling and hung like a 
bizarre fog above the staircase. It was here that the war 
of father against son was fought the hardest. Fire had 
scorched much of the room's furnishings and had left a 
score of grizzled corpses in its wake. 

After Prince Llodra's elite shadowguard had slain most of 
the King's men, tainted elves of the unworld on the backs of 
tame war-spiders searched the castle high and low. Had 
Juranta not pursuaded King Llaryn to give the tendinomdemia 
into the Creeper's keeping, the disaster wrought by the elves 
would have been truly horrible indeed!

It was Vaalestrny that burned the place. The fustration of 
being denied his desire once again became a dark fire that 
fanned out of his body. None were spared his wrath.

Through the haze of the smoky foyer, Iveryci and the others 
stood at the entrance, all with varying expressions of shock 
and horror upon their faces. 'My god Ive!' whispered Ilse, 
'Look at this place. Those poor people!' The archer turned her 
face away from the grizzly scene, tears trickling down her 
face. Iveryci put his arms around her. Touching her chin 
gently with the tips of his fingers, he forced Ilse to look 
into his eyes. 'The prince is is a sick lad' their Captain 
said gently, 'The poison in his soul however, is much like the 
voice whispering in his ear. It is the Elves who are 
responsible for this!'

Iveryci stepped away from the woman and fixed his gaze on the 
rest of the Creeper lance. Rodaine, bloody and pained from 
his helpless vigil on the Docks when Edleril attacked, rested 
heavily against a pillar. Nearby, Durgen, struggled with 
sticky fingers to tighten bandages. 

'Vaalestryn came from the Unworld' Ive stated matter-of-
factly, 'He came back with over 200 years to harbor all of 
his black rage, with a thirst for revenge that cannot be 
sated, no matter what the price. He came back quite simply
....to kill us all'.

'What do you mean came back?' shrieked the archer, ' I didn't 
know that demons could just come and go whenever they chose. 
I thought the banishments would hold them Cap'n. I really 
did'. She nodded her head vigorously, the passion of her words 
clearly evident as she spoke. 'We've got to send him back to 
the Unworld' Ilse stammered, 'We've got to send him back 
before it's too late!'. The others nodded agreement, speaking 
all at once. In the confusion, none of the Creepers noticed 
the shadow gliding across the floor. Through the smoke. 
Towards them. 'Iveryci?'

The name was spoken in a voice shaking with vitrolic rage. He 
didn't have to look back to know it was the Villian, the Grey 
One. 'Vaalestryn' Iveryci breathed in dismay, 'Why have you 
done this?' The elf threw back his skeletal head and laughed. 
It was a throaty, menacing laugh that sent chills down the 
swordsman's back. It's time for you to go back Elf. No more 
running'. Vaalestryn gestured with the edge of his sword to 
Iveryci. 'Eager to die mortal?' he rasped, 'Or have I finally 
found the thing I seek?'. He grinned, licking the tips of his 
elongated canines. 'Do you know fool that the 'vitch, 
Cailestyn, my young protege's very sister will make a fine 
addition to the mausoleum ' croaked the elf, ' I enjoyed 
leading her brother astray but now, after I'm done killing 
you, I will raise my beloved Goddess and your world will die 
too!'.

Ive's sword sang as it sliced the air infront of the elf. Blue 
sparks rained down with Vaalestryn's brutal counterattack. The 
elf grabbed Iveryci's shoulder plate and viciously slammed his 
forehead into the captain's. Iveryci staggered back. His sword 
fumbled in his grasp. Vaalestryn grinned in delight, 'Come now 
Lord of the Creepers, you're making this far, far too easy!'.


(c) GRD - 2003


^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

New Hero and Lord Stats by Fernando - Lord Alt

Lord Additions:

20 Heroes morphed in the last four weeks. Please
congratulate the following on their success.

Adonis, Dolf, Drikas, DrStrange, Haruka, HeLiC,
Kary, Khyfa, Lilone, LordMendek, Merkin,
MightySprite, Mochi, MUNHiHAUSEN, Mystified,
Respect, Taim, Waite, Xanor, ZOB

LORD REMORTS OR REBUILDS

REMORTS: Flinn became a demonseed,
Syl became a minotaur, and BoL a troll

REBUILDS: None

DELETIONS:

There were 3 Lord deletion(s) in the last four weeks.
Take a few moments to mourn the following:

ToSsFiGhTeR   half elf  cleric
TossJr        sprite    mage
ToSsMeiSTeR   gnome     psion

May they find what they seek outside the realm.

HERO ADDITIONS:

Please congratulate 95 characters who reached Hero 13+

Afterglow, Aldebaran, Altar, Anna, Apathy, Arcaine, Archaven
Bahann, Bolek, Cadence, Calandar, Chantilly, Clinger
Darcis, Denes, Desiderio, Dirge, Drost, Dwynfor, Elyldor,
Eric, Firenze, Forseti, Fraggle, Freakasplat, Galain,
Gandir, Gannon, GIR, Glumer, Golardir, GoldenSun, Gresh,
Gruella, Gwen, Gyle, Gyphainn, Halo, Iskar, Ivory, Kaede,
Kalessin, Katya, Kestis, Koll, Korea, Kostas, Kuro,
Kweitous, Links, Llyfwyddyn, Matsuo, Meanstreak, Misti,
Odon, ORiN, Orkengash, Phoebe, Psionara, Qiladwen, Raht,
Ramuk, Rankor, Ravage, Ravyn, Refos, Roka, Rosetta, Rotag,
Runeglow, Sagen, SebThaH, Shalith, Shanti, Sibyl, Soulthief,
SpriteSnack, SPYKi, Squirt, Syl, Thok, Tolus, Torg,
Traunt, TripleBrill, Trucido, Vacuum, Valad, Vres, WaCkO,
WhiteFang, Wings, Ynnad, and Zaine

Alas, Saavedra resigned as Angel, and now wanders as a Hero.

May you all have continued success and happiness at the Hero tier.

FAILED MORPHS: Alakazam, Bjoll, Clobber, Irxyn, Maidez, Parast,
Rotten, Sever, Teyze, and Varian

HERO DELETIONS:

1 character(s) departed the realm.
Take a moment to mourn the following:

Ashen, Hero 21 troll warrior

May you find what you seek outside the realm.

This is the top ten levelers at the Hero and Lord tiers
during the last four weeks. Perhaps in four weeks, your name
will show up here too. Good luck, and level a lot the next
four weeks.

Disclaimer: If you didn't show up in the list four weeks ago,
you won't show up here. Sorry

Top 10ish Lord levelers          Top 10ish Hero levelers

Brint        59                  Brutal       531
Laurien      53                  Silvanesti   348
Briney       51                  Brayden      344
Adon         49                  Ghash        326
Solary       48                  Wolfgang     323
Mochi        45                  Isgrimner    312
Banerae      44                  MakMorn      293
MEKRiTH      41                  Zaheer       281
Flicker      40                  Osheite      280
Shahk        40                  Rafel        265



=============================================================

Grandfathered Items and Areas - by Angel Kenji

Acerus sent me an email a few weeks ago with what I thought
was a great idea. "I've always wondered about areas and 
spells that were gf'd before I started playing Avatar. 
Maybe for an article, you could compile a list of gf'd 
skills, spells, items and areas, and give a quick summary
of them."

Now, I've been on Avatar roughly three years now. I've been
an Angel for just over one year. So, there is approximately
five years in Avatar's eight year history that I cannot 
account for.

Then again, with the help of some of my Angel counterparts
and some of the most tenured players, we managed to come
up with a great list of grandfathered items. I've decided 
to start writing these up as a semi-regular article. 

Here are two grandfathered areas, and the items found there:

Just about a year ago, Crom made the decision to remove 
Cimmeria, one of his first areas he made as a builder,
and personally, one of my favorites. Crom didn't like
the area himself, but many players did.

Cimmeria was sort of like two distinct areas put together.
There was a large jungle, that had a Wolf Pict Clan 
inhabiting it. There was also an altar in the jungle, that
granted access to an underground maze. The maze was 
occupied by a group of vampires and a Cult of Set.

In Cimmeria, there was a bar. The name of the bar keep was 
Hervad, and one of the things you could buy at this bar was 
Vosh, one of the best healing potions in the game.

Object 'glass vosh drink brown' type potion, extra flags none.
Weight 10, value 5000, level 0.
Object Quality (1 / 1 hps)
Level 31 spells of: 'armor' 'bless' 'heal'.

Vosh was great for the low level, but the heavy weight 
and cost made sure that players didn't stock up on them 
by the hundreds. The closest equivalent was Dewdrops, 
found in the recently removed Midsummer's Night Dream.

There was also a bottle of Portal Cleaner, which was a 
cure poison potion. Nice weight. It was handy to carry
around in Cimmeria, as some of the snakes could poison
you. Portal Cleaner was found in a cabinet.

Red Lotus vials were another potion, found at the end 
of the underground maze. To get through the maze, you had
to fight a group of vampires. The vampires also carried
bags of gold. The Red Lotus Vials were potions of 
Protection from Evil. Also to be found were Black Lotus 
Vials, which were Cure Serious potions.

Also to be found in the maze was the Cult of Set. One 
of the items there was the Rib of Set, a +5 mana light.

At the end of the jungle area, you could find Conan the 
Destroyer. He was quite a handful to deal with if you
were solo. (I recall dying to him as a level 10 mage.)
But, his sword of Destruction, with a +3 damage bonus 
and weight 30, was great for new warriors.

Cimmeria was a great area to run in, but it was tough.
On the other hand, the Warg Alley was an easier area,
but was removed since it was stock. (For those who don't
know, stock means it was part of the original game code,
and was not created by one of our own immortals. There 
are entire libraries of stock areas available on the
internet.)

Warg Alley was a small area that you could access in
Solace. Wargs were large, nasty dog-like creatures. 
If I recall correctly, many of them were aggressive, 
and they all assisted. The wargs were lead by Mistress
Warg and a Warg Trainer. Between Mistress Warg and 
the Warg Trainer, they had some excellent gear for 
low levels. It was all 'Studded Leather' gear. Each 
item was -1 AC, and generally all around base 2 or 3
armor class gear. But, each item had a bonus, mostly 
to a stat, that was very nice.

The gloves and sleeves were +1 strength, as was the 
shield. The boots were +1 dexterity. The skirt was 
+1 wisdom. The helmet was +1 intelligence. The vest 
was -1 save vs. spell, and the cloak and belt were 
+1 constitution.

Between these nine items, and being able to wear a 
pair of cloaks, you could almost max out your 
character in level gear.

That about does it for the first two areas. For the
next Gazette, I'll try to write up the old Tolkien-
esque areas like the Shire, Rivendell, etc.


()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Area Review - Enchanter's Tower - by Angel Kenji

This area is a nice challenge for a new player
or even for a returning player who has chosen 
to create a new character without the help of
his hero or lord alts (gathering gear, getting
spellups from friends, etc.) As you enter the
tower, there are a few aggies to deal with, 
not to mention the occasional assisting mob.

To make things worse, the tower is home to 
the Enchanter, a wrinkled old mage who happens
to be a corpse animator! That's right. At the
tender young age of a level 4 character, you 
can die to the Enchanter, and your corpse 
will become a zombie under his command. And, 
if you didn't already know it, all animated
corpses in the game are approximately level
30. So, if you see an animated corpse in this
area (even mob corpses) it would be prudent 
not to attack it.

Best part of this area is the gear to be 
found here. For an adventurer looking to 
equip his new character, this area is 
definitely one that he will have to run 
through. There are a few good items for hitters,
a good suit of armor, and even a +mana item.

This is definitely a good area to run through,
and one I recommend to every new player to
orient themselves to the joy of aggie mobs and
get some great starting equipment.


Ascii Art from the web: Enchanter's Tower

                               ._-_.
                                |_-_(
                                I
                               /_ ___
                       ._-_.   |,|/   
                       |_-_(   | /_____       ._-_.
                       I        | u  -| _     |_-_(
                      /     -_-_-_-_--|/     I
                     /___   ._._._./-|___  / 
                     |_u |    |_   _| -| u_| /___
                     |_-_-_-_-_-  U_| -|  _| | u_|
                     |_._._._./   _|-_-_-_-_-_-_|
                      _|-   -|    _|    ..   -|_|
                       |-   U|    _| U  ++  U-|/
                        |U   -|  U _|   ____  -|
                        |- _ -|    _|  /|-|- -|
                        |-/#-|    _|  |-|-|| -|
                    ,___|_MEB_|-----'__I|-|-I__|__,
                 ._/ /                 ____/      ,
                /                     ```        ,
               (__   _                 |'''|         L_,
               /   ./ /                  ```       /  _
              |   /  /                   |'''|       ,   |
              /  (                       ```       /  _/ 
             /_                           |'''|           _,|
            |                                                
                           -Valkyrie-

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

NPC Races Quest - by Angel Kenji

Last week, several Angels were standing around on Nimbus, 
and we started speaking about the various NPC races in
Avatar. One of the most famous is Merman (Mer), which 
Immortal Merck is listed as.

This in turn, lead to a quest on board 3, where I asked
players to come up with as many NPC races as they could
think of. The prize was an Angel Bless on an alt of 
their choosing. Both Zabaduba and Khad came up with 15
NPC races.  I'll give you the three letter abbreviation
and you can come up with the race. Let's see how you can 
do:

Ani, Avi, Cyb, Dem, Dev, Ele, Ent, Fun, Gho, Gol, Gth,
Ins, Mer, Mir and Mob.

Answers will appear at the end of this Gazette.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

-------------------------------------------------------
----- Interview With ----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
-----     Gorlok     -------- A role-play interview, --
----------------------------- By Ebnodon the Dreamer --


Hello everyone!  This is "Interview With." An 'in-character' 
interview with people of Avatar MUD.

This month, we go in search of answers about Gorlok.  He was 
more than happy to give us the interview!  I did have to cut 
some of what he said; else we’d have to get a special edition 
of the Gazette just for him because his answers were soooooo 
long :)

Enjoy the reading!

Ebnodon the Dreamer

Q: Full Name
A: Gorlok Ironclaw of the Smelly Tribe.

Q: How old are you?
A: 277 Years old, 520 hours old.


Q: Your race and class?
A: Troll Warrior.

Q: If I could grant you one wish, what would it be?
A: A big tuna sandwich :D

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Black.

Q: If you could create the ultimate weapon, what would it be 
called?
A: A HERRING!

Q: What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
A: It all started back in 1985.... (1 hour later) And that is 
the day when I got to play Monkey Island.

Q: Do you think clans have a real place on this mud? Please 
explain.
A: Not clans, I see them more as "guilds", since for me 
clans always been a pack of people either going for a) 
power b) destruction (or in other words pkilling) the "clans" 
on this mud aren't the same as on other muds, for one reason 
there’s no competition. Since this is a Family mud, But as 
example. The clan I’m in, 'The ringbearers'. Were a pack of 
people having fun, running around, doing quest. A family guild. 
We’re not doing anyone harm. People who aren't in the clan are 
mostly not on our stuff. Except for xp runs.

Q: What is your favorite war cry?
A: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" That’s trollish :P But "AAChooo!" was my 
favorite, since I’ve been sick lately :P

Q: What is your favorite meal?
A: Sprites *munches on Ebnodon’s arm*
*Ebnodon starts to scream and attempts to flee!*

Q: Please tell us about one of your worst nightmare.
A: Well...It was a dark night and I was hunting, and then 
I got color spammed!

Q: What is the thing you like the most about this MUD.
A: The thing I like about this mud is the soloing part. 
Many people think it’s the most boring thing in the world 
but I am kind of old school and that’s how I like it some-
times and I like the thought, sure you group but I like to 
do it my own way.

Q: What is the thing you dislike the most about this mud.
A: One of the things I really dislike is the way the imms
have not been strict enough with the name policy.

Q: What do you think about the areas changes?
A: To be honest I don’t believe in areas being just thrown 
away. You keep them, maybe change them but this is the 
first mud I’ve seen that 'erases areas' and I frankly 
don’t like it.

Q: A few last words for our audience?
A: If you got time, read all help files.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Christine Hanson

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Warning: The next story is not Avatar related, and is instead
a personal story about me. It is a bit of a downer, as it 
relates and refreshes details of the September 11, 2001 
attacks on the United States.

I want to share a story with each of you. This is not a story
from Angel Kenji. This is a story from Matt, the man behind
Kenji. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, in the southwest part of
the United States.

I have only told this story to a few people that I am close
to, because frankly, it is a personal story, one that I have
held to myself. However, a dear friend of mine told me that
I should share it with the people that I care about. It is 
a very private view into what makes me the person that I am.
And since, through many of the tough times of my life the 
last few years, my friends on Avatar have been there for 
me, I decided to share it with the AV community.

Many of you know that I am a Sergeant in the US Army. I have
now been in the Army for almost 11 years. Up until the last
two years, I was in the National Guard. For those out of the
US, the National Guard is a form of reserve military, where
I spend one weekend a month and a few weeks each summer 
training with my soldiers. The rest of the time, I worked
for a large bank, managing a specific part of our network.

On September 11th, 2001, I woke to a friend calling me, 
telling me that one of the World Trade Center towers had
been struck by a plane, and that I needed to turn on my 
TV. I had just spent the previous evening out with this
same friend, drinking to a great level of intoxication. I 
thought he was playing a silly game. When I turned on the
TV, I couldn't believe what I saw.  I had turned on my 
TV in time to see the second jet crash into the other
tower.

Throughout that day, I was in a daze, glued to my TV like
every other American. A few of us spoke to each other, 
offering theories on what was happening. Several of my 
coworkers were frantically calling back east to see if
friends and family were safe. No one questioned them using
company resources and phones to do so.

The next day, newspapers and internet news sites started 
publishing the names of the flight rosters. For some 
reason that I have never figured out, I read every single
name. Each name read off like a mini-obituary. A single 
man, age 35, traveling from Boston to Los Angeles. 
Probably a businessman. A couple, late 20's. Headed to
a family gathering, or a vacation, I assumed.

Then I hit a name that would stick with me forever. 
Christine Lee Hanson, age 2, from Groton, Massachusetts. 
A small town about one hour from my own hometown. She 
was flying with her father, Peter Hanson and mother, 
Sue Kim Hanson. 

There was something about taking the life of a child that 
made this more personal for me. At that point, I turned off
the computer monitor I had been staring at. I sat there, 
in my office/computer lab and wept, something I hadn't done
in years. When I finally composed myself, just as my partner
walked back into the office, I called my National Guard 
unit. By that time, the news was clearly reporting this as
the work of a terrorist organization, and the media was 
already speculating on a military response.

I told the Sergeant in my unit's orderly room to put my
name on any volunteer list that came up. I didn't care if
I was washing the skivies of the rescue workers in New
York. I needed to do something.

I was instead called up as part of the airport security
mission. If you flew anytime in the 6 months afterwards 
and saw National Guard soldiers standing guard in the
airport, that was me. I was sent to a small city south-
west of here called Yuma. It was about three hours from 
home, away from my family and fiancee.

I recall one elderly gentleman who walked up to me
while I was standing guard. He shook my hand, and thanked
me for my sacrifice. Then, he told me he had been in 
World War II. I was taken aback. Here was someone who had
helped save the world fifty years ago, thanking me. That
was pretty profound.

Two weeks into the mission, I heard about a fund-raising
project that one of the other Sergeants in Phoenix was
doing. She was printing 'dog tags' with the names of
various victims of the September 11th attack, for a five
dollar donation. I called her, and explained that I 
wanted one particular name. She told me that she was
only sending out random names, and not picking through
the pile of pre-printed tags. When I offered to donate
fifty dollars instead, she said she would have a tag
customized for me.

I have since carried that tag, with Christine's name on 
it, every day that I have been in uniform. I have 
pretty much been on active duty since September 2001, 
only having a couple months off after that airport 
mission ended. I was called back to active duty again 
in January of this year. Each time I start to wonder why
I am here, rather than at my easy civilian job, each
time I question the hours, the lack of family time, or
the loss of personal time, I hold that tag.

It's a bit worn now, a few small dents and scratches
on it. But, it's my reminder. Someone with an ethnic 
Native American background once mentioned a spirit 
totem, a token of a person's feelings and motivation.
That's what this small metal tag became to me.

As a side note, I eventually found a website that some 
friends of the Hanson family had put together honoring 
Peter, Sue and little Christine. I saw an email address 
for Peter's mother, and I emailed her. I told her about 
the tag with Christine's name that I had carried. She wrote 
back to me, and we have written each other every few
months since then.

I know this story has absolutely nothing to do with
Avatar. And, it is most likely a bit of a downer. 
But, with today being the second anniversary of those
attacks, and with so many of us having been affected
that day, I wanted to share my story. Hopefully, it 
gives you a little insight into me personally.

Thank you for reading. 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Website of the Month - Sandgroper's Page
http://www.geocities.com/sandgroper_chimbu/

One of the things that I always look for when looking at an
Avatar-related fan page is 'what does it contribute?' Does
the page simply give spoilers, or does it encourage players
to search, explore and discover for themselves?

On top of that, does the page contribute something unique? 
Analysis of a particular class, skills, etc. are things that
really get my attention.

With that in mind, you can see why Sandgroper's page is one
of my favorites. Sandgroper recently revamped and redesigned
his page, and the layout is great! It's catchy to the eye,
and the animated icons are really neat.

More important than the aesthetics, the content is superb.
Sandgroper has some of the best newbie tips available on
the web. In fact, when a new player comes to the mud, the
first thing I recommend is Mudschool. After that, I 
recommend they look at Sandgroper's page. The info he 
presents is very useful to a new player. Between the 
Newbie FAQ ("What gear should I wear and what's an item's 
'armour class'?") to the Muddish glossary ("hr, dr, harm, 
fade, brill?"), this page provides great useful information
for a beginning mudder, or even the advanced player who
wants a little AV-related reading.

Then there is the stats section. Sandgroper goes into an
in=depth analys of the stats. Want to know how many practices
you will get with a 22 wisdom? How many items you can carry
with a 24 dexterity? What is the difference between a 20
and a 21 intelligence?

Sandgroper's page also provides directions to common areas 
and trigger/alias help for ZMud. My only question is, where
are all the pages devoted to Gameaxle's Portal GT client? ;)

All in all, this is one of the most useful pages out there.
Give it a try, and bookmark 
http://www.geocities.com/sandgroper_chimbu in your list of
favorites.

"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"

Here are the answers to the NPC races quest. Did you get
all 15 races?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ani (Animal), Avi (Avians), Cyb (Cyborgs), Dem (Demons),
Dev (Devils), Ele (Elementals), Fun (Fungoids), 
Gho (Ghosts), Gol (Golems), Gth (Giths), Ent (Ents), 
Ins (Insectoids), Mer (Mermen), Mir (Miraars), 
Mob (Mobiles)

=============================================================
This is the new Avatar Gazette. It is published with the 
permission and cooperation of the Avatar staff by 
Angel Kenji. (Original concept by Asamaro and Dizzy.)

The Gazette is written in plain vanilla ASCII text to ensure
that everyone can enjoy it regardless of computer type.

To subscribe to the Gazette, send internet e-mail to
gazette-request@outland.org. In the body of your
email put:

subscribe username@hostname (MudName - RealName)
eg subscribe snikt@outland.org  (Snikt - Kevin Jagh)

Your real name is optional for the Gazette list.
eg subscribe snikt@outland.org (Snikt)

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms,
compliments, or (best of all) articles that you've written
for the gazette, please send them to Kenji via my e-mail
address: gazinput@outland.org  Please use 'Gazette' as your
subject.

You can also view the latest issue of the Gazette while
playing Avatar by typing 'help newgaz' anywhere in the game,
or on the design web site at 
http://www.outland.org/design/gazette.html

Original credit for Ascii art or other submissions is given
if known.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 

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Cerdwyn
Aug 16 2022 03:24
booooooo

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Daeron is running Push Your Luck now. Mini-HoG just ended!

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It is!

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Testing. Testing. This thing on?

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Halfway through August and so many events yet to go! Log in now to join our newest event.

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