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Topics - Bruin

#1


Born July 19, our first baby.  Trying to get him trained up as quickly as possible, first working on that hand-eye coordination.  Hopefully he'll be farming gold for me 3 years tops!  He's one of the reasons my playing time has been scarce (and will probably get even more scarce). 
#2
FYI, there's a meeting with Mesanna and the UO Producer tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9pm EST.  I wonder what's up.



#3
Just thought it might be a good idea to preserve some of the history of the White Council and it's guilds by discussing it.  I've only been very active on Siege since 2003, so my knowledge only starts there, and most of it comes from heresay or a fuzzy recollection.  Please if someone knows fill in the blanks or by all means correct me if my memory is fading. 

First we must understand the background of UO in whole to understand how the WC came about.  Siege began in around June of 1999.  This is important because sometime in late 2008-early 2009 stat-loss was first introduced for reds, severely curtailing their freedom to murder without consequence.  So when Siege began, it had no stat-loss allowing reds to run rampant, and even allowed reds in towns, something that didn't exist on prodo shards.  Then with the advent of Trammel in around March 2000 and the eventual death of Felucca, this brought all sorts of 'felucca' type players (murderers and thieves) to Siege.  The whole point of this, is one must understand that back in 2000, Siege was a MUCH more difficult place.  Murderers were everywhere, unlike they are today.

So with murderers running rampant everywhere, the 'good' aligned guilds decided it was in their best interest to band together to defend themselves against these murderers.  So around I believe 2001-2002, Citizens of Wispwood Shire (CWS), Knights of the Round Table (KRT), House Lynn'Dannae (LDH), and Britain Militia (B*M) banded together to form the White Council.  At that time, it was mostly to put forth a common defense.

Through the years, many guilds joined and left the White Council.  Also the purpose of the White Council slowly morphed from common defense, to include joint hunts, looting rules, all to become what it is today.  Below I will list the current/former guilds of the White Council and their disposition (that I remember, and I know I'm missing several), and where they called 'home', if any:

CWS – Citizens of Wispwood Shire, 2001 – Present.  Wispwood, located near Yew.
KRT – Knights of the Round Table, 2001-2005 (Inactive).  Located NW of Trinsic, near Spirituality Shrine.
LDH – House Lynn'Dannae, 2001-2004 (Inactive).  Cove.
B*M – Britain Militia, 2001-2003 (Inactive).  Britain.
KSS  - Knights of the Silver Serpent, 2004-2008 (Joined as a house to Gilfane).  Wintermoor, NE Malas.
WAKA – Wakayama Clan, 2005-2006 (Left WC).  Near Homare moongate.
DTA – Delucia Trade Association, 2006 (Left WC).  SE of Trinsic Moongate.
DR – Devil's Rejects, 2006 (Left WC).
GIL – Gilfane, 2007 – Present.  Gilfane, S of Luna.

I know I'm missing several guilds, Keldon's guild being one of them. 

If anyone else can post more about history about the alliance, please do!
#4
White Council Public Forum / Happy Birthday Aislinn!
April 01, 2010, 05:44:53 AM
Happy Birthday Aislinn!  She's an elf, so by now she must be like 1,000 years old!
#5
White Council Public Forum / FYI Moving
March 13, 2010, 09:28:56 PM
Just FYI, next weekend I'm moving so game time will be limited.  Packing/unpacking for the next couple weeks and I don't know when I will have my internet hooked up.
#6
Someone in Wispwood was building this:




Today the Wispwood Guild Tower stands 10 years old. 
#7
White Council Public Forum / I'm done.
March 10, 2010, 01:09:16 AM
(note that this is cross-posted into both the Siege Stratics forums and our guild/alliance forums as it has parts that pertain to each)

Community (n): an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.

There are two thing about this game I love that I have not found in any other MMORPG that I have played.  The first being the way this game forces you to interact can foster great communities, which I will mostly talk about.  The second being the pvp that I love that is now long gone, but is not the point of this post.

During my time in UO, I've been primarily part of 4 communities.
1.   During my trammy years, as part of the Britain Forge community, in Trammel, on Pacific.  This community was destroyed by repair deeds and insurance, though I left it long ago.
2.   After I finally got the balls to venture into felucca, I joined the Rangers of Skara Brae (RSB), a guild that was part of the Skara Brae community on Felucca, Pacific.  Here various types of guilds would interact with each other on a daily basis, be they good (RSB), outlaws (KIN), thieves (BUB), murderers (FL), and it was fun.  This community began to die with the advent of Trammel, but was destroyed when AoS came out.
3.   Wispwood Community.  Ahh yes, wispwood, it's what really drew me to this shard.  When I first joined back in 2003, Wispwood itself was always busy with all sorts of people.  Citizens, allies, friends, enemies, and unknowns came by all the time to have an ale at the Unicorn, duel at the dueling pit, or raid our town.  I'd say it finally died out in about 2005-2006.
4.   The Siege Stratics forums.  Yes it is a community, although one that bitches to each other more than anything.


The last few years my main purpose was to rebuild the Wispwood community by helping rebuilding Wispwood, its allies, and this shard.  A guild or an alliance does not make a community by itself, and the only way the Wispwood community would ever become strong would be with a strong shard.

The community is more than just the people hanging out within it.  But what immensely help it are the people that maintain its lore.  Websites devoted to bringing communities together and sharing their news, events, and history, something that hasn't existed for 7-8 years.  No other game could bring this about but UO, and I doubt no other game would.  But even if a classic shard were brought about, I doubt it would bring about people to write the same type of lore that existed when uo first begun.  I just wish I was around at that time.  Some of these websites that I knew of were:

The Community of Skara Brae
Skara Brae Chimera
Council of Nine
Sosarian Atlas

I know for a long time I've been fighting a loosing battle.  And I guess that this is the point where I'm giving up, I'm done.  This doesn't mean that I am leaving.  But, I'm no longer going to try and actively build up a dying guild, and a dying shard, within a dying game.  It's an admirable goal, but one that I believe can never be achieved.

In about the last year that I have actively recruited for CWS, we have had 46 new members (Initiates), mostly from NEW.  Seven of them are relatively new initiates, but of the remaining 39:
•   13 have lasted about 2 months and were promoted to full membership (Citizen), or about 1/3 of all recruits.
•   Of the 13 that made it to full membership, about 4 of them are active today.

So roughly 10% of people who joined CWS over the last year still play.  This is a horrible statistic.  And I share it not because I think it's a CWS problem, I see similar issues with recruits that make it into GIL, the largest recruiter of new people on this shard. 

Once you figure that of all the people that join NEW, only 50% ever graduate and make it to another guild (I think the real number is less than 30%).  So between 30%-50% of the people who join NEW ever move on, and of those only 10% last, that means we have about a 3%-5% a new person to this shard ever make it as a full productive member of our community.  I believe the 3% to be more accurate.

This tells me the allure of Siege exists, people ARE joining, they're just not staying.  Imagine if we as a shard could increase this number from 3% to 10%.  That would mean another 50 people or so running around each year.  How about 30%, or 50%!  And these are just the people that run through NEW, I have no idea of the numbers of other people who join this shard and don't make it to NEW.

With this, I am giving up the positions of both Lord of CWS and chancellor of the White Council to anyone qualified who wishes to lead them.  If no one steps up, I will still perform the administrative tasks required, but no longer have the desire to lead.

I will still be around and in game (albeit less frequently), having an ale at the Unicorn, out hunting with friends, or whatever.  Simply put, my desire to try and rebuild something that has become obvious to me will never again exist is gone.  I do not know if I will continue my assistance in NEW.

And with that, I guess I finally say goodbye to the communities that I was once a part of, but are no longer here.  I've met some great people in this game, many who are long gone, some who I still play with.  Hold a tavern night, and I'll be there ordering an ale recanting stories of times past.  And if anyone ever discovers a game with the same richness of lore, that fosters a community that UO once had, and gives the same risk and fun in pvp, please let me know.

And with that, I'll close with a saying we had in the Skara community, appropriately changed:
"May we all stir with the Spoon of Skara Brae."
#8
Come join good company, good ale, and good stories this Tuesday, December 15th at 9:30 pm EST at Story Night at the Golden Unicorn in Wispwood Shire. 
The theme for this Story Night is the time you got totally embarrassed and owned.  You know that time you were bragging to a friend, 'ohh, no problem, I can solo that greater dragon there with ease!  Watch this!  *Chomp* OooOooooo.'  Whether it's a monster that put you in your place, or another player, come talk about the time you were shown humility!

For directions to the Golden Unicorn, see here.

If you want to know more about Story Night, see here.
#9
Hi All -

If you can, please plan on being around this Saturday, December 5th at 8pm EST.  The EM wants to put on a "Come Visit Siege" night at that time.  Regardless about any feelings towards the EM, we really must do all we can to support the longevity of Siege.  Meet at the West Brit Counselors Hall.

Details on the Siege Stratics forums here.
#10
White Council Public Forum / Event Rules
November 08, 2009, 07:46:47 PM
This event will test your knowledge of the game, force you to rely on your team members and their skills, and teach you to exploit the advantages of your skills.

You begin this event with nothing.  You may only use any item acquired during this event for this event.

This event consists of:
3 group mini-tasks.
1 major task.
10 optional mini-tasks.

In order to win this event, your house must complete the major task.  Since you begin the event with absolutely nothing, the first three mini-tasks serve the simple purpose of allowing you to acquire some useful items, and forcing you as a house to work together, with those finishing the mini-tasks first getting the better items. 

You will then be sent off to complete the major task to win.

The optional mini-tasks are truly optional, however completing them will give you access to items that may be difficult to acquire otherwise to aid you in completing your quest.

The mini-tasks will all be clues that you must decode which will either direct you to a location where the items/rewards are located OR a quest you must complete and turn into me for your rewards.

The rules:

You MUST begin this event completely NAKED.  No blessed items, no armour, no regs, no ethereals, no spellbooks, NOTHING.

You may NOT:
- use any public moongates.
- use any rune libraries, public runes/runebooks.
- purchase any item from any NPC or hirable vendor or stable or claim any pets.
- rely on the kindness of a stranger.
- access your bankbox, your home, or any of your personal items.
- kill any participants inside a designated safe zone.
- gate into our out of a safe zone or within one full screen of a safe zone.
- use any soulstones.
- tamers are limited to using only 1 control slot.
- use any virtue abilities.
- switch characters.

You may:
- Murder or steal from any of your competitors.
- Form alliances with, against, backstab, hinder any other house.  Note that only 1 house may be declared a winner, so if you ally with a house to the very end, you still must end the alliance and turn on them at some point.
- Utilize any equipment inside a public home or the Elven Tower that does not belong to a white council member, such as a forge, loom (this does NOT include runebooks/runes).



Safe Zones:
- The Golden Unicorn Tavern and Wispwood Elven Tower are considered safe zones.
- At the end of the group mini-tasks, a safe zone area will be marked off with red cloth.
#11
White Council Public Forum / Buying Captured Essence
October 17, 2009, 03:59:00 AM
Anyone have any, and anyone know what a fair price for them is?
#12
Is it any good?

Is imbuing going to be a boon for crafters?  Is it really necessary to be a gargoyle to be an effective imbuer?  I have not been able to try the public beta yet myself....
#13
White Council Public Forum / Away for vacation
August 10, 2009, 11:13:57 PM
Just FYI - I'll be out of town on vacation starting this coming Friday for about two weeks.  I'll probably have internet access but doubt i'll have any meaningful in-game time.
#14
Hey all - I keep running into a stupid issue with these forums.  If I'm ever typing up a post or PM and it's a long post such that it takes up more than like 20 lines, all of a sudden I cant see what I'm typing anymore.  I have to hold down like the down arrow just to see what I've typed, but once I let go it jumps back up to the middle of the post and cuts off the last few lines.

Anyone else have this issue or know how to resolve it?  This is both with IE 8 and Firefox 2.x or 3.x.
#15
This Thursday, July 30th* will be the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Siege Perilous shard. In its honor, we will be holding a Story Night at the Golden Unicorn Tavern, located in Wispwood Shire. Let us all join together, for friendship, ales, recall memories of what this land was like many moons ago and tell stories of our favorite times on Siege.

Story Night will be held this Thursday, July 30th (tomorrow) at 10pm EST.

Story Night is open to all who wish to partake in its activities, friend or foe, new to this land or old.

For location of the Golden Unicorn Tavern, go to this link here.

Note that Siege Perilous is a dangerous place where you may be killed virtually anywhere, and we can not guarantee your safety while at Story Night. Please carry with you only what you can afford to lose.

* Our Sosarian historians have done their best to determine the exact birth date of this land and have come to a general consensus of this date.
#16
White Council Public Forum / Spellweavers rejoice
June 18, 2009, 03:23:03 PM
EDIT:  Sorry, what I said before was wrong.  Basically there is an arcane circle by brit bank that gives you a level of focus equal to # of spellweavers +1, capped at 6, versus the normal # of spellweavers capped at 5.  So it's a benefit, but you still need 5 spellweavers to stand on that thing for maximum benefit.


Wrong info:  There is now an arcane circle in front of Britain bank that automatically grants you level 6 focus by casting the focus spell, 5 spellweavers are not needed.
#17
As Saugus sits at his desk, thinking about the battles that took place last week, he hears a knock at the door.  "Come in."  A soldier enters his office and hands him a scroll, "Sir, a message from the Chancellor's office."

Saugus opens up the parchment and reads the message:

Commander Brisbane,
Recently our researchers have discovered a cache of artifacts and books at the abandoned Orc Fort near Yew.  They believe that these items were taken by the Orcs during their raids on the cities of this land.  Our researchers would like to excavate these items, but need assistance in dealing with the orcs that inhabit the fort, as well as other people that may disrupt them.  We request that you send a force to guard and assist the researches as they unearth these items.

Sincerely,
Chancellor Bruin
Vice-Chancellor Hoffs


"Damnit," Saugus exclaims as he pounds his fist on the table.  "What do they think we are, security guards or a combat force?  Very well.  Soldier, round up who you can find.  We need to dispatch a force to the Orc forts immediately."




So basically, the schedule for this week.  Defend the orc fort, whoever gets there first gets to go on defense =)
Times:
Monday 10pm EST
Tuesday 7pm EST
Wednesday 10pm EST
Thursday 7pm EST
Friday 10pm EST
#18
Hey guys - sorry no time to post a story (hopefully I can do that tonight). Let's fight around Myth town, I think there are wandering healers nearby - if not we can move it to somewhere easier.

Times:

Monday 10pm EST
Tuesday 8pm EST
Wednesday 10pm EST
Thursday 8pm EST
Friday 8pm EST

Also for future reference, what times are best for everyone?
#19
Arr matey!  Wispwood Story night be returnin' to da Golden Unicorn in Wispwood dis Thursday night at 10pm EST.  If'n ya haven't noticed, da theme for dis weeks Story Night be pirating!  So bring yer stories of yer adventures on da high seas, piracy, wenches or booty!  We confiscated a large shipment of rum to 'glow and sent it to Wispwood Shire, so da rum be flowin' freely.

All landlubbers must be dressin' like a pirate.  Fer dose out of pirate gear, autentic pirate hats will be on sale with proceeds benefiting whatever we be feeling like.  Talkin' all noble like neither will not be tolerated!  Ye must be speakin' in pirate talk for yer visit, for if'n you don't you be swabbin' da deck!

If'n ya needs ta know where da Golden Unicorn be, see dis magical linky doo dad here.

Or if'n ya wants to knows more about dis Wispwood Story night, see dis other magical linky doo dad here.
#20
Putting out some times that I hope will satisfy those of us who have different schedules.  Setting more specific times so I hope we'll have better turnout.

Lets get together at Spirit Gate this week, the following days/times:

Monday (today) 8pm EST.
Tuesday 10pm EST.
Wednesday 8pm EST.
Thursday 10pm EST.
Friday 8pm EST.

Hope to see you guys there.
#21
White Council Public Forum / CRUS Fight times?
May 23, 2009, 09:23:28 PM
Just wondering when is a good time to organize some fights for the Crusaders - what time are you guys on?

Me, I'm PST, I'll be around most of the weekend except tonight until tomorrow evening.  So how about a fight tomorrow night, 10pm EST and one Monday afternoonish?

Just wondering when everyone is around - let me when is good for you.
#22
From this post in stratics here:

Can anyone get me in touch with Rizarium or Kaisa?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lost their contact info a long time ago. Still have a few ICQ addresses but they're never on