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December 2008

Year End Obits Continue
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Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 7:35 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Year End Obits Continue









Hagen




Iron Monk


Ironman


Izabo





Keith


Kirk







Lucas




Marissa




Morgan the Medic


Orian


OZ, dead two times


Peregrine




Rob Norris










Seriade Nailo


Snerd Nurgler


Shady










Tybalt




Willard Wonker

























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Have A Happy New Year 2009!
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Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 5:42 AM EST by Medea (Drachenfels)

...from the Drachenfelsian's to all Drachenfelsian's and everbody out there!
... von den Drachenfelslern an alle Drachenfelsler und alle anderen da draussen!
;-)

Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Ein tolles neues und erfolgreiches neues Jahr!

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

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Next Black Market: Jan. 3rd 2009, 8pm EST.
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Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 5:36 AM EST by Vallend (Catskills)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<Next Black Market: Jan. 3rd 2009, 8pm EST.

The United Pirates of Catskills announce the Black Market event for January! During this monthly recurring event, you can sell, buy, trade or auction your wares. Also, a special quest will be kicked off this time. Solve a lot of tricky riddles and win a valuable prize!

Merchants will get a personal market stand where they can advertise and sell their products. Bargaining is encouraged! Merchants should enter a list of their products in one of the books locked down on the market stand (at least one day prior to the event, so people can come by and check on the items). The prices should be LOWER than the regular Luna vendor prices! If you want to sell contraband, you can simply come to the Black Market building prior to the event and enter your name and your item list into one of the (empty) books on the market stands. By doing that you have claimed the market stand and may use it exclusively during the event.

Are you looking for a certain item? You can post your request on the bulletin board out front of the Black Market. Merchants can check the board beforehand and have the appropriate items ready for sale. The board will be wiped after the Black Market is over.

The Black Market building is located next to our Jolly Roger Inn in TRAMMEL:



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Last Obits of 2008, Brooklyn Fats, neptune, Shady and Much More
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Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 10:39 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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YEAR END OBITS



2008 is coming to an end. The past few weeks News have been full of holiday events and holiday decor so I have not posted any Obituary Columns and I have a back up, a huge back!
Some of the regulars and fan favorites are dead and dying in the year end columns. Enjoy!


Adrianna




Anders












BILLYDKID


blanc De blanc


BringEM Back Alive


Brooklyn Fats


Shady




Cartman




Chazmo


Cole







































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Community Hunt - week of December 28
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Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 9:20 AM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)


Want to go hunting but don't have a big enough group? Are you looking for good guides to dungeons you've yet to explore?

The community hunts are open to everyone! Come show your support for the Lake Superior community and take a walk on the wild side at the same time. Meet some new and old friends and have a bit of a challenge along the way.
***Note: The events listed here are subject to be cancelled in the event of an invasion by the Shadow Army. Should any town come under attack, the community event of the night will be cancelled in favor of battling the forces of Chaos.***


Doom Gauntlet run
Date: Tuesday, December 30
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Peerless Hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 31
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Happy New Year! (no hunt tonight)
Date: Thursday, January 1
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Ilshenar Champ Spawn Hunt
Date: Friday, January 2
Time: 9:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Hosts: Taeara Mi'aken


And remember, these hunts are for everyone, regardless of their skill level or guild affiliation. Come meet new friends, see new places, gain experience and just have fun.


Sabina Nikolai,
High Marshall, Community Hunt Organizer
The Order of the Silver Rose

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Where is Ricardo?
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Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 2:33 AM EST by Vallend (Catskills)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<Rumors abound about what happened to the famed thief Ricardo that was scheduled for execution for starting the war with the Ophidians by stealing a crown from them years ago. Many theories abound as to what really happened to him. Some claim that his sentence was unjust and he was being used as a scapegoat for the ruling council’s failings during this time of turmoil in the Kingdom. So he was executed in private so that the entire war could be forgotten as quickly as possible. Others claim he is hidden away in a jail cell shared with Avery awaiting his end. The romantic image many people have latched onto is that he escaped his captures and is even now in disguise working his trade in Trinsic under the sheriff’s nose.
This reporter hearing such a tale of him being spotted in Trinsic went undercover to investigate. Word was there was a new thief’s guildmaster named Ricardo and I had to find out if it was him.


Ricardo in hiding?

I was very disappointed to find a man, with a haircut like a page from the royal courts, who just had the same name as the famously charming rogue. So as of now the mystery of what happened to legendary thief Ricardo is still unsolved.


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Grog Sighting
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Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 1:53 AM EST by Vallend (Catskills)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<I’m sure many of you remember a well known player named “Grog” who passed away a little over a year ago. This beloved giant of a bear of a man in real life touched many of our hearts and became a friend with anyone he encountered in the game. In what only can be considered a sign of how much he meant to the players of the game his characters name was added to the list of possible NPC names by the Dev team. So every once in a while you will see a NPC named Grog in game.

This happened to me while fighting in Skara Brae last month. You see I had my tamer fighting the invasion in the city when I spotted a general. The only problem was I was torn on killing this general because he was named Grog. I finally decided to slay this general named Grog and I kept his armor and weapon out of respect for a man who was a friend to me. So when any of you spot a NPC named Grog remember a man who called Catskills his home shard and smile to yourself and remember Grogs first rule “Have Fun!”




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Catskills new EM Kasaven
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Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 1:28 AM EST by Vallend (Catskills)
Last week I dropped into the Councilors Hall, found on the North West side of the city of Britain, and had the pleasure of meeting Catskills new Event Moderator “EM Kasaven”. He was busy working on plans to redecorate the hall but took a few minutes to answer a few quick questions for you our readers.



First off he is an 11 year veteran of the game and calls Atlantic his home shard. (As most of you know an EM cannot do their duties on their home shard to help prevent favoritism.) He has a few ideas as for the types of events he hopes to host, and plans on involving all playing styles in these events. He also hopes to have events that take place on all the facets of the shard. This means that all players’ types from craftsmen in Trammel to reds in Felucca will have events to take part in, and that is good news for all.

EM Kasavens new duties are to run planned events in support of ongoing Mythic storylines, and to organize and run events of his own that have been approved by Mythic. Each shard have been assigned their own EMs along with some EMs called floaters who will provide extra manpower to shards that do not have 2 full time EMs assigned to them. Meaning that if EM Kasaven is running an event that requires more than one person. Then one of the floaters will join him on our shard.

As of the present time all the EMs are prohibited from posting on any of the Forums although I was informed that EM Kasaven does drop into the boards, and has read all of your greetings to him.

One of the big problems before was EM events that started to late in the evening for Catskills players so most players missed out on them. EM Kasaven stated that he plans on starting the new EM events around dinner time for most players. That way they will be ending at a more reasonable hour for players on the shard. He had no time table for how often we would have EM events, but promised to do his best to keep us from getting too bored.

The new EM ran events are right now projected to start in the middle of January, but if you want to meet EM Kasaven before then. You may catch him at the Councilors Hall in Britain if you drop in at the right time. You will find our new EM to be a quick witted person who is friendly, and I am sure will keep us active, thrilled and enthralled once he starts his job.
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Community Meet Up - December 29, 2008
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Posted on Monday, December 29, 2008, 12:03 PM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<



Community Meet Up - December 29, 2008
Date: Every Monday Night
Time: 7:30PM CST
Location: Skara Brae Community Center


Meeting Agenda:
Join us tonight for some celebration and fun before the New Years!

We'll hear weekly announcements of upcoming events and hunts for Lake Superior from Sabina our events coordinator.


The weekly community meetings, events, hunts, etc are always open to the public. No invitations needed!
Everyone is always welcome to come ask questions, make plans, or make announcements.

Bring a friend if you can make it, tell a friend if you can't!

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'Twas The Weekend Before Christmas, as seen by Nicholas the Old
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Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008, 5:37 PM EST by Sara of Baja (Baja)
Dawn, the Ancient Order, and the Baja Roleplayers Go Christmas Caroling!

The Weekend Before Christmas
The Ancient Order, The Kingdom of Dawn, and The Baja Roleplaying & Event Alliance Go Christmas Caroling!
By Nicholas the Old
December 25th, 2008



Seasons Greetings, Citizens of Britannia!

You may remember that several evenings ago, the Town Criers Association of Britain reported that Saint Nicholas himself (along with several currently unidentified companions) were spotted throughout the Cities of Britannia and the Principality of Luna through the night. Immidiately, outrageous rumors began to fly as to the nature of this mysterious old sage's visit. These rumors ranged from tales of a green imp leading a chorus of mystifying sirens who wooed the audience while Saint Nick fed the banksitters poisoned candycanes, to reports that Lady Sara and Oriana had robbed the Luna Bank and escaped with a cache full of gold coins and baubles contained in the pack of their llama.

Our reporters, busy covering the city invasions across the sea and to our north, were unavailable to report on the situation. Having just barely missed Saint Nicholas, we consulted our sister-agencies, the Stratics Herald and the Freeborn Press, but we have yet to recieve a comment before printing time.

We did manage to recieve one report covering the evenings events; an open letter sent to the Town Criers. It purports that Lady Sara was actually leading a band of carolers, while Saint Nicholas was handing out toys to all the little girls and boys of Britannia. It even purports that Saint Nicholas met with the returning "Ethereal Sages," and that a certain Vash the Harper visited a parallel universe. Once again, we clearly cannot verify the authenticity of such outrageous reports, but if anyone has any information on Mr. Grinch, please send word to the Britannian News Network Central Office.

Thank You,

Nathaniel Stonebow
Senior Editor, Britannian News Network.



Dear Criers,

I should thank the lot of you for your shoddy reporting! Claiming that Saint Nicholas the Old and Lady Sara would rob the Luna Bank? At least the Freeborn Press knew how to get their facts straight. Ol' Man Christmas should leave a nice cache of blackrock in your stockings. That'll teach you, you dunce!

With that said, I will attempt to convey the nights events as they actually happened (along with a couple of masterful portraits and transcriptions). Light willing, you will actually get it this time!



'Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all through Nick's house
Not a creature was stirring, not even Sherry the Mouse;



The holiday decorations were hung on the wall with care,
In hopes that touring Britannians might soon be there.



The old man was all snug at his desk,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in his head...









When from his daze there arose such a clatter,
He sprang from his chair to see what was the matter.



Away to his bedroom he flew like a flash,
Tore open the armoire and threw up his locker...





What!? He ate my hat?


WildStar's Translation: "Ga'kuct ate Santa's hat! Yep! Thanks Nicholas."

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight very sick reindeer...







With a quick offer, so sly and quick,
I knew he must be a banksitter, that Ol' Saint Nick!







More rapid than speedhackers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Llama! Now Grinch! Now, Sara and Oriana!
On, WildStar! On Zackarias! On Betsy and Shovel!"




A Christmas Caroler at Luna Bank

It is here in the story, that I do say,
A wild manticore, rode into Luna like a...fey?
"EeeEmms! EeeEmms!" He shouted with glee,
And with excitement, many did go to see.

With tales of Green Robes and Old Ones, Nicholas took to the sky,
Through the cold and frigid ether they did fly!
So up to Ol' Britain they flew,
With a packy full of toys, and Mama Faith too!

As some worried that the Caroling might never get off the ground,
Until down to the conselors hall the Carolers came with a bound.
They were all dressed in Dawnite Silk, from their heads to their feet,
Their boots slightly tarnished from swift travel and soot.



A bundle of toys St. Nicholas had flung on his back,
And how he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.





A wink of their eyes and a twist of their heads,
Seppo and Pallando assured the Britannians that they had nothing to dread;





They spoke many words, about their upcoming work,
But alas they had to go, and disappeared with a smirk...

The Carolers sprang to his sleigh, to St. Nick's team he gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard Lady Sara exclaim, as Santa drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Mr. Grinch,
The Grumpiest Resident of Dawn.



The Ethereal Sages, otherwise known as "Event Moderators", have even made their presence known amongst the parallel shards outside our own. Yes, you didn't think we were the only ones, did you?

Vash the Harper, the White Council's Emissary to the PaxLair Statehood (Guild Master of the Baja Roleplayers [Chesapeake Chapter] Stone) sent back these sketches and transcripts.



Greetings, Nicholas.

I do not have much time to write to you. There are currently rumors spreading that an angry mob of impoverished peasants are planning on raiding the storage shed behind Luigi's Pizzaria in PaxLair. I am going to investigate after I send you these sketches through the Twilight Moongate.

The beings depicted in my sketch are known as "Ethereal Seers." They appear not unlike Ol' Vincent and Sameerah, and appear to posess many of the same powers. They also seem to be aware of the parallel shards, and seem to know of each other; even mentioning that you met their companions on our homeworld.

They seem to be a lively bunch; but I caution you, Sir Nicholas. They espouse a sort of innate neutrality that could be cause for concern. They speak of letting the Britannians "live out their own stories." Now, you know that I love a good tale as much as the next bard; but rumors spread that some Council of Sin already intends to harness their powers in any way possible.

I send you these words of caution. You and I both know what sleeps just outside of Trinsic.

Vash the Harper,
Trobadour of the City of Avalon.
Baja Roleplayers (Chesapeake Chapter)


(EM Dudley, EM Tailspin, Vash the Harper of Baja, and Lord Nanoc of Chesapeake).


(EM Tailspin, Lord Nanoc of Chesapeake, Vash the Harper of Baja, and Lady Phoenix of Chesapeake).











I, Nicholas the Old, would like to thank these individuals (and encourage my fellow Britannians to do the same).
  • Lady Sara of The Ancient Order (TAO). She was the one who planned the event, and collected all the presents for all the good girls and boys.
  • Lady Oriana of The Ancient Order. She was one of our carolers friday evening.
  • Lady WildStar of the Kingdom of Dawn. She was one of the carolers, and baked hundreds of Gingerbread Cookies for everyone to enjoy.
  • Hunter, for adding to the Christmas Cheer and caroling along with us at the Britain Counselors Hall.
  • A Christmas Caroler, for coming along to help us carol throughout the evening at Luna Bank.
  • Noel, for coming along to help us carol throughout the evening at Luna Bank.
  • NANOC of the Historic Dragons Watch on Chesapeake. He is one of our allies on Chesapeake, who told me about Tailspin arriving at the Britain Counselors Guild and invited me to come along.
  • Lady Phoenix of the Historic Dragons Watch on Chesapeake. She was brave enough to ask about the infamous pink underwear.
  • EM Seppo, EM Pallando, EM Dudley, and EM Tailspin for being so great!

 
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The Golden Brew Tavern Has Disappeared, by WarderDragon
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Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008, 5:22 PM EST by Sara of Baja (Baja)
The Golden Brew Tavern Has Disappeared



The End Of The Golden Era:
The Golden Brew Tavern Has Fallen.

By WarderDragon
December 26, 2008.


Dear Citizens of Baja,

It is with great regret and deep sorrow that I have to inform you of the collapse of the Golden Brew Tavern. For those who don't already know, the Golden Brew Tavern has essentially been the premiere roleplaying destination of the Baja Shard for more than ten years now. Since their inception in August 1998, the tavern has been a gathering place of roleplayers of all different persuations and alignments; whether they were Rangers of the Realm, Sailors of the Kingdom of Lumaria, or Initiates of the Dark Tower. It was the location of many famous and infamous events over the years, including A Wild Goose Chase for Mendur’s Daughter, the celebration following the Serpents War (a long war between the Knights of the Silver Serpent and the Shadow Imperium), and a rendition of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Kita Talith.

When Computer Games Online interviewed Raph Koster (Designer Dragon), one of the original developers of Ultima Online, they asked him "What was UO's biggest triumph?", he replied:

Quote:
I think that we were successful in making a more dynamic environment than what was the norm. It wasn't anywhere near what we'd hoped for, but it was enough, I think. We got that amazing player economy, we got those player towns, and theater troupes -shout out to the Golden Brew players here - and just this stunning array of guilds and the like. I don't know that the level of community involvement, and of so many microcommunities, has manifested anywhere else.
The Golden Brew originated near the Justice Shrine in Felucca, and subsequently moved to the same location in Trammel following the release of Ultima Online: Renaissance. They spread out, eventually developing the City of Golden around the tavern, and building the Golden Mage Tower south-west of Ravenshire. They moved once more when the Baja Roleplaying Community (BRC) decided to migrate en masse to Malas, the Golden Brew being set-up just south of Luna while the other roleplaying guilds built the cities of Grimswind (The Rangers of the Realm, the Tiberian Temple, etc) and Scythe (The Dark Tower and Shadow Imperium).

They were one of the few establishments to weather the subsequent collapse of the Baja Roleplaying Community. Grimswind City and Scythe both disappeared; along with Ravenshire, New Lumaria, and Fairhaven within months of one another. The darkest hour came just prior to the Samurai Empire expansion when Lady Ivy, a well-known community leader involved in just about every large roleplaying community on the Baja Shard, announced an event a month in advance at the Golden Brew that no-one showed up for. The roleplayers were all but completely gone from the Baja Shard.

Ultima Stratics reported on the new Golden Brew Tavern in 2005.

Quote:
Last visited by Brystol Lyonhart - 05/09/2005 Coordinates: 76° 12' N, 23° 41' W - Malas



Many people have enjoyed being a customer of the Golden Brew since its original inception way back on August 6, 1998. Originally located in the Felucca Shard, the Brew eventually upgraded and moved, foundation and all, over to the Trammel Shard. It was here that it spent most of it's years and where many current players have stopped by for an ale or two. Both of these locations were just up the coast North by Northeast of the Shrine of Justice. Throughout the years it was also surrounded by a town dubbed "Golden", named after the tavern that it was built around.

As time tends to do with all things, the Brew changed again in 2005 - People moved on to other worlds and new residents moved in. However, some of the original owners of The Golden Brew and members of The Golden Knights (who built the Brew) - Namely Joshua Rowan and Leyf Bolden - decided it was time to move the Brew into even bigger digs and moved it over to an incredible location just south of the City of Luna in Malas Shard (see maps). It is here that The Golden Brew currently resides, along with the base of The Golden Knights Guild.

The Golden Knights welcome all adventurers looking for a stout beer, for a long story, or simply for a place that they can relax and share time with friends and enemies alike. As has been said of the Brew in the past, "You will find players relaxing in between expeditions or just enjoying each other's company. If you're in the mood for a good meal I recommend the hot and spicy drake ribs and fresh brewed ale." You should also make sure to stop at the ORC HEAD on the way inside and pat it for Good Luck!

We also welcome all guilds and players who would like to use The Golden Brew for birthday parties, bachelorette parties, or any other special event that you have a need for.

For questions or concerns, feel free to contact Joshua Rowan anytime!
One could almost say that the Golden Brew Tavern was one of the few remaining pillars of Baja's original roleplaying community, along with what remains of the Kingdom of Dawn, the City of Avalon, the Mage Tower, the Dark Tower, and the Lumarian Bridge. The tavern was even featured in the Baja-Chesapeake-Pacific Cross Shard Tour, where James of the Mage Tower filled in visiting members of PaxLair (Chesapeake), the Ancient Order of Elders (Pacific), and members of our own community details on the Brew's long history, including stories of Ursula, Joshua Rowan, and Kita Talith.

The Baja Roleplaying & Event Alliance (BRPA), as the continuation and rebirth of the ideals held by the Baja Roleplaying Community of Legothir Sageon (BRC), hopes to do all that we possibly can to honor the memory of the Golden Brew Tavern, and renew the sense of community that those Golden Brew Players instilled within our hearts so many years ago. Nicholas the Old is currently consulting with other roleplayers and community-elders on the possibility of some sort of memorial being held in the coming year. We will make the announcement once plans have been made.





WarderDragon,
The Baja Roleplaying & Event Alliance
Administrator of the Twilight Sanctuary Roleplaying Alliance
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Meet Baja's new Event Moderator...EM Seppo!!
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Posted on Friday, December 26, 2008, 7:15 PM EST by Oriana (Baja)

Friday the 19th of December, Baja was blessed with a new soul, well two actually. EM Seppo made his first official appearance on our beloved shard. He was accompanied by Baja's back up EM, EM Palindo. Many people began to gather as the word was sent out that the new EM's were holding a meeting at the Counselor's Guild in northern Britain to introduce themselves. This old Hall had not seen any love for a good many years, but now it is to be the new home of our EM. People provided seating for the event as the EM's had not had much time to decorate the Hall.



Questions were asked and answered as best they could. Many asked what of the new events coming up soon, to which the EM's replied...they could not provide us with any of that information yet, aside from telling us the new events would begin sometime after the holidays.

EM Seppo glanced around the room and stated he recognized a few names. He has been following the Baja forum on Stratics and new of myself and Sara. *gulps* After a bit of a misunderstanding with names, he found Sara in the crowd.

He also pointed out that he knew of our very own Mama Faith. Who had just arrived bolting in as only Mama Faith can do. *chuckles* Seppo pointed out that there were many names, names that he hoped to have learned in the next few months. When the names of our two former EM's were brought up, we were to be rest assured that their wisdom remained, and the last EM, Sameerah, was watching them very closely, to make sure "her shard" was being taken care of.

All in all, it was a wonderful hour or so, seeing everyone show their support for the new EM's and once again proving that Baja is one of the friendly, warmest and passionate shard there is. (Of course I'm very partial *smiles*)

Welcome to our Shard EM Seppo and EM Palindo!! We greet you with open arms and hearts. Let us help you to make the events fun for all players!!

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Meet The New EM's, Saturday, December 27, 7 p.m. PST
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Posted on Friday, December 26, 2008, 2:28 PM EST by Sara of Baja (Baja)

Come Meet Our New EM's

EM Seppo would like to invite everyone to a
Meet & Greet Party
at the EM building in Britain, Trammel
Saturday, December 27, 7 pm PST (8pm MST, 9pm CST, 10 pm EST)
Gates From Luna Bank Starting at 6:45 p.m. PST


Baja's newly announced EM's have been busy decorating the EM building, and would like to have the opportunity to meet and chat with the Baja residents.  EM Seppo also hinted that EM's from other shards might be there, too.

Don't miss this opportunity to meet & welcome EM Seppo!
Bring your questions and ideas!

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Last Holiday Decor Post
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Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 1:33 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL !






A few more holiday screenshots have filtered in and I wanted them to get posted before the big day is here, it is Christmas Eve afterall.
The first screenshot is from a person that has been playing UO less than two months......ahhhh...to be a newb again and excited!







Two characters seen about town the past week in holiday colors.





Then there are those that cannot wait and take down holiday decor before the big day is even here !







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Welcome to Drachenfels, EM Immortal!
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Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 10:20 PM EST by Medea (Drachenfels)

Welcome to Drachenfels, EM Immortal!

Two days ago in the evening I managed to be at the right time at the right place - at the northern Counselor's Guild Hall at Britain. The evening before, some citizens were lucky enough to meet our new Event Manager Immortal there. As a reporter I could not miss the opportunity that night... as the hall came into sight, I saw a strange, somehow familiar being... Rudolf? But I was distracted because I heard voices - Nachteule and EM Immortal were already talking as I pushed open the door. Since the evening was still quiet I took my chances to ask Immortal for an interview. He generously said yes and invited us to the comfy conference room in the back of the house. Soon we were listening to his previous experiences, adventures and travels.

It was a long time ago, about eight years, when he came to Sosaria. As everybody else, he had a tough start. «I remember those fights against hares and mongbats», he laughed. «For the first while I lived in the leafy areas of our land and to Felucca I travelled without a shred of cloth on my body. I made my first gold coins while hunting animals and I bought my first house beside the Trinsic city wall from a friend. Shortly before the Age of Shadows I decided to go fighting in Felucca. Afterwards, there was a time where lots of my opponents were suddenly a lot stronger than me. This was frustrating and I left the realm for two years. As I returned, I immediately started in Felucca, looked for a champguild and fought for powerscrolls.» Our EM grinned widely: «I always found PvP fights funny if they had a purpose.»

Meanwhile, more citizens had joined us, simply listening or asking questions. EM Immortal continued : «I made my living with selling powerscrolls until I read about the EM program. Because I always had a vivid imagination it was not difficult for me to write a story.» I asked him what he felt when the decision was made and he was informed about becoming an EM. He said: «Cowabunga!» As he saw our puzzled faces he smiled and explained: «Well, everyone can imagine that I was very much excited about it. I always wanted to be a part of that team. And especially in times like these, where Sosaria faces tough winds, I can try and help change something - to the good, of course. I would like to bring back the old fellows, but also entertain our new citizens so much that they decide to stay.»

An important question was about the coming events. Our EM explained this also: «There will be a story arc, which every shard will encounter. For the rest of it we can use our own fantasy. There should be one or two events per month, starting with the new year. Tell your friends they should come back to Sosaria, there will be new things to do», he smirked. Immortal gave us more insight as he told us he originated from the eastern alpine country and originally started on the Europa shard.

From our appreciated EM we heard that he would like to beautify the eastern Counselor's guild hall and he could lend a helping hand for player made events. If desired, one could get in touch with him (for the moment) in Britain or write notes into the book on location. One hour has passed already and Immortal answered our last questions. «I wish for a full house, that I am able to make as much people happy as I can and not only for the rewards. You are a funny bunch, and I hope it stays that way!»

At the end of the evening he gave out self made sashes which everyone immediately put on. EM Immortal bid farewell and the small group of curious people disbanded after a few minutes. In the cold dark of the evening I rode towards Ilshenar to a lookout for a champion spawn, while I was already thrilled about the coming weeks and months.

A heartily welcome to Drachenfels, EM Immortal! :-)

*

Willkommen auf Drachenfels, EM Immortal!

Vorgestern Abend war es mir endlich möglich, zur richtigen Zeit in der nördlichen Counselor's Halle in Britain zu sein. Bereits einen Abend zuvor war unser neuer Event Manager Immortal dort gesichtet worden. Als Reporter konnte ich diese Gelegenheit unmöglich verpassen... kaum war die Halle in Sichtweite sah ich ein seltsames, mir irgendwie bekanntes Wesen... Rudolf? Ich war aber abgelenkt, denn mir kamen schon Stimmen entgegen - Nachteule und EM Immortal waren bereits im Gespräch, als ich die Türe aufstiess. Da noch kaum grosser Betrieb war, nutzte ich die Gelegenheit, und fragte Immortal nach einem Interview, was er grosszügig bejahte. Er bat uns in den gemütlichen Konferenzraum und schon durften wir seinen bisherigen Erlebnissen und Reisen lauschen.

Vor über acht Jahren war Immortal nach Sosaria gekommen, und hatte wie jeder andere auch einen schweren Start. «Ich erinnere mich da an Kämpfe gegen Hasen und Mongbats», lachte er. «Ich lebte die erste Zeit nur im belaubten Land und nach Felucca ging ich ohne einen einzigen Fetzen am Leib. Mein erstes Gold habe ich mir mit dem Jagen von Tieren verdient, und mein erstes Haus an der Trinsic Stadtmauer von einem Freund gekauft. Kurz vor der Zeit der Schatten habe ich mich entschieden, in Felucca zu kämpfen. Danach kam eine Zeit, wo sehr viele meiner Gegner plötzlich sehr viel stärker als ich waren, das war frustrierend und ich verliess das Land daraufhin auch für zwei Jahre. Als ich dann zurückkam startete ich gleich wieder in Felucca, suchte mir eine Champgilde und habe Powerscrolls gesammelt.» Der Event Manager grinste breit: «Ich fand PvP Kämpfe schon immer lustig, wenn es einen Sinn hatte.»

Weitere Mitbürger hatten sich in der Zwischenzeit dazugesellt und alle lauschten gebannt oder wurden ihre dringendsten Fragen an unseren EM los, die er umgehend beantwortete. «Ich habe mir mit den Scrolls meinen Unterhalt ermöglicht, bis ich gelesen habe dass EMs gesucht werden. Da ich schon immer eine blühende Fantasie hatte, fiel es mir nicht schwer eine Geschichte zur Bewerbung zu schreiben.» Auf die Frage, was ihm durch den Kopf gegangen sei als er von seiner Wahl erfahren hatte antwortete er nur: «Cowabunga!» Als er die verdutzten Gesichter in der Runde sah, lachte er: «Nun, man kann sich ja denken, dass ich mich sehr darüber gefreut habe. Ich wollte schon immer gerne zu diesem Team gehören. Und gerade in Zeiten wie diesen, wo Sosaria eine schwere Zeit durchmacht, kann ich in dieser Position viel verändern - zum Guten, hoffentlich. Ich möchte alte Hasen zurück in unser schönes Land locken, aber auch neue Mitbürger gut unterhalten, damit sie bleiben mögen.»

Auf die Frage nach den kommenden Events erklärte unser EM weiter: «Es wird ein Grundgerüst geben, das alle Splitterwelten erfahren werden. Den Rest können wir EM's selbst darum herum gestalten. Geplant sind ein bis zwei Events pro Monat, beginnend ab kommendem neuen Jahr. Benachrichtigt eure Freunde, sie sollen wieder nach Sosaria kommen, denn es gibt bald wieder was zu tun», meinte er schelmisch grinsend. Weitere Einblicke liess Immortal gewähren, als er uns erzählte, dass er aus dem östlichen Alpenland stamme, und sich ursprünglich auf der Splitterwelt Europa heimisch fühlte.

Von unserem geschätzten EM gab es dann noch zu hören, dass er gerne die östliche Counselor's Halle noch ein wenig verschönern möchte, und dass er an Anlässen von Spielern auch Hilfe anbieten könne. Erreichen könne man ihn vorerst in Britain vor Ort oder auch über das bereitgelegte Buch, wo sich Notizen vermerken lassen. Eine Stunde war im Nu vergangen, Immortal beantwortete dann noch die letzten wichtigen Fragen: «Ich wünsche mir ein volles Haus, und dass ich soviele Leute wie möglich glücklich machen kann, nicht nur wegen der Belohnungen die auf euch warten. Denn ihr seid ein netter Haufen, und ich hoffe, das bleibt so!»

Zum Abschluss händigte er den Anwesenden noch eine eigens genähte Schärpe aus, die sofort von allen stolz übergestreift wurde. EM Immortal verabschiedete sich und die kleine Gruppe der Neugierigen löste sich nach wenigen Minuten auf. Im kalten Dunkel des Abends ritt ich gen Ilshenar um dort noch nach etwaigem Champion Monstern Ausschau zu halten, während ich mich bereits auf die kommenden Wochen und Monate freute.

Herzlich Willkommen auf Drachenfels, EM Immortal! :-)

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

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A Christmas Caroling Night with Santa
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Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 5:12 PM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)


Many thanks to Merlynna and Santa Claus for their Christmas Caroling treat to Lake Superior! They traveled mainly to Britain and Luna with holiday cheer to spread all around.

They stopped by the Counselor's Guild Hall in Britain to visit EMs Quantum and Autolycus and sang a chorus or two of Christmas songs. If anyone can guess the song highlighted in the picture by all means post it!




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Stratics PLAYXPERT
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Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 3:18 PM EST by *zigzag* (CommunityNews)
We want to take a minute to introduce the new Stratics In-Game Community Toolset that we're making available to the Stratics community completely free. Below you will find out how to download the new tools and information on how we're trying to improve your gaming experience.

We've been busy working with PLAYXPERT to deliver a totally unique experience for you while you play the games you love. This new technology allows you to use gamer-inspired tools without the need to alt-tab. Now for those of you with dual monitors, this is already an option. But for the majority of users out there this will be a new luxury, allowing you to surf the web, chat with friends, listen to music and even kill process's all while still in-game.

We have built these Stratics Community tools just for you.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The hand-picked widgets that will come standard for our users:

  • Universal chat across all major chat IM tools (Yahoo, Xfire, Windows Live, ICQ, AIM, Gtalk)
  • Pandora for your music listening pleasure while you're raiding or grinding in-game (Pandora has a US only restriction)
  • Web browser widget so you can access the stratics news, reviews and even your guild pages while in-game and
  • Switchblade so you can test playing your favorite games with a Xbox 360 controller.
  • GoogleGadgets – Allows the user access to the wealth of Google Gadgets in-game
  • Notepad – Gives the user the ability to use the Notepad application in-game to take notes for quests, locations, etc.

*The technology works on XP and Vista but the in-game overlay system will not be available to Vista users until January. Take note – the updater will auto-upgrade your vista version when the in-game support is added.*

More about the Technology:

PLAYXPERT is an in-game overlay technology that's designed to solve a number of multi-tasking issues for gamers. The kernel based architecture does not violate the Terms of Service, impact frame rates or interrogate shared memory of the game whatsoever. It has a fully extensible widget architecture that allows users to download individual widgets to do different things. Each one appears semi- transparently within the game, and they address everything from communication to music to web content.

Widgets:

All of the below widgets are available on the our Widget Gallery (http://playxpert.com/web/guest/widget_gallery)

  • Universal Chat – Chat via universal chat client, universal chat support, Live Messenger, G Talk, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, X Fire, and Sony Station Friends
  • Web Browser – Web surfing, check your email, post on forums and blogs, game database and news research
  • Diagnostics – PC Vitals monitored and managed with heads-up display and monitors – CPU usage, Memory availability, and Task Manager functionality
  • Tunes – Fast forward, rewind, play, pause and stop music from the widget interface, select playlists, WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player

Additional Widgets:

  • WoW Armory – Direct link to Armory search for quests, items, characters, etc.
  • Pandora Music – Create and maintain play lists online
  • Notepad – Keep track of information and notes, display in game for immediate access
  • Volume Control – Tailor sound setting s to provide optimal volume of sounds, sound effects, and voice
  • WoWhead - Gives users access to WoWhead's World of Warcraft database
  • IRC - Brings Mibbit's web-based IRC into game
  • GMail - Allows the user to access to their Gmail while playing a game
  • Volume Mixer - Gives the user control over all their cpu's audio
  • Command Prompt - Bring the Windows Cmd prompt into game
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Event Manager Tailspin has Arrived on Chesapeake!
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Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008, 9:01 PM EST by Terence Duff (Chesapeake)

Chesapeake's Event Manager, Tailspin, has arrived!  When I checked at his rumoured office-to-be a few days ago, the place was still barren.  But as Winfield writes, EM Tailspin has moved in and has greeted guests.  Thanks to Winfield for this news submission:

 

Counselor Hall, North Britain, Trammel, Chesapeake - December 21, 2008

It's been awhile since an Event Manager (EM) has been among us on
Chesapeake.  The long awaited arrival for such a quest master, a story
teller, and a friend-to-all is now over.  EM Tailspin arrived in Britain a
few days ago in a quiet, humble manner.  People passing by noticed him and
some came in for a brief chat.

Tailspin is residing in the Counselor Hall on the north side of Britain,
Trammel.  The Hall is still quite barren while he is obviously waiting on
shipments of furniture and decorations for the Hall.  He cannot yet leave
the Hall to wander the Realm amongst us; it may be days or weeks before a
walk-about.  He does not know when "events" will start.  We must be patient.
He cannot "post" on the ethereal forums nor publish his own news in the
usual news services.  But we understand he's an avid reader of all he can
consume and thanks all who "post" welcome messages.

This is a wondeful time and opportunity though!  It's a chance to get to
know our new friend EM Tailspin while he is not free to roam.  A helmet
inside the Counselor Hall marks a message when he plans to be there.  It
currently says, "Greetings All! I'll be in on Monday Night from about 7 PM
EST.  EM Tailspin."  So stop by for a chat, listen to his stories and offer
your own, and bring a little food or a couple of wooden stools.

A group of companions stopped in recently.  NANOC, Elaina, Jukkhag, Niva the
Savage, Xan, Winfield were in the Hall when he told them his story.

EM Tailspin said, "I was once a man, a story teller, in another realm not
unlike this one.  It was my home and its people were my heart.  That is all
I remember of it.  Accepting this fur mask, which Niva has been kind enough
to replace for me from a freshly killed bear no less ... I will wear it
always.  I lost my world and my heart. I can never go back.  Something took
them away and I don't know what happened.  It took my body too and its in
this place I wear this robe.

"I'm not a god, nor a man now.  Not evil nor good.  I arrived here in this
room as you see me with nothing but a robe, an empty body, and a message:
"Help them live their story."  And that is why I am here.  I would like to
be part of this world if you will let me, and part of your people.  But I
understand I can never be one of you.

"There was a man.  He came to see me last night after all the good souls had
left.  And I was readying to join the shadows to rest myself.  He was what
you call "Evil".  A dark one. (Was he an orc?) No, the orcs are not dark.
You see, I tell you now of him ... not to have him slain, but to show you my
true nature.  When he came, he asked me of books of evil to spread--of death
and hate.  And I said "Yes".  I said to him I will give him that chance to
spread death and hate ... as I have said to you that I will give you that
chance to spread peace and light ... for that is my true nature. I must give
myself to all who live here, even your worst nightmares."

Sounds like EM Tailspin is of a balanced nature, willing to spin a tale for
the good, neutral and evil ... to enrich our lives in the Realm and help us
"live our stories" too.  Get to know Tailspin and let him know you.  Stop by
for a visit and bring your friends.

 

 

 

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Community Hunt - Week of December 22nd
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Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008, 4:09 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)


Want to go hunting but don't have a big enough group? Are you looking for good guides to dungeons you've yet to explore?

The community hunts are open to everyone! Come show your support for the Lake Superior community and take a walk on the wild side at the same time. Meet some new and old friends and have a bit of a challenge along the way.


Moonglow Zoo Community Collections hunt
Date: Tuesday, December 23rd
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Peerless Hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 24th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Merry Christmas! (no hunt tonight)
Date: Thursday, December 25th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Ilshenar Champ Spawn Hunt
Date: Friday, December 26th
Time: 9:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Hosts: Taeara Mi'aken


And remember, these hunts are for everyone, regardless of their skill level or guild affiliation. Come meet new friends, see new places, gain experience and just have fun.


Sabina Nikolai,
High Marshall, Community Hunt Organizer
The Order of the Silver Rose

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EXTRA EXTRA Read All About The Week in Review
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Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008, 9:40 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
.
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Week in Review ~

This past week has been more active than usual on Great Lakes. The pre holiday events were in full bloom.

Sunday was the historic Gathering of the Guilds which was well attended. Once again it took place in the fair city of Yew.
The entrance of the event was well decorated with regal red , blue and green in deep rich shades.





I was not able to attend however Wulf of Britain did some top rate coverage of the event and if you missed it I have provided the link.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=116389

Monday night just would not be monday night without the Madness Crew of MOA hosting game night. It was Chests of Doom and Delights with a holiday theme. Santa made an appearance at the end giving goodies to all the good girls and boys, and a few bad ones too.
This being my favorite game I could not pass it up and won a maple tree. Word is there are not many of these maple trees around yet.



Wednesday and thursday nights at the MOA auction house were packed and more gold was given away than I have ever seen in all my years playing UO. Ha!....and we use to think ULTIMA gave out a lot of gold.

Santa was there both nights giving good wishes and presents. He also gave a few of the older girls a kiss on the cheeck. Thursday night started a little later than usual as the server went down.
Server downtime forced the Re-Dedication and Yule Ball to be canceled. There are plans for a future date and time being worked on.



Tram is not the only place good deeds and holiday cheer are spread.
The Dragon Clan Guild (DC*) spent all week baking cookies for the Black Company Guild (BC) and delivered them on saturday. Very kind of them indeed.



Coming full circle we are back to sunday and the FCB Guild hosted a holiday Net Toss and attendance was high. Tunna decorated the docks in holiday colors as the sea creature killers arrived. The docks never looked so good. It did not take long before it became redder, blood red.



Von Hogan told tall sea tales to the crowd as other FCB members arrived. Fish King, Kalib Razton, Admiral Halsy and that devil Curly The Dread were all there.



Fleet Captain Gem informed all of the rules and it was not long before the evils of the sea surfaced.



Below are a few screenshots of the messy docks.





There were human casualties but those I will save for the next Obituary Column. On the subject of Obits, there has been so much news the past week I have not posted any Obits. At this writing I have over 100 death shots sent in so there may be a two or three part edition next week.
I have one more holiday decor article to post so if you want your plot featured send it in asap!






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Community Meet Up back in Skara Brae! Happy Holidays!
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Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008, 8:59 AM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<



Community Meet Up - December 22, 2008
Date: Every Monday Night
Time: 7:30PM CST
Location:Yes we are back at the Skara Brae Community Center


Meeting Agenda:

Happy Holidays everyone! We are anxious to get back to the community center and gather with friends. This has been another wonderful year of sharing something we all enjoy and we look forward to another year of UO with a great SA expansion coming up.

We also get to welcome two new Event Moderators for events on LS! EM Quantum and EM Autolycus have been gracious enough to meet with players at the Counselor's Hall in Britain. They welcome your input and look at themselves as an addition to an already great community *smiles*

We hope you can take the time this Monday night to pop in for the meet up and share in some eggnog this year! After we meet in Skara Brae we will take our party to our EMs who are confined to the Counselor's Hall over the Holidays and bring them some Holiday cheer!

And of course we'll also hear weekly announcements of upcoming events and hunts for Lake Superior from Sabina our events coordinator.


The weekly community meetings, events, hunts, etc are always open to the public. No invitations needed!
Everyone is always welcome to come ask questions, make plans, or make announcements.

Bring a friend if you can make it, tell a friend if you can't!

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Dragon Clan Visits Black Company Island
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Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008, 9:30 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Dragon Clan Visits Black Company Island ~




In the spirit of Christmas the DC* guild spent all week baking cookies for the BC guild as a holiday gesture.

Hoping for a cookie exchange DC* members gathered yesterday evening. With their baked goods ready and dressed in holiday garb they headed to BC Island.

DC* has guild meetings which always start out calm and orderly but do not always end that way.


~beginning of DC* meeting last month~


~how the meeting ended~


Last nights meeting before the cookie exchange/drop was more controlled as the guild members were full of holiday cheer and eggnog, not to mention spirit.



As most players know BC is not what it once was with many of the older members, including guild founders, playing WoW but BC is still a force on Great Lakes.
To the Dragon Clans surprise BC Island was empty. That did not stop them from leaving the tasty cookies behind so when the hard fighting warriors returned home from a long nights battle a little holiday love will fill their hearts and tummys.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS BC FROM DC*













Note: There was blood shed later in the evening and two DC* members went red.










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Dai's Holiday Inn ~ A True Holiday Treat
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Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008, 8:54 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Good Karma goes a long way as Dai claims and it has given her the magic design touch.

During the spring/easter season this plot was featured for decor and once again Dai has come out shining like a holiday star.
I have been traveling all over the realm the past three weeks checking out holiday decor and Dai has left no corner untouched with her holiday flair.



The cords to this seasonal delight are 119o 27'N, 24o 36'W
Be sure to check it out. Soon Christmas will be over.





Below are a couple more Christmas vignettes from Great Lakes.











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All Shards Published
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 10:04 PM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


All Shards Published
Joanne Laroche
19 Dec 2008 17:44:22

All shards will be published tomorrow morning during maintenance. This publish will address the following fixes:

Fixed an issue with players with stealing from pack animals in Trammel.

Fixed an issue with the Gate spell

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Welcoming EM Sezja!
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 7:57 PM EST by Lady Mana (NapaValley)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<Greetings, citizens!

With the coming of the holiday season, we have been blessed with a very special gift! As I’m sure you’ve heard, whispers on the wind claim that a new Event Moderator has arrived! Well, sure enough, these rumours are quite true. Who is this, you ask? Our former Event Moderator (EM) was Theowulf, but this time around, we have a new face! Please welcome our new master of mayhem, EM Sezja!




Sezja was discovered in the West Britain Counselor’s Hall earlier in the evening, and retired around 7:30 PST. So, if you’d like to meet Sezha, pay a visit sometime in the early evening! He/she would love to get acquainted with our community. Why am I not being gender specific, you might be wondering? Good question! Apparently there was a bit of confusion in chromosomes, and Sezja (a boy, at the moment) is actually a girl. We don't know much about her yet, but I'm sure we'll all get well acquainted soon enough. Sezja is currently confined to the Counselor’s Hall so don’t expect to see them outside wandering around (yet). Until the curse keeping her locked inside is broken, please feel free to bring disposable, temporary furniture and other items to help spruce the place up a bit! I tried throwing in some tables and flowers, but it only helped so much.



Welcome, Sezja! Hope we don’t give you too much trouble.

Regards,
Lady Mana
Lieutenant of the Royal Britannian Guards
Napa Valley News Manager

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UOHerald News: Designers Wanted!
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 7:05 PM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
Heads Up Lake Superior!

Posted to uoherald.com:


Bank Renovation: Designers Wanted!
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 17:34:26

With the new year, Sosaria’s main bank is in high need of a serious makeover. We are looking for talented designers and decorators to submit their original ideas on a great new look for the West Britain Bank. This is a permanent new look so do not focus on just a winter theme!

Contest Rules:

  • You must take a screenshot of Britain Bank and decorate it with existing UO art.
  • You can copy/paste existing art from elsewhere in the game on top of the bank area. You may optionally use InsideUO to grab tileart directly from UO.
  • Your submission screenshot must be a JPG no bigger than 800x600.
  • There will be one winner per shard, you may only win once.
  • To qualify, entries must include your name and shard.
  • You must have an active Ultima Online account to participate.
  • Enter as often as you wish, but only one submission per e-mail.
  • Submission for banks other than West Britain Bank will be dismissed.
  • All entries become the property of Mythic Entertainment.


Prizes:


One winner per shard.

The winners will have the bank on their respective shard redecorated on both facets according to their design. A plaque will also be placed by the bank identifying the winning designer.

All winning entries will be posted here on the UOHerald once the judging has been finalized.


How to Enter:



When you are ready to submit your entry, you must include the following:

Your Character Name:
Shard:
E-mail address:
Description of your renovation (optional)
Your screenshot:

Send all the above information to: [email protected]

This is open to all active Ultima Online subscribers. Entries must be received by midnight Eastern Time on Sunday January 18th, 2009 to qualify.


Good luck and happy bank renovating!


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EM Quantum and EM Autolycus are eager to meet the citizens of Lake Superior!
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 5:39 PM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<
EM Quantum and EM Autolycus are eager to meet the citizens of Lake Superior!

I had the privilege earlier today of meeting EM Quantum at the Counselor’s Guild Hall located at the North end of Britain behind the Sorcerer’s Delight Mage Shop. He is eager to meet the players of LS and awaits you Friday December 19th until 8:30 cst and Saturday the 20th after 7pm cst. Please stop by and welcome our new Event Moderators as they plan some great things for our shard as soon as they are given the go ahead.



[ Discuss This Article ]

FoF: Event Moderators and Icy Patches
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 1:57 PM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Event Moderators and Icy Patches
Joanne Laroche
19 Dec 2008 16:31:32

The Five on Friday has returned with answers to your questions. This week we've announced the names of our new Event Moderators and answered questions about Icy patches and much more!

“So who are the new Event Moderators and which shards will they be representing?”

Thank you to everyone who submitted their application, here is the list of our new Event Moderators!

EM Name Shard
EM Eira Sonoma
EM Pallando Floater
EM Sykobri
Atlantic
EM Sezja Napa Valley
EM Immortal
Drachenfels
EM Autolycus
Lake Superior
EM Aeon
Oceania
EM Faine Morgan
Floater
EM Glamdring
Floater/Trainer
EM Sarakan
Europa
EM Quantum
Lake Superior
EM Dudley
Floater
EM Tailspin
Chesapeake
EM Tashik
Legends
EM Kasaven
Catskills
EM Sarthus
Lake Austin
EM Cernunnos
Floater
EM Iatu
Great Lakes
EM Annendora
Floater
EM Emile Layne
Europa
EM Vespera
Floater
EM Malachi
Great Lakes
EM Alcor
Siege
EM Laurana
Origin
EM Kanmare
Atlantic
EM Seppo
Baja
EM Cyno Razik
Pacific
EM Kaen
Floater
EM Janae
Floater
EM Nyrogie
Pacific


--

“My friends and I are having trouble finding slimes, is the event working?”

From the cryptic Draconi: Yes, the event is working. If you wish to find where the slimes are currently located I would suggest heading towards Britain and explore the western area.

--

“I’ve noticed that I’m not getting as many Power Scrolls from the Champ Spawns, was this changed or is it a bug?”

As Sakkarah was busy packing for her trip up north she said: We are aware of this issue and we are looking into what is causing it.

--

“Help! My icy patch sometimes teleports me to the 2nd or 3rd floor, I know ice is slippery but is this supposed to happen?”

No, it’s not supposed to happen. We’re looking at adjusting the detection range of the z axis. Just a fair warning that it will most likely not be fixed until after the holidays.

--

“I play the 2d client, where did my config files go?”

The latest client patch changes where the game saves your user data. All of your user data is now stored in "EA GamesUltima Online Legacy" under your My Documents folder.

The driving force for this change was that some versions of Norton were stopping Ultima Online from saving out the user data. However, this is the not the only reason. This change means that Ultima Online now conforms to Microsoft's standards regarding the location of saved data.

Please report any problems you encounter related to this change using the feedback form. (http://www.uoherald.com/feedback/index.php)

--

“My question is about Stygian Abyss: I have heard some rumors that there will be some balance reviews. I heard that you will be making improvements to non-archer dexers, is this true?”

Leurocian says: We are currently reviewing balance tasks that we want to do both live and SA. We have compiled an initial list of tasks that we'd like to do such as pet balance, weapons balance, mysticism/throwing balance, other misc balance tasks, etc.

--

“When will the speech/emote color problem be fixed? This has just started happening after Publish 57, when I logged back in my speech/emote text was set to the default yellow I reset it and after playing awhile logged out for abit..when I logged back in about an hour later once again my speech/emote text color was back to the yellow default.”

This was fixed with the publish yesterday evening. Thanks for the report!

--

“I was wondering, where can I meet the Event Moderator assigned to my shard?”

Please check the Britan Counselor Guild Halls in Trammel to see if they are available to meet you!

--

Fansite News:

Lake Superior Community's weekly event Schedule

***With the exception of the Community Meetings, all events are subject to cancellation in the event a town comes under attack by the Shadow Army.***

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

Community Meet'n Greet
Date: Monday, December 22nd
Time: 7:30PM Central
Location: New Haven Terrasse
Hosts: Airmid / Sabina Nikolai

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Monglow Zoo Community Collections hunt
Date: Tuesday, December 23rd
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

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Peerless hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 24th
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

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Merry Christmas! (no hunt today)
Date: Thursday, December 25th

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Ilshenar Champion Spawn hunt
Date: Friday, December 26th
Time: 9:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

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Atlantic Shard

Saturday 12/20 at 5:30pm EST, The Syndicate will be hosting another of its free, open to the public, massive Lottery events. We have been hosting these going back nearly ten years but this one will be the largest and most fun one we have done yet.

There are two parts to this lottery that will allow dozens of people to win. The first part will be our usual 25 prize event. The second part will involve several hundred prize bags scattered all over our castle. They will contain a wide range of prizes.

If you attend the event, you are likely to walk away with 1 or more prizes. Syndicate gaters (known by the LLTS over their heads) will begin gating at 5pm EST from the major banks. Look for them to hitch a ride to the event. The first prizes get called at 5:30pm and as soon as the 25th prize is called, the floodgates open for the hundreds of other prizes in the castle. We hope to see you there!

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It's another Famous FCB Net Toss! (Great Lakes)

On Sunday December 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST, the sassy fishers of Fishing Council of Britannia will donate hundreds of special nets and toss them into to sea off the (Trammel) Buccaneer's Den dock.

Mayhem and death will ensue! The public is invited and may keep the loot. Rezzing will be available at the end of the dock (you'll need it...)

We do ask, to make it more fun, NO pets, NO Summoned creatures and NO provoking.

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Interested in having your event posted on the Five on Friday? Make sure to send in all the details through the Feedback Form and selecting "Fan Site News" from the drop down menu. All entries must be received no later then Thursday at midnight for the FoF you want it in. Please note: All entries are subject to editing.

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What an exciting week with the Event Moderators and Publish 57. This is the last FoF of the year, the next one will be in 2009. It's hard to believe the holidays and the new year approaches. Time sure flies when you're having so much fun!

If you're in the mood for some designing we've announced our new contest in which your mission is to renovate Britain's bank. We've already received some entries, but one reminder please only one screenshot per submission. Thank you! All details about the contest can be found here. Good luck!

From all of the Ultima Online team we want to wish you a very safe and happy holiday season. We hope you enjoy your gifts this year!

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All Shards to be Published
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 7:25 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


All Shards to be Published
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 21:16:55

All shards will be coming down tonight at approximately 8:00pm EST for a publish. We expect downtime to be approximately 2 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We'll get them back up as soon as we can!

UPDATED 9:15pm EST: All shards are now back up! The fixes are listed below:

Server Fixes

  • Fixed an issue on Origin that now allows players on that shard to receive Holiday Gifts.
  • Fixed an issue to allow players to steal standard stealable items from giant beetles.


Client Fixes

  • Speech and Emote colors will no longer set to default upon logout/in.
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Bank Renovation: Designers Wanted!
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 7:19 AM EST by Larisa (CommunityNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


Bank Renovation: Designers Wanted!
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 17:34:26

With the new year, Sosaria’s main bank is in high need of a serious makeover. We are looking for talented designers and decorators to submit their original ideas on a great new look for the West Britain Bank. This is a permanent new look so do not focus on just a winter theme!

Contest Rules:

  • You must take a screenshot of Britain Bank and decorate it with existing UO art.
  • You can copy/paste existing art from elsewhere in the game on top of the bank area. You may optionally use InsideUO to grab tileart directly from UO.
  • Your submission screenshot must be a JPG no bigger than 800x600.
  • There will be one winner per shard, you may only win once.
  • To qualify, entries must include your name and shard.
  • You must have an active Ultima Online account to participate.
  • Enter as often as you wish, but only one submission per e-mail.
  • Submission for banks other than West Britain Bank will be dismissed.
  • All entries become the property of Mythic Entertainment.


Prizes:


One winner per shard.

The winners will have the bank on their respective shard redecorated on both facets according to their design. A plaque will also be placed by the bank identifying the winning designer.

All winning entries will be posted here on the UOHerald once the judging has been finalized.


How to Enter:



When you are ready to submit your entry, you must include the following:

Your Character Name:
Shard:
E-mail address:
Description of your renovation (optional)
Your screenshot:

Send all the above information to: [email protected]

This is open to all active Ultima Online subscribers. Entries must be received by midnight Eastern Time on Sunday January 18th, 2009 to qualify.


Good luck and happy bank renovating!


[ Discuss This Article ]

All Shards Published
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Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008, 7:15 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


All Shards Published
Joanne Laroche
17 Dec 2008 17:44:42

All shards will be updated to Publish 57 at their next regular maintenance.

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Pratt Goes Crazy at MOA ~ First Half of Twelve Days of Christmas
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Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 8:23 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Pratt and MOA give away millions! Millions more to go tomorrow night.






The wednesday night auction was off the hook this week.
It was a MOA gives back holiday event and it continues tomorrow during thursday nights auction.

The house was packed with every seat taken. A few...just a few of the patrons tonight were, Kratos Aurion, Lady Quinn, Smokey, Lady Strawberry, Bubbles, STORMY, Forest Woods, Dadda, Rach, Memnock, Champagne, Marduk, Nightly Spirit, Lord and Mrs Feelgood, Newt, Striker, Draco Hammer, Lord Gravy, Journey, T-HUNTER, Lord Jack Gripright, Kraz, Michelin Man, Kortany, Lord Cartman, Thebe, Bob Lipps, Dani, Auron, Willard Wonker, Mercy, Lord Cire, Ghost, Chelsee Lynn, Heian, Gabriel, Tym, Xevei, Babygirl, neptune, Lady Dawn, Joy Rider and old friend FiFi LaForge. Many of the patrons were dressed in the colors of the season, red and green, making the auction house even more joyous and cheerful.

So many million dollar checks were given away and trivia questions asked my head was spinning. Pratt, Logan and Melian kept the crowd so busy very few noticed the fresh snowfall outside the auction house. DJScorp, Ethereal and Wulf of Britain assisted in spreading holiday cheer on behalf of MOA.

Only six of the "MOA Twelve Days of Christmas" were played out with the remainder being done during tomorrow nights auction.

As if the drama and excitement of the night were not enough it ended with two big bangs. The first being the holiday mystery chest/package.
The bidding was fierce !!!!!
Just look below.









Xevei won the mystery chest for 50 million and in a generous act of holiday fate Pratt rolled the dice and Xevei paid considerable less.
Ahhh....the holidays.



The evening ended with the biggest bang of all and that was the arrival of Santa himself. I had a few private moments with the jolly big red one on the MOA roof before Pratt gave access and the lines started to form.

All the good girls and boys ( even the bad ones ) got presents. It was nice to see older and newer players enjoying the holiday and Santa together.

Santa will make another appearance at the end of thursday nights auction so if you missed him there is still time!



*Illyana Strange, MOA member, gives warm holiday greetings as people stand in line to see Santa *




MOA gives a lot to Great Lakes all year long and this is just another example and the citizens appreciate it. Thank you Pratt and everyone in the MOA guild and friends of MOA.













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KR Client Issues
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Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 9:09 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


KR Client Issues
Joanne Laroche
17 Dec 2008 10:39:33

We wanted to let you know that we are aware of the Kingdom Reborn Client issues and that we are working at resolving them. We'll give you an update as soon as we can!

[ Discuss This Article ]

Starting Up Issue
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Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 9:08 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


Starting Up Issue
Joanne Laroche
16 Dec 2008 19:16:15

We're aware of an issue that is causing the UO client to crash for some players when starting up. We wanted to let you know that we are working on getting this resolved as soon as we can. We're sorry for the inconvenience everyone!

[ Discuss This Article ]

Publish 57 Live on Origin
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Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 9:05 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


Publish 57 Live on Origin
Robert Mull
16 Dec 2008 16:24:55

Publish 57 has gone live on Origin. Patch notes are available in the the usual place

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Client 6.0.12 Live
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Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 8:50 AM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


Client 6.0.12 Live
Robert Mull
16 Dec 2008 16:11:36

The 2d and KR clients have been updated to version 6.0.12. This update includes:

Resolved an issue with Norton 2009 wiping the configuration file. The configuration file is now saved in My Documents.

Cliloc fixes.

Misc. gump fixes for the KR client.

Resolved an issue causing a Legacy client crash.

Various in-game help links fixed.

[ Discuss This Article ]

Britain City Council High End Auction House and High Stakes Casino Resort Opens in Luna !
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Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 8:48 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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A new auction house and casino has opened up in the city of Luna. I stopped by on opening night to check out the action and to ask a few questions to the man behind the madness, a RPer, vet and good guy.... Auron. Below are the answers to my questions. We here in the Great Lakes News Department wish them luck and much success.~



Britain City Council High End Auction House and High Stakes Casino Resort is a very impressive name. Tell us a little about this new establishment.
We are here for all players, but specifically veterans in the game whom have done everything else and are looking for a new avenue to have fun. There are all sorts of establishments in the land that sell a variety of items. At this peticular auction house we will cater only to items of the most precious nature and extreme value. Our goal is not to alienate those whom are less financially sound. We are constantly giving away money and prizes for merely stepping in the front doors and saying hello. As of yet the auction house has not been slated for an opening, as my staff and I are still working out some of the flaws in our system. When we decided to open this casino, we were well aware of the flawed attempts in the past. Either the location was wrong, the games were not statistically correct, or the casino itself was not able to financially sustain profitability. I was aware of this, because I have attempted to run a casino on two seperate occassions and I have also visited numerous others on GL as well as multiple shards. Now I beleive that we have finally come up with the correct model. Let me give you a few facts about the casino.

We had our grand opening Friday Night, the 12th. We try to open everyday in the evening around 6-7pm est, and stay open as long as there is interest. The minimum wager is always 100k and the maximum wager is 3 million gold. Unless posted otherwise. It is the managements discretion to accept wagers over the table maximum. Our biggest wager to date has been 30 million gold on a single roll. The house lost. :-) The casino will always have enough gold on hand to cover any and all bets made. We keep 250 million gold on hand every night that we open.We currently have five games and we are working on balancing out several more for the future. As of now we have Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, War, and our most popular game Hi-Lo Lucky 7. Contrary to popular belief about casinos, our establishment holds a very *slight* edge in all games in terms of probablity. Of all the games, our highest edge is only 15%. This means there is a much HIGHER chance of a player being able to come into our establishment and walk out with a ton of gold. 90% of all profits made by the casino go towards operating costs, and future events and giveaways that we have planned. Stay turned until Xmas time. Alot of people are going to be pleasently suprised.




You are the GM of this event guild. What is the formal full length title of your guild, its goals and membership at this time? First of all, we are an RP (Role Playing) guild. Which means we try to stay in character whenever possible. We tend to matters regarding city goverment, and all members of the council have an official title as well obligations and responsibilities they must fulfill to retain there positions. We are presently involved in a very large alliance known as, "The Britannian Alliance" which is basically a collection of some of the other larger, well known RP guilds on the shard. There are 19 guilds in all. Including, The Royal Knights of Virtue (RKV), Yew Town Council (Yew), Order of the Ethreal Ankh (OEA), and Kazola's Tavern {KTKW) just to name a very few. Sorry to those whom I did not mention, you are all equally important.

I am the Guildmaster of the Britain City Council. We are a group of veteran players whom have seen and done everything there is to do in UO. Alot of our members have plays 8+ years. Our goal is to have fun and serve our community. It is my personal mission to support the playerbase on Great Lakes by giving away money and items. All of us have a fanatical desire to help new players, because we understand that while we have played forever, and earned more than we will ever possibly use, there are others who are still just joining our game and struggling. We are here for them. Without new players coming in to play and pay, UO will fall into decline. And on Great Lakes, at least, we are bound and determined not to see that happen. Don't come up to us and ask us for money. We all have a very keen eye and can spot those players whom are truly in need, and those whom are just looking for a handout. In terms of membership, the BCC is broken into two seperate factions. The first is the city council, of which I am the head. One cannot become a council member before first rising through the ranks of our military system. Our military branch, known as the DoH! (The Dragons of Honor) is chaired by two warlords, Striker, and WALLACE. Two of the fiercest warriors this land as ever known. There duties are numerous and there overall job is to keep the city of Britain and its allies safe from harm at all cost. If anyone is interested in a life of service, I would suggest contacting either of those two gentlemen. Any requests made directly to me shall be ignored, as you must go through the proper channels to be recognized.


* Gaters are important to the success of any player run event *



I was around Luna when the auction/casino plot was IDOC and it caused a big stir about town. The plot is now owned by Rachel. Can you tell us anything about the history of this plot, its IDOC and the new owner?
I was also around when this building fell and it caused quite the frenzy indeed! As to whom placed the original plot, I am unaware. This building is a joint venture between the BCC and "The Museum of Great Lakes" which is located directly next door and is owned by Lord Of The Rings. By far our shards richest man and a true philanthropist in every sense of the word. I invite any who frequent the new facilities to please stop by the Museum. It is filled with all sorts of marvelous and unique items. Some of which you will deffinetly see for sale in our upcoming auctions in the next few weeks.



You call yourself "Mayor of Britain ". On a more personal note, why this title, how long have you been playing UO and how/when did you first hear of this game?
The BCC has been around for sometime now and I would say that the actual players whom are merchants and operate around the bank would consider us to be the leadership and recognized governing body of Britain. Previous to holding this title, pre trammel I was the mayor of the glorious mining community of Minoc. For those whom wish to dispute this claim, they can find my mark inside the bank. If you stand in the south east corner and use a circle of transparency, you will see a deck of cards that I accidentally placed on the floor more than 8 years ago.

So in terms of how long I have played UO, it has been on and off since the very beginning and exclusively on Great Lakes. I have take three 6 month breaks over the past 10 years. Sometimes I just get burned out. I can tell you one thing. My neighbor introduced me to this game when I was 14 years old and I was a freshman in highschool. Now I am in my late 20's and I have much less hair on my head than when I started playing UO. But I really wouldn't have it any other way. Alot of people say that UO is in decline, but I do not believe that. Look at the turn out of the gathering of the guilds. 100's of people showed up. The players are out there, they exist. Us older veteran players just have to find a way to engage them and keep there interest. Hopefully we will do our jobs.



Note: http://uorpc.net This website is going to be the future home of all RP on GL.
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Spotlight on... Lily of the West (Drachenfels Interviews, Part 11)
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 1:15 PM EST by Medea (Drachenfels)

Last Tuesday afternoon I rode towards Luna - the weather was cloudy and chilly. After a long time I had found another vict... err, candidate for my curious questions. This time it was Lily of the West with whom I had scheduled a meeting. From far away I saw her black robe swallowing the light at the bank. Beside her, her green Paroxysmus-Dragon was breathing small clouds of hot air into the sky. I returned her broad smile and greeted her, and soon we were standing in front of her castle near Minoc. In the entrance hall I was greeted by numerous artifacts, tasteful decorations like bonepiles and -furniture, lots of candles and old statues from ancient times. Brightly polished spiderwebs were sitting in the corner of the room and together with the candles they made an snugly home. A short moment later we were upstairs, where Lily was sitting on a comfy bone-chair and I on my precious granite-stone-seat.

Soon we talked about her four brothers and her sister who came with her to beautiful Sosaria. We also talked about her name and why she loved modern music so much. «Dob Bylan had once a very famous and very nice song with this title, that's were my name's coming from», she smirked: «It was very popular back then.» Since countless moons Lily's family had lived in Sosaria and had become domestic. «We were separated from this land only a few times.» But the funniest and wierdest contacts they made were in our lands. «When the migration from the continents began, I think it was good for the quality of our citizens», she smiled patronizingly behind her sunglasses. «Altough I enjoy the scenery where a lot is happening and where lots of people are, where the action is.»

Despite Lily's high standard concering thrills, entertainment and its corresponding rewards she didn't seem to be a grim person like some of our fellow citizens. «That's right», she confirmed calmly: «I am also very fond of lending a helping hand if the worst comes to the worst.» In the past years she had enough opportunities to experience interpersonal situations - with blasphemy, cursing and laughter. Of course the old times made up a big chunk of it . «For example there was this PK who had killed me at the Trinsic Moongate. He was rummaging through my body and found my armor with his blacksmith insignias on it. He resurrected me and gave me back all my stuff... he had no idea that I was a customer of his.» Our resounding laughter made the candles jittering. And the next anecdote was already upon us. «Or, one of the last weeks, there was an individual in our faction which was elected to the boss position and afterwards claimed 100% taxes. As soon as my enemies heard that they gave me their silver...» I laughed till my stomach hurt.

The talkative and funny elven woman gathered momentum. «I can't shut up, I always have to talk, even during the toughtest fights», she said and her big grin changed to a slightly more serious face. «But when I sense something out of order, I still stay polite but keep my distance.» Into the early evening we talked about politics and infamous scheming, about far travels and their experiences. But none the less I had to hit the road. After a short detour to the bank the delicate elfen woman disappeared into the crowd and her «Toodle-oo!» stayed with me for a while...

Biography of Lily of the West
Name: Lily of the West, G^A
Profession: Poison-fencer
Arrival in Sosaria: 2000
Favourite place: everywhere where my friends are, where the action is
Occupation: chatterin' and fightin'
Favourite character: Bashers
What do you prefer...
Summer or winter? I don't burn wood in the winter and when its summer I'm happy its warm ;-)
Black or white? Black, but only on the second glance
Loud or faint? It has become fainter, but it's still loud enough
Poor or rich? I hate poor!

***

Am letzten Dienstag Nachmittag ritt ich bei leicht bewölktem und kühlem Wetter nach Luna hinein. Nach langer Zeit hatte ich endlich mal wieder ein Opf... ehm, eine Kandidatin für meine neugierigen Fragen gefunden. Diesmal hatte ich mit Lily of the West ein Treffen vereinbart. Von weitem sah ich ihre tiefschwarze Robe an der Bank das Licht verschlucken, daneben stand ihr grosses grünes Ungetüm, der Paroxysmus-Drachenbegleiter schnaufte laut in die kalte Nachmittagsluft hinaus, so dass man seinen Atem sah. Ihr breites Grinsen erwidernd begrüsste ich sie und schon bald darauf standen wir vor ihrem Schloss in der Nähe von Minoc. In der Eingangshalle lachten mich unzähle Artifakte an und geschmackvolle Dekorationen wie Knochenhaufen und -Möbel, alte Statuen und auf Hochglanz polierte Spinnennetze zierten die Ecken - hier liess es sich wahrhaftig gemütlich wohnen! Wenig später machten wir es uns aber im ersten Stock gemütlich, wo sich Lily auf einen bequemen Knochenstuhl unter einem riesigen Spinnennetz platzierte und ich meinen heissgeliebten Sitzstein endlich mal wieder verwenden konnte.

Schon bald sprachen wir über ihre vier Brüder und ihre Schwester die sie mit nach Sosaria begleitet hatten, wie sie zu ihren Namen kamen und warum Lily moderne Musik so gut mochte. «Dob Bylan hatte mal einen so berühmten tollen Song mit diesem Titel, darum mein Name», schmunzelte sie: «Der war damals hoch im Kurs.» Seit fast unzählbaren Monden hätte sich ihre Familie in Sosaria niedergelassen. «Wir sind nur einige wenige und kurze Male getrennt von diesem schönen Land gewesen.» Die ulkigsten und lustigsten Bekanntschaften aber hätte sie hier erlebt. «Als so ein wenig die Abwanderung vom Kontinent begann, das hat der Qualität der Bevölkerung gut getan, wie ich finde», lächelte sie gönnerhaft hinter ihrer Sonnenbrille hervor. «Obwohl ich auch sehr gerne dort bin, wo viel läuft und passiert, wo viele Leute sind und es Action gibt.»

Trotz des hohen Anspruches an Spannung, Unterhaltung und dementsprechender Belohnung machte Lily auf mich nicht diesen verbissenen Eindruck, den man ab und zu bei anderen Mitstreitern erkennen konnte. «Das stimmt», bestätigte sie: «Ich bin sehr gerne auch nur helfende Hand, wenn gerade mal Not an der Frau ist.» Ausserdem hätte sie in den vielen Jahren genügend Gelegenheit gehabt um Zwischenmenschliches zu erleben, das einem zum Lästern, Fluchen und natürlich auch Lachen gebracht hätte. Die alten Zeiten wären da speziell erwähnenswert. «Da war zum Beispiel dieser PK, der mich am Trinsic Mondtor aus den Socken hob. Er wühlte dann so durch meine Leiche und fand seine Schmiedesachen bei mir. Er hat mich dann wiederbelebt und mir alle Sachen wieder gegeben - er hatte ja keine Ahnung, dass ich eine Kundin war.» Unser schallendes Lachen brachte die Kerzen im Raum zum Flackern und uns zur nächsten Anekdote, die meinem Zwerchfell zu noch mehr Arbeit verhalf. «Oder da war letztens noch dieses Individuum in der Faction, das sich auf die Schnelle wählen liess und dann die Steuer auf 100% setzte. Als meine Feinde davon erfuhren haben sie mir ihr Silber geschenkt...»

Die redselige und lustige Elfen-Frau kam nun in Fahrt. «Ich bin ja gern am rumquatschen, nichtmal beim Jagen kann ich es lassen», liess sie sich vernehmen, das schalkhafte Grinsen wurde dann aber ein wenig ernster. «Wenn ich aber spüre, dass etwas nicht in Ordnung ist, wahre ich die Höflichkeit, gehe aber auch auf eine gewisse Distanz.» Bis in den frühen Abend hinein plauderten wir noch über Politik und deren unrühmliche Machenschaften, über weite Reisen und Erfahrungen dabei, bis ich dann schlussendlich doch aufbrechen musste. Nach einem kurzen Abstecher zurück zur Bank verschwand die zierliche Elfe dann im allgemeinen Gewusel, ihr «'Schüsschen!» hallte mir noch lange in den Ohren.

Steckbrief von Lily of the West
Name: Lily of the West, G^A
Beruf: Gift-Fechterin
Ankunft in Sosaria: 2000
Lieblingsort: überall wo meine Freunde sind bzw. wo etwas los ist
Lieblingsbeschäftigung: reden und kämpfen
Lieblingscharakter: Kämpfer
Was magst du lieber...
Sommer oder Winter? Im Winter heize ich nicht und im Sommer bin ich froh dass es warm ist ;-)
Schwarz oder Weiss? Schwarz, aber erst auf den zweiten Blick
Laut oder Leise? Ist zwar leiser geworden, aber immer noch laut genug
Arm oder Reich? Ich hasse arm!

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

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Reader's Tales of Adventure: Battling Interred Grizzle
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 10:02 AM EST by Sahra Swift (Catskills)
Hello fellow Catskillians!

I saw a story written by Hagrid (aka Bob_the_fart_guy), and thought "Hey... we should bring some more attention to situations where people find themselves having fun in unexpected ways!" With that thought, I bring you the first (and hopefully not last) "Reader's Tales of Adventure".
It was an odd sort of day for me, with no definite plans to go after any peerless. And just glad to be on the recovering side of being quite ill. I was fully intending on simply logging in and beginning my long uphill battle with skilling up a carpenter. When I happened to cross paths with my Ole' pal Robin Hood. He was accompanied by a friend that went by the name of Galeclie. They were helping a young man with finding his way to Bedlam. I had only intended on opening a moongate for the three of them to all meet easily at the same place to go after the peerless known as: Monstrous Interred Grizzle. I had never intended on going along, but in the end I was extremely happy that I got the opportunity to go. I must say that I believe that it may have been up to two hours long to obtain the keys to even get to the Interred Grizzle, being the longest part of the adventure. Once we had the 5 keys though we picked up a few more adventurers, some by the name of Frog Sorcerer, Dr Who and a few others whose name, sadly, escapes me.

At times it seemed the battle was a lost cause, with Robin Hood using the Noble Sacrifice ability to bring many back into the battle (myself included). With a steady arm he also landed many devastating blows with his crossbow. I have no problem with giving him the credit for keeping the entire event organized.

With the help of all, mages, necros, tamers and archers we did finally bring the foul creature to its end.

I know I wasn't much help, and as always I am seen either in a death robe or with my bear mask on. But I definitely had a blast. Thank you all who helped out tonight.

-Hagrid

If you have a fun adventure you'd like to tell the tale of, send it along to [email protected]

Safe (but not so safe that it's boring) travels!
- Sahra Swift
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CD/MAO Christmas Treasure Hunt - The Report!
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 9:18 AM EST by Mapper (Europa)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<

 

What's better, the re-opening of the CD Vendor mall in Umbra or the fact they're hosting a huge event along with the opening?!

If you were at the event on Sunday the 14th you'll know how good it was, However for those who didn't manage to make it, the event was a Christmas Treasure Hunt, with 8 clues leading to 8 locations and people needing to gather items along the way, it was a monster of a quest!

At around 3:30pm I was invited to the guilds pre-brief meeting to discuss who will be positioned at which points throughout the hunt.

At 4pm everyone was asked to gather outside the vendor mall on the Umbra road to meet the players and get ready to give them the first clue.

Everyone was handed a book which detailed the prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, the bonus prizes and of course, most importantly, the first clue.

Below I've split the article into sections for each clue with screenshots of the location.


1st Clue - "Start out on your journey, Where we all began from zombies and mongbats, Oh how we ran. Look out for a stealther or maybe a walker, Your next clue is there, the home of the stalker"

Item Required - Body part

The clue was of course meaning New Haven and Omar from the Chaos of Deception guild kindly gated myself, DJ Slide from Whispering Rose Radio and guest Jacelyn to the table where the 2nd clue was being handed out.

As with all events, at New Haven a wonderfully named 'Poop' decided to steal the table and chair and then claim treasure hunting was for dorks, Well poop, Your name explains everything. Thank you for giving us a good laugh!


2nd Clue - "Due north of here and o'er the sea a magical city once lay. Its ruins are where you need to be, make haste and sail across the bay. Do not stop yet, you must be swift. No time for play or having fun, Until you reach the Shadow Rift. 'Tis here your journey will be done."

Item Required - 3 Fish

Across from New Haven is Magincia however most people took the moongate instead of a boat! Again the very helpful Omar gated myself and the other guests to the location and made sure the monsters were well out the way!


3rd Clue - "Make haste, make haste you're running late. This time you're heading for a gate. Your clue? A mighty tree of old, keep on, don't stop you must be bold. Head west, then south and reach the vine. Now tarry for a cup of wine."

Item Required - Monks Robe

Old trees, a moongate, vines? Well that had to be Yew!


4th Clue - "Twinkle, Twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are. Up above our world so high, like a diamond in the sky. The machine turns on at night, now we see you clear and bright."

Item Required - 4 Night Sight Potions

This one took some thought, however if you know Britannia's major attractions well this one was fairly easy. The Moonglow Telescope!

At this point we were informed a player had already reached the final point and won! So we raced over to the end, but for the article we'll continue through the locations.


5th Clue - "The major city in the realm, is split in two by river wide. Go east my friend and cross the bridge, and may the virtues be your guide."

Item Required - Book of Chivalry

The location being Britain, well guess what, It was under attack at the time! How hard is that location! Myself and the other guests decided it would be safer not to visit this location so I didn't get any screenshots. However stories of an ancient wyrm being a little mean at the Chamber of Virtues filled the party chat!


6th Clue - "From the jail in the city of honour, leave by the gate, south west will lead to a river. Stroll along the banks and you're sure to find a secret trail through the mountains. The valley inside is a closely guarded secret. Now all you have to do is solve the puzzle of the teleporter, to join me on the ground floor of the mage's shop."

Item Required - 6 Zoogie Mushrooms

This was probably the hardest location in the event to get to, the amount of people running around the hidden valley trying to get into the shop was quite funny!


7th Clue - "The longest span in all our lands, 'Tis truly a Sosarian wonder. No more divide in Malas land, the void is there to ponder."

Item Required - A Normal Skull

This clue was fairly easy, the long bridge south of Luna! The clue table was right in the middle of the bridge.


8th Clue - "The road has been long but do not feel weary 'tis time for a song, 'tis time to be cheery. So head to the pits where warriors fight, make use of your wits the end is in sight."

Item Required - This item was rather strange, players had to tame a chicken and name it with a very creative name, the winner would receive the following:

The final location was the Jhelom Fight Pits and the 1st place winner, Heimlich from the [CUK] guild was waiting patiently with his chicken eggbert, He won 1st prize which was 1 million gp and a full virtue armour kit!

Shortly after, Sir Bolo from the [CMS] guild came with his chicken named fowl creature! Winning 2nd place his prize was 500,000 gp, Lady Melisande Hair Dye and a Conjurer’s Grimoire.

3rd place was won by Team Brahma winning 250,000 gp, a 10th Anniversary Sculpture (Luck Sculpture) and a Heritage Token.

4th place was won by Leo winning 100,000 gp, a Rubble Tree and a Spellbook (+2 MR, 24% SDI, 8% LRC)!

After everyone had arrived at the end RainQueen picked the best named chicken. Wokhoss won, His chicken was named HenPeckedHubby, He won the following prize:

After the 4 prizes were handed out, everyone who handed all their clue books and items in got a lottery ticket! The winner was picked by myself and ticket number 10 won the following bonus prize!:

Finally, everyone lined up against a wall for a final group photograph. Id like to thank RainQueen for inviting me to a fantastic event, to DJ Slide for coming and broadcasting the event live on Whispering Rose Radio! And of course a HUGE thank you to everyone who turned up and took part.

[ Discuss This Article ]

Auctions for week of December 15th
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 3:55 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)
>>> Malas News <<<

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

NeXt Auction

Date:  Tuesday, December 16th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact: Meani – ICQ 65-689-918

Both YGV and BEC Auctions are cancelled this week due to the upcoming Publish. We will be back in 2009! Happy Holidays!

[ Discuss This Article ]

Community Hunt - Week of December 15th
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 3:51 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)


Want to go hunting but don't have a big enough group? Are you looking for good guides to dungeons you've yet to explore?

The community hunts are open to everyone! Come show your support for the Lake Superior community and take a walk on the wild side at the same time. Meet some new and old friends and have a bit of a challenge along the way.


Britain Library Community Collections hunt
Date: Tuesday, December 16th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Peerless Hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 17th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Fire Demon Temple hunt
Date: Thursday, December 18th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Ilshenar Champ Spawn Hunt
Date: Friday, December 19th
Time: 9:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Hosts: Taeara Mi'aken


And remember, these hunts are for everyone, regardless of their skill level or guild affiliation. Come meet new friends, see new places, gain experience and just have fun.


Sabina Nikolai,
High Marshall, Community Hunt Organizer
The Order of the Silver Rose

[ Discuss This Article ]

Community Meet Up - December 15th
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Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008, 3:45 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)



Community Meet Up – December 15
Date: Every Monday Night
Time: 7:30PM CST
Location: Skara Brae Community Center


Meeting Agenda:
We'll hear weekly announcements of upcoming events and hunts for Lake Superior from Sabina our events coordinator.


The weekly community meetings, events, hunts, etc are always open to the public. No invitations needed!
Everyone is always welcome to come ask questions, make plans, or make announcements.

Bring a friend if you can make it, tell a friend if you can't!

[ Discuss This Article ]

Yule Ball, Net Toss and So Much More This Week
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Posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008, 7:35 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Player Run Events Explode This Week !


Monday night The Madness Crew at the MOA Ice Castle are running Chests of Doom and Delight with Santa making an appearance.

Wednesday and thursday evenings after the MOA auction Santa will also show up at the end to give away holiday cheer and presents to all !

Thursday night the Royal Knights of Virture are hosting a Yule Ball and Decication Ceremony at 8 PM central time.

Gates will be provided from major banks to these events.

The week ends with those crazy salty dogs from the FCB hosting one of their famous net toss.



Also known as a Sea Serpent Slaughter, this is a free public event at the Buccaneer's Den docks in Trammel. It will be held Sunday Dec. 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST. The fishers of the FCB donate hundreds of nets, and they toss them off then end of the dock. Much murder and mayhem ensures! Rezzing is available at the end of the dock (you'll need it!). To make it more fun, they ask that you do NOT use pets, summoned creatures, or provocation. Oh yes--and the public gets to keep the loot!
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Grand Opening of Legion of Honor Plant Museum
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Posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008, 6:27 AM EST by Andrasta (Atlantic)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<
Grand Opening of Legion of Honor Plant Museum!




Saturday December 20, 2008
5 pm till 7 pm EST.

You are invited to attend the Grand Opening of the Legion of Honor (L*H) Plant Museum.

Prizes, tours and much more for your enjoyment. See row upon row of colorful flora laid out for your viewing pleasure!

We are listed at Goodman's and Winterbreeze so look for Runes to the Museum. (In Goodman's on the front step)




So Join us and view a truely unique and new museum for you!
[ Discuss This Article ]

Santa Is Coming To Town.....and.....More Holiday Decor
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Posted on Saturday, December 13, 2008, 8:36 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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It is starting to look a lot like Christmas all over Great Lakes and the jolly old man in the red suit will soon be making appearances.

As shown and stated in an earlier article the MOA Ice Castle is decked out for the holidays and this monday the game is my favorite, Chests of Doom and Delight.
This will be their big Christmas Event and rumor has it Santa will stop by. Prizes will be worth 1/2 million or more. Will and Crew hope many of you attend. I know I will be there.

The MOA auction house is decked out for the holidays also and Santa will be handing out gifts both wednesday and thursday evenings after the auction. Pratt tells me the gifts will be bigger and better than last year ! That is hard to believe.



* MOA rooftop is set up for Santa's arrival, chair and all *



The holiday decor screenshots are still flowing in and I am loving it.
Below are a few more.


Dani has been dropping runes to her Christmas tree which is full of packages holding free gifts for all. I dropped a few in myself. FiFi LaForge's holiday rooftop is doing the same thing which I think is a fun great idea. Thank you FiFi for the lovely book you left on my doorstep the other day full of holiday cheer.



Not only has Dani decorated her house for the holidays she has gone all the way with her holiday spirit. I ran into her at the MOA auction this past week and she is spreading cheer and joy by proudly wearing the colors of the season. A little red and green never hurt anyone I say.



More holiday decor ...... ~







Below is a image sent to me and I have included the text that came with it though there was no signature.



"This is my first X-mas in UO. I have been collecting X-mas deco for 10 months now, and couldn't wait to use it. I don't think I've EVER been so anxious for winter to come.Happy Holidays to All !! <:-}"




















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December Developer Letter
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Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008, 8:49 PM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


December Developer Letter
Calvin Crowner
12 Dec 2008 18:09:16 EST

For the record what I am about to write is “so not my gig”, but I’ll endeavor to push through it.

I wanted to pass on that with the recent announcement of earning from Electronic Arts that the Ultima Online team is still intact and still pressing forward on both the Stygian Abyss Expansion, and supporting the Live Game. In addition, we are still moving forward with the Event Moderator Program. I know it’s been a long time coming, but as you may have read we’re going through more than a bit from our side these days.

For us, the team is actually having a great time coming up with diabolical ways to engage you for the foreseeable millennium, or until 2012 when the Mayan calendar says everything will end – whichever comes first.

We’re preparing both the New UO client and the first completely playable level to internal testers next week. We are also planning how we want to run beta internally and externally, and as soon as we have a complete answer on it all, we’ll inform you as well.

About Event Moderators: there has been a lot of speculation on how we chose who we chose, why some were selected and others were passed over. I can tell you this: we read for content before we read names. There was no favoritism in any part of the team, and I can say there was a bit of common sense in selecting who went to which shards. We also selected a mixed team of experienced members, and not-so experienced members. We eliminated anyone who had legitimate marks on their accounts, or anyone who had “great intentions” but no event experience at all. In short we picked an initial team that would best serve the community, and whose applications seemed to have the community’s best interest in mind.

We will continue to grow, adjust, and evolve the EM program as we go. We have kept everyone’s applications on file, and have a backup list of Event Moderator contributors. Some EMs may not be able to fulfill their duties so we will be selecting from the initial batch for anyone who is not able to commit as they planned. Life happens.

Finally, we’ve been tracking the latency issues since their inception. We tested the impact of the Invasion and other associated events in game and found none of the additional content impacted lag. We’re constantly following up with trace routes that some players have contributed and our World Wide IT team is in contact with the external carrier we think may be the key to the problem. The more data we have the better, so have your friends create an account and send us all the information you have. Wink.

I sincerely hope this answers a few questions or concerns. Now, I have to go help Leurocian figure out how Baby Bach really can be used as an educational tool, and why puppets should be a new system in UO.

[ Discuss This Article ]

Publish 57 on TC1
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Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008, 8:42 PM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com:


Publish 57 on TC1
Robert Mull
12 Dec 2008 17:53:29

Publish 57 has gone live on TC1. Patch notes are available in the Regular Place

Also, please note that instead of a Five on Friday today, we will be having a letter from Producer Calvin Crowner.

[ Discuss This Article ]

Historic Event to Happen Again ~ Gathering of the Guilds
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Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 7:41 PM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Great Lakes has a long history of player run events and none ranks higher than that of the Gathering of the Guilds.

This gathering is an opportunity for old friends to unite and to make new ones and it is happening this sunday.

The main focus has always been for guilds to recruit new members but more importantly for those looking to join a guild to see which guilds are out there and ask questions to see if a certain guild it a good fit for them.

It will be 5 PM Sunday Eastern December 14th and gates will be provided at all major banks with easy entry to the gathering location.

For those guilds that have already committed or any that may want to be involved please contact Mystra. ICQ (7489459)

I have attended all past Gathering of the Guilds, reported on them and had a great time. Sad but true I cannot attend this year because I am hosting a holiday party in real life. During the formative stages saturday was mentioned so I planned my holiday party on sunday.
Please forward screenshots and any information on this events to me. I would appreciate it greatly.

Whether you are looking for a new guild or just have time to come chat with friends take the time attend!

[ Discuss This Article ]

Obituary Column ~ Space Age Hippy Highlighted
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Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 7:45 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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OBITS ~ DECEMBER 2008





Space Age Hippy




Adreneline


Agatha


Anika




Lady Lava resses Adreneline and snaps photo




Dead Scott


Dragon lord








Kirk












Rouge




Sephi


Sheena


Wind of Hope











[ Discuss This Article ]

YGV Auction Tonight
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Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 4:10 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, December 11th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

[ Discuss This Article ]

The Book Store's 5th Christmas Anniversary!
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Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 7:41 AM EST by Andrasta (Atlantic)
>>> Malas News <<<
The Book Store's 5th Christmas Anniversary!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008




In the Spirit of a true Viking Christmas, you are invited to

RAID DEADBOB'S CASTLE

Recall from the Book Store to DeadBob's Castle.

Search the castle for unsecured items and take what you can!

Arties! Marties! Quest Items! Weapons & Armour & Misc! Checks!


Date: 23 Dec 08

Time: 7:00 PM until the cupboards are bare.

Time Zone: EST / Eastern Standard Time

Shard: Atlantic. Facet: Malas

Sextant Coordinates: 94N,34W. Located 1 screen West of the western corner of Luna. Look for the white cross on the roof.





Submitted by the Book Store
Open daily in the same spot since November, 2003.
DeadBob & Tang, Proprietors


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Foxy's Baja Auction Mall Hosting PvP. / PvM Auction, Friday, December 12
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Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 1:09 PM EST by Sara of Baja (Baja)

Foxy of Foxy's Baja Auction Mall
& Taslin

(GM of Protectors of Virtue and Peace [PvP.]
and Providing Vast Mayhem [PvM])
Are Pleased To Announce His Two Guilds
Are Holding An Auction
Friday, December 12, 6 p.m. PST (7 MST, 8 CST, 9 EST)
At Foxy's Baja Auction Mall
(located inside the Luna walls in the NW corner)

There will be gates to the auction from Luna Bank
starting at 5:40 p.m. PST

A list of consigned items will be added to the Baja Forum post
as soon as the list becomes available.

 

 

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Mystic Garden Holiday Party - Friday, December 12th
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Posted on Monday, December 8, 2008, 5:48 AM EST by Andrasta (Atlantic)
>>> Malas News <<<

Mystic Garden Holiday Party!


Friday, December 12th
8pm Est

Mystic Garden Will be holding their first ever holiday party!


Santa Scavenger Hunt!
Holiday Trivia!

Holiday/Santa Costume Contest:

Come in your best Santa/Holiday outfit, Mystic Garden Staff will be picking the most creative costume for a prize!
And like all other MG events, there will be plenty of freebies,
As well as free food and drink

Prizes for Costume Contest:

First Prize: 100,000 check
Second Prize: 75,000 check
Third Prize: 50,000 check

Prizes for Scavenger Hunt:

First Prize: Ethy
Second Prize: Melissa's Cloak (Fire Resist 5%)
Third Prize: Heritage Token

First, Second And Third Prize winners will also receive customized trophys. All participants will receive a prize as well.

Trivia prizes will include power scrolls, decorative items, gold checks and more.

Runes to Mystic Garden are dropped daily at all moongates and banks, Just look for our green runes!

(MG is located in Malas at Coords: 109o21'N 42o15'E Or UOAM Coords: x1923 y378) Goodman's has also been kind enough to add our rune to their vendor books.

ICQ 107296451 For any questions, or if you cannot locate a rune.
You can also ask anyone with an [|MG|] tag.










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Community Hunt - Week of December 8th
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Posted on Sunday, December 7, 2008, 4:24 PM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)


Want to go hunting but don't have a big enough group? Are you looking for good guides to dungeons you've yet to explore?

The community hunts are open to everyone! Come show your support for the Lake Superior community and take a walk on the wild side at the same time. Meet some new and old friends and have a bit of a challenge along the way.


Covetous Dungeon hunt
Date: Tuesday, December 9th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Peerless Hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 10th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Orc Brute hunt
Date: Thursday, December 11th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Ilshenar Champ Spawn Hunt
Date: Friday, December 12th
Time: 9:00PM CST
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank
Hosts: Taeara Mi'aken


And remember, these hunts are for everyone, regardless of their skill level or guild affiliation. Come meet new friends, see new places, gain experience and just have fun.


Sabina Nikolai,
High Marshall, Community Hunt Organizer
The Order of the Silver Rose
[ Discuss This Article ]

Community Meet Up - December 8th
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Posted on Sunday, December 7, 2008, 4:00 PM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)



Community Meet Up – December 8th
Date: Every Monday Night
Time: 7:30PM CST
Location: New Haven Terrasse - located next to the bank


Meeting Agenda:
We'll hear weekly announcements of upcoming events and hunts for Lake Superior from Sabina our events coordinator.


The weekly community meetings, events, hunts, etc are always open to the public. No invitations needed!
Everyone is always welcome to come ask questions, make plans, or make announcements.

Bring a friend if you can make it, tell a friend if you can't!

[ Discuss This Article ]

CFC, MOA, DC, W-R and even FiFi has Decked The Halls !
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Posted on Sunday, December 7, 2008, 8:52 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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Last week I posted a few plots decorated for the holiday season and asked to see more. With the activation of Christmas trees many more have been inspired to decorate. Runes has been dropped at my doorstep, PMs have filtered in and emails arrived and I am here to share a few with you. Keep the decor coming! Happy, happy, happy.



Rachel at CFC claims "We have redone the CFC house for the holidays. It's hard to work holiday spirit and chicken blood together, but I believe we did it."


Carmen of DC* not only was inspired by the Christmas trees but also by the gift boxes. 70 gift boxes were used in this design.


I stopped by MOA Ice Castle this past monday just as game night started. They were happy they decorated for the holidays.


HAVE A MERRY YEAR vendor shop owned by Mrs Santa Kluase


Santa's Workshop owned by FiFi LaForge. FiFi has been a busy girl, runes are ropped daily to this location all over Brit and Luna. Be sure to check it out.


Ivy always does a tasteful job accenting with seasonal trim


Mossy Rock Florist owned by Sass and VIDMA in Luna


W-R Library glows for the holidays


The city of Zento is a little merrier with Ace's place festooned for the season





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FoF: Bandaids and Thieves
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Posted on Saturday, December 6, 2008, 5:58 PM EST by Larisa (GeneralNews)

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Bandaids and Thieves
Joanne Laroche
05 Dec 2008 16:25:49

The Five on Friday is back after the holiday weekend and we've filled it with your questions. In this week's edition we've got questions about thieves, faction points and much more!

The faction bandaids have proven themselves to be over powered.  With dexers  combining an apple every 10-15 seconds along with a 4-5 second bandage it makes it nearly impossible to kill one on a decent connection (For mages and dexers).  Are there plans to balance them?”

We will be adding a cooldown to the bandages.  They will either have a 30-second cooldown OR will share the same 15-second timer as the apples so players cannot use both at the same time.  This will be adjusted in Publish 58.

--

“When are thieves ever going to get some love?”

In Publish 57, stealing from monsters will be reactivated.  You will be able to steal gold, bandages, potions, scrolls and reagents from any monster (only one successful theft allowed per monster).  Thieves with GM skills and higher will have a chance of receiving one of the 9 rare consumable items when stealing from monsters in Champion Spawn areas (all facets) or from any monster in Felucca Dungeons and T2A.  Here are some examples of the rare consumables:

Mana Draught: player drinking this beverage instantly recovers between 25 to 40 mana points. 10 minute cooldown.

Life Shield Lotion: when applied, reduces by 50% to 100% the Life Drain damage (such as dealt by Succubus and Tentacles of the Harrower). The resistance chance is rolled for each tick and cannot be combined with any other Balms or Lotions.  Duration 30 minutes.

Balm of Strength: when applied, player benefits for a 10 HP increase for 30 mins.  Cannot be combined with any other Balms or Lotions.

--

“What will be the drop rate on the Replicas and will the Harrower be giving Replicas as well?”

The drop rate breakdown is as follows:

5% chance of a unique item
15% chance of a decorative item
10% chance of a shared reward

The Harrower has a couple replicas and decorative items, based on the same drop rates.  However, it will not drop any of the shared rewards.

--

“Some Faction rewards never lose durability. Is this going to be addressed and should we expect the same thing from the new Replicas?”

We are aware of this issue and are working on fixing it.  Also, some of the new Replicas will not sustain durability loss.  We expect to have the fix in Publish 58 at which point all existing Faction Rewards and Replicas will start losing durability.

--

"What’s the deal with Faction Points?”

We are looking into making some adjustments to point farming and fixing this issue.

--

“Are we getting the same holiday gifts as last year and how do we have to log on to get them?”

You will be getting new holiday gifts this year.  But you must log in with your qualifying characters (i.e. characters 30 days and older) to receive your gift.  The holiday gifts will be activated when Publish 57 goes live and can be collected up until January 19, 2009.

--

“Will we ever be able to identify the seeds before we grow them?”

Yes!  After Publish 57 goes live, check the resource menu of your peculiar plants. You might see something new!

--

“I’m really confused about the whole vendor penalty thing.  How does that work?”

Whenever you place a new item for sale on your vendor, you have a 30-minute grace period to change your mind about leaving the item on your vendor or changing the price on it. 

If you remove an item that has been on the vendor for more than 30 minutes but less than 24 hours, you will be charged a penalty which is a small percentage of the sale price the item was set at. 

Once the item has been on your vendor more than 24 hours, any penalty is waived and you may remove it at any time.  If you replace the item on your vendor after that though, the same system applies.

You never pay a penalty if the item is bought off of your vendor, regardless of the time it was placed on it.

--

Fansite News:

SHE Guild Auction

Now in its 4th year of service to Chesapeake.

Auctions every Sat 7pm est.  Gates from Luna, as well there are hundreds of runes dropped each week.

--

Holiday Magic Events on Sonoma...

Share the Magic ~ of the holiday season with the exchange of Secret Santa gifts. On December 21st we are holding an Old Fashioned Holiday Party which includes a Secret Santa gift exchange.

For those of you who are not familiar with Secret Santa, here is how it works. Players submit their names for a random drawing. Each name is drawn is drawn and matched with the next name drawn until no names remain. The each player is notified of who they are preparing their Secret Santa for. The part that makes it secret is that the player receiving the gift never knows who the gift came from.

Secret Santa registration begins now until Sunday, December 14th at 5pm Pacific (7pm CT, 8pm ET). On Monday, December 15th, we will draw from the registered players and contact them with who they are Secret Santa for.

Before the party on Sunday, December 21st (5pm PT), you can deliver your Secret Santa gift to Queen Mum to hand out during the event. Don't worry if you can't attend the party, she will make sure that your gift exchange is completed.

Register today by contacting Queen Mum at ICQ 168-812-018 or by PM on the Sonoma boards at Stratics (www.stratics.com) and UO Forums (www.uoforums.com).

~~~~~~~

Share the Magic ~ with the annual Sonoma Community Holiday Home Tour & Decorating Contest. Entries accepted until Friday, December 26th at 5pm PT (7pm CT, 8pm ET).

Contact Queen Mum at ICQ 168-812-018 - or by PM on the Sonoma boards at Stratics (www.stratics.com) and UO Forums (www.uoforums.com) for complete details. Watch next weeks FoF for more information.

~~~~~~~

Share the Magic ~ of the holiday season with Santa's Night Out! Keep your wits sharp and your eyes peeled for Santa on Friday, December 12th! He'll be out and about the towns visiting all the good, and maybe the naughty, boys and girls of Sonoma starting around 5pm Pacific (7pm Central, 8pm Eastern) handing out lots of presents and plenty of goodies!

You're likely to see him around the various banks of the land, so don't be shy, go right up to him and say Happy Holidays!! There's no telling what kind of fun stuff he'll be handing out, but we are sure they will be delightful!

Santa and his helpers will also be delivering "Share the Magic ..." of the holiday season books with news about exciting parties, contests, and all the events being held through January 1st.

~~~~~~~

"Share the Magic" Celebration! Saturday, December 13th starting at 5:00pm Pacific Time (7pm Central, 8pm Eastern) at the Sugar Plum Inn (Karns Vendors & PAS Community Hall) in Luna. Enjoy the sights & sounds of the season as members of the Peoples Army of Sonoma & Sonoma Community Coalition welcomes everyone with spirited fun, laughter & the merriment of gift giving with frolicking games by the Elves.

Come one, come all and help kick off the Holiday season with a night of magical delightful fun & special surprises for everyone!

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Interested in having your event posted on the Five on Friday? Make sure to send in all the details through the Feedback Form and selecting "Fan Site News" from the drop down menu. All entries must be received no later then Thursday at midnight for the FoF you want it in. Please note: All entries are subject to editing.

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Announcements:

Would you like to see your question answered in a future Five on Friday? Well don’t wait any longer, send it in through our handy Feedback Form and select “Five on Friday Questions” from the list. We look forward to hearing from you!

Just a head’s up that next week we’ll be announcing a new contest here on the Herald that is bound to keep you busy during the upcoming holiday season. We’ll have all the details for you next week including what you can win so keep an eye here for all the info.

That’s it for this week’s Five on Friday, I hope y’all have a great weekend!


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Santa Event At The Red & Purple Mini Mall!
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Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008, 7:03 PM EST by Andrasta (Atlantic)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<

Santa Event At The Red & Purple Mini Mall!


Saturday, December 13th, 2008
1 pm MST (3 pm EST)
Estimated time = 3 hours.


We are pleased to announce the Red & Purple Mini Mall will be hosting the 4th annual visit from good ole Father Christmas. Our rooftop garden will be transformed into a magical postcard for the appearance of our very special visitor. All the good little boys and girls will be invited to come tell Father Christmas what they want under the tree.

We started this event to bring a real live festive feeling to our game world… and now others copy us. Come to the original! Everyone really gets into it and has some fun. Gates will be thrown at the West Brit bank, invasion pending… right to the mall along with special runes that will be dropped before as well as the runes that appear all year round.

Just be aware… naughty little beasts will be booted, so better start being good right away to get those extra bonus "good" points!




Want an easy rune to the R&PMM? Goodman's famous rune library "Good Vendors Trammel 1" in neon red on the 2nd level. First rune in the book! Or go to Yew Tram Moongate. Head directly screen right (North-East) until you see a cute little Elf style mall called "Mini Mall". That is our sister mall, stop and have a look around. A rune to the Red & Purple Mini Mall is on the step in bright green. Just recall and you are in! Come right on inside.

~*~



Thank you very much for sharing your news with us. I look forward to meeting Santa....I think I've been good...hmm....

Andrasta
GRL

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Santa Claus will be visiting Chesapeake at the Red Wolf Cafe!
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Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008, 8:17 AM EST by Terence Duff (Chesapeake)
I just received this great notice from Tancred RedStar of the Red Wolf Cafe about an upcoming event:

Santa Claus will be visiting Chesapeake! After what I first thought was an orc-perpetrated joke, I have come to learn from an informed source that Santa Claus himself will be stopping by Chesapeake!

Santa will be landing his sleigh on the roof of the Red Wolf Cafe in Gyldenfeld the evening of Monday, December 8th at 8:30 PM EST to share some holiday cheer.

Have you been a good little rezzer of wayward newbies in the Tram dungeons this year or have you been a bad little smacktalking ganker of afk people in Fel?

Come to the Red Wolf Cafe on Monday, December 8th at 8:30 PM EST to plead your case to Santa himself and tell him what you'd most like this year! Surprises and goodies await for all as well as photo opportunities with the big man himself.

Even though elves may be present as they often labor for Santa in his toy swea, err, "work" shops, orcs are also welcome!

Stop by the Gyldenfeld Bakery and Market to pickup some cookies as no one has ever said Santa couldn't be bought off, or even the Teeny Tiny Greenhouse for some flowers(Santa could sure use them to give to Mrs. Claus as he's been working long hours to get ready for Christmas).

To reach Gyldenfeld, take the road west out of Britain in Trammel until you reach the crossroads. The Red Wolf Cafe is the first large structure on the left as you head north from the crossroads.

The Red Wolf Cafe, located in the player-town of Gyldenfeld near the Britain/Skara crossroads in Trammel is a site of occasional player-run, public events. There is never an entry fee and the public is always invited!

The cafe was founded in an attempt to foster more shardwide, player-run events and happenings. Starting off as a small, roadside shack in 2003, it has moved and expanded to a bigger and better location and we hope it will continue to provide a fun and friendly place for the citizens of the realm to relax, meet new friends and enjoy the activities.

Tancred RedStar


PS. Here's the way to the Red Wolf Cafe!
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The United Pirates' December Black Market
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Posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 7:15 AM EST by Sahra Swift (Catskills)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<Hello Catskills,
The United Pirates have once again asked that we let people know about their Black Market.
The Black Market (Saturday, Dec 6th, 8pm EST)

The United Pirates of Catskills announce the next Black Market event for Dec. 6th, 8 pm EST! This recurring in-game trading and auctioning event (every first Saturday of the Month) will be accompanied by entertaining elements. During this event, you can sell, buy or trade your wares! The facts:

* Merchants can claim a personal market stand where they can advertise and sell their products. The merchants should enter the list of their products into the book locked down on their market stand (at least one day prior to the event, so people can come by and check on the items).

* The prices should be LOWER than the regular Luna vendor prices! Bargaining is encouraged!

* Are you looking for a certain item? You can post your request on the bulletin board out front of the Black Market. Merchants can check the board beforehand and have the appropriate items ready for sale. The board will be wiped after the Black Market is over.

* We may hold games and duels for all participants and visitors. It will be fun!

If you want to sell contraband, you can simply come to the Black Market building prior to the event and enter your name and your item list into one of the (empty) books on the market stands. By doing that you have claimed the market stand and may use it exclusively during the event. The Black Market building is located next to our Jolly Roger Inn. Map:

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Hellfight Headlines the Obituary Column
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Posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 7:04 AM EST by Lady Lava (GreatLakes)
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OBITUARY COLUMN



Hellfight owner of one of the plots/vendor houses featured in the recent holiday decor article headlines this week column. Enjoy !


Hellfight










Dale

















Kikyo


Megathesias and friends


Bones of Miss Shawano












Santas lil Helpe




Silence















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Auctions for week of December 1st
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Posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 3:17 AM EST by Lady Tia (LakeSuperior)

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

NeXt Auction

Date:  Tuesday, December 2nd

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact: Meani – ICQ 65-689-918

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, December 4th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

BEC Auction

Date:  Friday, December 5th

Time:  8:00 pm CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact:  Lady Tia - ICQ 23944805

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Community Meet Up - December 1 Location Change!
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Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008, 5:52 AM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<



Community Meet Up - December 1
Date: Every Monday Night
Time: 7:30PM CST
Location: Just East of bank in New Haven


Meeting Agenda:
We'll hear weekly announcements of upcoming events and hunts for Lake Superior from Sabina our events coordinator.


The weekly community meetings, events, hunts, etc are always open to the public. No invitations needed!
Everyone is always welcome to come ask questions, make plans, or make announcements.

Bring a friend if you can make it, tell a friend if you can't!

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Community Hunt - week of December 1
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Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008, 5:43 AM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)


Want to go hunting but don't have a big enough group? Are you looking for good guides to dungeons you've yet to explore?

The community hunts are open to everyone! Come show your support for the Lake Superior community and take a walk on the wild side at the same time. Meet some new and old friends and have a bit of a challenge along the way.
***Note: The events listed here are subject to be cancelled in the event of an invasion by the ***
*** Shadow Army. Should any town come under attack, the community event of the ***
*** night will be cancelled in favor of battling the forces of Chaos. ***



Vesper Museum Exhibit tours
Date: Tuesday, December 2nd
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Peerless Hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 3rd
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Shame Dungeon hunt
Date: Thursday, December 4th
Time: 8:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

Ilshenar Champ Spawn Hunt
Date: Friday, December 5th
Time: 9:00PM CST
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Hosts: Taeara Mi'aken


And remember, these hunts are for everyone, regardless of their skill level or guild affiliation. Come meet new friends, see new places, gain experience and just have fun.


Sabina Nikolai,
High Marshall, Community Hunt Organizer
The Order of the Silver Rose


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245th Assembly of the 7th High Council - Note Location Change!
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Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008, 5:21 AM EST by AirmidCecht (LakeSuperior)
>>> Trammel Facet News <<<245th Assembly of the 7th High Council

Date: Monday, December 1, 2008
Time: 10:00 PM EDT/9:00 PM CDT
Location: Horse's Head Tavern, Jhelom, Trammel Facet

Meeting Agenda:

Items to be announced at the meeting.

Lord Buzz Aldridge
Interim Chancellor of Virtue,
High Council of Britannia


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