Jan Feb March April May June July August Sept Oct Nov Dec
Dec. 31, 1999
Welcome to our new member, the dragon Chrysophilax
from Farmer Giles of Ham. A pleasant 16 year old Netherlander, he's
read an impressive amount: Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion
, Letters, Atlas of Middle Earth, Farmer Giles of Ham
, and Smith of Wooten Major. He also plays a lot since he joined a
couple of days ago, team recruited by Makar and Aule.
Dec. 29
Check the
VirusAlert
page for a setting you need to fix NOW for Windows to change from
its default date setting to one that works for the year 2000.
Dec. 27
Welcome to our new member, Glaurung! He came
to our channel and passed the test from Aule with 5/5! Ulmo, Makar, and Hurin
helped them find a name with the Names page down, and Glaurung showed amazing
patience. They had a good game of SC afterwards. He is 14, plays SC, is from
Illinois, USA, read the Hobbit, LotR, and Silmarillion. Unfortunately the
email I have for Glaurung did not work (gaziano@cim.net.com), returned as
undeliverable by a Mailer Daemon.
Varda's email suffered a "new mail" wipe out last night. Please re-send all letters concerning Varaya and Khan's Tolkien mod or anything else you may have sent, but this time to Varaya and/or Khan . The letter to Varaya and Khan concerning what was said at the meeting has been sent, with a note that there should be a follow-up with more specifics from your emails.
Khan has answered the letter:
Ok. First of all we have decided to base the mod on the Final II because
it
is the one we use and it is in our opinion the best one. It is thus not
possible to use the 9/8.
BUT:
If you tell us many people prefer to have 2-H weapons give AC we can do
that.
Just tell us what EXACTLY it is you want to have.
We will definitely cap the mages Str to a very low value, effectively
disabling any form of "Tankmage". We also won't redo the class-specific
requirements as restrictions are generally bad (I admit it adds atmosphere
but since you need every bit of variety and options in this game to keep
it
interesting we want to radically restrict the use of certain itemcombos
-
you never know how people plan to play).
I'd recommend mailing us any suggestions rather quickly as we are nearly
finished doing pre/suffs and base items.
If anyone has suggestions to Uniques, that's fine but a good, new idea
regarding pre/suffs or baseitems or spells would be better. Uniques, their
names and capabilities are easy to think of but a new line of pre/suffs
is
more difficult.remember though that they are limited to existing effects
(those of uniques too - like "life stealing 0-12,5%") and a single effect
too. The possibilities of inherit abilities of base items is very limited
too. The possible ones are: infravision, constricting, thieves, knock
back,
steal life, steal mana, readyness-haste, balance-harmony, fast block,
thorns, corruption, +200% vs demons, res=0.
Again, better send us any suggestion fast. If someone has a really great
idea, he should perhaps suggest a name also :)
Dec. 26
Sunday Meeting: (5pm EST, 6pm CST, 11 GMT)
Attending (11): Amillo, Aule/Taglos, Balin,
Gildor, Irmo, Luthien, Makar, Thingol, Tom, Ulmo, Varda. Visits from Xiuhcoatl,
Magister, and Tanja (sorry for mangling your names) who helped us in the Tolkien
mod discussion; and Master~Moo who tried the test and may try again later.
Membership Report:
New members: Gildor, who even made it to the meeting.
:), and Beleg (returning after an internet crash)
Currently missing but will return: Namo has pneumonia.
Smaug is vacationing in Costa Rica.
Web Report:
Virus Alert page: Pics4You is the
latest virus to have a report.
Members Page: Non-working emails
on Members page (please correct yours!):
These are the non-working emails Varda hit during the
recent Varaya Khan Tolkien Diablo modification request. If you know the correct
email, please inform Amillo and/or Varda:
Arathorn <arathorn@mindspring.com>
Balin <lg88_weegee@hotmail.com>
Earendil <linxu@sprint.ca>
Finarfin <legalos@pop.prodigy.net>
Luthien <o_galadriel@hotmail.com>
Radagast <ToiletFish@gotnet.net>
Ulwarth <gauthier@planet-int.net>
Gaming:
Tolkien mod:
Major discussion held with guild
members, independents, and rep from another guild not named. Agreement seemed
to be a preference for the 9/8 mod over the 10/28 which was considered less
balanced. Please email Varda with specific reasons why 9/8 was better so
that it may be included in the Tolkien mod. The mod has been nearly completed
but is based on the 10/28 version and they need to know which specific corrections
to program.
Letter from Varaya on the Tolkien mod:
I just read in a mail by somebody from your guild that apparently you
all
prefer the version of our mod which is from September, that is, not the
current one. Since we based everything we did so far on the current version
of our Diablo mod, we really would like to know WHAT you prefer about the
older mod version, so we perhaps can put it back in in the "Tolkien" mod,
if possible.
We have so far put in lots of monsters, prefixes/suffixes, base items.
Unique and spells will be the next thing we modify. Not that much longer
:)
Bot Demo:
Makar made a bot as a channel greeter with a handy menu,
and demonstrated it for us. After a few tweaks, it seems ready for use. Hopefully
we will soon be trying it out in the channel. The bot's name is ValarBuddy.
(A tip of the hat to Manwe.)
Dec. 25, 1999
Merry Christmas!!
Dec. 24, 1999
Welcome to our new member, Gildor! Orome scouted,
Varda tested. He's from Oklahoma, USA, 18, read the Hobbit and LotR. :)
Dec. 23, 1999
Letter from Khan to Varda:
I just wanted to "officially" inform you that we are currently working
on a
Diablo Mod with the Middle Earth theme. This will not be a total conversion.
It will be based on our current Final Version of the Diablo1.07 mod and
we
will keep some things that cannot be adopted to ME and is already fine
as it
is. We will also try to create this as a whole, so no morphing or other
serious changes should happen once it is released.
Right now we have begun building up the new monsters (including Balrogs,
Orcs, Trolls, Nazgul, Mumakil etc).
Feel free to mail suggestions
Khan alias Fingolfin
Posting on the DSF made by Khan, copy sent to Varda by
Xi:
Subject: Any ideas for a Middle Earth Mod?
From: Khan
Host:isdn034.s.netic.de
Date: Wed Dec 22 16:09:02
Varaya and me are currently working on a mod for Diablo based on
J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle Earth (you know Aragorn, the Silmaril,
Balrogs etc).
Since it will be about 6 months until D2 we figured we could do
another mod and revive the interest in the best game ever created.
If you have any suggestions either mail me (Khan@s.netic.de) or
post them here.
Khan(VK) alias Fingolfin
Additional comment from Xi:
I suggest you get together with your clannies and brainstorm some ideas
so
that you can give VK your best ideas for a new mod =). Cheers!
Xi
Dec. 22, 1999
Welcome to our new (returning) member,
Beleg! He was a member of the guild a year ago by the same name. He's
from Oregon, in the PST time zone. Tom Bombadil recruited.
Namo/Mandos is down with pneumonia, unable to stay up
more than about 20 minutes at a time. He hopes that he will be able to finish
buying computer parts after Christmas and rejoin us actively.
Smaug will be in Costa Rica for Christmas vacation, but
expects to return to at least emailing us afterwards.
Thank you to the members who have already emailed Varaya
and Khan!
Dec. 21, 1999
IMPORTANT! We need you to answer
Varaya
of Varaya and Khan who made DiabloVK! Varda asked if they would be willing
to make a Diablo mod with an even stronger mod. Here is the reply:
Sounds like a good idea :-) In fact, we have thought about it
ourselves, but then we did not create such a mod, simply because we got
a bit bored
with Diablo. I just talked to Khan about it, and it looks as if we might
(might !) do it next week, because then we have a bit of spare time. But
only
if there really are some players who really, really want something like
that mod :-)
Virus alert - do not open email attachment on an
email with no subject line that has an attachment called Pics4You.exe
More details on our
Virus Alerts
page.
Dec. 19, 1999
New Tolkien poetry for the
Poetry
page: Eru wrote "The Lord of the Mark" and "Boromir".
Sunday Meeting (5pm CST, 6pm EST, 11
GMT)
Attending (15): Amillo, Anarion, Aragorn/Thorongil,
Aule/Taglos, Balin, Eowyn, Eru, Irmo/Desirer, Luthien, Maedhros, Melkor, Thingol,
Tom, Voronwe, Varda. Hi to Haleth at Melkor's house!
Membership:
No new members this week.
Anarion has been having comp problems (made it to meeting!)
Thorongil will no longer have access to a comp or bnet
until after Jan 1st.
Web:
Encyc's Poetry page: New poems by Eru: "The Lord of the
Mark" and "Boromir".
Gaming:
DiabloVK: Ulmo, Lord of the Seas, found Nenya, the Ring
of Water and of Adamanta
Varaya and Khan are planning on closing their site. Varda
sent them a letter requesting a mod with more Tolkien.
Tolkien:
Tolkien Moment:
From Thorongil: Eru makes elves
and men with a different emphasis - the elves are the most beautiful and
make beauty, and Arda is their mansion. Mankind's heart seeks beyond the
world, unable to rest there, and can shape its own fate rather than having
it restricted to the fate of the Music.
Tolkien Discussion:
Do humans stop off at Valinor?
Result was yes, they stop there and recollect. Only Mandos and Manwe under
Eru know exactly where they go from there. This is found in "Of Men" in the
Silmarillion.
Dec. 18, 1999
Letter from Anarion:
Heya Heya!
My connection and network settings are messing about + yahoo mail etc.
has
given up on me.
Not sure wether I'll be around for a while.
Cya as soon as possible,
Anárion
Dec. 14, 1999
Ulmo found the Ring of Nenya (Ring of Water and of Adamant)!
How appropriate. :) It was in a Hell/Hell difficulty VK
game, taken from the evil Gothmog (no not our guild guy!).
Dec. 12, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CST, 6pm EST, 11 GMT)
Attending: Amillo/Malina, Aragorn/Thorongil,
Aule/Taglos, Daeron, Elros, Eru, Irmo, Isildur, Makar, Tulkas Astaldo, Ulmo,
Varda, Voronwe
Membership Report:
New members this week:
Isildur and Thrain, bringing us
to 97 says Amillo (the guy who knows!).
News:
Tulkas will be at sea until around
Jan 20. Good luck out there!
Gimli and Saruman hope to have
a new email acct for guild mail.
Murezor's comp's power supply went
out.
Turgon is trying to find a way
to squeeze real life for time to join us.
Web Report:
Anarion's page: The Council of
Istari, is now moved onto its new server and updated a great deal.
Encyclopedia: Great article on
the Origin of Orcs by Amillo, plus nifty items on Ringwraiths from
Tolkien's Letters.
Tolkien:
Tolkien Moment:
Tulkas Astaldo
quoted the death of Turin, a truly sad moment well told.
Tolkien Chat:
Aragorn
gave us a topic on the Discussion Board: Although Feanor died, can he still
claim the Silmarils? This gave us over an hour of good chat, including some
great side topics. Aragorn suggests that since Feanor created the silmarils,
he should be able to reclaim them. Eru had the show stopper when he said
"Possession is 9/10ths of the law." Some comments were that Feanor could
no longer touch the hallowed stones because of his evil deeds. Eonwe told
Feanor's sons, Maedhros and Maglor, that they lost claim to the stones as
heirs for evil deeds, especially the murder of Dior and the slaughter of
the Teleri, and it was proven to them when the stones burned their hands.
Feanor led the attack on the Teleri, one of those same deeds but worse, plus
many other things such as abandoning his followers at the Helacaraxe (Grinding
Ice), so he could not have held the silmarils. Melkor had the silmarils,
even though he could not touch them, but they were taken from him. Earendil
carries one as the Morning Star in the heavens, one fell into the fiery chasm
and was taken into the heart of the earth, and the last fell into the depths
of the oceans. Feanor will not be released from the Halls of Mandos so he
cannot reach Arda, let alone those inaccessible places. It is also improbable
that Earendil, Aule, or Ulmo would turn them over to him.
We also discussed what happened to spirits after
death, as they went various places according to race, but not always.
Also, we discussed the form Sauron took during the Lord
of the Rings. It could not have been a giant (or other sized) eyeball, as
Gollum saw that his black hand had only four fingers!
Dec. 11, 1999
New member! Welcome to the group, Thrain! Thrain
is from south Holland, 15, and an experienced Diablo player (now discovering
VK). He's read the Hobbit, LotR, and Sil, making a score of 4/5. Maedhros
scouted, Varda and Ulmo tested.
Dec. 10, 1999
New Encyc articles! Amillo wrote a paper,
The Origin of Orcs
, linked to from the Orcs page. He also wrote a note in answer to a question
about
Ringwraiths
, source Letters of Tolkien, place on the Men page.
Turgon is still with us, sent email. :)
ISP problem, according to Aule.
Dec. 9, 1999
Murezor writes:
Heya! My power supply went poof :-\ On a bud's comp now, my own is being
repaired now. Everything should be hunky dory by end of next week, hopefully
I'll get start working on the that guide thing then :)
Murezor
"Guide" refers to his SC/BW strategy guide. He has the first installment up
already.
Dec. 7, 1999
Gimli and Saruman, the brothers, are still with us!
They have been tied up with school and sports and hope to learn to manage
their time better. That is a lesson we all need to learn!
For those of you waiting for Diablo2 to come out,
it is always being delayed. While waiting, please join us in games of DiabloVK,
a free and quick download from our Software Files section by Aule, 9/8 version.
Sauron's challenge of a race to find the One Ring and three Elven Rings in
VK, evil vs good characters, still stands. If you find it, please email the
date, difficulty level, floor, and monster(s) you took it from.
We also have members playing WarCraft2 online.
Please email Varda
for game names for these two games if you don't already have them.
Dec. 6, 1999
Welcome to our new member, Isildur! He's 46
from Chambersburg, PA, USA. He has read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings,
Silmarillion, and Lays of Beleriand. He plays Diablo pretty frequently,
so look for him there.
Dec. 5, 1999
Sunday Meeting 6pm EST, 5pm CST, 11pm
GMT
Attending (19+1): Amillo/Malina, Anarion, Aragorn/Thorongil,
Aule/Taglos, Daeron, Elrond, Elros, Eru, Irmo, Luthien, Maedhros, Makar,
Orome, Smeagol, Thingol, Tom Bombadil, Ulmo, Varda, Voronwe; visitor Gilraen
from a Dutch guild.
Membership Report:
Amillo reports that after drops and adds, we are still
95 strong. :)
Drops are not completed, but we also have requests to
join us coming in as well so we seem to be stable in number.
Web Report:
Members are still actively updating their pages, please
bear with the reconstruction and enjoy the new goodies.
Please make a description or article on your character
for inclusion in our online Tolkien Encyclopedia, if you have not already
done so. If you wish to update your article, feel free!
Tolkien:
Tolkien Moment:
Irmo: from Appendix, a conversation
between Aragorn and Arwen concerning death. She said death is a bitter
gift. He replied that they are not bound to the circles of the world and beyond
is more than memory.
Tolkien Poetry:
Amillo: original poetry - a good
night prayer
Tolkien Chat:
Orcs: Origin of orcs,
said best by a quote from Voronwe on the original ones coming from elves.
Later they seemed to have been mixed with possibly Southrons, as Eru said.
Sunlight: This plus special breeding seems to have helped bring about a strength
to walk under the sun. Discussion suggested that Melkor made the orcs
in the time of starlight before the sun, and was not set up for that light.
Sauron (and Saruman) had walked in the light, so they put it into their calculations.
Compassion: one of the
defining features in Tolkien's system of good and evil, found only in the
good. Bilbo's compassion for Gollum saved the world, as Eru said.
Dec. 4, 1999
Turgon is still with us, but is having evil ISP trouble.
We commiserate!
Finglas too is with us.
Thanks to Aule for finding out for us!
Saturday Chat
4pm EST chat had a good attendance, especially by about
5pm. :) Amillo/Omar, Anarion (late but had plenty to contribute),
Aule/Mahal, Luthien, Makar, Varda, others later.
Amillo told us about Hobbit birthday (Ribadyan) customs
from information found in Tolkien's Letters, on who gives gifts to
whom, Byrdings (baby hobbits), and Faunts (age they first walk and talk).
Hopefully we can look forward to an article.
Anarion started a spirited discussion of Feanor, which
went into Feanor's great abilities and failings. This too should bring
about an interesting article from Anarion in time, as he already has another
article in the works.
Dec. 1, 1999
Welcome back to Eru! Congratulations on your new PC!
:)
top
Nov. 28, 1999
New member! Maedhros found us through the web
pages, tested by Elros at the meeting.
Sunday Meeting (5pm CST, 6pm EST, 11pm GMT)
Attending (14): Aule/Taglos, Boromir, Daeron, Elros,
Irmo, Luthien, Maedhros, Melkor, Murezor, Tom, Turin, Ulmo, Voronwe, Varda.
Membership Report:
New members this week are Maedhros,
Theoden, Arathorn, and Voronwe.
Welcome back to Manwe Sulimo who
came by after the meeting, his phone line working this week at long last.
:)
Azog had to leave the guild due to real life problems.
Elensari of the Discussion Board had to move back up north
and will be out of touch a while.
Some Members are in danger of losing a name during the
sweep. Please email Varda if anyone has been in touch recently in guild activity
with: Alatar, Amras, Bregalad, Durin, Earendil, Elladan, Faramir, Feanor,
Feathalion, Finglas, Gimli or his brother Saruman, Gloin, Grima, Imrahil,
Pippin, Saruman or his brother Gimli, Turgon
Web Report:
Amillo alphabetized the Members page table and has the
thanks of all for that effort!
Tom Bombadil is redoing his pages into Tom's Ring.
New Encyclopedia description on Melian.
New link to the Grey Company.
New FAQ channel command: /dnd <name> for "do
not disturb" preventing all messages
Discussion Board has been very busy. Check it out and
see which threads you wish to jump into. If you need an invitation to the
Discussion Board, please email Varda
.
Irmo at the meeting gave us new links to audio clips from
the old LotR movie (I must've copied wrong, please email it) and a clip of
the Prof's own voice reading about
Gollum
. Added the reading to the Encyc's Hobbit page and the Links page.
Tolkien:
Tested member.
No real chat due to business discussion of who had been
seen lately on the list of possible drops, some of whose names were saved
by this talk.
Nov. 27, 1999
New Member! Theoden joins
us from Ohio, USA. He's 19, passed his test from Ulmo with a flying 5/5,
and read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion. Good
start!
New Member! Arathorn from
New Hampshire, USA, 13, read the Hobbit and LotR, and plays both Diablo and
StarCraft. Thanks to Elros for scouting and testing. This Arathorn
is replacing the old one whom no one has ever seen in the channel and whose
Members page email apparently doesn't work and is the only address we have.
The old Arathorn is welcome to return as we hear that he has communicated
with Aule by ICQ, but will need to pick a new name. Everyone be sure
your own email is updated!
Tom Bombadil is reorganizing his web pages drastically,
so they may be down when you check them off and on for about 1-2 weeks. Trouble
is not in your set. :)
New link to the Grey Company sent in by Eomer, tells about
a growing role-playing language based on Tolkien's.
Nov. 25, 1999
Happy Thanksgiving!
Varda and the rest of the host will be back Sunday, hopefully in time for
the meeting. Have a great time, all!
Nov. 23, 1999
New Member! Voronwe has joined our ranks, 33
years old from Statesville, NC, USA. Scouted and recruited by Varda, he plays
Diablo and has read the Hobbit, LotR, Sil, and Lost Tales, has been into
M.E.R.P.s modules especially Moria for the layout, and uses a Tolkien Dictionary
as one of his aids in studying elven languages including Sindarin.
Nov. 22, 1999
Encyc Article:
Melian
, short description on the Maiar page
Nov. 21, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6pm EST/VST, 5pm CST, 11pm GMT)
(Check out the petition!)
Attending (15): Amillo/Malina, Anarion, Aragorn/Thorongil,
Balin, Celebrimbor, Elros, Elu Thingol, Eomer, Luthien Tinuviel, Makar, Melkor,
Menelvagor, Tom, Ulmo, Varda
Membership Report: In the Membership name check,
so far we have lost Beleg, Elrohir, and Gil-galad.
Web Report:
Encyclopedia: Ulmo's new article on one possible origin
of Bilbo's name.
Page navigation scheme being revamped, suggestions being
taken.
FAQ: new item on Valar honor concerning what it is and
how it is given.
Death Restore discussion led by Ulmo: Upshot:
Please read the FAQ page, Melkor's article on the Valar Guild system of fair
play in Diablo. Restoring a character who has died and cannot retrieve his
items is not considered honorable. It is okay to yell for help! If the character
could have retrieved them but had an isp or bnet crash in the process, he
may restore.
Unreal Engine: Menelvagor suggested that if
any of the Valar knows how to do a mod on the spectacular Unreal engine, he
suggests trying a Moria battle.
Toys: Menelvagor reports that Middle-earth action
toys are out. Seems several members have some.
Tolkien Chat:
Amillo gave us the poem of the
prophecy by Malbeth the Seer to the Oathbreakers, of the coming of the one
who could free them from their ghostly condition and what they would have
to do for their atonement.
Thorongil/Aragorn spoke of how
Aragorn could claim the rulership of more than Arnor and Gondor. This sparked
a discussion of his ancestry.
Thorongil told us of a petition
the whole Guild would probably like to sign. The makers of the movie The Lord
of the Rings apparently want to Arwen a warrior princess. We discussed
some of the far-reaching changes that would have to be made for such a revision.
The petition is located on the
LotR Movie Accuracy Page.
Nov. 18, 1999
New Encyclopedia article! "
Bilbo, Speculation on the Origin of the Name
", by Ulmo-(Valar).
Nov. 16, 1999
The pages are undergoing reconstruction,
but should not be down. The home page should help navigation now, with other
pages going directly back to it. Numerous articles and pages are undergoing
updates.
A new FAQ article has been added in answer to what is
a Valar honor member and what does he do and how does he get to be one?
Nov. 14, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6pm EST/VST, 5pm CST, 11pm GMT)
Netsplit hit us badly, so we went to ICQ for only the second time this year.
Download the small file free from Aule's Software files or www.mirabilis.com
The meeting was unusually disorganized as it was being held for partial groups
in ICQ and Bnet at the same time. Apologies all around.
Attending (13) (May have been others, but these
are the ones scribbled down on my side of the netsplit): Amillo/Malina, Ancalagon,
Aule/Taglos, Balin, Beleg, Boromir, Elros, Eomer popped through, Irmo, Kili,
Luthien, Makar, Varda
Membership Report:
Membership sweep of names is ongoing, with several heard
from for the first time in a long time. Seems many keep expecting DiabloII
to come out any minute and are waiting for it. That's not happening until
well into 2000, so sharpen your swords in Diablo VK with us, or BroodWar,
or other games while waiting. Please remember to at least email Varda or Amillo
once a month to keep your name intact.
Beleg/Celeuial and Elrohir are no longer guild members.
Web Report:
Encyclopedia: Anarion has added 5 new articles to the
Objects page, bringing the Individual Articles in One Week record up to 21
and the record for a whole week up to 23!
Pages being revamped with a different setup for navigation,
ongoing work will not prevent pages from being viewed, but you might want
to reload now and then.
Gaming:
DiabloII: Blizzard plans to start beta testing DiabloII
early in the year 2000.
DiabloVK: Sauron challenges the "good" guy guild
members to beat him and the other "evil" characters to the One Ring and the
three elven rings. Smeagol says that he will be out for the One Ring himself,
as Tolkien set up. Please email Varda if you find one of the four rings
in a Guild game to have the win posted for the News page! Later findings
are also of interest, although not wins, so feel free to email those too.
Fellowship Quest: new Tourney game! It is Quest for Three
using all three character classes played until the Fellowship can go no farther
or Diablo is beaten. Diablo and DiabloVK are scored separately due
to the difficulty difference, and scoring is done by IronMan rules.
Tolkien:
Discussion not held due to netsplit difficulties and Council
discussion
Nov. 11, 1999
The email addresses on the Members page which don't
seem to be working are for Arathorn, Radagast, Smaug, and Ulwarth. No emails
at all for Amras, Gimli, or Saruman. If you have a possible address, please
send it to Varda who is running the member check and will forward working
emails to Amillo. Protect your Guild name by emailing Varda once a month
if you cannot be otherwise active, to let us know you are still with us!
Challenge! Sauron of our guild and his evil friends are searching our Diablo-VK games for the One Ring and the three elven rings before the good guys can locate them. They are as tough to find as a 6-15 King's Sword of Haste! Whoever locates one of these four rings in a Guild game, please email Varda (Sauron currently has the same email) to have it posted on the News page! The race is on!
Diablo II possible release date from Blizzard.
Nov. 10, 1999
Letter from Murezor:
Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive. My exams are coming up,
so
I'm reading all day now, 7 days a week... (Been doing that for some time
now... sigh) Exams are done by end of this month, hopefully I'll have
time
for some serious playing then :) Say hello to all my buds (and budettes
(hmmm strange word eheh)) out there. Looking forward to see you all soon.
Murezor
Nov. 9, 1999
New Tolkien articles! The Kings of the Mark all have
entries under Men, primarily due to the amazing efforts of Anarion. We have
a new record for number of new Encyclopedia entries in a week by one person
(16) and by more than one (18).
Nov. 8, 1999
New Tourney Game! Fellowship Quest! Our Tourney
Master, Ulmo, has made the new version of Ironman official, using the name
given to it by Mandos. How to play will be posted to the Tourney page for
ease of location, and is posted here for now.
Letter from Ulmo:
1. 3 level 1 characters enter a game (one each char type) (many have
found 3 rogues to be the best for "Quest for 3" but one each type is
part of the challenge here)
2. No items shall be imported but finds and purchases as the
game provides are all allowed for use.
3. The team may either go as far as they can in one game or
complete sections (dungeons, catacombs, caves and hell) and return
at another time to the next section only and continue in another
game at another time.
4. Any resources found (items, gold potions, etc.) may be used
or disposed of in any method decided by the fellowship.
5. Scoring will be the same as in Ironman: 1 point for each level
of each character plus 2 points for every level of the game(s)
totally cleared (this includes Butcher, Leoric or any other Boss).
You may however hold off killing bosses until after journeying
deeper to gain more experience. Killing Diablo after clearing
every level (yeah right :-)) will be considered a complete
victory regardless of the levels of the characters.
Ulmo
Nov. 7, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CST, 6pm EST/VST):
Attending (16):
Amillo, Anarion, Aule, Bilbo, Elrond, Elros, Irmo, Kili,
(Manwe came in time for the Tolkien discussion), Melkor, Thingol, Tom, Tulkas,
Tuvo, Ulmo, Varda
Membership Report: by Amillo: 96 members, 2
new ones are Aragorn and Daeron.
Tulkas will be going back to sea Nov 10 for about 2 weeks
Ugluk and Smeagol have been seen in games, so don't count
them out :)
CAUTION: update your email on the Members page.
Varda will be doing a check to see who is still in the Guild. Members known
to be active for certain will not be emailed, but others should be receiving
email soon. To be really sure to protect your name, email Varda.
Web Report:
Bilbo will be putting up a school project on his web page
of a comic strip on the Darkening of Valinor from the Silmarillion.
Gaming:
Aule: Doom-Gaze trainer seems to be the best for saving
Diablo characters, and does not require a Dhack.
Varda: Whatever save program you use, please remember to
save your characters to floppy at least once a month to avoid disaster! Hard
drives can die horrible deaths, as happened to Tulkas recently and to many
of us at one time or another.
WarCraft2 now has a standardized game name in the Guild;
email or ask Ulmo or Varda.
DiabloVK now has a standardized numbering, added at the
very end of the VK on the game name.
Tolkien:
Amillo: naming conventions among elves
Irmo: quote from appendix on Arwen making her choice for
Aragorn. Discussion by group about how Galadriel seemed to be setting them
up, possibly at the indirect direction of the Valar through the gift from
Valinor of the elessar stone from Gandalf to Galadriel, for Aragorn.
Tulkas: continuation, telling of Elrond's sorrow but belief
in the correctness of Arwen's decision, if Aragorn could fulfill his destiny.
Manwe: Are there other orders besides the usual ones?
He quoted that the Valar are above the Maiar or any other orders on
Arda. May be a reference to the elves and men. Discussion of the evil spirits
that were not originally evil but perverted by Melkor.
Nov. 6, 1999
Two new members! Linguist day for
the Guild?
Welcome to Daeron, Tolkien linguist, scouted and
recruited by Tom Bombadil.
Welcome to Aragorn, 17 years old, brought in last
night by the august group of Ulmo, Irmo, and Aule, impressively passing what
amounted to a Maiar honor test 5/5! He was previously Calenmir "green stone"
in Quenya. He is also a linguist. :) He is interested in SC/BW mapping.
top
Varda, your reporter, had to leave the meeting before the Tolkien session started, unfortunately. Hoping to hear what was said during the week! Amillo had planned to tell about naming conventions elves used.
Oct. 25, 1999
New article in the Tolkien Encyclopedia: Amillo wrote
"Marriage
among Elves"
. It has a lot of hard-to-find info, very interesting.
Oct. 24, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT/VST)
Attending (14): Amillo/Malina, Aule/Taglos,
Beren, Boromir, Elros, Irmo, Makar/Ramandor, Melkor, Nori (briefly), Osse/Gaerys,
Thingol, Tulkas, Ulmo, Varda
Web Report: no new articles, but Amillo will
be putting up his Marriage among Elves, info which he has been telling about
at meetings.
Membership Report: no new members, quite a
few members surmounted problems to return. Anarion will be in Italy for
a week, and will be unable to return steadily for a little while after that,
but hopes to be back to normal.
Recruiting discussion: Ulmo brought up the
need for the scout/tester team to remember to emphasize that our guild atmosphere
is considerate, courteous, Tolkien literate, gaming, web maintaining, family
oriented, chatting (Tolkien and other). That is why we have lasted so long.
Two years is exceptional for a Diablo guild, even a Tolkien Diablo guild.
It could also help keep the new member from embarrassment if a few items
of meeting etiquette are mentioned, such as when, where, whisper hi and bye
during meetings to keep from covering up the screen (but be sure to say hi
and bye!), whisper the chair to have your turn added to the meeting with
a reminder if it appears to have been lost in the shuffle. If the chair does
not reply to the request in a timely fashion, suspect netsplit and whisper
someone to whisper to the chair. All members should have their say!
Game naming: nominations taken for WarCraft
II Bnet edition which is already being played by members, and for the (hopefully)
upcoming Diablo II. No decision made yet, nominations still open, please email
Varda before the next meeting. Those playing WC2, please email Makar and
check his Games page to see who else is playing. Please continue to use your
usual name for recognition and for Guild games.
Tolkien:
Irmo told about JRRT's decision not to write a story he
was considering, set 100 years after the fall of Mordor. He was concerned
that with the nature of man to become satiated with good, several problems
would occur such as the kings becoming as Denethor was, youth gangs patterned
after orcs, and pagan cults. JRRT felt that such a book would be a mere thriller,
not worth his time.
Amillo concluded his tale of the customs of elven marriage,
telling about the Law of Iluvatar given to the Councillors of the Eldar directly
by Manwe. (See his article for details, to be uploaded Monday).
Oct. 23, 1999
Ulmo and Gothmog are back, with their new modem. Anarion
and Tuvo were also back playing. Just proves you can't keep the Valar folk
away from their games no matter what happens. :)
Oct. 21, 1999
Letter from Tuvo:
"Fellow Valar,
Due to a severe case of the 'roids' I can't sit down
and therefor
can't very well use the computer. See you in a week or so.
-Tuvo"
Oct. 20, 1999
Letter from Anarion: (translate by adding the missing "m".
CAN'T WRITE UCH BECAUSE Y CO P IS TRANSLATING Y TYPE AS SHORTCUTS. IF ANY
LETTERS ARE ISSING THEY ARE OST LIKELY THE LETTER BEFORE N IN THE ALPHABET.
(I CANT TYPE IT YOU SEE). I' ALSO WRITING IN CAPITALS TO TRY AND AVOIDE IT
LOADING EXPLORER WHEN I PRESS E, ETCETERA. THIS ISNT Y ONLY PROBLE AT THE
O ENT, Y ONITER IS ALSO NOT WORKING PROPERLY. GRRR!
DIABLO ALSO TI ES OUT AS SOON AS I ENTER A ULTIPLAYER GA E. HAVE FUN TRYING
TO TRANSLATE THIS WITHOUT ALL THE LETTERS :)
HOPE TO GET IT FIXED SOON
ANARION
Oct. 18, 1999
Letter from Glorfindel:
yes I'm still here, sorry if
I've been inactive as late but I've
had to knuckle down to some hard work, so I don't get much
chance to use the internet these days.... hence the tardiness of
my reply.
Glorfindel
Oct. 17, 1999
Letter from Ulmo:
It has taken me till now to prove my problem is my
modem. Thanx to my ISP
for spending 1 1/2 hours playing with my comp to prove it. I hope
to have a
new one by late next week, but who knows...
Hope to see all soon,
Ulmo
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT/VST)
Attending ( 15): Aerin, Anarion, Aule, Balin,
Bilbo, Boromir, Eomer, Gloin, Irmo, Luthien, Makar/Ramandor, Omar/Melina,
Osse/Gaerys, Tulkas, Varda
Membership Report:
Amillo reported that the member count is now 94. Good
thing the meeting isn't mandatory or the count would be 15. :)
Boromir fractured his left hand playing football, but
is playing Diablo anyway.
Celeuial is now Beleg.
Eonwe has a defective Diablo CD, trying to get another.
Turgon joined us, a returning member who used to be Pallando.
Web Report:
Bilbo has a Diablo page up and linked to the Valar Guild
called Ademias' Earth.
Tolkien:
Amillo told the group about the marriage customs of elves,
and plans to make an article of it.
Tolkien Moments:
Varda told about Lobelia's coming out from the Lockholes.
Eomer told Eomer's reaction to the news from Aragorn concerning
Boromir's death, and his giving Aragorn the nickname "Wingfoot" for his speed
in pursuit of the orcs who took the hobbits.
Tulkas told Tom Bombadil's song vs the Barrow Wight and
the song of Tom Bombadil.
Gloin told about Aule's making of the dwarves.
Oct. 16, 1999
Letter from Boromir:
hi, I may have some bad news. I fractured my hand playing football in
PE
yesterday, and I lost use in the left hand. thank god I'm a righty!
So, it's awfully hard to do anything on the computer, so I'll be gone
for
two weeks.
Until then,
Boromir
New member page link:
Ademias' Earth
- Diablo tips, downloads. Plays music: by Bilbo
New name: Celeuial now has a permanent name: Beleg
Cuthalion the Strongbow.
Oct. 12, 1999
Eonwe is having difficulties with his Diablo CD and
may have to get a new one, but he's still with us.
Oct. 10, 1999
Welcome to our new member, Turgon! He's 15,
from Raymond Alberta Canada, and read the LotR and Sil. Makar did us the
honor of handling testing. Turgon a while back was the Maiar Pallando but,
after leaving a while, has rejoined us as a regular member.
Meeting report :
Members at the meeting perfomed by Irmo (God bless him :)
: Irmo, Omar, Anarion, Elendil, Aule ( Afk while eating ), Salmar, Balin,
Boromir, Glorfindel (Celeuial ), Luthien. Popping in during meeting : Tulkas,
Eomer.
New members report : Luthien + Glorfindel.
Page report : Lenwë by Anarion, several links by Anarion,
Manwë´s memories.
Playing 20 Q. after meeting. Death-dawg visiting trying to
join us but had a quite bad attitude and was at last banned.
Amillo
(Varda was away at the Texas Renaissance Festival, but expects
to return for the next meeting. Also at the Festival were Elros, Elwing,
Meriadoc, Fangorn, Eowyn, Sauron, and Fingon)
Oct. 9, 1999
Tolkien Encyclopedia: Anarion aka James has a new
description on the Elves page about
Lenwe
. Also from Anarion, a new link on the Contents page
Writing Systems of Aman
with Tengwar and Sarati.
Oct. 8, 1999
Welcome to Celeuial, our new member. Osse scouted,
Aule tested with an assist from Luthien. This name may be temporary, Sindarin
for Silver Twilight. He just married, plus he just got his his computer a
few weeks ago, so we're cutting him some slack. :) A well-spoken
gentleman, he's 26 from Iowa, made a 4.5 out of 5, and read the Hobbit, LotR
trilogy, Silmarillion, and the HoME series.
New links - Anarion sent in new links for dictionaries
in numerous languages, medieval info, and images of palaces, viewable on the
Contents
page.
Oct. 7, 1999
Welcome to Luthien, our new member! She's from
Canada, recruited by Tom Bombadil.
Oct. 6, 1999
Manwe sent his memories of the early days of the Guild
as an Anniversary present to the Guild, now viewable from the
Histories
page.
Oct 3, 1999
Anniversary Tourney continues until regular Meeting
time.
Anniversary Meeting (5pm
CDT, 6pm EDT)
Happy 2nd Anniversary everybody!!
Attending (18): Aule, Balin, Bilbo, Dior, Elros, Eru,
Irmo, Makar/Ramandor, Melkor, Omar/Amillo, Osse, Sauron, Thrain/Hurin, Tom
Bombadil, Tulkas, Turin, Tuvo, Varda, (uncounted over-the-shoulder attendance
also, such as the Layton host) (If you were accidentally left out of this
list, please email Varda to be put in. Thanks.)
Recruiting and Membership News:
Beorn joined our ranks, Elros scouted and tested.
JamesThomas, excellent Discussion Board member, has joined
us as a full member now named Anarion. Thanks Amillo for testing.
Thrain changed his name during this meeting to Hurin
.
Melkor will be gone Oct 4 but should be back around the
12th.
Dior dropped in to say Happy Anniversary and goodbye. His
other guild will not allow him to be with us officially any longer. He is,
of course, always welcome by us to come back for visits!
Tulkas still has the flu with fever but, being the great
warrior he is, came anyway.
Web News:
Elros's Quiz on Tolkien Races is still going. See the
latest entry on Men.
Tourney News:
Ulmo gave his report which should soon be up on the Tourney
page. Please be sure you email him your game results to be shown on the Tourney
page as a participant! We had a surprising number of souls brave the VK version
of Diablo Quest for Three. Also we had quite a few tries and a couple of
victories at Beren's fiercely wonderful map in BroodWars, "The Bridges of
Osgiliath".
Tolkien Moment:
Irmo put in a lot of great atmosphere and told us of Gandalf's
fireworks. Thanks!
Tolkien Comments:
Eru and numerous others told the history of Thrain and
Balin, two of the great dwarves.
Reminesce:
Eru told of his original vision of the Guild, of how he
wanted a legit co-op guild with real Tolkien fans. We are still here, after
two years, fulfilling that original dream.
After the Meeting:
Chat; Twenty Questions game over Tolkien; bnet games. There
is a rumor that some people went to sleep that night, but this is questionable
and unconfirmed.
Oct. 2, 1999
Come to the channel at 9am CDT/10am EDT for the main
Tourney startup!
Welcome to our new member, Beorn! Good timing!
Elros did both scouting and recruiting. Beorn is 16 from San Diego, California.
He has read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We do have a problem in that
the old Beorn is still showing up, so our new Beorn may be coming up with
a new name. Sorry about the confusion.
top
Sept. 26, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending(16): Ancalagon, Aule, Balin, Bullroarer,
Celebrimbor, Elrond, Elros, Finrod, Irmo, Makar/Ramandor, Melkor, Omar/Amillo,
Tom, Tulkas, Ulmo, Varda
Web Report:
Lothlorien midi by Enya from Eowyn
is now on the Links page.
Encyc: The Fate of Finwe, by Tilion
Quiz: Dwarf quiz is up, Men about to go up on the page.
By Elros.
Recruiting Report:
Gloin joined us this week. :)
Tolkien Moment:
The Field of Pelennor: Eowyn and the Witch-King. by Irmo
Beleriand MUSH: Several of our members discover
they know each other from the Beleriand MUSH as well: Irmo
(Araglour, Faroth O Doriath), Beren (Elorean, handling
Gondolin webwork), and Tom Bombadil (Telpeorn, Olivistyar O
Nosse Nande, TP Coordinator for Gondolin).
Tolkien Music CD's: A trilogy of An Evening,
A Night, and Dawn in Rivendell
Anniversary:
The Anniversary Tourney kicks off tomorrow, with
early play all this coming week. Main play will be this weekend, starting
at 10 am EDT in the channel to find team mates, continuing until the Anniversary
Meeting. Iron Man has been added to the Tourney games, a version of how to
play regular Diablo. VK may be played using the regular Diablo tourney games,
but it may be too hard to expect to go any distance, so expect low scores.
The Anniversary Meeting is next Sunday at the regular time,
6pm EDT, with Tourney results, Tolkien, and reminescing.
Sept. 24, 1999
New Member! Welcome to Gloin, a friend of Bilbo's
living in the USA! Bilbo scouted, Tom Bombadil tested.
Sept. 21, 1999
New Encyclopedia article:
The Fate of the House of Finwe
by Tilion. He means fate as in after death. Interesting read.
Sept. 20, 1999
Dwarf Quiz
, the second week of the Tolkien Races quiz by Elros, is now up.
Sept. 19, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending(12): Aule, Balin, Boromir, Elros, Finrod, Irmo, Makar, Omar/Amillo,
Osse/Gaerys, Thingol, Thrain (short visit), Varda. (Several people showed
up after the meeting, including visitors Xiuhcoatl and Superhick. See
Surprise Visit at end of minutes.)
Membership Report:
Mandos is still waiting for insurance to repair his fried
computer equipment.
Frodo is still with us, has just been very busy with Real
Life, and gave us a nifty for-fun quiz.
Web Report:
We have a central Quiz page.
Frodo's self-scoring Tolkien Quiz is now up.
Elros's second week quiz on Dwarves is about to start.
Prize will probably be VK items.
Gaming:
Caution: VK page now has a different version up.
Please download the 8/22 version on Aule's Software page so that the guild
can stay in synch.
Maiar Test:
Instead of doing Tolkien moments, we had a Maiar test
for Elros who passed brilliantly with a perfect 5/5 plus a 1/2 on a tough
Silmarillion bonus question. He elected to keep the Elros name, adding
the Valar after it instead of a V.
Surprise Visit:
After the meeting, Eru came into the channel. He
is borrowing a friend's computer to visit with us and plans to be present
for the Anniversary meeting. Welcome back!
Sept. 15, 1999
Tolkien Quiz
by Frodo which scores itself and is a challenge. Frodo says he hasn't vanished
either, but has been verrry busy and will try to pop in to see us now and
again.
Sept. 13, 1999
Letter from Mandos/Namo:
Fiirst thing.......I didn't vanish off the face of the
earth....... :)
I had a bit of an electrical problem 4 (or 5) weeks back,
that fried most of my computer equipment.(not to mention my refrigerator and
2 window A/C's)
Luckily Insurance will replace everything but they seem to want to take forever
to do so. Ah
well.....that's typical of them. I assumed they would be taking care of it
a lot sooner that
this.....(still waiting!)...but I shouldn't have been surprised!
Keeping this short....on a friends comp right now...and I have
to read about 100 e-mails
that backed up over the last week or so.
Farewell for now
Mandos
Sept. 12, 1999
Letter from Manwe:
Heya guys,
Just wanted to let ya know that I wont be back on for a while.
Complications due to my roomates phone bill are preventing me from getting
my own line. I will not be able to attend the anniversarry meeting or be
of
much help. I am sorry, I really wanted to be a part of it. I hope you all
have fun with it.
Sorry Valar buddies take care
Manwe Sulimo
The Anniversary meeting will continue as scheduled. Ulmo is still Tourney Master and can take Tourney suggestions. Other suggestions please send to Varda. Hopefully, Manwe can find a friend's computer or library comp and drop in for a while if we are very fortunate.
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending: Bullroarer, Elendil, Eomer, Finrod, Gothmog/Cosomot
(reporting for Ulmo), Irmo, Omar/Amillo, Tuvo, Varda
Membership Report:
Bullroarer joined the Guild at the meeting, with
a rousing 4 1/2 out of 5 in a test by Irmo, Omar, and Varda. Glad to have
you with us!
Eol, if you are still with us, please contact Varda or
Omar/Amillo and let us know.
A reminder: any member may scout. Please be sure the person
wants to play legit co-op and has read the LotR.
Web Report:
New page by James O' Connell, Discussion Board Member:
Council of Istari
New Encyclopedia description under Orcs about Bolg, by
James O' Connell
Gaming News and Congrats!:
Aule was first to take a dot in VK.
Ulmo was first to take the third dot in VK.
Anniversary News:
Varda has been asked to email a general invitation to
the whole membership to the Second Anniversary of the Valar Guild. Varda is
writing and Aule sending. If you are accidentally left out of the email by
whatever mistake, please know that you as a member are very much wanted and
to please come! It is a combination 2-day Tourney, Tolkien talk with possible
quiz challenges on the side during the Tourney waits. Chat is highly welcome!
At the Meeting, we will have Tourney results, reminiscing, and Tolkien talk.
The Anniversary is actually Oct 4, a Monday. The Tourney is Oct 2-3 up to
Meeting time. The Meeting is at the regular time on Oct 3.
Tolkien Moments:
Tuvo: Gandalf warned Frodo and all of us not to be too
quick to judge who merits death, as that person too may have a necessary part
to play. Many who die deserve life, but can we give it to them?
Irmo: Luthien Tinuviel. (Need we say more?)
Sept. 8, 1999
Trouble may not be in your set. If you have problems
accessing these pages, it may be because one of the internet service provider's
local telecommunications providers suffered a major fiber cut, now under repair.
(Lots of construction going on around here, and I suspect someone's backhoe
zigged when it should have zagged.) They hope to have partial restoration
late today.
New Encyclopedia description of Bolg the Orc on the
fledgling Orc
page, by James O' Connell.
Sept. 6, 1999
Quiz on
The Races of Tolkien
: Link should be working now, try reloading if it doesn't. If you
have further problems, email Varda. She can receive even if she can't answer
by email.
Web Team page: If you want to list a place with free
web space, please email Varda the URL for the Web Team page. If you wish
to add comments about the space, such as Crosswinds' unlimited space often
being too busy to reach, feel free. We might also add links to your favorite
free web sites for teaching how to use web pages. The web team and its pages
are here to help.
Recruiting: In answer to a question by one member,
but which others may be wondering: all members may scout. If you see someone
you think belongs in our Guild, send him/her to our webpage, or if a really
good prospect (read all LotR, legit co-op gamer you would really like to meet
again), then send the person to our channel for a tester, especially at meeting
times when several of them are always present.
New Page:
The Council of the Istari
with a Tolkien quiz, Tolkien and other cool links, by James O' Connell,
a non-gaming member and frequent Encyclopedia contributor. Still under construction
(aren't they all if active! :)
Eonwe should be back Tuesday.
Sept. 5, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending (11): Aule, Ancalagon, Felagund, Irmo, Melkor,
Menelvagor, Omar, Thingol, Tuvo, Ulmo, Varda
Web Report:
Members Page working again.
Encyclopedia article: The Seven
Gates of Gondolin.
Tolkien Quiz over Races by Elros.
Link not currently working.
Spawn: People who don't have Diablo
and just want it for coming to meetings or the channel can pick up a Diablo
spawn. Happy Puppy was suggested as a source, although Varda did not see
a spawn there, just the single-player demo. Happy Puppy's
Home
page and single-player Diablo
demo
.
VK Diablo: links up
Membership Report:
No new members, although we had 2 email requests for membership.
Email problem: Varda can receive but not send email.
Melkor will be gone for a while traveling: 9/7 - 9/18/99
Council Meeting: ironed out a VK game wrinkle. Next
wrinkle we need to iron is naming games consistently. Just where do we put
the 2? After the game name or the VK? Both are currently being used, so for
now when game-hunting, be sure to try both!
Sept. 2, 1999
The Members page is working again, after the long efforts
of Amillo! Thanks!
New Encyclopedia article:
The Seven Gates of Gondolin
by James O' Connell
Sept. 1, 1999
New Tolkien Quiz! Elros has made a quiz over the races
of Tolkien, this week over hobbits. It can be reached from the
Contents
page or from right
here
.
top
August 29, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending (15): Aerin, Ancalagon, Aule, Boromir,
Celebrimbor, Elros, Elwing, Eowyn, Felagund, Irmo, Makar/Ramandor, Omar/Amillo,
Tom, Ulmo, Varda
Web Report: New encyclopedia articles:
New
Encyclopedia
articles by James O' Connell. He sent an impressive 5 entries at once!
For the Valar section: a new name for Ulmo. For the Hobbits section:
articles on Faramir and Isumbras. For the Men section: articles on Faramir
and Goldwine. Thanks!
New Encyclopedia pages: Hobbits, Trolls
New images added to the Encyclopedia, including one done
by Amillo of Hurin, swiped from his Annals of Arda.
New links for the Contents page: Jarulf's Guide to Diablo
and Hellfire v1.40, including a link to the VK mod page. Also a link on how
to play IronMan, similar to Quest for Three in our regular Diablo tourney
game, but even meaner. Also to bnet's Diablo Strategy Forum since the newer
bnet Diablo page no longer includes it.
Beren is updating his Tolkien Language
page, check for new happenings there!
Amillo has been working on the Members
Page, trying to repair the problems people are having with seeing it.
For instance, I saw it fine before, but now see only a white screen. If anyone
can shed any light on what might be causing the troubles, please email him.
Meanwhile, some of the emails, such as Council, are posted on the Names page
including his, nothing as brilliantly complete as his set-up, sorry.
Recruiters Report: Amillo reported that we
have no new members this week, but we now number 91.
Games Report: The Council has approved, after
testing, and announced that we are now officially using the Diablo VK 8/22,
8/23 mod. This is a modification of Diablo, for multi-player only, which does
not run in synch with Diablo or other versions, even of itself. Therefore,
please tack -VK onto the game name to warn other players. It has the elven
rings and the One Ring. Sauron requests that if anyone locates the One Ring,
the least of rings, to please pass it on to him. Information on DiabloVK should
soon be accessible through the Tourney page, and the link will be on the
Contents page as well, which you can access right now through Contents/Diablo/Jarulf's
page. Aule will be putting the VK mod download on his Software page.Gothmog
is collecting names of people who play VK, so please let him know; that will
be in conjunction with Makar's Games page.
Anniversary Report: Oct 4 is the Guild's second
year anniversary:
The Anniversary Tourney,
including Diablo, DiabloVK, StarCraft, and BroodWar, will use regular Tourney
rules. See the Tourney page. DiabloVK will be played the same way as Diablo,
except that it will be scored separately as it is more difficult. One change:
this time the Tourney while starting as usual on Saturday, Oct 2, at 10am
EDT for team choosing, but will continue playing through Sunday until
Meeting time. Please email results to Ulmo as usual. Those who wish to help
Ulmo, as by sitting in the channel to steer people together and explain rules
and reports, please email Ulmo.
The Anniversary Meeting will
be at the usual meeting time on Sunday Oct 3, where we will no doubt comment
on the Tourney, but the main focus will be on Tolkien. If you can get in
a description or article for the Encyclopedia this week, we are trying to
beat the record of 5 in one week. If you've been meaning to write a little
something or a big something on your character or a favorite character, object,
place, or event, now is the time!
Tolkien Moments:
From Elros: The Siege of Gondor, when it seemed Rohan
would not be able to come to their aid.
From Irmo: The singing of Luthien
Maiar Nomination: Elros has been nominated for
Maiar, and when he passes his test watch for his new name.
August 26, 1999
New Tolkien image of
Hurin Thalion
! Amillo does his own artwork and is using it in his amazing
Annals
of Arda
. The Encyclopedia will be swiping it too, most likely. :)
New Encyclopedia page:
Hobbits
. Please feel free to contribute descriptions and articles, all members.
Another new Encyc page:
Trolls
. Same comments.
August 25, 1999
New Links on Contents page under Diablo. One is a
very complete guide for Diablo and Hellfire,
Jarulf's Guide
to Diablo and Hellfire v1.40. The other is how to play
Ironman Diablo
, a beefed up version of the popular Quest for Three.
August 23, 1999
New Link on Contents page to b.net's
Diablo Strategy Forum
, since their "new" Diablo page doesn't have it anymore.
August 22, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending: Aule, Balin, Elros, Felagund, Makar, Manwe/Sulimo,
Omar/Amillo, Tuvo, Ulmo, Varda
Membership Report: New members: Aerin, Boromir, Felagund
Web Report:
Virus Page: new article on Wobbler virus in the email
attachment "California"
Contents Page: Roger Wilco free software for using a microphone
to talk while playing games
Alexandrian Company
does research on Medieval times and holds live meetings, affiliated with
the SCA.
Members Page: Some people are
having difficulty viewing the page and others have no problem. Amillo will
be
changing
the graphic on it soon, and that may help.
Games: Smeagol has been beta
testing Asheron's Call if anyone wants to ask him about it.
Elros's Suggestion: In the character description for
your non-primary characters, put the primary name to help avoid confusion.
Anniversary of the Valar Guild's Second Year (Oct 4)
: Currently the plan stands to have a Tourney starting at 10am Sat
Oct 2, when we should show up in the channel and pick teams, running through
Sunday Oct 3, results emailed to Ulmo. Late teams are ok if you can find
anyone. Then at the regular meeting on Oct 4, we may have lots of Tolkien
as in Tolkien Moments and Twenty Questions, maybe a Two Team game. This plan
is still tentative and open to suggestions sent to
Manwe
. A general guild emailing will be sent on the subject, so please make sure
your email on the Members Page is up to date!
Tolkien Moment: by Amillo. Hurin finds Morwen at last,
after losing his son and daughter, and she dies in his arms.
Words of Wisdom: Manwe's closing statement
:) "You can't go swimming in a baseball pool."
August 18, 1999
Welcome to Felagund, our new member! He's from
the Netherlands, 42, read the Hobbit, LotR, Silmarillion, and much of HME.
His time zone is GMT+1, also called MET for Middle European Time. Bilbo scouted
and Ulmo tested. Thank you Bilbo for making the report for Ulmo.
Virus Report: "California" file contains a virus called
the Wobbler. See our page for
info
sent from Ulmo. Also, the Virus page link from Contents has been repaired.
Part of Ulmo's letter:
"Yes I am already back on bnet. :) My stays
are often short though as
comp desk is not a good posture place for my hand. I need to lie down
with hand elevated most of the time. It will be quite a while before
longer stays and even the use of my left thumb will become a reality.
Thanks to all for the "best wishes" comments, mails and page notations."
August 17, 1999
Welcome to Boromir, our new member from Minnesota. He's 11 and has
shown patience much older members such as myself would be proud to have.
He's read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Osse recruited and Aule tested.
August 16, 1999
New link: Roger
Wilco
free software for using a microphone while playing online. Makar kindly
let us know about it. It is possible to make a special guild frequency, but
it would be known and accessible to anyone. We might discuss this Sunday,
especially if anyone has already tried it and has a comment on the quality.
Otherwise, those who wish can use it individually. If there is a lot of enthusiasm,
we may try it later as a guild.
August 15, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Attending (8): Aule, Balin, Elrond, Elros, Irmo, Melkor,
Omar/Amillo, Varda. Late-comers as meeting ended: Turin and Tuvo.
Membership Report: Ulmo will be coming on bnet even
though he cut three fingers on his left hand with a power saw and is left-handed.
Now that is a true Valar!
We have a new member, not yet named but a very welcome
lady indeed who scored an impressive 5/5.
Irmo will be gone this coming Saturday to Tuesday, but
will be returning thereafter.
Web Report: New Encyclopedia articles: Coincidences
or Clues?; Faramir
New links: Scrolls of Orthanc, ITBS (Internet Tolkien Book
Society)
League Report: Aule states that nothing is happening,
and no one is answering emails. Varda suggests that Leaguers show up at the
Meeting to get together for Ladder games. Amillo and Thingol are currently
the top-ranking players, running even.
Quiz: Elros is working on a new Tolkien quiz for the
Guild. Good luck!
Anniversary: Our Guild's 2nd year anniversary is Oct
4. Festivities are being arranged by Manwe for the October 3 Sunday meeting.
Please email suggestions to Manwe
.
Tolkien Moment: Elros gave the Moment - the burial
procession for the still living Faramir, with its imagery of red fire from
the war on the clouds and water dripping from the dead White Tree into the
pool.
August 14, 1999
This is Gothmog with some ludicrously bad news.
Ulmo cut his bottom 3 fingers on his left hand on a table saw on Friday,
he was taken to a hospital for surgery, and still has all 10 fingers,
but he won't be on for probably a few months.
New Tolkien Encyclopedia article: "
Faramir
", under "Men".
New Links:
Internet Tolkien Book Society
; The Scrolls
of Orthanc
August 9, 1999
New Tolkien Encyclopedia article! Irmo wrote
"
Coincidences or Clues?
" as a special paper.
August 8, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Ulmo chaired since Varda was out of town. Aule reports that Manwe volunteered
to handle the Guild Second Year Anniversary festivities, being celebrated
at the Oct 3 Sunday meeting. Brave king, that Manwe! Also appropriate, as
Manwe is the oldest member now active, having started the recruiting for
we of the current guild. Eru is still having problems with his motherboard
and does not know when he will be able to return.
August 3, 1999
Tilion is back from Scotland!
A new link for the Contents page, sent by the illustrious
Tuvo, is the Lord of the
Rings
official movie site.
top
July 25, 1999
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT)
Thanks Aule for the report information, since
Varda was out of town.
Attending, partial list:Aule, Amillo, Irmo,
Murezor, Osse
Membership Report: Beorn and OldGaffer are
our two new members this week!
Web Report:
1. Page Moving News: The majority of our GeoCities
pages have all moved, with transition pages to the new pages. http://www.flex.net/~layton2/guild/guild.html
is the new home of the page for those that didn't know.
2. New Encyclopedia article, under Objects concerning
the Elessar stone which Aragorn wore.
3. New link on the Contents page to Elvish Linguistics,
a Discussion Board belonging to the Elflings. http://www.egroups.com/group/elfling/
I (Aule) don't really know who the Elflings are but Irmo is a member. So if
you have any questions, bombard him with them :)
Games:
1. Diablo2 News: D2 News: Blizzard still has no firm
release date for D2 but Heat.net has added D2 to their list of games you
can pre-order and they are charging $48.99 for it.
2. WarCraft2 News: For those of you interested in
WC2 b.net edition. There is a new FAQ on the Blizzard website which contains
some valuable info on the improvements and game requirements for the new
release.
Movie News: There is a report on the net that
Tom Bombadil will be dropped from the Movies. If you don't want to see old
Tom get the axe, go to http://www.ringbearer.org/wewanttom.html and sign
the petition to save Tom.
SC League: Not much to say here, people continue to
try and schedule games and people continue to not reply to the mails.
July 23, 1999
New Encyclopedia article, under Objects concerning
the Elessar
stone which Aragorn wore.
New link on the Contents page to
Elvish Linguistics
, a Discussion Board belonging to the Elflings. Link supplied by Laicolas,
of the Elflings, who may be joining us as well.
July 18, 1999
Welcome to the OldGaffer! He's from Arizona,
14 years old, and read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion.
Elros scouted, Ulmo tested. Thanks!
Welcome to Beorn! He's from Arkansas, 19, and
read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and part of the Silmarillion. He found
our channel on his own, tested with Varda, and played well with several of
us in Diablo. He also plays SC/BW.
Sunday Meeting (5pm CDT, 6pm EDT/VST):
Attending (includes some late-comers): Aule, Balin,
Dior, Elrond, Elros, Irmo, Manwe Sulimo, Murezor, Omar/Amillo, Osse, Thingil,
Thrain, Varda
Membership Report:
OldGaffer joined the Guild.
Bilbo will be in England a few weeks.
Salmar will be gone for the summer.
Tilion will be in Scotland until August.
Tulkas will be in Alaska for about a month.
Ulmo and Gothmog will be gone this week for a scout trip
in DC for Gettysburg.
Web Report:
The majority of our GeoCities pages have all moved, with
transition pages to the new pages.
Ladder News:
During the week, the groups could not get together, but
one group got together at this meeting and completed a game!
Tolkien Moments quoted:
Murezor: Sauron telling Ar-Pharazon that Eru is a phantom
deception, while Melkor is the true lord.
Irmo: Gandalf as the White breaks the power of the traitor
Saruman
Elros: Meriadoc sees the apparently dead King Theoden,
who awakes and tells him he is pleased with the manner of his death.
Manwë's Words of Wisdom:
Song quote: "Fight the good fight every moment, every
moment of every day."
Neat trivia:
Press alt + 137 on the number pad to make an ë.
ValarStarfall popped into our channel accidentally as
the meeting broke up and became our new member, Beorn. Talk about good
timing!
July 11, 1999
Sunday Meeting
Thanks for this Report from Aule, as Varda was out
of town:
We had 16 people there including Namo :)
Talked about the Geocities/Yahoo and the move of the pages.
Gave a league update and recapped the games that had been
played.
Irmo gave a Tolkien moment about Aragorn and the Paths
of the Dead,
around the part about the Stone of Erech.
Played some 20 questions then 2 League games that were
unscheduled
were played.
July 10, 1999
Updated Yahoo Terms of Service: (These may be acceptable
to the Guild, certainly much better than before.)
7. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO GEOCITIES
Yahoo does not claim ownership of the Content you place on your Yahoo GeoCities
Site. By submitting Content to Yahoo for inclusion on your Yahoo GeoCities
Site,
you grant Yahoo the world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to
reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose of
displaying, distributing and promoting your Yahoo GeoCities Site on Yahoo's
Internet properties. This license exists only for as long as you continue
to be a
Yahoo GeoCities homesteader and shall be terminated at the time your Yahoo
GeoCities Site is terminated.
You acknowledge that Yahoo does not pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and
its
designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion
to
refuse or remove any Content that is available via the Service. Without limiting
the
foregoing, Yahoo and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content
that
violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate,
and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any
reliance on
the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.
11. MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE
Yahoo reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue,
temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without
notice.
You agree that Yahoo shall not be liable to you or to any third party for
any
modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.
12. TERMINATION
You agree that Yahoo, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password,
Yahoo
GeoCities Site, use of the Service or use of any other Yahoo service, and
remove
and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason, including, without
limitation, for lack of use or if Yahoo believes that you have violated or
acted
inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOS. Yahoo may also in its
sole
discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Service, or any part
thereof,
with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the
Service
under any provision of this TOS may be effected without prior notice, and
acknowledge and agree that Yahoo may immediately deactivate or delete your
Yahoo GeoCities Site and all related information and files in your Yahoo GeoCities
Site and/or bar any further access to such files or the Service. Further,
you agree
that Yahoo shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination
of your
access to the Service.
July 6, 1999
Please pardon the incompleteness of the beginning of the web shift. These
letters needed to go out to you all, complete or not!
Letter from Gandalf (who is now Tulkas), 6 July 1999:
Well it is true. I just received confirmation this morning.
I leave for
Cambridge Bay on July 12, eventually ending up in Umingmuktok, Northwest
Territories 3 days later. Airliner to Yellowknife, Cargo plane to Cambridge
Bay, And then a couple of float plane trips out to where the ship will
be.
We will be doing more hydrographic work. Making charts of unmapped
waters
that is to say. I am scheduled to return home on Sept 10. So
that pretty
much kills this summer for me. I will have a brief window between
July 7
and the 12th for a few games of Diablo however and any recruiting I can
get
done in that period.
Namarie for now, Gand...er I mean Tulkas-(Valar)
Letter from Eru (slightly abbreviated) , 6 July 1999
Unfortunately I think this may be the end for the online presence of
Eru. Real life, and the
utter dismay of further, compounded PC troubles has finally forced me
to call it a day. This has
come as a grievous loss to me, as I simply cannot maintain my contact with
everyone, but I know
that you will all keep the spirit of the Vision I founded running successfully.
I would not totally rule out my being able to return in the future,
but for now I think I owe it
to everyone to say that I can't be around. If I do manage to come
back, I'll appear as Eru again
and guess I can safely reserve the name for myself.
I would like to remain friends with everyone, and I hope that the guild
continues to flourish.
Providence permitting, I can infrequently check the guild page for news
so I
won't be completely unaware of what is happening.
Long live the Vision,
Eru, The One.
July 4, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6pm EDT)
Attending (15): Amillo, Aule, Balin, Dior, Elwing,
Gandalf, Gorthaur (Sauron), Irmo, Manwe, Melkor, Meriadoc, Salmar, Ulmo, Thingol,
Varda
Recruiting/Membership Report: New member, Meriadoc!
Ugluk, after numerous difficulties and now with an email account, is back
with us! Departing member, Valacirca, who no longer can find time for guild
activities.
Web Report: 15 for the move off of Yahoo/GeoCities,
another needing a new free spot to move his only GeoCities page (suggestions
welcome) and one (kindly non web weaver) who said it is just too much trouble
for the others who had to do the moving. The web team says it is not too much
trouble, so we have something very nearly like unanimity. Discussion was
held. (Also, the new set-up for uploading pages is full of bugs on Yahoo,
complicating the move as well as simple maintenance.) We are officially moving,
and the new URL's will be posted to the old pages. I suggest a new bookmark
folder for the moved pages. (It helps me!) The move is already beginning,
with some web team members already set up elsewhere. Interesting sidelight,
we have definite reports of numerous Star Trek pages moving out, and
another major group which writes original non-fiction.
Ladder Report: A game has actually been played, despite
all odds! Congratulations to all 4 for managing this feat! Result: Ulmo and
Manwe won over Orome and Elros.
New Council Member! Gandalf passed what may have been
the hardest Valar test yet! He is now Tulkas. Nice send-off for a
gentleman headed to the arctic for the next two months. He'll contact us
if the internet connection allows at odd moments.
July 3, 1999
Welcome to our new member, Meriadoc! Thanks
to Gandalf for handling the testing over some terrible netsplit and time lag.
Meriadoc is 43, from San Marcos, Texas, USA, and answered with a perfect 5/5.
The Layton host is especially happy to welcome Varda's brother to its number.
Move vote: 8 for moving guild pages off Yahoo/GeoCities, 2 for staying so
far. Amillo says he does not plan to move the Glittering Caves of Aglarond,
the art gallery, although he does have at least one original work of his
own in it.
July 1, 1999
Cirdan and Turin will be out of town a few days to
visit relatives. Leaguers, especially, take note.
Murezor dropped in on us for the day he was in town,
and should be back in about 2 weeks.
Move vote: 1 for staying with Yahoo/GeoCities because
of the effort involved for others, 4 for moving, 2 say use best judgement.
Beren's Lore pages will be moving off of GeoCities when he is set up. The
Ladder is already rebuilt on Aule's pages, off of Yahoo. It is amazing how
many people are involved in the Guild pages, and are working hard for everyone's
best interests. To all of you, thank you!
top
June 29, 1999
Concerning the possible move from GeoCities/Yahoo:
Here is the Term of Service Part 8 that caused concern, then the letter of
reply from Yahoo. All Guild members, please email Varda with your vote on
whether or not to move our pages:
8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO
By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you
automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such
Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free,
perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully
sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify,
adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from,
distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or
part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in
any form, media, or technology now known or later
developed. You acknowledge that Yahoo does not
pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and its designees shall
have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion
to refuse, edit, move or remove any Content that is publicly
available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing,
Yahoo and its designees shall have the right to remove any
Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable.
You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks
associated with, the use of any Content, including any
reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of
such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may
not rely on any Content created by Yahoo or submitted to
Yahoo, including without limitation information in Yahoo!
Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the
Service.
Thank you for contacting us re: Yahoo! GeoCities.
We'd like to be really clear - Yahoo! does not claim to own content
submitted to it by its users.
Our terms of service require homesteaders to grant us the right to
reproduce and otherwise use their content when we post and maintain it
on the Yahoo! Network. There are simple and important reasons we
have
this policy and they are designed to benefit you. Listed below are two
of the biggest reasons:
1. When you upload a Web page or image to us, we often need to copy
it
to put it on the many computers that we use to serve home pages to
people that want to look at your page. We need you to give us the right
to copy and reproduce that content.
2. We also might want to feature your home page on the front page of
Yahoo! GeoCities or elsewhere on the Yahoo! Network, so you can get more
people to see your page. We need to have that right; otherwise we
couldn't reproduce this content.
Yahoo! has always been focused on providing users with a compelling
experience on the Web, and the Terms of Service are standard throughout
the Yahoo! Network. We hope you understand that all of our actions
are
taken with you, the user, in our mind.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to us.
Yahoo! GeoCities
www.geocities.com
June 28, 1999
Ladder: Aule is now handling the
Ladder
and doing the page for it. Good luck, Master Smith!
June 27, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6pm EDT)
Attending (12): Aule, Bilbo, Celebrimbor, Dior, Elendil,
Elros, Makar, Manwe, Melkor, Osse, Thingol, Varda
Recruiting Report: No new recruits this week
Web Report: Aule will begin a page for the Ladder.
The main pages may be moving to another server later on, still being investigated,
but links to them will be available from the old spots.
Tolkien Highlight: by Manwe. He quoted from the Silmarillion,
about the elf Feanor's seeing through Melkor's lies, calling him the jail
crow of Mandos, and slamming the door in the face of the mightiest of the
Valar! Manwe-(Valar) also commented on the most powerful of the Valar and
of the elves both straying from good due to selfishness.
June 25, 1999
Thank you Aule, for the Sunday meeting report. It
is being back-posted to the correct date for the News. Also thanks for working
on the Ladder schedule, Aule.
Yahoo! and GeoCities are now combining databases. Page
access may be intermittent this weekend.
June 23, 1999
Hail! The Layton host has returned from vacation.
If you have any News such as what happened at the Saturday or Sunday meetings,
new pages, new recruits, or other, please email
Varda
.
Cirdan and Turin have also returned, now that their modem is
replaced.
The Tolkien-Inspired
Poetry
page has new entries by Elwing.
June 20, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6:00pm EST) Report provided by Aule
Attending: Ulmo, Osse, Irmo, Azog, Dior, Elendil, Tom,
Elros, Amillo, Aule, Bilbo, Makar, Thingol, Eomer, Melkor, Elrond
Member Report: Dior is our new member this week. Glad
you could make it to the meeting, Dior!
League: Ulmo and Cirdan are now back from computer
problems. The schedule will be posted by Varda once Aule finishes it and Aule
will mail everyone a copy. Some rule changes are in order and will
be announced once they are ironed out.
Tolkien moment given by Irmo - Ending of the Scouring
of the Shire and Saruman's demise. Struck up into a chat about the mist
that Saruman became and
what the significance was.
June 16, 1999
Skipping town: Varda and the rest of the Layton host:
Fangorn, Eowyn, Sauron, and Fingon, will be on vacation starting tomorrow
morning out of town and be back in about a week. Please continue to send
News items and other web items for later posting. People needing new invitations
for the Discussion Board can get them from anyone who is already in the member
group.
June 15, 1999
New Member! Welcome to Dior! He's 16/M from
Finland, who's read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Silmarillion
. Elendil scouted and Aule tested, thanks guys!
June 13, 1999
Sunday Meeting (6:00pm EDT)
Attending (10): Azog, Amillo, Aule, Elendil, Makar,
Mandos, Menelvagor, Nori, Thingol, and Varda. A number of others
showed up late, such as Eomer, Irmo, and a lot of others
whose names unfortunately I did not write down. Sorry guys.
Recruiting Report: Azog returned, formerly Gandalf.
Earendil returned, formerly Fingolfin and Mithrandir.
Web Report: New Page: Guild Histories and Memoirs
, for all members. Members can tell their experience being recruited
and their first impressions of the guild, as well as what
they saw of guild history/organization at that time.
Tolkien-Inspired Poetry, restarted with poems graciously
furnished by ex-Yavanna from her previous (and prettier)
poetry page.
Discussion Board: We now have a
Discussion Board
on Yahoo, for all members. It is by invitation only and the invitation
sent out by Yahoo does expire. Just ask a fellow member,
such as Varda, to re-invite you if you did not make it in time.
League: Murezor dropped out due to work commitments,
so we have another re-scheduling coming up. A sympathy card for
Ulmo may be in order.
Guild member comp probs (some of them anyway): Eru
is still fighting the motherboard. Gandalf's ship will be out of range
of the Internet until Friday evening. Ulmo had some problems
with his keyboard, apparently, although sightings of both
Gothmog and him have been reported.
Tolkien Highlights were given by both Amillo (the time
the Balrog went over the brink, taking Gandalf with him) and Irmo (the wedding
of Aragorn and Arwen).
Tolkien discovery from Amillo: The number of elves
at the Awakening was 144. Is it coincidence that Bilbo, an elf-friend,
invited 144 hobbits to his Farewell Party?
June 12, 1999
Saturday chats may have occurred, as I saw some people
with whom I could not speak. *sigh* Good ol' bnet. Bnet has been running
on too few servers lately, and may be bad Sunday.
Virus alert: our
Virus Alert
page now has the prevention and cure for the zipped_files.exe email attachment,
a very ugly worm virus.
Discussion
Board
: Tom Bombadil gave us the URL to do this, so thank you Tom! Varda
is making an attempt setting up a Yahoo discussion board for the guild. It
has a chat room too. To use the service, we each have to have a Yahoo identity.
For that, please use your character name and a _Valar or _V If
your name changes, it can be edited later. You have to be invited to
post, so please be sure your email is correct on the Members page. I have
just attempted to invite everyone in the Guild. If you did not receive such
an email, send an email to Varda
and we will take care of it together. Let me know if you have any problems,
as I am still trying to set it up and barely know what I am doing. :)
June 10, 1999
New page:
Tolkien-Inspired Poetry
. Any member or Tolkien fan may email Varda to have
his or her original Tolkien-inspired poetry put on the page. Please also
send the copyright year.
June 9, 1999
Returning member! Now named Earendil, the previous
Fingolfin-(V) and Mithrandir-(Valar) has discovered we still exist and thrive,
so welcome back! He is coming back as a regular member instead of a Maiar
in order to become familiar with the Guild again.
Returning member! With his new name of Azog
, the previous Gandalf-(V) has rejoined us. He discussed returning in a chat
with Aule and real life friend Ulwarth-(V), and the guild lucked out. Welcome
back to both ex-Gandalf's! :)
June 7, 1999
New page:
Valar Guild Histories and Memoirs by Members
.
June 6, 1999
Fingolfin, regular member, has quit the Guild.
League: Letter from Ulmo (shortened for the News, complete
on the Ladder page), Tourney and Ladder Master, to all interested in the
Valar Guild's League Ladder:
Heya all League members,
As you know we have had a lot of trouble scheduling matches.
Bnet
hasn't helped but neither has Fingolfin quitting the guild or Eonwe
giving his SC cd away. I have posted a new schedule which no longer
includes them. If any of you feel you cannot participate please contact
me immediately so I can substitute someone with a bye for you in the
schedule. It can be difficult to schedule matches but if we all try
and
make a point to honor the arrangements we make it can be done. See
below my suggestions for how to do it.
1. send a mail to all in your match with when you can play and a
suggested time/date
2. respond to all when you get such a mail with the same info
3. respond to all when you can agree to a suggested time/date or suggest
a new one
Please spread the word on bnet to all as you see them about this posting
as well. Anyone who can not make a real effort to schedule and play
matches should drop themselves from the league. Anyone finding that
a
fellow match participant is not returning mails should inform me of
such. This league can not work unless all make it work. Let's
give it
one more good try.
Sunday Meeting (6pm EST)
Attending (14): Amillo, Balin, Elendil, Elrond, Elwe
(Thingol), Eomer, Fangorn, Irmo, Makar, Mandos (Namo), Melkor, Murezor, Tom,
Varda
Melkor will miss the next meeting but be back on the 20th.
Recruiting Report for this week: Balin is our new
member from Canada. Valacirca has returned. Fingolfin has quit
Web Report: Valar Guild Map page by Tom Bombadil is
now up.
League Schedule: The schedule has been changed to
handle the loss of Fingolfin and the loss of Eonwe's SC CD
Discussion Board: Amillo, Elwe, Mandos, Melkor, Murezor,
and Tom voted yes to start a Discussion Board for the Guild. Suggestions for
its use were Tolkien discussions and coordinating Ladder games. Now we need
a volunteer to set up and handle the board. Varda will set up the link as
soon as our currently unknown volunteer makes the page.
Highlights from Tolkien: Irmo quoted the time that
Gondor was in great danger, then heard the horns of Rohan coming to their
aid.
Before and after the meeting, games were held in both Diablo and StarCraft.
Manwe and Eonwe were among those who showed up after the meeting, which started
a chat in the channel as well.
June 5, 1999
Saturday Chats:
1pm EST Chat: Aule, Elendil, and Varda attending. To
escape netsplit and since we were a small group, we held the meeting in Arda.
We played 20 Questions and had to break off after two hours.
4pm EST Chat: Tilion looked for the chat but did not
locate anyone, but may have been present at the wrong time. Varda was at
a watermelon party. If anyone has information, please contact Varda to update
the News page. Thanks.
June 4, 1999
New pages!: StarCraft and BroodWar Maps for downloading,
page maintained by Tom Bombadil. It is titled
The Valar Guild Map Page
Also check out his
Remembering Tolkien
Page!
League: All people in the League games, please remember
to email Varda with the times you can play so that it may be put on the League
Ladder Page. Be sure to mention that the information is for the page, rather
than for one of your three fellow League players at the same address. Thanks!
June 3, 1999
Welcome back to Valacirca, who is returning to the
guild. He's from the USA in EST.
June 1, 1999
Contents page updated and new links added.
top
May 30, 1999
Balin, Welcome to the Valar Guild! Balin, from
Ontario, Canada, has SC/BW but does not yet have Diablo. He's read the Hobbit
and LotR. Frodo and Fingon met him in a BW game. He passed 4/5 in a group
test by Amillo, Irmo, and Varda, with Beren and Elendil observing. It was
great fun!
Sunday Meeting: 6pm EDT (VST)
Attending: (15) Amillo, Ancalagon, Aule, Beren, Celebrimbor,
Elendil, Eomer, Fingolfin, Irmo, Murezor, Thingol, Tilion, Tom Bombadil,
Sauron, Varda. ShadowMandolar visited, then joined. Others came in later:
Ulmo, Melkor, and more.
Recruiting Report: Nori and Celebrimbor are new this
week. Balin tested and joined at the end of the meeting.
Web Report: New page: Murezor's SC/BW Strategy Guide.
Updated pages: Recruiters' page, Tourney page. Elvish phrases listed on News
page.
Time Zone: VST is the time zone adopted for the Valar
to make it easier to refer to a time. VST is the same as Eastern Daylight
Savings Time.
Fund: Ancalagon suggested we start the Aule Computer
Fund, seconded by everyone who has played with his P75. :)
Highlights from Tolkien: Irmo started the Highlights
from Tolkien: a quoted passage from Tolkien which is especially excellent.
For this time, Irmo quoted from the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen. Thanks Irmo!
I see no reason to limit it to Sunday meetings, however. Do you have a favorite
passage(s) to quote to the group?
May 29, 1999
League Ladder updated. Please re-check players and
schedule. We have one completed game so far, two others that were too netsplit
and are still trying to get together, and one with a change in players today.
The schedule is now in a smaller font, hopefully aiding print-outs.
Sat Chat: 1pm EDT (VST) Aule was the only one who
made it through the bnet mess. Varda and others could not even get on bnet.
Sat Chat: 4pm EDT (VST) To pass the bnet mess, we
held the chat on icq: Aule, Makar, and Varda attending. We discussed the
origin of hobbits and a possible relationship they have to Mandos.
May 28, 1999
Recruiters' Page: We now have a list of who joined
since Jan 17, and who helped scout and test.
May 27, 1999
Welcome to the guild, Nori! Nori is
