2001 News Archive

Home
Current News
Archives:
    2003 News Archive
    2002 News Archive
    2000 News Archive
    1999 News Archive
    1998 News Archive
email Varda
D2 Tolkien's Middle-earth mod how-to first version
Sweep June 7, 2001

News added by month, more or less.

Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Dec. 31, 2001
    Amlaith is also playing as FornostAran_V. He'll be moving soon, so he may have some computer and email problems.
    WarCraftIII will be taking 5,000 beta testers starting Jan 7, 2002. Sign up between Jan 7 at 11pm PST and Jan 8 at 11pm EST. More info at www.blizzard.com. Selected testers may use all four races. The test is playable only over bnet. Let's hear your reviews! Thanks to Eonwe for these news items!
    Dark Age of Camelot: Maedhros says he is now playing Dark Age of Camelot too! He's a level 8 Thane.
    Dark Age has a buddy list and guild chat. It has around 10 servers averaging 1500 -2500 people. It has 2 role-play servers and a test server to check new features for upcoming patches. The 10 servers are set up the same way with the same characters, classes, etc.
    He is all for starting up a guild branch on Dark Age. He says guild members can have their guild emblem on your character's armor, shield, and cape, if they have a Tailoring skill or are level 20 for a small price. Members could all pick one server as the EverQuesters do, so they can fight on the same side in the wars, as three realms war with each other. I could also put up a Dark Age web page for the guild as we did for the EverQuesters, or link to one made by a Dark Age member. that llink would also be attached to the Gaming page. Maedhros has been snowed under by school and his job lately, but with exams over and the holiday break, he expects to be with us more often. Yay!
    Eowyn has been spotted playing D2X again during the Christmas break!

Dec. 30, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attendance: Thror, Flinding/Gwindor, Ancalagon, Gwaihir, Finwe, Deagol (via bro's comp, Primula says hi), Thranduil, Finrod, Aldarion, Amillo ,
Eonwe (presiding), Halbarad, Guilin, Ecthelion, Mahtan, Bard, Luthien, Thingol
Guests: starcraftnut, IckyPoopy, Morgoth_69, :bilbo_baggins: (came looking to be tested, but is only beginning Two Towers, so you may see him around. Stayed for the meeting and joined the Tolkien discussion.)
Discussion Board: Eonwe, Gwindor, Eru, Halbarad, Irmo, Thranduil, Gwaihir

Membership Report (by Amillo): 140 members. Still waiting to hear from Grima. Possible Member of honour. New Member Finrod.
Finrod's "few words"- glad to meet so many with a great gaming philosophy; stumbled across website, e-mailed Varda
Ecthelion may not be around much because he will be moving
Varda missed the meeting, sends regards, out of town watching the Lord of the Rings movie with Elwing and Fangorn.

Web News: I'm (Eonwe's) back, so the Games Page will be updated soon. I am also accepting reviews for online games to be put on the Games Page. Give us pros, cons, and your opinions on online games you've played.

Gaming News: Gelmir and Gwindor are playing Dark Ages of Camelot. Amillo says DAoC will be coming out in Denmark in a month. Thror reminds us to send in Account names to Eonwe for the Games Page and to Amillo for the Members Page and so he can put them on his bot.

Tolkien Chat
(forget who suggested this, unfortunately): What are your feelings about the movie? ( I wanred to be careful about revealing too many spoilers :})
SCnut-thought it was good; likedMoria best
:bilbo_baggins: Tom was gone!
Aldarion: "I believe JRR would've liked it." - understand the need for changes, but wouldn't say it's perfect; visuals were excellent
Thror- liked ancient statues of Kings of Men; Elrond looked too evil
Thranduil- Elrond was arrogant
Thingol-didn't like Elrond
Irmo and Eonwe- yet to see it :}
Eru (on the DB)- despite some misgivings, I enjoyed it

After the discussion died down in the channel, some more of us moved to the DB and chatted with Eru. We discussed:
The nature of Gandalf's death (did he die? Thranduil maintains he didn't; most of us said he did, in the physical sense. Some quotes were given. "Naked I was sent back,...naked I lay on the mountain top" The mention of nakedness twice seems to imply two different types of nakedness, the first without form and the second without clothing)
Thranduil shared his theory on the location of the entwives. As I recall he thought they could be in the North Downs in/near the Shire.
Eru also shared a theory of his. He said there was a possibilty the problems on Caradhras were caused by Manwe in order to have the Fellowship pass through Moria and Gandalf deal with the Balrog. Had the Balrog remained after Sauron, there would have been problems. Could the Istari really have returned to Aman without first taking care of the Balrog?
This led into a discussion on the form-taking ability of Maiar. The Balrogs seemed to not have taken form again after their physical forms were slain, yet Sauron did it twice. One thought was that they could only take form a certain number of times. Another (given by Eru) was that they (Balrogs) could take shape again up until Morgoth was cast into the Void (though this does not explain how Sauron managed it) and that some of the Balrogs may have been on the verge of taking shape again when the War of Wrath began.

After most of the others had left/returned to bnet, Gwindor treated those of us remaining to him singing opera :}

Dec. 28, 2001
Letter from Ecthelion:

 Hello fellow guild members. Just a little note saying that I will not be available online very much in the next
month. I have to move within the next few weeks, and may not have an internet connection once I do, at least for a month or two, I imagine. 
 I am still playing the middle earth mod, and i wholeheartedly suggest it to any who might be bored with classic
LOD. 
 I still will try to make it to sunday meetings as long as work doesn't interfere, which it usually does, until I move.

Namarie for now everyone!
Ecthelion of the Fountain

Dec. 27, 2001
Finrod Felagund , Welcome to the Valar Guild ! Finrod is 34, an Australian living in Tokyo, Japan to teach English. He's on bnet a few times a week, mostly D2X. He's read the H, LotR, and Sil. He found us through the web pages and liked our gaming philosophy. Testing was by our new and active Maia, Gwaihir fka Glorfindel.

Dec. 25, 2001
Merry Christmas!!

Dec. 24, 2001
New screenshots by Eomer on EverQuester Sights .

Dec. 23, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: report by Salmar and Varda
    Members: Aldarion, Amillo/Omar , Ancalagon, Aragorn/Strider, Azaghal, Bandobras/Bullroarer, Boromir, Elwing/WhiteTower, Glorfindel, Gwindor/Gwaindor, Mablung, Mahtan, Salmar/Lirillo , Thorondor, Thror, Tulkas , Varda (presiding)
    Over the shoulder: Sauron, Fangorn
    Visitors: *Kabal409
Membership: report by Amillo
    140 Members
    Grima-V is our newest member, having joined last meeting. Unfortunately Amillo and I have not had any email answers from him and are not sure we have the right address. If you see him, please ask him to email Varda to correct it.
Web:
    New Encyclopedia article under Mankind: " Barrow-wights "
    New Map link on the map page: " Lord of the Rings Maps "
    New on Annals of Arda : Star map. Amillo is asking for any Tolkien info on stars you may have.
    New Links page link under Tolkien: " Moonway " - Russian group interested in fantasy worlds, especially Tolkien. English edition expected to be up next year, but pictures in their gallery need no translating.
Gaming:
    D2X Middle-earth mod : Ecthelion is now playing.
    Dark Age of Camelot : Gwindor is now playing. Gelmir expects to play after Christmas. Only 4 more players needed to form a guild branch there. Players can level alone or in Realm wars.
    LotR figurine painting for tabletop games: Bandobras told us that his Warlocke's Lair folk will give a 10% discount to guild members. Very generous!
    D2X: outsider gifts are generally forbidden, to prevent encouraging the use of items which may be from theft, including pk and hacker account theft as well as dupes. Buying on E-bay is absolutely outside the spirit of game play. Outsider items may be taken if you know for a fact they came from a monster or shop, for instance, the other player kills the monster in your sight and you see the item. Items not yet identified are probably okay on D2X, although there was a hacker way back on Diablo 1 that unidentified items.
Tolkien:
    Maia test for Glorfindel by Salmar, Tulkas, and Varda. Glorfindel has been a very active D2X player in guild games, a fine companion, comes to meetings, team captain in the last Tourney, and maker of quizes and answers for the Quiz page. Congrats Glorfindel, and welcome back in as Gwaihir-(Valar) !
    LotR movie discussion underway on the Discussion Board ! Please warn if you have spoilers in your post.

Dec. 22, 2001
New Link: Moonway - Russian group in St. Petersburgh, interested in all fantasy worlds, especially Tolkien's as the most developed. In Russian, with an English edition planned to come out in 2002: by Ivan Kotliarov and others. They are interested in adding our Tolkien-inspired stories to their site. Check out the images in their gallery.
New Tolkien Encyclopedia article : " Barrow-wights " under Mankind

Dec. 19, 2001
Lord of the Rings Movie , directed by Peter Jackson, hits theaters today! See you there!

Dec. 17, 2001
Ecthelion is now playing the D2X mod and hopes you will look him up! Don't forget to add -T to the end of the guild game name. Also be sure Eonwe knows that you are playing the mod for the Games page to help all of you find each other.
New map website added to the Maps page: Lord of the Rings Maps - convenient thumbnails with descriptions to help locate the right map. Collection and originals. It also has a map of all Middle-earth showing which parts are in the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, or Silmarillion. By Jeroen?

Dec. 16, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending reports by Salmar and Varda:
    Members: (17) Amillo/Omar , Ancalagon, Beregond, Curufin, Ecthelion, Elendil, Elros/Starfoam, Eomer, Eonwe , Glorfindel, Gwindor/Flinding/Flin, Mablung, Pippin, Salmar , Thorondor, Thror, Varda (presiding)
    Discussion Board: Eonwe
    Visitors: (3) *Ickypoopy, *JACK__THERIPPER (joined during the Tolkien chat), *Skinny(-)Puppy
Membership report by Amillo and Varda - 139 members:
    Amillo is back now that his computer works.
    Eonwe will be traveling for Christmas between the 20th and 30th. Have a good time!
    Welcome to our new member, Grima Wormtongue ! He's from Russia and a fast typist. He passed a test by Amillo, Eonwe, and Varda, then had to go to hockey. He visited under the account name *JACK__THERIPPER (that's two underscores running together.)
Web: report by Varda
    Games page : Eonwe's ftp is now working. He is updating the page with your info and will be taking game reviews for inclusion in January. Start emailing him!
    New Quizes are up for each book of the LotR, done by Glorfindel, reachable from the Quiz page .
    New EverQuesters Sights page is up, with screenshots of EQ by Eomer, reachable from the EverQuesters page.
Gaming: reports by Beregond, Eomer, Gwindor. I'm sorry not to have written down the one from Elros, but hope to pick it up for later inclusion.
    Dark Age of Camelot : Gwindor is now playing Dark Age of Camelot. Look out, Melkor and Orome!
    EverQuest : Eomer said that Verant upgraded so that DirectX 8.1 is required. Windows 95 may be unable to handle the game anymore, with Windows 98 the lowest Operating System that can handle it.
    Soul Reaver 2 : Beregond gave a review on this fun single-player game. He recommends it.
Tolkien:
    The guild-wide story is in progress. Watch your email at least once a week to see if you are one of the 139 being called that week to help.
    Tolkien team quiz by Glorfindel and Thror. Interrupted by dinner and people having to leave.
    Tolkien entry test given, so we now have Grima-V among us! See Membership.

Dec. 15, 2001
New Return of the King Quiz ! Third installment by Glorfindel-(V), including an answer page.

Dec. 14, 2001
New Two Towers Quiz ! This is the second installment of the Lord of the Rings quizes by Glorfindel-(V), also including an answer page. Hats off to his long efforts on these quizes. Additions to the Fellowship answer page have been done.
Guild-wide story progress : Eonwe has begun sending out the first emails for the guild-wide story. If all 139 members contribute, this will be a novel with a zillion twists! Enjoy!

Dec. 12, 2001
New Fellowship of the Ring Quiz ! Written by Glorfindel-(V), it also has an answer page. Enjoy trying it out and commenting on it to the author. Be sure to thank him for the effort, as he is working on more for us. He is on bnet frequently and his email is on the quiz.
New page for the EverQuesters: EverQuester Sights . It has screenshots from the game sent in by Eomer.

Dec. 9, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: report by Elwing and Eonwe
    Members (15): Aule?, Azog, Bert, Curufin, Denethor, Ecthelion, Eomer, Eonwe , Girion, Glorfindel, Imrahil, Irmo , Oin, Ori, Thror, Varda (presiding)
    Over-the-shoulder: Elwing
    Discussion Board chat room: Eonwe
Membership:
    Azog is back after being out for about 3 months due to a busy real life.
    Amillo sends regards and is missing the meeting for a Birthday Party. He hopes his graphics card now works and will be trying it out soon.
    Eonwe expects to be absent Dec. 20-27.
    Salmar had personal business to attend, his roll-taking job passed for this meeting to Elwing.
    Denethor may not be playing D2 much now, but is considering the mod. He is eagerly awaiting WC3 and is considering Morrowmead.
    Ori and Oin are active again! Welcome back, brothers! They are sharing the same new email.
    Ugluk will be missing while at sea as he expects no computer access. Our orc friend will try to keep in contact if only by smoke signals from Mt. Doom
    Varda expects to be absent Dec. 18-21, possibly longer.
Web:
    Tolkien Encyclopedia: new articles under the Hobbits section.
    Links page: 3 new
    News: slight format change to see the contents easier
Gaming:
    Middle-earth mod for D2X Letter from Khan/Fingolfin:

Hail

The new version for the Middle Earth Mod for Diablo 2 is now available for
download on our mainsite. Installation as usual. This version works with
Diablo 2 LoD 1.09d.

Changes are listed in the readme.txt and include:
Magic item drops more frequent
Tristram/Tharbad crash bug fixed
6 new unique items
4 new monsters using D1 Blood Knight graphics

Have fun

    EQ : no report.
    Dark Age of Camelot : Melkor said he and Orome are active there, that it has better graphics than EQ, and it is the same online price of $10/month.
Tolkien:
   Curufin's topic : role of women in Middle-earth as shown in Tolkien's books and the rumored differences in the upcoming Peter Jackson movie. Arwen's being militant and using a sword would be very out of character, as the only woman to do that was Eowyn.
    Spin-off topics:
    The guild will be very strongly represented on opening night with great hope of a fun time!
    Some expressed concern over trivializing Tolkien's works with consumerism, a la Christmas.
    Burger King's LotR goblets are already in the hands of some members and others wish they had them.
    Some said they had the animated versions of H and LotR and still got a kick out of parts of those while having fun hissing and booing other parts.
    The differences in the movies and the books are to be checked out as a handy way of checking new recruits to see if they read the books by asking about parts that are different. For instance, it wasn't Legolas or Arwen lending a horse to Frodo to help him keep the Ring away from the Nine in a dash for Rivendell. Then there's the recruiters' question about Bombadil's parts in the story. For that matter, how are the Peter Jackson movies going to explain where the hobbits picked up their swords?

Dec. 8, 2001
Tolkien Encyclopedia : new under Hobbits - "Appearance". Includes what shape hobbit and elf ears had according to Tolkien's Letters.

Dec. 5, 2001
   Tolkien Encyclopedia : new under Hobbits - "Coming of Age", "Origin".
   Links : 3 new ones:
      Decipher - card games including LotR, movie oriented. Link from Amillo-(Valar): by Decipher for New Lines
      HobbitLore - discussion of how reality and Tolkien's world work together: by Paul Payne
      Lord of the Rings - by Ian McKellan. His impressions while acting as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films, plus Q&A and photos.: IanMcKellan

Dec. 4, 2001
Letter from Ugluk-(V):

It seems that I may be cast back into the great void very soon (at least for a while) so I thought I'd say thanks for all your help and interesting conversations..... It's always a pleasure
Also, you may already know about this but just in case you don't, I thought you'd like to know about the new LoTR games Sierra is planning. I just came across a trailer you might like to check out....It doesn't show much but it's a first glimpse.....I found it by typing in:
Sierra games Lord of the Rings in to Google search engine. can't tell you the exact address but it's there - takes a while to download - at least for me it did. Suggests that they will make single player first for the LoTR , the the Hobbit, then the LoTR on-line with in the next couple of years....I think it will be an x-box title but not sure...maybe released in different formats to please all and grab as much cash as they can but I don't know.

Anyways, I hope that eventually I will be raised from the depths again in the near future and be able to participate a little more in guild activities I do enjoy it when I am able to attend

I will try to keep in touch from time to time - somehow -(may smoke signals for Mt Doom or if I can get my hands on the planatir...) and I wish you and your family (and all the guild members) the very best for the Christmas season and hope everyone has a happy new year.

Take care,
Jamie (aka Ugluk)
Please forgive my spelling and gramar mistakes - As an Orc, English is my second language

Dec. 2, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending:
   Members : (15) Durin, Elendil, Eol, Eonwe, Gelmir, Girion, Glorfindel, Gorbag, Gwindor, Halbarad, Maedhros, Mahtan, Thror, Ugluk, Varda (presiding)
    Discussion Board chat room : Eonwe
    Visitors : ~Legolas~ (friend of Glorfindel's)
Membership: 139 members
    Amillo is having comp problems, especially with his graphics card.
    Mandos is usually not home Sundays, the reason he cannot be with us at Sunday meetings. Email him or meet him mornings and early afternoon on bnet.
    Salmar sends regrets at having to miss the meeting,
    Tilion , our wayward moon, is back online with us.
Channel:
    Sleepers: we are having too many long-term sleepers in the channel, afk (away from keyboard). They prevent the bots from doing their security jobs and cause some frustration among members and people seeking membership who don't understand why they are not answered. Sleepers might go to a secondary channel during long afks, returning to the home channel after returning. This is not a rule, but a courtesy. Bots may boot sleepers who are there over one-half hour. Short afk's are fine, and it is nice to leave an /away message if only the word "away" or "afk".
    Bots: we had a demonstration of the bots, with a question and answer period.Only official bots are welcome in the home channel.
    Thror was present and told us his bots are named ValarBuddy and ValarBuddy_V. These do not have automatic greetings. He says to use the .help command to learn about commands. He still prefers Chewbacca bots to Raibots after experimentation.
    Salmar could not be with us but, at Varda's request, left us his bot for the meeting for demo purposes. His is ValarBuddy-V. It gives greetings to you when you enter, which you may edit. Find out how to work it by typing .info accountname. It tells flagletters you can use when you type .help flagletter. A very handy command is to whisper allseen to the bot, and it lists whoever has been on recently with the spelling, so you can add the name to your friends list /f add accountname or type a message using /w name or /m name or /msg name.
    If you have questions, suggestions, or comments concerning the bots, please email the persons experimenting with the bot. Or email Varda who will be able to forward it to the correct person if you mention the name of the bot or who will forward it to both.
Web:
    The Guild-wide Tolkien story is now under way! The how-to and the first installment is up. Eonwe will be emailing guild members (over 130 of you!) to add your own bit to the story, keeping some volunteers in reserve to wrap up the yarn. Feel free to email Eonwe to be a volunteer (anyone who would enjoy contributing). If you don't like how the story is going, you'll have your chance to add an improved twist. New installments will be given a mention here in the News. You can reach the story from the Tolkien Encyclopedia frames edition or from here.
Gaming:
    EQ : no EQ players present to give a report, but they've been lively gaming judging by their emails.
    Middle-earth D2X mod members are having a great time with the new version.
    D2X remains the main guild game.
    BroodWar remains the number two guild game.
Tolkien:
    Varda's topic: Hobbit origins . We looked over the speculations, the reasons, and quoted Tolkien's answer from the book "The Letters of JRR Tolkien" p. 158 footnote. More hobbit info, suggested by Glorfindel-(V), is in Appendix B.
    Secondary discussion: In what age were hobbits first found? The hobbits had already separated into three branches when the Stoor hobbits Deagol and Smeagol took the One Ring from the water where it had left Isildur to die in the Second Age.

Dec. 1, 2001
The Guild-wide Tolkien story has begun! The first installment is on the web. Everyone in the guild, yes you too, will be asked to contribute a part, so it's a good idea to keep up with our work in progress. New installments will be mentioned on the News as they come in. Since there are over 130 of us, this could develop into a novel. Volunteers who would like to add to the story please email Eonwe about your interest, after checking out the page.. The URL may be reached from the Encyclopedia's Story page or here from this News article. The Encyclopedia may be reached from the Guild's main index page under Tolkien. Enjoy!

top

Nov. 30, 2001
Meriadoc-(V) sends this URL of an article and photo of the U.S. marines raising the flags of the USA and New York City over their base in southern Afghanistan. The NYC flag was given by firefighters to U.S. Seabees navy reservists. The Seabees, some of whom had been involved in the action in NYC, joined forces with the marines.

Nov. 29, 2001
Letter from Tilion:

Greetings, hope this finds its way to Varda, Tilion here, off from another year of being "Wayward", I'm going to try to make another attempt to get in contact with you all, in the spirit of the LOTR movies, please pass a friendly greeting on to anyone who may remember me (Aule, Irmo, Namo, Yavanna...) and if they care to, please have them email me here, Much obliged

With love,
Tilion

Nov. 25, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: report by Salmar
Members:

Aldarion, Ancalagon, Ecthelion, Eonwë, Fingolfin (aka KhanVK), Gelmir, Girion,

Glorfindel, Guilin, Mahtan, Oin, Ori, Pippin, Salmar, Thror, Ugluk, Ulmo (presiding).

Visitors:

    Harvey, Avontor (banned, considered hostile), Grimbold-V (banned, impostor)
Membership news:
    Irmo was absent, working on a speech for work needed Monday. Good luck, Irmo!
    Quickbeam was having email problems, but found a kind friend who allowed him to borrow a comp.
    Varda was absent, taking family to the airport.
Gaming:
    EQ group growing larger and more active.
    Dark Age of Camelot looking good, Orome and Eomer are there.
Tolkien:
    Letter from Eomer on the 21st :
        Just thought that you'd be interested that the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack came out on the 20th,
    its not too bad, despite a few discrepancies with the book

Nov. 24, 2001
    Pippin, Welcome to the Valar Guild! Pippin is long-time visitor *Ghettosburg/Shooter, with a record for coming to meetings surpassing that of many regular members. He passed a test given by Salmar and Thorondor. He's 14, from Wisconsin, read the H and LotR, and plays daily on either SC/BW or D2X.
    Bots: A team has been working on bots, consisting of Thror (member), Icky (friend), Harvey (friend), and Salmar (Council). This has caused some difficulties in the channel due to so many sleeping bots, and we thank you for having borne with this situation. The technical portion of the bot work is drawing to an end, so the number of experimentals should be lessening. Commands and details of bot usage should be finalized in the reasonably near future, a major part of Salmar's job. Two bots are currently being tried at the same time in the channel to help in case of netsplit. We also have some difficulty keeping a single bot online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
    The purpose of the bots is several-fold: a greeter with info including who is available for play, log of active bnet players, and help in keeping hostile strangers off the gavel, especially casual mischief-makers. Perfect security is impossible, but this can help. The greatest boon to keeping our haven is the fact that our members care about the guild and use common sense, without need to resort to ugly language or behavior. I thank you all.

Nov. 21, 2001
    Tolkien jokes: new page for text jokes . Eol contributed the first. Who's next?

Nov. 18, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: report by Salmar and Eonwe

  Members: Amroth, Arwen, Bert, Curufin, Durin, Ecthelion, Eonwe, Eol, Girion, Glorfindel, Gwindor, Irmo, Melkor, Oin, Ori, Salmar, Thorondor, Thror, Ulmo (presiding).
  Visiting: *TheGreenDragon (Icky), *Ghettosburg (Shooter), *Dune.
  At Yahoo: Eonwe, Salmar
  Tulkas will be out to sea until Christmas or, if lucky, back by Dec 19.

Business: report by Ulmo

Short business meeting with Varda and Amillo away, (Varda personal
conflict, and Amillo rebuilding/upgrading comp).

No member updates made.

Eonwe reported on. a couple new links added to pages:
The Sun and the Shadows - Yahoo Clubs discussion board Tolkien rpg, set in a "what if" a new
dark power rose to replace the vanished Sauron in Morgoth's favor, Feanor's
Curse rose again, the White Council remained to help, and elves stayed behind
to help as they were angered by treachery of one of their own.
Civil Air Patrol: San Marcos Composite Squadron - news of the search and rescue flight squadron in San Marcos, TX.
Includes teaching materials on aerospace. Meriadoc-(V) is the webmaster aka pilot and Operations Officer
1st Lt. Roland Coyote.

Tulkas has joined us on EQ this past week or so ago, he had a level 7
wood elf ranger going when his duties called him out to sea again. He
should be back around Christmas.
Tolkien: report by Ulmo
Two chat subjects came up:

1. What were each member of the fellowships deeds? And how if they did,
were they compared?

(answers by members emailed by Eonwe):
Thror:Frodo-Bearing Ring, uncomparable; Gimli led them through Moria
Glorfindel:Merry-helped kill Witch King; Pippin-saved Faramir; Sam-saved
Frodo; Frodo-Destroyed Ring; Legolas-got into Lothlorien
Arwen:All hobbits had big parts; Aragorn saved Gondor,came with ships
Irmo:comic interlude when Gimli and Legolas count their kills
Eonwe:Legolas shot Nazgul steed from Sky
Ghettosburg(Shooter): Merry helped kill witch king
Bert: Boromir caused Frodo to leave group without which he wouldn't have
been able to finish the quest

2. Why didn't the Valar intercede directly in destroying evil in Middle
Earth?

Ulmo, Heru Rasa

Gaming:
email report by Eonwe-(Valar) Nove 21, 2001
New version of ME mod, version 1.4D for LoD v 1.09c. It should be noted, though not mentioned at the meeting, that there is a slight difference in how to get this mod to work now, so be sure to read the instructions on V&K's page. If that isn't clear enough there are posts on their Discussion Board that explain it well.
email report by Fingolfin/Khan Nov. 18, 2001
D2X M-e mod - Letter from Khan:

Hi

There's a horrible drop bug in the latest version 1.4B (all drops are
basically messed totally so you can get extremely good items from act1/eldar
monsters while high level monsters might drop only crap) of the MEmod.
Please download 1.4C which resolves the issue.

Sorry

Khan

Letter from Khan the Beleagured a few hours later:

We just discovered that 1.4C retains some buggieness. We think we eliminated
it with 1.4D.
The new fix for the fix of the new version come in a smaller package and
must be used with the "direct txt" method, described on our site.
Be sure to read it carefully - you must install the new version over the
original patch_d2.mpq from Diablo 2 LoD 1.09c.

Again we are sorry for all this.

Khan

Nov. 17, 2001
New member's page link on the guild Index and Links pages:
Civil Air Patrol: San Marcos Composite Squadron - news of the search and rescue flight squadron in San Marcos, TX. Includes teaching materials on aerospace. Meriadoc-(V) is the webmaster aka pilot and Operations Officer 1st Lt. Roland Coyote.

Nov. 16, 2001
D2X Middle-earth mod Letter from Khan/Fingolfin:

Hi

We have uploaded the new ME version 1.4B which is compatible with Blizzard's
patch 1.09c. The changes are really minor (but still more than those of
Blizzard 

Khan

Nov. 13, 2001
    Links page: The Sun and the Shadows - Yahoo Clubs discussion board Tolkien rpg, set in a "what if" a new dark power rose to replace the vanished Sauron in Morgoth's favor, Feanor's Curse rose again, the White Council remained to help, and elves stayed behind to help as they were angered by treachery of one of their own.

Nov. 12, 2001
    Amillo will be rebuilding his computer this week and is unsure of how it will turn out, possibly unavailable for a while.
    Letter from Earendil:

Greetings Valar!

    Burger King has the advertising rights for the LotR movie coming
out.  They have a website with Tolkien trivia and prizes!  The grand
prize is a package trip to a pre-screening of the movie.
the website is: www.lotr.bk.com
     The questions can be answered as many times as you need to get them
right.  Which is good because it's not always easy to get the answer
THEY want on the first. (ie Aragorn or Strider / Imladris or Rivendell) 
Oh, and sorry...  Available to US residents over 18 only 

Good luck from Earendil

Nov. 11, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending:report by Amillo and Eonwe
    Members:Amillo, Boromir, Curufin, Denethor, Durin, Eonwe (presiding), "Finwe", Gelmir, Girion, Glorfindel, Grishnakh, Guilin, Gwindor, Irmo, Luthien, Quickbeam, Theoden, Thror, Tulkas/Astaldo, Ugluk
    Came after meeting: Eol, Eomer, Fingon, Gildor,
    Discussion Board chat room: Eonwe
    Visitors: French_Beer
Membership: reports by Eonwe, Varda (for News, not at meeting)
    Bilbo is unable to be with us for perhaps two months, by which time his grades should have improved and he will be allowed to play online again. Meanwhile he is visiting via Discussion Board. He continues as a regular member.
    Denethor said his "few words" of introduction as a new member. He is 15, from Pennsylvania, USA, and loves the guild.
    Finwe , the real one, was not at the meeting, as he was visiting family. He emailed to tell us that. We may have a case of a misspelling of Fionwe, or the impostor dropped in.
    Samwisehas a new email . He will be unable to be online for quite a while due to computer problems which may take a few months to resolve, but intends to return to normal active membership once they are taken care of.
    Tom Bombadil is having difficulties with his aged Mac comp but is still able to email and keep his web pages up.
    Varda was unable to attend the meeting due to aiding departing guests: Elwing with a bad battery cable and Meriadoc who needed a ride to the airport.
Web: reports by Eonwe, Varda (for News, not at meeting)
    Games Page - by Eonwe. Some difficulties with page, but will update with info as soon as possible.
    Members Page - by Amillo. Needs everyone's player account names and updated emails.
    Tolkien Encyclopedia/Maps - Alvarsson's map of Arda - clear and beautiful digital art map of Arda. The map maker, Jonatan Alvarsson, has a home page at Gecko Artist . Links from here, Links, and Tolkien Encyclopedia/Maps pages.
Gaming: live reports from Tulkas on EQ, from Glorfindel on DuelField, from Grishnakh on D2X.
Email reports for the News from Fingolfin/Khan and Ulmo
    Diablo 2 Expansion - Grishnakh reported a problem with games merging or being made with no password. A person joining an unpassworded game sees the game and password he typed and doesn't know the game is unpassworded until an outsider joins. This has caused some outsider thefts. The only cure is to leave the game and start a new one right away. It's a good idea to inform the Council.
    Diablo 2 Expansion Middle-earth mod version 1.4 - fixes previous bugs and upgrades newly found uniques. Download at Varaya and Khan's page. (See Khan/Fingolfin's letter Nov. 10).
    DuelField - Glorfindel has been admitted to the Beta Test, to which the guild was invited. He reports that this game is an online, turn-based strategy with short (about 10-minute) games. Level setup is on a grid. Choose from six teams based on the elements of fire, earth, air, water, darkness, or nature. This choice decides which units the player has. Not very graphically oriented.
    EverQuest : Tulkas Astaldo is playing with the EverQuesters, and agrees with Ulmo that it beats D2.
Tolkien:
    Amillo told about a Tolkien convention he enjoyed in Denmark.
    Eonwe mentioned the Texas Renaissance Festival to which Varda, Sauron, Elwing, and Meriadoc had gone, missing the meeting. This festival has its last weekend next weekend. For info on that and other RenFaires including listings by state (possibly yours) to which you might go, see RenFaires .
    Letter from Imperial Literature : Tolkien story contest

Like to write Lord of the Rings Fan Fiction?

Then why not participate in a writing contest where you can 50US$ for writing the best story?

Or why not just write a story set in Middle Earth or publish one you have already written at a site dedicated solely to literature with its own Lord of the Rings section.

Go here for more info: http://www.imperial-literature.com/lotr/indexframeslotr.html

Welcome at Imperial Literature

Franz
Chief Librarian
www.imperial-literature.com

    Tolkien lit: Please remember that the Valar Guild will publish your Lord of the Rings literature as part of our website, linked to the Tolkien Encyclopedia, even if you also have it in other places. If you would like a link from our story page to other places where your story is published, email the link to (Varda).
    Tolkien Chat: report by Eonwe
        Took up the topic begun last time: What were the powers of the One Ring?
            Thror: invisibility to normal eyes, sharpens hearing, dulls vision; corrupts soul but allows sight of the Nine
            Glorfindel: Person can slip into world of Wraiths; amplify powers of possessor
            Ugluk: Corruption of soul
            Gwindor: only had power over being to get it back to Sauron
            Quickbeam: One Ring bestows so much power on someone the corruption comes quick and strong

Nov. 10, 2001
Letter from Khan:

Hail

The new MEmod version 1.4 is available for download on our site. I strongly
suggest you update to that version as it fixes quite some bugs (WW, Leap, a
rather horrible drop issue at later Valar/5 etc.) and it also upgrades many
uniques (but only if newly found under V1.4)

BTW I'm just re-reading The Silmarillion and must say I knew why I chose
Fingolfin as my guild name 

Khan

Nov. 9, 2001
    Texas Renaissance Festival: a group of Valar Guild folk are headed that way to spend the day on Nov. 10. Meriadoc, Elwing, Varda, Sauron, and possibly some others such as Eowyn. Email Varda if you're planning to be there then too. We might be able to meet at the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) area or at least leave each other a note there for how to meet. Tom Bombadil and ex-Daeron are planning to be there on Nov 11.

Nov. 6, 2001
    New map of Arda. On Links and Maps pages:
Alvarsson's map of Arda - clear and beautiful digital art map of Arda. The map maker, Jonatan Alvarsson, has a home page at Gecko Artist .
    Denethor has email now. :)

Nov. 4, 2001
    Welcome to the Valar Guild, Helm Hammerhand and Denethor! Helm, as *Kurozaki, met Gorbag and recognized the Tolkien name, and Gorbag told him about the guild. Kuro liked the idea of a Tolkien D2X guild and told his real life friend of some years, *NeoNova/NeoFaramir about it and suggested they join. They tested with Varda and Eonwe after the meeting. Both are from Pennsylvania in the Eastern Standard Time zone, 15 years old, are on bnet almost daily, don't use ICQ although Denethor has AOL Instant Messenger. Both play D2X. Helm plays only D2X. Denethor plays mostly D2X, having the SC and BW games but hasn't played them in a while. Denethor is planning on getting an email account, not having one at the time of joining.
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: report by Salmar
    Members: Amillo/Omar, Ecthelion, Eonwe/Fionwe, Finwe, Gelmir, Girion, Glorfindel, Grishnakh, Gwindor, Isildur, Legolas, Quickbeam, Salmar, Thorondor, Thror, Ugluk, Ulmo, Varda (presiding)
    DB: Eonwe
    Visitors: *CarolinaRocks (would like to join), *fusion_angel/Seriph_Sniper (has not finished books), Harvey (has not finished books), *Jason2250, *Kurozaki (joined), Minean_HC (would like to join), *NeoNova (joined)
Membership report by Amillo/Omar:
    Membership stands at 136 with our new member, Rumil, who joined Nov 3.
    Tulkas had a computer crash a while back, letting us know from a friend's comp, but hopes to return around Wednesday.
    Deagol and Primula will be absent quite a while, since they will not have an isp for some time.
    We are again accepting members into the guild. It is best to let new members play semi-purist until level 20, not giving items beyond their Act until then. This is not a rule, but a suggestion.
Web report by Varda:
    New Tolkien Encyclopedia article, "Thorondor", by Thorondor-(Valar)
Gaming Report:
    D2X: all is at peace.
    EQ Reports from Ulmo and Grishnakh:
        Grishnakh has joined the EQ group on Zebuxoruk as Galadrin, currently level 7.
        Earendil was in the EQ guild, "Underworld Knights" before, so Aule and Ulmo also joined it. Any other Valar guild members may feel free to join it as a sort of friendly sub-guild as well. We can only form a separate EQ guild if we have a minimum of 10 people.
        Aule is level 45, Earendil level 39, Ulmo level 38, Grishnakh level 7, Gwindor level 5.
Tolkien:
    Guilin, I believe, came up with the Tolkien topic discussing the abilities of the One Ring. Since so many had to leave, this topic might be taken up again next meeting, and I hope Guilin can help us with it again after having done all that research.
    Eonwe and Varda took three visitors out for entry testing. *CarolinaRocks fell off bnet during test questions and needed to finish a paper for college, but *Kurozaki became Helm-V and *NeoNova became Denethor.

Nov. 3, 2001
    New Tolkien Encyclopedia article: "Thorondor", by Thorondor-(Valar) under the section Non-humanoid Intelligences/Eagles.
    Welcome to the Valar Guild, Rumil ! Rumil is 20, from Cleveland, Ohio, USA going to college in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He is on EST. He read the H and LotR, part of other books such as the Sil, has Atlas of Middle-earth. He plays D2X, SC but hasn't tried BW online yet although he has it, D1, Baldur's Gate II, Black & White (but not much), some HalfLife CounterStrike, Age of Empires II, Civilization II (not much any more). He has a MUD called Melmoth, using port 9000, most people using musclient or gmud to download it. The MUD has around 100 players, averaging 30 a night. He's a movie buff.
top

Oct. 29, 2001
Letter from Deagol and Primula:

Primula and I have decided not too continue our interenet service at this time . Probely wont be on for some time.

Namarie for now

Deagol and Primula

Oct. 28, 2001
    Daylight Savings Time ends in Eastern Time Zone, which is Valar time. If you showed up at the old time to the meeting, you were an hour early!
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending: reports by Amillo, Eonwe, Varda
    Members: Amillo/Omar, Amroth, Bert, Deagol, Eonwe/Fionwe, Finwe, Gelmir, Gildor/Inglorian, Girion, Glorfindel, Guilin, Gwindor, Herumor/~Xanatos~, Irmo, Melkor, Quickbeam, Theoden, Thorondor/Thorontar, Thror, Ulmo, Varda (presiding)
    Discussion Board chat: Eonwe
    Visitors: *Homey_G_Funk, *Kurozaki, Neo-Faramir/*Neonova (would like to join), *Shagrat-LoK3, Saruman{WC}
Membership: reports by Amillo, Varda
    New members have not been accepted due to the recent insecurities in the guild, both for our and their protection. Those problems may be mostly taken care of now, something we need to ask about at the meeting. Has anyone had any further problems in games, or have you had peace? Report problems to Varda by email, to pass on to the Council for further action.
    The meeting was peaceful this time. Thank you to Thror and guild-friend Ickypoopy for the bot work!
    Salmar was absent from the meeting for work-related reasons, but called in lots of helpers to take over for him..
    Account names: be sure to send your account names to Amillo for the Members page. Just player accounts, not character or mule names!
    Email: check to make sure your email is updated on the Members page.
Web: reports from Aldarion, Varda
    Domain name : www.valarguild.org/urchin shows activity for the week on the domain name.
Gaming:
    EverQuest: report from Ulmo:
        Ulmo has been gaming with Aule mostly, Earendil some. If anyone else would like to pop in, we use Zebuxoruk server. Email Varda your game name and server for the EverQuester page, and any EQ news from our group that you would like on our EQ news page.
    We discussed recent difficulties as reported by Melkor, Vala of Ethics, and came up with reports and solutions below from a well-behaved, productive talk. You guys are great!:
    Stashes and transfers in D2X : when transferring or stashing, it's a good idea to put the items out of the main walkways around the chest or npc's, as people accidentally step on them. For people walking around, watch where you step. Anything in an unusual spot should be considered a private stash, not to be picked up or taken without permission from the owner. To be on the safe side, ask before taking anything lying around. If someone offers to let you take anything you need from his stash, don't get greedy! You couldn't possibly need the whole stash, maybe no more than one or two items. We have had a few gripes about each of these things and are passing on the solutions discussed in the meeting and from past experience.
    Courtesy during meetings: Members and visitors, do not game from the channel during meetings, as the constant in and out messages are annoying to the rest of the group and the chair has to react to the dozen whispered complaints.
     Interlopers: e have had no reports of interlopers in games with the new passwords. (You got your password info in the email from me, since you have a nice up-to-date email on the Members page, of course! If not, please email me, get the password, and be at peace.) We have two bots in the channel which are not booted by bnet and can be operated by any member which they recognize. (You are sending in your account names, right?) Since this is an honor guild, you are being trusted not to abuse your bot privileges. Mistakes happen, but don't expect mischief to be ignored. We sometimes have a game being used by an outsider with different passwords. Simply don't enter. Sometimes people make the game names who are fellow Tolkien fans and have no idea we exist. A recruiter might be interested in checking on these, cautiously.
Tolkien: (discussion lively and uninterrupted by non-members, even augmented by some)
    Eonwe's topic: Saruman studied rings of power and called himself a ring-maker. Gandalf saw one on Saruman's finger and felt it important enough to mention. Speculation: what was that ring and what happened to it? All the information in the Lord of the Rings is in this quote from Gandalf:
    "But I rode to the foot of Orthanc, and came to the stair of Saruman; and there he met me and led me up to his high chamber. He wore a ring on his finger."
    Suggestions ranged from having no meaning, ornamentation, a powerless ring, a failed experiment, a ring that aided Saruman amplify his failing Voice power, a ring with power that helped Saruman trap Gandalf, and another sign that he was becoming a lesser copy of Sauron.
    Discussion slipped into the various types of rings: the One, the Greater with their stones, and the lesser. Then it went briefly into why the Valar did not overtly attack Sauron with all their power. Then a visitor with the Saruman name came in and we went back to the original discussion.

Oct. 27, 2001
    Items on the ground: Please be sure to ask before taking nice items off the ground in town. Usually there are free spot areas by general agreement, but sometimes the free spot is used by a person making a transfer (not a good place for transfers, guys!) If the items are piled in an odd location, assume they are being stashed and don't even pick them up out of curiosity without asking. Most people are perfectly willing to show off or let you see their items, but you should assume they need the stashed items for their own use.

Oct. 24, 2001
    Yay! The Mars Odyssey 2001 Orbiter successfully arrived and went into orbit at the planet Mars today!

Oct. 23, 2001
    Dwalin. Please be cautious if you see ex-Dwalin (we have no current Dwalin). The one before the last ex-Dwalin could make potential problems.
    Letter from Irmo:

As I mentioned during the short time I dropped in at last Sunday's meeting, I've spent the week in England.
Having just returned from this trip, which included a visit to Oxford, I thought you might be interested in a picture of Tolkien's old pub, The Eagle & Child .

Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and the rest of the Inklings met here every Tuesday both for friendly chat and learned discussions over a pint and a pipe.
This has made the place quite famous - it's mentioned in their biographies and even in tourist material about the city.

I was there Wednesday evening and found it very charming and authentic - a genuinely cozy place.
Even though Oxford, as a city, has changed since Tolkien's day (traffic, tourists, etc) this belongs to a collection of timeless places that retain the true atmosphere.

Letter from Ecthelion:

Greetings from Gondolin upon fair Tumladen!

I would like to formally restate my loyalty to this great and honorable guild, and would like to also say that any and all
disagreements aside (i've had a few, mostly my fault ;)) with my friends are of little consequence to me; i beg their
forgiveness. Its unfortunate that our trusted environment has been invaded, but with a little patience we will regain that
which is now in dispute.

See all of you on Battle.net sometime soon! 
             8)
Ecthelion of the Fountain

Oct. 22, 2001
    Please confirm if you received the emailed password, using your own email. Thanks.

Oct. 21, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm ESDT (Next meeting will not be on Daylight Savings Time)
Attending: report by Salmar
    Members:
       Amillo/Omar, Ancalagon, Balin, Bard, Bert, Bullroarer, Curufin, Deagol, Dior, Elros/Starfoam, Eonwe/Fionwe, Finarfin, Finwe, Glorfindel, Grishnakh, Gwindor/Gwaindor, Irmo, Mablung, Manwe/Sulimo, Quickbeam, Salmar/Salme, Thorondor/Sorontar, Thranduil, Thror, Tulkas, Varda (presiding)
    Email hellos from: Menelvagor who moved to Chicago but has the same email, and from Feathalion on EverQuest, his EQ info now on our EverQuesters page.
    Visitors:
        *Shooter-island, *Kurzaki, *MrBillClinton, *E[v]SEru, *H-a-r-v-e-y, *Draczil, *Hybrid-Lok3
        Whispered hello and friendly chat from Xi.
    The impostor(s) attended the meeting, coming in with various accounts such as MablungMule, Celebrian (a member previously kicked for numerous violations), Boromir-V. He was usually quickly identifiable by attitude.
Membership:
    Arothir will be having difficulty joining us much on bnet due to real life activities.
    Mablung is being nearly overwhelmed by homework, so he expects to be on less.
    Manwe Sulimo came to the meeting, having had a schedule change at work, and is a very welcome return!
    Welcome to our new member, Curufin ! He's 16, from Ontario, Canada and found us through the web pages. Namo and Salmar tested him. He's very active in both Tolkien and gaming. He's read the H, LotR, Sil, Farmer Giles, Smith of Wooten Farms. He plays D2, D2X, SC, BW, Infantry, Earth 2025, and is on bnet from 1-2 hours a day.

    Guild mark: Curufin suggested adding or changing the guild mark to IVI, but this was voted down by those present, partly because it looks so much like an M, partly because it would everyone to delete their accounts and start over. We mentioned some of the variations we already have on the guild mark. Our main interesting feature is not the guild mark, but the Tolkien character and the carefully researched Tolkien variations of that name.

    The group discussed the problem of the impostor(s)/interloper(s)/slug(s). (A slug is a fake coin, having no real worth, and is also a slimy creature like a snail without a shell.) Action already taken was mentioned, more suggestions were taken. Many can be implemented immediately by members.
    The interloper(s) are very poor with Tolkien, giving a quick check plus giving us the pleasure of more Tolkien chat with knowledgeable real members. They also have no real interest in the game or our true richness of friendship, but only in high level items and deceit. They make low level member names which are not able to have the -( because that requires two non-letter marks in a row which Blizzard no longer allows, found only in old account names. They may or may not be Pharazon and friends, as the impostor claims to be someone who bought the account names from Pharazon; it really doesn't matter who, as only the dishonorable actions count. They claim to have the new pass, but could not get into games which had them. They also claim to have "friends" on the inside, but I hope that if anyone feels like giving away their security, guild friendships, and membership, that they reconsider. The interlopers are more likely to attempt to join to gain inside info. Therefore we are not currently accepting more members, but are encouraging the potential recruits to hang around, get to know us and let us get to know them. We can still play with them in passworded non-guild games as we already do with some old friends of the guild. If a new person shows great knowledge of Tolkien as well as courteousy, he can be considered safe and recruited.
    Actions already taken:
    New password for all guild games given out only by email with the contact person, Varda. If anyone asks you to whisper the password saying he "forgot", tell him he can check his email or can email Varda for it.
    Listing account names on the Members page.
    Tighter Tolkien requirements for new recruits.
    Actions you can take:
    Make sure your email and account names are updated on the Members page. These require a background check before going up, so it takes a while and we have many members. Also the work is all done unpaid in time between work and family. You should already have sent the information since we've been asking for this for a long time, but if not, please take care of it now.
    Never give anyone your passwords to your personal or mule accounts, not even "me". That is a pure scam.
    Do not come to a meeting in your mule account.
    Use oddly numbered games above 5 randomly.    Don't give gifts to even slightly questionable people under level 20.
    Absolutely don't give them the waypoint tour. They like to scavenge junk we leave in the various towns and do not respect personal stashes.
    I know these actions go against the generous spirit of the guild and are very hard and makes me want to growl. We hope this will not be more than a temporary policy, maybe a year.
Gaming:
    The password has been changed. It can only be passed on by email from Varda. If your email is not up to date on the Members page, you may have a hard time getting the password.
Tolkien:
    Finarfin and a few others held a Tolkien chat after the main meeting concerning evil in elves and men.

Oct. 19, 2001
    All members, very important: Make sure Amillo has your correct email and all your current account names (not character names!) for the Members page. Contact info update is needed. Remind your buddies who don't read the News.
    Do not give any of your account passwords to anyone else. This is one of Pharazon's scams to take items and common in public bnet. If you have already done so, change the passwords immediately.
    Ancalagon , welcome to the Valar Guild! Ancalagon heard of us from Glorfindel, a personal friend. Salmar gave the test, Glorfindel observing to learn testing technique. Ancalagon came in with the account *snakeowl using character Phana. He is 16, from Winnipeg/Manitoba Canada. He's read the H and LotR. His favorite LotR character is Legolas for his friendship with Gimli, proving feuds can be solved.
    Interloper report: This morning a Thor (not Thror) entered a guild game with Primula. All members please report these happenings as she did and try to get the account and character name as well.

Oct. 18, 2001
    Grishnakh is back! :) His computer broke down and he was dropped for inactivity. He has a new comp with the upgrade of a cable connection as well and new email. He took the test again and gave his info like a new member. He's 21 from Michigan, USA paying his way through college by working as the boss for a Blockbuster Video store. He plays EQ; Star Wars Rebellion, ST; TNG Birth of the Federation. He recently got the Battlechest with D2 and D2X and is having fun with that.

    Interloper: a non-guild character has entered at least one of our D2X games and created at least one other, probably more. He used account name *cpt-trenchard character TULKAS, then re-entered with another of his accounts *knightzealot character zealotbarbar.
    If you see a non-guild character in your game, please write down the account name so that he may be tracked and email it to the Council contact person: Varda . This allows a more accurate report to the Council than a mention in the channel. Actions will be taken even if you don't see them.
Also politely tell the interloper that non-guild characters are not allowed in our guild names and that he should leave. I stress politely. Gather up items that you wish to keep and sell the others, leaving looters no easy pickings in town. If he does not leave the game, all of you should leave as soon as possible. Make a new game number preferably high or weird, whispering the number to your buddies. You might want to put each other on your friends list so that you can see the game number. Inability to pick up loot discourages scavengers.
    Impostor: a non-guild character, possibly the kicked Pharazon, Old Man Willow and/or cpt-trenchard, came into a D2X guild game using Gelmir's name, where Gwindor and Deagol were. He scammed nice items, but didn't talk like a guild member and didn't know some personal things Gelmir would have. He admitted to being an impostor once caught, said the equivalent of thanks for all the other stuff you have given me, and skipped out. The real Gelmir is about to start D2X, so this is extremely unfair to him.

Oct. 16, 2001
    Boromir-(V) is a legitimate member. Only the Boromir-V account was used by Pharazon. Boromir-(V) has not been on bnet for the past three weeks, but is back now after football and soccer turned him loose.
    Letter from ex-Pharazon:

In reply to your email I bid farewell. No questions, no turning around, no arguments. What is done is done and we shall move on. This came in good time though.. as I have been deciding whether or not to take a break from Diablo2 and start to study a bit more on school work. So I would like you to just post my farewells in the News page on the Valar site. And just wish everyone good gaming, and I was happy to meet you all.

Farewell, Namarie, Bye, See Ya,
X-Pharazon-(V), ArPharazon-V, ArPharazon_V, Alk, Alkarim Nasser

Oct. 15, 2001
    Our original Boromir has not been on in 3 weeks, busy with soccer and football which are now over. Any Boromir you met during that time was not him.
    Pharazon, Old Man Willow, Shelob, and the stranger using Boromir's account as *Boromir-V are no longer in the guild for conduct unbecoming to members. If they enter your game, let them know in a polite fashion that they are no longer in the guild. If they need more information, suggest they email Varda, contact person, as it is not your problem. If they refuse to leave the game, quietly pack and leave to a game with an unusual number. Whisper your gaming buddies what your new number is and play in peace. Remember you can Squelch if you need to.

Oct. 14, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm ESDT
Attending:
Netsplit caused a few problems, including making some people appear and disappear so that they seemed to be gaming from the channel to some eyes while stable to other eyes. This caused at least one mistaken boot. We also had at least one non-member gaming from our private channel during the meeting filling the screen with his comings and goings who had to be booted.
    Membersreports from Eonwe, Salmar, Varda:
    Amillo, Aule, Bert, Ecthelion, Eonwe, Eol, Gelmir, Gildor, Gwindor, Glorfindel, Irmo, Isildur, Pharazon, Primula, Salmar, Thingol, Thror, Tulkas, Ulmo (presiding), Varda.Visitors:
    *Neo-Faramir, *T.Ripper, *Hybryd-LoK3, *Alphaship
    Three were interested in membership. Alphaship seemed to be just playing from our channel during the meeting, causing a lot of screen filler with his comings and goings for those of us using /d2notify, so he had to be banned during the meeting. If you have friends especially in StarCraft/BroodWar who have no interest in joining the guild or cannot because they are not Tolkien fans, please have them join you in channel Dale, as our home channel is for members and those who would like to become members and are getting to know us. This prevents misunderstandings on both sides.

Over the shoulder: Deagol
On the Discussion Board and bnet at same time: Amillo, Eonwe, Salmar
Membershipreport from Amillo :
    135 last meeting, 134 this meeting. Deagol left the guild during the week but reconsidered and will be returning. Makar left the guild due to real life commitments.
Webreport from Varda :
    Links page: Tolkien Bibliography - list of Tolkien books with summaries that don't blow the surprises, discussion areas available. Hobby page.: by Benjamin in Germany.
Gamingemail report from Fingolfin aka Khan:

We have just uploaded the next update for the Middle Earth Mod. The version
number is 1.3B and it features quite some new stuff and changes. Check the
readme for a complete list.
We have also added a Cubes'n'Runes readme to the downloadable readme.zip
file. It lists all available rune and cube recipes as well as the number of
sockets available for each itemtype.
The required version for the mod is the english or german LoD 1.09 or 1.09b.

Have fun

Tolkien:
   Varda's topic: Frodo, although the protagonist of the favorite book of the century, is not often picked as the favorite character in our guild questions. Why?
    Not an obvious action hero. He is depressed by his will's constantly having to fight the Ring through much of the book. He becomes more non-violent, outgrowing Middle-earth so that he does not seem to be a hero next to his action-oriented friends, spending time trying to keep them from being over-violent. He is surrounded by many active and interesting other characters. He has no love life.
    According to a discussion board or poll one member told us about, Frodo and Faramir are the top two picks by feminine readers when asked who they would want to date from the Lord of the Rings. Compassion was one of the three traits men tioned.

Oct. 13, 2001
    Letter from Amillo:

Yay! the connection has finally been repaired and mailbox is filled. Guess ill read them during sat and sunday and attend my first meeting in 4 weeks.

            Amillo

    New link: Tolkien Bibliography - list of Tolkien books with summaries that don't blow the surprises, discussion areas available. Hobby page.: by Benjamin in Germany.

Oct. 12, 2001
    Makar-(Valar) has been dropped from the guild for inactivity.

Oct. 11, 2001
    Letter from Elwing:

Heya! Wasn't here (as in: in town) for the whole weekend (got back really
late Sun)...so belatedly -

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, VALAR GUILD !

May your trees grow tall, your waters flow clean, your sun beam warmly, and
your stars shine brightly !

Elwing

Oct. 10, 2001
    Deagol-(V) left the guild. The Brandywine team character has been dismantled.

Oct. 7, 2001
    World News: The US and Great Britain made the first conventional strike back after the terrorist attacks on the US and the Taliban government's refusal to do actions to stop terrorists they harbor in Afghanistan. The allies used precision strikes guided by laser homers set by ground forces against military centers, supported the Afghani rebels, and dropped relief supplies for the Afghani people. European Union, Israel and Russia supported the action; Iran spoke against it. Palestine carefully said nothing either way. Countries allowing use of their land for the strikes are much appreciated. Osama bin Laden praised the terrorist actions. More at CNN .

    Today is our 4th Anniversary Sunday meeting! Congratulations on making your guild last and grow and be strong!
Sunday Meeting 5pm EDT
Attending: report by Salmar

  Members:
    Bandobras, Bert, Bilbo, Deagol/Primula (Brandywine), Eärendil, Ecthelion, Eonwë (Urion), Gildor, Glorfindel, Guilin, Gwindor (afk), Irmo, Isildur, Maedhros, Meriadoc, Namo (Mandos), Oin, Ori, Oromë, Pharazôn, Quickbeam, Salmar, Thingol, Thorondor (Torthurion), Thror, Varda (Elentari, presiding).
  Visiting:
    *D.Ripper, *Pickle_Mules, *Ghettosburg, *Mr.BillClinton.

Membership: 135
    New this week:
        Finarfin (see Oct 3)
        Old Man Willow (see Oct 2)
    Amillo , a mainstay of the guild, sent a letter from work wishing a Happy Anniversary (see Oct 6). His isp may be repaired next week.
    Elwing emails us a Happy Anniversary, and sends us regrets that she was unable to attend.
    Aule has been running a very high fever and was unable to attend (see Oct 5).
    Finarfin is having comp problems, difficulty creating and joining D2X games.
Web:
    Writings Made Especially for the Anniversary:
        Story page:Salmar's last two installments for "A Numenorean Diary" about Miriel.
        Tolkien Encyclopedia:Irmo's two papers: "Tolkien & Heroic Romance", "War & Redemption".
Gaming:
    See the Tourney page for details.
    Purist Challenge: team member levels were added together the same as in a Quest for Three game, and the number of team members reaching the ladder at any time were the other score.
Team Valar won on both counts with level points 301, ladder 4.
Team Free People came in second on both counts with level points 262, ladder 2.
Team Numenor had level points 156, ladder 1.
    Group Character: Group operating a single character: Brandywine, a paladin operated by Deagol and Primula, was on the ladder much of the time, as high as 103, higher than any individual in the Teams. The final level was an astounding 81.
    Quest for Three no participants sent in or told scores.
    SC/BW no participants sent in or told scores.
Tolkien:
    Tolkien trivia teams formed up at the meeting, and answered Loremaster Irmo's questions, whispering their answers to their team spokesman Eonwe and Glorfindel, who could choose from the answers and answer the loremaster aloud and correctly ahead of the other team. Questions were only over the LotR since all members have read it. Questions continued until one team reached 10 correct. Glorfindel's incredible typing speed and recent reading of the LotR contributed greatly to the win by his team 10:7. The questions and answers and teams are on their own page linked to the Quiz page as the Fourth Anniversary Quiz.

Oct. 6, 2001
Letter from Amillo:

 I am writting this from my work, my own internet connection is down and has
been for a week now and i still do not know when my provider can get it up
and running again.  I have phoned them and they say they will have to come
and replace a box "Skillebox" I do not know what to call it in english 
but no matter what it will not happen during the weekend.  Say hello to
everybody and happy anniversary.

Amillo

Oct. 5, 2001
Letter from Aule:

    Sorry that I didn't make it, I had a horrendous head cold and just plain
forgot.  I still get dizzy when I stand up so sitting at the computer or
laying in bed is pretty much what I am limited to. I'll make a point to be
at the meeting this week to make up for my absentmindedness, if that's a
word. Though I think this weekend is Canadian Thanksgivings but my brain
isn't working very well right now.  If it is indeed this weekend I probably
cant make it, if its not I'll be there with bells on 

    Aule

OldManWillow changed his email address.

Letter from Thorondor:

Aiya!

I got the cable today!
Now, I'm ready fly back to bnet with the wings of storm:)

Thorondor

Oct. 4, 2001
    Happy Fourth Anniversary, Valar Guild!
    Everyone please pop into our bnet channel when you can, even if only for a few minutes, just to be there. We can chat about anything including Tolkien, play, and do Tourney games. I'll make a stab at showing up around 5pm EST as we do for regular meetings, and have a chat about friendship and loyalty as shown in any of Tolkien's books, how we have applied it to our guild, and how we can do even better in the future.
    Story Page : The Numenorean Diary of Miriel, written by Salmar-(Valar) for the anniversary, is completed and ready to read!
    Tolkien Encyclopedia : two papers written by Irmo-(Valar) for the anniversary, are up under Papers and PapersMenu:
        Tolkien & Heroic Romance
        War & Redemption: Tolkien as 20th Century Author

    From Salmar:

Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag Valar Guild!
(Congratulations on your birthday Valar Guild!)
Salmar.

From Eonwe:

!Feliz Aniversario de cuatro años! :}
or
!Feliz Cumpleaños al Valar Guild! :}
Hail and Happy Anniversary! :}

Eonwe

Oct. 3, 2001
    Finarfin , Welcome to the Valar Guild! He came in as WeezerRules!, tested by Eonwe and Melkor passing with a 4 1/2 out of 5. He's 15, from Michigan in the USA, EST. Finarfin's read the H, LotR, Sil, and some of UT. His favorite characters were Legolas and Gimli because they got over their differences and became friends. He plays about once daily. His gaming is in D2, D2X, and BW.
    GeoCities warned me that they had to turn off my pages there for a while due to excess traffic. I may have to do a bit of moving again to spread it out, but that is a good problem with the pages, not bad, and you deserve to know why you sometimes can't get into the gaming pages.
Good news update! Aldarion took the heaviest traffic items onto www.valarguild.org's server, so we should no longer have problems. :)

Oct. 2, 2001
    D2 players: If you want to play the Middle-earth mod but don't have Blizzard's 1.08 patch available, it is now on our Diablo and His Kin page.
    Old Man Willow , welcome to the Valar Guild! He was tested by Salmar and Varda. He's from Canada in EST, read the LotR and is reading the H. He now plays daily on D2X, but also plays D2, SC (not BW), Star Trek Armada, Counter-Strike, Command & Conquer, Quake3, and Unreal Tourney. His outside name was Rionx.

Oct. 1, 2001
    Tolkien Encyclopedia: addition to the Orcs page under Origin of Orcs
    Stories: Salmar has completed the Miriel story, which is to be placed on the web Oct 4 by his request, to celebrate the guild anniversary.
top

Sept. 30, 2001
Sunday Meeting 5pm EST
Attending:
Members:
    Bandobras, Bilbo, Deagol via Brandywine, Ecthelion, Eomer, Eonwe/Urion, Girion, Glorfindel, Guilin, Gwindor/Flinding, Halbarad, Melkor, Orome, Primula via Brandywine, Quickbeam, Rog, Salmar, Smaug, Theoden, Thingol, Thranduil, Thror, Tulkas, Varda/Elbereth
Over the shoulder: Fangorn
Visitors: Jason2250/Egyptian_Beer
Membership:
    Dain is our new member this week. (see Sept 28)
    Smaug joined us at the meeting last week. Since I forgot to call on him for his "few words", he gets to introduce himself to the group next meeting.
    Amillo seems to have had a computer crash, as he disappeared very abruptly.
    Boromir, Gimli, and Saruman emailed to say they are still with us.
    Thorondor is waiting for his cable to be installed before he can return, sends regrets to his team mates.
    Ulmo was at a scout meeting, sends regards.
    Thranduil wants a new name, either Legolas or Elrond. It will take some time to see if either of those names are fre e. If you are Elrond or Legolas, please email Varda right away to protect your name.
Web:
    Tolkien Encyclopedia: new article on "Nornore" by Eonwe, in the Maiar section.
    Games page: new games page up, by Eonwe the Busy. Scatha has volunteered to help him with it between work.
Computer:
    Bots: Thranduil has found a way to bring a bot into our channel. Congrats! He showed us this with his Glamdring-V bot.
Gaming:
    Anniversary games are in full swing and will continue until Oct 7's meeting.
    Team Free People - Glorfindel reports:
        Gildor lvl 19
        Thror lvl 26
        Quickbeam lvl 21
        Glorfindel lvl 26
        Aragorn lvl 4 or 5
        Thorondor and Thranduil are having problems and may have to drop.
    Team Valar - Varda reports:
        Eonwe/*Urion-Valar
        Salmar/*Salmar-(Valar)
        Melkor/*Melkor-(Valar)
        Orome/*Orome-(Valar)/Orome_V
        Varda/ *Elbereth-Valar/Elentari-V
    Amillo comp probs.
        Aule and Ulmo in EQ only.
        Mandos dropped.
Tolkien:
    Thranduil asked about Sting and Glamdring: what metal were they made of and why did they glow in the presence of orcs. Eonwe answered they were Nolodorin swords. This means they were built by Noldor elves for war against orcs and were imbued with the detection ability at making.

Sept. 29, 2001 Saturday
    Ready? Set? If not, tough. Go! The Valar Anniversary games begin this day! All Tourney games may start sending results to Varda for the Tourney page, and go until the Sunday meeting Oct 7! The goal? Have fun! Try new things. Enjoy old ones. Enjoy each other. "Purist" teams should start tonight after 9pm EST, checking the ladder first to make sure it has reset.
    Elros' team has chosen the name Numenor.
    The ladder will reset tonight 6pm Blizzard time which is PST (GMT-8). That is 9pm EST (2100). That is 2600 GMT meaning Sept 30 at 2am. See post below taken from battlenet Ladder Discussion forum:
http://www.battle.net/forums/battlenet-status/posts/nd/91.shtml

Subject:
From:
Host:
Date:

Diablo II Ladders Reset Tomorrow
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Fri Sep 28 23:22:06

The Standard and the Hardcore Diablo II Ladders for both Diablo II 
and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will be reset tomorrow, September 
29, 2001. This is a one-day delay from the previously posted notice.

Only characters created after 6:00 PM (PST, GMT -8) on September 29th 
will be eligible for the new ladder.

Team Free People news:
Letter from Thorondor:

Aiya

I'm off from bnet until I get that cable connection. The reason is, that I
don't want to get enormous phone bills right now. I also have some problems
with my comps hard drive and the other email-server(Suomi24.fi) is down.

The good thing is, that I'll get the cable soon, prolly, and the hd is
nearly fixed.

I'm sure that the Team Free Peoples will be able to stand without the help
of any animals from the West:) (I'll join you later if/when I can).

Cheers,
Thorondor

New Team: Combined character by Primula and Deagol! Character name is Brandywine-V
Letter from Deagol: