/ \ _ ) (( )) ( (@) /|\ ))_(( /|\ _ |-|`\ / | \ (/\|/\) / | \ (@) | | ------------/--|-voV---\`|'/--Vov-|--\--------------|-| |-| '^` (o o) '^` | | | | `\Y/' |-| |-| The Imagica Ezine - Issue no 12 | | | | (IMAGIZINE 01-11-2003) |-| |_|_____________________________________________________| | (@) l /\ / ( ( \ /\ l `\|-| l / V \ \ V \ l (@) l/ _) )_ \I `\ /' ` A new issue of Imagizine - Imagica's own virtual magazine. This is an interactive magazine, so your input is very much appreciated. To put something in the Imagizine e-mail the Editor at Lunah at email.jimagica.net, and it will be put into the following issue. .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ In this Issue ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' * News * Gossip Column * Exclusive Interview with Aragorn * REI * Council of Elders * Building * Quests * General Information * Imagica Information .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ News ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' In this section you will see a list and some information on the latest news in Imagica. - New Immortals New Immortals =================== Since our last issue the REI team has gotten re-enforcements in Roitar and Rhapsody who will assist in promoting and awarding role playing in Imagica. .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Gossip Column ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' *** There have been rumours that King Welmar is getting tired of seeing Rome's splendour and may be planning something to get rid of the Emperor Ceasar and his reign for good. *** It's become obvious for anyone who see them together that there is some kind of connection between Tamlin and Florine. However, does the young lady know as much as she should of her suitor? This author thinks not.. *** For those that don't know, it seems that some Gods cannot keep their hands off the mortals. We have a few children in Imagica with an Immortal parent. Are we to believe that the Gods are so bored up in the skies that they have to seduce mortals to enjoy themselves? A few children of Immortals: Sharin - Daughter of Shayla (with the mortal Mithrandir) Dulce - Daughter of Radagast (with the mortal Disa) Are there any other children out there belonging to the Gods? *** The ADD Representative Fido is planning to marry Chloe, the Leader of OOS. This mismatched couple has raised quite some arguments, from both clans and others as well. Questions such as can a vampire really feel love, and what is Chloe thinking, have been raised. There is of course also the question whether the ADD clan can accept a mortal (who has previously hunted vampires!) marrying their esteemed representative. This author thinks this match might end with bloodshed. *** .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Exclusive Interview ~~ | /| | |\| | /| Aragorn |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Lunah: Would you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself? Aragorn: Sure! First there was nothing. The suddenly a large fireball appeared that suddeny cooled down, the became what we call : Earth. Or, ehm, maybe not that far back ? :) Ok, I was born on 9 Febuary in 1973 (yes, I'm 30 now a real dino!) in The Hague Holland. I was a real bad student in pre-school, but once I went to college I suddenly seemed to have quite some affection for Science/Maths/etc. At this time (at age of 12) I was already in proud posession of a C64 on which I was always busy programming demos and text adventures. After the general college (where Hero went too seemed later) I went to the 'MTS' in direction of 'TCK'. MTS is a profession school and I chose the 'technical computer science' direction. This is also where I met Hero and Venice. Hero and me also did our 'stage' there because we both thought we wanted our diploma and go to work. Just when we were finished a new direction for the 'HTS' was possible in the direction MESO (Micro Electronic System Design) to which we both went. Nowaday's I work for a small (15 people) company (OSP) at which I do all kinds of computer stuff (Sysadmin, java/C/C++/* coding, consultancy, security, internet, etc.) as long as it is NOT Micro- snot related. Well, my hobbies are, ehm, computers :) and I really like to watch movies (friends call me a walking movie encyclopedia). I am also member of the Ducth/The Hague 'baywatch' for which I did 'beach-duty' for 12 years of which I was 'Post commander' over 20 people for 4 years. Currenlty I stopped active duty and still am active as IT person. If you are interested, look at http://www.hvrb.org Lunah: What made you decide to start Imagica? How did it all begin? Aragorn: Well, as I told before, Hero and I went to the 'HTS' on which we were first confronted with a MUD called 'Diamond MUD'. The main implementor 'Vanyar' was one of our teachers and he also showed us his MUD on which we played every break over a modem line! On Diamond we also met Ingwe, Trixor and Mender who all came to Imagica eventually in part of completely. Vanyar also installed a plain CircleMUD 3.0 site there locally on which we played. Soon I was browsing though the code and got real interested in building etc. I even build a world editor tool for DiamondMUD. Soon the world building got boring (sorry builders!) and I found myself constantly adding new functionality to the MUD which eventually grew out to be 'Imagica' MUD. The name 'Imagica' came from a book I was reading at the time called 'Imajica' of Clive Barker (A MUST read!) and we changed it a little :) At this time Hero and Me became the implementors and Venice was a real help for us. After some time of runnin internaly at the 'HTS' we closed a deal with Rijnhave (now Syntegra) so we could run our MUD on one of their internet machines. Ingwe was so kind to temporarily host our MUD on his really fast campus PC so we could show it to the Rijnhave people. As soon as Rijnhave changed to 'Syntegra' we had to move. This was no problem since I already had a permanent internet connection at home then (damn slow, but it worked!). Now it is still running at my home on my Fast ADSL connection (1.5 Mb down/256Kbit up) on a PIII 800 machine with 40Gb mirrored disk, DAT drive for backups and an UPS which keeps the machine up for an hour at power failure. Lunah: Seeing as Imagica has grown and changed throughout the years, how do you feel about it now? Aragorn: Well, to put it plain, these are hard times. Graphical MUDs are getting more popular and it's hard to compete with these commercial and more attractive MUD's. All text based MUDs are slowly dying out, and I really hope we can keep our steady player base!! Yes, even I pondered about going graphical, but it's just not possible to compete without a team of 40 dedicated graphic artists, 20 gameplay designers, etc. etc. So we hope we keep on living, and will try hard to keep on breathing. One of our advantages is we have a really dynamic MUD with a lot of quests and intelligent scripts which makes it fun playing. Compared to other MUDs I think we really have an edge since we are also a social MUD. Lunah: Are there any accomplishments that you are extra proud of? Aragorn: Yes, especially the stability of our MUD. If you look at our downtimes and compare them to other MUDs we can be really proud! Next to this I am also really proud of the steady team om Imms we have that make this MUD possible. Keep up the good work all! Lunah: What do you see in the future of Imagica? Aragorn: Well, as I already said, it's gonna be hard. Competition is hard and player numbers are falling back. But still I think there are a lot of 'freaks' out there who can loose their hart in our very original and still growing MUD! Escpecially the Quests and Campains are really what makes us what we are, a kick-ass MUD! So tell all your friends about it and we will survive! Lunah: Is it true that you were once married to Hero in another realm? =) Aragorn: How do you mean 'were' ? We are still officially married in DiamondMUD! There was a real wave of marriage, and obnoxious as we were, we wanted to get married too! Though Vanyar supported us, there were quite some other Imms who did not like it ;) If I remember correctly it was Trixor who married us there ..... but I could be mistaken. Lunah: Now, tell us, what *is* it between yourselves (the producers) and Puff? She's always talking about you... Quote: Puff the dragon says, 'Boy, these producers are smart.' Puff the dragon says, 'If you want to know something, don't ask one of the producers.' Puff the dragon says, 'Don't tease the gods or they will do things to you.' Aragorn: Well, you should actually ask Puff. It's just a Dragon who is a really good judge of character. This is why she stayed in Imagica all this time :) I cannot even remember programming her ... hmm ... .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ REI ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Dear reader, As you all know the REI Team has been doubled. Yes, we're twice as big now. Roitar and Rhapsody are our new members and I hope you'll hear a lot of them in the time to come. We're already busy with some things to improve role play in Imagica. For one, we're still trying to come up with some nice RP-items which you can buy with your RP-points. Talking about the RP-points, we're also busy making new guidelines in order to award your role playing according to certain standards, which will probably lead to more awarding than we want to at the moment. I hope you'll hear something soon from us. submitted by: Atrus, Head of REI .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Council of Elders ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' The Council of Elders have been granted the right to extend the City Hall of Teldar. There will be a room dedicated to the Council and a bulletin board will be placed in the new room. This board will be used to discuss ideas within the Council and others who have any ideas or problems they would like to communicate to the Immortals. submitted by: The Council of Elders .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Building ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' It's drawing closer to another World Update in Imagica. The idea is to have it some time during November, and the Builders and the Master Builder are currently busy going through the zones for the update. There will be some new zones, mixed with some updated older zones. submitted by: Lunah .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Quests ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' The Quest Team has agreed on a preliminary schedule which delegates two weeks to each member of the team during which they should run a Quest. They may choose any day during their period to run the quest. This should mean that on average, we should have two Quests per month run in Imagica. We are also hoping to have an RP Week, with help from the REI Team, twice per year. (We cannot hold it more often, since it requires too much work and time.) We hope that you will all enjoy the Quests and Events that are being run. submitted by: The Quest Team .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ General Information ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' To subscribe yourself to the Mortals mailing list where you can receive the Imagizine automatically whenever it comes out, you can visit the link below: http://list.smoelhouden.nl/mailman/listinfo/mortals For all people that have missed/lost old issues, and want or read them. All the old issues as well as the current issue can be found on the Imagica homepage at www.jimagica.net. .-----------------------------------------------------------------. / .-. .-. \ | / \ / \ | | |\_. | ~~ Imagica Information ~~ | /| | |\| | /| |\ | |/| | `---' | | `---' | | |-----------------------------------------------------| | \ | | / \ / \ / `---' `---' Imagica Homepage - https://jimagica.net Mud Address - jimagica.net (port:4000) />_________________________________ [########[]_________________________________> \> E-Mail Aragorn (Producer) - Aragorn at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Hero (Producer) - Hero at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Mender (Producer) - Mender at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Radagast (Producer) - Radagast at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Lunah (Co-Prod) - Lunah at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Shayla (Co-Prod) - Shayla at email.jimagica.net E-Mail Atrus (Director) - Atrus at email.jimagica.net />_________________________________ [########[]_________________________________> \> Clan Homepages: Army of Darkness and Death (ADD) http://www.anzwers.org/free/add/index.html Sentinels of Soraya (SoS) http://www.spellbound.nu/SoS WolfRiders (WOF) http://www.geocities.com/wolfriders_wof Dragons in Exile (DIE) http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/stormcrow />_________________________________ [########[]_________________________________> \> Clan E-Mail contacts: Army of Darkness and Death (ADD) - sneezy_fido@hotmail.com Sentinels of Soraya (SoS) - Disa at email.jimagica.net WolfRiders (WOF) - sweetpea_6969@hotmail.com Dragons in Exile (DIE) - dragons_in_exile@gmx.net Order of Serenity (OOS) - chloe_imagica@yahoo.com The following clans are registered : # CLAN CLAN LEADER CLAN REPR. #MEMB ---- ----------- ---------- ----- [ 0] [Scooby Gang ] [Mender ] [Radagast ] [ 5] [ 1] [Army of Darkness and Death ] [Catt ] [Fido ] [ 20] [ 2] [Sentinels Of Soraya ] [Desideira ] [Disa ] [ 9] [ 3] [Wolf Riders ] [Shimmer ] [Ploister ] [ 9] [ 4] [Dragons in Exile ] [Mithrandir ] [Alectsus ] [ 10] [ 5] [Order of Serenity ] [Phydoux ] [Chloe ] [ 8] _ _ ,/ \, _________{( })_________ /.-------./\\ //\.-------.\ //@@@@@@@//@@\\ ) ( //@@\\@@@@@@@\\ //@@@@@@@//@@@@>>/ \<<@@@@\\@@@@@@@\\ //O@O@O@O//@O@O// \\O@O@\\O@O@O@O\\ //OOOOOOOO//OOOO|| \ / ||OOOO\\OOOOOOOO\\ //O%O%O%O%//O%O%O%\\ ))(( //%O%O%O\\%O%O%O%O\\ ||%%%%%%%%//' `%%%%\\ // \\ //%%%%' `\\%%%%%%%|| ((%%%%%%%(( %%%%%\\ (( )) //%%%%% ))%%%%%%)) \:::' `::\\ `:::::\\ \)~~(/ //:::::' //::' `:::/ )' `;)' (` ` \\ `<@ @>' / / ' ') `(;' `( ( \`\ )^^( / / ) _ ) \\oo/ ( (@) \ `' / _ |-|\__________________\__^__<________oOo__________ (@) | | VVV \|-| |-| Have FUN playing Imagica ! |-| |_|\_____________________________________________ | | (@) / ,/ \_____/ \\ ~\/~ `\|-| ~ ___//^~ \____/\\ (@) <<< \ __ <____/|| ~ < \ <___/|| || <___// \ \/__// ~----~