Tarquinus

Belated wishes for a happy birthday.

I am very grateful to Dark Demon for his kind thought, but I still believe the Eclipse's badge should only be returned once we have proven that we deserve it.

Thanks to you all! I am terribly busy in the "real world", but who knows? Maybe I will find time to come back to MD again. Be well, do good work, and keep in touch, as Garrison Keillor would say.

Magistra seems to be plagued by a rumor that she helped Pip and Child of the Soul steal the CoE badge. At her request, I will say that I have no reason whatsoever to believe this rumor is true. Both Pip and CotS are pretty honest and forthright men, so I believe they would confirm Magistra's lack of involvement with the coup if anybody had the gall to ask them about it. Since it seems to be unclear why Magistra was "kicked out" of the CoE (to the extent that anyone can be kicked out of an alliance with no badge), allow me to clarify: Magistra was dismissed for insubordination and lack of respect to Amoran, the Sibyl. She freely admits to both of these "crimes".

[quote name='Amoran Kalamanira Kol' timestamp='1340138275' post='115442'] I will, as well, try to appear online during the evenings (7pm to 2am in US Central time) each week.[/quote] I believe that is 03:00 - 10:00 server time.

It seems my presence in the realm is wanted. I shall return to it more frequently, so. Before we begin any plans, however, I would like to hear from all persons who still consider their characters part of the Children of the Eclipse. Please post days and times (server time) you plan to be active in MagicDuel. I will be active around 04:00 - 06:00 most weekdays, perhaps a bit longer on Fridays. I will be available from 20:00 - 10:00 (the next day) or so on weekends. The purpose of getting these times is to coordinate actions and events. Please let me know what will work for you.

Lighten up, Seiggy. I think it's funny.

I agree, Lib, and so does Karak. If you look at his sentence again he's saying it falls [i]to us [/i]to be recognized for our contribution(s). In other words, we need to show that we are worthy, and we know that. And clearly, he feels about the petition the way I do, which is that it's nice to have the support and all, but we need to become more active and visible again.

I don't follow you, Chewy. Shouldn't bother with what? My opinion is and always has been that talk is not enough. The petition is all very well and good, and I am certainly grateful for the support that has been shown (and thank you, Yrth), but I think we need to show what a viable and active alliance looks like. There's just one problem with that - I have time to make little posts on the forum here and there, but until this nightmare of a work project moves on, I simply don't have time to even log into MD and be social, let alone direct the revival of an alliance I have allowed to lie mostly dormant for months. I have ideas. Poe has ideas. Amoran has ideas. Karak has [i]gravitas[/i] but even less free time than I do. The dissolution of the alliance was easy. Building it back up will take time, but if we do it right, it will be really worthwhile. In the meantime the badges and game mechanics are bells and whistles to me. I mainly posted on this thread because I don't want there to be a perception that we expect to be handed our badges back with little or no effort.

As someone who led the LS for a time, I see both sides of the issue but respectfully disagree with the Council's decision. Fyrd has been a very active player, and if his vision for the Speakers was to write lots of quests, I think that's acceptable. But my feeling about the issue of lightly or understaffed alliances is that it's more fair to judge them on the basis of their activity than their numbers. From that perspective, the decision regarding the LS seems unfair to me, whereas I can sort of understand the rationale behind disbanding the CoE. I once asked Mur what he wanted me to do with the LS, and he said I should figure it out for myself. That's fair. He later seemed to feel the alliance had strayed too far from its original purpose, but he didn't hurl any thunderbolts... yet. That's also fair, but if that was the reason for disbanding the Speakers, that's what Fyrd should have been told.

It may be very naïve of me to say this, but I trust Mur's judgment on this, and his rule of thumb (which he said somewhere...) was that if he ever saw an alliance with 2 members or fewer, he would disband it. I don't know that a hard and fast rule will serve. The Council acts in Mur's stead while he's on his sabbatical, and even if I don't agree with everything it does, I accept its judgments. I tend to agree with gonzalocsdf that a case-by-case basis is probably the best way. As to your question, Chewy, I think it's pretty easy to tell - is the alliance sponsoring quests? Are people talking about it in-game? Does anyone talk about wanting to join it? Some measure of its activity will be reflected on the forum and the wikia, sure, but if there is a driving force behind an alliance, its influence will surely be felt.

[quote name='Chewett' timestamp='1339068897' post='113893'] It would be interesting to hear other CoE members views on this, i can only assume this has changed since amoran, who i believe is a senior CoE member, has started this pertition. However i know little of the inner CoE structure, so she might just be starting it on her own without permission. again this is just conjecture. [/quote] I haven't changed my position on that - I do prefer in-game means to "administrative" fixes. It's a regrettable position for me to take in some ways because I am and have been very busy, but I believe a person should put his money where his mouth is. I plan to work with all the CoE officers to see what kind of solution we can concoct - now that negotiation to get the badge back is no longer an option, we must resort to different means. To me, that's a good thing. I don't want to undercut Amoran's initiative on this petition, but I don't think popular sentiment [i]alone[/i] should change the way things are in MD. The CoE hasn't been very visible for a while, and that's partly my fault. I hope to show that we are a vibrant and useful element of the community.

There has been some frustration among CoE players about the loyalty mechanic and some negative undercurrents in the MD community in general. That said, I think Lord Pip's coup did much to awaken us to our disconnection from the game, and more importantly, its "reality". I am not talking about "roleplaying", as much as I like it, but about the nature of MD as an experience, as allegory, and as a means of communicating in a different way from what you usually find on the Internet. In my view the CoE still exists. It doesn't have official status (i.e. a badge), but it started without one. Several people have shown that they still believe in what the CoE stands for, and I think it is time I came out of my semi-dormant state to show my support. But this is more than a matter simply of popularity. There are two issues: belief and focus. As to the first, we believe in fairness, the sharing of knowledge, and the development of [i]character[/i] - not in the sense of a character in a game, but in the sense of a person's ethics, behavior, and beliefs. As to the second, I have felt for almost a year now that the CoE has needed to change its focus with respect to the reality of MD as it has been revealed. We will show you entertaining (we hope) characters on the way, but I think we should examine what "the moon" means to MagicDuel and why the sun never sets. The CoE is not a collection of cultists devoted to a rock floating in space. For a time we were the largest alliance in MD. There's no reason that can't happen again. I fully support Amoran's petition, but I would like to say that I appreciate the idea that changes happen in MD because they are earned.

Happy birthday.

Why did Pip get neg-repped for this?

[quote name='Espartano' timestamp='1336428623' post='111233'] [size=4][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]Where is the[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]Role[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]Play[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)],[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] when a [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]experienced[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]spartan[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]warrior[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)],[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]was killed in[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]a[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]SANCTUARY [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]by a dagger[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)], with no[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] [/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]chance of defense[/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]?[/background][/font][/color][/size] [/quote]Spartan: Come home with your shield, or on it.

Happy birthday, Burns!

Happy birthday, guys.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, again!

Happy birthday.

So I've been following the development of this massive viral phenomenon that one aid worker has characterized as [url="http://www.humanicontrarian.com/2012/03/09/284/"]the Bieberization of the aid industry[/url]. [url="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/konydebate/"]The more I find out[/url], the [url="http://blogs.aljazeera.com/africa/2012/03/14/ugandans-react-anger-kony-video"]less happy I am[/url]. Thought I'd post [url="http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things"]these things[/url] here.

That's pretty much what I thought you'd say, Pip. The conversation between us on this matter is now concluded. Thanks for your responses, and best of luck in your endeavors.

Have a great one, my friend.

Pipstickz, I want to give you a chance to show that you are not a mean-spirited kid with too much time on his hands, but you're making it hard on me with these inflammatory posts which you immediately have locked. I think it's time to discuss something in a calm and mature fashion: how you came to have the CoE badge and why you choose to keep it. We, and by we I mean tankfans specifically shared it to the Loreroot Citizens forum, have a PM from Child of the Soul that seems to indicate that you plotted with him via Pipstickz, your primary MD account, or else in person through another means, and instructed him to "give control" of the CoE to your Lord Pip account. Here's my question: do you deny this? Do you deny that your only significant use of the Lord Pip account in a very long time has been to gain and keep control of the CoE? I think the issue of alt abuse has always been a bit fuzzy, and despite my attempts to create fully fleshed-out, different personalities for each account, I have been guilty of things that are considered alt abuse. There was a recent announcement, however, (announcement 2221) clearing things up. It said, in part: [quote]You are not allowed to use an account to aid any of your other accounts. This means you cannot sell creatures on one account to give the profit to another, nor are you allowed to trade creatures or items between your accounts. More generally, you are not allowed to use multiple accounts to help, benefit, or otherwise influence one specific player for their gain or loss.[/quote] It seems to me that your use of the Lord Pip account violates both the spirit and the letter of the rules about alts. I have chosen to work toward regaining the CoE badge through in-game means - when I said I thought that if we couldn't regain the badge through merit, we didn't deserve to have it, I was not merely spewing rhetoric. But I feel that I can't let your posting about why you will continue to hold the CoE badge without making any real use of it go unanswered. You surely realize you have upset people and made the game less fun for more than one person. You must be aware that your posts, particularly the second one in which you admit that Poe made this remark to you "quite some time ago", make you seem vindictive, grudge-bearing, and judgmental. My personal inclination is to continue doing what I have been doing, which is to let you keep the badges unmolested and make no out-of-game or meta-gamed attempt to "bring you to justice" or otherwise regain the badges through out-of-game channels. But I repeat: I can't sit idly by while you make these inflammatory posts. My "followers", by which I mean my friends who play accounts that once wore the CoE badge, are beginning to think that I don't care about the things you say and have no plans to get the badges back. I am aware that not everyone is as patient or as open-minded as I am (that should scare you, eh? ). It is for my friends' sake that I write this post. So I will ask you once more, civilly and publicly, to give the CoE badge back to the guy who worked to create the CoE and the woman who drew its badge, and let us restore the alliance to what it was. It's the decent thing to do. [i]Edited for a typo.[/i]