Lania

Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
 
Come, forget about the Fates,
At the gloomy Howling Gates!
'Til the Nineteenth of September
Time you have to all remember.
 
How to make a work of art?
Forget not to show your heart!
The word be 'howl', make no mistake;
Let us see what you can make.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
 
A short Procession shall be held,
Every fortnight be compelled
To join in silence and aloud
Shout or mourn, bewitch the crowd.
 
Speak we shall of stars and Night,
'Til they are within our sight;
Honor them with art and praise
Under dead-Moon's gentle rays.
 
One small word to praise and weld,
Every fortnight be compelled.
Speak, write, sing, cook, dance or paint
Artsy craft-work no constraint. 
 
One small word - its only chain
Upon thy art, this word must reign.
How, where, why you shall decide
The way the word your art will guide.
 
One small word for you be spelled,
​Every fortnight be compelled!
On this scroll your eyes would be
To find the word that gives the key.
 
There be rewards for who excelled!
Every fortnight be compelled!
In our heart a fire alight,
With your knowledge of the Night.
 
 
Translation:
[spoiler]
I will do my best to hold a series of three events every 2 weeks, with time and locations to be announced in this topic. For each such event, I will hold a brief talk on a certain aspect of the Night within MD, and then I will give a slightly "free" reign for praise to the Sky, Night and various celestial bodies.
 
There will be a theme word, which I will announce in this topic; feel free to create any sort of art starting from that word: story, poem, drawing, themed cupcake, song, etc. Post it here (so that I can save it and not miss it if it simply pops up in the chat) and then bring it to the procession to present to the other participants (in RP, obviously). I will take upvotes and downvotes into consideration, so please cast votes carefully.. The only rule is that you use the word given, preferably in a creative, interesting way, and keep it related to the Night (keeping its IRL or MD symbolism, I will accept both) . The type of art you use is irrelevant, as long as it can represent the word given and it can be presented to an audience clearly in a short amount of time.
 
Rewards will be announced for each event (depending on sponsors), however I will personally award the most impressive art display for each event with 1 hour of nightmode, when the winner will request it.
[/spoiler]
 
Rewards!:
[spoiler]
Participants will be awarded points for each event from the series, as well as a reward from me, as follows:
1st place: 10 points + 1 hour Nightmode (activated upon request) 2nd place: 7 points 3rd place: 5 points all others: 2 points  
The points from all events shall be summed up for each individual participant and at the end of the series, the winner is the one with the most points accumulated at the end, regardless of which / how many events they participated in (however it is obviously better to attend multiple events, to be able to score more points). The rewards for the series are as follows:
1st place: Rustgold Drachorn  2nd place: 1 common item (picked by me, from my inventory) + choice of locate or movelock stone 3rd place: remaining spellstone from 2nd place ALL participants will receive Silver Coins numerically equal to the amount of points scored at the end of the series. Many thanks to the Treasure Keepers for the sponsorship. Questions and inquiries are welcome.
[/spoiler]
 
EDIT: Adjustment to a rule.
EDIT: REWARDS! :D
EDIT: mentioned I planned 3 events, since I missed it out.

[attachment=4713:avatartochange.gif]
 
 
[attachment=4714:uiuiyire.jpg]
 
 
to Change

Blight
 
In the silence of the night,
     forward crept the blight.
It killed all but a few,
     destroyed everything we knew.
 
Each and every night,
       forward crept the blight.
 
In the light of the morning,
     were the sounds of mourning.
For bodies lay in their beds,
     a sight to stay in one's head.
 
Each and every night,
       forward crept the blight.
 
The look upon their face,
       as death they did embrace,
was still and cold,
      their bodies looking frail and old.
 
Each and every night,
      forward crept the blight.
 
Upon us the blight did come,
       it killed each of us in turn.
Our life it stole,
       destroying all that made us whole.
  
Each and every night,
      forward crept the blight..

I walked into the city of light
now adorned with the dreams of the night
as I walked, the streets decayed
and paved roads glittered with guilt.
 
The old tower was falling
as I climbed the steps of a church
or maybe a tainted temple of old.
And the birds spoke of roasted hearts
or from roasting hearts or from trees.
 
Then a storm rose and a great tidal wave
made us all little fish in an ocean.
And I found an old armor
and I found an old lance
and I rose to the surface, encumbered.
 
Lest I was in Asgard, I dreamt
dreamt of birds flying the skies
among spears of light who cried human.
There I saw two suns warming the sea below
and I was blinded as I understood the light...
 
I was awaken by a knight, patrolling the streets
"Sir, you alright?"
 
 
 
And the edited version:
 
I walked into the city of light
Adorned with the dreams of the night
And I stepped on the marble, decayed,
And under my guilt it would break.
But I moved on, not stopping until
I reached, at the base of a hill,
the cellar of a temple of old
or of a shop, filled with cursed gold.
One-eyed ravens, from trees, sang of death
and of heroes burnt by wyrms' breath
And I took an old armor and shield
And a sword with runes on the hilt.
But when I tried to handle the gold
It was turned into greenish mold
Then a wind rose and I heard some cries
Ripping the earth, tearing the skies.
Water poured through the cracks of the world,
From eggshell I made a stronghold
And I stood hidden, my knees to chest
Until all was immersed, I rest.
Then I broke free from my agèd egg
And put reins on a seahorse stag
And swam to the light that I would see,
Through water blue, all above me.
No sooner I had reached the upper veil
I heard a shriek that gave me chills
And a bird grabbed me, its talons sharp,
I struggled like freshly-caught carp.
But in vain, for the bird took me high
To the twin suns shining in sky.
Will the bird kill me? Or will the heat?...
I woke up to the sounds of the street.

The stomping in the wooded dark,
 
The glimpse of distant fire's spark.
 
The purple haze as dusk descends,
 
Hides all the forest denizens.
 
It's not just Bigfoot you might fear,
 
There's Dragons too, both far and near,
 
But though they next door may reside,
 
It is from YOU that they all hide.
 
      -Maebius/Nate

[attachment=4710:miqavycolor.gif]
 
 
[attachment=4711:index.php.gif]

last avy is to Miq , sorry for the size

Here it is. 
 
 

Happy birthday! :)

Careful, comments like that just might bring me back.

New server hardware should be amazing really, nameserver propagation will probably last for a few more hours but theoretically all should be fine now.
The speed improvements will be however visible in a day or two due to the query cache loading based on what you do most.
 
thank you all that messaged me, i could sleep in bed not in front of the computer due to this :))
 
 
And thank you chew, today i learnt a lot from you :D:D check email
and thank you for the ultra fast response as usual.
 
 
PS we do not have a server admin, we have a code guardian! beware!
 
bmmo is also up but not visible everywhere yet due to dns.
 
..what else...ah yes
 
12Ghz(!!) cpu power, 
12Gb of ram
ultra fast SSD storage
 
crazy yea, totally not needed but come on, its fun to have that no? :D
 
On a fast check google sais page speed score of 90/100 ...i thought its a joke but its real, not sure how many sites have that :))))) google itself has 95/100 :))
 
again, i was unable to check md because here is not loading yet but for some of you should be already fine....if you see errors , shout, sms me, etc.
 
 
Enjoy :)

Dear MDers, especially Questmakers,
 
In a recent private discussion, I found out that apparrently questmakers forgot (never knew of) the fact that the alliance Treasure Keepers was created to support you, if you are in need of rewards for your quests.
 
The aim of this post is to remind you of this fact.
 
In order to request a sponsorship, we ask you to send us a forum pm (preferably) or find us in game.
 
Currently I have very limited RL time for playing MD fully as I did before, but I will always reply for your sponsorship requests if you write me here in forum and will try to keep Time Patrol idling at GoE.
 
Please take into consideration the following>
 
to get the sponsorship you will have to provide us with some information about your quest> type of quest, short description, date of beginning, rewards you would wish to have for this quest (preferably with some reasoning..why do you think specifically these rewards will be suitable), rewards you already have for this quest from other sources.
 
You will have to take into consideration the following>
 
- We do not guarantee sponsorship. We will consider all pros and cons and make a decision to sponsor or not
- We might ask for additional information
- the decision might take a few days, so please, contact us beforehands and not on the day you want to start your quest
- We might propose you different rewards from what you requested.
- sponsorships available are mostly coins and creatures, but we might also find something special for you in the dark corners of the treasury if we find your idea extremely good.
 
We will be glad to hear from you.
 
 
 

I admit I haven't worked on this as much time as I should have. But my visions are always a little messy and here goes my enterpretation of Blackshade's hell hounds.
(forgive me for the messy paper I draw on)

1) first of all, what is a hell hound without something demoniac in it? Bones' n' horns are the first thing that came to my mind and inspired me.
Indeed I wanted to put into their bodies more metal: chains, gears and prosthetics so I happened to research the anatomical body of a real hound.
But at the end I kept it simple, since everytime Blackshade came with his hounds, I figured out that they were actually simple in their shape and....interiors.




2) So here I came out with a final outcome of how I picture the hell hounds in my mind. This is actually an Elite Hound, probably the most majestic and sneaky.
(I haven't figured them as powerful beasts but I preferred to keep them more silent and slim)
I also pictured them in animal traps because I like the idea of them sleeping inside....completely fearless.
(I already fear people saying that it's a mixture between a goat and a horse *laughs*)




3) And here comes my favorite part : I pictured them relaxed during their free time playing hell-chess, looking at the time and waiting for their master to come.
And the pups! Once in a while Blackshade comes with his hell hounds and pups and I always feared them and stayed alert. But I was encouraged to pictured them in the most harmless way possible.
So here came the inspiration for them to be so.....cute  :rolleyes: 





I attached to this message a bonus : a page with all my preliminary sketches. Have fun :)

 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2195]  

When the rock is feeling playful it rolls infront of the arrows making you stay in the location you are at until you play with it enough

In a nutshell, hopefully as clearly explained as possible:
 
I like the new Role Tags interface (button from the dropdown panel on the right side). So I had an idea:
 
How about the ability to assign a specific avatar to a role, visible only when that role is selected as main? It could cost 2 credits when you initially assign it (or when you want to replace it with a new one), but then it wouldn't eat up credits when swapping between roles (in other words, if I have 2 avatars connected to 2 roles, when I swap between the 2 roles, no credits are subtracted for changing the avatar. However, if I want to swap the 2 avatars for new ones, then that could cost credits).
 
Yes? No? :D

[attachment=4701:gg2.jpg]
 
 
[attachment=4702:newavytowitty.jpg]
 
 
 
 
 

Hmm... I forgot about this topic... I have two poems that I had written for something I drew. I might post the images later who knows. These poems/images were for a contest but I missed the deadline. I was going to pick one for submission. So I did not get to submit them.
 
 
Chaos
 
World of Dreams lost in me
Winds of change are calling
Within the broken darkness lies
A light shining brightly
Chaos beckons on the tattered pathless
Shaping course an illusion of bliss
A night to remember off the slope
Round it takes one into hope
 
 
 
Gem
A drop falling low away from the world that be
Into a lonely darkness that none want to see
Harsh words and negativity holds
These help to shape and mold
Clinging to what is near
Bringing in what is dear
A gem emerges its shape shown true
Its broken and shattered... crude
But in a dream peace is found
In the contrast and sound
The gem is made whole
Listening to the soul
Seeing beauty beyond the walls
The light bends as it grows tall
Hope of acceptance is not far away
Time of life is here today

Not sure how many of you know or remember her, but this is Eleyne. A woman trapped in the body of a horse and the main thing I remember about her is that she loves to eat paper planes. :)
 
I have no idea how the person behind the Eleyne character imagined her (I don't think she ever had an avatar), but this is how I see her. A young and lively girl chasing paper planes...with different contents.
Also, back there you have a sneaky and hungry Draco, lazily stalking and trying to eat the unaware prey like always. :P

If this is the specific issue that announcement was referring to, then surely this is mildly outraging? I understand that neither Chew nor Mur would want to "sort out the chaos" left behind by someone leaving, but this quest is finished; if I am not mistaken, most if not all missing rewards are now in Aethon's possession; furthermore not even all the rewards he was giving out are his, some have been sponsored by others! I'm not saying Mur (who I think contributed an item and some SC) is worried by where his silver goes (most likely) but the message this is sending is simply disappointing.
 
Essentially, taking a few leaps, anyone could organise a quest, "hoard" rewards from sponsors, and then simply poof and there would be no consequences other than wasted time and effort and a lot of frustration for the good-willed participants and sponsors? I see this particular quest as a very simple case, all that needs to be distributed is already in Aethon's inventory (or most of the remaining items to be distributed, at least). Surely if not even this can be handled or resolved in some way, then there is no point in putting effort into future quests or events, which may "mess up" in more complicated ways and have no hope of being resolved therefore.
Why were some cases of "chaos" solved in SOME way (see blackrider's "Draw my Hellhounds" quest with complaints about how it was judged), whereas this one is simply being abandoned because Aethon supposedly left?
 
I repeat, I understand that "higher powers" would never continue the organisation, judging, etc of a quest in progress, if the organiser leaves, and that seems fair. However, this quest is complete; the judging and ranking have been done, some rewards have already been given, and the majority of the remaining rewards are in Aethon's possession. There is no "chaos" or dirty work to be done, like tracing sponsors, etc. I say 95% if not more of the dirty work has already been done.
By this point, I don't even care as much about the reward (even though I very "rudely" feel entitled to it, having put effort into the quest and having ranked 2nd) but if that announcement was there to say that "if someone goes poof, nobody will care about things you worked for with that person or do anything to help you with resolving the issue", then I am monstrously disappointed and hereby (peacefully) protest.

to Blackrider:
 
 
[attachment=4667:Blackrider.gif]
 
[attachment=4668:jinetedeperro.jpg]
 
 

Not sure how many of you know or remember her, but this is Eleyne. A woman trapped in the body of a horse and the main thing I remember about her is that she loves to eat paper planes. :)
 
I have no idea how the person behind the Eleyne character imagined her (I don't think she ever had an avatar), but this is how I see her. A young and lively girl chasing paper planes...with different contents.
Also, back there you have a sneaky and hungry Draco, lazily stalking and trying to eat the unaware prey like always. :P

http://storenow.net/my/?f=ad919f819080e5fa67ddd91ebe22463a
 
to Witty

Are we really going to have this discussion?
 
Let me just quote something:
(source, "dum dum dummm..." The Internet)
 
I hope we can end this right here.

Happy birthday, anchor man! :P

To Nimrodel:
 
http://storenow.net/my/?f=5c5bc08cb5412151b88746fa1bbf9a7d
 
http://storenow.net/my/?f=5a5241de5c49f7bfc50bb0f8f2b5ab48