Wyvern

Jechum Jechum runs in! OOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo! Can I be the Jester! ME! ME! ME! Pick ME! PLEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSEEEEEEEE! With sugar and honey on top! And a cherry too! Hurry, please hurry before Nekkid Mages #1 Fanclub and Worshippers see and everyone wants to join! Oh, yes but I must try and sit down and write my own story. Jechum scratches his head in thought. Hey, since I owe a story on Aegon anyway can it be about some other person's character? Well, well no matter that's what I'll submit after I write it. Take it or leave it. Jechum runs off to go write something. Jechum stops mid-stride. Oh, yes for those interested in more information on the Pen is Mightier than the Sword follow me!

Tzimfemme and Rydia Would the splintered quartet of ego fuse; would the frustration and awe and egoism and delusion combine; would the faltering tongues be unbound; Tzimfemme and Rydia and Minta and Rosemary would speak thus: I am I, and I am dissatisfied with mere existence. To ease the agony of my own continued existence, and to force others to not waste their own, I shall create a cult. I. Where disaffected guild members wander I shall begin. Those who join a guild yet do not absorb the idea either lack the intelligence to deal with abstractions or are unsatisfied with the current idea. The former can be woo’d with the promise of fame and will become useful pawns; the latter will be won with bloodstained truths and will make excellent fanatics. II. I shall exist in flux, yet hint at some unchanging truth behind all the facades. This will intrigue my people and drive them to delve ever deeper, trying to pigeonhole me. Some will think they have succeeded. Others will continue to think, and someday they will drink from the source, and those will become my fanatics. III. Among those scrabbling in my wake I shall find a wiser fool and crown him as my jester. When anyone veers from their appointed task, he will strike them with the overseer’s whip, and I shall strike him in return. They will bleed for me, or else they die. IV. I shall be dismembered regularly for the pleasure of my pawns, as my detractors seize pieces of me and throw them to the unrepentant. One in a hundred will choke on his portion, and will swallow instead the wisdom, and he will know me. V. From previous gods I shall learn, and usurp neither their godhead nor their priests. Their followers will slowly become my pawns as their priests, dispossessed, flock hungrily to the scent of fresh blood upon my altars. VI. I shall have neither husband nor consort from among this world. My fanatics will aspire to the position and forever favor me; my detractors will eye the position with evil intent, and forever eye me. Never will my detractors succeed in tempting me; never will I fail myself. VII. Never will I be so insecure as to demand worship from my people. When times grow lean and my fanatics have bled themselves dry, even my detractors will slit their veins for my continued reign, else their own petty existences would crumble away. Let the unrepentant wonder at my immortality. VIII. I shall woo poets to my cause and let their words alone describe it; their poetic skill shall transform my whims into commands of religious power. No words of mine will lack a pulse; no words of mine will not smell of heart’s blood. The rabble will work, the seekers will think, the jester will laugh, the opposition will argue, the dispossessed will convert, the jealous will plot, the curious will draw closer, the poets will sing, and I shall bleed continuously from many wounds as an inexhaustible fount. I shall be a vampire, nothing without the blood of my people spilled for my pleasure, and pain, and sustenance; they too will be undead, their lives nothing without my touch and thought and speech. And I shall rule forever. Rosemary disassociates, taking with her the solemn belief that she is so canonized; Minta departs and plain speech goes with her. Tzimfemme falls back into torpor with her myriad splinters of insight and information, leaving Rydia to be the soul worthy of praise.

Wyvern Jonnymagic, Once again, I apologize. Fear not, your entry will still be taken into consideration. In fact, thus far you seem to have one of the best... Please, don't take this the wrong way. You have to understand that I've spent long hours into the night thinking of questions that will be suitable for ALL Archmages. If the last question would have been kept as it was, certain mages would have a distinct advantage over others. Your application qualified very well for what is now question one. Once again, my deepest apologies... I promise that this was the LAST contest alteration. I've extended the deadline just to show how sorry I am. ------------------ Wyvern ...almost a dragon. Proud Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Saint of Terra; Patron of Parties. Lover of Cheyenne.

Jonnymagic :confused :confused :confused How are you supposed to have a 'contest' if you keep changing the rules???? How am I supposed to know if my entry was acceptable yesterday? - Or if it will be acceptable tommorrow??? Fortunately, writing can be its own reward... ..good thing in this case. You seem to be trying to accomodate 'certain' characters....you could have just said it was a closed contest...I have removed my entry, since I was the only 'newbie' submitting thus far, maybe you can stop with the rule thing....

Wyvern Oh dear... (sighs). How to break this... Another change in the first question! (enormous amounts of moaning follow) I'm really very sorry about this... but while the cult question is still great, the 'life-story' question offers unfair advantages to certain people (coughs, looking towards Arawn and Yui ). In addition, people with time restraints are unable to write entire life stories... So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to slightly alter the 'life-story' question and add one other option for people to choose from. I had a kind of revelation the other night, and know exactly what the questions should be. I swear upon my mothers scaly hide that this will be the LAST alteration of questions. In addition, since a number of you have probably been brainstorming the first question and preparing to write, I will extend the deadline of the contest to June 28. This way, people will have more time to reconsider and think about it. The contest questions will be (permanently this time) as follows: Answer ONE of the topics below: Tell the story of one event in the history of your character that had a significant impact on the characters life or development. OR Is there any one Archmage that has had a positive or negative influence on your character? If so, who and in what ways? OR If you could form a cult around your AM character, what would it be? (i.e what would the practices be? The religions? ect.) Once again, I'm truly sorry about any inconveniences this confusion may have caused. I've extended the deadline, so you should have plenty of time to ponder over these subjects (and besides, question one is just a varient of the 'life story' question) Thank you. Wyvern

Canid Trust me, I can't make even a segment short, I can't write "short" things........ Hehe.

Sokhar, CO ah, thank you Wyvern. I thought I'd have to write out the entire history, which would give me a seizure or something, since I'm writing it to be a novel. To that end, then I'd like to officially submit The Legacy

Knight TEB Wyv, something gives me the feeling that Racouol and Zool are gonna have problems contributing it.

Orlan So, SuperMummy wins by default? I have to go tell my Great God and Pharaoh Nanotoknonnen about this Well, I should see him in Vegas ;P

Wyvern Correct Peredhil. (Nice sig, BTW ) Peredhil has actualy brought up an interesting point. It seems to me that many of you believe that writing out the story of your character means an enormous epilogue 8 pages long. This is not so. A simple summary of important events in your characters life and developement will be sufficient.

Peredhil So to be certain... Question number one doesn't have to be the entire history, or the origin story. It can be an incident or ancedote from the character's history or development as well?

Canid First time I respond here without reading properly and I go and put my foot in my mouth, don't I?! Anyway, in light of the "new" information, I don't think I will be taking part....

Sokhar, CO <Sokhar mutters a string of obscenities>. This is an excellant idea Wyvern, something we should have done long ago. I won't kid myself into saying I've had a major effect on the boards, and it's too bad that the deadline is so near. Since it does relate to the first topic though, I'd love your input on my story "The Legacy". I won't even be close to doing his entire life story by the time of the deadline, but I'll be sure to have at least 1-2 more chapters added. I didn't get much feedback, and I'm looking for constructive criticism, so I figure this might be a good place to ask, since like....3... people actually read the story. Anyway, once again, great idea, and hope any readers like it.

Wyvern Unfortunatly Canid, if you read my first post carefully it says the contest ends the 20th... Still, feel free to write on the second subject. Or cut your life story down to the more essential bits...

Canid I think I shall have to make time over the summer.... Given that I'm an oldies fan personally, but I have still been wanting to do some sort of life story for my character and I would still like to have that cd. Mind you.... I hope this contest lasts around a year because The way I have my life worked out in my mind... a life story will be quite a large book!!!!

Arawn Hmmmmm? What's this? Why am I the last person to know!? Sheesh! I'm curious to hear the CD now, what music was picked to describe Brute? Zool? Myself? I'm going try for the first question: Journal I would do the latter, but nothing came to mind. Best wishes to all!

Yui Temae After having reread the first contest entry, Yui's eyes widen and she turns to Wyvern. He blinks in surprise at the alarm clear on her face and asks, "Is it that bad, Yui?" Her reply is a big gulp and a despirate-seeming grab for the lapels of Wyvern's rather-stylish business suit. He blinks down at her in even more surprise as she rants. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! Wyvern, do you hate me? My life story is ... is ... gods, it's huge! I could fill your forum, drown out the other competitors, exhaust my fi--... " She freezes, blinking as a realization hits her. And then a slow smile spreads across her face, one that looks far more cunning than warm. Wyvern shudders slightly in dread at whatever that look forbodes. After a second, Yui looks back up at Wyvern with a big smile, releasing his lapels to pat his scaley cheek. "Nevermind... nice choice of topics, Wyvie." And then she turns and saunters off, leaving a stunned almost-dragon to wonder what just happened and if he should get some higher insurance... Luckily, he cannot hear her thoughts. Drown out the other contestants... Yui, you're a short little genius! MUHAHAHAHAAAAA!! I'll write a life story so long that Wyvern will have to grant me a Chronicle just to shut me up! Brilliant!

Wyvern Hmmmm... After discussing this carefully with the Pen, I have decided to change the first question as it may come as offensive to people. My apologies to those brainstorming the idea and Finnius. Fin, if you'd like I could still consider that last post OR alternatively you could post something else. Please re-read the contest questions. Thank you.

Finnius A little blue mage trips into the door. After pulling himself from the ground, reading about the contest, and wiping what appears to be gastric juices from his boots, the afore-mentioned aqaumarine magus begins scribbling in the corner. "Hmmm... how do you say magnanimallistical witout sounding stuck-up? Geez, I'm never gonna win this." After several moments of rough drafting, the recently-digested cerulean spell-flinger hands in his entry. If I could buy the world a coke... no, let me start again. If I could have any Archmage as a slave, it would have to be Wyv- I mean, Tzim- errr... this isn't working. (Unreadable scribbling) OK, let's try this again. Being the nice guy I am, I would enslave Peredhil. This would gain me two things: 1) The ability to rhyme with any degree of certainty, and 2) Umm... Well, maybe it would only gain me one thing, but isn't that good enough? As Wyvern looks over the mostly-illegible entry, a look of confusion and pity crosses his face. Finnius sits in the corner, weeping over his inability to express in writing what he had meant in those sloppy scribblings. "*sob... Why couldn't I just say it? I would enslave my dear Scarlett, for all that she jabbed, berated, and cannibalized me, she also stole my heart. The lost innocence of youth can ne'er belong to one who's heart has been ingested and inflamed the heart of another. (Which she yelled at me for, but still...) Oh why am I so ineloquent... *sob"

Tzimfemme and Rydia Tzimfemme sniffs at the first topic, then wanders away and flips idly through the Conservatory. She sees Degenero's signature and screeches to a halt, wondering "I had a slave?" Rydia opens her mouth to speak on the second topic--and botches horribly. Emotion throttles logic and leaves her gasping for air. She swats at ideas and misses. The player retreats to her bookshelf, then walks to the local bookstore, heading straight for the philosophy section and a crash course on expression of ideas. . . Give me a week or so, please.

Imposter Quote: Originally posted by Wyvern: Quick, Impostor, think back to your US university application essays, maybe that'll help point you on the right track! Impostor thinks back (not very far back at all, mind you) -Hey, Impostor, maybe this thinking back isn't such a good idea. You didn't get accepted, remember? So don't take tips from your previous essays! -Hey imaginary friend people, would you shut up for a sec? I'm trying to think of what starting an occult means! Does Wyvern mean starting a cult? I have to think about this! Why don't you go bug Ev or something? -Sure thing, boss [exeunt imaginary friends] now Impostor is free from hassle, but is no closer to the answer. Maybe the great Wyvern himself could help him? Impostor whose plan is to write a good essay, win, and then tell Wyvern he lives in the Marshall Islands to make the poor guy waste hundreds on shipping

Yui Temae Yui, really quite honoured (and a bit embarassed) to have her name mentioned on such an impressive who's-who of the boards, leans nonchalantly against the wall, trying to look far cooler than a short lady in a big, black cloak is ever actually able to. She tilts her head a bit and addresses Wyvern. "Do I understand correctly? You're making a CD of songs, and you've chosen the songs to ... represent various participants on the UBB?"

Punchbox Why aren't I on this list?... Oh yeah, cause all I contributed were copius amounts of flame wars...

Wyvern June 07, 2001 Wyvern of 'The Pen is Mightier then the Sword' proudly presents... "The Chronicles of Terra" LP Allow me to explain: I am currently in the process of creating a CD which I'm entitling "The Chronicles of Terra". This CD will represent various people who have greatly contributed to the developement of the Universal Bulletin Boards... a brief history of Terra, if you will. It's not a commercial CD of any sorts, simply a compilation I'm creating using my spare time, a disc-burner, and a whole HECK of a lot of CDs. On "The Chronicles of Terra" will be tracks characterizing a number of Archmages. Currently, the following mages have tracks listed on the CD: In alphabetic order -Arawn -Brute -Cerulean -Cheyenne -Gyrfalcon -Iuz the Old -Jechum -Lumpenproletariat -Orlan -Ozymandias -Peredhil31 -Racouol -Tzimfemme and Rydia -Yui Temae -Zool Note that if you're not included on the CD, this doesn't mean you haven't contributed to the developement of Terra. It's simply that there's not enough space to characterize every UBB poster on a blank CD... "The Chronicles of Terra" is 100% underground hip hop, obviously not the preferable listening music of most AM posters... Never the less, I hope the idea considerably intrigues a number of you... Now, on to the interesting bit... In addition to making one of these CDs for myself, I plan to make 3 copies (I would make more, but creating CDs takes time). These copies will be sent off to certain special Archmages, totaly free of charge, on my behalf. In this thread, I'm going to hold a writing contest in which I hope a number of you will participate. The top three applicants in the contest will be sent copies of the CD. Note that just because your mage isn't characterized on the CD doesn't mean you can't win a copy. The contest questions are as follows: Tell the story of one event in the history of your character that had a significant impact on the characters life or developement. OR Is there any one Archmage that has had a positive or negative influence on your character? If so, who and in what ways? OR If you could form a cult around your AM character, what would it be? (i.e what would the practices be? The religions? ect.) Answer ONE of the above questions. The responses and the manner you respond make little difference. You can be serious or comical, philosophical or insane... What WILL be taken into consideration is the quality of the writing and the depth of the argument. Do your best to make your responses shine through the text. The contest closes on June 28. Winners will be decided by the 30th. I eagerly await applicants. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 3/4/02 6:08:53 pm

Wyvern By request, I'm archiving this CD contest that I had originaly posted and executed on the Archmage Universal Bulletin Boards. As you can see, there was a great deal of confusion at the beginning of the contest brainstorming and changing subjects and dates... Ultimatly, however, the contest was a success. Numerous people posted excellent creative entries, and the winners recieved the CDs as promised. I would highly suggest going over the contest entries, many of which are superb.