For many of us there are defining moments or stories.
The story of the Vvrael goes back to the dawn of my GemStone days. I had been playing for two or three months and was hooked into the fantasy atmosphere and the whole concept of creating a character who could do and be all the things I had only read about in books until that point. But I did not realize that I had still only scratched the surface.
Then one day while perusing the message boards on AOL, I stumbled over a folder that was talking about storylines. I began reading messages that revealed the true depth and breadth of the GemStone experience. I was stunned and awed to find out that GemStone was not just about meeting other adventurers and killing rats, but it was also about stories being told within the game like a living novel. Not just little stories about discovering a castle or a visit from a god, but epic tales. I have never looked at the game the same way since that day. The epic story that so flooded my imagination and was being written at the time was concerning the Chosen and the Vvrael.
Below you can find various logs of mine and also links to the messages I saved for posterity during the storyline. (The message archives contain many logs posted by the participants from the various important events that took place.) Note that I do not have the original messages that were on AOL from the very beginning of the storyline, but many of those early events are referenced in the messages below. There was a lull of several months between the time when the story began and when it picked up again after GS was on the web. It is a sizable archive so grab something to drink, get comfy and prepare to spend some time looking into a past that created our present and our future.
Heathyr says, "Mark my words. The events of this day shall haunt Elanthia to the end of time...which may be closer than any of us wish to believe."
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The Message Archives ~ Part 1 |
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The Message Archives ~ Part 2 |
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The Message Archives ~ Part 3 |
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The Message Archives ~ Part 4 |
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The Message Archives ~ Part 5 |
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The Message Archives ~ After the Finale |
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Ardo's
Journal
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Terate Arrives |
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Terate Possession |
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The Vvrael Interrupt - Part I |
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Eorgina, Luukos, and Terate - Part II |
"I've been here and I've been there, but mostly what I've been is away from the lands at all the wrong times.
"Except for one night when I woke up in TC and thought "Say, what fuddlewit cast that cloud?" and then noticed a funny looking fellow who turned out to be a Vaespilon (immediately the vaesp became Prime Suspect #1). But at first, I have to say, I didn't catch that this was one of many Vaespilons, I bethought myself that this fellow named Vaespilon had run amok. Still lying on the ground, I dispersed the cloud. I was quite indignant with this fellow Vaespilon. So much so that I hardly noticed that everyone about me was screaming "Run! Aaaaah! Run! Ye gods!"
"Meanwhile, that snertdrooling Vaespilon was casting another cloud! Unbelievable! The nerve! This time the cloud immolated some poor soul who departed this life all peaceful in his sleep, never really knowing what hit him. And giving me new insight into the phrase "woke up dead." At this moment, in the brilliant flashes of light and sizzling of blood which accompanied the last moments of that sleeping fellow's catnap, it occurred to me that this Vaespilon fellow wasn't a proper resident of Icemule or any other town I'd care to visit. I advanced directly to the rear, forthwith.
"Panting down the road west of tc, a paused to bring out my shield and weapon and a statue was blown into the room from the breeze. Grasping for any sort of protection I grabbed it and rubbed it as quick as ever I could. I was concentrating so hard that until that tormented wailing soul told me she wanted to give me a big hug, I never noticed her arrival. I ran screaming pell mell through town this way and that. South until some nasty scared me north and north until I was scared east.
"I don't know how you brave folks did it, looking those dreadfuls in the eye and snarling right back at them, but I'm here to thank you for it and if ye hadn't done it, I wouldn't be thanking ya.
"So. Where are these scrolls wherein I can read the rest of the story?? I hear tell of Lady Tedra's but I can't find them. I hear tell of a site for a new library, but it evades me too.
"I know it is no use railing against fate. I am a ranger; therefore, I am always lost. I am a sylvan so I am always thinking about the trees and whatnot whilst other people are saving the world and then I'm trying to catch up. Could some kind soul direct me??
So say I,
Etaine Banfaith"