In the early days of the world
I arrived, lost, yet knowing
much of the inner workings of
the world. I was soon asked to
join a clan, the Chaotic Barflies,
and proved more chaotic than
barfly. Despite this,
I learned the secrets of the Dragon
Crystals and grew wealthy and
strong in the ways of the Thief.
While more comfortable on my
own, I appreciated the presence
of clannies, but eventually
grew restless.
By the time I was 2 I had amassed
a fortune, buying my own
small house. I could afford
almost anything. Somewhere
around this time the world changed,
and people learned to
pursue new knowledge.
I resolved to become a Hero of
Thieves and a Champion, then
to do something different.
I accomplished what I set out
to, and early in the new
year (about 1995) proceeded
to become a Cleric and as a
bare initiate (around level
2) formed the Strays of Life
and Death.
To be different, I wanted to
try to find lower levels
who could learn about the world.
Most other clans (then
and now) only recruited proven
people, often stealing
members from other clans.
I wished to raise people from
their humble beginnings to greatness
without letting
others do most of the work first.
This meant that I
had to recruit unknowns, loners,
and unprovens... my
own style as a loner meant that
I must try to teach them
to survive on their own.
It took time, but I built my
first clan of 20, and shortly
afterward cataclyms struck the
world. Clans were wiped
and we rebuilt, then wiped again
and rebuilt, numbers
increased, but we were wiped
out again to do it. Each
time fewer members remained.
The world changed, and
more were lost. The Great
Crash hammered us, and for
weeks we lost touch with the
world... I myself was lost
for two or three months, and
returned to find the clan
mostly wiped out.
Slowly we rebuilt, and at last
the world stabilized.
I became a mage, and soon we
had our first Hero of
Four Classes (I had been a Hero,
but in a different
age) Daze. However, Daze
had outstripped us all,
me being second to him and the
others mostly far
below, he soon burned out and
was lost.
Later, another star appeared,
and Dalmair zoomed up
to Hero. I myself soon
completed the journey, and
we were strong enough to keep
active for awhile.
But no others approached, and
Dalmair became restless,
and was eventually recruited
to another clan for
a time before burning out as
well.
Slowly we have grown, and our
members stronger.
Another Hero, Sirheng, raised
himself from obscurity
to the pinnacle in mere months,
only to burn out
shortly after. But other
Heros have arrived slower,
Sutanal, Dunraven, Pega, Kyle...
and for the most
part they have remained loyal.
Quza is the last of
our lost Heros, and he has yet
to find a place to
stay as long as he was with
us. And at last we
have grown enough to attract
and hold Zinyin, a
Hero raised by other clans.
The moral? Perhaps none.
Our accomplishments I
would claim as greatest simple
longevity, starting
from nearly all single classes
and raising Heros.
The candle that burns from both
ends may be twice
as bright, but is gone twice
as fast.
Many have fallen to the ravages
of time, but we
continue to slowly grow stronger,
and I am pleased
that even though some fall to
other clans, many
of those have risen even to
leading those other
clans. Given time, perhaps
even Marthaen will
someday join the ranks of Heros...
-Myst