Formal Notice of Challenge

[DoS Archive]

From: jonalyn@aol.com (Jonalyn)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 00:45:52 EDT

Master Glowacki

Mine apology for misrepresenting thine given name, sir. Do know this, sir, I care nae what thine opinion of me be. Tis of little import in the scheme of things. If thee art favored in that thine challenge ist nae held to the standards of the law of the rings thou mayest thank Madame Silvertree, for she seems to apply her 'discretion' willy nilly ast it pleases her. I can verra well understand thou nae wishing to be on the lass' bad side, thou
mayest hae been held to the standard that be set within the rules were it nae that she dost seem to show her bias so forthrightly.

I should note, that despite Madame Silvertree's claims to be using her discretion, the rules of challenges do state among other noteworthy requirements to whit: "All challenges and answers to challenges must be sent to both the Standings Keeper and the Baron or Overlord being challenged for purposes of notification and validation." Yet, Madame Silvertree states that the then warlord Goldie didst render unto only Madame Silvertree the bona
fides required when the warlord didst challenge the then Baron Magnus and didst fail to make known unto the Baron the particulars when she wast requested to do so. The passage goes on to state to whit: "Challenges, if not properly served, will be voided by the Standings Keeper. In the case of a voided challenge, the challenger will have his or her right to challenge stripped for the remainder of the cycle as a penalty." Madame Silvertree's
'discretionary actions' permitted that challenge to take place in clear violation of the law. Much ast her 'discretion' permitted the challenge of the Warlord Ecore unto the now former Baron Daelin Dragonsblade to proceed.

Thine challenge unto the Baron Zafiroo Turidan wast granted a period of protection nae withstanding that such ist nae permitted. Madame Silvertree again acting at her 'discretion'?
Tis stated that challenges must be answered within one week of validation and dueled within two weeks of that response. Perhaps Madame Silvertree's 'discretion' permits her to take her time in validation of a challenge, indeed, she rarely if ever hast publicly proclaimed a challenge ast being valid, a tradition that wast done by past personages what held that position. Her discretion howe'er does nae grant unto her the privilege of setting a
period of protection unto either the challenged or the challenger ast she quite plainly hast done in the matter of thine challenge.

Moreover, most children what hae learned to count do believe that the phrase ..."more than one." be meaning more than one. In her claims of leniency unto the various ranks, in particular her comments upon the removal of warlords, the law dost use the phrase "more than one". Perhaps Madame Silvertree ist nae able to count past one to reach two? Perhaps Madame Silvertree's understanding of the common tongue ist lacking? To quote further, "With
the exception of Warlords any dueler who is inactive over the duration of a complete cycle is subject to removal from the Standings. Reinstatement with record intact are (sic) possible but only at the discretion of the DoS Supervisor. This includes the Overlord and Barons." I am nae aware that Madame Silvertree hast been named DoS Supervisor.

Tis seeming that the community ist to be rendered powerless to question the officials in their handling of the matter, or those what do question are to be castagated. Tis of little import to me if thou and others wish to cast insult and wish silence to reign, howe'er, such shall nae still mine pen nor mine tongue, sirrah, lest the darkness which already enshrouds the basement deepen into utter blackness.

What fear those warlords that wouldst seek titled rank that they wouldst eschew scrutiny nae only by their peers but by the community at large? Hae the warlords become such spineless curs that they wouldst cringe away and wish a curtain of silence to fall upon their challenges? Fie, t'was a time such wouldst be a stain upon their honor which none wouldst hae permitted.

Jonalyn Starfare
Common as they come

[DoS Archive]

From: eldarluth@aol.com (Eldar Luth)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 02:39:44 EDT

::reads and reads.....and reads....:::

::wholeheartedly searches her soul for an opinion on the topic of the day::

::turns again from the board, a perfect silvery tear staining a pale cheek as the elf walks away, whispering..:::: " I will have this sport back again one day.... "




@}----`--.----{----- Luthien

[DoS Archive]

From: drakewyni@aol.com (Drakewyn I)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 07:00:07 EDT

This posting is the last I will say upon the matter.

Any and all decisions, policies and actions that I take, I take with clear notification and often long conferance with the Supervisor.
It was at the Supervisor's decision, not my own, that the verification of Warlord Glowacki's challenge be delayed until after the Baron's Tournament... thus to prevent a possible challenge to a Baron who may have become the Overlord before the date of the actual challenge match.
As to the situation involving the challenge of the Warlord Ecore to the Baron Daelin Dragonsblade, I have explained clearly that at the time I read the challenge letter and verified the wins there upon, the Standings were posted. In addition, the challenge letter was issued some few hours after I had delivered the Standings for public posting and retired to my home for the evening. In my mail that very same day, delivered only a few
hours after the challenge itself, was a request by the Baron to expidite the verification, as the Baron had pressing business to attend to.
All of this is a matter of public record.

Any further inquiries into any of these matters to the Office of the Standing's Keeper will be sent to the Supervisor with no more than a cursory glance.

I find it saddening indeed that people would decry policies designed to help people unilaterally.


Lady Drake, aka the Gryphon.

[DoS Archive]

From: cyggnimoi@aol.com (Cyg Gnimoi)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 10:47:21 EDT

Dear Drake,

It is my belief there are more here who find good intent in how you perform your duties than the contempt and sour compliants and ideas put forth upon this cork by the aged Regent, poor dear.

Chin up Drake, you are loved and appreciated.


Your friend always,
Cyggy

p.s.
Yes Jonalyn, I'm delusional and a horrible creature. I'm sure I'll burn in hell.
I know you are not surprised I enjoy Drakes company and call her friend.
~


The angel adjusts her halo, noticing a bit of tarnish-like dullness to the ring of celestial light.

"Oh dear, did I write that?"

A smallish smile with a hint of the devil sullens her lovely visage.

[DoS Archive]

From: andreathrn@aol.com (AndreaThrn)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 11:40:46 EDT

I be knowin' that this migh' get more answers tha' I wanted, but coul' someone tell me wha' be so bad 'out reinstatin' the ranks of those who have nae made Warlord?


gAndrea Silverthorng

Celt wit' a 'tude

[DoS Archive]

From: knight7044@aol.com (Knight7044)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 13:33:10 EDT

Drake,

A song....

~~Some say love, it is a river~~
~~that drowns the tender reed.~~

~~Some say love, it is a razor~~
~~that leaves your soul to bleed.~~

~~Some say love, it is a hunger,~~
~~an endless aching need.~~

~~I say love, it is a flower~~
~~and you it's only seed.~~

~~It's the heart afraid of breaking~~
~~that never learns to dance.~~

~~It's the dream afraid of waking~~
~~that never takes the chance.~~

~~It's the one who won't be taken,~~
~~who cannot seem to give,~~

~~and the soul afraid of dyin'~~
~~that never learns to live.~~

~~and the soul afraid of dyin'~~
~~that never learns to live.~~

~~and you think that love is only~~
~~for the lucky and the strong,~~

~~just remember in the winter~~
~~far beneath the winter snows....~~

~~lies the seed that with the sun's love~~
~~in the spring becomes the rose.~~

Sir Robert
You doing a Great !!!

[DoS Archive]

From: xstevegx@aol.com (X SteveG X)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 14:19:26 EDT

>"All challenges and answers to challenges must be sent to both the Standings
>Keeper and the Baron or Overlord being challenged for purposes of
>notification and validation." Yet, Madame Silvertree states that the then
>warlord Goldie didst render unto only Madame Silvertree the bona
>fides required when the warlord didst challenge the then Baron Magnus and
>didst fail to make known unto the Baron the particulars when she wast
>requested to do so.

I assume this means that Goldie sent merely a statement of challenge, not the Peer Wins as well, to Baron Eques. If she didn't even send a notice of challenge, you are in the right (for now). But in the more likely case...

I do love how you try to bend the rules to read something other than they do, and when someone points out your faults, you quickly back away, only to bring it up later once everyone forgot why you were wrong in the first place. A sign of a great master of trickery and deception.

The rules clearly state that:

"The Warlord must provide the following list to the Standings Keeper when making a Baronal challenge...

List of 10 defeated peers and the dates of those matches." (A similar wording applies to Overlord challenges)

It does not say that the list need be presented to the challenged party upon the official statement of challenge that the rules require to be sent out. In fact, nowhere in the UTC is the term "Peer Wins" used. It is merely in the basic rules to describe how a Warlord initiates a challenge to a Baron (or Overlord).

>Do know this, sir, I care nae what thine opinion of me be. Tis of little
>import in the scheme of things.

Like your ramblings are?

>If thee art favored in that thine challenge ist nae held to the standards of
>the law of the rings thou mayest thank Madame Silvertree, for she seems to
>apply her 'discretion' willy nilly ast it pleases her.

As Drake herself has said repeatedly, that decision was made by Golden, the supervisor. Drake certainly could have validated the challenge then, but it would have gone directly against her boss' orders. Not a good thing, I'd say.

>I can verra well understand thou nae wishing to be on the lass' bad side,
>thou
>mayest hae been held to the standard that be set within the rules were it nae
>that she dost seem to show her bias so forthrightly.
>

Let me get this straight. You say I was on Drake's bad side, which caused her to obey Golden's order to postpone my challenge instead of blatantly disregarding the special circumstance in order to follow a unwritten tradition of challenges being verified in a timely manner. And to try to get back on her good side, I'm not complaining about it.

Perhaps you forget that I made this challenge after months (at least) absence from the arena, save a duel or two here and there. The only reason I would be angry by any means is if I had expected to be able to gain entry into the Baron's Tournament, since otherwise, another two weeks would mean next to nothing. And trying to win the Overlord crown by going through a Baron, and then a tournament, when I could have straight challenged for it, makes
absolutely no sense.

And please refrain from the "Master" title. I hold no command over any person. The title of "Warlord", while I hold it, works fine.

-Steven Glowacki
Knows Jonalyn isn't as common as she claims, since otherwise we'd have been driven crazy already.

[DoS Archive]

From: sidarthae@aol.com (Sidartha E)
Date: 08 Aug 1999 14:20:02 EDT

Drake~

Indeed, you are doing an amiable job. Remember what the wise have said, you cannot please all the people all the time. There will always be those who will never be pleased, no matter what you do. No need fretting yourself over them.

Never wanting to have to stand in your shoes,
~Sid

[DoS Archive]

From: iainmacknz@aol.com (IainMacKnz)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 00:14:18 EDT

A note, strangely addressing the action as opposed to the nonsense, mysteriously finds its way onto the cork. It is signed and sealed, leaving not one whit of doubt as to the truth of its origin.

To say that the words are written in anger would be a grave disservice; indeed, periods and dots are driven with enough emphasis to have cleanly perforated the page. As with the last three notes he was disgusted enough to have sent here, the parchment is firmly secured to the cork by a dagger, driven in to the hilt. The observant might even note it's identical to the other such fasteners, and those with long memories might even remember the six
suspiciously similar daggers gifted to him by the long-absent Jennavieve Sieve-Crow...

"Valmion, Lord of Questrion,

I wish it to be known that your issuance of challenge rests in my gut in a manner akin to the curdlings of milk left too long in the Cadonian sun. I fail to grasp how one might issue challenge against one's former retainer - one who did not leave your service to betray you as so many others did, or to seek his fortune elsewhere, but because you did abandon him with not so much as a reassurance that you would return. One whose loyalty to you was
expressed to me often when you allowed him to accompany me on a mission critical to the very survival of your backwater little realm - indeed, the entire backwater little planet.

Of course, this is not the only time you have arrogantly spat in the face of those you yourself wronged, so it should not truly have come as a surprise. Alas, 'tis just another miserable day in a miserable place, and a reminder why I simply cannot bring myself to breathe the fetid air there any longer.

Should you win, accept my hope that the ring stains the finger it encircles.

With disgust,

Ian Rex,
somewhere upwind."

[DoS Archive]

From: karnafexx@aol.com (Karnafexx)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 05:02:30 EDT

Reads the post from the old, haggardly angel and blinks. "Drake and the vulture are friends? I actually had hope for her. " He sighs and wonders off, thinking that if Drake takes friendship and\or advice from such a rotten seed then she's probably going to end up as twisted and perverted as the foul mistress of lies.

[DoS Archive]

From: valmion@aol.com (Valmion)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 09:12:49 EDT

Iain,

Go back to your team dueling league where you still think you are somebody. Also, a shipment of fresh milk has been sent to your residence so you might be able to handle the pains of an aging stomach. Perhaps a suggestion to warm that milk and to have your servants lay out some cookies with it.

If you have a problem with me, pick up your sword and come on back to the arena. Stop blowing hot air from the hideaway of your team dueling league. And wheather you were a once, twice or thrice baron means little to me, as you are speaking about something you are clueless about, but alas, saw another attempt at shooting some disfavor in my direction.

Until you speak again ol'e wise one,

Valmion of Questrion

[DoS Archive]

From: valmion@aol.com (Valmion)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 09:45:28 EDT

To the community,

Should anyone have a question about my reasons for challenging an old friend, the friendship I did note in the challenge, please feel free to question me on it. I think the reasons were spelled out quite clear and the acceptance of my formal Second and Lady of Honor should speak volumes as to what the reasons behind this challenge are.

Yet, it seems there are some who would look past the obvious to fuel the flames of hatred against me once more. ::smiles as he pens the words::

Please, I am open to any and all who might have any concerns or questions over this matter, and I will make myself available to any for an ale and some good conversation.

Cheers,

Valmion of Questrion

[DoS Archive]

From: iainmacknz@aol.com (IainMacKnz)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 12:18:44 EDT

Another note appears, fastened with a fifth gifted dagger; the sixth, sadly, was destroyed in a freak accident some years ago in this very hall.

"Really, Valmion. I knew you were grossly oversensitive at times, but I grasp that we all have our little failings, myself included. Your penchant for abandoning responsibilities is another, but that also was never of great import to me. Even your hypocrisy in demanding that others show their responsibility in the very matters which you neglected your own only served to mildly irritate me. Why, even the insult you bore upon my former spouse, in
days past, before she and I had even met...

Hmm. Maybe, I DO have a problem with you, although I certainly can't recall, up to this moment, ever really feeling that way.

Regardless... surely you know me to be above responding to your puerile dare. You have been here well long enough to know that it would prove nothing; indeed, I can't imagine that you don't see one of the most glaring reasons why I've no further use for our old haunts in the very saying. 'You have a problem, bring your sword.' Truly, Questrion... when was the last time you saw that challenge issued here, and then witnessed the loser gracefully
cede the issue?

No... I have better means of expending my sweat than to 'bring my sword' someplace where I can count the number of folk who actually recognize the meaning of such a gesture without removing my boots. I don't have the temerity to spit on honor by dueling FOR honor in a place that no longer seems to have any of its own. It is enough for me to express my distaste; indeed, insofar as you seem so angered by it that you feel you must needs resort to the
most childish of insults - oh, and how I laugh at the thought of you actually thinking those words would rile me into acting like a typical schoolboy - perhaps I might interest you in the idea that it is you who has the problem with me, rather than the other way around?

Nevertheless... I do wish you luck. Especially in securing retainers to loyally serve you. For one who expressed such anger at the revolt staged against you - righteous anger, indeed, I have never denied you that - you seem remarkably unable to examine just why it is that misfortune befell you.

Even Kings and Lords, dear Valmion, are not the center of the universe. Those which spit on the goodwill and loyalty of those who have shown faith quite often find themselves looking over their realm from the tip of a pike. If it suits you to slander me on these walls, so be it. I've been slandered in much better places. But perhaps, just once, you might see something for advice.

As ever, I remain,
Ian Rex."

[DoS Archive]

From: valmion@aol.com (Valmion)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 12:57:18 EDT

M'lord Iain,

I shall try and keep this brief and to the very points you bring out in the latest post to the cork;

You say:

Truly, Questrion... when was the last time you saw that challenge issued here, and then witnessed the loser gracefully cede the issue?

To which I answer with my passage from the origional challenge, which it seems you did completely read, most anxious to take a shot at me it...

Win or lose, this match shall ease the troubled heart I carry Baron. Should fate decree you to defend your ring, then I shall feel that the action you took against an Honorable Overlord to have been justified under the eyes of God. Should I come out the victor, then I shall feel that justice has been served for a wrong committed against an honorable man.

Then you continue;

Why, even the insult you bore upon my former spouse, in days past, before she and I had even met...

To which I would reply;

Recently the Lady Luthien returned to RhyDin and sought help in ridding her mind of her most turbulent past within this realm. Strange that if she held such a view against myself and those of Questrion, she would have sought aid elsewhere in ridding herself of those same memories. Yet m'lord Iain, she did come to Questrion for aid, which was given without question.

Looking forward to your reply,

Valmion of Questrion

[DoS Archive]

From: clkdmenace@aol.com (ClkdMenace)
Date: 09 Aug 1999 16:15:55 EDT

Upon the coming of dawn Valmion's passage regarding the Luthien is found stained in crimson, yet readable.

The same crimson ink used in the stain appears again on a ripped piece of silvery slash.

"Lies."