| KOL |
| KOL Forum |
| Clan Histories |
| Written by Vladjimir, with some editing by Chubbles. |
| ABOUT: In the middle of December 2004, the 17-year old Scottish schoolboy Philanthropist started The Rye, taking the name from the book he was reading at the time. Previously rejected by Aflubadubdub! and Warehouse23, estranged from his namesake clan, and disaffected with Sparkle Motion!, he decided to start a clan of his own once again. His first recruits were El Lasagna, Twiddles (one with a great affection for British schoolboys), and Sambob182 (an English schoolboy). Another early invite was Betrayer, who brought in quite a few players from the General Asymmetry forum's Family thread. The top clans at the time either had strict power requirements (Aflubadubdub! and Philanthropists), were not very active (Sparkle Motion!, 1337 Sn4x0rs) or were really focused on players significantly contributing to the game in a tangible way (Warehouse23). That left the clan some room for recruiting. Philanthropist proclaimed that this clan would not be 1337 at all, mostly meaning his recruiting was not necessarily based on power or on reputation in the game, but rather on likability. With this as his guideline, Philanthropist managed to pull together a strange and thoroughly impressive gathering of heralded KoL players in a very short time. The invited people were a mixture of notable forum posters, artists, and other assorted friends of Philanthropist from about the game. After two weeks of existence, the clan numbered around 30 members and was named among the top five clans of the year 2004 by Contrickster. As 2005 rolled in, clan forums were set up by Twiddles and the clan doors were closed. From now on, recruiting would happen through a stringent, democratic application procedure. However, that procedure wasn't always closely followed, bringing problems with it in the long run. The start of the new year was also when the Hire An Adventurer project was set up, under the impetus of Philanthropist. About a dozen members of the clan agreed to use their turns as mercenary farmers, in an area of the hirer's choice, in exchange for large sums of meat. The first incarnation of the project was a huge success, with several noted gamers using the services of the clan. However, a shadow was cast on the clan's intentions with the project. It had been promised that the profits of the project would go to a meat sink, but the meat sink that would be used was not announced. The meat was used to fund part of the purchase of one of BoozerBear's Steaming Evils, an item that was intended to be a semi-official meat sink, but wasn't regarded as such by some players who attacked the clan's reputation. The next incarnation of the Hire An Adventurer project was less of a success, partly because of the damaged reputation, but also because of considerable logistical problems; the clan was less organized than was good for business, and the stream of customers eventually petered out. At first the admins of the clan consisted of old-timers El Lasagna, Betrayer, Twiddles, Sambob182 and Philanthropist. In February, Philanthropist appointed a few new administrators: Megrimlock, Thisguy, Vladjimir and Mugsy Toothe. Sambob182 turned more and more inactive and ultimately left the clan, going into semi-retirement in Absolute Adherence. There was also some personal drama in the clan, the genesis of which is unclear; it ultimately resulted in Honest Bob, Twiddles and Betrayer (temporarily) leaving the clan. When Twiddles left, she took the forums with her and new forums were set up by Syko, with help from the rest of the clan. Philanthropist was hit hard by the loss of his old companions, and announced that there would be some big changes. The clan was in limbo for a while, and discontent grew as the nature of those changes remained unclear. There were some decisions that weren't fully backed by the whole of the clan regarding the admission process, resulting in further mounting tension. A holding clan for potential applicants, called The Catcher, was started, but the project was not supported by many members of The Rye, and was effectively abandoned. To date, The Rye mantains policy of near-total democracy in admitting new members - indeed, in most of its decisions as a clan. March came and Philanthropist lost reliable access to the internet for at least a month. He appointed Thisguy as nominal leader, being a respected contributor to discussions in the general forums and a 30 year old American writer in real life. Thisguy had also been the most vocal in his discontent of some of Philanthropist's policies. Thisguy restructured the membership process and set some policies straight, so that the voices of clan members could no longer be easily ignored. There are several interesting new ideas floating around the clan, and new members have surfaced with interesting ideas. That's the present, though; this is supposed to be history... addendum: On April 24, 2005, The Rye unleashed KoLopoly to the forums. A Monopoly spoof in which the properties are adventure areas and players must answer trivia to advance, it proved to be highly addictive, incredibly entertaining, and extremely well-programmed. The winner, with a high score of nearly 90,000 points, was rcraft1 (#355512). | MAJOR MEMBERS: *Kitsune_Tsuki (#110059) - Well-known forum poster and KoL artist. She organized the The Rye art project in the general forums. *Tubby (#28853) - Tubby has been regularly posting high-quality commentary in Discussion since well before Black Sunday. He has subtly changed policy along the way; less successful in his ardent support of the reset, but more so when he broke with tradition (and, technically, the forum rules) and made an earnest plea for a reevaluation of moderation in the forums. As punishment, Tubby (along with Darionlar) was, himself, made a mod. Tubby was fired as moderator in May, 2005. His leaving was one struggle in a far larger war of words that went on in spring 2005, as the roles of the community and the administration shifted in preparation for the long-awaited Ascension. The details of his troubles, as best as they are understood, may be found under Stable's entry in Aflubadubdub!. *Philanthropist (#43536) - see Philanthropists. As of this writing, Phil has been a member of Aflubadubdub, SiSSYFIGHTERS, Philanthropists, 1337 sn4x0rs, Alliance from Hell, Warclan, The Rye, and Sparkle Motion!. Philanthropist's personal history may be found here. *Megrimlock (#39252) - Former clan administrator and well-spoken forumgoer. Megrimlock introduced St. Skeletor's Day in KoL as an alternate anti-Valentine's day holiday. He is also the author of a slanderous and highly entertaining alternative The Rye history. Megrimlock was appointed forum moderator just before Ascension rolled out. Megrimlock wrote a variation on the Bartle test, which he called BarKoL. It was designed to help its takers decide whether they were Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, or Clubs - common player archetypes of RPGs, and lingo that was first introduced to the game by HotStuff in mid-2004, in a thread called "Enjoyment of Loathing". The result was coded by Agent Lex, and introduced to the forums in July 2005. *Bete Noire (#180553) - A keystone of the KoL community since her first post. Bete's musings on life, gender, and the world at large filled volumes in General Asymmetry, particularly in the Family thread, where she has been both shepherd and sheep. Bete's major area of philanthropy is Limes; she has sold them on the cheap or simply given them away by the hundreds of thousands. Bete was briefly modded on April 30, 2005, to deal with a mass spam attack on the Forums; she has been a chat moderator since November of 2004. *Twiddles (#263786) - see Aflubadubdub! *Sevain (#13846) - see Aflubadubdub! *Sambob182 (#28325) - see Alliance From Hell. *El Lasagna (#144561) - Clan administrator and well-known artist. *Vladjimir (#243023) - Clan administrator and co-writer of this clan history. Vladjimir is a noted PvP'er, a frequent forum poster, and a former member of Phoenix Rising. He has a familiar on both the Top Ten Kills and Top Arena Wins boards. *Xyloart (#69910) - well-known artist. *Syko (#312445) - Former clan administrator and host of the The Rye forums. *Mugsy Toothe (#129777) - Clan administrator and noted forum poster. *Giboc (#2284) - see 1337 sn4x0rs. During a serious downtime in the sn4x0r's active membership, Giboc briefly joined The Rye. *c00c00c00 (#183365) - A member for about two days in January. Later member of The Loading Dock, and radio KoL superstar. *Scyld (#33237) - see Philanthropists. Scyld left the 1337 Sn4x0rs for The Rye in January 2005, and is now 'visiting' Noblesse Oblige on the longest visit ever. *Thisguy (#114754) - Respected commentator on all things KoL in the forums. In late October of 2004, as Riff made an earnest call to all of KoL to sink as much meat as possible for the good of the Kingdom, Thisguy took his words to heart. He started his own "DIY Meatsink", selling items in his store and sinking the meat into his advertising budget. While not as successful as HotStuff's, it predated his, and is believed to be the first player-initiated meatsinks post-Black Sunday. Thisguy was appointed a forum moderator on April 30, 2005. *The Left Hand Jack (#38965) - Noted forum poster. The Left Hand Jack hired himself out as a solo farmer late in October 2004, with some success. *Fresh Curd (#89696) - noted forum poster and clan administrator. *Paranoidandroid (#67850) - see The Ninja Turtles. ParanoidAndroid is a noted forums artist. *Mortice (#376646) - Programmer of the KoLopoly game; also a respected forum poster. Mortice now hosts the Rye forums. *Maceblade (#133632) - Well-known forumgoer under the alias Circle. Circle's Not-A-Comic comic was a popular serial which imagined a bizarre battle between a number of well-known KoL players. He also made major contributions to the Make-A-KoL thread. *Honest Bob (#245638) - well-known forum poster, particularly in the Family thread. Later a member of the 13th Regiment of Loathing. *Betrayer (#53804) - Betrayer is far better known for his artistry and for his phenomenally large number of forum posts. While he joined the game in May 2004, he didn't start posting on the forums until September. When it rains, however, it pours. Betrayer became a Defender of Loathing less than 24 hours after his first post, and logged over 100 posts a day for nearly a week. He still clocked in at an average of 60 posts a day for several months, and was one of the most easily recognized faces in any public forum. On December 16, 2004, Betrayer was tapped to moderate Random Ramblings. In February 2005, after a mix of real-life issues and disaffection with the powers that be, Betrayer hung up his mod shoes. He would return to moderate RR again a few months later. *Fanatix (#13114) - after a long hiatus, Fanatix returned to the game in late 2004 in rare form as a noted forum poster and chat regular. *Carnifex (#27455) - Carnifex is a longtime forums veteran. It was at his suggestion, on November 4, 2004, that the Random Ramblings forum eventually returned. *LegeEvil (#73908) - see Head Clan. *Wrongshui (#85113) - WrongShui is an oft-celebrated forum poster, possessed of a mordant wit and a talent for deadpan one-liners. His extended leave of absence in Fall 2004 saddened a great many regulars. He joined The Rye after a very long stint with the clan GYScene. *Jurgen (#101487) - see Alliance From Hell. *Mat (#12454) - see The Goddess's Knights. *WidowMaker (#124864) - see Alliance From Hell. *Kobra (#63020) - Well-known forum poster. *Jacka18l (#60852) - see Warclan. *Ms_Pellar (#151726) - Noted forum poster and artist. Former member of Alliance From Hell and Tempest Fugit. *Haz (#15143) - Briefly a member. See Tricky Tricky. *che (#118676) - see Sparkle Motion!. *xZanu (#46061) - see Knights of Minus Tirith. *Invader Doom (#94128) - well-known Villa resident and forumgoer. *BlackBeltDuck (#27767) - Frequent villa visitor; formerly a member of Tainted Meat Alliance and the Lolly Licker's Finishing School. *Prima Vera Angelhair (#144394) - briefly a member. see Warclan. *Mental Seppuku (#45601) - Mental Seppuku was known for intelligent (and often trenchant) commentary on the forums in the summer of 2004; like WrongShui, he took a long break from KoL, and his absence was mourned by many. *CheekyJez (#99052) - well-known forum poster. *Zarbuncle (#131227) - well-known forum poster. *Flinkle (#91985) - Staple of Newbie chat, and fountain of perpetual effervescence. *w_nightshade (#54130) - well-known forum poster. *The_Inferno (#127563) - well-known forum poster. *Agent Lex (#37596) - well-known to the forums under the alias Eltneg (#386039). Jick's sword-waving, martini-downing forum avatar is of Agent Lex's design, as are some in-game custom avatars. Agent Lex coded Megrimlock's BarKoL test. *Teleute (#303494) - Arkanstock celebrity. *Darionlar (#37043) - former 1337 sn4x0r. Darionlar is a very well-known forum poster, especially in General Asymmetry; in February 2005, she, along with Tubby, was appointed a forum moderator. *Cardern (#168099) - well-known forum poster. *ratbotkiller (#190105) - frequent contributor to The Phearsome Phantom (#196935)'s Jick and Skully Show forum threads. *Cheese_Shoes (#28863) - See Alliance From Hell. *Beatrix Kiddo (#48584) - see Aflubadubdub. *Cyberwocky (#68892) - former member of the Ninja Turtles, and of Philanthropists under the name JpgJpg (#80883). Cyberwocky was the second person, after Quato (see Alliance From Hell), to enter Villa. *Le DuDe (#17611) - Briefly a member. See Philanthropists. *Ozzyozzy (#159763) - KoL artist and well-known forumgoer (as Ozymandias). Former member of Zair (see Noblesse Oblige)'s clan, Pier #11. *Grunj (#37981) - see 1337 sn4x0rs. *Old Ned (#64432) - Well-known and thoughtful forum poster. Old Ned was a centrist voice in many of the major debates in the forums in 2005. *The Rye (#345344) - This is an admin character; it was created and controlled by Philanthropist at first, but was later made accessible to a number of members of the clan. |