Clan

In December of 1996, EvilMasterRob came to me one morning before school and said, preceded by his unique evil snicker, "I'm going make my own clan". We discussed a great many things concerning the idea, and, ultimately, Evilavatar decided to try something that had never been done before -- a clan based upon alignment. He quickly persuaded a couple friends to our cause, and the Clan of Evil was born.

Back in this day, the prerequistes for forming a clan were having first, at least five members and second, a god sponsor. For a brief month we were a "street gang", proudly proclaiming our illegitimacy and commandeering auction as our unoffical clan channel whenever we gathered in the early morning. Slowly and secretly, Evilavatar hammered out the details with the MUD admin.

Dentin sponsored us, and mid-January we managed to get all five gang members on at the same time one morning. Evilavatar and I became elders. We quickly clanned Gisco, Ironfist and Az. Clan Lawful Evil was now legit.

Gisco tells the clan, 'the name Gisco was uniquely Catharginian'
Gisco tells the clan, 'he was a lieutenant in Hannibal's army during the second Punic War'
Gisco tells the clan, 'he was the son of a noble, but he had a reputation for being less than compentant'
Gisco tells the clan, 'before the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal and his captains, including Gisco, looked down onto the plain'
Gisco tells the clan, 'they could see the huge number of the oncoming Roman legions, and some wanted to retreat'
Gisco tells the clan, 'then Hannibal uttered this famous line, "The Romans may have their Legions, but there is no Gisco among them."'
Gisco tells the clan, 'they all had a hearty laugh and went on to win the battle'
You tell the clan, 'well then, dragon and kindred way outnumber us'
You tell the clan, 'but there is no Gisco among them :)'

I grabbed this poem that Ironfist wrote off an old alias on Darklord. The whole poem was a lot longer iirc.

A handful of other mid-levels rallied under our banner during the next month. The clan area was opened to us in early March of '97. During this month and the preceding, more powerful players signed up, like Dowart, Fiorst and Zoe. Our membership peaked in the mid-forties, and we rivaled the major clans for the loyalty of high-level players' hearts.

From the middle of March to late April, we suffered our first "purge". I lost internet access during this time, and Evilavatar had a time without access that coincided with mine. Without any elders, the clan lost much of its leadership, along with its ability to clan others. Disgruntled high-level players left in droves to join weaker clans -- none of which exist any longer, ironically. Our most faithful remained.
After my return, we had other run of prosperity. Our very own Pinky signed up in spring of '97. During this time, the whirlwind of Maniacmatium and his friend Chios came our way. This cool duo really helped out the clan a lot. Here's an adorable quote that lead to the creation of the object: Matium's Pants!

Gisco tells the group, 'remember that night the raccoon stole your pants?'
Maniacmatium tells the group, 'yeah we left tabasco sauce out for it the next night'
Gisco tells the group, 'we soaked some leftover pizza in it and left the bottle outside the tent'
Maniacmatium tells the group, 'I'd just dozed off when the night was pierced by the most unearthly cry of a raccoon that had just quaffed Tabasco sauce'
Gisco tells the group, 'heh, it was screaming like a banshee'
You tell the group, 'did fire come down from the sky to consume it?'
Maniacmatium tells the group, 'it was prety dark I think I would have noticed that'
Gisco tells the group, 'we found some of the change that fell out of matt's pants'
You tell the group, 'A raccoon quaffs a bottle of Tabasco sauce.'
You tell the group, 'Your blood freezes as you hear a raccoon's death cry!'
You tell the group, 'A raccoon is DEAD!'
You tell the group, 'You gain 2 experience.'
You tell the group, 'You get 30 gold coins from the corpse of a raccoon.'

The ever-so-lovable Chia also joined our cult around this time. Relationships with a few other minor clans improved, so we had quite a few series of secret alliances with quite a few clans, at times so complex that I can't possibly remember what was going on with any accuracy.

A second purge occured May and June. Evilavatar's access became sporadic. Work became increasingly burdensome, I found myself with very little time to play. Without our constant supervision, a few unscrupulous players turned on us -- players like Dark and Aerer. Though loyal during the first purge, these traitors, spurred by increasing anti-LE sentiments, turned against the clan leaders and became totally insubordinate. Of course, anti-LE sentiments were instigated by the traitors themselves, which served to fuel their increased hatred for the clan's leaders. Obvious traitors, like Aerer and Godman, got de-clanned by Evilavatar sometime in May. Dark feigned loyality, but, fortunately, I perceived her mischief and de-clanned her. Az/Grillan(Krillan), who had been a helpful happy clanmate, just went insane one day so we had to nuke him, too. (We think he hit puberty or something...)

From the end of June to the very beginning of August, the clan enjoyed another bout of prosperity. Follower and Katt joined around this time. The Deathmonkey/Kabolt/Saban cabal from Walnut, Iowa, also signed up with us, pushing our membership to record numbers.

Saban tells the clan, 'it's illegal for a black man to walk the streets after dark in Walnut'

Something very strange and very bad happened then: Evilavatar and I lost internet access at the exact same time. We had been carrying the lion's share of the dues up until this point in time. Gisco and Pinky did not have access at this time. There was no roster remove back then, and our roster had a lot of ghost members and a few inactive players in it. Dues took a sharp drop, and, before the remaining clan members realized what was happening and had time to react, the clan was in financial ruin.

Our defunct clan was bought by Macdady/Promised/Jedi, who promptly renamed it Army of Darkness and started filling the ranks with his cronies. Promised thought he could replace Evilavatar and I, and other members were coerced and blackmailed into joining his clan. Gisco and Pinky regained access mid-August. Promised hadn't removed them from the roster, so when they logged on they were still elders of the clan. They saw through his trickery and conspired with one another against him. I managed to get back on before the end of the year, and they re-clanned me and made me an elder again. I ambushed Promised and de-clanned him at the first opportunity. Soon thereafter, we had the name of the clan changed back to Lawful Evil and spent the rest of the year ejecting Promised's multis and minions. Promised decided to try and ping the mud to death in retaliation. He failed miserably, and the attempt resulted in his permanent destruction. (A shrine has been erected in the game commemorating this event. It is located down, east, and north of the Unholy Temple of Dentin. Be sure to look at each of the three statues.)

When the beginning of 1998 rolled around, Evilavatar returned to the game and we agreed to rethink our clan strategy. We decided that, for our own peace of mind, to limit membership to people we knew personally, which meant that we trimmed the roster down to those of us that went to high school together (Evilavatar, myself, Gisco, Pinky, Ironfist, Raoh, Scott/Katt and Sephiroth, Scott's little brother) and the multis of our longtime friends: Iam (Kralen's multi) and Haley (Byung's multi). We started pouring our gold into the clan account, and in no time we enough in there to keep it running for the next thirty years or so.

Before too long, we all started focusing on building, and the clan took a back seat to our building projects. Every one of us had bport builders by that point. Evilavatar became Tarrant, Pinky became Izakari, and Ironfist became Bloodlust. Pinky got her own main port god in 1999: Schlyne. Gisco gained his main port god, Draak, in 2000, which he shared with EvilMasterRob and I until we obtained our respective deities, Void and Shadowfax, in 2002. Byung ascended to godhood around the same time.

Lawful Evil persists, but, of course, it is more of a museum than an actual clan nowadays. Still, it provides a haven for mature players who eschew the usual clan politicking and drama, and it will forever part of the legacy that is Alter Aeon. Longtime player Fehlan joined just a few months ago, the first person to do so in nearly a decade. Because he is awesome.