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FFML Prologue: Humble Beginnings
By Schala
Once upon a time, there lived a humble man by the name of John Daley, a hard-working college student who lived somewhere in the suburbs of Canada. Despite his workload, his love for the incredible Square game "Final Fantasy III" led him to come up with a great idea: Why not create a mailing list for FF3 players? Visions and ideas filled his mind...People would discuss FF3!...People would give each other hints and secrets about the game!...People could talk about ChronoTrigger and FF2!......His hopes led on and on.
And so, he created the Final Fantasy Mailing List. Unfortunately, because John could not find a proper listserv, he had to moderate the list the old-fashioned way. This meant people had to send posts to his e-mail address, he would skim them to make sure there wasn't any overly offensive language, and he would then forward the posts to the list. Now this worked fine for awhile, seeing as the list had a whopping 12 members then, but as people visited his site and his ads on alt.games.final-fantasy reached many more, people were soon signing up like crazy. The modest 12 grew to an extravagant 250.
Now in any large group of people, there are always a few who speak out more than others. This sub-group carried on lively discussions and always encouraged others to post, despite the fact that doing so would probably cause more stress for John than he would ever admit. Strangely, though, the modest List Moderator himself was normally silent on most subjects.
And, as in any group, you have clashing opinions and thoughts, but overall everyone got along quite well. A wide variety of topics were discussed. Hints and help for games, next-gen systems, emulators, ROM's, art, game music, sentimentality, and even off-topics such as religion, philosophy, and life in general were some of the many subjects that came up. However, certain discussions flamed up so much as to bring members at each other's throats and the FFML to the verge of breakdown. One such discussion was about Crono's silence, which led to the infamous Moogle War. Another was the e'er-so-present Console Wars, in which many members tried to prove which game system was the best. And yet another was almost totally unrelated to FF3, the Computer Wars, which came up in the early days of the FFML and where people flared up about IBM vs. Macintosh.
Because John did the list the way it was, members got mail about once a week, if they were lucky. The posts were rather unexpected; one day members might open their inboxes and BOOM! Their original 5 messages shot up to about 150 or more. Getting such a volume of mail was actually somewhat fun, even though it took about two weeks for something you posted to actually get sent to the rest of the members. Some posts were even lost altogether, and the only remedy for that was to send the post again. Despite the problems, it was a generally happy list.
Eventually, people noticed they weren't getting much mail. When taxed by somewhat irate members, poor John apologized and accused his school of giving him too many exams. To combat the lack of mail, John finally found a free listserv, Coollist, and the FFML went from a bi-weekly list to a daily one. Members were thrilled, and to celebrate, Schala abandoned her normal reserve and sanity and went berserk on the list.
Unfortunately, as John pointed out, free things are rarely ever good quality, and sure enough, Coollist started going wacko. First, people were subbed and unsubbed at Coollist's will. Then it refused to send messages. Then it insisted certain addresses were invalid. Finally, it went down altogether. Coollist was down for about a month before it went back up. Although people celebrated its return by sending a whole flurry of unsent messages, tempers were getting short, and several members suggested moving to another address.
In the midst of all this confusion, the FFML suffered another blow when John announced he was relinquishing his post of List Moderator, for reasons not fully explained. Members got the general idea that he was moving to another part of Canada and would not have constant Internet access. Two members, Trystan and Morandan, offered to be interim Moderators. After some tearful good-byes, well-wishes, and threats of death if he didn't come back, list life went on.
Although Coollist was decent, it started crashing a lot more, and Trystan offered to do things the old way; namely, sending posts to him so he could forward it to everyone else. Unfortunately, after a few posts, Trystan soon found out the fatal flaw in this plan. His server apparently counted each address as a separate message, and so with about 250 members, each ONE post sent out amounted to over 250! With more than 20 posts sent out per day, you can imagine what a doozy that would be, and how much space that would take up. His server didn't like that, and threatened to close Trystan's account if he didn't stop sending so much mail. And so, the FFML once again slowed to a trickle of posts.
At last, Magus found ANOTHER listserv, one that was more promising. Eric contacted as many members as possible and told them the address to subscribe to, and most did so. That listserv has been in operation only since the new year, but at this address we hope to stay. Unfortunately, the new listserv apparently has its share of problems...but hey, we still exist, and we still have hope! ^_^
THE MAIN POSTERS (and, consequently, those most often appearing in fanfics) - in no particular order
(bios written by Schala)
Schala: a.k.a. Enya, Nabiki, Daryl, Camel2 (when she feels like it). A college student, she finally settled on "Schala" after going through several identity crises, which caused some agony for one "Dark Lord." She has unerringly began about seven wars between mailing list members, including the Moogle War. She morphed into a camel several times on IRC, which prompted members to cause havoc with her handle.
Kain: Another college student, he belongs to that famed Dragoon class and was somehow killed in the Moogle War. A mysterious person, very few people know his true name, and he is amazingly reticent about it. Although he is claimed to have been resurrected, his final fate still remains unknown.
Pokey: One of the list's international members, he hails from the Netherlands and can drink quite a bit, despite his college workload (or perhaps because of it), which probably explains his happy-go-lucky attitude. He speaks English so well (despite some slight controversy over the words "rent" and "hire") that all of us were amazed to learn that it was his second language. He insists he got his handle from that cactus in Super Mario, but FFML members know that his name REALLY comes from Earthbound. Either way, watch out for his famous spell, "Hug3."
Dark Lord Eric: a.k.a. DLE, Eric, Gynarth spirit of the DLE (when Eric died), and some others I won't even mention ^_^. A staunch FF3/Nintendo/Amiga supporter and strongly anti-FF7/PlayStation/Microsoft, he can keep his cool and find humor in even the most heated debates, in which people usually are against him, but we still love him. ^_^ His sig was the longest on our list for a long time, running well over 100 lines, and eventually causing the Longest-Sig War. Certain parts of that sig have become rather notorious among members.
E.R. Figaro: a.k.a. Edgar, Eddie. Self-proclaimed Knight and Protector of FFML member Rydia. His castle was taken over in the Moogle War, but he insists he still retains control of it. This confusion may be a result of all the college exams and dancing camels, for which he has a strange affinity, that have fried his brain. Despite that, he remains true to his strong moral beliefs and values.
Rydia: A favorite target of Moogle attacks, those "incidents" were slightly diverted when Edgar took it upon himself to protect her. She once vanished for about three weeks, causing Edgar to go into an incredibly horrible singing fit. She eventually reappeared, only to find herself buried under three tons of mail. She is trying to escape demands that she appear in a metal bikini.
Kaitlin: Druidess and Sorceress Supreme, she is incredibly mature beyond her 15 years. A huge fan of Yoshitaka Amano, she is also a great artist herself, although she absolutely refuses to bend to the demands that she draw Rydia in a metal bikini. She has been another target of repeated attacks by crazed Moogles and is seeking some kind of protection from them. She is one of the most sought-after females on the list, but we all know her heart is set on Locke Cole. ^_^
Magus: a.k.a ArchmageJanus. Yet another college student, he thrives on FFV and apparently understands more Japanese than we thought. He is an excellent ROM and emulator source, and can find humor in the bleakest situation, especially with cussing members who are trying their darndest to unsubscribe.
Jaana: a.k.a. EvilJaana. An FF7 fan. Depending on her mood, she can change to EvilJaana, especially during our weekly IRC sessions.
BioCrimson, a.k.a Bio, and TimeCHRONO: Staunch FF7 supporters and quite passionate participants in almost any debate.
Marie the Esper Girl: a.k.a. Janis. One of the few Espers to join the list, she was attacked during the Moogle War and was nearly reduced to Magicite. Since then, she has borne some animosity toward Moogles.
Mataya: a.k.a. Shumate. Another Esper, he is somewhat shrouded in mystery. Yet for all that, he is a polite and humble Esper with a sense of humor (at least, when he feels like it).
Tritoch: Yet another Esper, we don't hear from him as often as we'd like to, especially with crazed Moogles trying to turn all list Espers into Magicite.
Trystan: A List Moderator when John relinquished his position for reasons unknown, and another college student. The stress lowered his immune system enough to make him as sick as a dog for about a month or more.
Morandan: a.k.a. Locke2. The second List Moderator, he once disappeared for about two weeks, then came back to find the list was in total disorder because of Coollist's temper. His most recent problem is trying to get straight all the people on the list who want "Locke" as their handle. His own alias of "Locke2" gave Schala some problems when she was writing her fanfic.
Pat the Mystic Guru: A rather new member, he caught on to FFML ways quite fast and even wrote a fanfic about it. He is constantly striving for peace and tranquility, and drinks quite a lot of tea whilst he strives. One of his first posts was a poem that would be a perfect description for Zozo. ^_^
Alan: Paladin and Master General. He was a general in the Moogle War, leading the humans against the Moogles. He has a cool sword as part of his sig, although many of us have yet to see what it actually looks like, because our e-mail programs apparently mess it up.
Kupek: One of several Moogles on the list (the others, alas, have somehow disappeared...) who spawned the attacks against the humans in the Moogle War. He usually gives one-sentence replies to most posts (except when it comes to morality issues), but that doesn't prevent him from putting a lot of philosophy in his replies.
Neilast: Another great debater, especially concerning ebonics questions, and especially against Kupek.
EvilKnight and Kharis Knightwind: Occasional posters, both heroic knights, and FF7 fans. Kharis keeps his trusty Ragnarok sword by him at all times, even when he starts splashing Schala on IRC.
Golbez: A rather young member who went insane several times on the list, even spelling his own name incorrectly once. When he got over his suicidal phase, he went into a philosophical phase. Recently he has claimed he's "back to normal," whatever that means. So far he's done nothing insane. We hope he stays that way. ^_^
CHAOS: A person with another memorable signature, especially concerning his self-proclaimed title of "Lord of the Galaxy," he does not cause as much troub
le as his name implies.
N64 Man and Aaron Cohen: Great N64 fans and somewhat anti-PSX. They may sometimes resort to using all caps and cussing, but they have toned down their language. There was some slight trouble between them and Kharis Knightwind.
HAL_9000: A frequent poster and debate participant, he also loves splashing Schala on IRC.
Tortolia: A frequent visitor to the #ffml and strongly anti-Cait Sith, he seems to eat a lot more than we thought. He was in the running during the Longest-Sig War, but fortunately he trimmed it to a mere 22 lines. Although he claims to be a Dark Knight, we have yet to see him do anything "dark" or "knightly."
Aaron Ackerson: a.k.a. Spacecat. A straight-to-the-point kind of guy, he didn't even beat around the bush when he offered to send FF "hentai" to members who wanted them.
Melonhead: A much more mischievous person than Chaos, he sleeps a lot more than we thought. He is a great FF7 fan and webpage creator.
Silk: An occasional poster who prefers to sit on the sidelines, he too has a cloud of mystery hanging over him.
Abel: a.k.a. Skyblade. Another international member, he hails from Bolivia and fast became an active member of the FFML. He intensified the competition in the Longest-Sig War by making an ENORMOUS one, then cutting it down to a whopping ONE LINE.
Halcyon: A rather interesting character, he doesn't post as frequently as he used to, but he is slowly returning to the realm of the living again. ^_^
Shadow: One of two with the same handle on the list, and I can't tell them apart! He is part of a team that translates unreleased Japanese games into ROMs (such as the famed FF5j), so he necessarily knows quite a lot about emulators.
Lukien: A somewhat mysterious member, but a quite frequent poster.
Armarath: An elf of Lorien who loves "Lord of the Rings" and has an underground business selling, *ahem*, "green herbs."
Mog: It's been so long ago that I'm no longer sure if we ever had a Mog on the list. Several people claimed to be the true Mog. This member remains a mystery...
JohnMOG: Yet another Moogle, he has long disappeared from the list. He stood up to his claim that he was the true Mog.
John Daley: a.k.a. Mr. Man. Our most humble original and now former List Administrator, he too goes to college and, despite the eyestrain, even managed to put in a line or two of reply to some of our posts. He reliquished his position apparently because he was in the process of moving from one part of Canada to another.
NOTE TO FFML MEMBERS: I realize that many people who post quite a bit are not listed above. The bios are mainly for the advantage of people reading the fanfics, so they know who the author is talking about if those names appear in a fanfic. If you ever appear in a fanfic, I will be sure to include your name. ^_^ If you come up with something you think I should add, or if you want to write your own little bio, or if I've made a mistake on your bio, please inform me! Just remember that all final decisions as to what goes on this page are made by me.
Prologue 2: The Camel Story
Prologue 3: The Lansing Story
Go to my FFML fanfic page, my main fanfic page, my Final Fantasy page, or my main page (dang that's a lotta pages! ^_^)
Send little ole me your comments! I'm big on typos, too, so if you spot one, let me know!
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