For some time now, Taws has been hounding me to do an "imm shrine" just like Till's. I tried to explain that people would think things, that I was favortistic, that i was more skewed towards some people then others. Then I realized, hey, when the ship's sailing sans captain, why not do whatever ya want? So, here's a nice little Shrine to Taws.

When I first met Taws, he had a diffrent name; it was a diffrent place, an IRC network called Xworld. Xworld, to be polite, was a toilet. But it had my freinds - the first people I met online. I didn't know much about taws for the first few months i knew him - he talked only rarely, and was usually off playing something called "Tanarus" (it's some kinda multi-player tank game, Sony runs it now), or Quake.

After a short time, he still talked very little, but kept mentioning some project he was working on - a Mud. This was nearly 2 years ago, mind you, so i don't believe he called it "natural selection" - though i do recall 'barney' being mentioned a few times. He asked me if i wanted to play it; that it was in "beta" - whatever the hell THAT was, i thought. I'd only been on the 'net about a year, and didn't know a whole lot about it; i had no concept of what a Mud was, let alone if i'd want to play it. Finally after a time he simply stopped talking about it, and was quiet.

The next clear memory i have of him, is when he was dating a chick named Melissa. Understand, taws simply didn't talk much, on the best of days, and often you'd not hear from him for over a week..just sitting idle, doing nothing, being quiet. The relationship with Melissa ended (i helped pick up the peices on her end, and got quite a lesson in anti-taws thought; that he was "distant and cold" - well NO SHIT, really?), and he talked even less then usual for a time, sometimes just a "hello" or a reminisce on the good old days, when Efnet had 15 users and he was one of 'em.

Understand - alot had gone on in my life; the loss of a close relationship, starting college, leaving Xworld to help found Zuh Net, and finally getting Glined from Zuh Net and moving to AsylumNet (where i still reside). I had alot of freinds, but only one group - taws amoung them - were loyal enough to follow me to AsylumNet, where they still are to this day. After a few months on AsylumNet, the challange had gone out of college, and i was bored with a capital B. Finally it was decided - i needed a new hobby, to make better use of my new computer (a kickin' dell, that even Taws Envied).

Taws sent me Quake 1, through ICQ, because i begged. Took 3 days and he never gave up. Not once. After that i started to re-assess my view of him as a cold, distant person, replacing "cold" and "distant" with "quiet" and "multi-tasking". Dude had more irons in more fires then anyone i know. Webmaster, Graphic Designer, network Administrator of a small Lan, and co-owner of a large and prosperous channel - never once did he abuse any of the positions. As my view of him came around, my formerly critical view of his activites came around with it. I decided, "why not give the mud a try? Nothing to lose but a bit of time, and i have eons of that."; it was to be a fateful decision.

I started out, a celt-pugilist (his recommendation), and leveled up around 30. Then i was a celtic crusader; a sprite necromancer; a felan gypsy; a barnesian assassin, and finally a celt necromancer - which i've stuck with for some time. Though all this, taws never once compromised his morals, never once helped me, never once gave me any guidance past "ask your clan" or "RTFM, fool". It's a hard thing (trust me i know) not to help your freinds out, because of the rules - but he never broke the rules, and never gave me an Iota of help.

The more into NS that i got, the more i realized NS really was a large part taws. Aside from the twinkish areas - Cantilure and Pygmy tree - some of the best done areas were Taw's. The first quest i ever did? in Temple of the Stars, a taws area. First area i discovered? Zyron's tower. I remember breo being happy i'd found the portal, in Kalthar. both taws areas btw. Ravager, one of my idols, was brought on by Taws. None of the gear that was full of twink or crap was his - only the good gear. From being around him i learned good Mud ettiqute; learned enough about role playing to get by. Without Taws, my life would be a very diffrent place - probably i'd end up in Yahoo Games or something, playing hearts with 3 other 20 year olds, bored off my ass and longing for somplace where i could matter.

For a long time, i tried to think of something i could give back to him - something that he'd never had, but always wanted, and that was within my ability to give. I had him join me on the User Committee, doing the webpage, knowing that once the net admin of my network saw what a fine individual he was, he'd be IRCop'd on the spot. A case of revealing the diamond, if you will. So, he can now count IRCop amoung his many accomplishments - and there are many.

So, go explore a Taws Area. Write him a note saying "thanks", hell, just tell him next time you see him. he may not be the hardest working, but alot of the stuff you use every day on NS - leather jackets, red wands, survival knives, balms, mana regen pills, etc - are all him. And though he may not have the most areas done - his areas are all quality, and places i'm happy to go explore, or just wander around in. So like i say, give him a "thanks!" next time you see him. he's earned it :)