The Final Chapter

[Tussa]

Dear friends,

This is not an easy thing to write. It's taken a lot of thought and many decisions to get to this point, but the time has come to inform you about the future. The members have already known for a week or so, and now it's time to inform the public.

For the last year and a few months, the activity of the clan has declined. There are many reasons for this, and no one is to blame. Times and interests change, life changes and most people have to make choices about what they want to do with their time. Although understandable, this has sadly also meant the slow but steady decline of the guild. The last 4-5 months have been very bad, and it has come to a point where we are at a crossroads. We have hoped and worked for better activity, new members and enthusiasm. It didn't go that way.

And so, it is with a heavy heart, but also a sense of relief, that I now inform you of my intention to put Assembly into inactive status for the foreseeable future. Like a hibernation.

So, to answer what that means:

- Assembly will be removed from the list of active roleplaying guilds
- We will withdraw from the Council of Truth
- All recruitment will cease
- The Assembly forums will be shut down, but important stuff like the RP stories and current members' public RP profiles will be archived, stored and perhaps put up in a different media
- The front web page will reflect our current inactive status

Finally, the members list will be purged. I will not disband the guild, as I wish to reserve the name from being used by anyone else. Any of the current members who still play now and again have been offered to keep the guild name, if they so wish, but I will continue to remove inactive members from the roster every couple of months.

I will not sell or give away the guild city, but keep running it on the money in the guild bank and of my own pocket. I earn enough credits to keep things going for a long time, so it will be fine.

Those of you who are former members, I wish the very best, and good luck in finding a new home, should you want to start playing again. There are many good orgs out there, with good and helpful people.

It has been a long 5.5 years, and as every good story, there must be an end and happily ever after. One month from now, on July 1st, the story called Assembly will end.

I thank each and every one of you for the dedication and inspiration and effort you have put into the guild, into the game and into nurturing the friendship with each other. I am truly sorry to see it go this way, but right now, this is the best option.


Love,

Jen's player

[Badpacket]

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand
In a...desperate land

[Galadan]

All I can say is "Thanks". No gaming experience i've had prior and after Assembly can compare to what I enjoyed here. I am honestly proud to once have been part of this fine group of players.

[Xeenah]

It is a very sore decision, but I understand and support it.

Assembly has a truly outstanding record, for a roleplay guild. We have been graced with wonderful players who came up with characters that I will certainly never forget. The players we had the luck to gather have been incredibly mature and many friendships formed, and sometimes more.

I've invested myself in it, because I had the feeling it was truly special. For me, it was more than just a guild on an MMO game. With the quality of players we had, it became something more. It is so stimulating for creativity to be able to cooperate with other players to create an ongoing unfolding of stories! It does not compare to writing solo.

We've had our share of drama, but it has never been to the point of breaking us, because we were committed and adults enough to talk things out. We always made it through.

I want to thank all of you for the wonderful stories and events you helped to create. I need dreams and stories. To me, it is almost as vital as the air I breathe. I consider myself lucky that Assembly existed and that I had the wonderful opportunity to contribute to it and share its destiny along with amazing people.

After many many tears, I come to make my peace with this. Unlike most roleplay guilds, we have maintained standards of quality and immersion that truly made this game an amazingly broad and rich experience. That it ends peacefully, instead of being broken by conflicts or drama like too many roleplay guilds out there, is a sign in itself.

If you look at one of the definitions of the word Assembly the meaning is: "parts put together into a complete machine, structure, or unit." Assembly doesn't live by the law of one person. Neither is it capable of survival if people does not work together to become a working unit.

Assembly became something greater than the sum of its individuals. Thank you, all of you, for being part of this amazing journey and sharing your imagination with me. And mostly, thank you Jen, for creating and maintaining the opportunity for this to happen. It wasn't easy

*     *     *

My son's condition has become very disruptive on my schedule. I cannot maintain the level of committment I have shown in the past. I apologize for people or stories that I left high and dry. RL comes first, as they say, but it should be easier once my son can start receiving the professional help he deserves. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, after being stalled on waiting lists for a year. Until then, I will continue to act as therapist and mother for him, because time is an issue in this case.

Since the brain children of mine need an outlet, I'll look forward. 3 things:

The Council of Truth: I will continue on AO until my subscription ends, next February. My goal is to help put the Council of Truth back on tracks and I will work to leave it in a state where it will be easier for players to get involved in it. By clanners, for clanners

A farewell gathering: I don't know if you will wish for this, but I would appreciate it very much. I realize it could be painful for some of you, so I will not insist. I'll simply send when I plan to be around for this, and if you feel like joining me, we will chat and tell anecdotes and share some good times. A little tribute of sorts Maybe you will hear what happens when Jen gets morphed into a dinosaur

The Secret World:
The original Anarchy Online story was created by a man called Ragnar Tornquist. He is now working on a game called "The Secret World". Since his stories/games tend to have a rich and complex setting and enthralling storylines, I will follow it closely. I subscribed to their forums. I'm likely to give it a try when it is released


So, thanks a lot to all of you. It has been great, great moments and none of it could have happened without you.

/bow
/blowkiss

It's a small world. We will meet again.

[Trilirix]

I knew Age of Conan would be the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.
G'luck to y'all.

[Astera]

I applaud each and every one of you for your efforts, time and imagination.  While I was not a part of Assembly, I know that in some way, i've been with each of you for one reason or another, whether it was handing out private information and preparing my departure from the political spotlight, to alien raids, to shadowlands quests. 

I'm very happy to have been a part of Assembly's world in some way.  You all made my weird little world a great place to be.  In you, I saw so many people that shared the absolute love of the story and it was my pleasure to experience it with you all.  Plotting great things that turn into duds or not, it was amazing being there with the people that had the same passion.

While I haven't logged in as much as I used to, i'm certainly not gone by any stretch of the imagination.  I hope to see many of you stick around and I hope Funcom gets hit in the head with something that makes them go a little more lenient on Storyline ARKs and their interaction with roleplayers. 

I remember the last time Assembly went into "hibernation".  It came back very strong.  Here's to hoping that it happens again!

[Xelger]

It's sad to see that Assembly will be put down, but all good things must come to an end. AO certaintly won't be the same without the Assembly crew. Even if there might not have been much activity lately, I will imagine that the Assembly will be well remembered as one of, if not 'the', best RP guild, and that if anything is ever debated conserning RP in AO, that Assembly will be on someone's minds and lips, and fingertips.

I remember my time in Assembly as a great one, but as a young guy, all things that sparkles must be explored. Though things were explored and I was officially 'back' several times, it was kind of like I wasn't able to firmly set my feet back into AO, thus I felt disconnected and things weren't the same. However, Assembly stood firm, even through times of lacking activity.

I considered Assembly my beacon. If anyone asked me for RP in AO, I would point them to Assembly. Assembly, in my mind, was what AO was about. Now that I'm writing this, in retrospect, things seem much clearer and the question of why I just didn't stay in Assembly instead of exploring other alts or coming back to alts instead of those connected to Assembly arises. Perhaps the Assembly was too good, and I felt intimidated, and afraid to be lesser and something that could put a dent into the unit and team that was Assembly. *shrugs*

I've only fond memories of the Assembly, and I know I'll think of my time in it as inspiration to future RP ventures, and know that I was amongst great people and RP rolemodels.

Since the forums will be put down, all means of my communication with you all (although I'm not very loud on these forums, I lurked everyday), I just want to put my stuff up, so that anyone who wants to add me, can do that.

MSN: knask23@hotmail.com
Yahoo: nessuvio@yahoo.no (<-- note .no)
xfire: knask23@hotmail.com

[Xeenah]

Cher never got to taste Chris' coffee.  Bastard. 

[steelyglint]

I know how hard this decision would have been to make, as Taren and myself had to make the same one not long ago, i have to say, i am saddened by this news, though at the same time, i am enormously humbled by the fact that such a amazing group of roleplayers were so willing, ready and able to help this clueless, parttime roleplayer, grasp the basic fundamentals to the point that with much encouragement, prodding, pushing, pointing out and forgiving my silly mistakes, that a person who had never roleplayed at all untill i met taren, and through her, assembly, now has the confidence in my rp abilitys that i can  act as clerical  for the cot.

Thank you for all the teaming, thanks for all the fun and thanks for all the help, for those staying on RK, i'll still be there, ready, willing and able to lend a hand to those who need it

Steely

[Astera]

From Refixit:

It is sad. The ones I have met have been nice people.

Yes definitly offer them the option of applying to RP. Some, we have played with and know. Some of course we dont know but would be happy to provide them a guild home.

When this happens, you're more than welcome to come on over to Rising Phoenix.   

Please don't take this as recruitment.  It's a sad thing to see you all go.  I asked if I could offer any of you a clan to move to and she agreed. 

[Ompia]

It is a sad thing to see, family gone, but for all of us who knew Assembly had been there thru most of it.. I wish to say , I will always love you guys and thank you for allowing me to mature thru you.. I hope to again someday fight by your sides for a just cause,   I know this is the end of Assembly but it is not the end of a family or friendships that where made thru it..

I will forever be your sister

Ompia

[Kyriakos]

Its sad to see this community disbanding. I was hoping for the forum to outlive the game or maybe transform to a multigame community. If you people have another means of contacting you (another forum/guild or chat) please inform me if you like.

Im going give AoC a try and play it on an on/off basis since Im currently serving my military service. See you people there and best wishes to all of you I might never contact again.

Kyriakos

[Kotts]

Love for you all to come to another game, but it seems the new style is to segregate the world. Not too many MMOs will allow cross ocean connections. 

[Monczeli]

I play... um... a certain game that shall not be mentioned on US servers despite living in the UK. I've never really had any problem with that other than having to download the client because I can't just go out and buy it.

[Absyn]

After I split up with my partner it gradually became harder and harder to log in and enjoy my time on Rubi-Ka until
eventually it became too emotionally charged for me to play at all.  After exploring the world with a loved one the once sanctuary of fun became a desaturated and mute dream.  And after having watched my characters grow up as half of a team I found it difficult to operate following the decoupling from that symbiosis.

Assembly and its good, fantastic people cared and watched out for me and brought back some smiles I thought never to be replenished.  Thank you.  Nevertheless, the depth of unrest temporarily held at bay through the kindness and wisdom of all the guild's members crept inevitably back into my heart until I recoiled from the glow of the streets of Tir and Old Athen like a fox cowering from an open flame.

I'm thankful for every moment in Assembly -- for the little moments of subtle roleplay grace and for the belly-rumbling hilarious times being crazy!  I also found much peace helping out and doing my tinkering on Sembly's brains.  If the gods/goddesses smile on us, I'll yet run into many of you next time I find myself on the shores of another planet equipped with some lame startup gear and wondering where the nearest coffee shop or nightclub  is, or what it will look like in that strange unknown world.

Until then -- be well.  And don't be surprised if Abs makes it planetside on Rubi-Ka again one day.  It would be really nice to see the blip of a message from any of you come alight in my comlink.  You are in my thoughts.

I haven't had the nerves to read through all the posts, so this may have already been linked, but:
A link to a beautiful video Funcom did for this year's birthday