ABOUT THE AUTHOR - DRATSAB MM
I'm a resident of Portland, Oregon, a woman in my early 40's, who's been playing LORD since 1992. The Roman Numerals found after the name DRATSAB in the different realms I play reflect the number of Red Dragons killed in those years. The current count is 2035, having passed the 2,000 mark just before the Millennium on Union Hall BBS on Dec 14,1999..
The name DRATSAB is of course, Bastard spelled backwards. I made it Dratsab because many of the boards I play on are family orientated and frown on such language. I liked the handle Bastard however, because it reflects in many ways things that are important in my life and beliefs.
I'm adopted, and in the technical sense of the word, am in fact, a Bastard. I was raised to always be proud of myself though, and not be ashamed or embarrassed by who or what I am. When I first got into the world of BBSing, message boards, lists, and Usegroups, I quickly learned that my opinionated nature (GEE - you could never have guessed - right?), and passion of beliefs got me branded a lot of names by some people.
Since one of the more frequent ones was Bastard, I decided to reverse the negativism of it, and take pride in the fact that yes, I WAS an "opinionated bastard", and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Besides, Dratsab made a better handle than Hctib, which was also a popular 'choice'.
The power of calling people "names" is based on people being willing to accept that negativity. Derogatory names are mere words, and if we let words oppress or embarrass us, then we give in to the bigots and idiots of the world. That's why I believe that terms like bitch, bastard, geek, fat, queer, old, etc, should be words that we react to by saying "Yes... and your point is?"
This philosophy obviously doesn't work for everything, but I think we empower ourselves when we chose to reclaim some words, take them back, and make them our own, instead of those of our enemies. Hence, I'm Dratsab, because I *am* a Bastard, and I have nothing to feel ashamed about that.
I work in the field of Technical Support, and actually enjoy my job. While there's the occasional ass hole, most people are fun to work with, and I really enjoy being able to help people not only in fixing the immediate problem, but perhaps also to help them learn a little more about how to use their computers, and become more confident in themselves as they learn.
I enjoy LORD because it's a wonderfully simple, yet subtly complex game. It's learning curve is such that people can get into it right away and have fun, yet to get really good at it takes a lot of thought, study, and communication. I say communication because the best way to find out about LORD is to start talking to your fellow players, and asking questions. I enjoy helping others learn about the game, and that's the reason I wanted to create this site. I hope that it's helped people enjoy LORD a little more, even if it DOES mean folks learning some of the methods of my success in this particular realm.
Finally, if you're wondering why this site is located in the Pentagon Neighborhood of Geocities, (for Military people); there didn't seem to be a real natural area for gaming stuff, so I chose this area in honour of my 10 Years of service as an NCO in the Oregon Army National Gaurd.
Happy Hunting to all Honest Players!