SSB has been a great guild since its inception in 1996. I served as the longest-running leader the guild has had, so feel free to consider me an authority on what made the guild what it was, and what eventually broke the guild.

The guild was formed as a Monarchy, led by SSB Warz as our King. Our NWN days were days of high adventure, and while the guild was young, many of us had been around NWN for a few years. When the game died in 1997, most guilds died with it, but SSB and a number of others continued to thrive in other games. We moved first to Lords of Empryia, and then DarkSun Online.

In DSO we removed Reveng (then serving as interim GM of SSB in Warz's absence) from the leadership of the guild by unanimously voting him out of the spot. He and his wife promptly quit SSB, not many members at the time missed them (or would admit to missing them). The leadership asked me as the next senior member to serve as GM, I instead suggested a Council-type setup where we had a few leaders responsible for the welfare of the guild. We took this action. Warz eventually came back in the Fall of 1998, and was asked to serve on the Council as a Guild Leader emeritus.

Through the years the membership became less respectful of rank and wanted more and more say in the day to day operations of SSB. This degraded the leadership functions of the guild to the point where they were merely 'job functions' that carried little authority. This, coupled with the fact that GM positions in games became more of a popularity contest than a true leadership position, and SSB's High Council was hobbled by the very rules it put in place.

So the guild instituted 'Orders' to reinforce long-term accomplishments in SSB and show who has done what, and how, and when, and all that silly shit. What did it accomplish? Nothing, just another pat on the back for some people, and others (including me) never gave one shit about the Orders. People even quit (fucking pussies) because they did not receive the Order they thought they should have received.

So fast forward to DAOC in 2002, and Reveng shows back up still whining about being removed as GM and calling foul, still holding a grudge against ONLY me (even though a good 6 others voted him out as well). I internally state to High Council that he can fuck right off along with his S&M bitch of a wife (Lovi), and that I had nothing to hide or apologize for concerning him. He lightens up a bit, I extend an olive branch, and we mend the fence. Or at least it appears that way to the casual observer, when internally I still think he is a crippled pussy, and he still blames me for his suckass life.

Fast forward to WOW and we are having the same problems as normal, but what has changed? We let a member of SSB become GM of WOW who was previously kicked OUT of a GM spot (the only one to ever lose his GM position in-game). So this little-respected turd of SSB gets power hungry, starts trying to throw his pinky around pretending he has a pair, and he pisses a number of people off. I refuse to take his shit in High Council, and call him out at every wrong turn. His wife, who should NEVER have been allowed to serve High Council with him at the same time, tries to show she does not blindly back him by voting against him a few times here and there. All that does is give us solid entertainment to laugh about (even his wife thinks his actions are stupid). But he pushes his agenda further. Couple that with the bitch Lovi back in WoW and feeding younger SSB members stories of how I betrayed SSB, almost ruined her real life marriage (LMFAO poor deluded fool of a woman), and how Reveng (her husband) should be the REAL King of SSB, and I said fuck it, I don't need to maintain this website, take shit from non-members, do-nothing members, and dumbasses.

So yea, instead of sticking in there and duking it out any more I said fuck it and quit. I did not lightly make the decision to quit SSB after 9 years as a Guild Leader and member, as I was still very good friends with Warz, but it was a step I had to take.

Lo and behold...within two weeks we have 19 other members quit SSB and are now homeless in the game. So Eldan (one of the former SSB members who quit) steps up and helps me get COS back off the ground. So let's do the math for you people that cannot add properly.

SSB membership = approximately 100 members. 20-25 members on SSB's roster are completely inactive (ie do not play games and rarely post), we will just say 20 and state SSB has about 80 active members AND recruits at the very most.

19 quit SSB = 24%
10+ others affiliate with COS, but do not quit SSB = 13%+

Others have also voiced discontent to many of us COS members, but have not affiliated with us or quit SSB, so I will not even add them into the equation. But on a small scale, over one-third or more of SSB did not like the direction of the politically correct, happy-happy version of SSB that a few religiously-extremist members took the guild.

So we took our toys and left. SSB for all intensive purposes is dead here, this is merely an archive. Guess I get pissy when threatened with a lawsuit, so bu-byte me!

Bladekeep.com will remain under the adminstration of Medar, now wearing the COS tag and playing as a member of Circle of Souls in many games. Our guild was started in NWN, and we were a very active UO guild. Since that time we have mainly existed lightly, playing shooters and staying in touch, but we are now a haven for the disenchanted that simply want to have a kick-ass time in games, with little frills or hassles involving silly leadership disputes, or politically correct agendas.

We primarily run as COS (Circle of Souls) in most games, but have used "TSB" for The Soul Brigade, and have alternatively used "The Silverblades", as that was Medar's original NWN guild.

Circle of Souls, there is nothing sacred about us.

by Medar, June 2005