Memories: April 6th, 2012

April 6th, 2012, the last Friday of Semana Santa and only three days away to go back to school which I’m really looking forward to just so we can finish with this horrendously bad semester. Time to roll out and I decided to go to El Divan de Alicia and see what’s up over there as there seems to be an event of a group called Tijuana Roller Derby Girls, which as the name implies is a group of chicks that enjoys roller skating the hell out of wherever they can skate freely and make a deadly business out of it. Found Keke, one of the guys serving El Divan de Alicia as a waiter, while getting off the cab and spoke with him about some events that transpired a couple of months back that could or may affect the performance of the bar. Once at El Divan I found Gil, this Rastafarian like Death Metal lover, no love for reggae here just the dreadlocks, and a heavy substance abuser when he feels like it, sweeping and we talked a little about this and that, politics, philosophy, war, current events and a book I lend him a couple of months ago, maybe a year actually, called Doctor Farabeuf o la Cronica de un Instante which is a pretty bizarre, no heads or tails, non-logical, non-lineal story about a small event that seems more and more disturbing as you turn into a new page. While chatting one of the Tijuana Roller Derby Girls got there, I think the one in charge of everything, and started doing setup while other girls dropped by and all I can say is that there was some really delicious fine looking women going in and out of that door. Went for some cash at an HSBC ATM located in 5^th street, just in front of the old porn movie theater, next to the taxi site I use to go home, and got some money at the ATM inside the Calimax, a big player down here just like Wal-Mart but obviously with far more places open than them. While walking back I had some really patriotic thoughts about a lot of things in regards to this country and the hope I have that in 30 years this will be a 1^st World Power where my children could eventually live “decently”, not that they wouldn’t be able to live decently though. Once back at the bar I looked at the outside for a split second and went in, not before patting the logo outside the bar, this beautifully metal carved logo of El Divan de Alicia that has a terrifying story. From what I understand the logo was done by a man named Alex, a smith that knew El Perro from when El Divan de Alicia was at La Plaza, said Plaza being in front of Plaza Rio, next to a river that has since then dried up but back then, for example in 1993, it flooded and caused the President in turn, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, to declare Tijuana a Disaster Zone and send in the military to assist us, which is one of the major points of the city, who I met once and I personally thought he was an absolutely cool guy, who found his death under some really confusing circumstances back in 2010, a few days before Christmas actually, and I will not talk about them since there are different stories from different sources and the only way of confirming this is with a newspaper but I would leave to you, reader, that task as I like to respect the dead in their final place and I believe I have heard enough to know what the real answer is but I will not reveal anything from this incident except the fact that we have that Sombrero de Charro behind the bar with pictures of him, that were never framed…

Went inside, saw Moya, gave him a cigarette and went to smoke outside to get up to date with the events at the bar and the surroundings. Apparently they were not aware that Transmetal is not playing at El Foro and laughed when I told them they would be playing at the TJ Art & Rock Café, although they did retract a little bit when I told them they were expanding it to at least double their size. Then the DJ, who I keep forgetting his name, said he played at El Foro, apparently he opened for 2 Minutos, and he had a blast doing it with such a huge place and expensive equipment at hand he was like a junkie having his cocktail served to him with extra power. Of interest we confirmed that with the new Metal Zone thing that is going to happen on Saturdays there should be more people coming in, especially with that Iron Maiden tribute that sounds exactly like Maiden does which is great since you only end up paying some 40 to 50 pesos, 3 to 4 American dollars.

Once that was said and done I went back upstairs to the bar, had a couple of Caguamas, a Caguama generally being a one liter bottle or one third of a gallon for those of you who don’t use the metric system, of Corona, I would have had a Vicky or Victoria but those are 40 pesos, an equivalent to almost 3.50 in American currency, which was a bit out of my league at the moment and I wanted to enjoy some extra beer if possible. Found Xavier, a friend who is also in the Humanities Faculty, in the Communications branch, back at the University, who was taking pictures of the event while enjoying some Pacificos. We started talking about visiting La Cupula, eventually I hope I can do that next week, and of taking the Vampire: The Masquerade deal to them to see if we can use their café, Café Batcraft, as our playing ground. Funny thing is that Xavier was already aware of VTM, as it’s usually abbreviated, since he had read something called The Book of Nod which contains most of the mythology and story behind the game. Went outside for another cigarette, found Mr. Nacho, an almost clone of Herman Goering which makes sense since he descends from pure breed Aryans, his Grandpa actually serving as a Colonel in the Nazi Army down in France but escaping to Mexico once he saw things were going down the drain, and then Germain, Mr. Vampire himself who, from what I recall and understand, used to have several rings on his back so he could hang himself from the ceiling using them and relax, apparently it is a very relaxing thing for a lot of people as I have looked around and everyone concurs on that fact so maybe I’ll have to ask Doc about this and see what is the exact reason behind it, probably some chemical release. Saw Moya and Andy later on, then Pantera came in, the rest of the girls from the Tijuana Roller Derby Girls, with whom I discussed a possible sponsoring from some important people but that will be left pending until I can get an answer back from the correct people which may take quite some time, more people, Vodka Jell-O Shots, more beer, bad combination, rockabilly music, yeehawing all the way, more people, chit chat, the works. A miracle that I made it back home, after tricking a cab driver to get me there for free but not because I didn’t want to pay but rather because I had no money left at all but I don’t feel bad at all, even though I do understand the fact that they have, listen to this, to pay to actually work the cab, it works like this. To work a Taxi down here in Tijuana you need to have the unit, the car itself, and the license plates, which are quite expensive, but you can actually rent the plates as it is totally legal as long as the correct paperwork is done and in the end the plates are yours and nothing less. So, the person driving the unit has to pay a daily or weekly fee, which is up to el Patron to decide, they have to pay their own gas and in some circumstances, not all of them, they have to fix the unit in any possible way or face the wrath of their boss. Not a pretty thing to drive a taxi down here in this city.

Saturday, wake up, have breakfast, take a quick bath, check some things, go to Bolas’ house to play some Texas Hold ‘Em with the old gang, Bola, Ozzy, Doc, Shoppa, Mora, Edgar, Ricardo and me, got there a bit late but almost everyone was there except for Edgar who had things to do before coming in. We started a discussion on what to eat, we settled for Chinese and even though I had some adobada tacos I thought that some extra food wouldn’t hurt me that much, I was starving and the vodka had left me in limbo, so we went for some Chinese at Las Palmas, just a couple of blocks away from there and almost in front of El Harinero el Rosal. We started eating and watched as Mora enjoyed some God of War 3, geez the graphics are incredible and even though it’s a button masher I could not stop and awe at the titanic battles between Kratos and the Olympian Gods.

We start our war on the field, 70 pesos each, first place takes 400, second 140, the initial bet is 2 pesos and it doubles every 30 minutes, minimum bet is whatever the current bet is at the moment, the laptop is available for songs and everyone takes a turn unless that person is not in game anymore. The game starts OK and escalates slowly to the point where I’m kicking everyone out until it’s only me, Mora and Doc, the bet is 64 pesos, 10 minutes left on the clock to go for 128, it is here where fate is decided and a winner takes all, either Mora or Me as Doc is left with only 20 pesos, I call him for an all in, he goes for it, cards on the table, I got a 2 and a Jack, he’s got a 10 and a Queen, cards on the table show a 2 and other cards that aren’t helping, Mora goes out of the battle as he doesn’t want to risk it, next card, nothing for either one of us, final card, nothing more, there is silence, I’ve won, again, for the longest time ever in the history of this table. It is drinking time to celebrate. It’s 7 something when we end up the game and the Xolos, our primera division team for soccer, are still playing on the Stadium, so we hit the road fifteen minutes before the game is over but lose Mora on the track as he has to do other things and Ozzy is not coming since he had to finish fixing a PC.

We get to downtown, down at 3^rd Street and a block above Revolucion, and go looking for a bathroom since apparently everyone is now feeling the post-effects of the Chinese food, we go to an Oxxo first, I buy a pack of Delicados 14, which is a Mexican brand of fine tobacco, so says the box, with only 14 cigarettes at the modest price of 20 pesos, then move over to the Sanborns, a chain of Restaurant, Pharmacy, Candy, Toys, everything that started in Mexico City with Sanborns Azulejos where the infamous Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata, heroes of the Revolution, took a picture some 100 years ago and that place is still standing, even though it was renewed it continues to be that magnificent and awe-inspiring building, on 8^th Street. After everything is said and done on that end we walk towards El Divan but find that just outside El Tillys they are doing an enquiry on sexual relationships and giving away a box of condoms, with more than one hundred condoms inside, lubricant, etc. which Edgar took the time to fill. Our first stop then was El Divan de Alicia where we buy a cubeta, which is a metal bucket with ten beers, Victorias and Pacificos, five and five, as per our request, as we had agreed that whoever won the game would buy one to celebrate and I am a man of my word. We finish one, we get another one, greet a lot of people coming in and out, makes me think that all the people that I have in facebook, those 800 something, I actually know and see, the majority of them rather, at least once a month. I see Moya, Andy, one of the many Christians I know, the one that used to be the bouncer actually, Chano, El Perro, Gil, Pinky, Keke, the DJ, Xochitl, Gaby, Emmy, Mayra, la Flaka or Madre, our Metal Mother, this guy, that guy, we go out and visit El Zebras Mexican Pub, and yes there is a little Zebra in the logo because of the Zebras all over Revolucion, which is a bar, pub, thing where you can get beers from different parts of the world; I greet Mr. Baldy Metalhead, a Professor at the Faculty, then I find Bruno, Xavier again, Everardos’ Cousin, whom I can’t remember by his name only recall him because he is Ever cousin, who said that if I needed a job he could get me one at El Porkys or at Rosarito but I don’t really want to go to Rosarito, then outside I had found the Contrafuego crew going to El Divan and smoking outside El Zebras I found a dude with whom I’m making the Mexican version of Epic Meal Time.

We leave because there are no tables, apparently people think you can’t drink while standing up, and start looking around for another bar, which I fucking hate because I don’t feel like moving to another bar if I’m comfortable at one bar; Niño managed to catch up with us back at El Divan, he was with Ricardo down at Mexico City for a student exchange that lasted six months, which was pretty much was triggered us to move onwards. Since we couldn’t find anything I told them I needed to go to the TJ Art & Rock Café to pick up the tickets; greeted Ale, her brother and Jose Luis, Panchito was outside cleaning or doing something, he is the right hand of Jose Luis who is the owner of the bar, and got confirmation from Jose Luis that the tickets still hadn’t arrived and he returned me my money. Off we went again to El Zebras.

We decided to sit down, order a couple of rounds, 15 pesos glasses of dark beer, I got an Arrogant Bastard which was 65 pesos, quite expensive actually, but when I asked for a Fin du Mond I decided not to complain anymore about prices here; Guinness was down for 40 pesos and Newcastle for 30, really decent prices. While chatting we noticed that the futbolito table was empty and decided to give it a try and we had a blast with it even though we weren’t playing fair it was fun; I was sweating heavily and noticed I wasn’t tipsy anymore, not that I ever was, so I decided to finish my beer and went to the bar with Shoppa for another beer, this time something home made from around here, and went for a Cucapah Chupacabras, yes the bottle had a Chupacabras like entity that was a mixture of the mythical creature and El Santo, the wrestler, and Shoppa had a Cucapah Honey, which was also a great flavor and with a price of 40 pesos it was alright, more than alright now that I think about it.

Once we finished all of this we went outside and decided to go to El Porkys, which previously was La Sexta House of Music in which they played a mixture of different types of electronic music but never quite got to the point where it could apparently return some revenue so they ended up changing owners and image. This place, which by the way has a huge pig head outside with some 80’s shades, used to originally be at La Plaza and apparently they were going to soon celebrate 13 years since its inception. The combination of music was decent enough for me to enjoy it and with a balcony where you could smoke and drink and clean bathrooms with working toilers I was more than glad to accept whatever else they tried to bring at me, even Indio, so we were going round and round, looking at this, looking at that, wiggling with that party rock, the girls with the bunny ears, which were not as good as Ricardo made them look but again that’s alcohol speaking… well except for one of them which I wished she became the progenitor of my children, several times. Shoppa had to leave early because he had homework to do, I have homework to do too and I finished it in about half an hour today, Sunday.

Somewhere around 2 we left, time to hit the sack, but first we went for some New York styled pizza from a placed called Al Volo, I think that’s the name but honestly I’m not sure, which is just half a block away on the other side of the road. Destiny did call in, as per usual, and we had an encounter with a man that wanted money or food, he sang to us the same old story about being deported and not having anything on his pockets, we didn’t have any money, not for him and what I had wasn’t even mine since I have to return it to the people who paid for the tickets; then he gets aggressive at us and starts yelling and cursing, his friends pull him back and ask us to forgive him, he’s been drinking, you don’t go asking for money when you’re drunk, not looking like that, people aren’t going to trust you, they don’t trust you already, and Doc wasn’t happy at the fact that the guy was drinking because, and I quote him “The most I see down at el General are old men, 40’s, 50’s, who have been drinking themselves to death, they are alone, they live alone, they drink heavily, most come in advanced stages of cirrhosis, they all die or we let them go, there’s nothing we can do, we even had a guy come in, yellow like a mother fucker, who had been drinking twenty liters of alcohol every, single, day, since he was twelve, he is currently twenty eight, he shouldn’t be alive and I know that he is going to eventually die”

Is it some sort of divine wrath, some sort of unholy punishment, I wonder?

Not that I believe in the conception of God as they put it in the Western Hemisphere, I’d rather believe that I myself am part of God and that it is action and reaction that provokes all the changes around us but… I do wonder from time to time about this… makes me feel not a prisoner of my own liberty.

We finish up then move to our next destination with is the main site for the red taxis, the blood cells of this city that work 24/7; we part ways with Niño who is going to his place and then with Doc, we can’t find Bola who told me he was going down to 3^rd Street with a friend of his but we could never get a hold of him but fortunately for us since Ozzy was back at his house we could get him to open for us. We get to 4^th Street and a block above Revolucion and find our taxi, we get in, start talking about that condom box Edgar got for free, apparently he had left most of the condoms at el Zebras bathroom; clever boy. Then all of a sudden, Snoop Dogg, smoke weed every day. Damn.

Sleeping on a couch for three or four hours isn’t fun at all, especially when you don’t fit and have to put both feet on a chair just so they won’t hang around in random angles. We went to eat tacos de birria close to the place I used to work in, the factory, just in front of Siglo XXI, and had some four tacos together with a little consome, a consome just being the soup in which the meat rests that will usually be served with red sauce, cilantro and onions. Ricardo gave me a ride back home and the adventure ended there, at that point, with a refreshing bath, a coffee and me doing some homework.

These days are interesting and I wish to save the memory of my friends, places, this city, groups, bands, everything, in this text together with my feelings… like Doc… after listening to what happened to him I feel really bad for him, like isn’t fair, sometimes we get little tests to see if our actions were right, maybe it’s out of our control but it’s not like you need that additional mental strain to prove a point least you want to end up on a mad house.

Science

(This story was originally posted in Jottify, which is now defunct, for a competition that involved Science)

“Holy...” The blue suit man gasped and stared in awe at what was inside that giant cylinder, about twenty feet high by twelve, filled with orange liquid; he had almost dropped his suitcase from the first impression “Doc, what the hell is that?”

“That is an exologue morphus continuum” Answered the man in white lab coat as he adjusted his glasses. He noticed the face of disbelief on his companion and continued. “In Christian words, it's what we call an outside traveler that continuously morphs, what you see right now is not what it will become in a second or two, it has no shape in this dimension, at all. As we understand it, this being comes from a higher plane, drops in by accident and gets trapped; it is quite fascinating if I may add”

“Doc, how the hell can you call this fascinating, it's like looking at a freakshow, gives me the creeps!”

“My good man, nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist after all, and what I have seen in this lab surpasses everything we have so far managed to understand from reality, but this, this is different”

“Whatever, just tell me you've made sure this thing is locked up for good”

“It is as secure as we can possibly make it. For all we know the thing may one day wake up and kill us, hasn't happened yet though and we do not have any expectations on the killing portion of it”

“Hold a second, so that thing is asleep?”

“That... is something I can't fully answer. The entity is not exactly asleep, it seems to be away from his physical entity in this reality”

“Doc, Doc, please, Christian words for the masses, keep it in pig Latin for me”

“From what we understand this form of the exologue morphus continuum, 'exolo' for short, is just one of the many physical manifestations it can achieve in the different planes of existence”

“This sounds too complicated for me still”

“It is like you, it has a different suit for each occasion, it changes it as it sees fit but when it does it leaves the other behind for someone to find it out, it could be in the middle of the ocean, a jungle, a city, it doesn't matter to it, we know this for a fact”

“And then?”

“We don't know for sure, we think that it elevated or lowered to other dimensions, but that is as far as we can take our assumptions as our investigations have not managed to push through that specific portion as we had expected”

“So we're waisting money on this”

“No, not really, it is a matter of time. Our main concern is what happens when it wakes up, if we will be able to communicate with it directly, will we be able to contain it, will it friend or foe. We are pushing as hard as we can to understand more before it eventually happens”

“Then that means that we could be handling a nuke with no safety whatsoever”

“If you want to look at it that way, yes, but do not make it sound so lightly, we are making our best efforts to understand how this entity works; science, Director, is a long process, but we make sure of what we are doing when we do it”

“I will report back to the board then, but I'm warning you, we need to see some progress or we are closing down this project”

“That is the last thing you want to do, take that as a light warning” With that the man left but not without gazing back at what was inside the cylinder, it looked monstrous but at the same time beautiful, it provoked in him a queer feeling, of not being able to understand it fully, something that came as familiar too, as if he had seen it somewhere before but he had no recollection of it. He proceeded to walk out of that room as fast as he could, the scientist looked at the cylinder and sighed. “How unfortunate; if only they could understand the full potential”

So, what is a MUD?

So, what is a MUD and what does the word MUD mean?

MUD is an acronym that can mean Multi-User Dungeon, Dimension or Domain, other uses for the letter D may be applied as deemed fit (no pun intended).

A MUD is a program that is run in a computer that can be either a low-end PC, which nowadays for 2015 it can even be run smoothly in a Raspberry Pi, or a high-end server. It can be run in different operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X or Unix/Linux to name the most commonly known and the users access to it by using a Telnet, SSH or GUI (Graphic User Interface) that can connect through a name, commonly known as a DNS (Domain Name Server) such as www.yourmud.com or an IP address.

A MUD can combine and is not exclusive to elements of Role Playing, Hack and Slash and Social Channels, other uses can apply such as the Builder Academy which is, or was, a MUD where one learns how the innards of the MUD work in order to create a world of your own without the need to install it.

Aspects of MUDs can vary as mentioned with the elements of Role Playing being adapted from Dungeons and Dragons, although other systems such as GURPS and BASIC could be used for the purpose of number crunching, which were common in the initial days of MUDs, the Hack and Slashing could be done either PvE (Player versus Environment) or PvP (Player versus Player) using said mechanics. Although Hack and Slash would refer to melee weapons in other cases it also involves ranged weapons and magic, in futuristic settings it could also involve other methods of defeating your opponent such as artillery or bionics but in the end this is more visual than mechanic.

Another important aspect is communication through certain channels, some can only be heard inside a specific range from the player, other can be heard in a region or throughout the entire game, this depends on the channel being used for this purpose.

Communication also helps another aspect of Role-Playing and that is of fleshing your character in order to interact with others being that character. For that purpose there are two additional terms used for this which are known as IC (In-Character) and OOC (Out Of Character). IC means that all interactions and communication with others is done as if you were the character you have built, an OOC interaction is outside of this realm and back into our reality. Some MUDs could be dedicated solely for the purpose of Role-Playing IC with all Hack and Slash stripped out or it could be the other way around where there is no Role-Playing IC and only Hacking and Slashing, the choice is left entirely to those building said games. In other instances the game may have both but Role-Playing IC may not be enforced, in others it could be, or there could be specific areas where Role-Playing IC is mandatory or allowed with Hacking and Slashing, including PvP, is frowned or forbidden.

MUDs have been around for more than thirty years, since the early 80s, while not new to the game genre it belongs to a minimal percentage of the on-line games currently it was back in its day it held the position of “Multi-Undergrad Destroyer” at some campuses where it was common for them to spread, this joke in turn to the time students spent on them.

There are also hundreds of versions that came to life after the official first MUD, which came on-line somewhere in 1980 and ended in 1987. DikuMUD is probably one of the most famous, yet not the first copy, of MUD. Some of the derivate from the original MUD are:

ACK!MUD

AFKMud

AberMUD

CircleMUD

CoffeeMUD

ColdMUD

CoolMUD

Crossfire

DUM

Dead Souls MUDlib

DikuMUD

Discworld Mudlib

EmlenMUD

EnvyMUD

Fuzzball MUCK

GodWars

LPMud

Lima Mudlib

MOO

MUSH

Merc

Merentha Mudlib

MudOS

Mudlib

NiMUD

Nightmare Mudlib

ROM

ROT

SMAUG

Sequent

TMI Mudlib

TinyMUCK

This list of MUDs is just but a few that can be found on the Internet nowadays, the reason why so many of these exists is due to the open nature of the MUD project, one can follow through, for example, on the steps of DikuMUD and create a new version based off from this, such as CircleMUD, as long as the person modifying and renaming the final product retains the name of the original authors giving them credit for their work. An example of this would be the original DikuMUD, created by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik and a derivate called CircleMUD created by Jeremy Elson.

Another considerable aspect from the original MUDs back in the late 20^th century and the early 21^st is the type of players and environment, originally MUDs were restricted to college campuses due to available hardware and software, also being a place where programmers had the opportunity to work on their own projects which included MUDs. At the 21^st century the hardware and software necessary for this purpose are readily available through and considerable cheap, the important difference would be the interest there in MUDs and text games in general, with a constantly growing population more interested in graphics and less by a storyline, also an importance would be the way people communicate nowadays.

The inside working of a MUD is quite simple but it doesn't build itself from the ground, there may be a pre-built world or certain inner workings already defined but the world is created by a Game Master or Implementor. The four basic concepts used in a MUD are MOBs, OBJects, ROOMs and TRIGgers.

The first one we would talk about would be an area, an area would be a perimeter of a rectangle, to give us an idea, a ROOM. The way it applies in a MUD is a bit more complicated, while it may put a limit to an area it could be as small as the head of a nail to the whole universe, in a single area or room, there is no up, down, left or right, front or back, not unless you define this inside the room itself. Care must be taken when building and connecting the rooms with one another as it works different to our logic. Room 1 can have an exit to the west but it will take you nowhere until you define Room 1 connects to Room 2 through the west of Room 1 and if you are not careful enough you can be trapped in Room 2 if no exits indicating another room exist.

There is also a peculiar feature in some MUDs, namely CircleMUD, called Buildwalk, inside OasisOLC,. Buildwalk allows you to walk in any particular direction and continue to build connections between rooms, just as if you were creating a mine, but the same care must be taken with rooms and connections as going in circle will not connect the last room with the first one.

MOBs, which could also be known as an NPC (Non Playable Character) are entities inside the game which could be considered as animate objects, persons, monsters, you name it. There is some debate as from what originally the word MOB means and if it's supposed to be written as MOB or simply mob. Some say the word MOB means Monster Or Beast and other say it means Mere Ordinary Beast also it has been said that the acronym MOB comes from the acronym NPC. But what does a MOB/NPC do? Well it can be involved in a rich Role Playing Adventure or it can be just a mere monster that can be killed by a PC (Playable Character). The NPC is much like a PC, it can carry objects, it can speak if programmed to do so and it can even interact with other players, there is a famous case in which Builders and Coders took time, too much time if you ask me, to construct a MOB that would answer back to players and even appear as a playable character if anyone typed the WHO command, WHO allows players to see who is on-line at the moment, their level, their class and even a title, if the MUD allows it.

OBJs, best known as Objects, are items that the player can use inside the game to protect, attack, consume or assemble, can be worn, thrown, burned, etc. ranging from all kind of fantastic weaponry, armors, food and drinks and even some other minor yet interesting objects can enter this definition. It all depends on the Builder, which is the one in charge of constructing them, on how they will look like, what function will it have inside the MUD, and not less important the grammatical ability of whoever is creating the object.

TRIGs, a trigger is an action that runs in the background of the MUD, something such as the weather changing from sunny to rain, a trigger can be activated by the player doing a certain action or by a timer, probably by entering a room or talking to an NPC, the trigger may do nothing more than send text to you or it could probably kill you.

An example of a trigger would be this:

if %actor.is_pc%

     say Metallica rocks!

     emote viciously headbangs while throwing the sign of the beast!

end

First of all this is a MOB trigger and was activated by the player saying the word Metallica. Then the MUD will analyze first of all if the actor that's saying this is a Playable Character, it can also be triggered by other commands and variables, it all depends as stated what the Builder intends to do with it. At the end we see that the MOB says something and then emotes something, we finish this command with the variable end to tell the MUD it's all it’s supposed to do otherwise it could cycle or crash the MUD.

With that said now we have to pass to the Administrative Tree of a MUD. In a MUD there can be personal working directly in the MUD and outside of the MUD. The Inside Section consists of the "Wizards" of the game, also known as Gods and Implementors. The general structure of the MUD consists of at least one Implementor, which is the leading figure, and then the Builder, Moderator and RP Divisions, to call it in a way. The Outside Section consists of the Coders and sometimes Builders and Implementors, who may be doing two jobs by doubling as Coders. These figures are responsible for keeping the MUD running in perfect shape and also of fixing any internal problem, like errors in the code.

The first line, the so-called front line, consists of the Moderators which are the ones to keep everything in control inside the game, mostly the channels and teaching a lesson to players that just keep bugging everyone (guilty as charged there). They are probably the least admired or considered but their job is important in order to keep balance and order.

Second, also very important, are the Builders. They are in charge of constructing the MUD infrastructure, they are the architects. Their design comes to life with time and effort, sometimes they are free to build up whatever they want, sometimes they have to build what they are told, it differs but the last one can be very annoying especially if you can't let your imagination run wild.

The Role Player Gods are considered to be expert in the topic and also have extended knowledge of the storyline, when it's an original storyline it would be recommended that the creator of the story explained his ideas and was the Head of Role Playing to keep everything under control until the other responsible for Role Playing can get up to date.

The Coders are probably the most important thing in a MUD, without them the MUD doesn't exist or expand, internal issues such as that MOB that shows up for no reason after 6 AM at the newbie area and kills everyone or PvP being removed at random intervals, maybe that Sword of Orcs +3 you have crashes the server whenever you hit something that isn't an orc, all these are verified, or can be verified, by the Coder to understand the source of the problem. Of course there are several MUD types out there and are free but those who can create an original code for a game, for example EldhaMUD which uses an original code, could be known as Gods of MUDding for this simple fact.

The last is the Implementor yet he is the leader of everything, he can be head of Role Playing, Head of the Builders and Head of the Coders, although without knowing much about these subjects it's of no use but many Implementors like these exist.

With this I conclude my little review of MUDs and how they work, I hope this has given you a little insight as to what it is and how it works and if anything is missing do let me know.

Trivium Concert Review (2006/2007)

[This review was done somewhere back in 2006 or 2007, I don't have the exact date but from a note about Trivium new album (The Crusade) coming out I would say it was either November or December of 2006. Text has been left mostly as is except for grammatical corrections where needed, comments are in parenthesis. -2015]

Trivium at SOMA with Guest Bands The Sword and Protest the Hero

Now business as usual with this review, let me begin from the point of exit which was Tijuana.

We had decided to gather at Bola’s house at 3:30 PM. Originally 6 of us would cross the border… only 4 crossed in the end, at 4 PM we had quickly made our way across the international border of San Ysidro by foot and awaited for Chopper, a friend of ours, to meet us. By 4:15 – 4:20 we took the trolley from San Ysidro International Border and made our way to the San Diego Old Town Station. Something I loved about the trolley is that we crossed through Little Italy and Barrio Logan, I always wanted to see Barrio Logan and now I can proudly say I made it out alive!

By around 5:30 we had reached the station and the bus delivered our sorry asses to SOMA, oh sweet SOMA, at around 5:45… we had about an hour and fifteen minutes free so we just roamed the fuck around and went to a Target nearby where Bola and Edgar bought Trivium's new album, The Crusade, which many consider a complete rip off of Metallica… some consider it the best material from Trivium. Your choice. I myself bought Slayer Christ Illusion and I can call it respectable.

At around 7 PM we went inside SOMA and saw this band playing some Rock and Roll which we didn’t get the name but they had this small pit going around. (And I never got the name of the band so to this date they remain unknown to me)

A little later we would see Protest the Hero which actually made a really short set list due to their second guitar player being trapped in transit across the San Ysidro border, quite ironic in fact, and due to this they played a song called “Fuck the Border”. I can’t say much about them as I had never heard them but they had their thing and the bass player was insane. Also they had this I just don’t give a fuck about you attitude which made me laugh. (Traffic across the border has always been an issue, we laughed quite a bit at the comment and the cover song, to this date, evades me but it was fucking great)

Next was The Sword… and being honest their life show wasn’t that good… there was too much fucking distortion and you couldn’t hear the voice of the vocalist which was actually one of the guitar players. They had their thing going on and actually some of their songs made me headbang but there was no pit with these guys… pity for them to be honest.

And then, excuse me like half an hour later or a little more, Trivium. I personally can't say they’re good or bad but Trivium have their thing going… whatever it is. As I have always said even if I don’t know the god damn song I’ll headbang to it and yet again I was right in the fucking front of the stage where I was throwing my horns (This happens to me a lot, for whatever reason I end up at the front). To me the highlight of the show were the covers, we were all fucking confused when they began playing random shit and specially with the dammit and sweet home Alabama, but when Master of Puppets came it was the shit… except for the asshole they brought up on the stage to sing who had a really fucked up voice (Who am I to talk, right?). And we were making fun of Edgar because we wanted to throw him onto the stage so he would “sing” a song from a group he doesn’t like :D

Set List

enter of the conflagration

detonation

like light to the flies

suffocation sight

ember to inferno

becoming the dragon

a gun shot to the head of trepidation

covers: judas priest "breaking the law", blink 182 "dammit", rammstein "du hast", metallica "seek and destroy", megadeath "symphony of destruction", Sweet Home Alabama and master of puppets"

dying in your arms

to the rats

anthem (we are the fire)

pull harder on the strings of your martyr

Yet again the fucking pit went brutal and in the end the pit expanded business like usual like in SOTU (Sounds of the Underground) and this time Edgar and Chopper were on the fucking pit during the entire concert. (I have never had the condition to run around for more than a couple of songs, respect to those who keep at it all night long)

In the end we had a shit load of fun. Bola and Edgar actually got their new record signed by the members of Trivium. Some pictures were also delivered which have been annexed to this review! (Pictures are somewhere but for privacy I did not add them)

Now after this Bola and I had the wonderful idea of going to an AM/PM to eat some shit which made us lose a bus and then we went to Tower Records, which is going “Out of Business!” (The store actually closed next day) which made us lose another bus. We managed to reach the damn trolley just to be informed it would be detoured into a different route. At 1 fucking AM we were informed there were no more trolleys to San Ysidro so we had to get a cab to the border and then another cab to get back to our respective places… fuck it was a good time. (And I had to work the next day in the morning, falling asleep at work had never been so fun)

Loot of ye concert!

1 unused Trivium ticket

1 used Trivium ticket

1 In Flames, Come Clarity CD

1 Slayer, Christ Illusion CD

1 The Sword, Age of Winters CD

1 Protest the Hero, Kezia CD

1 “Never Trust Public Transportation” memory attached to my brain (Not that I trust public transportation much for that matter)

Unknown Quantity of Water Bottles that were flying all over the fucking place (I remember keeping a bottle all the way through, unopened, lol)

-67 Dollars used to buy the discs, public transportation and food… mmm food

Yet another good show that we managed to get to even with all the adversities. Fuck yeah, we also had a chat with the guys from Trivium (and a small cultural barrier to say thanks to each other that ended up in a fist bump) and I told the bass player (Paolo Gregoletto).

“Dude we made an hour and a half from Tijuana across the border using the trolley… we’re happy to be here man”

The First (Re-)Encounter - Part I

The First (Re-)Encounter

A black-clad figure, face unseen, walked slowly through the empty and forgotten streets of the city of Agnos. He avoided no one, not that there was much life left around, but he managed to pass through unsee through what little was left around without getting their attention. Eventually the figure reached what liked like a hole carved on the side of a building which led to a dimly light reinforce concrete hall

Once in front of the hole he placed himself just in front of two cylindrical robots standing still with long assault rifles being held, their eyes, a simple red crystal ball in the middle of the cylinder, produced mechanical winces every now and then as if looking for something, their bodies or extremities not moving.

“I must speak with him” Said the figure covered in dark robes, his voice was deep and strangely hollow, when he spoke his squared jaw was slightly visible, a marking glowing when light hit, then it was all back to darkness. When he spoke the robots immediately pointed their rifles at him, the one on the left turned on floodlights on his shoulders in order to blind him and submit him but as soon as he approached the figure gave a few steps back. “I must speak with him” He repeated and the robots remained still.

“Entrance is forbidden” Replied the robot on the left with an almost human voice, his rifle still pointing at the robbed figure and almost eager to pull the trigger. “No humans allowed, leave”

“Calling me human is slightly offensive but I will let this pass, this time” Replied the figure again and raised his right arm, a sleeve with two white lines at the end of them came down to reveal an almost bone like hand with silver like markings that glowed with the light. “I must speak to him out of an old promise and business that we accorded a long time ago”

“Entrance is forbidden, fleshling” Replied the left robot and before he could continue the figure interrupted him.

“Stop waisting my time!” The robots fired a couple of shots at him but nothing happened, it was as if they had gone through him with no effect, the sensors on both units indicated there had been rapid movement for an instance but it was too fast to calculate the trajectory, by the time they tried to release a second burst the right unit had suddenly been pushed against the concrete wall with arms and legs dismembered, the left unit floating slightly above the ground with no arms or legs either. “You will serve me well”

“Stop this, I order you to stop this” Said the left robot in a strangely preoccupied tone, the figure laughed at the request and walked towards the hallway, the robot went in first before the figure managed to reach the entrance and violently flew through the hallway triggering machine guns and lasers to fire at him as he crossed, by the time the robot hit the ground it was nothing more than a bunch of scrap metal.

“Paranoia is the drink of mad kings” Said the figure as he crossed through the hallway without any sort of response from the mechanisms installed throughout the hallway, he kept going through the bunker like structure until he reached the end, into what looked like some sort of vault that could withstand a nuclear strike or something of the same caliber, inside of it strange filaments hung from the ceiling and the walls, their neon purple and blue pulsated rapidly as if they were sending something to a central monolith like structure that glowed in a strange yellow and green pattern, a massive humanoid like figure standing just in front of it as if it was examining the structure for something, it was covered in giant slabs darkened metal and unknown white markings, on his right hand he held a long staff with a golden sphere on the top that swirled, clock-work pieces moving slowly and ticking at strange seconds with a white glow produced every time they moved.

“You” Said the humanoid figure in a strange mechanized voice with no visible accent, he turned around and hit the ground with his staff, at the center of his chest a steel circle covered in some sort of transparent glass and inside a swirling dark sphere, his face seemed human but as his chest, arms and legs, it was covered in the same type of pulsating filament surrounding the room. “What do you wish of me, Prophet? Your time is long gone in this world and the other”

“How long has it been, Lord of Machines, was it since the Battle of Agnos that we have not seen each other?” The Lord of Machines remained silent, it gave a few steps towards the dark-clad figure and hit the ground with his staff.

“When you betrayed us” Replied the Lord of Machines in a sober tone, the dark-clad figure laughed and walked towards the Lord of Machines who did nothing in return.

“Lord, I did not betray you, I gave you the possible outcome of the battle if you followed through with what I had proposed, not if you did what you deemed logical or fit in your situation” The dark-clad figure went around the Lord of Machines and then stood a few feet away from the monolith, standing still in front of it he removed his hood to reveal a face made of pure evil, skin sticking back to the skull, beard reaching almost the upper part of the chest, eyes with nine iris forming a cross of sorts, elongated eyebrows and a series of silver like dots surrounding his eyes, nose gone and instead a small hole in its place, ears sticking to the back of the head as if held by something and hair reaching below his shoulders. “You did not forget your end of the bargain, did you?”

“The treaty became null the moment you betrayed us” Replied the Lord of Machines, the Lord walked towards the figure and stood next to it also looking at the monolith.

“Following orders is a basic necessity for the success of the plan which in turn takes me to the reason of my visit. I need the favor repaid and before you say no I have a proposition for you”

“Continue”

“It has been a long time since the Battle of Agnos and I know you with to have complete control of it, for the last five hundred years it has been your only purpose and I can help you achieve it”

“I will not be led into another trap”

“It is that or nothing, Lord, and at this point in your career there is little space for you to negotiate. Should I keep you calling Lord of Machines or shall I baptize you as King of Nothing?” The Lord of Machines violently hit the ground with the staff, breaking a small portion of the concrete, his right arm shaking from the impact as the staff kept vibrating in position.

“State your business then!” Replied the Lord of Machines seeing the man at his left side.

“It is time to fully claim your title, Lord of Machines” The man grinned as he turned to his right side to see the massive hulk standing next to him.

“For what purpose?”

“I need you to come with me to another planet, we have chaos to bring forth and you are the agent of destruction that I need. Imagine, a new planet, resources to bring forth your Empire to others, subjects to do this task for you, what else could you ask for?”

“Your inhuman age and purpose have always intrigued me, you are indeed the Destroyer if you wish me to come forth with said purpose. Tell me, how do you plan for this to happen?”

“In due time, Lord, in due time you will come to fully understand my powers at full capacity. For now I ask you to gather all your troops and get ready for the incoming battle to retake Agnos”

“Words come easy out of your mouth”

“Words are simple connections of actions, metaphysical taken to the realm of possibility, what I say is true because I have said so”

“I remember the same five hundred years ago but not the same result you proposed”

“Proposing” The Destroyed walked to the monolith and turned back to the Lord of Machines. “Is not what I do, I give you facts that if run through as I speak them will give you what you wish for. If you do not follow through as I state then only doom awaits”

“Following through with your plans is illogical, the end result is not what you promise” The Destroyer smiled at the remark and while doing so shook his head.

“It never ceases to amaze me how mechanical and cold you are, doing the logical thing is not always the answer to a problem, a problem has many solutions not just the one that seems the obvious to you”

“Logic and mathematics are the key cornerstones of the universe, everything else is just a flaw with poor to no results obtainable”

“While I do not debate either one of them you are to fight as I tell you in order to win, if you win at Agnos you win at Apacea, if you win at Apacea you win at Emersons Gate and if you win at Emergons Gate you have an open road to Cydonia”

The Lord of Machines remained silent, he processed the idea of slowly managing to obtain those victories and eventually pushing through to Cydonia and then out of Mars. Mars had become a human colony hundreds of years ago and while devoid of the most important minerals it served as a base of operations for further exploration of the galaxy, it also served as a safe-zone for dangerous theoretical experiments that could produce cataclysms on Earth. One of the most important experiments was undertaken by a group of scientists at Cydonia which managed to create a sort of two-way gate to travel through to unknown spaces, the problem with the gate was the consumption of energy and becoming unstable too fast for long travels, that taken into consideration it was a one way trip for the Lord of Machines and his army, if they could produce enough energy and maintain it stable for long enough it would be no problem to go through with this plan.

“What is your grand plan?” Asked the Lord of Machines, no tone of excitement, intrigue, nothing, a plain monotone tone of voice.

“Settle the dispute in Agnos first and then we shall speak about ”

“You are, in human terms, a despicable creature who gives drops of water to a thirsty traveler of the deserts. In time we shall see if what you speak is true”

“Have faith, Lord, for it is a necessity that drives me to you and your success is part of that necessity, deliver to me this first instance and I shall reward you accordingly” The Destroyer covered himself again and walked back to the hallway. “End the dispute, unite the greater race of the machines and destroy all living things”

“You mentioned that the last time, your failure to end the human race means only victory to us” Replied back the Lord of Machines, silence. The Destroyer disappeared in the hallway, the Lord of Machines could not sense him further down or across the hallway, he had banished just as he had done the first time they had met.

[[MESSAGE TO: (ALL), GATHER AT ARMORY, LOAD ALL WEAPONS, BRING ADDITIONAL AMMUNITION, HEAVY ARTILLERY AT THE READY, GATHER THEN AT THRONE ROOM. END OF MESSAGE]]

Pulsar es morir

Cada vez duele vivir mas, cada pulso duele mas, cada respiración me hunde mas hacia un banco de arena donde me desvanezco, un grano de arena mas en un mar perdido en la eternidad del tiempo, donde uno se derrota a uno mismo paso a paso y donde la piedra se quiebra tan duro que se debe empezar desde el polvo que queda.