Plaza Life It was a fairly boring day when I discovered the plaza. And likely cold and blowing that I wasn't skipping classes on that particular high school day, it does that a lot in Canada you know. Anyways. being me I signed up did the first batch of quizzes and immediately joined Imladris. Lots of fun and all of that. Drove the poor rulers crazy I figure, becuase I'm pretty sure one quit shortly after I joined. (Okay not really but I try to occasionally make myself feel special!) I stayed in Imladris forever, and severely hated people that changed their names. I still dislike name changes, so if I say "hey you.... "and you think I should now your old name and be calling you "Bingo" (or Lemonfart) It's likely becuase you changed your name and my photographic memory only works if the photo doesn't change. Anyways At some point in time crazy people made me the Library mod along side Eile under Fly. Which was plenty of fun.then I went to mod the RPG forum under Hoth who is a handful at the best of times let me say! Anyways then Eile got the Librarian job and I was still in the RPG area though I tried to help her out as much as possible. Eventually all good things come to an end though and I was forced to leave my position as the junior RPG mod (I still don't get that, I swear I was bossing around the tree more than he was me!) for my current face and role of Librarian/administrator. Obviously if you are reading this, I've not managed to blow the Plaza to smithereens yet...

Real Life: Since Eru insisted that I complete my Valinor biography or else, here goes. I was born in the wee hours of the morning on October 11 somewhere in the 1970s. You're not getting the exact year out of me! Well... maybe... but you would need to hand over a big bundle of cash to me first. Most of my childhood was spent bickering with my younger brother, playing with our many pets, reading, traveling and taking an assortment of extra-curricular classes that my parents felt I had to take in order to be a well rounded person. My parents loved to travel (still do) and every year they took us to a different country. Their interest in travel has rubbed off on me... My other passion is reading. Ever since I was taught how to read I had a book in my hand. Some of my happiest hours have been spent in libraries and bookstores. I read just about anything. From classics written by Jane Austen to science fiction by Frank Herbert. An English teacher introduced me to The Hobbit. I enjoyed it but didn't think to read the Lord of the Rings until I was in high school. Then, I got hooked on Middle-earth. I eventually read the Unfinished Tales, BoLTs and the Silmarillion, not necessarily in that order. I must confess that it took more than one try to read through the Silmarillion. I'm still trying to get my husband to read the Silmarillion, which he says, is too much like a history book. In RL, I'm married to my college boyfriend and we have a home in the suburbs completely taken over by our very active baby, a rambunctious dog, and mischievous rabbit. When I'm not at work, I spend my spare time reading, shopping, listening to music, traveling, going to films, and gardening.

Plaza Life: I joined the Plaza on November 11, 2002, after stumbling upon the site quite by accident. I was doing a Google search for LOTR material when I found the Plaza Knowledge Halls. Intrigued by the size of the site and content, I decided to join and I haven't regretted my choice. I visited all the kingdoms but my heart was set on being a hobbit from the beginning. I couldn't imagine myself as anything other than a hobbit lass. I couldn't think of an original name for myself so I picked the first hobbit last name I could think of. Of course, I could have changed the name at any point in my Plaza career but I haven't felt the urge to do so. Most people call me Brandy although I used to be called BB in the early days before Blackrose Bugg joined the Plaza. I didn't participate in many Shire activities when I first joined. I was content to post in the movie and book forums. I occasionally ventured to the Out of Middle Earth forum. I moved up quickly through the ranks because I took as many of the Knowledge Hall tests as I could. After I got bored of posting in the movie forums, I wandered over to the Shire, posting here and there, making the good friends I have today. I enjoyed leading the Shire Drill Team as co-captain, sewing at the Shire Knitting Circle, digging, weeding at the Shire Garden Club, and participating in the many other activities and contests in our friendly kingdom. I was content to keep doing that but fate had another plan for me. In January 2004, BB asked me to be her co-ruler and I jumped at the chance. After nearly 18 months of being Rosie Cotton of the Shire I became the Admin Vaire - the Weaver of the history of Arda.

Plaza Life
During my time of research and study of Tolkien I stumbled upon the plaza. Having little to no internet or forum experience I joined, quickly gathered my necessary points and became a hobbit, where I knew my heart belonged. I quickly joined some role play organizations in the Shire, careful not to break the rules I was so afraid of. I’m a huge fan of role play and love writing out long rambling posts. After many days in the Shire, I became curious with what might be in other kingdoms. Khazad-Dum seemed to fit a handful of my interests as well and I dove in, loving the fun environment there. It was my home away from home. I never had any expectations of myself except to have fun and that’s exactly what I was doing when I was surprised with the offer to be Samwise, my very favorite character. Later on these days I am now even more surprised with the opportunity to be Ulmo, from which I eventually moved to Este! There could be no better offer than that to have even more fun! Now I can give back for everything that has been bestowed upon me and make sure that the plaza is as fun for all the other fanatics out there as it has been for me!

Real Life:
Cloudy morning in Madrid. A warm day though. A hospital. May 14th, 1983 it was. One second before 8.15 a.m., there was no me. One second later, those global population counters added one to their stadistic calculations. And Pablo I became. According to what my parents say (I keep not many memories of that age), I was a very handsome and smart kid (it’s a shame I lost both in the way...*sigh*), I began to walk when I was just 7 or 8 months and to talk some months later. My childhood days were quite normal, we were an average family with an average life (so lucky indeed). School, friends, football games, homework, dad comes back home after work, dinner, books, bed. In this few words my childhood can be resumed, and suddenly, adolescence (yeah, that awful disease when you really discover the world is bigger than your one-kilometer town) caught me by surprise. In those years, the actual Pablo was finally... designed as the person today is. Today am. At the age of... 15 or 16 I discovered cinema. The movies. After I watched Blade Runner I understood cinema was my passion, and what did I do? Set up and join a theatre group with friends, finished school, and begin to study physics. Nothing to do with cinema... I know. I just hope -one day- I’ll end my studies (physics is so tough!) and find something in that world of the wonderful images. In the seventh art. But well, on the other hand, if I find something to do with astronomy, I won’t consider myself an unfortunate person, for I also love astronomy. Anyway, my life has brought me to this point –not destiny, what is something I don’t believe in-, I’ve discovered kung fu, I’ve got a lovely girlfriend, a warm home, food each day, and the chance to write all this who nobody is interested in. Well, except you it seems... What can I say? With all my troubles and problems –as everybody’s ones-, I’m a happy person. I love life.

Plaza Life:
I’ve got a friend, who lives close to my home, that one day told me he hadn’t read the books, and after talking about it for a while, he just read The Silm, the Hobbit and the LotR in just some weeks. He really loved the books, and one day, he told me he had found this site, “Fanatics Plaza” he said; there you can talk about LotR movies, books... everything! And so I became Istâréndil for you all. Why I joined Isengard (former White Council)? Gandalf is the reason. No more words needed, right? I just loved the place. It had lots of things to do and participate in. And hey! Everybody was there due to the same reason: Tolkien and his books! Where on Earth can you find that huge meeting, that Tolkien fans gathering, just a couple of clicks away from you? And so I began to post in the movies forums, began to help in the Library, drawing maps mainly, I got interested in poetry and began to write my own lines and words, something I just love to do (I’m not Shakespeare, I know, but I really enjoy doing it) because it relaxes me and helps me in difficult moments, that, recently, have been too present in my daily life. From the first moment, I realized the enviroment of this place, the atmosphere, was very very nice. Everybody talked to you as if you knew them from long ago. And now, so it is. No matter where are you from, who are you, it just mattered your question, your suggestion, your joke, your opinion... The love eveybody has for the books of Tolkien is what, in the end, matters here.

My early years were spent painting very artistic blobs and wrestling the other toddlers at nursery for the red tricycle I loved so much. Time passed and I grew up a little, setting my sights a bit higher than the red tricycle. After learning to read and write and be a good girl I went to "big school", or the local comprehensive, and passed my exams there. Fast forward a few more years and a few more exams and I leave Nottingham Trent University with a law degree. Well, leave isn't exactly the right word. I chose to stay on a year and do a masters degree in International Criminal Justice (with a random module in Intellectual Property and Competition Law). When I finally do get out of university I hope to become a solicitor.

My musical interests veer towards indie and rock. I play the electric guitar, and love my Fender Strat... ok, it's a Squier version, but still, it's a Fender :P Let not my rock image fool you, I'm also a soprano in the university choir, and I play the violin (a cool purple one!). Variety is the spice of life they do say.

On the sporty side I do archery with the Rolls Royce Bowmen of Sherwood, very Robin Hood I know. I shoot a recurve and dabble with my brother's longbow. As beautiful as it is I prefer the recurve's accuracy. Though I wouldn't go so far as getting a compound, that looks more machine than bow! I also sword fight, not the sissy fencing sort (no offence to the sissy fencers :P ), but the proper hack off limbs with a longsword and glory in your enemy's blood sort. This I do with Nottingham KDF. We're not homicidal maniacs, really.
Finally, I couldn't go without a mention of bunnies. Anyone who knows me knows I love bunnies. At one point my flock included five of the delightful creatures. Mia is one of my current charges. Anyone who's lain beside a bunny on the grass, sun beaming down, shining through those delicate ears, with their little noses snuffling away, knows the bunny addiction...

Plaza Life
Alkthoniel came into being on the 9th of February 2002 after I saw FotR, read the book, and came over all fanatical. In fact the only thing that attracted me to this site instead of the many on my Yahoo search was the Plaza being a "Fanatic's" site. I thought it sounded like me! I was a quiet new soul, partly due to the fact I hadn't got the net at home. But after a lot of begging, my dad finally bought me a modem and that's when my plaza life really took off. No longer did I have to camp out in the library!
I very quickly made it my life goal to annoy Arlo, after many food fights in the pub and such, I managed to achieve this several times. But he always got me back... As in RL, time passed, I grew up a little and came to be the editor of Rivendell's Tribune. I had great fun reading the elves' insane articles! Then in early November of 02, I came to the throne of Rivendell and succeeded Mori as Galadriel.
I had a long and happy reign, co-ruling first with Elle, then with Arlo. Lorien came to be built in Dec 03, so being Galadriel I kingdom hopped to rule over there with Sere. Come April I felt the sea longing upon me and sailed to Valinor where I became the admin Manwë. Other events along the years include my marriage to Uruloki, the ex-Witchking/ex-Sauron. When he left the Plaza I did like any good ex-wife would do and married Eru... well, you can't refuse a marriage offer from The One can you?
My main love on the Plaza is RP, the serious to the silly, the small to the epic. Hey, maybe some day you'll find yourself questing alongside me ;-)

And that as they say, is history.

On the 9th of January in 1989, a silly little girl named Azar was born in a tiny town in Norway. Her name was strange and un-Norwegian because both her parents come from Iran. And now she’ll stop referring to herself in the third person, because it confuses her too much. I’m Azar, if you didn’t realise. Heh. When I was one year old we moved to a bigger city, and I’ve stayed here since. I was a very (hyper)active child, and was out all the time – climbing trees, climbing slides, climbing up houses.... I lived in a student village till I was 12 because my parents studied for a very long time, and adults who know me from my young days say that I was “the boss of the student village.” I sure knew who was in charge, and that was me. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? I was a bit of a tomboy, playing with dinosaurs, pretending to be Batman, Spiderman, a Super Mutant Ninja Turtle... you name it. I loved reading as a child, and because I was such a genius *g*, I started school one year earlier than I should have. (Okay then, the truth is that all my friends were starting at school that year and I went “Muuuuuum! I wanna start too!”) I was introduced to the world of Tolkien in the fifth grade, when I quite randomly picked out "The Hobbit" out of a shelf in the library. I fell in love with Middle-earth, and returned to the library to see what else this “Tolkien-dude” had written. As I was walking towards the shelf where his books were I saw one, named “The Two Towers” – “that seems interesting I thought,” and wanted to borrow it. But, a mean guy scurried past me and picked up the book right in front of my eyes! It was my book, dangit! Of course, now I’m glad he did that – because otherwise I would have started with tTT and not FotR. And then, soon after, I was introduced to the wonders of Harry Potter and forgot all about Tolkien, until I watched FotR at the cinema with my dad. That’s when I picked up "The Lord of the Rings" for real, and boy – did I fall in love much? Yeah. Other than reading loads and loads of books I am playing the flute and piano, and being tortured in my last year of the IB Diploma Course. After that I’ll go on to the University of Reading in England to study English, Film & Theatre, and after my first year at uni I’ll hopefully know whether I want to focus on literature or film. I suck very much at segueing into a new topic – so just, woooosh – let’s go on to my:

Plaza Life

I joined on the 3rd of May in 2003, after having visited www.lordotrings.com many times, without realising that there was a forum! I’m just that stupid. I named myself “Firimar” and immediately joined Imladris, but was never active in the kingdom. Upon realising that my name wasn’t fitting for an elf, I changed it to "*Lalaith*" - because I laugh a lot! But at the release of Star Wars Episode III I decided, along with many others, to change my name into something Star Wars-y for a short periode of time to honour the trilogies. Thus, I became "Padmé Amidala".... Unlike most others, I never changed my name back, and now most people don’t know that I used to be "Firimar" or "*Lalaith*". I’ve always enjoyed posting in the different lore forums, discussing the books I love so much, but then this progressed into a love for serious movie discussions as well. And a couple of years ago I ventured into the Fan Fiction and Art forum, and got...well, stuck. I wandered around and commented on different works of art, and made my own photography thread. In January 2007 (I think) I became the TR of the famous (yeah, it is!) ME Photography Thread, and a couple of months later I was asked to join the three lovely Maiar in Valinor. I first freaked out, thought they must be completely insane, then said “Yes, please!” And that’s why you’re reading this long-winded recount of my two lives (“real” and “Plaza”).

Plaza Life
I came across the plaza in December 2003, whilst taking the massive quiz of Bilbos *g* and was most intrigued at the site. It was massive! I joined right then and there, firstly under the creative name *Lady Eowyn*, and took what seemed to be forever to find my feet, everyone appeared to know everyone and what they were doing! I joined the Riddermark early, because of my affinity with horses in RL, it was only natural, and was forever in the Newbie Hall until I began to meet new people who introduced me to others. I changed my name to Caewýn for want of an identity, and somehow found my bearings in the Mark through numerous activities, which led to my interest outside the kingdom (not to mention a few tasks I was required to do!) Minas Tirith was my second venture and love, and not long after that, I was living in the Poetry Corner, and pretty much every other forum on the plaza. I am a part of the growing Sharrasi family, which keep me somewhat sane, and am kept busy being a part of various projects, mainly running the IK Poetry competition alongside Star and bash, working in the Crete Lið (come taste the best wine in Middle Earth!), writing for the Raedboda, pointing newbies in the right direction *ponders* *g*, and maintaining a 21st poetry thread. I can be found anywhere and everywhere, Caewýn loves to travel and explore, although home is always in the Riddermark! In May 2005, I was asked to step up to the position of Goldberry, something I never thought would happen, becoming an admin of such a fantastic place was a dream come true. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that the position brings, as well as working alongside a fabulous team in the forums I have spent a great deal of my plaza life in.

RL Life:
1986 - ickle me was born. 1986-2007: I discovered a serious love for reading, writing and painting. Decided also that maths and anything concerning numbers was not meant for me. Also discovered Tolkien somewhere in that timespan. Finished highschool and started to study archeology at the university, but decided I did not like sand and stopped somewhere near the end. Went to study pedagogy at college (HBO for all the Dutchies out there), got my 'P' and went back to university because that is just so much more fun. So currently I'm in my third first year, still having a go at Pedagogy. Considered secretly changing my studies again, for the fun of it, but my parents will probably kill me if I do that. Am working on writing a book and am writing a musical, paint a bit here and there, work and sometimes I even go to Uni and learn something ^_^

Plazalife:
I joined the plaza at 2002, because I had a serious overload of time after slamming my face into the road with 50 km/h and was unable to go to school. Almost immediately when I joined I joined the Host of Imladris and worked my way up in the ranks of the Spies, made it to captain and one strange day someone decided to give me 'power' and make me a general. Some time later on a stranger day, someone decided to make me a Ruler. Strange world, stranger people; Welcome to the Plaza! XD

Plaza Life:

I came on to the plaza. I signed up. At some point I became an elf in Imladris and eventually was asked to be Lord Glorfindel after Eithil's stepping down.

Real Life:

When I was born I knew the world was blessed to have me in their presence. I am a princess, royalty. I enjoy horseback riding, cricket, and cards among the many tea parties, balls, and other official events I must attend through my daily life. I am married to the prince of my dreams, you know that cute one Cinderella had? Yeah, she's out of the picture...need I say more? I love to travel and have been to every inch of the world, except to Antartica, it's too cold there and I couldn't find a fur coat nice enough for the trip. Mine was brown mink, and I didn't get my white one fitted in time. Now, you must be asking what royalty am I from? Well, I rule a very large country. You get to guess which one!

Now how did someone as kind and generous and beautiful as me discover the plaza? Well I went to see that one movie, you know the one where Viggo Mortenson looks all rugged and cute? And I thought to myself, I simply must get invoved in this craze! Everyone else was and I didn't want to be left out! The End!

(Bio written at request by Tari Boffin)

My name is Steve, born May 20, 1986 in the Chicagoland area, where I've lived and grown for several years since. I'm attending Purdue University as of now, studying creative writing as a major with English as a minor. I work with the school newspaper The Exponent and plan on pursuing a career in journalism upon graduation. But I suppose you want to hear about my exploits into Tolkien's world as part of this section, so I'll indulge you. I first came into contact with the Master during 8th grade, where my friend Jeff read us the Riddles in the Dark to see if we could figure them out (I got a few of them right actually). It wasn't until Fellowship of the Ring hit the theatres that I delved deeply into the world. After seeing that first film I tackled from the Hobbit to The Book of Lost Tales: II before the Two Towers came out the following year. Since that, Lord of the Rings has been an integral part of my life, and has been a definite inspiration in my writing, since I intend on becoming a fantasy writer. I enjoy gaming, both computer and console, creative writing and basketball. I also spend a lot of time with my girlfriend Christina, who I've been with since February of 2004. I enjoy many sorts of music (excepting country, metal, and rap), as well as a variety of films. I suppose it paints somewhat of a broad picture, but getting into detailed specifics could take ages, so we'll move along.

Plaza Life

I stumbled upon the Plaza in 2002 when I was looking to test my knowledge of Lord of the RIngs (which at the time was very, very limited). I decided to join the forum and give it a shot to see what it could teach me. That historic day was February 19, 2002. I hardly knew what I was getting myself into. I joined this forum as Arteris and after scrounging up 20 points (sadly, it took me more than the first two Level 1 quizzes. . .), I immediately joined Gondor, finding their humanity and structured civilization right to my fantastical likings. From there I began into a kingdom which shaped my Plaza career. Since joining way back in 2002, I've been a Gondorian through it all, and Arteris through most of it, only deciding that a new character challenge was in order, and in the fall of 2006 I role-played the bow-out of Arteris and introduced Jevesh, to whom I represent now. My history with Arteris is still not over, and I've done more work with him to this day. He'll always be the Plaza to me, even if I'm currently taking another guise. But my "legacy" on the Plaza was built upon a few things, namely pubs, role-playing, a creative writing. It was through these three areas that I really came into blossoming on the Plaza, and soon as my points and posts were flourishing and new members were looking up to me as a mentor, I realized that I had become part of something truly special. It was always my dream to become Aragorn, King of Gondor, ruler on the Plaza, and through a period of nearly 5 years I worked and waited, and received my rulership in 2007. And so here I am, it's been a long journey and definitely a fruitful one. I hope in my station as ruler of Gondor I'll leave imprints of something. And hopefully I'll touch more lives and make new friends in this role as I did as Arteris. It's a great thing I've come to here, and I'm glad to get the opportunity to fulfill these special role on a Web site that has become an undeniable part of my life and who I am. I wish you all the best of luck here on the Plaza. Feel free to get in touch with me if you like (though I warn you I love to blab about the good ol' days)!

Real Life:

I was born at a military hospital in Gettysburg Pennsylvania almost exactly 50 years ago. I think my family was living in Maryland, right behind Camp David at the time I was born. I do remember growing up in and outside of Cleveland, Ohio, where we always had an ice skating rink in our backyard and in the winter we spent a lot of time on the slopes skiing. After graduating from high school, I moved to California. That way, I could spread my wings and do as many stupid and dangerous things as possible during my years of “immortality" without actually killing myself. Glad I don't have to repeat any of that! The next few years I got involved with a Christian church and joined their musical comedy drama team. We toured all over the USA to churches, camps, colleges and pretty much any place that would take our brand of satirical comedy. In 1985 I married the director of the group -- funnily enough we are still married! In 1990 our travels took us to the European continent and the UK. We fell completely head over heels in love with Scotland and they were never able to get rid of us! Our two daughters, 12 and 20, have Scottish accents. The eldest was the first to get hooked on the Lord of the Rings and bought my husband FotR (paperback) one year for Christmas. Oddly enough, I was the last to catch the bug, and every time they put on the Fellowship DVD I left the room. Finally, in the run up to when the second film was about to be released, I happened to be in the room at the same time they were watching the film with the Actors’ Commentary and once I learned background information about the movie that was that! That Actors’ Commentary made all the difference in the world. So you can thank/blame Orlando, Sean, Billy, Dominic, Viggo, Sean and Elijah for me being here. I've never met any of them, but my husband got me Billy Boyd's autograph and my childhood friend, Kathy, in Ohio got me Howard Shore's autograph. Kathy and I got matching Elvish tattoos on our ankles when she visited me recently. Now my days are spent in my shrine (office) with my voice recognition software, wearing my microphone headset and surrounded by at least 100 action figures and countless resource materials. Everybody in my family pretty much accepts that mom is off in Middle Earth most of the time. Probably the biggest expense we've had to do with the Plaza is get everybody in the house their own computer and a router, because most of the family arguments stemmed from mom being on the computer all the time. I appreciate my family and everybody on the Plaza putting up with me for this long!

Plaza Life: Somewhere around a year after the Fellowship of the Ring was made into a movie, I stumbled onto the Plaza searching for quizzes. I like trivia. The Plaza instructions said that I needed to register and choose a name and kingdom before I could take any quizzes so I flipped open my copy of the Silmarillion and picked Finduilas, mainly because it didn't have any of those funny accents in it, and I really didn't care because I was just having a look around anyway. I immediately chose Minas Tirith and have never looked back. I took the first Halls of Knowledge test and got a stupendous 6 right out of 10. Pretty good, huh? Well, I wanted to see if I could get it right without checking the books -- and I was new to all this, you see? I hung out in the lore threads because I wasn't going to go do what the rest of those bizarre people were doing -- role-playing. How weird is that? How could anyone in their right mind role play? So I thought. Anyway, it took me a couple of months to actually RP my character. I think it might have been a pub, but I can't remember exactly. I don't know exactly how or when it happened, but not long after that I was completely hooked. I kept sticking around Minas Tirith, and finally joined the Rangers so I would have more chances to role-play. My first job in the kingdom was as a Pub Master alongside Arteris, my now partner in crime as Ruler of The White City. Becoming a Ruler was not an easy decision. I really liked playing my character and getting to know Findy, and I thought I'd had her pretty well sculpted the way I wanted her. I didn't want to try to do too many things at once, especially since over the years I developed terrible RSI. Eventually, the opportunity came up and after a lot of deliberation, I made up my mind to accept a position, and requested to take on the guise of Faramir, rather than Arwen, so that I could play in more military type RPG's.

Plaza Life:
I don't clearly remember how I found out about the plaza, but I believe it was a random google search for more information after I read LotR and The Hobbit. I was hooked the minute I saw it, and signed up immediately, in 2004. I completely forgot what the website address was, and my uncle whose computer I was on, erased his browser history. I was disappointed, but forgot about the plaza for something like six or seven months, at which time I accidentally found it again, and rejoiced for days, with feasting and music. (Ok, not for days, and without the feasting, but I did rejoice for about ten minutes and I was listening to music.) I then lurked in the Knowledge Halls for about six months, posting mediocre stuff and even arguing once about whether Balrogs have wings. My favorite thread was the "Journey Through Middle Earth" thread in People and Places, where Nieriel, Azultur, Celi, and myself kind of took it over as we discussed and debated each kingdom and land in Middle Earth. That's where Celi found me and dragged me into Rohan. I've been there ever since, playing and generally having the time of my life in every thread possible, from The Riddermarket where I own Ye Olde Pet Shoppe, to the Cavalry where I'm Æthelwigend of the Sceaudwigend Corthor, Eastmark Eored. In October of 2007 I was asked to take up the reins as Eowyn, or rather Kermit as it was halloween, to replace Celi, and after being assured a million times it was real, I accepted. So far it's been great, ruling with Elarith and then Eile, and I know it's going to continue on the same way.

Real Life
It was windy and rainy day at the end of August when I was born. Well that doesn't say anything special since almost every day in Finland fits to that criteria. My name is Kristian but please do not jump to conclusions based on that name. I love reading books (especially horror books), watching movies (yes horror movies) and playing soccer. I have also Tulkas side in me and I have wrestled in international level with some success. But that all is in past now and novadays my time goes mainly working and when I'm not working, playing soccer and teaching soccer to kids. Some people who know me, do say that it takes lot to get to know me since I'm not exactly super social dude and only those few people that I call my friends will get to know true me.

Plaza Life
I came to Plaza 17th December 2004 and have been here almost every day after that. I think longest time I've been away was 4 days so that says how much Plaza means to me. I knew Tolkien and Lord of the Rings before I came to Plaza so I had made my choice about Kingdom already when I joined: Isengard. Gandalf, Saruman, those two blue wizards and Istari in general, were so interesting that I joined Isengard. Istari are wise and trusted, friends with all races so decision was very easy in the end. I've changed Kingdoms twice: first time I was in Rohan few hours to get my wife to Isengard and second time I was in Mordor few weeks. Now when thinking that move to Mordor, my path to Saruman was determined long time ago. I have very evil side in me and it has tried to take over long time now but in general, Saruman is tolerant and helpful.

At 7.29 pm on the ninth day of April in the year of 1983, a time when Culture Club were asking “Do you really want to hurt me?” and you could still wear leg warmers without fear of being arrested for crimes against fashion, I eventually made my entrance into the world, and it has been a considerably noisier place ever since. I was born 10 days late (I like to think fashionably late), in the coastal town of Poole in Dorset, on the south coast of England, and have spent my entire life in a village a few miles away from there in which one side of my family has lived for generations. I had a pretty normal childhood, spent fighting with my younger brother and getting up to no good. Like nearly all little girls I developed a love of horses early on in my life, and this quickly developed into a passion for all animals, which endures to this day, and after leaving school at 16 I went to an agricultural college to study animal care. A year after finishing college, and after much trying I managed to get myself a job as a student veterinary nurse at a small animal practice near to my home, and three years later after a lot of training, exams, and completing an enormous portfolio I finally qualified as a veterinary nurse, gaining a couple of letters after my name, and scarily allowing me to carry our minor surgery. I had pretty much always had pets, either in the form of fish or rabbits, and ever since I can remember I had been begging my parents to buy me a horse (something that never happened). However by the time I had reached 15 my menagerie had had a population explosion, and I had somehow become the person that you went to to offload your unwanted animals, acquiring a number of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamster and mice, and I still have more pets than most people, most of them other peoples casts off, which take up a fair amount of my time, but I wouldn’t be without them. As a child I had always loved books, forcing my father to read to me when I was really young (the stories were just so much more interesting when you had someone to do all of the different voice for you, so all you had to do was listen), then later on moving onto the usual books that young girls like, but never venturing into Tolkiens world, despite having always been curious about the Lord of the Rings, wanting to know what it was all about. It wasn’t until a few months before the movies came out when all the hype started that I finally took the plunge and purchased a copy of The Lord of the Rings, wondering how I was ever going to get through a book the size of small phone directory, and determined to read it before I could be influenced by the movies. I need not have worried though, because from the moment I read about Bilbo’s eleventy first birthday I was hooked. That book became almost a constant companion, with me taking it everywhere incase I had the chance to read some more, and I immediately started work on my library of Tokiens works, the most recent addition being an illustrated hardback copy of the book that captured my imagination to replace the now battered paperback which is held together with sticky tape through being read so many time, with my love for Tolkien showing no sign of ever going away.

Plaza History

I discovered the plaza back at the end of 2003 (yes, I know my profile says different), when I was up to no good with my brother, looking for forums to go on to annoy people in (I’m a little angel now *g*). He found the plaza, signed up, and I was immediately hooked, for here was a place full of other people that shared my passion for Tolkien. Whilst he spent his time spamming, I was more interested in the lore forms, and after several months spent in the background, I eventually bit the bullet and got my own account on the 6th of February 2004. I immediately became a member of the Riddermark, attracted by the icons as much as anything, then spent the next few months in Legolas Love Letters spamming with the fangirls that were prevalent on the plaza at that time, and being argumentative in the lore and movie forums. It wasn’t until about four months after I had joined the plaza that I finally ventured into the kingdoms, and I have spent most of my time there ever since. I had never role played before, and if you trawl back through the achieves you will find some of the worst posts in existence. It wasn’t long before I was getting involved in everything that was happening in Rohan, and became a member of the cavalry, something incredibly daunting for someone who had to be one of the worst RPGers in the kingdom. None the less, a year and a half later I was still there, but I started to feel as though I no longer fitted in in the Riddermark, almost as though I had done all that I could there, and I made the hard decision to change kingdom, and gave into the pestering of my plaza husband to move to Isengard. I really didn’t expect to stay there long, for a start, I knew very little about the kingdom, and even less about the people there, a distant cry to what I was used to in the Mark, but I was determined to stick it out and I am pleased that I did. If I thought I fitted into the Riddermark it was nothing compared to Isengard, the place was full of fellow nutcases! I was immediately made to feel welcome and quickly found my place in the kingdom, joining both the rat racing and drill teams, and filling the kingdom with games and puzzles. Almost a year after arriving in the tower I had the shock of my plaza life when Trillian asked me if I would like to take over the wearing of Gandalf’s beard as Nylara was stepping down. It took me all of a second to think about my answer, and the rest as they say is history.

Real Life
It was on an October morning in the year 1987 in the town of Matamata, New Zealand that I, Crystal (aka Miriath), was born. My parents, myself and my twin brother lived on a farm just on the outskirts of Matamata until the age of three when my parents packed up our home and moved halfway around the world to the town of Port Glasgow, Scotland. I lived in Scotland for nine years and not much happened, the only thing I remember is the fact that it was cloudy and rained a lot. However, it was in Scotland that I was introduced to my favourite sport and pastime, sailing. It was on a cold day in the mid nineteen nineties that my dad shoved me off of the shore in a small sailboat and said, “Want to go home? Sail back here.” And since then I have been addicted to sailing. My life was interrupted once again when my dad uprooted us from Scotland and returned to New Zealand, this time on the South Island in the city of Christchurch. I continued to live in New Zealand until I was offered a position and scholarship on the sailing team of an American university. I immediately accepted and relocated to Norfolk, Virginia where I reside during the academic school year, during the summer I return to my native country. Apart from being on the plaza, I enjoy a wide variety of activities. Sailing is my true passion; I have now been sailing for 10 years. I have sailed a wide variety of boats; from the small one-person dinghy called an Optimist (or Oppy) to my current choice of boat, the Laser, an international class dinghy. Apart from sailing I enjoy running, surfing, snowboarding, skiing, horse riding, and many other things. I am a theatre dork and enjoy anything and everything Broadway (my true goal in life is to either sail in the Olympics or star in a Broadway production). However, I also am someone who enjoys rock and indie music as well as a variety of other things. My favourite thing to do in the evenings is to sit on the sofa with my boyfriend and watch Greys Anatomy, Frasier, Lost, or any other of my favourite television shows. I am also addicted to cheesecake!

Plaza Life
I have no recollection of how I stumbled across the plaza. Perhaps I was on the search for Faramir (or David Wenham) photos, or perhaps I was looking up something Lord of the Rings related. However, my first thought about the plaza was, “I have to join!” I initially joined as a member of the kingdom of Gondor. At the time I was obsessed with the character Faramir (who remains to this day my favourite character from the Lord of the Rings series) and I wanted nothing more than to be able to be a part of Gondor. Though, I eventually strayed from the plaza for several months. Then, one day while being bored after school in August, I thought to myself, “I wonder what ever happened to that Lord of the Rings place?” I returned to the plaza and changed kingdoms – this time to the Shire. Perhaps it was the fact that I was born in Matamata, New Zealand – the location of the Shire – that I felt the calling to become a Hobbit or perhaps it was just that at that time I was obsessed with Billy Boyd. I dunno. But I became a Hobbit. I have remained a Hobbit until I was asked in May of 2007 to become a ruler and replace Woggy Hardbottom. I accepted and thus ended up here.

On a warm and sunny afternoon in September 1978, in a little town somewhere in the middle of Germany, my mum started to make coffee for the guests who had arrived to celebrate her birthday. This celebration never happened though, at least not for my mum, because only two hours later a very hasty child was born. Aye, that was me. Okay, so I don’t know if it was warm and sunny, but everything else is all true, or so I’ve been told. Fortunately for my parents I slowed down a bit after that. I grew up happily with my two sisters, and it was clear very early that my life would evolve around one thing - books. Our grandparents always made sure that there was at least one book among birthday- or christmas presents, and thanks to my big sis I learned to read even before I went to school. When I was around 12 or 13, it was her who gave me a certain green book to read (the german pocket book edition of LotR is of a vicious green, probably a warning to everyone within a radius of 100 meters that you are reading *gasp* a fantasy book and should better be avoided). I had never read such a long book before, but I bravely made my way through all three of them – and got hooked. Not instantly, though, but enough to made me re-read it a few years later. And again. And again... Meanwhile I had finished school, and it seemed to be a very logical step for me to become a bookseller. I started an apprenticeship in a small non-fiction bookstore, but I found out soon that this wouldn’t be the thing I’d like to do for the rest of my life. Luckily I had to attend vocational school then, and there I found out that there is more about books than just selling them. Of course they have to be produced first! So I decided to follow the call of one of the teachers there and enroled for an ominous sounding course of studies: “Mediapublishing”, which is all about how to become a good producer in a publishing house.

Plaza Life

There I also met my now best RL frind, and she willingly joined the LotR craze with me as soon as the movies came out. She was it who stumbled over the Plaza while searching for LotR quizzes. She signed up as Nocona, joined the Riddermark and bugged me until I signed up too. I’ve been a tree-hugger all my life, and the Ents had always been my favourite characters in the book, so the decision which kingdom to join was hastily done – and never regretted once. Since I hadn’t internet at home then, I couldn’t get involved as much as I would have liked, spending the time I had between courses hanging around in the movie forums and generally lurking a lot. It took me a while to notice that the kingdoms were pretty much fun, so I started playing games and did my first role-playing steps. I was the happiest little Ent when I got to run Do you dare to ENTer? (which had always been one of my favourite activities) with Yuca, and I was the most scared little Ent when Megs talked me into joinging the Drill Team. It was so intimidating to play along all those knowledgeable people! And although I’ve told everyone that I am none of them, Megs talked me into taking over team captainship when she resigned. In the meantime I got myself a new flat, finally with Internet access, so I started to become more active. There’s not much more to tell that you don’t know already, except for the one evening when both Thom and Lanthy poked me on IM simultaneously and started talking about divorce and marriage and confused me lots until I found out they wanted me to become co-ruler once Lanthy would be Vána-fied. I took me a while to get over the shock, but after a hard fight with my inner student I gladly accepted the offer. Now I’m here, trying to be not too silly, and to make Fangorn a place people like to be, and perhaps make it their home even - as it has always been for me.

Real Life:
I don’t have a catchy opening sentence so the fact that I was born April 16th, 1990, in a hospital 40 minutes away from my home in a little backwoods town will have to do. I spent the first eight years of my life living in a diminutive settlement and spending many of my summers in the city of San Antonio, where the Alamo and the Riverwalk are. By the end of second-grade, my mother felt my hitherto diva-like personality was being spoilt and indulged at school - where I was proclaimed to be the cutest little girl to walk the hallways - so I was pulled out and began to be homeschooled by my mother. At eight I moved to Denver, Colorado where I began my life in earnest, determined to be a shy and quiet little girl (yes, I did a 180 after leaving school) who read a great deal. My mother often suggested that I should read a book called the Hobbit but I didn’t have any interest in fantasy literature, being more of a historical fiction sort of girl and not at all inclined to read a book about a creature I’d never heard of. At last, however, she got me to check the book out from the library and to peruse it with disinterest and a sulky sort of arrogance that said I was clearly above this child’s book. Needless to say, I loved it! As soon as I finished it, I was on the internet searching for the next books in the series. I spent a good hour or two trying to figure out whether the RotK was next of the FotR but eventually we got it all straightened out and I read the best books ever. Again and again and again. By the time I moved back to Texas at age twelve, I had started on the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and spent many of my afternoons reading them in the sitting room and drinking coffee. From the age of twelve until now I somehow transformed myself into an opposite of what my early childhood had promised I would be for I am now a reasonably outgoing, city-loving, travel-adoring, fashion-obsessed young woman who is either reading Vogue or something by Tolkien. I occupy myself with reading, painting, buying shoes, hanging out with friends like a good girl should, doing missionary work in far off places, and traveling for fun to Paris, Russia, and all over the United States at the expense of a wealthy great aunt. Hopefully many more destinations to come as traveling is definitely a passion of mine. As far as my goals and aspirations in life, I have far too many to bore you with. College is looming above my senior year in high school and I haven’t the faintest idea where I’m headed though I’m determined to either become extremely wealthy on my 18th birthday or to marry into exotic royalty.

Plaza Life
I haven’t the faintest idea how I found plaza or what I did when I found it but I do know that I was immediately hooked. Still, I was wise and controlled. I’d just stormed away from another forum (whose topic was the growing of orchids, a far-too expensive and thus ditched love of mine) where I had gotten into heated arguments with adults who probably knew far better than I. I knew my parents wanted me to be very cautious about what I did on the internet so I had to observe this Lord of the Rings Plaza site for a few days to make sure it was not full of kooks and crooks. I was not reassured as to the former but seeing as it seemed a fairly decent site that was professional looking and not at all the sort to harbour dangerous criminals, I joined. I did spend several hours trying out different names from the index of the Silmarillion but everything was taken! I was aghast and enraged. When I found that my absolute last resort of Niphredil was unavailable, I pitched an inward fit and tagged on two squiggly lines and ~Niphredil~ was born. There was no question as to which kingdom I wanted to belong to - Lothlorien was clearly my home. I took the quizzes in the Halls of Knowledge (with the aid of Google) and joined Lothlorien promptly. After making a mess of my first post in their Newbie Greeting Thread, I strolled gracefully like a good elfess into the Guard Training area where Brillonnien kindly informed me that while my dress was lovely and described very well, ball gowns weren’t really standard apparel for Guard members. Deeply shamed, I changed into leggings and a tunic and embarked on my Lothlorien career. I did fairly well there, slaving away in the Gardens and relaxing in the Hollow. I received my first SCR there, Nimrodel, and decided that was a good time to change my name to Gwilwileth Rien, the Butterfly Queen, the meaning of which now makes me want to retch. It was at a masquerade that I got my first close-up view of a minioness named Aure whose magical posts captured my attention and drew me to Mordor where she ran the pubs. I lived in Lorien for about a year but posted a great deal in Mordor, all the while declaring I would never live in such a hive of villainy. But slowly the minions drew me over - namely Ides with her flattery - and I became an elf of Mordor. Soon enough they convinced me that elves weren’t good material for the Black Lands and so Tarin killed off Gwil and Tzülien, the disinherited and hunted corsair princess from Umbar, slipped in to steal her belongings, her house in Nurn, and all her TR’ing responsibilities which amounted to one paltry Riddles thread. I plunged into debate at the request of Turin and loved it. I involved myself in everything there was to be involved in and eventually I achieved what I thought was the greatest honour a minion could possess - being Pub Mistress! While I never did as well as my plaza forebears in the industry, I greatly enjoyed it and apparently my performance there and my murderous ways were good enough to earn me a place in Valinor. A PM from Ides one day urged me to IM her and when I did so, I thought it was about my frequent absences of late. Instead it was a request to join her as a ruler of Mordor. I blinked a great deal, asked what was expected of me, and said, “Why yes, of course! May I be Gothmog?” Thus, my plans for world domination began. The rest is…well yet to be history since I’ve only been ruling a couple months now.