Tharkendaz Home Page, Version 1.0

Introduction: The Roots

The "Tharkendaz" Gaming Team is a little bit different than most gaming clans on the internet in that its roots lie in offline life and experience. In 1987, Stephen and Ryan became fast friends and began playing pencil and paper role-playing games together. At first it was Battletech, then Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In a memorable campaign, Through common success and experience, a bond was formed. While no formal group existed at this time, the seeds were sewn that would eventually - after a period of inactivity (i.e. "college") - yield a partnership in many games to come. But where does the name come from?

Tharkhaad: An incredibly successful and long standing G.U.R.P.S. character for Steve. Of all his former characters, Steve may identify with this one most of all.

Dasmin: Of all the characters that Ryan played in his short AD&D career, this one was easily most memorable. Incredibly evil and astonishingly creative in his rampages.

Introduction: The Beginning

As both founding members moved to Omaha, their gaming began again...this time on the PC...in a wide variety of games. From flight simulators to RPG, fast-twitch kill fests to real-time strategy, they asserted control over their surroundings in-game...but almost always in an off-line setting. LAN play was the rule, and putting up with the anonymous masses crowding the internet was avoided if possible. A comprehensive (if a little out of date) list of this partnership's combined gaming experience can be seen in the link to the left.

In the spring of 2004, the next (logical) step was reached: MMPORG games. Ten years prior, Steve and to a lesser extent Ryan had participated in the text-based Synergy M.U.D. For it's time, it was incredibly addictive. (I directly blame my poor final grade in Thermodynamics I on this fact) But this addiction was not handled well, and both Steve and Ryan were burned out (or scared away) from the genre for some time. Finally though, the draught was broken by a seemingly light game...City of Heroes. And that is where we are today. Perhaps other deeper games (like say, World of Warcraft) await? We shall see.

While new member Rory is hitting Paragon City hard in search of crime, along with Steve B. and Stephen S, Dusty and Ryan have started gearing up for the next Tharkendaz "calling"...World of Warcraft. A game-specific site has been created here: http://www.ourdecay.com/Tharkendaz/TharkWar.htm

It was a good weekend for new group member Moraine Frost! Steve managed to get his character up multiple levels via some power-leveling from the super group. At the start of the day Saturday, Steve was soloing in mid-Steel Canyon. By the mid-afternoon on Sunday, he was getting dragged along...UN-sidekicked...into Talos Island. That says it all right there. His blaster is nearing 17th level...perhaps some time soon he will hit 21st level, and the primary group will be BACK out in force? Hmmmm. Just imagine:

Saturday was also an interesting day for heroes Solarstation and Cufaol. The two of them stumbled across the dread Clockwork monster Babbage in Southern Skyway City. Along with other heroes in the area, the two engaged in a nearly 15-minute epic battle to down the gigantic villain, across street and building, park and.....power lines:

As you can see from the picture above, Solarstation's bombardment drew the ire of the monster, and subsequently earned him an amazingly long-lasting Tesla Cage for his efforts. If you look closely just to the left of Babbage, you will see the brave Cufaol standing on the power lines and looking for a chance to strike. In the end though, the heroes of Paragon City prevailed, and Babbage was arrested (he later made bail and was last seen back in Skyway City). Darn judicial system anyway!

Many milestones have been reached in the past few days by our heroes...congratulations go out to Tharkhaad (21), Solarstation (20), and Skjaldborg (20) for crossing the infamous Level 20 barrier this past week. Others threatening this barrier are Cufaol (18), Dr. Deceive (18) and Moraine Frost (17). Farther back...but not forgotten...are Mr. Marbelous (14), Rantarack (14), Split Adam (15), and Ms. Shivera (15???). Clearly, this small super group has an impressive array of heroes considering its small numbers. Good job, all!

A recent idea that has been discussed is the advent of Tharkendaz-issued "Battlesuits" in addition to our regular Super Group outfits. These are to be purchased if possible (it can be very expensive) some time after level 20 is reached and a second costume becomes available. Cost to do this can range anywhere from 16K to 43K influence (depending on how much needs to be changed). A hefty price indeed. Here are some examples, modeled by different characters:

You'll note in the pictures above there are certain conventions that I used in creating their battlesuits. All are exactly the same color - both the primary and secondary color are the same gray...the 5th color in from the right side on the top row of colors. All styles are "Metallic" where that option exists: torso, legs, boots, gloves. The belt style is "Gem". The helmet style is self-explanatory. To help us in differentiating from one another I used the secondary color of the gem belt and the visor. Substation is purple, Skjaldborg is gold, and Solarstation is orangish-red. I limited highlights or patterns to the gloves and boots of Solarstation. With those, like the chest insignias, I used white.

You certainly don't have to do any of this if any of you aren't interested, and I won't care too much either way. But if you are interested, hopefully the guide above will help us have some uniformity.

If you have any questions, dead links to report, or anything else to request, feel free to email me at: