1 Forge Magazine

EDITORIAL

Welcome back Forge readers!! We apolo-

gize for the break and hope that you will

enjoy the new edition of Forge.

This edition we celebrate many things that we should be

grateful for but often take advantage of without realizing it.

We need to remember that as a team, we can conquer any-

thing.

So Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for sticking with us

through the hard times. We are excited about what the future

holds and think you will be just as pleased as we are.

CEO of Forge PublicationsAngelicLeighSinnerLeighNotoriousLeighBelladonnaofDeathGeneralVanity

EditorsHarleeVanity (Forge After Dark)BriskTrivianiErebus (Forge)

WritersKillerDoveAlaricWrathbornTaurasBabyLove

Public RelationsSimplyStorm

CUSTOMER SERVICEwww.forgepublications.comangelicleigh@forgepublications.comharleevanity@forgeafterdark.com© 2014 Forge Publications

Staff of Forge Publications

November 2014

CONT ENTS

13

19

49

AOTMOctoberAlucynda

MAYOR

HeForShe

RetiresTaintedVi

8Forge Magazine

35

87 95101. Food Court Three tasty reciepes for this holi-

day season

109. When Cyberbullying isn’t handled Cyberbullying has been an issue

too long

116. How to Trace Your Roots Find out how to get the answers

to your geneology

121. How to Advertise your products

122. Threats in the Deving World

127. Writer’s Block Chapter two of Weaver and Ballad

of the Winds

13 Forge Magazine

AlucyndaBriskTrivianiErebus: Hey

there Lucy ~smiles~ Thanks

for coming, I was hoping to

be able to do your inter-

view for the Artist of the

Month now. Is this a good

time?

Alucynda: Hey Brisk. -Smiles

back.- Of course, I’m free to

talk now.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Great.

I’m so excited to be the one

able to interview you.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Of

course I told you that yes-

terday lol

Alucynda: Haha. Be gentle

with me please.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Lol.

We’ll see

Alucynda: Which is code for

no. Lol.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Okay.

So first question ~smiles~

What inspires you when

you create?

Alucynda: A hard question

already. Quite a few things

can inspire me to create,

ranging from the current

mood to comments made

from other users.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Yeah, I

understand that with the

mood.

BriskTrivianiErebus: What

do you think is the mood

you work best in?

Alucynda: Generally being

relaxed and happy seems

to be the best mood I work

in, because then there is no

stress to cause silly mis-

takes or creative blocks.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Do you

work with music? And if so,

what kind?

Alucynda: Music is a must,

I don’t like silence at all. It

can be pretty much any

music besides Country or

Justin Bieber.

BriskTrivianiErebus: What

made you want to become

a creator?

Alucynda: Ooh another

hard question. I suppose it

really came down to being

curious at seeing what it

took to make the fantastic

items we see in the IMVU

catalog every day and see-

ing if one day I’d be able to

make other users happy the

same way they make me

happy seeing their work.

BriskTrivianiErebus:

~smiles~ Yes, I know that

feeling exactly.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Like

many of us, I’m sure you

have one person that en-

courages you and pushes

you to be your best. Who

would you say that is?

Alucynda: -Smiles- We all

have that one person and

for me that would be my

online sister, Katrina, whom

often gives me a variety of

ideas as well as little com-

ments on how to improve

each item. An outside view

can be very useful for pick-

ing out things that you may

not notice.

BriskTrivianiErebus: ~nods

and smiles~ I’ve met Katri-

na, in fact she really wanted

to be here for the interview

lol. And I agree, she is your

biggest fan. She’s awesome.

Alucynda: Haha. I’ve told

her she can wait and see

until this is published.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Lol.

Here’s a shout out for you

Kat. Sorry you couldn’t be

here.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Do you have any crea-

tors that you look up to?

Alucynda: I’m sure she’ll love that.

Alucynda: There’s a few creators I look up

to including; BelladonnaOfDeath, Anry,

Vkei, CherryRed, Prey and Preadtor. There’s

several more but it’d take a long time to list

them all.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Lol. I know how that is

too.

Alucynda: IMVU definitely has many talent-

ed creators that’s for sure.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Yes, they do. And of

course you are most definitely one of them.

Which brings me to the next question. How

do you feel about being the Artist of the

Month?

Alucynda: Oh my you had to ask that ques-

tion. Lol. In general I’m a very shy person so

being Artist of the Month makes me kind of

nervous but I am also very grateful to have

been chosen. There are many more creators

much more talented than I, so I feel very

lucky as well.

BriskTrivianiErebus: And last question.

~smiles~ What advise would you give to the

newest creators out there?

Alucynda: If at first you don’t succeed, try

try again. Don’t expect to be perfect from

the very beginning, it takes time and prac-

tice to develop your skills. But most impor-

tantly, enjoy yourselves.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Very true words.

BriskTrivianiErebus: Lucy, thank you for

coming in and chatting with me.

Alucynda: You’re very welcome Brisk and

thank you, and of course all the staff at

Forge, for the wonderful work you all ac-

complish.

19 Forge Magazine

TaintedViRETIRES

AngelicLeigh: I am sitting here with

the top leading Haute Couture

creator, TaintedVi. I would like to

thank you, Vi, for taking time in

speaking with me today.

TaintedVi: Your most welcome

AngelicLeigh: Now it has been a

few days since you announced

your retirement from the creating

community. I understand that you

have been a creator for a long time.

What I think a lot of people would

like to know is why retire now as

you hit another peak in your career

as an IMVU creator?

TaintedVi: I am retiring for two

main reason: to help reestablish

the modeling community on IMVU,

and to focus more on my real life

business.

TaintedVi: I will still make customs

for those that want them, but other

than that no new products will be

in the shop.

AngelicLeigh: You mentioned re-

establishing the modeling commu-

nity on IMVU. Could you ellaborate

on your views of the current mod-

eling community as it stands right

now?

TaintedVi: In the early years of IMVU

I was there to watch modeling

bloom. Back then we worked hard

for all we got, and all the privileges

we obtained. Now a days models

go to a group, and submit items.

They dont know there true roots.

Within the past few months I joined

the staff at DM Model School as a

Fashion, and Runway Proffesor. We

believe in returning modeling to

what it use to be, and strive to push

models to learn all aspects which

include: makeing ads, full edits, and

portfolios just to name a few.

TaintedVi: Other agencies since

then have began makeing strides

to learn the original standards, and

how to apply them

AngelicLeigh: You also mentioned a

real life business. Would you care to

share what you are doing?

TaintedVi: Haha sure...in real life I

have began designing, and creat-

ing jewelry.

AngelicLeigh: What kind of jewelry

have you been doing?

TaintedVi: Mainly womens, but

hopefully by the Spring of 2015

I will also have mens lines out as

well.

TaintedVi: My main focus has been

simple but elegant like I am on

here.

TaintedVi: Soon I will be spread-

ing into the gothic and steampunk

lines as well.

AngelicLeigh: Sounds fantastic.

When will others be able to see and

purchase the work you do?

TaintedVi: Hopefully beginning in

February of 2015 I will have full

lines ready to be sold by way of

Facebook, and by way of Etsy.com

AngelicLeigh: Please make sure

we get that information so we can

share that with those that love your

work here. I’m sure they would be

pleased to purchase a real life crea-

tion made by TaintedVi.

TaintedVi: Will do dear XD

AngelicLeigh: So we can also

smush any rumors that are going

around. The reason for your retire-

ment had nothing to do with the issue that

arose earlier this year between you and the

eccentric Andzelica?

TaintedVi: No it does not.

TaintedVi: I respect Andzelica as a creator

and as a leader in her fashion genre.

TaintedVi: But no she isnt the reason im retir-

ing

AngelicLeigh: When did you realize it was

time to retire?

TaintedVi: I woke up one morning and was

prepping a local shipment for my jewelry

line, and signed onto IMVU. While on here

just observing everything my inner voice

came to me, and said it was time. I have

always tried to follow my inner voice.

TaintedVi: Ive been on IMVU no almost 9

years. Its time to start living! lol

AngelicLeigh: lol

AngelicLeigh: So anything you would like to

say to the creating community?

TaintedVi: To those just starting out, just nev-

er give up. Watch videos or find those willing

to take the time to teach you, or assist you

in learning your craft. Find your strengths

and push those on the market, and work on

strengthening your weakness’s so you can be

a tour de force as well. For everyone else just

have fun, and do not allow IMVU to take over

your life. Its just a 3d chatroom where you

can role play. For established creators just

keep up the amazeing work, and do more

fashion shows. Take it from me my biggest

sales are from the nights I have done, or al-

lowed my fashions to be featured in shows.

AngelicLeigh: I wanted to say that it has been

a pleasure going through the adventure with

you. I hope we get to continue.

TaintedVi: Awe ty dear and you as well XD

AngelicLeigh: ty :)

TaintedVi: Your most welcome

25 Forge Magazine

One thing that IMVU never

tells you when you are be-

ing stolen from is that if there

are too many DMCA’s done

at one time, it could look like

you are being a malicious

person instead of actually

being a victim to the mutliple

thieves that reside on the 3D

platform. Instead of the items

being flagged and taken down,

pending the DMCA process,

you could actually lose your

account or have your creator

privelages revoked.

So what is the story?

The creator known as Izis filed

about 20 or so DMCA’s over

REVOKED Creator

Privelages

26Forge Magazine

the course of three days.

These were all hair styles that

were taken from her shop

by another creator, MissKitty

(Jaee). What happened is

that MissKitty filed a counter

DMCA on all of the items. This

released all the items from

DMCA hold.

Now for those that are not

sure of the DMCA process, let

me give you a rundown real

quick of what happens. If you

find products that are stolen,

you flag it and file the first

initial DMCA. The person that

has been accused of stealing

then has a right to file a coun-

ter DMCA. This usually hap-

pens only when the person

truly believes they are inno-

cent and can provide truth to

the allegations being false.

Well somewhere in the midst

of this fued between the two

creators, Izis lost her rights

to be a creator. When mes-

saged, IMVU responded that

they couldn’t reinstate those

privelages but yet wouldn’t

give her any reason as to why

her creating privelages were

revoked. The only possible

answer was that it had to do

with the multiple DMCA’s

that came from Izis within the

three days.

So I had a chat with an IMVU

agent concerning the matter.

Below is what was said.

AngelicLeigh: kks. one more

question. a friend of mine has

found some stolen products

in anothers catalog here. She

asked me to help her out. She

wanted to make sure she didn’t

misuse it by submitting every

single one of them. It’s like

140 products she found. How

would she do this and not risk

her account?

Eunice: With regard to stolen

products, you may ask your

friend to contact DMCA.

Eunice: You friend may report

and complaint by sending an

email at

27 Forge Magazine

Eunice: Dmca_agent@imvu.

com

AngelicLeigh: kks. I’ll have her

do that. I had one that did and

her creating privelages were

revoked. I just don’t want her

going through that. She works

hard at what she does

Eunice: Yeah. That’s right.

DMCA is a big help.

AngelicLeigh: kks. thank you

for all your help

Eunice: She may provide

screenshots as well as proof

and evidence.

Eunice: You’re welcome!

AngelicLeigh: I will tell her that.

thank you

Eunice: Anything else that I can

help you with today?

AngelicLeigh: nothing at all.

thank you. :)

Eunice: Great! We’re all set now.

Thank you for chatting with

us. It’s been a pleasure serv-

ing you, AngelicLeigh. Have a

great day!

AngelicLeigh: you too

Client has ended the chat.

Safe to say that no matter what

Izis did, she eventually had to

start a new account and start

all over in hopes of getting

back to where she had been

before all of this started. As for

MissKitty, her attitude didn’t

help in the matter but could it

be proven that she was a thief?

Not beyond a shadow of a

doubt. But I’ll give you the evi-

dence and you can make that

determination. Happy Deving.

28Forge Magazine

Life is difficult. N

ot just for me or other A

LS patients. Life is difficult for

everyone. Finding ways to m

ake life meaningful and purposeful and

rewarding, doing the activities that you love and spending tim

e with the

people that you love - I think that’s the meaning of this hum

an experi-

ence. - Steve Gleason

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig’s dis-

ease, is a progressive degenerative disease that affects nerve

cells in the brain and the spinal cord. This disease can be quite

painful and cause a person to feel as though they have lost

control over even the simplest of motor function.

Symptoms that can be used to first diagnose ALS are:

* muscle weakness in one or more of the following: hands,

arms, legs or the muscles of speech, swallowing or breathing.

*twitching and cramping of muscles, especially those in the

hands and feet.

*impairment of the use of the arms and legs

* “thick speech” and difficulty in projecting voice

*In more advanced stages, shortness of breath, difficulty in

breathing and swallowing

To date, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has raised over 115 mil-

lion dollars. Go viral and help a good cause.

A L S

29 Forge Magazine

Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 75,

with the majority after age 60, although it can occur at a younger

age.

While there’s no cure, riluzole therapy improves ALS survival

for typical patients by a short period of time, around four to six

months.

“I th

ough

t of m

y ne

w u

ncer

tain

ty: H

ow lo

ng c

an I

live

with

ALS

? I

thou

ght:

“Don

’t se

arch

for a

nsw

ers.

Live

the

ques

tion.

”

Enjo

y lif

e m

ore

beca

use

of th

e un

cert

aint

y, n

ot le

ss.”

-Sus

an S

penc

er-

Wen

dell

30Forge Magazine

ALS occurs throughout the world with no obvious racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries.

The disease is relatively rare; the incidence is roughly 2 people per 100,000 per year.

35 Forge Magazine

Noel Cruz is one of the most versatile & distinguished re-paint artists in the doll community. He is most recognized for his character & celebrity based dolls due to their uncanny resem-blance to the peo-ple they portray. His dolls are derived from several mod-els like Gene, Ty-ler, Sydney, etc, by various doll-makers such as Robert Ton-ner & Franklin Mint. His repaints as well as his portraits are done with intricate

ARTNOOK

ft Noel Cruz

36Forge Magazine

detail to the point of being naturally lifelike in essence. Highly regarded among collectors and artists alike, Noel attempts to raise the bar and bring a fresh take to the common mass produced doll with every face he paints. Noel’s spe-cialty is with one of a kind repaints. The beauty of repaints is that almost no two are exactly alike just as no two artists are alike.What defines Noel’s style of repaint is his focus in achiev-

ing a sense of both aesthetics and like-ness. He has de-veloped this style across hundreds of dolls all rang-ing from unique & exotic originals to some of the most recognized celeb-rity faces in history. All his dolls now belong to the per-sonal collections of their proud own-ers.

To see Noel Cruz’s work please visit www.ncruz.com

41 Forge Magazine

Malicious In-tent, when concerning the DMCA pro-cess, is where a person is tak-ing advantage or the process for their own personal gain or revenge. This is com-monly seen when a thief files a DMCA against the original crea-tor after using the stolen ma-terial in hopes to get rid of

the creator.

There are ways to pro-tect yourselves against mali-cious intent but sadly with all of the new programs out there to con-tinue the theft of mesh files and texture files, they all seem pointless. You can lock your products which will al-low no one else but you the

WHAT IS Malicious Intent?

42Forge Magazine

files that were used to cre-ate the prod-uct. However, locking these products also makes it hard for anyone to derive off of. One creator has found it is best to reg-ister all work with the li-brary of Con-gress so that she is issued a number that

she uses every time she cre-ates some-thing. This shows that she has already submitted the information and is protect-ed by the Digi-tal Media Act. Remember that according to the IMVU Terms of Ser-vice, anyone that is found maliciously

43 Forge Magazine

flagging prod-ucts that are not of certain content cor-rections can be punished up to losing their account. It would be wise unless there is a le-gitimate com-plaint about

the product, not to flag it for any other reason unless you are willing to go to court to prove it’s yours.

The days that I grew up in are

obviously long gone. No longer

are parents concerned about

how their children are dress-

ing. Back when I was growing

up, short skirts weren’t allowed,

showing the stomach wasn’t

something a good girl did, and

make up didn’t exist until you

were at least a teenager. So what

is so different in today’s society

if the kids raised like me all grew

up the same way?

Most people have two theories

about what happened to the

kids of today to make them

seem like they are more sex

Is Today’s society

sex crazed?

44Forge Magazine

crazed than the previous gen-

erations before them. The first

theory is that the Generation Y,

which came after Generation

X (1965-1983), are lazy and

feel that the best way to take

care of their child is by plop-

ping them in front of their TV

and let them do whatever they

wish. This is also though of

about anyone in the current

generation Z. Now obviously

there are exceptions to the

theory of this. So it is possible

it’s not entirely accurate.

The second theory is that

Child Protective Services

have been allowed to over-

step their boundaries in

protecting children and have

today’s parents so scared in

disciplining their children,

that they now officially run

amok. This is more plausible

in the fact that almost every

child that throws a tantrum

now-a-days does the worst

possible areas where the par-

ent literally can do nothing in

fear that someone might call

CPS and report them, even if

it is a smack on the hand for

reaching for candy.

So how do we fix what is go-

ing on with our children to

where we don’t see anymore

of the behavior that we have

been? Well, we can start by

pushing out icons, like Mi-

ley Cyrus, out of our homes

and explain why she is not a

particular good influence. It

is one thing to be okay with

your image, it is a completely

different thing to go flaunt

butt cheeks and other body

parts.

If you don’t believe me, check

out Saved By The Bell and

then go watch Glee. Both are

family oriented shows but

where Saved By the Bell was

dealing with just real prob-

lems and hinting at marriage

before sex; Glee was dealing

with all kinds of issues includ-

ing sex. Can you name one

show, other than old cartoons

or reruns, that doesn’t talk

about sex? Bet you can’t.

For too long, women have been the comfort that men seek. No matter the age, men have looked to women as a mother, grand-mother, sister, aunt, or even teacher.

He

For

She

He

For

She

51 Forge Magazine

“I HAVE REA

LIZED TH

AT FIGH

TING

FOR W

OM

EN’S RIG

HTS H

AS TO

O

OFTEN

BECOM

E SYNO

NYM

OU

S WITH

MA

N-H

ATING

. IF THERE IS O

NE

THIN

G I KN

OW

FOR CERTA

IN, IT IS TH

AT THIS H

AS TO

STOP.”

-Emm

a Watson

Wom

en have been fighting the good fight since the early 1900’s to be seen as equals. That w

e in turn could do everything, or close to, that a m

an could do and wanted fair treatm

ent and fair wages. H

ow-

ever, while w

e are able to vote, go to work, and anything else that a

man can do; w

e are still fighting for equal treatment and equal pay.

Many com

panies will have a m

ale and female in the sam

e position w

ith the same degree. H

owever, if you ask about their salaries, the

wom

an get’s paid less than the male does. W

hy? So w

e are encouraging everyone to make a stance in fighting for this

equality. The time of gender separation is over. It is tim

e to truly join as one race for one goal. For m

ore information about the cause and how

to join, please visit http://w

ww

.heforshe.org/

53 Forge Magazine

“@emwatson is an inspiration for taking a stand + sparking a worthy debate. #HeForShe - RT for #kindness #equality #love #moms #sisters #daughters #friends”.

Jared Leto, 42, dedicated his Oscar win to his mother.

2014 World SeriesKC Royals VS. SF Giants

you almost wanted to ask yourself if it was 1985. the only difference was that game was between the kc royals and the st. louis cardinals. the royals, being the underdogs, won the series 4-3 games. this year, the kc royals faced the san francisco giants. in what has been known as the most exciting year for the KC Royals, it was a slight disappointment that they didn’t take the crown. However, as small as that disappointment was, the KC Royals did something that no one

else had done in a very long time. They made a country love them and brought hope to a city that had lost any hope that good things would happen.The outcome of the entire series was worth watching and watching again. Congratulations to both teams for a well done season.

CosplayCosplay is derived from Costume Play. Literally

this is nothing more than dressing up and play.

Unlike what some claim, you can cosplay any

character you like. It does not matter if you want

to be a Gothic vampire, a Lord of the Rings char-

acter or a robot, since it is all cosplay. Some play

one character and stick to that. Some use differ-

ent costumes according to the occasion. But all

do spend a lot of time and/or money to have the

finest, most authentic costume possible. Any en-

tity from the real or virtual world that lends itself

to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a

subject.

Of course, those who love manga (which means

“whimsical pictures” in Japanese) and anime more

likely dress up as an anime or manga charac-

ter. “Manga” are Japanese comic books/graphic

novels. So all is possible and on most Renaissance

Faires and Science Fiction Conventions, a lot is al-

lowed. There are also many Comic Cons through-

out the world every year. Comic Con is the pre-

mier event for fans of all things comics and action

packed tv shows or movies like Star Wars for

example. Cosplay is not a hobby contained only

to anime and manga fans. There is huge amounts

of western comic book and video game represen-

tation at conventions.

Another kind of cosplay, is LARP, or Live Action

Role Play. This is a role play like Dungeons and

Dragons, in which you do not play with your

characters on a board, but you dress up like the

characters and play them yourself, so you are not

just playing the game, but you are in the game.

So it is a myth that cosplay can only be done with

anime and manga characters. Fact is cosplay can

be any type of dress-up event. Sending your kids

out to trick and treat on Halloween is also a form

of cosplay.

FASHION

TRENDS

FASHION

61 Forge Magazine

Punk fashion refers to the style of dress for people within the punk

subculture. When punk music was first established in the 1970’s,

punk clothes tended to be rebellious, wild, and shocking. Design-

ers like Vivienne Westwood greatly influenced the punk fashions

of the time, as well as punk icons the Ramones and The Sex Pistols.

Punk fashion has been extremely commercialized at various times,

and many well-established fashion designers have used punk ele-

ments in their production. Punk clothing, which was initially hand-

made, became mass-produced and was sold in specialty clothing

stores by the 1980s. Items such as bondage clothing, tapered

jeans, and leather pants dominated the punk clothing scene as

well as plaid skirts, torn jeans, and heavy chains which were very

common items worn during the 80’s. Hairstyles also became part

of the punk fashion scene. Those people who chose not to shave

their heads sported brightly dyed hair, mohawks, or liberty spikes.

Hardcore punk fashion is not really considered part of the subcul-

ture at all and consists of jeans, a hoodie, and a simple t-shirt. This

style is a far cry from the commercialization of punk clothing, and

pays homage to hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat. Many

fashion magazines and other glamor-oriented media have fea-

tured classic punk hairstyles and punk-influenced clothing.

Punk people just want to look different, they don’t bother about

others. It may include modifications to their old or new clothes

including punk rock hoodies. One can design their own punk

clothes even though ready to wear punk clothes are available in

wide range. Why not show your unique PUNK Style!

Punk

62Forge Magazine

Bollywood is the Hindi language film industry, based in

Mumbai India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to

the whole of Indian cinema; however, it is only a part of the

large Indian film industry, which includes other production

centres producing films in multiple languages.

The term ‘Bollywood’ comes from the combination of the

names of Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and Holly-

wood. The Bollywood film industry, based in Mumbai, is

the largest film industry in the world in terms of ticket sales

and the amount of films made per year.

Bollywood films are mostly musicals with very few mov-

ies made without at least one song and dance sequence.

The films feature love interests, comedy and action thrills.

The plots are often melodramatic and often feature star-

crossed lovers, corrupt politicians, conniving villains, angry

parents, courtesans with hearts of gold, dramatic reversals

of fortune, and convenient coincidences. Bollywood film

music is called filmi music (from Hindi, meaning “of films”).

Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded

by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip

synching the words to the song on-screen, often while

dancing.

Bollywood is often known in the western culture for its awe

inspiring dance sequences, often featuring large numbers

of dancers in perfect co-ordination and ornate costumes.

Bollywood dance is now so popular in western culture that

Bollywood dance classes are offered in most major cities

around the globe.

Superstars such as Shakira, Madonna and Britney Spears

have been so inspired that they have added Bollywood

costumes and moves to their stage shows and video clips.

Bollywood dance has also gained recognition in the world

of western dance and is now featured on shows such as “so

you think you can dance” and “dancing with the stars”.

Bollywood

67 Forge Magazine

OMG!!! It’s time for anoth-

er fun filled segment of

the gossip... I mean the

411! Yay! Sorry about the

absence of my glorious

commentary on the Hollywood starlets

that seem crazier than an old lady need-

ing to be hooked up with some drugs.

Lol. Well anywho, let’s see who’s in my

scrumptious column this month. Have fun

kiddos!

Obsession is a perfume and a bad

one at that. OMG! Selena get your

head out of the clouds sweetheart

and leave that china doll alone. You

are way more grown up than he is.

Yes that’s right Gomez fans, your

girl is supposedly at it again with the

bad boy himself. Ugh, can we say

this relationship was so five minutes

ago? They are always hookin’ up, he’ll end

up lying and cheating, she’ll dump him,

and then they both try this jealousy thing

out on the other. Poor Orlando Bloom

getting caught up in all that drama.

Gomez do us all a favor dear, save

the drama for daytime soaps and

move on. Obviously the maturity of

the Biebs will never be larger than

um.... his short size.

thelatestinhollywoodtrendsandgossip the

68Forge Magazine

thelatestinhollywoodtrendsandgossip 411

69 Forge Magazine

Can we say get ready for

Juvie hall? That’s right folks.

The latest rumor surrounding

Chris Brown and girlfriend,

Karrueche Tran, is that she

has a baby bump that is

about to get bigger. Let us

all hope that baby Brown

doesn’t have Daddy’s anger

management problems.

While it seems the off and

on again 5 year relly is going

good, remember, don’t take

everything for granted. Don’t

worry, Chris, I’ll send your

baby a straight jacket for

those nights he goes crazy

on.

For all things holy, tell me

what in the world this gor-

geous woman sees in a

perverted old man such as

Charlie Sheen? Seriously? He

isn’t worth killin’ yourself for

hun!

That’s right. Charlie Sheen is

back making headlines after

his ex-fiancee, Brett Rossi,

was found in her apartment

overdosed on drugs. Thank-

fully they were able to bring

her back to life. Hopefully

with a little therapy she can

70Forge Magazine

be slapped back into her senses and realize that a life with a man

like Sheen is not one to die over.

Find yourself a Chris Evans, Brett hun. Not old man Rivers. Eww he’s

all like wrinkly.

75 Forge Magazine

Death

Huge controversy has transpired from one woman who pubi-

cally announced after finding out that she was diagnosed with

stage 4 glioblastoma that she would end her life November 1,

2014. Many people called her act selfish, claiming it was still

no better than suicide. But, if you had a choice, would you live

through the months to years of pain; or would you chose to live

your life until the pain became unbearable and then leave this

Earth on your terms?

Brittany Maynard made her choice after consulting doctors and

researching all the facts about her terminal disease. She decid-

ed that on November 1, she would end her life according to the

Death with Dignity act in Oregon. At 29 years of age, she leaves

behind a husband and family members. Sadly no children.

Dignitywith

76Forge Magazine

But her life to her was not

wasted. She led a full life up

till she was found ill. Then

she did more. She began to

become an advocate for other

patients in her situation in

hopes that other states would

do the same that Oregon,

Washington, and Vermont

already had done. Make it

acceptable for patients with

terminal illnesses to be able

to leave on their own terms.

78Forge Magazine

There are stories as old as time that has de-

scribed the hero and the villan. Most villans are

a singular person that

has usually had some abuse or heartache befall

upon them. They act out against the hero in

some sort of revenge plot that always gets

foiled and the hero usually lives their lives hap-

pily ever after.

Sadly in this story, there are no heroes, only

villans. The villans in this story is a group called

The Shadow Empire.

Very little is truly known about their beginnings

on IMVU but they are known throughout the 3D

chat client as bullies, liars, and true scurge of the

roleplay community. So what makes them so

terrible?

Usually the first encounter with the people

in this group starts off pleasant. Until you tell

them anything about yourself or your role-play.

Then the encounter starts to include name

calling (their favorite so far to date is calling

people dogs) and the immediate removal of

your presence from their rooms. Well this is fine

and dandy. According to the role-player’s creed,

an agreement that all role-players take seriously,

they have that right to deny role-play with any-

one that they do notnwant to get involved with,

especially if it doesn’t go with their particular

role-play. You really don’t want a vampire in a

military based role-play unless you are really that

epic in your creativity and make it work. Perhaps

their minds are that closed off. Who knows?

However, it doesn’t stop there. If they do find

something within your role-play that they find

interesting, they will stop at nothing to obtain

which they find fascinating. This could be numer-

ous of things but usually it leads to a character

(person) that they feel is too good to be amongst

common role-play. Well easier said than done.

It is called recruiting and many major role-play

groups hold try-outs as such a few times a year

to allow new members. That’s what many think

anyways.

The person selected is then stripped down of any

basic knowledge of role-play. This includes any

basic concepts of respect for others in the com-

Shadow Empire

79 Forge Magazine

munity and any rules, such as the T1

fighting system. These are simply not

applicable in their role-play.

A movie came to mind the other day

while writing this. The Skulls. Same

basic concepts. They believe them-

selves to be higher than all the rest

and only have respect for each other.

Well poo. Means that any friends you

thought you had of these that were

selected to join the role-play, you

might as well kiss goodbye. They are

not allowed to hang out with anyone

unless it’s from their own role-play

group. Anyone else is considered

treason and there goes a character

that the person worked really hard

on.

The Shadow Empire has for years

claimed that they have been bul-

lied, trolled, and oppressed within

the role-play community. I

remember my first days on

IMVU. The first warnings I

heard was to stay away from

the group. This was for my

own safety. They had been

shoved to the back of the

community, licking their

wounds, after several role-

players from other groups

decided that the tyranny of

the Shadow Empire needed

to end. For at least a year

there seemed to be peace

and quite. However, the

group came back largerand

did more damage upon

returning.

Now what is known about

the Shadow Empire is that

it is ruled by Balamaz and

his queen, Doodleblue.

They have been found in

numerous of areas of IMVU,

preaching about how the SE

has been oppressed, trolled,

harassed, and bullied; but yet

in most of their postings has

left many role-players and

non role-players feeling like

they were going to be forced

to accept the SE rules and

ways of engagement in role

play.

I happened to come across

a story about someone that

had interaction with this

group recently. I contacted a member

out of the group

to see if I could speak with someone

about it and possibly get their side of

the story. However, it turned nasty very

quickly and was threatened

with legalities that simply do not exist

for the group. However, it didn’t stop

the person from continuing to try and

intimidate me

in leaving things alone. Simply put,

Told the bugger that I didn’t respond

to threats as I was not in role-play and

he could try all he wanted

to. Even gave him my legal depart-

ment’s phone number if he wished to

continue the matter with them. Sadly,

he never called.

Why do I waste my time on such a

group like this or even give them the

slightest bit of publicity? Well it is defi-

nately not for them.

This is for the role-play community so

they can arm themselves against stu-

pid morons that have nothing better to

do than

obviously conquer virtual “worlds”

because of their own self-confidence

issues. They do this by role-playing out

rape and murder.

These vary acts are considered to be

under the cyberbullying acts and the

role-play community has had enough

of this type of act. Role-play was meant

to be fun. Not meant to make you feel

dirty or less of a person.

So the moral of the villanous story is?

Do unto others as you would have

done unto yourself.

80Forge Magazine

Catfishing:Protect Yourself

What is catfishing? Catfishing is the phe-nomenon of internet predators that fab-ricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into emotional/ro-mantic relationships (over a long period of time).

Possible motivations: revenge, loneliness, curiosity, boredomSo how do you protect yourself in this

81 Forge Magazine

kind of situation? Well, the first is obvious. Try not to enter into a relationship with anyone who isn’t willing to speak with you on skype or the phone.

Sharing pictures only does so much and it’s easy to swap the pics out for someone elses. Try not to get too personal into each other’s lives until you have known them for a while and have at least seen them on skype or met them in person. Un-derstandable that things happen in life, but catfishers have found that it is easier to scam people that make a personal commitment. For example, say the person de-cides to “kill off” the person that they have been play-ing. A good hearted person would do everything in their power to help the grieving

family by possibly setting up a fundraiser for some expenses. This is a huge no no. This is what the scammer wants. They not only became free and clear of actually entering into a real

relationship but, they escaped with money to boot. Keep your wallet in your pants or purse unless you are physically tak-ing them to a res-taurant.

Remember not everyone on the

internet is nice and will be honest. There are very few that take the responsibilities of us-ing the net seriously. So make sure you are doing the same and playing it safe.

The term catfishing was

inspired by the 2010 doc-

umentary “Catfish.”

87 Forge Magazine

Daughter of GeneralVanity and

his successor

Brightly VANITY

We catch up with

Brightly Vanity to find

out what it is like to be

the General’s daugh-

ter, her thoughts on

succession, and more.

89 Forge Magazine

AngelicLeigh: How does it feel

to be named as the successor

to your father, General Vanity?

KuroiSukai: Nerve racking...

Vain is insane, he juggles SIN,

helping people, working with

Devs, me and my siblings, and

all sorts of other stuff. I don’t

have the patience or level

headedness he possess, so I

don’t always think I’ll do as

great a job as he does.

AngelicLeigh: What is it like to

be a Vanity daughter?

KuroiSukai: Haha. I don’t know

how to answer that...It’s just

like having a dad? I mean it

think it’s like anyone else’s fam-

ily. We judge the people who

come around our dad harshly,

I can sit with my sisters and do

really stupid things, and my

dad is always there, like some-

times I forget that its virtual,

and it’s like having a group of

friends who won’t leave. Not in

a bad way, but like I know that

they’re always there

AngelicLeigh: now here’s the

fun one. Who is Brightly Vanity?

KuroiSukai: and who is Bright-

ly... um... I’m just a really funny

kid. I’m probably one of the

most immature members of

our family, I’m a general in

the SIN Empire, and god only

knows how that happened... I

kinda walked into Pheo’s room

one day and she was like oh

yea, Brightly you’re a first star

General... and I’m not even sure

I managed to respond before

she moved onto another topic

of conversation. I like to think

that Brightly is a warm and

fun person... Someone that

my friends can depend on and

that my family can always look

to... I’m a general, a mother, a

daughter, sibling, and friend.

AngelicLeigh: well put. what

do you like to do outside of the

Empire and rp?

KuroiSukai: Outside of SIN, I like

to visit other rps and see what’s

going on... outside of rp... I love

to read, watch anime, listen to

music, and write... I think the

only reason I rp, aside from the

people, is because I get to write

so much. I am big on creating

things, so I guess writing is my

biggest hobby outside of rp

AngelicLeigh: what is your fav

anime?

KuroiSukai: Kaichou wa maid-

sama, Ghost in the Shell,

Psycho-pass, Bleach, Black But-

ler, and Helsing are all fighting

for that one spot... they kinda

rotate

AngelicLeigh: ah. heard of two.

my hubby watches Ghost in

the Shell and Bleach.

AngelicLeigh: when you get in

a mood and need to listen to

music, what do you put on?

KuroiSukai: “Happy’ by Pharrell,

“Sunshine” by Matisyahu, “Dan-

gerous” by Gray, “Haru Haru” by

BigBang, almost anything by

T.O.P and G-Dragon, and Flor-

ence and the Machine

AngelicLeigh: if you could pic-

ture your life as a movie, what

would you pick as your theme

song?

KuroiSukai: SPectrum by Flor-

ence and the machine maybe

or Pogo by Digitalism

AngelicLeigh: So what are you

hoping people will recognize

most about you? like your most

redeeming trait.

KuroiSukai: hmm... honestly I

don’t want people to recognize

anything, I’m ok with everyone

just having a good time. Not

sure about a redeeming trait...

I think I’m easy to talk to... so I

guess putting people at ease?

AngelicLeigh: well i love hang-

ing out with you. so definitely

easy to talk to and being at

ease with.

KuroiSukai: Yay, see then eve-

rything is good. I hate when

people think they need to

90Forge Magazine

outshine others

KuroiSukai: if someone is genuine they tend to shine

on their own, so I like seeing people do that

AngelicLeigh: so what is your biggest dream?

KuroiSukai: i have two. RP: I want to be a worthy suc-

cessor of Vain. I want to prove that even though I’d

never fill his shoes, I can carve out my own path and

be a great leader

KuroiSukai: rl: I want to be a successful author

KuroiSukai: -hugs- thank you for making the interview

painless Ang

KuroiSukai: I really appreciate that

AngelicLeigh: -hugs- your welcome hun. I feel they

should be fun. really allows you to get to know some-

one. I don’t like those that pretend to care.

(Slight editing was done cause we were doing girly

things and some of it is not suitable for younger audi-

ences.)

95 Forge Magazine

ScrewballAngelicLeigh: When did you first start creat-

ing?

Screwball: 2010

AngelicLeigh: What inspired you to start

creating?

Screwball: I first started wanting to learn and

take it seriously because of Polystyrene’s new

meshes that were for feminine male clothes.

It looked like fun to me, and I wanted to start

making pretty things for guys.

Screwball: This, of course, was on my Jakx ac-

count. Screwball didn’t come til later.

AngelicLeigh: What was your favorite thing to

create?

Screwball: Corsets.

Screwball: :D

NerdGirl: your corsets <3

Screwball: <33

AngelicLeigh: love corsets

AngelicLeigh: What did you find the most dif-

ficult to do?

Screwball: You probably get this answer a

lot... lol

Screwball: Opacity maps.

AngelicLeigh: actually you are the first one

that mentioned the opacity maps

Screwball: oh wow lol

Screwball: I’d get so frustrated haha

AngelicLeigh: lol i totally understand on that.

opacity maps just make a creator’s life a pain

Screwball: -nods-

AngelicLeigh: How do you feel about what

has been going on within the creating com-

munity as of late? example, theives being

able to continue what they do and becoming

pro versus those such as yourself that work

hard to do what you do and provide to the

community.

Screwball: I think that devs can sit around

and get mad at the theives all they want.

There’s no point. There will always be theives,

especially with the anonymity of the internet

and people not being held responsible for

their own actions. I think that the real issue

is with IMVU’s lack of effort to keep theft at a

minimum. They did recently add a new fea-

ture for meshers, to help them find meshes

that closely match theirs in the catalogue, so

that they can look it over and file a DMCA,

if needed. I think this is a small step in the

right direction. But I don’t look for theft to be

under any sort of control anytime soon.

AngelicLeigh: If a new Dev came to you for

advice, what would it be?

Screwball: Don’t rush to submit a lot of items.

Take your time and learn at your own pace.

Look up lots of tutorials. Don’t be afraid of

working hard and learning new things. The

sales will come when you are submitting

items that you can be proud of.

AngelicLeigh: You have a group called “Get

Screwed” with a lot of goodies on it. Could

you tell me a little bit about it in your own

words?

Screwball: It’s simply a relaxed, casual group,

for those who have an interest in my meshes.

I hold a small contest every month, offer

exclusive mesh files for sale, and people can

advertise their own products or just hang out and chat

in the threads, if that’s what makes them happy.^^

AngelicLeigh: now, i’m sure someone has asked this but

where do you get your ideas for your meshes?

Screwball: Everywhere. lol. I can be out and see some-

thing someone is wearing or in a store window. Things I

see in movies. Online stores. The possibilities are end-

less.

Screwball: The key is that I try to never fully copy, but

add my own little twists to it.

AngelicLeigh: Well I thank you for your time and con-

gratulate you on being Artist of the Month for Novem-

ber. Many of us on staff enjoy your meshes and I know I

definately have a long list of stuff I want to derive off of

your meshes.

Screwball: You are welcome. And thank you for choosing

me. :D

AngelicLeigh: you are very welcome keep up the epic

work

101 Forge Magazine

Welcome to the most delict-

able part of Forge magazine.

This month we have chose

some wonderful goodies

that you can use during your

Thanksgiving holiday. These

are also low cost depending

on the people that will be

coming to your home. We do

suggest if you are expecting

more than five to ten people,

please just cook a turkey. Less

time consuming on prepara-

tions and less money for buy-

ing multiple pieces of meat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

FOODCOURT

* 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

* 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

* 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

* 1 TBSP hot pepper sauce

* 1 lb shredded cheddar cheese

* 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. In an electric food processor or blender,

combine cream cheese, garlic, worcestershire

sauce and hot pepper sauce. Blend well. Add

cheddar cheese and process until the cheddar

is fine but still very visible. Shape the mixture

into balls or logs. Wrap individually in plastic

wrap and place in the freezer.

2. While the balls are in the freezer, combine

the ground pecans and parsley in a shallow

bowl. Remove the balls from the freezer and

roll them in the pecan and parsley mix.

Herman Reunion

Cheese Ball

* 1 (12 ounce) pakage herb-seasoned bread stuffing

mix

* 2 skinless boneless turkey breasts

* 1 cup chopped pecans

* 2 (8 ounce) packages dried, sweetened cranberries

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 6 lettuce leaves

* 1/2 cup pecan halves

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions.

Set aside to cool.

2. With a sharp knife, butterfly breasts open to lay

flat. Place each breast between two sheets of waxed

paper, and flatten with a mallet. Spread the prepared

stuffing to within 1/4 inch of the edge of each breast.

Sprinkle each one with chopped pecans and dried

craberries, reserving some of the cranberries for

garnish. Roll up tightly in a jelly roll style, starting with

the long end. Tuck in ends, and tie in sections with

strink, about 4 sections around the middle and one

running the length of the roll to secure the ends.

3. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medi-

um-high heat. Carefully brown rolls on all sides.

4. Place skillet in oven, uncovered. Bake in a preheat-

ed 350 degrees F oven for 1 hour, or until the internal

temperature is at 170 degrees F when taken with a

meat thermometer. Do not let these get overly dry.

5. allow rolls to set for 15 minutes before removing

string, and slicing into 1/2 to 3/4 inch circles. Leave

one roll whole, and slice the other for presentation.

Stuffing will be spiraled into meat. Present on your

prettiest platter on a bed of curly lettuce, and gar-

nish by sprinkling with the remaining 1/2 cup pecan

halves and the reserved dried cranberries.

Cranberry StuffedTurkey

Breast

* 3/4 pound sweet potato, peeled and diced

* 1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie crust

* 3/4 cup evaporated skim milk

* 2 egg whites

* 1/4 cup white sugar

* 2 tbsp brown sugar

* 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

* 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

* 1/8 tsp ground cloves

* 1/4 cup halved cranberries

1. Place the sweet potato in a saucepan with just

enough water to cover. bring toa boil, and cook until

fork tender, about 5 minutes. drain and mash with a

fork or potato masher.

2. preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. divide the pie

crust into 24 small balls. Press them into the cups of

two 12 cup mini muffin pans to make tartlet shells. set

aside.

3. spoon the sweet potato into a blender or food

processor, and add the evaporated milk, egg whites,

white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and

cloves. puree until smooth. spoon about 1 tbsp of this

mixture into each tart shell.

4. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until

a tookpick inserted into one of the tarts comes out

clean. Cool in the pans over a wire rack. Garnish each

tart with a cranberry half before serving.

Mini Sweet

Potato Pies

109 Forge Magazine

Cyberbullying is still the leading prob-lem in the internet world. There have been many actions that have been put into place to help the victims of those that bully them online. Sadly these measures still have not proved fruit-ful because many virtual clients still do not uphold that cyberbullying is a real thing. So how can you take measures against cyberbul-

lying? Remember that no one has any power that you do not give them. These people might claim to be friends of yours but if they were, they wouldn’t say the things that they are saying. So take the power away. Log off in-stead of responding. Learn on each site that you use the se-curity measures you can take to make sure they cannot harass you. This can also include to use the block feature.

WhenCyberbullying isn’t handled

110Forge Magazine

Reach out and talk to others about your experiences. The hardest part about a cyberbully or a troll is that they will not stop if they see they have a window of opportunity. This could reference to an online busi-ness. Let the staff know what is go-ing on so they can block this person as well. There are never sure ways to get rid of someone

for good that is try-ing to hurt you but, there are ways to spread the word to protect you better. Do not live in fear. Keep the power.

116Forge Magazine

How to trace your roots

Have you ever wondered about the past? Have

you ever wondered where your surname origi-

nated from? Ever wondered about your ancestors?

These are common wonderances that happens

with anyone. There are ways of finding out the

information that you seek. Just remember that

not everything in print is accurate. Double check

everything.

A good website to start using is Ancestory.com.

This website also has a feature called the Family

Tree. This is where you can put in the information

about your family. What will happen is sugges-

tions will come in by matching names or dates to

other information someone has already shared.

You can find a lot of relatives doing this. Just re-

member to use internet ettiquette when speaking

with these people. They could be related and they

could be out to scam. Remember, buyer beware.

Once you get to a point that you are getting

further in the past than what might be available

via newspapers or internet sites, a great place to

look is the local historical society. Some states,

like Kansas, only keep certain records on file from

a certain date. For instance, if someone is born

before 1911, there is a good chance you won’t find

their birth certificate in Kansas. But, there could

be school records, baptismal records, or perhaps

birth announcements in the paper. The Historical

Society would have these for you.

If you have Indian Heritage, the best way to

find out if your family is registered is by going

to http://www.archives.gov/research/native-

americans/dawes/intro.html This will give you the

details on how to use the information and how

to accurately search to find out if the stories that

your family told could possibly be true.

For the European side, It is always good to find out

exactly the area that your family member came

from. Usually each area has a forum you can go to

speak to others and be able to request informa-

tion of. Now remember this information may be

very simple and basic such as birth records, bap-

tismals, deaths, or marriages. They may not have

any more information for you other than that.

Remember not to get frustrated. Researching

your history can take a long time and come up

with many dead ends or those that will not help

you when they said they would. You will need to

take a step back and think outside the box. Also

remember that your surname may not have had

the same spelling as you currently have it. One

of my ancestors was Beach. When researched it

came up as Beech, Beeche, La Beche, and other

various forms. So don’t count out the connection

just because of a misspelling. It might be the right

connection.

121 Forge Magazine

Congratulations. You have just finished a product on

IMVU and you would like to advertise the product to

get it out there. What do you do? Simple. Below are

some simple guidelines on how to advertise your

product in the correct manner to get you the sales

that your product deserves.

1. Create a facebook account or share your work on

your current facebook account. This proves very use-

ful as you will reach out to all your friends who also

might be on IMVU. Remember, if you tell ten people,

they tell ten people, and it goes on from there. Make

sure that your account has your IMVU avatar name

in there somewhere so they know how to find your

shop and always provide the link to the product you

are advertising.

2. Join groups on IMVU or Facebook that allow you

to advertise products. Most of these groups are

free. Just remember to ask permission if they have

threads set up for shops. If you post without permis-

sion, you could end up with the post deleted and

you kicked out of the group. Remember there is an

agreement between Facebook and IMVU. You can-

not share AP items on facebook.

3. Create your own group on IMVU for those that

already enjoy your products. This also helps to get

items of the AP nature out if you mark the group AP.

Also a great way of being able to accept requests for

products if you are looking to get into something

like that.

4. Reach out to magazines on IMVU. Many can work

with beginning creators in getting ads into their

magazines and sometimes provides the graph-

ics as a free service if you are willing to pay for the

space. For a complete guide of magazines available

on IMVU, please visit http://gaf210.imvustylez.net/

codes/site/links-lang-eng

5. Learn how to do outside graphic arts to make

your own ads to put on product pages. The more

attractive you make the product look like, the better

the sales will happen.

6. Do not post on other people’s accounts on Fa-

cebook. They hate this and will block you instead

of looking. Instead, find out what their name is on

IMVU and send them a gift instead of the product

you are pushing. If they like it, they will buy more of

your products.

How toAdvertise Virtual Products

122Forge Magazine

It has been such a long time since I have been

able to do an opinion piece based on rumors

flying around the virtual world of IMVU. So bare

with me as I rant about the sure stupidity of some

creators.

The newest rumor in the virtual world is that mul-

tiple creators, such as Kkaterina, Enzo, and many

others; are now offering to pay people to not dev

off of other creators like Donatella. Well color me

happy when I heard this. I mean seriously, offer-

ing to pay others to not dev off of other creators?

Why would someone do something as retarded

as this? Well that’s almost too easy to answer.

Part of the matrix that IMVU uses to determine if

a person is a pro creator or not is derived sales.

Well what does it all mean Basil? What it means

is that if they can get people to derive off of

meshes in their catalogs, then they would get

the sales off of that and not any other creator.

Well phooey. Doesn’t seem all that threatening

does it? Well it is for creators such as Donatella.

Most of the creators they are trying to get others

to boycot are strictly mesh devs and hurting the

pocketbook.

That’s okay though from what we can gather of

the groups antics. They will continue to shell out

the credits (or money) so that they can lie and

cheat their way to the top. Just remember dear-

ies, you cannot beat an original no matter how

much you buy someone to do your dirty work.

So word to the wise, don’t stick to one mesher.

Have fun in your creating. Just remember, it’s

about you and your catty in the end. Those who

associate with thieves that have been outted

will get the same reputation in the end. Though,

that is just an opinion. Tata darlings until the next

opinion rant.

Threats inthe Dev

Community

127 Forge Magazine

Chapter Twoby Patricia Lowe

Weaver

As I sit in the principal’s office, I can’t help but think that it’s just like my last principal’s office. Same certificates of higher learning, even the smell is the same. It is the mix of books and dust. The only difference is the person behind the desk. “Lorik, I would like to welcome you to our school. We are quite pleased to have you here. I don’t know if you knew this but I taught your mother.” Mrs. Cramner wasn’t exactly what I had expected of my new principal. She has to be in her mid-fifties though you would have trouble telling by the way she dresses. I have never seen a principal dress the way she does. Today she is dressed in a pair of jeans and a button down blouse with her hair pulled back into a French braid. “No, ma’am, I didn’t know that,” I said with honesty in my voice. “Your mother was one of my favorite students, she was so bright. You look just like her, you know.” She has a smile on her face, “Though your eyes are different, if I remember right she had brown eyes.” “Yes,” I say forcing a smile, “Both she and my father had brown eyes. We don’t really know where I get my eyes from.” I hate having the same small talk with people who knew my parents. It’s always the same, you look just like your mother but where did you get green eyes from? Then there is always the little joke, Are you sure you weren’t adopted as a baby? These usually came from people that know I’m not adopted, they have known me all of my life. My eyes had taken everybody by surprise when I was born. They say that all babies are born with blue eyes, not mine. From the moment I was born I had green eyes, but they aren’t just green, they are almost the same color as a field of clovers, as my grandpa says. Everyone in my family has brown, so when I came along with green my mother did a little research. No one on her side of the family has ever had anything but brown eyes and she went back as far as her great-grandparents. And there is no way I get them from my father’s side, he is from Iraq and all of his family have brown eye as well. “Well, Lorik,” Mrs. Cramner said. “I just want to let you know that if you have anything you need or need to talk, I have an open door policy. We also have a great counseling team at your disposal. I know with the loss of your parents you are probably going to need someone to talk to and we are here for you.” “Thank you ma’am.” “You can come in here, Paul,” she called out. “Lorik, Paul will show you to your first class. Here is a map of the school, so that you can find your way around after that. Though I’m sure you won’t have trouble getting someone to help you.” Paul comes in just as she finishes. “What is your second period class?” He asks as we leave the principal’s office. I look down at the paper that was just handed to me, history is the first class I see. “After history with you I have calculus. Please tell me you take calculus.” “Nope, not smart enough,” he says with laugh. Handing him my schedule I ask, “Do you have any other classes with me today?” “What you take drama for?” “What’s wrong with drama?” I can’t help but let the hurt seep into my words. “I thought it would be fun.” “Well, good luck with that. The teacher is a bit on the nutty side, if you ask me. You’ll see when you get there.” “Anyway, do we have any other classes together?” I’m starting to get a little annoyed at his teasing. I have always thought it would be fun to take acting lessons and try out for a play but my parents wanted me to be a serious student. This is my chance to change myself, though I still want to hold onto the girl my parents wanted. “Yeah, we have science together, and lunch.” “Good, I don’t want to have to eat lunch alone.” I was relieved. “With the way you’re looking today, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding someone to eat lunch with,” he says with a wink. “Let’s get to class,” I groan. Walking into class, I felt the butterflies start in my stomach. This was going to be a long day, I could feel it. I could also feel the eyes of everyone on me as I walked up to the teacher’s desk. As I handed her the paper

I’m supposed to have signed by every teacher today I took a peek at my new classmates. Yep, I was right, everyone is staring at me. “Hello Lorik, I’m Mrs. Lexner.” She has kind eyes, they are filled with sympathy. “Hi.” Does everyone know? I thought this would be a new beginning. “You can take the empty desk in the back next to Marie.” She hands me my book and points to a desk next to a girl with red curls. Walking down the aisle I can feel everyone watching me, there are even a few whispers. I wonder what they think of me. Sometimes I wish I could read minds. As I sit down I take a quick glance around the room looking for Paul. Of course he is watching with a smile on his face. I can’t help but smile back, it’s hard not to smile when he has such a goofy grin on his face. Just as I am about to sit down he sticks his tongue out at me, I can’t help but laugh. The girl next to me giggles at the same time I do, I guess she noticed Paul and his silliness. Sitting down, I look over to my right to introduce myself but she is already looking in the opposite direction. How strange, I think to myself. She was obviously watching me and Paul but now she is acting like I’m not even here. Looking down at my desk feeling a bit embarrassed I hear someone clear their throat. “Hi, I’m Ryan.” The deep voice startles me a bit. I wasn’t expecting such a deep voice from such a timid looking guy. Ryan has to be smaller than me, and I’m five feet four inches. He is also quite skinny with a thick bush of dark brown hair and horn rimmed glasses. To be honest he wasn’t ugly though, behind the glasses he has beautiful hazel eyes, and as he smiled at me I noticed his teeth are perfectly straight and a brilliant white. “I’m Lorik.” “Yeah, I know. I think everybody knows who you are,” he says with a bit of a laugh. “We haven’t had anybody new here in a long time, so you are news to everyone here.” Great, there goes my chance of being the mysterious new girl. I couldn’t help but scowl at the thought of everyone knowing everything about me and expecting me to act a certain way. I would also have to deal with everyone knowing about my parents, which is something I’m not looking forward to. The look on my face must have startled Ryan because he asked, “Are you okay?” “Um, yeah. I just don’t like being the center of attention. How much do people actually know about me?” “Not much, we just know that you are from Detroit and that you came to live with your grandparents.” “That’s it?” “Uh, well, there is the rumor that your parents died in a car crash,” this he said shyly, as though he was afraid to say it. I almost felt like laughing at the look on his face...almost. So people do know. My heart sank to my feet. Why do my grandparents have to live in a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone else? Couldn’t they live somewhere far away from Michigan and the people that have heard about what happen? Just when he looks like he is about to ask a question the teacher starts class. The rest of class I try to figure out what people are going to be asking me all day. I wonder if they are going to be as shy as Ryan had been or if they are going to be bold and just come out and ask what they want to know. History flew by without me even noticing what was talked about. Now it’s time for calculus and my mind is busy with worrying about what everyone knows and wants to know. I’m so wrapped up in my own thoughts I don’t even notice Ryan standing by my desk. “What class do you have next?” “Uh, calculus. Now all I have to do is find it,” I say with a laugh. “I’ll show you the way. What are your other classes? Maybe we have other classes together.” I show him my schedule but I could have told him it, I know it already, history, calculus, drama, English lit., lunch, physical education, science, and study hall. I’m actually lucky to have been able to pick my classes before I got to the school. I didn’t have to get stuck with what classes they wanted to put me in. “Didn’t anyone warn you not to take drama?” That’s the second time someone has said that to me. “The teacher is a real nut job,” he finishes with a laugh. “Yeah, I heard about that from Paul.” “Oh, you know Paul?”

“We kind of grew up together. He lives down the street from my grandparents, so we use to play together when I visited during the summer.” “That’s cool.” We are walking down the hall and it feels like people are just gawking at me, I can’t help but feel a little self-conscious. I can feel myself blush knowing that everyone is watching me. I’m not much for being the center of attention. “Is there any other things I should know about this school, any dark secrets?” I have to laugh at the thought of there being anything dark and scary about this place. “Well, you do have to watch out for the school lunch, but you could say that about any school’s lunch.” “Yeah, most schools have sucky lunches. My old school, in Detroit, had pretty good pizza though.” “Our pizza isn’t so bad. The meatloaf you have to look out for though,” he laughs. “Here you are, calculus. Mr. Brenner is pretty cool.” “Thanks. Hey, you never said if we have any other classes together. Do we?” “Um, yeah, we have English lit, study hall, and drama together,” the last he said hesitantly. “Uh, I thought you said the drama teacher was a nut case?” “Yeah, she is,” he says awkwardly, “but she has her moments of coolness. Like when we do our fall play.” “I look forward to it.” I can’t help but smile at him, he is such a nice guy. “I’ll see you in drama.” Walking into calculus is probably just as scary as history. Everyone is staring at me, and this time I don’t have Paul here for support. I can feel myself start to blush again as I walk up to the teacher. Mr. Brenner has kind eyes and there is only a little hint of sympathy as he hands me my book and tells me where to sit. I think I’m going to like him. I really appreciate that so far the teachers haven’t asked me to introduce myself to the class. “Hey.” The whisper isn’t exactly quiet but I don’t think it’s meant to be. “Who me?” I ask the girl to my left. “Yeah, I see no other new girl in your seat,” she says with a laugh. “I’m Corrine, some people call me Rinnie. You’re Lorik, right?” “Um, yeah, hi. How are you?” “So, what all classes do you have? Did you have to get stuck with something lame? I heard you got to pick your classes.” “Yeah, I did. I just picked classes I thought I would like to take.” “Okay class, come to order.” Mr. Brenner has a bit of a squeaky voice for a man his age. He has to be in his late forties, early fifties. He’s not an unattractive man, though he seems to be balding in the front and is starting to get a spare tire around his waist. I can’t help but wonder if he had taught my mother or if he came here after she had already left. Calculus went by almost as fast as history but I was able to pay more attention to what was being said. I really like calculus, I like the way the answers always add up. There is homework tonight but that was okay, I had already don’t this work at my old school so it would be easy. “Hey Lorik, do you think you might want to get together sometime and do homework together? We could meet at the library or at one of our houses?” Rinnie’s questions catch me a little off guard. I really hadn’t expected anyone to be this friendly so fast. I was expecting them to be curious about me, talk about me behind my back, then maybe after a few weeks want to get to know the real me but not on the first day. “Sure, that would be great, but I don’t think I know where the library is. We could meet at my grandparents’ shop and go from there. Or if you want we can go directly after school one day, I have a car to take us there.” “Oh, you have a car? How cool. I wish my parents would give in and get me one but they say I have to earn one for myself.” She said this making a sour face, like the thought of working was not her idea of how to spend her spare time. “Um, do you know where the drama class is? I have drama next but I have no idea where to go.” I have to laugh at myself just a little, it’s so frustrating being new.

“Drama is held in the auditorium across from the gym. I’ll show you the way, I have drama next too. It’s a pretty easy class which is why I took it this year, you know, easy A.” I think I’m starting to like Rinnie, she is just like my friends back home. “We better be going before we are later for class, Miss Valentin isn’t too great on tardiness.” “Okay. Is she really as nutty as everyone tells me?” “Nah, she is a bit eccentric but she is a great teacher. Anyway, who have you been talking to?” “Oh, um, Paul Anders and Ryan, but I don’t know his last name. He was in my history class and said he is in drama too.” “You know Paul Anders?” She sounds a little shocked by this fact. “He lives down the street from my grandparents, so we kind of grew up together during the summers that I visited,” I explain. “Do you know him?” “Here’s the auditorium. And yeah I know him, well kind of. We don’t hang out or anything. We aren’t part of the same crowd.” She seems a little uncomfortable about telling me this. “That’s Miss Valentin at the front of the stage.” She points to the front of the theater towards the stage. “Thanks, I really appreciate you showing me around. You wouldn’t happen to have English lit next, would you?” I had to laugh a little at the desperation in my voice. “No, sorry.” The auditorium isn’t very big so it doesn’t take me long to get to the stage. Just as I get closer the lights go up and I can see the teacher, which stops me in my tracks. Standing on the stage is the woman from my dreams.

Ballad of the Windsby Cintas13

I tell upon you a tale of oldFive thousand years agoIn the dawn before the dragon cameAs the shadow of the war brokeThis is the tale of a familyForged from far apart to unityAnd the building of the cityMost of all it is the tale of a manWho dared to create a prophecyAelithorn the Wind Runner bold!Hear, for in the days of youth he was idleIn the forest clan a drunken foolSon himself of a distant elf long goneHe would spend his days an outcastRoaming the woods and sleeping by the shoreThen one day the Centaur king of Deep WoodCame and said unto the clanThat war had raged and ravaged all the East LandsAnd his kin were all but dead

That if all did not join the fightThe same would happen to the clansThe last remaining Centaurs stood thereDried blood still uncleaned from their braided manesThe King Coros spoke in urgency“I have for any man a questIt is almost certain deathSurely you can go forthBut doubtless the road backAcross the gripped lands of the hateful hoardsTheir hunters on your tracksTo the mountain of the Dwarves at lastUnder the Fortress of their KeepLays the only victoryHidden in the deep.”Aelithorn climbed upon a stumpAnd rose above the crowdHis slurry words at first a hush

Then a trumpet loud“At last a hero’s deed has comeWorthy of my heart”The crowd began to laughBut he roared “I will play the part”He gestured round and answered to the King“These others here have wives and childrenI have none but meAnd if I do dare return I will gain respect and family”The elves brandished words of foolish disparityBut with no other coming forth the crowd was parted by the KingFrom his tattered robes he pulled pieces of a broken crownThese were thrust and closed into Aelithor’s steady hand“Take this to the Dwarves, you will not go aloneMy Sisters child, brave of heart, will guide you to their homeThis must be placed upon the black anvilOf the forge beneath the stoneThere is can be remade and break the magic sealWhich will lead you to a hall where a secret name by gems will be revealedPray this sacred name and speak true the need of what you seekThis alone is our last hope to reclaim our lands and gainA safe future filled with peace. I have sailed upon the Giants shellAnd watched the mountain burnSeen the sky of day go blackAs Iro rose across the sunI have run the open lands with centaurs wild and freeDrank the deep stones brewRemade the crown of ancient kingsI hunted with the shadowAnd danced within the storm of BlueListen to these words my sonsI have done this all for youAnd while my path has passed far awayKnow that I looked back and prayedWith A blessing whispered from my lipsI gave the world your names upon the running winds Aelithorn, his song now known, the story has begun With Mirya, niece of King Coros, Aelithor departed at break of dayThrough the threatened elven woods they traveled longAelithor knowing all the different ways

To the edge where mires sank the green into murky landHere they fought with scouting orcsAmong the waters of decayThe enemy already having made its strideUpon the elven reachA fire of black mages flamesDid rise above the crowning treesWith arrows true and strong enchanted bowThe Elf and Centaur skirmished throughUntil the orcs were slainBut no sooner did one hour passThat ground did trembleWith the march of gnollish troopsA hundred gnolls smashed through the treesThemselves so tall they did not sinkWading through the murkwood their malice unsatedAs they broke their iron clubs and great axesFelling the moss covered treesInto the water the life of nature bleedThe sap sheening across the surfacein the glint of moonlight upon the bare landBacks pressed upon an ancient treeLess one hundred meters from the frayMirya turned to Aelithor and whisperedThat she perchance may know their escape“By story I have heard that in these landsThere is a mystic caveBy passing through we may findA safe and protected gladeWe cannot go with weapons thoughNor with any rageFor it was once the home of the wild Fae”