Wow. Where to begin...

I guess it all started the summer of 97 when I got my first computer, a god awful POS Compaq P133 w/16 megs of welded-in RAM. Quake was all the rage then, that and the ever famous Warcraft. But I never was a real fan of the hard-core strat games, I needed something quick. A skill tester, a place to compete with the passion and drive of an Olympic caliber event. To that end, I went out and quickly bought my first computer game... the original Quake.

TF did not come for a while, however. I found myself outpinged and massively outskilled on most DM servers. The one that sticks out in my mind the most would have to be 'Big Ed's Quakefest' a server that was altered so badly that their were 3 types of rockets for the rocket launcher. Normal, Concussion (a series of 3 light powered rockets), and 'Homing' an enhanced super powerful, heat seeking, slow as fook death machine. Suffice it to say, every llama with a fire button went right for those homing and it was never really fun. From Big Ed's I found my first DM clan, the [LoD] or Legion of Death. I went under the name of 'Pike[LoD]' for quite some time until the clan leader (DeadAcid[LoD]) decided to take the clan to the next level, and that meant nationals. He cleared everyone off the roster, and took [LoD] to the Euro stage. I never knew what happened after that besides their first match. I heard from an ex-clanmate that they had fought against the number 30 ranked Euro team and gotten raped... so I'm assuming it fell apart shortly after that. But I didn't care, one of my best buds from Quake clued me in onto TF. Props out to TriggerHappy[LoD] for showing me the way...

And so it began. With nothing more than basic controls down, a loaded version of Quake/G-Spy/TF/2fort5 I went at it. Demoman came most naturally, as most would agree the 'spamming' aspect of it really doesn't take that much effort. And with my '1337' 400 ping with 50% PL given to me by my (heh) Wonderful ISP of Sprynet-Dialup-Hell. I couldn't do much else. But I loved TF too much to restrict myself to an eternity of demoman, and with that I got a new ISP. IBM-Net. Quite possibly one of the best dialups I ever had, on a 33.6 modem it gave me a good solid 210 ping to most things. And with my new found ping came new classes...

Still under my now clan less name of 'Pike' I found myself playing demoman and soldier daily on 'Clan IRON's Ugly Playground' where there was always good, solid competition. I tried desperately to be IRON, this was the time where they were really hot. I made a lot of friends there, and they all taught me the 'advanced' skills that I never experimented with myself. Thanks to Calvino and Fox for the teaching me everything to do with the soldier, and to Rot for the demoman, and even a shout out to Freefall for some nice HPB sniper tactics. IRON, I really wish you all the best in whatever you all decide to do, you're great guys. It was about this time that I was found and picked up by one of the best guys in TF that I've ever known, [TsB]Daolin (now -mh I believe). I was hesitant to join The Shaolin Brotherhood at first, for I had not heard of them and I was still trying to strong-arm my way into IRON. But, thankfully, I gave in and accepted my fate...

Now going as the name 'Zephyr[TsB]' I was privilege to meet some of the greatest players in the game to date. I always wonder what [TsB] would be like now if we still had all the originals, but we have all taken different paths, yet still remain friends to the end. The [TsB] roster sported names such as NavySeal, Attacka, Tsao and Tarrant. Truly a great collective of players of superb skills. Props out to them all for making TF a better place for me at a personal level. [TsB] continued excelling to higher planes of play, new leagues, new divisions, tougher clans. It never seemed to end. To my dismay, many started leaving for 'better clans' and it was then the downfall of TsB was imminent. Navy left for the powerhouse of IC, and Attacka soon followed. Our LPB sniper CaptainViper moved out west to Redneckville where they had nothing more than a dialup, so he decided to just give in and stop playing. And Tarrant left for CE just weeks before the downfall of [TsB]...

I quit as well, but not for another clan, I was just tired of playing undermanned and outpinged in most every game we had played. It got the point where we were playing the original {VH} 4 men down. I dropped off of the TF scene for quite some time, little to anyone's knowledge however I kept on playing. I planned on coming back stronger, and more skilled than ever. I changed my name to Mr.Centurion and leapt back into the fray. Now enhanced with the power of the Roadrunner Cable Modem I found myself getting better and better as the days past. IRON's server no longer pinged well, so I moved to the NyCap RoadRunner Server owned and operated by my bud [AoD]Shroomin. For about 2 months I played clanless as MrCenturion making friends along the way. Props out to Stealth, Shroomin, and all mah ex-[AiC] bitches for bringing life back into TF. I decided it was time to find a new clan. My options presented themselves as either [AiC] or the remnants of [TsB] combined with the talented [Nc/Nj]. I decided to go with [AiC] but about 2 weeks into it people just started not showing, and eventually BK and Coub just gave up and [AiC] fell as well. Again, everyone went their different ways, and I to [Nc/Nj]...

I played with the junkies (Nc/Nj = Net Connection Net Junkies) for about 3 months. In that time span we had many an up and down, but both myself and dao could tell from the start that the same fate that befell [TsB] was soon approaching. We made the best of what we could, and for the record played many a good match. And soon, like AiC and TsB before them, they disbanded. I can honestly say I do miss the clan as a whole, because there were aspects of that clan that I have yet to find in anyone else. Phantazy's conference calls every month really brought a sense of reality to it all. And I was fancy to meet many a great player as well. Again, props out to Darby and Arbiter (now CE) for pounding me repeatedly and making me a better player in more ways than one. And to Juzam/Phantazy/and Dao for being some of the most instrumental leaders i've known to date. Clanless and distraught Nc/Nj disbanded and I went back to the bland taste of pubs against my will...

I had many a tryout during this time, I played with the great peeps over in [WM] for a very short while. I even took a stab at the 'new clan' thing in the form of Negative Aspect [NA]. That bombed large scale (as I knew it would) but I still found fun in the time we had. A shout out to Coke and Seismic for brining a load of talent to that clan. And so after a few months of clanlessness, indecision, and free time I decided it was clan time again, for the horrid game known only as 'Ultima Online' was going downhill faster than a fat-man on skis. I thought about who I really wanted to be with, where I would feel most at home and would still have a great deal of talent to work with. And that came in the form of Clan Postal. Chief and Chaos I had become friends with months earlier on the NyCap server. And even some of my buds from AiC found their way to CP such as Tri and Grim and even HollowPoint!! It wasn't a hard decision, and so without even so much as a recruit period I became CP. I have found a new home in CP, and I would just like to send a big sossy hug out to em all cuz they're all great. I just wish Smoothie would stop chasing me in practice...

And that's my history. I have come to know a lot of people along the way, many I wish I knew IRL. To everyone that plays the game, keep up the superb work. It's people like you guys that keep the game alive, and invigorated enough to last years to come (hopefully another 6 months until I can get to college and host my own damn server, woot). Just a quick shout out to some names I've forgotten: Nightmare ('Redeye'), Lop-Larken, Prodigal, Death2All, Kurse, Coub, BK, Dr.Vic, AC, Serende, Icehawk, Swindle, Shitzu, Clutch, KanzKillah, Napalm and the list goes on and on...Peace, gg, im out.