The Lion King MUCK
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The Lion King MUCK is a role-playing MUCK based on the movie, as well as on African wildlife in general.
- Addresses:
- MUCK server: muck.tlkmuck.org, port 7675
- Website: http://www.tlkmuck.org/
- LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/tlkmuck/
- Ran from/to: June 1995 - present
Contents |
The Lion King MUCK was founded by Joshua C. Templin, and was originally based on his fan fiction The Tales of Tanabi. The storyline has shifted a number of times in the years since, with several resets of the Feature Characters from the movie.
This textual roleplaying environment has a rather high population of lions (as might be expected) including three official Kings and Prides. Leopards (as well as their melanistic individuals, listed as panthers) are also common, as are cheetahs, hyenas, and other African species.
[edit] Social groups
There have been a great many In Character social groupings on The Lion King MUCK, which have formed, faded, and/or been revived over the years. The most prominent of these have been the prides. There are officially three prides as of January 2008:
- Kopje Valley Pride, led by Mzohari, living in the Kopje Valley
- Natamba, led by Ghedi and Sumi, living in the Uzima Valley
- Tsavo-Pridelands, led by Mtukutu with his queen Hamaki, living in the Pridelands
There is also one unofficial pridal grouping:
- Life Valley Pride, led by Isago and Kimia, living in Life Valley
In addition, there have been groups particular to other species, or formed of more than one species. (Prides may have non-lion allies or members as well.) Though some attempts at such groups have been made in recent years, none of them are currently active.
Some of the past prides were:
- The Zari Bara Pride, a precursor to the Natamba
- The Celestial Volcano Pride
- The Kumalo Pride (Unofficial)
- Utatu, the longest-standing and largest of the prides
- Sisimka
- Maja Ardhi
- The Great Northern Plains
- Sol Rock
- The Foresworn
- Subugo
- Southlands/Plateau Waterfall
- Salako
- Lands of Hope
- Zaire
- Uzima Valley
- A number of incarnations of the Pride Rock Pride
Other past groups include:
- The Bloodclaw hyena clan, led by the lioness Achika
- The Damuamwa hyena clan, led by matriarch K'jasria and her mate Kesh'ra
- The Kaare hyena clan, led by Emengo, later Kinamkela and Shaka
- The Menders hyena clan, led by Bashak
- The Sumu hyena clan, led by matriarch Inda
- The Kisasa hyena clan, led by matriarch Kora'no
- The Shekwon pack of Ethiopian wolves
- The Kalakonje, a clan of cheetahs, other spotted cats, and a mouse
[edit] Rules
Since September 10, 2006, players are automatically "asked to agree to the rules every 90 days" upon connecting to the MUCK.[1]
[edit] Guest characters
From 1995, The Lion King MUCK had a system of guest characters; these characters could become permanent, without the g. in front of the name, after a week.[2] By December 1996, guest characters were still described in the rules and policies, but were no longer being created; new characters were created without the g.
[edit] Adult Male Lions
Prior to July 1998, AMLs were extremely limited on the muck. In an effort to keep them from overrunning the muck, and because there was no special title for pride leaders, there was a 'waiting list' of sorts that male lions went on to when they became adolescent. When the wizards saw fit (usually due to population growth or loss of a previous AML) they would have a 'mantlement' ceremony and allow the top adolescent on the list who was eligible to be granted the species of 'Lion' which meant they were eligible to lead a pride.
The rule as stated in the July 1998 revision of the rules and policies was that, discounting feature characters, "there is a limit of ONE(1) AML per player at any given time."[3] Players could have more than one male lion character, but it had to be a cub, juvenile, or adolescent. The rules as of February 2002 stated "we will only be allowing ONE male lion per player"[4] which allowed each player to have one male lion character of ANY age.
In October 2005, the rules were relaxed to allow each player to have up to two male Lion characters.[5]
In June 2007, the rules were relaxed again to allow male lion characters to start at any age, as can any other character, and to remove the aging restrictions; previously a male lion character had to spend three months at each stage of cub, juvenile, and adolescent before reaching adulthood. The limit of two male lion characters per player remained.
[edit] Prides
Prior to July 1998, there were no official pridal rules. Any character that held the species of 'Lion' was entitled to have a pride. In an effort to make a distinction between AMLs and lion kings, a program called the Leonine Monitoring Program (LMP) was introduced. The limit on the number of AMLs the muck could have total was lifted, and the LMP was introduced to have 'automated' control over lion characters.
Under the rules of the LMP, once a lion turned adult, they were given the species 'Adult Lion.' A lion then had to spend a minimum of 3 months as an adult before he could apply for a pride. Once a lion had 5 lionesses listed in his pride and had been adult for 3 months, he was given the species 'Lion King.' If he dropped beneath 5 lionesses, his pride was disbanded and he was returned to the species of 'Adult Lion.' Only one king existed per pride, although some ICly had more than one king. After a lion had been adult for a year and a half (king for 15 months), he was given the species 'Elder Lion' and no longer eligible for kingship. Lionesses who were part of a pride were given the species 'Lioness' while those not part of one were listed as 'Nomadic Lioness'.
The LMP was disposed of sometime in 2001 or early 2002, and for a while all species remained as they were at its disposal. In early 2002, the rules were adjusted to drop the adult and elder distinctions. Any adult lion was simply listed as 'Lion' and kings had the species 'Lion King.' The naming of prides also returned to manual status, and was limited to the average number of peak connections during a given month. (The highest number of prides there were under this system was 3.) The rules stated that a king had to maintain 5 lionesses in his pride and have an average online time of 12 hours per week during a four-week rolling period. These rules were not often enforced, leading to a couple of the prides growing stagnant.
In June 2007, the rules for lion kings and official prides were changed: the wizards "dropped the limit on the number of prides that can exist on the muck, and adjusted some of the numbers required in terms of membership (dropped the number down to 3 lionesses and an additional 2 lions of any age/gender) AND adjusted pridal online times to include the pride as well as the king."[6] Under the new rules about prides, there is "a five year (RL) maximum time period in which a character can start a pride which begins the day a lion becomes an adult. After this period has passed, male lions will no longer qualify to start a pride."[7]
[edit] Healers
Since at least 1998, the rule has been that only primates (and to a lesser degree, meerkats) i.e. animals considered to have opposable thumbs, can be healers.[3] At least one other MUCK, Endless Round, advertised a policy of not restricting healer characters in such a way.
The rules as revised in August 2006 state that "Players are welcome to roleplay healer characters if they wish, however if a task requires opposable thumbs, then your character must have opposable thumbs."[8]
[edit] Interspecies mating
Until at least 2000, interspecies relationships, both romantic and parental, were common on The Lion King MUCK. Since at least 1998, the policy statement was that "the administration STRONGLY ADVISES AGAINST interspecies mating" and "NO offspring may happen of such union".[3] The rules as revised in February 2002 have no mention of interspecies relationships; nor does the August 2006 revision. Even though not mentioned in the rules, cross-species are not allowed on the muck.
[edit] TinySex
Since at least 1998, explicit sexual roleplay (TinySex, or TS) has been allowed on The Lion King MUCK. The rules as revised in July 1998 stated that "The policy regarding TS is to restrict it to PRIVATE areas", that the activity not involve incest, pedophilia, or rape, and that a player involved not be a minor.[3] According to the 2002 revision of the rules, "There are only two issues with this. It must be done in PRIVATE rooms, and it CANNOT be with a minor."[4]
In August 2006, the rules were changed to include the statement that "sexually explicit content and activities have no appropriate location within our system.".[8] Two new MUCKs, Otherlands and Romance in the Savannah, opened in the wake of this decision; both allowed explicit sexual roleplay and the latter had the motto Adult Friendly African RP.
[edit] Elders
From 1998-2002, the only elders were male lions who had been adult for a year and a half and were no longer eligible to start a pride. It was a forced aging, and many players of male lions felt it took away from some of their freedom to roleplay their character the way they wished.
In 2002, with the removal of the LMP, the elder species was dropped and all male lions simply had the species "Lion". The elders system was revamped to take on more of a "tribal elder" status, intended to be someone to look up to instead of the hated forced aging. Eligibility for elder status was opened to any species that lived in groups (lions, meerkats, hyenas, etc.), and the character had to have been a former leader of one of these groups. Available spots were limited, with one spot for each gender plus one extra spot per 100 characters of a species. Ultimately, no elders were ever named under this system.
The position of elder was revived on January 10, 2008, expanding eligibility to characters of any species, not merely ones who had been leaders of groups. The title "Elder" is placed before the character's species name in the species field. It is an honorary position denoting the character is aged and wise, and may cross territorial boundaries at will. A character must have nominations from ten different people to be considered for elder status, and elder status is optional to the character. To be considered, the character must have been an adult for at least two years, must never have broken the MUCK rules, and must have good roleplay skills. The title of elder can be revoked if the character breaks the MUCK rules or abuses the position.
[edit] Server and website
The Lion King MUCK's server address, previously tlk.otterspace.com, changed to tlk.muck.limitless.org in March 1999.
The Lion King MUCK's website used to be located at http://www.thumper.net/tlkmuck/. In 2002 the website was redesigned by Nalina and at a new address, tlkmuck.org.
[edit] Wizards
[edit] Current wizards
[edit] Past wizards
In December 1998, a new position was added, that of Mage. These players had a Wizard bit but no administrative access to the MUCK account; they were intended primarily to handle character management.
[edit] Founding wizards
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[edit] Staff
[edit] Helpstaff
- Balana - MPI/Building/Newbies/Guests/RP/PR
- Haiba - RP~Newbies~Building~Ask Anything
- Jabari - MPI, Newbi Help, Building, all around craziness!
- Jihani - RP/Guests/Newbie/Some building/Just ask!
- Kucha - General-Building-Rp-TP's-Newbie
- Mzohari - RP | Building | TPs | MPI | Ask Away!
- Tamba - Guests/Newbies/RP/TPs (from November? 2006)
- Vikali - RP/TPs/MPI/Building/Animal Info/Just ask me!
[edit] Past helpstaff
- Arianna - General/Building/RP/MPI/little MUF/Fast food
- Furahi - MUF/Newbies/Building/DidImentionMUF?/some MPI
- Jamango - Anything. (If I'm not idle.)
- Kenket - Obscure Species Promotion
- Kimya - Anything but MUF&MPI - Videogaming help! :D
- Kivuli'Nyamaa - Roleplay | Feline Species Expert | Muck commands
- Mondini - General-Building-Rp-TP's-Newbie
- Muthumaji - LSEdit - Newbies - RP - Mangoes - Cuddly things
- Tailen - Mewse of MPI/MUF/Anything/Master of Distortions
[edit] RP Staff
(September? 2006 - November? 2006)
- Gesten
- Hakika - RP Conflicts, Newbies, Anything RP!
- Jammet - Roleplaying, Newbie Help, Pouncing lessons!
- Ras
[edit] Characters
[edit] Present characters
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[edit] Past characters
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ↑ Thank you, your acknowledgment has been recorded. You will be asked to agree to the rules every 90 days. Automatic message on The Lion King MUCK, in response to typing yes after Please enter YES to signify that you have read and agree to abide by the rules of the muck: Retrieved May 9, 2007.
- ↑ TLKMuck Info and FAQ. October 16, 1995 post to rec.arts.disney.announce by Joshua C. Templin.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Lion King MUCK Policies and Regulations v1.4. July 16, 1998 revision. Retrieved November 4, 2006.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rules, Policies and Regulations v3.0. February 23, 2002 revision. (Copy on The Lion King MUCK website, stored at the Internet Archive.)
- ↑ Male Lion Limit Raised forum post on tlkmuck.org. Posted October 23, 2005 by Ketekh.
- ↑ IMPORTANT: New male lion and pride rules! June 23, 2007 post by Jioni to the Muck Announcements Board on The Lion King MUCK. Accessed June 21, 2007.
- ↑ Pridal (Kings) Policy v3.0 06/18/2007 retrieved by typing news prides on The Lion King MUCK. Accessed June 21, 2007.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 TLKMuck Rules v4.5 forum post on tlkmuck.org. Posted August 31, 2006 by Ketekh.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Kristin O.'s Original Characters at fanart.lionking.org. Retrieved July 26, 2006.
- ↑ Utendi's Original Characters at fanart.lionking.org. Retrieved July 27, 2006.
[edit] External links
- TLKMuck GRAND OPENING - June 1995 posting by Jodhua C. Templin to rec.arts.disney
- Rhal's Furry MU*s Page: Lion King MUCK
- The List of Nalia's Family
