The Halls of Mandos are a great and wondrous place, and the tapestries of Arda are hanging there, woven by his spouse Vairë, whom we weavers serve. Come, let me show you her parlours – this way – come along … Here are her most personal tapestries, and here is also the tapestry of our realm. Looking at it fills me with great pride and joy – not only joy of being a weaver, but pride of something more: this great crowd of weavers have come such a long way, and looking at this tapestry makes me realize what a long way we’re really talking about.
See, there is the first part of our tapestry, which was begun in days past when the grand Gilraen was still leading the realm along with the amazing Alaere_Dûnhilien and the great Gwathrandir. To think that, back then, we were still voting about what should be our first game, that we only had one forum, and the first issue of The Tapestry had not been published yet. We weren’t many at that time; we’ve never been many, but, back then, we were even less, and almost no one was filling the threads with lovely posts. Only the Welcoming Thread appeared to be active, and yet our dear leaders held their heads and flags high, always coming up with new ideas for what to do and discuss, but there weren’t enough regular members for any of it to come to pass.
Little by little, though, things did begin to change, more weavers appeared, and they started focusing more on what could be done for the realm. We realized that we had mostly just been sitting in the background and waiting, waiting for posts that never came, but never posting ourselves. However, that changed: we started coming up with ideas for increasing both the number of active members and actual activities. But it was also at this time that the computers began their war against us – conspired against us, those wretched little things! For some reason, what had brought us together was now keeping us apart – lousy internet connections, inability to enter the site etc.: the list of problems was endless, and they combined with regular real life problems to put our dreams on hold! The weavers had to be patient…
The thing is, though, that not all people can be patient, and due to that fact, the weavers tried to overcome all problems, encouraging each other and keeping their heads high. It worked! Not only did our activity increase, but also the realm spirit – you didn’t think that you’d come to an empty hall filled with the ghosts of dead people and tapestries hanging in shadowy corners, leaving you feeling a bit gloomy. There were light and warmth and cheery greetings and a very Hobbitish atmosphere whenever you came to the realm and met with the weavers. The seeds of the ideas were planted and began to sprout, actions were taken and efforts made, all to give more delight to the journey we’d embarked on.
Suddenly your “realmies” weren’t just random members anymore, they became individuals – weavers with both name and personality. Insider jokes and random blabberings began – no topic was too large or too small to laugh about or discuss. Philosophical, weird, random, funny, curious, quotes, poems: All colours were blended nicely in our tapestry… We planned dates for reading and outdoor enjoyments and shared our experiences with the rest of the weaver-family afterwards. The forums became a campfire where we could sit, roasting marshmallows and enjoying whatever we wanted.
Left scattered, divided, leaderless due to computer-conspiracies and the outside world, we had learned to take care of ourselves, and it was with trembling fingers and gasping breaths that our first elections were held. Nominations were made, and in due time new leaders were elected. It was also at this time that the first realm chat was held – what fun we all had! Gradually, the future was envisioned. Little yellow stars glinted in our evil little eyes at the thought of the many things we would do and try. We were invincible, the little realm that suffered from all the cruelties of reality and yet never broke down.
First things first! Though now that the gates into Moria had been opened, we had to start prioritizing, so many things to do, so many choices and possibilities – what to begin first? How to decide? At last we joined the Council of Entwives, a thing we’d been dreaming of for quite a while and it is something we’re currently working on (though this October it has been sadly overlooked because of some more pressing matters *cough cough the CC*). Currently we’ve been working on the Council Courier and have also started a Book Club, which is another way to share our love for books. Furthermore, we have weekly discussions about poems and quote to make us feel smart and intellectual and profound. We keep trying to come up with new ideas for what to do and how to do it. Soon a new issue of The Tapestry will see the light of day; and due to some great and unexpected luck weavers with an amazing knowledge of web design have come to us. So the future will contain a site about us and our interests and many other lovely things. What else the future may hold in store for us is clouded by a mist and fog…
And lo! this is here our tapestry ends – it’s still not finished, of course not! I can already see great patterns and threads for the following parts of the tapestry emerging. I am looking forward to seeing how it will turn out: I’ve had many great experiences with my fellow weavers, we’ve been through many hard and chaotic times, but experiencing them with the weavers has made it something great and fantastic because it has only helped to strengthen our friendships and make them grow. Lately, quite a few new members have come and joined us, and it is great to get to know them and see them turn into weavers from their very first post. It always fills me with great delight when I come to my home away from home here at CoE and the Realm of the Weavers. The day has not been really good unless I’ve had the chance to share some thoughts with my fellow weavers or laugh at our evilness and smilie-addiction.
I don’t know what Ilúvatar has in store for us – but I am looking forward to weaving it into our tapestry along with my online family, the handmaidens of Vairë.
Article by Eressëa
