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Old 01-22-2012, 02:05 AM
Tiberius Fireskull's Avatar
Tiberius Fireskull Tiberius Fireskull is offline
Bring me that horizon!
Tiberius Fireskull's Primary Pirate Info
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Pirating To The End Award International Literacy Day 2013 Award Pirate Resolution Award Happy Holidays'12 Award Patriot Pirate's 2012 Award Guess The Picture Participant's Award St. Patrick's Day 2012 Award Caption Contest Winner's Award 
Total Awards: 35


Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Flirting with Lucinda
Posts: 3,479
My Mood: Shots
Tiberius Fireskull is a buccaneerTiberius Fireskull is a buccaneer
Ashes of the Phoenix

This is a very hard post to make. The decision I have made right now is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make in this game, and probably among the top in my real life decisions as well. Putting the words down on this page is not easy, for many of the words I want to put cannot come to me. I will try my best to express everything I can.

We, the Shadow Sorcerors, are a Phoenix. We are mighty, powerful, bright, and something that many others look up to and marvel at. We are something that seems timeless, that cannot possibly die or disappear from the world. We always shall exist, and we can never die. We are mentioned in many pirate’s tales, looked up on, idolized even at times. In those senses, we are a Phoenix.

But while a phoenix’s majesty is unmatched, there comes a time when it turns to ash.

It pains me to continue.

For the past month and a half, we, the Shadow Sorcerors, a once mighty Phoenix, have lost our majesty and strength that we once had. Activity has gone from eight to over ten people online at a time to around four. Most of our officers have gone completely inactive or plan to go inactive, leaving only about two, and even they are not the most active. With activity down, it is hard to get new members to stay in the guild for more than a few days. The members we have that are active are very loyal, but it still does not compensate for the fact that activity is extremely low now.

Why can’t we fix this like we’ve fixed our other problems, you ask? The answer, sadly, is simple. It lies not with you, with the game, with new members, or with existing members. The answer lies with me.

Many of you have probably noticed that my activity has been lower than usual. In addition to not being able to get on during the weekdays, during the past month I often have not been able to get online for a whole day of the weekend, limiting my play time to Friday afternoon and maybe a few hours on a weekend day. Everything sort of ties in together with each other. Normally we would be able to fix these problems, or at least survive through them, but the problem is, I cannot be online to help, and with almost no active officers, it makes it impossible. With me not being able to help fix these problems, they are and have gotten worse and worse. Now, we’ve fell so deep that getting up under the circumstances we are currently in is just impossible. Life has just been very harsh on me lately, and I just do not have any more time to devote to the guild. Unfortunately, it is not my choice.

I am temporarily shutting down the Shadow Sorcerors guild. After two and a half years in the Caribbean, I think that we have finally hit a wall that we just cannot climb over, go around, or blast through. The guild has been finished. After two and a half years, we have been finished. Fate has willed us to end our journey as a guild now, and at this point, it is impossible to continue it. There is quite a bit that I want to say right now.

You see, on July 31st, 2009, I made a choice that would change my life. I clicked “Create Guild”. That simple button sent me on a journey that I could have never possibly imagined. It started out slow at first. It was barely even a guild, really. Just a name with a few players in it. I was almost always the only person online, and it was one of those guilds that you wouldn’t have even given a passing glance. Slowly, though, things began to change. We gained some members that truly made a difference in the guild. Spring of 2010, Sam Bladebeard. Summer of 2010, Prim. Winter of 2010, Dog Gunmorgan. Spring of 2011, Captain Sharktooth. Summer of 2011, Johnny Darkwalker and around the same time, Roger Swordshot and Mr Awesome. There are countless others I have not been able to name, because the list of our amazing guildmates goes on and on. It was not my effort, but the effort of all of us together, that was able to make the guild what it was at its peak. One of the strongest, most beautiful guilds that could have ever been shaped. You see, I always thought of this guild as a sort of a Nation. Not just in the way our guild functions, but in the way we are. We all come from different states, countries, and even continents, yet we all are together as one. One Nation, this one the Shadow Sorcerors. We are close, we have pride for ourselves. Most of all, we share a bond. A bond that probably is even closer than that of a nation’s. It is that of a family. That is what the Shadow Sorcerors is. Not was. Is. For what was, for now, and forever.

This guild took me on a journey. I don’t think I would be the same person that I am right now if I had not created this guild. I will not deny that I started this guild at first because I simply wanted to be a guildmaster. I had dreams that I would become a legend, and that I would become famous and that one pirate that everyone would stare at. But I soon changed. I understood what I had really created. I realized that I did not need anything that I had originally wanted. I had something better before me. All of you.

It is very hard for me to see this guild go, but at the same time, I believe that I knew that it had to come eventually. It must come eventually for any guild, and with that I feel at peace, knowing that we had a damn good run, and that one day, we will be back. Few guilds can say that they have gone two and a half years in the Caribbean, and you know what? I think that we did pretty well. We created a guild that was able to grow to around 420 members at its peak. We did some wonderful events together, ranging from parties, to fleets, to guild quests, to probably the biggest event that we had ever done: The Shadow Games. We fought through quite a few obstacles, from griefers, to our guild image, and countless others. We achieved many things that few guilds would ever dream of: A subforum on this site, a large group of friends, and most importantly, a deep friendship that will never be broken. Never.

I want to make something very clear right now: This guild did not fail. We are not dead. This guild has survived since the summer of 2009, and has only grown stronger until now. As I said, we achieved some very wonderful things. We built everlasting friendships, and united people that would have never been united otherwise. I know for a fact that because of this guild, I have made a lot of new friends that I am certain I will be friends with for a long time to come, I have learned a lot about myself, and I have learned a lot about other people. Asking anyone in the Shadow Sorcerors, I’m sure that they can tell you the same. While the in game guild may not be active anymore, I think that we are anything but dead. For our bonds and friendships are most likely even more alive than before. And isn’t that what counts? For isn’t what is in Pirates Online simply a guild, and the people inside of it what really matters?

Before I say any more, I will tell you what is going to happen. While I am shutting down the guild, I do not plan to disband it. I know that many of you, perhaps most of you, still wish to wear the guild tag with pride, even if the guild is inactive and even if you plan to go inactive. I truly thank you for that. It really makes me happy to know that you will stay with us, even in closing. I, personally, am not moving any of my pirates anywhere. I do not criticize you at all if you wish to seek out a new guild that will be active. If this is the case, our great friend Captain Del has told me that he will be accepting any Shadow Sorceror that applies to join Partners N Crime. I know that it is not the same as us, and for many of you it can never be a replacement, but I can guarantee you that you will love their wonderful guild. If you do not wish to join them, then I wish you the best of luck on your journey. It truly was a pleasure to have you with us. Our guild site will also stay online, and I do not plan on deleting it. I doubt that there will be many posts there, but it wouldn’t hurt to check occasionally, because I still think that we should name July 31st a Holiday. Should there be any news on the rebuilding of the guild, it will likely be posted there as well.

But this shut down is not forever. I have transferred the title of Guildmaster to Dog Gunmorgan’s smaller pirate, Dog O’fury. While the guild rests, he will be periodically checking up on you. In a few months, we plan to rebuild the guild once again. He will be the guildmaster of the Shadow Sorcerors, and those that remain will be the founders of it. While I plan to help when summer rolls around, I will not be taking the title of Guildmaster back. He will be your new Guildmaster. He will need your help if this guild is to rise back to its former glory, and I know that you will all be willing to help him.

To the administrators of Pirates Online Forums: I want to thank you so very much for the privilege of having a forum for our guild here. It truly was an honor, and I must say that it helped us a lot on our journey. Thank you very much. I ask that it is not shut down just yet, as I want to send a PM to an Administrator about this matter.

While we are for now leaving the Caribbean, our legacy shall forever remain in the minds and hearts of the pirates of the Caribbean Sea. We will return one day, and when we do, we will be ready to rebuild what has turned to ash, and we will rise to even greater heights than before. I am very proud of where we came, and I am even more proud to call myself the guildmaster of this amazing guild. But it is not me who created this. It was you.

And for this, I must thank you. Thank you for giving me the experience that I had. Thank you for taking me on the journey I did. Thank you for allowing me to realize who I truly was and what truly mattered. Thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for never ceasing to amaze me. Thank you for making the last two and a half years some of the best of my life. Thank you for giving me so much more to live for.

Thank you for being who you are.
Now, I would like to bring back a little something that we haven’t sang for quite a long time. I want to sing the guild anthem, Hail to the Shadow Sorcerors!. I feel that it truly describes us, and it has described our journey to the peak of our guild. If you don’t remember, or weren’t around, I wrote this for Christmas of 2010, which was right before the peaking of our guild. Here it is:

Hail to the Shadow Sorcerors!

See our swords cut down our foes,
And hear our guns fire and reload.
Black and Red they stand for might,
Teach us to never give up the fight.

Our family couldn’t be more close,
We have shown to each other what matters most.
Not that sword that or throwing knives,
It’s that our family and friendship never die!

And through these times our friendships build...

HAIL TO THE SHADOW SORCERORS GUILD!!!


I don’t think that there is very much more I can say. What I can hope and know is that one day, another Phoenix shall rise out of these ashes, stronger than before. But the rest is left for all of you mates. My tale as the Guildmaster of Shadow Sorcerors is done. The blank pages are yours. The story of the Shadow Sorcerors shall forever be told by pirates, and I think that that will be a good story indeed.

Thank you for making the past two and a half years of my life the most enjoyable years I’ve had. Thank you so very much.

HAIL TO THE SHADOW SORCERORS, FOR WHAT WAS, FOR NOW, AND FOREVER!


Quote:
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
-Sir Winston Churchill