Ok the history of Pratt....

Well I plopped down my 2 dollars one day for the beta cd waited forever till it came, it ran sooo slow and it was so much more then any game I was used to that it promptly made it into a drawer to collect dust. Back to Never Winter Nights where I stayed till AOL dropped the game, the ugly CGA graphic square little window perspective game. After going through Meridian 59, Dark Sun Online and a couple of other lesser games I dusted off the cd, did the 100 megs reload and tried again. This time I created a female character named Mystra in an effort to try to get the wife to play ( actually that's a lie I wanted her to fish for me so I scammed her and told her that I made her a character ). Those were the days when you could fish allllll day and pull up sos from that one spot and not move (just empty your pack once in awhile), mindless and profitable. She got sick of it quite soon so I took the then GM fisher Mystra out and made her a miner. I did not leave Minoc for probably a year and every miner jumper knew Mystra and made their daily withdrawal as I piggybacked ore through the city.

Ok so one character and a dream we go forward into the cold dark lands of felucca dying in ways long forgotten but Mystra made quite a name for herself in the vendor community. Another thing I made my wife do during days.. hunt deals on trade spot and craft items to be sold in game, she got pretty good at UO real estate and made a couple hundred k when houses were 50k ;P My first account had Turbohawk on it who made a name for himself running the Mystics shop now owned by Silver(yes I sold it to her we have always been partners in the shop) inside Minoc Felucca, the one with the log out front you could rest your weary bones on. Silver is now my oldest UO friend I have stayed close with, we have been through scammers, abusers, crazy people in and out of game. Plus more vendor owners then I could ever count and quite a bit of fame along the way.

The shops, old friends, good deals made along the way and my ICQ was on the most trusted list. I have worked for a few of the most prominent UO sites and one day I was approached by Mandrake who I had known from many deals with him prior. Due to my experiences I was offered a position at the finest event ever held on great lakes, Impys Auction House, I was not worthy. They took Pratt and threw him directly into the stew, my first night I was working as cashier and item broker all by myself and loving it, my fate was sealed. Almost three years with Impys whose demise is the single hardest event I have ever been a part of in my now over 5 years in UO. Impys was the deal, hard workers, professional staff, good friends and run in such a way as to be unblemished for all their years. Now in the end the Dwarf and Pratt had their disagreements, the details of which I leave to his memory and I try not to look back. There was still a great staff and by no means was I running this show, I worked hard but so did the others. Jim Spellhurler put in his two nights a week and several hours updating, Laurel did the same the two of them held the auction in their palm and controlled the item flow and tracking of such. Impys dead fishing event left us with DJ Scorp which made the auction last as long as it did, no way we could have done it without him stepping in to pickup the slack and Nemo ..gods the time and effort he gave us all the time. Yes there were others and Div maintained allot of behind the scenes long as she could all the staff was a wonder. Almost 2 years later that dwarf we all loved decided to retake control, matter of fact what Pratt got was MORE grief. Then defiance, blatant disregard for his and others feelings and an offer to take a little vacation and all would be well upon his return. Ummm.. no, I did not give my life to this endeavor to walk away and let it all change at someone else's whim without a say.. Without going into more Impys history lets say the staff did not agree with the Dwarf and his ideals ( except for a couple of them) so we packed up and moved out. And we were done with auctions going to actually see what a dungeon looked like... I think we lasted 4 days before we had auction withdrawals but Impys was Impys and I would not disrespect the name that made us and they continued, but now we were planning a new auction of our own.

Meetings with all the big names in UO took place that week, Pratt (and the others) were free agents and allot of people wanted to either capitalize on or learn from their experience. If you had asked me when I left Impys if there would be another auction the answer was an emphatic NO but I suppose the gut was saying something else because less then 2 weeks after the first future auction meeting was held.

Now regardless what you will hear we tried not to interfere with Impys.. heck they were left with everything we have gathered over the years all of us not just one or two. I regret more that I was a part of that loss but as the new auction became real there were hard feelings, tension, accusations and just bad feelings all around that forced a parting of the ways. Now we were at odds with good people whom I consider friends still to this day.

Majestic Oaks was born I believe it was Guyra who came up with that name after much deliberation and the name Pratt as well as the others we all know and love went a long way to loan credence to the new endeavor. Pratts job is now as it was then, it goes as follows.. " Here are the reigns, steer the carriage, guide this staff that works harder then any group in UO ever. Take the beatings, do right and accept consequences for any mistakes, be their eyes, ears and be there for them always !" Amongst public relations, dealing with issues through the best diplomacy at my disposal, handling gripes(staff a nd otherwise) and schedule conflicts, taking ICQ's all day and night for any reason Pratt is also there for submissions or payouts most of the time.

And to second a thought from an old friend that posted before me.. " They will drag me outta UO kicking and screaming when they finally decide to pull the plug"

Thanks to all who have read this rambling because most of you made this possible for me and for the shard !

Well my story is a long one. I was asked to try this game from a friend back in the original Diablo days. Reluctantly I went out and bought it. 4 Years plus and here we are. I GM dying in about an hour into the game and sense then have continued to add to my collection of death robes. In all seriousness. I have played all types of characters. From my 1st character a Warrior, fisher, tamer, bard, and my beloved Mule. I never was into being rich or buying or selling goods. Not until I dragged Peace one night to Impys. I could not compete in the bidding but was instantly impressed with the show. I went to then next few auctions. Then finally it happen. I won my 1st bid. Sadly it was a pair of leather invuln gloves. Cost me 6k but I was thrilled to walk up and hand Divinity my gold. about 6 months later I was hired on to help run a fishing event. It never happened but I was an imp and then out into work on the auction staff. Sense then my UO life has changed. Now here we all are at MOA and I have as much love of this game as I did back when it was new. Through all the changes and bugs and lag I still manage to find joy in this online world. I think the major part of that are those special people that make my logging on everyday worth wild. My Dearest Peace whom I have known now forever. Pratt, whom there are not enough words to say what I think of him. There are many others but these 2 stand above the clouds for me and I am grateful for their friendship.

Where to begin.....66 months ago I was given this game by A good friend.  One day I will forgive him. In those months I have met so many wonderful people there is not enough room on the site to list. I was A founding member of the Great Lakes Regulators was also the GM for a while and still am very active with them. My first house was purchased by chopping wood and carving bows and I still have the blisters to prove it hehe. Then I discovered the wonderful world of magery and taming but still have A great time with my Dexers.  I have yet to find a more honorable group of people to work with than MOA its the highlight of my week to work the auction. I had a short stint with Impy's but we all no what happened there. I am just happy to be A part of this great group of individuals. I also have several GM craftsmen miner/smith lumberjack/carp and A GM Tailor * yours truly * looking forward to more great times at MOA.

My first character was named Joseph Flagg. Flagg was an old D&D character that I had played for almost three years. Joseph was a name most of my old D&D friends called me even though my name was Joey, didn't make much sense but they rarely did. He began as most people did then (1999), poor and pked five minutes after logging in. Gah it was fun! HAHA. You had to have a way to make cash, and I found fishing to be pretty good for a newbie. I would fish, then sell the fishsteaks to people at the bank, and sell the shoes to NPCs. I got to almost 80 fishing with Joseph just buying regs, weapons and armor that I promptly gave to PKs near the city of Britannia. Eventually I got to 700 skill points, and by this time I had decided Joseph was going to train to be a mage, but I had to loose the fishing.

This birthed my second UO character, Daniel Flagg. He was Joseph's older brother, and had to work for a living while Joseph was out wasting the family's money learning not to be killed, and to kill. Daniel mined, he smithed, he fished, he tailored, he tinkered.. He was a jack-of-all-trades. Eventually he gmed fishing, mining, and smithing. These were my highlights of skills in UO.. It took me months of game play to build those skills. I teamed up with one of my RL friends and we bought a house, near Trinsic. He began a guild, and I began my life as a vendor merchant.

Trammel came and took the meaning out of having a maker's mark. Most of the people in my friend's guild began to be caught up in the power hour craze, and the guild fell apart. My crafter fisherman had joined FCB by this time, and had helped at a few of its early auctions. This is where I first met Mystra AKA Pratt. I became involved with FCB, running the monthly net toss, and was offered a position as Commodore. It was a great time! I have nothing but love for FCB. Somewhere in the mix, some of the members of FCB decided we would create a stone for our non-fisher characters. Legion of Hope (L*H) was born. I gmed it for a year, and eventually chose a co-guildmaster Cricket. This guild grew rather large very fast! RL began to get busier for me though, and I had to step back from the game. It took almost 18 months but eventually I made the decision to quit altogether.

I found that I had more crap then all my bank boxes could hold. So I looked to Pratt and MOA to help me turn my items into gold. I ebayed most of the gold, because I needed the cash for school, but kept the characters. I took about six months off, but before I left, I made the statement that if I ever came back to UO I would repay MOA for selling my stuff but working for them... They remembered!!!!

I am happy they did remember, and do not feel that there is a better group of people running anything in UO than those that dedicate their time to MOA. They work hard, and work together to bring exciting events to the game every week!

I started playing UO in 1999. I played on Great Lakes at first and remember going to some Impy Auctions... Wow, that was a long time ago! In 2001 I started over and created new characters on Lake Superior. I loved my Dosa character on Great Lakes and decided to copy her on Lake Superior.... and so was born the Dosa Ravengard we all know and love to kill.

One day I stumbled on a certain white marble corner lot house in Luna and lo and behold there was an auction going on! WOOT! I love to shop. This was my kind of place. Soon I became a regular. I was always there early and I stayed late. I didn't want to miss a thing. I watched in awe as Pratt and Grigory seemed to run a seamless auction. I was curious about how it all worked. I contacted Pratt and mentioned I would love to become an MOA staff member. To my surprise he said yes! I was elated!

I was welcomed into the MOA family in April of 2004. I was tasked with creating the weekly Mystery Chest for Lake Superior at that point (shopping!!!) and have never looked back.

I started playing UO in the spring of '98. I've come a long way from my very humble and oh-so-clueless beginnings. I think I've tried just about everything the game has to offer except building a tamer, and PK'ing. This will probably sound corny, but I really do enjoy helping other people enjoy the game. So I like to run events and show new players around (I still have a character flagged as a companion ) and I volunteer some of my time in other ways as well. That isn't altruism though, really. I figure the more other people are enjoying UO, the longer it will be around for me to enjoy, too. :P

I have been watching the MOA team for a long time now, and was pretty impressed with the way they run things. Now that I am on the inside, I am even more impressed. This really is the ultimate event -- 6 hours each week of fast paced entertainment, pulled off by the team so that it looks effortless to the audience. That's something to take pride in!

Back in the days of mighty bards and unstoppable tamers, Justin Uther Pierceson was born. From his childhood, he had decided that he would be one of these legends of the loot and lute, and off he went apprenticing under any musician and ranger that would take him in. After mastering instruments, he still was only a journeyman in the application of enticement (yes, that power bards had long ago), provocation, and peacemaking. It was at this time that the world changed dramatically. Justin had come all this way to find out that the power of bards and tamers had ebbed out from the world.

With his hopes dashed, Justin traveled around the world, practicing his art when he found meaning and time for it. Then one day, he came across the rumor of a Majestic Oaks chicken fight night. Intrigued by such a prospect, he hurriedly found the first two chickens he could, trained them up to better fighting skill then he had, and then immediately lost them by getting distracted and causing a training accident. Having learned that chickens do not survive training accidents, he quickly found two more chickens and trained them up to become monstrous entities! With the mightiest of the two chickens in tow, he ventured of to find battle at the tournament.

He came out on top that night, and was amazed by the efforts of Majestic Oaks to give back to the community. He asked a few questions here and there, and suddenly found himself asking Trivia to patrons after the auctions at the castle on Ice Island. Little did he know of the insanity that would develop out of being adopted into the group known as Majestic Oaks, but he would soon find out how far his mind could truly be stretched...

I had heard of Ultima Online back when the game cost $80 for the CD ROM and I was too cheap to buy it. When Renaissance came out, I decided to give it a try! Before this I had played Gemstone III, a text-based FRPG and Realm which is like a really poor UO2D. And years before that I was a regular AD&D player!

I experimented with lots of different characters. (I really wish UO had clerics! That was what I loved playing in AD&D) I used to go to Impy's mall tho I rarely went to the auctions. That was until Grendy got involved in MOA! Then I found myself hanging out at auctions just so I could hang out with my pal Grendy. I made other pals there as well, Justin, Griggles and more. Before I knew it....I was in MOA!!! Kelwyn the Deerheaded Tamer-Mage, in all her buttery goodness, lives to serve MOA!!!

Mishikal was born in the West Brit Inn, about five or so months past. Her name was given to me by a very special friend. I'm told she is the goddess of healing, though she ends up dieing more often then not.

I've played for almost 5 years now, and enjoy every minute of the time. Meeting new people is always a blast for me. I've met so many folks in the past years, some are still very dear friends whom are still watching my every death, where as others have long since quit, but still are in my thoughts, with each death robe.

I hope to meet many more people in the next 5 years of playing, and perhaps one or two will tag along and take the death robes for once!

I'm horrible with writing about myself, so to not punish anybody any further, I'll log out and get back to OooOoooO.

I'm not really sure how long I have actually played the game, since I have quit once completely and then came back only to have real life keep me out of game again for a while. I have always been more into the buying/selling/trading aspect of the game more than anything else, and have more mules than you can shake a stick at to prove it. Also though have always tried to be helpful in game as best I can for others, which is what got me asked to join Impy's in on Feb 26th of 2002 (not 100% sure of the date anymore but I know it was right around that time.) Mandrake had seen how much effort I had put into trying to help some one that had been scammed out of his castle, and after questioning silver (of silverwood) and myself for a good while about many aspects of the game asked us about joining the staff, which I did. Unfortunately right after that real life stepped in and I started a job that kept me out of game quite a bit for months and had to resign before doing anything with Impy's. Months go by and job ends, then I get back into game and start having fun again, and going to auctions selling mostly trying to trim back my ever growing hoards of stuff, only to be asked in September again to join Impy's, this time by Pratt and/or DJ (memory going bad I think lol). I agreed to, but only as a greeter till I knew how things worked, and then later became a co-owner to help get other things done and maybe help take some of the load off others. Not sure how well I have done that, but have enjoyed being with Impy's and now MOA and hope to continue to enjoy it here. As for the buying and selling aspect of game, I will be going into semi retirement on that for a while as it seems to much like work now, but MOA is always something I always enjoy, and plan on continuing to do so for a long time to come

And now for those of you who know my other fun projects, yes, I plan on continuing those for a long time to come also and to bring about more interaction in game with them as I can....which should be a lot more once other things are settled down a bit In fact there are major plans for expanding those fun activities soon with additions of more mazes and a new guild home if all goes well.

I've played Ultima Online for about two and a half years now. I've thoroughly enjoyed Great Lakes for most of that time and have made many friends during my journies through Sosaria. I've just recently joined MOA after watching the auction team for a few years. Their close friendships and professionalism is what made them so appealing to me. MOA's committment to the Great Lakes community and desire to provide one of the best consistent events on the shard is what makes me proud to be involved.

Since I was a young newbie there were a few people who I looked up to and I think help shaped the way I play the game, many of them members of the auction staff. Lady Cassidy has been a great friend for a long time now. Lady Purple (whose shop is in Luna) has helped me enormously in developing myself as a character and has taught me a lot about giving back to the community. Finally, to my good friend Lady Aria-- Glorious Girl Scouts all the way!

I currently reside in Luna just south of the moongate in a little Spanish-style house I designed. I've been involved in a few of the large retail shops in the Luna area and have been in the rares business for most of my time on UO. You guys can come visit me during the auction and say, "Hello".

Soul Blighter was born to humble parents Damon and Elsa Omenborn in the small town of Jhelom. My father was a Grandmaster Smith and so as a small lad I learned the art of forging metal into fabulous armor and weapons. I did this until my early teen years, at which point I ventured out into the world and met many new friends in alot of exciting and dangerous places. I met people like Lunkass and Perrin who took me out to slay the beast of the land only to meet my maker on many occasions. There were many times I was afraid there would not be enough reagents to resurrect my poor soul.

Also close to this time, I met Blackheath and together with some old friends, we started exploring the lands looking for lost treasures. These were some of the most exciting times I have had in the lands we know as Brittania. I must admit that I died many times in this new venture also.

It was about this time that I met Mandrake on the Icey land known as Dagger Ilse. He introduced me to the art of bartering and auctioning. This is also when I met all the poor servants at Impy's where the old Imp ruled with an iron fist. When the servants rebelled I volunteered to help their escape and offered them a new home outside Vesper for a new auction house. This was the beginning of MOA. Now we have grown into a wonderful family that I am very proud to be a part of.

Moi was born for beauty and greatness! The day I was born, the fairies blessed me with beauty, charm, grace, and an amazing flair for fashion and design! (They offered me brains as well, but I didn't want to look ugly like Grendy just to be brainy!)

One day, Monty and I were... uhm, out of work--erm, I mean, between special engagements. It was all Monty's fault really! First, he lost all our money at a casino boat and then he wouldn't stop and ask for directions. We got hopelessly lost and wound up "beached" on some snow covered island near this castle with crazy lunatics wearing butter colored clothing! (Moi would NEVER be caught dead in those outfits!!! ... I mean really!!!)

The Wicked Grendlyn and her minions found us in the snow. She said she could use my "special skills" and if we did her a little "favor" she would give us a ride and a free dinner. However, that was ages ago and we're still here!!! (although it's quite obvious that they have benefited from my awesome presence!)

In my spare time, I like shopping, shoes, clothes, cooking, hats, opening boxes for Let's Make a Deal, shopping, nibbling cheesecake, shopping, flirting with wealthy men, shopping for shoes, displaying prizes for Chests of Doom & Delight, window shopping, petting my llama Fluppy, shopping for hats, dancing, getting manicures, and shopping for clothes. Come see me at the Castle!