Herewith you will find brief bios of the Story Guide and the players. See just what a disreputable lot they really are. Especially the Americans.

Kevin Nikolai Payne (Alpha Story Guide)

A longtime roleplayer (beginning with D&D in 1976), Kevin is defined by the following virtues and flaws: Jack of all trades--master of none. Orthodox Christian, musician (singer "with a degree"), radio (newsketeer and news anchor), author, gamer, avid reader, history and rail buff, bonsai enthuiast, Mr. Eclectic. He'll let other decide which are the virtues and which the flaws.

Kevin works as a reporter and weekend news anchor for two radio news stations (one in Quincy, IL and one in Kankakee, IL). He is co-founder of the Orthodox Christian parish in Quincy, Illinois. He sings with the Muddy River Opera Company as a chorister, and with various other groups and as a soloist in his region. He stays pretty busy and says he has yet to be bored other than momentarily when listening to yet another droning politician.

He has been GM for campaigns ranging from D&D (original and 1st ed., plus 3rd and 3.5), Middle Earth Roleplaying, Traveller, Morrow Project, Car Wars, Serenity, 7th Sea (roll and keep), Fudge Deryni, Conan (Mongoose), and Ars Magica 4 and 5. He has played in more games than he cares to admit as well as being an avid wargamer. He used to play in the Middle Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism too, if you remember Nikolai the Purple Bard in the early 1990s.

Favorite Quote: "Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."--Edward R. Murrow, Pioneering U.S. News Broadcaster



Ray Smith (Peregrine ex Bjornaer)

Ray has lived most of his life in the Central Texas area, but recently relocated to a hamlet in Pennsylvania for family reasons. He is also an as-yet-unpublished writer, currently working on his first novel (a murder story) and short stories; most of his works tend to be fantasy, with a sprinkling of science fiction or urban fantasy. He has, in his former Ars campaigns, written background stories for the campaign involving his characters, some of which can be found on his deviantArt page

He has been gaming off and on since he was introduced to AD&D in high school in 1980, and has played or run a wide gamut of games. He has played in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition AD&D/D&D, Champions, DC Heroes, Star Trek (Fasa), Mechwarrior, GURPS Fantasy, GURPS Vampire, Marvel Super Heroes, Star Wars d20, and 4th and 5th edition Ars Magica (with fond memories of practically all his characters), as well as running campaigns for GURPS Supers and GURPS Fantasy. He has also invested in a number of gaming books for a variety of systems that he will, much to his regret, probably never get to play as part of his relatively extensive book collection.

He has also been active in the Society for Creative Anachronism in the Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra, where he is known as Andre de Chartres (which he has also taken as his pen name). Ray/Andre served as baronial herald for the Barony of Bryn Gwlad (m.k.a. Austin, Texas) in the late 1990s.

In addition to his email (cuteolpuddytat@yahoo.com), he can usually be reached on yahoo! messenger (cuteolpuddytat) and often on AIM (molikthefurre).

(Currently playing/maintaining: Peregrine, Ariagne Trichina, Elene of Constantinople, Stefanos, Tamar, Kasim al Tabbaakh, Hassan the Potter, & Ieronymos)

Favorite Quote: "A mind in motion tends to stay in motion, a mind at rest tends to stay at rest." - Noah Chinn

Ivan Hartley (Domazhir Slipoi, filius Hephaestia, ex Verditius)

I spent my early years on the coast of New South Wales (Australia), roughly 70 miles south of Sydney. Insufficient time was wasted on the excellent surf beaches on that part of the coast, and when I was sent to a Brisbane based, Anglican boarding school, in a vain attempt to educate the little heathen that I was, and remain, I was mightily disappointed with Queensland's fabled Gold Coast. Surfers Paradise isn't. I have travelled a little, seeing something of Japan more than 20 years ago, a little of Europe some years prior to the Japanese excursion, and lived in London in the late 1980's.

I fled the parochiality of Brisbane in the mid 1990's, to return to London, where I had had some interesting jobs in the past. I lived in France for a year, and my French is slightly better than Jenhay's Greek! [He doesn't usually include the gestures ;-) Ed]. I prefer cats to dogs, and would have a couple of them if my girlfriend and I didn't live in a 4th floor appartment. The time I don't spend gaming (I play Shadowfist - The Queen of Cardgames!), or reading (not long finished a Byzantine history, and have just started a 2 part study of the medieval Balkans), I fritter away as a contract hitter in accounting SNAFUs. I wish I'd studied engineering when I left school.

I've never done any web based RPGs previously, but have been messing about with them in face-to-face games since the 70s. I've played/GMed D&D (in many versions), Bushido, Feng Shui, Traveller, Chivalry & Sorcery, and Warhammer Fantasy RP and, of course Ars Magica . Of all the systems and settings I've played/GMed, Ars and Mythic Europe is by far my favourite. I like the idea of realism, combined with the "real-life" myths and legends of the appropriate area. That said, I also like a magical feeling, with all sorts of strangeness in and around the covenant. I'm not into intra-party grief, unless it is the intention of the entire group to play that way, in which case, bring it on! I like my characters to be grounded in the society in which they operate, which may include being outcast from that society.

Favourite Quote: "There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't!" - Unknown source, but my mate Ben claims it is his.

Pelle Kofod (Tellus ex Bonisagus)

Pelle finds himself in illustrious company, with people who've played since before he was born!.
He has been playing various RPGs since the late '80's, but almost exclusively face-to-face, pen'n'paper - usually as the GM, in a wide variety of systems.

Pelle has lived his entire life in europe, and is currently trying to teach physics to highschool students who are more interested in... well, just about anything else, really.


Pelle is very much a cat person, but feels odd talking about himself ;)