Klancy, Counselor, Cheer Leader and Chief Recruiter MW



I was alone, ……..dock drafted into a crew the moment that I logged into the game and set foot on the admiral island dock.

Scared but excited, I began puzzling and exploring my new world. I could listen to the crew chat, but no one explained how to use it…. so I talked to myself or stray bots a lot. Finally, I found the right button, and was able to chat with my new crew, and try to make friends. I was just starting to feel at home, when my captain announced unceremoniously, that he was leaving, and that he had merged the crew to another. He promised that I would like the nice new captain, and that I would find new friends….but it still felt a bit like being sold.

If I had known then, what I know now, I would have blessed him right nicely. He couldn't have done me a bigger favor than to hand me over to the tender care of Mysterious Ways. I have sailed with almost all the crews of any size on Sage, and there is no other crew that I would want to go home to after a pilly.

Hiba and the whole crew took me into their warm and loving hearts when I was a total greenie, and treated me with respect. They valued me as a person, not just as a set of stats. That taught me more about the kind of pirate that I wanted to grow up to be, then any fancy training program.

Being so welcomed by the crew… made me want to bring more nice pirates home to them….so that they could enjoy the love and cookies too. I recruited gently, albeit stubbornly, everywhere that I went, with no regard for rank or stats. Any time that I found someone, who I felt would be good for the crew and vice versa, I went into action. Its easy to say no to me once, but I didn't give up easily.

In the meantime, I was still puzzling hard, ( when you look up "puzzle vision, definition" in the wikipedia… you see my picture)

I defied even the best tutors efforts and continued to bungle my way through bilge. They had slightly better luck with carp, but I fell madly in love with sailing. I sailed every spare minute, even sailed for free on memming runs….just to feel the wind in the sails and the speed of the ship. I was the first to hop on any crew pilly and ,when there were none to be had, I sailed with any crew that would job me. I was loving my pirate life and my crew and my hearties. My sailing was going well, I was, amazingly, an FO in the crew and I made wonderful friends. The only problem was, that I realized,,,, that while almost all the rest of the crew, had chosen to be a member of it,…. I never really had. I was adopted, like an orphan waif, but hadn't made the choice as an adult pirate to join Mysterious Ways. After talking with Hiba, I knew that I wouldn't be seen to be as loyal or committed to the crew unless I left, joined another in good faith, and then chose to return. Following Hiba's advice I left our crew, and joined another to learn to kade and to see things from a wider viewpoint. I joined a crew in the flag "No Parking" and left Mysterious Ways behind me. It felt like being torn in two. I knew it was necessary, but hitting the button to leave the crew was heartbreaking.

I did my best to help my new crew, but none of the skills I had so carefully developed were of any use to them, it was like starting over from scratch. I worked hard, and learned as much as I could, but, no matter how nice all of my new crewbies were to me, it never felt like home. It might have worked better if I had made a clean break, and had no contact with my old crewmates, but it was hard enough to bear being away from them without the extra pain of not chatting with them. I continued to provide a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and congratulations and cheers to each and every one that I could. I never stopped working for our crew, even while scrambling to learn the skills to help my new one.

When I could stand it no longer, I had to return. I had known before I left, that there was no other crew for me, than ours, but now I could pledge it for certain.

I have never been sorry, never will be. This is my home crew and my pirate family.

It took over a year of hard work, time, sweat and tears to become an SO in this wonderful crew. I can remember reading the crew roster the first week that I was in it….and seeing the names of the SOs, and never dreaming that I could be one someday. It was one of the proudest days of my life to be trusted enough to be able to help run this crew. There are a lot of folks on any ocean that can run a pilly (which I cannot) and gun (don't ask) and who have much higher stats,…. but there are none that love their crew more.

Love Always,

Klancy

p.s. That's Klancy's history, for those who want mine, I am 53 years old, a wife and a mother of two wonderful adult children. I live in the USA. I teach dance Aerobics, enjoy international folkdancing (with Anku )and make chain maille jewelry, which I take all over the country to sell. It doesn't make enough money to do more than cover the costs…but I meet a lot of nice people…..get to make more jewelry and travel for free to see my friends and family. I also do lots of other crafts and love to compete in the state fair every year.

As to why my pirate is male, and I am not……partly it is a product of the social mores of the time when I was born. There were no female action heroes to speak of. If my friends and I played that we were pirates, we were, of course, male pirates. I also never imagined that I would be making real friends in the game, so I didn't see the potential for harm that the confusion could cause. I don't, for the record, lie about anything in the game. I never told anyone that I was male and if they asked, I told them the truth. I may refuse to answer a question….or evade it….but I don't lie. The other reason,,,,,is that no matter how I tried, I never could make a female pirate look like me. If, however,you subtract the dashing beard and mustache, klancy and I are darn close to twins.

It is still easier, when I am jobbing with strangers to let them think that klancy is male, but I don't mind my friends and crewbies knowing the truth.

Love and Hugs to you all, thanks for being such fine friends to me,

Margaret (Mrs B)