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Everquest was released on March 16th 1999. Launched with modest expectations from Sony under its Verant Interactive brand it quickly became successful. By the end of the year, it had surpassed the leading competitor, Ultima Online in number of subscriptions.

In March of 2000 The Ruins of Kunark, the first expansion was released. With Kunark came the Iksar race and a new continent. Several players found themselves lured into creating new characters in order to try out the new race. One of these young, early players created an Iksar monk, which he cleverly named Swifthand.

He began playing with no visions of future greatness having no clue he would unwittingly become the leader of a guild that would transcended beyond the bounds of the game itself to become a living entity and the source of fond memories for so many. At lvl 5 he managed to acquire a full set of curscale armor, and he was very happy to be fully clothed, with armor he quested for himself! At lvl 24 he mastered Field of Bone, and even the dreaded Kurn's tower, and ventured into the giant fort in Warsilk Woods! He soon gathered over 12 forest loops, a rare and wondrous earring, 2 of which he wore proudly. Even after giving several away to his real life brother, Teroth, and friends, he was able to sell enough to equip himself much better, he soon had a full set of cured silk armor, platinum black pearl jewelry, and 2 fighting batons! What an impressive young monk he had become, all through hard work!

In the Lake of Ill Omen, when a dragon appeared right out of the lake! (Halloween 2001 GM event) This foul beast killed Swifthand several times, but he went after it anyway, dragging away the corpses of those it slew so that they could regain their gear, feigning death at the very feet of the monster, feeling it's rank, hot breath upon his face and skin. Between this painful day and several unlucky encounters the previous day, he went from lvl 32 to lvl 30! For he knew of no cleric high enough level and willing to cast resurrection upon him.

He was invited into a Kunark Guild called Plaguebringers. He was very quickly made an officer, and took his duties very seriously, and was a great service to the guild. But he had many friends outside the guild as well as many who left the guild. Swifthand had in fact, established an online reputation as a generous, considerate, friendly, fair and wise player.

In late 2000, rifts began to form in the Plaguebringers. This reasonably large guild, headed by the Guildleader, Talnic, became disorganized. Weak leadership allowed young members to misbehave with impunity. Talnic was growing weary of the mantle of leadership and apathy grew in its wake. The guild began to develop a negative reputation and soon several member began to speak of breaking away the problem was where to go. None of them wanted to simply split up and look for other guilds, instead it was decided that a new guild should be formed, a better guild. To do that they needed a leader, someone all of them could agree on, someone whom they all could trust to help create a positive environment. The choice was quick and unanimousSwifthand.

The two people who really talked Swifthand into starting the guild, were his two closest EQ friends, Megil, and Chulil (Ripto) both of whom he had become good friends with, and recruited into plagugebringers. They had both grown tired of the guild, and wanted him to start a new guild altogether. There were two factors at work that caused him to form the guild at that time, one was the trouble going on in plaguebringers, but also, it was at this time that three more of his RL friends and family started playing, Teroth, Indra and Exavier (his RL cousin), whom also thought they should start their own guild. Swifthand felt they would have enough to form the guild.



At that time Swifthand was an officer in the Plaguebringers and a friend of Talnic and didnt wish to harm his guild, but growing pressure from his close friends and his own doubts about the direction of the guild caused him to consider the plan. Then in late January 2001, Swifthand finally agreed, and formed Dragonchow with Indra, Exavier, Putri, Ripto, as members and with Teroth, Megil, Mortiz and Rabbizz as the original officers. Not feeling he had the organization skills to handle the guild Swifthand asked his real life brother, Teroth to help keep track of the members. The first two officers of the guild were Teroth and Megil, Swifthand wanted three, but Ripto flat out refused anything to do with being an officer.

He named the guild in memory of that day he fought the dragon in Lake of Ill Omen for in many ways that day summed up much of what the guild was abouthaving fun through challenge and by way of helping others even if that sometimes meant sacrifice. That day he was a dragons food, but he hoped one day to turn his fate around and the name he choice reflected both destinys.

The day the guild was formed, they needed 10 people to all log on at the same time then petition a GM. They all met in the field of bone. They had about 16 people or so who wanted to join, but because some were from Norway and other time constraints, they couldnt all get together at the same time. But since Swifthand had several other RL friends and family who had started playing, but were in a different guild (the ones who were playing non-iksar's found it much easier to be in Wolves of the Tundra since in the early days travel was so difficult, and it was much harder for KoS races like Iksar to wander around.) they agreed to make up a lvl 1 iksar and all meet in FoB to be sure Swifthand had the minimum of 10 players until he could tag all the other folks who wanted in. Some of them like Exavier, Salavar and Macey, made iksars with names that had wordplay on Swifthand, Exavier made Swiftpain, Macey made Swifttail etc. When the GM turned up, they had 12 and Swifthand was only expecting 11, but didn't really think much about it. It turned out, that there was a lvl 3 iksar monk who was standing nearby trying to figure out what they heck was happening. While they were waiting for the GM, all the folks who made lvl 1 toons were racing to see who would be the highest lvl when the GM showed up. And Megil being a druid, made it his job to buff those who were lagging behind with hp buff, sow, and a damage shield! It was a funny bit of mayhem going on. And this poor guy was very new to the game, as in, this was the very 1st day that he installed the game, and he was getting buffs from megil as well..... And guess what his name was.....Swiftman! So needless to say, they all just assumed he was one of the other RL friends on a newbie toon to help start the guild, and when the GM showed up, he guild tagged Swiftman as well. It wasn't until an hour later that Swifthand discovered what had happened with him, and when he did he laughed so hard that he very happily just accepted him as part of the guild, and tried to show him the basics of the game. He later got his Necro invited, who became his mainYstranos.

Several of the Plaguebringers came away with them but not wanting to gut his old guild, who he managed to remain on good terms with, he placed a ban on taking anymore members from that guild. It didnt matter however, as members like Leifanng, Tyrrund, Orath, Angyl, Draknar, and Kappaphi quit anyway. Unable to leave them in the cold, he granted their membership. The thing was Swifthand very much respected Talnic, he was the best Monk hed ever seen, skill-wise, not gear. And he was totally fearless and resourcefull. He taught Swifthand a lot about the game, and they were friends

The guild was small and almost entirely made up of Iksars, making it easy for them all to get together as a group. They bonded during such rituals as Kill the Guild Leader Day. At that time, Swifthands real life wife was in a guild called Wolves of the Tundra, and soon several family members and friends left there to join the growing Dragonchow. This formed the first of many major membership surges, and saw the enrollment of Hindolmer, Hiedi (Macey), Salavar, Armus, Goot, Dharius and Woodcon. Still small, Dragonchow was gaining momentum, but it was far from the guild it would one day be.

Dragonchow developed a personality based mostly upon the personality of the guilds leader and his council. Those early founders of the guild lead by example. Kindness, courtesy and a sense of fun defined their gaming style while power leveling, loot and raiding were placed at the back of the line. Little more than a collection of friends at this time, the guild coalesced into a family and this attitude persevered. While Teroth took it upon himself to create a public post board on EZ, little else was done to organize the guild in any formal sense.

Over the next few months, Dragonchow began a practice of selective recruiting. Members who found individuals who they deemed a good-fit they invited to the guild. Jarok was one of these. Teroth happened upon the young Necromancer, some 4 or 5 levels below him at the time. He had many questions, and seemed very likable and soon Teroth invited him to join Dragonchow. He had no idea that Jarok would one day grow to be the first member of the guild to hit level 60. A former member of the Plaguebringers guild, an Iksar shaman named Klothe had always been a friend to the guild. He was working on trade-skills during this time, and had no ambitions towards guild membership, but because he knew Swifthand from Plaguebringers, he was always free with shammie buffs for DC members walking by. Eventually, Jarok convinced him to join the guild. Klothe was a natural organizer, and was very interested in avoiding the meltdown that most other guilds were undergoing.

He quickly rose to the level of officer, and was very vocal on issues that could divide a guild if not addressed by the leadership. Fortunately, so was Teroth. With the common interest of hammering out reasonable and fair rules for the guild, they entered into a series of debates and began to form the blueprints for the guild laws we have today. These discussions were hidden from view, taking place usually late at night in the deep recesses of the private officer section. The two wrote epic essays, with point and counter-point arguing the details of such documents as the Dragonchow Recruitment Policy, and the Code of Conduct. Like drafting the Constitution and Bill of Rights, these two debated issues like Jefferson and Hamilton, always passionate, but always with obvious respect for each other and their intent to make the guild the best possible. More often than not, they would find themselves debating opposite sides of the issue from where they both began a testament to the neutrality of the debate. Once all arguments were on the table, they could take a good measure of the problem together and agree on the best course of action.

Scars of Vellious had long since been released, and by this time the guild had grown from a small guild to a medium sized guild but still the only effort at raiding were small group attempts at targets like the Tower of Frozen Shadows. Penetrating deeper into the new frozen world that offered such new treasures was never considered possible.

It was at this time that the guild began to diminish. As members reached higher levels their aspirations for greater things could not be met by the support of the weaker/newer guild members. Efforts to restrict recruitment to only those above level 50, were rejected by Swifthand who refused to allow the guild to progress on an uber path, even though it might mean the destruction of the guild itself. Dragonchow became a stepping-stone guild. A place where new players got a start and then, when they hit their 50s, left for more successful raiding guilds that could provide the high-end game. Membership slackened and soon officers began to discuss the bleak future of the guild.

They had to make a hard decision. Should they abandon being a starter guild? To compete they needed to merge with another more powerful guild. While doing so would mean a loss of Dragonchows soul, it would allow the members to progress. The debates raged in the officer section. Proposals were considered, options discussed, all the while more and more members like Angyl left for greener pastures like the War Council, and still nothing was settled on.

DC was offered a place in the newly forming SGA (Saryrn Guild Alliance). The idea was for a few medium sized guilds (Amnesty and Spirit Guardians mainly), to combine and cooperate in taking on epic mobs and raiding planes, this was a lot of fun, and gained the guild a lot of raiding exp. The SGA, while well meaning, didnt really work out. It was chaotic without knowing how many would arrive for a raid, and people didnt make start times, and the guys running things got frustrated. Things got more chaotic as the SGA let more guilds join.

Then Dark Age of Camelot came out and Dragonchow lost even more players. While a solid core group remained and continued to grow, hopes for the higher-end game was slipping away then salvation came in the form of an unassuming little guild called Allegiance of Faith. AoF joined with DC in a series of small raids lead by their guild leader the wizard, Salladar. He along with players by the names of Feanorr, Taline, Sisarius, Wigjuim, Modi, Chaintalker, Verdicus fit very well with DC. AoF as it turned out was hit hard by the loss of players to Dark Age of Camelot and its leader approached Swifthand about the possibility of a meager.

At around this same time, Klothe, now playing his new alt Steddy, happened upon a pair of casters playing in Stonebrunt. They were a real life married couple called Eldeberon and Sarenia. Only level 29 at the time he invited them into the guild. Two weeks later just after the turning of the New Year and in the aftermath of the release of Shadows of Luclin, in January 2002, Dragonchow merged with Allegiance of Faith.



Salladar, playing his 57th level alt, a fighter by the name of Radalasa name derived by spelling the name of his main backwardbrought his raiding skills to DC. He began organizing weekly raids on the giant city of Kael. Displaying extraordinary leadership skill combining confidence, strength and patience, he drilled the guilds core group on the basics of team play and the tricks and traps of the higher level zones. He hammered away at aggro control, pulling & tagging procedures and the art of chain healing. He also developed proper usage of the guild chat channel to increase communication and demonstrated the need to position mobs to the raiding partys advantage. Teamwork, communication, consistency, generosity and fairness were his hallmarks and these principals became the pillars of the Dragonchow raid for years to come.
New officers were added to the DC roster including Radalas, Dormare, Jarok and Leifanng, as others disappeared such as Moritz, Kanuwen, Rabbizz and Megil (Megil left the guild but later returned as Enilate but did not resume officer status).

It was at this same time that Eldeberon, began to develop the Dragonchow website. Too young to join the Friday night raids, he nevertheless sought to demonstrate his devotion to the guild. At that time only the EZ board existed. Disappointed that he was unable to find out anything about DC online Eldeberon sought to fix this. He created the website that has now been the standard shell leading to the EZ board. The result was a source of news and information to existing members, as well as a tool for new recruits to get an idea what it meant to be a member of Dragonchow. To this end he posted stories and news events first daily, then weekly.

The now energized guild managed to persuade some higher level players to join. The cleric Sunu joined the guild instantly becoming the highest level cleric in the guild and an indispensable part of Radalas raids. Her fighter brother Boliva, also added much needed strength to the frontline.
Outside of raiding Radalas pushed to reach the goal of level 60. Jarok had already achieved the fame of the first DC ever to reach the cap, now Radalas pushed his core group to follow suit feeling that higher levels were the key to success. Too many players hit the 54th level slump. The notorious hell-levels reached a nightmare at 54 and few ever pushed through it to 55, but instead lost interest in the high game and created alts letting their mains linger in 54 limbo. Radalas encouraging others to climb the ladder to make raiding the higher zones possible, drew to him the guilds elite and formed a powerful group. This group fluctuated on any given day but usually consisted of Radalas, Sunu, Boliva, Exavier and Leifanng. Non-guild members friends of Radalas also joined him including the enchanters Premadal and Candywen. The guild watched the progress of this impressive team as they pushed into the depths of Sebillis returning with wonderful tales of this rich and exciting zone causing other members such as Purti, Kinney, Teroth, Indra to seek keys of their own. Soon Radalas hit the coveted level 60 and turned his attention to thoughts of epic equipping his lead cleric.

Then in early February Angyl returned from the War Council to Dragonchow. His reappearance caused a stir as he returned with incredible gifts from the planes and spoke of leading DC on to greater heights.

For sometime, due to personal problems Swifthand, had all but disappeared from the game. Teroth and Klothe managed to handle the guilds administration issues while Radalas effectively managed to fill the leadership role with his regular routine of raid practice in Kael. His intent had been to train and equip the raids core group with Kael armor and gear in order to allow it to successfully move on to the more challenging and rewarding Temple of Veeshan. Now however the charismatic Angyl declared he would lead the guild to Veeshan immediately.

Many were excited at this prospect for glory and riches, but others quietly held concerns that the sudden popularity of Angyl might cause Radalas to feel resentment and discontinue his efforts, which nearly all agreed were crucial to the continued development of the guild. Angyl represented the voice of the uber player in the guild and this attitude was well received by many longing for the heights attained by larger, more powerful guilds. Radalas also wanted to reach the pinnacle of the game but knew simply reaching the top wasnt worth it. Once while playing with another guild where he was instrumental in defeating a powerful mob, he looked around for someone to share in his jubilation only to see the face of strangers. It was then that he realized that victory without friends was empty.

It seemed the guild was headed toward a showdown between uber and family guild and between Angyl and Radalas, but then shortly after his first ToV raid, Angyl disappeared once more.

The Golden Age

Now began what many view as the Golden Age of Dragonchow. Excitement and hope for the future expressed itself in a surge of event and involvement. Radalas resumed the Kael raids, as well as tackling the task of obtaining epics, by leading raids to Chardok where Leifanng died repeatedly in failed pull attempts and the whole raid ground to a halt while someone phoned Brodda, the guilds only high level rogue in order to get him to log-on and open the door. At the same time Teroth organized less serious events for the whole guild such as Mrpains Goonie Adventure and the Naked Newbie Races.

While Radalas continued to lead his elite team, a second regular grouping team began to take on a position of prominence in the guild. Swifthand returned to the game and began playing with a regular group of real life family relations and real life friends who consisted of Swifthand, Macey, Salavar, Ripto and Iiliea. This group became the second most powerful team as it steadily climbed from the low-50s to the mid-50s.

Some notable characters of the era:

- The team of Freyana and Redline, two low-50s female characters played by two real life male friends. Redline was the most recent manifestation of Dharamsala, a necro who had long since been abandoned for the Dark Elf Cleric Redline, (although the necro would soon be reborn.)
- Sisarius, one of only two high level wizards in the guildthe highest being Modi, who by this time had temporarily left the guildwas an eccentric soloist who lived almost exclusively in Burning Woods where he repeatedly invited guild mates to come and join him in his giant kite-fests.
- Sylen and Sebon two of the youngest players in the guild who frequently caused troubles for the officers by virtue of their youth, lack of patience and people skills.
- Mr. & Mrs. Mini, Minitanque and Minitanquette two gnome fighters, a real life husband and wife team who had a large assortment of alts all beginning with mini.
- Kendrick/Kixim, the master of Freeport Jade merchant game, and Ssmacki, the west coast monk who spent a life time hunting the Pawduster Pipe for his epic, both real life friends of Klothe.
- Verdicus/Verdarillian, the dwarf fighter cleric hydra and Ealdiien, his real life co-worker.

The new websites popularity had an unexpected and surprising effect. Casual visitors found the site impressive and the stories and reports listed there enticing and soon the guild faced a massive influx of raw recruits. Applications to join the guild skyrocketed. Dozens of new names appeared in the chat window such as Arslayn, Eand, Remi, Raeoen, Sickli, Spyderz, Fenelane and Tryssa. In their 30s and early 40s they were ineligible to join in the raids, but soon began to make their presence known as the next generation of DC. This prompted a need to review and tighten the recruitment process to slow down the flood in order to make certain that the new arrivals had time to properly absorb the DC attitude. As a result all invitations had to be sponsored by a full member and approved by an officer. Then that officer had to record the invitation and the sponsor.

In February 2002, due mostly to his work on the website, Eldeberon was promoted to Dragonchow officer, and found his niche by organizing Spell and Gear Swaps where the guild met in the neutral bank of Thurg to trade the unneeded items of higher level players to lower level guild members.

At around this same time Macy and Salavar began crafting PoTC uber earrings for the entire guild. This was a massive undertaking given the amount of materials and combines to produce a single earring. The process would occupy them for a full year. Radalas had now spread out the guilds raid targets beyond Kael and Chardok to Kedge Keep and the Planes, hitting the Planes of Hate and Fear in an attempt to obtain more epic items for various guild members.

In late May, Teroth, the resident expert on the complicated and notoriously difficult Plane of Airdue to having raided it with another guild for his own epic piecewas finally convinced to run a Plane of Air raid for DC. It became the first multi-day guild raid that resulted in enormous gains in hard to obtain epic items and an unheard of haul of mage epic pieces were extracted from the top-most isle in the Plane of Air. The raids success also marked a coming of age of the guild as a whole as a mature and well-trained team, a long cry from the early days of Kael. Teroth, the designated survivor for all of Radalas raids in the past, had shown he could lead a raid when pressed into service but still disliked leading raids as a necromancer. It is easier to get people in line when it is for a Virtue spell or C2, than it is for DMF.

Then in June the guild succeeded in obtaining its first epic. Sunu, who had long struggled, was finally ready. She had all the necessary items for her epic except the notorious Ragefire. At this time Ragefire was a random-spawn that was so desired by all guilds for the epic of their clerics that races to claim the spawn were common and ugly. Sunu announced she was going on Ragefire watch and throughout the guild members volunteered to either cover the watch or simply to sit with her. The vigil went on 24 hours, until the mob was spotted then a calculation was made to determine when Ragefire would pop again. The announcement went up and the date set. All guild members were put on notice. Like minutemen, all members of the guild had to be prepared to go to the spawn site the instant the call went up. Those who could, bound on the spot, others camped out characters and played alts.

At last, Sunu cried Rage was up and DC converged on Skyfire Mountains. DC formed up quickly. At the same time the guild Divine Wind appeared. They only had a few members present and realizing DC was about to attack, one of their members began to kite the mob that spawns Ragefire. Radalas ordered the attack the moment the kiting began and obtained first damage. Combind DC did the greatest damage, but as a single group a Divine Wind collection of six wizards got the kill. The Divine Wind Cleric however was not in that group and waited for the body to open.

Knowing DC had rights to the mob from First In Fight rules Radalas ordered Sunu to loot the heart, which she managed to do - much to the outrage of the Divine Wind, who accused DC of kill stealing. Arguments were made on both sides, GMs were connected, and they provided the Divine Wind with a heart. Nevertheless, members of the Divine Wind and other associated Japanese guilds launched a harassment campaign against Sunu. They made constant attacks on her in chat and emails and at the Blast Furnace and on the Saryrn Tavern. Sunu was so devastated by the attacks that she wanted to destroy her epic, but Radalas convinced her to ignore the attacks. This assault was made all the more injurious due to very unpleasant real life issues she was facing. The result was that Sunu reduced her game play dramatically after that and eventually resigned altogether.

In July, Radalas finally led the raids he had long planned for and assaulted the Temple of Veeshan. He asked Candywen and Eldeberon to act as assistant raid leaders in the assault. Then the next day Radalas resigned from EQ.

The Silver Age

A shockwave passed through the guild leaving a stunned silence. Those working on their epics immediately lost hope of ever completing them, as did those who hoped for greater things. The guild leadership had diminished. Swifthand was still playing but intermittently, and many of the officers including Jarok and Dormare were not actively playing. Only Teroth, Klothe, and Eldeberon remained to face the crisis. Instantly a mass exodus from the guild was seen as a real possibility if the guild could not produce a raid leader to continue the legacy that Radalas started.
Plans to raid ToV were canceled. Then Sunu posted asking why it was canceled. Cant someone else run the raid? Candywen and Eldeberon were Radalas assistants cant they run a raid? but Candywen left Dragonchow at the same time Radalas resigned.

Being the youngest member of the officers, and having never led a raid, Eldeberon met with Teroth in the remote Skyfire Mountains. They both realized it was important to get a raid goingany raid, just to show the membership that the guild was still moving forward. With apprehension, Eldeberon agreed to run a raid and they decided the Hole was a good start since it hosted several epic items and few knew it, so the lack of knowledge on the part of Eldeberon wouldnt appear so glaring.

On August 19, 2002, Eldeberon, along with his real life wife Sarenia and Teroth launched the raid into the Hole. The turnout was large enough only none of the usual faces were present. A family event kept Swifthand, Salavar and Macy away and Radalas, Sunu and Bolvi were gone from the game. Looking around him Eldeberon saw all the new faces and the average level of his raid was 46. Worse yet, he had not a single warrior, and only a single low level cleric who informed him he would need to leave early. Luckily his friend, the 60th level SK Indra Harbringer, was on hand to perform the role of Main Tank and Puller. The raid into the Hole lasted eight hours and while it failed to achieve the goal of getting Klothe his epic piece (due to the mob not being up), it did manage to obtain half a dozen others including Fenelanes first piece which resulted in her new dedication to the quest.

A second successful raid into the City of Mist for ranger and shaman epic items established Eldeberon as the new guild raid leader and soon requests began coming in for epic targets. Sarenia and Klothe created and maintained an epic quest database on the EZ boards and Eldeberon and Sarenia began ticking off the targets.

Also in August Lyzzerd and Minimoretocome were married in the Arena. And in September Teroth became one of the few in the guild to obtain his epic having gone outside DC and raiding with guilds like the Little Peoples Republic.

Eldeberon and Sarenia were now in the forefront of the guild, running two to three raids a week or organizing spur of the moment call-to-arms events. In each of the raids few of the older, higher level members attended. Instead, the next generation of DC formed the new raiding core of the guild. Arslayn, Remii, Raeoen, Tryssa, Wolfwoode, Makes, Amethyste, Sickli, Manks, Amaryllis and a few returning members just rediscovering their old mains like Feanorr, Taline, and Toolan became the new raid force. Since there were no adequately leveled clerics that could be counted on to attend the raids. Sarenia created a hydra cleric called Rezzana and power-leveled her to up to be their raid cleric.

Then Eldeberon ran a raid to the Plane of Hate that went awry. It was the first time the full force of the guild turned out since the days of Radalas. Seven groupsa full 35 peoplewaited under his command in the Dreadlands. Unfortunately, he was the only Hate-capable porter. It hardly appeared to matter as his lead group was comprised of the most power members of the guild, Salavar, Macey, Swifthand, Ripto, and he had Swifthands cleric alt, Medikar, camped out at the entrance, just incase there was a problem. Eldeberon ported the lead group up and then the second consisting of Sarenia, Indra, Teroth and various other high level members. By the time he brought the third group up, the first group was under attack.

Ignoring this Eldeberon continued to bring up groups as fast as he could as reinforcements. The battle went badly. With only two more groups to gothe weakest of the guildthe report came in that it was a total wipe. Medikar was called on to log-in and resurrect the party but a FD necro stood up too soon and wiped the rescue attempt. The best and brightest were dead, their gear trapped in Hate where no necro could summon corpse. Feeling sick to his stomach, Eldeberon considered his alternatives as 35 naked guild members stood waiting in Dreadlands looking at him. Then the unexpected happenedRadalas logged in.

Hows it going? he asked.

I think I broke the guild Rad.

Radalas called in old friends from different guilds and helped rally the troops and with Eldeberon once more porting, Radalas lead the fight to secure the landing zone.

This disaster was followed by The Great Chardok Raid, one of the most renowned adventures in DC history - not only for achievement but also for sheer drama. Some raids are successful but boring, and some like the Hate raid are disasters. The Great Chardok raid of October 1, 2002, was the best of both worlds. It stretched the guild to their limit and survived.

A full turn out of the guild showed up including Radalas and several old faces such as Premadal. The target was Fear, but seeing that it was empty, the target changed to Chardok. Upon arriving another guild was already there. Eld, and Sar entered into negotiations to determine if they could spilt the names between them. The other guild was only after the Prince and as such, it was decided that DC would help them, let them have the Prince and then move on to the King. This was agreed to but then the leader of another guild demanded that he had rights, his name (although a female character), was Loosin. Loosin was notorious for dirty dealings and Radalas warned Eld not to speak to her.

DC advanced passed the other guild when suddenly Loosin (a monk) trained them. The other guild was wiped. Eldeberon paused in the raid to resurrect and rebuff them. Once more they began to proceed toward the Prince when once more Loosin (who someone unwittingly had resurrected), trained the group again! Once more, the other guild wiped. Orders were given to not resurrect Loosin. By the time the other guild was resurrected they had had enough and gave up the field in total to Dragonchow. Now the way was clear for the triple event and the guild easily took the Prince and the King. Then waiting in the Kings room, Radalas & Eld discussed attempting the queen. Dragonchow never took the queen before, as she was the hardest mob in Chardok. Given the turnout - and the luck so far that day - and the fact Salavar was on hand - and needed the epic item off her - they decided to go for it.

The pulling of the queen launched one of the truly epic battles in DC history. The queen was taken at a great cost of life, but it was a clear victory. Then the kings room began to re-pop and in such a weakened and disordered state the raid came within a hairs breath of wiping. No crowd control. Reports of OOM! filled the chat. There was no chance of survival. The mobs where still strong, and pops were still popping, but those that remained never gave up. A handful of DC remained covered in sweat and blood, swinging and blasting away in a fury of courage and determination. With all clerics, enchanters and fighters dead - and only a handful of players alive - Teroth used one of his precious essence emeralds (donated to him from Woodweavers suicides.) He resurrected Macey, who in turn took only the time to loot her epic, which she used to begin clicking key people back to life. Teroth formed a new group with Macey, Salavar and 3 other casters and siphoned precious mana from the Chardok royals and into his group. Raiders stood back up only to be killed again. This went on, over and over until slowly, very slowly, the tide turned and more DC were remaining alive than were dying. The mana siphon started to out pace the healing costs, and then it happened BOOM! Ding Dong the King and Queen are both Dead! DC had won!

With Eldeberon growing exhausted from carrying the mantle of raid leadership, Sarenia began to take over several of his responsibilities. In recognition of this, and her work with organizing the epic role, she was promoted to officer. After years of Ssmacki camping the Pawduster, Sarenia vowed to get him his pipe. Ssmacki almost laughed until in less than two hours she did just that. The curse was broken and Ssmacki was free once more to play the game.

New recruits continued to stream in. Zorastiz and Rakisil joined after a try-out with Sarenia in ToFS. Then Eldeberon, the only wizard in the guild at that time, read a post by an unassuming wizard named Theyto who requested a grouping in the hope for a sponsor. Having put him off for weeks due to his raid schedule, Eld finally managed to group with him. He was so impressed he invited him to the guild in the middle of the General Epic Raid in Kithcor. He, Filson and Gurel comprised the last of the Rabbits.

Macey and Salavar continued to create Protection of the Cabbage Earrings for the guild and in return for their contribution they were both promoted to Guild Officer. They soon began to run raids to the Planes of Power. Ripto and his wife, Iilae, leave DC to concentrate on more personal advancement. They soon become the unofficial rulers of Howling Stones.

A new set of recruits entered the guild these lead by two high-level prominent individuals known as Suzziesweetie and Myrdon. Several of the new recruits were lower level friends or past guild mates of the two. Immediately, the two made quick friends of several of the lower level players who felt disenfranchised from either the Eldeberon/Sarenia camp or the Macey/Salaver camp.

In an effort to ingratiate themselves with the guild, Suzziesweetie and Myrdon announced that they would lead raids right away. They set about organizing raids for the guild first helping Dormare in Kedge, then in Kael. In both instances, perhaps because of a growing distrust between them and the established guild leaders, the two refused advice. As a result, their first two raid attempts were marred by problems more resulting from an inability to understand typical DC raid policies than tactics. Then they launched a raid into the Plane of Fear.

Once more, they ignored experienced advice regarding the breaking-in stage of assaulting the zone (apparently resenting it.) From the start, the raid collapsed. Assuming that everyone in attendance knew the basics of Fear, Myrdon and Suzzie didnt bother properly explaining their plan (which was to go to the north-wall camp, something DC was unaccustomed to). Lacking instructions, the vast majority of the guild didnt understand where to go and as a result, quickly picked up aggro, those who did make it were promptly trained by the rest.

Eldeberon, Sarenia and Teroth were all on hand offering suggestions and support to help recover from the initial setback, but Suzziesweetie and Myrdon rebuked all attempts to assist. The bad situation just got worse. CRs went bad and scattered bodies all over the zone and the aggro stirred up mob paths turning the zone into a chaotic killing field. At this point Suzziesweetie camped out without a word - abandoning the raid and taking with it its only cleric and source for resurrection spells.

Myrdon, to his credit, stuck it out longer, trying to help in the recovery until he too gave up asking Eldeberon and Sarenia to please take over and camped out. Rezzana was brought in as an emergency cleric and the skill of Teroth and Indra, provided the extensive CRs. In less than an hour the raid was resurrected and ported safely out, but the incident impacted Suzziesweetie and Myrdon dramatically. Several guild members (including Eldeberon who knew the terrible feeling of wiping a raid in a tough plane,) offered words of comfort and encouragement, but they were taken as insults. Indra and Teroth were not so forgiving. Suzzie and Myrdon had committed the most unforgivable sins of a raid leader they left the raid wiped out in one of the Planes--a trust was broken.

From this point on, Suzzie and Myrdon became marginalized and embittered. After a few unpleasant disagreements and arguments in chat channels with various guild members, and facing a meeting with Swifthand, on November 11th 2002, they both de-guilded - declaring that half the guild would follow suit. They didnt, but a handful of their original friends did follow, although somewhat reluctantly.

Still, the issue wasnt ended. Sudden ripples of resentment formed between the more prolific members and those that struggled to make significant progress. The game, always under-development, had changed to require the holy trinity in order to work the zones with the best loot and experience. Groups that had regular chanters, clerics and warriors were thriving, while less conventional groups struggled and DC was heavy on the unconventional at the time. Resentment continued to linger and some members of DC felt left out, unable to find a group, or were unable to get assistance with their epics. Soon a division formed in the guild as some players such as Arslayn, Remii, Doggypaws, Sylen, Dormare and the Minis felt cliques hardened in the guild that left them out in the cold and ignored. This was an unfortunate by-product of the game and guild make-up, but none-the-less troubling to the guild leadership.

Swifthand and Eldeberon took action organizing open groups inviting the lesser-known members to join them. A Get-a-Group channel was established to help guild members put up a LFG flag that wasnt open to the public and didnt prevent them from jumping into a temporary group outside the guild while waiting for a guild group to open up. Sarenia and Eldeberon offered guided tours of difficult zones like Howling Stones, to younger, more solitary members of the guild and encouraged random, unconventional grouping in the new Planes of Power. Teroth ran a Naked Newbie Race, and formed the first NDS in DC history. But the division continued and Swifthand and his officer corps were forced to have one-on-one talks with some individuals.

Through the course of their discussions it was learned that Suzziesweetie and Myrdon were still in contact with individuals like Mr. & Mrs. Mini and other DC members, still trying to persuade them to leave the guild. Some did. Others, like Arslayn, and Mrs. Mini were turned around and returned to the fold.

Then on December 17th 2002, during the launch of a Trakkanon raid in Sebillis, as Sarenia was setting up and Eldeberon was porting in people, Sylen found his epic mob up in Kedge and asked for help. Since a great many members were already engaged in the raid, no one responded. At the same time Dormare requested a port out of Cobalt Scar and likewise received no response. Comments about cliques and the need to know someone in the guild to get help were made, and the guild chat quickly turned into a civil war of words as various members fought with unrestrained passion and resentment. Officers struggled to restore order, but it was an ugly event.

Eldeberon ported to Cobalt Scar to assist Dormare. There she confronted him on the subject of cliques and the accusation that he was part of the problem with the guild, and that if you werent a friend of Eld/Sar or Sal/Macey you received no help and that the two groups didnt care about the little folk. She refused his port. At that point, Eldeberon camped out in Cobalt Scar and resigned from the game.



On January 2nd 2003 the Tribunal of Norrath joined Dragonchow. The guild leader Mystikka entered into talks with DC officers as early as November about the possibility of merging the guilds and it was made official after the first of the year. As part of the merger, three of the ToN officers were appointed the status of DC officers, they were Mystikka, Peign and Telas. Given the previous problems with cliques, it was feared that ToN would be treated as second class, but this fear was quickly put to rest as ToN was welcomed with open arms. The clique issue was also finally extinguished as the guild reordered itself.

With Eldeberon gone, Sarenia took over the full position of raid leader and continued to put her efforts into leading raids for epic pieces. Salavar and Macey continued to run some raids in the planes and both groups began to look into the new Trials. Quite a few zone flags were obtained for the guild, opening up possibilities for future raiding of the higher planes.

With the influx of power from ToN, DC reach a new high in strength and in late January, Sarenia managed to coax both Radalas and Eldeberon out of retirement to assist her in a raid on Hate which saw the first DC killing of a god, in this case Innoruuk. Ripto and Iilae return to the fold.

The boards become even livelier with discussions about everything from new raid targets, to old ones we skipped along the way. Eldeberon created an EZ Board Signature, along with what would become the most recognizable DC logo. Signature mania grips the guild, as everyone craves a personalized signature with the new DC logo. Teroth offered to assist in creating new signatures, as Eldeberon was overrun with orders. The Boards got a new look, thanks to an upgrade to the platform that allowed Teroth to customize it more to the guilds needs. The Board posting rate soars. Dharmasala tries his own hand at signatures and the results are outrageously funny.

Mystikka and Swifthand organized the 1st Annual DC Picnic that took place in Chicago, and Arslayn distributed the first official DC T-shirt. All in attendance agreed that it was worth the trip, and what seemed like a small solitary gathering became an annual tradition.

With the increased manpower, epics were being obtained at record speed. Soon nearly everyone who needed one was able to obtain it. With a large bulk of the guild equipped with epics, and the raid force becoming a more precision instrument, Sarenia announced her intent to discontinue raid leading and began tutoring Fixli/Gnawbone, a fighter cleric hydra, to replace her. While DC never lost its habit of gaffs to begin raids, and the legendary DC dice never really improved, the efficiency increased greatly with practice. Increased mobility through expanded port spells and punts, and the layout of the newer raiding zones allowing for more late arrivals, allowed the DC raiding style to change and grow. Several other raid leaders stepped up when Fixli became weary of leading raids, and passed the raid-leading torch to Kpurple and Quedaz.

The game had evolved into a more group-oriented endeavor around this time, requiring fewer raids and more flagging was needed to renew raid efforts to new targets. In the meantime, DC rules new dragon spawns for a few months, as Radalas returns to the game, and to leading raids. Innoruuk would soon be revamped by Sony, and become a common target for the guild.

Chardok was also revamped, and Chardok B came into existence. Korukusk, a previously impossible mob to find up, became a regular spawn in Chardok B. Much to his chagrin, DC found out about this new arrangement and made his sanctuary a regular stop on the raid schedule. DC began raiding multiple targets in almost every raid gathering. The year passed with many accomplishments, and a bright future in sight. DC was one of the top guilds on the server, and the Recruitment Team was overrun with requests to group with new recruits. Even the milestone mob The Avatar of War was no match for DC.


Conflict that managed to be totally contained within the bounds of the officer's section resulted in the departure of Ripto from the guild, followed by Sarenia, Salavar and Macey.
In time these officers are replaced by Arslayn, Yhakfiend, Fixli/Gnawbone, KP and Q.
Sarenia eventually returns to the guild, but soon leaves the game for greener pastures in other realms. Raids continue and, amazingly, the guilds personality remains pretty much the same.

The 2rd Annual DC Picnic was held in St. Louis, home to several DC members, and the habit of banging sticks on your table for applause is adopted as an official DC custom.
The year almost passes without any great negatives, as average levels rise to new heights and raid target selection becomes a matter of target availability, rather than a measure of the ability of the guild.

And then, in November 2004, both EQ2 and World of Warcraft were released. The effect on the EQ community in general was dramatic, and the mass exodus from the game was devastating to the guild roster.


In 2005, Scotch and Soda (a satellite/sister guild to DC in the WoW universe,) was formed. Instanced content in EQ is a saving grace, as players that left to play characters in EQ2 return to EQ for more familiar surroundings and find group action in the newest expansions. WoW eventually thrives, pulling even more from the fold. DC survived the turmoil and maintains raid presence to this day, but the diminished interest in EQ erodes the membership to a small core of players. DC Membership remains high, and in-game presence bounces back from the initial WoW exodus.

The 3rd picnic returns to Chicago, and has the largest turnout yet. DC is stronger than ever, as old members return to EQ as a result of the nostalgia generated by the Chicago gathering.


Active players in the WoW guild SnS exceeds the number of active DC players in EQ, and is evidenced by the turnout at the 4th Annual DC Picnic in Minneapolis.


Teroth creates Hall of Fame section