The Fellowship of the Twin Lobes

It is said that knowledge is power. Only by idiots, though; knowledge is useless without a tool to process it, separating the relevant from the irrelevant and the interesting from the boring. And by far the best knowledge-processing tool is the brain.

And that's what the Fellowship of the Twin Lobes celebrates - the brain. Its ability to not just store knowledge, but to use that knowledge to solve problems and, if its knowledge isn't sufficient, to find more knowledge.

We also celebrate the other important facet to the brain - its ability to create. The brain can create anything from a MUD area to the Mona Lisa, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Colossus of Rhodes. Hands were needed to build them, but their images were designed and created by the mind.

If you have a brain, if your brain can be creative, if your brain can solve problems, then maybe you should join ... the Fellowship of the Twin Lobes!

Half a tic - Why should I want to join this clan?

All members of the clan can make use of our clan area, which contains a room in which you regain hp and mana much faster than normal. Furthermore, we have a wide variety of clan-only items which are, for their level, stronger than any commonly available items on the MUD. Oh, and not to forget, no member ever has to worry about corpse retrievals. In the sad event that a TwinLobe dies, his corpse is being safed in our morgue.

The clan area is out of the way, and is protected by a bunch of high-level clan guards and an evily designed maze. Efforts are being taken to make the clan rooms as safe as possibly allowed within the mud rules.

Not enough for you? Well, then there's our Daily Trivia! Every day, the Clan Leaders present to their membership a trivia question that has been sent in by a member; other members are invited to submit answers (by note or email) to this question, and after a day has passed the people who submitted a correct answer will be awarded one Prestige Point (or PP). Also, the member who sent in the question will be awarded a PP.

These questions aren't meant to be too easy, since you have an entire day to research the answer. You can do so on any resource you may think of - books, the WWW, even rl teachers! You must not, though, discuss the current question with other clan members. Doing so will be considered cheating.

Every now and then, the Clan Leaders also set up quests and contests, where, by using either your knowledge or your creativity, you can gain extra PPs.

When the number of PPs a member has accumulated reaches a certain value, he/she will be promoted by one rank.

The seven ranks in this clan are :


     Name               PPs required


  1. Archon             0 (starting level)


  2. Mythic             5


  3. Analytic           10


  4. Existential        20


  5. Transcendent       35


  6. Illumened          60


  7. Enlightened        500

Members who have reached the state of an Illumened will also receive a very special clan reward: They will be granted a personal room within the clan halls they can customize as they like.

Still not enough? Well, the clan maintains a comprehensive (and private) database of information related to the mud - the paths to most areas, detailed information on the best equipment for each level, maps of various areas and detailed information on many mobs.

Members are encouraged to submit information to this database - it is only by everyone sending in their information that the database can be really worthy of the clan! People who submit a lot of information to the database are usually rewarded with PPs.

What responsibilities would a Fellow of the Twin Lobes have?

A page containing the current clan policies has been set up. These are binding for all members and have been put to public access so that you, curious Aardwolf player, will know what we are up to (and you might apply for)

Although it isn't religiously enforced, members of this clan are encouraged to take a more active role in the clan by joining one of the hemispheres of the brain. The hemispheres hold meetings on a regular basis on topics varying with recent developments in the mud and the clan. The Hemispheres, their respective leaders, and their purpose are listed below.

RIGHT HEMISPHERE led by Washi: Deals with clan morale ideas, clan PP ideas, thinking on names and descriptions for things like new clan items, mobs or rooms, and other general creative matters.
LEFT HEMISPHERE led by Sarlock: They gather information about objects, mobiles and maps and classify everything for the Clan Database. As well as this, they think up new eq/room/mob/whathaveyou ideas, and defence strategies in the case of a raid.
FRONTAL LOBE led by Mog: Handles recruiting, inter-clan relations (click here for a clan-relations page), general organization, and clan defenses/defense policies..

Aside from all this, the clan takes a small percent of a member's incoming gold (gold from mobiles, from auctioning things, or from selling items in a shop), excepting when the clan is saving up for a large purchase. Most members do not find this a problem; in fact, many choose to contribute more money in order to allow the clan to buy more fun things for the clan area.

Clan Government

The clan is governed by a triumvirate of equal Clan Leaders, any one of whom can veto the actions of the other two. The leaders must therefore always work in consensus. The leaders make an up-to-date plan for future development of the clan available to the members, who have the right to comment on it; the leaders *have* to take these comments into account!

Where no consensus can be reached, the leadership shall ballot the clan on the issue. If it is ever felt that the leadership is going against the wishes of the clan, then clan members can organise a ballot and if at least two thirds of the votes cast are against the leadership then the leadership will be overruled. In any ballot, members must be given 12 days in which to cast their vote.

If a clan leader leaves, then the clan shall elect a replacement democratically from within the clan.

The Clan Leaders are, in their actions, responsible to the clan. If the clan feels that a leader acts against the will of a majority of the clan, or fails to fulfill his/her duties, any clan member is entitled to impeach that leader.

In case of this happening, the leader in question must be given a week to respond, after which a clan vote will be held. The impeachment is successful if a 2/3 majority is reached.

Clan Crimes

These following actions are being considered clan crimes:

Leaking private clan information to a non-clan member
Cheating on a quest or other contest run by this clan
Bringing the clan into disrepute (e.g. by fixing a clan quest, or doing something else extremely immoral in the name of the clan.)
Discussing the answer to the daily trivia question with another clan member
Helping a prospective clan member through the entrance trivia quiz.
Selling clan only equipment to non members.
Direct violation of the clan policies.

Commiting a clan crime may force the leadership to punish the respective member in one of the following ways, depending on the severity of the offense:

Send him/her on an exploration mission or money run for the good of the clan
Strip him/her off a clan rank
Strip him/her off all PPs and demote back to Archon
Outcast him/her from the clan

Whichever punishment the leaders decide is necessary, any member shall be given a chance to put his/her case to the clan public, if he/she feels being treated unfair. In that case the clan will decide.

How can I join the Fellowship of the Twin Lobes?

Before you can apply, you must fulfill the following minimum requirements:

You must first have reached level 50.

You must have completed at least two quest for each of the levels you made without the hunt skill, plus three quests for each level since you gained it. If you are a remort, you must have completed at least 603 quests for each class since you gained hunt, plus 402 quests for each class played before you gained hunt.

Applications will be accepted until the 7th of each month (meaning, from the 1st through the 7th of each month _only_), and be processed in the following weeks. Please post your application on the Personal board to Twinlobe. Once your application is received a commission will be formed who will guide you through the process.

To give us the best first impression of you, you should include more than just 'Hi, I want to join!'. Remember, a clan is a family, and you are looking to join our family. So you should include why you want to join our clan, what piqued your interest in our little Twinlobe family, and what you expect to get out of being clanned with Twinlobe, as well as what you will be contributing. Including RL hobbies, likes/dislikes, as well as your regular online time will help us in setting up your application process to begin with.

During the application process, you will be contacted by several members of our clan. These members will be getting to know you, interviewing you and testing you. Remember that it is just not your time, but it is also time that each member is taking out of their busy schedule, so please be courteous and not waste members' time, as well as your own.

Your interview process will begin shortly after we receive your application. The process itself will consist of 3 interviews. After successfully navigating the interviews, you, as a possible future Twinlobe member, will then be advised of what the next step of your application process will be.

Your application will be turned down, however, if any one of the following happens:

You present a plagiarized demonstration of your creative talents (ie an uncredited copy)
You sought the help of another mud person to pass any of the tests
The clan, after reviewing your application and interviews, decides that you and the clan would not enhance each other. (see below)

Being accepted into one of the oldest clans on Aardwolf is a true privilege. You will have to convince us you are worthy to join. If in your past history on the mud, you were acting against the clan spirit, it is very likely a clan member will veto your admittance. If this is the case, it will be left up to the discretion of clan leadership to decide.

Keep in mind that in most cases your application note and the interviews are the first impressions we can get of you! Make it clear to us that _you_ are the person we have just been waiting for! We are a very special clan with very special kinds of members. Impress us! Don't send in plain boring material.

Be open and honest in the interviews! If the interviewers report to the clan something like "He/She seems ok, but I doubt that he/she would be a real addition to clan." It is very likely your application will be turned down, even if you match all other requirements. But don't worry, our members are open-minded, friendly and always ready to accept a new member.

This document maintained for the Fellowship of the Twin Lobes by Thagor