Introducing Just Another Princess in a Quiet Kingdom...

Hello everyone! Thanks so much to the generosity of Heartun Breaker, I have been given a chance to help bring you the news, views, and whatever Tiny Empires related items I can dream up.

So, first, let me publicly thank Heartun and wish her the very best in both her real life and her second life.

And second, for you, dear reader, let me take a few minutes to introduce myself and tell you a bit of my TE history... consider it fair warning for what lies ahead in the coming months!

I first heard of Tiny Empires in late September of 2007. Ellie Bearcat offered me a trial hud, and when I asked what it was, she said 'a game within the game'. I tried it on, and played with it long enough to get through the documentation, tell it that no, I was female, and to see that I was a Wanderer... then I took it off to play with later and thought no more of it for a while.

About a week later, I met a friend and a friend of hers. They were quiet because they were playing TE. I think it was the first time I had seen someone in-world when they were playing (at least that I knew of.) I decided I'd join the fun, put my HUD on, and tried to see if my friend could be my liege. She couldn't- she was a Baroness, and neither of us knew at the time how to work around the problem of a Wanderer not being able to go under a Baroness. But her friend and subject was a Dame, so I joined her.

And so, for the want of an acre, I became the subject of Happe Hax, and not the subject of Erzsabet Bergbahn (of Te Calculator fame.)

I found that Ellie was Erzsabet's liege, and that she had several hundred acres in holdings- an amazing amount! Her liege was a former Princess who was working her way back up. Her name was Madame Maracas (of TE Wiki fame) and we were in the Kingdom of Wessex (which happened to be the very first ever Kingdom... and at that time, almost the only one, the second and third kingdoms having been in existence only a couple of weeks.)

I shared my enthusiasm with friends, and they did with theirs, and we all had a wild and fun time learning this crazy new game... and watching the titles roll down. Ellie achieved Princess, followed quickly by Erzsabet, Happe, myself... and then past me, into those under me.

Then our first shakeup came. Celty, King of Wessex, announced that he was quitting, and he was giving us a chance to find another liege before he finally quit for good and took the tax benefits with him. (If you don't know what I mean, ask.)

By that time, our group of Caledonians- for we were from Caledon- were a group under Ellie. But there was a second group of Caledonians under Becky Book in the Kingdom of Lothlorien... and so, it was no accident when Ellie moved into Lothlorien.

It was in December when Ellie ascended to the throne, and the Kingdom of Caledon was born from Lothlorien. Becky and her group joined us in this realization of a dream, a kingdom in Tiny Empires mirroring the growing kingdom in Second Life owned by Desmond Shang- and given his personal approval as well.

Shortly after that, we lent our acreage to Cujo Mayo's dream, and the Kingdom of Arcadia was born.

And, at around New Year's, the kingdom of Dracheheim was born from Caledon.

Since then, things have been more quiet, with the Kingdom on a slow but steady rate of growth. It's not the largest Kingdom around, but far from the smallest, and I would hope one of the friendliest.

As for me, in all of this, I have often found my own organizational and calculating skills (or scheming, if you prefer other words) called upon. It's given me a good working understanding of the game's mechanics, and a number of good friends on the IM list!

I trust that this latest Tiny Empires venture will be a chance for me to help others and share my enthusiasm with others for a game that has been in the upper right of my Second Life window now for over nine months. Any questions, ideas, tidbits of news, or even speculations that you might have-- feel free to comment in a topical post here or IM me in-world! I trust this is the beginning of a long and fun conversation.