Anyone who has ever met Nepenthia is immediately taken with her good nature, her cheerful sense of humor, and her kindness. Her eyes sparkle with intelligence and a lively interest in the people around her. A bard in EQ (one of the most difficult classes to play) as well as current author of the upcoming Silky Venom column WHO ASKED THE BARD?!, Nepenthia doesn't readily reveal that she is a bard in real life as well.
A music major at the University of California, Irvine (the Vanguard connection again – this is about 45 miles north of the current Sigil offices), Nepenthia met her husband Ed while attending university. He was a biology major actually, but he sang in the chorus, a tenor, while Nep played the flute in the orchestra. They didn't know each other's names for the longest time and simply called each other Flute and Tenor. (One presumes they found out their real names before they got married.)
Apart from Ed, Nep's loves in her life are her ginger cat (with a propensity for sleeping on top of her monitor), her 23-year-old daughter (who thought up the name for Nep's Silky Venom column), and people in general—not necessarily in that order. A legal assistant for many years, Nepenthia's desire to be of service extended to volunteering in the community, first in real life, then in the virtual world. I asked her what kind of online volunteering had she done. Like nearly all of us Vanguardians, Nep has her roots in EverQuest.
"I was a 5th generation EQ guide," Nep told me. "Did that for two and a half years, then became the Test Server Guide (not part of the guide program) and did that for a few years until the EQ2 beta started. I also wrote the Q&A for
Everquest Express, covering the time from late EQ beta into about the first six months of release, if I remember right."
I wasn't sure what a generation was in connection with guiding in EQ. Nepenthia explained it to me.
"The guide program was started during beta. As each new group of guides was accepted into the program, they were called a generation. Generation 5 was started after Thanksgiving in, I think, the very end of beta 2. The guide program now, I would guess, has a couple hundred generations."
I've always wondered what it would be like to be a guide.
"Guiding has been one of the great delights of my life," Nepenthia said. "…the actual on-server-interacting-with-people part of it."
I asked her if she had any funny anecdotes about her life as an EQ guide. And, yep, she did.
"The best one was on test when I committed a great no-no and got charmed in Ssra [one of the higher level zones in EverQuest] and started killing a player. Luckily he lived, laughing himself silly, and then forever had a claim to guide cookies whenever he wanted them."
Of course, I wanted details.
"On Test Server, I often took time to watch major raids, partly because it was lots of fun and partly because, as I wasn't actively playing much, it helped me understand what raiding groups faced so that during the expansion betas I could help better," Nep began. "However, even though guides were immune to most damage in EQ, they were not immune to AOE [area of effect] spells and once an AOE spell hit a guide, they were no longer immune to all NPC interaction. Soooooo, one night while I was watching a Ssra raid, I got too close and was aggro'ed but didn't realize it."
She laughed. "Next thing I knew I was beating the tank over the head with my lute and everyone was laughing so hard it was a wonder that they won. They did win, however, the tank lived, and I immediately flew to CS home [the Guide/GM zone] and loaded up on guide cookies and milk by way of apology. After passing them out and taking a whole lot of ribbing, I decided that the tank could ask for cookies and milk whenever he chose. And, fortunately, despite his helmet, my lute survived to play another day."
The no-no that Nepenthia referred to was that guides were never to put players in any danger. "Even though I was not part of the guide program on Test," Nep said, "I did try very hard to follow that rule."
Nepenthia had been part of the beta guide program for two and a half years. Apparently the guide program didn't extend to the test server, so Nepenthia volunteered and was accepted to act as a guide on the test server. Subsequently, she guided in beta during some of the EQ expansions.
How about Vanguard…was she thinking about applying for the guide program in Vanguard?
"Well, I haven't heard yet how the volunteer program will work, but I would absolutely LOVE to be part of any volunteer program in Vanguard," Nepenthia admitted.
With typical Nepenthia bardishness, she fell into playing a bard by accident, and, once again it was Nep's daughter who led her astray.
"My daughter asked me to try playing a MUD she was playing. I was sick of Tetris and decided to give it a go," Nep related. "So the first thing was to make a character and bard just seemed right. My degree is in music…BA Music University of California, Irvine…and reading, music, art, writing, photography, crafts, travel…all, in a way, connected to barding as an archetype…have been my passions."
And, of course, her first character needed a distinguished name.
"So, I hunted around for a good bard name and, for some reason, the restaurant on the Big Sur Coast came into mind…it's name is Nepenthe…and I made the name Nepenthia."
"Nepenthe…doesn't that mean sleep in Greek?" I asked.
Nepenthia looked up the real definition for me. I had been close.
Nepenthe \Ne*pen"the\, n. [Fr. Gr. ? removing all sorrow; hence, an epithet of an Egyptian drug which lulled sorrow for the day; ? not + ? sorrow, grief.] A drug used by the ancients to give relief from pain and sorrow; -- by some supposed to have been opium or hasheesh. Hence, anything soothing and comforting.
"I kept that definition in my Nepenthia notes," she said. "And, before I looked it up…I had made the last name Dreamsinger on the MUD--which fit very well."
"Serendipitous," I said.
"Jungian synchronicity," she said.
We laughed.
I wanted to know how she got from MUD to EQ…and finally to the stage of becoming a Vanguardian.
"My MUD guild was given a kind of casual why-don't-you-come-and-see-if-you-like-it invite to [EQ] beta, so I signed up," Nep explained. "We had had arguments for a couple of years as to whether a text mud could ever go graphical…it was a chance to see if it could."
So, how did Nepenthia like EQ?
"I LOVED EQ!" Nep said (all in caps). "Seriously…I had so much fun, particularly in the beta community. The enchantment lasted a couple of years. By then, however, I was so entranced by community and watching it and being part of it and volunteering, that leveling up in the game was secondary. Then I had a chance to play with my guild on FV for a while and just had a blast."
What changed the enchantment to a certain extent was too much of a behind-the-scenes look for Nepenthia.
"I think guiding and volunteering too much probably took away from the surprises and challenges," she said, "so maybe I knew the world too well to be as enchanted anymore."
I asked Nep how she landed as a Vanguard fanboy…er…gurrl.
"I dunno what to say on that," she said. "Can I say something about from the very first instant I heard that there might be a new game that would give me a very rich and immersive world, I signed on?"
I laughed and told her sure she could, then asked slyly, "It wasn't the fact that Brad and company were making it, was it?"
Nep agreed. "Oh yes, that was definitely major--crucial in fact."
And here she was, at Silky Venom. I asked her to share how and why she got here.
"I was distressed by the IGE invasion of our communities. And angry," Nepenthia explained. "When I saw that Oloh and you were going to give it a go [launch Silky Venom as a Vanguard fan site], I decided right then and there I'd ask if I could help. You have to realize that I deeply believe in the good of online communities--the benefits they bring to people and the good that they bring to the online worlds. I want to support what I believe in."
And so, once again, apparently here was another writer writing us to ask if s/he could help, at the same time I was writing them (same thing happened with Fozzik). Coincidence? or ESP? hmmmm
Nep shared what she will be doing at Silky Venom. "I'll be writing…probably mostly in character as Nep…to offer knowledge and insights into Vanguard and its community as best I can. Nep never serves out spoils but she's not above a hint or a comment for someone who is stuck or not sure where to get information."
Nepenthia was talking about her upcoming Silky Venom column, WHO ASKED THE BARD?! She had always been interested in literature and writing, but had never done any serious writing until she got involved in the MUD, which is a text-based game that draws heavily on the player's creativity and writing abilities.
"It was being in the creative milieu of the MUD, having to write an acceptable character description, and then wanting to make poems and stories that commemorated my MUD experiences that got me writing," Nep said. "And, it was my poem
Cleavage, a response to the bard [half-elf] costume in the EQ beta, that got me introduced to
EQ Express and gave me the chance to actually get published online."
She thought for a moment, then said, "It is one of the reasons I believe that the online community is wonderful…people can find niches to express themselves."
Ode to Cleavage
by Nepenthia
Monsters, monsters, every where,
Flashing teeth, flying hair.
What shall a woman use to fight?
Cleavage of course, breasts bound tight.
Attack a gnoll, watch its eyes spin.
Her decolleté has done him in.
Crush a bear, strike him down,
Not with a sword, just a low gown.
Should a grey wolf grasp at your leg,
No need to whine, no need to beg.
Simply bend down, smile on your face,
He'll see your chest, and die in place.
Be bra soft blue, or brown and laced,
A female char has the fight aced.
For bosoms, breasts, however known
Drop monsters dead with a fading moan.
Copyright © 1999, 2005 by Nepenthia
I laughed so hard I snorted coffee up my nose–very unprofessional. When I could speak, I told her that her poem reminded me of the undead female troll pirates in Hate's Fury in Everquest. After one visit, the guys had dubbed the damage done by these troll lovelies as a form of blinding, cast by their "Flying Booby" spell.
Nepenthia said at first she had been so intent on the game and doing her thing that she didn't think about the "thong thing" that half-elves had going for them.
"What was funny is that I was so naive graphically that I didn't even think about what the character looked like from behind," she said. "But I soon learned."
She wrote another poem in honor of the look that was so admired by some in half-elves:
Ballad of the Bare A**ed Bard
by Nepenthia
Hey, Come buy me an ale
and then hark to my tale
of a minstrel so sweet and sassy.
It's a hey nonny no
And a la-did-dly-doe,
She's me favorite bare a**ed lassy.
Now you might start to ask
About what came to pass,
(Aye, 'tis a tale way deep and shady)
As this bard quick and bright
Wanders in from the night
To sing a song of a bare a**ed lady.
"T'was the wizard!" she said
Who cast spells on her bed
And majicked her wardrobe so cheery.
"Now must all that she's worn
Be away come the morn,"
He intoned for a bare a**ed dearie
The bard woke astounded
Her wardrobe impounded
Yet she grinned at a spell so silly
Where a wizard incanted,
waved his arms, then chanted
To assure him a bare a**ed filly
To the wizard's surprise
The bard stood, rolled her eyes
And grabbed her lyre and its cover
She pulled down a silk drape
As she planned her escape
Sneering "You'd make me a bare a**ed lover?"
With the curtain wrapped 'round
She then stared the mage down
Singing jests of his spells so weeny.
She giggled making note
Of a silly old goat
Who would have her a bare a**ed genie.
The wiz blushed he'd done wrong
And then proposed this song
Claiming, "This tune'll make you some money.
So scribe this seduction
Of clothing reduction
And the bard made a bare a**ed honey."
Now, if the mage speaks true
Then you'll pay me what's due
As I trill this hey nonny viva.
So, let's hear your gold clink
As I finish my drink
And this tale of the bare a**ed diva.
Copyright © 1999, 2005 by Nepenthia
We ended the interview on that note of laughter. I am very much looking forward to Nepenthia's WHO ASKED THE BARD?! column. I have read the first offering and I have to say it is marvellous. I suspect WATB will be one of the shining stars of Silky Venom. It's a treat to have this lovely lady share her wit, good humor and kindness with us.
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WITH A SONG IN MY HEART: Interview with Nepenthia
