Remembering the man behind the character

[Kat]

Its been six years ago today that we lost our dear friend. On the 23rd of July 2007, we lost a good man, a veteran of Siege, and a dear friend. Clifton “Cliff” Allen, known to the people of Siege Perilous as Ginsu and Aeric Horn, died unexpectedly and left a huge hole in our hearts and the community.​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

I still think of him often and continue to miss his spirit and laughter. In my mind, he is still that glorious knight that once rode upon these lands defending the innocent against the forces of evil. Cliff treated people the way he wanted to be treated and that was always with kindness and respect, regardless of whether he knew you or not. He was always willing to lend a helping hand and gave an incredible amount of himself to his friends, guild mates and the entire Siege community. The bulk of his game play was spent making the game experience fun for those around him. Cliff was also one of a dying breed of true role players and had an amazingly creative mind for writing and role play.​

​

He was my first ever guild leader and he was the inspiration behind the creation of the guild [TNT], which Hattori Hanzo and I currently lead on Siege and he was the original founder of Stonehaven, the player-run town in which we reside.​

​

​

​

​

​

In honor of Cliff, his friends and guild mates created the Aeric Horn Memorial, just off the East Umbra bridge. This building is open to the public at all times and we invite you all to stop by and visit. Whether you want to pay your respects or just learn a little about a part of Siege history, the memorial is always open for you to enjoy.​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

I can't believe its been six years since you left us, Cliff. I still miss you and always will.​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

[FSP!-SL]

indeed really sad, miss him too =(

 

[QueenZen]

I think I will always miss him, he was innovative creative, and yes sometimes he could be quite.. FIESTY.
I loved that about him, that feisty determined soul in him, & when sometimes either a player run town he had hoped to create and grow, maybe failed, he would only be deterred for a brief time and then, he would look out onto that Siege landscape, quick another fire to start another town to build another guild to get going. He was a leader on Siege for sure, one among the many leaders, whom we have had here.
I knew he was a *knight* of KSS at one time, he created later that player run town, Heartkin and KIN guild by Minoc, about when I first came here, 2004 and he held all sorts of events.
I was newbie here, met so many Siegers at the events held, that, I thought [ooo I might stay here on Siege], met Castor, Skylark, some fella named kelmo and some I^A ers,
and I met this fancy speaker speechifying knighthoodness, named Py Lethius, and the lo and behold a buncha VMP came a calling at the events Aeric was hosting and I got slain by some chap named WyRm and later on a Krystal.

I was in DTA cuz Lady Pyrite was a fine leader type, to me too and my first guild after NEW, then I was in KSS and then MYTH.
I was hooked though on Siege and all it's wonderful people [at that KIN town events], & I opted to remain on Siege and even went into NEWguild right after that buncha events Aeric held. I met Shalimar and Freja whom was colorfully red at that time. I stayed for 8+ darn years..till I left UO last year.
But ya gotta admit, even when Aeric created Stonehaven [and later on when I was Guardian of MYTH gm after Aeric's passing,] it was so
weird being in *alliance meetings* with you...and you telling me quit hiding lol at the meetings cuz Krystal and I were allies at that time...and I kept sayin...this too weird she is supposed to kill me, let's unallie the alliance Cliff made cuz Krystal is supposed to KILL me not be my allie.

There were times Aeric would mention to me he felt the Heartkin and even later MYTH town were failures that he felt badly about, and I always told him jokingly, nooooo not failures at all, YOU hosted scavenger hunts etc. with that player run town across the water from Minoc, when a lot of us were fed up with reg. shards we had played upon pre trammel even pre Siege Perilous shard like myself and we came over, we attended HeartKin events, and we got to meet so many Siegers old and new alike and we got to attend those events, even get massively pk'd by them darm vampires whom came a calling and ya know, if the newbies of SP 2004 were not Siege material; they would've left Siege for good then and there ...um me and lots of others [STAYED here], we liked what we saw and experienced from everyone whom we met on Siege at the events 'you held' Cliff, back then,
I call that a major undertaking and a PLUS, on Siege, not a failure.



But behind it all was *Cliff* and the once proudest busiest vendor home on Siege, we even won a prize for #1 vendor home at that time, was that huge home in Umbra he put up with vendors all over the place, mine included, and his constant order...RESTOCK RESTOCK RESTOCK...cuz empty vendors suck.

He was good at lots of things, he tried even sometimes failed \ to achieve on Siege, and he kept on trying. He will always be missed. *And I miss that feisty soul* on our Siege in our UO world, probably always will miss him.

 

[QueenZen]

LOL You did NOT expect 'ME' to be 'brief' now did ya ?

 

[Kat]

LOL You did NOT expect 'ME' to be 'brief' now did ya ?

Oh my, never, QZ. NEVER, EVER do I expect you to be brief, but I love that about ya! You have always had the gift of gab and you just wouldn't be the QZ we all know and love without it.

Somehow, I knew you'd pop in today. Good to see you, my other Momma!

 

[Skunk]

This Cliff sounds like a great man and an even better friend. I wish I would have been part of Siege during his time, sounds like someone we all should know.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

 

[QueenZen]

Oh my, never, QZ. NEVER, EVER do I expect you to be brief, but I love that about ya! You have always had the gift of gab and you just wouldn't be the QZ we all know and love without it.

Somehow, I knew you'd pop in today. Good to see you, my other Momma!

Yeh seen your post had to comment...'briefly' as I could. lol

One of the last things I did [officially] right before I had to leave UO, was that I had always seen the once or twice a year times his rl son logged onto Siege as his dad's Ginsu character, and figured if ever his son whom played UO for yrs. on some other shard ever came to Siege like his dad did, I, as last remaining GM of MYTH, made his dad's Ginsu chr. 'emissary'
so he could if he wanted to appoint his dad's last remaining semi [2x a yr. active], Ginsu chr. as the next GM of Guardians of MYTH to take control of the last guild his dad had created.

Now as your OTHER momma, msg.me about your goober and how she has grown. lol

 

[QueenZen]

This Cliff sounds like a great man and an even better friend. I wish I would have been part of Siege during his time, sounds like someone we all should know.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

He was, even in the vendor homes he ran he sorta followed the same game plan KSS had, if you put in resources to our boxes and chests of stuffs, you can also use take out whatever u need to make stuff to sell on the vendors we all had, it was a great system none of us ever was without anything we all shared in our own characters ways and means to do so, and he made sure every template felt useful within our guild or vendor homes, or upon Siege. So if your character could not kill anything past a mongbat, he let ya still have access to stuff others whom did spawns and could fight monsters, and stuff maybe we could do ie chop trees for lumber, kill a simple cow for hides, he made sure those without crafter templates got what they needed too.

 

[Gerbiler]

He was, even in the vendor homes he ran he sorta followed the same game plan KSS had, if you put in resources to our boxes and chests of stuffs, you can also use take out whatever u need to make stuff to sell on the vendors we all had, it was a great system none of us ever was without anything we all shared in our own characters ways and means to do so, and he made sure every template felt useful within our guild or vendor homes, or upon Siege. So if your character could not kill anything past a mongbat, he let ya still have access to stuff others whom did spawns and could fight monsters, and stuff maybe we could do ie chop trees for lumber, kill a simple cow for hides, he made sure those without crafter templates got what they needed too.

Did the book we looted off of a dead TnT that was made by Aeric Horn, then later returned to you guys, make it to the museum? Thought the book would have an interesting story behind it.

 

[Rizarium]

This Cliff sounds like a great man and an even better friend. I wish I would have been part of Siege during his time, sounds like someone we all should know.

I actually met Aeric on his very fist day on siege. He is missed.

 

[Sean]

He was an absolutely fantastic person. Can't believe it's been 6 years. It's because of folks like him that I enjoy the online gaming community.
Hopefully he's enjoying a much better game now.

 

[QueenZen]

Did the book we looted off of a dead TnT that was made by Aeric Horn, then later returned to you guys, make it to the museum? Thought the book would have an interesting story behind it.

If I remember correctly, there was a book that he *Cliff* had written that was donated to the Memorial, off a looted dead TnT which was placed into the Memorial for all to read.

That too is one of the many talents, the rl person, Cliff, had behind all his characters his story writings
and tales of his characters, player run towns, guilds etc. often which, he posted here on Siege forum and compiled onto his guild pages, websights with some of those many story lines written into those purple books we could buy off npcs.
Quite a few of those many player written stories were lost, when one of his websights crashed perma like,
but some many few remained on in game written books.

Quite a few of the remaining ones left, were locked down for all to read, when the memorial was open/reopened when my Miranda chr. held the Memorial.

 

[QueenZen]

He was an absolutely fantastic person. Can't believe it's been 6 years. It's because of folks like him that I enjoy the online gaming community.
Hopefully he's enjoying a much better game now.

*waves to Sean*
ya know if EVER I return to UO, my QZ, on chessie, I will yet try to beat u in those shard wide held archery competitions, held where 10 times out of 10 you beat me and nearly everyone else , with my good ol' original 1998 pre tram in UO, Chesapeake QZ chr., coming in the top 4 or so, shard wide, and that was it. sooo if ever I return to UO and visit good ol PAXLAIR alliance I was in, and it's many fel and beyond, shard wide archery competions, Ima gonna be there to once more [try to pwn joo] in archery competitions. lol

 

[Leaf]

I was a brand new player when I met him and I was constantly getting PK'd. I was shopping for wares when he pooped out and I said "please don't kill me. I'm just doing a little shopping." he smiled and brought out his crafter and made me everything I needed at no cost and threw in a few extras. That was my first memory of Aeric Horn and I was blessed to have many more over the years...

 

[QueenZen]

This screenshot, I always kept on my computers' hard drives, that is my Miranda, being welcomed, from the snows of Wintermoor and KSS, into Guardians of MYTH guild in ceremony that Aeric held for us all as we entered his guild.

 

[SpyderBite]

That long eh? Time flies. Good travels, Aeric.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

 

[QueenZen]

Guardians of MYTH ceremonies were held with lit torches. Aeric always used the tale of how FIRE, can warm us & light the way or burn us, or cook us a fine meal, and with many things, there were pluses and minuses depending on how we used those gifts of the gods or of the elements, and guildmates and friendships/human trusts, should be held as preciously, for good etc.
On his once active websight, back when we still had Nuriko on this shard, he had a photo of Blind Guardian's albumn/cd as the headliner of that websight.
He always welcomed us into Guardians of MYTH with the warm glow of fire into the guild, from out of the darkness, as we all run thru the shadows & blazing fires of Siege.

Thought I would look up that picture again, that Cliff had on that original MYTH guild websight he hosted, and post it here with the song, "Twist of the MYTH", that went with it.

 

[startle]

When I see these fond memories and all the friends involved, it makes me even happier that I've started a char on Siege...

 

[Kat]

Welcome to Siege, Startle. We're happy to have you here! As dysfunctional as we tend to be, we are a very close knit community. I started out on Atlantic, then moved to Lake Austin and ultimately to Siege in early 2005. I was not fond of Siege when I first got here, but my friends had migrated here and I enjoyed their company, so I stuck it out. Within just a few short days, the people here showed me what it meant to be a part of this community [long story! RIP, Folger!] and I knew I was home.

Sure, we have our warts and the dev team can rarely be bothered with our problems, but love it or hate it, there is no other place like it and there is certainly no good substitute out there for Siege Perilous. And believe me, I have looked!!! This is home.

 

[QueenZen]

I remember Folger also, we lost two good folk to rl passing away on Siege.
I had helped tinker up golems with Folger and um that guy named kelmo, for folks attending, the huge shard wide held big golum fights, in Iantown. My golum/golem, passed away to some other hunkier heavy metal'd golem, what a wuss it was. lol

 

[Py Lethius]

One day on these forums, this fellow going by the name of Aeric Horn, posted the proclamation and rules of his guild. I spoke with him, and I found that while I very much admired his original guild concept, his guild principles might put him in conflict with the sense of Justice we upheld in KSS. He asked to meet in the world, and so we did. We spoke for hours. I found quite liked him. He had an inventive mind, a keen sense of honor, a sense of humor I enjoyed. He had all the fine qualities I look for in my friends.

I received a message from Aeric indicating that rather than going forward with his plans, he wished to join my guild, KSS.

Aeric was heart and soul of the guild. We argued. A lot! He was always honest with me, he told me when I was going wrong. Much of what Wintermoor and KSS came to be was born of our conversations, often heated. He was a true friend.

As much as I loved being his guild-mate, there came a time when he wanted to return to his own vision. He started KIN. A village of peaceful crafters, linked to KSS by communication crystals. He built a guild in part to give our guild meaning. He gave us something to protect. This is the kind of person he was. He loved to create something for other people to enjoy.

From there, Aeric grew into a great leader. He was wise, kind, loyal, courageous, inventive, and dedicated.

It's not often in our lives that we find a friend whose voice sounds louder than that of your own conscience, someone whose very presence forces ideas to come forth from your mind. Meeting Aeric changed me.

When I left Ultima, Aeric wrote a little song in my honor. Although it sings my praises, too kindly, it shows more the quality of Aeric. It shows the kind of things that mattered to him. He was a man of great spirit and humility. When I read this, I think of my old friend.

I miss him.

A Toast to The White by Aeric Horn

Tell me friends... do ye recall
when The White would send the battle call
and stalwart fighters all would rally 'round?

Stout steeds gave forth their winter breath
The White, he'd say "do not fear death"
and we'd all fall in behind without a sound

To the battle we at last would come
To aid friends, and see justice done
The White led ever onward, win or lose

At battle's end we'd raise an ale..
dance a jig, and tell a tale
so many sleeping hours did we lose.

And now again the fiends we fight
But now we go without The White
Yet the spirit of he and others still lives on

As I raise this ale with friends tonight
And make this toast unto The White
We remember all good friends who now are gone

~Py Lethius, retired knight

 

[Luka Melehan]

My first guild in Siege was MYTH. That's where I met QZ and Leaf. That's where I met my first anti-PK red, though I cannot remember his name. And Aeric was instrumental in my integration into Siege. Many people made Siege what it was back then, and I am hopeful we are finally on the road of seeing good times like those again. I remember Aeric Horn fondly and miss him.