I count myself as a really lucky clanlord player, since Baba met this Knight. Playing with James has been so much fun, and Baba and Sleipnir have been married for almost 10 IC years now. Wow, they are even over the 7 year-itch! I really don´t think I would have gotten so addicted to Clanlord had it not been for this. It adds so much more to both characters, roleplayingwise, and is far more interesting to play and be a part of.

No, we don´t have sex online. It´s the question no one dare to ask. There, I answered it even before you asked. I´m such a nice person. Of course Sleipnir and Babajaga have sex, and lots of it, but neither James and I are there to watch when they do. Sleipnir and Babajaga usually sneaks behind a sofa in the library.

What James and I are I think, is a player-team. And the IC marriage is our contract so to speak. Two characters generate more stories than one, and since they are married - we get to take part in so much more. The marriage itself is also a source, like when The Black Knight kidnapped Babajaga, or Luce claimed she had a son with Sleipnir. While the stories could have happened without the marriage, the consequenses and the impact would have been less. The dramatic value if you understand what I mean.

The relationship has evolved, much in the same way a real-life marriage would - in a sense. On the other hand, it has not. This is hard to explain, but I will try. I am going to use a story from the real-world here, so if you feel uncomfortable reading about some of my past history, you should go and do something else. Now, in my youth - I was madly in love with this guy. And when I say madly, I mean madly. I would have jumped off a cliff if he had asked me to. And I was terribly jealous, so jealous that I even was jealous at him for being able to be with himself all the time. Go figure. In real life, these kind of passions wear out. Because you simply don´t have the energy to feel all that stuff all the time. And certainly not for years. It´s like a fire that burns until it runs out of oxygen . The Sleipnir - Babajaga relationship however, doesn´t run out of oxygen. Because it doesn´t have to. They are as madly in love now as they were when they married. Their relationship is in short the human dream of undying love and passion. Sometimes we play it out as a melodrama, other times it´s a comedy. And the story they are playing out can be melodramatic in nature, while we, the players, play it in some meta-universe, ie playing with genre-specifics for example, and laughing our heads off while doing so.

To really understand whats going on, you have to not only see what they two are doing, but you have to imagine the two players behind. The "playing CL in 3D" thing.

I usually roll my eyes at players adressing Sleipnir as only the "one who speaks funny". HGM called that sad once. I am not the "official speaker" for DT, so I can state what I mean. The players must be un-imaginative and stupid if that is all they see. If you get so hung up in how he speaks that you can´t see what else he is, then you are not looking good enough, or simply don´t have the eyes to see with. He is a well-rounded, highly unpredictable character. I have no idea what that knight might do, at any given time. It can be frustrating as hell sometimes, when he reacts entirely differently than what I suspected, usually causing grief to Baba of course. But, it´s challenging and funny.

We have met once, James and I . We met in Oslo autumn 2000. He had a conference in Germany, and flew over to Oslo before the thing to meet me. Since he lives literally on the other side of the globe, this was a chance we couldn´t let go. I met him at the airport in Oslo. I was sure I would recognize him when I saw him, so we didn´t agree on any "flower in the hair" or anything like that. Truth be told, all I knew was that he had red hair, and an old leather jacket. I was quite nervous before the meeting actually. I was nervous because I was afraid we wouldn´t be able to make the same contact as we have in CL. And that that in turn would effect our gaming experience.

Well, I did recognize him the moment I saw him. Don´t ask me why, as at that point I had forgotten about the leather jacket. And we had 24 lovely hours together. It was like meeting an old friend and I felt comfortable in his company. The first day we had a wonderful weather, so we went for a walk down on the docks, looking at boats, talking and laughing a lot. The next day I took him to "Akershus festning" , a true medieval fortress/castle. Very appropiate place for someone who plays a Knight in CL.

By the way, he looks a lot like the portrait Manx made of Sleipnir. Scary isn´t it;)