Transcendence - A history

[Blobsndrees]

After seeing a site that talked about the history of the manga world, I thought maybe it would be interesting to make a post on the history of the transcendence group.
I mean, I've personally been living under a rock so I have absolutely no idea why the site is this way, and maybe newcomers would like to know about the history of the site too.

Setting my curiosity aside though, I think it would be wrong to forget about what transcendence has been through, I don't want this group to end just like other scanslation groups where the only thing people know about them is that they once scanslated some manga. I want to at least leave some record somewhere of the fun times we had as a group, the challenging times we've been through and even the sad days where we had to say goodbye to our staff.

So please post what you know about the history of transcendence. (dramatisation is allowed, making up stuff you don't really remember is fine too, because we only need the main points to be... accurate xDD)

For example, something like this:

The Black Bird war with Aeida scanslations from March 2012 to April 2012:

"War. A summons came in the form of a PM from Candyness telling me to TS a chapter in a day." - Blob.

It was a time of chaos and strife, where two groups, Transcendence and Aeida scans fought over the right to scan the popular manga Black bird. It all started when a traitor, former member of the Transcendence community quit because of a misunderstanding and formed a new scanslation group called Aeida scans (no longer active, cuz we won, but I'll talk about that more).

Although project poaching is common in the world of shounen manga, where 10-20 groups vie for the control of popular mangas like naruto and one piece, in the world of shoujo manga, such occurances are rare. Their official reason for initiating project poaching was because of our slow release schedule, which was because we were preparing for a mass release. However we are clear on the true reason for this disgraceful behaviour. It was a grudge, a deep grudge against our staff for an argument in... the lounge of all places...

When Aeida scans started releasing chapters of Black bird, our staff responded by negotiations, of which they claimed they did not know the manga was already being scanned, of which they made a false promise to stop scanning black bird. However the day after, they released new chapters and used provocative lines on their web page indicating they were not, as they said mistaken, they were clearly poaching for our Black bird project.

Aeida scans were ruthless and underhanded, their scans came at a menacing pace of 1 per week, even orchestrating a mass release of chapters. Our staff were hit unprepared, we feared for the worst as fans switched from our group to theirs. Fans who did not care for the quality of their work. Their chapters were poorly cleaned, the fonts dull, grammatical errors everywhere, but fans still switched over to their site because of the simple fact - they had released the chapters, we had not. All seemed to be lost, Xye was crying, Charmy threw keyboards out of windows.

But Transcendence was not going to give up the project, the project that started with our scanslation group! Editors worked day and night on chapters, translators were whipped by proofreaders and zephy the ruthless quality checker broke protocols and took on changing the QC herself to leave the editors with more time on the next chapter. Day and night the group worked, over 14 staff were reassigned to the project, we released 43 to 46 in a week, we steamrollered through the chapters, in a month, we had released 10 chapters including extras of blackbird, 10 chapters high quality scans.

Meanwhile in Aeida scanslations, things were not going well, manga sites such as mangafox and mangareader were replacing the original chapters that they uploaded with chapters supplied by transcendence. They made sarcastic remarks such as "as expected, we got them to release faster" but behind the facade, they did not think we would work on the project as we did, they thought we would give up and hand the project over to them like good little kids, well they were sadly mistaken. We took on their bluff of a mass release and responded with our own, with quality and speed. We saw through it all, a tiny group so recently formed, no matter how low the quality was, could not match our speed in scanning black bird, they did not have a mass release, they ended up falling behind and by chapter 49, they had all but given up.

And so the war was won. Where the staff gave up revision in easter for scanslations, all to protect the pride of transcendence and Black bird. We won and our group has continued to this day as a strong scanslation group, ever growing. They lost and their group soon disintegrated in weeks. Long live Transcendence!

Here's a document of the history in chronological order, give me more to put in =D

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?5e2ckb8e2aixrx5

Important note!! One of the chapters in it called the Fall of Transcendence is made of 10% real information and 90% My imagination, so if you know Xye or Lily, this isn't the true story >.< I don't recommend asking for the true account however because this was a traumatic time for both of them so please do not bother them about this event.

[Aurelia]

Setting my curiosity aside though, I think it would be wrong to forget about what transcendence has been through, I don't want this group to end just like other scanslation groups where the only thing people know about them is that they once scanslated some manga. I want to at least leave some record somewhere of the fun times we had as a group, the challenging times we've been through and even the sad days where we had to say goodbye to our staff.

First and foremost, I think that this is an amazing idea. It's a great way to get the staffies to stick together and remember all the reasons why we love this group. I personally, love this group to pieces. It's like a second family to me, I've never seen anything like it.  So please everyone, contribute what you can!

Uniblob, do you think instead of putting them all in one post we could make a document and put them all there? I have no idea what the limit for this posting thing is... (And obviously, lets put them in chronological order~! <3)

[Blobsndrees]

the ri-
the what?!!!

[Aurelia]

The Riceball Invasion: March 5-6th, 2012 As told by Aurelia

The IRC hasn't always been as empty as it is now! *que the tumbleweed* A long time ago, staffies chatted over there instead of the cbox! I know, what a shocker! It began when a staffie couldn't use the chatbox as it was blocked in her country. This attracted other staff like myself, Zephy, Xye, charmy, Iteza, Lily, Kuri, Nonii, and many more to the IRC. Some of you probably don't even know what the IRC is, or have ever used it before! Hence, our story begins...

It all started one lonely day when I was left alone in the IRC. During this time I was still an editor in training, Xye and Iteza were the admins, Kuri was a translator and Zephy was a global mod. Everyone else had just left, and I was preparing to leave the IRC myself. But then, a person I had never seen before entered the Transcendy channel: tiRAWRmisu! We began to chat, and I found out tiRA was the head of another group called Riceballicious. While chatting, I ended up applying to Riceball, but that's another story.

Anywho, tiRA started stopping by more often to the IRC party, and met many more Transcendy staffies. At this point, no one knew what gender tiRA was and assumed he was a girl (which he isn't). It was a mystery. Meanwhile, word got out over at the Riceball IRC channel that tiRA was hanging out at the used-to-be-empty Transcendy channel. The rumour was, tiRA had a fanclub/harem (us being a shoujo group and all).

And so, on the fateful morning of March 6th in the year 2012, Harrstein (who later became staff!) arrived at the channel. He was (I presume) curious about the tiRA fanclub. Arriving and realizing that everyone at Transcendence thought tiRA was a girl, he thought it would be fun to bring in more people. So...

...he began to invite loads and loads and LOADS of people from the Riceball channel into the Transcendence channel.

Now to understand this, you have to realize that there is always ALWAYS 20+ people in the Riceball channel. Heck, last time I saw it there was over 50. Maybe even more. And compared to our meager Transcendy channel with on average of five staffies online... That is more than just a bucket load. Soon enough, there was a TON of people going crazy over there... Spamming, spamming away... The only day the channel was ever crazy full. And then there was me, quiet little editor in training, not knowing what on earth to do.

Thankfully, Kuri (who is channel operator --> admin of the channel) swept in and kicked the ton of people out, set a password onto the channel, and we waited quietly for the riceball people to leave...

Later on, due to request, the Transcendence staff channel was born! The tale was retold to all the people who missed all the fun, and everyone discovered tiRA was male. XD

(Moral of the story: Join the IRC, or you miss all the fun! >:3)

[Vauxhall]

Haha, this is proving to be a great read thus far. xD

[Angel~]

We need more though...

[Blobsndrees]

yeah, only problem is I've pretty much lived under a rock for 2-3 years so it's really up to you guys to post some stories up :3 ofc, I'll be interrogating people too but that's not going too well right now since most people are in exam mode, and are inactive.

[Angel~]

yes, no not much dirt will be dug up...

[Blobsndrees]

nah, not digging dirt right now, that one's hopeless. Right now I'm revisiting staff announcements and the project forums to find out more about the first black bird war.

[Angel~]

Interesting, I know nothing about it, but I think it will be interesting n_n

[Blobsndrees]

ofc, I'm the writer afterall. It's bound to be interesting. Right?

[Angel~]

 

[Blobsndrees]

The Black Bird war with Dragon&Fly Scans from September 2011 to November 2011:

"Two Years of Black Bird and Seven Volumes Later...
We've scanlated seven volumes of Black Bird over these past two years, and we'd like to thank you for supporting us so far and ask you to please continue to support our high quality releases! Dragon&Fly Scans has been attempting to poach this project lately by releasing low quality releases in rapid succession. In response to this, we've been trying to catch up on releases, but we can't do it without your help! Please lend us your support, and help us make a stand against Dragon&Fly Scans by coming to ourtranscendence.com and reading our releases of Black Bird. Each time you refrain from reading the Vampire Knight or Dengeki Daisy chapters that Dragon&Fly Scans releases, you are making a difference.
Lots of Love, the Transcendence Staff xoxo"

The first war that Transcendence engaged upon was against Dragon&Fly scans for the ever so popular shoujo manga Black Bird. At that time, the world of shoujo manga remained untouched, untarnished by the horrid acts of poaching. But all of that was about to change. A plot, a conspiracy from the "company" was at hand. The company was known as mangafox.

For years this site hosted scanned manga. Sometimes it went with the whims of the publishers, removing all licensed scanslated manga. At other times it operated upon its own profits, keeping licensed manga to attract hoards of people to read the "free" manga. The traffic would generate a trickle of money from advertisement companies just like how electricity is generated from a windmill. This war that led to countless casualties on both sides? Just another conspiracy by the company to make more money.

It all started when Mangafox noticed that although shounen manga progressed quickly, sometimes the less popular genres such as shoujo manga were not updated as quickly. Even if the manga had available raws, the English version was not put up translated fast enough. So they hatched a plan. Based on the Catfish-sardine business model (reference at end of document), they would finance and make a low quality scanslation group which would release low quality chapters quickly on manga that had raws but no scans, which would stimulate the original scanslation groups to release high quality chapters quickly so as not to drop the project.
As predicted by mangafox, our group quickly rose up to the challenge; staffs were switched from their permanent projects onto blackbird for a quick chapter release boost. Soon enough, Transcendence pulled ahead of D&F scans in terms of blackbird chapters. Eventually on November same year, just after 2 months of fighting, D&F scans surrendered and dropped their claim on Black bird. But is this the end of the story? I'm afraid not.
Xye, the former administrator and master of Transcendence who headed the war on blackbird was satisfied with releasing slightly lowered quality of releases, while Lily, the project manager of black bird at that time was not. She realised and saw through the plot of mangafox and was not satisfied that Xye had ignored her. This amongst other things was the first signs of a rift between the two of the core members of Transcendence that later on resulted in a terrifying tragedy. But that is a story for another day.

"Yeah, I know what Chibi asked, darling. I don't know what it is, but can you not understand my English? Since everytime I type something, you seem to get it horribly horribly wrong. You also tend to entirely ignore parts of my PMs and posts...Are you trying to send me a message here or something? " – The first spark between Lily and Xye.

[Vauxhall]

*growls* I want more info! xD

[Blobsndrees]

The arrival of the tumbleweed! May 2013:

"Eh~ project manager? What a troublesome position, I better stay out of this" – the man who lived under a rock for 2 years, tumbleweed.

After the great fall of Transcendence, a period of silence lingered over the forum for half a year, with posts decreasing by the month. Several posts were still made in the forum prediction game but there was no activity on the public forum other than that. The forum stagnated. The only posts were in the project sections where the staff posted their work, sometimes giving each other a friendly jab, in that corner of the forums, things were lively.

That was until the arrival of Easter, and with the arrival of Easter, the Transcendence plunged to its lowest depths yet. Project managers disappeared, staff went missing in action. One member of staff, who had never interacted with the outside forum because he was satisfied with just communicating with the people he worked with, noticed this. His revered teacher Candyness whom he had always respected suddenly disappeared, along with his quality checker Zephyness. It was then that this young man opened his eyes to the world and for the first time, he posted in... the chat box.

At first he just replied to random posts, the chatbox was more like a messaging box, where replies were late, it did not serve its original purpose as a live messanger, instead, it was like mail. Although he liked the random anon naming system, he suddenly had an inspiration to become the tumbleweed after a certain member of the forum posted "tumbleweeds roll by". And when that happened, a miracle occurred, he got a response! A live response, not a message, a real time response by Krissy and Lia. So he revealed his true form. His name? Blobsndrees, the king of blobs.

After talking with his new found chatbox friends for a day, he found out the truth of what happened to Transcendance. The group he once joined was lively, it was always filled with laughter and posts, new members joined every day, the forum was the place that made him decide to apply to Transcendance. However it was now just a shadow of the past. He looked out towards the non-staff posts and was devastated to see forums completely greyed out and dead. The last posts were from several months ago.

It was this sight that pained him, he was filled with regret, why had he not taken notice of the fall of Transcendance! Just what was he doing when the group went through all the tough times! The young man resolved himself and swore to his soul, that he would revive the community if this was the last thing he would do, no matter how long, or how difficult it was, he would not give up, until Transcendence returned to its former glory.

[Vauxhall]

I thought you were going to call this The Arrival of a King. xD

[Angel~]

I thought you were going to call this The Arrival of a King. xD

^yes

[Blobsndrees]

Hahaha but I did arrive as a tumbleweed first and that was really significant for me, that's why I still use tumbleweed from time to time nowadays

[Angel~]

I changed my name at some point, it is much more elegant now n_n

[Vauxhall]

@Blob
Huh, true. I remember that day. o-o I think it was the defibrillator to the cbox, lol.

@Angel
Yep, I do recall you being called L-Angel before. I just didn't know what the L stood for...
But I also didn't know you could change your name. O_O

[Angel~]

@Vallypoo
The L stands for multiple things, bit it sounded a bit off...
If you go to setting and then forum or ultimate profile you can

[Blobsndrees]

L => Lawliet, the L in death note
L => Light, kira

[Vauxhall]

@Angel
Ahhh, I see. Thanks for the info.

@Blob
Death Note. *brofist*

[Angel~]

L => Lawliet, the L in death note
L => Light, kira

Those are some of them, yes.

Death Note 

[Blobsndrees]

I remember discussing this with you, I wasn't living under a rock for 2 years, I was living under a rock for 1 year and 364 days.

[Angel~]

Well, there are the secret meaning 

[Blobsndrees]

The accidental war, a lost cause before it even began August 2011- September 2011:

The topic today is a war that Transcendence entered unintentionally. It is about a project called Ojousama wa Oyomesama. The circumstances around this entry are shrouded in clouds of mystery as this event occurred long ago and physical data entries... had long been destroyed along with the forum section for the dropped project, as that is the ultimate fate of all projects that are completed or dropped.

It began when the former Shoujo manga giant Starry Heaven fell to ruin. Their staff scattered to the wind and their projects vulnerable for the taking. The administrator at that time – Xye negotiated with the remnants of this fallen organisation for the adoption of this project – Ojousama wa Oyomesama. Unfortunately not all groups knew of etiquette in the scanslation world. There are groups formed by rogue individuals who although, we admit that they respect mangas and their readers, seem not to understand that there are certain unspoken rules in the community. This group that crossed path with Transcendence, was called Simple Scans.

And simple they were. The newly formed group were splinter groups where an experienced staff member of another scanslation group split off to form their own group to focus on their own project. This group was made of a bunch of people who came unto the world, sharpening their skills with the help of guides and tutorials, thus it is understandable that they knew not of the rules of this world regarding the ownership of projects. When they heard Starry Heavens were disbanding, they quickly selected one of the popular projects on their site without consulting the original scanslators and moved ahead to scanslate the manga.

August 15th of 2011. Surprise was the only things shown on the faces of those who were about to release Oyomesama wa Ojousama chapter 11 in 3 days' time. For what they saw was the chapter already there, scanned by a group they previously had no contact with. And so the war began. Lily, a ferocious and aggressive member of the Transcendence staff immediately began issuing emergency commands. Gathering staff members from all across the world to focus on one project, the aim? To win back their rightful ownership of the project.

At first the war was not going well, simple scans, though had less staff and was a newer group, they prioritised on speed, getting translations done, not too much focusing on the quality of their translations or the cleaning of their pages. This meant that Transcendence was always behind 2 days on the release of their chapter. However Xye and Lily came up with a cunning plan. Ahead of them was chapter 12.5 and an omake, they decided to forsake the scanslation of said chapter in order to focus on chapter 13. The gamble paid off. Simple scans took the bait and decided to work on 12.5, as a result they lost 4 days causing the next release, to be a transcendence victory. Not only that, the quality of the scans show through to those who moderate the manga community, and soon, Transcendence chapters replaced those of simple scans.

Euphoria did not last for long, as simple scans did not give up. They partnered with another scanslation group called HaruHime, borrowing their expertise, staff and raws, enhancing their war potential by tenfold, meanwhile staff from Transcendence no longer had summer vacation, school term had started. The combined effects resulted in a 7 day loss, where their coalition released their chapter in 2 days, the Transcendence staff lost by 20 days. A major defeat, so crippling it was towards the morale of the staff that a vote was called.

The vote later became known as the Renunciation. Because of recent war efforts by simple scans and their highly improved quality of scans rivalling those of Transcendence due to the entry of the experienced group known as Haruhime, there was little hope left for a Transcendence victory. In addition to that, the Haruhime group had scans for over 10 chapters while Transcendence did not have a permanent Raw finder for the group. So a decision was put to the vote: Will Transcendence fight to the last and reallocate even more resources to this war, or was it time to surrender, and redistribute the focussed staff members back to their original tasks. The outcome – was surrender. In an overwhelming majority of 271 to 36, the decision was made, the project would be dropped. Much to the dismay of Lily, perhaps this was a prelude to the events in the future, perhaps, the seeds of catastrophe, were already planted deep within the group.

[Vauxhall]

dat last sentence.

[Angel~]

dramatisation to the max

[Blobsndrees]

The leecher brigade May 2011:

In all Scanslation groups, people use IRC channels. These channels not only act as a download tool, where you can download the latest uploaded chapter by pressing a command, but they also act as a messenger like msn messenger crossed over with a forum because there are also moderators. Well this chatbox is usually used to have meaningless and fun conversations, or it could be used by eager well-wishing fans to congratulate our tired staff and give them a healing gleam of light and enable us to continue our gruelling work of scanning manga.

"Iam sure i'm not the only person who checks this site every day to see if there are any new releases and every time I refresh "UPDATE" page I wish to the god "Oh pretty please let it be my chapter today!" >.<"

A heart-warming comment indeed, that would make anyone who read this melt inside. However there is also another use for the chatbox, which is not beneficial to our cause or for anyone in particular. It turns the chatbox into a double edged sword. The infamous leecher brigade. There has always existed leechers in the world of manga, they beg mostly in forums on manga hosting sites, but sometimes the more fervent of those block heads search baka updates to find the group scanslating their favourite manga and come on the IRC to beg.

I, having never been a leecher myself cannot explain the mentality of things but my theory is that when those blockheads see the group saying "give us support or give us comments saying how much you like the manga", these blockheads automatically transform that sentence into – "come come post a comment saying when is it going to be out next, and we will post the next chapter for you." Unfortunately this is incorrect, as the only thing that can be gained by this type of action is a very angry staffer.

The major event therefore, was a gathering and accumulation of leechers in the IRC channel. As exams were closing up again upon the staff of the Transcendence community, we ended up not being able to moderate the channel so much causing an accumulation of beggers who would normally have had their IP banned. This in turn resulted in Lily losing her temper with the beggars and rightfully so.

An example of one of the worst beggars out there would be misa-chan, she asked for volume 9-10 of blackbird when volume 8 had not yet come out, to which Lily calmly replied "I don't know sweetie, maybe after we release volume 8." Then 3 seconds later the same question was asked again, this time Lily was not so patient, she was angry and threw in several subtle insults at Misa. Unfortunately this did not get through, she asked again for the third time, this time even misspelling the title of the manga causing Lily to finally snap and post a rant page about the Transcendence's hatred of leechers. For the interest of those reading this entry, here is Lily's rant page - http://forum.ourtranscendence.com/index.php?topic=2135.0

[Blobsndrees]

Omake - Lia's fireworks fun! May 2013: Blob's personal account

One day I made stupid mistake. I let slip the phrase "even I wouldn't be so stupid as to light fireworks in my own livingroom." Who would have known such an innocent phrase would bring about the destruction of my house.

My wife's eyes changed the moment this phrase came out, a sparkle, of a lightbulb appeared, and out of nowhere, so did a box of matches. Realising my mistake immediately, I dived at the fireworks rocket that I had no idea why it was in the room but I was too slow, Lia snatched the rocket just before I bellyflopped onto it and set it alight, chucking it halfway across the room! Panic beset our family of 4, Jess screamed, Pau pau summoned a rock and hid behind it while Lia laughed and started a count down! "3, 2, 1!"

Just before the fuse hit the rocket, I dragged Jess and Lia behind the rock and covered them all while the fireworks exploded and blew up the living room. Thankfully, there was another one next door so we all moved there and continued our conversation

[Pau]

the fireworks were pretty anyways 

[Blobsndrees]

The Exodus Year 2010:

In the fateful year of 2010, Trascendence suffered a terrible disaster feared above all in the world of scanslations. The disaster known as real life. It had been 1 year since the group's formation and first release of Divine Melody. Forums were starting to become lively, fans were increasing. Staff was of course increasing too, however not all staff were young and free to scanslate manga. Some of Transcendence's staff were experienced battle hardened people who had been in the industry for years before they joined our group, and so it was natural to bid goodbye to these people. It was expected that staff would retire, yes things will never go on forever and I too will one day retire from Transcendence. That itself is fate.

The peculiar part of this year however, was that over half of the staff at that time retired during this year, many have not realised the effects of this because at that time, Transcendence was a rapidly growing community where staff joined on a weekly basis for training, therefore no manpower was lost, the power of Transcendence grew. Therefore the loss of these staff was overlooked by many including me until my daughter uncovered the phenomenon during a compilation of the Transcendence family tree.

Historians have conjured up many theories for this but there have been three main theories, the first one is simple, staff retire. It was just by chance that in this year of 2010, half the staff had busy lives and ended up having to give up their position within Transcendence in favour of their real life. The second theory however states that the staff members were too engrossed in the winter Olympic Games that they had to give up scanslation in order to make time for watching these games. The last theory is the Ipad theory. The historians who support this theory believe that because of the release of the Ipad and its unprecedented ability to play mini games, staffers were addicted to these tools of mass procrastination, robbing them of their time to scanslate their beloved manga resulting in retirement.

Whatever the true cause was, we shall never know. For I write this entry in the year 2013 where the people who may have known about this event... no longer exist.

[Aurelia]

Double Omake - I blame the Confetti... May 2013: As told by Aurelia

It all started with *confetti* vs. *party poppers*. Blob couldn't understand why Confetti was so popular while party poppers could go "POP". The debate was on. Soon, I suggested the idea of *fireworks*, to which uniblob said , "Even I wouldn't use those indoors."

...Mistake.

I whipped out a box a matches, and ran to light the firework casually lying down nearby on the floor. How did it get there? No one will know. Blob instantly realized what my plan was. He broke into a sprint, trying to jump onto the lone firework in an attempt to stop what I was doing. But alas, I was too fast and snatched it away. I lit the firework, maniacally grinning. The countdown had begun.  3... 2... 1...

Blob grabbed the little lurking princesses by the arms and ran for cover behind a rock. He yanked me behind it as well right before the blast and KABOOM.

The livingroom was gone. XD

[Aurelia]

Valcherion's Visit - End of February 2012: As told by Aurelia
I thought I'd share another story from when the IRC had people in it! It's not too exciting though. This took place when it was just revived, and I was a wee editor in training. Zephy and I were lurking in the IRC channel when this happened. A certain Valcherion visited from far far away...

[20:44] <Valcherion> ...
[20:44] <Valcherion> <.<
[20:44] <Valcherion> >.>
[20:48] <Zephy> *sigh~*
[20:48] <Aurelia> ahaha zephy.
[20:49] <Aurelia> dead once again XD
[20:49]  * Zephy pokes aurelia in the ribs
[20:49] <Zephy> "dead" indeed... <_<
[20:50] <Aurelia> XD
[20:50] <Aurelia> or fried?
[20:52]  * Zephy jabs aurelia
[20:53] <Aurelia> T.T so much violence..
[20:53] <Valcherion> So this is what happens when the chatter dies down...
[20:53] <Valcherion> ...Yuri violence.
[20:53]  * Valcherion sets up the cameras.
[20:54] <Aurelia> T.T
[20:54]  * Aurelia headdesks
[20:55]  * Zephy starts walking toward valcherion with a thorny branch
[20:55] <Zephy> ^__^
[20:55]  * Aurelia munches on more popcorn
[20:55] <Valcherion> Oh goodie.
[20:55] <Valcherion> Bondage.
[20:55] <Valcherion> :3
[20:55]  * Zephy whacks the pervert over the head
[20:55]  * Aurelia throws popcorn to try and help Zephy
[20:55]  * Valcherion moans.
[20:55] <Valcherion> Harder!
[20:56]  * Zephy opens rabbit hole and seals him in
[20:56] <Zephy> *dusts off hands*
[20:56]  * Aurelia headdesks again
[20:56] <Zephy> I love that 4th dimensional hideyhole...
[20:56] <Aurelia> XD
[20:57] <Zephy> I don't use it nearly enough
[20:57] <Aurelia> LOL XD well then, today was a good day for you :)
[20:57] <Aurelia> ...maybe he'll meet Alice and the Cheshire cat :3
[20:57] <Valcherion> o-o
[20:57] <Zephy> actually as far as I know it's just a room...
[20:57] <Zephy> with nothing in it
[20:58] <Zephy> and no door unless I make one  ^___^
[20:58] <Valcherion> o-o...
[20:58] <Aurelia> T.T the term "rabbit hole" now seems very misleading
[20:58] <Aurelia> ahaha
[20:58] <Aurelia> Oh well!
[20:58] <Zephy> old term I dragged up from an old episode of Bugs Bunny
[20:58] <Aurelia> XD
[20:59] <Zephy> hmm... I wonder if I can make it larger or smaller...
[21:00]  * Aurelia cheers Zephy on
[21:00] <Aurelia> XD
[21:00] <Zephy> *shrinks room to a cubic yard*
[21:00] <Zephy> ^__^ have fun in there...
[21:01]  * Aurelia wishes Evil Chi had seen this
[21:01] <Zephy> screenshot it...
[21:02] <Valcherion> o-o
[21:02] <Valcherion> Mistresses!
[21:02] <Valcherion> I submit to your dominating wills!
[21:02] <Zephy> >_> keep that up and I'll leave you in there
[21:02] <Valcherion> It's okay.
[21:02]  * Aurelia proceeds to screenshot
[21:03] <Valcherion> I know you hurting me is how you show your love. <3
[21:03]  * Zephy expands room to cavernous size
[21:03] <Zephy> ^__^
[21:03] <Valcherion> D:
[21:04] <Valcherion> Well, at least, now, I have room to lie down.
[21:04] <Valcherion> YOU'RE SO KIND OH DEAR MISTRESS
[21:04]  * Aurelia offers more popcorn to Zephy
[21:04] <Zephy> I can't win with him... can I?
[21:04]  * Zephy takes some popcorn
[21:04] <Aurelia> XD I don't know...
[21:05] <Zephy> the fact that the expansion was in response to what he said seems to have completely slipped his mind...
[21:05]  * Zephy sighs
[21:06] <Aurelia> Hahahaha
[21:06] <Aurelia> guess so
[21:07] <Zephy> I can't win against that kind of mind... I need some smarts to work with
[21:07] <Aurelia> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
[21:08]  * Aurelia chokes on popcorn
[21:08] <Aurelia> *cough cough*
[21:08]  * Zephy pounds on aurelia's back
[21:09] <Aurelia> :) thank you! *poofs into chair and watches from above*
[21:10] <Aurelia> *sigh* what an interesting day...
[21:10] <Zephy> *jumps* can't... reach... popcorn!!
[21:11] <Aurelia> T.T *poofs back down and offers more to Zephy*
[21:11] <Zephy> ^__^  thankees
[21:11]  * Zephy goes and makes her own popcorn

[Blobsndrees]

The Fall of Transcendence: Date unknown, sometime between 2011-2012

An event, so secret that members who knew did not speak about it, members who did not know, were not told about it. An announcement post with vague details on this incident by our admin Xye was removed only after 5 days of it being posted. An event hushed up by the higher echelons of the former Transcendent organisation. The event, that broke the Transcendence forum to pieces and sent it spiralling down the path of destruction, into an age of silence.

As our previous chapter concludes, I touched upon the fragile relationship between Xye and Lily, the two core members of the Transcendence forums. Well loved by the community, with strong influence amongst those who participate in the forum, Lily was a popular figure. Meanwhilst Xye was respected by the staff as the capable and kind hearted administrator of the Transcendence forum. These two were almost leaders of the people, yet they had a silent grudge against each other for incidents in the past. For a long time the war was cold, blades of deadly sarcasm were hidden within the words they spoke. Both side stepped each other in circles, waiting for the first move to be made, like two ancient strategists, they waited, they maneuvered, and then, she struck!

The stage was the chatbox, the line, was forgotten, but the results: an all out argument between Lily and Xye that shook heaven and earth. "I've always hated the way you run things around here!", "I've had enough of your complaining at whatever I do!". The argument was fierce, it lasted an hour but at the end of it, Lily left. In her rage, she deleted her own forum account sending confusion amongst those who had not been on the chatbox at the time. On the other hand, Xye was keen to conceal this event and told those who were present; to never speak of what happened. It was just a small argument, that was it.

When word of this arrived to Lily's ear's however, she was furious. All that she had done, all that she had prepared was lost, her forum account went missing, she had lost her influence on most of the members of the active forum due to her deletion of the account. Xye hushed up all information regarding the matter and people simply thought she had left. She was furious. So she hatched up a plan. She made a forum account and messaged someone who she knew had not been there in the chatbox. She was well aware that with what few supporters she had left in the forums, there was no way in defeating Xye anymore. So she made up a lie that she had deleted her account by accident. She became staff again and regained access inside the forum, as an anonymous member of staff to everyone but the person she picked.

There, she decided to use her identity to attack those who were formerly her friends. She made insulting posts on the active members of the forum, she sent abusive messages to those who once stood against her. She terrorised the forums in a vicious surprise attack that left former friends in tears. She ripped apart her family, revealed their secrets. She made it unbearable for people to remain in the forums and she implanted a discreet message within the subconscious of the staff. That Transcendence was falling, that it would be dangerous to stay within the group, that they want to leave...

Xye, who initially worked hard to keep this matter an absolute secrecy was forced to announce to the members that the traitor was Lily, her second account was deleted, people were made aware of her betrayal. Her plans would never wreck Transcendence from the inside again. No longer will she exist within the pages of the forum. A notice was posted up for 5 days warning people to be aware of Lily. But betrayal is like poison to trust. Moral fell through the floor, people left because their hearts of trust were broken to dust by betrayal, and the people who left inadvertently caused more to leave from sadness, an eternal chain reaction of despair. Eventually Xye could no longer take it. She could feel the eyes of her colleagues, the glimmer they once had, lost, the hope they once held, crushed. She took responsibility upon herself, she hid destroyed all evidence of betrayal and she abdicated her position to Kuri and Zephyr to carry on the group. No longer could she stand the despair of watching her group fall apart.

So was Lily's plan a success? Some say yes, I think differently. Both sides held weapons not dissimilar from nuclear weapons. Xye had the power of censorship, she could control the information people receive, she could destroy Lily in seconds. However Lily herself also held a powerful weapon, she had influence, which means she could manipulate people to her wishes. So when both sides lashed out at each other using all their might, they may have achieved their objective, but at what cost... The forum, was now a scorched wasteland. Posts fell to were abandoned, topics lay deserted. Members of the forum fled like refugees to take shelter in manga hosting sites or other shoujo scanslation groups. Staff retired, hiding behind the excuse of real life, unable to believe, unable to trust. No longer did the people look up at the sky again, the gates of Transcendence lie in ruin, a mere relic to the golden age of the past.

Transcendence. Had fallen.

[Vauxhall]

The Rise Of The Bishie King

Do you fancy a story of a mad man? Yes? Then by all means, go right on ahead... (No? Please feel free to skip this then.)

Part 1: The Silence

CHAPTER 1: A TIMID BEGINNING (September 2012)

[spoiler]Our twisted tale begins in an early spring morning, when the flowers have started budding but have yet to fully blossom and chilly morning dew still clung to the grass. In a homey cottage some way from the sea, two siblings lived, each fairly distinct in their own way and yet still so similar. The eldest was a man of 18, his sister a few months his junior. Though they were vastly different, they did share interests and such was their love for manga. The eldest read shounen whilst the other read shoujo, as was fairly expected of them. However, little did the eldest know that his younger sister harboured a deeper passion for shoujo manga than he did his shounen – and that is when things start spiralling out of control.

At first, it started with his sister's complaints. They were small petty things and were easily ignored but as time went on, her complaints quickly evolved into fully-fledged nagging, similar to what you would expect from an old lady. The nagging grew in length and frequency, and the eldest tried his best but eventually caved in to her request for him to join a scanlation group. It was not such a simple request, per se, but he did understand her motives: she was a passionate reader, albeit a little impatient, but she did have her heart in the right place. She only wanted an insider's look on how quick releases were on her favourite series. A curious and innocent mind...that was anything but.

So the eldest followed his sister's whims and joined the staff as a QCer, with Xye's ok. He chose the name: Vauxhall. He saw his passing the pre-test as a small victory and was a little apprehensive about joining a shoujo scan group because – after all – he was a guy and he thought the girls in the group would think him strange. Nevertheless, he threw his apprehension to the wind, cracked his knuckles, and prepared to take on training, clueless to what awaited him in the realm of the unknown.[/spoiler]

CHAPTER 2: TRAINING WITH THE MIST(November 2012)

[spoiler]Two quiet months after his acceptance into this – what he deemed was a – mysterious shoujo group, his training fell to the hands of a woman by the name of Zephyr. He found her extremely intimidating as she flashed her prestigious titles of 'Administrator' and 'Master of Heaven'. He was also in awe at how much work she did around the forum when he noticed she was a proficient Quality Checker and Cleaner. The experience was blinding, daunting but most of all... exciting.

Her training was long and rigorous, spanning over the weeks of November before the holiday lull stalled his workload during December and January. November was tough though, littered with private messages and forum posts being sent back and forth between trainer and trainee. One teaching, the other learning as best as he could. It was painstaking – being a QCer was not easy. Your eye for detail and ability to detect awkward phrases had to be utilised to their full extent. Sometimes, Vaux would spend too many words correcting the faults of a chapter that it even came to Zeph calling him out for being anal (I kid you not). It was a wake-up call to our little perfectionist trainee and he ended up easing on his QC notes to better keep his future relationships with Editors, Typesetters and Cleaners alike a positive one. Though his QC notes did not grow any shorter, he did learn to pull "the stick out of his ass" and to let several minor things slide. The desire for perfection and a thorough eye were great qualities in a Quality Checker, but his training with The Mist had also taught him that they are not everything.[/spoiler]

CHAPTER 3: PINK...OR BLUE? (November 2012 – January 2013)

[spoiler]Now, our story leads us to a time between November and early January. Whilst our protagonist was off training with The Mist, little did he know that his little sister tangled with her desire for knowledge and let her curiosity control her. Something happened, unforeseen by Vaux that when he did eventually find out, he retaliated in a way that saw his trust between him and his sister crumble before his very eyes.

The very cause of the shattered trust between these siblings was his sister's actions and her knowledge of the fact that though her brother was a perfectionist, he was also a lazy perfectionist. More specifically: he had the habit of leaving accounts logged on, in his computer. An innocent habit built on the fact he did not believe anyone would be so curious as to use his computer and check out his accounts – but oh, how wrong he was.

She struck several times, perhaps at the light of dawn or in the dead of night – he did not know. But strike she did, and she did hard. Her acts were in the form of posting seemingly innocent posts in the Transcendence forum but nay, they were not innocent. They were written in such a way that made our poor Vaux sound like a female, a horror that any 18 year-old male would never like waking up to. Traumatising was such the experience.

Our protagonist found his sister's posts too late and by then, he deemed it would be strange to delete her posts so he was forced to do damage control and restore his reputation as a proud male of society. He amended his gender to male (which his sister had previously changed to female behind his back) and little by little, began posting in the forums as himself. No longer sounding like a teenage girl, this later earned him the attention of the women in the forum – but that is another chapter.[/spoiler]

Part 2: The Second Coming

CHAPTER 4: OF MAD MEN AND TEST TUBE BABIES (May 2013)

[spoiler]May 2013 was the start of a new age for Transcendence but it was also the start of Vaux coming out of his shell. Of course, he had talked with several members of the scanlation group before but he had never really talked to them outside strictly business situations. But May? May changed everything.

It started on the cbox, a popular haunt for many forum lurkers. Vaux was just busy being the usual mad scientist that he is when attention was suddenly brought onto him. As a mild social recluse, he does not really remember any of it (it was all a blur) but what he does remember was declaring Pau as his test tube baby. Made from fake female genes and his own DNA, Pau was the first successful result of many of his experiments. As her creator, he is her father but he later realised he was not fit to parent or would later corrupt her... so thus gave her up for adoption. Krissy was the first to raise her hand but Pau was later adopted into a proper family with Lia, Blob and Jess.[/spoiler]

CHAPTER 5: THE SINKING OF THE SS KRISSY X VAUX (May 2013)

[spoiler]This was a large part of The Shipping Wars but it was ultimately a ship that never sailed, never even left the harbour, was never even constructed logically enough to sail. Of course, the reason for its conception was understandable: both members met each other before the cbox was properly revived and worked closely on a project together, as Editor and QC – but other than that, there was no spark or chemistry. It was a ship brought on by the happiness that Lia and Blob found with their own marriage, but... this ship was never going to work.

Krissy and Vaux realised its lack of potential and they did not really wish to marry each other anyway, despite how happy it would make Pau. Over the stretch of several days, through constant logical reasoning with this ship's shippers, the ship was officially sunk on May 8 (or 9, depending on your time-zone) when Krissy married a Fishbot Prince and Vaux declared the status of being eternally single.[/spoiler]

CHAPTER 6: FROM PEASANT TO BISHIE KING (May 2013 – Beyond)

[spoiler]When Vaux met and chatted frequently with the lurkers of the cbox, he held the status of a humble peasant. In the eyes of Blob the Lurker King, it was a lowly place to be and thus enlisted Vaux as his follower despite his many protests. Vaux was known as the Potatoe Peasant around this time and though it bothered him, he did not complain too much about it. That is, until an opportunity presented itself in the form of the Real Life Pictures Thread.

It was a small chance but Vaux offered to put up his picture on the condition that no onee such a nickname on a credit page (which was never to be uttered again). The girls online in the cbox at that time agreed to this conadition, which consequently also led to several people posting up their photos. However, when Vaux finally posted his picture, a new title was bestowed upon him and he was from that day forth called the Bishie King, responsible for the resurrection of the Real Life Pictures Thread.

Vaux had climbed from the dirt of peasantry to the riches of royalty in a matter of days, and of this he was proud. Even Blob, the Lurker King, commended him and stated he had underestimated Vaux. As Bishie King of The Second Coming, his reign will be unnoticeable since he is a fairly shy hardass but he will always be there, making sure the releases of series are of the highest quality... as well as semi-lurking the forums until the end of his time.

[/spoiler]

Disclaimer: Although the events on this post was based on real events, it was overly-dramatised for the enjoyment (or boredom) of its readers.

[Angel~]

@Liapoo: So interesting!

@blobby: Hm, good story.

@Vally: Teehee, what a great autobiography! 

[Vauxhall]

@Lia
Whatever happened to that Valcherion guy? He just faded from the convo?

@Blob
You're so dramatic, it's great. Damn. xD

@Angel
Thanks, love. I tried to make it as interesting-sounding as possible but still have that mythical aura. xD Was fun to write so you should try your hand at writing yours too. *nods*

[Angel~]

@Vally
It was very mythical, new staffies will be searching for the mysterious pic of the bishie king... Well, erm, I don't know about that... 

[Blobsndrees]

I have this feeling that the valcherion guy got scared of lia and zephy in the end xD even perverts have their limits 

[Angel~]

Just a little reminder Blobbity: you married one of them...

[Blobsndrees]

 

[Angel~]

 

[Blobsndrees]

 

[Angel~]

Yes, try to find a way out of that one 

[Blobsndrees]

PEOPLE CHANGE!! She's nice, and amazing and funny 
phew got out of that hole nicely.

[Angel~]

She died when she married you. 

[Blobsndrees]

 

[Angel~]

How about that, how do you like being married to a dead person? 

[Blobsndrees]

dunno, cuz she's still alive, so I'm not sure. Roze is dead though, I'd like to hear your opinion.

[Angel~]

Zombie?

I'm a grieving widow. Don't mess with me

[Aurelia]

Nice to know that I retained some of my nightmarish-ness >:3

@Vaux: Well he stayed in the IRC, left, came back the next day... And disappeared never more to be found. >:D

(But I think he was talking about moving away or something and that he wouldn't have internet for awhile...)

But lets just say I scared him and he ran away >:3

[Angel~]

Yes, yes you did.
You need a firm hand to keep the Blob under control 

[Aurelia]

Blobbity, according to krissymas, the first war was over proclaiming and loving with Lilawolves, and not BB with D&F....

[Blobsndrees]

rectified XD that was before I made the entry on the proclaiming and loving war, when I put in the entry, I was conflicted of whether I was bothered to scroll down and edit the thing xDD

[Vauxhall]

Hahaha, Lia. You're about as scary as...something small, harmless, fluffy and definitely not scary.

[Angel~]

Hahaha, Lia. You're about as scary as...something small, harmless, fluffy and definitely not scary.

A hamster?

[Vauxhall]

A hamster. It's official. Lia is about as scary as a hamster.
Or a guinea pig. Guinea pigs are cute.

[Angel~]

A hamster. It's official. Lia is about as scary as a hamster.
Or a guinea pig. Guinea pigs are cute.

I love guinea pigs!!! Although... They once fought and one bit a toe of the other off...

[Vauxhall]

Ok. So instead of a hamster, she's a guinea pig?
She claims to be scary so I guess being able to go cannibal and bite another's toe off is a tad scary... xD

[Angel~]

 

[Aurelia]

^ what she did.

[Vauxhall]

Are you surprised Angel was the one who named you a hamster, Lia? xD

[Aurelia]

Quite, sparklepoodreamboat.

[Pau]

but hamsters are cute...just like you!   

[Blobsndrees]

yeah hamsters are cute.

[Angel~]

Butthey can be vicious, mean, evil little balls of fur 

[Vauxhall]

Lia can be cute but then she also has a dark side (that traumatised Zeph, mind you).
Reasoning behind her being a hamster. *nods*

[Angel~]

And thus we can conclude that Liapoo is a hamster

[Aurelia]

 

[Vauxhall]

*pats*

[Angel~]

You will live Liapoo 

[Aurelia]

Ugh... but Aurelia has always been an owl....

Me being a hamster is like... against Transcendy law. 

[Pau]

Then be a hamster-owl!

half-hamster, half owl   

[Zephyr of the Mist]

When did Lia ever traumatize me? I don't remember this.

[Angel~]

You must have repressed the memory 

[Aurelia]

 

[Vauxhall]

Or maybe it was all a bluff! O_O

[Aurelia]

Zephyr lies. Twas the day I got to level 6 whimsy.

[Zephyr of the Mist]

Oh, yeah, now I remember... That was definitely memorable. Though traumatized is a little exaggerated, I'd call it... ok yeah, that was traumatic.

Still fun though.

[Angel~]

It is interesting how traumatic and fun match 

[Zephyr of the Mist]

Traumatic in the same way your first rollercoaster ride is traumatic. XD

[Vauxhall]

But my first rollercoaster ride was bloody awesome though...

[Angel~]

But my first rollercoaster ride was bloody awesome though...

The scared to death, yet very thrilled moment does not apply there then?

[Aurelia]

More proof for vauxy 

[Vauxhall]

I was thrilled but not scared to death. *nods*

[Angel~]

Hehehe, Liapoo is amazing~

[Aurelia]

  Thank you AngelPoo~

[Angel~]

You are more than welcome Liapoo 

[Aurelia]

Hmmm back to history  Is paupau going to post her piece on info wars?

[Vauxhall]

Yeah, ikr.
She's been working on it forever. x-x

[Aurelia]

Paupau I hope you post it soon! :3

[Vauxhall]

Yes, Pau! You've kept us waiting for ages. xD
I even won our race...and I was writing a 5k word report...

[Pau]

Yes, Pau! You've kept us waiting for ages. xD
I even won our race...and I was writing a 5k word report...

I already finished it :b I just...I just don't know if I can post it....

[Vauxhall]

Why don't you know if you can post it?

[Aurelia]

Just post it, Flufflepuff. 

[Pau]

Here it is     

[THE INFO WAR]

It began on that fateful day, when krissy and blob spoke of tumbleweed and a new member popped into the cbox...


   This new member was called "enil14someone" and had just joined in the Transcendence family. Curious as they were, they talked with this little dust speck. As the conversation furthered on, the spotlight was somehow turned to krissy when she said that "her username was a nickname of her name". This phrase was the key that started everything - the beginning of a sudden event and the reason why so many members become known to the world.

   Blob just started guessing then the fight continued on making Blob more serious to the point that he went and ask Almighty Google for help. With its power he typed all the names he could find attacking Krissy continuously but, when he was about to type the right one, that destiny was destroyed when Lia, another member, had typed it first. Enil, who hadn't noticed that a war has already started, had already told hers therefore she had already lost at the last second. In the end, the game finished with knowing Enil's and Krissy's name and with Lia as the winner but if you're thinking the war has ended...THINK AGAIN.

   They continued staying on the cbox conversing of the war they had just fought but another broke in when lia said "my name is boring". This led Blob, who had lost to Lia the Queen lurker, to counterattack in order to regain his throne as the king (lurker).

   Knowing and accepting that Lia was indeed strong, he had decided to negotiate. But...what will he trade? An eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a blob for a blob. A letter. He decided sacrifice a letter of his name if Lia would sacrifice one of equivalent amount as well. The trade seemed tempting enough for Lia to accept however...tempting as it may be, to accept Blobs trade will bore risk's as well. In the end, Lia accepted it. But, for fear of losing this war, she only gave ONE. A letter of her name, for a letter of his. So the negotiations ended while both were holding their trump card. A fair fight it was for both who holds the secret of the other...WRONG. Lia was strong and Blob knew that so, as the same with krissy, he had seeked for the help of almighty Google again. Enil, who was also there, decided to help as well as she was also curious of the Queen lurkers true identity. With Google and Enil at his side, Blob was unstoppable. Arrows filled the sky and swords covered the ground but Lia wasn't planning to give up either. Arrows were overturned by lia's owls and swords were broken by her hamsters. The war kept on until neither can stand up anymore. The result of this match...depends on their LAST ATTACK. With their last strength, BLOB shot his arrow and Lia summoned her owls however Lia was too weak and in the end was shot. Straight through the arrow went and destroyed Lia and her owls. Lia's name was found and the war has ended with Blob back as the king. Fortunately, it wasn't finish yet. Amidst the celebration, Krissy hid in the castle and disguised herself as a maid. Through her diligent searching, krissy had already found Blobs identity and she evolved into a Goddess. Lia, who had heard of the news, could not accept that she hadn't found Blobs true identity so she searched as well. Search and searching she did. Going through every post he had, finally! His true form was revealed. The war ended when every member in the cbox was known (enil, krissy, lia, blob). So what happened next?

   A few days later, A royal wedding between the Lurker Queen (Lia) and the Lurker King (Blob) was held as a form of truce between the two countries. Enil was adopted and later in a few years Jess was born. Krissy watched aboved the clouds as their Goddess and showered them blessings for eternity. And thereon, THE AGE OF LURKERS had begun.

But what happened to them in real life you ask?
Who knows... but how about me? Well, I'm reading this post while eating cookies and Oreos. So, until then~

[Vauxhall]

There we go. *applauds*
That wasn't so hard now, was it? xD

Lia's turn to post a story!

[Aurelia]

WOW THAT WAS AMAZING PAUPAU! *applause*

Vauxy I already posted a ton...