Liberty Lives! #5 - Lokin

Elfin first met Keran after he had fallen off a mountain. Then two or more years later caught up with him at his Liberty deed, Lokin. Keran made them a cup of tea and they chatted on the porch of his new home.















Keran: “My deed name is Lokin which means Mountain. It is a local place where I grew up which is the main reason for the name.”



Keran told Elfin that English was his third language.



Elfin: “What other languages do you speak?”



Keran: “Oh sure, Faroese, Danish then English.

“It sometimes affects how I formulate myself.

“Around 100,000 speak Faroese. It is old Norse with a mix of Danish colonial influence.

Faroe Islands are just a small dot on the map.”








Elfin: “Do you have trouble getting internet?”



Keran: “Hehe, nope we have 100 MB lines. When it comes to technology we are advanced.”



Elfin: “Was Wurm the first game you played?”



Keran: “I do like sandbox games and did play EVE Online from 2003 to 2006 but the game became too much so I quit it.

“After EVE Online I did play a few games like online browser games but they did lack something.

“I started to play WO a while after Deliverance server was made, Deliverance was the newest server and I logged into it.

“I was to go on a adventure and walk straight south from the start area, went well the first 10 minutes, meet a mountain lion and died.

“The second time I was more careful and stayed on the road.

“I did meet up with some players on that server and made my first deed.

“Then when the Xanadu server was made we did move there.

“We were six persons at that time and a new fresh start was fun and we got a great spot for our deeds.... started to build our castle but as time went by our numbers fell slowly and I was the only one left.

“I now have a half finished castle there that I keep running with my spare silver and I am not sure what to do about it.

“The grind on WO did kinda kill me as my play time was sparse and I started to look into WU.

“I did try quite a few servers. Most were good but did lack something. Except the... what was the name of that server? The UO one I think.

“That did have a lot of great features. I did play on that one and Sklotopolis.

“The story about Sklotopolis is simple, I logged in, got my horse and went to the WL to become a follower of Vyn.

“What attracted me to Sklotopolis was the nice list of features and that the purpose was to make the game less grindy.

“From the WL I did look at the map and picked a mountain that seemed high and wanted build my place there.”



Elfin: “That is about the time we met.”



Keran: “Yeah, we did meet when I wanted to advance my pok path.

“That trip down did go well but on my way up I did not survive.

“Anyway, I came from the north and did start to advance up the mountain while trying to avoid the trolls... I was weak back then.

“I made the way up and did want to deed asap so I did not have to climb up again.

I had a horse with me but due to having the game muted for some reason I do not recall, a wolf killed it and I was horseless. Not an animal could you find up here.”

“I started to flatten the mountain top and now I have a nice flat spot to build on. It took me a long time as one of the corners is 300 slopes steep.

“I lived in a 1 x 1 house for about one and half years. Only three months ago I did demolish it to flatten the area. It was a mess. Amazing what you can put on one tile.”



Elfin: “When did you start on Wurm?”



Keran: I checked and this is what came up. ‘[23:41:58] You entered through the portal to Wurm on day of the Ant, week 2 of the starfall of Dancers, 985. That's 680 days, 2 hours and 43 minutes ago.’

“I feel like this is the server that has room for the very active player and the ones that are semi active. You can go on a break and not lose too much.

“My current project that has been on and off for almost the whole time is building a road down from my deed.

“I have made a one lane work road as it was close to impossible to get down with a wagon or a cart.

“I love building roads. The challenge in finding the right slope and make it look good.”



We paused the chat just to take in the wonderful sunset from Lokin.





Keran: “Tea refill?”



Elfin: “Yes, please.”



Keran: “I choose a mountain top because close to my place on Xanadu there was a tall mountain that I did try to make a road up but due to the surface mining mechanics on WO it was so hard and grindy that I gave up on that part.

“I did spend about two weeks to climb it and it was so nice to make it to the top with a few deaths.

forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/73668-the-screenshots-thread/&do=findComment&comment=1234133.

“It was so nice and that is one of the reason I chose a mountain.

“About that house, one by one house. imgur.com/VegwEOo It is on the left.

"It is hard to see as it is about 28 slopes down into it.

“It was like that for quite some time as I did not want to demolish it. Lack of space made me build a new temporary house where I could have my stuff better sorted.

“My deed on Xanadu - imgur.com/lFoS2un.

“It looks kind of like that today, a few more walls but not much. I think about 40k bricks into the structure.

“A massive surface mining project that only needs three slopes to be mined out... I lack the skill and did not feel like to grind for it ”



Elfin: “And what do you like most about sklo?”



Keran: “The best part is the event teleport function.”







Keran: “This is 80% surface mining. Slope of the road is 11.
Let's go to the top. I have been active, like I said not much of buildings to see.”



Tomservo: “A great deed isn't always the buildings but the terraforming work done.”


Keran: “The challenge to get it right. Hours and hours of planning, both online and offline.”




Keran: “This is the area where I started. Where the house stands was a small mountain peak.”



Tomservo: “What a massive amount of terraforming.”



Keran: “I mined it down and filled the rest with dirt.
"





Keran: “Let's have a look at the house. Don't mind the mess."


Yes, but first a selfie!




Ok, now the house!





Keran: "All this space compared to the one by one. Not much thought behind it. I want to decorate an area and I pick what furniture I think fits there.”




Keran: "I got distracted by other projects so the house is half done. The bed room is almost done."






Elfin: "How did you get the chimney so tall?"


Keran: "That is standard."


Elfin: "Oh clever, it is optical illusion."


Tomservo: "Weird, it does look stretched."






Tomservo pauses for a moment to appreciate some of the home's best amenities...



Tomservo: “ Do tell us how you got this challenge statue?”



Keran: “At an impalong, in the building contest.”



Elfin: “Congratz.”



Tomservo: “I’m jealous!”






Keran takes us on tour of the grounds



Keran: “This corner was my biggest challenge, 300 slopes. Don't fall down it hurts."





Keran: “It took me a long time. My plan is to build something big such as a keep or a castle.”






Keran: “The mine is just a hole in the ground, just so I can get iron and other veins.
I did plan once to make that the entrance to the deed but a surface road seem much nicer. When you lack the ability to fly you improvise.”





Keran: “I needed dirt so this area was cleaned and is now only rock.”





Elfin reminded Tom of how they had come here many months ago to help plan a bridge for Keran. Tomservo remembers fondly how delicious the pizzas were that Elfin used to bribe him into work. Tomservo opened his tin lunchbox and showed everyone what he had been eating...



Keran: “This is the bridge now. This is how far I have made it. Much more to do. Forty tiles forward then a new bridge.
 My plan was to connect at the middle ramp but the slope was too steep, too hard to get back up. Ninety-nine point something digging skill now."





Keran: "Bridge Troll. Since the forest took over they are more common."



Keran showed us how he deals with these creatures, and so we drove on safely across the bridge, dragging some fresh road kill underneath the cart. The troll's head got stuck on a spoke and it took us a while to lose it. (Pictures not available)




Keran: “This is the old construction road. When doing a large project planning is key."




Elfin: "It gives a good view of the bridge."

Tomservo: "Do you ever get any visitors up here?"

Keran: “I have not seen anyone up here, but been told that some dragon hunters have passed.
I had a goblin leader up here, it did spawn just down here."




We made our way back to the main road and headed towards our next stop: the observation tower, but we were ambushed by some angry forest creatures! Here Elfin shows off her superior fighting skills as she easily vanquishes a monstrous spider!



And here she is again, but this time standing idly by as a ferocious Hell Hound attempts to claw Tomservo and Keran's face off!



Fortunately our hero, Keran, saved us by crushing it's skull in with his maul and just in time too as Elfin and Tom got to witness Keran's horse giving birth to an adorable, but feisty, brown bear.



Onward to the very tall and scary observation tower

Tomservo: “Love these towers.”


Keran: “I might build a bigger tower in the future.”





Tomservo: “I’m sure you would die if you fell off this.”


Keran: “Nah, but you will break a leg. Fortyish damage wound."





Behold the stunning views from the top of the tower





Back down we went

Keran: “Where the token is, is planned to be a public area. Some sort of square. A small terrafroming project that I have planned. Dirt is the only thing in this game that does not decay when placed.”





Keran: “I am happy living here. This is fun."


Tomservo” “Keran I love this place, can’t wait to see what else you do here.”


Keran: “Yeah, I like it. The main focus is the road down. One of the oldest projects.


Elfin: “This has been a privilege Keran.”


The tour ended and the time for us to part had come. Keran waved goodbye and left us with this reassuring thought: "Don't get lost one the way down!”
 
We did.