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 Q'arlynd Melarn's state

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lsls Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 12:08:19
Hi great sages

2 questions abou my favorite male character Q'arlynd Melarn.

The Forgotten Realms Wiki references Q'arlynd's game state is a 15th level spellcaster (14 wizard / 1 Elven high mage) but without the source. Anyone can confirm it?

Is there more info about him after Spellplague and Second Sundering?
The only one I know is one of his apprentices (Zarifar the geometer mage) appeared in novel "The Gilded Rune".
26   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
CorellonsDevout Posted - 02 Jul 2020 : 01:15:21
Events in LP aside, I personally quite liked a number of the characters (though I wasn't a fan of Cavatina). Even some of the more minor characters, like Valdar, Karas, and Naxil (omg, I loved Naxil) I got really attached to. I tend to gravitate towards those types of characters for some weird reason lol.

Since both Eilistraee and Vhaeraun are back now, I am curious to see what Q'arlynd is up to, transformation aside.
TBeholder Posted - 20 Apr 2020 : 16:30:23
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne1017

Damn it. Q'arlynd was also my favorite character until now. Now all I could see in him is Star Wars Rey...
I need reasons to ignore his Gary Stu-status :D

What annoys me is that facepalm-tastic reckless stupidity critical failure to think things through even one step ahead is hopelessly incompatible with "drow wizard".
Even in Sshamath - it may be an incredibly nice place for Underdark, but the competition got to be quite tough.
So if you want variety, you could see him as Holdo from the same Soy Wars. As in, "alas, it's hard to write a character smarter than the author: illustration #we-lost-count".
Delnyn Posted - 15 Apr 2020 : 00:06:22
The implications of the FaceBook discussion Irennan mentioned disgust me. I'll cool my afterburners with some green tea.
Irennan Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 21:37:59
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne1017

Gladly for me I had played an Eilistraee follower for a long time before I read official books. So my conception of her was how I imagined her mostly based on what was written in the 3E campaign setting book. As for Cavatina I could 100% agree. She was my least favorite character in the series, because of her being more of an a**hole. Is she featured in other books?
Ultimately Q'arlynd had failed on many things he have attempted. Maybe there could be a good explanation to all the Gary Stu stuff he did with High Magic (and failing at it) with all the retconning that is going on without letting it all seem so absolutely ridiculous. Probably he will never appear again in anything official.



Considering that his High Magic spells ultimately resulted in half-failures, in light of later lore (or even of the statement at the end of the books, which point to a mere few hundreds drow being transformed--though that was just the author being clueless about how many followers Eilistraee really has in canon, it ended playing in "our" favor) you could say that the explanation is that he couldn't really command High Magic, and that he only did so superficially--and it's logical, because he was a total newbie at it. This would put him out of the Gary Stu state.
Irennan Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 21:33:39
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

Had I read this series (or WotSQ 4/5) first, I would have disliked Eilistraee and all her followers with all my heart--which was part of the actual intent behind all the warping, btw, from what a FR author said on FB a few days ago.



Wait -- it wasn't enough to destroy the drow pantheon, they actually *wanted* people to dislike Eilistraee?



Yes, it appears so. The author in question said he can't reveal much, but the fact that LP got people to dislike Eilistraee was considered a win/win. If you're in the Sages of the Forgotten Realms FB group (not the Archives), the discussion is there. It starts with a person asking if there are "dark elves" around in the current FR.

Then again, I suspected so. Mistakes of such a staggering entity, which came to the point of sniping specific, key lines of lore, could only be intentional.

EDIT: I'll quote the discussion

quote:
[...]let's not pretend WotC wasn't at the time *trying* to get rid of Eilistraee and her church as operative in the Realms. Eilistraee is one of Ed's entirely original deities, and they were planning to destroy her permanently because of reasons. If readers developed a dislike of Eilistraee after the books, then mission accomplished. I can't go further than that because of NDA reasons, but fortunately those dark schemes didn't come to fruition, and now the Realms is, well, at least it has the *potential* to be rescued and redeemed. If only WotC decided to support it again.
Wayne1017 Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 21:18:58
Gladly for me I had played an Eilistraee follower for a long time before I read official books. So my conception of her was how I imagined her mostly based on what was written in the 3E campaign setting book. As for Cavatina I could 100% agree. She was my least favorite character in the series, because of her being more of an a**hole. Is she featured in other books?
Ultimately Q'arlynd had failed on many things he have attempted. Maybe there could be a good explanation to all the Gary Stu stuff he did with High Magic (and failing at it) with all the retconning that is going on without letting it all seem so absolutely ridiculous. Probably he will never appear again in anything official.
Wooly Rupert Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 21:15:44
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

Had I read this series (or WotSQ 4/5) first, I would have disliked Eilistraee and all her followers with all my heart--which was part of the actual intent behind all the warping, btw, from what a FR author said on FB a few days ago.



Wait -- it wasn't enough to destroy the drow pantheon, they actually *wanted* people to dislike Eilistraee?
Irennan Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 20:57:32
Hmm, you may be right about his change of view; he was indeed trying to help in the end, so that must mean some development.

I admit that reading the series was a VERY toxic experience for me, because of how it warped Eilistraee&followers into something unrecognizable, defeating their core concept (which is why I'm glad it was done away with), so maybe I was just experiencing burnout with certain characters (Cavatina was just an abusive, violent, self-righteous a**hole, for example--she would have fit perfectly among the Lolthites). Had I read this series (or WotSQ 4/5) first, I would have disliked Eilistraee and all her followers with all my heart--which was part of the actual intent behind all the warping, btw, from what a FR author said on FB a few days ago.

quote:
I saw something in his character that others don't see or isn't even there


Just because I didn't see anything special in him, it doesn't mean you weren't right in doing so.

His possible state as a Gary Stu is due to how he can randomly perform High Magic for free just because he found what amounts to a sentient book, but--that aside--if you like his characterization, then it's more than enough for youe enjoyment of him to be "justified" (quotation marks because enjoyment doesn't even need a justification).
Wayne1017 Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 20:46:42
If have read the books quite some time ago, so I probably don't have a good memory about it, but he struck me as very charismatic who stumble from one situation into another, but somehow was able to survive. At first he was very self-centered but later tried to play his part in the story, which seemed to me as him accepting, that he doesn't need to be alone or on his own and therefore accepting Eilistraee. His reason to meet the Eilistraeens in the first place were very egocentric, but what I took away from was, that he "learned" his lessons and helped the Eilistraeens. I have to notice, that I haven't noticed how awful LP was in some or most parts, because the series was one of my first instances reading about the Drow society (I haven't read WotSQ so far for example). So I guess through my pink-glasses I saw something in his character that others don't see or isn't even there :(
Irennan Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 20:35:28
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne1017
I need reasons to ignore his Gary Stu-status :D



His ritual to destroy Kiaranasalee failed because people kept remembering her, which led to her resurgence.

His ritual to forcefully transform the drow only affected a miniscule part of them, and a narrow fraction of Eilistraee's followers. Eilistraee doesn't give a flying about it either, as she's still her old drow self (which she *chose* to be, in order to be by her people's side in the times of need), so are her followers, and she isn't even considering to repeat that ritual (like she's done for millennia, because she never wanted to forcefully change the race of her people). That ritual was also an a**hole move, as it forced a physical change down the throat of people who never asked for it, and it likely caused those who were underground when it happened to die a horrible, horrible death.

He only used Eilistraee as a support, as he didn't really care for the cause.

He failed his infiltration in the Vhaeraunite summoning spell.

He also chose to just chill in some safe place and proceeded to do absolutely nothing as far as we know (he essentially fell off the map)

Though 3 of 5 of these reasons fall if you only consider LP, which means he effectively was a Gary Stu--gaining powers he didn't work for.

Personally, I don't see what was so special in him. He didn't have much going for him as characterization except his magic. He came off as "elf wizard #597867849" to me.
Wayne1017 Posted - 14 Apr 2020 : 20:20:34
Damn it. Q'arlynd was also my favorite character until now. Now all I could see in him is Star Wars Rey...
I need reasons to ignore his Gary Stu-status :D
cpthero2 Posted - 21 Mar 2020 : 19:31:08
Master TBeholder,

That is definitely the very quintessential definition of a Charlie Foxtrot for sure. lol Great capture on the old scroll. Funny going back and reading through that. ;)

Best regards,


Compaste Posted - 17 Mar 2020 : 07:39:18
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

There is no way a 14th level wizard could handle Elven High magic.



I know right. It's really impossible lol.
TBeholder Posted - 17 Mar 2020 : 06:54:32
Q'arlynd Melarn? (looking up) Oh. A drow wizard created by Lisa Smedman, and for an amazingly stupid mini-RSE plot at that.
We had a scroll for arguments about that mess.
I won't expect anything directly related to this particular plot to make much sense lore-wise. Or at all.
Irennan Posted - 15 Mar 2020 : 15:17:08
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

quote:
Originally posted by Irennan


You're remembering it correctly. Don't worry, though, it was all retconned. The transformation had nothing to do with Eilistraee anyway; it went contrary to everything she stands for and the main idea behind ther Modus Operandi (then again everything that LP and books 4-5 of WotSQ--Smedman's and Athans' books--attribute to her and her followers run contrary to the very core of her lore and her previous representations. So it's hardly a surprise).

You're also forgetting the part in which Q'arlynd casts a High Magic spell so powerful to be able to delete the memory of any deity from the mind of EVERY being on Toril, including the deity itself. Of course, he's the genius who--without ANY experience or study in High Magic whatsoever--managed to think of a ritual so ridiculously powerful, while the elves, masters of this magic, never ever thought of using it to, say, delete Gruumsh, Lolth, and what you have. Even more puzzling, this ritual (which, I repeat, was capable of deleting the memory of a given deity from the minds of ALL beings on Toril, therefore deleting the deity's presence from Toril) was used on Kiaransalee rather than Lolth (or rather than being spammed until no foe remained).

Honestly, glad to see this stuff gone from the Realms.



Now I wish I could still forget the erasure of Kiaransalee's name. Sounds like a prelude to the circus that we know as the Spellplague. At least the drow pantheon is back, especially Vhaeraun and Eilistraee.



It was explicitly meant to "prepare the drow for 4e". Perkins stated that it was written to "make Drizzt more special".
Irennan Posted - 15 Mar 2020 : 15:13:42
quote:
Originally posted by lsls

quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

You're also forgetting the part in which Q'arlynd casts a High Magic spell so powerful to be able to delete the memory of any deity from the mind of EVERY being on Toril, including the deity itself. Of course, he's the genius who--without ANY experience or study in High Magic whatsoever--managed to think of a ritual so ridiculously powerful, while the elves, masters of this magic, never ever thought of using it to, say, delete Gruumsh, Lolth, and what you have. Even more puzzling, this ritual (which, I repeat, was capable of deleting the memory of a given deity from the minds of ALL beings on Toril, therefore deleting the deity's presence from Toril) was used on Kiaransalee rather than Lolth (or rather than being spammed until no foe remained).

Honestly, glad to see this stuff gone from the Realms.



If my memory serves me right, the precondition of this erase-one-god's-name high magic ritual was very difficult to achieve and almost impossible to duplicate.

At that time, it could only be used against Kiaransalee, who connecting herself with her worshipers through the Faerzress and using Faerzress as a conduit to guide her power to assist the Crones in performing an evil ritual.



The High Magic didn't target Kiaransalee, nor was it intended to interfere with her ritual or to bge related to it in any way. It targeted all the people on Toril, unrelatedly to Kiaransalee. So, why couldn't it be cast to delete other deities from the minds of people? Yes, it might be difficult, but at that point only a braindead person wouldn't use it on the toughest foe. Also, if this ritual was so top level difficulty, how comes a total newbie, still learning, was the one who managed to cast it, while tens of thousands of years of elven high magic tradition never een thought about using such a powerful weapon, or devising a streamlined way to cast it? If you tell me that it targeted also Kiaransalee (she forgot about herself, apparently), and that Lolth couldn't be made to forget about herself because she's much more powerful, well that's true, but irrelevant, because she'd have no worshippers (and therefore disappear, or at least massively lose influence) regardless.

This is yet another plot hole in an series already ridden with almost unprecedented inconsistency, and that went to such lengths to distort lore because the story couldn't even take place otherwise (especially in regards of ithe warping of Eilistraee and her followers, whose character--as I mentioned--was essentially defaced. Seriously, they went to the point of saying ridiculous stuff to make the story barely work, like that her realm isn't in Arvandor, when it very clearly is in 3e as per PGtF, or slapping a goal that goes against her core ideals on her in book 3).

The real reason for everyone holding the idiot-ball and for this ritual not being used on Lolth was just plot armor, like it happened in WotSQ (with Lolth losing *tens of thousands* followers, whole cities, expending a huge amount of her own energy to rip her realm from the Abyss, spending even more energy to sustain it on her own rather than leeching off the Abyss, and magically gaining like 6-7 divine ranks in the process. Lol...).

In fact, if you think about it, this story would be perfect as in-world fiction, a bit like the Double Diamond Triangle saga, written by some Lolthite bard. In such a book, they would:

1)Give Lolth plot armor (well, ofc)

2)Depict the Eilistraeens like the nearly uniformly self-righteous, uncompassionate, unempathetic, misandrist pricks they are in all of Smedman/Athans' books. Because they wouldn't bother to comprehend the Dark Maiden's values (which would come off as too alien from the misandrist, militaristic, highly hierarchical viewpoint of a Lolthite). So, they would paint the followers of Eilistraee as Lolthites-lite, because they wouldn't be able to stop their author filter/bias from polluting the characters' perspective (much like when a RW author tries to write about something they don't know, or don't put thesmeves in the skin of a character, and it slaps the reader across the face at each page turned).

3)They would come up with solutions that have no basis in FR magic/history (much like you see when sci-fi uses techno/science-babble), and weird concepts that sound like conspiracy-theories (like the Faerzress being created by the elves to contain the drow, when its origin has never been that).

4)They would make the Eilistraeens non-drow, members of an inferior race (which, once again, happened in the novels), and would paint them as rather dumb (seriously, most Eilistraeens come off as crass and stupid in Smedman's/Athans' stuff).

It makes sense to look at this series like an apocryphal tale, because it would explain all the staggering mistakes, and why basically nothing that happens in it affects the current Realms in any way.
LordofBones Posted - 15 Mar 2020 : 02:42:14
You'd think that she would have contingencies against that sort of thing, since it was the same thing she pulled with Orcus. She should sue them all for copyright infringement.
lsls Posted - 15 Mar 2020 : 02:37:21
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

You're also forgetting the part in which Q'arlynd casts a High Magic spell so powerful to be able to delete the memory of any deity from the mind of EVERY being on Toril, including the deity itself. Of course, he's the genius who--without ANY experience or study in High Magic whatsoever--managed to think of a ritual so ridiculously powerful, while the elves, masters of this magic, never ever thought of using it to, say, delete Gruumsh, Lolth, and what you have. Even more puzzling, this ritual (which, I repeat, was capable of deleting the memory of a given deity from the minds of ALL beings on Toril, therefore deleting the deity's presence from Toril) was used on Kiaransalee rather than Lolth (or rather than being spammed until no foe remained).

Honestly, glad to see this stuff gone from the Realms.



If my memory serves me right, the precondition of this erase-one-god's-name high magic ritual was very difficult to achieve and almost impossible to duplicate.

At that time, it could only be used against Kiaransalee, who connecting herself with her worshipers through the Faerzress and using Faerzress as a conduit to guide her power to assist the Crones in performing an evil ritual.
Delnyn Posted - 15 Mar 2020 : 00:36:12
quote:
Originally posted by Irennan


You're remembering it correctly. Don't worry, though, it was all retconned. The transformation had nothing to do with Eilistraee anyway; it went contrary to everything she stands for and the main idea behind ther Modus Operandi (then again everything that LP and books 4-5 of WotSQ--Smedman's and Athans' books--attribute to her and her followers run contrary to the very core of her lore and her previous representations. So it's hardly a surprise).

You're also forgetting the part in which Q'arlynd casts a High Magic spell so powerful to be able to delete the memory of any deity from the mind of EVERY being on Toril, including the deity itself. Of course, he's the genius who--without ANY experience or study in High Magic whatsoever--managed to think of a ritual so ridiculously powerful, while the elves, masters of this magic, never ever thought of using it to, say, delete Gruumsh, Lolth, and what you have. Even more puzzling, this ritual (which, I repeat, was capable of deleting the memory of a given deity from the minds of ALL beings on Toril, therefore deleting the deity's presence from Toril) was used on Kiaransalee rather than Lolth (or rather than being spammed until no foe remained).

Honestly, glad to see this stuff gone from the Realms.



Now I wish I could still forget the erasure of Kiaransalee's name. Sounds like a prelude to the circus that we know as the Spellplague. At least the drow pantheon is back, especially Vhaeraun and Eilistraee.
Kentinal Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 22:22:13
I do not see how any 14 character level could qualify for what would appear to be Epic class level. That is I do not know of any edition version that would permit a 14 wizard / 1 Elven high mage, however I do not write the rules.

I do recall that most high eleven magic in the past required many eleven mages, not one (of two if you count the artifact).

As indicated by others, the concept is hard to accept as credible. Other hidden things or just reported in error.
Irennan Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 20:55:14
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

Thank you both Irennan and Storyteller Hero for jogging a bit of my memory. I'd like to test it here. Corrections will be appreciated.

Quarlynd possessed the High Magic kiira of House Melarn once of Miyeritar. As a House member, the kiira did not fry the Nine Hells out of his brain right then and there.
With the kiira's knowledge, he conducted the ritual that transformed all drow not tainted by Wendonai back into pre-Descent dark elves. But they were transformed without advance notice and were still stuck way down in the Underdark bereft of darkvision and surrounded by drow.

Editorial part if my memory is correct:
The way Quarlynd conducted the transformation marks him as extremely irresponsible and someone who has no business messing with Elven High Magic. I would have thought of a High Magic kiira as an extremely demanding taskmaster like a living Elven High Mage. How it permitted Quarlynd to study its deeper lore...well I guess that was plot-driven silliness.




You're remembering it correctly. Don't worry, though, it was all retconned. The transformation had nothing to do with Eilistraee anyway; it went contrary to everything she stands for and the main idea behind ther Modus Operandi (then again everything that LP and books 4-5 of WotSQ--Smedman's and Athans' books--attribute to her and her followers run contrary to the very core of her lore and her previous representations. So it's hardly a surprise).

The most puzzling part of the ritual is that, while Smedman tried to paint it as a reward for the good drow (being forced to give up the body you were born with and part of your identity, and losing your powers while gaining absolutely nothing, is now a reward) it targeted only a few hundreds of drow, which means that only a narrow % of Eilistraee followers were transformed, and the rest remained drow (which would explain why Eilistraee and her people are still drow in the current era). OTOH, it randomly targeted non-Eilistraeens just because they belonged to a given bloodline (probably dooming them to die).

You're also forgetting the part in which Q'arlynd casts a High Magic spell so powerful to be able to delete the memory of any deity from the mind of EVERY being on Toril, including the deity itself. Of course, he's the genius who--without ANY experience or study in High Magic whatsoever--managed to think of a ritual so ridiculously powerful, while the elves, masters of this magic, never ever thought of using it to, say, delete Gruumsh, Lolth, and what you have. Even more puzzling, this ritual (which, I repeat, was capable of deleting the memory of a given deity from the minds of ALL beings on Toril, therefore deleting the deity's presence from Toril) was used on Kiaransalee rather than Lolth (or rather than being spammed until no foe remained).

Honestly, glad to see this stuff gone from the Realms.
Delnyn Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 20:22:02
Thank you both Irennan and Storyteller Hero for jogging a bit of my memory. I'd like to test it here. Corrections will be appreciated.

Quarlynd possessed the High Magic kiira of House Melarn once of Miyeritar. As a House member, the kiira did not fry the Nine Hells out of his brain right then and there.
With the kiira's knowledge, he conducted the ritual that transformed all drow not tainted by Wendonai back into pre-Descent dark elves. But they were transformed without advance notice and were still stuck way down in the Underdark bereft of darkvision and surrounded by drow.

Editorial part if my memory is correct:
The way Quarlynd conducted the transformation marks him as extremely irresponsible and someone who has no business messing with Elven High Magic. I would have thought of a High Magic kiira as an extremely demanding taskmaster like a living Elven High Mage. How it permitted Quarlynd to study its deeper lore...well I guess that was plot-driven silliness.

quote:
Originally posted by Irennan

quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller Hero

quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

There is no way a 14th level wizard could handle Elven High magic.


He had the assistance of a powerful, essentially intelligent artifact.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Selu%27kiira



The use of such a Kiira requires incredible mental attitude and willpower; it also only stores knowledge that often require decades of study to be assimilated (and that's very likely to be the case for High Magic), it's not like it automatically gives you power. As Denlyn mentioned, there's no way someone who could barely cast VIII level spells could suddenly cast High Magic. It'd be like someone suddenly becoming a Physicist just because they found a good Physics teacher and because they know some Mathematical Analysis

Irennan Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 18:42:17
quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller Hero

quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

There is no way a 14th level wizard could handle Elven High magic.



He had the assistance of a powerful, essentially intelligent artifact.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Selu%27kiira





The use of such a Kiira requires incredible mental attitude and willpower; it also only stores knowledge that often require decades of study to be assimilated (and that's very likely to be the case for High Magic), it's not like it automatically gives you power. As Denlyn mentioned, there's no way someone who could barely cast VIII level spells could suddenly cast High Magic. It'd be like someone suddenly becoming a Physicist just because they found a good Physics teacher and because they know some Mathematical Analysis
Storyteller Hero Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 17:37:32
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn

There is no way a 14th level wizard could handle Elven High magic.



He had the assistance of a powerful, essentially intelligent artifact.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Selu%27kiira

Irennan Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 15:25:34
No mention of him whatsoever. However, alongside the restoration of Eilistraee as a drow goddess, 5e reverted the "brownfication" of the drow thing (though even in LP itself, only a few hundred drow were transformed, who amount to only a narrow % of Eilistraee's followers, therefore being quite irrelevant), and Rhymanthiin has been made into a mystery in the SCAG, so I personally doubt he'll appear again in any source.

@Delnyn; it's from Lady Penitent, a series of novels that drastically warped so much lore and so many characters to be essentially apocrypha.
Delnyn Posted - 14 Mar 2020 : 13:57:22
There is no way a 14th level wizard could handle Elven High magic.

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