Redwall Muck – 1995 - 2005

Yes you read it correctly the online community known, as Redwall Muck has been ongoing for ten years now, based off the Redwall books by acclaimed British children’s author Brian Jacques. The MUCK world is a gathering place for the fans of the series to get together from all corners of the globe and immerse themselves in the rich a vibrant world that has been built up online over the past ten years.

Where to begin, well first and foremost we must say a huge Thank you and send a cheer to Otter the delightful person who is the chief administrator and ruler of the mucks administration side. For ten years now the muck has been going with Otter and the general staff at the helm the place has flourished. The tenth anniversary of the muck almost slipped away un-noticed which in this authors mind is a travesty so he’s decided to take pen to paper, or fingers to keys depending and extol the virtues of Redwall MUCK and the diverse communities that have sprung to life across the land under the guidance of their leaders and the players who make up the characters who inhabit the land.

I would like to take a brief moment here before I go any further to explain quite clearly that Redwall MUCK has and always has had a G-rating, the Redwall series is written as Juvenile literacy and so the world created is also G-rated. Staff and players alike enforce the G-rating and any breaches are dealt with harshly and quickly. The perpetrator being banned from the muck completely across all characters, that ban is final and is never lifted.  Redwall Muck is sanctioned by the Redwall Abbey Co. and Brian Jacques himself but one of the key points in that permission is the G-rating.  Having nearly lost our permission to use Mr. Jacques' work because of a G rating violation; we're ruthless on removing breaches but we
can only remove them when we're told about them.  It is the wish of the players of the muck to keep that friendly atmosphere and to defend our muck and our right to a free and unspoilt world that we take the G-rating seriously, breaking that golden rule is the worst crime one can commit on the muck, no matter who you are from the newest player to the oldest companion of otter himself. Break that rule and the muck will throw you out, harsh maybe, but needed to maintain the status and integrity of our world.  A lot of time and effort has gone into making a friendly, welcoming environment for people to enjoy, a place parents can feel safe in letting their children explore.

I’m going to start here with a brief description of the kind of characters the players on Redwall muck have come up with though I do ask you to bear with me if I ramble on a tad here and there with some of my own characters, but I’ll try to represent a wide range of them from across the board. On Redwall ours players can play any type of species that has appeared in the series with only a few minor exceptions, and though Redwall is as cannon as possible in relations to the books players are not forced to have to play out their characters to fit some almighty guiding rule. You can have anything from a gentle Brother Mouse from Redwall Abbey to a slave driving, booty stealing corsair rat on the high seas. Or you could have the opposite a fighting, murdering evil crazed Badger or a gentle Orphan caring stoat. Vermin creatures are vermin, woodlanders are woodlanders but in the world of Redwall MUCK the choice of being an evil beast or a goodly one is entirely down to the choice of the player. Though it is true that the majority of players play their woodlanders as nice and their vermin as evil there is still a vast number of players who play the opposite.

Also players on Redwall muck are not limited to just the one character, with such a vast world its not possible to get your player involved on every side in every place, so many a player who has been with the muck some time will have Alternative Characters or alts as they are more generally known. A player may have a quiet reserved otter living out in Mossflower woods that enjoys swimming and getting into mud fights. But they might also have a terrifying Stoat slaver with a penchant for breaking his prisoners spirits and moulding them into obedient slaves, they might be the skipper of otters down at Camp Willow and a fat hedgehog cook with a tendency to sleep eat and be merry. They could have a courageous squirrel maid, defending her family, as well as the sly calculating evil lizard ruling over the far tropical island of Sampetra. The possibilities are endless and encouraged so that the players on the muck can enjoy every aspect of the game in as many places as they might want to role play in. Of course just because beasts can play peaceful Vermin does not mean that every woodlander happily holds their arms open wide to them. Those woodlanders who have had a bad experience with vermin or have been brought up IC to believe they are bad will happily play this. Vermin who have been mistreated by woodlanders but are peaceful creatures may be wary of becoming friends with the kind peaceful beasts who inhabit the muck. Every possible relationship and interaction that can possibly exist between the players and his or her characters can be found on the muck. From the star crossed lovers to mortal enemies, Brave warriors defending justice and their friends to laughing vermin doing battle with the Long Patrol.

With such wide-ranging possibilities it is no wonder that the players have created a wide range of different groups and areas to role-play in. As one would expect there is Redwall Abbey itself, the paragon of peace and prosperity for all good beasts who wish to live in harmony with their fellows. The abbey is still in the process of being re-built after an earthquake two years ago shook the land, but the abbey is prospering once more and with the help of all the beasts of Mossflower country it will not be long before the bell tower soars up above the gables once more and the great bells will ring out over the land again. Currently there is no Abbot or Abbess selected but I am sure once the Abbey beasts sit down to raise their glasses in celebration at the completed repairs a new Mother or Father shall be selected.

Though a word of warning I will speak here to those of you already considering the muck, though it is kept as cannon as possible the more spiritual side of the Redwall series is kept under closely guarded control by the Admin and staff for very obvious reasons. Giving any player the power to start invoking the spirit of Martin the Warrior would be a recipe for disaster. Now I’m not saying that the spirit of Martin the Warrior is never invoked or the more spiritual and mystical side of the books does not surface, players use such ideas quite often in their own private role-plays between friends but they use it wisely and carefully and much fun is had by all, but now that my warning over being careful not to twink or do something IC that would not be possible I will return us to our tour of the Muck.

As we prepare to move on from the abbey you might stop and stare in surprise, a group of brothers and sisters are walking past, mice and squirrels and moles, two ferrets and a rat. Yes even here in the abbey those players who wish to play peaceful vermin are welcomed with open arms, for as it is said in the books all creatures who wish to live in peace are welcome within the walls of the abbey.

Moving east into the great forests of Mossflower we come to the camps of both the GOUSIM, those rowdy shrews from the books, and Camp Willow ,where the otters under their skipper Hallow live their lives. If you feel like carousing good fun, good food, drunken revelry or are in need of good, strong and caring beasts to aid you then feel free to come on down and visit them. The Camp has been the more active of the two groups but the Gousim under their Logalog is slowly gathering momentum and members and it won’t be long I am sure before they are meeting head on for some playful competition on the river Moss.

Also lurking in the depths of Mossflower woods is the ancient Badger hall of Brockhall, Ruled over by the great Badger lord Boar a place of peace and silent strength helping to defend and give aide to the country of Mossflower. If we carry on to the northeast we will come to the city of Collinsel on the shores of the eastern sea, also rumours abound and tales are creeping out into the world of the ancient bat city of Saricus. For generations the city of the bats has remained aloof and hidden, living by their moral code of Vampirism. News of their dilemma and moral code is slowly reaching the outside world and we wait with baited breath to see how the beasts of the world react to the news and what this may bring to the world of the Muck

If we head back west, past the abbey and across the flatlands, we arrive at the tall imposing mountains that separate the interior of the continent from the shore. Underneath those mountains lurks the ancient Bat Mount pit and someplace in the southern reaches of the great chain of mountains whispers abound of the hidden, sealed caverns of the Nova Hall. No beast truly seems to know the truth of this place; many claim it is just a legend or story, yet others speak of meeting cruel vermin from the place itself. It seems to keep itself to itself and does not intrude over much on the outside world though one thing is indeed clear, the Nova Hall and its inhabitants and rulers are the cruellest of the cruel. Their ideals and beliefs above all make them deadly foes to peaceful woodlanders and those vermin who would live with them.

Travelling westwards still we leave the mountains behind us and arrive on the great western shore, raising tall above the shore the great mountain fortress of Salamandastron stands. Home of those gallant hares the long patrol, a welcoming place structured after the famous hares from the books the players of the muck have built a well founded and working society based along the military lines of the mountain and the Long Patrol. A welcome refuge for weary travellers and hares wishing to join up, the mountain tolerates vermin not at all and though a civil welcome may indeed be extended to good beasts of the vermin races seasons of hatred and war with vermin creatures has left its mark upon the beasts who reside there. Recently the Long Patrol has been involved with in a large campaign with the Bloodthirsters, a band of ruthless, homeless vermin who have been plaguing the western shores. They seized the peaceful town of Halyard, which sits upon the shores to the north of Salamandastron, taking hostages of the peaceful town folks. The Long Patrol rallied to the call for aide and after a pitched battle managed to drive them Bloodthirsters from the town, many lives were lost on both sides and the Bloodthirsters still range the shores of the west lands laying in wait, ready for their next move.

Moving back inshore we can head up the old Dirt Path that runs from outside the walls of Redwall Abbey and up into the northern reaches of Mossflower, beside the path a beast will eventually stumble upon the Black Gull tavern, that disreputable wayside in were vermin and woodlanders can be found, resting from their journeys and eyeing each other with careful regard. It’s a handy place to have characters meet and RP can usually be guaranteed if people are hanging out around the place or just general out of character chatter.

Part 2