Re: Re: [Cat's History]

Skooch closer children, the tale of the Cat is about to begin.

Way way, back in 10 BBS (Before Brittany Spears), late 80's ish, the 
internet just was a toy, kept in boxes by faceless and cruel 
corporations like AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, and GEnie. Here were 
gathered the nerds of the world, forced to labor in ASCII hell, confined 
to specific forums and sorted out by their nature into categories. This 
is the story of the little Cat who could, a collection of rogue 
diplomats who lived deep in the recesses of excess server space in the 
General Electric corporation under the cruel whip of Scorpio, the games 
forum mistress who confined them to a cell labeled CATagory23.

But the Cat did not spring out of being entirely unbidden, it was born 
as a tumor on the underbelly of the Usenet, out of the Electronic 
Protocal E-mag, which itself was pioneer publication spun off of the Dip 
by mail Zine - Protocol. A guy named Xorg challenged the Dip gods of the 
time was was cast out into the wilderness, where after the requisite 
period of wandering in the void, started the first tentative games on 
GEnie, an upstart BBS that lived as a poor sister to the Compuserve's, 
AOL's and Prodigy's of this captive internet universe.

Your humble author found his way to this oasis as a replacement in Dip 
Game 4 which eventually ran to a four way draw somewhere in the 1920's. 
Long did we play in this garden of Diplomacy, and members streamed in 
from far and wide. The call would go out for a Pie Fight and members 
would run to their pantries and all come streaming out to avenge past 
slights and create new ones, and endless version of the Hatfield-McCoy 
feud. All the while however, no once noticed the storm clouds gathering 
on the horizon. But eventually the beast named the World Wide Web had 
gobbled up so much that its bloated body could no longer be ignored. - 
Come, join me - it beckoned - free yourselves from the shackles of $9.95 
a month access to services that allow you access only for ten hours a 
month and only to what is contained upon its own servers, for vast 
though that may be, I, the World Wide Web, make it look insignificant. 
-- Marvel to the ability to send emails to ANYONE, not just to other 
members of your captive universe!

And strong was the force in this one, for the trickle soon became a 
stampede as the masses broke from their cages and abandoned their BBS 
shackles for the ever growing, ever ravenous World Wide Web. Soon, the - 
Going out of business - Everything Must GO! sign appeared marked in soap 
on the front windows of GEnie, and the Diplomats of Cat23 gathered 
together into an arc, two from every supply center, and set off in 
search of higher ground.

Swimmers were sent off in every direction to find dry land, and soon one 
returned with wonderful news. Off in a strange and wonderful country 
called 'Canada', there existed a wizard who could create "Listservers", 
and this great and powerful wizard was willing to grant to the wandering 
diplomats two in order that they might continue to slay the mighty 
Juggernauts and return the Orb of Lepanto to its rightful place.

Eventually the reputation of these warriors grew to the point where they 
required a larger castle and they moved to Egroups, which in turn was 
gobbled up by Yahoo as the World Wide Web sought to ingest the Diplomats 
and use their skills to conquer the world. And conquer they did, for 
AOL, the last great holdout of the BBS wars, opened the gates for 
unlimited hours of access, which, in the way of all things, resulted in 
no hours of access for most who found their lives reduced to a busy 
signal, for in these days, a 9600 Baud Modem was the dream of every 
pimple faced high school kid.

And so the great migration began. Like a Lemmings in a Disney nature 
documentary they Diplomats streamed out of BBS lands and their busy 
signal caused NMR's in search of better access to supply centers, and 
there, like a shining jewel on the hill, Cat23 awaited them with 
flashing neon signs proclaiming DIP-DIP-DIP, And LIVE DIPLOMATS INSIDE. 
The barkers stood outside on the sidewalks inviting the new arrivals 
into the dimly lit rooms where the promise of unguarded neutrals 
awaited. And so the newbies did arrive, first by the tens, then by the 
hundreds, until the barkers were overwhelmed, and every time they 
announced the opening of a new Dip Show, a crowd of dozens would gather 
and wave their arms, yelling - Choose Me! While inside awaited the 
sharks....the Webanator, Doc Oly, Faust, the Ice Queen among others who 
eagerly fleeced the newbies of their dots.

And as the Cat grew wealthy, it set its sights on larger goals. There 
were many additional Dip islands appearing in the sea spread throughout 
the world. All laid claim to be the best and brightest Diplomats in all 
the land, and yearned to test their mettle against the pretenders from 
the next island over, and would gesture to them - Come over and play. To 
which the challengers would reply - No, YOU come over here.

It was during a chance conversation between this author and a Romanian 
dissident known as Mizti, in a small flat in a London suburb called 
Subuton, owned by Toby Harris, a mysterious and powerful figure who's 
name was spoken in whispers though the Diplomacy universe, that the idea 
for a neutral forum where Diplomacy gladiators from the world over could 
send their representatives to settle the question of who could kick 
who's ass once and for all. It was decided to create a project called 
the Worldmasters Diplomacy Tournament. A Team and Individual tournament 
held on a neutral site. A shadowy cabal worked the Diplomatic back 
alleys to set things up and create the rules while The Diplomats 
streamed in, team by team, coming from around the world. From all over 
Europe, North and South America, OZ, New Zealand, Israel, South Africa, 
  India and all points of the compass they came. Over one hundred boards 
sat down to play at the same time, the members of each team spread about 
to face other teams and bring back tales of triumph and tragedy to the 
home campfires. As in all sports, the odds makers found the lure 
irresistible, and even the legendary bookmaker Nathan Detroit came, 
seeking the piece of the action. Virtual brawls broke out in the chat 
forums, reputations were made, sullied and then made anew. A good time 
was had by all.

And so, for one brief and shining moment, the little CATagory23, a 
refugee from the internet tenements, stood atop the hill and looked down 
on the world and said.......Ven-Tri...yes I understand now.