ÜÜ ± ÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ Ü ÜÜ ° ÜÜܲܲÜÜÜÜÜÜ ° ÜÜÜ ° ÜÜ Ü Ü Ü ²ÛÛÛÜ Ü ÜÜß ÜÜÜÜ ° ÜÜÛ Ü ± Ü ÜÜ ÜÛß ±ÜÜ ÜÛ²Ü ÛÜܱ ÜÜÛÜ ÜÛÜÜ° ÜÜÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛßßÜ ÛÛÛÛ ÜÛÛßßÛÛ±ÞÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ² Û²Û ÞÛÛÜ ÞÛÛ Û²ßßÛÜ ßß Ü ÛÛ²ÛÜ ÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ± Û²Ý ÛÛÞÝÜÛÛÛÜ ÛÛ± ÛÛÜÛÛ²Û² Ûß ßþßßÛÛÛÛßß °±²ÛÛÝÛÛ²ÞÛÜÛÛ²Û ÛÛÛÝÜÛÛÛÛÛÝßÛß þ ßÛ²ÝÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÛ²ÛÛÝÞÛ² ßßß Ü ÛÛ ÛÜÜ ÜÛ ßÛÛÜÛÜ þÛÛÛÛÛÛ± ÛÛÝÛÛÛ Û²Û ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ Ûß ÜÛ ßÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛß ²ÛÛÜÛÛÛß ÜÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ²²ÛÜ ÛÛ²ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÝÛ² ÛÛÝÛÛÛ ÛÛÛ Û²Û²ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ²ÛÜ ÛÛÛ ßß ß²Ûß ß± ßßßÛß ß±ßß ß²ÛÛÛß ßßÛß ÜÛ² ß ÛÛÜ ßßßßß ßßÛÜ ±ÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛß ²ß²v ßßßß ± ßß ° ßß ß ßßß ° ßßß ß ± ß ßßßßßßß ° ßßß ß ±C ° ° ° -*HiSTORY*- Black Maiden (bM) has its roots in the CPC scene. Time wrote the year 1986, when a young computer game fanatic spent most of his time playing games on the CPC. As time went on, the young man grew slightly bored. After all, the CPC had 27 colors to its disposition. Why then, in most games, were there but four, or sixteen, and then still, why so ugly? By the same time, a friend of the youngster possessed an Amiga, and he was impressed by the graphics of this machine. Something inside the young man said that it was possible to get more out of the CPC, and he felt the urge to prove it. And so he did. First programming some small graphical tricks, he went on to getting the most out of the machine, and finally, he programmed a full role playing game on the CPC, with some of the most stunning graphics ever seen on that machine. Lord Healer, as he is now known, helped the young man with the graphics, and TäX began to convert the game for Amiga. The young man had the name of VOiCE. VOiCE and TäX had from then on a good time cracking all sorts of programms, VOiCE on the CPC while TäX sharpened his skills on the Amiga. Lord Healer, for his part never owned a computer, so it was quiet around his person, ... until some time, when the other two guys finally got a modem - the key to the PC scene. By that time, both of them had a PC of course. At first VOiCE was quite sad to see that all those beautiful things he happended to create on the CPC were quite different to do on the PC, so he laid programming more or less aside. Fate led him to ANSi. As he had been drawing comics and the like at hand quite often (just as Lord Healer), the step from the pencil to the ANSi block wasn't that big. It was a matter of restricting oneself to fewer tools. Besides, the kick came from ACiD, the world-famous Art-group, whose ANSis woke some greater astonishement in VOiCE, and let him try his chance. His first essays were shown to TäX and Lord Healer, who both appreciated the new 'technique' of drawing. So Lord Healer tried too, and succeeded. Black Maiden was reborn, this time not as a cracker and programmer group, but as an Art-group, incorporating both the graphical as well as the literal art of its members. Black Maiden was to be a turn in Luxembourg's computer and, mainly, in its Art-scene. -*THE NAME*- The first creations of VOiCE on the CPC went under the label StarSoft. But he realised quite fast that this wasn't a name to go into history, so he changed it to Mask, which already had a deeper meaning. But not deep enough, as it proved out. VOiCE leapt into the abyss, fought his ways through the eternal bonfire, struggling to find THE name for his group, flew through heaven, crossed the river Styx, passed the gates of Valhalla, and finally, his journey was to find an end. He realised what he wanted to achieve, what he wanted to create - an Ideal. The Ideal of Beauty, and it bore the name of BLACK MAiDEN. Thought by some to be composed of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, the meaning is somehow different though. Maiden stands of course for the female creation, the utmost symbol of Beauty. But in order to symbolize an Ideal, there has to be more. I used the word 'symbolized'. Yes, the Ideal must be a symbol, and therefore the prefix 'black'. Black stands for dark, mysterious, mystiful, unseen, elusive and unpalpable. It has nothing to do with the color of skin. Thus, the Black Maiden is the Ideal of Beauty - Beauty which exists in higher realms - in our imagination. It is what our minds see in our drawings and in our words that is Art, and Art, is the purpose of Black Maiden, the Art-group from Luxembourg. -*THE RELEASES*- Black Maiden are programming, drawing ANSi, GiF/JPG, RiP, ASCii, and writing. We do this for ourselves, for friends, or for everyone who requests something. I want to add that we must ask some money for our creations (thank the system). We still say that Art has nothing to do with money, but the money we ask is simply a compensation for the time we spend at doing the work, for bearing the nigglings of our parents because of the time spent before the screen, for bearing the nigglings of life, and for paying a part of the phone bill we get because of the public relations we have to maintain. I am sure you understand this. As of writing this, Black Maiden has released four packs, containing all the art done in the period between the releases. While beholding our packs you will necessarily notice the evolution of our creations. Our packs are named BM-PACKx.ZiP, where x is the number of the pack, currently one to five. These are floating through Luxembourg, Germany, and hopefully throughout the whole world. They can be downloaded at our distro sites and our HQs (see list below) as well as from many other Bulletin Boards Systems. -*THE MEMBERS*- I will list here all the members that are part of, or have been part of Black Maiden up till now. Brackets mean that the person is no longer a member, or is not active at the moment. Name: Doing: VOiCE ANSi, ASCii, VGA, CODE, Literature TäX VGA, some CODE (LOrD HeAleR ANSi, VGA, Literature) (Pi & RoM Writing) BkC CODE Last V8 CODE RAGE ASCii tRiCYCLe ANSi, CODE SLEdGE HAMMER VGA Bad Blood VGA RadioActive Man VGA MERCiLESS DEViL COURiERiNG -*THE BOARDS*- These boards all carry at least the latest pack of Black Maiden as well as other occasional releases. ============================================================================ Name: Position: SysOp: Number: ============================================================================= THE WA$TELAND$ WORLD HQ LastV8 +352-858698 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ThE BLACK MAiDEN PiT COORDiNATiON VOiCE +352-958996 Open only on BOARD Sunday, 11.00am - 15.00pm! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PYROMANiA BBS EUROPEAN HQ BkC +352-570478 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRAiNLESS BBS GERMAN HQ BuSteR +49-581-30515 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HiGH-VOLTAGE BBS DiSTRO SiTE CoKe +352-959277 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ThE DaRk-ZoNE BBS DiSTRO SiTE FiRE +352-651271 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZENLANDiA BBS DiSTRO SiTE RAGE +352-787308 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- METROPOLiS DiSTRO SiTE BLACK PANTHER +352-406096 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRiTANNiA BBS DiSTRO SiTE The AVATAR +49-2461-51902 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NORTHERN TERRiTORY DiSTRO SiTE BladeRunner +49-40-5004204 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that this list is suceptible to constant change. This one is valid at least for the release of the fifth pack. -*LAST WORDS*- -*THE MOST iMPORTANT PART*- Here, I would like to grasp the opportunity and thank some people, who supported Black Maiden, and without whom, the group wouldn't be what it is today. First of all, thanks to the whole Black Maiden staff. Keep up the excellent work! Greetings go to: Coke, Bombjack, Fire, Lone Wolf, Mr Incognito, Miki from AOG, The Sheep, and all I forgot. Special thanks go to all our boards' SysOps and to all those who like what we do. In memorian of all the great people that inspired me and the whole group to create something. To all the fabulous writers, to all the poets of musical, literal and graphical art - Thank you. Very special thanks go to Screamager and LastV8 for their lasting support, as well as to my RPG team for just being great friends. --- (z) VOiCE [bM] SAUCE00BM - Name, History, ... VOiCE BLACK MAiDEN 19950923»$P