Blood / Keepers of Chaos (KoC)

The juggernaut. KoC were an Ultima Online guild from Chesapeake, run by Zeke, an American, with Rak, a Frenchman, on propaganda; they arrived at the end of January 2000; Ezekiel bought the level 44 character "Blood" from the old Mercs for $400 to found the monarchy and Rak bought Mikey on eBay for $1,075. By November 2000 Blood himself was the highest-level character on the server at 87. The February 2002 Blood roster on their own site lists Blattos, Cyning, Richard Ramirez, Wind of Horror, Hiret, Kalihan, Mage Crimson, Rumble, Syphon and Talkative Joe among sixty names. Blood was deleted in April 2004 and the remnants regrouped as Bloodtide. They took Kara, then Ayan Baqur, grew from 1,200 to 3,300 followers by April 2001, past 6,000 during the TLS war and to 18,000+ before the leadership quit. In December 2000 the monarch Blood swore allegiance to Bael'Zharon himself in Kara during the live event. This was the enemy the Band of Thugs fought most. When Darktide was done, Dranven followed Rak and the Blood crowd into Shadowbane, the next hardcore PvP game, and the men who had spent years trying to kill each other turned out to get along fine. Who was on top: in the spring 2003 TreeStats top hundred by experience, fifty-four of the hundred were Blood. Herpie at 200 and Rhu at 199 led it, then Zabulus Macerous, X-Star, Wind of Terror II, Wind of Horror, Para God, Hiraq'khan and Camel Wide; by November Coco Chanel stood on top of the whole server at 236. The chain ran through Azalar, with 12,437 followers under him, and Darlok with 6,196; Blood himself, 11,901. On PK Hunter that June the Blood names highest on the ladder were Hiraq'khan, Gink, Bundle O Joy, Wind of Terror II and Camel Wide.