Follow up to a filtered post

A local member of the furry fandom took his own life yesterday. I won't mention his name in an open post, not until his LJ is locked up. He happened to be mwbard's (Morgan) housemate, and Morgan had the misfortune to find the remains late this afternoon/early evening. Some friends had not heard from the fellow since Sunday, and asked Morgan to check on him.

I heard all this when I happened to check out the local furry fandom IRC channel. The person in question was still listed as logged in, so it took me several minutes to realize that Morgan was not engaging in some kind of odd joke. The police were in the house, and the computer had been left on. wggthegnoll and I went in to keep Morgan company.

When I arrived, around 12:30 AM, the police (and the body) were still in the house. We sat in a coffee shop for about 30 min, and talked about a range of subjects, including inquiring about some practical details of informing family (just one parent living, in Alberta) and speculating on the cause, etc., and what would be done with the effects, and what it would mean for Morgan's finances. We also talked a lot about SF books.

Around 1 AM, an officer came in and rather casually informed Morgan that the body had been moved, and he could go back home... but not to the second floor of the house until further notice. We did go with him back to the house for a few minutes, to ensure the doors were locked, etc. We admired Morgan's meticulously painted minis, chatted about his fursuit, and his impressive SF collection, but did not venture or look upstairs.

We then went to a late-night greasy spoon, where Morgan had a late supper, and I had a cheese dog. The conversation turned entirely to fandom and SF, and we had a good talk about computational singularity and the evolution of external memory storage throughout history. We also looked through some Heinlein 1st editions Morgan had brought along. In another other context, this would have been a thoroughly pleasant visit.

I left Morgan and wggthegnoll around 1:50 AM, and got home a few minutes ago. Morgan is back home, and doesn't have to work until Wednesday.

Please spare a good thought or prayer for mwbard, and the friends and family of his housemate.

The Pioneer

D&D co-creator Dave Arneson died last night, aged 61. Arneson was credited as co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. He also ran the very first tabletop RPG games, starting in 1969, I believe.

I intend to have my next "Pyat's Fortress" ep, wherein I visit some of the places where D&D was written and first sold, sometime this weekend.