For anyone who has played Ken server for an extended period of time, you are probably aware of the ongoing battle to control Giran. An alliance called DesignDragon has managed to keep control of the castle for months due to their strength, numbers and early morning siege times. DesignDragon keep to themselves and are rather quiet, rarely socializing with other pledges outside of their alliance; which leaves the majority of ken server asking, who is Design Dragon? I was curious to learn more about this alliance and took it upon myself to contact the Prince of DesignDragon, Designer.

As Designer resides 14 hours ahead of CST/server time, we worked around this large time difference by meeting on the weekend one evening. As well, many of his pledge mates came to the interview to show support.

While many pledges are a part of DesignDragon alliance (possibly 10+), there are six pledges that make up the majority. They are: DesignDragon, NoMeRcY, OceanPower, MeteorGarden, BluePower and Darkcloud. They were happy to announce their newest addition to the alliance, BOSS.

With Level 52 players such as Toyknight, AVMILKII and MaxRnzII, along with many 50+ (the latest level 50 player being Kuka) they are confirming that there is great strength in their numbers.

To hold Giran for as long as Design Dragon has, is quite the accomplishment. They never rely on one individual pledge to declare war with; rather all pledges in the alliance go for the castle at the same time. To compliment their excellent sieging teamwork, they look to their website to communicate with other members, ask questions and organize strategies. The war over Giran castle is mainly in part due to the early morning siege times, which to my surprise, is even an inconvenience to Designer himself. With work and time spent with his girlfriend, he finds it difficult to attend the 5pm sieges. With the time restrictions in place for sieging (due to server maintenance) their only option is 3am, however if Designer had a choice he'd like to see sieges possibly later in the morning.

Lineage is as much of a social phenomenon in Taiwan as it is in Korea. [Players who created accounts before August 20, 2001 are still allowed to play Lineage on the North Americn servers no matter where they live, even if they have "their own" Lineage service. NC policy merely prevents new accounts made in countries with "their own" Lineage service. -amer] Services in Taiwan include 14 servers, with an average 3,000 players online per server at any given time. VolleyBall estimates the total TW subscriber base to be in excess of 200,000. [It's actually over 800,000 -amer] With so many players online their servers have become overpopulated and crowded; making hunting mops more of a game such as hide and seek. For this reason Designer made the decision to make US Ken Rauhel his permanent home.

Designer has been playing the US services now for quite some time, dating back to the .77 server. He has played all four classes and enjoys hunting Oren Wasteland with his elf, while making money with his mage. Though Designer isn't too concerned with leveling his elf he still makes time to play Lineage about five hours per week.

Design Dragon makes sieging fun on Ken, who would we fight if Designer and his crew weren't around? Thanks guys and have fun!

PS: Some items which I got a sneak peak at during my interview. Names have been withheld to protect the innocent. ^^