About

Who?	DarkReaver13 (web developer & philosopher) [founder] JasmineSP (vertical assault cannon) SoulRapture (web and graphic designer) DarkWinter (free-thinking trapezoid) [co-founder] [DkR] (gaming clan)
Where?	United Kingdom, Earth.
Why?	It's a means of transmitting creative works and expressing ourselves.
When?	Est. 1999.

dark

adj. dark•er, dark•est

Characterized by gloom; dismal: took a dark view of the consequences.
Sullen or threatening: a dark scowl.
Concealed or secret; mysterious.
Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humour.

reave

tr.v. reaved, or reft (rft) reav•ing, reaves [Archaic]
To break or tear apart.

reaver

n. One who reaves. [Archaic]

Overview

The Dark Reavers are essentially a group of people which includes DarkReaver13 (the founder and overall owner) and several close friends. This website is a representation of what we stand for and serves as a means of presenting our creative/intellectual work including graphic design, website design, art, music, animation, writing and anything else that can be transmitted through the medium of a website. Even though the Dark Reavers are a group, the majority of the content here is produced by DarkReaver13 as the other members either have sites of their own or are too busy with their own things to contribute a lot. The Dark Reavers is also the full name of the gaming clan [DkR] which has included many other people over the years. [DkR] is a sub-group of the Dark Reavers which has competed in various online games such as Team Fortress Classic, Counterstrike: Source, Guild Wars, Warhammer Online and Team Fortress 2.

Previous incarnations of the Dark Reavers site attempted to cover things like hip-hop in general or a particular game, but it was realised that this was pointless as there are already thousands of websites doing just that (which are probably far better at it as well) so why add another website to that ever growing list? We are contributing something to the internet which nobody else can offer: OUR stuff.

History of the Dark Reavers

Origins (September 1999)

The Dark Reavers was originally just an name that DarkReaver13 thought up and which only had specific connotations to DarkReaver13 himself rather than to a group of any kind. Towards the end of 1999 the proposal was made to form a clan for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and so the Dark Reavers clan was founded by DarkReaver13 and his long time friend DarkWinter. They made a clan with the tag of [DkR] and played TS for a few months but soon decided to move to the Half-Life mod TFC and thus the [DkR] era began..

The First [DkR] Era (December 1999 - November 2000)

By the end of 1999, the Dark Reavers became a clan for the game Team Fortress Classic. Members started to join and by mid 2000 the clan had 29 members and was a serious threat to the world as we know it. The clan played quite regularly together, but never joined any formal league; so it was more of a clan which aimed for fun rather than glory. After a little under a year the clan was playing a clan match and suffered a massive defeat which left the members demoralized. The clan fell apart at this point and its members scattered to do their own things. This left DarkReaver13 at the head of a bodiless organization. The first clan enjoyed a long run and some really fun times with some rather interesting characters hailing from many locations around the globe, including countries such as the United States, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The Beat Root Era (December 2000 - End of 2003)

After a period of inactivity, the focus turned to creative outlets. Hip-hop music and art became the central focal points of DarkReavers.co.uk. Beat Root Productions was formed by ArtOfficial who was later joined by DarkReaver13, AJC (DigitalProphet) and Subvert (Chris), who then worked together on making a new breed of rap music. The Radioactive Yak web-ring was also formed, consisting of numerous websites by people from the school which DarkReaver13 attended at the time. The group "Banned" was later formed by DarkReaver13, Lew & Danny (later Clem was added), and this became another branch of the Dark Reavers. Beat Root lasted nearly four years, and produced a lot of interesting music, but as the end of their time at the same school drew closer the website was taken offline and Beat Root shut down indefinitely. The members still make music, but work much more separately than they previously did.

The Post-Beat Root Era (2004)

After Beat Root closed, the Dark Reavers started gaming again playing games such as C&C Generals, Diablo 2 and Neverwinter Nights (to name a few). They had finished school and started doing new things. DarkReaver13 finished his "Return to the Land of Lost Soulz" album and began his next album "The Nightmare Project". He spent a lot of time on forums debating against capitalism from his then communist perspective. After eight months he finally admitted defeat and became very influenced by Objectivism; the philosophy innovated by Ayn Rand. A lot of big changes happened during these times as the Dark Reavers saw much less of each other than they had whilst still at school.

The Second [DkR] Era (Jan - Jul 2005)

In February 2005, DarkReaver13 decided to ressurect [DkR] as a Counterstrike: Source clan with DarkWinter and Parquay. The site and forums continued to move along. DarkReaver13 finished "The Nightmare Project" in May 2005; possibly his last album, at least for a while. He also wrote many essays on various topics including racism, religion, and communism. [DkR] shut down in July as the clan was very inactive, and DarkReaver13 was about to leave for Hong Kong where he would spend the following 2 months. It seemed unlikely the clan would hold together until he got back and so it was thought best to close the clan.

The Third [DkR] Era (Oct 2005 - Jul 2006)

[DkR] re-opened once again on Halloween in 2005 and then continued playing in the EnemyDown league based in the UK. Former rivals #ltts| / |Nailed merged with [DkR] creating the strongest line-up the clan ever had. Over the next 8 months the clan would play over 100 games, winning well over half of them, bringing the total games played by the clan to more than 140 since January 2005. The clan also met up on a couple of occassions, one member (NEEDnoNAME) flying in from Norway and staying for a week. As 2006 went on interest started to dwindle, and by mid-July no games were being successfully scheduled. The clan was once again closed and planned to re-open upon the release of either Team Fortress 2 or Fortress Forever in order to return to their Team Fortress roots.

The University Era (Jul 2006 - Sep 2007)

Aside from university work, little happened in this period. The site was redesigned a couple of times, but the content remained pretty much the same. Technically the university era runs from September 2005 which is when DarkReaver13, SoulRapture and Parquay actually began university, and it will end in mid 2008.

The Fourth [DkR] Era (Sep 2007 - Aug 2009)

[DkR] was reformed on the 13th of September 2007 with the release of Fortress Forever. Team Fortress 2 was released a few days later. Although the plan was originally to concentrate on Fortress Forever, the lack of popularity of the mod meant the clan shifted more towards Team Fortress 2. The clan played upwards of 60 TF2 matches but suffered from periods of inactivity which meant it didn't play as regularly as it did as a CS clan. As interest dwindled in August 2009 the clan once again shut down.