VON History

VON stands for Vanguards Of Nosferatu — an order forged in the shadowed halls of early online combat. The Vanguards were the first to rise, the first to answer the call, and the first to bear the banner into the digital abyss.

The history of the VonClan has become somewhat blurred over the years but VonDeath, the founder of the VonClan, told the stories and tales of the VonClan recorded here. VonClan began many years ago back in the early days of Descent 3. The VonClan was a competitive group in Descent and we managed to maintain a good record. Now we play for fun and have branched out into many other games.

The history of the VonClan as told by VonDeath, the founding member of VON:

The VON Clan started in June 1998.

I named my pilot VonDeath because I thought it sounded cool. Descent 3 had been released as a trial with 3 levels and you could download and play it for free. We played on a server called Heat.net, which was hosted by Sony.

Everyone was playing the game at that time to try to win a qualifying spot in Las Vegas for the $50,000 Descent 3 tournament that was scheduled to promote the release of the full version. Ultimately those of us that went watched an intense tournament that saw a pilot named Fatal emerge victorious and richer as well. I myself made it to the semi-finals.

One day, I was flying at Heat, and noticed a bunch of guys with the name ROX before their pilot names. I asked what it meant and they said that it was their clan name and they had been flying together since Descent one. It at that time was a closed clan and they did not allow new members. Incidentally Fatal was a member of this clan.

I flew regularly with some other guys most notably Vertigo, Beast, and NoCat. One day I stumbled upon a program that allowed communication between players called Rodger Wilco and I asked Vertigo to join me on it. We entered a game and because we could talk in real time to one another we found out that we could literally rule most rooms that we were in. We decided that it would be cool to start our own clan and this is how Von clan came into being. The original members were VonDeath, VonVertigo, and VonBeast.

Within 2 weeks we started making a name for ourselves in the Descent community. We asked an excellent pilot named NoCat to join us and he did. He went on to develop the original VON clan web page, which truly brought legitimacy to the group. Within two months we had grown to over 20 active members and won nearly every match we played.

At our peak we had been playing nearly 8 months and had over 30 very active members and held regular practices. It was at that time when a group of about 12 pilots broke away to form another clan. They thought that they could siphon off an elite group of fighters and be the best of the best. Unfortunately for them, their plan did not pay off. A couple of months later The VON Clan delivered a pretty sound thrashing to the OSS Clan proving that friendship and teamwork will triumph over individual skill. The OSS Clan dissolved and faded over the next few years and never became the elite group that they had hoped to be.

The VON Clan conversely went on to become one of the most respected clans ever to play the game. I would not say that we were ever the most dominant, but we stuck together as friends and teammates and nobody ever took us for granted when they had to face us in play. We were, in short, the consummate team and it is that foundation that carries the clan forward today. Still strong while so many other clans have passed into oblivion.

VonDeath
Founder, VON Clan