KoTR original name was SME (Spelers Met Eer): a belgian/dutch clan founded by x_Karam_Storm_x (Tom) & x_Darth_Storm_x (Max) in AoE II.
A week there were 10 members. From the very start this clan could count on very loyal & calm members. Which was necesary in those first months, because we had some incidents with VOC (Verenigde Online Compagnie) clan, a dutch clan. We played many games with their clan (they had around 35 AoE II players) and it was fun. Untill the first two VOC members moved to SME. The VOC leader did not approve, and started to annoy us. He didn't do much besides yelling and spamming, but at that time I was the "wise" clan leader with my 18 years so in our minds it was a serious thing. SME players basically kept playing with VOC players, and because the VOC leader was always in such a bad mood, we ended up with around 10 extra VOC players in our clan.
Some members from this period:
- SME_Antw_Eagle. A police officer in Antwerp. Age: around 40. Incredible loyal member, very calm person, bad player, but the perfect person to have in your clan. Still replies on any email you send him, and always curious about the clan (later: KoTR_Antw_Eagle).
- SME_Norwegen. A norwegian "oldie" (age 27 at that time), a bad 1v1 player, but a good team player. The nicest person to ever be in this clan and a pity that we don't remember his emailadres (later: KoTR_Norwegen).
- SME_Maximus (co founder of SME). Again a teamplayer. But also well skilled in 1v1 games (you had to be to get a 1900+ rating at that moment). Sadly enough he dissapeared after 2 months in the clan (bored with the game, moved and no more acces to the internet, ..., who knows).
- SME_Flame. A poorly skilled belgian, but could always be found in the same game as Norwegen (later: KoTR_Flaming).
- SME_Bowser. The first British member. Eventhough we had to translate our clanname for him more then once he was one of those 6 players who help establish our clan values, which we still use today.
- the VDZwart Brothers:
SME_Diablo & SME_Dwarf. 2 dutch brothers who joined our clan from VOC. Always in for a laugh and some teamgames. Loyal members aswel, both of them stayed in the clan for 3 years (later: KoTR_Diablo, +KoTR_Dwarf).
- SME_Devil (aka The Duif). Belgian player. Convinced RM player, so prettyweird that he joined our clan.
Then the clan made a mistake. We accepted American members. Eventhough those persons were nice persons, they did not share the same values as most other members. This ended with the removal of all non-european players.
SME_Karam (Tom, later KoTR_Noorse), the remaining SME members (about 70% of the clan), VOC_Slam (Wouter) and x_Ulti_Storm_x (Chris) decide to take a next step, and take a fresh start at the same time.
Because the clan gained British, Norwegian and French members by this time, we decided to change our name into something that was understandable for all our members: Knights of The Realm, in short: KoTR.
At this moment we welcomed our 2d norwegian member: KoTR_Norstord. A norwegian fisherman, who could play during 6 months, and then he had to go out to sea for 6 months (well, 1 week home every 2 months in those 6 months). Amazingly, this person managed to become an important member of the clan very fast through his caracter and team spirit.
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