Puddleopedia | Entry / Maquiladora

Maquiladora (a.k.a. Maq, Maqui, Sancho, die Boozenfrau) was among the very first waves of exiles to arrive on Puddleby. At that time, no clans existed, but making a clan was the Cool New Thing To Do. Maq had heard that there had been some clans earlier, but in those early days most exiles were *extremely* forgetful and were prone to large-scale memory losses. It most likely had to do with the alignment of the stars because it usually happened every zodiac on the dot.

(Fashion was quite different in these early days. Maq, like most human women, had quite the hair helmet. If she ever settles down and has kids, she has said she would be "mortified" if they ever ran across sketches from those days. Other exiles had very different looks as well, particularly sylvans, who took to wearing hats with feathers in them (they also weren't all that sexually dimorphic at the time). In fact, someone should tell the scout in South Forest to update his look, because he's been so busy with scouting that apparently he hasn't kept up. Also, perhaps he should venture out and scout somewhere a *tiny* bit more dangerous and uncharted.)

In these pre-clan days, everyone collectively decided that on the next zodiac, we'd all start making clans at once. Every exile was looking for a group to fit in with, including little Maqui. At first, she considered joining a clan that was to be named "The Legions of Fargo". That clan ended up going fen-only. Luckily, that put Maquiladora out of the picture (I mean, who here remembers the Legions of Fargo?). Sad and dejected, Maq resigned herself to a life of solitude. But, when the day came of the Great Clan Registration, a group of female humans in skirts rushed to Maq excitedly. It was Sparrow, Soulsword, Elise, and Santeria, some girls she had hunted (and fallen) with a few times in recent days. They wanted to form a clan called the "Order of the Mini", but clan formation required five founding members. So, Maqui was honored to be the fulfill the position of Last-Person-Needed-In-Order-To-Fill-Prerequisite-Slot. Sadly, she was so new to the lands, that when they got to the clan registration, he declared that Maqui wasn't a prominent-enough exile to be a founding member of a clan. Not until she had earned the title of "Mistress". Maqui suggested he she had already earned that title in "other venues" but this did not alter the registrar's decision. It was just then that another friend showed up in town, Solome Fairfoot. The clan-to-be rushed to Solome, told her of the grand Mini plan, and minutes later the Order of the Mini was formed. Maq was immediately inducted as the sixth member.

Little did Maq know, the Mini clan would forever be a central part of her life in Puddleby. The early days of the Mini clan are what Maq refers to as The Glory Days. (That is because, at times, she is not very clever and just uses cliches.)

As a young, sometimes brash, and outspoken exile, Maquiladora found herself in the middle of many a fiery debate with other outspoken exiles, with her most lively opponent being Outcast ? the thoom. There was a period of great controversy surrounding the annoyance of a number of exiles who seemed to still have a thing or two to learn about how to act around females.

The Ripture Wars were, to say the least, an inconvenient time for the exiles. However, it was also when Maquiladora was in her prime. She was one of the exiles at the forefront of many of the rift-healing battles. When exiles were beginning to figure out just how to seal off rifts, Maquiladora headed an instructional briefing on the topic in the healer's temple. She also was among the first exiles who achieved 4th circle status without cheating and using those orbs to do it, while at the same time unleashing unspeakable horror upon all existence, ultimately leading the the destruction and rebirth of all life on Puddleby as we know it. No, Maq earned that fourth circle with study, training, and above all, dumb luck. And, to show for it, she could—well, let's just say cads weren't even around yet.

After the wars were over, and things began anew, Maq's first priority was getting the Mini clan back together. Only a small number of the excessively large 28-member clan were around directly after the war. Some completely new names were kicked around such as the "Puddleby Action Squad", but in the end, nobody could give up on the Order of the Mini. The clan ranks were so dismal that a female thoom by the name of Rent-A-Hippie was enlisted to help found the clan, and then quit as soon as her founding role had been completed. The members had some arguments about where the clan was headed, and things were generally not nearly as happy and hilarious as they were in the Glory Days. In the midst of months of drama, Maquiladora decided on a whim to take some time off, so that she could return with a newfound excitement for the clan and for Puddleby in general. As it was, she almost never saw any sisters from the clan, and spent most days sitting in town square, complaining about the Balance Tax. Nobody knows how he did it, but somehow the Emperor apparently put a tax on our balance when we switched from one weapon to another, which bugged quite a few healers, among others.

Maq's leave of absence ultimately evolved into a total separation from Puddleby for about thirteen years. Maquiladora's time there became more like a distant dream that she could barely make out in her mind's eye and was on the verge of forgetting.

But then, she got word from a new Mini she had never met, a girl with the alphabetically terminating name of Zyzyz. She had been in the clan a while, and had heard stories about Maq's days in the clan, and contacted her directly to see if, maybe, she wanted to stop back in the lands and say hello. Maq was so astounded to discover that, not only did the MIni clan still exist, but it was alive and kicking (thanks in great part to Elise's efforts).

Maq is currently on vacation from Puddleby, but she'll be back.