A New Swords Site – Our Epic Journey Begins

Today, the valiant members of our team will give each other their final nod of approval, and Swords.com will be unleashed to the world. It’ll be our very own “Knights of the Round Table” moment.  Just like the famed table at the Court of King Arthur, ours is round too (metaphorically speaking – we don’t own any tables per se) – at Swords.com, everyone on the team has equal value and say in things.

It’s odd for us to consider this milestone as the “beginning”, given that we’ve been marching for many months now. In an odd way, this adventure of ours has all the elements of a typical epic tale. Much like the legendary Seven Samurai or the Fellowship of the Ring, our tale involves a recruiting and gathering of heroes to accomplish a specific goal. The march has been long and very tedious, and we’ve faced a barrage of adversity – but these trials and tribulations have only made our “fellowship” stronger. I’ve stood many times next to my office window and screamed “We’re Spartans!” – it felt good, even though I was only staring at a rundown section of downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

Looking back, I was always meant to do Swords.com. I am a huge fan of Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai is probably the first movie I ever watched – I was very young, and was never into Tom and Jerry one bit. Like most boys growing up, I gobbled up any science fiction and fantasy movie I could lay my eyes on. Then came Zorro, which saw me “forge” my first sword. The blade was nothing but the straightest piece of bamboo stick I could find, which I spent hours polishing with sand paper. The guard: an empty can. I used elastic bands to make a nice grip and voila! My very own rapier! I won’t get into the mask and the cape.

Then came the comic books – I was an avid collector and loved anything having to do with super heroes. It unearthed my hidden talent for illustration, but alas, mine was a classic super hero tale: boy is misunderstood during the day, boy is stuck being someone he isn’t, boy develops secret super powers, boy dresses up in a costume and marries girl, boy finally has a calling and uses his skills for the common good.

Corporate life was my version of bleak Gotham City. But it gave me my “super powers” : a good understanding of internet technology. When an opportunity came to buy the Swords.com name, we didn’t hesitate (ok, so maybe just a little bit). My wife and I had just sold our home – and we decided to dump all of our savings into this investment. Only a few years prior, I was walking down the aisle wearing my 44″ Musketeer rapier display sword – so to have ownership of such a domain just felt right.

One day, I just went into Gotham and quit. I wanted to save the world – ok, perhaps I just wanted to work with people that have tattoos and piercings. I longed for an environment where I could turn up with a battle axe if I wanted to, and where I could have a conversation on just how awesome Frank Miller is. I was yearning for years to have a place online where I could meet people who share my interests and passions. But all I could find were these low brow sites that just seemed bent on making a buck selling crappy products. I didn’t want to just discuss things – I wanted to also share and meet people.

So this is now my calling. The journey began a long time ago, but this is only the beginning. We’re a small team, but we fight like Spartans. We’ve left our old life behind and are making up our own rules. We love swords and anything sharp, we love everything that is associated with fantasy, sci-fi and gaming, we love martial arts, we love faires. We want to create a place on the internet where people who are equally passionate about this stuff can call “home”.

Our long march through various terrains has begun. Along the way, we’ll welcome and treat each member who joins our community as one of our own. Everyone will sit at that same Round Table. We’ll listen, and we’ll only deliver what you ask for. This is Swords.com.

Posted: November 21, 2008