A group dedicated to creativity and exploration

Hey guys! It’s Luke here.

Boy, long time no see… We just had our third anniversary, and while I couldn’t make it, I wanted to do an earnest little post here, for you guys. I know I’m not around much, anymore. but I do think of you guys, and I do keep you in my prayers. You all mean a lot to me, and the fact that this little group I started on the glitchy Lego Gallery has gone on this long and become all this… It’s all thanks to you guys. You guys are the Brick Barons. You guys made this place what it is.

I really want to thank each and every one of you. You have no idea how much you all mean to me. When I started Barons, all those years ago, I’d just gotten out of a pretty bad place. I’d lost a lot of friends for reasons I couldn’t control. I didn’t know how to make friends anymore, I didn’t really have any… It was a hard time for me.

And then, on a whim, I started this little group surrounding this little upcoming game called Lego Worlds…

And, one by one, you guys came. We played, we laughed, we were there for each other. First on the Galleries, then on the LMBs, and finally on Steam. Thanks to you guys, I learned how to make friends again. I learned how to be a better person.

I think Barons means a great deal to all of us. I know a lot of you have thanked me for founding it, for making a place where you could go to find friends… But now I want to thank all of you. Like I said, it’s you guys who are the Barons. You guys made this place the fantastic place it is. And now, you guys keep it going.

I wish I could thank you all by name, but inevitably, I’d leave someone out. But I do want to at least thank Matrix and Nasa, for being the best right-hand men a Fearless Leader could ask for. I want to thank them for all the hard work they still do to keep this place running. And I want to thank everyone else, just for being there. Even if you only attended a couple meetings, even if you were only there once and awhile… It meant the world.

My life isn’t easy. I think you guys can guess why I haven’t been active. My physical health has taken a pretty bad turn. I’ve got good doctors, and good medications, but I don’t know if it’s going to get better. I don’t know what’s going to happen. My life has always been kind of scary, but the fact that I got to go to a place every week where people called me the Fearless Leader, where people looked up to me a little, even if I never scheduled the meets on time… It makes it easier. It makes me feel, even now, a little more fearless. I wouldn’t exchange Barons for the world. If I could, I’d go back and experience it all again, even the mistakes I made, even those few tough times we might’ve had…

I do want to apologize for any mistakes I might’ve made. I’m sure there were many, and probably some I never noticed. I was only ever one guy, and always an absentminded one, at that. I’m sorry if anyone was confused if I defriended them on Steam. I want everyone to know it wasn’t personal—I’ve just trimmed down my friend’s list a lot. I don’t have the energy to chat as much anymore, and, to be honest, it is a little painful, logging in and knowing I can’t really hang with you guys like I used to. It’s hard to face that, sometimes. Maybe it’ll change someday, over the rainbow. I don’t know.
But I really am sorry I can’t be there now, still coming every week, still playing those games and talking endlessly like I used to. I wish my health would let me go on being an active part of Barons forever. But, I just want you all to know that the times I had—the times you guys made for me—were all worth whatever comes next. And, whatever happens, wherever I go, whatever life throws at me… I’ll always try to be your Fearless Leader.

I love you all, Barons and Baronesses. All of you. You’re good people, and I believe in each and every one of you. You guys are going to do great things. Thank you for believing in me. I will always believe in you.

Stay awesome,

—Baron Luke

P.S: This is random, but I haven’t talked to IronDuke in a long time, and I just wanted to thank him for that one random time he let me crash a bunch of his fighters in Elite into asteroids (while actually trying to bounty hunt). That was really fun. Something about the speed… I dunno, I don’t move fast these days, and I kind of treasure that memory. Thanks, Duke. And thank you all.