The purpose of Lýthia.com is to freely share the wealth of Hârn material that fans create, write¹ and want to make available to others. We don’t have an agenda other than providing a place where people can visit and obtain material for their own roleplaying enjoyment. As such, our first concern is for fans of all types; whether they be new devotees, old Hârniacs, or just passing through. We want to provide a gateway to the wider Hârn fan community. That’s why we want to be, and to be seen to be, neutral with respect to the ongoing legal wrangle between N. Robin Crossby (now his estate) and Columbia Games Inc.
Following a personal request by Robin in 2006 to conform to the fanon licence published on the Kelestia Productions website, we sought legal advice regarding our position. In summary, here is that advice:
- Drypond Pty Ltd (the limited liability company that owns Lýthia.com) has no way of knowing the current legal relationship between the estate of N. Robin Crossby and Columbia Games Inc (the parties).
- It is not Drypond’s place to try to determine the legal relationship between the parties. That is a matter for the courts to decide.
- Drypond should not risk failing to credit those to whom credit may be due.
In summary, Drypond will continue to encourage fan writers to credit both parties with copyright. Should the legal position between the parties ever be clarified by an arbitrator or court of law, Drypond will abide by that decision.
Does this mean that Drypond won’t publish fan-written material that conforms to the Kelestia Productions fanon licence on Lýthia.com? No, it does not. While point 3 above is the legal advice Drypond has received, we do not require it. It is our view that the decision should be up to the individual writer’s conscious whether or not to credit Columbia Games Inc. However, we would like to stress that Drypond will not publish material that does not explicitly recognise N. Robin Crossby as the creator of Hârn, and we strenuously disagree with CGI’s failure to provide such credit on their recent works.
Until the legal standing between those parties is formally and officially resolved, Drypond—through Lýthia.com—will continue to make as much fan-written material as possible available for free download.
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¹ We call this material ‘fanon‘ , as opposed to ‘canon‘, which is official material published by either N. Robin Crossby (Kelestia Productions) or Columbia Games Inc (CGI).