Raving Rendal

Raving Rendal was born in Mankato, Minnesota, USA on April 3, 1974. He was a radio talk host and podcaster.

Biography
Being born with Tuberous Sclerosis, he has spent more than his share of time in hospitals. Originally misdiagnosed with Epilepsy, he was put on Phenobarbital and was on it until he was in eighth grade. It was then that his TSC diagnosis was realised and he was switched over in what has been dubbed the "School year from hell" to Zarontin. He stayed on this until a couple years ago, when he was switched again to Dilantin.

As far as academics go, Matthew was never the brightest bulb on the tree. After watching a video called Where there's a will there's an A, he did pick up the pace and finished high school with a B average from second semester 10th grade on through graduation in 1992 from Montevideo Senior High School. Post-high school education never seemed to click for Ulmen, and in 1994, he settled for getting a Occupational Skills 1 year degree from the Ridgewater technical college in Willmar, Mn.

Moving back to Montevideo, Matthew worked at the local Pizza Hut (which was just opening) and started out as a dishwasher. He would work there until the summer of 1996, where he would leave to try Secondary Education again up at Moorhead Vo-tech. Problems with financial aid and a mishap with the rent forced him back to Montevideo where he took a job at a lounge, again as a dishwasher.

After the place literally shut down without warning, Ulmen went to work for the local printer assembling ads for the newspapers the business printed. He stayed there until April of 1998 when he was fired for there being not enough work. With no other real choice, he tried going to Moorehead again to get a degree in webmaster training. As before, the financial aid fell through. Feeling useless in Moorehead, he Moved out to Wenatchee, WA to be with an online friend who was going through some rough times. He decided to stay out there and has lived with her and her two kids since October 31, 1998.

Death
Rendal died in a car accident on February 4, 2019 in Mankato, Minnesota.

Fandom involvement
It was in the early 1990s, when as a member of the Minnesota Star Trek fan club Trekadence, that Raving Rendal was born. The group sent out a newsletter from Montevideo, MN where Rendal happened to be living at the time and asked for people to contribute. After bringing up the idea of a column where he could go off on things he liked and disliked about Trek, Ulmen was given the go ahead, and in an attempt to come up with a name, he had a epiphany while playing the old ATARI 2600 game Adventure. He took the name of the red dragon Rhindle and came up with the moniker Raving Rendal.

Fursonas
This was good for a while, until people started asking what species Rendal was. Having to think fast, Ulmen came up with the story that Rendal was part of a hidden race of galactic historians called the Aurtherians (King Arthur was the inspiration for this). The planet was cloaked and lied on the tri-border (Federation, Romulan, and Klingon) Neutral Zone. The reason for not many people knowing of their existence is because the Aurtherians are genetically bound to their planet; if they should leave for any length of time they lose that bond and start to bond with whatever other celestial signature they can. This can pose an immense problem, because if their race is stuck in deep space for this length of time, they, in a sense, bond with it, becoming immortal.

Rendal has the unwanted honor of being the only member of his race to be sentenced to this fate after asking too many questions regarding a member of their race who left the planet many ages ago and never returned. The rumor was that she had left over a decision from the ruling council at that time and voluntarily expelled herself from the planet. Rendal now searches for the woman wanting to learn what happened.

Rendal is married to another creation of his, a Chalkien named Althena. The Chalkien are silicon-based humanoid life forms that get their name due to the fact they are pure white and their skin occasional flakes off leaving a chalk-like residue. Since her "diet" is solely rocks or silicon of some form, she can live virtually anywhere and she ages so slowly that her race is considered immortal. She travels with Rendal because she loves him and did not wish for him to be condemned to immortality alone.

Links

 * Chaotic Ravings - Raving Rendal's official homepage
 * Raving Rendal on deviantART
 * Matthew Ulmen on Facebook
 * Raving Rendal on Twitter
 * Raving Rendal on LiveJournal
 * Raving Rendal on SoundCloud