FROM THE DESK OF GOVERNOR WINFIELD - April 12, 2007

Hail my friends, 

Back in the very early days of the Realm (1998-1999) there was one Facet per Shard. During that early age, it took a lot of time and effort to build skills and become wealthy. However, people found by working together in groups, guilds, or teams they could reach their goals in skills, crafting, and even housing placement more quickly. They also found they could survive better in large groups in the battle-torn land/Facet that would eventually become known as Felucca.

In this early Age, it took a real team effort to pool together resources to have even a single house. Larger houses usually had several people working together, perhaps a small guild. And building "player-towns" in those days ... that was not easy! It took 20-50 people working together to place and barter for adjacent housing space. But people did it! They were a team!

People soon successfully built houses next to each other and rapidly formed "player-towns" and "establishments". Why did they do this?

One reason was out of necessity to survive and advance. This necessity formed a cohesive and respectful spirit to work together. On Chesapeake, there were no fewer than 8 very active "player-towns" and some renowned establishments. These became "hot spots" of activity. On Felucca, these were: Aryslan, Corwyn, Dragon's Bay, Duir of Yew, Gehenna, Haven, Humility Village, and PaxLair. Today, 9 years later, only PaxLair maintains a "player-city" on Felucca.

Another reason was to offer [as players] more in the Realm than the [game mechanics] could offer. On Chesapeake, "player-festivals, events, and quests" were aplenty. Creativity soared to bring unique "player-driven" interest to the Realm. Vampires from Gehenna advanced into PaxLair through shadows while Haven formed a League of Guilds to combat the "Seer-quest of Juo'nar" in Trinsic. "Player-books" recorded the history, many of which are still in PaxLair ... now in the Silent Rose Library in PaxOku, Tokuno.

Conclusion: This short trip down memory lane is only meant to help establish a baseline for historical and reflective thought. How this baseline relates to our present day and Age is for another "soon to be published" topic.