I began playing Avendar in 1999. When I type that I realize how much time
has gone by, and then I look at the game and I see how much has changed.
When I started playing we had a pretty decent sized playerbase at all hours
of the day and night. It was never quiet, but that's a good thing. We had an
Immortal staff that was busy cranking out stuff, making the game better and
all in all the people seemed happy. Back then I was new, though. This hard
game was just that: Hard. I didn't realize at the time that while some people
made an effort to help me most of these people were content just living in their
own worlds, making their characters as strong as possible.

I got better. I learned the ropes. Things looked up for me for a long time,
but I never was part of any of the cliques that at the time seemed to always
run the game. Newbies came and went. Sometimes they stayed but overall
the numbers in the game gradually declined. There were obvious highs during
the summer and the expected lows during the winter but each year it got
worse and worse.

Some of these highs I would miss and sometimes I'd miss the lows too due
to my job in the Navy, but then sometimes I would come back and see the
sad shape of the MUD. It crashed often, sometimes two and three times each
day. Again the numbers began to decline. New staff members took over and
it seemed as if things would change, yet again the MUD stagnated. Lofty promises
would be made, but most of the work was being put on just a few people
who couldn't maintain game. Often there was talk of "Avendar 2.0" and yet this
was just another promise that ended up never seeing the light.

Eventually the game became stable and updates began happening, but it was
like getting a school bus running for the upcoming school year when there were
no kids within a hundred miles. Some of the vets stayed around, but mostly the
game became a ghost town. Avendar was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

There were three Immortals that changed the tide though. Neongrey, Ninjadyne
and Brazen. Brazen and Neongrey had been part of the staff for some time and
both were making huge strides in trying to make the MUD a better place, while
Ninjadyne spent his off time helping Neongrey with helpfiles and Brazen with coding.
Ninjadyne eventually became an Immortal and Neongrey became the Implementor
of Avendar.

I'm reminded of a word from Norse mythology; Ragnarok: The end of the reign of the
Old Gods and the beginning of the New Gods. This is Avendar 2.0, not because the
code has been completely redone, but because Neongrey, Brazen and Ninjadyne have
breathed new life into a once prospering world. For the first time in years this is a game
that I can honestly say that I look forward to logging on to. I recommend going to their
website at and checking it out. While I'm not part of the
staff I know that myself and most any other player would be willing to help you learn the
ropes, though members of staff monitor the 'Newbie' channel so they'll be able to get to
you before most of us.

I look forward to seeing some new faces. Besides, who knows, we might run into each
other and get a chance to roleplay some.

-Elithis

Website:
Game: Avendar.com port 9999