Mytharria

Infobox VG
title = Mytharria


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released = Mytharria (1998, 2005)
genre = RPG
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platforms = UO, NWN
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Mytharria is a long-running Persistent World RP Community with its origins as a famous, private Ultima Online shard. Its fame has been noted by RPG Planet, a leading RPG internet news and editorial source [http://www.rpgplanet.com/features/editorials/rollplaying/] , and the Online Multiplayer Games Network [http://www.omgn.com/news.php?Item_ID=3299] . Since 1998 it has maintained a role-playing focused environment, which distinguished it from Origin Systems' original Ultima Online shard environments, and many other privately run shards' environments alike. Mytharria has seen many incarnations, these including: Mytharria (1998), Mytharria: Reborn (1999), Mytharria: Dawn's Rising (2000), Talamh Lore (2004), Mytharria: Deliverance (2004), Mytharria: Southern Isles (2005), and Mytharria: Inherritance (2007). Though the administration, playerbase, design and popularity of these incarnations has varied, Mytharria has always featured role-playing and heavily customized environments. Though Mytharria is best known as an Ultima Online emulating shard, as of 2004, the world of Mytharria has also existed on another platform, Neverwinter Nights. Mytharria: Inherritance is now run on the latest release of RunUO 2.0, which provides almost unending world customization options. The brand of Mytharria continues to be closely associated with internet searches for the phrase "Ultima Online" [http://www.linkedwords.com/games/play-by-mail/role-playing-terms/ultima-online/] .

Chronology

Mytharria (1998)The original Mytharria shard, Mytharria was being run by Gheltire. It used the basic UO map with a couple of cosmetic alterations, and action was pretty much centred around Britain. It was running on the FUSE emulator, and then later converted over to cFUSE. Unfortunately, due to data corruption, Mytharria died (for the first time) at the end of '98. The playground for DW, Razi, Racalac, Stacey and Gyr was no more. Here's Gyr's account of things at the time:

"Yes, I remember the CFuse server completely dying. We finished the last quest (a quest for a keg of the first beer brewed by Gyr I believe... Makes me wonder why all adventures I'm involved with deal heavily with alcohol ?) as the server was dying. It was getting more and more corrupted and we couldn't make the story progress anymore before the server would crash and we would be stuck redoing it all again. At one point I think the corruption went beyond repair and that was the end... Until Eric Swanson (Syzygy) created [http://www.polserver.com POL] . Dream Weaver and Racalac would come on as script designers."

Mytharria Reborn (1999)Live Spring 1999

MR was the POL showcase server.POL was a new kind of UO server software that allowed vast customizability to the game world through a dedicated scripting language, designed and created by members of the original Mytharria development team, it was built to replace the restrictive cFUSE software. Razi was the Shard Leader until around June, but left due to high internet costs in the UK. Gyr took over until October, at which point Stacey took the reins until December when Razi returned. Towards the end of this particular era, work was going on behind the scenes to produce the next major update to the world of Mytharria.

Mytharria: Dawn's Rising (2000)Live January 1st 2000.

MDR began life using a heavily modified map, centering around Dawn Island with a particularly heavy focus on gods and religion. This phase of Mytharria was the most popular, with online player counts reaching 100 at its peak. Razi resumed the role as Shard Leader of Dawn's Rising for a short time before handing over to Hammersmith. Leadership was then handed to Gambrinus in June 2000, who assumed to role for over a year before handing over to Basara temporarily in June 2001. Basara handed over to Wind Walker. MDR died July 26th 2002 - due to a hard drive fault.

MDR can be broken up into two phases.The original MDR involved three towns: Dawn, North Saren and Occlo.

In mid 2000, there was a hard drive crash and all data was lost. This began the next phase called "The God Wars" which redesigned Dawn and North Saren as well as the introduction of the experience-point system.

Talamh Lore (2004)Entered beta in Winter 2002. Live in January 2004

With the demise of M:DR due to the HD fault and complete loss of data, the development team were tasked with the almighty task of getting a world up and running quickly enough to keep the interest of the players, having to build a new land from scratch. Wind Walker was the Shard Leader throughout the Talahm Lore period. Due to pressure from the players who were already beginning to look elsewhere, TL was launched. Unfortunately, it went live too early with bugs that couldn't be fixed fast enough. These proved to be too much of a hindrance to the player base, which lost interest and looked to other splinter shards.

Mytharria: Deliverance (2004)Launched October 31st, 2004

An ambitious project, Mytharria was, for the first time, created on a platform "other" than UO. Mytharria's starting town had always been the town of "Dawn" until this world iteration. For a time, Dawn was the center of the world, and the starting location. "Deliverance," for the first time, changed this model. During this project, the world was "wiped" once early on to change the module of NWN hosting the RP. After nearly three years of up-time, the server's population trickled off, leading to a second wipe. This server is in a phase of reconstitution.

Atari has listed Mytharria Deliverance as one of its Neverwinter Nights community worlds: [http://www.atari.com/nwn2/AU/community.php] .

Mytharria: Southern Isles (2005)Launched July 27th, 2005

Mytharria: Southern Isles was a nostalgic trip back to the glory days when Mytharria ran solely as an Ultima Online shard. The world was built using the new RunUO engine. DreamWeaver was project leader, with script support from Amokrun. Tassyon built the world, nearly in its entirety. With an explosion of players in the test phase, the playerbase slowly trickled in number. In the fall of 2005, Tassyon took over as leader of the UO shard. Competing for players with Mytharria: Deliverance, which ran on the newer, more graphically-pleasing NWN engine, the playerbase continued to fall. Most players joined the NWN persistent word "Mytharria: Deliverance," which became the most popular "flavor" of Mytharria.

Mytharria: Inheritance (2007)Beta September, 2007

Even into 2008, the website for this new version of Mytharria has been one of the most frequently visited Ultima Online emulation sites [http://www.gamesites100.net/ultimaonline-3] .

Technical Development of Mytharria

Since Mytharria's inception, many talented programmers, designers, and builders have contributed to Mytharria, and have been a crucial part in its development and evolution. A list of those who have contributed throughout the years:

Aegis, Akantha, Alderan, Almira, Amelia, Amokrun, Arctic, Argus, Arthrese, Ashensugar, Ashleigh, Austin,Azimuth, Basara, Bellatrix, Breanna, Cain - RIP, Caltrop, Ctharth, DreamWeaver, Exar Kun, Freya, Gambrinus, Garou Rennt, Garr, GateKeeper, Gheltire, Gilean, Gil'Glorion, RIP., Gyr Hammerstorm, Indy Ironclad, Isis, Kalen, Kalila, Khaziglu, Larva, Lucid, Madman, Marius, Mercator,Mooncalled,Mr Ridiculous, Myrathi, Nexus, Nichtus, Nightwind, Nimaia, Nyndelius, Odinn, Orion, Orwinus,Poe, Praetor, Qamos, Racalac, Ravel, Razi, Renfield, Reverend, Roth, Rykard, Scormus, Shadow, Sirius, Syzygy, Tassyon, Tempest, Tenzin, Whitestar, Wind Walker, Zazen, Zephyr [http://errno.gmm.com.au/mytharria/?page=about&style=uo]

External links

* [http://www.mytharria.org/ Mytharria's Official Webpage]
* [http://www.runuo.com/ RunUO Server Website]
* [http://www.polserver.com/ POL Server Website]

References

* [http://www.rpgplanet.com/features/editorials/rollplaying/ RPG Planet]
* [http://www.omgn.com/news.php?Item_ID=3299 OMGN (Online Multiplayer Games Network) News]
* [http://errno.gmm.com.au/mytharria/?page=about&style=uo Mytharria: Deliverance information website]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/bc2/mytharria/intro.html Archived Mytharria Peoples Page website]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/mytharria/ New Mytharria Peoples Page website]