View source for History of Arelith

#REDIRECT [[Main_Page]]

== Timeline ==

* 23 BR (Before Arelith Reckoning) - The Time of Arrival  
:// May 2003 - The very beginning

* 0 AR (Arelith Reckoning) - Arelith Reckoning  
:// April 2005 - Server Split

* 2-4 AR - Stonehold-Cordor/Benwick/Drow wars 
:// June/July/August 05

* 6 AR - The New Order - Silent Hand strongest grasp over Cordor 
:// November 05

* 8 AR - The Fall of Hand - Death of Ulrich Manes and defeat of Silent Hand
:// January 06

* 13 AR - Destruction and Reconstruction of Stonehold
:// June 06

* 14 AR - Death of Aristotlus Bibliophilius the Fifth 
:// July 06

* 15 AR - The Fall of sharran Keth and Dukes raise to power in Cordor 
:// August 06

* 17 AR - The Fall of Giovanni
:// November 06



== History of Arelith and the great Divide ==
: ''(written by Fire Boar)''

In the beginning, Arcimedies made Arelith. Oneday and Jjjerm joined him, with Jjjerm acting as the host. A small team, just a few players. Then Jjjerm brought in Artos, who in turn brought in JPavelchik, and this team of five went on to create Arelith 1.

Then Oneday and Arcimedies had to leave due to Real Life, so Jjjerm stepped up to become team leader, with Artos and JPavelchik working on areas and scripting.

Arelith became more popular, and it soon became clear that what was there, was not to be. So in their infinite wisdom, the Powers That Be pretty much redid everything from scratch, and after much toil, Arelith 2 was born.

There was a rift, however, and it became clear that JPavelchik and one section of the playerbase had a different set of ideas about what the server should become to Jjjerm, Artos and another section. So the Powers That Be decided to divide the server, so each group of players would have a place which suited them best. JPavelchik left with a copy of Arelith 2 under his belt and started Amia, developing it to his whims with a friend. And Amia grew, and there was much merriment and joy. And Arelith prospered and grew, separated from its sister.

But all was not well. As Arelith grew, the scripts that worked for 10 players would exhibit astronomical levels of lag for 50 players. So the Powers That Be, in their wisdom, recruited Gigaschatten as a fellow Power That Be, and he, in his newfound wisdom, crafted the Gigaschatten Persistent World Engine, and Arelith 2 was reborn as Arelith 3. And the people did rejoice, for it was a good Engine, and offered much that was new and interesting.

== Details and Clarifications ==
: ''(written by Jjjerm)''

This is in essence very accurate, with a few small corrections. Initially, I was host and area creator. I realized how silly it was of me to continue to do areas the day Artos sent me his first area submission, and the torch was passed with great eagerness to Artos, whom I still consider as the most talented area designer in nwn today (and a righteous dood, to boot). JP didn't come on RIGHT when Artos did officially, but a few weeks/months later as a "assistant scripter", ironically, before we realized that he was more talented in that field than anyone we'd come across to date at that time.

The worst astronomical level of lag came between version 1 and 2, specifically when we hit 18 players regularly. That was a huge event for us (since before we had about 1-5 on) spiritually, but also mechanically because a lot of the stuff that worked GREAT with less people on started blowing up the server...so that's when the first total overhaul happened. There have been quite a few complete overhauls since then, actually, but that one almost broke us.

During that critical 1.5 phase, we were all working our butts off, but it should be noted that without JP's scripting efforts, Arelith (and by extension Amia, which would never have been born) wouldn't have been able to sustain the level of players that made BOTH of the servers a success.

Directly before the split, there was a little drama that resulted in lines being drawn in the sand that JP and I couldn't agree on. It remains my top personal regret in all of my years as a developer/administrator that we were unable to resolve our points of view with each other rationally because there wasn't really any personal dislike (speaking for myself) between us, just a difference in opinion on the direction of the server and the quality/character of one specific player. It should be noted that (contrary to some opinions that I have heard stated) there was absolutely no theft involved on JP's part. I considered him and artos 1/3 owners each, and when we disagreed on direction he was not only given but entitled to be given the copy of Arelith that went on to begin Amia. To me, it was very much a case of "there ain't no good guys...there ain't no bad guys...there's just you and me, and we just disagree." This is an easier thing to look back upon than to go through, though.

It was a time that was charged emotionally for a lot of folks, but in retrospect despite the growing pains that it caused and the personal strain, it was the best thing for the server and the players for two reasons: 1. It created two seperate RP options with different styles to appeal to different players along with the capacity to better serve more players, and 2. It helped to develop me personally as a leader and forced me to define my vision of the server more clearly to myself and the staff, and without those things Arelith would be an entirely different experience, for good or ill.

I've said numerous times that when we started out we really didn't know what we are doing. This event really helped define my perception of what I wanted Arelith to become, and formed my resolve on how I would go about it.
As with most things, time heals all wounds. Folks grow personally, and their perspectives change with the gaining of wisdom. Those times are long past, and the current Amia devs and host are great folks, and we chat sporadically about techy stuff and such (The host of amia has built the coolest desktop that I have ever seen, truly...I've seen the pics and specs). Both dev groups were amused to hear as we chatted that a lot of things that we each were working on separately were paralleling each other.

In the end, I am very pleased at both our success, and the success of our offspring.

I am very pleased at the quality of the server now (it's incomparable, IMO) and the guys that I'm fortunate enough to get to work with on it. I think the player base is beyond compare in quality overall, and we continue to make progress to fulfilling our vision as a server. I hope that personal insight has been helpful and answered you question.