This is beautiful! It's also my new desktop wallpaper.

Thank you for doing such a gorgeous job!

Wonderful! I had been looking at the maps and hoping for an updated one. :)

One thing that has always made me wonder though is what is the island due west of Tamzyrr and south-southwest of Kharam Dzu?

I was thinking the same thing! Maybe Briarmoon Cove is something new? Fantastic Job on this map!

Even sweeter!
Just an elf about town...

I just now stumbled upon this... I understand it is kinda a smaller item compared to a lot of the other releases, but I still think it deserves a spot on the official announcements. I for one find this more then moderately awesome.

Tal.

Is Briarmoon Cove the unannounced Cold Winter Days event?


Clunk

(Buy your swords at CBD weapons in Zul Logoth.)

I didn't see anything that specifically mentioned 'dwarves' in this, but it did incline me towards posting here now that Haliste posted her purty map. There's some good politico/geographical info summarized.

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Category Cities & Towns (8)
Topic Ruin Creek (20)
Message Re: Dead (sigh) (121)
By CAPOZZOM@PLAY.NET
On Oct 18, 1999 at 01:47

This is a pretty long post, but I'd really like for the GMs to read this and hopefully reconsider scrapping Ruin Creek.

What is the reason for Ruin Creek being scrapped anyway? Didn't Ruin Creek play a somewhat important role with the Vvrael story? It was where Malaphor gated Tindal, along with the baby Daephron Illian (who is the one that mistakenly unleashed the Vvrael to begin with) to Wehnimer's Landing from. Had that never happened, the Landing probably never would have even seen the Vvrael...at least, not until it was too late anyway.

In addition to Ruin Creek's historical value with the Vvrael quest, it also seems to be where Half-Elves first came from (In an except from a history file telling about the Vvrael from the beginning when Daephron Illian mistakenly unleashed them, there was a line in a part about Ruin Creek that said: Together, however, the humans and elves managed to survive and prosper, blending their races in the years that followed.) All the other races are supposed to be getting their own "town" sooner or later, but what about Half-Elves? Don't you think that based on history files, that Ruin Creek would be the most suited place for a Half-Elven town? Granted, it was originally inhabited by humans, but you get my drift I hope.

Back to Ruin Creek's historical value with the Vvrael, I've included a file I dug up. It's a log (and some notes on Ruin Creek) from Merlock. It happened a long time ago, but regardless, it still happened:

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "You know...that how I got Tindal over to the Landing from Ruin Creek." [this was in referance to Familiar gate]

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "I am indeed Malaphor."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "Why, Tindal was my apprentice, where else would he be, but in Ruin Creek with me?

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "My workshop, my life was in Ruin Creek. Tis there that the black knight struck me down, and tis there that I gated Tindal to here from."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "My tomes and the notes of Illian himself were destroyed when the black knight came to seek out the babe Daephron, so I leave this knowledge to you to pass on."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "Many many years later when the House Faendryl was seeking a reconciliation with the House Ashrim, a marriage was arranged between Rythwier Faendryl's eldest daughter Chesylcha, and a prince of the Ashrim. Before Chesylcha set sail to Ta'Ashrim, the Faendryl had sent many gifts to the Ashrim in preparation for the wedding and the celebration that would have ensued."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "Amongst those gifts was a small enruned modwir box. How it came to be there, I don't know, but it was there. At the time, it was of unknown origin, but unsurpassed beauty in its craftsmanship. It was a popular gift at the time, these Faendryl "puzzle" boxes..."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "The box was placed in the hands of an advisor to the prince for safekeeping. After Chesylcha's ship disappeared and the Faendryl launched their attack on Ta'Ashrim, a small band of Ashrim fled with one of the patriarch's line. The advisor and the box were on that ship."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "I know this to be true, for I was that advisor."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "Our ship sailed for many days and just when our supplies had dwindled and our spirits were at their lowest, we landed on the southern tip of a small continent, somewhat to the north of what you know as Teras Isle."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "There we found a small town by the name of Ruin Creek. It was inhabited by humans mainly, but they took us in and as time went by our two races mingled together, banding together for survival and for the bond of love."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "And survival was at issue...for we were walled in by many threats...the Krolvin empire to the far north, the Talkyn empire to the far northwest, the trolls of Grr'Tok to the west and beyond that, the flaming spire of Cinghin'fer"

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "Because Ruin Creek was so far from the seat of power of the Krolvin and Talkryn empires, we were left alone, but the trolls raided Ruin Creek mercilessly."

You hear the ghostly voice of an old man say, "This black knight, was one of the Vvrael's corrupted human agents...like Terate, but not nearly so. It was a terrible battle, but he slew me and destroyed my workshop and all my tomes. The knight seized the box from my hands, while Tindal fled with the babe through the familiar gate that I opened as I died."

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Remember, these are just excerpts from the log.. Lines which relate to Ruin Creek, it is not the log in its entirety. Malaphor visited for two reasons: The main reason was to explain to the Chosen about Terate, how he was imbued with anti-mana, and the Rift. The second reason was to talk about Ruin Creek.

So far, what we know about Ruin Creek is thus:

- It is north of Teras Isle.
- It is surrounded by armies of enemies, including:
-- The Krolvin Empire (to the far north)
-- The Talkyn Empire (to the far northwest)
-- The Trolls of Grr'tok (to the west)
-- Cinghin'fer's flaming spire (to the far west)
- The Krolvin and Talkyn empire were so far away that the Creek was left alone
- The Trolls invade(d) the Creek.
- It was inhabited by humans before the Ashrim landed there.
- The Ashrim and Humans lived together and mingled, in peace.
- Malaphor and Tindal set up a Workshop in the Creek.
- The Vvrael sent a Black Knight after Malaphor because he had found Daephron, and also had the box.
- The Knight killed Malaphor, just after a gate was created so Tindal could come to the landing.
- Malaphor's bone's probably still are rotting there.

To take a place like Ruin Creek which has an important historical value to the lands and just suddenly pretend it never existed would leave a big void in Elanthian history. For one, how would someone tell the Vvrael story if Ruin Creek suddenly never existed?

Even if it would be a very long time before Ruin Creek was brought into the game as a place where players could actually go, it would still be better than having the entire place scrapped completely. It certainly wouldn't hurt the game one bit to eventually "build" it, that's for sure.

Also, with the mainland (especially the Landing) becoming incredibly overcrowded with new adventurers, Ruin Creek would make for a good "mainland" as well. It could be an alternative place for new adventurers to start out instead of the usual Landing or Icemule (which would help control the overpopulation), and/or would also be an excellent place for post-rift hunting grounds, much like Teras Isle was when it first opened to the oldest people in the lands at the time who had nothing left to learn off of. And with all the empires surrounding Ruin Creek (Krolvin Empire to the north, Talkyn Empire to the northwest, the Trolls of Grr'tok to the west, and Cinghin'fer's flaming spire to the far west), it would open up many new opportunities for long-term quests. Trolls made raids on Ruin Creek frequently, which would also be a quick and easy setup for invasions (In other words, a "normal" invasion on Ruin Creek would be from Trolls -- something not terribly unexpected by those who live there, but enough to provide some excitement other than the normal everyday activities.

All in all, Ruin Creek should definately NOT be tossed into the trash. It's historical value with the Vvrael, origination of the Half-Elves, potential for hunting grounds, other storylines for new quests, towns, etc. etc. is just too great to scrap.

I'd like to hear some of you GMs' thought on my post, as well as anyone else who read this. I know it was very long and I apologize for that, but Ruin Creek is a place I've been looking forward to for a very long time, and to hear that its going to be thrown away has me pretty disturbed. Thanks for reading, and all comments are welcome.

Methais and his player.

Likewise, when GM Liia was guru of Teras, she also had some plans for Ruined Creek that unfortunately never made it through to release, either.

It's an interesting place, though, probably some of the history as related in-game would need to be examined for consistency with documented history published since those events. For example, the half-elf history document, makes no mention of it (which isn't a bad thing, but it does decisively state that the origins of half-elves pretty much come from humans and elves being close to each other for millenia). We also have the oddity of an empire that was never mentioned again to the northwest of the island, and the placement of the krolvin empire that seems more in-line with the idea of ice krolvin than regular krolvin, who have been established being from the west.

As GM Wyrom pointed out, it's on the map, it's not going anywhere within the consciousness of the world of Elanthia, but there's truly no knowing when or if it will ever become a place to be visited, and when it does become a place to be visited, it will likely not match up exactly with the information that was passed on approximately 16 years ago (along the inconsistencies noted above, for example).

GM Scribes

Clearly, the solution is an enormous world map, with all of the continents on it.

(Just trolling.) ;)

- Xorus' player

This is fantastic, thank you!

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Malikh runs around in little circles, nodding his head so that the wings of his yellow duck hat flap in the wind. Does he think he is going to fly or something?