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The Prelude is Over
Simply put, Escaped from the Underdark: Archipelago is not just a game server, but it is an intelligently conceived and elegantly built work of art.
EfU began in the fall of 2005 as an attempt to build and maintain the best possible NWN story-based roleplaying server that we could manage given the limitations of the engine while using no HAKs. We wanted to push the envelope in terms of designing an immersive world and encouraging new heights of cooperative story-telling and roleplay based conflict. We wanted our setting to compel players to create richly-characterized characters that would have opportunities for unprecedented impact on the game world. We wanted the world to evolve and change, and for RP'ed actions to have major consequences, to watch stories that would be as entertaining as those found in theater or fiction, and to produce something which we in EfU often simply call only the Awesome.
Although EFU has always been a flawed server, it has always been a successful one. Although our dark setting, extreme challenge, emphasis on conflict-RP, and steep learning curve unfortunately turned many new players away, the playerbase has always been large and active (player population typically reaching at least 30+ every day). The setting (a dismal settlement called Sanctuary located within the underdark, populated by escaped slaves and their descendents) evolved and changed dramatically over time. Plots and intrigue flourished in ways that exceeded our expectations. We worked hard to make the server the best it could be.
From the start, a major emphasis in the server was that of characters managing to actually escape the Underdark, and thus find a satisfactory (and permanent) conclusion to their character. Many tried, many failed, but some few managed to succeed. In the spring of 2008, the EFU DM team decided to prepare to shift our setting from entirely Underdark-based to including those areas based on the surface above. In short, we wanted to give the town of Sanctuary an opportunity to escape. We wanted to take advantage of NWN's surface-content (especially that which Bioware was introducing in the 1.69 patch) and build a fresh-server that incorporating the best of the old but avoided our mistakes. Although we were proud of Escape from the Underdark, we wanted Escaped from the Underdark: Archipelago to be much, much better.
In the Summer of 2008, the EFU DM team kicked into high-gear our building efforts while simultaneously trying to give EFU the kind of plot-intensive death it deserved. Significant effort was made to resolve complex plots that had been developing for years. Finally, in September, we transitioned from Escape from the Underdark to Escaped from the Underdark: Archipelago. Our three year prelude was over, and much more of the Awesome awaits.
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