Farewell to the North Underdark

Vendrin · Post by **Vendrin** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:43 am

All good things must come to an end. It was a good run, I'd like to thank Faeryl for doing most of the work on the mod. Regas and Acadius for hosting, Ravin, Ascendo, Greenlance, and other dms who helped form the server. I'd like to thank the players who played on it, especially mik and zak who were there from the beginning, but also big thanks to Burt, mago and Tergrash for playing major parts in the storyline.

Anyways, my dming days for ALFA are over, but I'll be putting up and hosting a weekly nwn1 planes campaign that starts in the abyss. Will be starting at lv 15 in the abyss in Azzagrat, so let me know if any one is interested

Mikayla · Post by **Mikayla** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:13 am

“Farewell to the North Underdark.” The words literally bring tears to my eyes. When I first found ALFA years ago, the server was called “Menzoberranzan.” Marklos was the HDM, ALFA was in Beta and I was but an applicant whose application got lost. Marklos brought be in as an ADM for the Menzo server and suddenly I was an ALFAn. I spent the next 2 1/2 years or so intermittently DMing on Daggerdale, on the Bright Blades Quest across almost all of ALFA, and on the Silver Marches in the Tunnel without Truth campaign, but during all that time, I was building on Menzoberranzan.

We had our ups and downs to be sure. After Marklos and Heero left I became the HDM and after awhile, I was the sole Menzo DM for months; though there is probably no one more dedicated to the drow than I, even my enthusiasm began to die as I spent night after night in the toolset trying to get Menzo built. Eventually, new team members joined and old team members, like Faeryl, came back. In time we merged with our sister-project, Ched Nasad, and the North Underdark server was born. I passed the title of HDM off and building resumed. But it was not to last. One by one real-life claimed the DMs of the North Underdark project until I resumed the title of HDM. With the help of Vendrin and Faeryl, our team was finally able to get the server Live!

In the meantime, my frustration with the toolset and my burn-out with DMing nearly led me to quit ALFA altogether – but then I found playing. Yes, simple playing. That saved my “career” as an ALFAn. I was committed to bringing an Underdark server to Live in ALFA – that was the promise I made to ALFA when I joined and I meant to live up to it – but I found that playing was where my heart lay, not building or DMing.

And so the moment North Underdark went Live, I resigned as HDM, and Vendrin took over.

And what a ride he took us on. I had a lot of hopes when I joined ALFA; I had a lot more when I became a player. Chief among them was the hope that I would be able to play a Lolth worshipping drow priestess in the Underdark. I dared not hope for adventures the likes of which are written about in WotC’s novels – but that is what was delivered. Shortly after my PC arrived on North Underdark, Vendrin started his version of the Silence of Lolth – and hell was unleashed upon us. A civil war; a silent goddess; a vengeful demon-lord; heretic houses.

I can honestly say it was a grander, more epic campaign than I had ever actually hoped for.

I am tempted to thank all of those who I played with, who made it such a great ride, but this thread is about the server and its passing. And so I will focus on that – I love and hate this server. I hate it because I hated building it; it was an anchor around my neck; an unbearable burden my sense of commitment to ALFA would not let me shake. But I love it too, because it is the sandbox I have always wanted to play in; because its DMs are some of the best I’ve ever played with; because, well, it made my fantasies come true.

I have heard it said that our creations are like our children. North Underdark is like that for me – like a parent I helped create and raise the server, and when it was grown, I enjoyed its company. Its end is ... well ... it is very sad for me. I am so glad to have had the chance to play on it though, and so glad others did as well even if not every story ended as well as Sheyreiza’s.

Aluve’ North Underdark, I will miss you. And Vendrin, bela’dos abbil - see you in the planes!

Rick7475 · Post by **Rick7475** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:22 am

Never been, but it sure sounded like it was a fun ride. I am glad we had representation for the Underdark and all the fantasy culture associated with it.

Take care NU.

Vaelahr · Post by **Vaelahr** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:51 am

I played very briefly in NU, maybe three or four weeks, but quit as I focused on learning the ropes of DMing in Daggerford. What I saw in that short experience however was solid immersive gameplay, which is my primary expectation in ALFAn play. Like Rick said, I was glad to see such an important FR region represented (and represented well), and sad too to see it now come to an end.

Aluve' har'oloth. Oloth tlu xuil dos.

Magonushi · Post by **Magonushi** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:10 am

Though my interest in the underdark has waxed and waned like the seasons, each time I returned to those nether regions it felt like coming home after a long trek. Now it's all gone and I can't help but feel like I should have returned once more before that refuge finally sealed shut its doors.

Thank you, everyone, who made this server possible. There truly was no other place like it.

Lusipher · Post by **Lusipher** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:16 am

Take care Vendrin! I know a lot of folks enjoyed your Dming. Are you just stepping down from Dming or from ALFA as a whole?

indio · Post by **indio** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:08 am

This server smashed the 'There'll never be an ALFA Underdark server' curse into bits. I could never understand the drow types myself, but there's no doubting their ambition and accomplishments. Well done.

Vendrin · Post by **Vendrin** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:09 am

Danubus wrote:Take care Vendrin! I know a lot of folks enjoyed your Dming. Are you just stepping down from Dming or from ALFA as a whole?

I'll be hovering around, but I don't envision myself playing again till a NWN2 server is up, though I'll probably do some beta testing to get used to the interface.

Mizbiz · Post by **Mizbiz** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:31 am

Wow. Great server, great run.

Holy_Rage · Post by **Holy_Rage** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:15 pm

*raises a duergar Stout to NU's health*

Long loved, my ALFA preferable server. A place of dark dreams and seething plotting, created and run by afficionados for afficionados. My favorite little dark home, where nothing was as it seemed.

Thank you team NU for the pure thrill I've been offered in the time I spent there. It was a fine run and the memories left are vibrant and clerished. Big big thanks to Vendrin, Ascendo, Ravin and of course, Faeryl. Thank you all fellow Underdarkers, a special one to every PC Tergrash hated, insulted, feared, loved and killed.

My only regret? Never having seen Gracklstugh. Oh well, I guess something has to be left for NWN2, right?

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:50 pm

Ah, tis a shame and a celebration at once. I will regret not having visited NU. Regardless, have to give kudos to anyone who keeps the game going for the rest of us. Well done, rest easy.

Burt · Post by **Burt** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:46 pm

Dizamn. Many a fun night had on NU. Shame to see her go.

Pharaun is waiting in the Abyss to murder you all.

Souvarine · Post by **Souvarine** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:32 pm

Heh funniest part for me is that i played drow for almost 2 years until the underdark server came live, then i abandoned all interest in playing a drow...go figure.

So anyways, Vendrin, i did have some cool shots with ya, means i ain't really happy to see you go, but to be honest i thought you would one day want more freedom to get planar stuff around...so it ain't really a surprise here. You were the dm that put drow in my alfa for a while (for me that was skullport, and then wherever we did that surface thing...shadowdale?)

Watch your back

Mikayla · Post by **Mikayla** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:46 pm

Burt:

Pharaun is waiting in the Abyss to murder you all.

Oh! We're practically neighbors now.

**Sends Pharaun her new address in Zelatar on Azzagrat.**

**Then smiles wickedly and points to her new boyfriend, the large, black skinned man with 6-fingers...**

Faeryl · Post by **Faeryl** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:31 pm

How sad this feels.

Real life finaly pulled me away from NU. But I've been checking back from time to time, hoping that maybe I could come back, either to NU or to the fuure NWN2_27_Northdark server.

Seeing the dream finally fade away feels ... well ...sad and anti-climatic. I spent a number of years of my life working on this server. But, I understand. I have become a shadow of the past, and in the end, our shadows are but a passing thing.

Take care Ven dear, Mika my love, and all who made NU what it came to be. IMHO, You were the best DM team in ALFA.

Is the NWN2 Underdark still alive...at all? Inny, you still waiting for me to come back? I may, you know, if you will bow to my matronly awesomeness. Give me a few more months. Then, who knows what might happen.

Ven, you rock, and I've always thought of you as ALFA's best HDM. Now, how about finding a way to get me the final version of NU ... for old times sake ... and so that I can finally show my husband why he had to eat chinese take out and pizza for dinner so many times over the past years. I never let hin see the Mod ... just in case he ever wanted to join ALFA.

Aluve' abillen. Usstan orn kyorl lu' jiv'elgg dos wun l' rendan.

Faeryl (aka Matron Shessar)