|
Author(s): Harken, Thieryn, Aderyn
Date Added: 7/6/09
Last Modified: 7/6/09
Aedolyn From the Beginning...From Scribbles in a Notebook The concept of Aedolyn as the non-typical high-fantasy realm has always been something I’ve wanted to pursue. I was always irked by the fact that each element of fantasy realms had certain stereotypical molds they had, or were expected, to fit. I envisioned a world that was completely unique and not simply a “copy, paste” sort of place. It is my goal to have every aspect of Aedolyn be tied somehow to the fundamentals of the realm and avoid a loose conglomeration of typical fantasy concepts that are the same from site to site.
Aedolyn started off very slow. I was the sole engine of the place for so long but not much got accomplished since I have a distinct lack of techy skills; nevertheless, Aedolyn remained in the back of my mind and I was always developing new concepts and ideas for it. My phases of enthusiasm would come and go and this continued for about six months. I had a plethora of ideas to the point that I had thought about almost every aspect of what I wanted GoA to be but nothing ever materialized. School, work, and life took priority and so GoA had to be pushed back until I had time again. Strangely enough, every time I put my roleplaying hobby on hold I tend to think about it more and more until I decided to dive back in. This last dive, in particular, has been great. Aedolyn has gone up and beyond what I had rationalized and has become what I had hoped it would be and I can credit this to one person, Jesse (Thieryn).
I don’t remember exactly how I convinced Jesse to join this project of mine, but he and I worked as a team and finally got the ball rolling. He encouraged me and fueled my enthusiasm to the point where GoA actually began to materialize and I realized that this site could actually become what I had planned. We worked on it for several months bugging each other constantly to get things done. Together we brought GoA to life.
It wasn’t long until we roped in Andy (Aderyn) and then Paul (Jarucas). At this point I realized that we had assembled the dream team. We all had considerable back experience and so we knew what to avoid and how things work about these kinds of sites. That is yet another way in which Aedolyn is unique, structurally.
Now, after over a year of development and preparation, I’m proud to open GoA. I’m happy to be able to share my concept and hopefully we’ll build a close community here. Enjoy experiencing it, because I definitely enjoyed creating it.
Stuart Weaver (Harken)
Founder, Owner, and Administrator of GoA
Mission Statement; Why You Should Join GoATime Travel The most unique feature of GoA is what it receives its name from—the fives gates of Aedolyn and resultant time travel. While the present age, the 6th, will remain constant, time travel allows players to go back in time and participate in Aedolyn’s history for months at a time. This provides a nearly endless amount of story opportunities and roleplay you will be hard-pressed to find is getting old. Because Aedolyn is semi post-apocalyptic in the 6th age, an appropriate analogy that has been submitted to us for time travel is that it is the crack that allows characters to escape from the “real world”.Quality Roleplay All members are held to a high caliber of roleplay, and this is largely possible because of what happens before anyone can begin—the character application process. This is the entrance examination, if you will, of GoA. We make sure that character concepts are thought out, meet the rules, and fit the setting; basically all the required information in the Character Creation Guide. Not only that, but through this process, players will become acquainted with (if they are not already) our standards of writing and style. We have extremely helpful and tolerant Character Advisors in place that will work with you on this for as long as you need.Experience As of the opening of GoA, all of us—Harken, the Administrator, Thieryn and Aderyn, the Counsellors, and our significant contributor Jarucas—have had prior experience on fantasy, play-by-post roleplay forums; between us, over 20 years. The four of us have seen what works and what doesn’t, and are all very passionate about GoA. While we want both new and experienced players alike to join us, you can rest assured that there will always be someone who knows what they're doing. We have also organized an efficient system for future staff known as the Council of Elders, which has four spheres: Character, Community, Development, and Technical.Staff Transparency GoA recognizes that it is regular members’ creativity and effort that is integral to its success, and ultimately what will make this an outstanding site. The moderators are trustees for the community, not overlords. This is why the Council of Elders boards have been made viewable to everyone, with a private board to be used sparingly in which all information will eventually be made public. Furthermore, we want all members involved. Everyone is encouraged to post any questions, thoughts or ideas they may have in the appropriate board, or to contact an Advisor or Counsellor. We want there to be no unreasonable barriers to anyone contributing.A Planned Out World As you have read in Harken’s introduction, the Aedolyn setting has been the fruit of more than a year’s worth of labor. The history of Aedolyn is very important, and everything about GoA stems from it. Time travel and races are also unique. All of this information can be accessed in Aeonica, GoA’s easy-to-use, wiki style library. While much of Aedolyn is already detailed, it is also a world still in progress. When approaching new content, we want to ensure that all additions are thoroughly consistent with the existing setting, and promote detail but avoid excess. We have a list of people and places that need to be fleshed out in the Realm Development board, and we would greatly appreciate any help you have to offer.Our Own Place on the Web Finally, unlike other roleplay forums you may have been on before, GoA is not hosted on someone else’s site, nor does GoA use prepackaged themes and software. We have our own domain, our own server, and a customized interface. Our resident technomancer, Thieryn, is wise in the ways of PHP, HTML, FTP and database management, and other such foreign concepts to us plebeians. Basically, GoA is not at the whim of factors out of our control. We are here to stay for many years to come.
Andrew Green (Aderyn)
Founding Member and Counsellor of GoA
Get Started Today We have outlined three easy steps in the Welcome Guide to quickly and easily get you started here at GoA.
|
