The Isles is dedicated to the fond memory
of
Christopher "Surreal" Woodward
WHAT THE ISLES REALLY IS:
Answers to common questions
The Isles is a way to interact. It combines
traditional text-based interfaces with graphics and sound to produce a new
way to roleplay and interact with hundreds of other users across the internet.
It is a constantly changing environment with real physics and real politics.
The Isles offers its user a new persona, which is then deposited in the world
ready to stand and fight against all that oppose that user's agenda.
Does the Isles require any software?
NO. There is an optional client
available for many different platforms, but in order to make sure that anyone,
anywhere can use our service, trusty old telnet is all that is required.
What is the theme of The Isles?
The Isles takes place in a fictional world called
Tyselorrd, specifically on Rygor Isle. It is a place of tyranny where one
king is a shining jewel among the darkest of coal. Users play the roles of
various citizens of the realm of King Rygor, the most peaceful and advanced
of all the Kingdoms. For more information, check out our Information
page.
How can I get involved?
Telnetting to our main server is how you can
apply for a character. Currently, characters are reviewed and then approved
or rejected within 72 hours. This process will be changed in the future,
but for now you must submit a character and wait for an application to be
approved or rejected.
Who is Locke?
Locke is the pseudonym, or handle, of the Project
Coordinator of the Isles. He is also its conceiver and one of the original
founding members of the development team. His real name is Herbert Gilliland.
For more information on Locke, check out his home
page.
A BRIEF HISTORY:
The Origins of The Isles
The origins of The Isles began in 1992 when two teenagers,
Chris "Surreal" Woodward and Herb "Locke" Gilliland, began to
work on their own MUD, at the time called CthulhuMUD. Drawing on their
experience programming for BBS software, the duo began to develop features
such as ANSI color support, online editing software, ritualistic magick
systems, and other innovative changes to their server. This was one of the first
times ansi color codes were added to Diku-derived mud servers, and gained the
MUD a small following of loyal fellow mudders.
As 1992 came to a close, CthulhuMUD was attacked by hackers
and forced to close. Having seen their work dissolved, Surreal and Locke moved
away from coding muds and began to explore various other servers. They found
haven at DuneMUSH, one of the most successful roleplaying MUSHes, which
opened them up to new ideas and more advanced code bases.
1993: The year that Kalgen's MUD, Zebesta, was
going into heavy development and showed both Surreal and Locke what a "good
mud" was. The two were honing their programming skills and creating a new
server to replace the recently discontinued "Merc Industries" server called
Merc-Diku. Their goal was to create an often updated, Diku-derived MUD server
package, called NiMUD. This is during the period where most development was
taking place alongside AldaraMUD, working with Morgenes to develop
the code.
Surreal left for Penn State in late 1994, but Locke was able
to keep the concept of The Isles alive. Under Kalgen's instruction, Locke found
his code straying more and more away from its distribution goals. Soon The Isles
closed its doors to the public, and followed a steady two year development plan
that ended up with a new, more robust server. Now Locke was focusing on integrating
the software with his theme concepts -- and thus what we now call The Isles
is conceived.
1995: The final release of NiMUD was distributed. Known as
"The Isles v1.6", it was the most powerful server released at the time along
the lineage of NiMUD, but its release was only to replace its extremely buggy
predecessor, v1.5.
The "Long Overhaul" began -- the code was systematically broken
down and rewritten. Each file was processed completely, and the entire project
took 6 months. Began in 1995, and ending in 1996, the new server went up at
the "sauron" machine at the University of Arizona.
1996: Major development on the code was being done almost exclusively
by Locke. In order to increase development speed, Locke hired Newt, an
implementor on a very unique Gibsonian-Lovecraftian mud called Gothique.
Newt helped to develop some of the systems present in The Isles today, but his
stay was shortened by Locke's growing lethargy and ignorance of the project.
Without further development pending, Locke left the project behind.
1997: Omar Yehia ported The Isles to Windows 95. Jason Dinkel
converted the v1.6 online creation system to EnvyMUD.
1998: Lying dorment for two years, the project resurfaces when
Locke contacts Newman of grokMUD. Newman has been a long time
fan of the NiMUD code base, and offers her server, MUGS, as a host
site for The Isles.
1999: NiMUD 2000 and NiMUD Gold
version 4.0 released.