One breezy morning in Elysium, a dwarf wandered into the Plaza of Seasons and demanded: “Take me to your Senate!”

In Ysallyra, the Sentinel of the Woods accosted a couple of passers-by, saying: “Something is rotten along the Way of Earth.”

And in the piratical town of Baresh, a man of savage demeanour and the bearing of a knight turned upon two crafters who had approached him, one hand on his sword…

With that, groups of warriors, negotiators and scholars from every realm embarked upon separate quests that would each lead to their own city gaining new fame; new power; a new breath of life. The Elysian Senate gathered its might and rode to war in the burning sands of the Arinoch Desert. The secretive clans of Ysallyra delved deep into the caverns beneath their shadowy forest. The Masters of Golgonath turned to their city’s ancient past and reached out for powers long-forgotten, yet still as potent as the first day they awoke.

One by one, these efforts bore rich fruit. At the edge of Arinoch, Elysium’s forces routed the slavers of Lymr, freeing their erstwhile captives - prospectors of Monadh-Dach, who had been seized by the nomads as they sought out new riches in the desert sands. The High King of the dwarves rewarded their assistance with knowledge, sending his master runesmith to found a new guild in Elysium - and thus the Runesmiths came into being.

In Ysallyra, long-lost caverns came once more to the light of day, a warren of magic and mystery overtaken by monstrous beasts of shadow. As the creatures fell one by one to the blades of the clan warriors, so the original inhabitants of the caverns emerged - the Shamans whose magic had long protected Ysallyra. Recognising the need for their knowledge to be passed on rather than kept buried, the earth mages agreed to take on new pupils - and so the Shamans came at last to their rightful place among the clans.

In Golgonath, a disaffected templar approached the Masters of the city, urging them to seek greater power still than what they already wielded. The ancient pact of the demonic realm and the Underworld surged once more to the forefront: once again a gate was opened for the greatest inhabitants of Bralnok’s fiery realm to reach into this plane. One by one, the ambitious, the chaotic, the savage, grasped the power thus offered, yielding their souls in exchange with a willingness bordering on glee - and thus the Black Legion was born.

What will the future of these young and untried forces be? The hope they each represent for their realms is an inchoate thing, tangible yet formless, incandescent with the future yet overshadowed by the baggage of the past. Only time will tell, as one by one the new guilds and their members settle into place as interwoven components of the ongoing, unending story that is - Akanbar.

The night sky split with a deafening concussion. Two beams of light, one smoking red, the other icy blue, speared down from the moons overhead to strike the land. And then, as if the beams were conduits that drained the energy of the moons away, the auras around both moons began to fade and dim…

With that, a year-long period of turmoil and portent was finally brought to a close by a group of clever and persistent adventurers from the cities of Ysallyra and Elysium, and the land breathed a sigh of relief, freed from the ominous magical workings that had hung over it for so long.

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In the year 283, two sorceresses sharing the same surname appeared in cities at opposite ends of the land. It quickly became clear that these two women, twins by the name of Shora and Sehalla Conforius, were on the continent for one purpose - the defeat and death of the other. To this end they bent the very laws of nature to their wills, casting spells of tremendous power that brought the two moons of Akanbar under their control. The result was the most horrendous weather since the Dragon Wars, a time of unending torrential rains, raging tides and devastating floods, while in the skies above the moons blazed with auras of fire and ice.

Eventually, seeing that their struggle was deadlocked - for the sisters were equal in power just as they were identical in appearance - the younger twin, Sehalla, fled the continent for the ancestral lands of House Conforius, which lie on the distant Carmena Isles. Shora pursued her, and the sisters passed out of sight and knowledge of man. But their work did not, and the unnatural weather raged on unchecked.

Finally, spurred onwards by prophecies that the mystics of their cities had unearthed, parties of adventurers from each realm set sail for the Carmena Isles. There, they believed, they would be able to find the sorceresses who had wreaked havoc with nature and compel them to undo their spells.

Sure enough, they found the Conforius sisters - changed to pillars of salt by each other’s magics, frozen forever in the wasteland their battles had made of their ancestral holdings. Unable to pry the secret of the weather from them, the adventurers had to set forth to find their own solution.

With help from the people of Carmena, the party managed to unearth the secret of nullification magic. They created an orb of nullification, which when invoked absorbed the greater part of the weather spells - draining away much of the unnatural aura around Akanbar’s moons, and allowing the natural balance to slowly restore itself.

Thus the crisis was averted, and the land set safe once more. But on the far Carmena Isles two pillars of salt still stand, memorial to the violence that blood siblings may do upon each other in the name of power.

In recent developments, travellers from the city of Elysium were stranded in a Travanok establishment by the prevalent heavy rains. They found themselves sharing a table with a one-legged sea captain, who in turn shared his tale with them over a mug of ale. So enthralling were his accounts of adventure on the high seas, that the travellers found themselves drawn to follow in his footsteps. Learning the ways of the sea from him, they set about acquiring a ship of their own, and shortly were afloat.

In the course of exploring the coastline, they came across an inlet leading up to Baresh, an old outpost of Golgonath which was lost during the Dragon Wars. Now a town of piracy and slavery, Baresh is independent, but still open to alliance with its old masters.

Word of even more distant lands followed suit on the rediscovery of Baresh: hidden rivers, secret coves and even isles clear across the Great Western Ocean. These tales inspired many other adventurers, and before long a veritable armada of privately-owned sailing ships was quartering the high seas in the search for new places, new faces and, of course, new gold. What lands will be unearthed by our intrepid explorers? Keep an eye on the tides for the news!

A closed-door conference between the major banks of Akanbar has led to a very significant change in the Akanbarian currency. From using a system based on gold coins alone, the economy of the land will now turn on three different values of coin: copper, silver and gold, ten copper being equivalent to one silver and ten silver being equivalent to one gold.

To the great annoyance of many people, the old gold currency was deemed to have only the worth of the new copper. But there are no free lunches where gold is concerned, and because prices were adjusted to have copper as a base, no one’s assets were really devalued. The new currency has certainly made buying and selling a more attractive process, what with three different colours of money now available for the pocket-conscious to admire.

In other news, the weather is persistently foul, a phenomenon which scholars and diviners have linked to the magically-created auras around the two moons. There is word of apocalyptic prophecies in the Elysium Observatory, strange visions in the Demon Tower of Golgonath and unrest among the spirits in the Grove of the Druids in Ysallyra. Will any intrepid adventurer find a solution to this situation? Stay tuned for more news!

In recent days, the Ischla’Os Repertory Troupe built a theatre in their hometown, the better to hold operatic and theatrical shows, and to encourage those interested in the performing arts to have a go at it themselves. Next, the skill of Painting was introduced, allowing aspiring artists to create true-to-life portraits, landscapes and even still life images. And now there are rumours that travellers through the Girdilion Mountains have found a strange library hidden amidst the crags, a repository of history, fiction and all the accumulated lore of Akanbar….

For some time now, old scrolls have circulated through the land, bearing what appear to be instructions for an unknown ritual of worship. Today, devotees of Anath, Goddess of the Wilds and Zycandos, God of Creation managed to separately complete these rituals before the altars of their gods. The ritual summoned forth angels of both these gods, which have taken up station behind the altars. They do not speak, but only watch: it is hinted that they will offer succour to followers of the gods they serve.

What is the purpose of these beings? What form of succour will they offer? And will the other Gods of Akanbar also send forth angels to aid their worshippers? This is a mystery that only time will be able to solve…

The mining skillset has received a small upgrade, with dormant skills being activated or replaced and a few new ones added. Smaller miners in particular will now find it easier to finance their activities, while larger ones may find certain of their products in greater demand. Enjoy!

Raiding has taken on a new face recently with the introduction of outposts and the strengthening of city guards. Each city has been provided with three outposts, which will form a valuable part of their defenses in days to come. When manned, the outposts will be fair targets for small groups of raiders.

In comparison, though, assaults on cities can be expected to take on a new level of difficulty. Raiders will find that city guards of various types have acquired the ability to block both physical and magical movement. As such, live guards can no longer be bypassed - though dead guards are, as ever, easy to walk past.

Those who prefer less confrontational methods of entry need not fear, however. Guards may be more formidable, but with a little skill and ingenuity, one may slip past them in disguise and prowl the city in relative safety. But do remember that even the best ruses only work so many times, and those who try to sneak into a city too often may well find themselves hauled up by the short hairs…

In days to come this new system will be refined and added to. Look out for more updates!

A whole new concept of bashing in Akanbar has been added today, the new dungeon system. Offering denizens the chance to explore a dungeon with a new, random layout everytime they adventure there, and ever increasing difficulty as they descend into its depths, these dungeons provide a new and exciting way to go treasure hunting, either alone or in a group.

The first dungeon launched features the undead, so prepare yourself to face ghouls and skeletons, all commanded by dark necromancers. More dungeons will follow featuring other groups of enemies to face, and perhaps new treasures for those that survive them.

We are pleased to announce the launch of two new features this weekend.

Firstly is the launch of a detailed weather system, factoring in wind, clouds and rain, all of which will affect the temperature of your enviroment. As a result of this, clothing appropriate to the weather conditions is now required.

The second aspect, and probably the more interesting is the launch of the new player building construction, allowing players to build their own homes for the first time, provided they can gather the necessary raw materials. In this initial launch several house templates have been provided, with many more templates planned for launch in the future, covering everything from a wizard’s tower to a knight’s castle. Of course, besides being a symbol of prestige, these houses also offer some functionality, from larders which slow food decay to gardens where herbs can be grown safely.

Further details of both these systems can be found online.

We are pleased to announce that a totally new novice tutorial has now been implemented, with a view to better teaching new players of Akanbar the core commands they will need in order to fully enjoy the Akanbar experience, as well as one that has been designed to be more immersive, so that players can rapidly be drawn into the ongoing storyline that is Akanbar.

Today, five new shrines first appeared around the land, shooting from the heavens like bolts of light, while the very ground trembled beneath the feet of those that walked upon it. After some exploration, these shrines were identified as the new shrines to knowledge, cunning, dreams, battle and leadership, marking the five great traits of the Ascended and providing a route to the ranks of the divine for one amongst mortalkind.

In the days ahead, great contests will be held in which those players that embody all that a shrine stands for will show their worth, and be named as the avatar of that trait, granting them their chance to stand forth for Ascension.

Today marked the hosting of the first Capture the Flag tournament in Akanbar, a hectic event with people from all over Akanbar competing side by side in their bids to hold the flags.

In the first round, the blue team of Blux, Zion, Miri and Draith faced off against the red team of Kiernan, Fleur, Twin and Calix. After an intense, but brief match, Zion succeeded in stealing away with the red flag, winning the tournament for the blue team. Shortly afterwards a second round was held, with the blue team now consisting of Blux, Miri and Twin and the red team of Kiernan, Fleur and Sharallin. Following a much longer contest, in which several attempts were made to seize the blue flag, Kiernan finally managed to wrest it away, carrying it safely back to the red base in the depths of the Sian Dorah, an act which led to the victory of his team.

Expect many more such tournaments in the future.

Today, a new facility has been added for all players of Akanbar, the ability to write a brief description of your character’s history. As part of bringing this new feature into play, a competition is also being held by Aten, God of the Sun, who will be rewarding the players who right the best character histories in each realm, as well as the best overall history in Akanbar. We would invite everyone to take part in this competition.

Whilst exploring the edge of the Plains of Ash near Golgonath, travellers stumbled upon a new road leading to the previously unknown village of Kervoza, a small town of quarrymen.

Following a drastic change in the magical ether that surrounds Akanbar, magic users across the land have now found that they are unable to tap into its benefits when encased in armour. Swift to adapt to this change however, new uses for both pyromancy and tempestry have been discovered that can vastly reduce physical damage in much the same way as armour.

At the same time as these events, Assassins have also discovered that many of their more agile abilities are in fact quite hard to achieve in full platemail, and in realising this have found that they can no longer achieve these same feats. Fortunately for them, they have also discovered that their agility is so great that they actually have less need for armour than other professions, easily able to survive in leather armour alone.

This forthcoming Saturday, the 30th of July, at 7pm British Summer Time, the first archery contest will be held within Akanbar. Entry is free, and all necessary equipment will be provided.

Full rules of the contest will be provided immediately beforehand to all those that attend.

The counting houses of Akanbar were pleased to announce this month that they have expanded their services from the provision of item vaults to also provide secure housing for any excess gold their customers may possess.

In the coming days a mighty tournament will be played out, the battleground shall be Akanbar! The tournament master is Storm Warden Lenny. Will the strongest prevail or shall a giant be toppled by a pebble in the winds?

It is rumoured that winners may be offered knowledge crystals by the Gods.

Sign up now and should fate shine upon you your name may be written down in the tomes of history for all eternity.

In the month of Holifra, 233 years since man was first created in Akanbar, a new deity has arisen from the shadow of Silent Malos. All welcome, Anath, the Raven.

For those who missed her arrival, below is a record of the days events.

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Your hear a distant rumbling.

From the great northern oceans, a mighty breeze begins to gust through the forest of Ysallyra. It rushes through the trees, creating unrest, and then swirls its way across the vast continent of Akanbar. You catch the scent of the distant forest as the breeze sweeps past you.

With a thunderous rush, the birds of Ysallyra lift as one from the trees. Obviously having been startled by something, but what has unsettled andstirred them from their rest is unclear.

The breezes swirling across the land gain momentum, you feel them rushing past you, surrounding you before heading back towards Ysallyra, and the winds seem to leave a faint trace of voices in their wake.

Rising now, distinguished from the winds, you hear the whispers of a thousand ancient voices. Gathering and gaining in strength and volume, thenear-deafening murmurs rumble across the land from some source within the forest of Ysallyra.

All at once, the voices stop. The leaves of the forest rustle, almost as if taking a breath. Finally, a primordial and resonant voice booms, “It is time.”

An eerie calm descends upon the forest. Every beast and bird remains hushed, and even the winds become still.

“Malos” the voice continues. “We have watched you silently from the shadows since the days of your youth. We have seen your actions, and know of your deeds. Come now, and meet your fate!”

All at once the heavens darken, and bright lights dance across the expanse of the northern horizon. As mystical forces mingle and mix, the lights coalesce and transform into hues of blue, red and green.

From the depths of Ysallyra, a silvery, ethereal light emerges, radiating and illuminating the forest. Jets of light spill through the boughs, swirling and streaming, until finally, all becomes dark once more.

In a final breath, the primeval voice concludes, “It is done! Hear ye all of Akanbar! Malos now sleeps, as we and she have become one in Anath, the Raven”