Dryreach is a town located at 8.1S, 73.1E in the plains of eastern Dereth. It is a walled town, a tower at each corner. The gates are locked, and one can get in with a key or with a person on the other side to unlock the gate. Inside is about everything a town needs to be inhabitable. Surrounding town are masses of Tumeroks, for the town is, afterall, under siege by the Tumerok armies. The people inside would have a great tactical advantage against invaders, thus making Dryreach an ideal town to reside in for any strong monarchy. Long ago, before the Azileite Wars in Stonehold, there used to be a lifestone just outside of town which was removed due to a bug where one would be able to make a large sum of pyreals in a very short time.

Dryreach: Pre-Ronan Era

When I came to Dereth, the town of Dryreach was a base for a monarchy under Azile, a witch. From what I had heard/known at the time (from my travels/raids on Hebian-To, Cragstone, and Uziz) they were a skilled guild. I don't even recall the formal name for the guild, its been so long. Sometime around December 1999 we left our base, the Underground City, and moved to Stonehold, seeking a better home. It was about a week after this in which the lifestone was destroyed at Dryreach and the Azileite Wars began. Azile decided that her monarchy needed a new home, leaving Dryreach unattended and focusing completely on taking Stonehold. The battle for Stonehold went back and forth for two or three weeks, but I digress. During this time Dryreach was empty to my knowledge. Maybe there were a few mules and lower levels of Azile's guild hanging around, but no real presence of any monarchy about.

When Azile lost the war for Stonehold her monarchy disbanded and no one heard from her for a long time. Smaller, more annoying guilds lived in Dryreach, but no strong forces that ought to be able to hold off attacks. J F K thy Penius, and other Penius' were often found running about Dryreach attacking anything that moved, including any other members of the US Government they could find (they were all named after presidents with 'the/thee/thy penius' at the end of their name). Icerazor and Stargod were found throughout the months just hanging about Dryreach, and still there was no one clear-cut monarchy holding it.

The patch soon after yielded no lifestone, but it was rumored to have one in the upcoming patch. Always a rumor. Nevertheless, the Bloods used the town to mule, and as a small base among lower levels at the time. Also it was during this time that we, the Peacekeepers, were exiled from Stonehold by the Family of Silver Serpents (FSS) and decided to use Dryreach as a small base. The idea was abandoned again when it came down to the fact that we needed to get stronger and drive the Serpents from Stonehold. We were far too weak to take Dryreach ourselves, and it was very inconvenient with such a low number of guildmates. We moved off to Mayoi and returned to Stonehold to continuously raid the FSS, eventually driving them out of Stonehold (and then back to UO).

There were rumors that Dryreach was going to get it's lifestone back, and several Anti and Honor guilds came together to form the Iron Triangle, a strong alliance. Circle of Eternal Dragons (CeD) was chosen to become the leader of several smaller guilds, such as The Peacekeepers, The Order of Aegis Crusaders, and a few others I cannot recall. After The Peacekeepers joined, others soon backed down from joining up, but the attempt continued. Before the patch that was rumored to have the lifestone return the Iron Triangle led attacks upon Dryreach, pushing out any PKs and neutrals they found. This was all for a cause that seems to be a popular thing in Dereth these days. They were going to make the first Allies-Only town. They would not let in anyone outside of the alliance (such as Forth Tethana does these days). No PK or Neutral monarchies could join the Alliance, thus keeping town, and the Alliance strong.

Eventually they gave up the attempt to take Dryreach. The attacks were uncoordinated, other guilds were tired of fighting small squabbles for the town, and others just didn't care in the first place. The idea was abandoned, and the town was soon overrun by Bloods, which was beginning to happen just before the Iron Triangle takeover. Dryreach was, once again, a free reign town. The Bloods and mules returned, and the Penius' did as well.

Dryreach: Post-Ronan Era

Ronan's guild used to reside in Stonehold. His monarchy was a strong one and had members I had always respected since my first incarnation's days, such as Mad Vlad. They were one of the only true Anti-PK monarchies (aside from ourselves) that existed, and one of the only ones that exist today (most have turned to becoming Honor or Neutral). Ronan now claims the town in his name, as well as other good Anti-PK monarchies such as the C-Bulls. During my visits they've always been very friendly, and have shown some very impressive ways of dealing with PKs that enjoy taunting them from just outside of the radar, and asking Neutrals to leave, refusing to let them in. When a raid begins higher levels are quick to return to town to help, something that doesn't happen often elsewhere. The town is now clean of PKs, though it has its share of raids, as any town does.

I believe the Ronans and C-Bulls have the numbers and skill to keep town from becoming the slum it used to be, and I wish them luck in the future.

-Frost Gunner

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When AC went live the servers were touted as being able to handle 5,000 players because of the "load balancing" features. It was soon realized that that number was more realistically 3,000, well least for the normal servers, with harsh lag being reported some place around 2,400 players online.

It was rumored as far back as July/August of 2000 that Darktide was running on a shortened server farm. At that time the average nightly ping for myself (on 56K dial up) was 300ms with less than a 1,000 players logged in during prime time. As the months passed our ranks slowly grew as did the pings. During the months of October/November we were pushing that 1,100 to 1,200 player range on weekends/evenings and lag increased to the point of extreme. December found us hitting 1,500+ and even more lag, this last weekend Darktide pushed 1,900+ players...and lag so bad that many people simple shut down the game and went to other sources of entertainment.

Let me get away from the fluff. Here is what I see is happening (*note, this is my opinion and I have been unable to get anyone to confirm this). Darktide is running on a reduced server bank. Based on what I'm seeing I would expect this farm to be 50% of a normal world. So if we use the stated world player limits Darktide's maximum player limit would be 1,500 with expected unplayable lag around 1,100-1,200 players.

Think about this for a minute. Last weekend Darktide was running at 1,900+ players online. That would equal 3,800+ players on a normal server. Well above the maximum stated server load. Add to this we are spread out all over (more sections of the world active at any one time), Collision calculations, and yes even god mode. We start to see why Darktide is unplayable during all but a few short hours of each day.

Now, the question becomes how can we the players help. truthfully we cannot do anything, unless Microsoft is willing to upgrade our server. There are a few things each of us can do to help bring about this needed change. The first is to send letters every day to [removed]. Let them know you are unhappy with a product that you are paying for. Second, voice your displeasure with the lag and Microsoft's refusal to correct it on every message board, news group, and fan site around. Third which is the key, send those same letters to every gaming magazine around. If Microsoft is unwilling to provide a useable product to its customers make sure those gaming magazines are aware of it.

We the players of Darktide seldom agree on anything. However I am sure everyone will/can agree that with the current lag problems we have been experiencing for the last 3-5 months nothing is more important than getting this corrected. Not god mode, not scarab exploits, duping exploits, portal logging, hollow weapons, nerfing of GSA, Mages being to powerful, archers being gimped, melees being worthless..nothing.

Take the 5 minutes each day to send those e-mails, make a post or two and send a letter to your favorite gaming magazine. If you want any chance of seeing improvements to Darktide this is basically your only hope.

Sincerely,

Jojji/Darktide

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01/21/01 - The Peacekeepers, Darktide's Anti-PK strike force has undergone a massive reorganization, with Zang's Kid Sister taking over the guild's day to day operations from General Zang while siezing a town for their guild's exclusive use as an Anti-PK Fortress and declaring it to be a "No Neutrals Zone".

GZR Reporter: Can you explain the Peacekeepers' new "No Neutrals" policy? Does this mean you'll be attacking neutrals and raiding neutral towns?

Zang's Kid Sister: Basically, we're solidly Anti-PK. We don't want PKs or Neutrals in our town. The PKs we'll kill on sight anywhere, and if any Neutrals come to our town they'll be asked to leave in peace. Outside of our town, we have no problems with neutrals...we just don't want them to live in our town, as they usually turn out to be PK spies and collaborators.

GZR Reporter: What if Neutrals should show up at your town and refuse to leave in peace? Would you attack someone who hadn't attacked you? Wouldn't that make you a PK?

Zang's Kid Sister: Our town has laws, which we intend to enforce. If Neutrals refuse to obey the law and move along in peace when ordered to do so by our town defense force, then they will be punished for their lawlessness.

For too long so-called "Neutral" guilds, basically PKs who haven't leveled up yet, have leached off of the efforts of Anti-PKs to make safe towns. Like parasites, they suck up the safety and protection that others provide, and then betray or abandon their hosts when they no longer have need of them. We don't intend to put up with that in our town. If you're Neutral, then go find some other suckers to leach from.....because it won't be us.

And no, I don't believe that requiring someone to leave an area where they're not wanted by the inhabitants makes anyone a PK. It's random murder that makes a PK, not enforcement of local laws.

GZR Reporter: Doesn't anyone have a right to go anywhere they want? How can you claim territory and call yourself Anti-PK?

Zang's Kid Sister: This is Darktide, not Frostfell or Morningthaw. If you're not a PK, and you're somewhere at all desireable, then your "right" to be there was earned by someone who fought and drove off the PKs from that spot. Now, nobody has a right to demand that we act as some sort of slave-labor force spilling our blood to fight PKs so that others can waltz in and take advantage of our efforts. The only "rights" you have are those you earn, and we're not giving you our earnings for free.

GZR Reporter: What about Anti-PK guilds? Can they come to your town?

Zang's Kid Sister: Guilds? No. Individual Anti-PKs? Yes. In other words, if a person from a solidly Anti-PK guild like Ronan or C-Bulls or Xanthro wanted to shop or stop by for a brief visit, that would be ok. Several have. However, no groups of people other than ours are allowed to settle here.

GZR Reporter: What about Ayan Baqur and the effort by the Anti-PKs and the Iron Triangle Alliance to retake it from Blood?

Zang's Kid Sister: I wish the ITA all the luck in the world in retaking their town from Blood. Their best bet would be to unite behind a proven PvPer like Deborah and start acting under one command structure.

GZR Reporter: Any thoughts on the other closed Anti-PK towns of Fort Tethana and Dryreach?

Zang's Kid Sister: I support the concept of those who fight to protect a town being the ones to decide who is welcome and who is not. Our guild sees eye-to-eye with the guilds in Dryreach on a number of issues, and we disagree with the Mindeaters on a few issues....but we wholeheartedly support the efforts of both the Dryreach and Fort Tethana communities to keep out unwanted loiterers.

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"I think that gamers are looking for an online roleplaying game that emphasizes real character development and storyline instead of the latest in graphics technology", he said.

General Zang's Reports will continue to keep you posted as more information on this upcoming online roleplaying game becomes available.

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