The Great Retroactive Area Reshuffle & Refresh

[Howlando]

Hello players!

This is an announcement to let you all know that EFU:R has received a somewhat dramatic face-lift. In addition to many areas having been reskinned and reimagined to take advantage of haks, we have made a decision to shift around different areas in order to make for a more cleanly organized, less confusing, and less spread-out server. We are trying to promote the right balance of encouraging players to bump into each other while still making the world feel substantial and complex.

These changes will be confusing at first because most of you have an internal map of how and where areas should be laid out. This is changing, but I hope you'll very quickly get used to it. In many cases mini-maps will be very useful!

It is important to emphasize that these changes are, by and large, retroactive - that is, we are decreeing that "this is how it always has been." Trying to explain radical reorientation in an IC manner simply would not make sense, so please do not do so - nothing about "shifting caves" or anything like that! If you're having trouble rationalizing why your character is suddenly so disoriented, feel free to consult with a DM and we can help you out.

The main changes are in the layout of Dunwarren itself. Sanctuary/Dunwarren has been the product of an organically grown world, and its former layout was frankly confusing with a variety of different levels of elevation and various superfluous areas. The distance between "Upper" and "Lower" and how the "In Between" squeezed in there was something of a mystery. This update aims to change that, and take a bit stab at making the whole complex resemble what it does in our imagination.

There are now basically four levels of the main Dunwarren area.

At the top you have the Gate, which we are now calling "The Barbican" - see below for more information about this area.

Below that you have the In Between, the central plaza of Dunwarren (inspired a bit by the "Warden's District" of EFU:A). On the same elevation as the In Between, you have Upper Sanctuary - you just walk a bit south from the In Between.

Below the In Between & Upper, there are three areas on the same elevation: The Canal Ward, Lower Sanctuary, and a new area called "Dunwarren - Lower Ruins & Alleyways". This third area is basically a combination of the former Southern Alleyways, Southeast Outskirts, Lower Ruins, and Old Brewery.

Below all that are the Sewers, with the "Tunnels" being somewhat phased out - instead, the sewers are going to be gradually improved & tweaked and designed to offer more access points.

In the In Between, there's an area with three staircases: one leading up to the Barbican (Gate), and two leading down. The line between those two staircases is precisely where Lower and the Canal Ward meets - so one staircase goes down to Lower, and one goes to the Canal Ward. What this means, for example, is that if a character wishes to visit the Canal Ward, no longer can he take a lift, but instead must pass through the unpopulated In Between.

There are many other examples like. Rather than try to explain them all, I'll let you guys discover. But for your convenience, I am going to list here a basic summary of some of the changes:


Upper Sanctuary has been reoriented 270 degrees and no longer has a staircase to the gate. Instead characters must pass from the Shield north into the In Between and from there to the Barbican. The section of the Residential District that used to contain Spellbeggar's Lane is now gone, and instead that content is just part of Upper Sanctuary itself.

The In Between is an entirely new hak area with all the old content and some new stuff. I think players will agree that the Bonepit/Thronepit/other things are rather an improvement to what was there before. It includes access to Upper, to Lower, to the Canal Ward, to the Worm Pits, to the Bowels of the Machine, and perhaps even other areas....

The Canal Ward although recently updated, has been updated once more. Its orientation is now so that characters access the area from Lower which is to the south instead of the east. It has a staircase to the In Between, no lift, and features the old (collapsed) Lower Gate.

Lower Sanctuary has been dramatically re-done as a hak area. It has generally been cleaned up (although Rubin is still toiling away!) and given some attention as to its layout and giving different neighborhoods some character. Characters can cruise by Stew Alley to see the remains of Worn's Stew Shop while dealing with a little nefarious trade, hold their nose while passing through the Rat's Nest, or watch a ring fight from a balcony above.

Lower Ruins & Alleyways is, as I said, a combination of several old similar areas into a shiny new hak version. It also has some fresh new content and puzzles and hopefully will help with depicting the Dunwarren Ruins & Machine in its true degraded-mechanistic glory.

The Barbican (also known as the Gate) is now a gate worthy of the once great metropolis of Dunwarren. Although still under heavy construction, it's far more suitable for possible invasion events and generally does a better job of representing the monumental scale of the ruins your characters live in..

The House of Governance has been all re-skinned largely for aesthetic reasons. Note that the Civil Service Offices & sundry are now in a separate area.

The Lower Tunnels have been trimmed back as a largely superfluous area. The function they once served is something that gradually the Sewers will be doing more and more. This is a work in progress. The Wither Pit remains.

The Worm Pits are no longer safely tucked away below Starag's Rest, but are instead accessible from the In Between.

The Low Caverns have been remade and reskinned as a hak area.

The Boneyard has been remade and reskinned as a hak area.

Fort Mur has been remade and reskinned as a hak area. The area now depicts how the Fortress largely controls access to the Dark Lake from the Low Road and is thus a center of trade and source of wealth for its maser.

All these changes are on top of various other changes and reskins I've made in the past couple weeks, including new versions of the Low Road, Crossroad Cave, Spire, Badlands, etc....

So if you haven't played for a while, things are going to look different.

As always, please promptly report bugs and feel free to make sensible suggestions. If something isn't working out I'm happy to tweak and revert.