Arelith

I occasionally hear the name mentioned on the forums as ".. back then in the good old cycles in Udos.." and I've ever since been wondering how it actually was back then? Are there old players around that can describe what it was like?

It's been made pretty clear that Andunor isn't a drow city, but it's then also compared to Udos and Pit town. Something that even in ingame lore is kept pretty vague, and i don't care about the FOIG response as I'm just curious myself, as i want to learn about server history.

So... any oldtime players here that can tell me... What is Udos, what was it like, and what the hell happened?

I think the word "empty" describes it best. Sure, you could log in on a lucky time and catch a handful of people around, but for most of the time it was an absolute ghost town.

Nitro wrote:I think the word "empty" describes it best. Sure, you could log in on a lucky time and catch a handful of people around, but for most of the time it was an absolute ghost town.

Depending on the year, I'm told.

At its peak, it was a bustling drow city with up to five or six active houses at once, or so I hear.

What I know is it used to have a functioning gate, where you could only get inside if you were in a party with a drow. There were a pair of fleshwarp golems/monstrosities that guarded the 'towers of woe'. It was once an impregnable fortress, from which the drow would sally forth and raid the surface.

The sharps district of andunor now is a parody of Urblexis Grond, which was a city for the goblinoids which spent the lion's share of its time vassalized to Udos.

What happened, was the staff at the time decided to put an end to UD power and primacy. They broke udos' gates so anyone could get in, killed off the flesh golems, and destroyed Udos and grond via plot-ex-machina. Mindflayer attack, large chunks of both cities were completely destroyed. This happened just before I first started playing the server I arrived shortly after the cataclysm.

The staff then proceeded to horribly mishandle the UD in general.

• They funneled all of the UD players into pit town(which was a mechanical PvP-free area, so you'd have sillyness like surface PC's coming down and taunting UD players and lensing to safety with impunity).
• They broke all the shops in Udos and Grond, and left the entire UD with only 4 permanent shops and two temp shops in the small ugly area.
• They made lvl 16 drow thralls spawn in Udos, with a single NPC in the entire area capable of fighting them, so lowbies routinely were killed just for walking in the drow city.
• The DMs pretty much abandoned the UD entirely for years. Black archer PCs would regularly hunt lowbie drow within the city of udos, and if you EVER wanted a DM, you had to transition to the surface or cordor and flag one down. The players were left to police themselves, and griefing, especially fixture griefing, was a rampant problem.
• The flayer war plot was left for years and forgotten for well beyond long enough for players to get frustrated and leave. No matter what was done, no matter how many times the UD attacked and bombed the elder brain, or wiped the flayers in literally daily raids, the needle on the conflict didn't move one iota.

The population of the UD atrophied as there was a mass exodus of players, until there were only a handful of UD characters(all UD races combined) left online at peak play times, at which point the devs built Andunor just before the UD breathed its last gasps.

Hellou Xanos, my toon was at the end of Udos while it gather information of previous period what was great fun, even as its true what Nitro says the "legends" about it were great to investigate for myself also to meet later in person with its great priestesses that mark its maybe last glorious period such as Oblodra Drakaa and Nives Zarocc. There is pre-cataclysm and post-cataclysm era (before-after Ilithids attack it), they are quite different as before there were several powerfull houses and later usually one would prevail mostly, but town was acutally in ruins, after cataclym much of old records were lost too..also "back then in the good old cycles in Udos..." some would claim such, some wouldnt IC or OOCly, there are facts in favour for both claims, I personally like Andunor very much because of RP possibilities, but thats me.
Also advice, all that was "glorious before" can be even now in Andunor, just RP is needed for such to happen.

For Udos timeline check here:
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1120&hilit=udos+timeline

As for IC info on it i suggest Library with the room about the old houses, there are also some tomes i believe, or ...find old drows or lessers(there are a few), just put out in library you are gathering such info and willing to pay a bottle of wine and see how RP comes your way, but beware...those old ones are dangerous beasts.

Is nobody going to mention the nightmare fuel RP that took place there, and the reason why drow cities are a bad idea on a PG13 server?

I mean, I get that you remember the good times but nothing about what else took place there? There's probably a good reason why the admins and DMs were so harsh with the place. I would've expected a full Exterminatus after that.

Let's just say that there's a reason why Udos was a drow city, and Andunor is not.

I think Xanos question was not about the player frustration but how it "feel like" in terms of RP, he is interested in events, PC feeling, lore, i am sure from such he could understand why drows "moved" to Andunor player wise and RP also. I think?

Btw, Durvayas Ilithid plot in a way got its end and possible even sequel in this current timeline, ofc it was overdue but as soon DM policy changed before Andunor we start to gain something out of all, not to mention while "new underdark" was in building many references were put out in and around Andunor to kudos such efforts, hells there is even your PC who is now an NPC.

Most important is that players who played at the end of Udos, still play.

Pretty much anyone that refers to the "good old days of Udos Droxun" are blind to how terrible the place was to everyone else.

Udos Dro'xun only had one avenue of roleplay - a repressive fortress of Lolthite society. It slowly atrophied over the course of its existence until there were only a handful of active UD players at any given time.

The process of destroying it and creating alternative avenues of Underdark roleplay was tumultuous but necessary. Anundor is a much more open-ended and more flexible hub for roleplay, and the server's Underdark population in recent years has far eclipsed anything Udos ever saw.

As the person who 'sank' Udos (though it was already mostly destroyed by the cataclysm), and made Andunor, I guess I should speak out, oddly, in its defence.

At its height Udos was extremely well roleplayed, really the first settlement in Arelith that established a strong sense of narrative and setting. It was a place of heavy RP, and many of those who chose to play there did so because it offered a level of immersion that was unmatched elsewhere.

The extent to which the players established social structures, hierarchies and a definitive sense of place is something I would love to see done in the more 'generic' settlements.

At first the Underdark was very small, and purely drow. It greatly expanded when the 'great exile' took place, and a rival settlement for monster races was established. These were settlements that bred a real sense of conflict, and with the stakes so high players were often highly invested in the ambitions/grievences of their characters.

Now saying all that there was a lot of bad stuff, in particular a sense from other players that those of Udos were exclusive/arrogant - but in many cases this really was overblown - many of the early drow players were just great.

For myself (who never played drow because I just don't like the race) I was one of the first three non drow characters to start playing there exclusively, the others being Krajuss (sp?) a duergar merchant and Perriry Bare, a halfling slave. For a 'heavy RPer' the Underdark just offered so much; a setting I could really take seriously.

One has to also consider context of Cordor/Surface at the time. There were no exile functions, no elections, and goblins/kobolds were commonplace in Cordor - most of whom were friendly. There was an 'anything goes' feel to the surface, and often this could feel highly artificial/unconvincing. At this time those of Udos were really going in another direction.

I never looked back, and returned to surface play only after many years. For all its ills, my hat is still off to those early pioneers of Underdark roleplay.

Just so no one takes Durvayas' view as gospel, everything in it is extremely debatable.

To echo irongron a bit, some of those real earlier Udos players are some of the best people I've played with, whether surface or UD. Like any place though, the things and people change. There were some good ol' days but many many years ago. A lot of it is a matter of perspective. There are people playing here that have been around 8+ years. The first days of Udos vs Udos in the Pit Town era are so vastly different to not even really bother discussing.

Grunf gave excellent advice though. Make use of the Tomes in the Anundor Library that outline some of the more influential Houses of the Udos years. (what up grunf?!)

Trunx wrote:Just so no one takes Durvayas' view as gospel, everything in it is extremely debatable.

I agree with this, because my memory from my experiences was that the UD players themselves caused much of their own issues and grief in the end. Though I will admit I was not overly-fond of the Pit Town stuff and that incarnation of the UD, but it did serve as a good transition.

The transition to Andunor and the way things are now is nice though. I think the Skullport model, where it is one huge den of the worst the isle has to offer along with those just trying to survive the harshness is great. There are some separate subsections which can cater to more specific sorts of RP, but everything is still very much connected instead of being isolated.

Ork wrote:Pretty much anyone that refers to the "good old days of Udos Droxun" are blind to how terrible the place was to everyone else.

+1. Also why the UD forum was deep sixed.

The old UD forum started to get pretty ugly and personal. There was a lot of just attacking other UD players.

At it's height Udos imo was the best drow rp that could be found. Three active houses, a temple, and a mage tower. But as the UD population dropped the city did start to empty. As Irongron pointed out non drow players resented the dorow having their own city and some players even resented so many drow in the UD.

Udos Dro'xun had good times and bad times. I was there briefly for the height of its hey-day before the bridges were shattered and all that. I played a male drow who was immediately approached by a female drow, and tossed into the fray of RP. I had a largely good experience. During the flayer attacks it had good days and bad days. There were at least 4 Houses that I know about with folks who regularly played and tried to unite factions against the flayer threat.

Pit Town was a little odd, and people would hide there to avoid PvP sometimes. I think that was the only mechanic that I didn't like. The Dev Team at the time though responded to extensive RP and actually repaired the city bridges b/c the Houses were working toward it, and made the Temple accessible again. Before the bridges were repaired you'd have to go through either the Forest of Spores or the Tribal Caverns and Slave Tunnels to even reach one of the side Houses. It was a hassle, but made the city feel like it was falling on hard times. I guess the thralls that would occasionally pop in were the hardest part. A few higher levels that were about (me included) made sure the lowbie drow could survive enough to get strong.

I remember largely positive stuff, though there was plenty which could be off putting as well. Stuck with it, and was rewarded with some pretty fun RP with House Fre'und near the end.

Ork wrote:Pretty much anyone that refers to the "good old days of Udos Droxun" are blind to how terrible the place was to everyone else.

Eh. Most people are referring to 5-8 years ago when they say "the good old days"; when I refer to "the good old days of Udos", I'm referring to about 10 or so years back. There were some absolutely marvelous RPers in Udos back then, and it was a genuinely inclusive and welcoming environment OOC without losing much of its edge IC.

Aaaaaand then we had a big influx of players from Arena/PvP-servers, most of whom were barely English-literate and had a somewhat tenuous grasp on what RP was (hey, almost all of us were at that point at some time, right?) and most of whom settled down in the UD, and it was all downhill from that point on.

All I remember is when I tried playing a drow, every other drow played spoke some form of common-xanalress dialect(before xanalress was added as a language) and I couldn't understand anything.

CoastalSurf wrote:(what up grunf?!)

still around as many others , actually there are some left-overs from those 8 years ago players RP (those that were mentioned in this thread), old rabbit hole my toon fall into seems is active again as i managed to find it on another LOL. Arelith always manage to surprise you when you least expect. Hope you are well?

Cortex wrote:All I remember is when I tried playing a drow, every other drow played spoke some form of common-xanalress dialect(before xanalress was added as a language) and I couldn't understand anything.

Xas, shows dossta heart is still that of a kivvil. Dos are naut ready to join a qu'ellar. Llolth tu malla, aluve' jaluk.

Will we be having this conversation about "the Wharftown years" in a few years time?

Could theoritically have it now but I guess that'd be too soon.

I played briefly a long while back, and then a long while back again. All those drow names blur into a haze. I remember Fadriatta, sitting at people's feet, bells jingling, double crossing everyone in sight. I remember an arch mage with red dragon wings bossing all the priestesses around and getting away with it. I remember walking round and round the city, waiting to bump into anyone, anyone at all. But I also remember big groups of people in the melee magthere, actually training, with fearsome commanders barking out orders in drow and expecting people to understand them. I remember goblins, lots of goblins (often telling drow how to play Lolthites properly). I vaguely remember an attack on another city - maybe it was Grond, maybe it was Pit Town. I have no clue. But Oblodra won. There was good rp, there was bad rp. People got salty, people made friends.

I have a really bad memory. Ask someone else.

Melee magthere RP was far and away the best part of udos. I have the fondest memories there with the characters I played at the time. The only thing that saddens me about andunor, is that we can't replicate it. The gladiator halls in the colloseum district house the best venue for it, but also the least immersive one, due to the NPCs within.

As it is usually the case with all great things, the opinions on Udos tend to vary, but they are assuredly quite polarizing - you either loved it or hated it, there was no middle ground.
What it actually was? Udos was a city filled with a bunch of driven power hungry nihilistic sociopaths. As such it used to be the ultimate character detachment check, since anyone trying to make the Udos RP work with anything even distantly resembling a Mary Sue type of character was bound to have a baaad time!

The core of the RP in Udos used to be primarily cloak and dagger, intrigue and espionage between the noble houses, surface raids, house feuds and hostilities with Urblexis Grond. I don't recall a wedding ever taking place there

I strongly disagree with people claiming that it used to be empty, as Udos at its lowest would dwarf Myon at its peak when it comes to PC activity.

Also, while I agree with the opinion that the Cataclysm essentially killed the majority of the Underdark RP pretty much for the entireity of the Pit Town era, I'd like to point out that Udos RP could get slightly repetitive after being exposed to it for too long. Udos and pretty much the drow RP as a whole needed a paradigm shift, so I can see the reasons behind the decision to destroy it

That being said, anyone who tries to paint this decision as a Dev confirmation that Udos RP sucked has a wrong impression.

Norfildor wrote: I'd like to point out that Udos RP could get slightly repetitive after being exposed to it for too long. Udos and pretty much the drow RP as a whole needed a paradigm shift, so I can see the reasons behind the decision to destroy it

I agree on the repetitive.

Once I was switching between Surface and Underdark/Udos every half a year. First time I made a drow (Clyasy) was in 2007, and at that time, a lot of players said that Udos would never be the same as in the good olde days when Dria-fiend (or something like that), and other houses were around. That was when there were Drak'aa, Aunvrier and more. Roleplay was more or less like a script you had to follow, or else, it wasn't real drow roleplay.

When I returned for the second time to Udos (I believe it must have been with Fadriatta), that was when Urblexis Grond started, everyone was talking about that Udos would never be the same as in the good olde days when Drak'aa, Aunvrier and some others were around. Players were already trying to find new ways, and my humble contribution was a bard played as an artist, diplomate and spy. But roleplay was pretty much still following the same script over and over again. Players who followed the carreers within the academies, pretty much got tired when they finally reached the top.

Third time when I returned was when Pit Town was created, and that was when everybody was talking about that Udos would never be the same as in the good olde says with .... etc. etc.

I hope you get the idea.

My point is that I think that the "golden age" of the Udos always was there. It just wasn't recognized as such, until the next kuld of drow players came by. I can't speak for the last 2-3 years, because I stopped playing drow. But from what I have observed from the sideline, they are doing just fine ... their way.

There were always times where Udos was empty. That's the condition for any settlement on the island, it goes up and down.