Stories from the Closure of Tuluk

[SpyGuy]

What happened to your PC during the closure of Tuluk?  If you were in Luir's or Allanak, what refugee drama was there?

It's been well over a year and a lot of us only have a vague idea of the chaos from that time period.  Anyone have some interesting stories to tell?

[Tuannon]

I was playing a young medic who wanted to start helping out with the Sun Legion when the gates closed, he bummed around Morin's for a bit, didn't want to join any terrorists, couldn't ride for shit and ended up having nobody to interact with. So I stored 'em.

[SpyGuy]

I was playing a young medic who wanted to start helping out with the Sun Legion when the gates closed, he bummed around Morin's for a bit, didn't want to join any terrorists, couldn't ride for shit and ended up having nobody to interact with. So I stored 'em.

Sad.  What sort of terrorist stuff was going on?

[mansa]

Just for reference:
https://www.armageddon.org/help/view/The%20Closing%20of%20Tuluk
...
After the pitched battle in Red Sun Commons, Morin's was swollen with those who had fled the fighting, growing in a number of weeks in population. Building of simple structures over the next couple of years would see folks housed, the village growing both in physical size as well as capabilities, as merchants, hunters, makers and all sorts set up shop in what they had thought would be a temporary refuge, bringing increased commerce to the village. Few return to Tuluk, and after time they stop returning from the city at all, even fewer until none do.

Originally, several hundred soldiers and around fifteen templars remained outside of Tuluk, stationed in Morin's and Ayun Iskandir. Within a couple of years of the gate closure, the Sun Legions started to recruit from among the refugees and others in Morin's, to replenish their numbers. The Levy does not exist in a formal way outside of Tuluk, although from time to time the Sun Legion will ask residents of Morin's or Gol Krathu to assist with specific threats.

The Sun Legion soldiers protecting Morin's were assisted by a small Lyksaen warband for a number of years, until losses and old age took their toll and the remaining slaves were retired to positions of teaching new Legion recruits. Law, order and taxes are maintained in Morin's by the soldiers. A captain commands these soldiers, bolstered by three Lieutenants. Templars are very rarely seen outside of Ayun Iskandir since psionic contact was lost with the inside of Tuluk. All soldiers are housed either in Ayun Iskandir or Morin's, and are rarely seen outside of these two places.

People born in the Gol Krathu are still considered citizens by the Sun Legion and Templars outside of Tuluk, assuming they are properly inked, a duty maintained by the Sun Legion. Due to the lack of former Lirathans and the Heart, Morin's feels more open than inside of Tuluk did, although Legionaires are not above doing their own disappearing of troublemakers and those who speak ill of Tuluk. Otherwise, Tuluki culture is fairly frozen in how it used to be, with slight compromises to survival.

[Reiloth]

I played Faithful Lord Hederai Negean in the Final Days. Unfortunately I stored after the closure announcement for various reasons. There was certainly some hijinks leading up to the closure...Glimpses of the Listless for sure, and politically speaking some very strange pieces moving around with the Templars that became the 'Leaders of the Listless' sort of ousting the status-quo Templars.

I too would love to hear some 'boots on the ground' stories of those final RPTs.

[Barsook]

I played Advisor Durik of House Tenneshi and I just stored, he was too loyal to his House.

I too would love to hear some 'boots on the ground' stories of those final RPTs.

[Reiloth]

I played Advisor Durik of House Tenneshi and I just stored, he was too loyal to his House.

I too would love to hear some 'boots on the ground' stories of those final RPTs.

Hah, I remember Durik. That was actually a really interesting position to be in (Advisor PC in a house with no Noble PC). I remember having to deal with Durik over the commissioned officer program. It made the Commoner actually have some like Jafar-like power, because they were the gate keeper to talking to a Noble.

[Barsook]

I don't remember that but yeah, somehow no one wanted to play a Tenneshi after Darsul and I just lucked out with being able to play him without storing earlier on. I don't recall who gave me the idea of him being an advisor. It was an aide of the Chosen Governor.

[Evilone]

I hope this is okay to talk about. It has been many years. If not, someone please delete.

My last character in Tuluk was Lord Marshal Rhodran Winrothol. Loved that title, and that was thanks to Faithful Lord Hederai who helped me buy my way into it, and being good friends with Faithful Lord Yasir. I really enjoyed my interactions with all the Faithful during those days, particularly a trip to the pymlithe groves which "wasn't" a date with Faithful Lady Fortuna, the Libero Kassigarh incarnate, as she claimed.

Before the closure was announced my play time was huge and I had been putting in lots of effort with player events, and spending so much time in Arm, which was probably part of the reason I broke up with my long time partner at the time, oops, heh. When Tuluks closure was announced I was pretty devastated to have to give up Rhodran.

Big thanks to Tallis and Flaire for all the help and support I got. Best bards I've ever dealt with. I so miss hanging out with Yasir and Zari, talking hats and just noble rubbish. I remember Durik, and most of my dealings where I needed building done had to go through him. I maybe even remember Durik when I played Sergeant Calistyrr, cause he had been around a while!

Some of the things that happened with Rhodran...

*Winrothol Beast Auctions - Held a couple of these and got access to some different coloured mounts and rarer ones, like a gwoshi I could sell to the public. Just before closure Rhodran was gifted his very own h***e!
*The Uaptal Bridge - Involved the Nemesis Plague, and this important mission fell to Rhodran. Sent an agent south and unleashed the plague in Allanak via rats. This agent was even stopped by the militia, but he bribed his way free, and the Byn helped him get out of Allanak. I remember rewarding the Byn Sergeant a very nice dragon axe, and I think she seemed unsure as to really why, as they were not aware of the real plan, and just thought my agent was there to secretly buy art.
*Man and Dog - A Kassigarh play? Wrong. It's a Winrothol play! I managed to take control to be able to be the main sponsor of the play with some help from Hederei. Kudos to Tithian, who I ended up having a strong rivalry with. Was performed by Tallis and Flaire and it was done so well. Also there were events in the Ghaati Teahouse, other players, and competitions that I found really enjoyable, and usually anything to do with bards I was never interested with before Rhodran.
*Winrothol Garland Party - Themed a party involving lots of flowers, wreaths, and bright colors. Seemed to go down very well, and Chosen Lord Mesmer Desari got rather drunk and showed off his dance moves.
*At the closure of Tuluk, Rhodran helped what inked he could. I saved a few noble aides and servants from becoming the Listless, but other than that I didn't get involved in much else. I'm pretty sure I was just too upset to give anymore to Rhodran since I had to store the character, and couldn't flee the city with the commoners.

Here were the invitations that got sent out, this one addressed to Yasir...

House Winrothol cordially invites,
Faithful Lord Yasir Lyksae,
along with one guest of their choosing for...

A garland party style... doesn't it sound great?
Lord Marshal invites you, he wants to celebrate!
We'll drink black booze and feast on all kinds of delicious food...
Once you see the spread, you'll be sure to get in the mood!
So wear bright colours and flowers in your hair, if you dare...
It's sure to be a blast, and we hope to see you there!

Having skilled bards is better than having the finest weapon, and I suggest all nobles find them if they can.

*Undertuluk - Bats and Temple. A massive attack force was gathered to delve into Undertuluk and assault an old temple. Bats had been attacking the city and people in the Gol Krathu, and had to be dealt with. I remember there being a booby trap when we entered one of the halls, and it filled with water. Someone drowned, a Dasari aide I think. I remember getting split off with Fortuna and we had found some great white ankheg? Hederai had recovered some magical artifacts, cursed, and it had been slowly corrupting him?
Siege of Ten'Sarak - The War Camp had been established, and we eventually assaulted Ten'Sarak with an army. Some of the coolest siege RP i've been in, and I remember being so impressed with having like a pavise (free standing shield) as we assaulted the walls, and used ladders to climb. Thats where I first saw the Listless. Sergeant Aldren died in this battle and it was very sad. One of my favourite Sun Legion officers I interacted with as Rhodran. Otherwise we wiped the floor with the Nakkis, who had mostly abandoned the camp, but we still felt like heroes.

If only I had most of my logs. Stupid Portal Mudclient would often fail to save, and I didn't get the siege, the man and dog play, and a few others saved, but these were great times, and I can't wait for Tuluk to be open once more!

[Rokal]

I hope this is okay to talk about. It has been many years. If not, someone please delete.

My last character in Tuluk was Lord Marshal Rhodran Winrothol. Loved that title, and that was thanks to Faithful Lord Hederai who helped me buy my way into it, and being good friends with Faithful Lord Yasir. I really enjoyed my interactions with all the Faithful during those days, particularly a trip to the pymlithe groves which "wasn't" a date with Faithful Lady Fortuna, the Libero Kassigarh incarnate, as she claimed.

Before the closure was announced my play time was huge and I had been putting in lots of effort with player events, and spending so much time in Arm, which was probably part of the reason I broke up with my long time partner at the time, oops, heh. When Tuluks closure was announced I was pretty devastated to have to give up Rhodran.

Big thanks to Tallis and Flaire for all the help and support I got. Best bards I've ever dealt with. I so miss hanging out with Yasir and Zari, talking hats and just noble rubbish. I remember Durik, and most of my dealings where I needed building done had to go through him. I maybe even remember Durik when I played Sergeant Calistyrr, cause he had been around a while!

Some of the things that happened with Rhodran...

*Winrothol Beast Auctions - Held a couple of these and got access to some different coloured mounts and rarer ones, like a gwoshi I could sell to the public. Just before closure Rhodran was gifted his very own h***e!
*The Uaptal Bridge - Involved the Nemesis Plague, and this important mission fell to Rhodran. Sent an agent south and unleashed the plague in Allanak via rats. This agent was even stopped by the militia, but he bribed his way free, and the Byn helped him get out of Allanak. I remember rewarding the Byn Sergeant a very nice dragon axe, and I think she seemed unsure as to really why, as they were not aware of the real plan, and just thought my agent was there to secretly buy art.
*Man and Dog - A Kassigarh play? Wrong. It's a Winrothol play! I managed to take control to be able to be the main sponsor of the play with some help from Hederei. Kudos to Tithian, who I ended up having a strong rivalry with. Was performed by Tallis and Flaire and it was done so well. Also there were events in the Ghaati Teahouse, other players, and competitions that I found really enjoyable, and usually anything to do with bards I was never interested with before Rhodran.
*Winrothol Garland Party - Themed a party involving lots of flowers, wreaths, and bright colors. Seemed to go down very well, and Chosen Lord Mesmer Desari got rather drunk and showed off his dance moves.
*At the closure of Tuluk, Rhodran helped what inked he could. I saved a few noble aides and servants from becoming the Listless, but other than that I didn't get involved in much else. I'm pretty sure I was just too upset to give anymore to Rhodran since I had to store the character, and couldn't flee the city with the commoners.

Here were the invitations that got sent out, this one addressed to Yasir...

House Winrothol cordially invites,
Faithful Lord Yasir Lyksae,
along with one guest of their choosing for...

A garland party style... doesn't it sound great?
Lord Marshal invites you, he wants to celebrate!
We'll drink black booze and feast on all kinds of delicious food...
Once you see the spread, you'll be sure to get in the mood!
So wear bright colours and flowers in your hair, if you dare...
It's sure to be a blast, and we hope to see you there!

Having skilled bards is better than having the finest weapon, and I suggest all nobles find them if they can.

*Undertuluk - Bats and Temple. A massive attack force was gathered to delve into Undertuluk and assault an old temple. Bats had been attacking the city and people in the Gol Krathu, and had to be dealt with. I remember there being a booby trap when we entered one of the halls, and it filled with water. Someone drowned, a Dasari aide I think. I remember getting split off with Fortuna and we had found some great white ankheg? Hederai had recovered some magical artifacts, cursed, and it had been slowly corrupting him?

Siege of Ten'Sarak - The War Camp had been established, and we eventually assaulted Ten'Sarak with an army. Some of the coolest siege RP i've been in, and I remember being so impressed with having like a pavise (free standing shield) as we assaulted the walls, and used ladders to climb. Thats where I first saw the Listless. Sergeant Aldren died in this battle and it was very sad. One of my favourite Sun Legion officers I interacted with as Rhodran. Otherwise we wiped the floor with the Nakkis, who had mostly abandoned the camp, but we still felt like heroes.

If only I had most of my logs. Stupid Portal Mudclient would often fail to save, and I didn't get the siege, the man and dog play, and a few others saved, but these were great times, and I can't wait for Tuluk to be open once more!

That was Keyrena, Fortuna's aide who 'almost' drowned, they actually had a spot of lag on the admin side and poked me not to app a new char and hold out for a moment through requests, it was a surprise for sure and I thought keyrena was a goner, but instead it became a near-death experience that made for an excellent story and great roleplay. Haha, I fondly remember one of the staff asking what it feels like to be the first person in twelve years to 'die' of drowning.

Keyrena was also there for the Assault on Ten'Serak, which was a doozy, the manlet siege devices to shield us from arrows were super cool, at one point Keyrena got split off from the group and nakki giant solider had her subdued, after having fought them off for a bit. Good times. It devastated me and keyrena both to see Aldren die, I remember that well, we had set fire to the Nakki stables and the resulting explosion killed him.

Sad days, he was well mourned.

[Malken]

I was playing a 13 years old human by the name of Jailbait - the chaotically-haired blond youth

He mostly just hung out in the Warrens drawing pictures of dicks and other assorted mischievous graffiti all over the walls until a Byn sergeant rode into town and told us all we had to go now and it was our only chance to survive whatever. Mid-trip I got recruited into the Byn and Jailbait spent the next few years living it up as a southern Bynner. It says I played Jailbait for a total of 9 days. He mostly survived by ignoring every Byn contract.

[askaran]

When did Tuluk officially close again? I remember I was playing a Legion Sergeant who died what feels like right before shit hit the fan but it's been so long I can't remember exactly,

[Case]

I was just reading through the logs of all of this. Wow. This was a crazy time. I can't believe how much I've forgotten.

I'll have a chat with staff about cleaning up some of my logs to post.

[Aromit]

Siege of Ten'Sarak - The War Camp had been established, and we eventually assaulted Ten'Sarak with an army. Some of the coolest siege RP i've been in, and I remember being so impressed with having like a pavise (free standing shield) as we assaulted the walls, and used ladders to climb. Thats where I first saw the Listless. Sergeant Aldren died in this battle and it was very sad. One of my favourite Sun Legion officers I interacted with as Rhodran. Otherwise we wiped the floor with the Nakkis, who had mostly abandoned the camp, but we still felt like heroes.

Sergeant Aldren (the spartan, peshak-haired man) was the last character I played before going upstairs and viewing the game from the otherside. One of the most unique and satisfying experiences I've ever had on a pc from day 1. One of my fondest memories of Rhodran Winrothol was him and Faithful Yasir going out on a "big game hunt" with Aldren's unit of killers supervising. Having to stand by sweating bullets while a Gizhat threw nobles all over the grasslands and we refilled flasks and fed them snacks in the field was memorable. The use of the word Bully always stuck with me.

Yasir, Yasir's aide Zari, Hederai, Tallis, Mesmer Dasari and his aide (who I hated icly but adored and loved so much oocly), his lyksaen brothers (the ones that made it), Mor and a wiley lil city elf from the warrens by the name of Drazen brought the world and my character to life. Flaire was awesome as was Advisor Durik for their embodiment of the roles. There were plenty more but it was so long ago I struggle to remember the names!

Notable events I remember:

Day 1, Wezer invasion: What an entrance to the game, I remember going hard at the threat fresh out of the box. Reduced to 7hp before victory, I think staff was having a panic attack that I was going to die mere hours after a lengthy setup.

Gajak beetle attacks on the city: some of the spookiest and bloodsoaked visuals. Truck-sized, violent beetles flying into the city and causing havok amongst regular civilians.

Being ordered to kill his own brother, which he did.

Mesmer Dasari's wild experiments, often on living pcs.

The Party RPTs: Aldren was crushing hard on a Kadian Overseer whose name I forget but due to his awkwardness he never did pull the trigger on making his intentions be known. A Salarri merchant has swooped in and started courting her. In vengeance, when the unit did something admirable and deserved celebration then Aldren would pay his burglar elf Drazen to pop the locks on the Merchants beautiful apartment. The Legion and their friends proceeded to  party/booze/piss on/break furniture in the salarri guys pad, ruining everything. Everyone knew the assignment, leaving broken bottles, trash and chaos in our wake. The hilarity was despite it being an open party and quite public, the salarri merchant never seemed to find out who was doing it and repeatedly called Aldren to the apartment to investigate the crime complete with a list of potential suspects.

Revamping Tuluki militia and Levy: Enjoyable seeing the unit transition, turning the military in a guerilla fighting force and waging ops in the southlands against allanak.

A days long siege in a chasm of gith hunting for the source of bats.

Dungeon delve, bats, ankheg and glowing monstrostities: Aldren discovered the source of the bat trouble which led to a wild dungeon dive led by Rathustra that to this day remains the single coolest DnD style dungeon campaign I've ever seen ran in the game. There was everything you ever could have wanted, chambers filling with water, people drowning, fiery boobytraps, undead horrors and more.. some lore reveal about the twin warlocks and ancient Zalanthan history was just beautifully done. Ended up at less than 10hp twice on that adventure, crazy wild.

The espionage and terrorist attacks by various tuluki, poisoning stuff, plague spreading, night time raids, fire attacks etc.

The unveiling of the listless and the tone of Tuluk as it neared the end was beautifully dark, I hope that feeling stays forever.

The seige of Ten'Sarek: Aldren sitting in the war room with unchecked thoughts picking apart the plans of his superiors resulted in some of Tuluki's highest ranked officials putting him in charge of the siege. It resulted in a heart-racing, badass charge behind half-giant's pushing siege shields before we stormed the encampment via ladders and fought through enemy forces. I was fated to die on that trip from a booby-trap style explosion for storage reasons, however a typo on my end had me throw some friendly fire at a UNIT of tuluki half-giant soldiers. RIP Aldren.

The overwhelming majority of my pc's were Tuluki based and I hard a hard time reconciling the closure of my beloved city-state, it was enjoyable rolling back into the game later to see his old friends turned refugee and still living their lives.

YEARS later I bumbled into a player clan trading company that was even named after him, started by his old buddy Mor. It put me at a loss of words.

[Evilone]

Reading about Aldren and remembering these days before the closure tempts me back to the game. Good times and no game can create these kind of stories and fond memories.

[Rathustra]

Hi everyone, Rathustra here. I was the Admin of the Northlands when it was closed and so, by the way the staff distribute responsibilities, it was my job to manage the closure, handle consistency with the lore and wider world and do QC on/coordinate ST efforts.

Seeing this thread and reading about how the closure was experienced made me want to write about how I experienced the closure and share a little about things that happened behind the scenes and shine a light on some of the things we created - explain our rationale for doing the things we did and reflect on how it went.

This will take the form of a few long posts about different parts of the process. I won't reply directly to questions until I'm done unpacking my memories. In terms of what I can share - I am no longer staff and this all happened 8 years ago: but I will not be sharing anything specific about individual PCs, nor any secrets about the game world that are still relevant: I might show some of the rooms, NPCs and objects - but they will be provided without game world context.

So let's start off with me enjoying the sound of my own voice as I talk about how Tuluk felt in 2015 and a little about how the news broke internally:

Part 0 - The World that Was:
It was the start of a new year - 2015. I had been moved to Tuluk as its Admin a year and a half ago: a lot had changed in that time - new documentation by Nyr restructuring the Templarate, a 'dirtying up' project to help ground the White city in the world and reflect its recent history and an aggressive Allanak seizing a base of operations right on Muk Utep's doorstep! I was lucky enough to be working with an amazing team of active, engaged STs who were always up to something new.

Our hero chooses to staff the Northlands during a staff shuffle, sealing their fate.

From my perspective as a European player, numbers were up: I even remarked that it felt Tuluk was helping to form an off-peak peak - its off-peak sponsored roles and staffers creating the support network needed for players in weird time zones to engage with the game. It wasn't a paradise - there were a lot of problems too: especially around the North/South 'war', disparity in player numbers and how the city was perceived at both ends of the North Road - both in-game and out. It wasn't perfect - but it didn't seem insurmountable. Plus we were enjoying the much, much delayed development of the 'Halloween plot' (yeah, classic Arm staff timescale - running plots suggested before October in April the year after) which involved the right amount of bats, weirdness and bat poop.

So it was something of a shock when I was called into a meeting with the Producers and told that Tuluk would be closed - sealed to players and removed from the world stage - in two months time. Worse still, I was being told now to help prepare for the release of the news to the rest of the staff in a month's time - so I had to keep it to myself.

Decisions had to be made about how the city was actually, codedly going to be 'closed': things like how we were going to (reliably, quickly) render the city completely inaccessible to everyone, how to switch over to Morin's, how to handle people logging in post-closure, etc. - and on the plot side of things I had to decide how to wrap up plots (big and small),how to manage the storage of those PCs unable to leave the city and how to break the news more widely.

Then the news broke internally and me and the Northlands STs had to see it through.

That none of us in the Northlands team wanted Tuluk to close didn't help either: it would have been easy, understandable even, if we had just phoned it in. I think similarly major events have been handled with similarly dispassionate attitudes. Sometimes this is just the way it has to be - having to do something that isn't fun for the better of the game as a whole. In this instance I didn't feel this was the case - with the distance of nearly a decade I feel comfortable saying it was a reactionary decision that ultimately damaged the game - but it was out of my hands. So I, and then the Northlands team when the news was released to the rest of staff, decided to do the only thing we could: our best.

Now, I'm not saying that me, Eukelade, Xalle, Nergal and all the other staff who pulled together for that final month knocked it out of the park. There are bits of the way we handled the closure from an admin/ST perspective that I wouldn't do if I did it again and other things I wish I had thought to do. But I can say that we all decided that the important thing was to do right by the players - past and present - who had contributed to the shared creation that Tuluk was. This took many forms, but the biggest ones were completing the Halloween/'bat plot' and creating a 'closure plot' to explain IC why the city was closing.

My next post will be about some of the plots that the closure forced us to resolve - such as the BATPLOT with some stuff about the playerbase of the time's reaction to the news.

To finish for today, I want to re-post a letter we on the Northlands team put together to accompany the official announcement. Internally I referred to it as our 'so long and thanks for all the fish' moment. You can read all the comms in the announcement post. Emphasis below is mine:

Hello Armageddon,

Today, the news that we have been dreading for a month has become public. In a way it is as much a relief as it is a new burden. We're relieved that we can commiserate with those of you who we've spent time building and animating for and with – that we can share our memories of the good times Tuluk has given us and that we can begin the task of doing right by you one last time. We're burdened though by the loss of a part of the game world we viewed as being engaging, exciting, unique and challenging to play and staff for, by the abrupt end to many excellent player-developed and run storylines, by the loss of an IC culture kept alive through the combined efforts of innumerable players throughout Armageddon's history.

I regret that many of the plans and aspirations we had for Tuluk will now be put on hold – that the many other projects we have introduced recently will not have the chance to be fully utilised until Tuluk is drawn out of deep freeze. But all this is balanced by the hope that I will be around in the future when we can look at the city with a fresh pair of eyes and knit everything into a final, complete whole that will be ready for all of us to enjoy.

I hope you can forgive us for this closure. While we as a team are passionate about Tuluk, we are also passionate about ArmageddonMUD and realise that this direction is the best choice for developing the game as an RPI. None of us are planning on going anywhere – our drive and love for the parts of Armageddon that Tuluk embodied and exemplified remains and we will take Tuluk's emphasis on challenging play amd flavourful theme with us to the other parts of Zalanthas we go to work on.

Each of us are also dedicated to making sure this period of transition is as comfortable as possible for players currently in Tuluk. We invite each and every player affected by this change to get in touch with us directly so we can negotiate either a fitting closure to your character's story – or a means for your character to leave Tuluk and participate in the wider world – with a minimum of IC weirdness. Our time, as always, is yours until the gates close that final time and we move on.

Finally – I want to thank you all. Every single player who has played in Tuluk. Who has etched their name into Tuluk through their play and dedication. I want to thank everyone who has trod that city's streets and done something – good or ill, under the Sun King's eternal gaze. I also want to thank Tuluk's enemies – those who have fought hard and defined the city in adversity in game, or those outside of the game who made sure that every decision we made and every asset we built was gilded with an adversity that made our successes all the more sweeter.

Thank you all – and radiance bless.

-The Northlands Team

[Veselka]

Excellent

We love you Rathustra! Come play with us. Forever. And ever. And ever.

[Malken]

I had a kid by the name of Jailbait who was rushed into the Byn at the last minute and left Tuluk to make a life in Allanak. It was so much fun!

[Rathustra]

Part 0.5 - The Good, The Bad & The Chosen

I glossed over a lot about what Tuluk was like  in the months just before closure. It was a time of change - some of this instability in docs and roles contributed towards the ultimate decision for the gates to be sealed: the amount of staff time and effort being demanded from beyond just the Northlands team was seen as a compounding factor with the primary concerns around player density. I think it's worth taking a look at what instability was around and what that compounding might have looked like.

The origins of this situation stretch back a long time and are inexorably gummed up with player perceptions around the place Tuluk had in the game world (and I'll get into that eventually) - perceptions that are carried over to staff when people naturally decide to join the staffing team. I'm not going to get into how much of these perceptions are accurate because that is a whole can of worms: but they were absolutely not 100% perfectly, unambiguously rooted in pure, objective rational truth - and even a 1% degree of falsehood propagates, laminates and grows over time and through retelling. Regardless - it was felt that Tuluk had to be adjusted, re-engineered to fit the game as it was in 2015 and I agree with this assessment: things needed to change.

I can only speak about my own opinion on what that re-engineering was to look like: as admin, my goal was to better emphasize the elements of dystopian brutality Tuluk's people/culture/institutions embodied - drawing out the themes and culture-as-played by years of characters in the city into more accessible documentation, clans and game assets while keeping the North unique. It wasn't a satisfactory solution to just recreate the same systems of oppression in Tuluk as were seen to be beloved by people who were fans of Allanak - if we reskinned the Labyrinth, or the inter-class relations that are touted as what make Allanak 'Zalanthan' we'd just be making Allanak 2 (Obsidian Boogaloo), not appealing to the people who played there and ultimately invalidating the contributions of Tuluk's playerbase.

One of the most involved of these projects - the one that is probably most noticeable still today - was the 'shrinkification' of the White City: long, empty promenades of identically-described rooms, huge regions of empty space in the east and ruins from Old Tuluk that hadn't been cleared even by the time of the deluge - Tuluk as a city felt large, spread out and sparsely populated. It fit the idea of a settlement at the edge of a desiccated savannah, built upon what came before: but it also meant that getting around was a headache and it felt OOCly as well as ICly unfinished. So a lot of work went into cutting the city down to size by shifting, removing and altering rooms en-masse. This was a monumental undertaking facilitated by Tiernan and Nessalin through scripting that would allow the change to be performed with minimal downtime - with a single stroke. Ironically, a lot of the techniques developed for the Shrinkification would later be used to seal the city.

Another prominent change from this process - was the unification of the two templar orders: where before there were exclusively male Jihaens and the exclusively female Lirathan orders, a co-ed single order was delivered at the end of 2013 by Nyr at the apex of a long-running, world-altering plot which is described in the game's chronology:

Rumors emerge from Allanak that a team of spies in deep cover were successful in plotting sabotage against Tuluki forces during the lead up to the battle at Tyn Dashra, with whispers that the destruction of Isar's Tree might have been one of their prime targets.

In Tuluk, at a public celebration, High Precentor Ardith Lyksae steps down from his position to become Precentor of the Jihaen Order. A relatively unknown Lirathan by the name of Oralia Negean takes the mantle of High Precentor. Later in the proceedings, an Allanaki templar and soldier are executed publicly by the hand of the High Precentor and the Precentor of the Jihaen Order, respectively.

Over the next month, rumors of widespread disappearances spread throughout Tuluk.

(The role call has some neat concept art that was used when designing the new order's gear.)

And, if just to toot my own horn - a final bit of change during this time was the introduction of the Tribal Levies. I mention this because, as I initially worked on the idea, it is something I can confidently talk about and use it to explain the approach I was taking when it came to building in Tuluk as an Admin.

The Tribal Levies were introduced to be a Northern parallel (NOT replacement) to the T'zai Byn: it was an opportunity for low-class, rough and tumble Tulukis from the Warrens and beyond to meet other PCs, receive starvation rations, some training and get a direct hook into whatever plot Templars or Sun Legion Sergeants wanted to run. To reduce it to its base elements - it was a cross between the National Guard and an Elizabethan Workhouse: service guarantees (continued) citizenship.

ICly, it was a remnant of Tuluk's origins as a confederation of tribal nations: it was a form a feudalism that persisted into the present because the citizens of the city still had a link to Muk's Conquest - the concept of a citizenship in the North was still tied to that heritage. In the past, the conquered or participant tribes under Muk Utep's rule paid scutage to their liege lord - they were expected to send warriors (loosely defined) when called to defend the North. In time, as the ancient tribal divisions broke apart in some places (the commoner caste) and solidified in others (noble, slave and templar castes), the Levy emerged less as something one was directed to do by one's chieftain - but more as a form of 'national service', increasingly for the poor and desperate - those not wealthy or well-placed enough to get out of it.

Along with tying this to the background of the city, the Levy was also to introduce this undercurrent of oppression, of a different form of dystopia than Allanak: if you don't serve, you don't eat - and if you do serve, you're there to blunt the enemy's weapons and die in droves. What does it say about a state that its penal battalion - its Shtrafbats- are made up of free citizens?

(Artwork by Ouroboros featured on the Tuluki Details help page.)

Which is to say that the process of tweaking Tuluk and its documentation had been ongoing for a long time: and wherever change goes, so does pressure, friction and frustration on both sides of the staff 'curtain'. This is to say nothing about the ongoing open hostilities between Tuluk and Allanak - which honestly needs its own post to do it justice - and involved PVP, which brings its own powder-keg of frustration and OOC hostility. This would emerge routinely in the request tool - but it would seep through on the GDB too, each time there was a notable skirmish.

When you add plots surrounding the consolidation of the Noble Houses of Tuluk into a more manageable number of concepts that were more focused on player-run plots also involved a degree of PVP (both political and murderous), plus the removal of the ability to play these nobles (who people had fond memories of), along with the cutting of concepts such as Hlum Nobility that offered unique character paths - you get a sense for the powderkeg that might have contributed to the decision to ultimately close Tuluk. Across the distance of 8 years I can see better what I was blind to at the time. I was focused on the excitement at the opportunity to further bring about a new, richer Tuluk where 'subtle'^* corruption was still not overt, nor physically brutal (leave that to the southerners) - but was absolutely, visibly there and just as inhuman.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.

So, detour done - next time I'll get to the plots that were running in Tuluk when the news of closure broke staff-side and how things pivoted towards the final RPT, player response and beyond.

* - an oft-quoted joke about how it just seemed that everyone got along in Tuluk, and actually there was a subtle element of murder corruption and betrayal going on behind the scenes. While I wholeheartedly agree that a lot of players did a great job of this - it was also true that many also either didn't realise it was supposed to be a facade, or were happy to assume the facade and not engage with any of the MCB. When people can coast like this, it just snowballs!

[Bast]

I played Zari, aide to faithful lord Yazir! She was a koolaid drinking full on believer. And she was intentionally writing up to be a little on the stupid side but with a big heart. I got to see a ton of the behind the scenes meetings leading up to stuff. I was given to Sergeant Aldren to be his mate by my faithful like a gift or something. Which was hilarious. We a had child which I assume survived as Zari did. Yazir was this mega controlling power hungry monster behind the curtain. It was so amazing playing with him. He would strangle Zari with this string of pearls he bought her whenever he was annoyed. It had a real Joker and Harley vibe.

I adored the Lord Marshall he and Yazir had this epic friendship. In the end though he tried to smuggle me and some other commoners out to safety. Zari knew what was going on but had been assured by Yazir she would be fine and they needed to ride the wave out. Anyway Yazir caught the Lord Marshall trying to rescue me and collected me. After that I was basically locked in my apparent is he was around. Which was fine there were only a couple days left.

This is why I love playing Aides you get a front row seat to some crazy stuff sometimes and you don't have make the big choices. You're just along for the ride. One of my favorite interactions in the end was during a super secret Templar meeting where they were discussing "the listless" and Yazir made a big point that it would be like making all servants like "his Zari" and pat my head while I sat there grinning nervously. Lol. I highly recommend playing an idiot once in a while and really sticking to it.

[Aruven]

These are cool to see and discuss.

I was playing Talius Kassigarh through the beginning of this ;
I remember the sudden deviations. Frustration and sometimes great disappointment. This had a lot to do with being in the place that was closing. I had some dedicated people around the clans despite numbers. I felt like our arc and story meant nothing as there seemed an increasingly predetermined set of outcomes and we were already just listless and didn't know it fully.

The staff did a great job pacing the story, and I was involved in the character until his death despite my whining musings of storing. The staff were communicating and open, I think it was handled as best it could have been and by all accounts the very last wave of players rode it out until the closure forced them out. The templaret tension was epic, the merciless crackdown by lirathans was epic, even the burning of the hlum estate. I remember wanting to take action there and realizing how powerless Jihaens had become by sheer number of them left at the time, and so had to watch alone in a crowd.

I think in retrospect we focus too much on the mechanics and not the story. And then we act as gatekeepers and protect the status quo, in some balance, and the story suffers or stops being told. I think Tuluk was the victim of this that left a great void in the game. The staff shortly before this had done some of the best work I think they ever did, putting out chronological history pieces on characters and places to give more depth and life to the world.

[tiny rainbow]

next time I'll get to the plots that were running in Tuluk when the news of closure broke staff-side and how things pivoted towards the final RPT, player response and beyond.

I really love reading these posts by Rathustra and hope we get to see the rest.

the merciless crackdown by lirathans was epic, even the burning of the hlum estate. I remember wanting to take action there and realizing how powerless Jihaens had become by sheer number of them left at the time, and so had to watch alone in a crowd.

I hope someone has a log of this and some of it at least can be cleaned up and saved to be reposted/on the website

I think it's a shame that some of the best stories are lost, important to retell while can - This recent stuff just goes to show how fragile things can be and how much can change in less than a year. It would be nice if there was an option in biographies to include a cleaned up original submissions style log file attachment, so that it isn't lost later when the year is up, even if it's forgotten about later. This stuff should be valued more I think.