About Spiritwood

Spiritwood.com was created in May of 1997 by a group of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) players as a central location for discussion, stories, and the exchange of ideas related to Ultima Online, one of the first successful graphical online role playing games.

The Eternal Rangers

Originally the first meetings took place among a group called the Eternal Rangers, a guild formed in anticipation of Ultima Online. Early meetings took place in IRC chat rooms and the Eternal Rangers had as many as 80 guild members at one point before the beta test of Ultima Online was available. Members of the group came from a broad range of backgrounds: professionals and students, both male and female, between the ages of 13 and 60 from all over the world, including Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Rangers of the North (RoN)

As the Eternal Rangers were growing close as a group in anticipation of Ultima Online, a very similar situation was occuring among another group of ranger characters called the Rangers of the North. In attempts to ally with like-minded groups, the Eternal Rangers and the Rangers of the North met regularly in chat to exchange formalities, ideas and friendship.

The Gathering

Over time, the nucleus of the Eternal Rangers became a group called The Gathering, since some of the characters being developed were often other than that of the ranger. It was then that Spiritwood.com was officially formed in in an attempt to provide a persistent, central on-line meeting place for members to communicate. The community was very close and became even stronger when the nucleus of the Rangers of the North fused with the Gathering. At the same time a steady stream of role playing enthusiasts who were looking for a good home came from many different avenues to reside here.

Rangers of the Heart (RoH)

In the spirit of the new direction of the group composed of Eternal Rangers, members of the Gathering, members of the Rangers of the North, and others who had joined, the Rangers of the Heart was formed, and had many an adventure in Ultima Online. Some of the members are cataloged in the Spiritwood Gallery in the form of hand-drawn images created by Robin.

Urtain

At one point, several members of the group got involved in a project called Urtain, the creation of a multiplayer online role playing game. With the best intentions and a myriad of ideas, the Urtain team set forth to provide the best designed role playing game to date. There were periods of great excitement during those days, but due to a series of critical conflicts, the game was never finished. The project was not financed, developers and designers worked in their spare time, some of which graduated college, took full-time jobs or got married. The dream that was Urtain is no longer underway ... but is not forgotten. You can see some of the concept art that was designed for the game by Dara in the Gallery.

Beyond the Game

Over time, Spiritwood became much more than a website for online games. People got to know one another, some personally, and there have even been those who have taken their online relationship to the next level. Games have come and gone, but the community remains, willing to venture new lands with old friends. The members of our group have gone through many of the trials, problems and pleasures of online gaming, including latency issues, hardware, gaming styles, roleplaying skills, character development, art, poetry, storytelling, ethics, behavioral patterns, music, programming, as well as a variety of real-life issues that affect our group on a daily basis.

The Present

Today, the group is stronger than ever, and a large portion of the community resides in Dark Age of Camelot, the latest MMORPG to hit the market. Others await highly-anticipated games such as Neverwinter Nights and Horizons. Despite our dedication to online games, our group extends much further than that. There are many who are among us, visiting our forums, posting or lurking, who do not currently play in a game. They have met friends here who are invaluable and share many of their interests and beliefs outside of simple computer games. We are blessed with many who haunt our home just to speak with old friends, or with hopes of playing a game that has not been yet released, or even conceived.

Welcome

If you are a roleplaying enthusiast and enjoy the company of gamers who have a laid-back, humor-laden perspective on life, then drop in and post a message on our Crossroads Forum. If you enjoy in-character communication or storytelling, then please feel free to visit Que's Tavern, our web-based roleplaying environment. Also, please visit the Spiritwood Gallery's Ranger Chronicles where stories from Que's are progressively being archived. Either way, know that you are welcome here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message and visit our humble home.

With warm regards,

Kyrian
Spiritwood Webmaster

Member Quotations Regarding Spiritwood

"Each of us would have something unique to add, some specific memory or event to mention. It's not practical to list every thing, but certainly here is a place that I knew was home when I first found it way way back. Good friends and good times. That's how it started, and it's grown to the point where we share with each other our bad times too, and find strength in fellowship." - Robin