March Newsletter from Iron Realms Entertainment

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Our image for this month's newsletter is illustrated by Marioc of Achaea, who placed in the Artisanal contest for January with this entry titled "Shield Arm of Cyrene".

Achaea
February in Achaea was a fantastic month for explorers and newbies! A new area for young adventurers, Mount Gheladan, was revealed, and an orientation system was implemented to help newbies past the introductory tour. Furthermore, the minotaur settlement of Hriddan was found in the far north, the Ivory Tower opened in the Sangre Plains, and two new islands were discovered: Colchis and the Port of Umbrin. Last but not least for notable news from February, we welcomed a new coder, Tecton, to our staff!

Lusternia
In Lusternia, the month of February saw the dramatic conclusion of Ascension Event 2008, as mortals struggled amongst themselves and against the Soulless God Kethuru to claim the ultimate prize of becoming a True Ascendant. In only the second time in all of Lusternia's history that such a challenge took place, the final contestants were:

• Ashteru of Glomdoring, who claimed the Seal of Chaos
• Visaeris of Magnagora, who claimed the Seal of War
• Thoros of Glomdoring, who claimed the Seal of Justice
• Kaervas of Glomdoring, who claimed the Seal of Nature
• Forren of Celest, who claimed the Seal of Knowledge
• Zia of Serenwilde, who claimed the Seal of Beauty
• Xenthos of Glomdoring, who claimed the Seal of Life
• Sojiro of Serenwilde, who claimed the Seal of Death
• Galaphyrae of Serenwilde, who claimed the Seal of Harmony

The Sealbearers and their followers battled fiercely. Ultimately, though Visaeris of Magnagora and Kaervas of Glomdoring put up a good struggle, it was Sojiro of the Serenwilde with support from New Celest who finally managed to claim the Staff of Ascension. It was he who rose up to be the True Ascendant now known as Shuyin. During the struggle, Kethuru was able to breach the Domoth Realms, which opened up a new challenge for Ascendants and Demigods alike to take control of different realms.

Aetolia
Expansive changes have begun to course through the Aetolian landscape, and with the addition of an internal mapping system, adventurers have undertaken the exploration of the realm with renewed fervour. An artifact auction was held with great success, giving a much-needed boost to the Aetolian economy. The vaunted Tekals, Azudim, and Yeleni gained access to their own personal Havens, and they have busily begun expanding their territories. Organisational building also received significant attention, and the guilds, cities, and Houses of the realm have begun investing in long-term building projects that should keep their Dwarven contractors well fed for years to come.

Imperian
Imperian mourns the loss of Lorrie Knoll, our Associate Producer of Building, who passed away on February 18th. Seki, as she was known to all of us in Imperian, played an instrumental role in all of the building projects in Imperian and will be sorely missed. A number of classlead changes and upgrades were released during February and the end of the month brought about a new call for volunteers for our innovative Docent program.

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