A Brief (ish) History of 2025 & A Glimpse of 2026
Hi folks!
As 2025 draws to a close and the new year approaches amid the remnants of the holiday season, it’s time for my end of year post!
Looking back it’s been something of a whirlwind from start to finish. When we began the year I did not expect that we would be saying goodbye to Nicola and starting a new chapter for Achaea, but we dove right into it and I’ve survived the last ten months somehow. I was honoured to take the reins and I hope that the climate and culture of Achaea continues to thrive as I believe it has thrived throughout 2025. Let’s have a look at what we achieved since February…
Our modernisation began with the release of Esteem, dozens of quality-of-life focused updates, new configs, updates to crafting, pathfinding, a massive classlead round (thanks Alyzar), and the triumphant return of pancakes. We hired Edra in March and he’s proven to be an invaluable member of the team. Haskor ascended amid trials and tribulations. Gaderian wreaked havoc upon Narcisse while Mhaldor toiled at the building of Sapience’s first modern highway. And Razor appeared for the first time!
Goose Thera reigned briefly in April, and we celebrated Haskor’s rise to Godhood with an Avatar CTF and a Great Hunt while Harae’s volcano trembled, finally erupting in a shower of incandescence revealing a paramount fire elemental. The Serpent class underwent a full rework in May while affairs at sea culminated in the return of Neraeos to Achaea. Not to be outdone, lenses of light and a foray into Memory drew the gaze of Aurora to the Prime once again. And who could forget as the machinations of the Baron Balam Agab (that him!) began to bear fruit.
June would see the return of the Asterian Restoration, one of the greatest player-run events I’ve had the pleasure to observe and assist with, culminating in the first new High Clan in a very long time. On Yggdrasil, shadowy figures made deals with wizards in a burgeoning opposition to the Conclave, laying the groundwork for a conflict surely still to come. The storm’s fury manifested in the form of Vastar, the Skylord, and amid all the turmoil and emotion, Pandora emerged and resumed her daily bread of wreaking havoc and mayhem!
As Summer marched on, Mysian Rot plagued the realm and adventurers delved into the depths of Old Inbhir Ness. From the ruins wielding the newfound (and old lost!) hammer, came Phaestus the Smith! While citrus proved a balm to the world’s ills, oracles began to speak prophecies of doom for all to hear.
Gear released in August as the first major new system of the new administration. This has been widely popular and one of the best additions we’ve made in recent years. Expansions are planned! Alongside the gear system came the Elemental Fringes, a new series of advanced PvE focused area builds. Lady Moon returned to the realm after prophecies of doom resulted in a meteor shower, and all throughout the month, the Realm of Love fractured and split, causing emotional chaos across the world until the Muse Ferenthal arose as its steward.
Achaea’s birthday in September saw the return of the nameless tournament, and as the final quarter of the year rolled around, the township of Bjarnstead was founded on the Yggdrasil, rumoured to be related to planar events months prior. What the Tash’la have planned remains anyone’s guess. We also released a huge rework to dexterity and avoidance, and finally brought AUDIT to Achaea!
Pirates besieged Targossas, and in the aftermath Captain Blackgale was taken into custody. As investigations progressed and a trial was prepared, the prisoner perished under suspicious circumstances and his true identity was uncovered as the famed Sir Gladius.
Dwarven shenanigans continued in Inbhir with a cultural festival (Phaestus REALLY loves Dwarves…), and Targossas won the support of the Orcsplitter clan as new guards. Formicaries redefined totemic defence for Eleusis amid the triumphant return of Gaia, and an adventure by Ashtan resulted in the binding of Shimite’s Mirror.
Last but not least in December, gifts from distant realms made their way into ours, including Ironbeard’s irascible and unpleasant brother, Flintbeard! While festive cheer infected the realm, Cyrene’s conquest of the Aalen resulted in broken oaths, murder, and sylvanic ritual causing turmoil in the lands of the Tsol’aa while on Meropis, the Chaghut tribes did ride…
As we look ahead to 2026, we plan to continue our focus on modernising the game and implementing much needed and long requested quality of life updates, overhauls to various systems, and a re-imagining of some long-abandoned ideas.
Year 1000 looms in March and with it comes the Staff of Nicator Games as well as numerous other plans for this most auspicious of milestones. We’ll be continuing in our approach toward events and roleplay with an aim to broaden interest and appeal in as many ways as we can. PvE will remain a significant focus of our development resources with some major plans on the horizon for additional content and perhaps something entirely new!
That’s on top of classleads, active Gods, holiday events, and no doubt tons of unplanned feature creep that we’ll somehow squeeze into the year to come!
Here’s to 2026!
Penned by My hand on the 10th of Mayan, in the year 993 AF.