Ten years ago, Aetolia opened its doors to the general public for the
first time. A first for what was then Achaea LLC, Aetolia was initially
just an experiment to determine whether another game done in what would
come to be known as the Iron Realms style would be successful. So in
typical fashion for the time, the vampire class was slapped together
over the course of a few months, Bloodloch was dropped into the desert,
and Aetolia was born.

Since that point, Aetolia has gone through multiple Producers, an
immeasurable number of code updates, and more volunteer staff members
than there are players connected at the time of this posts writing. Yet,
even as Iron Realms continued to release new games Imperian, Lusternia,
and most recently, Midkemia Online, much of Aetolias core playerbase has
stuck by it, drawn back time and again by an unparalleled roleplaying
experience created as much by the player community as by Aetolias staff.

As one of those players who first logged in mere seconds after the game
went live on October 7th, 2001, it is somewhat surreal to be writing
this post today. At that time, I was 15 years old, and to imagine that
ten years later, not only would I still be spending much of my time on
Aetolia, but that I would in fact be in charge of its development, would
have been more fantasy than the Vampire Prince role I filled at the
time. But, here we are, and I could not be happier.

Aetolia is for me, and for many of our players over the years, much more
than just a roleplaying game; its more than vampires and werewolves,
knights and mages, Gods and humgii. Aetolia is a living community, with
heroes and villains whose reputations extend far beyond the limits of
the world they are based in. In the ten years of Aetolias history, weve
experienced the pain of loss together, the struggles of leadership
change, and the many joys of new friendships. Each of us has our stories
to tell, and that tapestry of shared experience will only continue to
grow by the day.

In the coming weeks, I would like to invite all of you to share in a
celebration of Aetolias history, and of its future. As we begin the
second decade of our journey together, it is my hope that our players
will continue to enjoy the many new projects being worked on by our
staff and myself. We will be holding a series of tournaments and
contests throughout the month of October for players to compete in,
while also releasing some new content that should wow many of you who
have been clamoring for new experiences to take part in.

Once more, I want to thank everyone who has helped to make Aetolia the
place it is today. Without our players, not only would we have no staff
to speak of, but no one to create anything for! October will be a month
to celebrate you as much as the success of Aetolia, so enjoy, and
congratulations!

Penned by my hand on the 5th of Ios, in the year 344 MA.