Farewell, Lusternia

This is all the more bittersweet as fifteen years ago today Lusternia first opened its doors for beta testing. I know there are a couple of you still around who remember that time! Before then, Lusternia was nothing but a dream in my head, inspired by some past creative writing and, believe it or not, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I had played for many years. (Indeed, the name of ‘Lusternia’ was homage to that campaign.) I am forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to bring this dream, this vision, this mad creative project to life as a text game. I designed every class, laid out all the quests, and wrote all the stories. I still have a huge hand-drawn map which was made up of 12 pages of graph paper scotch-taped together which laid out all the seas, roads, cities, communes and beginning areas. Along with Roark (Lusternia’s co-founder and first coder), we spent a year of our lives building from the foundation up.

For fifteen years, I have helmed this ship through rocky waters and smooth, through bright times and dark, through laughter and tears. My heart breaks, as a mother’s would when she must leave her child. But Lusternia is not a child anymore. I raised it for a decade and a half, imbued it with my dreams and love, and trust it to continue.

So, my friends, I shall miss you more than you can possibly know. You still may see me trying to establish a presence on YouTube, and as I said, I hope a window will open in the future where I can return as a creative consultant. For now, Lusternia will be left in the very capable hands of our resident anomalies, Orael and Ianir, who are now co-producers of Lusternia.

So now Estarra enters the Void, to contemplate the myriad wefts and warps that the Fates have woven into their tapestry.

Remember Me.