The Adventures of Xee - Isle of Xee the start of it all.

It was early 2016 when I started my adventure this is Xee day 1 at the moon gate. I logged in for the first time and adventured in a world that was just in the early stages of development. Systems were limited , mob types were very few, Quests not sure if they were even there. I dabbled abit to see how things were then took leave and waited to see where it would go. Being a UO fan is what drew me to this game. I recall a lot of my fun times back then, and remembered when UO was first thinking of going 3D and I was drooling over the very few screens I saw of the early development. Not that there was any issues with Isometric but more that I wanted to see this creation reach a new reality. Now with SOTA I see a lot of what was some of the best parts of UO along with a lot of new. I do feel over all that we are getting closer each release to how I felt in UO. As well looking long term at what is planned and seeing all the development you can see it taking shape slowly.

Communities in SOTA bring a lot of what was loved about UO. Its the people that help make the world what it is. I have been to many places and towns , been in several events hosted by others. Had many unique experiences and some good ole Role play as well. I look forward to see everything continue to change and evolve and to see what more SOTA can bring to the table.

I started my Adventure with one of my Friends Talimar Rayne, we started in the town of Bladewayke which was at the time an underground cavern. I had my backer deed and bought another. It was the first time I figured out that I could put two lots back to back to make one large. the house and a huge yard.


It was the Leader of Havoc Cyin that I ran into months later in Havoc's first owned town Oracle Oasis. I sat on a hill over looking the town as we talked about what was to become of it. I mentioned that I had grown tired of being underground and needed some sunlight as my skin was so pale. After discussing a lot I decided to help invest to expand Oracle Oasis in exchange for a private island in the bay.

It was shortly after that I moved my house before we had the magic mover... will never forget that long haul across the map with 4000 weight that alone took me over an hour... and that terrible ogre pass being a low level will all this weight was a nightmare. But in the end things started to look great


There it was my first island in Oracle. I great site from the docks. It took us about 2 days to redecorate based on the pictures we had taken to save time. We once again had the lots back to back and this time spent a lot more time working on the details.


After a few months I decided to sell off my Benefactor deed as the town tower although amazing was not big enough for Talimar and myself anymore as we had new friends coming into the game. So we traded up to a POT city deed which we also managed to secure our first massive house... and I thought the tower took forever to decorate...


Inside view of the start of our collection

 

It was soon after spending weeks setting up this place that Embys Zephara came and joined us. We at this time were not very rich and needed a source of money to expand our empire. It was then we discovered that Ore was an easy commodity to sell and had a lot of value to people. So we started off to the mines and pretty much lived in there day after day, for what I am sure was months...


Ok, maybe it was really just days... hard to tell when you are having so much fun. Remember we are still low level so this was a challenge at the time

After several days underground we started to explore further it was on my adventure I came across Xenos which was an amazing NPC city.

It was here I fell in love with all the décor and thought about what it would be like to own my own Town to one day have something this amazing.

Talimar , Embys and Myself started to discuss the potential future. Oracle was fantastic but I required Cyin to place decorations outside of my lots which was pretty awesome but very limited as I had discovered from talks that each upgrade only allowed for so much décor and lights. This was a bummer as I really wanted more. I had the drive to be creative and needed my fix. So.... Isle of Xee was Born! I decided to negotiate with another player as there was no towns being sold anymore for Episode 1. I secured a hamlet at its original cost which was amazing. We Sat in our group and discussed where this will all go. Myself enjoying the Sun light of Oracle and the small island I was on decided to go bigger. We looked at all our options and settled on a Tropical island which would have the sun and was an island that would allow us to keep growing. So Isle of Xee was born nested in Sol town.


This became one of the biggest investments I have done in any game of both coin and Time. We now had our very own island to build to our hearts content. Using our gold and items we had we started to work on building up the town. Seeing we had almost no outside friends in the game short of the 3 of us we wanted to make something that would draw people to the town. So I spent the next few nights working to secure more deeds from various traders as well made some investments in bundles. We knew we needed to build up as much of the town as we could to start so that we had a place to show to others. If you build it they will come is what I thought. I also wanted to do what most town owners seek which is to make a town amazing to the eye so that we can draw more people. I have seen a few towns that were nice, some amazing and well some that were empty and devoid of life. For me Xenos was the high bar of where one day I hope to be, but for now we had very limited décor and deeds to make a great start. So here is what we started with after a few weeks.

it was a simple start with a few house and a center tavern. Although it was a nice start standing there after coming up the ramp I couldn't feel it. something was missing. There was no wow factor yet... So I decided to move things around and place our city deed which one small change made a big difference.

There it was. that feeling that this is going to be something amazing. It felt right. It was around this time I started crafting. Seeing we had all these show homes we needed things to fill them. Talimar became a blacksmith, myself a carpenter. Embys at this time was just mining away. We spent weeks and weeks working on this place. We didn't yet want to announce it to the guild or the world. It was like a theme park getting ready for grand opening.
After a long time Isle of Xee as many of you once knew opened.

It was then I met Alliene Dragonfyre and Drizzet Dragonfyre. The were two of the first people to come of the isle of Xee who fell in love with it and wanted to live there. At the time they didn't have a house or deed so it was the first time I offered them a choice of the many show home to live in. They decided on a nicely placed Ornate Green house row which they called home. Soon after that we had invited many to come take a look and offered spaces for those that could not afford until they had enough wealth to rent or buy their own. I also started a program allowing people to buy the houses and deeds I had to start making payments when they could until it was paid off and handed over. This is what really helped build our reputation and the town.

 

The town grew and changed a lot over time. Its a lot of work being a governor. Many people have needs and wants, as well you try to keep the balance to try and get everything to look right to fit in with your artistic vision. As you can see below some of the first houses and the design.


In between building up the empire, we started to meet new people all the time and began adventuring out of the isles safe refuge.

It was these seasoned adventures that took us under their wing and showed us some of the hardest things this world had to offer. There Was Boss Ogres and Dragons!

Our Havoc guild party was amazing. Being not very high level and being able to take these monsters was so much fun.


this was my first dragon. I was way... back as one breath would surely do me in... I was so squishy then. It was because of this party that I decided to become not just a carpenter but a Tailor as well. I felt so under equipped compared to the seasoned players we were with. Me being the type who likes not to rely on others for stuff and not liking to spend my money on expensive gear decided this was best to get another hobby besides building up the town and the empire.
It was along with Tailoring I found out how enchanting worked. This became a full time job in my evenings which As some current players know like that of Dysis I am not always Fun , I could spend weeks crafting and ignoring the fun factor lol.

slaving away at my crafting station.
Mean while in Isle of Xee.... I had become discontent with the Twin spire. Well an amazing center point of the town it lacked rooms which was something I needed if I was to keep inviting my friends to come live with me. So I started looking for a trade. It was then I found one of the city keeps which not only looked fortified but had a lot more space and rooms out the wazooo.
Thus the town started to change once again.


It was looking nice, but just did not feel as grand as the twin spire from the outside. I needed something to make it look more outstanding... hmmm. how about a crazy creative entrance? Sure I said so after some time this is where it ended lol.

it never ceases to amaze me what we can do with décor

Things were looking good once again.
It was shortly after this being a new Tailor I realized how much gathering I needed to do to make gear... ack! going to take forever I thought to get to where I need to be. So its when I started to look at gardens as away to make cotton and mandrake to support my crafting needs. So here was the first garden design attempt which actually turned out rather well

It was not designed as just a producer but to fit in with the town. Production was wonderful I had to hire someone to help maintain it. This is when I met Salvia D. He and I came to an agreement. He would tend to the gardens when I was not online in exchange for half the yields. I thought this would be very fair as green houses require a lot of watering and there is no way I could get it all done alone.
Later this week Alliene and Drizzet came over to chat about the town. I wanted to include the locals in town matters. what better place to hold a meeting then my party room. don't judge me on the camera lol.

We discussed marketing the town, the roads, ways to draw more people to make the town a bigger and why Alliene would not take off her armor... jk.
This is where I started to think more on the rentals I had and all the spare deeds I as starting collect and win.. yeah I won a few lottos from port back when you could win more then once chance per ticket. so I thought wait a second! what if instead of just selling my spare deeds I could lotto them. So I sat down pulled out my printing press and began making tickets. I made enough tickets to cover my costs on the value of the deed and a few extras to make it profitable. I then set out to visit a few of the people I met and previous town towners like Brassknuckles. I told them about my great lotto and put up tickets every where. I then began to setup for the day of the draw.

I had seats ready, music for pre draw, had a local be the drummer and setup the deeds on display. With in the two weeks before the draw I had sold out every ticket. this my friends became the best way I found to get rid of items. I had so many lotto events after this first one which gave me a lot of wealth. I expanded the draws not just to one deed but to other things I had as 2nd and 3rd offers which were bonuses. This also allowed me to meet people from all over and expand my connections. Soon we had a lot more coin in our purses to start to expand further.

I just realized that some of my order of events were incorrect. see what happens when you get old. Needless to say I am putting this picture of what transpired with the roads of the isle. After a town meeting it was discussed that the obsidian pavers did not really fit in with the island theme. I agreed on this after talking to several locals at the time which we then replaced it with cobble stone. That or perhaps this happened in this order and I just don't recall switching back to the spire... so long ago and memory is not as good as it use to be.

any how back to the story...
I had met a gent on the forums who was developing a very amazing Map. (If someone can tell me his name so I can give credit and point him out to people) this make was the first time I saw the Isle listed correctly which prompted me to get a large version of the file to send to the printers. If you don't have one I recommend getting a newer version of it this work is 1st class and he has done an amazing job.

this was printed 4 feet wide sits on my wall at home. its out of date now but I still use it for a lot of what has not changed.
PVP... let me tell you about it. Well I have known a lot of players that PVP , and I know there are a lot who complain that this game should have had open PVP like UO. Given that a lot of what we wear and carry has real world value I can understand why PVP never became open. that said I love PVP, but almost never do it just because I feel that with all my crafting I need to play catch up. Then came the PVP tournaments, there was a group that didn't allow artifacts and pitted you against people of your own levels so that you didn't need to have to worry about being behind. I only did this a few times just for the experience as well the one tournament had donations taken to support breast cancers so I could not resist helping and signed up.

here I didn't need to worry about losing anything and the setup of the arena in Festival was a real treat. I only one 2 or the 4 fights I believe but it was enough to get my feet wet and heart pounding. I can understand why some live for the excitement in the open world.

Back to the isle things kept changing over the year. bigger houses, street additions never ending work. This is where I managed to get my hands on the 2nd largest house which is the Lord of the Manor Chateau

As you can sort of see in the picture there was another garden that appeared on the other side... I loved making slightly gardens... hey port if you are reading this we need fish ponds with small water features
Oct... weather getting cold out side... I decided to build a haunted inn for tenants. Along with that a photo contest for Halloween theme came. Engineer another gov. popped over to show off his costume. I thought it was pretty sweet. He told me about the contest he was entering and he wanted to take his picture in front of the house that Salvia W. decorated (manager that took over the haunted inn in exchange for free board) It was then I said I have an Idea. You see isle of Xee was not just a town. I had planned out Lore for the town which is written in a book that is in limited copy in the game. long story short the islanders who came to live on my island had to come do a ceremony which involved them sacrificing themselves to the isle. I wont spoil any more on it as the lore is engrained in what is to come over the next year with dungeons and more even though the isle has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. (oops spoiler)
Anyways...
The bottom picture on the right was the winning picture I took for Engineer to submit for the contest, he rewarded me with some of the winnings which was nice as I expected nothing. the picture was taken in the sacrifice room I had built for the story. There are a few of you who had been through that ceremony

Back to the gardens... so before the spoiler above about the Isle sinking... I had planned out one more grand entrance garden for the fake keep (fake because I used POT land to place the walls around my deeds to make it look like a castle.) Here was a picture taken from an upper deck of the town in its final look before it sank.


Soon after this , an island in the bay showed up with housed an obsidian keep a long with it came the Order of the Black hand. Not much is known about this order but I have a feeling they are connected with the lore of the isle.

there was so many adventures that Xee had along with his companions, I could spend days talking about it... What I wanted to show to some of you today is that even though we all start somewhere we all even though we are not royal can achieve a lot of things and grow in friends, wealth and empire. Seeing of these pictures lets all know that we can build and build, make our visions reality. If you can't afford some of the luxuries alone, find friends willing to help. There is so many ways to make coin in the game if you put your mind too it. Fast forward to today The Isle of Xee is no more... it sunk to the depths of the ocean. It was those that lived on the isle that helped make it legend, and today from its ashes Silverdale Market was born. But that is another story. (Books on what happened and how Silverdale Market became and what is currently happening in the world of Xee are in the pavilion in the heart of Silverdale for all to read) We have 2 years of Lore that was planned coming to build our story and quests/dungeons.

 

Xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee \o/

 

You kept all this history - since 2016! Brilliant...

 

Brilliant!

 

If I had the space I could post it all. I think there is over 3GB of history I recorded... can't post it all there are a lot of gaps and changes in between. I could tell it all. So much fun I have had and will have in the future. every person I met, house I sold, offered and more. Parties.. don't get me started. The people I met, their stories. As part of silverdale market along with the adventures that are coming and the books I have out there the plan is to have those that have stuck with the isle to Silverdale to write their adventures on how they came to the isle all the way until Silverdale. We plan to have a library of some of the more meaning full events. As well I have cooked up a story which will unfold between now and ep2 which pulls people form the town into the story. I live to make others have a place and to let them enjoy what we all build together.

 

Awesome read @Xee super

 

On another Note if anyone has questions on anything in the game, towns, houses, lots, decor etc I have played with every house, and decor in the game short of the blood req. items. I am always happy to offer any advice look me up in game, I am 90% of the time in Silverdale.

 

You're awesome @Xee

I live on that island in Oracle Oasis now