Without beating around the bush, I must tell you that I am leaving Lusternia. As I have pledged before that I would never abandon Lusternia, please know that this is not my choice and if there were any way I could stay in any capacity, I would. My great hope would be to return one day as a creative consultant to oversee lore and story, but alas for now I must drift into the Void.

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.

Penned by My hand on the 20th of Tzarin, in the year 542 CE.