A1

Astaria began its journey with an LP-Code base and a T1 internet connection housed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The connection allowed the MUD to persist for up to a week before reboots, differeing from many MUDS at the time that rebooted with a few days to maintain stability.

Three major continents opened Astaria: Astaria tiself, Sakai, and Sable. The early incarnation of Astaria saw player counts below 10 (late 1994 and early 1995), but those numbers grew to 40+ players regularly logged on as Astaria gained popularity for its community,as well as its world that felt both familiaryet unique. Toward the end of 1996, the numbers balloned even higher.

The MUD opened with a number of guilds: cleric, fighter, mage, psion and thief, though many of the guilds were still being developed through A1; power sets were incomplete, and staff solicited suggestions and feedback from the earliest players.

Early Guilds

Among the guilds, many players joined the fighters early. Thieves and psions were hidden in the continent of Sable. Psions in particular saw little play due to the difficult nature of finding the guild and the novelty with its guild identity.

By reaching out to Aquila, the earliest psions organized a meeting to discuss the direction of the guild in regards to its hidden nature and available powers. Variax, an early Wizard attended as a representative of the staff, and Arashi was eventually assigned as a coder to help build out the guild.

Only thieves and mages had realm-wide poses, which were considered guild abilities at the time. Upon suggestions from players in the fighter's guild, the pose feature extended to the fighters and soon to all guilds. Able to take on the highest level monsters, mages established themselves as one of the more complete guilds. Thieves with their dodge, backstab, and gag abilities, then psions with their 18th level 'pain' power and ability to stun monsters and self-heal soon followed. Fighters and clerics, both without reliable ways of diminishing monster damage, fell behind the power scale.

Toward the end of A1, a few players were either invited to or applied to beta test the bard's guild.

Astaria 1: Early Players

Clerics	Fighters	Mages	Psions	Thieves	*Bards
Bhudda One of the first players to find the 'high level board' and the first clerics to reach level 20. Created Clan Rose, Astaria's fourth player formed clan.	Acydreign First fighter to pantheon and an early member of clan Tiger, Astaria's first player formed clan.	Infinity One of the first players tthree players to reach level 20. Created clan Gauntlet, Astaria's first player formed clan.	Clym Early psion to level 20, and one of the first players to discover donating as a means of pushing stats. First psion to 'Pantheon'.	Alec One of the first three thieves to level 20 and one of the first five players to level 36.	Aeolus Bard beta tester. Removed after killing another player character during beta test.
Hpuirt One of the first clerics to reach level 20, and one of the first players in the realm. Contributed feedback about many of the guild's early prayers.	Ikshada First fighter GM and fist fighter to level 36. Took part in helping stop the thieves takeover of Sable.	Merlin One of the first three players to reach level 15 and gain access to Astaria's 'high level board'	Darzog First psion GM, and one of the first players to reach level 20.	Amos First thief to level 20. First thief to level 36. Helped form clan Gauntlet, the first player created clan in Astaria. One of the earliest and most proficient Trial Arcanus players on the MUD	Galion Early bard beta tester who completed the beta and reached level 20 during the period.
Valkrie One of the first clerics to reach level 20. An early cleric GM and th first cleric to pantheon.	Perrin Second fighter GM and one of the first fighters to reach level 36. Later joined Astaria's staff, becoming an admin.	Pazuzu One of the first mages to reach level 20, and a founding member of Clan Tiger, Astaria's second player-formed clan. The second mage to Pantheon.	Deunan Second psion GM and first psion to reach level 36. Formed clan secret, which later became Excaliber Helped end the thieves occupation of the Sable Lighthouse	Avurum The first thief and one of the first three players to level 15, gaining access to Astaria's 'high level board.'	Tinuviel Early bard beta tester, who offered a signifficant amount of feedback for the guild and abilities
	Silvervein Early fighterand one of the first fighters to reach level 20. Provided feedback for the guild concering guild powers and later	Rakasta One of the first mages to reach level 20 and then level 36. The second player and first mage to pantheon, and later went on to become an early Wiz on Astaria.	Serena Among the earliest players and psions to reach level 20. Discovered many areas in the realm and provided feedback on psion's power list.	Crue One of the first thieves to 20 and to 36. Early 'player killer' in the realm and one of the thieves who orchestrated the takeover of Sable and the killing of many higher level players. Early player to discover donating as a means to raise stats. Founding member of Clan Darkness.	Twist Early bard beta tester who reached maximum level during the beta period
			Seti Early psion to reach level 20. Organized psions in an initial meeting to discuss guild powers and the hidden nature of the guild. Later went on to join Astaria's Wizard staff.	Gage Early thief who initiated the thieves takeover of Sable when he stabbed a letter to the liighthouse door, which resulted in the death of many non-thief player-characters.	Crue, Cruz, Fenix, Jalen, Shandril, Shylo: Players who all tested the bard's guild makiing them the first players to try Astaria's earliest additional guild.
				Marcus One of the first thieves to level 36, and the first thief GM. Formed clan Darkness, Astarias third player-created clan. Early player to discover donating as a means to push player stats. GM of the thieves guild when they took over Sable and killed many of the higher level player-characters.