Avlis

Avlis is a campaign setting designed for use with Dungeons and Dragons developed over the past 20 years from a home-grown campaign setting, and branching into a large scale online campaign.

As a setting it is most notable for being the world used for the Neverwinter Nights persistent world of the same name, which spans 8 active servers and has one of the largest active player bases among such worlds.

The Setting
Avlis is a traditional setting utilizing many familiar D&D concepts, such as crystal spheres, standard cosmology in the form of the Outer Planes, and several cameos of familiar gods and goddesses.

However where many traditional fantasy settings rely upon the interplay of large cosmic forces of "good" and "evil", Avlis is focused more upon the concept of individuals and their alignment, and thus has no true "monster" races, rather each of the various races that populate the world are self-aware and evolving, with their own culture, language and nations that define them.

The Online Incarnation
Started in late 2002, the online incarnation of Avlis was among the first of the Persistent Worlds built around the Neverwinter Nights game client. Many of the core elements that make up the backbone of running NWN persistent worlds were started as Avlis, including the crucial Neverwinter Nights eXtender (NWNx) and its various plugins such as Vaultster.

The online incarnation is very much an adaptation of Living Campaigns, but rather than limited to large scale events such as conventions, the persistent world concept allows for a similar degree of large scale adventures and participation on a regular basis.

Avlis is currently one of the founding member worlds of the Confederation of Planes and Planets, and has been featured for features in Bioware's Weekly Wednesday twice, in addition to interviews with various staff members.    

Print Incarnation
There is currently an Avlis Campaign Setting Sourcebook manuscript being edited and shopped for publishing as a standard d20 campaign setting. As part of the concept of the Avlis world of the online incarnation reflecting back upon the setting as a whole, several major events that have taken place over the past three years have been incorporated in this latest revision of the Pen and Paper setting.

Introduction
A world born in an age of strife, when the demon Negarai brought forth from another dimension nine prisoners who were to become gods. A world of magic, where vortices of raw power give birth to all things arcane and divine. A world of steel, where great battles engulf the entire continent of Negaria, forever changing her face, her peoples, and marking the epochs of time. A world of balance, where no one philosophy or race holds sway. This is fantasy. This is Avlis.

Customizations
Avlis contains many features expanding on NWN such as – custom races like playing a wemic, the inclusion of religions to build into the role you want to play, the ability to craft you own armor, clothing and weapons, its own custom background music.

History
Avlis was one of the first persistent worlds to open its doors to the public mere weeks after the release of Neverwinter Nights. The world has grown and expanded to include over 2500 areas to explore and exceptional roleplaying to experience. New players can read through over one hundred pages of history and details about this very mature world.

World Forge Magazine
The online incarnation of Avlis is partially funded by voluntary contributions from a portion of its players. This is largely achieved by players who subscribe to "World Forge: The Journal of Online Game Environments", an online journal which aims to give DMs and players a place to share their game settings and help each other develop them, as well as showcase fiction from amateur writers.

Neverwinter Nights Links

 * NWNWiki
 * Official NWN website
 * NWN Vault
 * Sorcerer's Place NWN coverage