Define Urath?
Urath is a world of legend based in Lore, where heroes use the accumulated lore of song and legend in a struggle with those who would use that power for evil. Heroes try to gain power by uncovering the Lore of the Word, lost in the First Age and never regained. They do this by uncovering legends, items, and places to either build greater understanding (or power) and unification of the Word or to restore the Lore to the places it should inhabit. Urath is threatened by those who would use the power of Lore for evil and power. Magic is the power of the Word as it has descended through the ages. In can be invoked through song, words of power, and holy words. In the beginning, the Word was the organizing force in the universe, and as it opposed Chaos it broke in to Word Entities called gods, who defined their own parts of the Lore. After the cataclysm at the end of the Second Age, the Lore was further diffused into Urath. Items and places can contain the power of lore, and occasionally uniting item, legend and/or place correctly can unite pieces of the original Word. The setting is devoted to it's own history. While nations and cities seek to strive for temporal power, that struggle is intertwined with the uncovering of the lore of the world. As this lore is uncovered, different groups gain or lose power. Armies can be powerful, but the correct Lore can be even more so. Religions of the world are devoted to the gods of lore, upholding them above all others, and the seeking of the one true Word.
What kind of game is Urath? Urath will again be a persistent world with a multitude of player activities and experiences. A typical player on Urath might spend their time hunting and acquiring treasure, learning a tradeskill, operating a shop, gathering a group of people together to manage a player-run village, (including the management of working political and economic and defense systems), exploring the world to learn the secrets of Urath's history, or staging live performances and entertainments. If you have participated in the world of Urath so far, you've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Urath is currently in very early pre alpha stages. Phase 1 of Urath development is getting the technical bits right, and exploring the limits of scripting and module creation. We have put up a few basic modules in order to bring Urath online to test the technical aspects of the game and explore the toolset. If you've been thinking that the Tar Garellath Tombs and Nigel's tower are all that Urath is about....think again. Behind the scenes, there is a team of people working on story and history, alternate skill trees and means of advancement, player villages and quests and much more. We'll keep you posted. What do we expect from our beta players? Well, first of all we expect that you'll have a good time wandering the land and exploring the new content as we get it added. Second, we want to make sure that our players understand the kind of world we're trying to build, and that they understand the development environment a bit. In the months to come follow-on posts will contain features and highlights for our Urath players. The world of Urath is intended to rely heavily on story and roleplay.

http://urath.org Release Date: 2Q 2009