Novus Opiate
An unwalled hill town of timber and stone on a lifestone hill at the edge of a blighted wasteland, its slopes strewn with fallen fighters' gear, crimson banners and smoke under an amber sky, with a smoking crater and two distant spires.

Hotspot · Darktide’s early hub

Arwic

The crossroads of Darktide’s earliest great battles, until the world wiped it away.

Region
Edge of the Olthoi north
Type
Trade town
Contested
1999 – 2000
Record
Fair

Arwic, dated

  1. Dated to the season

    SiN vows to take it

    Original-era evidenceVoices: Black Rose-side

  2. Dated to the month

    Fifty on the hill

    Original-era evidenceVoices: Black Rose-side

  3. Dated to the month

    Destroyed

    Original-era evidenceVoices: Official

  4. Dated to the month

    Rebuilt

    Later evolutionVoices: Official

Easy to reach, impossible to hold. Its lifestone hill saw Darktide’s earliest great battles.

The Mercs’ town

Original-era evidence

Home to the Mercs in 1999. SiN vowed to take it, and never ruled it.

Sources · Black Rose-sideDarktide’s Past

Corpses on the hill

Original-era evidence

January 2000: Black Rose raided with about thirty; within minutes about fifty fought over the lifestone hill in heavy lag.

Sources · Black Rose-sideDarktide’s Past

Impossible to secure

Player recollection

Too many portals in, a 2015 retrospective says, for any monarchy to hold.

Sources · OutsiderAsheron’s Call Part 2: Carebears

Destroyed, then rebuilt

Original-era evidence

The Shadow Spires destroyed it in September 2000. It was rebuilt behind walls by January 2003.

Sources · OfficialTwilight’s Gleaming; Shadow SpireRebuilding Arwic