The Novus archive is not one server folder dated “the good version.” It is a stack of changing worlds and scripts: TUS 0.45d saves from late 1999, later 0.46 and 0.48e material, official web pages, forum captures, screenshots, account-era records that cannot be published, and the memories of the people who built and played it.
The Dec. 1999 baseline
Classic uses the Dec. 1999 custom overlays and the 13 December world as its main placement authority. That world contains the stable Britain bank row, Chaos Isle support stones, Newby Dungeon fixtures, arena routes, shield stations, and the late sixteen-pad Teleport Center network.
Definitions and placements are tracked separately. The slot machine exists as code but has no confirmed world-rooted placement in the Nov.–Dec. saves. The Britain vending row appears in four compared worlds. Those two facts deserve different language on the website.
The public record
The preserved official site supplies the 1999 news, rules, staff policy, client changes, and statements signed by Probe and Kho’saf. Internet Archive captures extend that record through 2001. The original UBB board, NOS Stratics, and the participating Russian community preserve tournaments, technical help, maps, equipment images, and the final closure.
Population numbers remain attached to their dates. We do not turn a March 2000 report of 40–50 peak clients, an August report of 358, a December report of 390–440, and later veteran memories into one timeless statistic.
The private record stays private
Recovered accounts, plaintext passwords, email addresses, IP addresses, private messages, session values, and staff records never enter the public build. Public archive pages are generated from reviewed data that excludes those fields.
The result is a game, not a research exhibit
The Game Guide gives players the current rule first. The Chronicle carries the older settings, conflicts, and source notes. That separation lets the shard feel like Novus without making the player read an archival disclaimer every time they want the murder threshold or price of a vendor deed.