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Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
Developer(s)	Origin Systems
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Release date(s)	February 28, 2003
Genre	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Platform(s)	Windows

Ultima Online: Age of Shadows is the fifth expansion for the popular MMORPG Ultima Online. It was released on February 28, 2003 and was the last title by developer Origin Systems.

Malas

Age of Shadows introduced a new landmass to the game called Malas. Malas was designed to appear as a broken continent, with various islands and pieces of land separated from each other and connected only with bridges. The pieces of land were surrounded by stars, suggesting that Malas floats somewhere in space above the rest of the Ultima Online worlds.

The main purpose of Malas was to provide more land for player housing. Players had complained that limited open land was causing an unreasonable amount of price inflation in the community, and restricting younger players from owning houses until they had played for many months. The greatly increased land that Malas provided helped to lower the cost of housing, and gave more players the opportunity to own a home.

Item system

New item attributes and properties were added with the expansion. The new attributes allowed for hundreds of combinations of items, a drastic change from the limited possibilities before. Four elemental properties were part of the change: fire, cold, energy, and poison. If the elemental properties were high enough, items changed color to reflect elemental power. This change produced a variety of items such as blue broadswords, and orange katanas, which caused upset with traditional players who claimed that the unrealistically colored weapons detracted from the authenticity of Ultima Online (see: Criticism).

Character classes

Two new character classes were added with Age of Shadows.

Paladin

The new Paladin character class is mainly comprised of the new Chivalry skill. If used in conjunction with a "Book of Chivalry," a Paladin using the skill can perform powerful techniques, such as curing poison in battle, or teleporting to a new location. These types of magical abilities were previously restricted to mages. In order to perform Chivalry techniques, a Paladin must tithe gold to a shrine in exchange for "tithing points."

Paladin (Chivalry) techniques:

• Close Wounds
• Holy Light
• Consecrate Weapon
• Enemy of One
• Dispel Evil
• Remove Curse
• Divine Fury
• Sacred Journey
• Noble Sacrifice

Necromancer

The new Necromancer character class was introduced along with 16 Necromancy spells. Necromancy requires a separate group of reagents: Bat Wing, Grave Dust, Daemon Blood, Nox Crystal, and Pig Iron.

Necromancer (Necromancy) spells:

• Poison Strike
• Pain Spike
• Curse Weapon
• Blood Oath
• Evil Omen
• Mind Rot
• Strangle
• Corpse Skin
• Wraith Form
• Lich Form
• Vampiric Embrace
• Horrific Beast
• Summon Familiar
• Animate Dead
• Vengeful Spirit

Criticism

The months following the release of Age of Shadows saw a significant exodus of veteran players from Ultima Online. Many players insisted that the new brightly-colored items detracted from the game's atmosphere strongly. A further, more serious criticism, was that the new item system broke Ultima Online's long-standing tradition of being skill-based in favor of an item-based system.

External links

• Ultima Online website
• Age of Shadows website

Pre-history

Human habitation in Tatarstan dates back to the Palaeolithic period. Remains of several cultures of the Stone and Bronze Ages have been discovered within Tatarstan. During the Iron Age (8th c. BCE–3d c. CE), the Ananino culture, probably a Finno-Ugrian people, dominated the area of the upper Volga and Kama river valleys. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC western Tatarstan was occupied by the Gorodets culture.

From the fourth century BCE much of the Volga-Kama basin was occuped by tribes of the İmänkiskä culture, who are thought to have been an Indo-European people, possibly related to the Scythians. Around the beginning of the 1st century CE a new group, the so-called Pyanobor culture (probably of Finnic origin) appeared at the lower Kama.

During the great migrations of late antiquity Siberian Turkic and Ugric tribes settled the region east of the middle Volga and forced out the Pyanobor culture from the Kama basin. The Pyanobor tribes lingered on in what are now the north and north-western parts of Tatarstan.

Turkic peoples

The main article is Onoghur

The period from roughly 500 to 700 CE saw an influx of Turkic-speaking nomads. These immigrants' culture was related to those of the Gokturks, Khazars and the tribes of Great Bulgaria.

Volga Bulgaria

The main article is Volga Bulgaria

The 9th and 10th centuries saw the rise of the first organized state in the region, the Khanate of the Volga Bulgars. The population of Volga Bulgaria was largely agricultural. The cities of Bolghar, Bilär, and Suar, among others, appeared with the growth of industry (casting, forging) and trade. Crop-growing and a cattle-breeding played a major role in the economy. The farmers were predominantly free landowners.

In the early 900's the Volga Bulgars converted to Islam, causing their culture to be greatly influenced by that of the Muslim Middle East.

Mongol invasion

The main articles are Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria and Golden Horde

After the conquest of Volga Bulgaria by Mongol troops under Batu Khan the country was under the control of the khans of the Golden Horde. As a result of mixing of different Turkic peoples and languages during this period, the modern Volga Tatar ethnos emerged.

Khanate of Kazan

The main article is Khanate of Kazan

In the first half of the 15th century, as the result of Golden Horde's collapse, the Khanate of Kazan emerged as the dominant power in the Volga-Kama region. As Muscovy grew in power and struggled for control of trade routes and territory with the Golden Horde's successor states, Kazan was at times dominated by factions favorable to Moscow, and at other times by factions advocating alliance with other Tatar polities such as the Crimean Khanate. Finally, the khanate was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.

After the Russian invasion

After 1552 the khanate was governed by Kazan Palace's Office formed in Moscow. In 1555 a bishop was appointed in Kazan with a mandate to baptize the Idel-Ural peoples. Many churches and monasteries were built, and Russian peasants and craftsmen were resettled within Tatarstan. At the same time ethnic Tatars were removed from Kazan proper as well as regions close to rivers and roads. Under pressure from the Russians many Tatars emigrated to the Upper Kama, Trans-Kama area, Bashkortostan, the Urals and Siberia during the 16th and 17th centuries. The result was a decline in agriculture, industry and commerce throughout the region. The local population was forsed to pay the yasaq tax. Some part of the Tatar nobility were included in the nobility of the Russian Empire; many underwent baptism to keep their privileges.

In 1708, the Khanate of Kazan was abolished and the province was placed under the control of a new Kazan Governorate. It included Middle Volga and Western Urals. Kazan, with 20,000 citizens, was one of major trade and handicraft centers of Russia. Manufacturing developed and in the beginning of 19th century major hide, soap and candle factories appeared. A class of Tatar merchants arose, who carried on brisk trade with Central Asia.

Restrictions in occupation, heavy taxation, and discrimination against non-Christians blocked the cultural and economic development of the Tatars. Several rebellions and peasants' wars broke out as a result. During the Time of Troubles, the Kazan khanate regained its independence with the aid of factions within the Russian army. Cangali bek, a Tatar nobleman, led another revolution in 1616. Other insurrections among the Volga Tatars included the Bolotnikov movement (1670-1671), Batırşa movement (1755-1756), and Pugachev's war (1773-1775). Other peoples of the Idel-Ural region took part in these conflicts.

In 1773, Muslims in Russia were granted greatly expanded rights. In 1784 Tatar noblemen (morzalar) had equal rights with Russian noblemen (dvoryane).

Tatar soldiers took part in all Russian wars, sometimes in national units (as was the case during the Napoleonic Wars.

After the reforms of 1860s in Imperial Russia economic conditions in Tatarstan improved markedly. Stolypin's reforms led to accelerated economic development of the rural areas. In the 19th century a large middle class developed among the Tatars. The Russian Revolution of 1905 awakened Tatar national consciousness and led to calls for equal rights, development of a distinct national culture and national self-consciousness as well as other freedoms. The pan-Islamic Russian party Ittifaq al-Muslimin represented the growing nationalist camp within the State Duma. The first Tatar mass-media appeared during this period with the publication of Tatar language newspapers such as "Yoldız", "Waqıt", "Azat", "Azat xalıq", "İrek", "Tañ yoldızı", "Nur", "Fiker", "Ural", "Qazan möxbire", "Älğäsrelcädid", "Şura", "Añ", and "Mäktäp". The first Tatar professional theatre, the Säyyär also emerged at this time.

Revolution and Civilian War

The main article is Idel-Ural State

During the chaos of the Russian Revolutions of 1917, Tatarstan became functionally independent with a national parliament (Millät Mäclese), national government (Milli İdarä), national council (Milli Şura), and a national military council (Xärbi Şura). Some Tatar military units took part in Civil War against the Reds. Anti-communist Tatar revolutionaries declared the Idel-Ural State, but the Moscow Bolshevist government moved to prevent an independent Tatarstan on its flank. The "Muslim Council" was overthrown by a "Workers' Bolshevik Council" in a mostly Tatar-populated part of Kazan province called Bolaq artı or Zabulachye (In English, the "Transbolaqia Republic"). The Muslim Council was arrested.

In 1919 the Bolsheviks declared an autonomous Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Socialistic Republic, but the region was at the time largely occupied by the Whites, the leader of whom, General Kolchak, did not support an independent Muslim republic. The declaration, coupled with Kolchak's hostility, caused many Tatar and Bashkir troops to switch sides and fight for the Bolsheviks. Ultimately, the victorious Communists subsumed Tatarstan within the RSFSR, leading to large-scale emigration of from the country, particularly among the upper class.

The Soviet rule

The main article is Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On 27 May 1920 the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the RSFSR was declared. However, in the late 1920s the Soviet government under Stalin began to place restrictions on the use of the Tatar language (among many other minority languages in theSoviet Union). The development of national culture declined significantly. The Tatar alphabet was switched twice (to the Latin alphabet and then to Cyrillic). From the 1930s through the 1950s Tatar-language press, cultural institutions, theatres, national schools and institutes gradually disappeared, as education was required to be conducted in the Russian language. Industrialization, the rise of the collective farms kolektivizatsiya and persecutions such as the Great Purge contributed to this decline.

The religion also was repressed. At the first time Soviet rule discriminate mostly Orthodox Church and some Islamic religious streams was preserved (see Jadidism, Wäisi movement), but later they also was repressed. Some theologians of Jadidism (that was liberal to Soviet rule at the first time) escaped to Turkey or Egypt.

More than 560,000 Tatar soldiers took part in World War II and more than 300,000 of them were killed. Many Soviet plants and their workers, as well as the Soviet Academy of Sciences, were evacuated to Tatarstan. During the war large petroleum deposits were discovered. During their exploration Tatarstan became one of the most industrially developed regions of the Soviet Union.

Post-Soviet history

The Supreme Council of TASSR changed Tatarstan's status at 30 August of 1990. Declaration about souverenity of Tatarstan Soviet Socialistic Republic was declared.

• 12 June 1991: The first elections for President of Tatarstan. Mintimer Shaymiev was elected.
• 21 March 1992: Referendum held regarding Tatarstan's status. The majority of the population support Tatatrstan's independence.
• November 1992: The Constitution of Tatarstan accepted by parliament.
• 1994: The Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan was signed. Tatarstan becomes a de facto constituent republic of the Russian Federation.
• 1995 and 1999 elections held for the Governmental Council of Tatarstan.
• March 2002: Numerous amendments to Tatarstan's Constitution. Tatarstan officials officially declared Tatarstan to be a part of Russia.

Henry Wildman (born 1838, date of death unknown) was a convict, transported to Western Australia in 1862, whose apparently false claims to have found gold in the Kimberley region of Western Australia prompted an exploring expedition to the area.

Henry Wildman was born in 1838. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he was a literate protestant labourer. According to convict records, he was sentenced to 18 years penal transportation on March 18, 1862, although some contemporary newspapers state that he was sentenced to 15 years in 1861. Wildman arrived in Western Australia on the Lord Dalhousie on 28 December 1863.

Two days after his arrival, the Inquirer published Wildman's claim to have found gold in the Kimberley region. Wildman claimed that in 1856 he had been first mate on a Dutch ship, the Maria Augusta, sailing from Rotterdam to Java, when it was forced to stop in Camden Harbour for rudder repairs. He then allegedly explored up a river, where he found gold nuggets to the value of £416, which he later sold at Liverpool.

Wildman offered to lead a party to the area, in return for a remission of his sentence. In response to this, an exploring expedition to the area was launched, under the leadership of Frederick Panter. The Camden Harbour expedition sailed from Fremantle on March 2, 1864. On arrival at Camden Harbour, Wildman became sullen and hostile, refusing to give any further information about the location of the gold. In his journal of the expedition, Panter mentions Wildman having an epileptic fit, and reports having him put in irons for insolent conduct. Wildman later tried to escape, but was unsuccessful. No gold was found, but the expedition found good land that was later settled.

Little else is known of Wildman's life. He is known to have completed his sentence, and is thought to have then left Western Australia, but neither the date nor his destination are known.

References

• Battye, James Sykes (1924). Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth. Oxford University Press, London.
• Forrest, Kay (1996). The Challenge and the Chance: The Colonisation and Settlement of North West Australia 1861–1914. Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, Western Australia. ISBN 0859052176.
• Erickson, Rica and Gilliam O'Mara (1994). Convicts in Western Australia, 1850–1887. University of Western Australia Perth, Nedlands, Western Australia. ISBN 1875560440.
• Uren, Malcolm (1946). Research Note 39, State Library of Western Australia.

Pamunkey Indian Reservation is a Native American Reservation located in Virginia in the United States. The reservation lies in King William County, Virginia on the Middle Peninsula.

External links

• Pamunkey Indian Tribe
• Unofficial Pamunkey Indian Homepage