This sense of a shadowy reality, but still with traces of familiarity, is the core of the ambience found in the Shadowlands. You might know Rubi-Ka, the bright, red and dusty planet where Anarchy Credits takes place 30,000 years in the future. What if Rubi-Ka was more than the political and economical center of the Galaxy, like today? What if it actually is the Cradle of Life in the galaxy? What if this Cradle, this land of ancient technology, hidden for eons in a metaphysical dimension, suddenly becomes accessible again? What if entities found in there are fighting an age-old conflict of light vs. dark - of preservation vs. exploitation?

Exploring the ruins of a foreign, but still familiar, civilization in a world unparalleled in playfield variety is therefore the main goal of the Shadowlands.

Jonric: What are your high-level goals in terms adding to and enhancing Anarchy Credits? And what kinds of influences underlie Shadowlands' concept and design?

Gaute Godager: The high-level design goals are: enhancing exploration, staging content to make it more fun and challenging, unlocking content in a more linear way than on Rubi-Ka, building the characters to new and unknown proportions and making your actions matter for your side.

That is of course extremely technical; let me explain some aspects of it:
- By making travel more dependant on winning access to an area, you unlock the true potential of exploration.
- By osmosis, letting the characters become the creators of legend, they learn more than they thought were possible about their inner being. This manifestation of the character's inner self we call the character's "Shadowbreed".
- Perks, new professions and other core game improvements will enhance and make the heart of Anarchy Credits more enjoyable. Anarchy Online enjoys an extreme degree of flexibility in character development - more than 90 skills have made players addicted to this freedom. With Shadowlands, they get more. ;p
- By adding even more organization aspects, like large raids, we make the game more varied and FUN in regards to social gameplay.

Influences? Hm, no one beats Tolkien, I guess - depth and heart - he is the master.

Jonric: How do the new shadow areas tie in with the current gameworld? And how will players travel to them?

Gaute Godager: The new Shadow areas are accessed through a wormhole. In space, they exist in the same place as Rubi-Ka, they are a part of the planet - but it is the dark, broken heart thrown into another dimension by a cataclysmic accident four to five billion years ago.

There are several entrances to the Shadowlands - all opened by a sentient, super-ancient and desperately lonely (;p) computer called "Ergo". He was the keeper of all resource management in the Shadowlands and knows the history of mankind. When the scientists of Jobe forced the Shadowlands portal open, Ergo was forced to once again let mankind enter its cradle.