Ilshenar

Ilshenar is the third Britannian facet — a continent introduced with the Third Dawn expansion as a richly detailed wilderness designed primarily for monster hunting. Where Felucca and Trammel are settled lands with sixteen cities apiece, Ilshenar is "one big dungeon" — a single continuous landmass populated almost exclusively by enemies, with only a handful of small towns providing NPC services. Originally accessible only to the 3D client, the facet was opened to all clients with the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge expansion. It remains the only facet with a permanent restriction on travel magic: characters cannot Recall, Sacred Journey, or Gate Travel into Ilshenar. Outbound travel by Recall and Sacred Journey is permitted; Gate Travel is forbidden in both directions.

Facet rules

Ilshenar follows the standard Trammel ruleset for combat — no non-consensual PvP, no corpse looting — with one significant deviation: no Power Scrolls drop from Ilshenar Champion Spawns. The Champion mechanics are otherwise intact (kill the wave-spawn, ramp the skull tier, defeat the named champion), and the spawns remain active because of two compensating reward streams introduced after the original release:

• Champion Spawn Artifacts — a tier-by-tier replica artifact pool that drops from the spawn's later waves and the champion itself.
• Scrolls of Transcendence — direct skill-bump scrolls (typically +0.1 to +5.0 skill) that drop from the champion. They function as a slow-but-cumulative skill-gain mechanism orthogonal to the Power Scroll system.

The Champion Title reward — a permanent character title earned by killing a named champion — also applies, granting the cosmetic distinction without the cap-raise reward.

The unique feature of Ilshenar's combat is Paragon spawning. Any standard creature in Ilshenar has a chance to spawn as a Paragon — a powered-up variant with elevated stats, expanded loot tables including the Paragon Artifact minor-artifact set, and a small chance of dropping multiple loot rolls on death. Paragon hunting is the primary economic driver of Ilshenar.

Lore

The lore of Ilshenar has changed since the facet's release. The original backstory revolved around an ancient civilization with the ability to travel between facets — and even between shards — and was published as the BNN three-part series An Introduction to Ilshenar. The fictional explanation for the lore reset frames Lord Blackthorn and Exodus as having altered the timeline by bringing the Juka race into the present, retconning the original chronology.

The cross-shard implication of the original lore — that ancient Ilshenarians could travel between server worlds — is generally read as the marketing of a feature that was never fully realised. UO's 1998 The Second Age expansion shipped with SYSTRAN-powered real-time language translation aimed at cross-shard interaction, and Ilshenar was likely intended as a venue for that interaction. The vision was abandoned along with most of the cross-shard ambitions of that era; Ilshenar today is shard-local like every other facet.

Cities and towns

Only a handful of locations in Ilshenar host NPC vendors — most settlements are camps, ruins, or hostile encampments rather than functioning towns:

• Desert Outpost (East) — small NPC outpost on the eastern desert region; minimal vendor selection.
• Desert Outpost (West) — counterpart on the western desert.
• Ver Lor Reg — the Gargoyle city, the only true urban settlement in Ilshenar. Full vendor coverage including provisioner, healer, banker, magic shop. The center of Gargoyle culture in Britannia until the Stygian Abyss expansion opened Ter Mur to the rest of the realm.
• Gypsy camps scattered across the continent provide town-level services (healing, basic provisions).

Several other settlements appear on the map but operate as monster-themed encampments rather than vendor towns:

• Bet-Lem Reg — Gargoyle outpost.
• Lakeshire — small fishing settlement.
• Mistas — northern town.
• Montor — Juka city; the Juka race's seat in the present timeline.
• Reg Volom — Juka outpost.

Dungeons

Ilshenar's dungeons divide into seven major and six minor sites, plus several themed regions that function as overland dungeons.

Major dungeons

Minor dungeons

• Ancient Citadel
• Ancient Lair
• Lizard Passage
• Rat Cave
• Spectre Dungeon
• Spider Cave

Champion Spawns

Three Champion Spawns sit on the Ilshenar surface, each tied to a Virtue:

• Forest Lord Champion Spawn (Spirituality-themed Pixie/Fey content; champion is the Lord Oaks-equivalent fey lord).
• Humility Champion Spawn (humility-themed mob lineup).
• Valor Champion Spawn (valor-themed mob lineup; minotaur and warrior content).

All three drop the Champion Spawn Artifact pool and Scrolls of Transcendence; none drop Power Scrolls.

Geography and regions

Ilshenar is divided into nine major regions, each with distinct mob themes and terrain:

Notable surface features include:

• Castle Blackthorn — the seat of Lord Blackthorn in the post-Revenge timeline; central plot anchor.
• Gargoyle Mining Camp — Gargoyle ore-extraction site in Ver Lor Reg's vicinity.
• Healer's Grove — restorative grove with multiple Wisp encounters.
• Harpy Nest — overland Harpy spawn.
• Lava Ruined Villa — eastern volcanic ruin.
• Meer Catacombs — Meer-race catacombs; the Meer counter the Juka in the post-Revenge lore.
• Twin Oaks Tavern — neutral inn at the Twin Oaks crossroad.

Travel

Ilshenar is the only facet without external moongate access from the standard Britannian moongate dialog — entry is gated through specific crystal portals and faction shrine locations. The standard entry points:

• Crystal Portal at Britain Moongate — once unlocked, provides Crystal Ball-style travel into specific Ilshenar coordinates.
• Shrine teleporters — small unmarked teleporter pads on the Trammel/Felucca maps that link to Ilshenar shrines.
• Internal moongates within Ilshenar — the in-facet moongate network connects the major regions, allowing fast intra-facet movement once a character is inside.

Once inside Ilshenar, Recall and Sacred Journey work freely on internal Ilshenar runes; Gate Travel does not function in either direction (in or out). The intent is to keep group expeditions intact — a single party member cannot "gate the group home" mid-fight.

Strategy notes

• Carry a Crystal Ball or Pet Crystal. Standard inbound travel methods are blocked. The crystal portal anchors and Crystal Ball-style devices are the practical way back into Ilshenar after each session.
• Hunt Paragons for the artifact pool. Paragon-state monsters carry the entire Ilshenar minor artifact loot table on their drop list. The standard Ilshenar farm rotation is "wander until a Paragon spawns; engage; loot; repeat."
• Champion Spawn Artifacts are the carrot. Without Power Scrolls, the Ilshenar Champion Spawns reward replica artifacts (Crimson Cincture, Kasa of the Raj-in, Pads of the Cu Sidhe, etc.) that are otherwise difficult to source.
• Ver Lor Reg is the only banking option. Plan resupply stops at the Gargoyle city — every other facet town is unfunded.
• The 3D-client legacy shows. Several Ilshenar regions still display visual artifacts that originated in the Third Dawn 3D engine — out-of-place lighting, mismatched terrain transitions. Long-time veterans recognise these as the distinguishing aesthetic of the facet.
• Minor dungeons reward stealth runs. Several Ilshenar minor dungeons (Spider Cave, Rat Cave) have rare-item spawns accessible to a thief with high Stealing and Stealth. Worth a periodic visit.

See also

Third Dawn, Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, Castle Blackthorn, Lord Blackthorn, Exodus, Juka, Meer, Ver Lor Reg, Gargoyle, Paragon, Paragon Artifacts, Champion Spawn Artifacts, Scroll of Transcendence, Power Scrolls, Twisted Weald, Forest Lord Champion Spawn, Humility Champion Spawn, Valor Champion Spawn, BNN An Introduction to Ilshenar, Facets.