While Ancestry - The Ruination is no where near the complete game The Seventh Sun - Age of Prosperity will be, it is the first step on the path on which we will all adventure to get there.

- Chel Ramsey, Producer of TSS

If you are like most people that enjoy online games, you have filled out a Beta Application for a game that was coming out that you really wanted to play. The majority of you, probably also were never contacted or turned down for that Beta position. The two major reasons for this is a) the game's budget only supports so many users, and b) they don't want to deal with a lot- of people, just a few.

Those of you that were accepted, played for months, maybe even a couple of years, and then had your character wiped out and were left with nothing to show for your time, effort, and dedication to the game but an empty account for you to start over with. This is a little frustrating but it's something we have all come to accept as being part of Beta.

The Seventh Sun project has examined many different methods of implementing an Alpha/Beta program, and we have decided on one that benefits everyone. We call it Ancestry. Through the Ancestry program, you will not only help test the game, but you will also get to live through history. Our Ancestry timeline will run along the same timeline as the histories of the world, starting with the Ruination.

We feel that this system upholds a balance of fairness between the project and the player. We are offering everyone the opportunity to log in and participate in the Alpha/Beta program for a full week out of every month, and we are extending special considerations to those that help the project progress by having an Ancestor Account. We hope you will all enjoy this unique take on Alpha/Beta, and join us on every Visitor's Week until you feel that the game is at a point where it is worth you having an Ancestor's account.

Ancestry Phase 1 - The Ruination

This phase of the game starts out at the very end of Before Time. Xaltion's siblings had returned and wanted him to go away with them. He had refused because he loved his world and his creations so much that he didn't want to miss anything that might occur. The other Creators became angry and started to use their sway over the world they had created with Xaltion to destroy it. He begged them to stop and agreed to go away with them.

To the inhabitants of the world, it seemed that Xaltion had for some reason become very angry with them and thrust this ruin upon them and now had abandoned them or was simply ignoring them. In time, the Clerics came to be blamed for this, as people felt perhaps they had asked too much of Xaltion.

During this time, there were only the three original races - Mountain Dwarves, High Elves and Humans. Very little of humanity survived what they came to call The Ruination, but what little of it did was starting to come out of hiding and band together for better chances of survival.

As a player, you will start the game in a time period a few months after The Day of Ruin. The planet is still very unstable and there is virtually nothing but dust, rubble and destruction everywhere. You may choose to have a random starting point and RP on the fly from there, or if you have a more structured ideal of your character you can choose to start near the caves, lost in the wilderness, or near Dawnville.

The world you will play in has little to no resemblance to what the eventual live world will look like. The 'caves' could be one of a few locations that humanity has found refuge. Lost in the wilderness will toss your character into a random location. Dawnville is the first small gathering of folks that has risen from the ashes of The Ruination. It is nothing but a collection of tents, but is slowly.. very slowly. turning into something more. As time goes on, through the Loyalty Rewards system, players will be able to help build this area up by building their homes in Dawnville. More information on property and what can be done with them will be released as the system solidifies.