Testimonial Midgard

Overview
Testimonial Midgard is both the title of the Ragnarok Online private server and the name of the era that TM's story began in. Its first server was opened during mid 2002. The official site can be found here. The server has shut down after finishing the story events as of the Resolve Era (these finished on 2010). A complete 10-chapter story was written in 2009 that is available on the site.

Server goal
Testimonial Midgard differs from most other Ragnarok Online private servers in that it completley story-driven. Players partake in large scale "events" designed to mimic the episodic nature of a TV show's progression. These events can take anywhere from ten minutes to several hours as the convoluted storyline is driven by them. The results of events however are not fixed and a failure by players to meet there objective will always have long ranging consequences for the entire server.

A good example of this would be the "tenth seal" event wherein the failure of players to destroy the seal caused the entire server to be affected by:
 * Doubled spawn rates
 * Town invasions
 * Powerful custom monsters roaming normally safe areas

This management strategy creates many unique and enjoyable situations that players claim they have yet to find in other servers.

Plot summary
Testimonial Midgard is both the name of the server and it's fictional world. Its story is based on events that take place after the story set out in International Ragnarok Online. The word 'Testimonial' was originally believed to be used in reference to the founding guild, Testimony of the Blade. After the Ten Seals were released however, this was revealed to be incorrect. Loki stated during one of his climactic battles with the players that Testimonial Midgard was given its title in part as an irony. Details of why can be found in the story section of the Testimonial Midgard website.

The story is broken up into 3 sections:

Story - Ordeal, Story - Interlude, Story - Resolve

Chapters 1-5
The timeline of Testimonial Midgard is split into 10 episodes. Each episode covered a small part of the timeline and normally went on for 1-2 months before a new episode was announced.

Testimonial Midgard follows the story of Raziel Paragorne, an Assassin who joins the online server Ragnarok Online in 2001, situated in the city of Midgard. Throughout the story, Raziel is constantly haunted by dreams and visions of Mitwelt, whom he finds out later that he is closely connected to after he was used as a prototype to be the 5th AI. In 2004, Raziel finds himself caught in the middle of a disaster wherein almost all players on the online server are deleted. When the disaster is quelled by the remaining survivors throughout Midgard, Raziel is convinced by his friend Strider to run several investigations throughout Midgard into why the disaster occurred.

Raziel begins to lead several soldiers in his team on investigations dictated by Strider. These soldiers included Dragon and Azereth. Raziel's first conflict is with the 2nd AI Odin, whom is referred to as Leoric at the time. After the team is able to best him in a fight, Leoric tells them about the 6 GM Superpowers, whom he says are responsible for looking after The 10 Seals, the triggers responsible for the disaster that destroyed the majority of Midgard. Raziel and the others become quick friends with Leoric and continue to take his advice after this.

After the guild makes an investigation into some underground ruins, they are confronted by Artimus, a member of the 6 GM Superpowers, whom sets the 4th, 5th and 6th of the 10 seals on them. They are saved during this fight by Valaris, Raziel's teacher and the 5th AI in disguise. Valaris tells Raziel that he is going to teach him how to lead an army after this fight, and spends some time during the next few chapters training him.

After completing Valaris' training, Raziel also befriends Hanaka as an information source, whom is the 3rd AI Freya in disguise. Requiem is later sent on a mission to delete the 6th seal, which ends up being the AGENT Virus. This infects the server for over a week and forces the disbandment of their previous guild and the Raziel creates the guild Requiem in place of Strider's guild Testimony of the Blade. This guild becomes the main guild of the story.

Almost immediately after AGENT is defeated, Requiem is requested to go to the outskirts of Midgard, Einbroch, where they meet the guild Avengers, which is a scout sub-guild of Dissonance. Their leader, Sagtar, who later turns out to be the brother of Luna, becomes quick enemies with Raziel. Raziel also befriends Zorigen on this mission, whom is a previous henchman of the 4th AI, Loki.

After Strider claims he is unable to give Requiem any information on it, Requiem accidentally stumbles into the 8th seal. The guild is forced to seek out Leoric's guidance for the 8th seal and discovers that it can only be stopped by killing Artimus. After they track down his main base within a branch-off area of the Static Dungeon, Raziel kills him in a duel to the death.

By this point, Requiem is highly suspicious of Strider and the strange missions they have been sent on. Before they can confront him to question him, Requiem is ambushed by the 9th seal before they even realise it, which is a seal made to modify their perception. They are rescued by the Avengers, whom request their help in defeating Zephiris, one of the 6 GM Superpowers. The guilds begrudgingly work together to combine their powers to defeat Zephiris and the 9th seal.

When the guild returns to see Strider, he tells them that he has located the 10th and final seal (also known as the Zombie Dragon) and sends them to its location. Before Raziel goes to its location, he visits Valaris. While visiting, Valaris insists that he accompany Requiem upon the mission to find the 10th seal. When the guild locates the 10th seal they are confronted by Hansuke whom is the 4th AI Loki in disguise. Hansuke explains to Requiem about how he created the KTBPU Project, and that they have been pawns in his game during the Testimonial Midgarrd Era, created by the Ordeal Project. Hansuke attempts to leave the guild for dead and releases the 10th seal on them, but finds that they survive his assault with Valaris' help. Hansuke offers to not touch the KTBPU Project any further if the guild is able to defeat him in a duel. After he is defeated, Hansuke promises to not touch the KTBPU Project any further and disappears.

After Requiem begins being bombarded by attacks from monsters and Midgard starts behaving erratically, they begin investigating and trying to track Hansuke down. Eventually, they are confronted by Zorigen, who claims to know where Hansuke is. He guides them into the Static Dungeon. Within this long dungeon, the Requiem finds themselves trapped in the Ordeal Chamber. They are unknowingly saved by Leader, the leader of The Third Party during this time.

Eventually, Raziel confronts Strider, whom admits openly to betraying them and working for Hansuke. He opens the gate to the Midgard Core for them and they are soon confronted by Hansuke. He reveals himself to be Loki and tells them of his wish to cause havoc throughout the internet with the KTBPU Virus. He promises to release the virus within 30 minutes, but the Requiem was able to strike him down before this time. With the help of Leoric, who reveals himself to be Odin, Requiem is able to shut down the KTBPU Project and stop the virus from releasing.

Chapter 6
This chapter focuses on Raziel's fights and conflicts with the 3rd AI Freya. After the KTBPU Project is re-activated by Freya, the Requiem befriends Leader from The Third Party. After he tells them about his hacking agency and a little about the guild Dissonance and Luna, Requiem begins doing minor jobs for The Third Party during this time period as they search for Freya.

During a direct assault on Freya's Tower, Freya tempts Dragon with offers of power in private. Dragon eventually makes the decision to betray Requiem. This is slowly followed by the other members of Requiem as the story progresses until only Raziel is left.

With the assistance of Leader, Raziel is able to locate the remains of Asgard, the remains of an underground world that was a Beta Midgard. Here, Raziel finds some ancient documents written by a colleague of Hikaru which dictate how Utgard was created as well as a document that describes Mitwelt, the creator of Utgard.

Requiem is ambushed by ex-Requiem members and is forced to flee to see Valaris. Valaris is unable to console Raziel, but they are visited by Odin, who bestows the Requiem's Fury upon Raziel. Strider also reveals himself and offers to help Raziel however he can as an act of redemption. Both Valaris and Strider volunteer to assist Raziel in defeating Freya.

When Raziel and the others raid Freya's Tower, they are forced to fight against the ex-Requiem members, who shortly after re-join them after Dragon's life is spared by Raziel. When the guild reaches Freya on the roof of the tower, Raziel fights her. After Loki re-appears and announces his plans to re-release the KTBPU Virus, he sends Freya flying to the edge of the roof. Raziel saves her from the deadly drop and Freya returns to Utgard after this in shock.

Meanwhile, Leader is confronted by Luna, who has corrupted the KTBPU Project's coding and threatens to watch it delete itself within 20 minutes. During this time, the re-formed Requiem fights Loki in the Midgard Core again, where they are interrupted by Odin. Odin sacrifices himself to delete Loki permanently, deeply moving both Raziel and Freya in doing so. With satisfaction, the re-formed guilds say their goodbyes and wait for the KTBPU Project to be destroyed.

In the conclusion of this chapter, Requiem and The Third Party are exported to Utgard by Hikaru, who hopes for their help in deleting the 1st AI, Odin and stopping Luna.

Episode 7-10: See Testimonial Midgard 2