A Little Context

**Opal Hutchinson** Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:50 am

What most people don't know is that A&A found its roots in an RP that wasn't my own, and, that really only bears similarities to this in name.

Around summer 2007, I joined an RP on a site which will go thus far unnamed which was intended as a spin-off, meant for an entirely new cast. I was young, I was idiotic, and above all else, I couldn't write for shit. Nevertheless, oblivious and arrogant to a t in my 11-year old wisdom, I joined up... and despite being short-lived, the premise that I managed to absorb from this brief experience really worked for me.

I didn't even consider creating an otherwise-inspired RP until about 2 years later, in the summer of 2009, during my migration to another site, and during the site's effective RPG gold rush, my typical crowd of friends and lovely assistants joined, of which two are active here today - chou (Hazelle) and Rouni (Kai). The RP went on for two months, but during that time reached a staggering 60+ pages, before I decided to wind it down as things were perhaps getting a little too stale. I don't know why, really.

And then, in August 2011, I thought that perhaps A&A deserved another try. On yet another site - the last had since dried up and I was eager to RP further - that I'd ventured to, where I knew the admin for the last and was tempted with an entirely new cast, I fashioned a new universe, an alternate universe, having almost completely reshaped the mood and feel of the RP. Initially, it had been a close-knit, single-thread RP focusing on assassins and romance. Now... it was all about the thrill, and the kill.

A&A went from AU renaissance to steampunk-fantasy-western, close to what you know it as today.

This incarnation of A&A, commonly known as v2, crashed and burned in early November and was mercy killed. And now, five months later, I thought that this brilliant concept deserved another try - after a few hours' discussion with Izzy, my now-fellow admin, who is more or less new to the concept despite showing interest and even applying for v2, the A&A board went live.

And, thus, technically, the fourth incarnation, or third at my hands, began. Long live A&A - soon to have its fifth year anniversary in its fourth version.