The ice islands were added this update which was three small islands to the far northwest of Tibia. Interestingly it was Bullabü who was supposed to have created these islands, but he had quit sometime in early 2001 so Feanor took over. These island where a very different experience compared to the rest of Tibia. To travel there you took a small boat (more of a raft), called the Nordic Tibia Ferries, to the farthest reaches of the Field of Glory. The boat was run by NPC Nielson who would accept 20gp to travel to any of the three islands: Folda, Senja, Vega. Once you traveled to an island it would only cost 10gp to travel to any of the other two. Passage back to the Tibian continent was included with the original fare (free).
Senja was mostly filled with the only buildings on the Ice Islands, providing a very small town which covered half the island. In these early days, the Senja castle did not yet exist, so the open space northeast of town was tundra and trees with some Winter Wolves. When you arrived at the island the boat captain NPC Anderson was not on a raft like the others but was at the counter to the north of it. He would take you to another island or back to the continent if desired.
There was not much on the island, but to the east of Anderson was a small tavern which was run by NPC Scott behind the counter. I think the tavern expanded into the room to the east and there was a large patio on the second floor up the stairs. Weirdly he didn't seem to sell any alcohol but would instead sell you basic food stuff. The place was more like and inn then a bar but if you asked him about rumors, he would dispense short bits of information he heard. To the east was three flats connected, with the middle one having its own basement. Above were two more flats which could be accessed by steps, and the topmost one was a single room while the lower was two rooms. Two more single flats where to the south which had north facing doors to the main road in town. To the south of these was a kind of moon herb field like guarden.
To the west of this was a small park with benches and a water fountain on a small patch of green grass. To the south was a small house which didn't have a basement at this time and to the west of this was I think a shop but wasn't staffed yet as NPC Vera's creation was still a couple of updates away. This would be later made into a furniture store, likely added when houses became rentable again with the Edron update. Two more houses connected to the shop on the west with the southern house which had a basement and the north one which had a second floor.
A common trap on the island was to block the boat with unmovable objects as the NPC was too far away for you to contact to flee. You would then be easily killed by the PK as you wouldn't be able to escape. No PZ existed here at this time, and you couldn't break barrels or other objects yet.
Vega was the same size as Senja and you would appear on the far east side of the island on a raft which extended past the island. NPC Carlson would take you back to the mainland or another island when you were ready. Traveling west took you to a small mountain but very little could be found on the island other than some Winter Wolves and Polar Bears.
Folda was the largest of the three islands and you would arrive in the middle south side of the island. The boat here was maned by NPC Svenson. If you followed the stream, you would come across a large mountain which contained Frost Trolls. The remaining island was mostly empty tundra, but a few spawns of Polar Bears, Winter Wolves, and Frost Trolls were available to kill. If you found the lose stonepile south, you could pick it to open it. Down this was a large dungeon with Spiders, Frost Trolls, Slimes, and possibly Minotaur. The dungeon at this time was confined to a single level below the surface so there wasn't many areas to hunt.
Though the pre-working name for the area was Barbarian Kingdom, the closest creatures that qualified that title were the PKs that made the island their home. PKs were a particular problem of the islands as the surface tiles enforced that you walk slow, allowing PKs to get more shots out as most people ran when being PK'd. The lone dungeon was also a natural trap as the paths were narrow and dark which meant it was easy to be blocked in with no way out. Even if you were able to escape the dungeon and keep ahead of the PK help was so far away, if at all, and revenge was impossible with the slow tiles. Life on the islands in these early days, simply sucked. There wasn't much beyond exploring an area that was very different to the main continent so most just checked it out and never gave it a second trip. Despite these grievances the islands had some fans and they stuck with the island as it continued to be expanded in the coming updates.
