Introduction:
I’ve always been fascinated by the communal history of Tibia. The guilds, the events, the ways of socialising in an online game, and of the interactions between players and developers – especially in the early years. I’ve encountered what I think of mysteries and forgotten tales throughout the years, and a couple of years ago I started writing up notes about the guildshalls of Tibia. We all know of the guildhalls given to the Red Rose and the Mercenarys. But what was the story behind the other halls?
In this article I’ll try to tell these stories, as far as I’ve been able to find. I didn’t start playing till 2002, at the age of 12, so my own experiences and memories are not much to go by. I’ve used the Wayback Machine a lot, the Cobal Tower which is still up and running, and conversations with players from “back then”. The works by Karr Chaos on his Nightmare Knight’s website has also been a very valuable source of information.
If you find errors in my article, please notify me so I can rectify it!
1997, October: 3.1
I begin my article at this early version because it’s the earliest map I’ve found of Tibia. In this version there are no guildhalls. So, when players wanted to get together, they used the communal buildings available. Buildings that are no longer in use. The two main meeting places was Frodo’s tavern – today usually trashed or emptied of furniture – and the Golden Chariot Tavern. The latter being a name given by and used by the community themselves to the bar found on the ground floor below Thais Hostel.
1998, May: 4.0
The 4.0 update introduced the first guildhalls to Tibia. Three guildhalls in total, one for each of the most prominent guilds at the time. Guildhalls that all are considered some of the coolest and best guildhalls till this day.
The Warrior’s Guildhall was given to the Guards. They were the first guild with the purpose of protecting the community from player killers. It was founded by Lost Boy and Alrein in April 1998. I haven’t found any information about when it was disbanded, or who moved into the guildhall after the Guards. But what I know is that it has had a lot of owners until 2015 when I bought it myself and founded the Green Dragon and turned it into a public tavern. The guild still exists, although the hall is not as public as I intended it to be anymore. A change that occurred with the new leadership of the guild.
The interior of the guildall was changed in version 5.1 or 5.2. There was original an inner shop counter and a corridor that was removed to make more room for what today is the “middle room”. The entrance has also been moved twice, but I haven’t found out at what updates specifically. Originally the door was where it is today, facing south towards depot. But at some point, it was moved towards Frodo’s tavern’s back yard, and then back again to where it is today. There was also a single depot box located in the guildhall in its early days, but it was removed after a while. It didn't return again till all guildhalls got one each.
The first interior of the Warrior’s Guildhall.
The Dark Mansion was given to the Paladins of Darkness. A dark roleplaying guild that often clashed with the Guards and other guard-style good guilds. Founded in April 1998 by Lorion, Cobi and others.
The third guildhall that was built in 1998 was the Spiritkeep. A magnificent castle south of Thais. It was built for the Stormknights. Kalen Leah left the Guards in late April 1998 to found the Stormknights, a righteous and good guild, and the arch-enemy of the Riders of Apocalypse. When the Stormknights disbanded, several guilds wanted to be the new owners. The Soldiers of Justice came out victorious, and are still the owners today.
1999, June: 5.0
The 5.0 update is quite interesting, as it shows how involved CIP was with the community at the time. At some point before the update the Paladins of Darkness was disbanded. But instead of letting a different guild move in, the whole mansion was turned into a ruin to commemorate how PoD went up in flames.
The three stages of the Dark Mansion.
At the same time what we today know as Castle Elvenbane was built. This was originally meant as a new guildhall for the Stormknights, leaving the Spiritkeep for other guilds to move into. But closely before the update Kalen Leah abruptly left Tibia for good and the Stormknights was disbanded. Castle Elvenbane was instead turned into a ruin, and later made into a hunting ground. What a loss! Such a cool guildhall that would’ve been…
The original Castle Elvenbane was built as a gigantic guildhall.
Two new guildhalls were introduced with the 5.0 update. Castle of Greenshore was built, with a great moat around it. The Crimson Alliance moved in there, but if the hall was built for them or originally intended for someone else, I do not know.
The original Castle of Greenshore, all alone with a magnificent moat.
The second guildhall was the Halls of Adventurers. A sort of mystery to me. Karr Chaos writes that “POD moved from their dark mansion guild hall to the new Blood hall guild to the north”. But sources I’ve talked with that belonged to the Paladins of Darkness have no memory of this. It would explain why Dark Mansion and Halls of Adventurers looks like replicas of eachother. Bloodhall that we know of today was not built before the 6.5 update in December 2001, but the name could of course have been re-purposed. At some point the Valheru moved into the Halls of Adventurers and have lived there for such a long time that I originally thought it was built for them.
1999, July: 5.01
Only a month later, Fibula was added to the game with the Guildhall of the Red Rose and Mercenary Tower.
2000, December: 6.1
A whole year and a half went by without any new guildhalls being built. But with the introduction of Kazordoon four new guildhalls was built. And the Dark Mansion was restored once again as the Paladins of Darkness once again had been founded.
I have found little information about the guildhalls of Kazordoon. But it is likely that they were not built for any one guild specifically, and may thus be the first batch of guildhalls built by CIP as what we can call “general guildhalls” without community involvement. From what I’ve found I believe Hill Hideout was first rented by the Tribe, and the owned it until they unfortunately got disbanded. Likewise, was Marble Guildhall rented by the Imperial Response Troop (IRT) for as long as they lasted. Who owned Iron Guildhall and Granite Guildhall or if they were intended for any specific guild, is still a mystery to me.
2001, June: 6.2
There have always been more guilds than guildhalls available on Tibia. And some worked harder than others to get one. One of those guilds were the Alliance of Free Tibians (AFT). For years they built their own guild ship out of parcels, but with this update they finally got their wish granted and the Tibianic was built in Greenshore. With the AFT moving into Greenshore a whole village was built, and the once mighty moat of the Castle of Greenshore was filled in. Castle Elvenbane that had been a ruin for two years was now turned into the hunting ground we know today.
2001, November: 6.4
Several new guildhalls were introduced, most of them without any intended owners. The exception was the Snake Tower that was gifted to the Rising Phoenix. The area had no official name, but was known by players as “the Snake Stones”.
The other guildhalls built were Outlaw Castle, Southern Thais Guildhall, Magic Academy Guildhall and Sky Lane Guildhall 1, 2 & 3.
2001, December: 6.5
This Christmas updated introduced a total of 12 new guildhalls, the largest guildhall expansion to this day. Among them were the first clanhalls, a name I believe was chosen to differentiate them from the halls built for already existing guilds. Greenshore, Senja and Stonehome Clanhalls.
Bloodhall was built east of Thais, on the coast of what by players were known as Blood bay. If the name is connected to the bay, or if it was a repurposed name (cf. Halls of Adventurers). This guildhall was built for a guild named Dragon Slayers of Tibia, but they disbanded soon after. Black Dragons secured the guildhall after the guildhalls auction system was introduced two months later.
Castle of the White Dragon was most likely the last guildhall built with player involvement, as it was built for the Followers of the White Dragon. The basement was interestingly not included from the start. Tekvorian was the original architect and only wanted 4-5 beds in the whole castle, so he was naturally quite disappointed when CIP added the basement.
In Carlin the House of Recreation was given the Knights of the Round Table and Moonhall was given to Avengers of Carlin that shortly after changed name to Messiahs of Bedlam. A little north of Carlin, in the town of Northport, Seawatch was built and given to the Warlords.
According to Satori sources they managed to quickly take control of not only one, but three guildhalls introduced this Christmas: Castle of the Winds, Shadow Towers and Nordic Stronghold.
On what the players knew as the Wolf steppes south of Kazordoon a castle named Wolftower was built, and given to the Du’vark family.
2002, February: 6.6 and forward
With premium accounts and house auctions introduced in November 2001, the new game world Nova in December 2001 and now a proper guild system and the inclusion of guildhalls in the house auction system, marked the end of player involvement in the development of guildhalls. Not only had CIP over time removed themselves further away from the community, but the number of players and guilds increased exponentially and out of control. More and more guildhalls were introduced, but no longer would they come with player-introduced lore and mystique.
A final guildhall I would like to mention however is the only guildhall I know of that replaced a building housing an NPC. Originally the sorcerer guild of Carlin was located where the Suntower now gazes out over the sea.
