I get asked, a lot, about what "Daevin" is. I use it as my login name on my desktop machine. It's not a terribly common name, and it's not really my nickname. So, what is Daevin?

Well, the story is pretty simple.

Back in about 1992 I began work on a MUD based on the Diku/Merc code. It was then known as "Dimension" and was a first attempt. The code base used was rather simplistic and difficult to work with. The MUD ran for about 2 years before the Envy source base was released.

Rather than patch my code to catch up to Diku/Envy, I simply scrapped the MUD and started all over again. I reproduced all of the features I'd added to Diku/Merc in the Envy source. I then relaunched the MUD as "The Lost Realm." The arch nemesis of the players there was Gidean, lord of Nivead Keep.

Nivead Keep was the equivalent of today's MMORPG's high-end raiding dungeon. It was well stocked with over-powered, but defeatable monsters. It required a methodical clearing until you reached Gidean, a demon.

What's this to do with Daevin? Well "Daevin" is "Nivead" spelled backwards. Many people ask how either are pronounced, so here is the definitive answer.

Nivead is pronounced as "Niv-YAHD". And Daevin is pronounced "Dah-Veen" or "Duh-Veen".

So, you see, all of these little fake Daevin's running around; well, I'm the original. The character "Daevin" was born in 1992 as an elf lord in "Dimension" -- it was the second character I created on my own MUD.