This is in truth a very amazing MUSH, that I must admit. A whole lot of customization have been done to the basic PennMUSH code to enhance the experience. What is even more amazing than the frank and cold codebase of it all is the theme. The theme of Haven is based upon a Celtic one with a lot of fae, elves and the like. If you are thinking Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream you are not all that far off the right course. The game experience holds a lot of player-driven plots and political games, as well as common character play and simple ‘get to know someone’ kinds of roleplay. You are not looked down upon if you'd rather do any one of them than the other, as the environment's really friendly. As HavenMUSH is strictly for those 18 and above, a certain level of roleplaying is granted with a certain level of maturity. Also, it allows adult themes like violence, harsh language and the like. But it doesn’t stop at just the MUSH, they have a whole long row of other things incorporated. A web-based Quotes Database, A Wikipedia, Forum and even a LiveJournal Community. All in all, this has become my absolute favourite among MUSHes!

There is a lot of detail behind this MUSH. The Celtic elements are consistent and generally well-researched, though a very strict historicist might find some things a bit too fantastic. It's also a pretty 'soft' world, easy to get around in and for your character to make his or her way in. Any struggle to survive has to be roleplayed and pretty much consented to by others. That can be a frustration or an opportunity depending on what you make of it. It's also adult. Alright, *very* adult in some places and among some people. While that means that sometimes it's hard to find others who aren't, errr, 'occupied,' it also means that you gain a whole other realm of feelings and conflict in which to play. The staff are dedicated, friendly, and extremely helpful, and the internal help system is one of the easiest to use I've seen. It takes some time to start building and quota is limited, so do have to plan carefully. That is also an opportunity, and it encourages creating and maintaining characters with long-term plans and goals. Like any MUSH, this one needs more players and players who want to stay within the Celtic theme. You don't need to have a degree in folklore studies - there's enough in the help and on the forums not only to get you started but to keep you going. Give it a try and some time, and you'll find it grows on you.

Haven is a mush that started out being more of a sexual and social mush but over time has started to move far more toward being roleplay and tinyplot based. There is still a large degree of socialisation going on but most of this occurs over the chat channels, or in OOC areas. It also remains an adult mush, but most of the TS that goes on in the mush, goes on in the privacy of users homes. It's overall theme is based on Celtic myth and legend and culture, the Celtic myths themselves being a part of it's history, yet Haven itself is based in its own unique world made up of seven realms or countries, most of which can be accessed through a Henge of Portals at the centre of the mush. The realms that make it up are Avalon, an island where the Gods themselves are supposed to live, yet also many mortals also reside there and most of the country is rural yes the city near the Henge is more advanced and developed and seen as a central place in the world for people to meed and trade and negotiate. Awyr Gwledig is an island that floats in the sky and can only be reached by those with the ability to fly or who use an airship which fly from Avalon or Marethdua. Banba is another island which is divided into three. On one side a tribe of male ruled peoples, on another a tribe of female ruled people and in it's centre the original inhabitants of the isle who are caught between the fighting of the two tribes. Brynn is a realm based in the mountains and dominated by clans. It is loosely based upon Scotland. Mag Tuireadh is a large realm dominated by an evil God King called Balor. The realm is one of domination, where Balor and his armies in times past attacked and took control of one great civilisations and enslaved them into his own domain. It is still seen as a threat to just about all the other nations and has long threatened to try and dominate the known world. Marethdua is the second largest realm as well as the most advanced. It is leaps and bounds ahead of the other countries and is culturally and technologically on a level with early Victorian England. Sithien is the land of the Fae so has a wide mix of different races however the dominant race are the Sidhe who are similar in many way to Tolkien Elves. This is however another fractures country made up of Arcadia which is otherwise known as the Seelie Court, Arkanous which is otherwise known as the Unseelie Court and Eirwen which is actually an area mostly made up of humans but which is dominated by an Ice Queen that keeps her land in eternal winter. Finally there is Tir which is realm set under water, it is not heavily populated at the moment but has lots of potential. Haven averages in numbers of an evening between the 20's and 30's but has also been known for its numbers to go into the 40's at times. Generally is has a friendly and fun atmosphere with staff and players alike always willing to help out new players, My only criticisms are not enough players roleplay in public, a lot of that goes on in privacy. But overall it is pushing more and more towards roleplay and the more fresh blood that comes and helps create roleplay in public then the more it will grow and develop.

The MUSH runs on Penn and is heavily softcoded, not your plain old standard code which is one of the attractive things about it. Help is usually available quickly should a player need it, via paging an online staff member or asking on the newbie channel. Character creation is fairly simple with needing to read the policies, theme, fill in your real age, and make a role to get you started. Once you've passed through character creation you can head onto the IC grid and explore the seven realms that make up the MUSH, all loosely based on the Celtic mythos. There are quite a few public channels plus the bb to facilitate communication and find people to RP with. There was quite abit of RP to be found and plots taking place at one time. Of course, as this is an adult MUSH TS(tinysex) also goes on, though in private rooms usually. There are no combat systems or anything like that. Everything is done through consentual roleplay. You can gain IC money through wandering about and filling out your character info. You can use this money to build rooms, buy a ship, pay other players for services, etc.. The playerbase is about medium (around 20-30 on during the evening). Lately though a few of the good RP'ers have left along with most of the senior staff/coders. The new staff members could use some time to get more familiar with the MUSH and they don't really conduct themselves in a professional way. They do alot of cutting up on the channels and such, which is what i'd expect from a MUSH/MUD for teens, not adults as this one is supposed to be. The MUSH is definitely in need of renewal as compared with a year ago. It also seems to be slipping into a state of division with certain people being favored over others. This is quite lamentable as the MUSH was a very enjoyable and friendly environment months ago.