Antonica · EverQuest (original release)
The Commonlands
The forested plains west of Freeport, ringed by desert: the East Commons’ tunnel market and numbered inns, the tougher West Commons with its hill giants, werewolves and the hidden door to Befallen.
Two halves
The Commonlands are a vast tract of forested plains west of Freeport, ringed by desert. The classic game split them in two, and Allakhazam records that they were merged into one remade zone in 2006. East Commonlands, next to West Freeport, has a newbie area and ground for more experienced hunters, with monsters from about level 1 to 20. West Commonlands, its western continuation, is significantly tougher, about level 6 to 30, with many dangerous and aggressive creatures.
Both are melting pots: dark elves walk here mostly unmolested by the guards, and many races mix on the road between the coasts.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): East Commonlands · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): West Commonlands · Allakhazam: East Commonlands (zone) · Allakhazam: West Commonlands (zone)
The East Commons
The great danger in the east is the griffins, the strongest creatures there, which fly from end to end attacking everyone; they often seem to float in mid-air before they pop. Players call out their position by the inns, numbered one to four from the one nearest Freeport. Orc camps of the Deathfist, with oracles spawning, are dangerous and usually crowded.
The guide calls the East Commons mostly a place to pass through, but a convenient one: arrows, tiny daggers, food, armour, gems and cooking and pottery supplies are all for sale. The underground market in the tunnel to North Ro, with the Shady Swashbuckler in its middle, hosted many player bazaars, free of monsters and safe for every race. Lord Shin Ree and Squire Narl are among the named.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): East Commonlands · Allakhazam: East Commonlands (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: East Commonlands
The West Commons
Many low-level travellers cross the West Commons between Qeynos and Freeport, and it has many aggressive creatures, most of all hill giants and kodiaks, along with undead and werewolves. Characters under tenth level should not linger, and travellers should keep to the path. Griffins and hill giants wander everywhere and are oddly hard to spot. The shadowed men keep to a camp in the southwest.
It is good, solid hunting for higher levels, with group camps and will-o’-wisps from ninth level. A dark elf camp, with Captain D’Irth, Dragoon Zytl and several priestesses and lieutenants, ties the zone to the dark elves’ schemes.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): West Commonlands · Allakhazam: West Commonlands (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: West Commonlands
Roads out
The pass to Kithicor Forest is in the northwest corner of the West Commons. In a narrow, dimly lit tunnel off the southern edge, tucked behind where the hill giants roam, is the entrance to Befallen. The East Commons open onto West Freeport to the east, through a gap in the northern hills to Nektulos Forest, and through the southern tunnel to the Northern Desert of Ro.
The dark elves’ forest and city to the north are the subject of Neriak and the Teir’Dal.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): West Commonlands · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): East Commonlands · Allakhazam: West Commonlands (zone) · Allakhazam: East Commonlands (zone)
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): West Commonlands · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): East Commonlands · Allakhazam: West Commonlands (zone) · Allakhazam: East Commonlands (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: East Commonlands