EmlenMud was written by Owen Emlen and is a derivative of the original NiMUD, Written by Herbert E Gilliland III ("Locke") and Christopher Woodward ("Surreal"), released in 1994, though Emlen is based on NiMUD4 whose primary author was Locke. The OLC in EmlenMUD is based on TheIsles OLC. There are slight changes in Emlen OLC. SPEDIT is now SEDIT, EDIT (for script code), SCRIPTEDIT (triggers that run scripts using mobs, objects, rooms, with certain commands like give, enter, leave). In 2006 Owen announced he would be rewriting the MUD in C# and has also announced first a C++ version and later a Visual Basic version called EmlenMUD II.
Mortal Conquest is where everything started in 1994 with Orin (Owen Emlen) and Smack (Greg Richardson) There were others that helped with the work on MC however their names have been lost in history. Midpoint Void (MpV) started because of the break up of the MC crew. Owen and Greg went to work on MpV and created EmlenMUD.
EmlenMUD became the server software used to create the immensely popular "Rites of Passage" (ROPmud). It was also run by CCBFH (Connection Closed by Foreign Host - the original EmlenMUD), Mortal Conquest, Midpoint Void (1995) (MpV), Void of Reality/MPV2 (1996) (VoR), FateMud (1996), Altross (1998), Methods of Destruction (1997) (MODMUD), Aturion Dynasty (1995) (AD), Lands of Chaos (1995) (LoC), and the derivative of MPV/EmlenMUD, EverWar (or "eWar 2.0").
Licensing Violations, Infringing on Free Software Rights by Author
Mud administrators of, Everwar, admitted that Owen sold them a copy of EmlenMUD for $200, Owen also sold the code to Prophet and his mother paid by check, thereby violating Merc, Diku and NiMUD licenses.
EmlenMUDs currently running are: Everwar, Fate, and Void of Reality.