Nothing else on the server can come close to compare to the ridiculous amount of abuse that went into ensuring the longevity of the Ascended. They were an protagonist with a cool plugin in the days of Mineman's caveman era. The Ascended were scrapped once their mortal nemesis, the Undead, were defeated in Aegis. The fact they wanted to remain as an order and do them was perfectly fine in Asulon. Then suddenly they received a MASSIVE, and I mean, ginormous temple-city appeared in Asulon towards the end of the map's life span. But the best part? A GM at the time, who would later become an administrator shortly after, put an entry-deny flag on the region. Unless you were a member of the region (i.e. Ascended, close associates or the Mages' Guild of the time who was partnered with the group) could not enter the region. That alone is pretty wild. Even for those days.
Fast forward to Anthos - on paper the Ascended are still just the remains of the protag group from Aegis. Somehow, by some miracle, they received an even bigger, MEGA CITY hidden under the Elven lands. The cherry on top is, it took up roughly a third or so of the Elven lands. All conveniently hidden deep underground with it's own special region. The region even was under ADMINISTRATIVE PROTECTION. Gee. I'm sure a lot of groups wished they had that. Said land was given by an administrator who had a secret alt which not even the administrators at the time knew of. This alt lead the Ascended IC and was conveniently given EXPLICATED ADMINISTRATIVE CLEARANCE WITH LORE AND OTHER GOODIES. And no, this isn't bullshit. FMs can check the IP and most staff members from around that time will recall the incident (shout out to my boy Leowarrior because that **** was partially underneath Lenniel). With all these new toys given to the Ascended they eventually had their magic begin to """kindle""" again because of uh. No reason. Just happened!1!
Jumping into Athera where the Undead returned and the excuse could be made for the Ascended to come back - a player caught the attention of said administrator. Key aspects of the Undead antagonist was redirected solely to personal RP in which a player had Iblees tickling their noodle. This player was a close friend of our wonderful admin friend. Cool stuff. I mean, you have the literal incarnation of Satan, Allah, the Devil, Boogeyman; whatever you want to call it in LoTC's universe inhabit and mess with some little Elf girl just cuz. Dope.
After the YEARS of drama coming out of the Ascended, I personally, loathe it. I believe it should be removed entirely from LoTC. As far as accusations of staff abuse or bias over the years it honestly pales in comparison to the Ascended's luxurious treatment since Aegis. Through countless interactions their playerbase has been exceptionally toxic. The group shouldn't have received the treatment it did. Gas it and be done with it.