Everyone who has played Knight Online remembers one server.
Some started on Ares, some made their first character on Diez. Some stayed up all night on Xigenon, others ran a shop on Beramus.
The years went by: servers opened, merged and changed their names. Most of the servers that once filled Moradon with shops no longer exist under their old names. The game, though, is still running.
If you want to know what your first server is called today, check the interactive server map.
So when did Knight Online come out, which servers came first, and what happened to Ares, Diez and Xigenon? Here is the history of the game from 2002 to 2026, with a close look at the USKO servers.
When did Knight Online come out?
Knight Online launched in South Korea on 15 July 2002. Over time it became an MMORPG with players from all over the world.
At its heart is the war between two nations:
- El Morad: the nation of humans.
- Karus: the nation of orcs.
You create your character as a Warrior, Rogue, Mage or Priest. Levelling, collecting items, farming and fighting the other nation are the core of the game.
But what kept the game alive for years was more than levelling. Clan rivalry, CZ battles, boss hunts and player trading set Knight Online apart from other MMORPGs.
2004: USKO and the first servers
Knight Online really took off in Turkey with USKO, which started in 2004.
USKO was published by K2 Network. The first two servers, Ares and Diez, opened on 17 August 2004; Xigenon followed on 1 December 2004.
These three are the oldest and best-remembered servers of the game.
The first USKO servers (2004–2009)
| Server | Opened |
|---|---|
| Ares | 17 August 2004 |
| Diez | 17 August 2004 |
| Xigenon | 1 December 2004 |
| Beramus | 18 March 2005 |
| Cypher | 11 July 2005 |
| Olympia | 24 November 2005 |
| Edana | 20 March 2006 |
| Manes | 30 June 2006 |
| Pathos | 31 July 2006 |
| Logos | 22 November 2006 |
| Ronark | 6 March 2007 |
| Girakon | 31 July 2007 |
| Akara | 9 November 2007 |
| Carnac East | 21 March 2008 |
| Carnac West | 21 March 2008 |
| Ionia | 22 April 2009 |
| Kronos | 16 October 2009 |
Playing back then was very different. YouTube guides were not as common as today; players learned from each other which spot to farm and which item was worth money.
Walking the Moradon market for hours, watching boss times and upgrading items at the Anvil were part of a normal day.
2005–2009: The golden years
2005–2009 were the years when Knight Online and internet cafés went hand in hand in Turkey.
A new server opening was a big event. Everyone started from zero, the first high-level characters were the talk of the server, and everyone wanted to know who had the valuable items.
The iconic items of the era:
- Shard and Mirage Dagger
- Raptor and Iron Impact
- Iron Necklace and Iron Belt
- Ring of Felankor
- Chitin Shell sets
- Unique boss accessories
Even getting an item to +7 or +8 was a big deal. Building your character with Noah from farming, trading at the market and heading to CZ with your clan were the best parts of the game.
Most servers opened in these years later merged and lived on under other names.
Why did servers merge?
Many servers opened over the years, but some of them lost players over time.
When players leave, it is not just PK that suffers. The market weakens too: fewer shops in Moradon, items get harder to find, and farmers have fewer buyers.
Merging gathers players from different servers into one world. Characters from separate servers meet in the same economy and the same PvP.
The biggest merges happened in 2013 and 2023.
2013: Old servers, new names
The merges of 6 August and 3 September 2013 reshaped USKO’s server list. The history of old servers like Ares, Diez and Xigenon moved to the new servers formed on those dates.
The 2013 merges
| New server | Merged old servers |
|---|---|
| Attila | Manes + Pathos + Girakon |
| Resurrection | Diez + Cypher + Olympia |
| Anatolia | Carnac East + Carnac West + Ionia |
| Athena | Ares + Kronos |
| Ephesus | Beramus + Ronark + Akara |
| Atlantis | Xigenon + Edana + Logos |
Some old names disappeared from the list with these merges. The players’ history did not: players from the merged servers kept playing under the new names.
In the following years these servers merged again.
What happened to Ares, Diez and Xigenon?
This is what old players ask the most. Most servers from the early years no longer exist under their own names, and Ares, Diez and Xigenon have especially long histories.
What is your old server today?
Did you start on Ares, Diez, Xigenon, Beramus or Olympia? See which servers it merged with and what it is called today on the server merge map in one click.
Ares’ merge history
Ares was one of the first USKO servers. On 3 September 2013 it merged with Kronos to become Athena. Before that, on 6 August 2013, Manes, Pathos and Girakon had merged into Attila.
On 23 July 2015 Athena and Attila merged and the Ares name came back. In short:
Ares + Kronos → Athena
Manes + Pathos + Girakon → Attila
Athena + Attila → Ares
That brought the players of five servers, opened in different years, together on one server.
Diez’ merge history
Diez was one of the first servers too. On 6 August 2013 it merged with Cypher and Olympia to become Resurrection. On 3 September 2013 Beramus, Ronark and Akara merged into Ephesus.
When Resurrection and Ephesus merged on 23 July 2015, the Diez name was used again:
Diez + Cypher + Olympia → Resurrection
Beramus + Ronark + Akara → Ephesus
Resurrection + Ephesus → Diez
So not everyone playing on Diez in later years came from the 2004 Diez; some came from Beramus, Ronark or Cypher.
Xigenon’s merge history
Xigenon’s path leads to Gordion. On 3 September 2013 Xigenon, Edana and Logos merged into Atlantis. Carnac East, Carnac West and Ionia had already been gathered under Anatolia on 6 August 2013.
On 24 February 2015 Atlantis and Anatolia merged into Gordion:
Xigenon + Edana + Logos → Atlantis
Carnac East + Carnac West + Ionia → Anatolia
Atlantis + Anatolia → Gordion
Xigenon’s history carried on through Gordion.
2023: Ares, Diez and Gordion merged into Oreads
One of the most notable merges in Knight Online history happened on 9 March 2023: Ares, Diez and Gordion merged into Oreads.
At first glance it looks like just three servers. But look at their history and the picture gets much bigger.
Oreads’ family tree
| Merged into Oreads | Old servers in its history |
|---|---|
| Ares | Ares, Manes, Pathos, Girakon, Kronos |
| Diez | Diez, Beramus, Cypher, Olympia, Ronark, Akara |
| Gordion | Xigenon, Edana, Logos, Carnac East, Carnac West, Ionia |
Ares + Diez + Gordion → Oreads
So Oreads has 17 old USKO servers in its history. A character playing on Oreads today may trace back to Ares or Diez, opened in 2004.
On the same server, someone who started on Beramus in 2005 can run into someone who started on Kronos in 2009. That makes Oreads one of the game’s most deep-rooted servers.
What happened to Olympia? The history of Minark
Olympia has one of the most tangled merge histories. One important detail:
The first Olympia, opened in 2005, and the Olympia opened under the same name years later are separate servers.
The first Olympia merged with Diez and Cypher in 2013 and became part of Resurrection’s history. The Olympia name came back with a new server opened on 2 June 2016; Akara joined it in 2017 and Manes in 2019.
On 9 February 2023 Olympia and Rosetta merged into Minark:
Olympia + Rosetta → Minark
Rosetta’s history
Rosetta has a long chain behind it too. On 9 February 2017 Europa, Edana and Midgard merged into Rosetta.
Europa was one of the European (EUKO) servers. When EUKO moved to USKO in 2013, Troya, Callisto and the first Rosetta joined Europa; Helios and Titan followed in 2014. Edana had been formed in 2016 by the merge of Gaia and Orion, and Piana and Asgard had joined Gaia before that.
So Minark is not just two servers added together. There are much older player communities behind the Olympia and Rosetta names.
2012: The NTTGame era and new servers
In 2012 NTTGame took over USKO publishing. Updates, new server launches and security measures continued in this era.
Helios, Titan and Destan opened in 2012. Piana, Gaia, Asgard, Orion and Midgard came in the following years.
Most of these servers were later gathered under other names. Destan took a different path.
Why is Destan different?
Destan is one of the servers that kept its name the longest. It opened on 27 October 2012 and never merged with any server, not even during the big merges of 2023.
That gives Destan’s players and economy a history of their own. While merges changed item supply and the market on the old servers, Destan stayed outside those chains.
2016: Steam Knight Online
Knight Online came to Steam on 26 January 2016. This version, known as SteamKO, opened on servers separate from USKO with its own client, and saw more than 23,000 concurrent players in its first days.
Servers opened and merged on Steam as well. In the end one server was left: Zion.
The Zion merge on SteamKO
On 8 December 2022 the three Steam servers merged:
Cypher + Pathos + Hellsgarem → Zion
Note: Steam’s Cypher and Pathos shared their names with old USKO servers but were separate servers. Don’t mix up USKO and Steam merges; you can’t move a USKO character to Steam.
2019: Altar, Vega and Sirius opened
Three new servers opened on 22 January 2019:
- Altar
- Vega
- Sirius
The level cap was 80 and went up to 83 in March 2019. Everyone started from zero: farm spots filled up, shops went up in Moradon and people started talking about the first item prices. Altar and Vega filled up so fast that for a while new players could only join Sirius.
How Dryads was formed
On 23 February 2023 Altar, Vega and Sirius merged into Dryads:
Altar + Vega + Sirius → Dryads
That brought the players of the three 2019 servers onto one server. Dryads is one of the game’s more recent merges.
2022: Agartha, Felis, Pandora and Zero
Three new servers opened on 17 November 2022: Agartha, Felis and Pandora. Zero followed on 8 December 2022.
These were brand-new worlds, not merges. At launch the level cap was 80, there was no Ardream and you needed a phone-verified pre-registration to get in.
The race for levels, farming and upgrades started in the first days. This era also showed how the GB market settles on a new server.
2026: The servers open today
Today 8 servers are open on USKO. Here is their history:
| Server | Opened or formed | History |
|---|---|---|
| Oreads | 9 March 2023 | Ares + Diez + Gordion |
| Minark | 9 February 2023 | Rosetta + Olympia |
| Dryads | 23 February 2023 | Altar + Vega + Sirius |
| Destan | 27 October 2012 | Never merged, still under its first name |
| Agartha | 17 November 2022 | A brand-new server |
| Felis | 17 November 2022 | A brand-new server |
| Pandora | 17 November 2022 | A brand-new server |
| Zero | 8 December 2022 | A brand-new server |
USKO has only 8 servers, but some of them have dozens of old servers and years of merges behind them.
How has the GB economy changed over the years?
One thing that never changed in Knight Online is player trading. In the early years the way to learn prices was walking the Moradon market. You farmed for Noah, sold valuable items and built your character.
1 GB = 100 million Noah.
Over time GB became the game’s common measure of value. Today the TRY price of GB differs from server to server. The main reasons:
- Total amount of GB on the server
- Number of active players
- How many players farm
- Demand for items and GB
- When the server opened
- Merges
A newly opened server may not have produced much GB yet. A server that has been open for years has far more Noah and items in circulation. That is why 1 GB doesn’t have to cost the same on two servers.
Where can you compare GB prices?
See the GB sell and buy prices of every server side by side in the GB price table. If you are buying GB, look for the lowest sell price; if you are selling, look for the highest buy price.
2026: New servers are coming
NTTGame announced the new servers on 1 October 2026. Their names came later: Atlas, Oracle, Luna and Carnac.
The new servers open on 12 November 2026 at 16:00 (Turkey time). There is a pre-registration before the launch.
The 2026 new server schedule
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 15–29 October 2026 | 1st pre-registration |
| 29 October – 12 November 2026 | 2nd pre-registration and server choice |
| 10–11 November 2026 | Character creation |
| 12 November 2026, 16:00 | New servers open |
You need a pre-registration, phone verification and OTP to get in. The new servers have no Ardream and no Ronark Land Base; PvP happens in Ronark Land.
NTTGame also said it plans to merge some servers later on, but which ones has not been announced yet.
For the full schedule and the pre-registration steps, see the New Servers 2026 page.
Knight Online history: FAQ
When did Knight Online come out?
The game launched in South Korea in 2002. USKO, the version played from Turkey, opened in 2004.
Which were the first servers?
USKO opened with Ares and Diez. Xigenon followed at the end of the same year.
What happened to Ares?
In 2013 Ares merged with Kronos to become Athena. In 2015 Athena merged with Attila and the Ares name came back. In 2023 Ares, Diez and Gordion merged into Oreads.
What happened to Diez?
In 2013 Diez merged with Cypher and Olympia to become Resurrection. In 2015 it merged with Ephesus and took the Diez name again, and in 2023 it became part of Oreads.
What happened to Xigenon?
In 2013 Xigenon merged with Edana and Logos to become Atlantis. In 2015 Atlantis merged with Anatolia into Gordion, and Gordion became part of Oreads in 2023.
Which servers merged into Oreads?
Oreads was formed on 9 March 2023 by the merge of Ares, Diez and Gordion. There are 17 old USKO servers in the history of those three.
Which servers merged into Minark?
Minark was formed on 9 February 2023 by the merge of Olympia and Rosetta.
Which servers merged into Dryads?
Dryads was formed on 23 February 2023 by the merge of Altar, Vega and Sirius.
When do the new servers open?
Atlas, Oracle, Luna and Carnac open on 12 November 2026 at 16:00 (Turkey time).
The story goes on
Since 2002 Knight Online has been home to countless players.
Ares, Diez, Xigenon, Beramus, Cypher and Olympia became unforgettable names of an era. Over time they merged and lived on under new names; today Oreads, Minark and Dryads carry years of history behind them.
In 2026 new names join the story: Atlas, Oracle, Luna and Carnac. Maybe years from now they will merge with another server too.
But running a shop in Moradon, farming, upgrading items and PKing in CZ will stay the parts of the game that never change.
Which server did you make your first character on? Ares, Diez, Xigenon, or one of the new servers?
Whichever server you play on, you can compare current GB prices here.
