ABOUT DINO

If you want to know more about me, then you have come to the right place.

On a first note, I am not to be confused with the Dino Dragon that appears on the UDIC Roster. I am Dino the Dark Dragon and have been so since I joined UDIC on 11th June 2002.

This is what I look like as a Dragon, lurking in the Shadow.

On a second note, I might mention my human counterpart.
My real name is Daniel D'Agostino, and I inhabit a small island known as Malta, south of Italy. I am currently 15 years old.

Ultima has fascinated me since quite a few years ago. But only lately did I discover the fan community and the remakes going on. Sometime in 2001, I was inclined to search for information about the fantastic series. I had stumbled across the Ultima Online Archive, but since it was never updated, I thought there was no Ultima fan community.

But I soon realised I was wrong when I linked from there to the Complete Guide to Ultima 1, which linked me to the Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn website. From there, I could link to the other remakes, and I soon discovered that an Ultima fan community thrived. Much later, I started taking an interest, and even applied to join a couple of remakes, but their teams already had full teams, and did not need me. This is where my nickname "Dino" sprouted. I wanted to get to know the Ultima IV - The Dawn of Virtue team and wanted a nickname with which I could be called. I soon thought of 'Dino', and it stayed. From where it comes can not be answered specifically, as it can derive from any parts of my name, such as some letters in my surname, or some similarity with my name.

On the 20th May, 2002, Corvwyn announced wanting to remake Ultima 8. Seeing my opportunity, I applied as soon as I saw the post – on the 11th of June. The next day, I was accepted into the team as the leader of the dialogue team. I soon found a name for Corvwyn's remake - Exile.

Meanwhile, I had applied to join the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, and since 'Dino Dragon' was already taken, I required an addition since I did not feel like changing nickname and having to tell so many people of the change. Hacki Dragon helped me out by thinking of the right addition, and also a threefold alliteration – 'Dino the Dark Dragon' was listed on the Roster dated 11th June 2002.

On the 19th of July, Ches Dragon asked me to help him, as you can read here. "Join us Dino. We need your help." was his invitation. I had nothing against helping another project on its way, so I agreed to help a little, but being already busy with Exile, I stated clearly that Exile is my primary project, and takes priority over any others.

Meanwhile, the Lost Vale fanfiction had been recovered. Natreg Dragon had it saved, so he uploaded it and I passed the link on to Shadow of Light Dragon, who runs the Dragon Press. She could only host the text on the Dragon Press due to the size of the pictures and backgrounds. That was when I remembered I had some Geocities webspace and I uploaded it on the 27th of July. The rest of my site expanded from that.

On 9th August, I started my fanfiction "Tale of the Mystics" to have more than just one fanfiction hosted on my site. It has also quite grown since.

Since its beginning, the Exile site has moved twice, and is now hosted on Exodus Machine. On the forums there, I met some new people. Among them was Windwalker, leader of the Blackthorn project. We soon became friends, and, seeing that he needed help with dialogue, among other fields, I offered him some help on the 8th of September. The next day, I handed him a dialogue, and he was very pleased. He wanted to add me to the team, and I accepted joining him, although I told him as well that Exile was my first priority.

Now I have to cope with 3 Ultima projects, a website, and a fanfiction, just to mention Ultima. My O–levels (end of school exams) are coming up next year, so I have to cope with coursework and the exams themselves. I'll also most probably be doing an extra subject on my own, and I'll start school on the 26th of September, which also means homework.

That was a basic biography of my Ultima activities 'till now.

Finally, I would like you to know that I appreciate comments on my site and my work a lot. There is no better way to improve something than having the public telling me how. I have done my best to avoid broken links and things of the sort, but since I am not perfect, feel free to send me an email and let me know of any bug or broken link I might have missed, as well as any comments you might have, both positive and negative.

Last updated: 14th September 2002