I started playing Regnum in 2007, January.
All I knew about the game was that it ran native on Linux.
On the realm selection screen, I choosed Alsius because I liked the flag.
At that time, the realm selection screen looked totally different and there were no such things as bonuses depending on realm selection...
When I became ~lvl 14 I started to realize I picked the wrong realm.
All I had seen so far was snow, snow, snow and snow and as I had not done any research on realm climate before I started I had not known until now.
For some time I thought about removing my character (lvl 14), but then I figured "when I get high-lvl I will be able to get into the "green realm" trough the warzone anyway.
By that time I thought that all realms were linked together by the great walls...
So, I was 100% sure Alsius realm gate would take me directly into Syrtis, and that there were another gate along the Alsius wall leading to Ignis...
Because of this, when I saw Vinland forest I thought it was a sign that I was close to Syrtis.
I went trough the gate and got insta-killed by David Copperfield
Since this day, I figured I could live with Alsius being a big snowball since I could go to Syrtis anytime I liked.
When I found out Gokstad and all other green places of Alsius, and ofcourse the real anatomy of the Regnum world I fell in love with Alsius
Oh, and no - there was no map at this time.