The Beginnings

The Imoen Romance mod was first conceived of and created by Lord Mirrabbo back around 2002 or 2003. Many players of the original Baldur's Gate were captivated by Imoen's cheerful (if somewhat immature) personality, and were excited to learn that Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn not only included Imoen, but also the ability to romance people in your party. Alas, Imoen was not one of them.

In fact, Imoen had barely any dialog in Baldur's Gate II. The original script called for her to die in Spellhold after transforming into a second avatar of Bhaal: The Ravager. Only very late in the production process was this decision changed so that Imoen would live. Unfortunately, there was no time to script and record banter-like conversations for her, as existed for the other Bioware NPCs. So Imoen survived SOA -- but was mute and uninteresting.

Lord Mirrabbo set out to fix this. Imoen was your childhood friend in Baldur's Gate, and one of the most pleasant personalities. The trials and tortures that she went through in Baldur's Gate II offered an immense opportunity for characterization and depth that the developers had not taken advantage of. Surely there was more of a story there -- not merely a story, but also perhaps a romance, of two souls with more in common than they realize, growing together in the face of adversity. And thus the Imoen Romance modification was born.

The original Shadows of Amn portion of the Imoen Romance mod was completed in approximately three months and features original music created by Lord Mirrabbo himself. It was controversial and popular -- everyone waited eagerly for the Throne of Bhaal portion. And waited. And waited... and waited...

Stuck in Purgatory

The year 2003 passed. Then 2004. 2005. At first there were frequent status updates and alpha tests, but as the years passed the action died down. 2006 came and went, and still no Throne of Bhaal portion for the Imoen Romance. The forums went down. The website went down. Then, just as suddenly, they reappeared. People kept asking when the mod would be done. 2007 came and went. 2008... Lord Mirrabbo went silent, and news was nowhere to be found. Was the mod dead? Was Lord Mirrabbo dead? No one knew, and the forums eventually became a wasteland of spam, and the webpage a collection of dusty links laying unattended.

2009 came and went, and the Imoen Romance mod remained in Purgatory.

The Resurrection

2010 came... and there was news!

After fearing for the worst, T.C. Dale got in touch with Lord Mirrabbo and asked if the mod would ever be completed -- and if not, if he would be willing to transfer its "ownership" to someone else, and let that person try to complete it. It seemed like a shame to let such a great mod with such a loyal fan base, just fade away into oblivion.

Lord Mirrabbo responded and stated that he, too, had been thinking the same thing. A deal was struck, and in late January of 2010, the guidance of the Imoen Romance mod, website, and forums was handed over to T.C. Dale.

T.C. quickly realized that the mod needed some new life -- and that she couldn't do it alone. The website was redesigned to give a visual clue to visitors that the mod once again had a pulse; the forums were started up again, and people asked to come back if they were still interested. Kat Bella -- a modder and composer widely respected in the modding community -- signed on to help code and finish the mod.

And here we are today... still waiting, but with more hope than ever before.

There and Back Again

But THEN! For reasons, the project became again stuck in limbo for a bunch of years. Despair exerted a choke-hold upon what few fans remained. It was only much later, in 2014, that a hero shrouded in mystery emerged from the shadows to take up the holiests of quests and blah blah blah!

Vanatos, fantastic coder of legend, showed up and finished the crap out of the half-functioning mod, finally putting together a final version of Imoen Romance 2.0. Encouraged by this development, Israel Blargh!, alleged person and pretty OK dude, took up writing the ToB portion of the mod. Israel Blargh! is totally a newcomer and not 12-year-older-and-wiser Lord Mirrabbo, not at all! Vanatos and Israel together soldier on, inevitably marching toward this story's long belabored conclusion.

And so the mod was finally finished forever, to the great rejoicing of seven people and a cat.

Imoen of Candlekeep, by T.C. Dale