I started doing periodic backups of the levels after some jerk decided to delete everything at one point (not naming names), so I decided I would generate the maps from the earliest and latest timestamped copies. I added some recent images I posted for timeline context.
The earliest system timestamp I can find on my version of the first map including the castle is 9/29/2005.
The earliest system timestamp I can find on my version of the Overworld Map expansion concept, which includes some additions to the last map aside from the imagined future, was from 11/26/2005.
The earliest system timestamp I can find on my version of this initial Overworld Map expansion is 1/2/2006 (which agrees with the timestamp on the screenshot)
Overworld Map from 7/11/2006 (missing some levels, probably because I'm not using the correct GMAP). The gmap I used is from 7/22/2006. I tried using the GMAP from 4/2/2006, and from that I can infer that Nimda got re-added to the gmap between 4/2/2006 and 7/11/2006 (although not fleshed out for content), and that the errors are weird.
Here's 7/27/2006, which doesn't have the weird errors, but shows the work I did to move level25.graal up to a proper elevation for snow for the first time in Graalian history. It also brought about a potential for a "fish mountain" arc in any Graal storyline (following further overworld updates), but that's no longer a thing.
For good measure, I figure 8/21/2006 would be a good halfway point to look at how things were evolving over time.
Overworld Map from 11/15/2006, shortly before I essentially quit.
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What is the area in the purple circle? I've always been curious.
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Oh wait, I misunderstood the first time. That is a level formerly known as level25.graal. It was what I believed to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing in Graal, so I wanted it to stay on the map. It was originally at a really low altitude, which I always found kind of weird because it had snow, so I made an effort to put it at a higher altitude when putting it on the map. When I first played, it was part of level 3 sword quest. You would obtain the obsidian shaft component by digging in that level with the level 2 shovel. From my old FAQ pages, it was part of Fox's cave complex that led to Sylphia (Snow Town).
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When you were still able to glitch out of the map you'd reach a black void and no matter how far you dragged your screen to nimda, it was fully gone lol (same with the other areas)
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Graal only ever loads the level you're in and the surrounding 8 levels when you're on the gmap, which is why when you drag your camera you can't see beyond a certain area.
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Never really got to know what Nimda really was. Only been there through offmap glitches. What is the purpose of Nimda? I know there are games like boat race and such. There's also a forest too. Was that a quest?
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Before the first server wipe, there was a forest quest there, followed by another quest that took you to a place called dragon's island. Neither of those quests were reimplemented during my time. I was trying to get Pretext/Castle/Gnomes/Kull's/Sardon's done as the highest priority quests. We only got up through the castle quest ever completed. The Gnomes quest was extremely frustrating because I couldn't get anyone to work on it.
There was a shop there where you could get the torch and a mini-game system, and the map to Nimda Forest. You'd follow the map to find ratform. You had to kill a boss for it. Once you had the ratform, you could enter the Dragon's Temple on Nimda Island. Once completing the Dragon's Temple, a dragon would carry you to Dragon's Island, where you would find the Graal of Life (one of the four graals needed to enter Midas' Realm) after defeating the dragon mage in a temple there.