For me, this is probably going to be Angrim; a frequent GCer in his time and founder of eCrow. A great many profiles bear quotes from him today. His account is actually still around though he's a rare sight these days. It's in eCrow, keeping the alliance alive. I'm sure others can contribute more than me as his history with the game stretches far beyond my time here.

HonoredMule. He created one of the first wikis for illyriad. Honestly for me this is great enough to cement him into illyriad's player histories, nevermind his activity in game. It was a hub of information that everyone used religiously. 

http://arcanum-illyria.com/wiki" rel="nofollow - http://arcanum-illyria.com/wiki

I personally never met Durc, but in my time in the Snugglers Coalition (HugCr at the time), Garthen filled me in on the huge personality she had and the impact on the game. The conversation I had with Garthen is currently the only thing left on my in-game profile, for anyone who wants to read. 

A: Anjire, Auraya, Angrim, Alynndra.

Anjire was a very cool guy and a good player and always happy to help with advice. I believe he probably was the first Dwarf in Illy to field 60K stal armies (and add 2 war colleges if necessary). He also always kept his cool and was generous. I recall him mailing me once (during the Consone War) on a huge fight he had had somewhere near Lan Larosh, advising me to send scavengers. That site was so huge that it took me a week with 6 cotters to clear it. And we were not even chatting outside of GC.

Auraya founded the first Elf-only alliance in Illy. She was helpful to everybody and an all around cool player. I especially admire her for her RL achievements though. But I will not talk about that in a forum, except saying that she is one of the strongest and sweetest people I know.

Angrim: 'nuff said. Probably one of the most intelligent, civilized and witty players that graced this game. I miss him.

Alynndra was one of my co-Rooks in HUGcr and currently a fellow mCrow. Had health issues and got through that, built a huge amount of cities but most of all she is a wonderful person and a good friend.

I probably forgot a few people. A is a very popular starting letter here. I blame Elves. I also did not mention Amorphias since he is an alt. I will see him again when or if we make it to K.

A dwarf, a druid, a poet, a friend. Helper of newbs and a good soul.

https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/Player/Profile/49149" rel="nofollow - https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/Player/Profile/49149

A Crow, a friend. The DevKiller  http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/brids-the-dev-killer_topic3066.html" rel="nofollow - http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/brids-the-dev-killer_topic3066.html , hunter and finder of statues.

B - buckminster fuller 

A Crow, a friend, a listening ear

He helped me out immensely and was always very cheerful and had an incredible sense of humor!

OK here is my B

Belargyle, High King. Awesomest leader of DLord.

A lot of Es were brought up in the GC convo which inspired this thread, one I didn't see was Eaque. Creator of IllyTools, I feel he deserves a mention.

Chanson, 

she was caring helpful and always willing to help new people herself and i helped a great many people in illy some of whom are still here today, sadly chanson is not 

BecBlue, was fun and got people together amazingly

Captain Kindly, oh so kind...

I'll bet CK has been sending you carevans full of goid again 

Greetings Everyone!

It was quite a delight to read the comments in this thread.

I am honored to have played the game with so many great players and personalities.

I do believe that I was close to 100K Stalwarts supported by one city at the end. (using prestige).  :)

I would nominate S - Silverlake

my compatriot in arms out over on the edges of Lan Larosh and Kumala.  I hope our last Hurrah there enabled a good portion of Harmless? the time to regroup in a much better defensible position.

~Anjire

Thinks ... I knew this would happen. I spent six years praying to the Dark Gods of the internet to frazzle  his internet connection and then some idiot posts a "history Remberances" tab on the forum.  Next thing you know....He's back 

Internet connection is very touch and go where I am at right now - Only one provider and it is satellite.

Chris G is missed very much, him and his orc Deva

But of course a few mentions are in order. 

A- Azreil- One of the forefront military minds, alliance leader and key player in a major war. 

B-Boromir- Tourney extraordinaire, and held the lead on overall attack score for a long time. 

(Honorable mentions: Baynights, Beecks)

C- Cranesrule/Boru- Military Juggernaut, diplomatic leader extremely knowledgable and is an OG in illy.

D- Dave83- Major player in the military might of Shade my previous alliance. Him and his alt were always down for a scrap. 

(Honorable mention: Dittobite)

E-Ellisande- Frequent helper in GC and my favorite thing was everytime you seen her in chat Mananan would be in there to give here a rose.

(Honorable mention: Eragon, Emily Jade)

F- Fluffy- The original troll lol. Renamed his account to read that it was abandoned so he could then defend the seiges from people who thought they were taking over an inactive!

G-GodsDestroyer- We use to always empty the market of all the beer before traders were a thing and then barter our goods in GC instead of the typical market transactions. Miss you buddy 

(Honorable mention: Gratch)

H- Honored Mule- We didnt always see eye to eye, but he was a illy great- creator of tools that helped the community, and one of the pillars of Harmless who stood as the beacon of dominance in the illy landscape for years. 

I- Indomitable- Coleader of Toothless, all around nice player and helpful to countless number of newbs

(Honorable mention:Innoble)

J- Jane Dark Magic- Even though we never met she went to college 30 minutes away from me and we shared the same love for Greeks Pizza!

(Honorable Mention:Jasche)

K- Another great Illy trader and long time stay in T?. She would frequent GC with saddles asking to sell to people at a discount

(Honorable Mention: Kale Weathers)

L- ladyLuvs- You never see her venture into global chat aanymore but a great character, big heart and longtime helper in the community. Illy needs more people like LL

M- Manochander/Madmano- I bet this guy has funded illy more prestige than anybody. Mano was a huge piece of my previous alliances and would eat through prestige like it was candy. 

(Honorable mention:Magnificence, malek)

N- Nokigon- Avid member of GC, very loyal and frequently would help people with capturing new towns

O- Olek- Always in GC trying to figure out the game mechanics of seiges and raids, in hindsight he probably was a year before his time. He could have been a great fit when the game started becoming more militarily dominant

P- Purple Rain- Great player but like most of the former alliance Pending, hated wars. Just looked forward to playing in tourneys and was very good at that

Q- Queen Bikini- Alliance leader, thorn in my side. I felt like we were always on opposing sides of a conflict. Good sport when it came to fighting though, her and Roman Empire

R- Rill- Love her or hate her she was a trooper. Rain sleet or snow, Rill was on illy. It got to the point people started disliking her because there wasnt a time you could go into GC and there wasnt a comment from Rill in the feed. One of the most knowledgeable and helpful players illy has probably ever had, and the community suffers from people like her no longer playing their roles.

(Honorable Mention:Ryklaw,Ryelle :)

S- Sheogorath- member of the freemorn society which was doing things way before they were popular in the game. The alliance required you to move into their hub area of Freemorn in order to remain a member, unfortunately Sheo was pretty young and didn't have the patience for the long-term game that is Illyriad.

(Honorable Mentions: Scaramouche,Sir Bradley, Susan Calvin)

T-The_Dude- The first thing that comes to mind is dramatic. The_Dude went on a tirade about a player Mananan and then because he didnt get what he wanted spent the next 2 weeks in GC giving away his goods while seiging himself down to nothing with his alt account El-Jeffe. I guess at the end of the day it was a bit entertaining 

(Honorable Mentions:tanis, Tordenkaffen)

Y- Yearick- Founder of one of the earliest alliances, well rounded player(I believe finrod was his alt if memory serves) with excellent diplomacy and recruiting skills, unfortunately inactivity struck and these accounts were shells for a long time. 

Z- Zolvon- Leader of a old alliance, and one of the older players in the game. He and his brother came over to join up with me in Shade as a result to end a war and save his brother in real life Magnificence from being seiged to 0. After awhile Z had to head back to his own alliance cause he refuses to be ruled by anyone.

As an aside from the above mentioned players Id also like to mention some of my favorite older alliances that are no longer active, Curse the Wolves, The Grey Grudges, and Warriors of the New. All of which i have stories directly related to, but I never was a governing piece of them.  

Finrod joined Illyriad in 2010, shortly after the White/H? war. He brought his real-life friend Yearick into the game, who formed World's End [WE], while Finrod joined The Knights Who Say Ni (Ni). Ni went on to become Mal Motsha, which was the first alliance to use the "join us, relocate, or die" approach to enforcing land claims. Eventually, WE got pig-piled on, and Finrod left the game along with Yearick.

They both returned to form http://arcanum-illyria.com/wiki/Rhyagelle" rel="nofollow - Rhyagelle , which was the first alliance I joined. At one point, RHY was the fourth-largest alliance in the game, and it played a key role in the Trove war, though Finrod had departed the game by then (for good), along with Yearick.

Finrod was a very adept diplomat and had been called upon numerous times to mediate in wars and conflicts (it was common in the early days of Illy for a dispassionate mediator to be called in to manage negotiations). He was a dove, but RHY was willing to fight as a last resort.

He may have been a minor player in the metagame in early Illy, but anyone who played back then should remember him as a key political player.

Here is http://arcanum-illyria.com/wiki/Rhyagelle" rel="nofollow - a good Arcanum Illyria article about Rhyagelle .