Ah now I get why you said a specific date in the thread, I didn't even realize it had been that long already. Not that you have much to catch up on after all, eh.
At level 1, you're just learning the ropes. You do shit wrong, get pissed about making the wrong decisions, but can't start over. You keep going, gaining levels as your story continues. And after a long time passes, you're a much higher level. You don't even notice how much better you've become, until you decide to revisit that very first area you started in.
You encounter the enemies you previously found challenging, and blow them away as if they were nothing. Satisfying.
i know it seems like they kept forgetting you but If you're still interested in playing I'm helping Shrike get things going in Laws of the Night so just let me know. You may have a little catching up to do, but I'll do what I can.
It's not really separated into chapters. The story, due to the nature of time in the game, is more fluid than that could really contain. A few people are still on Day 1 and 2, for instance, while others are on Day 4, or Day 3 before the explosion went off.
Not going to happen. It's far too convenient, and far too unrealistic for my tastes. Plus, who would set it up and defend it?
It's nearing endgame. Now, basically, Matthias is going to start trying to make people start raiding hell after he accidentally nuked the area around the gate. Whether or not that's going to happen soon is up in the air.