...First, about the second point: what I meant was that there are two kinds of character end- or life-goals that I see commonly in backgrounds: 1) ones reasonable to an open-ended game like a MUD, and 2) ones too specific to be reasonable.

The first would be something like 'Bob saw a powerful mage once, and decided that they wanted to be the same thing one day', or 'Bob grew up with stories about great warriors, and has a burning desire to be one, too', or 'Bob grew up poor, and swore to collect wealth any way he could, no matter the law or toes he must stomp'.

Examples of the second: 'Bob watched his parents murdered by an evil mage, and swore he would get revenge', or 'Bob met Dryth, and will be one one day', or 'Bob heard of an ancient magical sword, and seeks to collect it', or 'Bob knows secrets about the king, but forgot them because of amnesia (with the implication that Bob will remember someday".

The reason why the latter background ideas are unreasonable is that they expect something from the game or staff that might not be possible, or even accurate. They assume things that the player has no idea about, and might never. Or sometimes they expect that we'll give them a character that is special in a way no one else is or can be, even if that character is not special at the moment. I'm sure you understand.

Sometimes we do let in characters with special knowledge or abilities, or characters designed to fill some specific role in the world that needs filling. These go, of course, to veteren players, who are already equipped to play such characters.

So what I meant by 'starting out at the bottom' was not to make any assumptions about specific things the character doesn't know (or things the character isn't) now, but will know/be later.[...]

I know that it's hard to try and come up with an 'interesting' character the first time you play a new game, but I believe that its not backgrounds that make characters interesting, but the RP they accomplish over the years. There are lots of oldbies around here who have 'boring' or plain backgrounds, but have developed into brilliand, critical characters who have important roles in the game world. Make sense?

So nix anything more or less unusual and specific. Unusual is good, specific is good, but unusual and specific is not.

To be very clear:
• Do not include goals which could not be reached by any character of the same architype
• Do not include references to or experience with things that you can't find lots of information about on the website, forums, or help files (like Vek, or Dryth, or the King, or skystone, etc.)
• Do not include references to or experience with things that you have not seen mentioned at all (like Dwarves, or time travel, ninjas, etc.)
• Do ask for clarification on things that you think seem like common knowledge, if you need to. We're not ogres; we like to help.
• Do not feel the need to kill off your parents and/or family: it's a big city, and not everyone meets or sees everyone. It's alright to imply RP about mundane NPCs that may never see the light of day.

I hope this helps.

-- Daed
daedelus@shadowsiege.com

In Shadow Siege, your character can progress in his abilities or in skills, his or her attribute points can increase, however there is no classification of a character being a certain level. The main reason for this is for a role-playing game, this would not be overly in character. Would you go up to your friends and say, "I'm a level 1 baker"? Likely not, however you might say, "I'm qualified as a Master Baker."

2. What does classless mean?
Rather than trying to fit everyone into inflexible classes, we are a classless system. This means that instead of having to pick being a thief, fighter or mage, you can play a rogue that dabbles in a bit of magic, or a fighter that occasionally does high-way robberies. You are limited not by unrealistic class boundaries but rather by what is IC for your character and what skills he or she qualifies for.

3. So how do I improve my character?
You can improve your characters skills either through roleplay or by using them. You can also increase your characters attributes through roleplay.

Whilst you roleplay you'll notice that you'll collect roleplay points approximately every fifteen minutes based on the quality of your roleplay. These points can be spent on a number of things including attributes, skills and gold.

4. How can I see what skills I have?
The command to see what skills you have is skills.

It's syntax is as follows:

skills [group: combat/magic/craft/extraction/misc/stealth]

For example: skills magic

This will show you all the skills you have currently in white and all the skills you are able to learn in light grey. If you add the word full on the end it will also display all the skills you do not yet qualify for in dark grey.

5. How can I tell how advanced I am in a skill?
You will notice the information using the skills command appears much like this:

haggle            (capable)            ********--

The first word is the name of the skill. The second word in brackets is how good you are in the skill. The stars show you how long you have to go until you progress to the next level in it.

6. What's RPP?
RPP is short for role-playing points. These are accumulated automatically while you roleplay. Your roleplay is judged by the length of your emotes, your grammar, punctuation, the number of people role-playing and whether you are using the think command.

7. How do I use RPPxchange?
To exchange your rpp's in for gold, simply type in: rppxchange gold. The amount of gold you acquire will be based upon your wage. To exchange your rpp's for an attribute type: rppxchange attribute, ie: rppxchange str. And lastly, to exchange your rpp for a point in a skill, type: rppxchange skill 'skill name', ie: rppxchange skill 'dual wield'.

8. How can I target someone with my emote?
You can target someone with your emote by putting a # in front of the keyword. For example:

emote smiles at #human.

9. Where can I find a map?
Within the game there are two help files with maps in them. Help Telantha and help Geography. On the website under the World section are more detailed maps of the continent.

10. What happens when I die?
Death, whilst not permanent in the first instance on Shadow Siege, does come with a considerable amount of penalties - both to the character physically, mentally and ICly. Repeated death can result in it being permanent.

When death occurs, your character is transferred to a dark misty place where they remain for approximately one hour. This time passes whether the character is on, or off line.

Once the one hour has passed, your character will be transferred to a room in the temple. Your character will be ICly very weak. This is represented by the fact that your health, mana and stamina is reduced.

Your character will also have lost a small percentage of up to 3 attributes. This represents the permanent drop in health acquired
from death. You can, of course, raise these back up again using role play points (see help RPP).

Your character will have also lost several hours worth of memory. This doesn't come back without staff intervention - in an either IC or OOC manner. Your character will also of likely lost any equipment and gold they were carrying (hence the importance of using a bank). Once you are returned from the mists, think about how in character it is for your character to suddenly run across town to the place they died (despite the fact they are not supposed to remember this) and pick up their things.

Death is supposed to be harsh and be something that most people -attempt- to avoid. The experience, for most, is quite painful and certainly once experienced once, is something most people try to avoid with a passion.

11. How can I tell how good my equipment is?
The best way to determine which piece of equipment is better is simply to use common sense. A steel sword is going to be better than an iron sword because iron is a much stronger and sharper metal. A chainmail suit will offer much better protection than a leather vest, etc.

12. I'm in a room full of people, but no one is talking to me. What should I do?
I find a good way to get into roleplay is to often do something to gather their attention, this can be something as simple as walking past someone and accidentally stepping on their feet or falling into them, or asking someone for directions.

With new characters I often try to think of a way to get involved in roleplay before entering the Inn... for example, I'll work out exactly why my character is in the Inn that eve - ie, to meet someone. And then from that determine how my character can get involved with others - the person not turning up so my character would then ask others in the Inn if they'd seen this person. Just an example to give you an idea of the things you can do.

13. I've heard the mention of a couple of deities. What is Shadow Siege's religious system like?
There are numerous gods and due to the fact that many of the gods have walked recently amongst men, there are very few 'unbelievers'. Some people devote themselves to only one god, some worship several.

14. How can I make some money?
There are a number of ways to make money. You can gather herbs and sell them in the shops, chop wood and sell them at the carpenter, create potions and sell them, catch fish make fish-stew and sell that.. sew items, craft leather, the list is almost endless!

If you'd rather not make money through the crafting system, you can also use rppxchange gold to acquire gold that your character might earn with a wage.

AFK - "Away from keyboard".

Attributes - Values determining how strong a character's body, reflexes, or mind is. The attributes in ShadowSiege are strength (STR), agility (AGL), dexterity (DEX), constitution (CON), intelligence (INT), wisdom (WIS), and psyche (PSY).

Background - A summery of a character and their pre-game life; an IC bio. If you submit a background for your character during or after character creation, the staff will equip that character with appropriate stats and skills. It is highly recommended. Submit backgrounds to mina@shadowsiege.com

BRB - "Be right back".

Channel - A particular game system which allows players or characters to communicate between themselves, Esp. ones that everyone in the game can 'hear' (the ooc channel, the newbie channel, etc.).

CharGen - "Character Generation"; The place or time of character creation; The act of creating a new character, or the part of the game mechanics which does so.

Character - The fictional person who's role is being played.

Circle - The game from which Shadow Siege's code is derived from.

Code - The actual C/C++ program which makes up the game; a system of game mechanics ('the combat code'); hard-set rules that PCs and NPCs must adhere to; (Also: the code-base)

Codely - Performing an action via a game command; something done by the game mechanics (Esp. OOC).

Code Kill - The act of killing a character via game mechanics (as opposed to simply deciding that a character is dead; The opposite of 'emote kill'; [Note: This is archaic; all PC death is done by code-killing on ShadowSiege, though with less spam than by most MUDs.]

Combat - The system of game mechanics used when one PC or NPC does anything aggressive to another; The system used to define the outcome of an aggressive action (combat itself is an OOC concept, though the fight between characters is IC).

Controller - See 'player'.

Emote - Game command; Used to describe the actions of a character. If a character is hidden, their player should use the 'hemote' command, because it echoes only to people that can see them.[Note: emotes are the preferable method for IC communication.]

Emotely - Performing an action with the emote command; Describing an action that a character performed via the emote command; something a character does which is not backed by the actual game code or mechanics ("I'll emote it; I'll do it emotely").

IAW - "In another window"; the player is doing something else on their computer, and not paying attention to the game.

IC - "In Character"; Having to do with one's character, or the in-game world; (adverb 'ICly')

IRL - "In Real Life"; the real world.

Mischan - The act of using the wrong channel to communicate something, Esp. by mistake; (Also: xchan, mis-chan)

Mob - See 'NPC'.

Mobbing - The act of killing an (or multiple) NPC(s) for no other reason but to enhance one's character; Killing an NPC for any OOC reason (like boredom, for example). [Note: Mobbing is not legal play on Shadow Siege; NPCs should be treated as if they were PCs, where it is applicable.]

Newbie - A player new to the game; (Also: newb [not nice])

NPC - "Non-Player Character"; Any role being played by the game mechanics (AI), or by a staff member (esp. for use as a tool); (Also: mob, mobile, ahab [not often used], puppet, monster)

OOC - "Out Of Character"; Having to do with the actual players, the actual mechanics of the game, or the physical act of playing the game; being real, acting as oneself, and not the character; (adverb 'OOCly')

PA - See "Player-Aid".

PC - "Player Character"; Any character being played by any player.

PermDeath - Permanent Death; The final and absolute death of a character; As opposed to reincarnation or respawning; A system in which characters die once and permanently.

PFile - The physical file on the game server which holds a character and their information.

PK - "Player Kill"; The act of one PC killing another (PKed, PKing); Esp. illegally [Note: ShadowSiege allows PKing only when it makes sense for one character to kill another. That is to say, the aggressive player needs to have an IC reason as to why their character is killing another. Insanity is not usually a good plea.]

Player - The physical player involved in the game; the real person behind a character; (Also: controller)

Player Aid - A player who helps other players, esp. newbies. PAs have access to some building commands, do renames, and remind people of the rules when they have to. PAs come up gold on the who list.

Pose - Game command; used to describe what a character is doing in a room - or where a character is in that room - in context of another character walking in and seeing them.

Rename - A custom-made item that cannot be bought in stores. Renames are assumed to have been purchased, made, or otherwise acquired by characters when the code does not permit. Therefore, they usually cost RPP and/ or gold. PAs (and sometimes staff members) do renames.

Roll - A random dice roll, esp. of a particular range. Dice rolls are simulated by the game mechanics, and are usually not seen (except for the result); to 'roll up a character'; character creation (See CharGen).

RP - "Role Playing"; The act of a player pretending to be a character; thinking and acting like that character, and not like the player might; Acting.

RPP - "Role-play Point(s)"; The preferred system of enhancing a character on ShadowSiege. RPP is given out automatically by the game while a player plays, and manually by the staff on merit. The game passes out RPP to players every fifteen minutes, based on the number and size of emotes and thinks, and how many other characters are in the room with them.

RPPXchange - Game command; used to spend RPP on higher attributes, skills, or more gold (given a wage).

Skills - Values determining what things a character knows how to do, and how well they can do them.

Spam - Flooding other people's screens with unsightly text, esp. by typing the same thing over and over. OOC spam will get people angry with you very quickly, and IC spam is against the rules.

Staff Member - The game-masters and administrators of ShadowSiege. Staff members are also players, at times. They know when the difference occurs, hopefully.

Stats - See 'attributes'.

Tell - A special channel that can only be heard between two players, like a private message. You can reply to a tell simply by using the 'reply' command (e.g., 'reply [text]'); (Note: Any chatter or information which goes over the tell channel -must- always be OOC in nature).

Wage - A character's income, in gold. The staff will set this when a back story for that character is submitted, or when a character gets hired by an NPC, or when a similar situation occurs. See 'RPP, RPPXchange.

Where list - A list of all the characters in the game who are in public rooms; a useful tool to find RP. You can get it by typing 'where'. Character's that are in non-public places (e.g., their homes, or in a jail cell) do not show up.

Who list - A list of everyone that's online. You can get it by typing 'who'.

Wimpy - Game command; used to define when a PC will flee automatically.

World - The in-game world; the IC world.

XChan - See 'mischan'.

1. Why, hello, there!

2. The Basics
2.1 English
2.2 Common Sense
2.3 OOC Niceties
2.4. The Player-Character Relationship

3. Acting! (the meat)
3.1 You Write What You Know
3.2 Motivation
3.3 The Problem of Good and Evil
3.4 The Stat Wall
3.5 Speaking of Violence....

4. Creative Writing

5. Exit Theme

6. Addendum

1. INTRO

Welcome to the fun and lovely and life-consuming world of Roleplaying MUDs. And welcome to ShadowSiege. There are three kinds of players that ought to be reading this: 1) people who are new to roleplaying, 2) people who are new to ShadowSiege MUD, and 3) everyone else who is playing currently or would like to play ShadowSiege MUD in the near future, new or not. We begin with the basics.

This guide assumes that you know the difference between OOC and IC. If you don't: find out, then come back.

2. THE BASICS

Roleplaying, if you didn't know, is pretending to be someone you happen to not be, in an environment where everyone else is doing so, also. Why? Because it's fun: it's communal storytelling; it's improvisation; it's writing and acting and (some) directing, all at the same time. And it also happens to - on SS - be in....

2.1 ENGLISH

MUDs are completely (usually) text. This means you must, must, must try your absolute and very hardest to write in proper English. This means:

- capitalize words you ought to, like names and other proper nouns.
- Use correct and complete punctuation.
- Use correct (or nearly) grammar and sentence structure. I say 'nearly', because English is actually a very stupid and complicated language; no one expects you to be an English major, but we do expect you to follow the simple and more common rules.
- Watch and learn. You'll be amazed how quickly your English will improve when you pay attention to someone else who is using it properly.

Again, I want to clarfiy: there is no stress, here. Just do your best, and your best will improve; it's inevitable.

2.2 COMMON SENSE

Characters are people, too; treat them as such. That goes for NPCs and PCs alike. Do you just walk up to strange people when they are talking and interrupt them to mention the weather? I'm pretty sure you don't. And if you do, then you probably have multiple personalities, and therefore don't remember. Do you just walk into other people's homes to see what's inside? Not even professional thieves do that - they scope out a place, first. Do you stab an old man or a wandering dog on the off chance they have any money? I think you see where I am going with this.

Remember that your character is a part of a society, just like you are. Remember that your character is afraid of getting stabbed in the eye, just like you are. These two things will give your character a long and relatively un-stabbed life, in most cases. Accidents happen.

'But,' you say, 'I want to do the stabbing!'

We'll cover that later. I promise.

2.3 OOC NICETIES

When using OOC channels, be nice. MUDs are not just games - they're also communities. People get to know each other. People make friends. People expect everyone to be relatively friendly. The same social rules apply here as elsewhere. If you're rude, right off the bat, you will find yourself party to the cold shoulder. That's just the way it goes. Let people warm up to you before you turn into an insult comic, or before you hit on them. When people know you, it's funny. When they don't, its not.

And a note about staff members: There are some people in the MUDding world who are convinced that all admins are power hungry megalomaniacs with no sense of humor; these people have never been an admin. There is a hell of a lot of work involved. inevitably, staff members will be protective of the MUD and its community. So be patient with them. Just so you know, there are two particular things (apart from breaking the rules of the house) that will earn you bad street credit with the staff:

1) Being new and complaining about their MUD, or the MUD's code, and

2) Yelling at them. They're here to help you. They're here to help everyone get along. People who volunteer to help do not like to be yelled at. People that get paid for it mind less. We are of the former. Writing in ALL CAPS SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ANY COST.

Moving on.

2.4 THE PLAYER-CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP

Firstly, IC information must never be spread outside IC means. What does that mean? Never discuss things that your character knows about other characters with other players - especially if those characters are involved together. Never discuss events that occur in-game over OOC channels (that includes private channels, like 'tell'). For example: someone is kicking your character's ass. It is never ok to use the 'tell' channel to get help. If you think that somehow some situation isn't fair, you need to alert a staff member privately. The reasons for the above should be evident; some players work very hard to be wiley or keep secrets. If those things get out by OOC means, then all their work is ruined.

ShadowSiege is, of course, a game. And while I like watching people getting 'in character', I also am pleased to see people adjusting their RP for the greater good of the game. What do I mean? Here's an example:

Your character is a murderous thief. He runs into someone else, alone, in a dark alley. But you notice, as the player, that this character is very new. So, maybe this time you simply leave them alone, instead of killing them and taking their valuables. It is certainly something to consider. Maybe killing this character on their first day out will make them never want to play, but just taking their money and letting them live might put your career in danger. So, you decide - as a player - to ignore the 'natural' thing your character would do, and instead do something good for the game.

3. ACTING!

3.1 You Write What You Know.

It's simple and beautiful and true. This does not mean that your character has to be an extension of yourself; it does mean that your character will only have the depth and detail that you can imagine them having. So don't over-extend yourself. I say this with hesitation, because we want you to try new things. But if you are trying to play a character you know nothing about, you have to do a little homework, first. Players who over-extend themselves without doing their homework fall into cliches. Cliches are the mind killers, the little death.

If you, on the other hand, can't seem to come up with a character to play that isn't a cliche; don't sweat it. Play on. Characters get better over time. You get to know them, just like new friends. If you happen to run into characters that are amazingly deep and fun to watch, its because they've been around a long, long time, and their players' know them very well. Everything which takes skill takes practice, and everything that takes practice takes time; roleplaying is no different. So don't despair; relax and enjoy the show you are participating in.

3.2 Motivation

Everyone wants to be or do something, wether they know it or not. It's the basic rule of psychology. So your character ought to have motivations, too. In fact, they have to; if they don't they're not a character anymore, but only a prop. Props are not fun toys.

Here's a tip (you might disagree, but I don't care): all motivations, no matter how noble or righteous, can be reduced to something that seems selfish. People like Ghandi and Mother Theresa are not exempt. Even the most selfless martyr is trying to get into heaven. Even the most faithful and loyal soldier is serving out of (what they have decided is) their best interests.

Fact is, no one just wanders around aimlessly. All of the actual drifters I know personally are either looking to slowly destroy themselves, or to find something akin to enlightenment. Or something as esoteric.

Motivations drive a character forward. Motivation gives birth to Will, and Will makes decisions. So pick a 'selfish' motivation or two, and assign them to your character before you roll them up. It's alright if it's kind of vague at first (for those of you who are looking to get a feel for the game before you dive in).

Eventually, when you have your character's motivations down pat, their choices seem to come naturally.

3.3. The Problem of Good and Evil

In most games, you have a hero and a villain. In this one, those black and white terms are inescapably shredded into many shades of grey. If everyone is moving around on the power of motivation, and if everyone's motivations are unique and personal, then people will sometimes (of course) get in each other's way. The roles of hero and villain become, more often than not, a matter of perspective, flying from character to character like flashlight beams in the dark. So remember that if your character is someone's hero, they are also someone's villain. And somewhere in there is where half the fun of RP is.

Or look at it this way: even if Good and Evil were each a set of standards, no good or evil person can stick to their appropriate at all times: a captain might assassinate his general if he's seriously concerned about his leadership; the witch in the forest might send the children home with a smile instead of eating them, knowing that next time, they'll bring their friends.

Besides, people make bad judgement calls for a variety of reasons. Allow your character a few; they're not perfect, either. Which leads us into....

3.4 The Stat Wall

Yes, your character has attributes and skills, they have strengths and weakness. When playing an RPmud, these values don't just decide wether or not you hit something with your sword, or wether or not you get that spell off. They also serve as a guide for roleplaying.

Does your beefy warrior have a pathetic intelligence? Then make them a little slow. Does your acrobat-like thief have a low wisdom? Then be sure to remember that they are a little naive. Low perception? Then don't emote a reply to everything in the room; maybe they missed much of it. Low psyche? Make them nervous at confrontations, or weak-kneed in the face of violence.

The stat wall works both ways, too. It's really, really hard to play a character who's smarter than you. Figure out what you think you are capable of. If you're not good at problem solving, but you want a wicked mage with a high intelligence, then take the high stat, but dumb him down a little, anyway. Think of it as bookish intelligence, and not quick thinking. Come up with a trick.

3.5 Speaking of Violence....

Violence, like it or not, is a part of the game. Most of us, I think, like it more than not. But before you set out for that first weapon - before you even look to take a weapon skill - ask yourself, 'Would this bloke/lass even own a weapon, or know how to use one in any shape or form? Or even if they did, would they carry it around? And even if they did, would they whip it out and stab someone with it at the first insult?'

Chances are, the answers will be yes, yes, maybe, and no. The same line of thinking applies for armor. Except for the stabbing.

Anyway, the trick here is to adjust your character's equipment to their situation. No one sleeps in their armor, and no one totes their assault rifle along with them to the pub. Unless you're an Israeli or extremely paranoid. Why? Because very few people worry about their personal safety at all times. Again, unless you are a very dangerous person with many, many enemies.

Yea, its a dangerous world, but not all of it. Going to a bad part of town? Drop by home and snag that boot knife. Going to the market? Leave the steel in your room. This ought to go for that backpack full of random crap, too. Don't have a place to store stuff? Stop living like a vagabond and get one.

The most important thing I have to say about combat is this: if your character sucks at it, your opponent (and everyone else) will know when those dice come a-tumblin' down that conceptual table - no matter what you put in your emote. So you might as well play along. And the same is true in the other direction.

So, remind yourself of your dagger skill when you pull that knife out; if it says 'inept', then you are. Emote as such when you hold it in front of you awkwardly, when you strike in wild desperation. Make it apparent that you don't know what the hell you are doing, but hoping for a lucky hit. If your physical stats are high, and your sword skill says 'grand master', then go ahead and show off. Describe the ferocity of your timing, your powerful, lean muscles in motion, the simple, devastating grace of your well rehearsed footwork; the dice will back you up.

Don't know enough about sword fighting to describe it? Look it up. We've got internet access if we're MUDding, right?

There is a re-occurring formula, here. Figure out what really makes sense for your character, then do it. Eventually, they'll seem to do it on their own.

4. CREATIVE WRITING

We're nearly through, but before we finish, I thought I'd leave you with a few tips about writing.

First of all, no one expects you to be Milton or Dostoyevsky. Again, there isn't any pressure on this front; having a firm grasp on your character's motivations and personality is far more important than your writing style or skill.

The best, single piece of advice I ever read on writing was in an essay by Vonnegut. I'll paraphrase: every sentence you write ought to either further describe a character, or move the plot along; the trick is to find a balance between the two, or accomplish them both at the same time.

Keep a thesaurus handy; words are perishable, and they get stale after hitting the screen too many times. I'd put money down that the letters 'g', 'a', 'z', and 'e' are rubbed off on a few keyboards from over use.

And posting an emote without a spellchecker active is like not pausing to check your fly before you exit the bathroom.

5. EXIT THEME

I, for one, am thrilled about your interest in ShadowSiege. I hope you'll be playing for a long time. Just remember the golden rule of roleplaying ('If it makes sense, do it; if it doesn't, don't.'), and I think you'll have an easy time finding fun and stimulation.

I'll see you around. Keep on...er, trucking.

-- Daedelus, staff member (daedelus@shadowsiege.com)

6. ADDENDUM

6.1 Backgrounds

Backgrounds submitted for a character ought to cover at least these topics:

-- A mention of your character's early life. Where did they come from? What was their family/home life like? And so on.
-- A depiction of your character, attribute-wise. Are they clever? Are they strangers to hard work? Were they sick, often? etcetera
-- A roughish (or more detailed) description of your character's skills and how they acquired them.
-- Mention if your character has connections or a relationship with another character already in the game (possible, but not likely).
-- Describe why or how your character came to live in or about Telantha (they might be from there, of course).
-- Mention if your character ought to have a current income, and why.

If you can't find suitable answers for some of these questions between your imagination and the website and forums, then feel free to ask a staff member or player aid, and they will do the best they can to help you. More information about the geography and cultures of Aagos will be forthcoming.

Aagos - The planet on which we dwell; the world.

Annwn - City of the Dead, ruled by the goddess Morhiag; the underworld. Annwn is described as being surrounded by a maze of great thorns, and lies on the far side of the river Leath.

Cataclsym - A phenomena that obliterated Mount Yar and the city-state of Yarsin, proceeding the Darkness.

Cumaill - Cumaill I, first king of Viroth; born Cumaill Talen; ordered construction of Cumaill's Wall.

Cumaill's Wall - High, stone structure that spans the entire southern border of Viroth; raised to defend against further aggression from the Tyen Empire after the Second Invasion.

Darkness, the - An effect of the Cataclysm; a distant, opaque canopy that is believed to have covered the whole world (with the current exception of Telantha) and causes eventual mutation of life-forms that dwell beneath [see 'Demons'].

Demons - Life-forms thought to be mutated by way of the Cataclysm; extremely dangerous, thought to be completely mad without ability to reason.

Dryth - Term for a person of any race 'touched' by Melchior at birth, believed to have mystical powers. Very little about the Dryth is confirmed by the Dryth themselves, as they tend to hold company in secret societies.

Duke, the - Duke Robert Telan; current feudal lord of Telantha, and commonly perceived to be next in line for the Virothian throne - if not, at the very least a sure candidate.

Guard, the - Common term for the Telanthan City Guard, a division of Duke Telan's Second Infantry Army; formed for the policing and protection of Telantha proper; post-Cataclysm: the largest organization of the Virothian military. The Guard is a volunteer army, and does not practice conscription.

House of Kin - Archaic Tyeni term for Vek'pem Ahrye.

House of Tye - See 'Tyen Empire'.

King, the - Cradoc II, King of Viroth. Currently, the aging King Cradoc rules from a sickbed in the Duke's manor.

Noble - A person of the ruling class. In Viroth, noble families own and govern all land under the king, serving as the machinations of a feudal government (judges, governors, generals, lawmakers, etc). In theory, nobles guide, protect and bring order to common civilization. In turn, peasants (any one who isn't nobility) surrender to nobles their respect and obedience. It is against Viroth law for a peasant to act or speak aggressively towards nobility, no matter the circumstances.

Plague, the - Believed to be a suedo-magical sickness that causes violent delusions, mutilation, and ultimately death. As of yet, there is no widespread cure. Theoretically, it is contracted by the exchange of blood or other bodily fluids.

Telantha - Second largest city in the Kingdom of Viroth, pre-Catalsym; post-Cataclysm, the last known surviving city in the world. Set roughly in southern Viroth; famed for the site of the Temple of the Great Dragon.

Temple, the - The Temple of the Great Dragon, in Telantha; considered to be one of the wonders of the world, and home of the Church of the Golden Faith, a Cymuric sect.

Temple Guard - A militaristic branch of the Church of the Golden Faith.

Tyen Empire - Founded by Hejdedros from a collection of all Tyeni tribes in Daar; historically aggressive: by its peak, the empire ruled 3/4ths of the known world, though has declined greatly since; considered first Great Power; known also as the House of Tye.

Vek'pem Ahrye - A mythical or legendary group of mortals-turned-immortal by some divine curse. The specifics of Vek'pem Ahrye mythos vary greatly culture by culture, but most agree that Vek'pem Ahrye continue their existence off the lives of their mortal victims, and are rumoured to be eternal enemies of the Dryth.

Viroth - A region in the relative north of Idas colonized by Human and Skrel'eth. Viroth is mostly green, rolling hills and deciduous forests. The pre-Cataclysmic population lived mostly in small farming villages - thought there were a few larger cities.

Viroth, Kingdom of - Founded by Cumaill I as a collection of petty human states throughout Viroth, considered second Great Power; a feudal kingdom headed by four main houses or families who hold non-constitutional ownership of all land; Cymur, patron deity.

Viroth Alliance - Political pact between The Kingdom of Viroth, the Skrel'eth clans of Urgat, most Tir tribes in Idas, the petty Human kingdoms of the Llayaue, and (for a brief time) the city-state of Yarsin. The pact was formed in an attempt to slow the aggression of the Tyen Empire, after the Second Invasion (or Cymur's War).

Yarsin - Region in the Near East of Aagos, south and east of Viroth. Home to large tribes of nomadic Tir; sight of Yarsin-on-the-mountain.

Yarsin, city of - aka Yarsin-on-the-mountain; massive city-state built on Mount Yar, centre of trade in the known world (pre-Cataclysm).

OOC Tutorial - Movement in Creation
As you will of seen from your movement so far, there are a number of directions you can use to navigate your way through the game. These consist of (with the shorthand in brackets):

North(N), South(S), West(W), East(E), NorthEast(NE), NorthWest(NW), SouthEast(SE), SouthWest(SW), Up(U), Down(D), In(I) and Out(O).

During your travels, you will also come across doors, which can be opened, closed, locked and unlocked. The commands for these are:

OPEN/CLOSE/LOCK/UNLOCK [direction]

For example, open north. To lock or unlock a door, you will, of course, need the appropriate key. You will need to open the door to the north before continuing.

OOC Tutorial - Navigation in Creation
There are several tools to help you to find your way around the game. One of these is the map command. Typing map will bring up an ascii drawing of your surrounding area. For information on what the different characters mean, see help MAP. Another useful source is help TELANTHA. This map can also be viewed on the website at:

http://www.shadowsiege.com/images/telanthamap.gif

Finally, the where command is useful for finding fellow role players who are located in public places - usually bars, taverns, inns and public squares.

OOC Tutorial - Character Information in Creation
SCORE will provide you with information about your characters attributes and current state. The STAT command provides a summary of your health, mana and stamina. Inventory or INV for short, provides you with a listing of equipment your character is carrying, whilst equipment, or eq for short, provides you with a listing of the items your character is wearing. Gold will advise you as to how much gold you have on you.

To gain information about the world around you, use the LOOK command. You can use look on it's own to see the 'room' you are in. You can look <name> to see what another person or creature looks like. And you can look <item name> to gain more information about an object - either in your inventory or on the ground.

A note on ALTERNATE characters, whilst we do allow them here on Shadow Siege they are bought using roleplay points. This MUST be done by speaking to a member of staff. See help RPP for more information about how to purchase an alt, and help RULES3 for information regarding multiplaying rules.

OOC Tutorial - Object Commands in Creation
Throughout the game, you will find a number of useful objects. Some
you can wear, some you can wield, some you can eat, some you can write on, and some which are great roleplay tools. You can manipulate the objects using a number of commands which we shall go through here.

If you see an object on the ground, you can try to pick it up with the GET command. For example, GET ROLL. When you pick it up, it'll be placed in your inventory. You can put the object into a container sing: PUT <object> <container>. For example: put roll bag. To get an object from a container, the command is: GET <object> <container>. And to drop it, DROP <object>.

OOC Tutorial - Object Commands II in Creation
Clothing and armour can be worn with the WEAR command and removed with the REMOVE command. For example: wear shirt or remove shirt. Remember, to see what you are wearing, type: eq.

Weapons can be wielded with WIELD <weapon> and removed with REMOVE <weapon>. For example: wield mace and remove mace. If you have a sheath, you can also sheath swords, daggers and other suitable weapons. The command to do this is SHEATH <weapon> <sheath>. For example to sheath a wielded dagger in an ankle sheath, one would use: sheath dagger ankle. A sheathed weapon can be drawn using the DRAW command: draw dagger ankle.

OOC Tutorial - Learning in Creation
You will of been set up with a basic set of attributes and skills during the creation process. However, in order to maximise the potential of your character, it is recommended you submit a brief background regarding your character. Based on this information, we (the staff) will customise your character's attributes and skills. See help BACKGROUND for more information.

To begin learning, you will first need to ensure that you have met all the pre-requisites for it. This can be either having an attribute at a certain level or having progressed a certain spell or skill to capable. Each skill that you qualify for can be learned at a trainer once, though increasing beyond that will need to be done either through use of the skill or spell, or by spending roleplay points. See help RPP or RPPXCHANGE for more information on how to do this.

Type SKILLS <groupname> to see a list of the skills your character will be able to learn, where group name is one of: combat, craft, magic, stealth, extraction or misc. For example: SKILLS COMBAT. This will show you both the skills you currently have and the ones you qualify for. To view all the skills, including ones you do not currently qualify for, type: SKILLS <groupname> FULL.

After you have decided what skills you would like to learn, type LEARN followed by the name of the teacher (In this case, MASTER will do) and followed again by the name of the skill you wish to learn between ''s.

An example: Learn master 'sword adept'

OOC Tutorial - IC Communication: EMOTE in Creation
An emote is your primary means for communicating your characters actions and words to the people around you and it is an important part of your characters development. There are several different types of emotes, though the two main ones we'll look into here are EMOTE and SEMOTE. It is important when emoting to use both punctuation and grammar. And always remember to spell check!

Emote works as follows:

emote glances over towards the Elf standing on the far side of the room and gives a full smile, his hand already lifting in greeting. "Good eve."

If your character name was Jack, the above emote would result in:

Jack glances over towards the Elf standing on the far side of the room and gives a full smile, his hand already lifting in greeting. "Good eve."

Move North to find out how SEMOTE works.

OOC Tutorial - IC Communication: SEMOTE in Creation
SEMOTE is a little more complicated than EMOTE, but provides the player with a lot more flexibility as to the style of the text. Rather than starting the emote off with your characters name, semote can begin with anything. But, it MUST have your characters name somewhere in it and your characters name must be punctuated - ie start with a capital letter.

If we consider an example similar to the one used previously:

semote "Good eve." #Jack says as he glances over towards the Elf on the far side of the room, his hand already lifting in greeting.

Note, the person using the SEMOTE is called Jack, and the J is capitalised. And the name has a # before it. The above SEMOTE would result in others seeing:

"Good eve." Jack says as he glances over towards the Elf on the far side of the room, his hand already lifting in greeting.

A little more interesting than having every single piece of text starting with your name, and therefore you will find SEMOTE commonly used by your fellow role players.

OOC TUTORIAL - IC COMMUNICATION: POSE in Creation
The last main IC command is the one called pose. This is used for setting what your character is doing, so that when people enter the room you are in, they will know where you are located and anything else important you have put in it.

An example of some suitable poses are:

Jack sits here in a chair reading a book.
Jack rests on a bench, engrossed in a conversation.
Jack stands near the East wall, watching the room.

To use the pose command, simply type the word POSE followed by your pose. To see what pose you currently have set, use the score command.

OOC TUTORIAL - SHOPS in Creation
When in a shop, the command to see the items on sale is LIST. Some shops sell a lot of things so it can be useful to use LIST . Such as: list shirt or list skirt. When you use the list command you should get a display much like the following:

3) Many A sophisticated and baggy shirt of royal-blue cotton 34

The first is the number of the object, followed by how many are available, the description and lastly the price on the far right. You can purchase the object using BUY <keyword/number>. In the above case, you could use: buy shirt, or buy 3 (as the number of the object is 3). To sell an item, simply type: SELL <keyword>, though keep in mind, the shopkeeper might not want to buy what you have for sale! Take the time here to equip your character with some suitable clothing and items before they enter the IC world.

OOC TUTORIAL - CASTING SPELLS in Creation
At this point you will not likely have any spells learned yet, so if you are of the magically inclined, you will need to keep this information for future reference. The command to cast spells is CAST or more commonly just simply C for short. The main thing to remember when casting spells is to enclose the words of the spell in quotes. An example is as follows:

c 'create food' or if you were directing a spell at a target:

c 'armour'

If you wished to cast a spell on yourself, you could use just simply:

c 'armour'

Keep in mind, spells may not always succeed, and success rate depends on a number of factors including your skill in that particular spell, your intelligence, your psyche and also your wisdom. Some spells will require more than one round to cast. Each round must be accompanied by an emote.

Depending on the social social class you have chosen, you will find that you have some gold coins on you - use the command GOLD to check, and you may also possibly have some coins in the bank.

OOC TUTORIAL - COMBAT in Creation
Combat on Shadow Siege is likely handled quite differently from combat on other muds. Firstly it is non-automated. This means if you attack someone, you're not thrown into a spammy routine which results invariably with one person dying - even when all you may of wanted to do was simply throw a punch.

On Shadow Siege, the combat code is worked into emoting. You emote hitting someone, then use the HIT <person> <location> command to determine if that hit worked, then the defender does an emote, and so on.

Please be aware that the combat code is currently being upgraded by our coders so is likely to change. To keep abreast of the latest changes, please see help COMBAT and check the forums: www.shadowsiege.com/forums for the latest information.

Also note the IC laws of Telantha are listed in HELP JAIL and HELP
JAIL2.

OOC TUTORIAL - BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION in Creation
One of the most important things to do before starting the game is to develop a description and background for your character. The description is purely your characters physical features and should not include things like their personality or actions. For more information on the rules for descriptions, see HELP DESC.

Once you have worked out what you want for your description, (what people see when they look at you), type: desc, and you will be taken into a buffer. Type up your description, and when you are done, /s to save it. For information on commands whilst in the buffer, type: /h. To format your description, the command is: /f.

IMPORTANT: You will of been set up with a basic set of attributes and skills during the creation process. In order to have these customised to your character you will need to submit a background story to mina@shadowsiege.com.

OOC TUTORIAL - ABOUT TELANTHA in Creation
Telantha is the last known surviving city after a cataclysmic event that occurred 36 months ago, resulting in the gradual destruction of most of the world and the appearance of a substance known as the darkness. With this darkness came horrific demons - manifestations of the creatures that used to inhabit the world. And it has taken all of the effort of Telantha's Militia, Mages and Priests to keep these demons at bay.

The death count has been great - and you have been amongst them, though thankfully, have had the luck to have been one of the few returned to the world to live again - favoured perhaps. Your memory is sketchy. And the events leading up to your death are non-existent. The kind people in the temple have provided you with some gold and a room at one of the local inns, which brings you up to where you are now.

(Note the above scenario is only a suggestion for newer players. You may, of course, work out your own with the aid of the staff.)

Dwarves - They don't exist; they never have. The same applies to Halflings, Trolls, Ogres, Ninjas, Shaolin Monks, Werewolves, Fairies/Pixies/Fae things, Angels, Fremen, the French, etc., etc., etc. ad nausum. All the races/peoples already listed on the website are the only one that exist, or ever have. We can say with confidence that no more races/peoples will be added. Please do not make any references to any races/peoples other than those listed on the website in your background, or your roleplay.

Elves - The chances that any character in the game has had - or does currently have - contact or a wealth of knowledge about Elves are very, very slim. They are/were a very passive and far-removed race who made very few marks on history. They are ancestors of the Tir, but the Tir seem to care very little about them. They, like the Tir, were also conquered by the Tyeni Empire, but that empire had seemed to develop an extreme distaste of Elves and their ways; Elves were persecuted by Tyeni at length, and possibly made sure that they did not survive the Cataclysm. They aren't related to Tyeni in any capacity. They are not an 'elder race' ala Forgotten Realms. Basically, at the moment, Elves need to be pushed back into a dark recess of everyones' minds and pretty much forgotten about until we better define them. Please don't include specific references to them in your background, or your roleplay, unless otherwise given the OK to by a staff member.

Guard, the - The is some confusion about the term 'the Guard'. The Guard is referring to, officially, the Telantha city guard, which is a military establishment under the Army of Viroth [see 'Guard, the' in the IC Glossary]. There is also a Temple Guard, which is a militaristic sect of the Church of the Golden Faith, and in no way connected to the city guard. [see 'Religion and Viroth/Cymurism']

Magic - The subjects of magic and mages and their mythos are currently being settled, fleshed out in great detail by the mythos people. For now, consider this: AD&D style 'schools' of magic do not exist: there are no conjurers or necromancers or battle mages, or whatever; there are only people who happen to study and use magic, and they are not very well organized. It's a very cryptic field. Also, spell casting is not terribly effective in one-on-one, toe-to-toe combat against someone who has a sharp piece of metal and knows how to use it. That's just the way it is, and you ought to expect it to be so. For the sake of not being too cryptic, here: there are three general forms of spell casting (in order of how common they are): Runic (also called Arcane) casting, alchemy, and mysticism. Arcane mages cast spells by drawing and combining runes in the air or on objects or people or whatever. They speak the names of the runes when they do so. Mystics are born and not made. They are 'enlightened', able to ignore or change the illusion of the universe at will (there is no spoon). Obviously, they are very very rare and unusual. Alchemists are pretty much what you might imagine they are. Please roleplay accordingly. Bottom line: your character is not a mystic. If they cast a spell, they must be described as taking the time to draw the runes, saying the words, etc. Obviously, the names of runes are not yet set, so a little creativity is fine.

Religions - Usually, in a pantheistic society, one tries to please all the gods. Of course, people will tend to focus on a particular set, or particular sects, or what have you. But generally speaking, one doesn't focus entirely on one god, unless that person is something like clergy, and thus people tend to be less dogmatic (which is to say, followers of one sect usually do not react violently to those of another). There will be, of course, exceptions, but rare ones. To put it another way, the different gods of Aagos to not equal out to different religions. There is one religion in Aagos that encompasses the entire pantheon, with many sects that focus on this deity or that, or even this particular aspects of these deities or those. A more comprehensive breakdown of these sects will get to the website eventually. If you have questions about this, contact a staff member. [see 'Guard, the'; see 'Religion and Viroth/Cymurism']

Religion and Viroth/Cymurism - Cymur is the patron deity of the Kingdom of Viroth, and the Temple of the Great Dragon in Telantha is a notable site in the city, but this does not equal to Cymurism being a state religion. To say this another way: In the Kingdom of Viroth, there is a separation between church and state. They are two individual powers. Other sects besides Cymurism are practiced, even, by the nobility and other members of government (though, Cymurism is certainly the most popular). [see 'Religions'; see 'Guard, the']

Tir - Tir are related to Elves in a very past tense, but not related to Tyeni. They are not an 'elder race' ala Forgotten Realms. They are not inherently magical. There is valid information on the website about Tir (or should be very soon). If you feel like you ought to know something about them that isn't covered there, or is otherwise obscure when it shouldn't be, contact a staff member.

Tyen/Tyeni - The Tyeni are not dark elves ala Forgotten Realms: they have no relation to Elves or Tir; there is no underdark; they are not matriarchal, etc. There is valid information on the website about Tyeni. If you feel like you ought to know something about them that isn't covered there, or is otherwise obscure when it shouldn't be, contact a staff member.

Vek'pem Ahrye - They're not, nor have ever been, undead. Though the process of moving from mortal to Vek'pem Ahrye is something of a secret, we can tell you that it does not involve 'necromancy' or dying or anything of the sort. It is, in fact, something quite opposite - a higher form of life. Please, please do not confuse them with the vampires of Anne Rice or Whitewolf - there is very little to nothing about ours and theirs that relate. Also, Vek'pem Ahrye do not change in any physical way; they grow no more muscles or brains or fangs or anything akin. Though, the latter misconception is alright to play around with in character. There is, to note, a book floating around in Telantha about Vek'pem Ahrye that some characters might be interested in reading.