Shattered Kingdoms

I will not be announcing all the changes quite yet, but here are some things that may or may not be immediately obvious:

1. Pick your alignment first - Placing a premium on RP, we now make you select alignment before race or class. Before you even have a body, your soul has an aura and from that decision all else flows.

2. There is one path but many doors - Previously two people who entered the hall together might immediately diverge and not encounter each other again. Now there is only one path through the first half of the hall, although you may not see the same portals as the soul next to you. Now you can discuss each decision with your fellow-souls and decide how to best make a team.

3. Outfit has been upgraded - The outfit command now provides everything that you used to get at the end of the Hall. That includes a backpack, food, waterskin, torches, tinderbox and sextant. If you lose any of these things, you can use outfit again anytime before Novice and you will be re-equipped. You will only get back the items you are missing. Battered vests and weapons will be renewed.

4. Trust Fund - The amount of money you start with out of the hall is greatly reduced. Instead, newbie trainer prices are free or reduced. Outfit will provide you with food and water as needed. Your old starting platinum piece starts out deposited in a trust fund in your bank account. It is available for withdrawal once you reach Novice.

Write your questions here.

The world shifts imperceptibly. The hearts of some will now be caused to bend, to only think about duty, and nothing else.

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[Alignment help] Dogmatic

Dogmatic characters hold the rule of law and order in the highest esteem. Whether it is the malicious dictates of an oppressive tyrant or the benevolent decrees of a gentle queen, the dogmatic individual upholds the law carefully and doggedly. A dogmatic person is one who values the safety of bureaucracy and procedure. Such characters eschew wanton freedoms and despise anarchy. Hierarchy is of great importance: there is no comfort in not knowing where one fits in the pecking order. The dogmatic individual is not necessarily kind nor necessarily cruel: what interests them above all else is the careful adherence to the rules. They make ideal bureaucrats, peace officers and soldiers, but usually lack the passion required to be inspirational leaders.

See also: alignments

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The dogmatic alignment is now available in the Hall of Creation. If you feel your character best fits dogmatic, you may petition Ain to change you. Ain will only be selecting those he best feels would fit the character, both in their previous RP and going forward. Nothing is guaranteed.

I for one definitely approve of the lawful neutral alignment. It won't help my lightie but it may help my greybie (if I pass the test). Beyond that, it definitely opens a whole new arena of official rp style, not that that arena hasn't already been played by other grey alignments.

With all the work put into the Mentor system . . . . why?

create, drop all, delete, create, drop all, delete, create, drop all, delete ring a bell?

Wow. No, actually it doesn't. People that do such should be punished. It shouldn't have to be hard-code.

I'm not sure I understand the reference to the Mentor system. It is still there and unchanged from before. Mentors were never required to charge to teach skills, so that's not affected by starting money. So... ?

Something I forgot to mention in the initial post:

5. Kingdom restrictions - Starting kingdom choices may be affected by your choice of race or class. This is partly common-sense and partly to help out newbies. No more non-sensical griffons in Uxmal or deep-elves in Ayamao. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from emigrating later if you can convince the tribunal.

Newbies were encouraged to use Mentor system -because- it didn't cost anything, whereas trainers did. You're cutting into the Mentor system quite a bit, actually, though I doubt that was the intent.

I'm pretty sure Mentors can train up to Journeyman level skills. The skills with reduced prices will only be those you NEED right away at level 1. For instance, there is no intention to reduce language training prices. The actual prices will be a bit in flux for the first few days as we iron out the kinks in exactly where prices need to be.