Laura's Player Guide

Welcome to Xyllomer. In order to help you in your play the administration of Xyllomer has provided you with this copy of Laura's player guide. Any comments or suggestions about this book should be sent to Laura from any post office. We hope that it will prove useful in refering to and wish you luck in your play here!

Content:

• Introduction
• Character creation
• Roleplaying
• Mortal life
• Wizardship and wizards

On behalf of the wizards of Xyllomer, I would like to take this chance to welcome you. My name is Laura, and I am a mid-level wizard here. I will be your guide in this guide book and hope that this will help you greatly increase the fun that you have here while minimizing any friction between you, other mortals, regular wizzes, or our admin. In this book you will find information about being a successful mortal (I was a high level mage prior to becoming a wizard), the options available without becoming a wizard, becoming a wizard if you choose to, and being a wizard.

Please note that when speaking of the world inside of Xyllomer I will use its correct name which is Xyllomer.

Roleplaying and character creation    ::top

For the purpose of this section I would like to take you through the character creation process and show you the things you might want to consider in designing your own character in this mud.

Choosing a race: In Xyllomer you may choose to be an elf, human, gnome, fairy, centaur, or dwarf. Once you choose a race it will be the race of your character permanently unless you are able to convince a member of the admin to change your race for roleplaying reasons. In that case you should choose the race most like the one that you have in mind, and be aware that most likely your request will be refused unless you have an especially well thought out roleplay in mind. Here is a brief explanation of the races

Once you have chosen a race it will determine where your starting location in the game is (this will remain the same unless something happens to change it). The next question that you will be asked is to choose your gender. Again you should choose carefully because whichever sex that you choose to be here will be permanent, there is no way to change your sex. It will also affect the way that the mud reacts to you. There are a few emotions that have a different effect on male characters from female characters, some rooms that are open to characters of one sex and closed to the other and some things in the mud will appear differently depending on the sex of the person viewing it.

Following this you will be asked to choose the height and weight of your character and two 'attributes' which are the obviously noticable physical characteristics that will be noticed by someone who has not yet been introduced to her/him. Following that you will be shown a story that will give clues to you for your use in solving your very first quest. The stories also will provide some information about your race's history and culture.

Your character will look something like this after the story finishes if you choose to look at yourself:

You are a slender young elf, presenting yourself as:
Laura, female elf.
You are very short and skinny for an elf.
You look gorgeous.
You are in good shape.
You are extremely alert.

This, of course is what my character looks like and she would appear like this to someone else looking at her:

Laura is a slender young elf, presenting herself as:
Laura, female elf.
She is very short and skinny for an elf.
She looks gorgeous.
She is in good shape.
She is extremely alert.

Of course, I only look like this because I am a female. A male character would obviously be described with the different pronouns and perhaps would look 'handsome' but not 'gorgeous.' However, characters do appear differently to one another depending on race and sex. For example, the above is how I would look to another female elf. To a male elf I would look like 'the image of perfection' and to any nonelf I would look 'beautiful'.

Once you have passed this point there are relatively few definite rules that can guide you and relatively little is fixed in any way. Instead, there are a number of general guidelines which I will attempt to give to you in the next section.

Roleplay in the 'real' world     ::top

Once you enter the world of Xyllomer you should cease to be your real life person. Instead you should become your character. Take the time to think for a little bit about your character's background. Does she/he come from a rich or poor family? How does she/he come to be adventuring? What is her/his personality like? Does she/he have any siblings?

Always remember that everything about your character will affect her/him in various ways. Here are a few of those ways:

Meetings:

If you should meet your real life best friend and be introduced to her/him you are not suddenly best friends. In fact, you will have only just then met. You should act as strangers to one another and you should *never* call each other by your real life names except in conversations that are specifically meant as out of character conversations. Out of character conversations might include talks about what your plans for Tuesday night are or talking about the neat new project that wizard x is working on in her domain. Under no circumstances should an out of character conversation ever be used in roleplaying. This means that if someone tells you, in an out of character conversation, something that will prevent your character from having an unpleasant consequence you should let the unpleasant event happen. The reason is that your character (the person in the game) did not know about this. Only your player (you) knew. If you are unable to avoid this, then it is best simply to avoid out of character conversation while logged in to Xyllomer.

Marriage:

Somewhere in the world is a remote, but wonderful wedding chapel. The priest there is the only person with the lawful authority to join two persons in matrimony. He will also only marry females to males and males to females. There are no homosexual marriages.

Alignment:

Alignment does not reflect whether a person is good or evil. It does, however, serve as a useful indication by serving as an aura around a person that changes depending on whether their actions have tended to help or harm the peoples of the world. In general there should be friction between good and badly aligned characters.

The Law:

The judge may be your best friend in real life, but if you are a constant criminal here, do not expect her/him to spare you from the full punishment of the law.

In general one should simply remember not how she/he would react in a situation, but how her/his *character* would react. And nothing that happens here should be taken too seriously in real life. Always remember that this *is only* a game. Some have found that it helps them to be able to laugh at themselves and the events of the game if they play a character who is different from themselves in every way. This, they find, also makes mud much more enjoyable for them.

The next section will explain the options available as long as one stays mortal.

Options as a mortal    ::top

There are no limits on what a mortal may achieve as a mortal. She/he may remain largely unknown or may become a very powerful and influential woman/man during her/his lifetime. Here are a few of the different options.

Demi-godship

Not all mortals who wish to become demi-gods will be deemed acceptable by the administration of Xyllomer, in fact it is very difficult to apply successfully.

Judgeship

An influential and trusted member of the world may become the judge of Padorn, responsible for deciding all accusations that come before the court.

Guild leadership

Many have found satisfaction in rising to the position of one of their guild's highest leaders. These people have a great amount of privilege not only in their guild, but also an enormous influence in the rest of the world.

World office

This is a broad category but includes any kind of job that is created for a mortal to fill. The best example of this presently is the editor of the newspaper. This may not seem like an enjoyable idea, but in fact it is both important and honorable. Editors and journalists receive a few special privileges that other mortals do not. They also become a few of the select group of mortals that actually communicate directly with the wizards and therefore influence the new creations that the people who create your world invent.

Becoming and being a wizard, their place in life    ::top

Many who tire of mortal life apply to join to the immortals who create the world that mortals see. If they apply to the gods and are accepted then they are granted great powers and responsibilities that can drastically affect the mortal world. One possibility is to write about the world while another is to create various parts of the world. Some whose functions are deemed important enough by the gods are even promoted to the rank of an Emperor/Empress and a select few even become archwizards (Proctors) responsible for helping to oversee the work of all of the other wizards.

Here I will present to you some information about the immortals of Xyllomer. There are a number of rankings among them. Apprentice wizards can be recognized by their title which will always be Maid/Squire. These are mostly new wizards who have not joined a domain (an area in which they are allowed to code) and so they are not able to help with most problems and generally are just learning to be a wizard. A regular wizard (Dame/Sir) is always a member of a domain and allowed to code in that domain or others where she/he has specific permission from the Lady/Lord. Mages (Their title is 'Honorable') are middle level wizards who often are experienced or more respected in some way by the administration of Xyllomer. These wizards only become Mages by accomplishing something that high level wizzes notice for some reason. Ladies/Lords are responsible for large areas of Xyllomer. They are somewhat high level wizards with some administrative responsibilities. Emperors/Empresses are very high level wizards with great responsibility and power. Proctors are the arch wizards and the only people higher in level than them are the keepers who can be recognized by their title, Tyrant.

Wizards are prohibited from interfering in the affairs of mortals by giving of assistance which can mean either giving away items or information or by taking action to affect a mortal's fate. This means that you should not commune them to ressurect you if you die. However, if you have a question about the mechanics of how the game works the wizards are the best people to ask and also the best people to ask for help in escaping a bug. Generally the wizards are very helpful to mortals and happy to answer questions or just to chat. At any time that you need to reach a wizard you may commune them with <commune> <name> <message>. You may also commune to all wizards. It is also possible to reply to a wizard who speaks to you with <reply> <message>. However, you should be careful to avoid abusing this power lest their wrath befall you.

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