Chapter 1 - General Help

This section shall cover those questions that are mostcommonly asked.

Q: What is a Newbie?

A: A newbie is hard to define, as there are many levels of"newness". Most consider those under level 25 newbies,but many who concentrate on only leveling and do not take time toexplore and learn Aethar can still be a newbie upon reaching Hero.

Q: What is a Hero?

A: A Hero is a player who has reached the maximum mortallevel. Heros are currently level 50 players. A Hero is NOT anImmortal.

Q: What is an Immortal?

A: An Immortal is a player who participates in the running ofAethar. They are the people who build areas, make new code,determine the rules and 'police' the mortals. Immortals should berespected at all times. To find out who the Immortals are, typeWHO 51 and you'll get a list of all the Immortals who arecurrently online and visible to mortals. Typing WIZLIST will getyou a complete list of all the Immortals who are currently activein Aethar.

Q: How does one become an Immortal?

A: Those at the Hero level who have shown themselves to beknowledgeable, helpful and respectful, above all others are thosewho are invited to become Immortals. You must be a Hero for areasonable period of time before you would even considered asImmortal material. Once someone becomes an Immortal, there areseveral guidelines that Immortals must follow in order to retaintheir position.

Q: Who is Someone?

A: There are several conditions that will make you see"Someone" the most common are a wizinvis Immortal, aninvisible or hidden mortal or a hidden or invisible mob. When yousee everyone as a Someone, you are either blinded or in a darkroom without a light. "Wizinvis" means that an Immortalis invisible to everyone, even those affected by detect-invis.

Q: What is "You hear some squeaking sounds..."?

A: This is a signal to those in an area that the mobs areabout to regenerate this regeneration is often referred to as areset or repop. This means that all mobs that have been killedfrom the area will reappear. Look for a line of green text withno apparent source for clues as to when a repop is about to takeplace in your area.

Q: What does "Mob" mean?

A: "Mob" is shortform for "mobile", whatwe call our monsters. Mobs are any non-player characters (NPC).

Q: What is a CR?

A: CR is the abbreviation for "corpse retrieval".When you die, your corpse remains at the place where you died andit acts as a container for all your belongings. A CR is theprocess of getting you and your corpse together. As long as youare non-deadly, and not grouped with anyone, then no-one but YOU(or an Immortal) can remove items from your corpse. If you'regrouped, then other people in your group can get your belongingsfor you if you are killed and the rest of the group is stillalive. Be aware that looting a group member's corpse isconsidered stealing unless they ask you for help. Deadlycharacters can loot other deadly character's corpses withoutpunishment.

Q: How do I get a CR?

A: There are two ways of getting your corpses. The first is togo to the Town Morgue and ask him if you could have your corpseor you can supplicate for your corpse. Deadly players do notrecieve CRs. There is no need to recieve a immortal CR.

Q: How long does a player corpse last before decaying?

A: A players' corpse lasts about 40 - 60 minutes real time.Thanks to new code, corpses now save past crash and reboot, andcan still be found at place of death upon relogging. Corpses willnot save if you die when you lose your link and go link-dead. Inthis case, the corpse will decay normally and a and all yourpossessions will be lost and irretrievable.

Q: What is a crash?

A: A crash is when the game decides to reboot itself, withoutthe benefit of letting us know in advance. This usually happenswhen a new code is brought into the game and a unforeseen bugdevelops. All new code is tested before it is ever seen by therest of Aethar, but bugs sometimes pop up when the code is underdifferent circumstances.

Q: What is a reboot?

A: A reboot is a scheduled clean-up of Aethar. A reboot willbe done to add new code, or fix a bug in the current code.Reboots can only be done by the 3 highest levels of Immortals. Areboot disconnects all players, even Immortals, from Aethar andit usually only takes 1-4 minutes until you can log back on.

Q: What is lag?

A: Lag is the delay between the time you type a command untilthe command reaches Aethar or a delay in receiving signals fromAethar. It usually does not last very long, but can be quiteirritating during its stay. To reduce your screen scroll duringreal laggy periods, try turning off your channels, use your briefmode and fight mobs with fewer attacks per round. Do not spam thechannels with complaints about the lag, this only frustratesothers and can actually increase the lag.

Q: What is spam?

A: Spam is the repeated use of a command, or a series ofcommands, that causes excessive screen scroll for other players.This includes repeating yourself over and over or excessive useof UPPERCASE letters on any channel, and using a series ofsocials or says in quick succession in a populated room, amongother things.

Q: What does "wanders around in a dazed, zombie likestate" mean?

A: That is a mob that is either a pet someone bought or a mobsomeone has used the spell "charm person" on. It is notillegal to kill someone's pet, but is considered EXTREMELY rudeand frowned upon by the Immortals. Attacking a charmed mob willcause the owner to get an (ATTACKER) flag, so try to avoidkilling other players charmed mobs.

Q: What does an ATTACKER flag do?

A: On Aethar, the ATTACKER flag prevents shopkeepers fromselling you their goods. You may not attack a player with anattacker flag unless both you and the target are deadly andwithin 10 levels of one another.

Q: How do you know if a person is deadly?

A: You can see those belonging to the pkill sector by typingWHO DEADLY. You can also type "whois to checkinformation on a single player.

Q: What does a KILLER flag do?

A: A person gets a KILLER flag when they've either used acharmed mob to attack and kill a non-deadly player, or they havekilled a non-deadly player themselves. Having a KILLER flag willcause certain normally peaceful mobs to attack you on sight. Alsothat person is open to attack and loot by all players within 10levels of him. This flag stays untill death or they are pardonedby an immortal.

Q: What does the (Link-dead) flag mean?

A: Link dead means the character is there, but the person whocontrols the character has dropped their link to Aethar.*Caution*: You can die while link-dead. If you wish yourcharacter to try and flee a battle, and recall to a safe placewhile link-dead, type CONFIG -NORECALL. Otherwise, your characterwill stay where it is, fight and possibly even be killed whileyou are link-dead.

Q: Can you die of hunger or thirst?

A: Yes, you can die of hunger and/or thirst, although it takesquite a while and you lose only a few hitpoints per tick.

Q: Where can I buy food or water?

A: There are many ways to get food and water. You can eat thebody parts of some of the mobs you've killed and drink fromfountains, this costs you no coins. There are stores that sellfood products and drink containers all over Bedlam (See HELPMAP). Also, there are many classes with the spells of createspring and create food; the food created is called a magicmushroom. To eat food, type 'EAT ' (example; eatmushroom). To drink, type 'DRINK ' (example; drinkfountain).

Q: Why does my inventory keep changing when I'm not doinganything?

A: If you are drunk and go long periods of time withouteating, or resting, your body starts to see and do strangethings. One of these effects is to have your inventory change asyou hallucinate, other effects are things like you seeing impslaughing at you, or loss of the ability to manipulate items (ie:get, wear, etc).

Q: What is Mental State?

A: If you are drunk and go for long periods of time withouteating, drinking and resting, your mental state, how you feel,will start to decline. You can check your mental state by typingOLD, its listed under your wimpy. You should see a line that sayshow you feel (example; You feel great.) Eat, drink, and restoften. Avoid alcohol for maximum mental state performance.

Q: Can you die of old age?

A: There are currently no adverse affects to your charactergetting too old, you can't simply die of old age.

Q: How do I give gold coins to someone?

A: To give a player or mob money, type GIVE COINS . (example; give 1000 coins Joe)

Q: What is the Donation pit?

A: A donation pit is a container that contains items thatother players have discarded, or cannot use. The donation pit islocated in The Halls of Charity(see HELP MAP). To get an itemfrom the donation pit type; GET PIT, (example; getsword pit). To put an item into a donation pit; type PUT pit, (example; put sword pit). There is also aDONATE command, this command lets you donate something to the pitfrom anywhere in Aethar. to donate type DONATE ,(example; donate sword).

Q: Why are my weapon skills not going up past 19%?

A: You must be at least level 6 before your weapon skills willraise above the percentile gained at practice. You must also bewielding a weapon fitting the weapontype you wish to raise. Forexample, wielding a dagger should raise your "shortblade" weapon skill.

Q: What are the advantages of grouping?

A: Grouping has many advantages, the least of which is havingsomeone to watch your back when you get into trouble. Groupedpeople can save each other either by using AID, RESCUE, orcasting healing spells on each other, but there are also otheraspects such as having someone to socialize with, someone toshare information with, and it's fun too! Also, when a groupedperson dies, he has the option of getting a groupmate to claimhis possessions for him before his corpse decays.

Q: What does "You are not of the right caliber tofollow." mean?

A: When you see this message, it means you are more than 10levels lower than the person you are trying to follow.

Q: How do I get out of Limbo?

A: If you are in Limbo with a mob called "Puff",simply leave down and you'll reappear in Aethar.

Q: Where do I find equipment?

A: There are pieces of equipment on many of the mobsthroughout Aethar. You can also purchase equipment and weapons atshops for gold coins (see HELP MAP for the location of the weaponand armor shops in Bedlam). Be warned, you can only use equipmentat your level or LOWER. You can only save equipment at your levelor lower to your pfile when you type "save". If, forexample, you're L10 and you have a L15 item, it will drop to theground after you type "quit".

Q: What does "you see nothing special" mean when Iexamine something?

A: "You see nothing special." means that the itemyour are looking at does not have special description or"edits". Typing "Examine (item)" or"Look in (item)" allows you to either look closely atan items condition to see if it's damaged, or to look at thecontents of a container. To find entrances, try "look" (example; look north) or"EXIT". There is also a SEARCH skill that will allowyou to search for hidden items or exits, and a DIG skill thatwill allow you to search for buried items or exits. Both of theseskill require you to first practice them in the Academy or MudSchool when you reach the appropriate level.

Q: How do I repair a damaged item?

A: If you examine an item and it does not say the item is in"Superb Condition", then that item is damaged. If anitem is damaged, it does not give you the same protection as anundamaged item and there is also the chance that an item can bedamaged so badly that it will fall to the ground in pieces and bedestroyed. To repair a item, simply take it to one of the manyBLACKSMITHs(type HELP MAP)scattered about Aethar, and type"repair [item]" (example; repair sword), the item youwish to have repaired must be in your inventory. Some items, likelights and containers, can NOT be repaired.

Q: How does one "level"?

A: You level by gaining experience from fighting mobs,practicing your skills and casting your spells. Typing LEVEL byitself will give you a listing of how much experience you needfor each level, and show your current level of experience. Forlow level characters, the best thing to do is find Market Square(type HELP MAP), and from there go east and find the MysticalPortal. When you find the Mystical Portal, type LOOK SIGN and youwill get a listing of some of the best areas for low levelcharacters. SAYING the name of the place you wish to go will sendyou there.(example; say shattered refuge)

Q: What exactly are hitroll, damroll, blood points & mana?

A: Hit Roll (HR) raises the chances of landing a blow in afight. Every time you attack, a random number is generated by theMUD and this number is modified by you HR. A HR can be modifiedby weapons and armor and the higher your HR, the better. DamageRoll (DR) is how hard a blow you land or the amount of damage youdo (in addition to the damage from your weapon) if you get asuccessful HR. A DR can also be modified by magical effects onweapons and armor and just like the HR, the higher your DR, thebetter. Mana/BPs are the "source" of magical power forthose classes that can cast spells. Every time you cast a spell,you burn a certain amount of mana (or bloodpoints if you're avampire) depending on the power of the spell, the level of thespell, and your knowledge of the spell. More mana is gained everytime you level, and depends on how high your INTelligence is.Bloodpoints (BPs), however, start at 10 BPs at L1, and rise by 1BP per level until you reach L50.

Q: Are "climb," "fly" and"float" movements or skills?

A: Climb is a skill, used on certain exits that require you tohave the ability to scale something in order to enter (ex;climbing a tree). Float and Fly are spells; Both allow you toenter water areas, but float assumes that you have some kind ofground beneath you, while fly will allow you to hover in roomsthat do not have a floor.

Q: How do you get more skills?

A: Every time you gain a new experience level, you receive acertain amount of "practices" or "practs".You can use these practices to gain new skills by either trainingat Ragamond in the Mud school, or at the Academy. Typing PRACTICEby itself will give you a list of the spells and skills youcurrently know and the percentage at which you know them. Havinga 0% beside the skill/spell means you know it, but you haven'tyet practiced it. Typing SLIST will give you a list of ALL theskills and spells your class possesses, whether you've practicedthem or not, and adding a value after SLIST will limit the list(ie: SLIST 10 10 will show only L10 skills/spells). To practicenew skills, you must be at Ragamond and type PRACTICE [full nameof skill or spell] (example; practice create food).

Q: How do you get spells?

A: Much the same as skills, every time you gain a newexperience level you get more practices that you can use towardslearning new spells.

Q: How do you get more information on spells and skills?

A: You can get more info on most skill and spells simply bytyping HELP [spell or skill] (example; help fireball), and thereis also a complete spell listing in this Guide.

Q: How do you get more practices?

A: You get more practices every time you gain a new level. Thehigher your WISdom, the more practices you may get per level.

Q: How does your alignment change?

A: Your change in alignment is dependant on the mobiles youare fighting; If you are fighting evil mobs, your alignment willgo towards the good side, and if you fight good aligned mobs, itwill go towards the evil side.

Q: How do you find out what level and affects an item has?

A: There are a several ways to find out exactly what an itemdoes and any effects it might have; You can try wearing an itemto see how it affects your stats, you can IDENTIFY it either witha spell or 'magical tablet' or you can look at it while it's onauction. There is also "tablets" of identification andthe identify spell that will give you all details of an object.

Q: How do you use modifiers on equipment?

A: A lot of equipment will have modifiers, it is a matter offinding which items are good for you and at what level, and thenusing the best ones. In order to gain the benefit of thesemodifiers, you have only to WEAR the armour or WIELD the weaponand everything else is automatic. The trick in finding the bestequipment is experience and exploration.

Q: What equipment should I have before I leave Mud School?

A: The following is a SUGGESTED list of equipment that youshould have before you leave Mud School and wander Aethar.

Q: What do I do with items that are beyond my level?

A: Since you cannot use or save items over your level, tryselling them at the armor or weapon shops in Bedlam (See HELPMAP),or donate them into the donation pit(See HELP DONATE).

Q: What level should I be before leaving Mud School?

A: There is no real hard and fast answer for this. You shouldleave Mud School and begin exploring the rest of Aethar when YOUfeel you are ready to do so, although it's a good idea to stayuntil your are at least L3 or L4 (more if you are a Mage orCleric, less if you are a Warrior).

Q: How do I cut down on someof the scrolling on my screen?

A: There are several channels for people to use to gatherinformation about Aethar, typing CHANNELS by itself will give youa listing of the channels the you have access to. Typing CHANNEL-(channel) will remove that channel from what you're seeing onyour screen, and typing CHANNEL +(channel) will return it. Toreduce most of the screen scroll when you first start out, typeCHANNEL -ALL and this should cut most of the spam.

Q: What are Clans and Orders?

A: CLANS are a mixture of deadly characters of all classes,ORDERS are a mixture of peaceful characters of all classes.

Q: How do I join a Clan or Order?

A: Typing CLANS or ORDERS by themselves will give you alisting of each type, and display the Leaders of each. In orderto join a clan or order you must contact the leader (or the firstor second in command) and ask them if you can join theirorganization. Anyone can join a clan, but will become deadly bydoing so. Only peaceful characters can join Orders. Each Clan andOrder may have different entry requirements, depending on theleader's wishes. If you cannot contact the leader of clan/order,typing 'WHO [clan/order]' will give you a listing of peopleonline who belong to each organization, and they can possibly help you further (example; WHO 'Shadowalkers' -- You need toinclude the quotes around 'Shadowalkers')

Q: Is there a way to actively DO anything in combat, otherthan watch?

A: Yes. If you refer to your "prac" list for thespells and skills, you'll note that some skills such as DISARMand KICK can be used while you're in battle, as well as a wholehost of offensive spells such as FIREBALL and MAGIC MISSILE.Skills are used simply by typing "KICK" or"DISARM" and the target will be assumed to be the mobyou are currently fighting, while spells usually require you totype "C [spell name] " in order to avoidconfusion (example; c fireball rat). "C" is theshortform used for "Cast". Also, some spells have2-word names and will require you to include quotes around themin order to specify the proper spell

Q: How do I recognize the different types of shields on mobs?

A: a "LOOK" shows the mobs shields which have anoutward appearance, like sanctuary, fireshield, iceshield andshockshield. Sanctuary appears as "[mob] is shrouded inflowing shadow and light." Fireshield appears as "[mob]is engulfed within a blaze of mystical flame." Shockshieldappears as "[mob] is surrounded by cascading torrents ofenergy." And finally Iceshield appears as "[mob] isensphered by shards of glistening ice." Thereare also several shields that show no outward sign, likeSTONESKIN, and ARMOR. To find out others shields and spells themob has you can (C identify ). This will give you alist of spells the mob has on him.

Q: How do I use the HELP menu?

A: To get a basic listing of help subjects, type HELP. To getmore detailed on a particular command type HELP ,(example; Help Sleep). Please ask an Immortal if you are unableto find help on a subject.

Q: Where else can I find help other than the Newbie Guide?

A: Most spells and skills have their own help files. Simplytyping HELP [skill/spell] will give you a short description ofthat each spell or skill does (example; HELP DISARM). If thatfails, a well-worded request on the CHAT or ASK channel could getyou the results you're looking for.