This guide is a replica of the Adventurer's Guide found on the mud. We provide the guide here so players can pursue the guide offline at their leisure. Be advised this guide does not provide all the information you may want about Dawn of the Ages.
The first topics below are those questions most often asked by new players to the game of Dawn of the Ages. The second set of topics are the basic commands a player must become familiar with to survive in the game. Click on the topic name to scroll down to the section covering the topic.
Here are the questions:
What is Ayreon? What is my score? What are my stats? Where do I train? What is my alignment? What is my religion? What is my armor class? What are my skills? What are my spells? Where do I practice? Where do I go when I recall? What happens when I die? How do I recover hit points, mana, etc.? What is player killing? Do I have to eat? What is a career? What are clans? What is a quest? What are reincarnates (reincs)? Where do I begin my adventure?
Here are the basic commands
Basic Commands More Commands Starting and Quitting Automatic Commands Checking Yourself Money and Items Combat Advanced Combat Magic and Spells Communication Written Communication Groups and Grouping
Ayreon is the main continent found on the mud called Dawn of the Ages. Dawn of the Ages is a Java-based mud based on earlier C-coded ROM muds. Dawn of the Ages is a player-killing mud, which means players do kill each other here for whatever reasons they choose. Dawn of the Ages is also a role- playing mud, which requires players and their characters to behave in ways consistent with the role they choose. Type 'help dawn' for further info. Ayreon is home to many towns and areas in which you can explore, meet new friends (and enemies), and, with luck, gain equipment with which you can explore even more. There are CLANS, CAREERS, and QUESTS which you may take an active part in. You may wish to spread your RELIGION to other parts of the continent; you may find life dull as a normal and opt to become a REINCARNATE; you may decide to leave the singles life behind and marry. The prospects are many. A complete listing of areas on Ayreon may be found by typing 'areas'.
When the command SCORE is typed at the prompt, you should see a listing of all kinds of information, including your name, race, sex, hair color, level, profession, career, religion, stats, and so on. Some of these, like name, hair color, profession, and so on, will remain permanent, while others, like level, hit points, mana, and so on, will fluctuate. The ones that fluctuate are those you generally will pay attention to, mainly because your survival depends on it. Some of these are described in further detail on other pages.
Your STATS (also STATISTICS), or attributes, are the numbers that describe
certain personality traits. The power of these STATS are given by numbers
from 1 to 100 -- the higher the number, the more powerful the attribute. A
list of the STATS and a brief description of each follows.
STR strength -- determines how much a player can lift and how much
extra damage a player delivers
QUI quickness -- determines your speed; players with high quickness may
be able to deliver an extra attack
DEX dexterity -- determines a player's accuracy in performing a task,
and thus affects a player's to-hit probability
INT intelligence -- shows how smart a character is, and affects that
character's ability to learn from practice alone
WIS wisdom -- demonstrates a character's knowledge of the world, and
thus affects the saves that character has
CON constitution -- displays a player's health; this attribute will affect
a player's recovery rate and her maximum hit points
CHA charisma -- determines a player's ability to inspire or manipulate
and is useful in haggling and similar skills
APP appearance -- determines how beautiful (or ugly) a player is matched
against others in society; it has no game affect
Every time you LEVEL, you are given one training session (two at levels 5, 15, and so on, three at levels 10, 20 and so on) to boost your STATS. To do this you must go to a trainer who will help you. In New Midgaard, this is the sailor found three paces south, one pace east of the Temple of New Midgaard. Other trainers, however, can be found elsewhere. For any class, a player is encouraged to train certain STATS in preference to others. Type 'help stats' to see this list.
Your ALIGNMENT is a reflection of your particular outlook on life, whether good, evil or neutral. How each is played is a matter of interpretation. For example, someone good may strive towards peaceful resolutions of situations, or may be zealous in the guarding and spreading of her ethos and will kill evil on sight, or may be bound by honor when asked for mercy in the middle of a fight, etc. An evil character might have no regard for life and seek to eliminate it when he can, or may find others useful in his own personal quest for power and try to dominate them, etc. The interpretations are many. In terms of game play, ALIGNMENT can prevent a player from using certain items, may cause some mobs to attack him outright, can help good players in acquiring helpful items, and places a restriction on the play of priests, templars and monks.
There are many GODS who walk the face of Ayreon, some good, some evil, some neutral. You may elect to worship one of these gods by seeking out a temple dedicated to her or him and worship at the altar where her or his chosen priest is (that is, go to the priest and type 'worship [god name]'.) It is wise to choose a god, if you choose a god, who best represents your ethos; gods who find out their followers are false have been known to become angry and severely punish the transgressor... In game terms RELIGION affects priests, templars, and monks the most, who must choose a GOD and abide by the alignment restrictions of their chosen deity. Failure to do so can result in a loss of powers. Repeat offenders may get the attention of the gods and be punished further. Choosing a god is optional, though those who do get a little added bonus.
Your ARMOR CLASS (or AC for short) gives you an indication of how well you are able to avoid damage. The higher your ARMOR CLASS is (the lower the number is on your SCORE), the less likely a mob or player can damage you. There are four different types of attacks which your armor class can and will defend against, "slash", "pierce", "bash" and "magic". Not all armors are the same; some will defend better against slash but defend less well against bash; others will defend great against slash, pierce, and bash but not magic; and so on. It will be up to you to decide which armors and armor classes are best for you. Know this: having a great ARMOR CLASS is no guarantee against being hit, nor will it save a body against many spells and spell-like affects. Also, there are other SKILLS (e.g., dodge, parry, etc.) that can help prevent a player from being hit and damaged. It is also rumored there are great armors that will sometimes provide resistance to certain kinds of attacks...
SKILLS are the abilities a player possesses that allow him or her to get along in the world. There are many kinds of SKILLS, attack skills, magical skills, detection skills, recovery skills, holding skills, and so on. You can find out what SKILLS you have by typing 'skills' at the prompt. To find out what a particular SKILL is, and what it does, type 'help'. SKILLS are listed in order of level of acquisition, followed by how well you've learned the SKILL (a percentage) and your potency in using that SKILL, which reflects your STATS and statbonuses.
SPELLS are the flipside of SKILLS, which spellcasters use in lieu of the combat and other survival SKILLS warriors and the like employ. Like SKILLS, there are many kinds of SPELLS, usually divided into divine and magical, used by priests and mages, respectively. Of the former kind there are curatives, holy spells, defensive spells, detections, healings and so forth. Some of these kinds overlap with the SPELLS that are magical in nature, which include dispellings, enchantments, invocations, gating, creation and so on. Like SKILLS, they are listed in order of obtainment, followed by a percent that reflects a player's competence in using the spell, and which is then followed by a number reflecting a player's potency in using the SPELL. To find out what SPELLS you have, type 'spells'. If you wonder what your spell does, type 'help [spell name]'.
When you first gain a SKILL or SPELL, oftentimes the SKILL or SPELL is unpracticed, that is, you either will need to PRACTICE by going to someone who can teach you, or learn the SKILL or SPELL by teaching yourself. The former method is by far the easiest way, the latter can be difficult. Practicing by going to someone can take you only so far, however; your modified intelligence (given by the STAT "Int") and racebonus dictates how high (i.e., to what percentage) PRACTICE-ing will take you. From then on you will need to learn-by-doing. In New Midgaard and other cities across the face of Ayreon, guildmasters are the ones who can teach you the SKILLS and SPELLS you need to survive. Just go to the guildmaster and type 'practice [skill or spell name]'. Your guildmaster will indicate when you've practiced all you can using PRACTICE. There are other masters who can teach you as well, but those you must find for yourself.
When you are some distance from your hometown, you have the option of going back there using the command RECALL. This command will bring you back to the temple of your hometown. Note that using RECALL will cost you one-half of your movement points. Also, there are areas in which RECALL will not work: you will need to find a way out by other means.
When players die, and they often do (type 'death' to see how often some do), they turn into a ghost for a moment and are transported to their recall point. The players' corpses are left at the spot of death with most if not all objects intact. Players immediately are granted 'godly protection', a spell that lasts slightly over two hours of mud time and which protects players from almost all attacks. The players also are granted their full movement points so they, with the help of their 'godly protection', can recover their corpses and equipment. However, if the players cannot reach their corpses in this amount of time, they may wait by the pit of their hometown, and the items from their corpses will arrive in roughly 15 minutes of real time. To grab this equipment, just type 'get all pit'. (Keep in mind, other players can grab this equipment as well...)
Over the course of adventuring the player will find herself low on her three vitals, hit points, mana, and movement. Hit points (Hp) represent the amount of damage a player can take from weapons and spells. Mana points (Ma) depict the power reserves a player possesses when casting spells or using certain skills. Movement points (Mv) tell how far a player can travel before needing to stop. There are many ways to recover these point values; hit points and mana recover on their own if the player is not engaged in fighting or skills use, and movement can be regained just by standing still. However, a player can recover even faster by choosing either to REST or to SLEEP. Typing REST or SLEEP will cause the player to rest or sleep, respectively. The advantage to sleeping is that the player will recover faster than if she only rests; the disadvantage is she cannot see what is going on around her, as she is asleep. There are even faster methods than these two at recovering points, for instance, QUAFFing potions or EATing pills, or finding a priest to HEAL you. These you will need to discover in the course of your adventures.
Player killing, or 'pkilling' for short, or 'pk' for shorter, is the taking of the life of a player by another player. Dawn of the Ages is a pk mud, and the gods actively encourage pkilling in addition to roleplaying. To foster such participation, the Creators of Ayreon have seen fit to place LIMITED items in the world, usable only by players who are 'pk joined'. These items often are more powerful, some vastly so, than the normal items commonly found in the world, and are sought out by those who wish to be the best at what they are. To find out more, type 'help playerkilling'. By the way, if you do 'pk join' and get killed, don't take it personally; afterall, it's just a game. :-)
While it's not required that a player eat or drink -- she won't die if she does neither -- nevertheless the player will suffer the drawbacks of a lack of sustenance by not being able to heal properly, or at all. To EAT, just be sure to have food in your inventory and type 'eat [food name]'. To DRINK do the same, have a drink container filled with liquid in your inventory and type 'drink [drink name]'.
While warriors, rangers, templars, thieves, priests, necromancers, and mages all have certain common powers between them, they distinguish themselves from their peers by taking on a CAREER. There are many careers from which to choose, from invokers and arcanists for wizards to amazons and monks for warriors to footpads and outlaws for thieves and so on. These careers, once chosen, are permanent, but they add at least 14 new SKILLs and/or SPELLs to the class of the player. However, a player is bound to certain careers by his or her chosen class. To find out what career you may choose, type 'help careerplanning'. If you wonder what that career is or does, type 'help [career name]'. To gain a career, a player always will have to perform some kind of quest. The quest is different for each class and each career, and once performed the person who gave the player a quest will teach the player the career as a reward. To find out what the quest is for your particular career, go to your guildmaster and type 'say [career name]'.
Just as there are gods in the world that represent various activities and alignments, and classes which represent different skills and outlooks, so there are clans which the various races and classes of Ayreon naturally gravitate to for companionship, protection, and power. There are nine clans on Ayreon, each with its rules and clan hideout, and with its own clan enemy. Each also has its own additional powers it confers on its members, an additional bonus for players. However, to join a clan one *must* apply for a clan before reaching level 20. You will then need to join that clan *before* level 26. To find out more about clans, what they are and what they represent, type 'help clan'.
Throughout Ayreon are folks who give out quests. The quests are many and varied, and the rewards can differ vastly. Some quests are performed to gain a career. Some quests are a means to gaining an item. Some allow access to restricted areas and rooms. Some offer gold, silver and other treasure. Some offer that most valued of commodities, questpoints, which can be used to buy items of artefact status but which are not limited. To access quests, you often will need to say to a mob 'quest', that is, type 'say quest' when before a mob. Not all mobs, not even most mobs, give out quests, just a few do. To discover these either ask around or find out for yourself.
REINCARNATES, or REINCs for short, are the legendary races of Ayreon. When a player reaches level 50 and is one experience point shy of level 51, she or he can request to become a REINC character. There are several REINC races to choose from, each with their own abilities and drawbacks, and every one of them more powerful than a normal race. To find out more type 'help reinc'.
The best place for any new character to go is the Tower of Training east of the Temple of New Midgaard. The Tower is designed for players level 1 through 5, and has many signs and acolytes and mobs that will help a player first start out. For players level 6 and beyond, there are several areas around the town of New Midgaard and other hometowns to which a player can travel for experience. Two commands will help in this regard. First is AREA, which lists the areas of Ayreon in terms of degree of difficulty. Newbie areas will generally be located near the top. Second is the command CONSIDER, or CON for short, which, when a player is standing next to a mob and types 'con', will tell a player how difficult the mob may be to master. From there on, you are off to the races.
When first starting out a player should learn to use these commands. The commands are UPPERCASE; a brief explanation follows. To read more information about the command, type 'help' followed by the COMMAND. HELP gives players more information about particular mud functions COMMANDS lists a set of commands usable by players SOCIALS lists a set of expressions usable by players towards others RULES lists the rules of Dawn of the Ages which players must follow LOOK gives a player a description of the room or object looked at EXAM gives a player detailed information of an object examined EAT what a player does to eat; typed as 'eat [food name]' DRINK what a player does to drink; typed as 'drink [drink name]' SLEEP allows a player to recover hit points and mana faster WAKE wakes a player up from sleep REST a player will rest STAND a player will stand from resting SCORE gives players information about themselves SAVE saves the current state of your character To issue these commands, just type the COMMAND at the prompt.
WHO gives a list of the players currently playing WHOIS lists the use or users with the give name; typed 'whois [name]' WHOWAS shows when a player was last on WHERE shows what players or mobs are near you in an area AREA lists the areas of the mud in terms of level of difficulty OPEN allows a player to open a door or container CLOSE allows a player to close a door or container UNLOCK allows a player to unlock a door or container LOCK allows a player to lock a door or container RECALL places a player back at her or his recall point NOFOLLOW disallows others from following a player LEVEL toggling this will allow or disallow levelling for a player DEATH displays the 'deathlist', showing the top dying players PRACTICE practice a skill/spell; typed 'practice [skill or spell name]' TRAIN train an attribute GAIN convert practices to train and vice versa
SAVE saves the current state of your character DELETE deletes your character; must be entered twice in a row by you QUIT saves your character and quits from the game
AUTOLIST lists all automatic actions AUTOLOOT a player will automatically take all equipment from a corpse AUTOGOLD a player will automatically take all gold from a corpse AUTOSAC a player will automatically sacrifice a corpse AUTOEXIT a player will automatically see all exits when in a room AUTOSPLIT a player will automatically split moeny when grouped AUTOASSIST a player will automatically assist other in group AUTOALL activates all the above auto-functions
SCORE will show your current score AFFECTS will show what spells/skills currently affect you EQUIPMENT will give a list of the items you currently wear INVENTORY will give a list of items currently in your inventory COMPARE will compare value of the item in inventory with one worn SKILLS will list the spells at your disposal SPELLS will list the skills at your disposal WORTH lists your gold, silver, and how long you've been playing
BUY allows a player to buy items in a shop SELL allows player to sell items in a shop LIST lists items sold in a shop VALUE tells player how much the shopkeeper will pay for an item AUCTION command for auctioning, either for selling or bidding EQUIPMENT will give a list of the items you currently wear INVENTORY will give a list of items currently in your inventory COMPARE will compare value of the item in inventory with one worn WEAR allows a player to wear an item REMOVE allows a player to remove a worn item GET allows a player to get an item from the ground or an object DROP allows a player to drop an item from inventory GIVE allows a player to give an item to another player or mob PUT allows a player to put an item in a container FILL fills a liquid container with liquid SACRIFICE removes the object from the world, giving a player extra money
KILL kill a mob or player
FLEE flee from a fight
WIMPY toggles an automatic flee command when hit points are down to
a specified amount
CONSIDER considers the level/degree of difficulty of the mob considered
(The skills below are primarily thief/warrior skills.) BACKSTAB hit from behind for extra damage BASH damages and stuns an opponent CHARGE strikes for extra damage DIRTKICK damages and blinds an opponent DISARM removes weapon from an opponent TRIP trips an opponent for damage
CAST used to cast spells; typed 'cast [spell name]' QUAFF command for quaffing potions EAT command for eating pills RECITE command for reciting scrolls BRANDISH command for using staves ZAP command for using wands PLAYINSTRUMENT command for playing instruments; used by minstrels
SAY used to say something in a room SAYTO used to say something to someone specific in a room TELL used to communicate with a specific player REPLY used to reply to a tell WHISPER used to communicate with a specific player in a room GTELL used to communicate in a group CT channel used for communication in a clan IGNORE a player can 'ignore' tells of another player(s) EMOTE can emote a feeling from player; typed 'emote [text]' SOCIAL a command for non-combative action towards others GOSSIP channel for worldwide communication YELL channel for area-wide communication SHOUT channel for worldwide communication (do NOT abuse) MUSIC channel for playing music or singing GRAT the gratitude channel, for sharing praise PRAY a way to communicate with gods
(Note: type 'help notes' to find out how to use the topics below.) NOTES the notes board for general notes CHANGES the changes board for mud-wide changes IDEAS the ideas board for sharing ideas NEWS the news board for new news PENALTIES the penalties board for player penalties
FOLLOW used to follow a person or mob NOFOLLOW used to disallow following GROUP used to group a person SPLIT command used to split gold or silver GTELL channel of communication for groups; also typed 'gt' ORDER order a charmed follower to do something
Religion - Always a God choice.
Judges - We're lookin' for a few good bounty-hunters.
Lokatar - Half off your next victim!
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