Ambient Life

The world doesn't wait for you. Townsfolk run their errands, inns fill up at night, the arena puts on a show, a court hears its cases and the lieges' soldiers guard their flagpoles. Most of the crowd is drawn by our client; the court, the soldiers and the arena's bouts are the server's own.

People in the streets#

Every town has its people: townsfolk walking from door to door, and guards in the town's colours walking their beat. Inns and taverns have their patrons, shops and banks their customers at the counter, and Blackstone Keep and Bourgeois Castle their nobles, ladies and knights (below). Even the historic towns reached from the Cor Noth museum have their ghosts: pale, silent figures who go about their business as they did long ago.

They live their own lives:

• Errands. Townsfolk come from one door and go to another, sometimes stopping at a shop on the way.
• Company. Inn patrons stand about in pairs, wave, point and dance. Customers wait at the counter, facing the shopkeeper, or look over the wares.
• Manners. People step aside for you, and greet you when you come close. Wear chain, scale, plate or nerudite armour and they take a second look.
• Danger. A spell cast or landing near them, or an earthquake, sends them running and shouting. Guards and knights turn to look instead.
• Talk. What they say shows over their heads, never in your chat, and only when you're near.

Examine a townsperson to read about them: their name, what they do, where they've come from and where they're going, and their mood. Wave at one in front of you and they wave back; guards and knights give you a greeting instead. You can't fight them or trade with them.

Everyone in a room sees the same crowd: the same faces, names and errands, chosen by the server for the room. From then on, each player's copy reacts to that player alone, so who steps aside for whom can differ.

Day, night and weather#

A game day is two real hours, and the crowds follow it:

From 19:00 to 6:00 most townsfolk carry torches, and every guard does. Rain and snow empty the streets by about half and fill the inns and shops; the people still out walk faster, and feel soggy or chilly. Inn patrons are merry from 20:00 to 2:00.

Critters#

Rats, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, mutant ants and bunnies scurry about where they belong: rats in town streets, sewers and vaults, spiders in caves and mines, scorpions and ants in the desert and mountains, bunnies in the fields and forests. They're harmless: a click or a blow kills one, for no experience and no loot. At night, rats make up more of the critters where they share the ground, and bunnies fewer.

Options#

In the Configuration window's Ambient tab:

• Ambient Life: Off, Few, Normal (the default) or Many.
• Critters, Birds and Bats and Nature, each on or off. Critters need Ambient Life on.
• Ambient Sounds, and how loud.

The arenas#

Two arenas stand in East Ende, in Tos:

• The Arena of Kraanan, through the Arena foyer.
• The Arena of Death, off East Ende itself.

The show#

Their fighters put on a show, the Arena of Kraanan by day and the Arena of Death by night:

• The Arena of Kraanan, from 6:00 to 22:00, holds melees of four to eight fighters: warriors, knights, duelists, Kraanan war-mages, Faren battle mages, Qor shadowcasters, Shal'ille mystics and Riija tricksters. A melee lasts up to four minutes; if time runs out, the healthiest fighter left wins.
• The Arena of Death, from 22:00 to 6:00, holds duels, one against one in the cage, between gladiators and battle mages of Qor, Faren and Riija. A duel lasts up to three minutes.

The stands fill with spectators who pick a favourite, shout for them by name, cheer when they win and boo when they fall. Everyone watching sees the same bout. With Enhanced Visuals on, the fighters' spells glow and flash in their school's colours, as a player's do.

A season runs for 20 days. The arena keeps every fighter's wins, losses and kills, and the fighter with the most wins is the season's champion; the last 20 champions are remembered. Examine a fighter to see their record, their style, their favourite weapon and spell, and the seasons they were champion.

Taking part#

Mock bouts go on at any hour. In either arena, press the crossed swords by your map, or type arena, to open the Arena window.

Mock bouts are fights against the arena's own fighters, each made in your image: your skill at arms, your weapon's damage, your armour, your spellpower and your health.

• Join a mock battle in the Arena of Kraanan: a free-for-all, you and three fighters with a little less health than yours, who turn on each other too.
• Join a duel in the Arena of Death: you against one elite, a gladiator or a battle mage of Qor, Faren or Riija, with a little more health and damage than yours.

Fighters drink a healing draught when hard pressed, and a beaten one is carried from the floor.

You join a line, the bout starts after a ten-second countdown, and you're healed to full as you step in. Win, and you leave as you came in. Lose, run out of time or step off the floor, and you wake in the stands with a tenth of your health. Nobody really dies in a mock bout, not even in the Arena of Death. There's no experience or loot either: you fight for your record and your title.

The Record tab shows your wins, losses and streaks in each arena.

Player battles are the original matches between players, run by the Watcher in the Arena of Kraanan and Johlan Tulca in the Arena of Death, from the window's Player battles tab. A death in the Arena of Kraanan does you no harm. A death in the Arena of Death is real: you keep your items and your experience, but go to the underworld and can lose points in your spells and skills. Fleeing the floor or logging off mid-match is a death too. The newest adventurers, and those who haven't taken up player combat, pay nothing.

Two quests start here: Blood and Sand, from Paddock, the innkeeper of Tos, for your first mock bout, and A Dealer of Death, Johlan Tulca's daily duel.

The Office of the Justicar#

The Office of the Justicar is in North Barloque, and no one may fight there.

The Barloque Assizes#

The court sits whenever someone is there to hear it. Justice Halvard Crane presides, Advocate Seraphine Moll speaks for the Crown, Advocate Tobias Wren for the defence, and Bailiff Gorm keeps order, while the people of Barloque watch from the gallery. Eight cases are heard in turn, each with its accused, its witnesses and its verdict: guilty, innocent, and once a cow shared between two farmers. Between cases the court stands in recess.

You can only watch: what's said appears in your chat. When the room empties, the court pauses, and takes up the case where it left off when someone returns.

Caramo's warrants#

Caramo, the court's clerk, posts daily warrants. Each is a kill errand you can take again a day after you finish it. They pay experience and shillings but no renown, so anyone can take them, sworn to a liege or not.

Ask for one too soon and Caramo tells you how long until it's posted again.

A new name#

Caramo also changes names, for 50,000 shillings. Talk to her and choose Change name…. The fee comes from your purse, or else from your bank account; it can't be split between the two. A name the game won't allow, or your own name with different capitals, is refused before you pay. The change is posted in the Book of Jala beside her, the register of every name changed, and everyone sees your new name at once.

Faction areas#

The lieges' war goes on whether you take part or not. Factions explains the war itself: the battles, claims, renown and the towns' celebrations. Around it, you'll see:

• Flagpoles flying their colours. A pole shows its liege's flag, or stands bare when no one holds it; examine it to read whose colours fly there.
• Soldiers at the poles. While you're in a held pole's room, its liege keeps soldiers there: one at once if none is there, then another every 30 seconds, up to four. During a claim on the pole they come every 8 seconds, up to fifteen, and hunt the claimer. They attack rival soldiers who wear their shields; they leave neutral players and the unshielded alone. A bare pole has no guards.
• Battles that settle themselves. Every two hours the lieges fight over a pole. The armies only take the field when someone arrives; if no one does, the battle is decided anyway, and the pole can still change hands.
• Sentries and celebrations. A liege who holds a town posts two sentries at its pole. A celebrating capital fills with standards and revellers cheering their liege's name; a liege who loses a town flies their flags at half-staff.

The castles keep court. In Blackstone Keep, the Duke's knights stand watch with his purple shields while nobles and ladies attend him; Bourgeois Castle does the same in the Princess's orange. Jonas keeps no castle court.