Your character is the person you play in Avendar. Creating one means choosing a name, lineage, class, alignment and starting location, and optionally some traits; each choice shapes what your character can do and how the world receives them. This page walks through each of those choices. If you are new to MUDs altogether, read The Basics first.
Name
When you log in, you will first be asked for your character's name. A surname is optional. Names must follow the naming rules. If you need ideas, the name generator can build names from the words of any of Avendar's languages.
Lineages
Your character’s lineage determines what classes and alignments are available to you. Your lineage may also provide a few extra abilities, resistances, and/or vulnerabilities. Your maxium stats are limited by your lineage. A detailed comparison of the lineages is on the lineages page.
Aelin Delicate, winged humanoids, aelin live in highly-stratified societies.
Alatharya Cursed by the gods for their hubris, alatharya are giant, silver-skinned humanoids with a tragic past.
Caladaran A philosophical people, the caladaran are tall and have bark-like skin.
Chaja Chaja are hirsute, underground giants, enslaved for generations by the shuddeni.
Ch'taren Semi-translucent humanoids from another plane, the ch’taren are golden-hued and shimmering.
Ethron Short, stout, and brightly colored, the ethron live in the wilds with a strong tradition of respect for nature.
Human Plentiful and diverse, the humans were the latest to dominate the continent before the Republic of Earendam dissolved.
Nefortu Flying on their bat-like wings, nefortu favor tricks and cunning over brawn.
Srryn The lizard-like srryn dominate the swamps with muscle and magic.
Shuddeni Eyeless, grey, wrinkled humanoids, the shuddeni are frail tunnel dwellers bent on evil.
Classes
Each character in Avendar has an adventuring class. The class determines the character’s abilities. Guilds are established throughout the land to help train characters in their class’s abilities. See the main Character Classes page for more detailed descriptions of each class, or click a link below to go directly to a class’ page.
You must ‘practice’ your skills at your guildmaster! Your attacks will miss even the lowliest creatures if you do not practice!
Warriors
The profession of warrior is perhaps the oldest of the adventuring classes. Students of the arts of war and physical combat, warriors come in three different backgrounds.
Rogues
The profession of rogue is populated by the quick-witted and the secretive, who prefer to live by their keen wit and nimble fingers. Rogues come in three different traditional professions.
Scholars
Scholars are sages who have devoted their life to the study of the various elemental magics. Their area of specialization is determined early in life, where they choose major and minor spheres of elemental influence.
Templars
Each the spheres of magic has given birth to a templar, a student of the elements, who is also a student of the fighting skills, and combines force of arm with the magical powers of the elements.
Naturalists
Those who choose the profession of naturalist have, through one way or another, associated their fortunes with that of nature’s. While not necessarily defenders of nature, all naturalists are at home there, and use the pecularities of the wild to their advantage.
Mentalists
The mentalist profession is for those whose affinity is for the mind. Foregoing the ways of elemental magic, they instead embrace the potential of psionics.
Stats
Your statistics (stats) determine the degree of your character's physical and mental aptitudes. Stats range from 3-25, and all characters will have -5 to their lineage maximums at level 1, then gain 1 to all stats every 10 levels until 50. Statistics can be temporarily improved by items or affects, and bonuses to your stats will offset debuffs. The specific effects of each stat are listed in their helpfiles; your stats have no impact on the effectiveness of your skills, HP/MP/MV gain, etc, only what is listed.
See Statistics for each lineage's maximums and what each stat does.
Alignment
Alignment is the way your character's resonance leans: gold, neutral or red. It is a broad-strokes reflection of your character’s stance among the factions and powers of Avendar. There are moral and personality components to it, but it is also a force of nature. The spheres of magic have affinities for gold or red, as do the lineages, gods, great houses, and so forth. More detail is on the Resonance page.
Use ‘consider’ to see the alignment of a mob. Gold characters get extra xp for killing red creatures, but lose xp for killing gold ones. Consider before you attack!
Starting Location
Your character’s starting location is where you fast travel to when using the recall command, or the ‘word of recall’ spell. You also return there as a ghost when killed.
New players start in Var Bandor. You will automatically start in Var Bandor if you picked ‘yes’ when asked if you’re new to Avendar.
Var Bandor
Centrally-located, Var Bandor is divided into four quadrants. To the south, the merchant council and scholar council each dominate their own quadrants, while the rest of the city lives north, next to the belching forges of Iron Street or crammed in the slums.
Earendam
The oldest human city, Earendam the Grand was the seat of an empire. Today, the city stands on its trade and sophistication. Historic guilds and luxury shops lie tucked along every twisting street. More difficult to navigate, Earendam requires greater time to learn its streets and plazas.
Other locations are available to certain lineages, classes, and alignments. In character creation, the locations you qualify for will be listed.
Traits
Traits represent additional class features available to a newly created character. Many classes automatically receive one or more traits for free during creation, and the traits possessed by a character are shown in score. Often, traits represent an ability that a class should have that is not powerful enough to be a skill in its own right.
You also have the option to select traits on creation. This allows you to gain abilities that would otherwise not be available to your class. However, to gain traits in this way, a character must spend some of their initial trains. In general, the power of a trait is reflected in the number of trains required to obtain it.
There are four categories of traits: background, general, magical, and physical. There are also god touches, chosen at the very end of character creation.
Characters who chose “new to Avendar” during creation do not have access to traits; weighing their cost is best left to players with some experience of the game.
God Touches
You can choose to be marked by a god. The mark, or god touch, represents a god’s notice of your character. Your character need not religiously follow that god in play. It provides mechanical bonuses, and is visible to all players who look at you.
Next steps
Once your character has been created, your character will exist as part of the game world. You can go places, do things, and meet people.
See Your First Levels for what to do after creation.
Roleplay
Avendar is a roleplay required MUD. This means you should stay in character at all times. While in character, you should speak and act as your character would. This is a game of pretend, and a large part of the enjoyment comes from imagining yourself in someone else’s shoes.
You may discuss mechanics in non-numerical terms, such as “This sword will make you hit harder,” not “this sword has +2 damroll.”
Please confine out-of-character chat to the newbie and OOC channels.
You will need a description by level 10 and a background by level 25, or your character will stop gaining experience. The Roleplay page explains how to write both.
Next: Your First Levels.