June 2002

A Message To The People
Submitted Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 5:28:49 PM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzHail Britannians! I will not reveal my true name until I am sure it is the right time. All I can say is I played a part in the Rebellion of Dorian DeLacey yet I did not play any part. I know that sounds confusing but it will be cleared in time. We are the people of this land, the citizens. We made this land into something great with the guidance of Lord British it became greater. We then lost him, the guidance which made us great was gone. People began to form groups to replace the leaders. We knew though that it could not be done. There is a group which was created by British, The Church of Britannia. Recently we have been confronted with the choice to follow the High Council or not. Some citizens have chosen their side but some have not. There is another group which is in its baby stage but soon it will rise to be one of the strongest powers in our history. This message is to the people of Britannia. It is not for nobles and council members. This is not intended as a declaration of war either so you fat council members can stuff your cakes down your throat again. From the smallest child to the tallest man, Rich and Poor. I am asking you, what side will you join. That of the Church and the new group or the Council? That of the side which represents the cause of freedom from oppression and corruption or the side which promotes it, the Council? I ask you to follow the side which represents your name.

Send your pidgeons to 157241886 Dragon Knight II.


Roleplaying 101: The Dewds Amongst Us
Submitted Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 4:28:13 PM by Basil

BasilIts been so long, too long maybe, either way, it feels good to be back in the saddle again ranting about some dumbass.

So here I am logging on this morning, was going to go fight some daemon's and work on Solomon's resist. I am at the bank, grabbing my magical weapons, setting macros, doing the usual to get ready for some dungeon diving.

I get a phone call, seeing as my mom just loves to annoy me when I am home, she has unplugged my headset and I have to leave the room to answer the phone. Its my friend, he has $10,000 to invest because he joined the military. He wants my advice on what to buy, he said he had already spent most of the money on AMD and Intel, but wanted to know what to spend the rest on. I suggested King Pharmaceuticals (KG). Before I knew it, I had spent about fifteen minutes on the phone.

I remembered that I had left UO running, so I told my friend that I would give him a call later on.

I come back to UO to find this guy telling me to leave town. I am thinking, "huh?" This guy, his name is Mephistopheles, told me that I had to leave town or he would kill me. I tell him this isn't his town, so he should get used to me being here.

Of course, it occurs to me after I said this that this guy is just looking for oranges at the banks. He tells me that I shall die then and starts to precast. Not being an idiot, I fight back. The guy is obviously used to fighting the rest of First Army, as he casts mind blast ten times and tries to chain poison. No, this guy wasn't used to having to fight someone that actually was semi-prepared. So finally he wisens up and takes advantage of my one weak spot, no paralyze pouches.

So he then proceeds to chain paralyze me, was nothing I could do about it, and thus, I die. All of this in the name of 'roleplaying'. Lets not mention his yells of me being a runner because I don't want to be chain paralyzed.

Past ICQ's float through my mind. I remembered Jasmine saying she was going to quit First Army because they wouldn't help her everytime this UFG group went looking for oranges at the bank. I remembered hearing how UFG killed her on the intent of looting her ring to sell/trade. I remembered how one of their members had tried to trade her for the ring (eventhough it sounded like a scam to me), and I also remember seeing one of their members chasing some HSS across the town after the HSS had just died.

I think back to the all the roleplaying stories I have heard from them. I remember how these stories all center around warring. Could it be these guys are just dewds looking for fresh game? Or are they just a guild that has no self control what-so-ever?

As much as I like Rath, he has been ignorant of most of the evil guilds he roleplayed with in the Skara Brae area. They were nothing more than blood thirsty mongrels seeking easy prey. These mongrels weren't stupid, they knew Rath tries to like everyone, thus they do their best to keep from pissing him off so that they can still have their sheep.

Many people in the community are tired of it, I am tired of it, and you picked the wrong person to go pick on today. No one wants to be your sheep anymore. Want to roleplay? Then I suggest you learn how. The roleplaying community isn't a place where you have an excuse to go tell someone to get out of town or you will kill them.

If you are roleplayers, then I challenge you to actually roleplay. First, you roleplay villans. A villan would be killed by the local guards as soon as he stepped in town. You wouldn't be in town standing next to a guard telling people to get out of your city, the guard would have cut you down before you could say it. Second, notice the part 'your' city. Its not your city, Skara Brae for one is a city of the crown, whether you like it or not, and if you are a criminal to the crown, its not your city.

Want it to be your town? Learn to treat others in the community with some respect. Then they will play with you. When they play with you, you can work on a quest scenario that could lead to you all getting the town if you win.

This bullshit of getting your jollies after being bored by trying to kill roleplayers is over.

In case no one has figured it out now, the guild is called Unforgiven.

This is your first and final warning as far as I am concerned. People will read this and they will ask questions. You want to roleplay? I suggest you start acting like roleplayers. Pull your looking for oranges at the bank shit on me again and I will not be as nice next time.

Comment here.

Update: I find it pretty damn odd that this guy just disappeared after the fight. If this was his town, why didn't he stay there? Guess there weren't enough oranges for him...


Great Lakes Gangsta Rap
Submitted Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 1:02:20 PM by Basil

BasilThis is from Locke, he had some time on his hands earlier today in #dom, and this is what came of it...

Mordain: Its a disaster, Lord Rath we're after!
Fredrick: What if he could be turned to the dark side?
Mordain: Yes, he'd be a powerful ally, another dark mondainite
Fredrick: He will join us or die
WE GOT STONESOUL
WE GOT STONESOUL
WE GOT STONESOUL
WE GOT STONESOUL
and you know that we got it STONESOUL
and you know that we got it STONESOUL

Rath: Uncle Marcus, I know im on probation? Can I go to the Skara Station?
I gotta talk to the Skara Brae Rangers, but now you're treating me like a new stranger
Voice of Lord British: RATH, Kal Ort Por, and run, run to Highland Guard, run to Highland Guard
RATH, Kal Ort Por, and run, run to Highland Guard, run to Highland Guard

Jakop: I'm Jakop...I'm not naked....I'll make ya and shake ya, and then i'll save ya. Don't judge my size before you realize...you won't believe your eyes watch the Mondainites die
Rath: Jakop, why you treatin me in disdain, you know i still must confront Lord Mordain.
Jakop: But Rath, not ready are you.
Rath: But there's a temple in the desert where they're keepin my crew
A king's gotta do what a king's gotta do so now Mordy, i'm comin for you

Mordain: Impressive, now realease your Corp por, you must sense that your friends are being tor-tured
Rath: OOOOH, Why'd ya kick me in the sand.
Mordain: it's imperative that you understand....Jakop would never go in, to tellin you about your ori-gin.
Rath: I know enough, I know I'm a king
Mordain: Then it's imparative that you must see...You're a clone now, you're a clone now
YOU'RE A CLONE NOW, YOU'RE A CLONE NOW
YOU'RE A CLONE NOW, YOU'RE A CLONE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU'RE A CLONE NOW, YOU'RE A CLONE NOW
YOU'RE A CLONE NOW, YOU'RE A CLONE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!


A Note From the Seat of Honesty
Submitted Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 11:18:33 AM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Kellor:

Hello citizens of Britannia, some of you may recognize me, many of you won't. I was plucked from a list of people to represent the fine city of Moonglow, and now I stand here before you.

I read constantly of people with their complaints about us not doing this or us not doing that.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have been without a king for a long time, and the crime that has rooted itself into our society without him has grown strong. Time must be given to restore order.

I myself have to look around when I travel in Moonglow. People complain about Skara Brae. I was in Skara Brae the other day, your battles are not of cloak and dagger, nor amongst the shadows. In Skara Brae, you know who your enemy is. I welcome you to come to Moonglow where the enemy shall not show his face, but still manages to harm you.

You have to live with corpses on the street, the results of a formal war. I, and the others of Moonglow, have had to live with people striking at us monetarily, pyscologically, and physically. Do you know what its like to have worked hard for a miniscule ten thousand gold, only to find that the banker you banked with worked for these hidden fiends and funneled it to them?

Nay, you do not.

What I am asking of you all is to give us time. Things will be dealt with, and they will be dealt with one at a time to insure that we use the greatest care.

Thank you.


Skara Brae A Battleground?!?
Submitted Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 10:57:53 AM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Ambrosia:

The anticipation of home grew as she neared the huts outside Skara Brae, the place of her birth. Remembering the days spent lounging on the haystacks here, Ambrosia placed the spear given to her by her father carefully into her backpack.



Crossing the docks entering into town she froze. Amber did not recall this loud ruckus. It was not just the merchants hard at work, she heard loud screams of people falling to their deaths. It had turned into a battlefield! Taking cover behind the bank she quickly questioned the other citizens hiding there. They had told her of how powerful guilds had joined together for the common cause of protecting the town. This she had already known, they formed their alliances long before she had even left Skara Brae to care for her father.



Now she knew they were not helping the town at all, but disgracing it.



Angered, she vowed to rid Skara Brae of her destroyers


A Note from the Seat of Humility
Submitted Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 11:55:33 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortMy apologies to anyone of Bregan D'Aerth who came to see me this eve at the Magincian Parliament building. It seems that I spent far too much time in meditation at the Temple, and missed my scheduled visit to Magincia. I will remain in Magincia on tomorrow's eve (((25 June))) from the hour of 7:00 PM (((CST))) through 8:30 PM (((CST))) to better make myself available. Again, I apologize, and look to speak with you regarding your problems, and for a safe and peaceful resolution to the current situation.

Yours in Humility,


Ra'Dian Fl'Gith
Councelor of Magincia


A Letter Adressed To The High Council.
Submitted Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 6:57:32 PM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Kane:

Ramble this Ramble that, I am merely a common fisherman of Skara Brae. I tend to keep to myself and not get involved. Now however I have decided to speak because I have the right to my opinion. You are not a legal form of leadership but self claimed rulers who represent a form of tyranny very common in all lands. I may not be a noble, but my simple life of swinging out my pole every morning is all I need. My home has become a battle feild. Skara Brae is turned into a war ground a place of bloodshed. The Council allows this to happen? As I said you are not leaders but rich nobles hungry for attention. You oppose a peice of Lord British, that peice is the Church. You call yourselves men of virtue but you fight the creator of virtue in our land. Rumors run rampant like a pack of dogs in Skara and I hear them all. So many people claim leadership of my town but many of them should me thrown in jail. Again I am just one man but I am part of the people of Britannia. I for one place my allegiance in the Rebels, Sosarian Rebel Army, Rebels of Britannia, and the man who continues to fly the banner of DeLacey. They have my best of wishes and you have my worst, High Council.


The Beginning...Pt1.
Submitted Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 3:50:00 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick Seafort Lord Damon Omenborn, the High Dwarven King sat atop his ridgeback and ran his stubby fingers though his long beard and smiled. He stared out across the ice and snow at the rows of armored dwarves. The great banners of Clan Omenborn fluttered in the arctic breeze, proudly his clansman sang as they marched. In one of his mighty hands rested the Dammaz Kron, The Great Book of Grudges, in the other was a magic warhammer. The warhammer named Doom Bringer; had been forged on the famed anvil of Justice and had been borne by Damon's father, and his father before him for untold ages. Damon had a great admiration for the hammer, the unbeatable craftsmanship of generations of dwarfs, and he silently gave thanks to the skills of his elders. Many of the evil beasts that plague Britannia had fallen to this great weapon. They had to come to respect and fear Damon's hammer.

Lord Damon had sent Mistral Omenborn and Keran Blackstone with a letter to request aid from Lord Rath Stonesoul of the Order of Stonesoul in Skara Brae and to Lord Jakob Covenant of the Highland Guard. These were old and trusted friends, for the moment in time had come to reclaim old Dwarven strongholds and mines. The first of these was to be Deceit, which had once been a great hall, home to countless generations of Clan Omenborn, and had now become home to the countless undead creatures that roam its halls. But word had been received that they would be unable at this time to send help. The trip from Karak Kol, the great keep that served as home for the dwarves of Clan Omenborn, had been a short one. It had been a long time since the world had seen the dwarves march to war. The snow swept all around them forming frost in their beards.

Although hopelessly outnumbered, the sturdy dwarf clansmen marched into the entrance of Deceit. Down the center of the halls went the stout dwarf warriors with swords and axes in hand, while dwarf crossbowmen held the flanks, thinning the undead masses with deadly bolts. With a thunderous roar, Lichs had unleashed their spells. As if on cue undead warriors sprang from the wall themselves and giant silver serpents, monsters capable of rendering a dwarf in two, slithered across the floor towards them. The Dwarf plan of attack had been a simple one, tried and tested throughout the ages, but it now seemed doomed, until two dwarven slayers leapt out to meet the silver beasts, sacrificing their own bodies for one clean axe stroke.

All would have been for naught had the Dwarf Longbeards not chosen that moment to charge into the fray, for these were oldest and most skilled of all the warriors in the dwarven force. The Longbeards crashed into the battle lines sending the evil Bone Knights, Skeletal Knights and Bone Magi routing and scampering away!

The dwarfs had reclaimed another piece of Deceit, one that was rightfully theirs from the days of old. Slowly, thought Damon, the dwarfs would re-establish their ancient realm, tunnel-by-tunnel, mountain-by-mountain. With a last look at the peaks of the Frozen Mountains, the doors of Deceit were closed behind him. Lord Damon Omenborn slung his warhammer into his belt loop and trudged off to bury the dwarven dead and continue the quest….


Ok, Who Farted?
Submitted Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 2:35:59 PM by Basil

BasilSomeone did, because this room really cleared out quick. What do I mean by this? Just two weeks ago we had a lot of roleplaying situations going on out there in UO'land. Now I can count the ones that I know are still going on with only the fingers on one hand. Sure, Azreal is out there doing his random quests once a week, yes Nieves has got something going with an imposter of Rath, and finally it seems Temple of Mondain is behind every evil plot known to man at this time.

Before anyone says Neverwinter Nights, shaddup. Neverwinter Nights is a game you will play once or twice a week, if at all, after a month's time. If people are just taking a break from UO, thats fine, thats a viable excuse, because I have been taking one sorta since the beginning of June.

Why did I decide to take my break? For one, I've been working on a big quest that I didn't want to start until I knew I'd have time to put to it. Instead, I've just laid the ground work for it. I figured after seeing all these other quests gearing up, I could safely chill knowing that my friends would still be able to have fun quests.

While on break, that doesn't keep me from talking on ICQ a bit, or logging on IRC, or even dropping in game once in awhile. It probably won't be ti'll July that I get serious about reviving my quest juices. Yet when I log on, I see that almost everything that was gearing up is gone. What the hell is up with Quest for Britannia, is Rath even running for king anymore? If not, why hasn't Marcus updated the site to reflect this? The whole thing has seemed to be in a tailspin since Rath accepted a seat on the High Council.

Does shit die so easily on this shard? If everyone is taking a break, thats fine, but if everyone is letting these good quests die, then shame on you. I've heard the masses piss and moan about not having any rp before. Well, you had your chance, I couldn't count the number of things going on before June, now... well, I've already addressed that.

If you want to roleplay, then I suggest you start doing it. I think there is a call for a radical change in this community. I think all these different rule sets is what wears out and breaks down this community. Like last night, I am sitting in Skara Brae watching ToM fight OI-, Highland Guard, etc. Rules were being broken left and right, OI- entering before 15 mins up, then ToM would come back to the city to fight after their CoC says they won't. People still had fun, but not everyone, I saw a few off to the side bitching that this was boring and stupid.

Yet really, this is stuff for another rant about how people should work together and get some shit straight.

Comment at this post.


Great Lakes : From the Seat of Humility
Submitted Monday, June 24, 2002 - 7:18:21 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortAn open letter to Lady Lust and the Bregan D'Aerth,

The High Council have received your notice that Lilly Thann, Ambassador of Vesper, has been taken into your care. I welcome a dialogue with any of your organization who would speak with me with regards to the wrongs you believe have been comitted against you, and the laws which you believe will degenerate your current way of life.

While the High Council debates this situation, I would like to present further information on your behalf, that we may come to a peaceful solution to this.

I may be found tomorrow evening at 10:00pm (by the Central skies) at the Magincian Parliament building at the southeast of the isle. Should you wish to contact me prior to this, you may attempt to locate me at the Temple of Nexchronosis within Dracona.

Yours in Humility,


Ra'Dian Fl'Gith,
Councelor of Magincia


Juka Retreat Celebration
Submitted Sunday, June 23, 2002 - 3:54:25 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick Seafort

Whilst travelling Britain in Trammel, I came across an invitation, the exact contents of which are as follows:

Hail fair citizens of Sosaria and well met. I am Ian Goodknight, Justice Knight and Hero of Great Lakes, and I cordially invite you to a party in commemoration of the retreat of the Jukan army and Lord Blackthorn's Dragoons. It is also in commemoration of the recent alliance between the Meer and us.

I sincerally hope that you can come and celebrate our freedom! The party will be held at The Barnacle tavern (a tavern to the west of the horse stables in Trammel Minoc) on June 25, which is a Tuesday, at 8:00 o'clock (CST). The only requirement is that you do not bring a mount or pet and this is a role-playing event so break out your Old English books! Bring money for food and drinks but I will attempt to supply a lot of those though! Thank you!

PS- Devs, "Reds", GMs, and ALL are encouraged and invited. Thank you!

-Ian Goodknight (Knight of Justice, DOS)


New Britain Councilor Needed!
Submitted Saturday, June 22, 2002 - 10:15:28 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortHail!

I have the somber duty of informing you that Galinda, the chosen candidate for the Britain position on the newly formed High Council has resigned due to personal reasons.

Of course, the good news is that the position is now open and the Council is once again accepting applications -- for the Britain Council member position only. If you have already submitted an application to this position, it is not absolutely neccessary for you to submit again. However, those who wish to may; your dedication and determination will certainly be noted.

Please include in your application:
- Your name (your character's name)
- A short essay (at least 5 to 7 sentences, though it may be longer, of course)

Applications may be sent to this email address: admin@redlow.net
I will then send them along to the other council members for review as soon as I recieve them. Once this position is filled, we will hold our first meeting as soon as possible. If you feel the new Council is not properly representing you, please be patient as we get things moving.

Walk in Truth, Love, and Courage

- Doctor Jerred Ghyss,
Chancellor of Virtue of the High Council


Super-Dimensional TDU of Vanquishing and Mage's Bane (42 charges) - 20 June 2002
Submitted Thursday, June 20, 2002 - 4:16:21 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortKonichiwa!

Psssst.. I got the goods bro.. the word on the street! The overlords have a big deal going down on Monday.. I think theyre bringing in a whole shipload of PUBLISH 16!

For those of you wearing concrete galoshes, or for those of you who are simply oblivious to your surroundings because of extended nightshade use, here is the complete and total scoop on publish 16, and what you can expect to see on Monday.

House Ownership & Decay Changes

Changes to the housing decay system are being planned for implementation within the next scheduled publish ("Publish 16"). These changes will clarify and affect the status of various player houses with the intent of continuing to move toward a healthier housing situation with in Ultima Online.

The following points summarize the current state of player housing/house decay within Ultima Online, and will continue to remain true:

  • Players are allowed to have one house per shard, per account. These houses will need to be refreshed manually.

  • Some older accounts may still maintain more than one house per shard, per account (but no more than one per character on that shard). These houses will need to be refreshed manually.

  • Acquiring a new house will put all other houses owned by that account on any shard into Condemned status, disallowing them from refreshing and forcing them to decay.

  • Players are allowed to own grandfathered houses on more than one shard.

In addition, two new elements will become a part of this system:

  • Players may opt to only own one house per account, period. In exchange, that "primary house" will be automatically refreshed for as long as the account remains active. (See "Primary Houses" below for more details.)

    Note that your account is considered to have opted in to this new "one house per game account" rule if you place a new house or have a house transferred to you. Further, once this new housing system becomes active, any inactive account that is reactivated will also automatically be considered to have opted in to this new "one house per game account" rule.

  • Houses that are owned by inactive game accounts will decay within 2 days, and will not be allowed to be refreshed for as long as the account remains inactive.

Housing states: Houses will be classified as one of three "House Refresh Types": "Automatic," "Grandfathered," or "Condemned."

The house refresh notation can be seen by double-clicking a house sign and accessing the house menu; only those who can access a house's sign-menu will be able to see this house refresh notation.

Note: Only a house's owner, co-owners, and friends will be able to see the current state of decay ("This house is slightly worn," "this house is somewhat worn," etc.) of a house, which will be done by single-clicking that house's sign.

These states will be updated upon any placement or acquirement of a new house, and/or changes to the owning account's active/inactive status.

Below is a more comprehensive breakdown of the housing refresh states.

  • Primary house: This house is owned by an active game account, and has been established by the player to be that account's primary house. Note: setting a house as an account's "Primary house" will automatically force all other houses owned by that account, on any shard, to become Condemned.

    The house refresh state on the house menu-gump will be listed as "Automatic." Primary houses will automatically refresh themselves-in fact, these houses will no longer display any decay stage, as the house no longer decays.

The typical situation for this could be said to be a player who has decided to only maintain one house in all of UO, in exchange for that house never decaying for as long as the game account remains active.

See "Primary Houses" below for more details.

  • Grandfathered house: This house is owned by an active game account, but has not been established by the player to be that account's primary house.

    The house refresh state on the house menu-gump will be listed as "Grandfathered." Grandfathered houses will decay "as normal," and will proceed through several decay steps before disappearing after approximately 11 days. However, owners and friends will be able to manually refresh this house and begin the decay cycle anew by opening and closing any of that house's doors.

A typical situation for this could be said to be a player who plays on two shards and has a house on each. Each of those two houses will need to be manually refreshed over time, and the player may decide to manually refresh each once every week or so.

Another typical situation for this could be said to be a long-time player who is maintaining more that one house on a given shard on his one account. Each of those two houses will need to be manually refreshed over time, and the player may decide to manually refresh each once every week or so.

  • Condemned house: This house is owned by an active account, but has been put into "Condemned" status due to that player placing, or acquiring, a newer house, on any shard. In other words: the newest house becomes the Primary house, and all other houses, on all shards, become Condemned.

    Any house owned by an inactive account will also be considered Condemned. (Reactivating that account will allow one house to become a Primary House, and all other houses on that account will remain Condemned. See "Primary Houses" below for more details.)

    The house refresh state on the house menu-gump for these houses will be listed as "Condemned." This house will not be able to be refreshed. It will decay within 48 hours of becoming Condemned.

    Note: setting a house as an account's "Primary house" will automatically force all other houses owned by that account, on any shard, to become Condemned.

A typical situation for this could be said to be a player with any number of houses on any number of shards who has obtained a new house, and all houses other than that newest house on that shard will become Condemned.

Another typical situation for this could be said to be a player who has closed an account and left behind one or more Condemned "ownerless houses."

Implementation: the changes to housing/house decay will occur in three phases.

  • House Status Assessment: All houses within UO will be marked with one of the above housing states during this phase, based on their current house status. This phase will last until the associated "Publish 16" (of which these feature changes are part) is active on all shards, during which time all houses (except Condemned houses) will continue to be automatically refreshed. Once these feature changes and Publish 16 are on all shards, we will move quickly to the next phase, "Establishing Ownership."

  • Establishing Ownership: This phase will begin phasing out the possibility of "ownerless houses"—those houses that are owned by an inactive UO account—and allow co-owners the option of claiming their respective ownerless houses as their own. Those co-owners, in order to claim such an ownerless house, must not already own a house on any shard.

    The right of claiming an ownerless house will be "first come, first served," where the first co-owner to access the house and claim it will become the new owner.

    If all of a given house's co-owners pass on this ownership claim option, the house will be marked as "Condemned" and allowed to decay at the start of the third and final Implementation phase, "New House Decay Rules Begin."

  • New House Decay Rules Begin: This final phase begins the new house decay rules: all Primary houses will auto-refresh forevermore, Grandfathered houses will need to be manually refreshed, and Condemned houses will not be able to be refreshed and will decay within 2 days (as per the rules specified in the "Housing States" section above).

Primary Houses: Players will have the option to make one of their houses within Ultima Online as their Primary House. Owning a Primary House will have certain benefits and restrictions.

  • A Primary House will never need to be manually refreshed; Primary Houses will always automatically be refreshed.

  • When a player declares one of her houses to be the Primary House for that account, all other houses owned by that account, on all shards, will be set to Condemned status (and decay within 2 days).

  • If a player has placed or has had a house traded to him, he may not place or have another house traded to him for a minimum of one week. However, that player can still give away any number of houses without restriction-he simply can't collect any more until one week has passed since he last obtained a house.

  • If a player's account becomes inactive, all houses on that account will become Condemned. If that account once again becomes active then that account is considered as having automatically "opted in" to the Primary House system, and one house will be compelled to become a Primary House while and all other houses on that account will remain Condemned.

Co-owners: The co-owner feature for houses will continue to exist, with all the rights and privileges they currently enjoy, although being a co-owner will no longer count against your house ownership status.



Unused Character Cleanup

Character data takes up a great deal of space on the servers. Many players have multiple characters that they do not play (characters made for one-time events, made during their regular shard downtime, etc.). Purging characters that are not being used will result in shorter backups, decreasing shard downtime and increasing overall performance.

This system will not need to wait for a publish to turned on, but will be activated once it becomes necessary (i.e. when the available disk space on a shard becomes low). Once it is turned on, it will be a permanent addition to the game. Since it will only be activated in the event of low disk space, it may not be activated on all shards at once necessarily.

Design

Characters will be deleted after not having been used for 6 months unless the character has over 350 total skill points.

Characters at or below 350 total skill points will need to be "refreshed." Refreshing is defined as logging a character in and then logging out. Logging in a character will reset the six month timer.

Characters with over 350 combined skill points will not be deleted, and do not need to be refreshed.

Taming Changes

This is an update to proposed changes for the Taming profession and pets, changes that are being considered toward helping balance Taming as a class, as well as toward improving the overall in-game experience of playing a tamer. This document completely supersedes previous posts to “In Concept”on this subject.

Please keep in mind as you read this documentation that these changes are not yet finalized, and after testing and reexamination there may be some exclusions, alterations, or additions to this proposal.

Please also note that the stats and skills of “legacy pets” (those pets which are in existence prior to the publish of the system changes detailed below) will not be affected by the changes listed here.

Animal Lore

The usage and utility of the Animal Lore skill will be altered in the manner described below. (The exact nature of how “legacy”pets are incorporated into this system has not yet been determined.)

  • The Animal Lore skill will display the following data for any tamed creature:
    • Numeric values for Skills, Strength, Hits, Dexterity, Fatigue, Intelligence, and Mana.
    • Any pack instincts the pet may have.
    • A list of foods the pet eats.
    • A general description of how well you can control the pet based on your skills, the taming difficulty, and current loyalty.
  • At 100.0, you can view the above statistics for any tamable creature.
  • At 110.0, you can view the above statistics for any creature.

Stable Slots

  • The current stable slot system will continue to be in use.
    • All characters are allowed to store 2 pets with an NPC Stablemaster.
    • A character that has a combined total of between 160 and 199.9 in Animal Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore skills can store 3 pets with a Stablemaster.
    • A character that has a combined total of between 200 and 239.9 in Animal Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore skills can store 4 pets with a Stablemaster.
    • A character that has a combined total of 240 or higher in Animal Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore skills can store 5 pets with a Stablemaster.
  • The currently allowable stable slots will be increased. Players will be awarded another stable slot for each of the following skills at 100.0, 110.0 and 120.0: Animal Taming, Animal Lore, and Veterinary.
    • In this way the maximum possible number of stable slots per character will be 14.

Pet Limit

  • You will only be able to control a number of pets based on your pet control slots. Every player has 5 pet control slots. Most pets only require 1 slot, with the following exceptions:
    • 2 control slots: unicorn, ki-rin, nightmare, drake, hellhound (leader), predator hellcat (leader), imp, and frenzied ostard
    • 3 control slots: white wyrm, dragon
    • 4 control slots: hirelings, golems
  • You must have the required control slots available for your mount. Ethereal mounts will require 1 control slot. This means if you go hunting with a dragon (3 control slots) and a drake (2 control slots), you'll have to go on foot.

Pet Loyalty

  • Loyalty checks will have a tighter range. For example, a dragon used to have a chance to obey someone with 50 Animal Taming/50 Animal Lore skill, whereas now they will not obey anyone with less than 80/80.
  • If you have the minimum skill required to tame an animal, you will have much greater control.
  • The number of previous owners will no longer affect control.

Pet Bonding

  • After a real-time week of ownership, pets may bond with their owner.
  • If the animal requires more than 29.1 minimum skill to tame, you must have the minimum skill to tame it before it will bond with you. Examples of animals with 29.1 or lower are horses, ostards, dogs, cats, pack horses, etc.
  • You are limited in the number of pet bonds based on your Animal Taming, Animal Lore, and Veterinary skills.
    • All characters are allowed to bond with 1 pet regardless of skill.
    • A character that has a combined total of between 200 and 299.9 in Animal Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore skills can bond with 2 pets.
    • A character that has a combined total of 300 or higher in Animal Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore skills can bond with 3 pets.
  • Bonded pets will recall with you.
  • Bonded pets will turn into pet ghosts when they die.
  • Instead of [tame], the [bonded] tag will display above a bonded pet.
  • A bond is only broken if the pet goes wild or is released.
  • Casting the 5th circle Summon Animal spell normally brings forth a random animal, but if the casting player has a bonded pet, this spell will instead try to summon your bonded pets. It will not summon them from the stables, but it will work if the bonded pet is a ghost.

Pet Resurrection

  • When a bonded pet dies, it turns into a “pet ghost.” This ghost can still obey the movement commands (follow, come, etc.). The pet ghost will not dissipate or lose loyalty, but cannot be stabled.
  • Any player can attempt to resurrect the pet with bandages if they have at least 80 Veterinary and 80 Animal Lore. The pet owner or a friend of the pet must be nearby to confirm they want the pet to be resurrected.
  • Resurrected pets suffer skill loss. Pets resurrected by their owner receive less of a skill penalty.

Pet Taming

  • If you hide, or come under the effect of the invisibility spell, while using the taming skill, you will automatically become visible
  • Except in the case of paralyzation, if an animal cannot pathfind to the person trying to tame it, the taming attempt will fail. This limitation includes situations where placed objects, walls, energy fields, and any other such object block the creature.
  • Pets will suffer some level of skill loss when they are tamed, but have full potential for training.

Pet Skills

  • Pets will learn skills at an accelerated rate compared to players.
  • All creatures, including pets, will have a faster Mana regeneration rate if they have the Meditation skill. Just like players, they will be able to gain Meditation skill when they regain Mana.
  • All pets will be able to learn Anatomy, Resist Spells, Tactics, and Wrestling.
  • Spellcasting pets will be able to learn Magery and Evaluate Intelligence.
  • Pets with Natural Poison will automatically learn the Poisoning skill in combat. The Poisoning skill is used to determine how often they inject poison. Pets with 99.0 or greater Poisoning skill will sometimes inject a poison 1 level more potent than their normal level.

Pet Special Abilities

  •  

    Pets
    in Pack

    Damage
    Bonus

     

    2

    +25%

     

    3

    +50%

     

    4

    +75%

     

    5

    +100%

    Pack Instinct. If you have at least 2 pets with the same pack instinct under your control, each of those pets gets a bonus to their damage. The instinct types are: Arachnid, Canine, Feline, and Ostard. See the chart at the right for more information.
  • Iron Stomach. Pets with this ability can eat almost anything, including metal and leather. Eating magical items helps the pet regain Mana.
  • Human-Healer Friendly. This pet is easier to heal with the Veterinary skill. This includes normal healing, curing and resurrection.

Veterinary

  • You will only be able to use veterinary on pets. However, you will be able to use it on any pet, except golems and hirelings.
  • The bug that prevents you from using veterinary due to the z-axis or flying will be fixed.

Taming Difficulties

  • The minimum skill required to tame some creatures will be adjusted to provide a better range of pets for mid-level tamers.

Guarding, Friends, and the Stop Command

  • The “guard” command will always require a loyalty check.
  • Pets will only guard their owner.
  • Pets will only obey commands from their owner.
  • Friends of pets will be able access the pet’s pack if it is a pack animal.
  • Friends of pets will be able to confirm the resurrection of that pet.
  • The “stop” command will stop a pet from guarding, following, and attacking.

Unicorns and Ki-rin

  • The bug where you need to double-click twice to dismount a unicorn or ki-rin will be fixed. Yay!
  • Unicorns will no longer open a gate for their rider. Instead, they will attempt to cast cure (using their Magery skill) on their rider if they become poisoned and fall below 40 hit points. Once they successfully cure their rider, they cannot attempt to cure them for another hour.
  • Unicorns will be immune to poison.

Miscellaneous Taming Stuff

  • Animals that could not be fed before (snakes, rats, etc.) will now eat food appropriate to their type. A great deal more pets will have an appetite for fish.
  • Pets will no longer cast Mass Curse.
  • Hellhound leaders will spawn with a range of bright hues again. A predator hellcat leader with similar hues will also be introduced.
  • Legacy nightmares and white wyrms will display correctly in UO: Third Dawn. Their appearance will not change in the 2D client.
  • Shadowlord warhorses will be correctly hued green in the 2D client.


Bard Changes

This is the third update to proposed changes for the Barding profession, changes that are being considered toward helping balance Barding as a class, as well as toward improving the overall in-game experience of playing a bard. This document completely supersedes previous posts to “In Concept”on this subject.

Please keep in mind as you read this documentation that these changes are not yet finalized, and after testing and reexamination they may enter the game with some alterations.

General Rules

The following general rules will apply to all bard-related skills (Musicianship, Discordance, Peacemaking, and Provocation):

  • Musicianship: this is the base skill for all bard abilities. Any attempt to use other bard skills is preceded by a non-difficulty based check of the character’s Musicianship skill. If this skill check fails, the subsequent skill check to use the bard ability is never made and the character must wait some time before attempting the ability again. There are currently known issues allowing extremely rapid gain in this skill. These exploits will be fixed as part of this publish.

  • Skill Bonuses: Exceptional instruments and Magical instruments will give bards skill bonuses in certain circumstances.

  • Ability Range: all bard abilities will have a range. The bard must be within this range of the target to use the ability. Furthermore, the bard must remain within this range or the ability's effect ends. The base range of all bard abilities is 5 tiles, with each 15 points of skill in the ability being used increasing this range by one tile. The Peacemake ability will have an alternative mode usable as a radius of effect. For this variant, the radius of effect is identical to the ability’s range.

  • Activation Cost: all bard abilities will have an activation cost equal to 10% of the bard’s maximum Mana and Stamina, rounded down. If the bard is unable to pay this cost, the ability use fails. There will be no ongoing upkeep. There will be no activation cost on failed barding skill attempts.

    For example, if your character's maximum Mana was 100 and Stamina was 50 (aside from any “buffs” or “debuffs”), the activation cost would be 10 Mana and 5 Stamina (unless the barding ability attempt fails, in which case no Mana or Stamina is lost).

  • Continuation: Once a bard ability has been used on a target, the bard must remain alive, visible, and within line of sight of the target or the effect ends. Regarding creatures with “Dragon AI” (such as daemons, drakes, hellhounds, nightmares, and, of course, dragons): if at any point the bard moves while using any barding song, that may compel the creature to retarget on the moving character.

  • Uniqueness: A single creature can be the target of only a single instance of each bard ability at a time. A single creature can be the target of both Provocation and Peacemaking, but cannot be the target of two simultaneous Peacemakes.

    If a creature becomes under a given barding effect (Discordance, Peacemaking, or Provocation) and a second bard attempts to use that same effect on the creature, then the older effect takes precedence and remains active.

  • Repeatability: All current skill usage delays remain in effect, but there are no new limitations other than those stated above on their use. A bard can have several Provocation fights going at once, provided all of them meet the above restrictions.

Bard Abilities

  • Provocation: In general, this ability will remain unchanged except for these items:

    • Difficulty-Based: The Provocation skill check becomes difficulty-based. Each creature will have a dynamically computed difficulty score based on its attributes, skills, and special abilities. This means that some creatures of a type might be slightly easier or more difficult to provoke than the average. The base difficulty in provoking two creatures to fight is the average difficulty of the two creatures. A chart showing the average difficulty of various creatures is provided below.

    • Correct Damage Assignment: When two creatures are successfully provoked by a bard, damage assignment will be correctly handled for both creatures involved, meaning the bard will receive correct credit toward looting rights, fame/karma rewards, etc. without having to perform a second provoke on the same creatures in reverse order.

      Regarding looting rights, the bard will receive proper damage credit for all damage done to each other by his provoked creatures.

      As an example, consider a bard that provoked two creatures and one has died while the other is left at 10% health. If a passerby finishes off the wounded one, the passerby isn’t likely to get looting rights even though he got the killing blow, because the bard still did the vast majority of the damage.

  • Discordance: this ability replaces the current barding ability known as “Enticement.”

    • Skill Conversion: the Enticement skill in the game will be renamed to Discordance. Any characters who have skill points in Enticement will have those skill points automatically transferred to Discordance.

    • Difficulty-Based: This ability is difficulty-based like provocation. The base difficulty of this skill check is the difficulty of the creature using the same computations as Provoke (examples given in the table below).

    • Targets: This ability cannot target player characters. It can target player pets in Felucca, subject to normal flagging rules.

    • Effects: This ability applies attribute and skill loss to the target creature. The percentage of attribute and skill loss is scaled on the bard’s Discordance skill. At 50.0 skill, the target loses 12.5% from all stats and skills; and at 100.0 skill the target loses 25% from all stats and skills. Subject to standard rules above, the target will regain lost stats and skills once the effect ends. Note that the creature’s barding difficulty rating does not change as a result of stat and skill modifying effects of any sort, so using Discordance against a creature does not make it easier to Provoke.

  • Peacemaking

    • Standard Mode: Peacemake will become a targeted ability. If the bard targets him- or herself, it works in standard mode. This is a one-shot ability that causes all creatures and players in its radius of effect to stop fighting. Creatures and players can immediately re-target and resume fighting.

    • Targeted Mode: In targeted mode, Peacemake is difficulty-based, with difficulty being computed identically to Provocation and Discordance. Upon a successful Peacemake, the target becomes reluctant to fight. Immediately upon effect initiation, the target stops fighting. Thereafter, until the effect is ended per standard rules, whenever the affected creature is attacked for whatever reason tries to start fighting, there is a chance (based on bard skill and creature difficulty) that the creature will instead return to a peaceful state.

      While this ability does not guarantee lack of retaliation from a monster, it does make it a much easier opponent to handle. A player can be targeted with this ability per normal PvP rules (I.E. allowed Trammel guild wars, criminal to use against an innocent in Felucca).

Instruments

  • All musical instruments will begin to wear out with use, including newbie instruments. A non-exceptional player-made instrument or one purchased from an NPC will have approximately 400 uses. An exceptional player-made instrument or a magical instrument will have approximately 500 uses.

  • The instrument used by a bard skill will automatically be the “last instrument” you double-clicked. This is current bard behavior and isn’t being changed as part of this update. When players wish to change their default instrument (when, for example, you have different magical instruments and need to switch between them during an adventure), they will simply accomplish this by double-click it and having it set it self as the new default “last instrument.”

  • Using an exceptional player-crafted instrument grants the bard a bonus of 5 skill points worth of effect for using any bard-related ability. This is applied as a reduction in the difficulty of the skill check, and does not have any effect on any calculations that use the bard’s skill level. For example, the bonus for using an exceptional instrument cannot increase the maximum range or radius of an effect.

  • Magical instruments are to be introduced into the game that will have certain similarities to the “slayer weapons” (what some players call “Virtue weapons”) that are more effective against certain creatures and less effective against others.

    Each of these magical instruments will give the bard 10 skill points worth of difficulty modifiers against a certain class of creature. However, possessing these instruments does not cause the bard to be vulnerable to other types of creatures. Instead, when using the instrument against the opposing creature type, the attempt has a difficulty penalty instead of a bonus.

    As an example, an instrument of Daemon Dismissal (labeled in the fashion of “a lute [Daemon Dismissal]”) will increase the bard’s chance to use a barding ability against any variety of Daemon by 20% (when that instrument is used). When used against an elemental, however, the bard’s chance of success is reduced by 20%.

    Note that it is currently undecided where these magic instruments will spawn. However, they will be fairly common as loot.

 

Target
Creature

Approximate
Difficulty

 

Mongbat

10.0

 

Headless One

25.0

 

Orc

59.0

 

Earth Elemental

70.0

 

Ophidian Warrior

74.0

 

Efreet

87.0

 

Terathan Avenger

93.0

 

Dragon

107.5

 

Succubus

112.5

 

Ancient Wyrm

125.0

Bard Difficulty Table

Difficulty ratings vary per creature and will fall within +/- 2% of the values given in this table. The Difficulty rating is the skill level at which the bard has a 50% chance of success versus the creature. At this skill level -25.0, the bard has no chance of success and can't make the attempt. At this skill level +25.0, the bard is guaranteed success and cannot gain skill against this creature. Using an exceptional instrument grants the bard +10% chance of success. Using an aligned “slayer”instrument grants the bard +20% chance of success. To compute the difficulty of provoking two creatures, average their difficulty ratings.

Example: At 120.0 skill, a bard with a dragon-slaying instrument has approx. 60% chance of success to use an ability against an Ancient Wyrm, or to provoke two Ancient Wyrms to fight. At 100.0 skill, with the same instrument, the chance is approx. 20%.



Tailoring Bulk Order Deeds

The basic concept of the bulk order system is that players who interact with certain crafting-based NPC shopkeepers will, on random occasions, be offered the opportunity to fulfill "bulk order deeds" (also known as "BODs"). In return for completing these BODs, the player will receive special rewards as compensation.

A Blacksmithing BOD system is already in place, and the concept will now be expanded to also include a Tailoring BOD system as well.

Tailoring Bulk Order Deeds

Characters that have a sufficient Tailoring skill and frequently selling goods with NPC Tailor & Weaver shopkeepers will have a chance to receive BOD requests from them.

  • Characters with Tailoring skill of less than 70 will only be given BODs for items that would give the character the opportunity to gain in skill.
  • Characters with 70 or higher Tailoring skill may receive BOD requests for any of the items that are craftable by players' Tailor characters.

Frequency: There will be a random chance that a Tailoring BOD will be offered to the player upon each trade a player's character makes with an NPC Tailor or Weaver.

Difficulty: The level of the character's Tailoring skill will affect the level and complexity of any BOD offered to that character; as the character's Tailoring ability increases, so may the difficulty of the Tailoring BODs increase.

There are also two levels of BODs: Small BODS (or "SBODs") and Large BODs (or "LBODs").

  • SBODs are the basic level of BODs, and may be offered to the player at any point in his or her tailoring career.
    • The difficulty of SBODs will be lightly challenging, scaling up or down based on the level of the player's character's Tailoring skill.
  • LBODs will be more difficult than SBODs, and will only be offered to characters with higher than 70 Tailoring skill.
    • The difficulty of LBODs will be highly challenging, scaling up or down based on the level of the player's character's Tailoring skill.
    • Several SBODs may be required to be combined with an LBOD in order to fill an LBOD request.

Use: The Tailoring BOD will appear as a grey deed within the character's backpack, labeled "a bulk order deed."

  • Double-clicking the deed will display a gump-window which will list the desired item(s), amount, if the item needs to be acceptable, and of what sort of material must be used.
  • To complete an order, the player can use the "combine" button on the deed's gump to combine the crafted items with the deed until the amount of items the deed requests has been reached.
  • The items and deeds must be within the character's backpack for the combination to work.
  • Once the correct amount of items have been created and combined with the deed, the deed can then be dropped on the appropriate NPC for a reward.

Example of a Bulk Order Deed Gump-window


Example of a Large Bulk Order Deed Gump-window


Collecting the reward: Players may redeem the BOD by dropping it onto the correct NPC shopkeeper.

  • The reward will appear automatically in the character's backpack.
  • The reward will be a certain amount of gold, a special item, and an increase in the character's Fame - the level of each will be based on the difficulty of the BOD.
    • If the amount of the gold reward is equal to or higher than 5000 gold pieces, then the player shall receive the gold in the form of a check.
    • The special item will be one that is not currently available in the game outside of the BOD system.
    • The rewards are not listed here, in order to allow Tailors to discover the type and nature of these rewards for themselves.

Example of the special cloth color
that will be low to medium rewards


Example #1: The easiest Tailoring BOD to complete would be an order for 10 skullcaps, of normal quality, each made of cloth.

The player will combine each skullcap as it is completed with the SBOD, and when all the required skullcaps are combined into the SBOD the player will drop the SBOD onto an NPC Tailor or Weaver in order to receive their reward.

The reward would be a moderate amount of gold (in the character's backpack), one special item (also appearing in the character's backpack) and a minor increase in Fame for that character.

Example #2: One of the hardest Tailoring BODs to complete would be a large bulk order for 6 SBODs—1 SBOD for each of the 6 pieces that make up a set of leather armor, with each piece being of exceptional quality, and each piece made with the new barbed leather material.

The player will need to collect the appropriate SBODs, and fill their requirements as normal. The player may combine each SBOD as it is completed with the LBOD, and when all the required SBODs are combined into the LBOD the player will drop the LBOD onto an NPC Tailor or Weaver in order to receive their reward.

The reward would be a bank check for a large sum of gold (in the character's backpack), one special item (also appearing in the character's backpack) and an enormous increase in Fame for that character.

The Virtue of Justice

Justice is part of a philosophy within Ultima Online known as the Virtues, and is one of eight pursuits within the upcoming Virtue system.

The Virtue of Justice has been described thusly:

“Justice is the truth of what is right and wrong in human action and the love of what is right.”

Players will be able to pursue the Virtue of Justice by killing murderers (red-hued player-characters).

Gaining Justice:

  • Characters will be able to gain a certain number of points in the Justice Virtue by killing murderer characters (red-hued player-characters).
    • Safeguards will be in place that will prevent exploitaton of this system. Details on these safeguards will not be disclosed.

Virtuous Title & Abilities: When a character has achieved any number of Justice points, he is considered to have achieved a certain step on the path of Justice.

  • When a player moves his cursor over the Justice symbol, a title will be displayed, indicating the step currently achieved in Justice for that character.
    • First step: Seeker of Justice
    • Second step: Follower of Justice
    • Third step: Knight of Justice
  • Players who progress any number of steps on the path of Justice, but do not continue to actively pursue it, may discover that this Virtuous title reduces in steps over time.
  • Gaining steps in Justice will grant a character the ability to protect any number of characters which are non-criminals/non-murderers.
    • A character must have achieved at least the first step in Justice in order to be able to offer protection to another character.
  • Players may activate their Justice Virtue ability by double-clicking the Justice icon on the Virtue window, then targeting an innocent character.
    • A player may only offer their protection while the target innocent character is within a non-consensual Player-versus-player (PvP) ruleset area (i.e. the Felucca facet). However, moving into a consensual PvP ruleset area (i.e. the Trammel or Ilshenar facets) will not break the protection relationship.
      • If the target character is already protected or in a consensual PvP ruleset area, the Justice player will receive a system message stating "You cannot protect that innocent right now."
        • The target of the protection offer will not be disturbed in any way (they will not receive any message or window).
        • This condition will not count against the player's 1 offer per 15-minute limit.
        • If the Justice player is inside their 1 offer per 15-minute limit, they will receive a message stating "You must wait a while before offering your protection again."
    • Players that are offered protection will be given a special request notice: "{Player-one} is offering you protection. Do you accept the offer from this pursuer of Justice?"
      • The target innocent may decline protection by selecting "no" on the request window. If the target innocent declines protection from a pursuer of Justice, then that Justice character may not request to protect any innocent again for at least 15 minutes.
    • Although a character may protect any number of innocents, an innocent may only have one protector at any given time.
    • At any time, a protected player may break the protection relationship by selecting a context menu option on their own character labeled "Cancel Protective Relationship."
      • Upon cancellation, both players that were in the protective relationship will receive the message, "The protective relationship between {Player-one} and {Player-two} has been ended."
    • The protective relationship will be broken should either character log out.
  • The benefits of Justice-based protection are only in effect while both characters are within the same non-consensual PvP ruleset area.
    • Whenever a protected character receives one a "scroll of power" as a reward for killing a champion of evil (the "boss monster" from a dynamic spawn area), the protector will also have a chance to receive an exact copy of that same scroll of power.
      • Each step gained in Justice will progressively grant the character a greater chance to receive scrolls of power in this manner.
        • First step: 60% chance
        • Second step: 80% chance
        • Third step: 100% chance
      • The protector must be on the same server as the protected character in order to have the possibility of receiving a scroll of power in such a manner. For example, no benefits are in effect while the protector is in the dungeon server and the protected character is in the Lost Lands.
      • Protectors that receive scrolls of power in this manner will receive a notification: "You have been rewarded for your dedication to Justice!"


Revised PvP and Felucca enhancements

This is a completely revised version of the changes previously proposed for treatment of stat loss and murderers, as well as a proposal for enhancing PvP in Felucca's dungeons and Lost Lands. This document also details some new rewards that may be found in the Felucca dungeons and Lost Lands areas. There is also a FAQ that we hope might clear up some questions!

Felucca Changes

NOTES:
  1. These changes apply to the non-SP/IGR shards only!
  2. These changes are an independent set, not to be combined with any other Felucca change proposals listed previously.
Intent
As a brief preface, we’d like to explain the essential goals of the changes listed in this document.
The below changes should…
  1. Establish an area where non-consensual pvp can thrive for a significant number of UO’s players.
  2. Create a risk versus reward model that encourages non-consensual pvp based around resource control rather than profit from the deceased.
  3. Provide meaningful and compelling rewards for players that successfully adventure in the specified areas.
Changes to the Dungeons and Lost Land areas of Felucca
In order to establish an area where players can engage in a meaningful struggle for the control of resources without drastically impacting the current play patterns of Felucca’s citizens, the Dungeon and Lost Land areas of Felucca will be modified.
  1. When a non-Murderer is killed in the Dungeon/Lost Land areas of Felucca, all of the character’s items other than gold, gems, ingots, ore, leather, hides, wool, wood, boards, and cursed items will remain on their ghost (unlootable).
  2. When a Murderer is killed in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca, 50% of the character’s items (random result per item) other than gold, gems, ingots, ore, leather, hides, wool, wood, boards, and cursed items will remain on their ghost (unlootable).
  3. Any player that dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will immediately be given a mandatory “stuck player” option (forced to leave the dungeon and lost land servers). During this process, the player will not be able to hear spoken words (they can send/receive party messages as normal).
  4. A player that dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will not be able to return to those servers for 30 minutes.
  5. Ghosts will be unable to enter the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca.
  6. Players will no longer be able to recall or gate into or out of the Dungeon/LostLand areas of Felucca.
  7. The various dungeons of Felucca will be linked to each other via teleporters to help alleviate crowding and bottlenecks.
  8. When a player reports a murder, only the long-term murder count will be incremented.
  9. If a murderer dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca, they will not take stat loss upon their next resurrection.
  10. When stealing from innocents, thieves will only be able to steal gold and gems in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca. Thieves will continue to be able to use the full range of their thieving abilities against consensual-pvp opponents (guild wars, order/chaos, factions).
  11. Many Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will contain “champion regions” (a.k.a. “Evil-in-a-Can”).
  12. The various champions of evil and “The Harrower” itself (a new champion monster, not to be confused with the mere “tentacles of the Harrower”) that spawn in Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will carry special Scrolls of Power (detailed further below).
  13. The Minax faction stronghold will be relocated from the lost lands to another location in Felucca.
  14. The city of Delucia will no longer be a “faction city”. However, the city of Vesper will become a faction city.
Changes to the consequences/conditions of the “Murderer” status
  1. The “bounty system” will be eliminated.
  2. The “murderer” paperdoll title will be eliminated (although players with 5 murders will still highlight red and be considered “murderers” in this document). This does mean a red character can be titled as “Dread Lord” again, assuming they have enough fame and karma to warrant it.
  3. Red characters will not be able to gain Virtue, or use any Virtue abilities.
  4. When a red character takes stat loss, all short term counts will be wiped.
Changes to the conditions of the “Criminal” status
Innocents (blues) will no longer be able to negatively affect other innocents through the following area effects indirectly: purple potions, mass curse, meteor swarm, chain lightning, earthquake, fire field, poison field, paralyze field, blade spirits, or energy vortex. This applies to all of Felucca.

Changes to the consequences/conditions of being a “Thief”
Stealing will no longer be considered an aggressive act, although it will continue to be a criminal act (players will not be able to report a thief for murder if they attack the thief but lose the fight). This applies to all of Felucca.

Increased reward in all of FeluccaIn order to provide incentives for some of Britannia’s braver citizens such that they have reason to spend more time in Felucca, we will institute several measures that are intended to increase the reward for adventuring in Felucca.
  1. Felucca will have much of its spawn modified to include fewer monsters overall, yet a much higher percentage of medium to high-end monsters (liches, daemons, ancient wyrms, blood elementals, etc…), and far fewer low-end monsters (slimes, rats, snakes, headless’, etc…).
  2. Mines, trees, sheep, will produce double the normal resources in Felucca, as will all creatures that produce leather or feather resources.
  3. Monsters in Felucca will provide more fame and karma.
“Cursed” items
  1. Some new items that are available exclusively through adventures in the Felucca dungeons and lost lands will be “cursed” (the opposite of “blessed”).
  2. Cursed items will always drop to the player’s corpse upon death, regardless of any other looting rules.
Scrolls of Power
Scrolls of Power are significant new items that allow veteran players to continue the development and/or specialization of their characters.

Skill Scrolls:
  1. A new type of scroll will be added that allows players to raise the limits of their possible maximum skill values beyond 100.0 (up to 120.0).
  2. The player’s skill will not actually be raised upon using the scroll, but the cap on that skill will be raised to the appropriate level, depending on which scroll was used.
  3. These scrolls will only be found on “Champions of Evil” that spawn in the Dungeons and Lost Lands areas on the Felucca facet.
  4. For each eligible skill, there are 4 different types of scrolls:
    • +5.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 105.0)
    • +10.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 110.0)
    • +15.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 115.0)
    • +20.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 120.0)
  5. The skill scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +20.0 skill scroll to reach a maximum value of 120.0 skill, that character cannot use four separate +5.0 skill scrolls to achieve the same result).
  6. Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10.0 Magery skill scroll to raise your Magery skill limit to 110.0, that character can no longer use any +5.0 or +10.0 Magery skill scrolls).
  7. The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
  8. Once a player uses the skill scroll and raises their skill limit, they will then be able to gain in that skill (through normal means) until they reach their new skill limit.
  9. All skill points gained above 100.0 continue to count against the player’s skill cap (if the player is a “7x GM” and wants to raise 5 skills to 120.0, they would have to lower 1 of their gm skills and eventually become a 5x 120, 1x 100 character).
  10. Skill scrolls are “cursed” items (explained further below), but are consumed upon use.
  11. Players may trade and/or sell skill scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).
  12. Only the following skill scrolls will spawn as of Publish 16:
    • Swordsmanship
    • Fencing
    • Mace Fighting
    • Archery
    • Wrestling
    • Parrying
    • Tactics
    • Anatomy
    • Healing
    • Magery
    • Meditation
    • Evaluate Intelligence
    • Magic Resistance
    • Animal Taming
    • Animal Lore
    • Veterinary
    • Musicianship
    • Provocation
    • Enticement
    • Peacemaking
    • Stealth
    • Stealing
The interface for skill scrolls will function as follows:
  1. Player “uses” the skill scroll (double-click).
  2. The appropriate skill now has a “cap” of 100.0 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 105.0 for a +5.0 skill scroll).
  3. The player may view their maximum skill value in the skills window (this will be patched as a publish 16 client change). For example, a player might see: Magery 92.1/115.0
Stat Scrolls:
  1. Stat scrolls can only be found on “The Harrower” (a new “arch champion” that will also be found in the dungeon and Lost Land areas of Felucca, and will be described in more detail in the near future… not to be confused with the mere “Tentacles of the Harrower”).
  2. When used, stat scrolls increase the character’s actual stat cap, thereby allowing players to gain stats beyond the normal 225-point limit.
  3. Stat scrolls can be found in 5 varieties: +5, +10, +15, +20, and +25.
  4. The stat scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +25 stat scroll to reach a stat cap of 250, you cannot use five separate +5 stat scrolls to achieve the same result).
  5. As of Publish 16, the new limit on any one stat will be raised from 100 to 125. This is independent of the stat scroll additions, and will be applied to all players.
  6. Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10 stat scroll to raise your stat cap to 235, that character can no longer use any +5 or +10 stat scrolls).
  7. The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
  8. Once a player uses a stat scroll and raises their stat cap, they will be able to gain in any stat (through normal means) until they reach their new stat limit.
  9. Stat scrolls are “cursed” items, but are consumed upon use.
  10. Players may trade and/or sell stat scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).
The interface for stat scrolls will function as follows:
  1. Character “uses” the stat scroll (double-click).
  2. The character now has a stat cap equal to 225 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 240 for a +15 stat scroll).
  3. The player may view their stat maximum status window (this will be patched as a publish 16 client change). For example, a player might see: Stat Maximum 230
FAQ

What does this mean for the other changes – one red, all red, the 30% looting thing, etc?
These changes are the new proposal that will completely replace the old proposal. This is INSTEAD of the other changes, not in addition to them.

What about the rest of Felucca – is it changing?
The mainland of Felucca will, for the most part, retain the same rule set with the following exceptions:
  • Stealing will no longer be considered an aggressive act (although it’s still a criminal act).
  • Felucca spawn changes will affect all of Felucca, except the Hero spawn will only occur in the Dungeon/Lost Lands areas.
  • Resource levels, along with fame and karma, will be raised in Felucca.
  • Vesper will become a faction town.
  • The Minax stronghold will be relocated to a mountainous area of Felucca.
  • Blues can no longer indirectly damage other blues through area effect spells.
  • Increased stat cap on individual stats for all characters (from 100 to 125).
  • Skill and stat scrolls will be able to be used in Trammel or Felucca, and their effects will remain constant across all facets.
“Fewer monsters overall”? What’s up with that?
Large quantities of monsters in Felucca will be swapped with lower quantity, higher quality monsters. For example, is that there won’t be as many hordes of rats, but you might instead see a few large rats or ratmen, or perhaps even something single, more powerful entity, like a lich lord.

Any changes to Trammel or Ilshenar?
  • Increased stat cap on individual stats for all characters (from 100 to 125).
  • Skill and stat scrolls will be able to be used in Trammel or Felucca, and their effects will remain constant across all facets.
Why double the ore in Felucca where miners and resource gatherers can get ganked?
Since there’s nothing in these resource spots you can’t get in Trammel, this change isn’t intended to persuade resource gatherers to mine/gather in Felucca. However, we feel that anyone who braves the greater risk should get a greater reward for their trouble.

Why are you changing both the dungeons and the Lost Lands? Why not one or the other?
There’s two main reasons for this. One is that all these areas are on the same sub-server, which will make the change in rules much easier; and two, this creates a larger area with more variety for the new Hero spawns.

Can’t return to the dungeon server for 30 minutes? Why?
In order for the challenge of fighting the Hero spawns and surviving in these areas to really be a challenge, we need to be sure that people can’t just keep dying and immediately coming back indefinitely. By keeping people from coming right back into the fray of the fight after dying, players are able to establish some kind of control over the resources and territory they’re fighting over. It will also be a greater challenge to groups – it will be highly beneficial to keep your group members alive, thus keeping your group as powerful as it can be.

Blues can’t hurt other blues? Anywhere?
This change affects all of Felucca. Blues can still harm other blues with area effect spells if they target them directly, but they won’t hurt other blues who are accidentally caught in the area effect radius.

So is there any change to how long it takes to work off a murder count?
No, there are no changes.

If I steal from someone in Felucca, or from someone I am in a guildwar with in Trammel, will I get a murder count?
If you steal from anyone, in any situation that allows stealing, you will “go grey” to that person and he may attack you in return, but you will not gain a murder count.

So I can still go grey by stealing?
Yes, but you aren’t going to be considered the aggressor, so you can’t be given a murder count after stealing from someone and being attacked. This applies to any situation on any facet where stealing is allowed, such as guildwars.

You mention a “stuck player” option when you die in Felucca’s dungeons/Lost Lands. Is this the same as the one from the Help menu?
It is similar, but there will be some small, important differences. This new type of “stuck player” option will allow the dead character to immediately move to the town chosen from the “stuck list,” while the Help menu version will continue to have a 2-minute wait before teleporting to town. The new menu will also not be able to be “cancelled”—players must choose a target city or one will be chosen at random for them within a few seconds.

So what about people who get hurt in the Lost Lands area, then go back to Felucca to die, thus giving their aggressor a short-term murder count?
This is something we’ve thought about, and we do have some ideas worked out to prevent this.

What about the PKs who will camp the Hero spawn areas to get the scrolls?
It will most likely take at least 6-10 players to get the champion to spawn, and only one will have the scroll, making it difficult for PKs to know who is carrying anything valuable. Not to mention the fact that potential PK’s will also have to deal with monsters as well!

There will also be 17 different areas in the Felucca dungeons/Lost Lands where the Heroes will spawn, so it will be difficult to camp all of them – as well, the spawn areas in the LL will rotate, making it that much harder.

When do murderers take stat loss and when do they not?
In the main land of Felucca, short term and long-term counts will remain just as they are now. Stat loss is still based on having 5 or more short term counts. The difference is that people who murder others in the dungeons/LL of Felucca will only take long-term counts (which only determines whether or not you are red, and does not lead to stat loss).

So I can’t take stat loss in the Felucca dungeon/Lost Lands?
Nope! Even if you have short term murder counts and would typically take stat loss in the main Felucca area, you can die in the dungeon or Lost Lands server and be resurrected (somewhere outside Felucca's dungeons or lost lands) with no stat loss.

Red characters will no longer gain Virtues. What happens to my existing virtue points?
You will not be able to gain in any Virtue, and your existing Virtue points will decay as normal.

If my murderer dies in a Feluccan dungeon, will I be able to go back and get my stuff?
The corpses of players’ characters decay within a few minutes. The proposed system prohibits that character from returning to the dungeon server for 30 minutes, so obviously your corpse (and any items contained within) will have long decayed. After teleporting to town, if you think your items may still be recoverable, you have the option to try switching characters or asking a friend to recover your items for you.

If I get a +20 skill scroll, does that mean all my skills can go up to 120?
No, only the one skill that relates to the skill scroll. If you found a magery skill scroll, only your magery will be allowed to exceed normal limits and achieve 120.Note also that your total skill points will not exceed the current cap of 700 points. A “maxed out” character currently can achieve 7xGM (a score of 100 in each of 7 skills). With the skill scroll system, a character can achieve 5x120, +1xGM (a score of 120 in each of 5 skills, with a score of 100 in a sixth skill).

So can I raise my total skill cap with these scrolls?
No, the skill cap remains the same, at 700 points. The increased skill limits will count towards that same skill cap.

Why are there only skill scrolls available for certain skills?
Those are the only skills that continue to give an added benefit once they’re over 100 – we could enable you to raise other skills over 100, but there would be no purpose to it.

Isn’t the ability to raise skills over 100 going to imbalance combat?
We’ll be modifying the effects of skills over 100 and will be introducing new items that help maintain balance for all characters.

Can cursed items be stolen?
Yes, but not in Lost Lands areas, since the only things that can be stolen there will be gold and gems.

Will all heroes drop scrolls?
Currently the idea is that they will, but we will be doing extensive playtesting to determine the best rate that won’t be unbalancing.

Why do I have to fight PKs to get the good stuff?
These items will be sold in Trammel, so people who do not wish to risk being killed can buy them from other players. Since players cannot use these scrolls cumulatively, and cannot use any scrolls lower than one they’ve already used, not all scrolls found will be usable by the person who found them, and will undoubtedly be sold.

Won’t characters who use skill scrolls be better than me?
Characters currently cannot gain skill points beyond a combined total of 700, and this will not change. Both your character and the character that uses skill scrolls will still have that same “cap” on total skill points achievable.

Your character will not necessarily be better or worse than the one that uses skill scrolls, although a player that does use skill scrolls will have more options opened up to him as to how to tailor his character, in that he can raise certain skills higher than the current standard of 100 (Grandmaster).

Guaranteed Gain System

To learn more about the thoughts behind this proposal, please read the joint Comments from the Team on skill gain from Evocare, our Lead Designer, and Prophet, our Lead Programmer, located here.

In essence, this modification would eliminate the need for "power hour" by providing opportunities for guaranteed skill gain during normal play.

Guaranteed Gain System (GGS)

The core of this system is the guarantee that if you play "normally", you will gain skill. Under the GGS system, if you have not gained skill under the current use-based system after a certain time period, the system would recognize this and force a point of skill gain (point meaning a tenth of a point, as in moving from 70.1 to 70.2). The length of the time period, or timer, is based on the level of skill. The current time periods are listed below, but note that they are subject to change. In addition to the time intervals listed below, there would also be a limit on how many GGS points total per day a player can earn once their skill reaches 70.

Skill Value Ranges Time Between Gains
10.0 – 14.9 160 secs
15.0 – 19.9 200 secs
20.0 - 24.9 250 secs
25.0 - 34.9 300 secs
35.0 - 44.9 400 secs
45.0 - 49.9 500 secs
50.0 - 54.9 10 mins
55.0 - 59.9 15 mins
60.0 - 69.9 20 mins
70.0 - 79.9 40 mins
80.0 - 89.9 80 mins
90.0 - 94.9 120 mins
95.0 - 98.9 150 mins
99.0 - 100.0 240 mins

As always, you can only gain skill when you successfully perform an action. So an example of this is as follows: Let's say you cast a spell of moderate difficulty, and succeed, but you do not gain skill. If the relevant time period passes, and you have still not gained a point in that skill, then the next time you successfully use that skill again, you will gain a point. These time periods are based on the server system clock, meaning that you don't have to be logged in for your timers to refresh.

This does not mean that players would be unable to gain skill until the timer refreshes, because the GGS would not be replacing the current use-based system, but it would be implemented in addition to it. You would still be able to gain skill under the current use-based system, but the GGS would now keep track of how long it has been since you had gained a point of skill. If the time period had passed and you had not gained skill through the regular method, you would gain a point through the GGS. The use-based system, though, would not be restricted by time. Even if you had just gained a point through the GGS, the game would still check for skill gain under the use-based system, although admittedly it would still be incredibly difficult to gain skill in this way at the high end range.

To ensure that characters could not become Grandmasters overnight, there would be a limit on how many points of skill a player could earn through the GGS during each day. This limit would be high for players of low skill, but as players' skill levels grow higher, the limit on how many they points they can earn through the GGS grows smaller. This means it would still take longer to gain skill in the 90's then it did in the 10's or 50's (this is nothing new). Note, however, that this limit does not affect the current use-based system, so players who reach that limit can still gain more skill through the old skill system, by using the skills themselves.

The most noticeable difference from the current system (not including power hour) is that skill gains in the 90's while playing normally would not only be possible, they would be guaranteed (provided you are performing your skill in or around your current skill level). For example, casting Magic Arrow with a magery skill of 90 would provide no chance whatsoever to gain skill in magery, even with GGS. You would need to cast higher level spells to see guaranteed skill gain. Similarly, crafting daggers with a blacksmithy of 80 would provide no chance to gain skill in blacksmithy. Skills that are not difficulty based, however, would always have a chance to gain.

Many changes, and big ones too. Player reaction is still mixed, but most of those who have tried the changes on test center find the changes to be appropriate.Like it or not, here it comes!


A Neutral High Council?
Submitted Wednesday, June 19, 2002 - 3:26:36 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortFrom Jakob Covenant:

I have been hearing from some disaffected people that the High Council only represents and is composed of the virtue aligned guilds, so therefore it has no legitimacy.

Bullocks! Since when does a government have to be representative of criminals, malefactors, and misfeasors?

One of the most important functions of a government is to protect its citizens. How can a government effectively protect citizens if the same government is composed of criminals and murderers who seek to exploit or wreak havoc on the citizenry? It would be ridiculous to have laws against thievery in order to protect citizens and commerce, when theThief’s Guild is part of the law-making and enforcing body.

The High Council represents the common, law-abiding, people of Britannia. We do not represent people who would kidnap an innocent and then sacrifice the poor innocent to some dark forsaken demon. We do not represent thieves. We do not represent criminals. So in this respect, there is no neutrality. Either a government promotes the well being and good of the people, or it does not. There is no middle of the road here. However, the High Council does maintain the Seat of Neutrality in order to prevent excesses made in the name of good.

You are a thief and you want a say in the government? That is what a thief’s guild is for. They have long bribed officials and guards to do what they please. Are you an outlaw? Then build connections with other outlaws as done before in history. I know corruption will exist at some level, no matter how hard we strive to stamp it out.

In a way, the High Council does a service to those that are evil or outlaw. For in a place without laws, then there would be no outlaws. So evil may shake its clawed and poisonous fist at the High Council all it wants, but we will maintain our duty to protect and promote civil society.

Yours in service,

Jakob Covenant
First Seat – High Council
Commander – Highland Guard


Trinsic going Hog Wild
Submitted Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 4:06:48 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick Seafortvia Stratics:

Get ready...get set.......GO.
On Wednesday, June 19th at 7 pm of the Central skies, go Hog Wild in Trinsic. Hon the walls of Trinsic-Trammel.

Race your newly bonded Hog across the walls of Trinsic and become the winner of the race. Come early and scout out the Hogs. Bond with one and get ready for the race of your life.

50K for first prize. After the race, perhaps we can talk the Mayor of Trinsic into using his culinary arts to roast them for us and have a huge BBQ.

Race shall start at the bakery *Baked Delights* in the city of Trinsic.

Pictures of you and your Hog shall be available for a slight charge. See you there *SOUEY*


Carnival of Souls Blacksmith event
Submitted Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 4:04:40 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick Seafortvia Stratics:

We had so much fun at our first event ever that we are holding our second event already. This Tuesday, June 18th, C S will be holding an armor and arms repair and giveaway at the Haven smithy from 7pm to 8pm by the Central skys. We will have 4 Grandmaster smiths on hand to give new adventurers the best arms and armor in Brittania. Experienced adventurers will receive free repairs or 2 weapons of your choice.

Hope to see you there!

Harliquin
Guildmaster, Carnival of Souls


A Call to Action
Submitted Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 11:10:40 PM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Valeria:

Citizens of Britannia, hear the call to action. In recent events we have been handed unfair trials, fake judges, rumors about guilds lining their pockets with taxes, and even accusations of guilds working with the Cult. I am one of those who followed Dorain DeLacey, like Zeph I saw the corruption and the lies. What happens if you make a mistake and are put on trial? You will want a fair trial like any being in this land deserves. I stood by and watched the recent trials and I was stunned at how quick and wreckless they were. The judge should be a man from a neutral organization. Not somone who follows the cause of one side. Many people have been yelling out rebellion, and those shouts went unanswered. Hear the call now, rise to action rise and bring righteousness back into this land.


Foreign and Domestic Ambassadors wanted!
Submitted Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 2:24:34 PM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortHail Britannia!

Now that the High Council is selected, we are now able to accept applications for foreign and domestic ambassadors.

A foreign ambassador represents people from nations outside Britannia. They help to promote foreign relations between Britannia and the rest of Sosaria. To be eligable, a foreign state must establish an embassy in one of the cities which has a council seat. TheForeign state may then send its ambassador before the council, and the council will decide is the ambassador is acceptable. The ambassador must be agreed upon by both the Council, and the foreign nation.

A Domestic Ambassador represents people in Britannia who do not have direct representation already. The Ambassador to Cove, Ambassador to Vesper, and Ambassador to Serpent's Hold are all domestic ambassadors. In addition to these three cities, domestic ambassadors may also represent people from player-run cities. As always, the city and the council must both agree on the ambassador.

If you would like to be an Ambassador, contact your local leadership. If they approve, send your request to alazraham@ds180.net and include your Characters name, and the name of the place that you wish to represent on the council.

Thank you!

--Alazraham


High Council formed!
Submitted Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 2:03:49 AM by Nick Seafort

Nick SeafortHail, by friends!

It is my pleasure to inform you that the selections for the members of the High Council is complete! Here are the results that you have all been waiting for:

Councilors


  • First Seat - Jakob Covenant, representing Sacrifice and the city of Minoc
  • Second Seat - Duke Gurney Halleck, representing Honor and the city of Trinsic
  • Third Seat - Kazola, representing Justice and the city of Yew
  • Fourth Seat - Ra'Dian Fi'Gith, representing Humility and the city of Magincia
  • Fifth Seat - Admorel Twilight, representing Valor and the city of Jhelom
  • Sixth Seat - Galinda, representing Compassion and the city of Britain
  • Seventh Seat - Kellor, representing Honesty and the city of Moonglow
  • Eighth Seat - Rath Stonesoul, representing Spirituality and the city of Skara Brae
  • Ninth Seat - Ravenmaster, representing Balance

Ambassadors:

  • Zaknafein Durden, representing the city of Cove
  • Lilly Thann, representing the city of Vesper
  • Malone, representing the city of Serpent's Hold


Some of the results are still preliminary, so some of the exact vote tallies are still not known. They will be announced when they become available. You may now view the candidates applications on the High Council public forums, available to the left.

Those of you listed above, congratulations! There were many great candidates who applied, but sadly too few positions for all of you.

Councilors and Ambassadors, please check the High Council Public forum for further instructions.


Craziness Ensues At Trial, But Final Verdicts Given!
Submitted Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 6:47:20 AM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Skara Brae:

Hands down it had to be the craziest night ever seen in Skara Brae. The trial started off without a hitch and much more organized than the one before it.

As said before, more than just Shaleen and Jacop could be put on trial, and it was proved true. Both Boromir and Infestus were put on trial with the two previously mentioned.

Rath started with Infestus, questioning him of his past and of his sanity. The man was clearly disturbed. The man claimed that he had been brainwashed by Eowen and thus was bound to serve the Cult now. Feeling Compassion, Rath felt this man needed help, not punishment. He ordered that the prisoner be set free and go seek immediate help in Moonglow.

With that, attention was turned on the vile Shaleen, known Mistress of Basil. Asked if she held the ear of Basil, she said no. Asked if she was the controller of his bed, she declined. She said she was his lover, not his controller. Yet to many, a lover is a controller, and this dark elven woman no doubtedly used her power for political gain. Rath spared her nothing and gave her a life sentence unless it was felt that she seemed fit to return to society.

Jacop, once known as an innocent citizen of Sanctuary, was questioned after this. Character witnesses were called for him, among them was White Lotus and Eternity. Eternity seemed like she wanted to turn this into a trial of Rath, not the Cultists, but she stepped back when asked to return to her seat. Rath, about to let Jacop go, found that Jacop would have no such thing, as he admitted to doing evil and many other things under sound mind. Rath, confused as to why this man wanted to incriminate himself, gave the sentence of two years in the Trinsic jail. Yet Jacop would have nothing of it, he said he would serve as long as his guildmates did.

Now, after having been gagged earlier, Mr. Boromir, as Rath fondly reffered to him as, was given the chance to speak. Immediately propaganda flowed from his mouth. He dodged the question of owning slaves for a mining company for several minutes before finally lying to Rath about how there were no slaves. Roxanne started to grumble in the corner, and finally she stood up and objected to the court. Trying to ignore her, Rath kept up his questioning of Boromir, about to give his verdict.

Finally, after much protest by Roxanne, he allowed her to speak. She asked Rath a question he could surely not answer, and then proceeded to accuse him of being a false Rath. Panic broke out in the room as many people became confused and Rath lost control of the court room. Immediately it was feared that this was a Cultist trick to escape, so the prisoners were immediately grabbed and tugged towards their cells. Among the cries of chaos, Rath managed to yell at Boromir who was demanding to be set free because no verdict had been given.

Boromir, you will not get away! You are guilty! Guilty I say! Life in prison for you!

Thats when the chaos really broke out. Followed by his guards, Rath started to leave the room. Roxanne was able to paralyze Rath Stonesoul without being noticed. Defending himself and trying to gather his troop in the chaos, Rath lunged at Roxanne, striking three heavy blows. Yet it was futile, as rangers from the Ranger Enforcers of Sosoria emerged from everywhere. Lord Stonesoul was put down easily by Roxanne and her guild, with Geoffrey of Cove following suit soon after. Civilians were running crazy as the forces of Highland Guard and House Stonesoul tried to figure out what was going on.

The next highest ranking soldier in the room obviously was panic'd, as Commander Dark Fool screamed for his forces to put their weapons down, even as they were being slain. It seemed evident that the prisoners would escape now.

Boromir made a run for it, but like a saving a hand, he was grabbed and dragged back into the building. The Order of the Silver Serpent had arrived. Syndar dragged Boromir back into the building as General Nero moved through the crowd with others to secure the rest of the prisoners. The Highland Guard and House Stonesoul fought valiantly against the Rangers, but without a proven leader and another commander screaming to put down their weapons, they were put down quickly.

Then, almost before Nero got to the prisoners, Dark Fool tried to set them free.

It was astonishing, why would a commander of First Army wish to set the Cultists free? Was it House Stonesoul that was in league with the Cult, or was it First Army?!?

The Rangers, whos intentions were not known, disappeared into the woodwork, but not before demanding that the prisoners be given a fair trial. Nero, not about to let these fools, who he had been chasing for the better part of his life, go free, decided to move them to Trinsic that day.

Shifting their way through the panic'd crowd, the prisoners were taken to Trinsic ahead of schedule where they will be held and serve their time.

Review of Verdicts:

Name: Infestus
Verdict: Not Guilty. Set free under the order to immediately head to Moonglow and seek help from the mages there. Was let go under the guise that he had only served the Cult because he had been brainwashed by Lady Eowen when she led the guild.

Name: Shaleen
Verdict: Guilty. Ordered to spend the rest of her life in the Trinsic jail unless it was seen that she was fit to return to society. She was given this sentence under the evidence that she had been a key planner in Basil's actions.

Name: Jacop
Verdict: Guilty. Ordered to spend two years in the Trinsic jail. Was originally going to be found not guilty, but incriminated himself right before the verdict was read. Out of compassion, his sentence was made short.

Name: Boromir
Verdict: Guilty. Was given the life sentence in the Trinsic jail without opportunity to rejoin society. It was also ordered that this propagandist have his room painted with key definitions of Virtue and Order so that he could learn of his faults during his long stay. A fitting verdict for such a villanous criminal.

Only one person is left to be put on trial, and that is Ryth. Trial date will be set forth soon. Raistlin is still wanted for questioning, please notify the authorities if you see him.


Trinsic Archery Contest Results
Submitted Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 2:24:50 AM by Jeremiah Cruz

Jeremiah CruzFrom Trinsic:

The Great Pumpkin smiled upon Trinsic tonight as people from across the land arrived to take part in a event sponsored by the Trinsic City Council. With the promise of great prizes and the chance to try there hand against the city council members themselves 26 Archers arrived to take part in the "Meet and Beat the Trinsic Town Council Archery tournament".


After explaining the rules of the tourny the score keeper No-One Important, handed over the crowd to Tyrone the Mayor of Trinsic. Tyrone thanked them for attending and then went on to introduce the Trinsic town council members made up of White Lotus, Isabella le Veaux, Karisma Novell, No-One Important and Gurney. After this he explained with a wry grin that anyone who beat him would be hanged in the town square and then let the contest begin.

It was a exciting and tense contest between the 26 contestants including a amazing tie break battle between Odin and Battle John Jr which took five extra shots to decide. In the end however Ebola Dragon came in 1st place winning the Grand Prize of 100k, Battle John Jr taking the second place prize of a Emminantly Accurate Crossbow of Vanquishing and Zeek winning a Converted Juka bow..

Thankfully nobody was hanged today also as Tyrone did win something and even though it was for the worst shot of the entire event, even he walked away with a smile.

The council would like to thank all the participants who attended this contest and would like to welcome everyone from Sosaria to take part in an event soon to come which is sure to bring a smile to everyones face.

So watch this space as details are soon to come or visit the *Trinsic Town Council website for more details


Once Again This Is Rumor Control, Here Are The Facts
Submitted Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 2:06:06 AM by Basil

BasilWell, since basically all of this is going around on ICQ and people don't have all the facts, I am going to lay them out for you.

Decide what you want about who is evil, who is a puppet, and who is here to destroy our fun.


Fact: I laid out this trial quest for B-D and for Rath Stonesoul.

Fact: Rath Stonesoul was going to be the judge at the trial.

Fact: Both the 9 B-D and Rath have real lives and have to attend to them.

Fact: Rath will be away from UO for several weeks soon, as will a few B-D.

Fact: The time for which people would have to be away from UO was drawing very close and we had still completed the trials.

Fact: Rath gave me his account information and told me to finish it since he couldn't make it.

Fact: It was done so because we wanted to play the game and quest.

Fact: No one was told that I was Rath, except for the B-D that were there, because I was in party with them during the trial.

Fact: Marcus interrogated Jasmine because of last night.

Fact: Jasmine asked me to come.

Fact: I went as Solomon

Fact: Marcus didn't ask me to leave. Dark Fool did, but he did nothing after Jasmine said for me to stay.

Fact: The interrogation was over when I logged Solomon.

Fact: I log on Rath, whom was logged out at the tower where the questioning was taking place.

Fact: They decided to ask more questions after I had left.

Fact: It was 15 minutes before the trial.

Fact: I went up to get them to see if they wanted to go to the trial.

Fact: When asked about Wiligan or Jasmine, I played stupid.

Fact: I finally said I am going to the trial, I will see them there.

Fact: The trials verdicts were not all pre-determined. Only those that asked to be killed off or be put in jail beforehand had pre-determined verdicts.

Fact: Nieves' actions were totally in character. He did nothing wrong. So don't blame him, like some would like to.

Opinion: I believe that he played the situation superbly and it was awesome. I don't believe his actions were meant to be harmful to Rath or House Stonesoul OOC.

Fact: Nieves did attack Rath Stonesoul.

Fact: Rath Stonesoul and Geoffrey of Cove were slain.

Fact: Without their leaders, both HSS and Highland Guard were put down rather easily.

Fact: After this, Nero went ahead and moved the prisone