• > The character name is inappropriate
• > The descriptions are not formatted properly or are inappropriate
• > The character is described as something that doesn't exist in our game world
• > The character is intended to practice a profession that doesn't exist in our game world
• > No background information is provided in your submission
• > You are resubmitting your character without making required changes

By avoiding these pitfalls, reading the documentation throughout the site, and taking the time to create a character who really "feels alive", then your application will likely be accepted without any problems. If you have read our documentation and still don't understand the game world or how you could make a character that would fit into the game world then feel free to contact any member of the staff for help.

You may name your character anything that you want providing that the name is not the same name used as the login for your account, that the name fits into a fantasy setting, and that the name is not one that is copyrighted or well-known from literature. Names such as Drizzt and Gandalf will cause your character application to be denied, as will be the use of any of the unique names from the Subterranea novels.

Your character may be either male or female, and while there are some coded differences between the two, males and females in Brysh society are treated more or less the same. As such, chivalry toward women doesn't exist in the typical euro-fashion. Women are able to achieve the same levels of mastery in any profession as men.

The vast majority of player characters in the Subterranea RPIMUD are humans who are members of the Brysh culture, within the Brysh Sovereignty, which is otherwise known as the Brylands. Your first new character will be human, however you will see that there are other races available in the game that you cannot yet select. These races become available to you in the future when you have earned enough role-play points to select them. As a human, you are already familiar with what humans look like, how humans behave, and the physical tendencies and limitations of humans. The restricted races require an understanding of those races, which is why they are not initially available to new players.

In most cases, you don't have any other option, but to play a human. However, once you select a race, you will see a bit more detailed information about the race. This is particularly important if you are chosing a non-human race. Confirm your selection, and move on.

All human characters are born in one of the Brysh villages or the Undercity of Subterranea itself. Your birthplace is very important and shouldn't be chosen lightly. Your birthplace will deterrmine what skills are open to you during character creation, which in turn will influence your character's profession. In addition, your character will be a known part of your birth community, and you'll have access to special communal assets in your birthplace as well as the ability to submit a housing request for your character. When introducing yourself to other players, you may often refer to yourself as being from your birthplace as a matter of pride in where you came from.

• Ambermane: The university township and home to would-be wizards.
• Ambly: A village destroyed last summer by the garuk.
• Bacca: A mountain village of shepherds and farmers.
• Barnwall: A farming village where hops is grown and beer is made.
• Black Rift: The homeland of garuk, and the only option for garuk PCs.
• Corbend: A small village at the edge of the unexplored Ghostwood..
• Goldwater: A mining village built over the goldmines near Goldwater River.
• Lursh: The militarian village and training place of the wardens.
• Market: The market township, home to the largest open market and trade.
• Rish Hollow: Once an iron mining village, now controlled by scoundrals.
• Roak's Grave: The homeland of the Ambra, available to shade PCs only.
• Sallow: A small farming village with little to offer other than peace and quiet.
• Seahaven: A warm coastal village and home to seers and dreamers.
• Sparrow: A woodland village and home to the best hunters in the Brylands.
• Stonehold: A quarry and mining village near Subterranea.
• Subterranea: The capital undercity of the Brylands.
• Talbin: A remote, fishing village found deep in the Hagstead.

 

Your character can be of any age between 12 and 65 cycles of age. Keep in mind that the term 'year' in Subterranea refers to 100 cycles. This is due to the fact that the planet takes a very long time to orbit its sun. One cycle is equal to a year on Earth. Cycles are counted by the appearance of Lyria the Timekeeper, the smallest and brightest of the world's moons. Playing a character younger than 12 or older than 65 can only be done with staff approval.

Your character's primary attributes are strength, endurance, agility, dexterity, fighting, intelligence, reasoning, magic, pysche, and bravery. These attributes are each assigned a number that you will never see, which is used in the mathimatical formulas in the game to determin success and failure. These ratings are not all-powerful, but care should still be given to your character's physique, intellect, and intended profession when putting them in order. If you intend to be a wizard, go with a high intelligence as that makes sense for that kind of a character, just as a combat-oriented character would likely have a higher strength and constitution.

Height and frame determine your character's weight and is relevent to the race you have chosen to play. A short garuk will still be taller than a short human, for example. Your height, frame, and weight determine what size of clothing and equipment your character is able to wear. Average sized characters have the benefit of being easieer to fit than large or small ones, and as such, will find that second-hand clothing and equipment not purchased directly from a craftsman or merchant will be more likely to fit them. A large human, however, might be able to fit into some garuk clothing and equipment.

Your character's short description is the one that will be seen connected with text generated by our game engine whenever you perform any action in the game, as well as under numerous other conditions. It should not be capitalized as the code will capitalize it when it needs to, and it should not contain punctuation other than commas. Your short description should start with 'a' or 'an' and contain two descriptive words that you also intend to use in your long description and as keywords for addressing your character. Your short description should also contain a reference to your race such as man, woman, garuk male, garuk female, or shade. Some example short descriptions follow:

• > a tall man with blonde hair
• > a fat, dark-eyed woman
• > a sinewy-muscled garuk male with protruding tusks
• > a fat, bloated garuk female with exposed breasts
• > a whispy, semi-transparent shade
• > a ghostly shade with masculine features

Keywords are used to address your character, both by yourself and by other players who are attempting to look at or interact with you. Your keywords should include the descriptive words used in your short description as well as your character's race. You can also use nicknames or aliases as keywords. Based on the short description examples above, the following keywords would be appropriate:

• > tall blonde man brutus
• > fat dark-eyed woman
• > sinewy-muscled tusks tusked garuk male
• > fat bloated exposed garuk female
• > whispy semi-transparent shade
• > ghostly masculine shade

Long descriptions should contain your short description either verbatim, or reworded slightly, and should state how your character looks when standing in a room and performing no specific action. Unlike short descriptions, long descriptions should begin with a capital letter and be a full line of text in proper sentence form. Based on the short description and keyword examples above, the following keywords would be appropriate:

• > A tall blonde man is standing here.
• > Standing here, is a fat woman with dark eyes.
• > A garuk male with sinewy muscles and protruding yellow tusks lurks here.
• > A fat, bloated garuk female stands here, her breasts exposed.
• > A whispy, semi-transparent shade floats just above the ground.
• > A ghostly shade with masculine features is standing here.

Full descriptions are a paragraph of highly detailed text that describes your character. This description is only seen when someone looks at you, or when you look at yourself. Full descriptions should be written with proper use of grammar and capitalization. While very short or very long descriptions are not favorable, how you write your full description is up to you. Some examples of acceptable full descriptions can be found below:

This young man's skin has taken on the deep golden color gained by those who spend much of their time outdoors. He has a rough, but innocent look to him accentuated by sparkling blue eyes the color of the sky. A shaggy mane of honey-blonde hair hangs to he shoulders and he is ever wiping his bangs away from his eyes or throwing them back with a snap of his head. His face is spotted with light freckles, particularly around his nose, and he has full lips, a small straight nose and deeply set eyes.

Broad at his chest, with a torso that pulls in sharply at his waist, this garuk male is very slender, but strong, with sinewy muscles visible wherever his flesh is exposed. His skin is a ruddy shade of brown with darker splotches around his neck and running up his hairy arms. Stooped slightly forward, this garuk's neck lulls his head forward to give a prominant view of two yellow tusks growing out of his lower jaw that stick out between closed lips. His facial features are large and broad, with a flat nose and two all-black eyes nestled under overhanging brow ridges. Long black hair hangs down over his face.

Almost invisible against its surroundings, this semi-transparent shade is whispy as if it were made of nothing but thin, dark mist. Two long arms reach out from a slender torso, but there are no legs at all. Where one would expect to find legs is instead a coiled whisp of the dark mist that fades away just above the ground. Glowing from within the featureless shape of its head are two frightening yellow eyes.

Your character will be given a list of skills that you may choose from, and the number will vary depending on your attributes, age, birthplace, and other variables. Keep in mind your character's background when choosing skills, and try to pick skills that will keep you well-rounded enough to survive as an adult in the game. There is nothing wrong with picking combat oriented skills if your character intends to be a man-at-arms, a mercenary, or attend the warden's academy in Lursh. Just as it is entirely appropriate for a citizen of Ambermane to pick intellectual skills or a fisherman from Talbin to pick skills relating to his occupation. When you have selected all of your opening skills, type 'done'.

No character will be accepted without some sort of a background. Your character does not begin the game as a newborn. You have lived at least 12 cycles in the Brylands, and this time before you begin play needs to be accounted for. Your background can be as simple as that you are a lowly commoner born in Sallow who has never done anything more than sow the fields and milk the roshae for your uncle, or it can be as grand as having been born in Subterranea during the Dark Times when the Demon Azarajii was sucessful in raising several Ambra shades. Perhaps your parents were killed when Azarajii's followers sacked the Lord Martyr's palace and slew the sixth Lord Martyr? Perhaps you were there, and that justifies how you learned to fight, and why you have such a fear of shades and demons?

When you have finished the character creation process you will be given one final opportunity to look over the information you've entered and selected. If everything is good to go, submit your character to our staff for review. If you need to make any changes, select the field from the list of things you can change, make your changes, and then submit your character. Our review process is fairly simple... The next staff member online who has a moment to look over your application will do so. If everything looks good, your character will be accepted and you'll be able to begin play immediately. If you failed to do your part, or if you made typos, your character will be declined and you will be asked to make changes. If you've submitted something entirely inappropriate, it will simply be deleted and you will have done nothing more than waste your time, not ours.

It may take anywhere between 24 and 72 hours for your character application to be reviewed. This game is free to play, and it is one of the best RPIMUDs out there. We are staffed entirely by volunteers, and as such, we are not all available all the time. As a matter of policy, our first action upon logging into the game is to check for and reviewe any player applications that may have arrived while no staff members were online. As soon as we see you, you will be reviewed. While you wait, begin reading "In Shadow They Slumber", which is the first book of the Subterranea series. It is a complete novel, just like any you would buy in the store (and it will hopefully be in the stores one day). The novel sets the background of the Subterranea RPIMUD and gives you a unique and enjoyable look into the previous season and the events that transpired that have led to the world being the way it is now. Nobody who reads the story will fail to understand the game world we have created, and those who have read it will gain insight into the game that can be gained no other way.

• 020 RPP ----- Building Owner
• 030 RPP ----- Exotic Character Role
• 070 RPP ----- Garuk Shaman
• 050 RPP ----- High-Level Player Character
• 100 RPP ----- High Warden
• 150 RPP ----- High Warder
• 040 RPP ----- Land Owner
• 060 RPP ----- Master of Ambermane University
• 070 RPP ----- Master of Fire Falls University
• 050 RPP ----- Mid-Level Player Character
• 090 RPP ----- Village Reeve
• 040 RPP ----- Show Owning Merchant
• 010 RPP ----- Student of Arms
• 010 RPP ----- Student of Wizardry
• 070 RPP ----- Warden
• 080 RPP ----- Warder