Legends of Belariath

Characters

Anyone who wants to become a part of Belariath needs to have a character who will fit in with the world and it's people. Whether you prefer to play a proud warrior, a mystical sage, a weak victim likely to be quickly captured and enslaved, or something in between, is up to you. This is not something that has to be defined by gender though. Not all women are weak and not all men are strong. You make your own choice to best fit the character you wish to play. Take your time on this part, however much you want to rush in and get playing. You may have to live with your character a long while, so a little time invested at this stage can save you a lot of grief later on.

Note: The characters will not be automatically approved, your new character must be seen to by those that check the characters before you can get voiced in the IRC channels. If you make a new character and can't get voiced, don't worry, PM an Op or just wait until the character checkers have approved your new character. Each character entered into the database is checked manually for appropriate name, description and background. If it doesn't fit in with Belariath you may get a request to change it. It is your responsibility to ensure your e-mail address is entered correctly and that your mailbox accepts mail from belariath.com. Requests from spam filters for us to verify we are real people will be ignored so if you use a white list, remember to add us to it.

If you get an e-mail requesting you to make an alteration, the character will be suspended until you notify us the change has been made. Suspended characters that are not amended and characters that are never used in role play are deleted after 30 days.

Character Creation

You may wish to look through the site a little and make some notes before you start. Or alternatively you could open the Character Registration page in a new window so that you can flick between the two.

Name
Well that makes sense.... your character has to have a name after all. You won't want it to be your real name; the world of Belariath isn't populated by John Smith's and Harry Chan's. So you'll need a name that fits your character. It's worth taking a bit of time to think about this because you could end up being known by it for a long time. Something which sounds hilarious today, like Sir Wankalot, might not seem so funny in a couple of months. Especially after you join us online and find the girls won't play with you.

You probably already have an idea what your character will be like; maybe a strong, half-bull minotaur, maybe a slender elf-maiden. So you would want your name to fit the character you see in your mind. A minotaur called Pansy Flowersniffer just isn't going to intimidate many people and an elf girl known as Butch N`Hairie isn't going to attract too many admiring glances. So maybe something like BoneCruncher for the minotaur or Sylvania for the elf girl would be more in keeping.

Try to have a second name as a reserve. No two people can have exactly the same name, or ones that are too similar, and your preferred handle might be taken already. Since the character will get most use online, it could be a good idea to check if you can register that same name on IRC.

Also note that self-proclaimed titles like Lord of the Universe, King, Baron etc, will not be allowed. Implying a position of authority in Belariath which you haven't earned will not be accepted. Titles are issued by the empire according to earned status. Registering a name like Lord_Grok will at best get your character suspended and at worst, deleted.

Race and Class
There are two things that define who your character is in Belariath; race and class.

Race is what you were born as, human, centaur, elf, whatever. The character registration screen will provide you with a list of acceptable races. Not all races can take all classes, so if the character class is more important than the race you play, that will become a factor in your decision.

Certain races are able to produce playable half-breeds. The list of possibilities is given elsewhere. By choosing an acceptable primary race you will have the option of adding a secondary race to create a half-breed if you so wish. Choosing to play such can add interest to your character but does not provide any special benefits apart from the cosmetic effects of mingling two races. Stats and abilities come only from the primary race.

Class has nothing to do with whether your family was rich or important. It's the way of life you followed. Did you become a fighter or a magic user? Or a combination of the two? Not every class is available to every race, and classes such as Student Nurse or Social Worker simply do not exist. After all, Belariath is a simple world; primitive by some standards. Problems aren't solved by a visit to the psychiatrist but with the edge of a blade or a fireball.

Profession, Description, Background
Now that you have your race and class you can get a bit creative. Remember to keep it within the realm of fantasy that is Belariath. Profession could be something like hunter, mercenary, juggler etc. Stay away from silly professions like US Marine, Lord of Creation or CEO of Microsoft.

Description refers to your physical appearance. It should be consistent with the race, class and profession you chose and can include the clothing being worn but little else by way of personal possessions. Almost everything you will gain for your character can and should be bought from a shop after your arrival.

Descriptions and character names cannot include anything that implies the person is under 18 or looks under 18. Saying 'Freda is an 186 year old elf but she looks like a 12 year old girl' is NOT acceptable.

Background is where you can invent some history for your character. Again remember to keep it in context. We do NOT have visitors from other worlds magically transported here. At the start you may want to keep it simple. It can always be edited later once your role play develops. We do need some effort put into description and background though. A couple of paragraphs each would be normal. If it's too short you will be asked to expand on it.

Stats
Stats are a numerical way of defining your character's strengths and weaknesses. At first glance they can seem confusing but like most things, they are simpler than they look. Think about two boxers fighting, one is big and heavy, the other is small and light. Obviously the big one will do more damage when he hits the smaller one, both because he has more power behind the punch and because the smaller guy is less able to take the damage. So the big guy always wins right? Well yes, if hitting power was all that counted. But the smaller boxer is quicker, he's lighter on his feet and can dodge easier than the big guy. To hurt him, the heavier boxer has to connect but if the small guy is too fast, he can keep hitting his bigger opponent without taking any damage. So maybe the contest isn't so uneven or clear cut as it seemed.

When creating your character, starting stats are automatically assigned by the database according to which race and class you chose. But you can take a look at what they will be, so that you can judge the overall effectiveness of your character and maybe have second thoughts about the race and class you were going to use.

Free Points
Once you have settled on a race and class, you are given six extra points to personalise your character. These can be used to increase your stats as follows:

• Str, Int, Agi,Res, Lfe - Each extra rise of one stat point needs you to spend two free points
• Sta - Stamina stat points can be increased one for one
• Slo - Extra spell slots are not available at this stage

To use these, select the attribute from the drop-down box and click continue. Repeat until your extra stat points are used up.

Equipment
Different armor, weapons and artifacts can have the effect of further modifying your stats. A better weapon will do more damage, stronger armor will improve your defense and so on. The equipment list has full details. Each character starts off with one weapon of class ATK1 and one piece of armor of class DEF1. The database will present you with a choice of items according to your race and class.

Magic
Depending on your chosen race and class, you will be able to add some spells to your character. Battle spells are available to magical combat classes, while all classes have access to OOB (out of battle) spells which can be used in general roleplay.

Money
Every character starts with 200 mehrials, the currency of Belariath. For security, 180 of them are in your bank account so you don't get wiped out by a thief early on. As you develop you will find ways to earn extra money to buy the things you need.

Registration
When you complete registration you will get an e-mail confirming the details you entered. This e-mail also contains the username and password you will need to make changes to your character in the database. Delays in receiving this are normally due to your mail server taking time to process incoming mail, NOT because it takes us a long time to issue them. But do remember to enter your e-mail address correctly please and make sure we are white listed. Once you have completed registration your character will need to be checked for consistancy by either one of the character checkers, or, if you log onto the IRC channel, you can speak to an Op who can do it right then and there for you. Then you can go online and log in with Desdaemona, the channel 'bot, and begin to gain experience as you interact in the world of Belariath.