Are you back for more knowledge so soon? Well, I must say, I am quite impressed at your enthusiasm. I must admit, it always surprises me when people actively seek out my knowledge. But that is of little matter. Please, do sit. I have more to tell you of this land, this time of before you arrived, before those brave adventurers found my summoning portal.

This world started out like many others: a naive world, just trying to survive from day to day. Like many worlds in this era, very little was known about things we take for granted now. Like metal armor, well crafted swords, and even the bow and arrow. Many of the weapons of that era were poorly crafted, and almost never made out of metal. Hunting was very difficult in those times, and people had to survive off the ever abundant fruits and vegetables that Mother Nature provided us with. Even that was not easy. She was a very wrathful woman who wouldn't think twice about striking any of us down if she thought we were taking too much. Just as many lives were lost trying to harvest the fruits and vegetables of the land as were lost trying to hunt the wild beasts. Somehow, we survived.

As our numbers started to dwindle, and we thought all hope was lost of surviving, woman came to visit our city. She called herself Kovera. She taught us how to forge weapons out of the minerals found in the earth. She taught us how to make potions to heal our wounded. And for a time, things were good.

We soon learned at the cost of the lives of some of our friends, that we had little use for the weapons they were made. No matter how well they were made, we had little use for things we could not use. When we cried out in desperation Kovera returned and taught us to make armor. But that was not all she did. She brought with her a friend, who called himself Zain. He taught those of our people he deemed worthy the proper way to hold the weapons of melee combat. He taught them to become efficient fighters. We finally had people to hunt the growing number of creatures that were threatening our very existence. But even that was not enough for long.

We found ourselves dealing with another problem. There was a growing problem with creatures of the sky. They would swoop down and destroy our crops because we had been killing their other sources of food. They were fast and extremely hard for our warriors, who only had swords as weapons, to hit. We prayed an answer would come. That was when Kovera visited our city and taught us to make bows and arrows. She also brought with her another friend, who called herself Hyriss. This woman taught those of us who were willing, and did not have other skills to untrain, how to use these new weapons.

This was able to satisfy our people's needs for quite some time. For generations this worked out, and we soon found ourselves growing out of the limited protection of our villages. So a small group of non combatants, who weren't focused on either the gathering materials or forging them into things, all gathered and tried to come up with a solution to our problem. At first they only prayed, but it soon became very apparent that we would not be helped out in this matter. It took them many months, but they came up with a solution. That's how we began to build cities. Our first ones were not nearly as grand as the ones you see now, but they were better than what we had. Now that we had decent protection, there were some of us that craved a life outside of weapons, outside of the confines of the life of the gatherers and the artisans. One among us craved it so much that he left the town by himself. After two weeks of almost no food, little sleep, and severe dehydration, he came back rambling about his hallucinations. This meant little to us until a day later some of our patrols met a man, carrying a box walking toward our city. They said that they had followed the crazy one back to ensure his safe arrival back home. They also told us that they were going to teach those that craved the same knowledge of the crazy one.

The man, who called himself Etos, taught us how to harness the very essence of life to summon creatures to do our bidding. These creatures would be loyal to the summoner until either the death of the creature, or the death of the summoner.

Once he finished his teaching, he placed the golden box in the middle of the city, but was quite vague about what its contents were. None knew what to make of this box, and soon fights broke out over the box. Fighters and archers wanted it as a prize, craftsman wanted it for the strange metals adorning the box, a wise old man stopped the fighting with his wise old words. Upon the end of the fighting the wise old man and a few others walked up to the strange box, and found a puzzle lock on the box.

The wise old man and his followers spent weeks trying to figure out the puzzle, but none of them could figure it out. Slowly his followers left one by one, until only the old man was left. It was nearing midnight on the fourteenth day when it hit him, he started twisting and turning the puzzle, and the moment it hit midnight the box opened with a bright flash. There stood Ocenyia, she congratulated the wise old man on his persistence. She taught him how to find true enlightenment, and then she taught him how to use that knowledge to cast magic spells.

She taught others among us who were willing to find enlightenment how to cast spells. However, she was much more fickle than we were used to, and would not teach anyone who would not adhere to her strict path of enlightenment. It was she who revealed to us that those that had been helping us out all these generations were, in fact, gods.

It didn't take us long after they left to begin to construct temples to their honor. They were, undoubtedly, the most beautiful thing in any of our towns. After several generations, and the construction of our great cities, a middle aged fighter, by the name of Amtus, decided to challenge the wrathful Mother Nature for her position of power. We all held our breath as the battle raged on. Mother Nature was sure to call forth all manner of storms to try and force us to get Amtus to back down from the fight. This just made him fight even harder. Just when it seemed that Mother Nature would force us to perish for the sins of Amtus, the skies began to clear, and Mother Nature was cast down from her position. Amtus later admitted to us that it was a lucky blow. Mother Nature had been distracted trying to call forth a storm to destroy everything that she had created for us. The storm would have been powerful enough to wipe out at least half of our cities. We all admit that it is nice to see someone who is not so wrathful about harvesting the ever infinite resources of our world.

An elven woman is sitting in the middle of the room. The exact way behind how you got to be here is still unknown to you. She smiles at you.

"It is good to see you made it. I was afraid that the magic used to summon you, and others like you had failed. Well, first things first. I am Solonna, keeper of the gate and the lost knowledge. That probably doesn't mean much to you, but all things will be explained in time, my child. If you have some time, I will explain some history of this land. If not, the door behind you leads to the world of QEL.

Not so long ago, a small group of people, decided to leave a land eternally torn by war. This was a harsh word in which the leader of the gods forced his harsh rule upon all those under him, thus creating dissent. Even the gods began to war amongst themselves, and this war taught the people of the world how to war. Factions were created. Alliances were broken. General chaos formed into the norm. It was in this warring era that this small group of adventurers set out to find a new land. It wasn't long before they accidentally found my summoning portal, a portal that had been shut down and forgotten; but not destroyed. A small group was gathered: a ranger, a summoner, an artisan, a fighter, a supplier, and a mage. They all studied the portal for many, many months. After which they managed to devise a way, using all of their powers, to open the portal. They stepped through the portal, bringing every earthly thing they had with them. This may be a one way trip for the group, but they did not care. Whatever lie through this gate had to be better than what they were leaving. And they found me, waiting for generations for those to find my forgotten magics.

What lay beyond the door, they wanted to know. In time, they would find out, as will you.

This land had been nearly abandoned when they arrived, and only a fraction of its former glory. Most of the inhabitants had left long before the small group of adventurers arrived, and I was one of the remaining mortals left in this land. Most of who was left were in hiding, I told the group of adventurers, and they had to be found if they wished to survive in this harsh world. I would be here to answer questions they may have, but, I told them, the real thrill of taming a new land is to find things out for themselves.

I will also give you the one piece of advice that I gave to them. Do not anger the gods of this land. Help them out and most of them will help you out. If you do not help them out, some will strike you down, while others will simply turn their back on you. Though they do not war amongst themselves by nature, some are very feared, and rightly so. But I am not here to lecture you about that. The citizens of this world will tell you what you need to know about that. Seek them out.

After I gave them this advice, they set out. Ever since they have been working on taming the land, and all I ask of you is that you help them on their journey. I will be here for you as well if you have any more questions.

Zain has been called many things... wrathful, unpredictable, spiteful, unbalanced, judgmental. Only other gods have dared call him this to his face, though, for all these things do describe the god of fighters. Why would anyone worship such a god? Some do out of fear, others do because they want the massive amounts of power that he grants those loyal to him, few others are not even aware of this god's ever vigilant hand in what they do.

No matter the reason anyone chooses to follow this wrathful god, his followers agree on one thing: he is good to his followers that do not cross him. He blesses his followers with the strength needed to smite his enemies, and become more powerful on their own. Even if those that follow Zain do not have all the strength they would like, they know better than to complain about it. This wrathful god has been known to send in his underlings, usually in the form of other followers, to smite those that annoy him.

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Brief History

No one knows if Zain was ever mortal, or if he just always was. Most prefer to believe that he always was, including the scribes of Ocenyia. The fact that she has not told anyone one way or another also leads to more speculation. The only time, in fact, Ocenyia says anything about it is when her followers try to say that one way or another is fact, and this is only to berate her followers for spreading that which they do not know to be true as fact.

Solonna has provided us with that which she remembers about Zain. She tells us:

Zain was not always such a wrathful god, in fact he was once very just and willing to teach those that were strong enough. I recall when I was young, in fact, Zain, himself, coming to our town and teaching us to efficiently fight against the beasts that threatened our homeland. He was understanding then, and very patient with us when we made mistakes and had questions about what he taught.

It was through many generations of taking advantage of this nature of his that he began to change. Some of those that followed him began to question if he was really the best for the position. Many challenged him for his right to rule, and just as many died. Some others began to question his policies, asking if he really should kill those that challenge him, wondering why some were blessed more than others, and various other things.

His change was sudden and overnight. I can't say that I didn't see it coming. After one of his high warriors challenged him for his positions, it was like something inside him snapped. He began to revoke his blessings from those that questioned him, he commanded those loyal to him to slay those that had betrayed him, and gave them the strength to do so. It was a turning point for us as a people. I think we finally realized that even gods can be pushed too far.

Since I am the only one left from that time, I must apologize to all of you who will never know how Zain used to be.

Although Amtus is a new god, he is never looked down upon by the other gods. It took great skill and courage to challenge, and overthrow, the wrathful Mother Nature. (Even with as wrathful as Zain is, he still has nothing on this manic-depressive woman.)

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Before Amtus

Everything that is known about Mother Nature comes either from scrolls, or from Solonna, the only person alive who actually experienced Mother Nature's wrathful rule. Her rule is probably best described in the scroll Nature's Mysteries.

… All we are really doing is gathering enough food to eat. We are not destroying plants, we are not attempting to over mine her ores (not that we would know how to do this anyway). We spend days in prayer to her to let us harvest enough food for us to survive. We will receive a blessing from her, and go out, and there are times where we have not even managed to harvest the first fruit when the wrathful woman will strike one or more of us.

We have lost several of our friends, but there is little we can do to stop it. It is almost as if Mother Nature likes to see us beg. I am not even certain if other gods can stop her wrathful ways. If they can, it must mean that we are doing something to disserve this. Do they really hate us that much? …

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Early years

Amtus was born to normal parents, his father was a follower of Zain, his mother a follower of Kovera. After watching both of his parents, he decided that the life his father led was the one he wanted to lead also. He fought with great precision, and his skills were unrivaled by any of Zain's followers. The thought of betraying or questioning his god never crossed his mind.

When it became apparent that no one would be able to best him, and all he would face the rest of his life was a string of pointless fights with those less skilled than he was, he decided it was time to lay down his sword in favor of something that was more fulfilling. He remembered the beauty of nature when he was adventuring, so he turned to making sure that the resources were not over-mined, and that there were people constantly praying for Mother Nature's blessing to replenish her resources. It didn't take him long to realize that it did not matter to Mother Nature how many worshipers she had, or how conservatively her resources were harvested. She seemed to take pleasure in one minute giving someone a blessing, and the next striking them down.

He began to train again, for several weeks, with the intention of becoming the best he possibly could. Being the best fighter in the mortal world would not be good enough to challenge a god. Once he was done, he entered a temple to Mother Nature and officially challenged the woman for her position as a god.

The battle lasted for several days, and everyone was certain that Amtus would loose and that Mother Nature would punish everyone for his sins. Mother Nature was using all of her godly powers at her disposal, and when it became apparent that they were still on even ground, decided to start punishing the people of the world before she had any possibility of loss.

That little distraction was all Amtus needed to get the upper hand and smite the woman. It took a matter of a few more hours to smite the woman.

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Godhood

Amtus' transition into godhood was a short one. He couldn't take his time learning all about his new powers, he had to just use them and hope for the best. He knew if he were to fail, his rule would be worse than Mother Natures because all the crops would fail, resources would dwindle, and in a short time people may start to starve. Thankfully, though, the other gods were willing to help him out.

One of the first things Amtus did as a god was make his resources infinite, so that there would never be cause for concern. Then the blacksmiths could continue to hone their skills without fear of the miners over mining the mines.

This caused blacksmiths to figure out how to create better armor, which made Kovera happy. In turn, the fighters were able to fight more dangerous monsters, which made Zain happy. With the fighters able to take more of a beating, this caused the archers, mages, and summoners to be able to hone their skills more efficiently without the big fear of dying if the creature got a lucky blow. That made Hyriss, Ocenyia, and Etos very happy.

Ocenyia has told her scribes that Amtus taking over Mother Nature's position was one of the best changes that the gods have made in a long time.

Etos is the only living god (Mother Nature was the other) that is known to not have parents. He seems to have always existed. This would normally mean that he should be the leader of all the gods, but this is not the case. This god seems to be antisocial when it comes to the other gods, preferring the company of his followers to that of the other gods. That is not to say that all his followers are equal in his eyes. He shows obvious favor to some of his followers, just so long as they have been weighed by his scales. His scales do not measure "right" and "wrong" or "good" and "bad" actions. In fact, no one knows exactly what it is that fuels the scales which he measures the actions by. His scales have even left Ocenyia confused when trying to figure them out.

In a nameless scroll, written by an unknown author, which talks about various religious figures, best describes this strange god.

...and who can forget, the great god Etos. He grants his blessing to anyone who wants to learn the art, as long as they have the most basic knowledge of how to summon. His favor, however, is granted based on something strange that I have not been able to figure out. Even some of his most powerful followers do not bask in the glory of his full favor. That is not saying that those that do have his full favor are granted special privileges, either. His decisions do not have to make sense to anyone else, but I do know this: His followers say that they wouldn't change him for anything, because though his system of judgment does not make sense to anyone, he is a fair and just God.

But alas, I have strayed off topic. Etos has a significant roll with the well being of the beasts of the land, certain to make sure that no one tips the balance in the wilderness too much. He does this by constantly summoning an additional creature when one is killed. This in and of itself means that he directly has a hand in the followers of Zain, Hyriss, and Ocenyia being sure that they can always find the experience necessary to better themselves. It also helps the followers of Kovera, because they will always have people to sell their items to, and that in turn helps the followers of Amtus. This is probably a big reason that no one minds his strange way of weighing the deeds of his followers...

Ocenyia has a very closed mind, even for a god. This does not mean that those that do not follow her path will not be shown the most basic of all spells. It simply means that she is not willing to grant her blessings to those that do not follow her path to enlightenment. Every mage has eventually converted to her way of thought, saying that it is truly much easier to understand magic when you do things her way. Those that do not follow her structured path are certain she does this on purpose.

Ocenyia is also the goddess of knowledge and understanding, and her mages are often scribes in the area they reside, taking down noteworthy events and copying rare scrolls that are found so that all may have the knowledge contained therein.

Her followers (those that follow her rigid path, and those that do not) all say the same things about her.

Ocenyia is kind to those that follow her rigid path to enlightenment, and nice enough to those that do not (after all, she still grants the ability to use magic to those that do not follow her path). Despite her unwillingness to see that there are other paths of enlightenment, she is usually calm, unless her followers do anything that she has decreed that they should not.

Spreading false information, or information that is not known to be true (this does not count copying and distributing old scrolls) is the fastest way to bring her fury down upon you. If those that do not follow her do this, she is much more lenient to. But her followers, she says, know better than to do such things. There are rumors and stories of her followers that have annoyed her in this way simply vanishing one day. We (obviously) cannot find any evidence of this, but the stories are enough to scare her followers into not getting on her bad side, and it does enough to scare the common people into not trying to invoke her wrath.

Zain, god of fighters
Zain is a very wrathful god who gives the inspiration and strength to his followers to smite all those that dare stand against him. Those that follow him even know not to test his patience, for he is not afraid to show them just how disappointed he is in them. He is not an evil god, per say, but by most definitions, he is also not a good god. He is tucked deep in the embrace of neutrality, so do not think that he will spare you just because you worship him, or consider yourself a friend with him. His lack of predictability makes him the most feared, even amongst the other gods.

Amtus, god of Suppliers
Amtus is an odd god, by any definition of the term. He blesses those that follow him with the knowledge of how to efficiently harvest his ever infinite resources that he graces the world with. That is not saying he is weak, either. While mortal, he followed Zain while he was young, but the thrill of adventure soon lost its luster. He turned his attention to nature, which he so often traveled through in his youth. When he saw how Mother Nature treated those that followed her, he mustered all his strength, and challenged the wrathful woman, and with a lucky blow, managed to overthrow her. This makes him the newest god to date.

Etos, God of Summoners
Etos is probably the most level headed out of any of the gods. He only requires that those that follow him to have at least a basic understanding of the animals they will be given the power to control. He judges the worthiness of those that follow him by their actions, though he does not differentiate between the so-called “Good� and “Bad� actions. The scales he uses to weigh his decisions are unknown to anyone, even the other gods.

Ocenyia, goddess of mages
Ocenyia is the most highly structured, and close minded, out of any of the gods. She says that in order to obtain access to the higher level spells, one must commit themselves to learning, and never second guess their decision. Spells require a great deal of thought, she says. She does not grant her blessings, even to those that worship her that do not follow the same rigid path that she does. For she says, there is only one path to enlightenment, and since she is a goddess, she knows what that is. Anyone that tries to second guess her she turns her back to.

Hyriss, goddess of Rangers
Hyriss is the most energetic out of the gods. She is constantly on the move and looking for new ways to make her rangers more efficient. Because of this, she works very closely with Kovera, asking Kovera for help in creating new items for her followers. She does not care where, or how, her followers gather the knowledge, all she cares about is that they have it and put it to good use.

Kovera, goddess of Artisans
Kovera is the gentlest out of the gods. She knows her followers already have a hard enough time in the world having to worry about all manner of monsters. She leads those that follow her with a gentle hand, calmly talking to those that loose their way. She never judges her followers, and only asks that they use their abilities to be sure that the world has the available options for their daily lives.

I'm also interested in working on the story line, race backgrounds, etc. Let me know you need help and/or would like to discuss your ideas.

Rehdon

I am willing to accept help from anyone who is willing to take the initiative to PM me first.

lol Aliens? Could be doable :p

So, not much a challenge eh...  ... In that case... instead I want.... MARSHMALLOW MAN!!!111111111111111

Krayon, you should know better than to tempt me. Do not doubt that I will make a marshmallow man, just for you.

I like this idea as well. If this were done, you wouldn't need a model for a needle in everyone's hand, because it would be too small to really see anyhow. Besides, since there aren't really any animations for such things. I think just making them need to be equiped would be enough. ^.^

I'm more than happy for help, send me a PM if you are still willing to help, and I will let you know how to get in contact with me.

Closely related to the economic problem is that of cash flow.  It seems that every innovation in the game has as a strong driver the desire to add another "gold sink".

My husband and I have talked at some length about this. Gold sinks do not do wonders to fix a broken economy. They usually encourage more gold to come into the game to pay for these items. A much smaller percentage of gold already in the game (compared to the sources coming in to pay for this item) actually goes out.

A much better solution would be to lower the price that NPCs sell for. Making NPCs sell for 10 times (sometimes more) what they bought it for does not encourage the high level people to buy the items. It encourages them to go out and get it for themselves, thus creating a larger profit margin for those people, and more money into the game. If it were possible on some items, just to break even (or possibly loose a small some) I know a lot of people that would sink their money into buying the ingredients simply because this is faster. [sarcasm] But that would increase how fast people level up, and we wouldn't want to do that, now would we? [/sarcasm]

(i)  NPCs obay the rules of supply and demand, and have finite resources (though can go into debt).
(ii) NPCs trade with a "out-of-game" entity, at some background rate.
(iii)  The price offered to characters depends on their level and quantity being traded.
(iv)  Track how much characters have made from NPCs during the day and factor that in somehow.

(i) Though there would have been a time when I would have agreed with you that having NPCs obey the rules of supply and demand would be a great thing, this still leaves a problem. The more people you put into game, the higher you have to increase what the NPC can buy. In some ways this would make a lot of sense, but there are things that wouldn't. Yes, with more people in game, supply and demand are bound to go up, but not as much as people think they would. This is because the common gamer is driven by the urge to make more money. This means buying as little as possible. Though this is corrected slightly here by having classes and not being able to level everything up, this is only going to fix things slightly. A decent number of people will just have second accounts to supply the things for themselves. If you want a good example of this, check out the PK server.

(ii) Having the NPCs trade with an "out-of-game" entity would be good, but again, if you are trying to go with supply and demand, this "out-of-game" entity would have to follow the same rules. After all, why would someone want to buy the same item every day?

(iii) This is a great idea, for some harvestables. And it would do a wonderful job of curbing the amount of money that suppliers/Artisans can get. But what about the fighter type classes? Ya know, the people who would stab out their eye if they tried to use a pick. If we have relatively common drops, such as bones and raw meat, the higher level mobs, as well as the lower level mobs would drop these items. (How does it make sense that a rabbit drops a piece of raw meat, but a dragon has none to speak of?) How do you balance this? This is not the best idea to implement until you can find a way to make it fair across all classes, and not just single one or two out.

(iv) If you are trying to make it have some semblance of sense, this would not make sense. If an NPC needs it, they are not going to start paying you less for the items they need, while paying the person standing next to you more. This encourages the use of multiple accounts, and not a more player-to-player driven economy. Some of the things that could be done to fix it would take a lot more coding than most developers are willing to do. This is because it usually just postpones the inevitable breaking of the economy, keeps it from happening.

[Side note] It would be great if people stop trying to clog threads with posts that do nothing to further the thread. Saying that it is a good idea isn't nesicarily a bad thing as it helps encourage more people to post ideas, but saying something completely unrelated gets very old. This is usually an attempt to up post count, or because someone feels the need to make themselves sound more important. It would be great if it stopped. But that is a discussion for another thread, please do not clog up this one with responces to this side note. [/Side note]

[feared]

Remember the days when a regular Titanium Serpent Sword, Leather Pants/Boots, and a Titanium Chain Mail was only for the uber people.

I remember everyone feared *CO* with a passion.  People would shudder even if they saw a *CO* member in a non PK map.

I remember was fighting was 3 skills instead of just two. (Combat/Attack/Defense)

I remember when there was not a second continent.

I remember when the Fluffy Rabbit was first introduced in the game.

I remember Radu actually as a nice guy back then.

I miss those days, that's why I'm hoping this server will be a great one, like the main server used to be.

You missed a few things... such as...

I remember when critical failures were put into the game.

I remember when you did not need to reasearch anything.

I remember before they instituted auto harvesting (yes, one click-one harvest).

I remember before map walking was instituted. (Made getting around very annoying.)

I remember when not only did everyone fear *CO* they hated them.

I remember when there were not a million guilds ingame, and politics actually mattered.

I remember when you wanted to buy something, you actually had to go to a played character because there were no bots.

Yes, I've been around for almost as long as you have. And like you, I took a break, only mine was about 2-3 months after the big crash.